Chapter 8 - What is happening to our world?

Nothing could be more deceitful as the prince of darkness disguising himself as an angel of light. In the same way, when the false teachers were claiming to represent righteousness as servants of Christ, they were lying relentlessly and shamelessly.

These people can deceive us by appearing to be very attractive, good and moral. It is not difficult to follow smooth-talking, Bible quoting leaders into cults that alienates them from their families and lead them into the practice of immorality and deceit. Don't be fooled by external appearances.

Satan inspires false Christianity, The question is: Can we not see his fingers all over any religion that promotes violence and hatred? Who is it that can put in someone's mind the idea to get into a car and randomly run down women, men and children? Who is it that stirs up individuals to break, burn and destroy what belongs to another as a form of extortion to silence what one does not want someone else to hear?

Can it be more clear? From a biblical perspective, any form of hatred toward other human being is sin!

Anarchy is a form of hatred and therefore is sin! Racism is hatred and therefore sin!

"Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness had blinded him."((1 John 2:9-11)

Does this mean that if you dislike someone you aren't a Christian? These verses are not talking about disliking a disagreeable Christian. There always be people we will not like as well as others. John's words focus on the attitude that causes us to ignore or despise others, to treat them as irritants, competitors or enemies. Christian love is not a feeling but a choice. We can choose to be concerned with people's well being and treat them with respect, whether or not we feel affection toward them.

Ethnic and racial hatred blinds the eyes. People say and do things to others that they would otherwise not say and do if they were guided by proper moral reasoning. Sometimes the hatred is racial in nature, other times it is ethnic, tribal or religious.

Politically correct, anti-God secularism is also a sin! Hatred and violence often accompany secularism. University professors, media gurus, pump out their views into young minds and, whether intentionally or unintentionally, stir them up to shut down anyone who does not fall in line. Sometimes, this is done by a form of peaceful protest, however, occasionally these protests breed violence.

During riots, various stores are vandalised. No matter what the cause, destruction of someone else's property is unacceptable and we need to call these black bloc hoodlums what they are: anarchists. Their real agenda is to destroy.

This thinking is shallow and it has to be stopped. Secularism is a philosophy diametrically opposed to biblical values and God Himself. The idea that we can have a moral society without a Supreme Being determining right and wrong is naive and misguided at best. (to be continued)