FAITH OR FANTASY?

FAITH OR FANTASY?

Popeye, a television cartoon character from my youth, was quite famous for eating spinach.  Whenever he opened a can of spinach and consumed it, he would gain enormous strength.  But there is a little known fact about this cartoon character.  Since meat was scarcer during World War II, the tale of Popeye was co-opted by the U.S. Government to promote the idea of eating spinach.  Spinach appeared to be an ideal substitute for meat.  Ironically, it was a scientist of our German enemy combatants that concluded during the 1890s that spinach contains the same amount of iron as meat.  Iron is an essential vitamin for building muscle mass and physical strength.

However, their scientific facts were fundamentally wrong.  German researchers did prove that spinach contains iron, but when they recorded their scientific results they recorded the decimal point in the wrong place.  Therefore, they grossly overestimated the amount of iron in spinach by a factor of ten.  Unfortunately, the correction for this error did not make it across the ocean until after World War II.

This series of events clearly demonstrates how easy it is for false ideas to be quickly accepted as truth. Lesson learned.  Even in our faith, it’s not uncommon for some to embrace concepts that are nonbiblical in origin.  To wit, we should never be hesitant to ask WHY we embrace a certain belief or a particular interpretation of the Bible.  Our investigation may prove that we got it right, or it may show that we are inaccurate in our understanding of what God is actually communicating to us.  Either way, our understanding and application of God’s word will only be improved.

Two practical examples of this kind of distortion of the Word are REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY (also known as SUPERSESSIONISM), which holds that the Jews are no longer chosen by God and that He has no particular future plans for the nation of Israel; and (2) PROSPERITY THEOLOGY, which reduces The Almighty to the level of some sort of cosmic genie whose primary purpose is endowing us with material possessions and wealth.  Although God truly desires to bless His people, if the abundant life that Christ espouses is reduced to the level of financial prosperity, we are only serving Satan’s cause instead of building God’s Kingdom.

Carefully consider.  Will you choose faith or fantasy?  My friends, let’s get our facts straight.  Let’s make sure that our faith is spiritually grounded, not in tradition, nor in fantasy, but firmly established in THE WORD.

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!