The cartoon character,
Popeye, is famous for eating spinach. Whenever
he opens a can of spinach and consumes it, he gains enormous strength. However,
there is a little known fact about this cartoon character. Since meat was
much 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, scientists of our German enemy
combatants concluded during the 1890s that spinach contains the same amount of
iron as meat. Iron is an essential vitamins for building muscle and
strength.
But their facts were
fundamentally wrong. German researchers did prove that spinach contains
iron, but when they recorded their scientific results the decimal point was put
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 the area of 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
hold 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 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 to endow us
with material possessions and wealth. Although God truly desires to bless
His people, when the abundant life that Christ espoused is reduced to financial
prosperity, we are actually serving Satan’s cause instead of building God’s
Kingdom.
Will we choose faith
or myth? My friends, let’s get our facts straight. Let’s make sure
that our faith is spiritually grounded – not in tradition, nor in fantasy, not
in error, but firmly established in THE WORD.
Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed and please (above all else)
MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET YOUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!
No comments:
Post a Comment