Because They Cannot Tell the Difference

“But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?” (Isa 36:7 AV)

This goes to show you just how much the world thinks it knows about the bible, God, or truth.  The above statement is from Rabshakeh, the representative of the king of Assyria, Sennacherib upon their arrival to invade Judah and Jerusalem.  Rabshakeh assumed the unbiblical high places and altars were legitimate manifestations of true worship and assumed that if Hezekiah had removed them, the nation of Judah had severed their relationship with their God.  Little did he know the removal of these unauthorized altars and high places was the beginning of revival under this godly king.  Rabshakeh was a self-proclaimed expert in the religion of the Jews without knowing a thing.  His reference point was the backslidden ten tribes of the north who had recently been taken away to Assyria.  They saw the backslidden state of Israel’s worship and assumed it was the purest form of Jewish worship.  The world doesn’t have a clue because the people of God are backslidden.

Not everything that calls itself Christian, is Christian.  Not everything that calls itself biblical, is biblical.  In fact, like the ten northern tribes of Israel, the vast majority of what is called Christian and/or Biblical are neither.  Those denominations that teach works-based salvation are not Christian, no matter how much they center their worship on Him.  Those groups that pass off biblical worship and nothing more than an emotional experience manipulated by music instead of truth and obedience to the word of God are not biblical works.  The vast majority in today’s world that passes itself off as Christian and biblical are neither.  What is truly sad is the world does not know the difference.  When it sees the failure of unbiblical works, it assumes our God is dead.  When it sees ‘Christian’ celebrities with failed lives, they assume all are the same.  Testimony matters.  It effects the perception of those who are on the outside looking in.

Some ask me why I am an Independent Baptist.  This would be one of the reasons.  I do not wish to be defined by a group because eventually, the group will cease to have a definition I can accept.  Eventually, all alliances, denominations, conferences, etc., will go the way of the northern ten tribes of Israel.  Eventually, the world will categorize all who belong to a group as the same regardless of the reality of it.  But there is another application here.  It matters what we do, say, believe, and worship.  We have a corporate responsibility to the name of Christ.  What and who we are affects the perception of those who do not know Christ and effects our ability to reach them.