Having owned many different businesses for some 40 plus years now, I’m painfully aware of how difficult it is to build consensus, (get people to agree with each other). No matter the issue someone will invariably find fault with any plan and want to go another route.
Without consensus we cannot succeed; our government is a prime example of abject failure to achieve consensus on virtually anything. They cannot agree and stubbornly refuse to compromise and their inaction yields terrible destructive results.
People come in all flavors. There is a song entitled Everyday People that was made popular by the group Sly and the Family Stones that addresses this phenomenon. The lyrics in part;
There is a long hair that doesn’t like the short hair
For being’ such a rich one, that will not help the poor one
Different strokes for different folks
There is a yellow one that won’t accept the black one
That won’t accept the red one, that won’t accept the white one
Different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and Scooby dooby doo-bee-doo
So God created us individually; no two fingerprints are identical, and no two people are identical – that is the way He wanted us. God did however desire for His church to be united, Phil. 2:3 – Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
So I’m trying to launch a movement to unite all believers into one coalition and every last one of them is different and many are loudly vocal about their particular flavor. From what I’ve seen many believers don’t give a hoot about the interests of others and are totally absorbed and isolated in their separate silos.
I was on a call with a man in Silicon Valley CA last night who sees my task of uniting believers as pretty much an impossible one. He told me of an incident whereby he was lecturing a group and explaining his exciting technology application that presents the Gospel to folks all over the world via the Internet. His speech was interrupted when someone jumped up and started yelling at him and calling him a heretic. This dude screamed that people “don’t get saved by clicking a mouse key”.
My friend cited numerous incidents of folks with similar dissenting mindsets whose mantra is that the only way someone can truly find the Lord is through a traditional church setting.
Huh?
The Lord found me in a hospital bed after I’d read His Holy Bible in an effort to disprove it. If I would’ve had to go to a church to get saved – I wouldn’t be saved, because I hated churches and what I perceived as the hypocrites that inhabited them.
So following the “different strokes logic”, I suppose that fellow doesn’t believe I’m really saved either.
I’m glad he’s not God.
The Lord led me to read the Bible that day, because in his infinite wisdom He realized that this is how I needed to hear the Gospel and believe. I heard His word and felt His Holy Spirit calling me to Him, and I accepted His invitation, and I’m extremely glad I did. My way is not everyone’s way and in fact I’ve never met many people who got saved from reading the Bible in such a manner.
I have no doubt that those who find God through reading His word on the Internet, or talking to someone on the phone, or in a home, or watching a movie, or a video, or through personal testimony on a plane, or Jesus appearing in a dream or vision are just as saved as that guy is, and maybe more so.
One man went as far to say that if God had wanted mankind to use technology to disseminate the Gospel He would have made it available in the beginning.
Are you kidding me?
I’ve encountered folks who are similarly entrenched in thinking that the original King James Version is the only true and accurate Bible and everything else is a perversion. Do they not understand that the Bible was originally written in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek? Excuse me, but if you want the true original you will need to get busy ordering your Rosetta Stone speedy learn a language course today, because those guys that translated the King James Bible might have got some stuff wrong.
Sigh . . .
Just get a modern translation already and be glad that those dedicated scholars devoted their entire lives to accurately translating it into today’s language.
Yes it will be a daunting task to try and unite people who believe all sorts of things; that is not to say that we cannot do it. Indeed unbelievers have done it. The atheists who comprise just 2% of our population did it. They are “everyday people” too and are just as different as we are; and yet they put aside their differences and banded together to operate as a unified, organized, well financed, determined, passionate force and they used their unity to effectively remove God from our country. And, sadly, they are nearing completion as the rest of us 98% of the population argue and fight doctrine, religion, and stroke egos too big for Alaska and Texas combined to contain.
So am I discouraged?
Hmmm . . . Frustrated maybe but not discouraged. Did you ever consider that daunting challenges are not daunting to God? There is no question that God will have a mammoth revival as the earth spins towards the end of time as we know it. The Bible is clear about that, and I intend to be a part of it. My individual success will be determined by the amount of individual effort that I put into it and not by how many people get united. Incidentally God already knows what the outcome will be and He is in control.
God is raising up modern day leaders in the vein of everyday folks like Nehemiah, Joshua, and Moses to lead us towards that revival and Great Awakening and it is already happening all over the world. To be sure there will be detractors; I told my friend last night that I’ve never started a business whereby those in my inner circle thought it would succeed, (with the lone exception of my mother in law on my first business), and yet they all did.
We must keep the faith and listen to God and not the naysayers. Once this revival movement starts building momentum, like cockroaches they will climb aboard and to add insult to injury they will immediately begin taking credit for it as though it was their idea from the beginning. It’s amusing really; like watching clowns at a circus.
I’d laugh if we weren’t genuinely faced with losing our beloved country and seeing billions of souls doomed to hell forever. We need to find common ground and bend like a reed. Failure to do so will result in abject failure, (just like our government). Selah . . .
Lev. 26:8
Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.
February 13, 2014 – Click here to listen