The truth about the spiritual world. Western culture is deluded by philosophical intellectualism. We are completely blinded by the assumption that we know more than we do. What is philosophical intellectualism? It is the presumption that intelligent people discount the spiritual. It is an assumption that every problem can be solved by the mind, and that there are no actual mysteries that lay beyond the physical realm. It is a philosophy. Period. It is not smart. But rather it is arrogant and bold and makes assertions it can never prove, because it assumes those who acknowledge or speak of the supernatural are superstitious and ignorant. Traditional Western Culture is a merging of two mindsets - Judeo Christian and Greek Philosophy. Almost all of the traditions and laws of the United States can be traced to one or the other culture - at least until more recent years. Greeks loved intellectual banter - a never ending debate that reached no conclusions. The Apostle Paul was so sickened by their game of human reasoning that he refused to play after speaking his mind just one time: 16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) 22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” 32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. (Acts 17:16-34) Paul started out debating, but then he realized his audience wasnt looking for a conclusion. The Book of Acts shows how they were not looking for truth - they just liked hearing fanciful things. They were addicted to silly debates that led nowhere. After leaving Mars Hill, Paul addressed a different Greek audience. And he explained to them that the supposed Wisdom of the wise, had become a stumbling block to the hearers: 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians 1) Greek Philosophy: There is an assumption that Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the source of philosophical reasoning, were fully objective people. However, Socrates admitted that he was given a demon by the gods to inspire his words - meaning that intellectualism is not spiritually neutral. Today I had the pleasure to converse with Pierre, an evangelist from Ghana in West Africa. And in the course of our conversation we discussed a recent event there. His friend had stumbled upon voodoo priests in a field that was littered with the bodies of those they had killed in one of their rituals. Their skin had been flayed off their backs. They were everywhere, and lines of vultures had come to feast upon them as more bodies were thrown onto the piles. In the West we are just plain ignorant to the powers that be. We are ignorant to the fact that in some places where paganism is hard core that violence, human sacrifice, and cannibalism are still practiced. And it is not just superstition. It is well known to the people of those regions that demonic manifestations are common. These supernatural phenomenon can be seen by everyone. And because many Africans live in desperation - where the need for food can be so dire that people die of starvation - people will often seek answers in voodoo and other occult practices. Desperation drives them. And when they see people who are cursed by voodoo - where there are immediate repercussions, they also live in fear, which drives them to do whatever these demons demand. However, because Africans are believers by nature - first in the power of demons, then in the power of God - when they become Christians they have no doubts that God can heal and do miracles. And when they see that God loves them - whereas demons only drive them by fears - and that Gods power is greater than demonic powers - because the Christians can cast out demons and heal people tormented by demons, they turn to God instead, expecting miracles. Therefore they see the kinds of Miracles described in the Gospels and the Book of Acts. Africans are far more likely to know someone who was resurrected from the Dead than Americans will - such as my dear friend Pastor Mikes daughter. The United States and Europe once sent missionaries to Africa to tell them of a mighty God that had power to answer prayer. But now we have become a nation of cynics who may hold to religion, but we deny the power of the God we say cares. Is it surprising then to know that God is sending Missionaries from Africa to the United States? Pastor Nafty
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 03:59:32 +0000
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