01.28.08

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. - 2 Corinthians 4:1-6.

One of the many groups on facebook that serve no purpose except for fun (or maybe to sell t-shirts) is the group, “When I was your age, Pluto was a planet.” There are currently over 1,200,000 members of the group. Pluto was recognized as being a planet from February 18, 1930 to August 24, 2006. We were all taught that Pluto was a planet and I still have difficulty thinking that it is not a planet. However, Pluto never was a planet and we believed what was only an illusion. The reality is that Pluto never was a planet.

I have been thinking about this for several days and have realized that there have been many illusions that I believed as being real in the past. One of those was the Iron Curtain. In my mind, it was “iron” and was so established that it could never be removed. The Iron Curtain was able to maintain the illusion from the end of World War II until 1989. I know that I often prayed for the end, the removal of that Iron Curtain but I am not sure whether I really believed it would someday cease to exist. The permanency of that curtain was only an illusion.

We in the United States have believed for many years another illusion. That illusion was that we were safe from terrorism inside of our country. That illusion was shattered permanently on September 11, 2001.

Another illusion that I once had was that because I was a member of a church and had been baptized that I was a Christian. That illusion was shattered when confronted by the testimony of my wife and God’s Word. Being a Christian, a believer is not about church membership, or baptism, or any work that we can do ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-10) - being a Christian is about beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ by believing upon what He has done for us on the cross and receiving Him as our Savior.

An illusion that billions of people have across this world is that they have salvation through some false religion like Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or something else. It may appear real but that does not make it true. Please do not be deceived by an illusion because your eternal soul is at stake.

For those of us who know the truth we must not rest until the blinding illusions of the enemy have been revealed for what they are and all peoples turn to the Lord. We must continue to pray for those illusions to be removed. We must continue to “preach Christ Jesus the Lord.” “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”