Amish Voice, May 2015

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The Amish Voice 14
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At the turn of the Twentieth Century
(over 100 years ago), one of America's
leading newspapers addressed the
following question to many notable
people of that time: "What in your
opinion is the chief danger, social or
political, that confronts the coming
century?” Salvation Army Leader
William Booth, who was invited to reply
to this question, sent the following:
I consider that the chief dangers which
confront the coming century will be:
1. Religion without the Holy Spirit
2. Christianity without Christ
3. Forgiveness without repentance
4. Salvation without regeneration
5. Politics without God
6. Heaven without Hell
I think most religious people of the 21st
Century would have a difficult time
saying that these predictions have not
been fulfilled to some degree. Let's look
at each of these predictions, one at a
time.
Religion Without the Holy Spirit
But ye shall receive power, after that the
Holy Ghost is come upon you. Acts 1:8
I have to admit that this one may be the
hardest for me to discuss. Why?
Because for most of my life I have
participated in religion without the Holy
Spirit. I still struggle with this – and I
don’t think I am alone.
Sadly, many so-called Christians
and churches are nearly void of God's
Holy Spirit. How can that be? We
have grieved the Holy Spirit (1
Thessalonians 5:19). We refuse to allow
the Holy Spirit to fill us and control us
because we refuse to give up any control.
It is impossible for God to be the driver
of our life if we won't let Him have the
reins. We know that God can take us
farther and higher than we could ever
hope to get without him, and yet we still
refuse to turn our entire being over to
him.
Many times when I have attempted to
turn everything over to God, I became
frightened because I felt like I was out of
control. That causes me to fight to
regain control. I forget that God can't be
in control until I am completely out of
control.
Over the past 2,000 years, our religion
has become much more political, social
and institutional in nature – and much
less spiritual. We are so busy "playing
church" that we have squeezed the Holy
Spirit out of church.
Most Christian societies have been
involved with institutional and/or
denominational religion for so long that
they don’t know any different. They
don’t know how to turn control over to
Jesus and the Holy Spirit. They do
everything by the book – but they are
often using the wrong book. They
adhere to many man-made doctrines and
traditions that cannot be supported by the
Holy Scriptures.
The church (group of Christians) that I
meet with and have fellowship with on a
Dangers of the 20th Century —By Kit Pharo
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