The High Price of Having a Wrong View of God

 

total word count: 533

My wife was in desperate need of a massage, so she finally scheduled an appointment with a massage therapist. During the 90-minute session, she learned that her therapist like us, is a church drop-out. This message is not meant to bash churches. But it is going to illustrate a few problems within the church. If you ever find yourself needing to help someone who knows Jesus but isn’t attending regular church services, this message can help you to be a little more informed about their situation.

The therapist attended Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa for many years. When she moved to Arizona, at the request of her husband, they began attending a church that taught reformed theology—with an emphasis on Calvinism. One of the main points of Calvinism is the idea that God has predestined some of us for salvation and some for wrath and that our ultimate fate is a matter of God’s choosing—not our own. Not long after they began attending, the couple’s teen-aged daughter decided that God had predestined her to spend eternity in hell. She stopped going to church and gave up on God and has no interest in him today.

The couple began having marital problems and church attendance became an occasional thing. When the therapist’s husband approached the pastoral staff for help with his marriage, he was told that the reason they were having marriage problems was because they had not been attending church regularly. They offered no other help and the couple soon divorced.

One of the main goals of the enemy is distort our view of God and obscure the way in which we believe he sees us. So far the enemy’s plan is working pretty well in this family.

The wrong views of God in this tragic scenario are many. The church leaders are under the impression that regular church attendance is what safeguards our relationship with God and with others. Any failures are assumed to be due to poor church attendance.

Their daughter has come under the belief that God doesn’t love her. She thinks His reason for making her was to discard her like a used paper cup into a fire pit.

The therapist herself loves Jesus. She just hasn’t found a church where she feels comfortable yet. And it’s likely the enemy is going to continue to attack her and her family.

My wife and I see an opportunity to connect with a family that needs a little encouragement and perhaps more importantly—a better perspective on who God is and who they are in his eyes.

God has connected us to many such people over the years. Our ministry has been more to church drop-outs than to any other group of people. Our passion is to encourage them to continue walking with Jesus despite whatever else is going on in their lives. Our specific calling seems to be to help them see God and themselves through the eyes of a loving Father.

We ask for your prayers that God would open doors and open hearts and that we’d have an opportunity to encourage this family and help them see how much they are loved by Him.

Thanks in advance,

~ PM

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