A BIBLE "MYTHBUSTER"

"...thy word is truth." (from John 17:17)

Yesterday morning at Bread of Life Church in Westminster, MA, I heard the finest sermon I have heard so far in 2011. (And, that includes some sermons preached my ME!) The guest speaker was the Rev. Paul Conway, a Professor at Zion Bible College. His text was Isaiah chapter 40. His presentation was PHENOMINAL. I'm like my son Jon in that I usually DON'T care for all the modern powerpoint stuff that is done during sermons in evangelical and charismatic churches. I think it tends to be overdone, and can actually be distracting. I will say, Rev. Conway used powerpoint VERY effectively. It opened with a big photo of the two "Mythbuster" guys from the show on Discovery Channel. Listen, Mythbusters is a GREAT show. (Unfortunately I don't have cable or satellite T.V. right now, so I have not seen it since March.)

Conway spoke about sayings that people THINK are in the Bible, but ARE NOT. He listed five, but he emphasized TWO for his sermon: "God helps those who help themselves" and "You made your bed, now lie in it". In fact, God helps those who CAN'T help themselves and who KNOW they can't help themselves. IF we could do everything for ourselves, WHY would we need God? And, the message of the New Testament is change, forgiveness, and transformation, NOT "You made your bed, now lie in it."

As far as the secular world, you hear those two sayings all the time. But Rev. Conway stressed that surveys indicate that THE MAJORITY OF EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS ALSO BELIEVE THOSE TWO SAYINGS ARE CORRECT AND BIBLICAL! Probably nothing has depressed and angered me more than Christians who have essentially said to me, "God helps those who help themselves," and/or "You made your bed, now lie in it." They may not use those EXACT words. More often, such Christians rephrase them in what they think is a more acceptable fashion for evangelicals. But you know the line about "if it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck..." Yeah, no matter how they're rephrased, it's still "God helps those who help themselves," and "You made your bed, now lie in it."

At times I've gotten very angry and thought, "If THAT'S what God says, then I want nothing to do with God!"

And, I stand by that. But I've NEVER really believed it's what God says. It's just when so many "Christians" fire that stuff at you, it can kind of shake your moorings.
I needed Paul Conway's sermon yesterday. I can't TELL you how much I needed it. AND, there were two "tongues and interpretations" BEFORE he spoke from those in the congregation which essentially said the same thing before he even preached it!
Yesterday was one of those sermons where I thought, "If he gives an altar call, I'll be one of the first ones up there!" and I WAS!

Thank you, Rev. Paul Conway! Right on!

For you Christians who believe "God helps those who help themselves" and "You made your bed, now lie in it," I suggest you do an internet search for the website of Bread of Life Church, Westminster, MA. There you will find how you can download that sermon and listen to it. In fact, I'd recommend that EVERYBODY do that!