Hiding God - The Ambition of World Religion

By Warren A Henderson

World religion is an exhaustive system of doings apart from God's truth and God's enablement. How does world religion obscure divine truth, thus preventing man from personally knowing God? What general trends are consistently found in humanized religion? What advantage does biblical Christianity have over the religions of the world? Why should I tr

• Language: English
• Publisher: Warren A Henderson
• Release date: Jul 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781939770080

Book preview

All Scripture quotations from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Nashville, TN

Hiding God – The Ambition of World Religion

By Warren Henderson

Copyright © 2007

Published by Warren Henderson

3769 Indiana Road

Pomona, KS 66076

Cover Design by John Nicholson

eBook ISBN 978-1-939770-08-0

Perfect Bound ISBN 978-0-9795387-1-1

ORDERING INFORMATION:

Case quantities of Hiding God may be purchased for $3.00/book through Gospel Folio Press. Individual copies are available through various on-line book retailers.

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Other Books by the Author

Afterlife – What Will It Be Like?

Answer the Call – Finding Life’s Purpose

Be Holy and Come Near– A Devotional Study of Leviticus

Behold the Saviour

Be Angry and Sin Not

Conquest and the Life of Rest – A Devotional Study of Joshua

Exploring the Pauline Epistles

Forsaken, Forgotten, and Forgiven – A Devotional Study of Jeremiah

Glories Seen & Unseen

Hallowed Be Thy Name – Revering Christ in a Casual World

Hiding God – The Ambition of World Religion

In Search of God – A Quest for Truth

Knowing the All-Knowing

Managing Anger God’s Way

Mind Frames – Where Life’s Battle Is Won or Lost

Out of Egypt – A Devotional Study of Exodus

Overcoming Your Bully

Passing the Torch – Mentoring the Next Generation

Revive Us Again – A Devotional Study of Ezra and Nehemiah

Seeds of Destiny – A Devotional Study of Genesis

The Beginning of Wisdom – A Devotional Study of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon

The Bible: Myth or Divine Truth?

The Evil Nexus – Are You Aiding the Enemy?

The Fruitful Bough – Affirming Biblical Manhood

The Fruitful Vine – Celebrating Biblical Womanhood

The Hope of Glory – A Preview of Things to Come

The Olive Plants – Raising Spiritual Children

Your Home the Birthing Place of Heaven

Table of Contents

Title Page

Other Books By This Author

Preface

Biblical Christianity

Religious Deception

#1 New Revelation

#2 Religious Founders

#3 Degrading Christ

#4 Do-It-Yourself Religion

#5 Fear-Motivated Service

#6 Flesh Appeal

The Uniqueness of Biblical Christianity

To Believe and Know God

Appendix – The History of Easter and Christmas

Endnotes

Preface

This book follows on the heels of In Search of God, which emphasized that the essence of absolute truth is something to behold; it cannot fully be grasped through human reckoning alone. Consequently, man is going to need divine help to search out and find God. Without divine illumination, man’s search for God would be similar to playing the children’s game hide and seek in absolute darkness, with someone you don’t know, who resides on the other side of the planet, and who does not want to be found. God will only be found by those who sincerely seek Him through the avenues of truth He has revealed to man.

According to the Bible, truth is a prominent moral and personal attribute of God: He is the God of truth (Isa. 65:16), thus all that God says and commands is founded in truth (Ps. 119:142, 151). The Psalmist declares, the entirety of Your word is truth (119:160). God’s perfect nature ensures that nothing less than absolute truth will be evident in all His words and deeds; He cannot lie or act contrary to His holy character (1 Sam. 15:29; Heb. 6:18). Consequently, if man truly desires to lay hold of deep truth (i.e. those unfathomable mysteries beyond natural explanation) he must venture beyond humanism, religiosity, and pride to humbly beseech Him who is the embodiment of all truth.

Perhaps you have heard someone say, I have my own religion. Biblically speaking, this is a true statement; he or she is living out self-derived religion. The New Testament speaks of religion (threskeia) only four times and of traditionalized Judaism (Ioudaismos) only twice. Five of these six references to religion convey a negative sense of a humanized belief-system apart from God’s truth – man’s religion. In the sixth reference, James speaks of pure religion as an outward behavior that practices perfectly what an individual believes to be true, without reference to a particular belief-system. Individuals who do not practice what they preach have vain religion from a practical standpoint.

God is not impressed by religious ritual, developed church tradition, sanctimonious form, and denominational smugness, but rather with personal living that conforms to divine truth (Col. 2:20-23). Christianity, therefore, is not a religion; but Christian doctrine lived out produces the right kind of religion that pleases God (Jas. 1:27). When one comes into a right relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, then, and only then, is he or she able to please God by doing sincere and God-enabled deeds. World religion is an exhaustive system of doings apart from God’s truth and God’s enablement.

How does world religion obscure divine truth, thus preventing man from personally knowing God? What general trends are consistently found in humanized religion? What advantage does biblical Christianity have over the religions of the world? Why should I trust Jesus Christ alone to secure eternal life? These questions and many others will be posed and rationally addressed in this book. Dear reader, please examine the evidence, and determine for yourself if biblical Christianity is a logical choice. Is it rational to trust Jesus Christ with the eternal destiny of your soul?

— Warren Henderson

Biblical Christianity

As there is much confusion today about what Christianity actually is, we will begin by defining the term. Biblical Christianity is not an earthly institution, or a humanly-conspired organization, or a set of systematized teachings per se, but rather it is an opportunity to experience spiritual union with Jesus Christ. Oneness with Christ secures eternal life and affords the believer an opportunity to enjoy (as he or she yields to Christ) a life that is meaningful and pleasing to God (Luke 9:23-26). Christian author Josiah Strong put it this way: Christianity is neither a creed nor a ceremony, but a life vitally connected with a loving Christ.¹ Oswald Chambers, also a Christian author, echoes this thought: Christianity is not devotion to work, or to a cause, or a doctrine, but devotion to a person, the Lord Jesus Christ.²

The message of Jesus Christ ensures that human relationship with God and humanized religious zeal for God will never be reconciled – both are unique and separate approaches for seeking divine favor. Yet, this dichotomy is one of the hardest spiritual realities for man to comprehend and accept. While preaching on the streets of San Francisco nearly a century ago, Bible commentator Harry Ironside reported that he was often interrupted by a common outburst such as this:

Look here, sir! There are hundreds of religions in this country, and the followers of each sect think theirs the only right one. How can poor, plain men like us find out what really is the truth? We generally replied something like this: Hundreds of religions, you say? That’s strange; I’ve heard of only two.

Oh, but you surely know there are more than that?

Not at all, sir, I find, I admit, many shades of difference in the opinions of those comprising the two great schools; but after all there are but two. The one covers all who expect salvation by doing; the other, all who have been saved by something done. So you see the whole question is very simple. Can you save yourself, or must you be saved by another? If you can be your own savior, you do not need my message. If you cannot, you may well listen to it.³

The main distinction between Christianity and all the religions of the world is that biblical Christianity teaches that man has a vital need to be saved from spiritual death by trusting in the Savior alone, whereas the world’s religions pose a system of doing to merit salvation or to obtain an improved afterlife. Religion equips man with a do it yourself manual and workbook through which he may impress himself as to how well he is doing by completing religious exercises and checklists. Christianity, however, is not a religion; it is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ, there is no forgiveness of sins, no life, and no hope – this is the Christian message as revealed in the Bible.

Religion is humans trying to work their way to God through good works. Christianity is God coming to men and women through Jesus Christ offering them a relationship with Himself.

— Josh McDowell

(Christian Apologist)

Biblical faith is not blind belief as some skeptics claim. On the contrary, the Bible challenges its readers to test and reason out Scripture. Test all things; hold fast what is good (1 Thess. 5:21). This testing is not for the purpose of proving that Scripture is true, but to personally affirm that it is true. Paul complimented the Bereans because they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so (Acts 17:11, KJV).

Biblical Christianity has this distinction over the religious movements of the world; the reader is challenged to test the Scripture to validate in his or her own mind its truthfulness. Religion imposes propaganda without permitting an opportunity to validate truthfulness against itself and available evidence. God knows man will only faithfully live out that which he has first proven to be true. The fear and scare tactics of the world’s religions effectively strangle the heart from ever exercising love in the truth.

When it comes to embracing divine truth, there is no middle ground – only our ignorance, cowardice and complacency permit such a lackadaisical and sanctimonious existence. Christian apologist C. S. Lewis put it this way: Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.⁴ Only knowing and trusting absolute truth, God’s revealed truth, ensures one’s entrance into heaven. The Bible clearly proclaims this fact:

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-32).

But because I [Christ] tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God" (John 8:45-47).

Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).

It is understood that some readers will not acknowledge the Bible as being supernatural in origin. In Search of God supplied three chapters of information to substantiate the unique authenticity, uniformity, and prophetic content of the Bible. The evidence indicates that the Bible is the unique Word of God to humanity. In Hiding God much of this evidence will be revisited in order to contrast the Bible with holy books of various world religions.

Religious Deception

Humanized religion is nothing less than a contrived deceit and nothing more than sanctioned blindness. Religion allows man to ignore, to circumvent, and to supplant God’s revealed plan for mankind. The following story of a fake blind man, as told by President Walter G. Clippinger of Otterbein College in Ohio, rightly pictures the counterfeit agenda of all world religion:

The pitiable creature, with dark glasses and his little tin cup was standing on the street corner, patiently waiting for some small contribution. A kindly man passed by and generously dropped a dime in the poor old fellow’s cup. Then for some reason he turned around, and to his surprise saw the blind man’s glasses pushed up on his forehead, and his eager eyes closely examining the recent gift. I thought you were a blind man, said the disgruntled donor.

Oh, no, was the answer, I am only substituting for the regular blind man today. I’m not really blind at all.

Well, where is the regular blind man? asked the other.

Oh, he’s gone to the movies; it’s his afternoon off.¹

For some, religion is a livelihood, for others a social exercise, and for many a gesture of willful ignorance. But the bottom line is this: humanized religion endorses the living of a lie.

In Search of God presented a panoramic view of man’s understood reality to highlight the uniqueness of the Earth and of its governing inhabitant, man. Logical arguments, historical, and scientific evidence were presented to cause the reader to contemplate the existence of supernatural influence within natural order. It was shown that there is one knowable Creator who has revealed Himself throughout the Bible so that He might be personally known by man and that man might be restored to Him through the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If it is true that an individual can only find salvation in Jesus Christ, would it not be logical to assume that the enemy of humanity, Satan (Eph. 6:11-12; 1 Pet. 5:8), would want to blind man through vain religious exercise (2 Cor. 4:4)? Because of his rebellion against God, he is condemned to an eternity in Hell (Isa. 14:12-15; Ezek. 28:12-18; Matt. 25:41). Because of his fierce anger against God, Satan will deceive as many human souls as he can to ensure their eternal fate in hell with him (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 12:12). Would he not use humanism and contrived ideologies in a fraudulent attempt to accomplish this ambition?

As in In Search of God, we begin Hiding God with a panoramic view also; not of celestial bodies this time, but of world religion. A number of general consistencies may be observed among world religions, which when compared with Christianity, affirm the uniqueness of the Christian Faith. There is nothing like biblical Christianity in the entire world. Its written revelation of truth, its founder, the consistency of its content, and its gospel message stand apart from humanly devised