There's a Famine in the Land! A Famine for the Authentic Word of God!

There's a Famine in the Land! A Famine for the "Authentic" Word of God!Share Friday at 9:03am | Edit Note | Delete"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD." Amos 8:11

While the news in this piece is not the most uplifting I've written to date, it does concern an important global problem. Through many demographic studies, it is clear that over half of all child deaths are as a result of malnutrition. Malnutrition, as most know, is an imbalanced or insufficient consumption of nutrients. 

This problem, if occurring during the early years of a child's life, could retard the rate of the child's mental and physical development forever. Meaning, this cannot be made up for when the child is older. If the child is fortunate enough to survive, the body is weakened, the immunity system is compromised which has the effect of leaving the child prone to infections and diseases. 

While malnutrition is a complex problem that is influenced by many various factors, it has been determined that one of the major causes of this horrific issue is ignorance. Meaning, it's not always a lack of food but an ignorance associated with how to combine proper ingredients in order to feed a child properly. 

At this point you may have surmised that I plan to expound upon the spiritual significance of the issue of malnutrition or an inadequate diet for Christians, most especially, young Christians. 

Having been one of the young, malnourished Christians of which I speak, I can certainly attest to the fact that a poor, imbalanced, insufficient feeding of God's authentic gospel seriously hindered and stunted my spiritual growth. With "winds of doctrines" coming down the pipe every minute during the decade of the 70's, a young Christian, unless well founded in a strong, bible preaching church, was being fed a diet of spiritual twinkies that had absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever. In fact, the diet was at best synthetic or artificial and unnatural.

While I'm sure that there were well-founded bible preaching churches during this decade, new religious groups were spreading like wildfire. During the early 70's much of the emphasis forming American religious history had to do with idiosyncratic denominations that emphasized heretical teachings. Interestingly enough a large percentage of the leadership of these movements were emotionally damaged and unstable people. Equally important, many of these so called "leaders" were completely ignorant of how to divide and handle God's word rightly. 

Not only did the heretical teachings of the decade "shipwreck" the faith of many, but a large population of unknowing, innocent, well meaning young Christians were malnourished, stunted and wide open to a variety of spiritual infections and diseases. Not the least of these being, a lack of spiritual growth and remaining in diapers for many, many years. 

Scripture is crystal clear of how important it is that we have an insatiable hunger for the Word of God. Now, clearly I'm speaking of the authentic not "synthetic" word of God. Jeremiah's heart served as an example of this insatiable hunger when he spoke the following words: " Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts (Jeremiah 15:16). Jeremiah understood the great importance of feasting upon a well balanced diet of God's authentic word. 

While it could be unfair to lay the entire responsibility at the feet of these ignorant, heretical "leaders" of the decade, I can say with assurance that a baby is unable to care for itself. Meaning, just as a human baby is unable to feed itself, a spiritual baby often relies upon the "spiritually mature" to nourish them in God's word and Godly precepts. This is an enormous responsibility and one that should not be taken lightly, for as I Corinthians states, "According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it." Meaning, we ought to be extremely careful on how we build upon the lives of others. 

Given the fact that many of these "leaders" were feeding young babes spiritual garbage and synthetic nonsense, I fear that they will have much to answer to in the day of reckoning. It is clear that the Lord does not look lightly on someone who stumbles one of his "little children." 

So, in all of my ramblings what point am I trying to make? Well, there really are several I'd like to emphasize. First, there is nothing new under the sun. The heretical teachings of the 1970's differed little then the gnostic teachings that Paul continuously battled in his time. Scripture clearly points out what "false teachers" look like and what their motives are. It's not a mystery and scripture provides us with a template of how to judge these false men/woman: 

1 Peter 2: 10-22, "is a very long, but clear, reference in determining what these "empty clouds" look like and what their motives are. Due to the length of this scriptural reference, I trust that you will study the scriptures for yourself. This is of course not the only reference in scripture that delineates the picture of a false teacher. Therefore, I encourage everyone to look deeply into this important subject.

Equally important, we should in no manner be surprised at the recycling of all the "synthetic, spiritual garbage we see today. As is stated in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 , " For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. In other words, there is nothing new under the sun and heresies have always and will always exist. 

Now, having determined that there is "nothing new under the sun" and false teachers have always and will always be around, we need to understand that ignorance and immaturity of young believers is an important aspect to this issue. As you would not expect your new baby to know how to feed itself, nor should we expect young babes in the Lord to know what constitutes a good, nutritious spiritual diet. Simply stated, they don't understand what the proper nutrients are regarding that which leads to spiritual health and well-being.

So who has the responsibility for directing these babes to excellent feeding grounds. Clearly stated, the spiritually mature. It's not enough to tell babes what they shouldn't be feasting upon, for this is incomplete and still leaves them hungry. The real responsibility lies in directing them to God's word and a church that is in the business of teaching the authentic not the synthetic Word of the Lord.

Had I had "spiritual fathers and mothers" who were sound in their doctrinal beliefs and took responsibility to disciple me in godly precepts, I would have spent less time in diapers and more time growing into a mature, responsible Christian woman. While I am in no way am bitter concerning my experiences, for God has used them in a tremendous way, working all things for my good; I am cognizant of the fact that many shipwrecked Christians are in the throws of disease and despair due to the poor food that they were fed early in their Christian lives. 

As we see the "winds of doctrine," "synthetic, heretical" teachings continuing to recycle their way through Christendom, as mature Christians we need to take our responsibility of "parenting" beyond telling the babes what not to eat; but instead, we need to set before them a banquet table. In other words, as we help them choose proper spiritual food, the result will naturally be that they will not be drawn to the spiritual twinkies that will leave them malnourished. David said this clearly in Psalm 119:103 “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Once we have tasted God's authentic word, there really is no going back.

Yes, there is a famine in the land and this famine is for the authentic word of God. This famine has been occurring forever and, as the day of the Lord's coming draws near, the famine will increase. However, to simply tell the young, the ignorant, the unknowing and spiritually immature not to eat from the garbage dump is incomplete in nature. Instead, those who are mature, need to direct these babes to the banquet table of His glorious word. The Word that will bring growth, maturity and spiritual vitality to their lives.