I saw two ladies a while ago, whom I have known for many years. One of them is an earnest Christian who spends a good portion of her waking hours praying and reading the Bible. I see her daily as she lives close to me, but today I was surprised by what my eyes beheld of her. For she and her companion were garbed in an uncommon attire. It was a saree that women of a demon-worshiping religion wear once a year on the occasion of the festival of one of their gods – a pot-bellied, flatulent one. They were on their way to lunch at the local ladies’ association, which was hosting a special meal to celebrate this festivity, she told me.
Though taken aback by my good Christian neighbor’s dress and her eagerness to attend the function, I said, ‘Have a nice meal, and say hi to Mahabali for me’. Mahabali was the particular demon that was being honored by the ladies’ association. I was sure there wasn’t going to be any dire consequence for me, such as being zapped in the rear with a mild bolt from the sky, for conveying this greeting to an enemy spirit.
But my morning encounter with the fetching two ladies in gold-embroidered sarees got my spirit astir, and there came before my mind’s eyes scenes of babies being cut apart to satiate a ravenous god, of just-bereaved wives being burnt alive on a pyre to join their cremated husbands, of teenage girls being dedicated to a lusty deity by their parents, whose daughters thereafter lounge in the premises of the sanctum to gratify their lord’s devotees – of several visions that were stark reality until about two generations ago but which have now transmuted into symbolic observances by the worshipers of the same demons who had been perpetrating these atrocities upon mankind since creation.
In the metamorphosis of these past blood-soaked and deviant oblations and rites into seemingly harmless festivities today, little of the reminders of the past horrors are obvious to the casual eye. But a discerning soul can see them. The conifer tree, for example, under the shade of which, at an earlier period, babies were sacrificed to atone for their parents’ sins, continues to be in the center of celebrations of a winter festival in many countries. The fertility rites, involving sexual orgies to please another god, now take the form of fun activities with colorful eggs in the spring season in those same countries. The people observing these converted festivals participate in them with a free conscience because they believe the old demons do not infuse these celebrations anymore, but are attended by benign and merry angels.
Whenever I remark to some fellow believers that such observances by Christians are not what is expected of them by their Savior, the response I often get is, ‘Don’t judge them, they love God just as you do’. I would reply, ‘But I am not judging, I am discerning the spirits’. When Christ said, ‘Do not judge’, the Greek word used has a dual meaning; one is ‘to condemn’, and the other is ‘to evaluate’. I was only evaluating. Nevertheless, it is a vain effort, I realized, to share with most followers of Christ the deeper truths in a casual situation. So, today, soon after meeting the two ladies, I sat down and began to write this message in the solemn environment of my ministry room. Perhaps the Lord may open the eyes of a few to see how he feels in his heart about certain practices and customs of his beloved people.
Wherever there are true Christians – as contrasted with ‘professing Christians’, those who are Christians only by birth and in name, not in practice – you will find two types of followers of Christ. One type accept the teachings of their spiritual teachers – their parents, their church, their pastor – and seek to live by what they have learned from them. They read the Bible, believe what they read, and make an effort to live by what they understand from the Scriptures. God sees their sincerity and is pleased with them.
The other type of Christians also have spiritual guides to teach, encourage, and edify them. But they don’t stop there. They seek to go beyond what they receive from their teachers. They do not want to be just pleasing to God, they want to be ‘well pleasing to God. They don’t want an angel to tell them they are ‘beloved of God’, they want the angel to tell them they are ‘greatly beloved of God’.
You know the story of God granting Solomon literally anything he asked for. And the young man asked for wisdom. God was pleased with his answer, for Solomon did not ask for wealth or fame or for the lives of his enemies. But God certainly was not well pleased with the young king’s answer. Because Solomon did not desire what was most precious in God’s heart – a heart just like his own heart, which is what Solomon’s father, David, had. David was called a man ‘after God’s own heart’.
David knew he was not just pleasing to God, but well pleasing. ‘By this I know that You are well pleased with me, because my enemy does not triumph over me.’ Ps 41:11
When the angel appeared to Daniel, he conveyed God’s evaluation of him, ‘O Daniel, man greatly beloved’. Dan 10:11
And of course, the example of Jesus. ‘Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” ‘ Mk 1:11
God’s earnest desire for his children is that they are not merely pleasing to him, but well pleasing. ‘But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.’ Heb 13:16 These are the Christians who are the closest to our Father in heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ, and who are greatly beloved of them.
When a sincere Christian is content to be just pleasing to his Lord, even when e could, if he or she really wants to, be well pleasing to es Savior, then there is grief in our Lord’s heart. It grieves his heart to observe a child of his going and participating in a festival that originated in a ceremony of child sacrifice or sexual perversion.
A classmate of mine in school has a younger brother. This younger brother was a rebellious fellow who caused continual anguish to his parents, even to the point of exasperation. Once, while physically abusing his mother, the father could not endure it anymore, and in the insanity of the moment, took the meat cleaver from the kitchen and cut his son’s hand off. (I don’t remember if it was his left or right hand, but when I saw this young man at a wedding several years later, I remember seeing him with one forearm kept out of sight in his trouser pocket).
Now, consider this. The cleaver which the father used, would the father, who suffered unbearable anguish at what he did until his dying day, continue to keep the cleaver in his kitchen and use it to chop chicken? Would he?
It is the same in the case of Christians. Would discerning Christians want to continue to observe traditions that at one time were observed with babies being thrown alive into the fire, with daughters being prostituted, with wives being burnt alive, with acts that brought agony to their Creator’s heart?
When sincere, but ignorant, children of God embrace these blood-tainted festivals, our Father, being the most merciful and patient God that he is, winks his eyes at such weaknesses until these children’s eyes are fully opened. One day their eyes will indeed be opened to the enormity of their ignorance. Until then, God endures their ignorance. ‘And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men everywhere to repent.’ Acts 17:30 KJV
You see, there are sins which do not lead a child of God to spiritual death, and there are sins which lead a Christian to spiritual death. God will not stand by and watch a child of his committing a mortal sin. ‘There is sin leading to death…and there is sin not leading to death.’ 1 Jn 5:16-17
When a child of God commits a sin leading to death, God will intervene drastically, even as he did in David’s case a couple of times, with much devastation to him personally, and to the whole nation he was ruling over.
Though God overlooks his people participating in pagan-originated festivals, God actually hates the festivals of this world. ‘Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being.’ Is 1:14
But the time is coming, when Christians who observe the festivals of this world, while disregarding God’s own festivals he commanded his people to keep, will repent and be disgusted at the remembrance of all the practices they once did. The day is coming when all Christians will realize how much they grieved God’s heart with their unwitting honoring of demons. And the day is coming when all the world will observe only God’s festivals.
And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Zech 14:16
That verse is talking about a future event, after the return of our Lord. (Read the whole of Zechariah 14 to see a glimpse of life during the reign of Christ.)
Until that day, God will overlook the ignorance and weakness of Christians who are content to be just pleasing to God.
Joseph Cherian
Prepare The Way Of The Lord! 