God Uses Sinners
In December 2010, Jenelle Embrey of Northern Virginia Atheists put up a letter from "Jesus" on a giant poster board on the grounds before the Leesburg, Virginia, annual Christmas parade. The letter had 10 genuinely positive suggestions, including writing letters to our military, forgiving people who have hurt you, and doing something instead of complaining, and it ends with: “I love you, Jesus.”
When interviewed, Embrey commented, "I wanted to try to promote peace and civility. Because it seems that the Christian group was the most defensive during the debate, I specifically addressed them in my letter, using some of the positive things out of their religion to try to appeal to them."
Conservative columnist Robert Knight considers this the work of the “devil”. In a column posted at the website townhall.com, http://tinyurl.com/2vyn7c3 Knight describes this as “diabolically shrewd!”
“The devil’s best work is done with an unseen hand, when people don’t realize they are being manipulated,“ writes Knight. Evidently Robert Knight objects to “genuinely positive suggestions” simply because of the messenger. But is this Biblical?
In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul wrote about some people who preached out of envy and rivalry, out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for Paul. Evidently some people were preaching Christ not out of a sincere heart but to cause trouble for Paul. What was his reaction?
“But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.”
That’s right. Paul rejoiced.
Back in the Old Testament, God was using the Assyrians to punish Israel. The objection was raised that, hey, the Assyrians are worse than we are. Why don’t you punish the Assyrians instead of us? Indeed the Assyrians were worse than Israel. But God used the Assyrians to accomplish His will. When He was finished, he took care of the Assyrians too. God even used a donkey at one point to accomplish His will.
When interviewed, Embrey commented, "I wanted to try to promote peace and civility. Because it seems that the Christian group was the most defensive during the debate, I specifically addressed them in my letter, using some of the positive things out of their religion to try to appeal to them."
Conservative columnist Robert Knight considers this the work of the “devil”. In a column posted at the website townhall.com, http://tinyurl.com/2vyn7c3 Knight describes this as “diabolically shrewd!”
“The devil’s best work is done with an unseen hand, when people don’t realize they are being manipulated,“ writes Knight. Evidently Robert Knight objects to “genuinely positive suggestions” simply because of the messenger. But is this Biblical?
In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul wrote about some people who preached out of envy and rivalry, out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for Paul. Evidently some people were preaching Christ not out of a sincere heart but to cause trouble for Paul. What was his reaction?
“But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.”
That’s right. Paul rejoiced.
Back in the Old Testament, God was using the Assyrians to punish Israel. The objection was raised that, hey, the Assyrians are worse than we are. Why don’t you punish the Assyrians instead of us? Indeed the Assyrians were worse than Israel. But God used the Assyrians to accomplish His will. When He was finished, he took care of the Assyrians too. God even used a donkey at one point to accomplish His will.
posted by Dave at Sunday, January 09, 2011
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