Voice of the Kingfisher speaks out …from a different perspective
by Elinor Montgomery
The Third Category
April 25, 2008
In most academic approaches to world views, controversy seems to center around two categories – science and religion. Secularism is quick to validate the scientific conclusion but is much slower to validate a religious conclusion. In fact, Secular Humanism can treat religion with downright hostility.
How interesting it is that Secular Humanism does not recognize its own religious nature in its continuous worship of the planet earth, the environment and the creature, all of which fit into the category of ‘earth worship’!
Secular humanists happily talk about Mother Nature and how she, supposedly like the goddess Gaia, rules over man, but they cannot talk about Father God, Who is the actual Ruler over man. They cry out, over and over again, about being ‘tolerant’ but their tolerance only extends to the secular viewpoint, in so far as religion is concerned.
I would submit to you that there is a third category, other than the scientific or the religious categories of opinion, which is tolerated even less by the proponents of the other two. It is the category of truth. The importance of this category far exceeds either of the other two, for ultimately all scientific theories, research and archaeological discoveries must be submitted to the light of truth, if they are to stand.
This is to say, for example, that the theory of Thermal Dynamics is only as good as the reality of the evidence, which must show that, in the natural, all matter is in a declining state, whether human or material, ultimately being returned to dust.
A science such as medicine is ever changing, with scientific research altering many once-accepted medical conclusions and treatments. In the not-so-distant past, it was a legitimate medical practice to bleed people in order to heal diseases. Such would not be the case today.
In recent years, herbal medical treatment was strictly relegated to the office of the ‘medical quack’. Today, many patients are treated with herbal medicines as opposed to being treated by chemical drugs, many of which are widely recognized to be dangerous and sometimes life-threatening.
Our so-called trustworthy scientific medical practices seem to be becoming less and less trustworthy every day. Yet, the Word of God contains medical and sanitary practices, which applied thousands of years ago and still apply to this day. Their validity is unchanging. Long before Louis Pasteur discovered the importance of germ-free medicine, the Bible was advocating it, about three and a half millennia before his time. It was medical science, which had to catch up to the truth of God, not God to science.
It has only been within the last five-hundred-plus years that the scientific man actually discovered the world was round, which is now an irrefutable fact. However, it was Isaiah, the prophet, writing under the truth of the Holy Spirit, who declared it to be God Who sits above the circle of the earth, declaring it to be round some seven hundred years before Christ (see Isaiah 40:22). It took the minds of wise men, scientists and philosophers well over two thousand years to bring their scientific data up-to-date with the truth of God. Still, the scientist will claim his superior understanding as he rejects God’s truth.
And what about the religious man? It is much more difficult to deal with this complex subject and mindset, for traditions and doctrines run deep into the psyche of men. Religious men ultimately replace God with gods, be they men, wood, or stone. The religious man is in the camp of Satan who will lead him to worship the creation in one form or another so that man attempts to become like the Most High God, in order to dispense with Him. However, the foundation of all religions begins with a lie, ever expanding like leaven within a loaf of bread until it fills the whole loaf, no matter how small the original lie.
When the secular man says that you have your beliefs and I have mine, he is using this tool for propagating the lie. He is happily placing his faith in the minds of men instead of in the truth of God. The Spirit of God only leads to the truth of His Word, and will never lead to the intelligence of men or the doctrines of their religions.
Truth is never in conflict with itself, whereas religion, in all its shapes and forms, is the very source for conflict. Truth self-validates itself because it is given in the spirit of prophecy, by a God, Who knows the beginning from the end. Religion has no validation for itself, being propagated within the limitations of the carnal mind.
Tightly held variances in beliefs and doctrines have been the reason for wars with men who want to control other men by forcing their religious doctrines upon them. Egypt insisted that all men must bow to the god Pharaoh; Nebuchadnezzar required his conquered empire to bow to his golden statue; Caesar required the Roman Empire to bow to him as if to a god; Napoleon wanted the world to recognize him as the emperor over all the conquered nations, while Hitler wanted to be hailed and saluted as a little god ruling over the entire world.
Religion is an extremely dangerous tool in the hands of Satan. Truth is lasting, on its solid rock foundation of Jesus. Prophecy validates its substance and it is time the true church of Jesus Christ is allowed to be engaged at the table. It is time to reclaim this, the most solid category of all, which has been vacated in order to bow to the intolerance and bigotry of those espousing the categories of science and religion.
Lack of engagement allows the enemy victory without opposition. Wake up, church, and come out of your religious tomb where you lie buried with the light of your calling, which has become displaced by the darkness of earth worship.
To do evil is sport for the fool, but a man of understanding displays wisdom. A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in expressing his own heart. This is the proverbial truth of God – a man, who thinks himself wise, is really nothing but a fool.
It is sad that the hearts of men shut down before the light and power of truth. Darkness seems to sway the tables of engagement, which reject the proponents of truth. It is time for truth to demand its place at the table. Is it not the sword of the Lord, which secularism fears most?
The prophet Isaiah summed it up centuries ago when he wrote under the influence of the Spirit: “All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40:6-8).”
‘Me’ thinks they are afraid at the table of controversy. Scientific knowledge is ever changing, and religious doctrines come and go, but the truth endures forever. How does one stand against a sold rock without one’s hope for victory being shattered?