SEPARATING TRUTH FROM ERROR PART ONE
 
When Abram started on his journey from Ur to Canaan I believe he was making a decision to live by faith in obedience to God;however, I believe he was just a little misguided at the time. Abram was married and Sarai did go with him.It does help when a married couple decides to walk by faith together.Technically Terah took Abram,Lot and Sarai on this trip and they did arrive at a place called Haran.So they traveled from Ur (Modern day Iraq) to Haran (probably our modern day Turkey). Many good teachers believe that Abram should have went on this journey without his father Terah because he was so steeped in a Babylonian religion and the worship of false gods.This is certainly something to think about and I am going to talk about that in this article.
 
I do believe Terah's death was symbolic of an unbeliever coming close to the truth but never actually making a decision to accept Jesus Christ into his or her heart.His death in where it happened was symbolic of his life.The timing of his passing away typifies an unregenerate person hearing the Gospel but never actually stepping forward. The account said that he died in Haran short of Canaan.Abram never converted his father.His death speaks of Terah being extremely close to the Kingdom of God but never actually being converted to the Lord.That's sad.I hear this all the time.A person might say I listen to this speaker or do this and I might ask "are you a Christian?" A common response is "I hope so" or "I don't know,"or "I try." Of course none of these responses have anything to do with salvation.They are the hardest people to convert because they are so conditioned and you can just feel the resistance even if they are a nice person. What would cause somebody to be so close and yet remain so far from accepting Jesus Christ into their heart as their personal Savior? The answer to the question is most religions condition a person that if they are a "good person" probably in their own eyes they will go to heaven.None of these people in that mind and heart set have ever been touched by the Holy Spirit. Even the world is performance/competence oriented so it was very easy for Abram's father (Terah) to believe this because that is the way he was conditioned all his life. To listen to his son was foreign to him even though Abram was saved and Terah was believing the exact opposite of what God told him to put his faith in. This is an apathetic snare of the devil and I would also like to say God would never tell a person that.If anything the Bible says "And I heard another voice from heaven saying,Come out of her,my people,that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Revelation 18:4. The main principle has got to be obvious. I believe it is a false sense of security but people feel comfortable in this. The only problem is without a true conversion to Jesus Christ a person will march straight into hell.I don't mean to sound judgmental,I'm just quoting the Bible.Psalm 10:4 says "The wicked through the pride of his countenance,will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts." When a person won't come to know Jesus Christ because of this "I guess so,I'm a pretty good person mentality" the Bible says their countenance is full of pride and God will never accept this intellectual approach toward Him because man would give him or herself the glory.They have just confessed they don't want anything to do with God because they have been conditioned to believe they are a pretty descent person. If people are so good why did Jesus Christ have to die on a bloody cross for the sins of humanity? If you are at the same place that Terah (Abraham's father) was in, it would be wise to sincerely repent of your sins and accept Jesus Christ into your heart today.God's way is always better than our way. We really don't know what we are doing on our own.Coming out of a false belief system and coming to know Jesus Christ as your Savior is the wisest thing you will ever do not only in this life but for your eternity.Think about the story. One man knew the truth,one man did not.I think the question a person has to ask themselves is do I really desire to know the truth or do I want to believe a lie?
 
Bob D.