Burning Books (by Ron Graham)

    “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” Matthew 5:5-7.

     Burning books reminds me of the days of Hitler. In that era millions of books of all genres were destroyed by fire. Have we digressed in our walk with Jesus Christ to the point that we now fully embrace Adolf’s mindset?

     Should the followers of Jesus Christ be involved in destroying by fire the books of other religions? And if so, where does it all end. How about the book of Mormon and the Jehovah’s Witness re-interpreted (New World Translation) we know they’re full of errors, should we follow up with those abominations also? But let’s not stop there, why not burn all the books that disagree with Christianity?

     Christianity has taken a lot of hits from non-believers over the years; many folks now believe we are just a bunch of zealots without any real feelings for our fellow man. Burning the Koran is insensitive and quite frankly a sign of ignorance and it gives the media yet more fodder in their attempt to brand all Christians as haters. Go ahead, burn the Muslim holy book, then follow up that outrage with your sincerest attempt to witness to them about Jesus Christ, let’s see how heads are removed.

     Is there any wonder the lost, for the most part, want nothing to do with Jesus Christ? If they believe Jesus is being truthfully portrayed by the actions of these foolish people claiming a relationship with Him, then they will never come to the truth of who Jesus Christ really is, let alone what He did for them. I would not blame anyone who would turn away from such people.

     Does it make me mad when I hear of the word of God being mistreated, such as the pages being torn out of Bibles, then spit upon and even urinated on? Or when I read stories of America’s military leaders burning Bibles that were sent to the soldiers in Afghanistan to prevent those soldiers from proselytizing the Muslims? Yes, it most certainly does. But what’s even worse than destroying Bibles is when I hear or read of Christian pastors teaching their congregations doctrines of men instead of God’s word. But then again, it’s not me that these offences are focused on.

     I’m not God. I’m not the one who’s being defamed by all this ignorance or all the anger. I am a follower of Jesus Christ, but He’s the One who is the recipient of all these evil actions. But guess what? Jesus is God, and as such, He will deal with those folks. And you know how He’ll deal with them? He sends His Holy Spirit to convict them and to point them to the way, the truth, and the life.

     All of this insanity of Koran burning has raised the ire of the Muslims way beyond a fevered pitch. And they don’t need any help in hating Christians. I’ve said it many times before; the Muslims hate us for what we believe and for what we stand on. Why? Because the word of God contradicts their prophet Mohammad. The religion of Islam is a religion of hate not love. You won’t find the idea of loving one another in the Koran.  But you will find many references to killing the infidels. And just who are these infidels? Anyone who is not a Muslim. Just before they chop your head off they will ask you if you would like to become a Muslim. At that point you can make your decision to join them or be relieved of your head. I would suggest that you place your faith and hope in Jesus Christ before you are forced into that particular predicament. Anyway, the least of our problems as Christians is that the Muslims might destroy a Bible or two.

     “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Matthew 5:9. As Christians we aren’t to push our faith on others. We tell people about Jesus by sharing what the Bible says about Him. We explain the Gospel to the folks as the Holy Spirit directs. If they accept the truth from us great, praise God. The conversation can continue and we can direct them to a Christ centered, Bible believing Church where they can begin their journey on the strait and narrow way. But if they refuse the truth we move on to the next person knowing full well that we’ve planted a seed and that the Holy Spirit will do the rest.

     That’s how Christians are to act and react to others. Displaying God’s love is not by burning the books of the false religions of this world. Explaining the truth of the Gospel is demonstrating God’s love in full view of the lost. Helping people in need is proving God’s love still exists. Leading people to Christ is focusing on God’s love as our hope of eternity gained. And as always, God gets all the glory.

     “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10. Look back two thousand years and you will see a rag tag group of men going out among the people of that day and telling them about Jesus. Those early Christian men were, for the most part, put to death for what they believed and taught. They taught about false religions and about all the deceptions the father of all lies promotes. And they preached how God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ, to be crucified for the sins of His creation. Then they told about His resurrection and the hope we now enjoy all because of Christ’s sacrifice on that cross. All over Galilee and Judea they walked, preached and made disciples of all they could.

     God blessed those men because they were following His commandment, doing His will, and when it came time He took them home. We too should be presenting Jesus Christ in this same manner. My brethren, Christians should not be burning the books of the condemned but preaching to them the truth of Gods inerrant word, the Holy Bible.

     God has preserved His word for millennia and will continue to do so whether or not a few earth dwellers feel the need to destroy it or not. God is in control and as such He’ll deal with those folks who wish to conquer the world for Islam, and with those who spread the lies of all the other false religions. Jesus Christ cannot be stopped. That was already tried at the cross 2,000 years ago and even though it was a phenomenal achievement for Christ, it was a dismal failure on the part of the enemy. And what’s more the enemy knows it. Time is short so Satan has now pulled out all the stops. The fight is now down to bare knuckles. But the fight is still between God and those beings that rebelled against Him.

     People, go to the end of the book of Revelation, and there you will read for yourselves that God wins this huge supernatural spiritual war. To be more precise He’s already won, now He is just cleaning up the mess.

     Let’s stop the insanity of burning books in a dismal attempt to proclaim Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not at the book burning party. He’s got His own ideas on how those who are lost need to hear the truth of His Gospel.