Ignorant Worship

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My labour of tract distribution led me to a group of young adults who were diligently minding their wares near the edge of Santa Maria. As they fell within my appointed route, I offered them a Gospel tract, but they did politely decline its reception. I inquired softly whether their rules forbade them from accepting materials from without, yet they exchanged only knowing, silent glances. I then sought to court their engagement, asking if they might share the substance of their own doctrinal books, but the boy who was clearly in charge abruptly bade me simply to take a volume and depart. The exchange was utterly one-sided; I was, in effect, begging them to share the Gospel with me, yet I was astonished to be directed to seek the counsel of a medical psychologist instead! I must have appeared as a pitiful lunatic in their eyes, judging by the cruel advice so readily dismissed. Oh, these poor, poor souls! They flatly refused true engagement and promptly told me, “I invoke my right to silence.” The young man then read aloud their prepared verse: James 3:13-18. He explained that those who ask such "intimidating questions" (such as one who begs to hear the Gospel truth) are merely sowing strife and discord, for one is inviting a base debate, which is an evil work. They instructed me to be peaceable and gentle, to simply take a book, and to move on.

Truly, it is no small matter what these organized, erroneous cults propagate. Their teaching is akin to my standing in the public square and declaring, with a brazen shout, "Jesus is merely one amongst many deities! He was a god, but is no Savior!" This is utter and unspeakable blasphemy. This spiritual poison, when taken into the fragile soul, doth surely and eternally damn! It terrifies my spirit to consider bearing the responsibility for the damnation of even a single, solitary soul. Yet, these poor deceived people make such deadly work their daily business! The young ladies among them appeared as youthful and tender as my own daughters. I felt a great and agonizing pity for their plight, trapped in a system whose devastating spiritual reality they cannot possibly comprehend. Oh, how I yearn with every fiber of my being to snatch their souls from the eternal hell-fire with the saving truth of Christ! But before I could even commence a final, passionate plea, the leader rose up and, with great haste and stealth, whispered to his team that they must move immediately to another location. Thus was the brief window of opportunity swiftly and firmly shut against the Word.

The children of God must never suffer themselves to remain in ignorance, nor should we resemble those poor souls who do not truly know their God! We are commanded to believe, and to rest in the sure conviction, that Jesus is the Christ, the very Son of the living God (John 6:69)! For how, alas, shall we call upon Him if we have not first believed (Romans 10:14)?

It is in Him that we have placed our trust, having first heard the Word of Truth and the glorious Gospel of our salvation; and it is only in believing that we were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13). In this Blessed Christ, verily, are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3)! Therefore, how can we truly love Him whom we have not seen, unless we first possess a true, spiritual knowledge of Him? How can our hearts be filled with unfeigned joy if we do not, in simple faith, believe (1 Peter 1:8)? And how can we possibly render a ready and sober answer to any man who asks us for a reason for the very hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15)?

Henceforth, the children of the Most High are those who have no cause for shame, for they know in whom they have believed, and are utterly persuaded (2 Timothy 1:12). It is precisely those who know their God who shall be firm, and shall surely take courageous action (Daniel 11:32). We are called not to simple piety, but to know the One, true God! For ignorance in our worship of Him is, tragically, nothing more than a refined form of passive idolatry.

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