Communism vs. Christianity
by Keith Green
"These Men who have upset the world have come here also!" (Acts 17:6)
When Jesus gave His final instructions to the disciples before He ascended to the Father, He made it clear that they had a job of mammoth proportions to accomplish.
"And you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (Acts 1:8) This was the first time the disciples were instructed to look beyond their little country. In fact, Jesus had commanded them on previous missionary journeys to "not go in the way of the Gentiles [people who were not Jews] and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go the lost sheep of Israel." (Matt. 10:5-6) All of a sudden their eyes were opened, their vision expanded. All prejudice, bigotry, nationalism, and cultural bounds had to snap at Jesus' words "Samaria and the remotest part of the earth. " No self-respecting Jew would even step on Samaritan soil, let alone speak to one; and "the remotest part of the earth" would mean preaching to the heathen Gentiles! "Surely," they must have thought, "He means we should preach to the scattered Jews in foreign lands!" It's almost funny, as you continue reading Acts, how one by one, God proved to each disciple that He meant just what He said...'1 have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the ends of the earth. " (Acts 13:47)
A Great Void
There's a great emptiness in the world, and in the hearts of all men. This is the void that Jesus is meant to fill, in every nation as King, and in every man's heart as Lord. If the void remains, then men and nations will seek desperately to fill it with something else that will fulfill them. Satan is always willing and ready to provide an alternate, a counterfeit peace. The greatest danger about a counterfeit is that it looks just like the real thing, but has no value whatsoever.
Christianity swept the world in the first century A.D. It is the force of truth that was meant to answer and quench the thirst in all mankind for a reason and purpose to life. The thing that made the good news so believable to those who heard it at that time was not the message itself ... but the messengers! Charles Finney once wrote "Christians themselves are the greatest reason for accepting Christ. But they are also the greatest excuse for rejecting Him."
What made the early Christians so convincing? What was it that made 3,000 people convert in one day and be baptized in a city hostile to the Gospel... a city that had murdered their Lord only weeks before? (Acts 2:41) It was their commitment. It was their lifestyle. It was the Holy Spirit breathing the life and image of Jesus into a people who literally had left everything, were willing to suffer anything, and were ready to give all they had (possessions, time, even blood) to anyone to prove that their message was the only truth that could save men's souls from eternal suffering!
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