25 August 2005 Devotion for Today "Threat Level Charlie" Colossians 2:6-10

25 August 2005  Devotion for Today  “Threat Level Charlie”  Colossians 2:6-10

 

            August, 1998.  The aftermath of the Al-Qaida bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania left hundreds dead and scores wounded.  It is almost a faint memory now but I remember how it impacted me and my family when we were living in Germany.  Robin had only recently gotten hired at the PX on one of the Hanau Kasernes- hallelujah! We thought, no more paying $5.00 a gallon for gas and we can finally get gas-ration coupons as one of the benefits of her employment.  We could also shop for food at the commissary and not pay the exorbitant prices on the local economy.  Our main reasons for the ID card, however, was so that we could visit church members who lived in the American housing areas in case the MPs stopped us and wanted to know who we were.  Before the embassy bombings, one could stroll right into the American community and housing compounds.  I don’t even remember there being gate guards or security checkpoints.  That all changed that same month we got our ID cards.  After the bombings, everything went to what the military called “Threat Level Charlie.”  Army troops with M-16s donned the military checkpoints with cavlar helmets and flack-jackets, searching each vehicle and rolling mirrors underneath looking for bombs or weapons.  It soon became a frustrating and painstaking process, especially after we would leave the base and then remember that we had forgotten to buy something we needed.  Then we would have to turn around and get back into the long line of cars waiting to get onto the post.

The Scripture text in Colossians 2:6-10 reads: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, ⁷ rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. ⁸ Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹ For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; ¹⁰ and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”

Paul tells us first of all that we needed to be rooted and built up in faith in Jesus Christ.  When we are, we will know to be aware of counterfeits that try to slip in and terrorize our faith.  This year our faith has been assaulted by false doctrines and bogus philosophies designed by the devil to cast doubt on the security of our faith in Christ.  Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code is one such example; claiming that Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and that the succession of church leadership was passed through their offspring instead of through the apostles- and how secret societies were formed to promulgate this false gospel.  I was amazed to read recently how gullible people have been in reaction to this work of fiction.  Its almost as if they are looking ways that they can accept this lie- which ultimately takes more faith- than to accept the simple truths of who Jesus claimed to be in the Gospels.  We may be incredulous to accept the fantastic claims of Brown’s book, but its like one said one time, “If you lie a lie long enough and loudly enough, eventually many will come to accept it.”

We need to be on guard and raise the threat level of our spiritual awareness.  Gone are the good-old days when we didn’t have to live looking over our spiritual shoulders.  May we receive God’s grace and discernment so that we may continue to be and live strong as the assaults of the enemy increases.

Have a blessed day.

 

 

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@earthlink.net

 

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