SEDUCING MYTHS

Daily Express Friday April 8 2016. An article entitled Nessie, Yetis, UFO’s… the myths we still believe in, caught my eye simply because I had been reading up on how the Gospel is being watered down for consumption by the people of this wonderful and beautiful country in which I live. The Presbyterian Church, for instance, got themselves into a right froth recently over a word, yes a single word, in a beautiful hymn written by two Christians. The Committee for the new hymnal to be produced for the church decided, in their wisdom, to ask the writers of the hymn to change the word Wrath to Love which actually meant that the whole sentence had to be changed. The Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song were not too pleased with the original wording and wanted the changes made because they felt that there were far too many references to wrath in the hymnal already and that it was not in keeping with a God who is love.

Our newspaper report under review written by Natalie Chalk, tells us that belief in the weird and wonderful is alive and well in Britain. Millions of us, so we are told, are firm believers in all manner of myths, from the mere workaday to the plain wacky, according to a study. It always amuses me that there is always an obligatory study that has been undertaken, presumably, to give some credence and authority to the report, and we are never told who these people are or what credentials they have, nevertheless we are told, with authority, that three out of ten of us believe aliens exist. One in ten of us claim to have witnessed a UFO. One in ten believe the Yeti prowls the Himalayas and one in five Scots believe the Loch Ness Monster is real. Touching wood is also a widely spread superstitious habit carried out by millions of people, as if what they don’t want to happen, will happen, if they don’t immediately find a suitable piece of timber to make contact with. Just how the piece of lumber could halt the perceived impending doom, is anyones guess. Nevertheless countless numbers act out this bizarre charade every single day.
As it is mandatory to have a spokesman in matters like these, one is provided for us in our report who tells us the following:

It is fascinating to see many Brits believe they’ve seen an alien spacecraft and are open to the idea that they are real. There are a significant number of Britons who believe that Elvis Presley is still alive and that Paul McCartney is dead.

To come back down to earth takes some doing when our heads are up in the clouds pondering and worrying about superstitions, myths, fables and fakes, but down we must come if we are to retain our sanity, and to do this, I find turning to the Bible does it for me. Simply because it is in the Bible where we find the truth. All else is opinions, opinions and more opinions, so much so that mankind is awash with what people think, and has given up thinking and pondering the REAL issues of life for themselves, as the following verses tell us:

…in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their consciences seared with a hot iron. 1 Timothy 4:1-2

Given what we see and hear of what is going on in our wonderful country and indeed across the world, we cannot, by any stretch of the imagination think that man has not given up and departed from the faith and gone his own way. The lies we hear out of the mouths of those who are supposed to lead us by example are from those who have had their consciences seared by a hot iron! In other words they have no conscience at all! Note the verse speaks of the latter times and if you ask me if we are living in the latter times, my answer would be YES!

• Misplaced trust concerning the supernatural leads to irrational fear.
• Misdirected reverence leads to false religion and magic.
• Improper thoughts and habits bring down upon us the judgement of God.
• The Scriptures warn us against this and condemns such things.
• Myths are harmful to the body of Christ as is superstition.

The study of the stars and planets, based on the pagan assumption that they exercise a decisive influence over human destinies are totally rejected by the Scriptures. Yet millions fear to start their day unless they have read their horoscope.

They should be called Horror Scopes!