Out Our Way: 'On Earth as it is in Heaven'

Out our way, it is easy to become familiar with all the nooks and crannies of the community — but when we have to travel, especially in large cities, it can a bit overwhelming. But now days people have GPS devices that help us navigate — so even a red neck rube like me can get around in a big town.

The voice comes up with some authority saying, “Turn right in 100 yards onto Bower Avenue.” Nice to know somebody knows the way … especially when I do not!

Jesus said to His followers, “I am the Way” and, indeed, the early Christians called themselves “The People of the Way.” In the text cited for this column, Jesus reminds us that He is Lord — that is “the authority.” He also reminds us that His authority is not just over the earth but the universe.

What scoffers and those who distain religion have difficulty with is that opinion is not fact — and that, therefore, their opinion has no real authority simply because they hold it. It is the old lie that led to the demise of Adam and Eve — the idea that we can replace God with self and thus replace God’s truth with our own opinions.

You don’t have to be a religious person to realize how foolish this can be. All you need to be is wise enough to read your history. The so-called free thinkers who brought about the French Revolution also opened the way to the reign of terror that followed — and then the rise of Napoleon who sought to conquer the world. His view was that “law and God are for lesser men.”

Then we have Nietzsche — the darling of many intellectuals of his day, the German philosopher and darling of many self-proclaimed intellectuals — who declared, “God is dead.” Hitler was a major fan, and many Nazis looked upon Nietsche as their patron “saint.”

Karl Marx also believed in humans replacing God with self — and along came Big Brother and the Communist states — still honored by some folks at the New York Times. I recently read where a column in the Times said, “Marx was right.”

As I said personal opinion and preferences are not facts but only opinion. But mere opinion — no matter how popular — is not fact.  

It may be your opinion that the best way to get to California from Montana is to head east, or that the best way to get to the top of the mountain is to go downhill. You are entitled to your opinions and you may even get a great many like-minded people to stand and cheer when you voice them, but that doesn’t make it true.

God is love — but God is also truth. And all authority in heaven and earth have been given to Christ. 

The early Church was persecuted for believing that, and the mob jeered and cheered as they were thrown to the lions. Yet the faith grew until the Roman Emperor himself, Constantine, embraced the same faith his predecessors had sought to destroy.

Today, Christianity is the largest faith on earth and continues to grow despite the Napoleons, Hitlers, Stalins, Maos and all the others who sought to replace God’s authority with self.

The prayer of our Lord says, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” That is not a mere wish, it is a fact. For God’s authority may be mocked and ridiculed by those who have accepted the serpent’s lie that we can indeed replace God and rule in His stead. But history has shown the truth. Fools can reject His authority and even actively oppose it, but history as well as the scriptures show that His will shall indeed be done on earth as it is Heaven, even if they will not believe it. Facts are stubborn things, and ignoring them doesn’t change them.

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Brother John Bruington and Doc invite you to open a good world history book as well as the Bible and see why Christ's words have authority — for both will declare the Truth