THE GREATEST thing man must boast of is not the knowledge of medicine, law or ICT, he acquires. It is not the right application of knowledge (wisdom), riches or might either. These are all important things man must work hard to achieve, but they are certainly not the greatest thing we must boast of.
However, the greatest thing man must glory in is the sound knowledge of God. There is nothing satisfying and capable of building contentment in the heart of man than knowing God personally. Knowing God is not just about reading about Him in the Bible, but experiencing His pleasant and awesome presence. God is not imaginary; He is a living Being who speaks, hears, feels, smells and sees.
“Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD’ (Jeremiah 9: 23- 24).
One group of people who has greatly been deceived about God and His dealings with man is the educated folks. Many have atheistic mindset of God. Their knowledge about creation deceives them into thinking there is no creator. A person may be informed in one thing but be uninformed in another. It is written that a person who says in his heart there is no God is a fool. He has but low knowledge about God’s creation.
However, an educated person is the one who is informed about creations and their Creator. Such a person has both the low and high knowledge. Knowledge about God, not only in the letter, but also in the Spirit is high and superior to knowledge about mere created things.
Many people question the relevance of Christianity in their nations, but readily accept deceptive and misleading scholarly opinions expressed by philosophers. Hundreds of students of Karl Max have been deceived about God and Christianity. They read and accepted an erroneous view expressed by the scholar without seeking counter-opinions to establish the truth or otherwise of his claims.
Karl Max, a German philosopher and economist said, “Religion is the opium of the people” or the “opiate of the masses.” Marx meant that religion gives oppressed people false happiness – like opium does to drug addicts.
But Christianity is not just a religion to be the opium for the masses. Christianity is the wisdom and power of God for both the ruling and ruled, educated and uneducated, rich and poor and everyone who believes. Christianity is a call to man to reunite with God. Through Christianity, the spirit of man is freed from the bondage of sin by the power of the sinless blood of Jesus Christ.
This is not a myth or fiction. It is true, real and proven. Karl Max and his students might have read the Bible, but they did not personally encounter God, understand Christianity and its purpose. Perhaps, they took and read the Bible as a textbook or fiction.
The Bible is not like any of the books in the book shops. It is not a research material. The Bible is a collection of books written by men in the language of men, but the words are the words of God. You do not need to first understand everything written in it before you can believe. Rather, you need to first believe the words of God then you can understand them. Man does not know that the things of God are done by the Spirit of God.
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…” (2 Timothy 3: 16) “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1: 21).
Holy men spoke and wrote the words as God inspired them. In other words, they were carried along by the Spirit of God to speak and write divine truths. Therefore, to teach, hear, understand and act, live or practice the words of God, you must be carried along by the Spirit of God.
This is the uniqueness of the Bible. A person who reads the Bible without being carried along by the Spirit of God can only become a philosopher. He may know facts about God but cannot clearly understand the things of God and do them. Obviously, that was the difficulty Karl Max faced. Many who attempt to read and understand the Bible without being carried along by the Spirit of God twist the truth of God’s Word. This challenge was common during the days of the first Apostles.
“…our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3: 16)
FROM James Quansah, Kumasi
jamesquansah@yahoo.com