Who is your leader?

By Aaron Swartzentruber

Greenleafton, MN

“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him.” (Colossians 1:16)

If you go back to verse 13, you’ll find that the “him” in this verse is Jesus Christ. All things were created by The Lord Jesus, for The Lord Jesus. But wait a minute, Genesis 1 says God created everything. So which one is it, God or The Lord Jesus? The answer is: Yes. In John 17:5 Jesus says, “And now, O Father glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”

The God haters call that a contradiction in the Bible. And they get all wild and excited about it because at last they think they’ve found something that they may be able to invalidate God’s word with. They have a burning desire to invalidate God’s word because they fear it. And rightly so because they will be judged by it. And according to Matthew 24:35, 1 Peter 1:25, and Isaiah 40:8, God’s word will stand forever. It’s not only set in stone, it’s set into eternity.

In 2 Corinthians 2:17, Paul says of the minister of the Word of God: “To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.” The word of God is a two edged sword, it cuts to heal or to kill. And the interesting thing is that God leaves that decision up to us. “If any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him; THE WORD that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”(John 12;47-48) So actually, God isn’t condemning us, we condemn ourself if we don’t believe God. God has given us His word, it heals the believer and kills the unbeliever, it justifies the believer and damns the unbeliever. John 3:18-19 – “He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, and this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

My goodness! The book of John is just loaded with rich and convicting truth that lay us down in the dust, where we belong, before God. It’s no wonder it’s the book of choice for Satan to attack. Listen to him, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne, I will sit upon the mount, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,” and to top it all off, “I will be like the most High.” He just can’t get enough of himself! But after all his self-exalting statements, the Bible says, “Yet thou shalt be brought ‘down’ to hell.” (Isaiah 14) Instead of going up, Satan is going down! “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12)

Are you a follower of Satan? It may be that you are and didn’t even know it. If you are attacking God’s word you are doing Satan’s bidding. There are only two classes of people in the world; followers of Satan and followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus is in Heaven and Satan shall be brought down to hell. Jesus says, “He that is not with me is against me.” (Matthew 12;30)

Now you know that you can’t be neutral, you can’t sit on the fence. And you can’t unknow that. Now God holds you responsible. What will you do with God’s Son? Will you accept the gift that He offers or will you trample Him under your feet?

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” (Acts 16:31) until next time…