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Friends United Meeting |
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Quaker Life
July 2002
Rising Above a Sewer Society
By John A. Muhanji
Today, the Quaker Church in Africa is living out their faith in a much different society than those before. Conduct, standards and activities of our church have changed dramatically since the first Quaker missionaries came to Africa.
Our foreparents did not have the challenge of ministering in a society that allows the immoral streams of perverted minds and hearts to flow openly like contaminated rivers through the electronic media, educational institutions and even the body politic.
The church now ministers in a society that has changed the truth of God into a lie. Foolish minds concoct new ways to mock sin. Evil hearts devise ways to destroy anything pure. Satanic imaginations dream up new perversions. The result is an open sewer of rotting filth.
We are now coming to grips with the fact that a nation that rebels against God is doomed to unimaginable behavior. Our children are taught how to use condoms in many public schools instead of discipline. Literally hundreds of new pornography sites are placed on the web every day.
How shall we rise above this perversion and live righteously in an immoral society? How shall we remain pure and acceptable to God in a spiritually rebellious culture?
We Are Not a Part of the Sewer Society
We have discovered an alternative lifestyle — the lifestyle of the
kingdom of God. We are in this world, but are no longer a part of its
spirit and conduct.
A few years ago, it was possible to be a Christian and be respected for your moral standards. Today, we are entering a period of history where believers will be persecuted for righteousness' sake. Our children will soon be isolated as hatemongers for even questioning perversion.
The days of trying to live in peaceful coexistence with the world are at an end. The idea the church can somehow please a corrupt society through compromise is at best, naive, and at worst, demonic. Never before has the truth been clearer that fellowship between darkness and light is impossible. However, in no way should believers feel intimidated; instead, they should feel liberated.
The Christian new birth produces the single most profound, all-encompassing transformation any individual can experience. The Bible expresses it as "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) A child of God has a new life under a new authority lived out in a new Kingdom.
The Christian lives above the sewer society because he lives a transcendent life. She no longer is a part of the world system, with no obligation to partake in a lifestyle that violates biblical morality.
We Do Not Need a Sewer Society
Since the Garden of Eden, Satan has tried to sell the idea that humanity
needs forbidden fruit to live a happy and fulfilled life. Nothing could
be farther from the truth.
Christian people are the happiest people on earth. All of their needs are met through their participation in the kingdom of God. Physical needs are met within a context of temperance without the terrible effects of binding substances, which ultimately destroy the quality of life. Social needs are met through a glorious fellowship with people who do not have to tell filthy stories or worry about designated drivers and hangovers to have a good time.
Intellectual, psychological and spiritual needs are met within the context of absolute truth, redemptive guidance and a sense of well-being in tune with God.
We do not need a sewer society. The world? Who needs it?
We Do Not Want To Be Part of a Sewer Society
We do not want it because we have tried it, and it failed to bring fulfillment
and meaning to our lives. Temporary pleasures turned out to be like saltwater
to a thirsty man. Now, we have found the pure springs of living water
that satisfy the deepest longing of our souls.
We do not want it because we have seen the consequences in those who have chosen to live in it. The sewer society is the society of death...the death of hope, the death of relationships, the death of true joy.
To the contrary, the child of God has discovered life and that more abundant. Goodbye to death. We have found Christ — the resurrection and the life.
John A. Muhanji is the Finance Director, AQUAVIS, Kenya, Africa.
Copyright (c) 2002 Friends United Meeting
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