Mocking God

It's done by Hollywood types and people in the entertainment industry. It's also done by bitter atheist and by people who are not Christians and think it is silly to believe. What am I referring to? It's called mocking God and the Bible warns against doing it. But when a person doesn't believe what the Bible says or believes it is a book of ancient fairy tales, then they don't care what it says. The definition of mock/mocking is:- to treat with contempt or ridicule  So, what does the Bible say about mocking God?

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.   Gal 6:7-8

Sowing to the flesh can be understood as living for yourself and not having any concern for God or others. This person is only interested in themselves and getting all they can get for them. It's satisfying what they want and doing for them first and then, maybe others. But God isn't even on the horizon of their life picture.

For the Christian who is sowing to the Spirit, is living his/her life for God, doing the things that please God. They are working at building His kingdom by telling others about Him. They are serving the needs of others first and themselves second. God is always first in their life and it's for Him they live.

Now, I know to those who are not saved, this sounds absolutely crazy. But it sounds crazy because they don't know God and haven't put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. That's why it sounds crazy. (1 Cor 2:14) But for those of us who know Jesus and are saved, it becomes natural for us to want to serve Jesus and others. (and for those who don't know, Jesus is God)

Some people who are not saved and might not want anything to do with God, they can be down right nasty when it comes to talking about God. As I said above, some in the entertainment business enjoy mocking God and even get a lot of laughs from it by others who don't believe. They think it's funny to tell foul jokes about God or openly mock His being. They make up jokes about God and Noah, God and Moses and worst are the ones about Jesus on the cross.

Others are angry when mocking God. They are always quick to ask the question following a catastrophe, "Where was God when this happened?" or "Why would God allow this to happen?" God gets the blame but never gets the credit for things which are great in their lives. Oh, by the way, God was right there. God is sovereign and does not cause evil to happen but will allow it for reasons only He knows. And, who are we to question God? Read the last few chapters of Job and learn how God answered Job when he questioned God. Those who are unsaved and don't really know Jesus personally can never understand anything about God. Of course, there are those who are saved and don't know what they should about God and ask some serious questions. And, God would answer them as He did Job, more than likely.

If you have ever heard some of the more prominent atheist speak in general, they never pass on an opportunity to mock God in an attempt to steal His work from Him, particularly the creation. But their mocking, in general shows their lack of reason, such as the following from Richard Dawkins,

Faith is belief without evidence and reason; coincidentally that's also the definition of delusion.

He says that faith is belief without evidence and reason; really! The evidence is overwhelming for those who approach it with an open mind and are willing to reason through it. As an example, one question: Why would the twelve disciples of Jesus endure the torture and beatings and suffering and finally death, just to keep telling an untruth? The answer is simple, it was true and there were over 500 people, at one time, who saw the resurrected Jesus. This is historical information and to claim otherwise is simply a mockery of God.

Stephen Hawking went to his death, just recently, denying the existence of God and putting his belief in a fairy tale of exaggerated science. What I mean by that is God created everything and that includes the science we know. Some have taken the theory known as evolution and have persuaded many to believe it is fact when it has never been proven again and again as is required for all scientific fact. Then, there is the Big Bang and I won't even get into that. The point here is this, God's existence is seen everywhere. When we look at the science of this world, how can we not see the miracles of God at work? Dive into a medical book on anatomy and research the human body and the parts and the cells and everything and how it is all put together and lives. There is no way this happened through evolution, just no way. But when people say it is real and God is a fairy tale, that is mocking God.

So, it is evident that those who don't believe in God mock Him and His existence but what about those who say they believe? Yes, they do mock God and who He really is but not in the same manner as the nonbelievers. Allow me to give you some examples. The prosperity teachers claim God wants them, and us, to be rich, financially wealthy. They fly around in private jets which cost up to and more than $100,000 dollars. They buy their wives $200,000 automobiles and don't flinch or try to hide it when asked. They walk around the platform at the front of the church with thousands of dollars worth of clothing on and are not even shy about admitting it. Some are very boastful about it. They take passages from God's word and twist them to meet this false doctrine of theirs and that is mocking God.

Someone might ask, "Where does all the money come from?" It comes from the people in these churches who have been duped into believing they too can be extremely wealthy if they only have faith. This is a lie. It's that simple. They are deceived into believing that the more they give, the more they will receive. God is not the great sugar daddy in the sky who gives us whatever we want when we tell Him. He's not a multilevel marketing scheme either. Paul tells Timothy that the love of money is the root of all evil. Allow me to give the passage as Paul speaks it in 1 Tim 6:9-10,

But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

This passage does not condemn those who are wealthy and understand who God is and what it means to serve Him in the way He expects. No, this is a warning to those who burn with a passion for riches and wealth. It is a stumbling block for those who seek it above their relationship with Jesus. But many in these churches have been deceived into believing this is what God wants for them. There is no place in scripture where God tells us He wants us to be monetarily wealthy. It's just not there. These false teachers have taken God's word and twisted it to say what they want it to say as they pass these lies on to their followers.

In a secular news article about these men, the reporter approached Kenneth Copeland, who has been preaching this nonsense for years, about his need for a private jet. His response was one of the worst answers and statements I have ever heard. Here are some of his replies to why flying commercial is not for him.

“You can’t manage that today, in this dope-filled world, get in a long tube with a bunch of demons,” “And it’s deadly.” 

 When asked if he really thought people are demons, he responded with this,

“No I do not, and don’t you ever say I did,” Copeland responded, visibly perturbed. He added, “It’s a biblical thing, it’s a spiritual thing, it doesn’t have anything to do with people. People? I love people. Jesus loves people. But people get pushed in alcohol. Do you think that’s a good place for a preacher to be and prepare to preach?”

I have always approached flying commercial, the only way I can fly, as an opportunity to possibly reach one of these people Copeland appears to be afraid of. There is a whole bunch of these guys who (the Word Faith and NAR guys/prosperity preachers) who claim it is an absolute necessity to have their own private jet and more recently, it seems they all have to buy their wives a $200,000 car. One was seen on the platform with a pair of $4000 sneakers on. Really? What's the point? Is a flaunting the fact that he has the money to waste on a pair of sneakers? To act this way and to conduct God's business this way is making a mockery of God.

Now, I don't claim to know where these people's hearts are with God and I would never attempt to guess but conducting any ministry, which attaches God's name to it, like this is not good. Some could fall into the following,

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’     Matt 7:21-23

The mocking of God comes in all different types of forms and ways. When I hear or read what some of these people say about God, I cringe. I have to remind myself to pray for those who might be caught up in a prosperity teaching, working three jobs in an attempt to have God satisfied with their faith in becoming wealthy. Again, another form of mockery. And, for those nonbelievers who find it so easy and enjoyable to say those foul and nasty things about God, they need prayer for their salvation.

For the atheist who can't help but make fun of the 'sky god' and all the naïve Christians who have been 'brainwashed' into believing the fairy tale, they, too, need prayer for their salvation. Two of the most brilliant Christian minds of the last century, E. Wilder Smith and C.S. Lewis, were both saved out of atheism. So, just because an atheist is mocking God and enjoying it doesn't mean he/she is not in God's sights and being prepared for salvation.

And finally, the Apostle Paul himself, was a mocker of Jesus Christ. He hated believers of Jesus and rounded them up and tossed them into prison. In this process, he was not only persecuting the follows of Jesus, and Jesus Himself, but in do so, He was mocking Jesus and who He was, the Son of God.

We must be very careful, as Christians, how we conduct ourselves in our daily Christian lives. It is so easy to fall into the trap of slighting God and what He has done for us. When we intentionally engage in sin, we are telling God we don't care what He has done for us. I'm not talking about those times when we sin unknowingly or without thought. When we slip, we ask God to forgive us and He does. But when we know what we are going to do is sin, we are mocking God and telling Him, " I know it's wrong but I'm going to do it anyway." Have we even given any thought to Jesus' suffering before and on the cross? If we did, we would not proceed but when we do, we are openly mocking what Jesus did for us on that cross. Remember how the definition described mock/mocking? Treat with contempt or ridicule; is this the way we want to treat Jesus? Is this how we honor and praise Him?