The Church That Will Not Burn
By Rob Hood (02/19/06)
I am sad to hear of the awful church burnings going on in the great state of Alabama these days and my heart goes out to those fellow Christians whose sanctuary has been destroyed by someone who does not understand what they are doing. The arsonists simply do not understand that they are not burning churches, they are burning man-made houses of worship. The church is the people that meet in those houses, not the buildings themselves.
Take a look at what Jesus told Peter about the church lasting forever : "You are Peter and on this Rock, I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it" ( Matthew 16:18). Jesus is the head of the church, not a preacher or a priest. He does offer the gift of salvation and forgiveness to all. While the people responsible for these Alabama church fires may not like what the church stands for, it will not die because one day Jesus will return to gather his people and to proclaim judgment on the nations of the world.
While these church burnings are devastating to the members, we must also remember to do what Jesus would have done and that would be to forgive. However, Jesus would not like people desecrating the house of God as we read in the story of Jesus chasing the money changers from the temple in Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11: 12-19, and Luke 19: 45-48. I feel that these arsonists can't run forever. Sooner or later they will get caught and even if they never get caught here on earth, God knows who they are and they will have to answer to those fires one day when they face Him. If they repent, then they will be forgiven by God, but the State of Alabama might not be so forgiving.
While these buildings burn and are destroyed , we have to remember that the real power lies in the people, not the sanctuary. No one has the might, power, or authority to destroy souls or to take away salvation. That is the one thing that mere mortal man cannot touch. These churches will be rebuilt here on earth, but one day God's people will go home to a paradise that no evil can touch. What a day that will be when we can live in peace with no fear of death, sickness, or any other form of illness and live without fear of what "man" can do to us. There will be no more fighting, no more war, no more tears, no more pain ever again. Those things that Satan put upon us in the Garden of Eden will be lifted and the devil and his followers will never have the powers to harm another living soul again. The devil had his death warrant signed when Jesus died on the cross and rose again the third day. Death was defeated and so was evil. It remains only temporarily, but one day when we see Him coming, we will know that the end of evil is at hand.
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