Christianity's Biggest Threat

"He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague stopped." Numbers 16: 48

If I were to ask you what you thought Christianity's greatest threat is, what would you say? The devil? ISIS? While those things are coming hard against Christianity, they are not our biggest threat.

Please take a minute and read the Scripture I've posted here: Numbers 16:42-48 (NLT)

42 As the community gathered to protest against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Tabernacle and saw that the cloud had covered it, and the glorious presence of the Lord appeared.

43 Moses and Aaron came and stood in front of the Tabernacle, 44 and the Lord said to Moses, 45 “Get away from all these people so that I can instantly destroy them!” But Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground.

46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Quick, take an incense burner and place burning coals on it from the altar. Lay incense on it, and carry it out among the people to purify them and make them right with the Lord.[a]The Lord’s anger is blazing against them—the plague has already begun.”

47 Aaron did as Moses told him and ran out among the people. The plague had already begun to strike down the people, but Aaron burned the incense and purified[b] the people. 48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague stopped.

I wanted the last verse to stand out, so I highlighted it at the top, but without the context, it didn't make sense.

Aaron stood between the living and the dead. Literally. The plague God unleashed on them started taking it's toll.

(On a side note here, this is the Old Testament. God was having to set boundaries and dealing with issues of His people. This is not how He operates on a normal bases. All you have to do is look at Jesus and all He did in the New Testament to see God's character. The Old Testament is here to teach us certain things, while in turn the New Testament shows us how to live like Jesus did.)

OK... moving on.... You and I are standing between the living and the dead every day. The living are Christians who are fully surrendered to Christ. The dead are the unbelievers.

Here is a paragraph from Prophetic Evangelism by Sean Smith that I want to share with you:

"As the story goes, a plague hit because the people had turned and gathered themselves against Moses. Aaron had the choice to remain safe back in the church house. Francis Schaeffer, the great Christian thinker, predicted that the greatest threat to the cause of Christ would be if we became a nation filled with Christians whose goal in life was personal peace and prosperity."

We can't just sit back while the plague of non-Christianity consumes people. We shouldn't just be concerned with our personal peace and prosperity. If that is our only concern, we are not doing what God called us to. This has really touched my heart, because we need to realize that Jesus' Great Commission was not a suggestion. 

God says HE has a plan for our life, and it's a plan to prosper us. We don't have to figure that out ourselves.

Another thing Smith writes that is just amazing to me is this:

"The single greatest need for Christianity is for us to have what Aaron had in that moment: the explosive compassion that says, "I'm going to run out in the midst. I'm going to stand with the living and the dead."

Are you compassionate about telling people that God loves them? Or do you think you are supposed to tell them how wrong they are living?

Do you realize that telling someone they are living wrong is us judging them, and that's not our place?

I know, I know, you are going to tell me, "But Jill, the Bible says..." Yeah, the Bible says a lot of things. And there are 10 commandments to follow, along with the other commissions that Jesus put into place.

BUT it's our job to tell people that God loves them. Period. No matter what. Not to tell them that they are living wrong.

The greatest threat to Christianity is when we just look inward, and sit in our little Christian bubble not loving on people. We are called to love. Sometimes that's all a person needs.

Why do we hoard God's love for ourselves? Don't we realize that He loves everyone?

I mean, John 3:16 tells us that God loved the WORLD, so He sent His Son to die for it.

It's my prayer that you won't let Christianity be threatened anymore! Tell someone Jesus loves them and help them learn what that looks like. Invite someone to church. There are still so many people who don't know the Lord.

God bless you today and always!