God's Use of Atheists

Thank God for This Atheist, the article reads: http://bit.ly/9OVTnA

Nice article. I like Cupp, heck I even follower her on Twitter (the fact that she is drop dead gorgeous and has green eyes [they look green to me] and looks crazy, sweet, awesome in green, and that green is my favorite color has absolutely nothing to do with that...honestly).

But, seriously, the article misses the point by talking about something that's irrelevant; Man’s concept of religion. Although, I can understand S.E.’s journey to atheism; namely New Age Buddhism and Catholicism (yeah, I have a BIG problem with the Catholic Church).

Am I “shocked” that S.E. Cupp, an atheist, defends Christianity? Yeah, about as shocked as Captain Louis Renault discovered that there was gambling going on in Rick Blaine’s joint. (http://bit.ly/cLX3KM) No, I’m not “shocked”.

You need to understand that belief in Christ is relational, not religious. It’s personal, not “group think”. And, yes, there is a difference between fellowship and group think; fellowship is getting together to strengthen and renew yourself and others by sharing what God has done in your life or how He used you to help someone else or seeking prayer from or for your fellow Brothers-and-Sisters-in-Christ, whereas group think is just getting together to agree on what talking points you were fed during the week from the “Main Stream Media”. Contrary to popular belief we Christians are allowed to think for ourselves, that’s why God repeatedly reminds us that our choices have consequences (Galatians 6:7-8, James 3:1-12) I know that across this great land of ours LibProgs are going to take a face plant into the ground when they read this, but God calls that “personal responsibility”.

But I digress.

Throughout the Bible God has used all kinds of people to fulfill His purpose. God used Nebuchadnezzar, the proud Babylonian King; Rahab, the prostitute, who also happens to be in Christ’s genealogy (Matthew 1:1-17, key verse 5); God used Haman an enemy of the Jews to dispense with all of the Jews enemies at the time (read Esther), and the list goes on.

So, what am I saying? S.E. is not devoid of or removed from the influence of God. Most hardcore atheists I’ve ever seen despise God on every conceivable and non-conceivable level; they have nothing positive to say about Christ let alone defend Him. Not so with S.E. She has knowledge of the Scriptures as she has a master’s degree in religious studies. Good Navy Gravy, the woman wanted to be a nun at one point, so she's not oblivious to God working in her life. Whether a person believes in God or not, once you read the Bible the seed of the reality of who God really is, is being planted firmly in your heart. From there people can choose to twist who God is in their minds (Romans 1:21) but it won’t change who God really is because He never changes (James 1:17).

Look at this Scripture:

“John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.” “Don’t stop him!” Jesus said. “No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.” ~Mark 9:38-40 (NLT)

Did you catch that? There was someone doing good…outside the Christian group. Jesus said whoever is not against us…is for us. And, preceding that Christ said, I’m paraphrasing, anyone doing good in His name will not for long be able to speak ill of him. And there’s another Scripture that says; “So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.” ~I Corinthians 12:3 (NLT)

In short, don’t think God won’t use an atheist to fulfill His Will. S.E. has the Spirit of Christ upon her right now, but don’t misunderstand why that is. It’s not just so she can write books in defense of Christianity, that may only be a byproduct of God's real purpose; to call S.E. to Himself.

And if that be true, I have only these few things to say to S.E.: 1) don’t conclude who Christ is by the Christian; conclude who Christians should be by Christ. 2) Anyone can say they are a Christian, that doesn’t make them a Christian (James 1:22, Matthew 7:22-23) and most importantly 3) No one can save you but faith in Christ alone. Salvation is personal between you and God. Don’t let any Christian tell you they are trying to “save” you. They couldn’t even save themselves, let alone you. If God ever puts the desire to know Him in your heart, drop the religion thing from man’s point of view as all it will do is put you at odds with Him. He wants to know you personally (I cannot stress that enough, it’s PERSONAL).

Like I said, good article, but it ain’t about religion, it’s about Christ.

God’s take on man’s concept of religion:

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” ~James 1:27 (NLT)

“What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the Lord? ‘No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.’” ~Isaiah 58:4-6 (NLT)

"And so the Lord says, 'These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote." ~Isaiah 29:13 (NLT)

"So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, 'Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.' Jesus replied, 'You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.' For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.' Then he said, 'You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition. For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others." ~Mark 7:5-13

So, yeah, God's not a big fan of man's concept of religion.

In closing, God can use S.E. Cupp or anyone else He pleases to get the Word out about Christ. So, speak on you, look-hot-in-green, Conservative woman you. And, may the LORD, Himself, continue to use you for His glory.

In Christ, for Christ,
ComissionerG