[b]Plastic Owls[/b] by: Jim N.
1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power
As I got out of my car at Starbucks this morning I noticed an owl on top of the roof of the adjoining strip mall. For a second I thought I had stumbled on an [exciting] rare find for a well developed suburban area. How often do I see an owl on my way to work I thought, as my heart smiled at the rarity of the situation. This all took place in about one seconds time when I suddenly noticed that their were birds flying all around the owl. Perhaps I had stumbled across something even rarer yet, had I found an owl who traveled with an entourage of smaller birds that just happened to be resting on the roof above me?
Then I remembered that I had seen this owl here once before, and he was sitting in the exact position that he was last time I saw him. OK, its just a plastic owl set up there to keep the birds from nesting and making a mess. My bubble was bursted so to speak, but the Lord used this momentary delusion to speak something very real into me.
Despite the well thought out attempt to keep the birds away with this VERY realistic looking owl, the birds soon caught on to this imitation and realized that it had no POWER to actually harm them. In fact, the birds seem to have gone as far as to poop on the plastic owl, let alone being frightened away by him.
How much of our supposed christianity today is a plastic owl, it has the outward appearance of the real thing but it lacks the power of the real deal. The apostle Paul warned that in the last days a form of antichrist religion would fashion itself much like the real thing but would lack the reality of the power of God. Havent we seen this happening all over North and South America brothers and sisters?
Do you think the devil is fooled by our Sunday morning religious gatherings. Do you think all hell shutters as millions gathered supposedly in the name of "jesus" on Sunday mornings? Not even close. The devil is not fooled, and neither are our youth. That is why we have to entertain them into the door, because we lack the power of the Holy Spirit within our counterfeit religious institutions. They know mom and dad are loaded down with secret sin, they dont see mom and dad selling their possessions and feeding the poor. All they see is hypocrisy, emotional godless worship and 8% of the people writing their tithe checks, most of which do it because they expect a big fat payback from God in return. (Thank you Andrew Strom for that last thought)
What an abomination. What about you, do you have the resurrection power of Jesus Christ flowing through your life or do you worship the American, evangelical, plastic owl "jesus" that has been carefully fashioned to attract crowds but has ended up being nothing more then a mockable laughter and absurdity when compared to the true living God.
Has your religous bubble been bursted yet? Have you seen how powerless the "how to cope" and "how to live your best life now" teachings are? I urge you to lay down all of your sin, all of your selfish ambitions, the strings of mammon on your life and ask God to take every last bit of your being and use it for His glory. The call of Christ is the same today as it was 2000 years ago, lay down everything, pick up your cross (deny your flesh) daily, and follow Him. Can you imagine the horror of standing before the real Jesus on judgement day, still dead in your sins, and having worshipped a plastic owl jesus all of your life.
The one true risen Christ is worthy to be followed and He will never let you down. Will you give up everything to follow Him?
_________________ Patrick Ersig
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