Pastor’s Thoughts

The “C” Word

Echoing God's Love, Charles Mills

John 8:32, And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Satan hates God, a fact that shouldn’t come as a big surprise to anyone. Because of this well-known fact, we shouldn’t be shocked at the lengths to which evil stoops to undermine the truth about the Almighty.

Recently my mother went to the doctor for some tests, something you do often when you’re pushing 70. Needles pricked, machines swirled, computers hummed, and lab technicians gazed into microscopes. Before long, someone called my parents into the office to hear the results.

“Looks pretty good,” the doctor said, “eyeing my mother’s CAT scan on the wall- mounted light box. He leaned forward for a better look. So did my mom and dad.

“There’s a little scarring here,” the physician stated as his pencil crept along the glowing image. “This is nothing. And this is nothing. This is cancer. This is nothing. And this is cancer.”

The hearts of both my parents stopped mid-beat. They looked at each other, unable to speak. The doctor had said the C word . . . twice, without explanation.

Sensing their anguish, the man smiled. “Oh, those tumors are slow developers,” he said, pointing at the smudges on the scan. “You’ll die of old age long before they become a problem. Besides, even if they do act up, we can zap ‘em with radiation. They’re really nothing to be concerned about.”

Two extremely relieved people called me later with the report and the story of their trauma.

What the doctor did through insensitivity Satan does by design. In describing our heavenly Father, he tosses out words like judgment, hell, and death. “God will judge you worthless,” he taunts, “and bring about your untimely death. Then he’ll throw you into an ever-burning hell!”

The doctor who frightened my parents that day in his office understood cancer far better than his patient. He knew that not all outbreaks of the dreaded disease caused immediate suffering and death. His experience had shown him, time and time again, that medical science can stop many forms of cancer completely. So when he mumbled, “This is cancer . . . this is cancer,” he wasn’t trying to cause a coronary in my parents. He was just stating a fact, to him, that was harmless.

But Satan is different. When he speaks, he purposefully hides the real truth behind his words. He’s trying to frighten us. And he succeeds with devastating regularity as demonstrated by the misconceptions about God heralded from churches, synagogues, and mosques around the world. We hear of a cold, vengeful Deity who delights in causing suffering for those who aren’t good enough, penitent enough, or even rich enough.

In the pages of the Bible, however, we discover a completely different God, a Being who loves and forgives and saves, a Shepherd searching endlessly for lost sheep. We also find that judgment secures our salvation, hell is the result of our choices, not God’s, and final victory swallows up even death.

If you want to know the truth about God, stand at the foot of the cross. That’s where you’ll meet Him. And that’s where the lies and innuendos of Satan vanish.

Thank You, Pastor Grant