The two best and worst places to be, happen to be the same places!? Now I know when I mention these two places you will say; I know a better place or places than those. What makes these places the best, is circumstances and understanding of their importance. What makes them the worst is circumstances and your lack of understanding of their importance. With that, let's get started.
Two days ago I spoke with a very close friend who had been taken to the hospital with pneumonia. It made me glad that he was getting help (which he recovered) but I then felt an overwhelming sense of concern. My bride has been in the health care industry for about fifteen years and has told me horror stories. Forbes magazine did an article in April entitled; The Most Dangerous Place in The World. There are many documented articles of hospital incompetence, but we can say that about any field. The problem is that when you are taken to the hospital people expect perfection or at least extra precautions, however, there is a greater threat to patients, it is germs and disease. Especially in very populated cities, these super germs are resilient to most and possibly all forms of penicillin. That is one reason why hospitals try to get you out as soon as they can, why outpatient surgery has become more popular.
Two days ago I spoke with a very close friend who had been taken to the hospital with pneumonia. It made me glad that he was getting help (which he recovered) but I then felt an overwhelming sense of concern. My bride has been in the health care industry for about fifteen years and has told me horror stories. Forbes magazine did an article in April entitled; The Most Dangerous Place in The World. There are many documented articles of hospital incompetence, but we can say that about any field. The problem is that when you are taken to the hospital people expect perfection or at least extra precautions, however, there is a greater threat to patients, it is germs and disease. Especially in very populated cities, these super germs are resilient to most and possibly all forms of penicillin. That is one reason why hospitals try to get you out as soon as they can, why outpatient surgery has become more popular.
I just want to say, before we get to the next best and worst place, that I respect and have a strong affinity for health care professionals. As a retired Law Enforcement Officer, we closely interacted with them from paramedics (thank the Lord for them) to ER Staff. I went to the ER as a patient several times because of work. Again, when you are hurt or need serious medical procedures, there is not a better place to be!
That brings us to the second, or should I say other best and worst place and you guessed it (if you know me at all) and that is the Church! Now as the best place, that SHOULD be obvious, but let me address a major misconception - IT IS NOT GOD's HOUSE! Oh, we call it that, but God doesn't dwell there and wait for us to come in. In the Old Testament, God dwelt in the Tabernacle (Exodus 15:17) which He had very specific instructions to its construction (Exodus 36:8-38).
The New Testament dwelling place of God was His Son Jesus (John 14:10) (Revelation 21:22). God now dwells with His people by treating them as the temple and dwelling in them directly. God dwells in His church (corporately) (I Cor. 3.16) and in each individual Christian (I Cor. 6.19). The question you should be asking is what makes this a "worst' place? There are three types of people in any church congregation;
1.) BELIEVERS
2.) UNBELIEVERS
3,) MAKE-BELIEVERS
To be in the presence of God, via His Holy Spirit and not be moved to repent or changed by the Cross of Christ and Jesus' spilled blood for the remission of your sins, quite frankly is scary! I remember an Old Pastor of mine told me about a major revival in the early 20th Century which lasted several weeks. God was moving dynamically, yet there were people sitting in the pews that fell asleep of boredom. The real danger is two-fold; the first thinking I am now Saved and have made it. Salvation is not an end, it is just the beginning! My favorite Bible teacher asks; How many of you are saved? Ok, what have you done with it? What a question! How convicting! The second part is the make-believer. This is typically someone who thinks they are saved but is a false convert. Read the Six Signs of a False Conversion.
"When considering the possibility of a false conversion it is important to understand that there are hundreds of millions of people who sincerely believe that they are true followers of God and many of these same people have dedicated their lives to doing good works. However, sincerity in a belief system and doing good works does not equate to conversion, because true conversion is a process through which a person enters the Sovereign Father's holy family and nation."
There is, of course, another reason for make-believers and that is they are enemies of Jesus. You figure out who or whom that might be...
Blessings
ernie
