Every one of us has, at one time or another, been infected by a virus. I’ve never actually seen one because of their tiny size. I’ve been told it takes an electron microscope to view them, but I’ve had a good number of viral infections over the years.

From what I’ve read, a virus does its dirty work by attaching itself to a healthy cell and replacing the cell’s genetic makeup with its own. When enough cells have had their genetic makeup altered or replaced by the virus, an infection occurs — whether it be a cold, the flu or some other sickness.

Thankfully, our bodies usually fight off those infections and we recover. When our bodies don’t or can’t, even the smallest viral infections can lead to serious illness or death.

The way in which a virus does its work is much like the way in which Biblical truth is undermined in churches. The father of lies (John 8:44) comes with little falsehoods, small doctrinal errors, subtle compromises of the Scriptural doctrine. And like a virus, these errors are injected into and replace the “genetic” makeup of sound Biblical words and doctrine. Thus, infected churches may appear to have a solid confession of the truth and use all the right words, but the inner meanings of those words and the message have changed.

Should we be surprised? Jesus said (Matt. 7:15-16): “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.”

A doctrinal error doesn’t come with a poison label attached or a warning that it may cause spiritual illness or death. It comes appearing as the truth. Outwardly, it appears to be the same truth taught in the Bible; but inside, it’s different and damaging to our soul’s health!

To diagnose a viral infection, doctors have to look deeper than what they can see with their eyes, or even with an office microscope. So also, Christians need to look deeper than the outward appearance.

What do I mean? In any Christian church, you will hear words like God, Christ, gospel, resurrection, life, repentance, faith, etc. But Christians need to look under the surface of these words to determine what is meant when they are spoken. Is it the Biblical meaning, or has a new meaning been injected into the old terminology?

As a Lutheran, I could attend almost any Lutheran church and see and hear many of the outward forms of the Biblical Christian Faith; but if I keep listening and examining things more deeply, I may learn that the god being worshiped is not necessarily the one true God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — revealed in the Bible. I may hear preachers speak of Christ but later learn that the Christ of the Bible has been replaced by a less-than-divine Jesus who never claimed to be the Son of God and really didn’t work mighty miracles or rise bodily from the dead on the third day. I may hear a minister speak of preaching the gospel but find out that the gospel he (or she) is preaching is none other than what Jesus says are the greatest commandments of the law — love for God and love for neighbor (Matthew 22:35-40). I may hear of the resurrection and later learn it only refers to some sort of spiritual awakening or resurrection experience. I may hear Bible words like propitiation and atonement but later discover that something other than Jesus’ sacrificial death for the sins of the world is meant.

To some, what I’m saying may sound far-fetched, but I’ve encountered it again and again and even in what many consider a very conservative synod or church body. And this “viral” infection is not only found within Lutheran churches and synods; it has spread to almost all Christian denominations and church bodies.

It’s no longer enough to be satisfied if we hear sound words being spoken; we need to look underneath the “sheep’s clothing” and find out if a wolf is hiding behind the “good words and fair speeches” which “deceive the hearts of the simple” (Rom. 16:18). To let this viral infection go unchecked can quickly result in death for our souls.

What should we hear in Christian churches? We should hear the clear and plain teaching of the Bible, the very Word of God — nothing more and nothing less. We should be taught of the one God of the Bible who is three persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We should hear of our failures to keep God’s law and the condemnation God’s law lays upon us because of our failures to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. And we should hear the true gospel — that God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son to become true man that He might fulfill all that God’s law demands of us and bear the just punishment for our sins and the sins of the whole world by His innocent sufferings and death upon the cross. We should hear and be assured of the fact that God reaches out to us and offers us mercy solely because of Jesus’ death and glorious resurrection on the third day. We should hear that God forgives, justifies and accepts us as His own dear children, not by our own works and religious service, but through faith alone in the shed blood of Jesus. And we should hear that Jesus is coming again to judge this world and will receive all who trust in Him to the eternal joys of His everlasting kingdom but will also condemn all who do not repent and believe in Him to the eternal torments of hell.

The devil will seek to inject a new understanding and a different doctrine into the life-giving words of the Bible; but we must expose his lies, fight off his infections and “hold fast the form of sound words” which we have learned from God’s book, the Bible (2 Tim. 1:13).

“Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” Psalm 100

It is sad how few truly know and recognize the truth expressed by this ancient psalm.

In spite of what we may think, Jehovah is God. He always has been and always will be.

He made us; we did not make ourselves, nor are we the product of some chance evolutionary process. Not only did the Almighty God create the first man and woman (Genesis 1-2), He caused each and every one of us to be conceived in our mothers’ wombs and He created and formed us there (cf. Psalm 139:13-16). Our lives are not our own. We are indeed “His people and the sheep of His pasture.”

We have every reason to “enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise” – every reason to “be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.” Why? Because “The LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.”

Think about it! Are we deserving of His care and blessing? Does He owe it to us to give us our families, our jobs, our food and our health?

When we consider how we have rebelled against Him and so often set aside His commandments, we truly deserve only His wrath and eternal punishment! Yet, He is merciful to us and continues to give us all that we need to support our bodies and lives.

In His mercy, God also gave us His own Son, Jesus Christ, to obey His commandments in our place, and to suffer and die for our sins and then rise again from the dead on the third day. For Jesus’ sake, the LORD God reaches out to us in the Gospel with mercy. He graciously calls us to repent and turn to Him for forgiveness and life everlasting through faith in Christ and His blood which was shed on the cross to atone for the sins of all (cf. Isaiah 55:1-7; 2 Peter 3:9; Matthew 11:28-30).

And we can be thankful, too, that “His truth endureth to all generations.” His Word, the Bible, has not been lost or corrupted through the ages as some assume (cf. Matthew 24:14,35; 1 Peter 1:25). He has preserved it as a witness to all people of all time of His goodness and mercy toward us in creating and redeeming us. His Word continues, even yet today, to teach us to know and trust in the LORD God who made us and sent His Son to die for us and redeem us (cf. 2 Timothy 3:14-17; Psalm 119:105). Through the Bible, we learn who the true God is. We learn His holy will for us, and we see our utter sinfulness. But we also learn of His love and mercy toward us for the sake of Jesus Christ and His innocent sufferings and death in our stead. We learn of forgiveness of sins and life everlasting through faith in Jesus’ name (cf. Romans 1:16-17; 3:19-26).

This Thanksgiving and every day, let us do as the psalm enjoins us: “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”

We thank You, dear heavenly Father, for Your goodness and mercy toward us for Jesus’ sake. We praise and bless Your holy name. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.]

“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:12-14 (Read v. 9-23)

How is it that you and I, rebellious sinners by birth, were made meet (or fit) to be “partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light”? How is it that God the Father could translate us from the kingdom and power of darkness into the kingdom of His own dear Son? How is it that our sins could be pardoned and forgiven?

We find the answer in St. Paul’s letter to the believers at Colosse. It is because of the redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, when He suffered and died upon the cross.

The inspired Word tells us that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (v.15-18).

Jesus is God Himself in the flesh, the eternal Son of God and the Creator of all things who took upon Himself our nature and became a true man (cf. John 1:1-5, 14-18; Hebrews 1:1-3; 2:14-17). And, as our Redeemer and the firstborn from among the dead, He is the head of the church.

And, “it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (v. 19-20).

God’s only-begotten Son became true man that He might take our place under God’s law and fulfill all righteousness for us, and He took the guilt and just punishment of our sins and the sins of the world that He might appease God’s wrath and satisfy the just demands of God’s law against us sinners.

God the Father made peace through the blood of Jesus’ cross (aorist active participle), in order to reconcile (aorist active infinitive) all things unto himself, whether in earth or in heaven.

“And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight…” (v. 21-22, again using the aorist tense). The salvation and reconciliation of believers to God always go back to the cross of Christ Jesus and what He accomplished for all there when he offered up Himself as a sacrifice for sin.

This applied to the believers at Colosse, and it applies to us, as well (cf. Rom. 3:19-26; Eph. 2:11-18). In our natural state, from conception and birth onward (cf. Ps. 51:5), we were in rebellion against God and living in death because of our disobedience and sin (cf. Eph. 2:1ff.). But God, in His grace and mercy, sent to us His Word and brought us to see our lost and sinful condition under the law and to see, through the preaching of the Gospel, Christ Jesus our Savior, the Lamb of God who shed His blood on the cross and made atonement for the sins of the world (John 1:29)! Thus we, who are rebellious sinners by birth and separated from the family of God by our sins, are reconciled to God when we trust in the atoning and reconciling sacrifice of Christ Jesus – the satisfaction rendered by God’s own dear Son when He suffered and died upon the cross for our sins and the sins of all mankind.

When Christ Jesus, God the Son and true man, fulfilled all righteousness for us and died on the cross for our sins and rose again in victory, the redemption price was paid, satisfaction was rendered, peace with God was won. And this was done that lost and condemned sinners might look to Jesus in faith and be pardoned, forgiven, justified, counted righteous, holy, unblameable and unreproveable in God’s sight.

And how are they forgiven, pardoned, counted righteous, holy, unblameable and unreproveable in God’s sight? How is it that you and I, rebellious sinners by birth, are made meet to be “partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light”? It is through faith in Christ (cf. Rom. 3:19-26; Eph. 2:8-9; John 3:16; 5:24). And St. Paul says the same here: “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister” (v. 23).

Through the redemption accomplished by Christ and through the preaching of the Gospel, God the Father has made us “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” He has “delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”

We thank and praise You, O Christ, for redeeming us and bringing us to know and trust in You for forgiveness and life everlasting. Preserve us in this true and saving faith unto life everlasting. Amen.

[Scripture quoted from the King James Version of the Bible]

“While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further? As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.” Mark 5:35-36 (Read v. 21-43)

Do things ever seem beyond hope? Have you ever prayed for the Lord’s help only to have things go from bad to worse, with no intervention in sight?

Think how Jairus must have felt when he sought Jesus to come to his house and heal his 12-year-old daughter who was ill and near to death. While on the way, with crowds pressing in upon Jesus, a woman with a flow of blood touches his garment and is healed, and Jesus stops to speak with her. Jairus had hope – faith, whether strong or weak – that if Jesus would just get there in time and lay His hands upon his daughter, she would be healed. But then the bad news came. It was too late. His daughter had died! Why bother Jesus – “the Teacher” – any longer?

But note what Jesus did as soon as He heard those discouraging words. He gave Jairus words of hope, words upon which his faith could rest: “Be not afraid, only believe.” Rather than letting Jairus give up all hope, Jesus called upon him not to be afraid but to believe!

The Scripture record tells us what happened next. Jesus arrived and, accompanied by His inner circle of disciples, He puts out those weeping and mourning over the girl’s death, saying she’s not dead but sleeping. They laugh at Him, knowing she’s dead. They had no hope.

Then Jesus takes hold of the child’s hand and speaks to her the words: “Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise” (v. 41). The Scriptures tell us: “And straightway the damsel arose, and walked” (v. 42).

We may see no hope. We may think it is too late for God to intervene. We may even consider our sins too great and think there is no help for us. But Jesus says, “Be not afraid, only believe”

Cannot the God who created and still sustains all things help us in every time of trouble? We remember the words of the prophet in Jeremiah 32:17: “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee” (Cf. Ps. 50:15.).

And need we give up hope of salvation? Jesus died for our sins and rose again (1 Cor. 15:3,4). He suffered our just punishment and paid the price. Jesus will be our judge, but He is also the same one who died on the cross and paid in full for our sins and the sins of the world and rose again. The Bible comforts us: “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Rom. 8:34; cf. 1 John 2:1-2). And Jesus says to us, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

There is still hope, no matter how hopeless all may appear. Rather than giving up in despair, trust Jesus. “Be not afraid, only believe.”

O dearest Jesus, Son of God and my Savior, grant that I not despair and be afraid, even when all appears hopeless, but trust in You and in the everlasting salvation You won for me by Your death upon the cross and your glorious resurrection. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.]