The Unknown God

Acts 17:22-25

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

“Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.” Acts 17:22-23a

The Epicureans and Stoics governed over the Areopagus [Mars Hill] and considered themselves anything other than religious, as described in the previous post on Acts 17:19-21. At the same time, they had a god for every physiological desire of the human being, except for the God who feeds the human spirit with the Holy Spirit. In other words, while the men of Mars Hill encouraged people to serve the god of their choice, it had nothing to do with religious beliefs but had to do with catering to what made the population feel happy and pleasant. Their culture was designed to maintain peace and harmony by allowing people to choose whatever lifestyle made them happy.

In today’s atheistic culture, people are not held to any specific standards, except to contribute to the pleasure, happiness, tolerance, and peace of the people within the community. That is why the Gospel of Jesus Christ is rejected, because we speak of living in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. We speak of being born-again to change from a lifestyle of seeking physical pleasure and happiness to living a life in the joy and comfort of the Spirit. People of today’s culture can choose whatever lifestyle they want [within the confines of peace and tolerance], except for living for God through Jesus Christ in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

I often hear the phrase, “You are free to love who you want to love”, except when I say, “I love Jesus Christ”, I’m no longer free to love who I want to love.

In today’s culture, people are governed by the beast giving them what to feel, think, say, and do. By what they say and do, they are being groomed to a specific lifestyle within the community culture. However, what they are given to say and do never includes the Living Creator, forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ, nor the Holy Spirit. The beast giving people what to say and do is giving life to the image of the beast to speak and live through them. By what they are given to say and do, they are being groomed to the mark of beast.

“Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. Acts 17:23b-25

The “Unknown God”, that is not recognized by today’s global culture, is the Creator of everything and everyone. God created people to have fellowship with Him through the Spirit, but people are filling the spirit and soul with earthly happiness, pleasures, and peace. Paul mentions two very important aspects of the Living God, as described below;

• God does not live in temples made with hands. In other words, manmade buildings not places where God lives. That includes the manmade churches, built by human hands, that are known as Christian churches. Anybody can walk into a building, but within their heart, mind, and soul do not represent what the building is built for. Our body is the temple of God, we are the home of the Holy Spirit, and wherever two or more believers gather, that is where the Church is. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 1 Corinthians 6:19
  
  People who live for the pleasures, happiness, and peace that this world offers crowds out the presence of the Holy Spirit. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” Galatians 5:17 Living for the physiological desires of the body causes a person to reject the forgiveness of sin offered through Jesus Christ. The beast that has power over physiology wants to possess the human body [the temple of God] as if it is God by giving people what to feel, think, say, and do. That beast nurtures earthly or carnal desires and is the one “…who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 The “he” in this verse is the “man of sin”. Click here for a post on the “man of sin”.
  
• God is not worshiped with men’s hands. There is nothing we can offer to God that He needs, that is why His Salvation is a free gift, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God…” There are no buildings, monuments, statues, images, that we can build in honor of God, He doesn’t need any of those things. There is no amount of money that we can offer to God, no sacrifices, nor any amount of energy that we can expend to give as part of our worship to God, He doesn’t need any of that. There is nothing that the endeavor of human hands can do to worship God, “…not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:9 God is not worshipped by any physical or carnal endeavors to bring peace, happiness, and pleasure to the world. God is worshipped in Spirit through Jesus Christ, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24 The Living Creator is He who gives everyone life, breath, and all things.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1