Calling Good Evil And Evil Good

God is love! That is the clear message of the Church today, and it should be because there is no love that compares to the love of our Father. This love has brought in an era of grace through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. But unfortunately some have interpreted this love to mean that "anything goes". As we see evil called good and good evil we should be shocked that this message is arising from the Church.

Yes, God is love but he is also holy. Yes, grace is incredible and without limits but we have been warned not to abuse it. There is a lopsided message starting to emerge from the Church and it is wrong. It is made up of lies covered by a thin veil of truth and people are falling for it.

Yes, Jesus hung out with the prostitutes, the drunkards, the liars and thieves, but that did not stop him from teaching the righteousness of God. Yes, he forgave sins but he also told people to stop sinning. The woman caught in adultery was saved from stoning but Jesus told her to "sin no more". When people met Jesus they were never the same again. When he invited people to follow him, Jesus set an example for them and they left everything they had been to become something more. They did not continue as they were, doing what they wanted, free to sin to their heart's content.

Today, in our desire to be inclusive, we forget the transformation that takes place with the new birth. If there is no transformation then it is conformity and conformists will not make it into the Kingdom. It is a heart change, a repenting, a turning away from what we were and grasping what God has called us to be; a complete transformation under the power of the Holy Spirit.

The audacity to come before our Creator in the depravity of our thinking and say, "Accept me as I am with my thoughts and limited wisdom, with my sin. Don't change me. If you try to convince me I am wrong I will serve someone else." We are not doing God any favours. It is he who has rescued us at great cost and he has said to us, "If you love me you will obey what I have commanded". Famous servant's of God are now saying, "You had better accept sin or I will decide to spend eternity in hell". With such an attitude I think the choice has already been made, but it is the damage and confusion they are sowing that concerns me.

Yes, God is love and that love also makes forgiveness available. We need forgiveness and transformation because our ways are so entrenched in sin and the depravity that comes from it that we are desperate for his forgiveness. How can we be forgiven of things that we no longer consider wrong?

Yes, God is love and that love comes from his holiness. As a holy God he hates sin. Just a tiny, and I mean tiny, example from his Word:

"There are six things The Lord hates, seven that are detestable:

     - haughty eyes

     - a lying tongue

     - hands that shed innocent blood

     - a heart that devises wicked schemes

     - feet that are quick to rush into evil

     - a false witness who pours out lies

     - and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers." (Proverbs 6:16-19)

Jesus did something incredible with the law; he took us to a deeper place in it. "Do not murder but I tell you do not hate. Do not commit adultery but I tell you do not lust." The law went from a document impossible to live, to something written on our heart by the Holy Spirit and alive in us by that same Spirit. Grace does not give us an excuse to sin but should give us a desire to be more like our God.

Of course the problem now is the definition of sin. What do we consider sin? As we redefine it, calling good evil and evil good, the debate is really over what God defines as sin. We have certainly come into the last days as people run after the teachings of demons, which are convincing people to abandon the Word of God and go with what feels right. We set aside the wisdom of our God for the wisdom of man forgetting that our God has told us that his ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours.

Redefine sin any way you want but it still comes down to what God has said. Re-write his Word to make it say what you want but you will still be held accountable to the truth. God is love and that is why we have had two thousand years of grace but the day of judgment is coming and then we shall see if there is a hell or not. His love has made it possible for us to escape judgement but those who have rejected his truth for their own will be condemned by our righteous God according to the decisions they have made.