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.

To The Creative Heart I Ask: How Can We Serve Two Masters?

How much do you love Jesus? According to many of the posts by youth in the social media I follow it would seem there are a lot of us. But there is something that disturbs me about these various blogs and about my own life. We say we love Jesus, a heart response to his love for us, but then we champion things in this world that fly in the face of our Lord and Saviour. I am beginning to ask myself how I can follow Jesus and participate in the culture of my times.

It is hard for me. I consider myself an artist. I am creative with a creative mind and heart. I am not satisfied to be a consumer. I want to produce and I want to produce all the time. My chosen canvas is a blank page and my instrument is words but because I am what God created me to be, I am creative with whatever I do. I write poetry, short stories, plays, musicals, blogs, but I also create with photography, food, drawings (not great at that), design. I also create with business, but I make a lousy manager. Just ask any of my friends and family and they will tell you that I am never satisfied with how things are; I am always trying to make it more. But if I am not aware of the weaknesses of such a heart and mind, I can easily be destroyed by the enemy.

I am attracted to anything that is creative, offbeat, having a different perspective. I get overwhelmed by dance, am moved by music, absorbed by photography. I am drawn to things that force me to look at the ordinary in a different way. I think a lot of people are. I think that the adolescent heart, constantly looking for definition and exploration, is very vulnerable to such things. The problem is that our culture has been infected by sin because it is crafted by our sin nature. At one time the Church was a huge influence in culture and creativity but now the depravity of man has become the greater influence. It has become impossible to participate in the culture of our time and follow Jesus.

Now I know you are reading this thinking you are an exception. You aren't. I sincerely love the Lord my God with all my heart, all my soul and all my strength. My passion for Jesus is immense. My jealousy for my Father's righteousness is overwhelming. Yet, I am easily swayed and influenced by the creativity of even the depraved mind. I do not lack discipline. I do not lack knowledge. I do not lack an off button. But just as Eve looked and saw it was good and then took, if I allow myself to look I will be attracted and I will participate. If you are willing to be honest, you too will admit that things linger in you after listening to certain songs, watch certain movies, look at certain pictures, read certain books.

Art is powerful and so is the culture of the creative. It has an influence on us. It sticks with us. It changes us. And now that this culture is being further crafted by the depravity of man, there is far greater danger in it. There is no greater tool for shaping the heart and changing the mind of our society than the 30 minute sitcom. All for the sake of laughter and entertainment we allow our perspective to be shifted. It won't happen after the first, second, or third episode but like a slow dripping faucet it will change you. It wasn't too long ago that suggesting a man and woman have sex outside of marriage would never have been found on television, but now we are "liberated" from such restraints and we actually see boyfriends and girlfriends in bed together. Then we wonder why our youth move in with their boyfriends and girlfriends. The depravity today goes far beyond  sex outside of marriage, and we watch it and are entertained.

It is true that he who is in us is far greater than he who is in the world but it doesn't mean that we should continue to put ourselves under the influence of he who is in the world. It means that we have nothing to fear in this world but we still need to receive our sustenance from the Vine, who is Jesus. My creativity must be defined, shaped, molded by the righteousness of my Father. Such creativity is limitless in Christ which is far different than the seemingly unlimited depravity of this world.

If you are young and you have actually read this far it means that you are seeking answers in your own quest to express your creative nature. You have choices to make, as do I. I do not see it is possible to be influenced by both the Spirit and the world. I do not see it is possible to serve two masters. You know that Jesus said we can't. I do not see that we have any choice but to turn our backs on the creativity of the depraved and seek the righteousness of our Father. He is the one who gave us this character; he is the one who will feed it to grow and flourish for his glory. It is time to turn away from the fruit we must not eat and find our joy in our King. It is time to make a choice over entertainment.
 

The World Hates Me. And?

Have you noticed the great falling away yet? Have you noticed that those who profess Jesus as Lord are now moving into a minority? Have you noticed the morality that has governed the western world for hundreds of years is being thrown off and the true heart of man is being revealed? It's because the facade is being removed and everything is being exposed.

There is no good thing in a man or woman who are without Christ. Those who are without Christ are governed by their sinful nature so they end up doing things that they may not even want to do. And the depravity is increasing. Well, maybe not so much increasing as the fear of letting it be exposed is being removed. I tell you now, watch how quickly things begin to decline in the next year.

So you as a Christian are beginning to find yourself in a hostile place. People don't like you because of Jesus and some will even hate you. You could be the nicest person, do the greatest good works, be the friendliest person but they will still hate you because of Jesus. It will become more dangerous to point out the depravity of their thinking and actions. They will try to do everything in their power to shut you up.

It's funny though how the Spirit is encouraging the followers of Jesus, the warriors of the only legitimate Kingdom. As I scrolled through the social networking sites this morning there is one verse that kept showing up:

If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

This is not saying that no one will be against us but instead, no one of any significance will be against us. In other words, who is there compared to God? This is important and encouraging and we will need to remember it over the next little while as things get uglier, but there is something even more important to hold on to in all of this mess.

This world will de-value you. People will make you feel stupid, ignorant, uneducated, and useless. You will be accused of being a blight on the peace of this world and you will be blamed for all the wrong things in society. It is as this world tries to make you feel like garbage that you need to remember something fundamentally important:

Yet some people accepted him
    and put their faith in him.
So he gave them the right
    to be the children of God.
13 They were not God’s children
by nature
or because
    of any human desires.
God himself was the one
    who made them his children. (John 1:12-13)

Above anything else, you are a child of God. You are not a child of God because you willed it but because God made you his child. Now, understand the depth of the previous verse; If our Father is for us, who can be against us?

Everything this world values is going to come to an end. These poor, sad people really think that in the end they are achieving something. They think they are captains of their own destiny. They think that by sheer will they can transform this hate-filled planet. They are not to be feared, they are to be pitied, prayed for, and rescued from themselves.

We don't have time to be worried about how the world sees us or feels about us. Community churches need to stop trying to win the world over by being user friendly. It's not about numbers, programs, or entertainment value. It's not about "feeling". It's about seeing the power of the Spirit released in every believer to do the will of the Father. We need to dig in and fight for the lost like never before. We need to stand united in the Spirit, encouraging one another as long as it is called "today". The only way to help this world now is by the Truth and his name is Jesus; no greater name in all of time. So, make sure your armour is in place mighty warrior-child of God, and stand your ground.