Why does it seem like much of America respects Islam’s evil agenda and the LBGTQ agenda but does not respect the church’s righteousness? Could it be that we’ve not been righteous?
It is time to make a change.
There’s a false love that has crept into Western Christianity today that has made the church limp. This false love has a way of subtly making us feel righteous, but it’s a synthetic righteousness. I’m speaking of this false concept of love as a sentiment of total acceptance, free of the ability to hate, which is one of the most popular rationales for which many believers are abandoning the truth and authority of the Scriptures in this hour.
I believe the Obama administration and its far leftist ideology were instrumental in pushing the envelope and creating such a militant aggression in our society today that is demanding people love and accept others regardless of their actions. The focus of what many call love today is based on accommodating people’s ungodly and sinful lifestyles and idiosyncrasies, and frankly, even abominable behavior. This new sentiment is shaping public policy and being used as a standard of morality in evaluating people’s behavior. The riots and protests in our streets are evidence of this. Even many Christians are falling for it, and demonic doctrines and damnable heresies are spreading.
Undoubtedly our nation was already moving in this direction, but it was finally and totally turned upside down during the corrupt Obama administration, and I’m afraid this upside-down effect, which calls good evil and evil good; light darkness and darkness, light; bitter sweet, and sweet bitter—has infiltrated the church and profaned it. Professing Christians who voted for Obama, the great deceiver (his true colors are showing now, and this is becoming much more obvious—see below), are among those who live in a false love and false righteousness and display so little godly discernment. This attitude is a fungus in the church that calls for every pastor to train his people in true love and righteousness.
I knew an old-time 85-year-old Pentecostal preacher who made altar calls in his meetings for Christians who voted for Obama. What? Yes, no kidding! You can argue with his approach, but he was righteous for holding them accountable and making it an issue in the church. Were people offended? Of course, some were, but some actually repented, and you can repent, too if you duped into voting for him. Hey, when you’re 85 years old, you can pretty much say anything you want. Ha!
Lack of accountability is a huge problem in our churches today, especially among preachers. It’s a problem because no one wants to confront difficult and sensitive issues for fear of being labeled a pious, holier-than-thou snob. We crave the approval of man and want people to like us (we’ve confused Jesus’ command to love with being liked). “Don’t judge them, just love them” seems to be the Christian mantra these days. The problem is that you can’t truly love anyone without exercising righteous judgement. Love as only a gesture of sentimentality and sympathy without righteous judgement is a false love—the very cancer that is killing the church and making her lukewarm and good-for-nothing. This is not the way to become salt and light in our society.
The greatest tragedy has been that we’ve carried this attitude into our gospel message and preached for itching ears, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons.
It is obvious now that Obama’s true colors are showing more and more as word is he has established a shadow government, really a devil’s nest, if you will, two miles from the White House, to undermine the actions of Trump’s presidency (refer to my post-election Charisma article which now has proven to be a very accurate prophetic vision a minister shared with me: (“Are We In More Danger With Obama Out of Office Than In?”). Nobody will say it because of so called respect for the office of the Presidency, but the rules changed under the Obama administration. Let’s call him what he is. He is a thug himself. I’m bracing now for the “you’re a (obscenity) racist” remarks. Does this offend your sensibilities, oh Christian?
Author Larry Alex Taunton shows us where real offense needs to manifest:
I urge you to be offended instead by the way God’s name is blasphemed in our country every day; by the 54 million children murdered in the holocaust of abortion since 1973; by the sordid sexual agenda that is eroding the very fabric of Western civilization; by the fact that Christians are dying for their faith, largely at the hands of Muslims, at a rate of 100,000 per year; and, most of all, by the reality that these things are being ignored, trivialized or celebrated. These are things that offend me deeply, and I hope they offend you, too. Righteous anger has a place within the Christian life. Tap into it. In the words of Ephesians 4:26, “Be angry but do not sin.”
Let’s be honest. The last eight years in our nation have been disastrous. A culture of offense and division has been created. People are not only offended by politics, but also by every part of religion that exposes their sinful humanity. If anything touches their “me” button they either pine like a wounded dog or seethe like a perturbed snake. You can’t touch their race, color, political party, favorite candidate, favorite preacher or superstar celebrity, or now their sexual orientation or anybody’s sexual orientation, for that matter. The “me” generation will now fight for a boy having sex with a boy, a girl having sex with a girl, a boy becoming a girl or a girl becoming a boy. And if you disagree with them, by golly, they’ll take you to court and strip you of your life’s earnings.
What has our nation become?
Here are two painful realities:
1. This change in our nation’s psyche has come primarily from a very small subculture. A subculture among whom the LGBTQ community represent the loudest and most brash—who, at best, represent 2-3 percent of our overall culture. Let’s use them as an example.
If a tiny subculture can create this kind of revolutionary change and bring the entire nation to a forcing point of accepting and celebrating this abominable identity—even bringing the highest court in our land to legalize same-sex marriage, what could the glorious church of the Lord Jesus Christ do, if we as a righteous subculture walked in God’s truth, power, and authority—and a true love? The LGBTQ community pushed the “hate” button” so many times, which in turn pushed a segment of the church into this false concept of love. Actually, the words “hate” and “hater” have become a slogan now, especially among our young people. There were other factors that produced this change, of course, but this is one glaring example that caused many to cave in to the culture and conform to its extreme leftist ideology. This brings me to my second point, and the most painful reality.
2. The church is to blame.
Instead of impacting the culture, we have conformed to it. We have believed the lie that people, especially our youth, are incapable of hearing the real gospel (The Real Gospel), but would prefer a hybrid version of it. The constant popular emphasis on making the gospel relevant to our culture is obnoxious and misguided because it’s based on the error that modern people must be reached on a humanistic level of their self-interest. We’ve believed the lie that people, especially our youth, are incapable of patiently hearing the real gospel before becoming offended by its demands of righteousness and holiness. But aren’t we forgetting that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16)? Aren’t we forgetting what the mighty Holy Spirit can do? There is not only power in the gospel to save, but to heal, deliver and set men free. When the power is in demonstration, you can tell people anything, and they will gladly hear it. And therein lies the problem—the lack of power and presence of God in our churches (Refer to this present-hour burning word, Passing On The Move Of God To The Next Generation).
Preaching a hybrid version of the gospel in an attempt to make it relevant to society is putting people’s faith in the wisdom of men instead of the power of God (1 Cor. 2:4-5). Nothing could be further from the truth than saying that people, especially our youth, don’t want to hear the unfiltered and unapologetic gospel message. The devil is hijacking our culture because of this lie. If our watered-down, hybrid, fake version of the gospel is so great, why are we losing our culture?
What kind of results has the user-friendly church achieved over the last 20 years from preaching a watered-down, candy-coated, milquetoast message? We’ve lost morality, marriage, the family, our youth and our liberties. What part of our hybrid gospel message has worked?
Thank God for the remnant of churches and preachers who have not caved in and compromised. Thank God for every God-fearing preacher in the land. They are my true brothers and sisters, but we need many more to join the ranks. There are so many of us evangelicals represent a whopping 26 percent of our nation. If every one of us jumped on board and took a real stand for truth and righteousness and combined it with holy fire, the power of God and true love, what could we, the living church, accomplish?!
In the final analysis, the reason too many have caved in to our culture is because we are wimpy. Plain and simple. Our gospel is a bark at best. Our message has lost its teeth. Years ago, we went to church to hear a word from God and to become good. Today we go to church to hear how wonderful we are and to feel good. My own college-age millennial son tells me he’s tired of going to church and not being challenged. Most of our preaching lacks painful conviction and is bereft of the true power of God that leads to glorious repentance and true conversion. Such “doctrinal malpractice” has given us a generation of men who are what C.S. Lewis called “men without chests.” A large portion of our preachers and churches have become wimps.
It’s time to develop some real backbone and take a stand for truth and righteousness. It’s time to put away this false concept of love and walk in the love that speaks the truth. It’s time for preachers to get a word from God and preach with fire in their bellies. It’s time to put our faith in the power of God to change our culture instead of the wisdom of men. It’s time to stop conforming to our culture and actually impact it.
Repentance might be a good place to start. {eoa}
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