Manifesto

There is a poison in the church today.

It has been there for a long time, but its growth has exploded within the last decade.

It is a pretty poison…..one that looks beautiful and smells wonderful. It beckons you to come and taste and then it lulls you into a deep sleep. It slowly strips away your senses in your slumber so that when you awaken, you are now dead to truth. You are changed, but you won’t even realize it.

These poisoned believers look fine on the surface: they go to church, they profess to believe in Christ, they might even wear some Christian t-shirts out in public. It is when they open their mouths to speak that you can smell the sweet poison on their breath. Pay close attention, but don’t get drawn in with this pretty poison that feels so right.

This poison can be deadly to your soul. If it goes unchecked, it will grow and grow until it chokes out any raw, untouched Christianity that is left in your heart. But the good news is you can be redeemed. Christ can overcome any poison distributed by the enemy, you just have to listen to Truth and allow that Truth to set you free. Allow me to sprinkle a little Truth on your soul today. I pray that you are still awake enough to see through the fog and recognize God’s call to repentance.

Let’s start with the first indicators that you’ve drunk the poison. These are statements that I see the most online:

• No one can tell me how to live my life.
• You have no right to tell me ______________.
• You can’t speak out against sin because Jesus said to love everyone and don’t judge. Only He can judge.   

On the surface, it sounds and feels wonderful. I can live my life the way I want to and no one can tell me when I’m doing wrong. God is the only judge of my soul and so as long as I feel like He is happy with me, then no one can tell me differently. How wonderful! This means I can now do whatever I feel like doing as long as I feel like me and God are “cool.” After all, He loves me just the way I am so I have nothing to worry about. What does it matter what you think?

Mmmmm. How dangerous. Do you notice my emphasis on the word “feel?” Has anyone ever told you that your heart will lie to you? That you shouldn’t just trust your feelings?

This poison loves to use your feelings against you. It will trick you into believing that your relationship with God feels like it is in great shape and that God is “blessing” you with all of the things that are going right in your life. And surprisingly, a lot of things are going right in your life! You have a great boyfriend and the two of you are buying a house together. You just graduated college and landed an awesome job. Praise God for all of His blessings on your life! And when bad things do happen, you just hold onto that promise that God won’t ever give you anything you can’t handle and tell that devil to get out of your life. After all, you know that God has more blessings of prosperity coming your way, so if you can just persevere a little bit longer your blessing will be right around the corner.

I know, I know, this post is not going to make me any friends. But every time I get online and see this web of lies choking my friends’ hearts, the burden to write this post continues to grow. Please tell me, you can see the web of lies, right?

The truth is, if you are living a life of sin, God isn’t blessing you. He’s not okay with you going to church on Sunday and talking about how great He is, while you are living with your boyfriend. He’s not nonchalant about your regular routine of drunkenness. He’s not overlooking your constant use of profanity and brushing it off. So why are things going good in your life? Because you drank the poison and believed the lie. Remember? The poison looks and smells wonderful. Therefore, your life will look and smell wonderful too.

The truth is, some of those bad things that happen in your life might be God trying to shake you awake. He wants you to wake up and realize your dependence on Him. He wants to slap that cup of poison from your lips and replace it with the cup of His truth. He wants to chase away that cloud of demons that swirl around your mind so He can speak clear words deep into your soul. The truth is, He often uses His people as His mouthpiece….but He is a gentleman, so He is not going to make you listen.  

Next time someone points out sin in your life, how about you try listening rather than sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting “don’t tell me how to live my life!” Next time someone brings up a socially controversial topic, don’t just drive over them while screaming “you can’t judge!”

Just stay calm and listen. Listen and think. Think and then compare their words with Scripture. And not just one verse out of the Bible that seems to prove your point and not theirs. Really dig in and research it. Evaluate it. Chew on it. Pray over it. Ask God to give you discernment over it. But whatever you do, don’t allow your feelings to be the deciding factor. Remember, feelings lie. And if you decide, through prayer and thorough study of Scripture, that you are in fact right and they are wrong, present your case with truths from God’s Word in a respectful manner.

There is a poison in the church today…..but we are not powerless. We have the only tool that can be used to defeat poison: the truth of God’s Word.

Church, there is a scary movement happening. If you don’t see it, then you are either a part of it or your head is in the sand. This whole idea that we shouldn’t be calling out sin in our society….this idea that we have no right to correct one another when we stray into the wilderness of sin. This idea that God love us, so as long as we feel like He is happy with us, then we are free to do what we want. This idea that hell is only temporary and one day the people there will be saved as well. This idea that most people won’t even go to hell because they are “good people.” This idea that God is cool with homosexuality because Jesus didn’t ever specifically say “don’t be gay.” This idea that we should just be quiet and not judge because we have no right to. This idea that we can profess whatever religion we want because Allah and Buddha are the same as Christ.

It is all rubbish. All of it. Every bit. Lies. If you aren’t sure, then you aren’t reading your Bible…..or you’re only reading the parts that make you feel good. We cannot ignore the God of the Old Testament. We cannot ignore the letters to the seven churches in Revelation. We cannot ignore the fact that the entire early church was severely persecuted for following Christ, and that our belief in Christ will cost us something too. We have to dig deep into the power of God’s Word and start putting on our armor. We have sat still for far too long, and in our rest we have grown lazy towards His truth.

I know, it would be a lot easier if we just followed the movement. If we just kept our thoughts to ourselves and let people do what they want. If we never spoke out in the name of justice. The arguments of the poison are much more comfortable than the boldness of His truth. I know, because I've been tempted by the same poison as you. But we cannot stand on the fence with sin. Either we pick up our cross and follow Him, or continue to sit on the sidewalk and draw pretty pictures with our chalk.

The time is coming soon when we will have to choose.

The truth is, He died so He could set us free from this poison. But if we aren’t willing to stand up against the enemy and fight for what is right, if we aren’t willing to turn from sin and follow Christ, then all of this was in vein:

 

Wake up from you poison-induced sleep, Church. We have work to do.


“Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her. Though they say, ‘As the Lord lives’ yet they swear falsely. O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; You have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent. Then I said, ‘These are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God. I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.’ But they all alike had broken the yoke; they had burst the bonds.” ~Jeremiah 5: 1-5

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with Me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ~Revelation 3: 15-22

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” ~Matthew 10:34

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13