THE SECRET PLACE
“He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1)

PART 18

FIG LEAVES OF COMPROMISE

“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that does evil HATES the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds be reproved.” (John 3:19-20) Man always has an argument for his disobedience.

My heart is troubled as I think about the world and the direction that people are allowing Satan to take them. I know there are still some good saints that are standing on the Word of God and have not surrendered to the peer pressure to stop standing for truth, nevertheless, the spirit of the age is working diligently to break down the enthusiasm of God’s disciples. Satan is manipulating the blind to become more aggressive and cunning in their twisted strategies. His humanistic philosophy teaches that anyone who believes that a “specific truth” is the only truth, and if they proclaim that everyone MUST embrace this same truth – is mentally ill. Those who accept the social and political system of antichrist, hates anyone who claims to know THE truth. I do not know why I care so much, but I pray for wisdom to know truth and I worry about everyone that does not pursue truth or that is deceived from the truth. Of course, this burden leaves me deeply concerned because I believe that many souls are in danger of eternal separation from God.

You know, it is a fact – this is a big world. If we stay isolated and focus only on what we are familiar with, we may miss some very important lessons about life. Within the diversity of religious thought, I have been around a little but not extensive. I have read about different religions but have not actually had conversations with those for example that are devout Buddhists, Muslims or Hindus. I realize there are billions of sincere humans on this planet and many of them I believe are focused on their faith and are trying with all their heart to fulfill their RELIGIOUS requirements. In the past, those of us that are Christians have probably never really thought that much about the significance of an “evolving” religious landscape, and how it will affect us. We have drawn from our traditional thinking that we Christians have THE truth – and it is our responsibility to evangelize the world. Do you still hold strongly to that worldview? If you do, make sure you have your seatbelt on.

I was given the opportunity to travel to Louisville this past week for two days of counseling training with the Kentucky Crisis Response Team where I am a member. Since this is a State agency that is affiliated with the Federal Government, I knew that certain topics would be approached with the same social correctness that our media, corporate world, and public education system uses. However, what made this unusual is the class was specifically designed for pastors and ministers. We spent the first day in an open forum “wrestling” with controversial topics and the second day we paired up for one on one conversations to “fine tune” the systematic guidelines on how to communicate. I realize this organization is not a faith based ministry but rather a secular program created to help those in emergency crisis situations, yet I am concerned with the guidelines about injecting Jesus into our responses and not being able to minister through the Spirit. I am not trying to be rebellious but as a Christian it is difficult to “tip toe” around the anointing of truth, just so that we can be politically acceptable.

The instructor would have made an excellent psychiatrist and evidently with all of her stories and experiences has been around the world and back. She is an ordained minister and a spiritual leader within the Cherokee Nation. She loves and promotes diversity of ALL religions and endorses that all belief systems and spirit guides lead to eternal life. She also strongly supports the gay lifestyle and challenged us to consider being more tolerant to what we think of as sin and to see what people do – as an emotional coping mechanism for survival. She explained that much of what we believe has been absorbed through our conscience from bits and pieces of experiences and “interpretations” of partial knowledge and understanding. I admit, in many cases the way this knowledge has been knitted together may not be the purest form of reality, however this explanation can also be used to tear down truth that could be used to transform the heart toward God’s perfect will. As I continue, allow me to confirm that I believe that Christ is the only way to heaven. A person must be born-again or they are spiritually lost. I also believe in right and wrong. Being right is doing God’s will and being wrong is SIN! All sin is wrong and should be acknowledged as offensive to God. We can sin and still go to heaven because of His grace and mercy, and being born-again is our covenant security within the Word of God.

So, what is wrong with including Jesus in the list of all the other prophets and idols of the world? I am glad you asked! I am not saying that I personally have all the truth – I am saying that God is truth! Moreover, since He is ALL truth, that means He is the ONLY truth. Since He is the only truth, there cannot be ten thousand different “truths” from ten thousand different gods. Jesus said, “I am THE way, THE truth and THE life, NO MAN comes to the Father but through me.” (John 14:6) He did not say, I am “A” way, or that you can follow whomever you want or do whatever you think and I will consider it all the same. The New Age world system has finally concluded – they cannot stand against the fact that God is the only truth, so they secretly agreed to establish the view that ALL religious ideas are truth. In addition, they did not stop there – anyone who disagrees with this “wonderful” revelation of unity and love is a prejudiced, intolerant, dogmatic, narrow-minded bigot. That is why I believe this subject is important to discuss. If we are going to continue living and ministering for Christ, we are going to face this spirit and IT WILL call us out. We must prepare how we are going to respond to this challenge, to either agree with the world or be accused of hate crimes toward the innocent.

You see, the world system is trying to deceive the masses into thinking that tolerance is a form of genuine love. They are saying that God is not the divine authority of what is correct because He too is prejudiced, discriminating and biased. They have no reverence for His sovereignty and holiness because they are blind. The system is twisting God’s truth so they can JUSTIFY their sin! The idea of universal unity is a distorted LIE for the purpose of gathering political support. Everyone desires RESPECT for what they believe and the world HATES God’s Word that judges them for their errors. If this system can eliminate God and His Word, they can establish a brand new world order that will allow the flesh to live freely without criticism or condemnation from a divine authority. Why is this so important? Well, how are we going to guide our children and our Grandchildren? How are Christian teachers going to explain God’s truth in a public school classroom? How are we going to speak publicly about how the God of the Bible is the answer to the world’s problems? Are you still going to be recognized as a Christian at work? Are we willing to be quoted as saying that Jesus is the King of all kings and the LORD of all gods? Are we afraid to say that being Gay is a sin? How are we going to deal with the masses of Christian gays or pedophiles that believe that God has told them it is NOT sin – but perfectly ok?

Jesus said in John chapter three, verse three, “Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Verse five and six, “Except a man be born of water (natural childbirth) and of the Spirit (receiving Christ), he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The only way to disregard this plain message is to deny its validity.

Since Satan fell from heaven, his evil agenda has been to control the world. Secular humanism and universal tolerance is not anything new to the landscape of sin. Since Jesus was nailed to a cross, Christians have been persecuted for standing against heresy and not accepting perverted religious ideas. However, we can clearly see that in the last sixty years there has been a strong “public” assault, and a “in your face” aggressiveness against the God of the Bible and His followers. Satan realizes there is not much time left before Christ returns in His glory, and he is accelerating his program into overtime. As the world continues to rapidly morph into a strict, legalistic one-world system, the antichrist will dictate these philosophies into a death sentence for those who refuse to bow their knee to them. It has never been all at once, but rather little by little. For example, the television has brought the gay lifestyle into our living rooms and caused us to sympathize and laugh and relate to them as normal. It is true we are all sinners, but all sin is wrong and every sinner needs to repent and change! The pleasures and distractions of this life are trying to mesmerize us into a lukewarm “coma” that does not care anymore. That is Satan’s perfect plan! He is trying to wear us down and cause us to be exhausted with the violence and blasphemy of our culture. He wants us to stop worrying about what others do, go in our house and lock the doors. Nevertheless, can we just ignore what is coming and choose not to think about it? Have we not been called to be on the front line to do spiritual warfare and try to rescue the lost? I know we are tired but He said in the last days He would pour out His Spirit on His sons and daughters! Brothers and Sisters, this is talking about us! We are the ones that will be faced with either shrinking back into the shadows or boldly standing for His truth! If you consider yourself to be a part of God’s remnant, you are the bride – the wise virgin – blowing the trumpet of alarm – the witness – the overcomer, and we must include, possibly the martyr! Selah.