As I was reading Ezra 9 this morning, I was struck by the similarity of our Christian culture to the culture Ezra found himself in. Oh, perhaps the fruit of the compromise looks different all these years later, but compromise is compromise.
If we back up to the beginning of the Old Testament, we will remember that God wanted Israel to say separate from the idolatrous nations that surrounded them. They were not to have anything to do with them. Israel was to stand as a separated nation that looked different and stood out in their worship of the One, True God alone.
If we move to the New Testament, we will see that this is also the same desire God has for the Church. Many verses encourage us to purity, holiness, and separation from the world. God still wants this same thing for His people today.
But you will rarely hear this message.
And, in fact, many of those who are platformed rarely use the Bible. If they do, they often pull verses out of context. Generally, I have seen the Bible become something “unknowable”. So many have believed the lie that you cannot stand on scripture, because there is no one interpretation of any passage, often with the only exception being “the Gospel”.
One has to wonder how the Gospel can have one single interpretation. Who gets to pick and choose what is true and what is up for any old interpration?
If we look back over recent history, we will see that this was the earnest goal of those who would take the church towards mysticism and a one world religion. And so step by step they have undermined the Bible and the historical belief that there is one interpretation and that we can know what that is.
You simply cannot have a people who believe the Bible is the authority for all of life and godliness if you want to succeed in moving a large group of people towards a one world religion. Not when it clearly opposes so much that would be in that movement.
The plan to undermine scripture has succeeded gloriously. They have deceived so many Christians into believing that we can’t know the Bible with certainty and no one can speak with authority on what scripture says.
I find it fascinating that two thousand years of the true church believing some very basic doctrines found in scripture literally means nothing. Every scripture is up for grabs to many who would proclaim Christ…except the Gospel.
And if someone proclaims the Gospel, then they are given a pass. No matter what else they say, do or believe, as long as they have “preached the Gospel” all is okay. Apparently, it is ONLY the Gospel that matters now.
It is so important that we remember that ALL of scripture is God’s Word. We don’t get to pick and choose what is open to interpretation and what isn’t.
When I write a letter I have one meaning for each sentence. There are not multiple meanings. God’s Word is no different.
The problem probably comes down to this: we just do not always like the clear meaning of what is written.
I have been thinking a lot about 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11 these past few weeks. It says in these verses that people will be deceived by the antichrist because they did not love the truth.
This would appear to be a key to discerning in these difficult days.
Loving the truth will help us avoid being deceived. We need to cast our own likes and desires aside as we search for the truth in the Bible.
Of course, we all struggle with this, don’t we? We all have our idols. We have the things that mean more to us than the truth. So what do we do?
I have no suggestion other than to pray to God to remove our blinders. That He will help us desire the truth of His Word more than anything else. And to spend time in God’s Word, believing in its literal, inerrant, inspired truth.
Once again, I just want to go on record saying my opinion means less than nothing. I am a sinner, just like you. I am prone to deception, just like you. Let’s keep our hearts and minds on the Word of God.
We need to be careful not to follow celebrities. So many are deceived and some are purposely deceiving. Scripture tells us that there will be many false teachers in the last days and that they will look like sheep! We are told to keep watch and be on guard, testing all things by God’s Word. This is not a popular message and yet, here again, we must obey scripture over what is popular.
Ezra called Israel to put away their compromise and turn back to God. I have just a teeny tiny platform in this world, but I would call us all (myself included) to the same thing. May we cast off our compromise with the world and turn our whole hearts back to God.