STAND AND DELIVER

I simply cannot stand silent about certain things for my silence can be easily interpreted as acquiescence or tacit agreement. I will not affirm the growing ideological miasma that would call evil "good" and decry good as "evil."

This is not a political stance, nor it is mere opinion. God, the Creator of all that is actually knows what thoughts and actions will make for true human living. He made us and knows what will make life work best for the "crown of His creation." What God says is destructive to human life and true community is clear and eternally true. What God says will make for life is clear and eternally true.

Greed, lying, pride-grounded jealousy, envy, deceit, hostility, sexual immorality, idolatry (putting ANYTHING or ANYONE as the orienting center of one's life other than God), lust, selfish ambition, rage, sorcery, arrogance...all these will corrupt human life and ultimately destroy it.

Humanity has a long record of living in rebellion against God not wanting to live by what God has defined as life-giving. God's Truth is not restrictive, it is protective and nurturing. Sin will never heal a broken heart. Sin will never cause life to flourish. Sin will never help you to "find yourself" nor will it help you to discover the meaning and purpose for which you were created. Sin can't save anyone.

Politics, the new religion of our age, is fatally flawed because it is the product of flawed men and women whose moral compass has been broken since Adam's fall in the Garden of Eden. There is no "pure" political party anywhere on the face of the earth. Given the opportunity, people will be corrupt because their hearts are corrupt. That doesn't mean we "retire from the field."

Followers of Jesus Christ must always stand for the Truth and integrity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which, by the way, includes the whole of God's Word. Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. He didn't contradict them nor compromise their message, that God alone can save what is lost and fix what is broken...namely humanity.

Standing for Truth means that we live and act in accordance with that Truth. We must speak with clarity, conviction and compassion because we know what it is to be slaves of sin. We were all once just that. We have no expectation that the world is going to applaud righteousness nor attempt to live that way. We are not surprised that our present-day western culture is calling evil "good" and decrying good as "evil".

We're not trying to establish our own kingdom, nor "make a name" for ourselves. Our hearts passion must be to see the Kingdom of God become rooted in the lives of everyone God has place in our sphere of influence. We will be hated and despised for living this way, but we don't have to be abrasive, since the Gospel, Itself, will be offensive to anyone still enslaved by spiritual darkness.

Listen, the only Name that the world-at-large slanders, uses as a cuss word and derides is the Name of Jesus Christ. That should tell you something. Satan hates Him and working in and through the lives of all still alienated from Jesus Christ, the devil will do his damnedest to try and make is sit down and shut up.

When asked what we believe, we do not need to voice our own opinions. I know what is right and what is wrong because God has revealed it. I don't have to be defensive. I will be seen as divisive, intolerant and unloving by those whose lives are not grounded in God's word. But I know that Jesus Christ came to save the world from the condemnation it was already living in.

I believe that if the living today knew what the dead already know, the whole world would be following Jesus Christ.