Incompatible

I have for several months been writing to you about the looming crisis that is coming to Christians and the American Church. The Lord has compelled me to write these things to you as a Shepherd who loves his sheep and wants them informed, (“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...” Hosea 4:6) secure, and safe from the increasing changes facing the followers of Christ along with the increasing pressure to accommodate the world’s system of belief. The devil has done his part in trying to persuade me not to continue by whispering that it is too much to put upon you… who knows, maybe he has even sent “snakes” to distract and intimidate… ha! But the growing marginalization of Christianity should not surprise us, Jesus said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:18-19)

The fact is, while we live in this world, we are not of this world. The Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world are simply incompatible. This is not new; it was this way for the early church and has been this way for most of Christian history. Yet Christians in America are mostly unaware of this because we have been so protected through our constitutional freedoms and our founding fathers Judeo-Christian heritage. But these things are changing, and it appears they will continue to change. We see these subtle changes through the rewriting of our history—which now attempts to remove any vestiges of God and His commands (by the way, the ten commandments formed the basis of all our founding laws. For this reason, they are engraved upon the doors of the Supreme Court building!) and declaring the originators of our nation as evil. Further, the Constitution is being abused, misinterpreted, and misapplied to make way for rulings that defy common sense. Secular progressives and Marxist socialists all know that their agenda is incompatible with the Church and Biblical Christianity and so undermining Christianity or at least persuading the Church to accommodate beliefs that go against the heart of scripture is essential if their godless agenda is to keep advancing. Through changing definitions, identity confusion, restrictive language, normalizing leftist ideas as principled and intelligent in the academic and media world, and by rejecting Biblically based moral law on the grounds that it is narrow minded and bigoted, the enemy’s plan to destroy the foundations of righteousness goes forward.

So, is there any good news? I am glad you asked! Yes indeed. The Bible says “… the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:17) But we are not of this world…that’s good news. Paul put it this way, “For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.” (Philippians 3:18–4:1)

Did you get that? The good news is Christ is victorious and in Him we are neither hopeless nor helpless. His Kingdom wins! There have been many dark periods in history that have been transformed by a move of God. I believe there is still time, I believe we can be a part of a new and fresh one, I believe that God’s people can make a difference in the darkness, I believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is available to you and me, so let’s get closer to God than ever, let’s repent and as the writer of Hebrews says, throw off the sin that so easily entangles us and run with endurance the race set before us, and let’s stand by faith and in faith and as Jude says, “contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints.”

And remember, God is always trying to take us someplace new. I love being your pastor!

For God’s Glory Alone,
Pastor Ray