Yesterday 18 people were murdered just south of the Texas border in Mexico. In the past 15 years, our neighbor to the South has literally become infested by warring drug cartels who have little to no regard for human life and are ripping the country apart at it's seams.
We've all heard the adage that birds of a feather flock together. Look around. By and large, it is human nature to enjoy being around those who share like interests with ourselves. Drug cartels are primarily comprised of ruthless, no nonsense people with a bottom line of profiting from the sale and distribution of illegal narcotics. Many will simply let nothing stand in the way of that happening. Human life is cheapened and regarded as expendable and, when it comes to those who stand in the way of the groups goal, the end justifies the means in removing that threat. There is no respect for authority and police and politicians are assassinated as hindrances. Many innocent civilians and perceived threats in Mexico suffer the same fate.
Cartels are loosely organized groups who form loose agreements or "collude" in order to advance an agenda, normally illegally. It can entail controlling supply, price fixing, bid rigging, or controlling profits while limiting or reducing competition threatening the cartels
agenda or profit motive.
Last night Pastor Rick Warren tweeted that some folks who've had their souls saved now need their emotions to be saved because they are still as mean as ever. This got me to thinking about the condition of today's church. It is probable that the reason their emotions remain unchecked is because the ownership of their soul never changed hands. Worth considering!
Anyway, I got to thinking tonight about some things I have observed over time within the American church. The church is one of the primary institutions, along with marriage, family, community,etc.. that has held American society over the years. What I say from this point forward is sure to upset / possibly alienate plenty of people but this is on my heart and I
think it needs saying. With the caveat that much of this my opinion / belief / and Gods leading with me, I know that God is big enough to deal with each of us on His own terms and in His own time. Couple that with the fact that is primarily a burden I have for the church and not so much to non-churchgoers. I don't expect non-Christians to think like me.
So, here goes: While my next statement obviously does not apply to all churches, it does apply to far too many. The American church, by and large, has been infiltrated by Satans cartel and he is intent on advancing his agenda. Many clergy have grown soft and far too many preachers are unwilling to call sin for what it is - sin. Preferring instead to tickle the audieces ears, they preach comfortable, feel good messages in an effort to avoid offending the congregation. God forbid that unbelievers or nominal Christians might go down the road somewhere and take their money with them. "The church budget and its programs, powerless though they are, must go on"! Paul forecasts this very event in 2 Timothy 4: 3-4. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. II Tim 3:5. Another way to say this is that they have a form of Godliness but deny it's power.
There was an old saying growing up that Baptists don't dance, drink, or chew, or hang around those that do. I'm willing to wager that more baptists today drink than don't. What happened? Preachers, when is the last time you spoke about the evils of alcohol from the pulpit? Most will not do it. They may talk about drinking to excess (be not drunk with wine) but how have we moved from the vast majority of Christians having nothing to do with alcohol 50 years ago to the majority of the church being social drinkers, or alcoholics, today? What business do we as Christians have associating with and financially supporting these beverage companies (aka drug companies) which are killing people and destroying lives? How do we justify that?
Does Satan have cartels operating in many of America's churches? Christians or those who profess to be who are so worldly that there is no difference, no power evidenced in their lives? Cliques and gossips intent on tearing individuals down instead of building them up? Ladies more concerned with what each other is wearing than the condition of their soul? Cartels of pride and vanity showcasing the weekly soloist or featured group, turning it in to
that of a Hollywood production? I have heard there are churches that regularly pay their
singers or choir members to "perform". We have worldly Christians (or those who believe they are) in church for appearance sake but living like Hell the rest of the week. Business people attending to make connections for the sake of making potential contacts. The list goes on and on. Sin cartels, similiar to the drug cartels, have little to no regard for the spiritual life or condition of others as they are certainly not drawing their friends closer to Jesus. In fact, they turn or lead people away from God. Are we attempting to use God for our own selfish purpose? While I do not think that most of these people are intentionally evil or that they all have ulterior motives, the fact is that it does not matter. Satans agenda is simply to keep people from knowing and serving the one true God. We know Satans intent and it matters
little to him whether they know they are being used or not. The result is the same,
the impacted people and the others they turn off remain far from God.
Bottom line, we should follow Christ and worship Him to give praise and adoration to the God we profess to love and to be a light in this dark world. If we position ourselves as believers and/or church goers for any position other than this, we are guilty of trampling the grace
under foot that has been given to us. We are heaping sins upon ourself, thumbing our nose at the one who was ransomed on our behalf that our relationship be restored to the Father as it was in the beginning.
Have you looked around lately? Our world is a mess. Meanwhile, is it any wonder that little difference is observed between many professing Christians and those that don't know Him? Do we wonder why many people want to have nothing to do with Jesus? It's largely because they see no difference between themselves and many they know who claim to be Christians. Why should they want anything to do with Jesus when they see us living this way?
In the spirit of full disclosure, I would have say that I am guilty of having dabbled in certain spiritual cartels at times along the way. I certainly have been guilty of being only partially engaged. Perhaps you have been as well. Perhaps you are now? None of us can change the past but we can do something about the future.
Over the past 6-12 months, God has been calling me to do more for Him. I fully believe He is showing me that time is short and it is imperative that I / we / I make up my mind and pick a side.
Jesus is real. I know that and He has given me a purpose and zeal in life that I have never felt to this degree. That said, He is asking me how I can justify yielding only part of me to Him. I simply can't. I no longer can. I've come to a point of knowing that I can't speak for others but I'm determined that I will speak up for God as he leads me to. I will confidently stand up without regard for what others may think because I believe the one who died for my
sins is soon to return. No longer compromising or settling for giving Him anything less than all of me. Yet I remain a work in progress. But my heart is right with Him and that feels great. It's high time that we all stand up and insist that there is no room or time to play church any longer. Its time our pastors get back to preaching from the heart as opposed to speaking with the church budget in mind. And its time that we are filled with His Spirit to empower us to actually become contagious with something that the world wants to catch. There are millions more Americans that will follow Christ if we will get ourselves out of the way and allow them to see their desperate need for Him instead of a bunch of people who go to church but act no differently than anyone else. At some point, if they are honest with themselves, they will realize that there must be more to life than these temporal things that fail to satisfy here on earth. All human beings long for love, acceptance,and purpose, and there is no one, no one that holds a candle to Jesus. The old song says that "they will know
we are Christians by our love".
Speaking for myself, and you can hold me accountable, I am resolved to no longer be reserved and silent when it comes to what He has done for me. There is no time for that. There simply is no time. I hope you agree
Jim
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