Day 2954 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

1 Peter 5:8 NIV

Your enemy. Our enemy. Our opponent. Nemesis. Challenger. Adversary.

In a war, you simply must be able to recognize the enemy that you’re fighting. But in this world, in this age, in this time where opinions and feelings are held in higher esteem than the truth that saves, determining the enemy has become entirely problematic, and in some cases, even entirely avoided.

Even by those who bear the Name and therefore the responsibility of sharing said truth.

Sadly, an utterly tragic reality is found in this fact that some within the church can seemingly manage to pretend as if there is no enemy. There are many who continue to downplay the significance of sin to the point that the world is convinced it’s harmless if not nonexistent. These messages being shared in this modern man-centered meology have allowed for the furthered corruption of the hearts and souls of those already lost. And it’s even corrupting those souls who claim to be in Christ.

How is this the case? Well, it’s gotten to the point where we’re no longer considered loving if we dare speak out against the wickedness enslaving and imprisoning our fellow man. In this new age of unenlightenment, this truth we carry, which has always been despised, has been villainized to where it’s entirely unwelcome and almost avoided at all costs. Instead of remaining alert and of sober mind, the church is teetering on the edge of insufficiency and inaction as a result of becoming rather distracted and impressively fearful.

Because when the church becomes afraid of speaking the whole truth of God’s Word, that the church is powerless. The truth of Scripture is our weapon in this war against the darkness destroying and devouring those around us. And for us to avoid it, twist it, downplay it, ignore it, refuse to share it or take it out of context in order to better fit the wants and wishes of those we’re called to help is a true failure to serve as we’ve been called to serve.

Literally moments before sitting down to write out this post for today, a commercial came on the TV for a "Freedom from Religion" organization. And the man speaking in this commercial ended his impressively chipper little message with, and I quote, "lifelong atheist not afraid of burning in hell."

For us to go on pretending that we don't need to get our hands dirty, don't need to speak up or speak out, don't need to contend for our faith or try to defend those of weak resolve is simply no longer acceptable. In truth, it never should have been. It never should have been acceptable to simply exist quietly with our faith joyfully locked away deep in our hearts where it could never offend anyone, could never upset anyone, could never even be seen by anyone.

But, alas, woe to us, that is largely where our faith has been relegated to existing for quite some time. We've agreed to shyly profess our faith only among those who share our faith. We've accepted society's invitation to stay out of the way, to speak only when spoken to, to either agree with the gross immorality or to at the very least nod and pretend as if we do. We have been told that our faith and our beliefs and the truth they’re built upon are not needed.

And the resounding crickets from the religious have seemingly sings our agreeance that it is in fact not all that important.

Yet, as we've sat weakly upon the fringes watching a society slip further and further in the darkness of spiritual depravity, a society we've been called to help by the way, we still manage to find this kind of shock and surprise at what we're seeing as if we had no idea that it wouldn't get worse. I guess maybe we just assumed God would sort everything out and that we didn't really need to get involved or stick our noses in or see if there were anything we could or should do to help.

As I said yesterday, salvation is in no way a selfish pursuit. If we have truly been saved, how can we not want others to be as well? If we believe that hell is coming, as this fellow from this commercial apparently does not, how can our hearts not break at the fact that folks can laugh it off? If we believe in sin, in salvation, in the Son, how can we remain quiet? How can we let it all go? How can we watch it all unravel when we know in our hearts the answer for all the hurting that we're seeing?

I honestly don't know what's happened or when it took place, but there should have only ever been one fear in our faith. The fear of failing our righteous Father. The fear of letting Him down by letting our calling go unfulfilled and unfinished. The fear of forgoing the opportunities we've been granted to help snatch folks from the stream that's leading to a kind of suffering nobody wants to imagine.

We should be living in reverent fear of God alone. But instead, it seems as if we've managed to carve out at least a little bit of room for living afraid of making someone feel bad, offending someone's personally held preferences, or being hated for sharing the truth that we know the world clearly has always hated.

When did human opinions become the enemy we're unwilling to contend with? When did not hurting someone's feelings become more important than speaking the truth that can save their soul? When did we become more afraid of humanity than of the enemy that is devouring them? When did we become unwilling to fight back against those pulling folks toward their demise? When did we stop fighting? Why did we stop fighting?

The devil hasn't given up. That much is most perfectly clear these days. While we're all distracted by politics and playoffs, the devil is completely focused on the work he's working overtime to try and complete before his time reaches its end. As we all bicker about the most petty and pathetic of topics and decisions, the eternal destinations of those around us are being decided.

While we sit quietly waiting for Christ to part the clouds and finish the job we never got around to worrying all that much about, the devil is reaping the harvest that we should be fighting for. But instead, so much of what we see in all of this worldly popularized and politicized and preference-prioritized preaching is that it's all no big deal. Nothing to worry about. So long as you're happy, cheers. Enjoy. Have fun. Live your best. Go ahead on your way.

Carry on my wayward son, there will be peace, but maybe only here, but that's another story for another time that shouldn't be allowed to dampen your enjoyment of worldly entertainment nor darken the decrepit light you've grown to love shining from the neon and strobes flashing all around us down here in this land of the happily lost and entirely entitled.

When we allow ourselves to only share the parts of the Gospel that people like, we do it a disservice. When we allow ourselves to remain quiet out of fear of hurting feelings or being found to be offensive, we fail to uphold the mission we've been commanded to undertake. When we wink and nod and turn a blind-eye to the indiscretions no longer being done discretely, and do so bearing the title Christian, we tell the world that our faith doesn't see any problem in the preferred problems the world has chosen to enjoy.

When we refuse to speak against the evil and wickedness being done in this world, we may as well be agreeing with it. Because if nobody says anything is bad or wrong or unbecoming or potentially problematic from an eternal perspective, well then the world has no reason to assume otherwise. Because the devil has long been convincing mankind that we're free to do as we please. And if we never speak the truth that says otherwise, then doing as they please will remain the status quo.

Back in the day when shepherds used to tend their flock upon the hills and within the valleys of wherever they resided, they did so with a firm grasp upon the responsibility placed in their hands. Wild animals, cliffs and fissures, cisterns and unstable ground all provided for plenty of things to watch out for in order to protect the defenseless flock placed in their care.

If they lost an animal, it involved as cost. Maybe money, maybe reputation, maybe that way of making a living as a shepherd would be taken as they failed to do the job and protect the flock. It was serious work, hard work, long work, sometimes even dangerous work. But they did it, and they did it as if it mattered because, though animal, lives we're in their care.

Christ is the prime example of a good shepherd, which is why He's called the Good Shepherd. He protects, He saves, He fights for, He watches over, He leads, He guides, He defends. But He also refuses to lose. Why are we okay with it? Why are we okay with losing those potentially in our purview? When did it become in any way acceptable to allow those around us to be devoured by the lions lurking in the shadows? When did we agree to become lazy shepherds, fearful shepherds, worthless shepherds?

Yes, said it. Needs to be said. We've got people making commercials spreading messages mocking the reality of hell. We have celebrities performing clearly devilish displays for all to see on primetime TV. We have kids being handed rainbow flags marching in parades behind men dressed in leather animal costumes on their hands and knees being walked on leashes. We have men dressing as women, competing in women's sports, using women's locker rooms, using women's restrooms, winning women's awards.

We have hatred unseen, depravity untold, darkness only deepening, and sin only rising all around.

When do we get off our hands and start raising them? When do we stop merely reading the Bible and begin living the Holy Word of God? When do we say enough is enough, that it's time to get to work? When do we start fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves? When do we accept the fact that the devil is still prowling, and take up the full armor of God and the sword of His truth and join this battle?

Maybe we've been afraid of the risk. Sure, some is involved, quite a bit in fact. We might be seen as offensive, but so is a man smirking at how funny burning in hell is to him. We might be hated for speaking the truth that the world has always hated, but how can we not hate that the world finds it okay to hate God? We might be excluded, persecuted, judged and ridiculed and refused, but is it not worth a little bit of worldly turmoil to help someone, anyone end up avoiding eternal misery?

We’re told to be alert, because it's happening. Sin is winning over more souls by the day. The devil is luring people away. The days are growing fewer in which we can help people find the Way. That is why we must be of sober mind, not confused or confounded or confined by fear, because we need clear heads in this battle. We're being told that what we have to say isn't something that anyone wants to hear. We're hearing that we're not welcome, well, we shouldn't care. It's not about us being welcome, but about helping those lost learn that they're welcome in the loving arms of their Savior.

The time is over for a distracted and fearful faith that's always afraid of something or someone. We fear God alone, and we serve God alone. It's time we get to serving, because this war is ramping up. If we don't stand up at this time, when will we? Will we? We'd better. Because the world is clearly fine with standing beside the devil. If we're too afraid to say that isn't okay, then we should probably do some soul searching and try and find our fire before it burns out.

My whole point is that the darkness isn't hiding anymore, so why are we? God is being mocked in music, in movies, in mainstream social media messages. Christ is being rejected and refused and laughed at by this warped and wicked society in which we live. Folks such as that man who made that commercial have no problem telling the world that our faith is a joke. And if we don't stand up and tell those around us that God ain't laughing, then they'll probably keep assuming He is.

If nothing is ever a big deal to us, to our faith, then why would anyone in the world ever change? Make no mistake, sin is a big deal, and that doesn't change just because a lot of people disagree. It's time for us to join this fight, otherwise, we'll simply end up failing to be who we've been called to be. And considering what Christ has done for us, failing Him out of fear ought to be one of the worst thoughts we could ever imagine.

Are we shepherds, servants, soldiers standing upon the frontlines unwilling to waver from this line we’ve been asked to hold? Are we willing to do what needs to be done in order to show the world that our faith isn’t a punchline but a life-preserver? It just shouldn’t be so hard to distinguish between the church and the world we’re called to serve. I understand trying to reach the world, but pretending sin isn’t harmful just so we’re not offensive isn’t the way to go about it.

If our faith means to us all we claim it does, then allowing it to be mocked should simply be unacceptable. Not that people won’t mock it or mock us, but that we shouldn’t sit idly by and remain quiet when they do. We ought to be willing to stand up for what we believe in, if for nothing more than those who are legitimately lost and looking for hope. We owe it those who can still find Christ to stand as a beacon helping them do so.

Because if we don’t, well, we can be certain that the world definitely won’t either. So if not us then who? If not now then when? We’re running out of time my friends. People are leaving this place every day. And we just can’t keep letting them leave thinking that our faith is joke. There’s simply too much on the line to act like this is a game we can afford to lose.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold