Who are you offending?

I see a pattern redeveloping within the Body of Christ that is somewhat disturbing and somewhat expected also. In the 1970's there was a renewal in this country of its people turning their lives around from the promiscuous attitude of free sex ushers in by the Woodstock era. There was a revival in this country. There was a turn back to the conservative ideals even in the political realm. God began to once again pour out the latter rain He promised in the Book of Joel. Churches, once again, began to bulge at the seams and a higher standard of holiness was seen in the lifestyles of those who called themselves "Christians." Everything was right again in Christian Camelot. We marched on Washington with an attitude of prayer and filled the lawn between the Washington Monument and the Capital with hundreds of thousands of Christians who interceded for this country in repentance. I was a part of that event and it changed me and those around me for life. We saw what could happen when the Body of Christ comes together for the one purpose of repentance as a country. Not long after that time, we elected Ronand Reagan as President and saw our country as well as the world change for the better.

Well that was almost thirty years ago, and as has happened in generations past, we have slumped into an attitude of compromise and a cry of tolerance. In this post-modern period there is nothing new. It is an attitude that has been here before and will probably be here again if we don't recognize the signs this time. The difference between the world and the Christian have begun to blur. Where there was a wide avenue between the heathen and the Christian twenty years ago, now its hard to tell the difference the gathering of our communities. I have attended weddings and graduations where alcohol has flowed and both non-believers and believers have given themselves over to the personality changes that comes with drunkenness. Christians are attending movies with questionable dialog and scenes of sexual promiscuity and extreme violence. The clothes that the Christian wears only identifies them with the slack attitude of the world, girls showing entirely too much of their bodies and boys and men taking on the dress code of the street gangs and the sloppiness of dress as a whole. Within the church, young girls and boys are giving into the pressure of oral sex, offering the statement that they are still virgin, to fit in and not be labelled as some sort of prude. W A K E U P P E O P L E !!!!

If our Christian morals are to survive in this 21st Century, then the church is going to have to be the church. Christians are going to have to stand out as a different lifestyle. A lifestyle that promotes abstenance and morals fitting a Christian. The biblical expression of the family unit must become more pronounced and we must draw a much wider line in the sand of what it means to be a Christian and separate ourselves from the attitudes of the world.

Remember the words of the Apostle Paul as he dealt with compromise in the church in his days. He reminded us that we are to flee from the appearance of evil. We are to prefer the weaker brother and not do things that will cause him to stumble. Make sure that your motives are pure and you do what uplifts the church and the Body of Christ. We need to live our lives as someone who is looking in a mirror that show our every flaw and act according to the Word of God in all that we do.

The changes that need to be made are not going to be made at the political level. That appears to be where some of the problems have their base. Political correctness has stripped our country of its Judeo-Christian heritage and has tried to make us basically a godless society where everyone does what is right in his own eyes. Does that sound familiar? It should. Its the same mindset that caused God to destroy Sodom and Gomorah. I have heard this said by others and I agree with the statment. "If God doesn't bring judgment on the United States of America today then He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorah." The change that must take place is at the grass roots arena. Each of us is going to have to stand up for what is right, pure, and moral. I leave you with a quote from the Book of Philippians. It comes from the 4th chapter, verses 8 through 9.

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you." (NLT)

If this country is going to regain its place of prominence in the world, we must get back to the Christian principles that it was founded upon and each of us who calls him or herself a Christian must once again establish that wide gap between ourselves and the world. Remember people are drawn to light over darkness when light shows itself in the presence of darkness. The more light that is in your life, the more lost souls will be drawn to you. They are hurting and are looking for something that is stable. The Christian lifestyle is the only lifestyle that will change their lives and change this country back into a Christian nation. Think and act on things that are pure, true,noble, just, lovely and of a good report. Meditate on things of virtue and things that are praiseworthy and you will not go wrong.