“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Lord abides forever.” Isaiah 40:8; 1 Peter 1:24-25
The only path to true truth is through the Word of God. In other words, when we jettison the principles of Scripture we necessarily set ourselves upon a pothole ridden highway that leads over a cliff. America is on that terrible road right now. We can feel the shocks going as the ride gets bumpier. A sane driver would slow down. Indeed, they’d check their directions. A sane passenger would counsel caution. “This doesn’t look like the road to peace and tranquility,” they’d say.
Instead, we’re pushing the accelerator and arguing over who gets to drive. The destination – away from God – isn’t in question. We’re only bickering over how fast we reach that dreadful cliff of judgment.
The reason is simple. Sin makes us stupid.
Think about it. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the Pharisees had a meeting. What to do about this guy? They were convinced that He was a charlatan. They were sure He was an imposter. But a phony who raises the dead? Seriously? That’s a little nutty, don’t you think. I mean, no matter what they thought of Him theologically and socially, the fact that Lazarus had been dead for days – and then he wasn’t – should have caused them some hesitation. Nope. Instead, they decided that not only did they have to kill Jesus…they had to kill Lazarus too.
You see? Sin makes us stupid. When they should have been checking their Bibles, they were circling their wagons. The threat of losing our comfort, our power/position, or any other worldly treasure, is the rocky soil upon which we see the truth of false Christianity. Jesus specifically warned us to “beware of men” and to expect conflict with the world.
A rule of thumb is that if we’re in alliance with the world’s philosophy, we’re unfaithful to Christ. When we forego the critical question of life – “what does the Scripture say? (Romans 4:3)” – we cast ourselves into the arms of the Satan. When we approach any subject at all, in principle, without inquiring about the Scriptural context, we’ve resolved to embrace the principle of sin found in Genesis 3:5. This is the flashpoint. This is the only question that matters. If you are Christ’s, you must love Him and follow Him. The evidence of this discipleship is devotion to His word. This isn’t to say that the world’s authorities can’t be right about some thing but that their rightness is a grace from God. And it is to say that all beliefs, actions and policies that don’t end up glorifying our Savior are sinful.
The craziness we see around us presently is due to our rotten compromises. The Devil is a liar (John 8:44) and masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). The greatest sin of America today isn’t abortion or homosexuality. It’s lack of trust in His holy and life giving word. Instead of testing everything and conforming our thoughts to His standards (Romans 12:1-2; 1 Thessalonians 5:21), we adopt the world’s. This is what causes abortion and the other sins. A confused and bewildered warrior isn’t a threat to the enemy, but to his own side. Christians must be called to fidelity to Him and His word/law.
Many Christians worry about the Mark of the Beast, the dreaded 666, in the way a child fears monsters under the bed. The real monster isn’t what you think. The real monster, Satan, doesn’t tell you he’s evil. He lies and woos and seduces. He’s a humanist. He offers peace, security, and joy without the cross. He offers freedom from God’s standards. This is what the Bible means when it says that there’s a way that seems right to us, but the end is death. The end is that cliff at the end of that crazed highway of sin. Thus, the 666 is the false holiness, the false truth, and the phony path. The perfection of God is 777 – it’s a symbol. Revelation is a book of powerful imagery meant to show us the totality, or a bird’s eye view, of church history. It isn’t a guide to recent headlines.
Thus, the Mark of the Beast isn’t something you stumble into accidentally like walking into a spiderweb. It’s the mind set on the worldly system. It’s the mind that has accepted the lie of Satan…”did God really say?” If your answer is anything but a resounding, YES, you’re in grave danger. God has spoken and His word/law is and must be absolutely authoritative. If there is truth outside of Christ, if there is hope for humanity outside of Him, then He isn’t the Son of God at all. A mind that thinks a little of Scripture and a little of man’s politics/philosophy is guilty of adultery. It’s a man with a wife in one town and a girl in another. The 666 is “on your head” when you think, “ah…well, I can’t bring Jesus into this subject…”. What else will you bring? If there’s another “truth” then that truth must be God. The 666 is spiritual adultery. It’s the crime against God known as idolatry. It’s the failure to commit to Him alone. It’s seen when we consider a subject and don’t start with, Romans 4:3…with “what does the Scripture say?”
We are either the bride of Christ or the harlot of Satan (James 4:4). Our philosophical commitment displays whether we are His wife or a whore (Proverbs 7:21-23). We’re either the slave of Christ or slaves of sin (John 8:34). If you’re puzzling over this…if it strikes you as extreme, ask yourself by what standard you’re using to judge it. Christ will not save “neutral” men any more than a man would marry a woman and her assorted lovers too. We are either son’s of Adam or the redeemed sons of God, through faith in Christ, by whom we call God our Father (Romans 6). The Mark of the Beast isn’t an oops moment. That’s childish theology. It’s a heart/mind commitment. So, therefore, let me ask you: are you all in? Are you all for Christ and do you believe completely in His life giving and authoritative word? Do you seek to be trained to think ever more biblically in every area of your life or are you “going with the flow?”
Choose Christ and life. Choose Christ and beauty, truth, and honor. Choose the Scriptures and seek out biblical counsel the way a man asks for directions when he’s lost (2 Timothy 3:16).
Recent Comments