(Today’s message from Pastor Covert is a warning, and I thought it was appropriate to share it here. Word to the wise. EET)
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Picture yourself at a buffet in a restaurant. There you find meat, potatoes, veggies, bread and dessert. There’s even coffee or soda for those so inclined.
Then you notice an exotic food court, where you can have toasted scorpions, chocolate covered killer bees, and breaded deep-fried tarantulas. You can drink snake venom that has been dosed with antivenin so that it’s only scary to think of it, but it won’t really hurt you – or so they say.
Most people would pass by the exotic food court: some would exclaim at the oddities, while others would fear to even come into contact with the nasty so-called “food and drink”.
Yet, there are some who get bored eating regular food, and think their lives would be enhanced, if only by gaining bragging rights, by partaking in the very things that most people would shun.
And so it is with today’s sleeping Christians.
It is one thing to examine what the world is offering with the motive of comparing it to the truth of God’s word for the purpose of exposing the darkness to the light, and warning our brothers and sisters about it.
It is quite another thing to sample and pick and gnosh on worldly spiritual fare just so you can say you “tried” it. That is like cheating on your spouse, or committing idolatry (spiritual adultery).
Those who drag the world’s methods into their Christian walk are no longer entirely Christian, just as a mouse with human brain cells is no longer entirely a mouse.
There’s a song by Daniel Amos that contains the lyrics: “They smile like an angel but behind their eyes lies the door of the death house and the big surprise!”
Satan appears as an angel of light. He loves to appeal to our sense of sophistication! He wants us to question everything. And boy, do some of us love that game.
Jesus said that if your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is darkness, how great is that darkness.
How much darkness is enough to make your worldly associates think you’re cool? What if you have so much darkness that you already have sunk to playing “Devil’s Advocate” with your Christian friends about the goodness of God?
We need to develop a Theodicy – our explanation of God’s goodness and justice in the face of evil! We need to be able, as Paul exhorted us, to give an account for the faith that is in us.
If we are not even sure that God is good, and that His justice will prevail in the face of evil, then how can we even say we have faith?
Remember the ten virgins? Five were foolish, and five were wise. The wise ones were ready when the Bridegroom came, having brought extra oil for their lamps which was necessary because the wait became longer than they expected. The foolish ones were not ready, and had to go and buy more oil because their lamps had gone out. While they were away purchasing oil, the Bridegroom came and welcomed the wise virgins to the wedding. But the foolish were turned away as the strangers they were.
The strangers they had become…
Wake up, sleepers. You are asleep in the light. You are allowing the Devil to puff you up in your pride, and you are exchanging the truth of God for a lie. Will you become estranged from the Bridegroom so that you fool yourself into thinking you will be welcome to the wedding feast, when you aren’t even prepared for the wait?
11:11 Truth 