Contents:
BE NOT CONFORMED, BUT TRANSFORMED
AN ENTERTAINMENT CONSPIRACY?
BE TRANSFORMED
TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES
Greetings to all of you!
I hope that life is treating you well and that you are moving closer to whatever goals you’ve set for yourself for this new year. The first month is over. If you made resolutions, have you kept them? I hope that you have one daily resolution: to give your life to God, and allow Him to baptize you freshly with His Holy Spirit, so that every moment of that day is lived within the grace our God so freely offers.
I’ve had a lot of things on my mind lately, and I thought I’d share a few of them with you – my point of view. I’m in somewhat of a rambly mood, so… =) If you want to reply, please reply to me, and not to everyone. Thanks. =)
BE NOT CONFORMED, BUT TRANSFORMED
Romans 12:1-2 (NIV) reads, “Therefore, I urge you brothers (and sisters), in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. In the Image of God created he him, male and female, created he them. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. We have seen his glory, the Glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. For God so loved the world that whoever believes in him would not perish, but live forever.
God made us to be perfect. We fell from that perfect state. God now desires to restore us to our former position, “a little lower than the angels,” and He has provided the way to do it: faith in Jesus Christ. And many embrace the gift of salvation, and begin to walk in the newness of life.
But somehow, things are different now than they once were. Once upon a time you could tell who the Christians were. Not only by the externals (personal appearance, adornment, dress, forms of entertainment) but also by the internals (attitude, honesty, integrity, sacrifice, compassion). Now, it’s very difficult to differentiate one from another. We may say that it’s the presence of the tares with the wheat. We may say that it’s just a question of perception; that there really is a difference. We may say what we like, but there is a definite narrowing between what is accepted in the world, and what we are accepting as Christians.
A new cry has gone out throughout the world – a cry for tolerance. Political correctness demands that everyone accept everyone else no matter what they are doing, and no matter what they believe (unless they’re Christian). This tolerance is based in the view that there is no right, or wrong. There is no law. And therefore, whatever I will do is based on my feeling. If it makes me feel good, I do it. If it makes me feel bad, I don’t. And if it makes me feel bad because it makes you feel bad, then maybe I don’t do it, depending on how good it made me feel, and how bad it made me feel and the overall balance there. There are no absolutes, there is no law, and there is no sin – therefore no need for a Saviour.
And Christians become hated in the eyes of political correctness, because we say “There is a God, He has a law, and breaking it is sin. You need a Saviour.” And that, in the eyes of the world is intolerance. Intolerance of a lifestyle that runs counter to the revealed will of God. And that’s the way it should be. Christians should never be afraid to be intolerant of sin. But they should never let that intolerance spill over into a lack of love for the sinner.
But God warned us, through Paul, not to be conformed to the pattern of this world. Would he warn us if there was no possibility of that happening with us? I doubt it. Is it happening? You’d better believe it. I was listening to a Seventh-day Adventist pastor preaching about Sodom and Gomorrah, over the internet using RealAudio. And she surprised me when she said that she had done research and firmly believed that God condemned neither homosexual lifestyle nor behaviour.
That surprised me, on the one hand, because it is not a Biblical position. It did not surprise me, because it fits squarely into the idea of the day, and we are conforming. It is easy, in this society, to take a position that says, “Love God, and do what you want, even if what you want is not what God says, because we’re living under grace, and righteousness by faith means there’s nothing you can do that will disqualify you from salvation.” Because that kind of theology fits right in with the pattern of this world. And if that’s the gospel you preach, your church will be full, and everyone will be smiling and happy and feeling good. And you will have to answer to God for the ones you lead astray.
Don’t be conformed to the pattern of this world. Don’t let the world’s philosophies take the place of God’s truth. Don’t bow down to the academic idols of psychology, economics, theology, or biology that place the ideas of the created before the ideas of the Creator. Don’t buy into the messages that are pumped out from Hollywood, and New York, and Nashville, because the majority of the people in the entertainment industry have an agenda that is opposite to yours, and the devil will use them to subtly undermine the foundation of your faith, until you can no longer stand.
Consider the ongoing focus on the supernatural. Today, I saw clips from the movie “Ghost” with Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg. There, we saw it all… the immortality of the soul (Satan’s old lie, “you shall not surely die”), psychokinesis, heaven/hell immediately after death, seances and possessions… all of the New Age ideas were set in a touching love story, so that the watching public would have an emotional attachment and readily accept ideas they might have been uncertain about, or rejected.
Shows like the x-files and touched by an angel, making supernatural occurrences so believable and explainable that people will be deceived when the devil starts to act up, in the last days. Children today play with monsters, and the video games are almost all violent. Death and killing seem to have little impact. Would it be easy today for a crowd to cry, “Crucify! Crucify!”
And when you look at the music… It’s all about love and sex, with a few exceptions. The things people sing about are the things that give them the most pleasure. And you will very rarely find God in there. The last hit I remember where God was featured was Mariah Carey’s “Make It Happen” (And if you get down on your knees at night and pray to the Lord, He’s gonna make it happen, make it happen) and that’s assuming that her Lord is our Lord
Of course, you would be aware of the messages recorded backward in certain songs, the overt references to spiritism, the songs speaking of those in heaven watching down, the symbols. You would not be aware of just how many of the musicians are inspired by the devil through their spirit guides and eastern mysticism. But if you make listening to their music a habit, you might want to investigate some of their beliefs. Because, as a songwriter, I can tell you that I will write most from those things closest to my heart, and you will be influenced by my songs when they’re deep.
When I was in high school, I wrote a couple of songs for my play about divorce, Aftermath, and the songs, I was told, is what made people cry when my play was presented. The lyrics touched the hearts of those in the audience, especially those whose experiences mirrored those in the play, and it opened the wells of their hearts. Lyrics have power. And if the devil has a hand in crafting lyrics, just like he crafts lies, we will be influenced, often without our knowledge.
The entertainment industry is anti-Christian, and if you watch the portrayals of Christians in the media, like Ned Flanders on The Simpsons, you will see us portrayed for the most part as weak and ineffectual, or as deceptive, abusive, and intolerant. And as long as we refuse to conform, we will be targets of such attacks. But, as the apostle Paul, we should wear our stripes proudly, because we are following in the footsteps of the one we profess to follow.
So we don’t want to be like the world around us. But with all
of the pressure on us, from peers, from the media, from our parents, from
our church friends, to be like the world, how can we manage to resist it
all?
The answer is clear, and it does not come from within us – it comes
from outside of us: God does it. He transforms us by renewing
our minds.
Now, this is an interesting idea – the renewing of the mind can only be done with our cooperation. Because, while God alone has the ability to “create in me a clean heart”, we have the ability to pollute it. And whether it be with the music we listen to, the books we read, the web pages we view, the conversation we engage in, we can throw a pitchfork into the works. But when we realize that what God wants to do for us and in us is for our best, we will cooperate with him. It just takes a while for some of us to get to that point. DC Talk sings, “Some people gotta learn the hard way/I guess I’m the kind of guy who has to find out for myself/I had to learn the heard way, Father/I’m on my knees and I’m crying for help”
We have a responsibility to make choices that will enable us to grow into the pattern that God wants for us. We have clear counsel in His word: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things” (Phil. 4:8)
We have a principle to apply, and it’s the same one that computer programmers use: garbage in, garbage out. And we can be no different. The quality of inputs affects the quality of outputs. And as God’s temples, we have a responsibility to choose for ourselves that which is good.
Now, we can learn the hard way. We can choose to believe that what we take in does not influence us. We can have our way of thinking changed until we tolerate anything in the name of peace. We can start to incorporate behaviours into our lifestyle because we’re free to live according to the Spirit. We can find ourselves on the slippery slope of relativism when we decide that the law no longer applies to anyone. We can experience the consequences that sin brings. And we can feel the pain.
I spoke with a friend this week, who had made a mistake in the past, and the some of the consequences of his mistake were bearing fruit now. And he told me that he was repenting of his sin. I told him that he didn’t have to repent again. The sin was long forgiven, but the consequences still remained to be dealt with. You know, that’s one of the hardest things about this life… We have to face the negative consequences that come from our mistakes.
For a long long time, Adam and Eve worked the ground, and bore children, and lived life, and were reminded every day of the perfect world they used to have, and the cursed world they now possessed. They were long forgiven for their error, but the pain continued. I’ll bet the prodigal son had some physical reminders of his time away, for a little while, and every time he looked at his father, and felt unworthy… pain. Our choices have consequences, and choosing to conform to this world’s pattern will have consequences now, and later.
This world isn’t a nice place. And it’s principles are not full of health or healing. This world will use you until it can’t get any more out of you, and then it will throw you away. And that’s the consequence of a sinful, selfish world. And if that’s the pattern you wish to be conformed to, you will reap that reward.
But God can transform you. And when you are transformed by Him, you will begin to walk differently, talk differently, dress differently, live differently. And best of all, your life will have purpose, and you will understand God’s will. I can tell you, from experience, that there is no better feeling than to know that all of your life’s energies are dedicated to serving your Creator. There’s no better sleep than the sleep in a tent on an island mission project, knowing God’s smiling when he thinks of you and your small show of dedication. There’s no better meal than the meal you eat before going out to touch the lives of young male and female campers. There’s no life better than one dedicated to God and lived within His will.
And if you question God’s will for you, maybe it’s because you need to let him transform you, and renew your mind. He can speak to you when your mind is clouded with sin and self, but you won’t hear. So take a spiritual purge, courtesy of your Father. Let Him renew you. Let Him fill you. Let Him give you joy!
I promise you, it’ll be worth it.
And that’s my point of view.