Confessing the Grand Illusion

“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” James 1:5-8 (NLT)

Sometimes the ink well just goes dry and I ain’t got nothing to say. It is in those moments where I either listen to a sermon or two on CD or a Podcast, find and read a new book or just simply be still. I also have those moments where the Word of God has manifested itself right in front of my eyes and I seem to have enough ink to write down what has happened. I thought I was in one of my “ain’t got nothing to say” moments when I found a book titled “The Great Gospel Deception: Exposing the False Promise of Heaven without Holiness” by David S. Kirkwood.

The title struck me and I pulled it off the shelf, flipped through a few pages, read a few paragraphs and bought the book. What I should note here is this book was found in the Keswick Thrift Shop and it only cost fifty cents. I also should note that I had just finished a brief conversion with the editor of Freedom Fighters, Bill Welte, whom has ribbed me on not getting any FF contributions from me lately. I assured him that I was working on something (which I am) and he should see it soon. But now back to this book.

I find myself a spot to sit and begin to read what this deception could possibly be when I get to chapter two. It is titled “The Immoral Christian” and Kirkwood tells a story of a married, hardworking father of three children that everyone likes but has a dark secret. He is the neighborhood peeping Tom at the end of his work week. Then he tells a story of another married, hardworking father of three children that everyone likes, except he attends church every Sunday and teaches a Sunday school class twice a month. He was elected a deacon, is close to the pastor and has the respect of the congregation. He also has a white ribbon on his car antenna as a protest against pornography. It is well with his soul.

But this married hardworking deacon has a flaw. At the end of his work week he goes into the neighborhood video store and rents an R-rated movie. He is well aware of the nudity and language in it before he rents it. He had overheard some unsaved co-workers talk about this movie and that the bedroom scenes are awesome. Once his kids are in bed he sits on the couch with his wife and presses play. He will, of course, bemoan this movie for all the sex and vulgar language to his fellow believers in church. “Isn’t it a shame that movie-makers think all that filth is necessary?” “Yes! Yes! What a shame.”

And now Kirkwood asks what the difference between these two men is. Well the first is just a down right out pervert and that goes without saying. He watches live sex acts in bedrooms but the second has watched filmed sex acts in bedrooms. And there stands a good chance that the Lord’s name was blasphemed a few times in this movie. So…which is the immoral man here?

Now I will not go too much farther into what Kirkwood writes but the word “hypocrite” comes up and then a conviction comes over me. I have shared what I have just read here in chapter two with my wife and she promptly responds by saying, “That goes for music too.” Now I know that the Greek translation for hypocrite is “actor” but the world’s translation goes deeper. They use it to label a double-minded person has a liar. I will confess that there have been movies that I have recently watched in the theater that can raise an eyebrow and that my i-pod has secular music on it but now I wonder if the world will view my Christian walk as a lie. If I profess Christ to unbelievers and they discover that I have an album by the band Styx titled “The Grand Illusion” on my i-pod will they turn to others and say, “Did you see what is on his i-pod? What a liar!!”

Brothers I can’t begin to tell you how this has made me feel. I feel like climbing a mountain, finding a cave and not coming out…ever. But is this what Jesus wants for me? No, it isn’t. Be in the world but not of it, right? There will be those moments where the filth of this world will work its way to my doorstep and ring the doorbell but I can ask Jesus to open the door. I don’t need the cave but what I need is to take every thought captive to obey Christ. If this is what I need to do for myself would you also be in agreement with me this morning that this is what you need to do for you? — Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a frequent contributor to Freedom Fighter

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 8; Proverbs 3-5; 2 Corinthians 1

Dig This Quote:“Why do non-Christians restrain themselves from committing certain sins? It is because they fear adverse consequences. This principle has been proven repeatedly throughout human history during times when the usual moral restraints, such as governmental law or public opinion, have been removed. When brutality becomes acceptable, brutality prevails. The piles of human skulls in Cambodian killing fields and crumbling incinerators of Nazi concentration camps stand as mute testimony to the true nature of unregenerate human nature. What happens when murder is legalized, when the law of the State or public opinion say’s it’s OK to exterminate Jews or rip the unborn to pieces in their mother’s wombs? No one has to speculate on the answer to that that question.” The Great Gospel Deception David S. Kirkwood

Determined Digging: Level 1 —Lamentations 3:21-23; Level 2 — Psalm 139:1-6

Determined Praying: When we rely upon an organization, we get what an organization can do; when we rely on education, we get what education can do; when we rely on eloquence, we get what eloquence can do, and so on. Nor am I disposed to undervalue any of these things in their proper place, but when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do.” — A. C. Dixon