Be careful. A very subtle and powerful spirit of deception is slithering through the pews of the Church. Discern what you are being taught. Nothing is new under the sun. God has not changed across time and covenants. Truth is not moldable in our hands, neither is what it means to love and protect our neighbors as ourselves.
Over the years, I have upset some people who disagreed with my understanding of what it means to love my neighbor as myself. Some of my expressions of love contradicted their accepted political, theological, and social interpretation of love. The most intense of objections have come from those who desire a faith isolated from the very things that cause pain and suffering for the people they serve. We are living in a time of unnecessary suffering, a suffering that could have been avoided had the Church lived awakened to the truth and been willing to stand in the gap expressing a protective love.
An acquiescence of responsibility has taken place in exchange for a form of faith that has adopted a disengaged que sera sera mindset. In some instances, people of faith and those who lead them can sound more like the culture the Lord wants to redeem than people whose minds have been renewed.
To see a political agenda, a theological position, or a social movement sourced in deception and not speak up to protect those it harms is not love. It is a capitulation to the spirit of the age. Sadly, some who have capitulated to such a spirit stand behind popular pulpits or host Internet programs speaking with confidence to masses of people too willing to accept what is being offered without a challenge as to the veracity of the message.
If someone is looking for a faith that is non-pulsed, loved by all, and easily digested without conflict, Christianity is the wrong choice. Following Jesus will at times place us in positions of contradiction with fellow believers who do not see active protection of others as loving our neighbor as ourselves. Speaking the truth in love will always stretch our faith, especially when it takes place within the Church.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Garris Elkins
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