Don't Change the Word

God’s Word is a road map for our life and we aren’t to change a single word. What happens when we do? Enough doubt and confusion seeps into our minds/lives/situations to make us easy prey for the enemy. In Geneses 2: 17 God told Adam that if he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he would surely die. Surely die sounds pretty definite to me. And it was the truth because of what Adam and Eve did, they did bring physical death to humanity. But Eve told the serpent in Genesis 3 that they couldn’t eat or touch the tree. She added to what God said. She also said that they couldn’t eat of the tree lest they die. That doesn’t sound so definite does it? Rather Adam changed God’s directions when he relayed them to Eve or Eve changed them on her own, I don’t know. But when she added to the Word, and watered it down, she opened the door for the enemy and it didn’t just change her life, but the life of everyone that came after her. We are living in a time when God’s Word is being added to and watered down constantly and if we don’t take a stand, the world as we know it will be altered forever. It is the fault of Christians for watering down the Word. We do it to make our own lives comfortable. We want our loved ones to go to Heaven, so we take their lukewarm profession of faith and occasional church attendance and we’re happy with it. We assume people are Christians because they haven’t told us they are, and we accept that and go on. I know of no one’s heart but my own. Because I believe in eternal salvation, I don’t necessarily believe that someone is not a Christian because they aren’t exactly where they need to be, but I also don’t naturally assume one is saved if they’ve never given me reason to think that other than words not ever evidenced in their lives. I do believe that many people that think they’re saved only have a “head knowledge”. They understand on a cerebral level who Jesus is, but they’ve never actually met Him. Because if they had, their life would be different. And if they had, there would be a longing to know Him better though church attendance, prayer, Bible studies. They would have a concern for others who may not know Him. If there is no evidence of this in your life, and there has never been any evidence, I am concerned that your confession may just be on a “head” and not a “heart” level. And while I realize that you can be in a “backslid” state as I once was, you won’t stay because you can’t, and you won’t be offended that others are concerned where you are. I know this because I was in this place once. My daughter was very concerned, and she talked to me about her concerns. I was not angry. My heart was broken that I was causing her worry. Her words were not a surprise to me though because I knew I was not where I needed to be. I know many people who profess to be saved but who would not allow me to express a similar concern. I think anger is a defense, but against what? Facing the truth that you need to get your life right? Or facing the truth that you never knew Him to begin with? If you profess salvation and haven’t darkened the door of a church in years or are otherwise openly living a life contrary to His Word, and it makes you angry for someone to talk to you about this, you may want to ask yourself why.

We water down things because we want to do what we want to do. I encourage single people to date other single people who are saved based on the Bible telling us to not be unequally yoked. If we don’t date lost people, we won’t marry lost people. I’ve faced criticism on this stance from other Christians. I’ve heard everything from “how can I win them over if we don’t date?” to “I’m a better person with him/her”. Win them to Christ as a friend. And if the lost person you are dating has a moral code so much higher than yours that they require you to be a better person to be with them, well, that may be part of the problem. Touching the whole really saved vs. not really saved subject again, do you have a testimony? Is there a moment that you made a conscience decision to respond to the call of God and accept the gift of salvation? And did that moment, even if you’ve messed up since, change your life? All of our experiences will be different and we may not always remember every detail such as dates, etc., but if we can’t remember if we had that defining moment in our life, then we didn’t have it. And we’re lost. And we’re heading to hell. And this should be the first thing we know about someone before we ever ask them out, and someone who gives answers that suggest anything less than a true salvation moment is someone we should never ask out. Because when we justify that answer that we know isn’t a true salvation experience answer, first and foremost we are not leading them to the Lord, we are continuing to aid them in believing that their soul is well when it is not. That is the worst thing we can do and is certainly not an act of love in any way. Then we are attached to this person, we convince ourselves what we want to believe, and we are married and raising children together. Then what happens? I know I talk a lot about being really saved, but it’s because there are so many who will be surprised when they miss Heaven. Read the parable of the 10 virgins. At least half of us who think we may be there will not. Please don’t be one and please don’t let someone you love be one. This is the most tragic result of watering down and changing the Word. In the world we live in today, the watering down of the Word by Christians is becoming more and more common place. I am surprised at the number of Christian parents I see supporting the gay and transgender cause because they have a child with this issue. I can’t imagine that I could ever not love my child. I am in no way suggesting parents of gay or transgender children not love them or even turn their backs on them. But saying their choices are not sin is another story. I have had children live in sin with their opposite sex partner, experiment in alcohol and other substances, and in general turn their backs to what God would expect or not expect of them. I never stopped loving them, disowned them, or put them out. But I have also never made their sin okay. Loving your child and even supporting your child is not the same thing as making their sin acceptable. I never told my kids the things they did were okay. My heart broke when I saw them hurt as a result of their sinful choices, but I did not try to change the world or what God says to make those choices acceptable. Instead I prayed for their hearts to change. We water things down when we get lazy about things that count. A lot of people tell me they don’t vote because there isn’t anyone they really trust and that neither party is really Godly. That’s probably true. But sometimes it isn’t what we vote for as much as what we vote against. I vote every chance I get against abortion. The Word tells us that He knew us before we were born! The first person to recognize Jesus was an unborn child. There is nothing in the Bible that would support abortion. A lot of people use rape as their pro-abortion arguments. I still believe it’s murder, but to be honest, so few abortions are about rape. That’s just the enemy’s way to keep confused the people who would otherwise see abortion for it truly is. The bottom line is this: if you are someone who see’s abortion for what it truly is, but you can’t be bothered to vote against it because neither party is that great, the enemy is using your laziness to confuse you and keep you where you are. If you are someone who wants to make certain sins okay because you have loved ones struggling with that sin, you aren’t loving that person at all to make them think their choice is okay. There is a difference between loving and supporting a person and loving and supporting their lifestyle choices. You can do one without the other. Just like you love and support someone who makes other choices that are not in line with the Word without supporting that particular choice, you can love and support someone who has made choices concerning gender or sexual preference that doesn’t line up with God’s Word without supporting their choice. If you’ve accepted that someone you love is saved because they’ve told you but you have never seen evidence in their life or their testimony doesn’t really pinpoint a moment they decided to trust in Jesus, you aren’t really loving them. Because while you can’t know someone else’s heart, you can know the things you see in their life. Not talking to them because it makes life easier isn’t loving them at all. And if you are a person that gets angry because a loved one is concerned about what they do or don’t see in your life, you better figure out why that makes you angry before it’s too late.

The next election could forever change life as we know it. People are dying and going to hell every day and a lot of them probably thought they were okay. The next person could be someone you love or even you. Jesus is closer than ever. Time is running out. To use the vernacular of the day, it’s time that those of us who profess His name get woke. And it starts with knowing what His Word says and letting that be our standard. Don’t change it, don’t water it down, and don’t add to it.