Have We Gone Too Far?

By Rev. Caleb Thompson

(copies from Baptist Bread Jan./Feb. 2012)

“Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.” Hosea 4:17

When God tells us to leave someone alone it isn’t good. I had a neighbor once that was a drug dealer (she and her husband). They had two adorable little girls and I was drawn to them. I had invited their mother to church several times and had tried to share the gospel with her. She didn’t want to hear it. One night they were in a bad car accident and the mother was almost killed. When she came home from the hospital I asked her again if she would go to church with me. She assured me that when she was able to get up and around again she would go. Time passed; she got better; and her walk with the world (which will be described in the scripture passages to follow) got even worse. She would not go to church. The worst thing that has ever happened to me in my Christian walk was when the Holy Spirit of God told me to never pray for her again. God gave her many chances and she hardened her heart.

          The following portion of this post is the part that is copied, written by Rev. Caleb Thompson. If you are a professing Christian, if you think you are right with God, please pay attention. Just because you think you have your ticket to heaven doesn’t mean you’re okay with God. Read on.

          A nation founded on scriptural principles is in peril when those who profess to follow Christ could summarize their personal principles on a napkin! Billboards advertise the latest fads, commercials tout the newest craze, extensive menus reinforce the idea that you deserve to have your way, and positive philosophies from the pulpit crescendo in the lullaby that brings swift sleep to unwary believers.

          Principles are packed in the attic or displayed in the museum of antiquity while feelings and emotions take the helm. Decisions are made and choices selected based on personal prerogative. Instant gratification tastes great on the tongue, but produces gall in the stomach. A cheeseburger and fries may delight the palate while they disease the body.

          But of far greater consequence is the spiritual decay that permeates the pews, brought about by the demand to be pampered and powdered, nursed and burped, patted and petted into complacent comfort. In the quest for personal happiness and contentment, we’ve been persuaded to drink the poisoned concoction of humanism, only to awaken with bile on the tongue, grief on the mind, and bitterness in the soul.

          Oh, but the task of self-gratification and self-will is so sweet on the lips that its effects are soon forgotten, and an inebriated world is being driven into oblivion by an intoxicated church.

          The idols of personal achievement, social status, creature comforts, economic progress, human capabilities, and selfish desires, all the works of men’s hands, are worshiped with the heart and hands, bank accounts and check stubs. All attest to the soul’s master.

          Part 2 tomorrow.