They’ve Kicked Jesus to the Curb!

I was closing the driveway gate the other day when a man walked along, stopped and introduced himself. Shaking my hand he said, “Hello I’m Jim (not real name). I’m the pastor of the church just down the street.” Knowing the church and the denomination, I mentioned to him that twenty years ago I was a member of the denomination,  but not his church. He asked why I was no longer a member, so I told him it was because of Bible compromise. I asked, “When push comes to shove between the Bible and the Church Constitution, Jim, which one do you thinks wins out?” He reluctantly responded, “The Constitution?” Nodding, I said, “That’s it.”

With a frown Jim said, “Yes … I wouldn’t like to think I was one that did that.” Although he’s a mature man, I don’t know how long he’s been a pastor, so I said, “But your denomination is willing to compromise the Scriptures, it’s been doing it for years.” He asked for one example, so I said, “Women elders and pastors exercising spiritual authority over men. Your denomination is full of them.” Jim didn’t appear comfortable acknowledging that reality and less so when I said, “I couldn’t associate myself with any church or denomination that is prepared to do that.” I also mentioned that my stand had nothing to do with legalism, but it did have, “a lot to do with liberty – for both men and women.” 

Jim quoted Scripture about submitting and laying down our lives as Christ did but he wasn’t convincing, so I said, “Yes, brother, we can all quote them, but can we do them?” Shaking hands as he walked off, he said it was good to know there was a believer in the street. I replied, “There’s probably more than one, but religious institutions hold no attraction.” Had he asked for two examples I would have given same-sex marriage as the other. Another pastor from his denomination proudly declared on national television that he would have no issues in marrying same-sex couples. That means his denomination endorses what he endorses. I prayed for Jim. If he hasn’t already, one day he’s going to have to come face to face with these compromises.

How spiritually presumptuous is the Christian/pastor/elder/group/denomination who believes God blesses their work when His divine truth, principles, patterns and order are violated! And, how spiritually presumptuous are those who say, “Why don’t you write something positive? These people’s hearts are in the right place.” Christians who are prepared to compromise the word of God do not have hearts in the right place; they have careless hearts, or hard hearts or wicked hearts. Listen to them “amening” Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him Proverbs 30:5. They don’t believe the first five words; yet they will grab the last twelve with everything they have. No wonder calamity comes upon so many! 

“I surrender all” … it still seems to be a favorite hymn sung in the church, but when one looks seriously at the state of Christendom, there’s much evidence “all” is far from surrendered! In fact, could it be said Christians who compromise the word of God haven’t surrendered  “any”? Such people deceive themselves; no wonder self-deception is rampant in the church. This is one reason why Christians can’t speak up for God. “Be bold, be strong, for the Lord thy God is with you” … there’s another popular one sung in the meetings. But what happens when they step out into the real world on Monday morning? Very little; no boldness … they’re overtaken by a spirit of fear and timidity as they cave in to the politically correct among them.

This is not what God wants for His people. We’re called to overcome, not be overtaken – whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith 1 John 5:4. Bible faith overcomes Bible compromise, but equally, Bible compromise overcomes Bible faith … the two cannot mix; they’re always going to be at odds with each other. This is not difficult to grasp. So why do they do it? Is it because they imagine God to be pretty much like themselves? You thought that I was altogether like you Psalm 50:21. In other words, belonging to the church, embracing the church program, praying, singing, reading the Bible, giving tithes and offerings … what more do you want?

How could God not possibly approve of that when they themselves approve? And so, with that twisted thinking it’s reasonably easy to pick and choose Scriptures based on what’s deemed relevant and to reject those not deemed relevant. The fact that God says we’re not to add to the word of command or take away from it Deuteronomy 4:2; 5:32; 12:32, gets explained away as being, “from the law and we’re not under the law, we’re under grace.” And as for the promised severe judgment for doing so declared in Revelation 22:18-19, Christians “under grace” simply don’t believe God will follow through on it, especially not on them! Such people don’t see themselves as disobedient, but rather, compassionate, loving and tolerant.

Churches and individuals who compromise the Scriptures demonstrate dishonor and disrespect for the Lord Jesus Christ. Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say? Luke 6:46. Jesus is not Lord to those people regardless of how many songs they sing or prayers they pray in His name. Imagine getting specific instructions from your teacher or boss and then responding with, “I’ll do these, but I won’t do those.” Imagine studying to be a pilot and you compromise on the instructions given you to keep your plane in the air. You wouldn’t dare! Well, if you’re willing to compromise on the word of the Lord in any area, you can chisel it in stone, at some point you’re going to crash. God will see to it that you do.

There are few people in the world unwilling to compromise their beliefs, policies, precepts, rules, laws and standards. Men and women of influence or no influence, business people, police, judicial and legal people, politicians … they’d kick their own grandmothers to the curb if they thought the deal was advantageous enough. And so would Bible compromisers, but worse than that … they’ve kicked Jesus to the curb! For years it used to disturb me the way church ministers are stereo-typed on television programs – timid, ever-smiling, religious-speak, wimpy handshakes and posture, drinking orange juice at social functions and so on. Now I see it differently … it’s the perfect profile of a Bible compromiser, I believe.

Bible-compromising Christians hold little attraction for anybody. They have no spiritual power and are therefore, unable to demonstrate spiritual authority when mixing it with the devil’s crowd. That’s the payoff for dishonoring and disrespecting the Lord Jesus and His word. Compromise is sin and sin pays its wages unfailingly. Compromising churches and individuals are friends of the world and they hate God. Strong words, but true words … God speaks them James 4:4. No wonder God resists the proud and that grace is for the humble (base, cast down) only 1 Peter 5:5. God will not dispense His wisdom, faith and holiness to any Christian person or group who is willing to sell out to the world for the sake of tolerance and whatever.

Titus 2:7 …….in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine (instruction, learning, teaching) showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility. Bible compromisers fail on all accounts here and not only does God know it but so does the world. The world has more contempt for the compromiser than it does the non-compromiser even though it may not look that way. How unwise is the Christian who dismisses the reality that we’re being watched by outsiders. Lying awake and alone with their thoughts in the middle of the night, outsiders hate the latter for their stand, but they have only contempt for the former, because just like themselves, they know they’ll fall for anything once social pressures come upon them.

As stated earlier, much calamity comes upon Bible compromisers and naturally so, because they’ve taken themselves out from under God’s blessings and protection. It’s impossible to reap right outcomes from wrong practices. That’s like trying to reverse the principles of gravity, it cannot be done. Jesus Christ is not in the midst of His people if He is not fully acknowledged for Who He is and obeyed as such. Only the spiritually presumptuous believe otherwise. That’s why they blame Satan saying, “I rebuke you, devil,” instead of falling to their knees in humility, prayerfully asking God to rigorously search their heart. What would happen if they did that? God would show them their presumptuous (arrogant, proud) sins Psalm 19:13. 

And if they should then repent and be willing to fully embrace the cross of Christ? God would forgive them and proceed to teach them all that the cross stands for (truth, forgiveness, salvation, deliverance, brokenness, obedience, peace, love, etc). In the process God would kill off the self life within and resurrect them with eternal life within – the very life of God Himself. The denomination Jim the pastor is associated with does not embrace the cross of Christ and hasn’t done so for generations. They’re enemies of the cross…. Philippians 3:18. Yes, like all Bible compromisers, they use the word of God, but they cannot use the God of the word … that’s the great difference. God will not allow Himself to be used.

That means the repentant compromiser will have to come out from among them. What will happen then? Where will he/she go? Perhaps they won’t go anywhere for a season if a Bible-based church is not within reach. Under the Lord’s ministry a spiritual rebuild will take place, but to properly set things in order, it can also be guaranteed there’ll be a deliverance from theological clutter taking place as well. The quiet place is the only place to go under those circumstances. God says our thoughts and ways are not His thoughts and ways, His being much higher than ours Isaiah 55:8-9. In the church of Bible compromise people hear that then dismiss it. Not so in the quiet place; in there you will hear it often but never dismiss it!  

In the gospels we read of two compromisers who kicked Jesus to the curb – Judas Iscariot and the disciple Peter. Later, both were devastated for their actions but only Peter repented and received restoration. Judas could have done the same but he was unable to bring himself to the place of true humility. Throughout church history there has always been a Judas and a Peter and there always will be. For the modern day Judas, God has stopped speaking … he’ll end up in the same place as the other one – hell. But how about the modern day Peter? If he repents, he’ll end up in same place as the other one too – heaven. But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries Exodus 23:22.