The War is Here. The Fight is On.

Gird up your loins, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. The war is here, the fight is on, the enemy moves among you and it wants nothing less than your soul.

We live in an age in which we are absolutely and completely stuffed with information coming at us from all sides and in a million forms, but at the same time we are more ignorant than at any other time in the history of the world. The glut of data being flashed into your mind, the bombardment of images and sound bytes, is designed to convince you that good is evil and evil is good. Welcome to the Great Deception, friends. In Isaiah 5:20, it is written "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." Not only woe to the deceivers, but woe to us!

The reality of this so prevalent that we don't view it as anything but normal. I want to highlight a few of them that are being forcibly spoon-fed to society. If you become offended at these examples, perhaps you should evaluate your sense of good and evil because you might have already bought into the trickery. On top of that, the great deceivers change the names to make them more palatable. Here are a couple of cases in point:

Abortion is called birth control and pro choice, and the very act of murdering the defenseless and innocent baby in his mother's womb is called a D&C (dilation and curettage, which means creating an opening in the woman's cervix so that the fetus can be scraped out in pieces). You are being led to believe that life does not begin until a child is born, but this is far, far from the truth. Take for example the event in Luke Chapter 1 when Mary, the soon to be mother of Christ, went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist. In verse 44 Elizabeth said "For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside me!" Thank goodness neither Elizabeth or Mary chose to end their pregnancies. Abortion is straight up murder, but it has become normalized.

Homosexuality is not only accepted in society, it is sanctioned by the courts, allowing 'same sex' couples to enter into holy matrimony. For thousands of years marriage has been defined as the union between a man and a woman, and now we are supposed to be living in an age of enlightenment where the walls of sanctity are knocked down and anything goes. I think the whole gay marriage issue is being used as a smoke screen to normalize the act of homosexuality. The other day I overheard a gay man tell his friend "Why don't we just do away with heterosexuality?" I had to bite my tongue from saying "If it weren't for heterosexuality, you wouldn't be here!" The Bible is replete with admonitions against such acts. Read Leviticus 18:22 " You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination." 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and Romans 1: 26-28 also address this straightforwardly. It is flat out wrong in the eyes of God, but has been normalized.

Speaking of First Corinthians, let's look at the entire two verses 9 and 10: "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God."

Do not be deceived.  All of the above sins are now considered ok in today's society. That's what I mean when I say the enemy is among us. Fornication: Public schools hand out condoms and 'morning after' pills are available without parental knowledge or consent. Unmarried sex is so accepted we don't give it a second thought. Idolatry: Money, power, fame, possessions, television, video games, a total immersion into the material world. It is so common even devout Christians have to concentrate and sometimes isolate just to have communion with the Lord. Adultery: The sanctity of marriage, the vows of fidelity and devotion are blatantly ignored. Everyone from our neighbor to our church and national leaders fall for the lure of lust and sex outside of marriage. Try to watch television without finding examples of it. Effeminacy: Men have grown weak and soft, and this type of metrosexuality is as common as sand on the beach. People have surrendered their will to make decisions for themselves and are happy to submit to the authoritative and paternalistic demands of conformity. Thievery: Who among us hasn't downloaded music illegally, or fudged on our taxes, or filched something from work? Just look at the growing segment of our society who hold out their hands demanding government handouts without earning it? We live in a world of entitlements. Covetousness: It almost goes without saying how prevalent the desire to gain more and more possessions is. It is not only ok, it is encouraged. Drunkenness: We abuse substances every single day to accomplish a false sense of peace and happiness. I'm not just talking about alcoholism or drug abuse, which in themselves are rampant. The people of the world are increasingly turning to gluttony, lust and other forms of reality-altering practices, because the 'real' world is seen as too harsh and too jagged. Reviling: Verbal abuse is as normal as breathing in almost everyone of us, and most have no idea it is a form of anger, even if said in jest. It is now cool to make fun of and cut others down. Swindling: This word evokes images of evil, greedy men plotting to steal other people's money and belongings by hook or crook, but every time you tell a lie, you are swindling yourself and others by robbing truth. You know how easy it is to take instead of giving. It is the thing to do nowadays.

Look, I'm not calling you out as if I'm on some kind of sterile, guiltless pedestal. On the contrary, I'm speaking from having lived a life of evil. I am the voice of experience. I won't even be the last man to throw a stone because I don't even deserve to pick the stone up. I'm just here to tell you that the battle rages around you as you read this. You were either fighting against the lure of sin or giving in to it before you even read this rant, and it will be there for you when my words are long gone. I'm here to tell you that there is only one thing you can do to save yourself, and that is to accept Jesus into your heart. It is the ONLY way to defeat the enemy assailing you from all side and within. Read the words of Paul in Romans chapter 10 verse 9: "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Let Him into your life and let Him take charge, because this will allow you to defeat the enemy, which is Satan. When your sins have been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, you will be equipped properly, and as is said in Ephesians 6:13 "For this reason, take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to take a stand whenever evil comes. And when you have done everything you could, you will be able to stand firm."

I repeat: Gird up your loins, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. The war is here, the fight is on, the enemy moves among you and it wants nothing less than your soul. But now you know what you can do to win. It's literally the only way to survive.