ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

Can you hear hell’s demons slappin’ high-fives and shoutin’ “…another one bites the dust?”

Five weeks is all it took for the resolve of a Christian wife and mother to quiver and quake. Five weeks since she publicly stated she would not wear skimpy costumes, participate in hip grinding, and provocative dancing broadcast each week into your living room. Five weeks since she said familiarities were reserved for her husband.

Until this fifth week.

Snippets from rehearsals revealed her partner advising she loosen up and be sexy or else be eliminated from the competition. With tears in her eyes she stated, “I don’t want to go home yet, I’m having too much fun.” And her resolve to be different melted like wax from a burning candle.

The crowd cheered, the judges voiced accolades, and encouraged her to continue loosening up. While her young children sat in the audience, watching, cheering, and soaking up another kind of lesson from mom.

Yes, she was saved to dance again next week. And I wonder what that will look like after seven more days in that atmosphere?

And precious ones, that’s what happens when a child of God plays around the rim of the serpent’s den. They become entangled in “the affairs of Peor” and “rush headlong into the error of Balaam” (Numbers 25:18 and Jude 1:11 NAS).

When we allow ourselves to focus on the glitz and glamour of this world so that we fail to identify the lure as lies, we’ve allowed things to come between our face and God’s face.

Reports have surfaced this week that a renowned Christian publisher is publishing a book by a Christian homosexual man who attempts to validate, through Scripture, his lifestyle is okay with God.

And the publisher explains his company is publishing the book “because [they] believe it offers a thoughtful examination of Scripture on the topic of same-sex relationships from a bold, young, evangelical writer whose first calling is to promote a civil, loving, and biblically based conversation on the subject.” He goes on to say: “We have extensive marketing and publicity campaigns in place, with which we hope to reach the widest possible readership.”

Truth of the matter—every publishing house, Christian or secular, is about money. What a sad commentary for main stream publishing. We know it will be a short road before other Christian publishers follow so they can make a buck too.

Comments have been mixed. Many agree with the publisher, saying we are to “love and accept them into our fellowship just like they are.”

That’s not what my Bible says. Jude says we are to “contend for the faith.” Paul calls homosexuality an abomination. And Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire for that sin.

Yes, we are concerned for their salvation. Yes, we know the answer for their deliverance. But no, we don’t welcome them into the fellowship of believers until they turn away from their sin and rebellion toward God.

Yes, God forgives the sinner when they confess, repent, and turn to walk in obedience. But when we violate the commands of our righteous God, the accumulated consequences don’t vaporize. They remain. Ask Abraham. Isaac. Jacob. David.

And I can testify that my years of playing around the snake’s hole have left consequences that may result in a child and a sibling being separated from God forever. Am I forgiven? Most certainly. But God calls me to be holy—set apart for Him. Not just on Sunday—every day, all day. Everything in my life belongs to Jesus.

History books are filled with accounts of nations. Nations who once honored and worshiped the Sovereign God of the Universe. But little by little they caved. Their resolve melted, and they turned their backs on God’s statutes and commandments. And God judged that nation.

Yes, God is loving and forgiving, merciful and kind. But to experience the benefits of His attributes, we must first repent and turn to walk in obedience to Him. The process is simple:

Repentance + turning + obeying = Forgiveness, mercy, everlasting love.
Because the penalty for your disobedience was paid for with the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the past fifty years Americans have sown seeds that cannot yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. And yet we keep on planting more wild seeds, expecting a different harvest. But unless we repent and return we will be yet another nation who bites the dust.

“And the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life’ ” (Genesis 3:14 NAS).

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 NAS).