While Men Slept, Culture Came In Unawares

The whole Miley Cyrus thing has got me thinking about the insidious nature of culture. The whole country seems to be disturbed by the whole dancing and tongue thing. I think the problem is that people are not comfortable with the 20 year old singer trying to act more grown up than she is. The question I would ask is, would people complain if it was Lady Gaga? I doubt. I saw the outfit Lady Gaga wore to the event and it worse than anything Miley wore. So what then did Miley do wrong? I think her problem was that people thought she was too young to do what she was doing. Also, her Disney and Hannah Montana connections didn't help. If it was Madonna, would people find it acceptable.

Before you get uppity, I'm not saying what she did was right. I think it was outrageous. But my problem is that quite a lot of people having been complaining about Miley Cyrus before the VMA’s and nobody took notice. For me, that is the insidious nature of culture. Culture creeps up on us insidiously until something that was previously unacceptable becomes of no issue because we no longer think it matters. Not only does a previously unacceptable behavior become acceptable, it drags along its nasty cousins who are similar to it and we don’t notice anything wrong till it’s too late.

The recent rage is to take nude pictures in the name of art. In years past, posing naked was exclusively reserved for models. Now film stars, musicians, athletes and anyone wanting to get famous and make money while at it are all jumping on the bandwagon. The funny thing is that even those who claim that they are doing it for a “good cause” like PETA all get paid. Jesus said that anyone who looks at a woman with lust in his heart has already committed adultery. Therefore he didn't need to actually need to sleep with the object of his lust to commit adultery. If I were to extrapolate that, I would say that you don’t have to stand on the side of the road to be considered a woman (or man) who has sex or sleeps around for monetary gain.

Agnieszka Radwanska, a polish tennis player who says she’s a devout Catholic couldn't understand the outrage that greeted the nude photo shoot she did for ESPN magazine. She had been named a patron of a youth group in the Catholic Church in her native but was subsequently dropped after the pictures came out. According to her, there was nothing wrong with the picture as she wasn't really showing anything that should make her feel ashamed. The question I asked myself was, what if that happened in America or some other Western country? What if someone who professed faith in Jesus as an evangelical Christian decided to pose nude? Would there be some form of outrage on the part of Christians? Would she (or he) defend it as an expression of his or her faith in Jesus? Would liberal people take his or side and say it’s freedom of expression? Would they say it was just another way in which Christianity seeks to oppress women and keep them down? Would other Christians come out and tell those outraged that it was the poser’s body and that he or she could do whatever they liked? They might even argue that the naked picture glorified Christ. After all was said and done, would those who were initially outraged, feel cowed and back down? In today’s 21^st century Christianity, anything is possible.    


JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO, a political thriller about the persecution of Christians. DECEPTIO is published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. DECEPTIO is available here http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-194087/deceptio.aspx. He is also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND, a story about rejection, love and redemption. The book is available here http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/

I Believe

The general rule is that I’m too much of as tough guy to cry while watching a film. But I must confess that there are exceptions to this rule. One of those exceptions is the The Champ. I think you must be a heartless individual without any hope of redemption not to cry as the little boy (or is it a girl?) keeps on shaking the lifeless body of the dead father, uttering those heart rending words “Wake up champ.”. The next film that loosens my tear ducts is Quo Vadis. Courage Under Fire and Gladiator come close but they don’t really open the ducts.

For those who don’t know, Quo Vadis is the fictionalized account of true events. The story of the film is that of a popular Roman general who falls in love with a Christian girl. Their story is told with that of the persecution of Christians who were being thrown to the lions in the arenas as backdrop. The events of the film are supposedly quite a few years after the death of Christ. By this time, Peter is a blind and old. The early church has decided to secret Peter away. He is led out of the city gates of Rome by a young boy just before they are to close. Nero has blamed the Christians for the fire that burnt down Rome and they are all being apprehended. Just as Peter is about to escape, he sees a vision of Jesus Christ. Jesus tells him “Peter, I must go back to Rome to be crucified a second time.” Peter understands that Jesus is talking about him. He turns back and walks back through the gates to a certain death fulfilling Christ’s prophecy about his latter years. According to Church history, he asked to be crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to die the same way Jesus died. People say they want see Paul when we all get together in heaven. I want to see Peter.

The early church was extremely lucky to have people like Peter and Paul, men of great whose shadow according to reports healed people. These were people who received revelations of heaven, walked on water, raised the dead, healed people, saw the future including the end of the earth. These were spiritual giants, men to whom God told his secrets to. If we were to include them in the heroes of faith described in Hebrews 11, I would say that they were men and women of whom the world was not worthy. However, I must say that I have recently begun to marvel at the intellectual arrogance and feeling of superiority of the 21^st century Christian. Due to an increase in “knowledge” which feeds our souls instead of our spirits, we now feel we know more than the fathers of faith. We feel that we of the 21^st century have more “information” than the early church fathers and so we can ignore whatever they say. We think their words are advisory and to be ignored. We think the words are not relevant for the times we live in.

I believe in God, the creator of the heavens and earth and he dwells in Heaven. I believe Jesus Christ is the only begotten of the Father who in obedience to what the Father wanted, came to the earth to show us the way back to the Father. I believe that when Jesus Christ ascended, the Holy Spirit was sent to us to guide us in our honest search for truth. I believe the Holy Spirit lives in hearts of all believers and He is work is to help us fulfil the reason why God put us on the earth. I believe that Jesus is coming back again and that we will reign with him in his government that he will set up in the earth. I believe the Bible is the infallible Word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit and that the words are relevant for today and tomorrow. I believe.  

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO, a thriller about the persecution of Christians. DECEPTIO is published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. DECEPTIO is available here http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000194087/Deceptio.aspx. He's also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND, a story of love and redemption, available here http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ.

We Are Not At War (Are We?)

There were two quite interesting posts on Michael Hyatt’s blog on Tuesday this week. For those who don’t know Michael Hyatt, he was the former CEO of Thomas Nelson publishers and he is the current chairman. The first was a link to a post by someone called Anne Marie Miller. Her post (http://www.annemariemiller.com/2013/08/19/three-things-you-dont-know-about-your-children-and-sex/). She is a children’s counsellor and she was basically talking about the threat Google posed to children. According to her, children were searching for answers to questions they couldn’t ask their parents on the search engine. Not only were they finding unwholesome answers, they were getting pictures as well. Also, children were getting involved in unspeakable acts at a much younger age and there was a need for parents to be closer to their children and develop a rapport with them so that the children would trust them enough to ask them questions they needed answers to.

His other post, Whatever Happened To Modesty (http://michaelhyatt.com/whatever-happened-to-modesty.html) reflected on the attire worn by the artistes at the MTV Awards and some of the comments made. Personally, I think modesty is dead in America and that it has become a dirty word. Unfortunately, I think that has also become the case in the Church. What struck me was how there were people on the comments page who defended people’s rights to wear whatever they wanted. I have no problem with that argument as long as they aren’t Christians. However, there were those who saw the argument about modesty as an attempt by men to control women in the Church. Those are the ones I have a problem with. According to Rebecca Maynard, one of the people I disagree with, the “legalism” of modesty was designed by men to control women. This was allegedly done so as stop men from falling.

I find it hard to understand why men are accused of misogyny or the oppression or suppression of women whenever they comment on female issues. I also fail to understand why it is that women, even Christian women, seem to retreat behind the wall of women liberation and give the impression that we are at war. Even in the Church. You’ll have to forgive me but I believe the Bible is the final authority on our lives as Christians and not the United States Constitution. Not the laws of the United States. I might have said it before but I do believe that most of the laws of the United States are against God’s laws. We have sadly taken the view that human concepts like equality are better than what God says. We believe democracy is better than theocracy. The Bible says women should dress modestly. It also says that a woman should cover her nakedness. I don’t think that’s misogynist. Unless of God and the Apostles are now misogynist. Don’t get me wrong, I believe modesty applies to both men and women. I have never understood why a man should walk about in his vest instead of a shirt. They say the law is an ass. When we take the concept of equality too far, we discountenance the differences between us all in the name of sameness. Whether we like it or not, we are anatomically different. Which is why I think the present rage of women bathing topless in public because “men can do it” is a step too far. Unless of course we take the view that anything the law says is right.

I honestly believe that God’s laws are better than man’s law. At times, we have made the mistake and error of presenting God as a God of do’s and don’ts who is trying to spoil our fun. Nothing could be further from the truth. When God asks us to do or not to do anything, it’s for our benefit. Besides, I really do not see how being naked in public glorifies the God we say we serve. How do we think God is represented to people when we can’t keep our clothes on? The Bible says in the book of Peter that a woman should be known more for her character than the type of clothes she wears. I would add that a woman should be known more for her character than her lack of clothes.     

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers (bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000194087/Deceptio.aspx). He is also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND,  (www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ) 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ or the Gospel of The Kingdom?

The other day I was reading Exodus Chapter 20 and I was going through the twelve commandments and something occurred to me. It struck me that each law was not so much in respect of the whole nation but in respect of each individual in the nation. Going through the verses in the chapter, it occurred to me that the “Thou” that began each verse at the beginning of each commandment was in really in respect of the whole nation but in respect of each person reading or hearing the words. God gave Moses the law in the Old Testament but he promised in the book of Jeremiah that the days would come when the laws would no longer be written on tablets of stone but on the tablets of our hearts. He also promised that God would give us hearts of flesh instead of hearts of stone.

That was Jesus agenda when he came. Jesus did not come to give us a religion but he came to offer each and every one of us a personal relationship with God. Jesus spoke out against religion. According to him, people set up religion to stop people from getting to know God and they didn’t get to know God themselves. However when Jesus talked about that new personal relationship with God, nowhere in the Scriptures did he refer to the new relationship as the “Gospel of Salvation”, “Gospel of Jesus Christ” or Christianity. When Peter or Paul referred to the new relationship, they also never referred to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They all talked about the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven which as Christ had taught was in our hearts.

We seem to have a fixation with getting people saved and getting them to on the road to Heaven. But Paul taught that as a result of us getting saved, our spirits are seated with Christ in heavenly places. If God wanted all just be in Heaven, then he would have translated all of us like Enoch. The fact is that as Christ said, we are in this world but not of this world. The question then is, if we are not of this world, then of which world are we? We are definitely not of Heaven because only spirits live in Heaven. The fact is that we are citizens of the place which Jesus talked about which starts in our hearts the moment we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. The Kingdom of Heaven is not a geographical place so to speak like Heaven or Earth but a place in our hearts where God dwells. We carry God in our hearts from the moment we were born of the spirit. While the liberals in America argue for the separation of Church and State, God doesn’t want us to do so. Peter says we are a royal priesthood. God wants us to carry the Kingdom of Heaven wherever we go and to establish outposts of Heaven as ambassadors.

While Jesus came to bring us the message of the Kingdom of Heaven, he himself said he wasn’t the be all and end all of the message. Jesus described himself as the door, the way into the Kingdom. We need to press past the “Gospel of Jesus” and walk into the kingdom. Jesus is our perfect example. He reached out to the all those who needed him and brought the kingdom to them in the form of healing, joy, peace, salvation, food. He exerted the power of Heaven on the Earth and created heaven on earth. He brought about the Kingdom of Heaven. He fed thousands, calmed the seas, walked on water, raised the dead. He was able to that because he had a deep and personal relationship with the Father. That’s what we have been called to do. To have a deep and personal relationship with the Father and by that relationship cause Heaven to exert on Earth and to bring others into the Kingdom. That is our mission. Not to have religion.       


JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO, a thriller about persecution of Christians. DECEPTIO is published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. The book is available here
http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-194087/Deceptio.aspx. He is also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND available here http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ      

Truth

Jesus once told his disciples that they had the erroneous impression that he had come to the earth to bring peace. He told them that this was not so. According to him, he had come to bring conflict between father and son, mother and daughter. According to him, he had come to set fire to the earth. He even said he wished it was already kindled!

The book of Proverbs urges us to buy truth and not sell it. The other day I was listening to a preacher and he was talking about the difference between hard and soft messages. According to him, soft messages were to get people to seek Christ and come to church. Once they had come to church, then they could hear the hard messages. Jesus told his disciples that if they wanted any part of him, they had to drink of his blood and eat his body. Most of the disciples left him at that point. When he asked Peter whether he too would leave, Peter wondered why they would leave. According to him, Jesus had “the words of life”.

Truth is hard. Most times, the harder it is for us to accept something, the likelihood of it being the truth is greater. A lot of people accept that Jesus lived and that he was a “good” man but they have issues with him being the Son of God. Major news outlets refer to the Bible as myth but yet they accept that a lot of the places in the Bible like Babylon exist. The fact is that you can’t take one and reject the other. You have to accept the truth the way it is and not chose the truth you will accept.

Riches and the Kingdom

Rom 14:17 “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

When I newly became a Christian, I often wondered why there was no Christian that was among the first 10 richest men in the world. I knew Pat Robertson owned the Christian Broadcasting Network and that he must be rich, but he wasn't among the first 10 richest men in America or the world. My reasoning went along the lines that if God was powerful, then he could make it so that Christians would be the richest people on earth. Then non-Christians would see the benefit of being Christian and convert and so a lot more people would go to heaven. I must confess that thoughts about purpose and serving God for the right reason’s never entered my mind.

Now that I'm older in the faith, I have come to understand that calling yourself a Christian and having a fat bank balance do not necessarily go together. In fact, a man can be extremely backslidden and still be filthy rich. Paul talked about those who preached Christ for the sakes of their bellies. He also made remarks about people like Demas who had forsaken Paul and Christ for the pleasures of this world. There are a lot of people who started out following Christ, who wanted to do God’s will. Somewhere along the way, the pleasures, ambitions and cares of this world drew them away from Jesus. Some people love the applause of men rather than the applause of heaven. There are those who think that loving others is the greatest commandment. Some people have received ecclesiastical titles from other men and they and the people who look at them think that they and God must be first cousins. But if the truth were to be told, their hearts are far from God.   

Having riches is not evidence of a relationship with God. Conversely, a relationship with God could translate into riches. However, a relationship with God is characterised by the fact that we have right standing with God through his son Jesus and that despite all that goes on around us and in the world, there’s a peace in our hearts. Also, joy follows us because we know that we are in his will for us.

I know of quite a number of miserable men and women who have quite a lot of money. A few years ago, I remember reading the story of a German billionaire who committed suicide by jumping in front of a train because he had lost a few billion Euros in the stock market. But he was still a billionaire. God wants to give us stuff but he doesn't want the stuff he gives us to have a hold on us. We should be able to leave everything we have at the drop of a hat to follow Jesus, otherwise the things we can’t leave have become gods and idols to us, replacing God. That is not what God wants. He wants us to have a relationship with him such that whenever he comes looking for us, unlike the first Adam, we can boldly and confidently looking him in the face and say, “Here I am.”

JC Cruz is the author of the novel, DECEPTIO, a thriller which has the persecution of Christians for their faith as one of its themes. DECEPTIO, published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers, is available here http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000194087/Deceptio.aspx.  He is also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND, a story about love, rejection and redemption available here   http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/

Entering The Kingdom of Heaven

The view from a hill

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” – John 3:3

“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” – John 3:5, 6

Most of the times when Christians talk about the gospel – the good news – what they are talking about is the gospel of Jesus Christ and they stop there. By that I mean they talk about the gospel of salvation as if that is the only the good news is all about. There are those who go a step further and preach heresy by saying that once you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Saviour, all your troubles would end. Nothing could be further from the truth. To quote a tweet from Pastor Rick Warren, “Not everything on earth has a happy ending. But we need to remember that this is not the end.” I believe that there is a problem with Christianity in that we are producing an assembly line of Christians (because the Bible says there are rewards for soul winning) but we are not doing enough to let people understand how to live the life or what to expect. A lot of Christians therefore go through life not understanding what they’ve signed up for.

In verse 3 of the third chapter of John, Jesus says we need to be born again for us to see the kingdom of God. In the Bible, Jesus described himself at various times either as the Way or the door. Therefore I believe Christ is the doorway into Christianity. A lot of people go to church never having accepted Christ and think they’re Christians. They’ve filled forms where when asked for their religion they filled Christianity. They think because their parents were “Christian”, they’re Christian too. Then one day they wake up and talk about how they’ve “rejected” Christianity never knowing they were never Christians. But no one goes to a house to visit and stays in the doorway. You have to enter the house. Jesus gives the formula for entering the house. The water and the Spirit. In the Bible, the water is synonymous with the Word of God. Therefore to enter the kingdom, the Word of God and the Holy Spirit must be your constant companies.

Sadly nowadays, a lot of people say they’re Christian but want to have nothing to do with either the Word or the Spirit. They would rather be led by their humanist thinking, which of course is their flesh. There are those who in this age of political correctness have rejected the Word. They say the Bible is too violent. To others, the Bible is old fashioned and out-dated. So they’ve replaced it with their own rules that they’ve formulated from their minds which have not been renewed. They believe Christianity should be a democracy or an equal rights movement. They lobby, scheme and blackmail to get their way and feel victorious when they achieve their aims. They are more concerned with the things the world is concerned about than they are concerned with the things God is concerned about. The Bible says that as many as led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. They are more concerned about culture and their place in history than they are with God’s purpose for man. That all should be saved and come to the knowledge of God.

It’s therefore evident that accepting Jesus is not enough. It’s not enough to stay at the door when the father is beckoning for you to come in. Sadly, a lot of people don’t want to come in to see or know the father. The Bible says that Jesus is our example. Jesus knew the Father intimately and knew the father’s will. This is because he spoke with him regularly. But we distance ourselves from him and then presume to speak for him. The Word and the Spirit are longing for us to know them and through them get to know the Father. Will we oblige them?

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO, a thriller published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers available here http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000194087/Deceptio.aspx. He is also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND, a story of love rejection and redemption http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ. 

Can I Do All Things Through Christ?

I honestly believe that there is no substitute for reading the Bible ourselves. The book of Joshua enjoins us at Chapter 1, verse 8 that “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success”. The simple fact is that if we want to ensure that the book does not depart out of our mouths or and that we meditate on what is written in the word day and night and observe to do all that’s in the word, there is no substitute for us to read the word and understand it ourselves by the help of the Holy Spirit. While our pastors, friends, colleagues and other Christians are there to help us with our understanding of the Scriptures, it does not absolve us of the responsibility to check if what they are saying is the truth.  

 

The Sun Shining

While I was in university, I remember that when examinations came around we were urged to pray and declare that our memories were blessed and that we would remember all that we had read. I really didn’t think much of this and I happily and fervently prayed along with the rest of the congregation that my memory was blessed and that I would remember all that I had read. No matter how little I had read or understood. However when I got round to reading the verse of scripture that gave rise to the prayer point, I discovered that we had been applying the scripture in error. Proverbs 10:7 says: “The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot”. Immediately I read it, it occurred to me that the verse had nothing to do with my memory or examinations. It also occurred to me that it had been taken out of context. I realised that what the verse was talking about was about how men who were considered just or wicked would be remembered when they’re dead. Case in point, Saint Francis of Assissi and Adolf Hitler. While people are grateful for the life of the former, a lot of people probably wish the latter had never been born.

Which then leads me to the verse of scripture that I think has been quoted of context the most, probably because a lot of Christians have not taken time to read it and understand it for themselves. They’ve heard their pastor, parents, friends, colleagues and even new converts to Christianity all quote it and so they’ve accepted it. Philippians 4:13. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”. However, when people misquote it, the “which” somehow changes to “who”. What they then mean is that thanks to Christ who strengthens them, they could become a brain surgeon, an architect, an intrepid explorer, you name it. For a while, I accepted this misquote. But then, I began to wonder, why would Christ strengthen you to be able to do all things if he has a specific purpose for your life? I then went back to read the verse and I found out that people were quoting the verse all on its own. The more I read it, the more I was convinced that verse 13 was linked to and could not be divorced from the verses above it, especially verse 11 & 12. Verse 11 talks about how Apostle Paul has learnt to be content in whatever situation he found himself. Verse 12 talks about how he has learnt to abound or be abased, be full or be hungry. Verse 13 then talks about how he is able to all those things he talks about in verses 11 and 12 through Christ. The question then is, is it Christ that strengthens him to go through those experiences? Probably. However, I believe that in using “which” instead of “who”, I believe what he was saying was that the things he goes through strengthen him for the other trials that are to come. In short, they build character in him.

The Bible is full of rich texts which if we faithfully apply and follow, our lives will be full of joy and prosperous, just as God intended. However, we can’t continue to receive revelation on a second hand basis. We need to dig into the word of God ourselves and unearth it’s rich resources.      

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO, a thriller published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. DECEPTIO is available here http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000194087/Deceptio.aspx. He is also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND, a story of love and redemption. LOST, BUT FOUND is available on Amazon,  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on @CruzJC_Real.

Love Christ, Not the World

“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.” – G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, 1925

“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” – G. K. Chesterton, ILN, 4/19/30

“There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions.” - G. K. Chesterton,

As man deems to progress, cultures change. And as cultures change, men ditch moral values even as they make up new ones as they go along. A few centuries ago, it was frowned upon to break another person’s home and steal their wife or husband. However as society “progresses”, it has become quite acceptable especially in America to set your sights on another person’s wife or husband and break the home up. It doesn't even matter if there are children involved. After all, if you break the home up, the children are going to have a new mother or father in the person who contributed to the break up. I say contribute because I understand that it takes two people to engage in adultery. However it would help if the person who isn't a part of the couple had more discipline. But the current refrain is “We couldn't help ourselves, we were in love” and people are told not “to judge”. The person who was part of the initial couple also claimed to love their wife or husband. I was watching a programme on television the other day where a well known singer who contributed to the breakup of her present husband’s first marriage was being interviewed. She and the former wife have been engaged in an acrimonious battle on both social and publicity media. According to the singer, she found it amusing to be called a “home wrecker”. She seemed to take the whole thing with levity and seemed to find the fact that she contributed to the breakup of a home. All I have to say is there’s a saying that says: “The mistress who ends up marrying her married lover should recognise that the post of mistress has just become available.”

There are those who think Christianity is old fashioned and should be dragged, kicking and screaming into the 21^st century. Therefore, according to them Christianity should be more tolerant of new social developments, even if they are against the teachings of Christ and the Apostles as revealed to us in the Bible by the Holy Spirit and especially against the natural order of things. When Christians talk about how things should be, these people scoff and mock and talk about how we want everybody to be the same and it’s not possible. However they get angry and resort to name calling when we refuse to agree with them on other issues. They have found willing allies in governments and politicians who want votes. I am not so much concerned about the politicians as I am about the people who claim to be Christians but would rather support those who are against Christianity than Christ. They believe that Christ’s teachings should be subjected to culture and the feelings of our flesh. They talk about how Christ loved everybody. They fail to realise that Christ’s definition of love is different from that the world has put on it. Christ loved everyone yet never condoned what they did wrong. Love is a decision which is shown through acts of selflessness. Love is not sex. Cultures might change but truth will always remain the same. Cultures change everyday like quicksand but Christ is the only thing that will remain the same. He will never change. The saying goes, “Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are”. Especially when those friends hate Christ. The Apostle Paul talked about how all sins are either those of the "lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes or the pride of life." That is still true today.

The tide is turning and a time is coming where in the name of reasonableness and equality, laws are going to be passed by governments in the West that would make even China, Cuba and North Korea seem tame. However, those laws are going to make those who say they are Christians decide on whose side they are going to be, Christ (the Truth) or the world. Which side are you going to choose?

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO, published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers available here http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000194087/Deceptio.aspx. He is also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/ a story of love and redemption.