Oh, can’t you see it’s such sin?
The world is sleeping in the dark
That the church just can’t fight
‘Cause it’s asleep in the light.
How can you be so dead
When you’ve been so well fed?
Jesus rose from the grave
And you, you can’t even get out of bed!
– Keith Green, “Asleep In The Light”
Keith Green spoke of the apathetic lethargy that has become all too common in the church. I think that when somebody becomes a Christian, as Keith Green did, the expectation is that things are going to be somehow different. Maybe we came out of the deadness of the secular world that Pink Floyd sang about in their song, “Comfortably Numb”. We saw the emptiness, we felt the ache of apathy, we looked for something that was alive- we thought it would be found in the church, and yet, even there we found the stupefying deadness of complacency.
I think there is a spiritual force at work in the world that seeks to numb the minds and souls of all who live in it. It presses upon us an apathetic conformity that tells us that things have always been this way, and they always will be.
Into this void the Apostle Paul speaks by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. -Romans 12:2
Whether that conformity be to the secular world, or to the religious world, we’re living in an age where people are willingly being molded and shaped with barely a thought to whether something is actually true or not. We’re told what to believe, and we simply go along with it.
Passionate about passion??
Is it really surprising that out of this banel state of lifelessness a translation that claims to have “passion” would find traction in the church?
And so we have “The Passion Translation”.
There’s only one problem- Not only were the claims the “translator” made about it apparently fraudulent, but the accuracy of the translation is highly suspect as well.
But is it really that big of a deal? Should any of this matter?
Perusing the comment section of Instagram reveals that many Christians love the translation whether it’s accurate or not. They’re passionate about the Passion Translation!
If the Church were not anesthetized and half asleep this would be a five alarm fire. We’d mobilize to put it out. But as it is, many are so enraptured with the beautiful scenery written into the Passion Translation that they are completely insensible to the danger of tampering with the Word of God. Apparently it doesn’t matter whether something is true or false, fraudulent or embellished- as long as it appears beautiful!
We’re willing to trade truth for passion. We’re so desperate for a “spiritual spark” that it doesn’t matter if it burns the house down!
Any Christian who has had his morning cup of coffee, and is reasonably alert, would not be sitting to warm himself at the fire of the Passion Translation.
This is the Word of God we’re talking about here, not some children’s book. We don’t get to write our own version, and take out our crayons, and make it more colorful!
The word of the Lord remains forever. -Peter 1:24
There’s a permanence to the Word of God. It has gravity. It has weight. It “remains forever”.
If you believe that, you don’t add to it or take away from it. You’re very careful to maintain its accuracy. You understand that this is the very Word of God and you esteem it as such. It’s not seasonal and subject to change. You don’t tailor it like a piece of clothing to fit you. And you definitely don’t rescript the Author’s words to make it more poetic and romantic.
On a casual whim
Even as I write this I can’t help but see a parallel in our society to the way we treat the Word of God and the way we treat marriage.
The permanence of marriage has given way to the pursuit of passion. The “old book on the shelf”, so to speak, is simply traded in for a new one!
And so it is with Bible translations.
The Passion Translation has become the Bible of choice for many charismatic churches. Compared to other translations this one stands out as “heavily perfumed” and very attractive. I think we need to ask ourselves, “Do we need to add passion to the Word of God, or is it sufficient in its own right?”
The slow fade
I don’t think it’s unfair to say that much of the decline we see in the church can be directly attributed to the diminishing value we place on the Word of God. Forgive me for the allegorical interpretation, but follow with me for a moment longer in comparing our faithfulness to a spouse to our faithfulness to the Word of God.
Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? -Proverbs 5:18-20
It seems to me that many in the church are tired of the tried and true and are running after the novel. May I suggest that if we come upon something in the spiritual realm that is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before that maybe our first impulse should not be to embrace it, but rather, to question it?
Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? -Proverbs 6:27
During the 40 years that I’ve been a Christian I’ve watched as the Word of God has become increasingly minimized and altered. If i’m evaluating this correctly, most of this comes down to the fact that the Word of God is confrontational by nature. It may speak to us sweetly, but it never hesitates to correct us when we’re wrong!
Why the Church Growth Movement watered down the Word of God
The mid 80s saw the rise of the Seeker Sensitive Movement. In my opinion, this was one of the most devastating movements in modern times to affect the church. The Church Growth Movement was spawned from the errant idea that our main goal should be to make people feel comfortable when they come to church. Since the Word of God is confrontational in its nature, the only way to do this was to water it down in order to make it more palatable. IN DOING SO IT DULLED THE VERY KNIFE THAT GOD USES TO DO CORRECTIVE SURGERY.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. -Hebrews 4:12-13
I would suggest that the reason the Word of God is held in low esteem is because we don’t want to be found out. We don’t want to be exposed!
We add to, we take away, we rewrite, we reimagine the Word of God in order to keep ourselves comfortable.
Rewriting God’s story
I think it’s important to understand where all of this leads. We can’t reimagine the Bible without creating a false faith.
The most stunning example of this for me happened a few years ago when I was part of a church where a leader was teaching that “Jesus didn’t die for our sins”.
I literally couldn’t believe what I was hearing!
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, -1 Corinthians 15:3
The fact that Christ died for our sins is fundamental to the christian faith. Everything hangs on it. It’s hard to believe that a leader in the church would be contradicting the Bible in such a fundamental point.
Bad as that is, there’s something that’s even more surprising to me than this guy spewing out blatant heretical doctrine. What was even more astounding, is that when I told other people about this, nobody seemed to care.
I thought that other christians would be outraged that a leader in my church was teaching that Jesus didn’t die for our sins. Instead, I got a shrug of the shoulders.
I find that profoundly disturbing.
This is Jesus we’re talking about here. The centerpiece of the Gospel, the whole reason that He came to Earth and died was being utterly rejected- and nobody seemed to care.
Sadly, I learned from this that many Christians have gone numb. How many Christians today respond the way that the Apostle Paul did when faced with blatant error?
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. -Galatians 1:8
Paul could never remain silent in the face of a false gospel circulating in the churches. He wasn’t insular. He cared for all the churches, not just the one that he happened to be a part of locally.
And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? -2 Corinthians 11:28-29
Did you notice that word, “indignant”? Paul’s attitude was never laissez-faire when it came to the churches.
What a strange juxtaposition when we compare the Apostle Paul with the modern church!
How demonic deconstruction on Instagram exposes errant pastors
Long story short- I was on Instagram recently watching videos from people who are deconstructing. Instagram is literally flooded with people turning away from God. It sometimes feels to me like Instagram has become a haunt for every demonic spirit and false teacher. There’s tons of people on the platform right now who are making it their mission to help people deconstruct. It’s very concerning. One of the threads that I’ve been noticing is that many of these people are attacking the cardinal doctrines of the Bible. They deny the Cross of Christ and the reason Jesus died. They question whether it was really necessary for the blood of Jesus to be shed to have our sins forgiven. They tell us that such a requirement by God would make Him cruel. “What kind of father would insist that his son be tormented and die on a cross for other people’s sins?”, they chide. They condemn the very notion.
As I was watching these deconstruction videos on Instagram I came to the realization that many pastors are spewing the exact same doctrines as these deconstructors on Instagram!
I think that’s outrageous!
Complacency, apathy, and numbness toward the Word of God eventually leads to a falling away from the faith.
It bothers me a great deal that there’s so many people on Instagram leading people away from the faith. But it really hits home when I realize that this was also going on in my own backyard, IN MY OWN CHURCH.
I wonder how many people realize that their pastor might be teaching them the same doctrines as deconstructors?
I think we need to care. I think there needs to be some outrage. Many in the church need to repent of preaching the doctrines of demons while presenting them as the Word of God.
God have mercy.
Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. -Ephesians 5:14