There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. - Proverbs 14: 12 (ESV)
It seems this world is constantly playing a game of "can you top this." You cannot turn on the news or what passes for Christian television without being blindsided by some new silliness or heresy in the name of the Lord. For this week's insanity I present, Christian swingers. Yes, that means people who claim the mantle of Christ and switch sexual partners with other married couples. Here is the article:
This is not low hanging fruit beloved. It is fruit lying on the ground. I normally would not even write about such nonsense because anyone with an ounce of discernment can tell there is something seriously flawed in thinking it is ok to swap sex partners and Bible verses. God however started to show me some deeper things here in this story. I am going to look beyond the obvious biblical problems of adultery and assume that we all get that this is absurd. What I found interesting was the statement from one of the women, Cristy:
"I don't think God would be mad at what we are doing. At first I was conflicted, but the more we looked at it, the more it makes sense to us."
Yes, the more we look for ways to justify our sin the more it will make sense to us. That is why God warns us in our key verse from Proverbs that the way that seems right to us is actually the way to death. It is why we are not supposed to lean to our own understanding. It is the reason why God has given us His Word. Not for suggestions but for directions. If Cristy had bothered to read the Bible instead of swapping verses, maybe she could have realized that the conviction she first felt was for her own benefit.
Going deeper though, why are there stories like this today? Why does the devil make sure we hear about all of the absurdities? Certainly there will be only a few who would fall for such nonsense so the scheme is far more devious than that. It is the same reason why the enemy has the church so pre-occupied with the sins of the world. Anything to distract us from having to look inward. Anything from having to realize what sin we need to repent of. We can always look at the Christian swingers and think at least I am better than that!
But are we really? That is the question I felt God impress upon me today. If we spend our Christianity chasing false signs and wonders are we any better than Cristy? If we spend our Christianity thinking God is our spiritual bellhop and ATM; are we any further along than Cristy? Many would look down on Cristy and her pals and correctly doubt their salvation. How are they going to stand before Christ and explain the sex partner swapping? We often quote the lament of Jesus when He asks why bother calling Him Lord if we are not going to do what He says but look at the illustration that follows:
"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great." - Luke 6: 46-49 (ESV)
What is this illustration about? It is about our salvation. It is about whether we are truly saved or whether we merely pay lips service by calling Him Lord, when we refuse to do as He says. It is about people who say they are Christian but think God would be OK with them swapping their spouses out for sexual escapades. But it goes so much deeper than that. It is about hundreds of thousands of people who believe the hyper grace lie that says God is never angry with us and our sins do not matter. It is about the hundreds of thousands of people who honestly believe that this is their best life now, their words have the power of creation, that they are little gods, and that God always wants to bless their socks off. It is about the hundreds of thousands of people who chase the spirits of this world claiming it to be the Holy Spirit. Who have exchanged the truth about God for the lies they now worship. Let us look at Gill's Exposition of the Bible regarding these verses:
"and
digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock; that is, he dug deep in the
earth, till he came at a rock, and there, and then, he laid the foundation of
his house; in which he acted the part of a wise man, as he is called in
Matthew: so a sensible sinner, desirous of building his soul, and the salvation
of it, on a sure bottom, digs deep into the Scriptures, diligently searches
them, till he finds out the scheme of salvation by Christ; which lies deep in
God's counsel and covenant, was ordained before the world began, and was hid in
God till revealed in the Gospel: and finding Christ to be the rock of ages, in
whom is everlasting strength, and the foundation which God has laid, nor is
there another; he makes use of him as such, and builds the hope of his eternal
salvation on him:
and when the flood arose; an inundation, a multitude of waters, the swelling of
the sea; or rather "when it was tide", as the word here used
signifies (k):
the stream beat vehemently upon the house; or the river, up which the tide
came, dashed and broke against it; by which may be signified the temptations of
Satan, the persecutions of the world, the corruptions of men's hearts, and the
errors and heresies of false teachers:
and could not shake it; as none of these can so shake as to move a soul, thus
built on Christ, off of him the foundation:
for it was founded upon a rock;"
The majority of these false gospels today which draw so many followers are not dug deep down into Scripture at all. They are all surface. Just swapping verses. There is no diligent search of Scripture to hear what sayeth the Lord. Instead there is what sayeth the false teacher who then tries to find a Scripture to prop up his argument. If you dig down deep enough you will be building upon the Rock of Ages. When that has occurred then the temptations of Satan, persecutions of the world, the corruptions of men's hearts and even the errors and heresies of false teachers will not be able to shake you. What does that mean practically? It means that when you read a story about Christian swingers you know it is ridiculous. But when you hear someone try and say the Ten Commandments are not for believers you know that is equally ridiculous. When you hear someone teach that God wants you rich beyond the dreams of avarice you know that is equally ridiculous. Here is the real proof though. We would probably all agree that we would not even want to associate with the Christian swinger group yet even those who should know better still dabble in the false teachings Satan is spreading throughout the church. Even though we rightly dismiss the swingers we hold hands while singing Kumbaya with the far more dangerous elements inside the church under the guise of false unity or "love." We have not drilled down deep enough in Christ.
So be careful at casting stones towards the Christian swingers of the world until you are sure that you are not standing in a crystal cathedral. Salvation is not judged on a sliding scale. Our names are either in the Book of Life, or they are not. This scheme of the devil is subtle. He presents us with extreme cases such as swapping sex partners so that we can feel better about what we are willing to swap out of our faith. Maybe we swap out our need to repent before the Lord and call it grace. Maybe we swap out our discernment of the spirits of this world and call it the Holy Ghost. Maybe we swap out the cross and call it relevance. Maybe we swap out the blood and call it friendly. Maybe we swap out dying to self and call it purpose. Whatever it is - does it matter? Just like Cristy will stand before Christ one day, so will we. I pray that we have not swapped out genuine salvation upon the altar of a three sentence "sinner's prayer" and a cloud of dust.
Rev. Anthony.
