Good evening! Here we are again, on the cusp of the close of the day, pondering what the occurrences or non-occurrences of things in our life, and looking forward to the developments of tomorrow.
i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, a semi-live broadcast from the deck of a rural cafe’ which overlooks the banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, wide, cool, and deep, always on its way to further destinations somewhere south of here. i believe a lot of folks are at a crossroads between what God says, and what they think and then they tag, “God said…” on the end of their thinking, putting words in God’s mouth to justify their own unscriptural stance.
A bank teller handles lots of money every day. How do we think they learn how to tell a counterfeit from the real thing? Is it by handling a lot of fake bills? Actually, no, they learn to recognize the counterfeit bills by handling the real thing, and the more they handle the real thing, the more obvious the counterfeit is. Are we any different when it comes to the Word of God and hearing His voice? We learn to know His voice and understand scripture, not by looking at the lies, but by looking at the truth, and the more we handle the truth, the more obvious the lies get. In the same vein, we don’t recognize spirit-killing-religiousness, or super religious churches of that type, by immersing ourselves in all that’s dead, but by being part of what’s alive where the presence of God is, and the farther we get from religiousness, the more obvious and unattractive it is.
Here are two things to ponder: Secular Drift – how the world has invaded the church and we’ve allowed it , and The Weight of Secrets. There is a relief which comes when we stop participating in lies, stop propagating wrongness of character and hiding it in front of our peers so we appear righteous but, honestly the weight of our secrets keeps us bowed to the ground.
What do i mean by secular drift? In your mind, what do you imagine by that term? Take a moment and imagine with me … see yourself standing by a calm lake in the early morning before the sun comes up. It’s just getting light. There is a stillness over everything that is intoxicating. From the lake begins to rise an ever so faint mist and the air starts to move ever so slowly from the lake to the shore. As you’re standing there, drawn in by the serene beauty of the landscape, you don’t really give attention to the mist which has gotten thicker around you. Suddenly, you notice the landscape has become obscured and now all you can see is a few yards in any direction because the once faint mist has gotten more dense, you are in the midst of it, and by now it is thick enough that your skin even feels damp. Before you know it, the mist has drifted in and you’re in the thick of it.
The world and its godless ideas have invaded the church in a similar fashion. We are often swept away by lesser problems, a mere crumb tossed to us by the enemy of our souls in order that we don’t address our own permissiveness, we don’t read God’s word but prefer to read a book about the book, with the book being the Bible which is God’s exclusive counsel and revelation of righteous life, hope, and salvation. We don’t notice the heart postures and lose thinking we have adopted in order to just “get along” in society, there by slowly relaxing our grip on what is right and wrong and where our real focus should be. Secular drift has clouded our reasoning and thinking, and many no longer see a clear path to Christ like they used to.
In light of the topic, “Secular Drift”, for many of us, it should first prompt a question of “what is it?”, which is always a great place to start. It’s pretty difficult to deal with something which we have no internal definition for, and if we don’t call it what it is, how can we possibly deal with it effectively? According to Webster’s Dictionary, the word secular means, “denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis.”
And to explain it a little better, secularism says that the world, especially past and current human existence, is without any objective meaning, purpose, or essential value. To have secular thinking annunciates that all we do goes nowhere and does nothing. Yea, isn’t that ugly? What has invaded the church is this subtly invasive idea, almost running parallel to the gospel, that there is no reasonable proof of the existence of a higher ruler or creator, no need of God or “right morality”, therefore, life has no truth, and no one action is known to be preferable to any other.
All too often, especially in the younger generation, when you can get a straight answer, on one hand comes this socially acceptable church-ianity answer, filled with all the right Christian-eze, just sticky sweet and all about Jesus. But if you continue the conversation, asking some potentially pokey questions, suddenly there starts appearing a very opposing viewpoint from the same people which says “You can believe what you want and it’s correct for you, and if you really believe eating tuna every day is what gets you into Heaven, then, for you, it probably will get you into the presence of God forever more, eating tuna and being happy.”
James 3:11, “Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?” Think about it. A while back in a couple programs, i asked the question, “Who’s side are you on? God or the devil?” i didn’t ask that question for nothing. It was asked for us to carefully consider and come to a conclusion. Are you going left or right? One way leads to Christ and the other leads to hell. How do you choose? … and choose you must.
I have come to the conclusion that there are believers in the church who say they are Christians, while, at the same time, upholding and even defending value systems that are secular. Friends, there is no such thing as “secular Christianity”, it is totally contradictory. It is like saying “righteously evil”, or “positively negative”, and both are a total contradiction, similarly, “secular Christian” is completely contradictory. To be a “secular Christian” is to be sugar-coated with spirituality and outward peace but have foundations that reflect we don’t need God and we are sufficient in ourselves.
The secular view says we are our own beginning and end, our own mother’s and father’s. This thing called “secular drift” has invaded the mind and heart of the church, and is slow moving like a morning fog, just drifting along, appearing innocuous, inspiring people to become passive sheep being led to the slaughter, all the while loving that they’re getting along, being nice and agreeable ad naseum, or till the stomach turns. The church suffers from “false-consensus” which is derived from our desire to conform and be liked by others, and within our own church group, because no one disputes our perception, we tend to think everybody thinks the same way. We’re watered down, clouds with no rain, we’ve become real milk toast about God, deceived about the enemy of our souls. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Jude 1:12-13, “These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” Does that sound like someone you want to be? Who in their right mind actually wants to be “twice dead” with no fruit, pulled up by the roots? Nobody, not even the worst of us! Let us turn back to the word of God and take Him at His word. There is nothing God says which is an idle word which just fills space while He thinks of something else to say.
“Secular drift” turns our “God said” into something which isn’t all that important; it turns our “God did” into “maybe not”; our “never leave you” into merely “probably never leave you” and our “always with you” into just “mostly with you”. It turns God’s “I will give you rest” into “I might give you some relief”, and our promise of tomorrow into only a wisp of possibility.
In our “selfie” obsessed culture, appearance, status, and popularity with friends is often pursued more than understanding the heart and fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
When we care more about what people think of us than respecting the ways of God, then we have become mired up in secularism. Often we harbor perceptual errors that lead to biased interpretations of the Bible, allowing public opinion to validate us, causing us to cease trusting our internal, Holy Spirit inspired moral compass. Once we start down that path, devaluing ourselves quickly becomes our constant default position, and then we over-value ourselves to compensate. We play “wish-craft” games, assuming we are more powerful than we are. Oh, and heaven forbid anyone should disagree with “secular Christianity”, oh man, then the claws come out and the vicious comments just roll, many seeming to automatically assume that if someone disagree’s with them, they, yes, they must be defective somehow. i think more than a few church folks suffer from two phobias: Atychiphobia, which is a fear of failure or of being wrong, which is absolutely pervasive in our society, and socialphobia, fear of being closely watched, judged, and criticized by others. Those two invasive fears are instant gateways for the “secular drift” to just ease on in and find room and board in your ever so available mind. This ought not to be.
Only when the love of God breaks over the horizon of the hearts of people do we begin to escape a world which says “I don’t need God.” His word, blood, counsel, and salvation break off the thorns on rose stems. We don’t war against our neighbor but against the one of old who has come to steal kill and destroy. Our society has invited darkness in our homes and we have allowed it. In all our internet stuff there seems to always be the thread of secularism which invites us to “Have it your way”, subtly repetitively telling us, “you rule”, and God, if He is real, is merely someone in the distance somewhere.
Nevertheless my friends, as long as birds still fly gracefully over war torn nations, as long as the sun still rises to a new day, as long as babies laugh and the sound of children playing echoes in our ears and heart, so long as the trees still grow, and the stars still shine in darkness, let us stand our ground in Christ, hold our place with the determination to not be moved, and cling to the gospel of Christ with all our heart until we breath our last and go home to be with Jesus.
The word of the Lord isn’t up for grabs, so to speak, it isn’t something we can “opt out of” if we find parts of it difficult, non-compliant with our agenda, or against public opinion. His heart is from cover to cover and no part is to be excluded, ever, at the expense of another. i’ve mentioned before about the woman i met at church who had blacked out parts of the bible she didn’t like. Yes, she was reading a redacted Bible. What she didn’t seem to understand was just because she had blacked out certain parts of the word of God, didn’t change anything. The word of the Lord is the word of the Lord, and once He has spoken, it doesn’t cease being said, even if we don’t want to hear it, His word still stands … forever. Psalm 119:89, “Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.”
He does not change His mind about His precedents, statutes, or judgments. Let us stand firm on the word of God and chase the “secular drift” from our places of worship and out of our minds, pushing the enemy of God backwards into his own gates. Stand up church! Let us stand, with all power, on the word of God, and even if the enemy calls for a blitz all night long, don’t you give, not one more inch. Hold the line friends, hold your ground.
The second part of this evening’s program concerns the “Weight of Secrets”. i believe secret keeping in relationships and marriage is absolutely devastating, disabling, and emotionally debilitating, regardless of your reasons. Let me say this straight out: If you are in a relationship, and it’s a secret, something is wrong, very wrong.
There are all sorts of secrets, some good, some not so much, and there are a lot of reasons for keeping a secret, some good, some not so much. i’m not talking about the kind of secrets parents keep when wanting to surprise their kids with something for their birthday, nor am i talking about the kind of secret a husband and wife keep from the rest of the world, those kinds of intimate secrets are no one’s business but their own. The Lord reserves the right to veil some of His purposes, and He has purposely hidden some of His reasons, only to be found out after we are home to Jesus. Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal things…”
What i am talking about are the kind of secrets which are a violation of trust, traitorous, contemptuous secrets which destroy the covenant and loyalty of pledges of friendship, and marriage vows, the sort which destroy our integrity, diminishing and dishonoring us if anyone found out. Secret sin will eat …us…. up, and every secret of this nature becomes a burden which eventually breaks the back of the secret holder. Those are the kinds of secrets which are often hidden with a storm, like dark clouds and rain conceal the mountains. The opposite of secret, or to conceal, is to reveal and make known.
Over the years i’ve been gathering a list of truths about secrets. i asked the Lord to reveal insight about them, and over time, He’s done what i asked, except, i had to live each one out in order to find the value. Friends, secrets consisting of irresponsible behavior and criminal actions have a way of not staying secret, they inspire lies, and often, begat more secrets. The more we hide, the more we have to hide what is hidden. They tend to rise to the surface eventually whether we like it or not. Even among criminals with the most terrible past, only the most determined criminal keeps their secrets all the way till they die. It weighs on them, they break down physically, mentally, and emotionally when carrying the weight of darkness like that. You can literally see it in their face and eyes. We could easily conclude from that observation that secrets are very costly. i don’t believe secrets get better with time, nor are they easier to bear, and if nothing else, they tend to isolate us, sometimes to the point of instability, loneliness, burdensome sadness, and even for some, a failure to persist. If you’re living with things hidden in your heart, whatever they might be, if you are alone, just you and your secrets, you are not in good company. If you’re suffering in isolation about something, reach out, get help. When all your secrets weigh you down, you’ve got a choice, you can reveal them to someone trustworthy, and between the Lord and that person, begin to unravel your secret life. Or you can just bury the hatchet, so to speak, and keep digging in the same hole until no one can find you anymore, and maybe you can’t even find yourself. Friends, do something about it.
Proverbs 28:13, “Whoever conceals (keeps secret) his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”
Those of us who harbor destructive secrets in our hearts must, simply must find some closure on those things. We were not designed by God to continually be non-disclosing about our dark deeds, we can’t keep skipping over our wrongness in hopes it will go away. Our secrets will persist until we deal with them. They are like keeping a rotting, dead body hidden under the carpet in the living room, and every time we pass by, it calls to us saying, “Deal with me and be done with it.” The longer we let it lay there, the more it begins to infuse itself in our foundations, persuading our faith, influencing our speech and thinking. Destructive secrets are contagious.
i’m going to say this again in hopes any of us who have destructive secrets going on will take it to heart: If you’re in a relationship and it’s a secret, something is wrong. If public opinion is what validates you to such a degree, you hide yourself away in your heart, the “Weight of Secrets” will cut you in two. Consider Job 31:33-34, “…if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart, because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors — ”
Here is a repeat of what was previously mentioned, just condensed:
Secrets build fences, confession builds bridges.
Secrets give the enemy leverage against us, secrets are power and leverage.
Secrets begat secrets.
Secrets have a way of not staying secret.
Secrets are very costly and a challenge to our wellbeing.
Secrets weigh more than we can bear.
Secrets tend to isolate the secret keeper.
This list took me several years of observing myself and other criminals, some incarcerated, most others at church. Yes that’s right, at church with the very people who speak in spiritual terms yet harbor many unresolved problems. The Lord had me live each one in order to gain real workable wisdom and understanding.
We need bridges not bigger and better fences. Bridges of peace in Christ between ourselves, our spouses, our children, family and friends. Be a bridge builder! If fear of failure or of being wrong is so invasive within us, if we persist to “make a face”, or keep a facade, none of that will resolve anything, it just makes the fear grow to be more ingrained, giving that fear more power than we ever intended or imagined. By allowing ourselves a facade of “everything is just fine” when beneath the street we are in real trouble, the longer we allow the facade to persist, and the longer we wear the face, the more we become the face. This is why most undercover operatives are required to come in for a period of “re-centering”. Even the world knows the longer they wear the fake persona, the more they become the fake persona, until eventually, even the operative can’t tell who’s who.
James 5:16, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”
Keeping destructive secrets hidden in our heart is a contagion in the body of Christ. Let’s understand contagion a little. In the dark ages, when a cruel lord of the land caught a criminal on their property, and the decree of punishment was death, it was not totally unheard of that the cruel lord of the land would elect to dig up a recently dead body and tie it to the living person, making them to wear the dead thing day and night, until the dead flesh in full contact with live flesh began to eat the trespasser up, eventually dying of the terrible diseases resulting from dead flesh against living.
Contagion is disease spread by close contact of one diseased person to another. Similarly, it is the spreading of harmful ideas or practices by remaining in close contact with godless doctrine and evil, like the contagion of disgrace. i believe disgrace and dishonor can be as contagious as secular drift enters the mind and heart of a believer or a church body. Slowly the disease of disgrace and dishonor become less offensive until, finally, we become accepting, numb to the pain, thinking “things aren’t so bad”, and we capitulate to the creeping mist of secularism, keeping a terrible secret in our hearts of sadness, disappointment, isolation, and grief. Slowly, we begin to learn to operate in the chaos, telling ourselves if we just try a little harder, believe a little better it’ll all go away.
The weight of secrets is crushing, we must DO something about the hidden sin in our hearts, and no, i’m not going to make a list, it’s not for me to point out, it’s for you to discover.
It takes real courage to uncover ourselves, but there is great relief, GREAT relief in disclosing the destructive secrets of our heart. David cried out in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way, everlasting!” Ask the Lord to help you find the courage to get out from under the weight of secrets, no longer being passive about the contagiousness of disgrace and dishonor. When we let disgrace and dishonor keep taking up space in our head and heart, we diminish ourselves to becoming no better than mere dust. Think about it.
Secular drift and the weight of secrets go hand in hand, one seems to thrive on the other. Now listen, i’m not saying to go and dig up a bunch of imaginary sin because you want to be sure nothing is unturned or hidden. Haven’t we all, at some point or another, felt compelled to not only confess to the Lord the stuff we knew about, but just in case we missed something, we start naming off things we’ve never done or even thought about. God is faithful to bring to our remembrance what needs resolution when it’s time to do the work. He is faithful to get us where we need to be when it’s time to be there. Trust God.
i knew a man who said when he first met the Lord, he made a list of 10 things about himself which he felt God really needed to address. He said that nearly 50 years later, the Lord had only addressed two of the 10. What the Lord felt was important was different than what he thought was important.
Ask the Lord to help you clean house, taking the world’s influence in your head, church and community out to the trash and leave it there. And don’t go digging up that dead thing once it’s been reckoned dead. Dead is dead so leave it in the ground.
i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts, contemplative conversation, just for you in these probable last days. It’s good stuff to think about. Let the Lord open your eyes to scripture and Himself. Seeing the counterfeits amongst us is noticed by handling the truth first and foremost. The more you know scripture the more obvious the counterfeits become.
This evening support was by a generous donation from Lance Lumber Co. on Pine St., Living In His Name Ministries, Dot and Elisa at the Opportunity House, Alan, Kevin, and Tommy of the Mebane Freedom League, and Jeff and Karen of Trinity Bakers where there’s always something good in the oven.
Let us route out the secular drift which permeates our minds, and learn to not only get rid of our secrets but stop creating secrets which keep us bound in chains in the dark. Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead so we would have life more abundantly, no longer to be slaves to sin, being held prisoner by ignorance and shame any longer.
Come go with me, let your heart sing to the Lord, buy someone a meal this week, open your hand to the poor and don’t worry about how they came to be that way….by and by, the Lord will change their heart, for if He doesn’t transform their heart, it simply won’t be done.
Be strong and courageous this week, drive carefully and know, we’re almost home. Amen? Amen!