Contending for the faith | Making Disciples | Equipping the Saints for Ministry

by Jeannette Haley

If the cowardly lion from the classic Wizard of Oz tale could have only put his paws on a keyboard and growled his grievances through email, there would have been no reason for him to hit the yellow brick road in search of courage. People who are too cowardly to express their angst, frustration, anger and outright animosity in person seem to have no problem doing so while taking cover behind their computer, or latest communication gadget.

Such was the case last year when I forwarded an email to a few Christians, including one woman I’ve known since we were both in the second grade. The content of the email was basically a notice to believers to boycott a certain large department store because of its blatant in-your-face ads pandering to homosexuals, complete with disgusting pictures showing their “alternative” lifestyle that included children.

While I had a feeling that this particular woman (who had hunted for, and found just the “type” of preacher and church that suited her ideas and lifestyle) might not agree, I was surprised at her vehement reaction. She let me know in no uncertain terms that she was 100% an admirer and fan of a certain celebrity lesbian. Rather than argue with her, I merely asked her this question: “When did God change?” Her profound response was, “Huh?”

That got me to thinking ever since about the muddy streams of satanic propaganda and lies that are converging into the raging end times tsunami of the one-world religion. Only those born again believers who are secure upon the Rock of Jesus Christ, know their God, and know that He and His Word never changes, and that truth is truth will be spared from being swept away to death and destruction by the subtle undertow. This is a crucial point where the narrow way becomes seemingly even more narrow and steep while the broad way veers off into a wider “easy street.”

After all, it’s so much easier, and a whole lot more fun to go with the popular  flow, especially when so many big and impressive churches and admired “Christian” leaders are promoting “new revelations,” mystical experiences, and ear-tickling teachings that appeal to one’s senses, imagination, intellect, emotions and pride. Yet, in Colossians 2:2, 3 we are told where all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that people seek after are found, and that is in God the Father and in Christ. Then the writer warns, “And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words…As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” verses 4, 6-8.

In order to be rooted and built up in Christ, and established in the faith every believer needs to be properly discipled in the Word of God. Tragically, the majority of Christians today have been left to define Christianity on their own terms, according to their own desires, fantasies, imaginations, feelings, and experiences, including cultural, and family influences. The end result is a multitude of people possessing a hodge-podge of “pick and choose” unscriptural beliefs who, nevertheless, insist on being under the Christian banner. The truth is, such people cannot give an account of the hope that is within them, nor can they give a testimony of how or when they became saved and born again. You will never hear them talk about the cross, sin, eternal separation from God, hell, repentance or the importance of winning the lost, and if they do mention Jesus, it is usually in the context of sentimentality as voiced by a religious spirit. What you will hear them talk about is their church, their pastor, their worship, their fastings, their “ministry of intercession,” their spiritual warfare, their position in the “five-fold ministry,” their prophecies, their contemplative prayer and meditation (which is occultic), their lengthy dreams, visions, and goal of a great, world-wide revival.

Has God changed? Well, if we are to believe all the modern Bible translations, paraphrased “versions” and published works that make a mockery out of God’s word such as Peterson’s “The Message,” then of course we can glibly say that God has changed. If you change His Word, then you change the Author and Spirit behind that word. People are growing bolder in their blatant tampering with the Word of God by adding to it, and taking away from it which is strictly condemned in Scripture. Jesus said that heaven and earth would pass away, but His Word would never pass away. Woe to the man or woman who takes it upon him or herself to add to or take away from God’s Word! Here is one warning: “And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” Revelation 22:19. We read in Proverbs 30:5, 6 “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.”

Has God changed? If we are to believe that sin, and the deviant and ungodly beliefs that God has condemned from the beginning of time are now acceptable to Him in any measure, then it is only reasonable to conclude that God has changed. Following this line of thought to its logical conclusion then, would make Him a liar, for He has declared, “I am the LORD, I change not” Malachi 3:6a. We read in Hebrews 1:10-12, “And, Thou Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.”

If Christians today were asked, “When did God change?” in all probability most would respond in the same manner as my friend, while not a few would affirm that it is impossible for God to change. However, if we were somehow given the ability to observe the lifestyles and attitudes of Christians across the land, we would have to conclude that they do indeed believe God has changed. In the minds of most people today (both within and without the Church) the great I AM of the Old Testament is either irrelevant, or He has “progressed” along with our world and culture.

Therefore, let’s stop right here and pretend. Pretend that God has changed, and progressed along with modern man. This means that God is not who He says He is; that is, immutable. Of course, this not only makes God a liar, but it renders the Bible outdated, and irrelevant to our lives. If God has changed, then none of the written Word is revealed in the Living Word, or Christ. In fact, the Bible cannot be believed or trusted because if God changes, then His Word changes too. Thus, no one can depend on a single bit of revelation, exhortation, explanation, warning, prophecy or promises. There is no explanation or reason for the origin or purpose of life, no answers as to why people die and all creation suffers, no promise of salvation and eternal life, and no hope. If God has changed, and “progressed” along with our wonderful, liberal, enlightened culture, then God is no longer holy, pure, undefiled, majestic, glorious and all powerful. If God has changed, He now winks at what His Word condemns. He has become like us—politically correct and tolerant. Thus, perversion, fornication, adultery, evil imaginations, lewdness, pornography, unnatural and inordinate affection, homosexuality, pedophilia, abortion, cruelty, murder, uncleanness, debauchery, rebellion, heresy, drunkenness, partying, cursing, violence, vileness, lust, greed, and covetousness to name a few of the works of the flesh, are really no big deal.

On the spiritual side of things, if God has changed, there is no standard of righteousness, so He no longer cares when people damn their souls to eternal hell by worshipping anything they want. They can kick back and enjoy Harry Potter, and the rest of the devilish and filthy garbage Hollywood produces, along with all the dirt they can dig up on the Internet. They can delve into witchcraft, Satanism, idolatry, shamanism, eastern religions, New Age mysticism, transcendental meditation, and mind-science religions endlessly. In fact, there is no way to calculate how many different beliefs make up heathenism, but the truth is, there is only ONE “way, truth, and life” and that is through Jesus Christ who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Of course, if God has indeed changed and progressed, then this isn’t a true statement, and those who have chosen some “other way” can happily ignore the claims of Jesus. On the other hand, if God is still God, and if His Word is still the truth, then those who refuse to confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in their heart that God has raised him from the dead are eternally damned. Period. (See Romans 10:9-13.)

I don’t know about you, but this little “pretend” adventure, limited and sketchy as it is, has caused me to literally tremble. Can you think of anything more terrifying than the thought that God and His Word are not unchanging, nor stable, nor dependable, nor true? Where would that leave us? The entire universe would vanish if this were so, for it is held together by “the word of His power.” (Hebrews 1:3.) The problem is, we take everything for granted, including God. Like spoiled children, we assume that because God loves us, we can ignore who He is and what He says, and that He will always be there for us, smiling and nodding like a patronizing grandfather, regardless of what we believe, think or do.

  1. W. Tozer wrote about what he called “This little cheap God,” and I quote: “If God had goodness, but there was one spot in God that wasn’t good, then He wouldn’t be our God and Father. If God had love but didn’t have all the love, just ninety-nine and nine-tenths percent of the love—or even a higher percentage—God still wouldn’t be God. God, to be God, must be infinite in all that He is. He must have no bound and no limit, no stopping place, no point beyond which He can’t go. When you think of God or anything about God you’ll have to think infinitely about God. You may have a charley horse in your head for two weeks after trying to follow this, but it’s a mighty good cure for this little cheap god we have today. This little cheap god we’ve made up is one you can pal around with—‘the Man upstairs,’ the fellow who helps you win baseball games. That god isn’t the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He isn’t the God who laid the foundations of the heaven and the earth; he’s some other god.”

The question is, who is God to you? Is He the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, the Almighty, the Lord, the King and the Judge of the whole earth? Is He your personal Lord and Savior? Or, is your god one that you have fashioned for yourself out of your own needs, impulses, ideas and imagination—a god of false light, false hope and false peace—a god that overlooks your sinful, selfish and self-satisfying life? If your god is the latter, your bloodless god is unable to save you. Jesus is the only sacrifice for the sins of the world that God can accept because only Jesus fulfilled the requirements of God’s law concerning punishment for sin. “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” Hebrews 9:12.

There are many lights we can walk according to—there is our own light, or understanding based on pride and self-sufficiency. There is the mesmerizing false light of the god of this world; that is, Satan. But, the light for the true Christian is Christ.

Are you walking in the light?