Caution: Fog Lights Needed
Growing up in San Francisco, I had plenty of opportunities to learn to drive in the fog. In fact, the day I got my license, it was completely foggy and drizzly out, a very typical day in our city by the bay. And even though we knew how and when to use our fog lights, I had always wondered why they shine way down low instead of higher, like normal headlights. A quick google search (which wasn't available when I was learning to drive 😂) tells me this:
"...when the atmosphere in front of you is highly reflective, your own regular headlights can be blinding to you," which can be very dangerous. "Fog lights are normally mounted lower down on the front of a car and typically cast a wider but shorter beam. The idea is that, being low down, they reflect less light back at you from whatever is outside." (source)
CAUTION: VISIBILITY RESTRICTED!
Today, a dense fog of deception has crept into our churches, hovering over those once faithful to scripture, who now promote a different gospel – a "revised" one – a newly defined one, and who now give a pass to those who identify with sin instead of repenting of it.
The fog has moved in. It's spreading. And we must realize that it's getting thicker, restricting our visibility to the extreme. What's happening in our culture is spreading into the church. What once was hidden, has now become blatantly shouted from the rooftops. The shock factor has been removed since we've become desensitized to the depravity around us. What once was shameful and looked down upon has now become mainstream and accepted. Yup – accepted even within our churches.
• No longer is the Word of God seen as the ultimate and final authority on all matters. Pastors such as Andy Stanley are encouraging all Christians to "unhitch their Christianity from the Old Testament." Say what?
• Once highly respected evangelical leaders are endorsing books proclaiming authenticity in the irony of being gay and Christian at the same time. Huh?
• And many other evangelical leaders are promoting a social justice void of the true gospel – anemic and heretical at its core – which is helping to usher in Marxism at a fast pace. (Do they even realize what they're doing???)
The deconstruction of the family, of absolute truth, and of morality has always been in the playbook of Satan, and has been trumpeted by the likes of Marcuse, Friedan, Freud, Marx, and others of his puppets throughout history. Today we are living to see this play out before our eyes. We're living in a Romans 1 scenario, where God is giving people over to the sinful desires of their depraved hearts.
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times
some will fall away from the faith,
paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
1 Timothy 4:1
The only solution is to be reading God's Word – but not only reading it – studying it, memorizing it, meditating on it. (See a previous post on this.) We must be immersed in what God says, not giving weight to experience, but fully trusting in the Word of God as the source of truth applicable to all of life. Once we establish His Word as our mainstay for truth, we will be well-equipped to face the thick fog pouring into our churches. For without it, our sense of direction decreases greatly and our ability to evaluate what's true and what's not is infinitely reduced.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:10
Thick fog necessitates the use of fog lights. God's Word will help us navigate the fog of deception that Satan is using to distract us and deceive us into believing lies he's been spewing since the garden. And just as the fog lights on our cars only shed light on the road immediately in front of us, God's Word illuminates just enough of the road ahead that we need to see. We need to fully trust Him, as He is sovereign, omniscient, protective of and loving to His children.
Hey. Got your fog lights on? You need them.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;
but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will
accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance
to their own desires, and will turn away their ears
from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
2 Timothy 4:3-4
