"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase"
1 Corinthians 3:6
A Message From the Horne of Africa
"What's Wrong with Us?"
6/14/2009
Sometimes, I think we need our head read! Why do we have to compromise ourselves out of existence before we realize that we are doing ourselves unwarranted harm? Western civilization has made a god of tolerance and acceptance. They have even misapplied scripture to sustain the view. "Becoming all things to all men," 1 Corinthians 9:22, never ever meant that you jettison your principles and sacrifice your values on the altar of tolerance. Oh, sure, it is the path of ease--the path of least resistance. You will certainly ruffle less feathers that way, but does God, our God, the God of Heaven and Earth, the only true and living God—does He approve this wishy-washy conduct? Are we spineless jelly fish or what? Do we stand for nothing and fall for everything--just because we want to please men? See what Paul says in Galatians 1:10.
It is disgusting to observe the namby-pamby behavior of people, locally and overseas, who "please at any price." It is not endearing to see adults and teenagers who think that their destiny in life is to lick boots! For heaven's sake (and I mean that quite literally), let us stand for something, folks! Let me show you what I mean from a portion of an informative article which describes that kind of foolhardy behavior.
From an article entitled "E PLURIBUS UNUM [FROM MANY, ONE]—comes the following unpalatable information [comments in brackets below are mine--AJH]:
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma School officials remove "God Bless America" signs from schools in fear that someone might be offended. [I hope they are kidding!]
Channel 12 News in Long Island, New York, orders flags removed from the newsroom and red, white, and blue ribbons removed from the lapels of reporters. Why? Management did not want to appear biased and felt that our nation's flag might give the appearance that "they lean one way or another." [Yikes, they failed that one—they do appear biased to me; that is, in favor of their mischievous opponents.]
Berkeley, California bans U.S. Flags from being displayed on city fire trucks because they didn't want to offend anyone in the community. [How can you offend people who feel the need to be patriotic in these troublesome times? If some don't feel patriotic, they need to go and live where they can feel patriotic.]
In an "act of tolerance" the head of the public library at Florida Gulf Coast University ordered all "Proud to be an American" signs removed so as to not offend international students. [It is a given that all countries in the world display their own brand of patriotism—if foreigners are blessed to study here, they are privileged to observe local customs and mores or to go home and study where they will not be offended. It would be their loss not ours.]
Those whose chief aim in life is to be "politically correct" need to realize that they are destroying their country's greatness while catering to her avowed enemies. Now I get even more upset when I see so-called "Christians" compromising the truth of Christianity for a mess of pottage. Jesus was crucified for it. Some “politely” compromise it! The Lord sighs. The devil laughs! We lose everything that is spiritually significant in life! That makes us big losers and assures a future too horrible to contemplate.
Jesus disturbed people! He loved them enough to upset them. You see, He knew that only the truth sets people free, John 8:32; Proverbs 23:23, not that whimsical philosophy that refuses to risk offending those in error. We have to “snatch them from the fire,” Jude 22-23, while “speaking the truth in love,” Ephesians 4:15. If we are not careful, we are going to meet a lot of people we couldn't bear to offend here, in hell! (see Ezekiel 3:21-22) There are people among us whom I would like to shake out of their lethargy. They break my heart with their stubborn, selfish, self-destructive will. There are people who need to be whacked spiritually because they are always putting down the Lord's church. The climate the church survives in is much like the stock market. Expressions of confidence in the company (in this case, the Lord's company, the church) attract wary pilgrims who would invest their lives in His institution—the church. Those who "bad mouth" the church with their own contrived negative statistics are the stumbling blocks over which prospective converts fall. I have a message for those who constantly suppress the message in order to win friends and influence people to themselves: "Fair weather friends you will have. Converts you won't make." Christianity was not tailor made for those who want a watered-down commitment to Jesus. It feels comfortable now, but the heat will be unbearable in the next life.
Be proud to be a Christian! Display the values of Jesus with your lips and in your life! Disturb the lethargic. Wake up the drowsy. Let’s deepen our commitment. Be like the Bible characters who made their allegiance to Christ enthusiastically known and sought recruits eagerly for the Master’s army. The die is not yet cast, but time is running out.
Love you all,
Al--"the Horne of Africa."