1 Samuel 15: 2-3, 7-9 (2) This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I
will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them
as they came up from Egypt. (3) Now, go attack the Amalekites and
totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men
and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.” (7)
Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the
eastern borer of Egypt. (8) He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive,
and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. (9)But Saul and the
army spared Agag and the best of the sheep an cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything
that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything
that was despise and weak they totally destroyed.
The
Lord had given directions for Samuel to pass on to Saul in regards to the
destruction of the Amalekites, Israel’s enemy. The Amalekites, after the
Israelites had left Egypt, had attacked them during the time of Moses. Joshua,
under Moses leadership, was sent out with some of the other Israelites to
defeat them. As long as Moses’ hands were raised, the Israelites were winning.
But as soon as his hands were lowered from being tired, they were losing. Aaron
and Hur helped Moses’ hands to remain lifted and the Israelites won the battle.
However,
the Lord promised Moses that He would erase the Amalekites and their future
generations. God didn’t forget His promise to Moses and during the reign of
Saul, God decided that it was time for Him to honor His promise that He had
made generations prior. The Lord told Samuel to instruct Saul to destroy
everyone and everything that belonged to the Amalekites. They were to keep
nothing. All men, women, children, and cattle of every kind was to be
destroyed. He was to take absolutely nothing. However, Saul did not do what the
Lord said. He kept the king alive and took the best of the sheep and cattle. He
therefore, compromised what the Lord had instructed in an attempt to satisfy
his own greed. Therefore, the Lord turned His face away from Saul and due to
his disobedience and deception, another king was chosen who would later take
his place.
Compromise!
It is a word that can be used for good or evil. It can either help or harm. It
can encourage or discourage. It can be used to either set a standard or lower
it. Unfortunately, in today’s church, it is doing the later in the previous
comparisons. Christians, many of which are compromising their standards, so
that they can become more like the world. They want to obtain position, the admiration
of the world, and are willing to risk salvation for damnation. Not just for
themselves, but the very ones that they are risking it for.
You
may ask how are we compromising our standards? Many of us are not letting our
light shine in the things that we do, say, watch and associations that we are a
part of, etc. Let’s dig a little deeper into this topic. I pray that we all get
convictions from this subject today.
Scandal!
Yes, I said it! The television show that many of us love to watch. I have been
guilty of watching it myself. Why is that? Well, it involves a woman of color
who is involved with a successful, rich, handsome man. Not only is he the
things that I just mentioned, he is the President of the United States.
However, there’s just one problem! He’s married! She is a single woman dating a
married man and not only dating him, but sleeping with him and have occasionally
slept with her other interest, Jake, on the show. So you see, I am guilty of
watching this show myself. It pulls you in and all for the wrong reasons.
Now
you may wonder what is wrong with watching this show? After all, it is just a
television show…right? Well, yes and no. Yes, it is a television show, but it
has real life situations that are against God’s laws. Let’s start with adultery.
God is clearly against adultery and fornication. Exodus 20:14 “Thou shall not
commit fornication.” (NIV) So there you have it. We are not supposed to commit
fornication. So if this is God’s law, why are we endorsing someone who is doing
it even if it is on tv. The president on the show is MARRIED and therefore, is
committing fornication. Okay, what about Ms. Pope? 1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you
not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived; Neither the sexually immoral
nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards
nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (NIV) I believe
that this verse would sum up Ms. Pope. She is sexually immoral by having sex
with a married man, a willing participant in the president committing adultery,
and she is stealing the affection of another woman’s husband. Okay, let’s not
even fail to mention the men that are portraying themselves as homosexuals on
the show. The scripture surely states that this is a sin.
Therefore,
if it is a sin in real life, isn’t it a sin to watch these detestable acts on a
weekly show? Now, if this was a movie to win people to Christ and let them know
that these things are not of God, then maybe it would be okay. However, it is not
doing such and encouraging ungodly behavior. The homosexual agenda alone is coming into the homes of many
without people even realizing that this is a way of easing the mindsets of those
who have been against this. The devil allows the media to put it in your homes
little by little and before you know it, you’re okay with it. It’s strategic by
design. It is playing you like a fiddle and you are dancing to the tune.
Let’s
explore the music scene once again. Remember the song by deceased musical
artist, Aliyah, who had the song titled, “Rock the Boat?” Can you imagine how
many children were singing that song back in the day? It was actually talking
about how to perform sex. Okay, let’s move it up to R Kelly’s 12 play or even
more recent songs and enactments of Trapped in the Closet and Black Panties.
These alone are not worthy of Christian ears as well as any children. However,
I bet there are parents that have allowed their children to listen to R Kelly.
Just recently, a gospel artist turned R Kelly’s “Bump n Grind” song into a
Christian song. I’m not sure if that’s even possible for people who remember
the original version and was probably grinding to it. I will admit, I was one
of them. Therefore, when I hear it, even in a Christian version, I am
immediately taken back to the day when I wasn’t doing Godly things. Can we say “Compromise”
together? Of all the musical artists songs to immolate, why get one that
probably made a lot of out of wedlock babies? Even if a baby didn’t result, why
choose one sexually oriented? I’m just saying…
Let’s
talk about the dress code if there is such a thing for Christians. I’m sorry,
if you are strutting your stuff like Beyonce, or it’s so tight that you can’t
leave ANY curves to the imagination, that’s not Godly. Aren’t we supposed to be
distinguished from the world? If you are trying to sell sex appeal on a Godly
platform, then you may want to step off of it. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing
wrong with being beautiful in a modest way. However, if the “Gospel” is selling
because of your body and not your message, you just may want to rethink that.
This goes for men as well. Too many times, women are often the subjects of
modest apparel, but that goes for the bros too.
There is so much more to this subject matter
than writing allows for this one blog. Therefore, I will be doing a continuation
of this subject. People, if we are truly going to be soul winners for Christ,
we must have some distinctions between us. We cannot and should not compromise
our principals. We can have just as much fun and excitement in the Godly way as
we would in any other sense. However, if we do it God’s way, then we won’t shun
others from Him due to our bad example.
Take care people and God bless!
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