Articles
Calling Evil Good, and Good Evil
Isa 5:20 – “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
The desire of our Great Physician is that we come to terms with our sickness and seek out a cure to through Him. However, the devil is also at work in our lives to convince us otherwise. One of the tools in Satan’s toolbox is his clever ability to remove the stigma of sin through redefinitions. We must fend off the devil by developing the courage and humility to call our sin “sin” and eliminate any sugar coating and soft-peddling of it from our vocabulary. Lest we be deceived, let’s identity just a few of the common buzz words and phrases used to undermine certain sins:
1) Abortion – Murder of unborn infants is now being labeled as “choice” or “termination of pregnancy”. This re-labeling does not take away an unborn child’s humanity. Calling murder “murder” is the first step toward coming to terms with this horrible sin – Ex 20:13
2) Fornication/Adultery/Homosexuality – These unauthorized sexual relationships are now being labeled as “premarital affairs”, “extra-marital affairs”, and “alternative lifestyles” respectively. When put in these terms, some of the sting is removed. Yet our Physician from above has warned us that this sickness will take our lives spiritually – 1 Cor 6:9
3) Ridiculing truth – This concept can take on a palatable appearance when it is labeled as “pluralism”. Yet no matter the appearance, the bible is clear that salvation comes through only one name – Acts 4:12
4) Slander – Many disclaimers are added to justify the sins of slander. We can add “Just saying…” (or “JS”), “I love him BUT…., “I know I shouldn’t be telling you this, BUT…”, etc. One lady used to reveal dark secrets of an individual and follow it up with the phrase, “Bless his heart…” – Prov 10:18
5) Lying – Today, lying is called “politics as usual” or a “terminological inexactitude”. These phrases sound respectful if not for the bible’s clear warning. The sin of lying is so detested by God, it is listed as one of the sins he hates (Prov 6:16-17) as well a sin that will result in an eternity in hell (Rev 21:8)
6) Profanity/pornography – These acts are now being labeled as “freedom of expression” or “freedom of speech” causing people to be more prone to participate. The media lobbies for and endorses such behavior and the motion picture association of America is bending more and more, but the Word of God is living and active in condemning this behavior – Heb 4:12; Eph 4:29
What more could we say? Drunkenness is called “alcoholism”; we’ve exploited the poor and called it “lottery”; we’ve neglected to discipline our children and called it “building self-esteem”; we’ve coveted out neighbor’s possessions and called it “ambition”; we’ve ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it “enlightenment”; we’ve constantly abused our power and called it “politics”; etc. It’s been 2600 years since Isaiah wrote of this problem. Have times really changed? I encourage all my Facebook friends to guard their hearts against the evil that our world is now calling “good”. Soldiers of Christ arise! Amen.
