Oops! Is This You?

"I hate to hurt their feelings..."

"It's not very loving to tell her she's wrong..."

"We should show tolerance for people who don't see things the way we do..."

"I can't say something is wrong for someone else. That's their decision..."

Fluffy statements like those permeate our tolerance-based society. Tolerance is the newest substitute for Christianity and many who have professed faith in Christ get caught up in it as well.

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Believing the Bible too harsh and judgmental, they opt for the feel-good, hands-around-the-world philosophy that feels to them more "Christian."

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The believers at Pergamum led the Tolerance Peace Marches of their day. (Rev. 2) They were good folks, loved the Lord, but had let their guard down. What they called "tolerance", Jesus called sin.

Jesus knew where they lived. He understood the times and the temptations they had to endure. He referred to their city as "the seat of Satan." Ever feel like your town is the seat of Satan? Your state? Your nation? Do you sometimes scan the sea of in-your-face temptations and wonder if Hell has come to earth?

And if you read Revelation 2, just who were the Nicolaitans that Jesus hated so much? In a nutshell, they were prominent religious leaders who had perverted the Scriptures and were leading thousands astray in the name of God. Sound familiar?

And truckloads of Pergamites were going right along with it. The church was doing little to challenge the false teaching and Jesus was taking them to the woodshed because of it.

He warns that if they don't repent, He is coming to apply the truth of the Scripture to them like a switch on the backside. His words speak clearly: "Just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

He told his followers at Pergamum, "I have these things against you."

They were allowing corrupt leaders to infiltrate their midst, tolerating fleshly sins, and polluting scripture with a lot of fluffy nonsense. Jesus warns them that He is coming with "the two-edged sword," which is the Scripture. He is reminding his churches that any slipping away from the foundation of truth will lead to heresy and many will never come to know Jehovah of the Bible. They will traipse after a god of their own construction.

The world is flooded with craziness done in the name of God. Fringe groups abound which cling to some tenets of Scripture, but ignore others. False teaching is everywhere. Just turn on late-night TV.

And it would be easy to make excuses: "I didn't know! I thought Dr. So-and-So of the FeelGood Church was teaching the right stuff!"

Jesus told the Pergamites that he understood how hard it was, but He held up the Word of God to them as He holds it up to us now. "You have this. Use it."

Are you guilty of allowing lies to go unchallenged? Do you turn the other way when so-called Christian leaders spout heresy? Do you shrug and mumble something about "their interpretation" when you hear outright distortion applied to the Word of God? Do you substitute the religion of tolerance for scriptural boldness?

Don't look now, but you might be a Pergamite. Your instructions are in the back of the Book.

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