I’m not sure that there has been any “perfect” period for God’s people, although the generation during Joshua’s day and the first couple of years of the church after Pentecost are probably the closest. But inevitably whether in the recorded history of Israel the nation or the Church the Bride of Christ, something keeps recurring from ancient times to the present: dilution. What begins pure or by legitimate revival made pure again over time seems to become polluted again. There is probably no religion in the history of earth that has the record of repeating diluting itself like Christianity.

I’m not talking about Christians who simply stop going to church or who cease engaging regularly the proper implementation of prayer, fellowship, and Bible study, but those who water down and alter those things by bringing IN side-by-side with the things of God those practices and beliefs originating with other religions. Some obvious examples are the introduction of so-called “Christian” yoga, labyrinth walking, incense burning, meditation, and a myriad of other practices often associated with what we call “New Age” today but mostly originating with various Eastern mystical practices. The final effect of incorporating such practices with one’s Christianity is someone who has “changed gods” and “changed their glory“. They are no longer worshiping the same Jesus the rest of us are.

I would also argue that a modern variation of this is the introduction of psychology, marketing principles, and all the other practices which are associated with allowing a consumer-driven society to be reflected in what has now become a consumer-driven church. Like television networks, we now have ministries which operate not according to the unchanging absolute of God’s Word, but opinion polls searching out the felt needs of its customers. Yes, when consumer-oriented criteria and practices take over, you no longer have “congregants” or “members” of the Body of Christ, but customers who pick and choose church no differently than where they decide to shop or eat. It is the ultimate expression of changing the true glory of the Gospel “For that which does not profit“. Ironic, isn’t it that “consumers” would engage in something ultimately having no profit?

What is very telling about this phenomena is in the admonition in these verses to go look at those who practice religion dedicated to something other than the One True God. You won’t find them doing these kind of things. They don’t dilute their practices by incorporating things from other religions. Non-Christian sects and religions are noteworthy for preventing their beliefs and practices from being corrupted by outside influences. In today’s religious economy it takes a “Christian” to corrupt their own practices in ways that non-Christians would never dream of doing to their own.

But even if we don’t want to apply this globally to the Church, we have to face the fact that these verses probably describe much more accurately than we’d like to think when it comes to Western democracies like America. I saw a YouTube video today of President Obama claiming that Islam was “always” been a part of America right from its very inception. Really? Or is this yet another tacit admission that a nation has changed its gods?_††_†

 [Email this Journal Entry]  [Print this Journal Entry]

This journal entry is filed under 24: Jeremiah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.