28 Nov Blending Beliefs
Deuteronomy 32:16-18 – They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded. You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
John 3:31-36 – He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Sadly, it is quite common for Christians keep parts of their Christian faith and marry it with non-Christian practice. Academics call blending beliefs syncretism. God calls it adultery.
Syncretism is what happens when we receive or seek to redeem things that we must reject. Catholicism is notorious for syncretism, as it blended some Christian icons, images, and concepts with local pagan beliefs wherever it spread. Some younger Western Christians do this in the name of love, tolerance, and reconciliation. The Bible clearly says we are not to love sin, tolerate sin, or reconcile light and darkness. There are things, especially spiritually and sexually, that we must reject and not receive or seek to redeem.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is pristine, pure, and clean. The gospel of Jesus Christ was created by God. Satan counterfeits this gospel with unclean, impure, deadly false gospels that seek to do to the gospel what the algae is doing to the lake. This explains why Satan is always trying to contaminate what God created clean with his corrupting counterfeit. Thankfully, the kingdom of God will one day come and put an end to all counterfeits.
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