The modern day Church is in trouble. Christianity has been infiltrated with people who insist on spreading the message that Christ was accepting of all, and forgiving of all, without any regard to their circumstances. From Super Bowl advertisements pushing Christian guilt to “preachers” claiming God is nonbinary, our faith is under constant attack from those who would have us accept all “lifestyles” as having a divine right. The problem with this is that it flies in the face of everything the Bible gives us as truth.
In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 we read:
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Here, Paul pulls out a laundry list of things that Christians should not allow themselves to be. Starting with fornicators, Paul goes on later in the chapter to outline what is expected of Christians regarding purity and morality. He even goes as far as to say that “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own” in verse 19. In doing so, he quotes from Genesis 2:24, providing an example for refraining from sex before marriage. It is interesting to note, that the Greek word used here is πόρνοι (pornoi when transliterated to English) and is the root of the word pornography.
Idolatry is the next item on the list, and Paul covers that in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22. He starts off saying “flee from idolatry,” and goes on to say in verse 20 and 21:
20 No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
The prohibition of idolatry goes all the way back to the Law that was handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai. In fact, this command was so important that the first two of the Ten Commandments deal explicitly with this. Exodus 20:3-6:
3 You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
6 but showing loving-kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
So, not only are we commanded not to have any gods other than the one true God, we are not to have any idols or totems to use for worship.
Paul continues with his list by mentioning adultery, which is another of the prohibitions in the Ten Commandments. Jesus himself commented on the matter of adultery in the sermon on the mount, found in Matthew 5:27-28:
27 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’;
28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
This ties directly back to the subject of fornication which we covered earlier, and happens to be a direct prohibition against pornography.
This next part might get me in trouble, but where the word speaks, I speak, and in this case, I cannot afford to keep silence. Paul continues in his list by stating “nor effeminate, nor homosexuals.” The Greek words used here, μαλακοὶ (malakoi) and ἀρσενοκοῖται (arsenokoitai), refer to the passive and active roles in a homosexual relationship, respectively. In a much more crude sense, Paul is essentially saying “It doesn’t matter whether you’re pitching or catching, you’re playing the same game…”
The next subject, thievery, is not a very controversial one. It’s another of the Ten Commandments, and we won’t spend much time on it here. Covetousness, however, even though it is another of the Ten Commandments, is VERY controversial. Exodus 20:17 reads:
17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
The bases of both socialism and communism are rooted in covetousness. “I want what my neighbor has, and I want government to give it to me.”
To quote Adrian Rogers:
What one person receives without working for another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
Drunkards are the next item on the list, and Paul covers this subject in Ephesians 5:18:
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
Peter even covers the subject in 1 Peter 4:3-4:
3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.
4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you;
The phrase “excesses of dissipation” used here can be alternatively translated as “flow of destruction” and for good reason. These practices will lead to destruction, both of the body and of the spirit.
This next item on Paul’s list hits a little close to home. Those of you that have seen my Twitter, know that I don’t often pull punches, and have been known to throw insults when “dunking” on someone… I shouldn’t do that. Paul specifically references revilers in this list, and that behavior on my part would qualify.
The last item on the list is swindlers. With this, Paul is telling us to not cheat people. Don’t take more from someone than is necessary, and don’t rip people off. As someone who works in an industry where this is becoming all too common, it is a temptation that I sincerely hope I never fall into.
This list of things to avoid is almost a list of things that is worshipped by modern society. Almost all of these issues have made their way into the Church. I hope, by pointing them out, I have helped to distinguish between what God expects of us and what the world would have us do. I will leave you with a passage from John where Jesus is speaking to his disciples. John 15:18-20:
18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”
I heard you speak on Timcast's members-only segment with Marc Lobliner.
Thank you for speaking the truth… that so few Christians, especially those in the pulpit are willing to speak. We have lost our savor as the salt of the earth.