Don’t relabel good and evil but tell it like it is

© 2015 by Tom Boynton (editing by Kathy Boynton)

Relabeling good and evil, hides wickedness.  Political correctness often cloaks the evil of murder, adultery, divorce, sodomy, and other sins which are an affront to God!

When the virgin, Mary, had conceived Jesus, the Messiah, many accused her of doing evil because they assumed she had committed adultery.  The angel of the Lord, however, corrected this error by telling Joseph that this conception was not evil, but good, because it was done by the power of the Holy Spirit.  The angel continued,

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

The angel didn’t say, “He shall save His people from their bad decisions.”  He said “sins.”

Years later, when John the Baptist introduced the public ministry of Jesus, he also dealt with the issue of sin.

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

In John’s day the ruler, Herod, was an evil example to all his subjects.  He had stolen his brother’s wife.  John could have done what many professing Christians do today.  He could have ignored Herod’s sin by saying “His private life is none of my business.”  He could have used more delicate words to re-label such adultery.  Instead, he met Herod head-on and said,

“It is not lawful for thee to have her” (Matthew 14:4).

Herod didn’t like that, and eventually beheaded John for daring to call sin “sin” (Matthew 14:3-8).

Thus, in both the conception and introduction of Christ, God identified sin as evil and made it clear that it needed to be forgiven.  Identifying sin as “sin” has always been an integral part of the gospel message.  However, many today only present Christ’s love.  After all, speaking of sin is not “seeker friendly.”  Such a half-truth gospel is a false gospel!

If our gospel presentations fail to mention sin, the message we proclaim is different from the one presented by the angel and, later, by John the Baptist.  The true gospel declares that the sacrificial death of Christ, who is God the Son, is the redemption price for sinners.  If we re-label good or evil, we preach a false gospel.

Christian:  Tell it like it is!

click here for a previous related article:  SPEAK OUT CHRISTIAN

 

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