Danger! Danger!
Danger! Danger!
Major Thomas McWilliams
Area Commander
Metro Atlanta Area Command
USA Southern Territory
Lurking Enemy
Atheism, humanism, false religions, Satanism, and a multitude of other ungodly forces and ideologies have captured the hearts and minds of people for eons. Each new generation repackages these dark forces in a shiny new way, but the goals of deifying the created and downgrading the one true Creator God remain the same. The Lord warns us to be vigilant in the face of these and other forces of darkness around us. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
Enemy Within
As deadly as these external ungodly forces are, there is another more insidious and fatal danger to individual Christians and the body of Christ. This dire threat can destroy our divine relationship, create Kingdom feebleness within our church fellowship, break apart Christian denominations, and lead masses of people down the “…broad path that leads to destruction” (Matthew 7:13b).
This self-inflicted internal danger is “Worldly Contamination.” This type of corruption comes when blood-bought Christians compromise the gospel by making room for the acceptance of worldly moral standards and societal norms. This often occurs under the umbrella of wanting to be relevant to our society instead of calling on culture to conform to the will of God. One of the successful tricks of Satan is to convince people that they can appease God and still fulfill the immoral ideals of this world.
Worldly contamination leading to destruction is not a new problem. When Moses came down with the law from Mt. Sinai and saw the golden calf, he also found that Aaron had built a proper altar to the Lord in front of it so that the people could participate in calf and Yahweh worship. Destruction of those playing on both sides of the worship fence soon followed.
Mixed Worship
In Ezekiel 8, the Lord transported the prophet to His Temple in Jerusalem. God showed him how the people still conducting the worship of the One God had also made room for their worldly indulgences and idolatries. As the Spirit of God permanently departed His Temple, He told the prophet, “I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them” (Ezekiel 8:18).
During His earthly ministry, Christ did not seek out atheists or Satanists to chastise; instead, He went after the religious people who were worldly polluted and yet claimed a relationship with the One God. Jesus addressed the Temple leaders and workers seven times with, “Woe to you” for appearing righteous on the outside while being dead inside. He said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside, they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First, clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will be clean” (Matthew 23:25-26).
Chastisement
Why would Jesus chastise religious God-worshippers so dramatically? Because, like us, they claimed to embody God's presence, supremacy, and authority on earth. Today, when we claim connection with our Lord, who is exponentially more powerful than Satan, humanists, and all other false religions combined, we are representing the great “I Am” to the world. Our spiritual responsibility is to remain “Holy, as He is holy” (1 Peter 1:16). When we fulfill this mandate, nothing external can hamper or destroy the power of God within us.
However, when we indulge our desires and allow worldly pollution to penetrate our hearts and minds, we will experience a diminishing relationship with God to the point of His eventual departure by giving us over to our sinful flesh, just as He did when Ezekiel watched Him leave His beloved Temple. To ensure that we remain His pleasing righteous children, we must “Love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). Anything less, any compromise with the world, any self-serving contamination we allow or embrace, becomes for us, and others who imitate us, a step on the wide and easy path to destruction.
Our Corporate Prayer
Dear Father, Help us to beware of the danger. Some of it can slip in so easily that at first we hardly notice until it is almost too late. At other times, we don't want to stand out or be different, so we go along rather than taking our stand with You. Sometimes the enemy is so good at disguise that we don't even know what is happening. We ask for Your Holy Spirit to keep our hearts tuned to You so we can sense the danger. If we voluntarily follow, rebuke us! Turn our hearts back to You. If we are being led a long a way we don't realize, shed light on our path and turn us away from the danger. We want only to please You and follow You, the great Savior of our souls, the great King of our lives. We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.
Our Worldwide Prayer Meeting
Sri Lanka Territory
Thinking It Through
In what ways have you seen Satan worming his way into the church, your church? What has been done to drive him out? If nothing has been done, why not?
Notable Quotables
Compromise with the world will not make it better! Compromise with the world always fails. It pulls down the man who proposes it and never raises up anyone else. - General Bramwell Booth
A beautiful hymn of comfort that reminds us of how important it is to keep close to God is "Near to the Heart of God."
We would appreciate any feedback and/or suggestions on how to improve these devotionals. Please email comments to: SpiritualLifeDevelopment@uss.salvationarmy.org or by going to our website: https://southernusa.salvationarmy.org/uss/spiritual-life-development.
We would love to hear from you.
Lt. Colonel Allen Satterlee
Territorial Spiritual Life Development Officer/THQ Chaplain
USA Southern Territory