Don’t offend me; God is Love; The Goodness of God leads to repentance; Repentance – change of Mind not ways; Grace not conviction; You are special; God gives bear hugs; There is no condemnation;
God makes you prosper; All heaven – no Hell; Bible not inerrant; Radical Grace, baby;
God Blesses because I am worthy; Truth. Jesus is Lord. Is He.
Hashtag Christianity. Has the modern western Church become just slogans that simply mirror the world’s cultural norms all dressed up as biblical truths designed to get a person stuck in the ditch of extremes?
Bible based standards of truth are ridiculed as outdated and in need new spiritual discernment. We now have “Hashtag Grace” ascending. Has anyone noticed that the meaning of God’s grace and his great love is being redefined and governed by the law of non-offending politically correct Hashtag Christianity?
Cannot anyone see that we are entering a new epoch in the progression of bible prophecy where the great falling away from the faith is beginning in earnest? (2 Thess 2:3, 2 Tim 4:3-4)
What is God’s grace as opposed to Hashtag Grace?
God’s true grace calls us to focus on Jesus. That He must be the central focus in our lives. By God’s grace we are forgiven of sins. By God’s grace we are changed from the inside out. One cannot earn God’s grace by working for it by legalism. God’s true grace teaches us how to live inside God’s camp teaching us to say, “Yes”, Lord,” more often than saying “No – don’t have too.”
God’s true Grace enlightens us about the nature of God’s Love and his character traits. By grace we learn to live for God as his own and show it, not hide it, or ignore its work in our lives by hashtag slogans based on the fear of being offensive. By grace we learn to leave sins behind. God’s true Grace sets believers free from guilt, shame, and teaches how to overcome our struggles with sin. God’s grace changes our personal character for the better.
True grace shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit teaches us the destructive nature of sin, and will in time manifest in a person a holy life devoted to the Lord. By Grace we repent and drop the ways of the world. Grace is not an excuse to continue in sin or that we remain helpless victims to it. By God’s grace comes the means of sanctification. By Grace we have God’s favor to heal the wounds within our hearts. By His grace alone we discover sweet fellowship with our Creator.
By God’s Grace we learn that there are consequences and responsibilities. By grace God chastens those whom he loves.
God’s Grace is amazing and calls us homeward calling us out of this world’s system. By the grace of God, we learn to honor and respect the word of God contained in the bible. Not belittle it nor defame it by picking what we like in it and discarding what we do not like by calling it full of errors.
God’s true grace revealed upon the cross of Jesus Christ will offend, convict, and expose the hidden nature of the human heart. By God’s grace he warns and instructs us and teaches us right from wrong.
If these truths about God’s grace are yours, then there is no problem but if anyone stretches God’s grace and, yes, God’s love, to conform to the social norms of the world of non-offending, then Houston we have a problem.
What problem?
There is an extreme taught in the modern church about God’s grace and love that portrays God as a big cosmic teddy bear in the sky who lets his adopted children play in the streets, eat whatever they want, hang out with bad company, jump off the roof of two story home thinking an umbrella will act like a parachute. Tell all its okay not to listen to him and okay not to read the scriptures.
Many of you have your own children or at least helped raise some. You all know that if you ask your little 3 to 7-year old’s what they want for dinner, their response would be ice cream, candy, and/or junk food. You know full well that a diet of ice cream and junk food alone would lead to malnutrition and eventually starvation.
What do you do?
You set the rules – standards: “No” – you say – “eat your veggies,” midst their screams of displeasure that you don’t love them. Or you see your young ones about to jump off the roof thinking that mommy’s favorite blue umbrella will perform like a parachute. Question: do you stop them or let them jump?
We, being guardians of children discipline with time outs. We set forth simple rules and enforce these. Why? Because we love and show them grace. However, the way the modern church defines God’s love and grace – God would never set rules, or standards as these are works related and not grace. After all, any rules, commands, are bad and not grace and not loving. Thus, settles the new governing PC norms.
In this worldview, God would never stop anyone from jumping off the roof thinking they could fly. God would never stop you from playing in the middle of the interstate highway either because God is all love and never wants to hurt your feelings. Or ever say no to a diet of pure spiritual junk food that proclaims boldly – Who cares if you eat ice cream and junk food – after all, God cannot say that is wrong because the bible is errant anyways and must be spiritual discerned by proclaiming the Hashtag Christianity way. Hmmm… Not.
Children of God or children of the world?
Many well-meaning Christians act like little children in the hashtag church. They proudly proclaim: “Don’t offend me. Repentance is a change of mind – not a 180 degree direction change as that is legalism. God’s love is how we define it to be so that I can eat all the ice cream I want. Don’t convict me of wrong – I am under grace! Grace, Grace! Love, Love, Love! No condemnation! Don’t tell me different you-legalist-bondage-maker Pharisee Christian. We speak of God’s love but are justified to hate you nevertheless because the God of the bible is a fabrication of legalist like you all wanting people to burn in hell.”
They continue with ideas like: “If we had it our way, no one could ever teach on an eternal hell either because it is so repugnant. A good God would never allow hell. Never mind what Jesus said about hell or the bible. He wasn’t talking to us. We are under glorious grace and his love and all are saved no matter what: Satanist, atheists serial killers, Hilter, all religious faiths saved – God is love. God gives bear hugs.” — So, goes the Hashtag intellect —
Yes, there is a great falling away taking shape.
A new paradigm shift is going on within the modern church. Some folks think this is great because they have been hurt by control freaks and legalist within the church. New wave of grace and love mirrored after the standard of the law of non-offending is touted. Tolerance governs all, just like the world teaches: Coexist. So that Substitutionary Atonement is viewed as evil, but tickle my ears – good.
Try talking to such folks, one gets judged, falsely accused, and browbeaten which is surprising for those bent on love and acceptance. Guess they cannot come to terms that they too have become just like the legalist and control freaks they despise. There is such thing as a “Grace Pharisee,” you know.
What then is God’s Grace and Love?
Titus 2:11-15, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.” NASB
These verses tell us that God grace instructs us to deny, say no to, ungodliness, worldly desires, and teaches us how to live sensibly, righteously and godly in our present day.
This begs the question – How?
By running boldly to the throne of God’s Grace in time of need (Heb 4:16) by living the 1 John 1:8-9 way as one’s way of life. Confess to Jesus your sins and he does the cleansing. Because of his grace, one can come to him just as you are, dirty diapers and all, all in need of change by him.
We learn by the grace shown by the cross of Christ that exposes and defines what secretly resides within our human hearts. How he bore our betraying, mocking, putting on trial, making things according to our own image and likeness. By our beatings, making people perform – carry heavy burdens they can’t carry, our pride, our running away, hiding, and talking like Peter – the ways of the world – when he said, “I do not know Him.” – Matthew 26:72 NKJV
Jesus, by grace went to the cross, exposing how we bear false witness, slander, defame each other and God too. How we seek to divide, scourge with words, plot to step on others to get ahead, carry out schemes to gain political advantages on friends, family, strangers, God.
Then by Grace, Jesus died paying our death penalty for doing these things to each other and to God himself. We deserve not love but wrath. However, God is true to himself alone, he loves. God’s love is of a type way beyond what any of us can possibly conceive or try to manipulate to our own advantage so that we do not have to change at all. God’s love breaks our stony cold hard heart because we need it ‘done.’
God’s love and grace opens our eyes and ears
Next, God’s love and grace lets us see the blood of Jesus shed upon that cross. We find ourselves convicted and condemned because it is we who put him on the cross clearly demonstrated by our very lives all revealed by how we treat each other; by how we abandon, betray, reject, and neglect. By his stripes we are healed of this.
A love like that, to come into this world and have us betray, abandon, neglect, abuse, mock, lie about him, reject, falsely accuse him of wrongs, to willingly do this, and then to die in our place, paying our death penalty for doing these things to him and each other is a love most profound and undeserved. This work of grace ‘all done’ freely for us breaks the stony heart of man so much so that we surrender to the Lord of Glory and ask him to forgive us and change our lives so we can be restored back into God’s will and stop all our bane we spread around.
On top of this, Jesus, by Grace, was resurrected from the dead so we too can enter a new mode of life. So, like Abraham, we are called out of the land of UR, that Idol making capital of the ancient world, to begin our own new born-again journey to His promise land. This means, by God’s grace, we turn away from how the world thinks, acts, and does things while learning to live sensibly, righteously and godly in our present age, forsaking our idols and images of the gods we make to suit our selfish ends. We are now part of a counter revolution against darkness.
The Question
During a bible study this question came up: how do you know God loves you? Around the room came various answers such as the bible says He does, God got me out of a jam, received a big wad of money, I feel his love, the preachers tell me so, etc and etc.
Then one man said to everyone, “I am not sure God loves me at all…”
In the room, silence. Then I spoke up, “I’ve been to God’s woodshed enough times to know he loves me…” turning to look at the man I continued, “…how about you?” (see Hebrews 12:5-9 on this)
The man looked at me smiled and responded, “Yes, the has – he does! Yes, he does! Thank You!”
God will tell you, “…no I will not buy that for you; you can’t eat all junk food; You are too young to drive daddy’s car, wait (I Co 12:11); you can’t jump off roofs in my name; It’s because I said so, period, don’t argue with me buster, okay, time out or it’s the woodshed; Mind your manners, say please; You will not hang out in bars; don’t drink or smoke that stuff; Mow the grass, take out the trash; I will read to you; I will tuck you in; Ohee diaper change time, again; Yes, daddy does love you but you can’t have that cookie till after you eat your veggies…” Why because God really loves us not to leave us as we are.
“(Jesus) said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3-4, NKJV
Obedience is better than sacrifice. Jesus said in John 15:14, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”
That’s God’s love folks because he gives freely the very grace needed to obey and learn from our mistakes his instructions on how to shed the world’s ways in our lives.
Hashtag Christianity cannot cut it. Flee the great apostasy.
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*** B. W. Melvin *** Author, A Land Unknown: Hell’s Dominion
See more from Bryon Melvin at AFTER LIFE
