The other day I was driving to our office and found myself behind a car displaying the popular bumper sticker, COEXIST.  As you can see, each of the letters is shaped from a different religious symbol: the C is from Islam, the X is a Star of David, the T is a cross, and so on.

That wasn't surprising.  But this was: higher on the car was a sticker stating, "SOMETIMES I WRESTLE WITH MY DEMONS SOMETIMES WE JUST SNUGGLE." 

Ironically, the rear license plate was set inside a frame which stated, "DON'T FOLLOW ME I'M LOST TOO."

"More than you know," I thought.

One of Satan's most subtle strategies is to confuse opinion with truth.  "I'm spiritual but not religious" is a common claim today.  Many in our culture think they are the final arbiter on spiritual truth.  "I don't believe in hell," a man once told me with finality, as though his opinion had any bearing on whether hell actually exists or not.  It's like saying, "I don't believe in Mars" and expecting an astrophysicist to stop trying to convince me of the planet's existence.

Many think "all roads lead to heaven," but they don't think all roads lead to the same destination on earth. Many think "it doesn't matter which religion you choose so long as you're sincere," but they'd never try this axiom with medicine.  Many think that "tolerance is what matters in religion," but they would never tolerate poison in our food or cancer in our body.  Many are especially interested in the occult today, but most have no idea what forces they're "snuggling" with.  Our enemy is very real, and he "prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

Our society is syncretistic (fusing many different religions) and relativistic (convinced that all truth claims are equally valid).  First century culture was equally confused.  Peter renounced political correctness for transforming truth when he said of Jesus, "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

Today you can be popular or you can be prophetic, but you can seldom be both.  Choose wisely.

Publication date: May 15, 2014

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