A Local Bird with a Foreign Walk
"The reason so much of today's secular music is so empty is because it is people's message from themselves to themselves. We need something transcendent."
"New Age is a way for [a person] to have his spiritual cake and live his physical fulfillment, too."
--Ravi Zacharias
I'm listening to Ravi Zacharias' podcast on his website right now...my friend Ian mentioned it yesterday as we were talking about how the enemy uses sin to creep in and how he tries to take over our culture--he tries to become like a "local bird with a foreign walk." It might walk a little funny and be different from most people's expectations, but we are supposed to assimilate it into our culture. Many people embrace "spirituality" because this way they are putting their time in, but can still have it their way. And it all leads to emptiness because secular "spirituality" is a message from people to people--people trying to bring themselves up or figure it out on their own. They become like the local bird with a foreign walk...still satisfying their flesh, but walking a little differently. They step out into something different, while living in the same place. It's like eating the icing on a cake full of rat poison.
I'm not saying I've never been guilty of the same thing; it's something I have to constantly check myself on. But the enemy is cunning, and if he can make people think that it's supposed to be okay, even if it's different, he will...and he'll do this because he comes "like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." For him, it is nothing but a game where fallen humanity is the pawn and he is the hand. He deceives, he tricks, he embitters, and he beguiles, and the only way out is through Christ.
This is why I cannot be silent. It's not a matter of tolerance for me anymore. Jesus never preached tolerance; He preached love without bounds and truth in love. Tolerance kills. Death is real, Satan is real, and this life is too short to play party games. If I'm gonna love you [figuratively speaking to all people], I'm gonna love you with my whole heart. I'll listen to your side and love you and be there no matter what you choose, but I will speak up because your eternity is more important to me than you getting to have your cake now.
"New Age is a way for [a person] to have his spiritual cake and live his physical fulfillment, too."
--Ravi Zacharias
I'm listening to Ravi Zacharias' podcast on his website right now...my friend Ian mentioned it yesterday as we were talking about how the enemy uses sin to creep in and how he tries to take over our culture--he tries to become like a "local bird with a foreign walk." It might walk a little funny and be different from most people's expectations, but we are supposed to assimilate it into our culture. Many people embrace "spirituality" because this way they are putting their time in, but can still have it their way. And it all leads to emptiness because secular "spirituality" is a message from people to people--people trying to bring themselves up or figure it out on their own. They become like the local bird with a foreign walk...still satisfying their flesh, but walking a little differently. They step out into something different, while living in the same place. It's like eating the icing on a cake full of rat poison.
I'm not saying I've never been guilty of the same thing; it's something I have to constantly check myself on. But the enemy is cunning, and if he can make people think that it's supposed to be okay, even if it's different, he will...and he'll do this because he comes "like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." For him, it is nothing but a game where fallen humanity is the pawn and he is the hand. He deceives, he tricks, he embitters, and he beguiles, and the only way out is through Christ.
This is why I cannot be silent. It's not a matter of tolerance for me anymore. Jesus never preached tolerance; He preached love without bounds and truth in love. Tolerance kills. Death is real, Satan is real, and this life is too short to play party games. If I'm gonna love you [figuratively speaking to all people], I'm gonna love you with my whole heart. I'll listen to your side and love you and be there no matter what you choose, but I will speak up because your eternity is more important to me than you getting to have your cake now.