Holiness or Hollywood

Some of you may be asking, “Why is she always talking about holiness?” The more important question may be “why aren’t we talking MORE about holiness?” My heart has been heavy for several years as I have observed the world seeping into the body of Christ. Our attitude that we can come into God’s holy presence any way WE choose and He will accept whatever WE choose to bring into His presence is a prelude to spiritual death. God has always demanded holiness from His people, and the holiness He demands is based on who He is—a God of pure, white holiness. A God so wholly Other than who we are that we can come into His presence solely bathed in His pure light. Do we understand what this means in this “Babylonian American culture”?

Hollywood has become the “god” of America. By that I mean that as a people we have come to judge ourselves by Hollywood’s standards. The latest styles, the lax morals, the relative thinking, the tolerance of everything and every idea that is put forth by some guru, and the most unthinkable of all, the acceptance within some parts of the church, the Bride of Christ Himself, that God’s word is not the ONLY truth. Today we live in a time when the church is under great attack by the ruler of darkness and he comes just as he did in the Garden of Eden whispering “did God say?”

This morning I caught a report on CBS’s The Morning Show about the “coming out” of a former American Idol winner. It showed a picture of him on the cover of a tabloid holding his baby son with the caption “Yes I am gay”. The Hollywood reporter doing the piece about celebrities stated “Hollywood is changing. Society is changing. This generation doesn’t care about what you choose to do”. My spirit cried out within me “GOD cares about what we choose to do”. He sets before all of us everyday the choice —life or death—and we make that choice everyday.

What a marvelous opportunity we have as women to “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:15-17). Do we have the courage and the faith of a Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego to stand and say “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Dan.3: 16-18).

Most Holy God, lover of our souls, grant us the courage to walk in the white brightness of your holiness in this dark world.