Erik Reed's Blog

The curtain has been pulled back and the insidious and ugly nature of sin has been exposed. In the last few weeks, we have seen the unraveling of many people's lives, families, and careers. Josh Duggar was exposed for being a client on Ashley Madison. This public figure and representative for Christian family values was exposed as a fraud. There have been pastors, seminary professors, and presidents of Christian colleges exposed for affairs. 

In addition to giving a black eye to the church and staining the name of Jesus, it devastates lives. Families have been ruined. Years of labor have been tainted with scandal that it can never be disassociated with.

But in the midst of all of this, I believe something else is happening. God is giving us a gift. This may sound bizarre upon first glance, given the above devastation noted, but it is true. God has given believers a gift. 

What is that gift? Clarity. 

If there were any pockets of uncertainty, any shred of doubt about the heinous evil of sin, that has been blown up in the face of these sexual scandals. In the event that you had any fantasies swirling around in your mind about the excitement, freedom, enjoyment, and allure of an extra-marital affair, it should be lying in worse ruins than Hiroshima after the atomic bomb. 

We have crystal clear clarity about the darkness and devastation of sin. We see the secret sex stripped of all illusions of grandeur when we see a son confronting his father's adultery saying, "It's over dad." There's nothing to fantasize about with that, is there? There's nothing exciting about imagining Josh Duggar having to face his wife, his children, or his family, is there? The allure of sex outside your marriage, and all that comes with it, may look so appealing and so amazing, until you see the lifetime of devastation it leaves for the two minutes of physical enjoyment it gives.

Oh friends, God has graciously pulled the curtain back on the evil of sin. He has shown us sin's true colors. We should heed the warning. We should thank God for the clarity. The capacity to do evil lurks within us all. We are all five minutes away from a moral disaster in our own lives. 

Follow the words of the Hebrews writer in Hebrews 3:12-14

"12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end."

Take care, Christians. You have evil and unbelief that lurks in your heart that threatens to pull you away from the Living God. So surrender daily to Jesus. Find believers to surround you who can get in your business and exhort you. The deceitfulness of sin is real. But it is a liar. God has given us the gift of clarity. Receive it. 

Once upon a time, in a very advanced and evolved land, they threw parties. They were unique. They were parties of great celebration and anticipation. For these parties were no mere marking of time or remembering an event, these parties were a revelation. They were called: gender reveal parties.

These parties had been happening for centuries. Previous generations in the land - strange, primitive ancestors - would throw these parties while the fetus was still in the womb. Some - a few of the wackiest - would even call the fetuses babies, as if they were really human until they were out of their mother's body. They had these parties, gathering everyone around, and then the parents would tell everyone the gender of the fetus. This would be followed by a symbolic gesture like releasing blue balloons for boys or pink balloons for girls - I warned you they were strange creatures. 
They were savage people. Parents were preposterously oppressive and barbaric for determining the gender of their children instead of waiting to let the child choose for themselves. They acted as if gender was something biological instead of something you have to feel out on your own. They eventually evolved. Thankfully.
In the new and evolved land, these parties were great celebrations where grown people gathered around with friends and family to reveal their gender. The age of discovery varied for each person. Some knew early on as children, others later in life, and some went back and forth frequently before truly settling down. It was such a liberating thing. 
This does not mean that everyone evolved. Some were stuck in the Stone Age with their insistence that gender was biological and determined by God. They made their arguments. They said things like, "If gender is not set, but is fluid, why do you act as if gender based names are set? Why does a man named "Mark" feel the need to change his name to a girl name like "Christy?" Why not just be a girl named "Mark?" Gender based names appear more set than gender itself." 

Or they said things like, "If people can be born as the wrong gender (i.e. they have XY male chromosomes but are convinced they are a woman), then how is gender a social construct? You cannot be born the wrong gender (implying that gender is set) and simultaneously say it is a social construct." They really were clever, these barbarians and their cute arguments, but the people learned how to shut them up. They called the Dissenters unloving and hateful. This usually caused them to wilt like flowers. 
In this gloriously evolved land, you could no longer disagree with other people's beliefs or you were labeled intolerant; literally, you were labelled so everyone knew you were a Dissenter. Yes, it was a small problem that the word "tolerant" inherently means to put up with people who hold different positions than you, but consistent beliefs were not nearly as important as feelings in this land. The tactic of the moral majority of shutting the mouth of the Dissenters was perfected. People were convinced it was unloving to challenge people's ideas and make them feel uncomfortable. Love and disagreement were no longer compatible. 
It was truly an incredible country. The apex of human evolution. A land where Love Wins (as they would say) and truth was written by the feelings of the day - but could change tomorrow if necessary. If only previous generations would have let go of all their primitive ideas quicker, they would have become great sooner.

There is quite a stir happening in the United States right now. We are a very unsettled nation. We are experiencing a moral revolution unlike any other in our nation's history. Whether you like it or not, it is happening. 

Many are cheering the revolution on; others are pumping the brakes, but discovering the brake line got cut somewhere along the way. 
It is possible to both oppose this shift and to see the potential benefits. The Church of Jesus, committed to the authority of Scripture, on a mission to reach people with the gospel, must continue to declare the will of God for all of mankind. We do not bow to public pressure or rejection. We keep proclaiming the truth. We do so with mournful hearts and lamenting over the devastation sin causes in people's lives.
The question the Church is going to have to answer is this: are we willing to stand as a voice of truth in a world that rejects it AND us? 
When John the Baptist stepped onto the scene, he came preaching for people to repent and turn from their sins - which is never a popular message, for those wondering. Many began questioning him, "Who are you?" They kept pressing him for an answer to the question. In frustration, they finally told him they had to give an answer to those who sent them and they demanded for him to say something about himself. John's answer then should be the answer of the Church now. He said, 
"I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord.'"
John's statement deserves several points of emphasis and highlighting. 
First, he is a voice. John is not going to try and accomplish his mission through his actions alone. His mission involves being a voice. The Church's mission, and the Christian's life, must involve our voice. It is a vocal mission.
Second, he is crying out in the wilderness. He is standing alone. He is swimming against the stream. He is going against the culture. The Church in America today must learn to be a wilderness people. This does not mean we load up on canned goods and ammo and build underground houses in Montana. It does mean we are prepared to stand alone if necessary. 
Third, he is proclaiming a message of Christ's coming. John was preparing the way of Jesus' coming. He was calling people to repent of their sins and prepare for the coming of the Lord. Church, this is still our mission. We are making straight the way of the Lord. We are crying to people: "Jesus is coming, repent of your sins, and put your faith in Christ."
As Christians will soon learn, if you have not already, it is not always fun being on the opposite end of popular opinion. Being a voice in the wilderness and proclaiming God's message eventually cost John the Baptist his life. His head was put on a platter at a party for entertainment. Sometimes that is the cost of being voice in the wilderness in a culture that hates dissenting voices.
May the Church stand boldly in our culture, proclaiming with confidence the truths of God, no matter the cost. May we stand firm as we become the entertainment for the culture's party raging around us, even when it means being the hors d'oeuvres.

In many ways, some things haven't changed. In other ways, everything has changed. We are living in an unprecedented time. With the Supreme Court's ruling last Friday, same-sex "marriage" is now legal in all 50 states. This is not surprising considering the recent trajectory we have been on as a country. What is surprising are the number of people who do not seem to realize where this is heading. 

Friday was not the end of the homo crusade, or jihad (I'll let you pick your flavor of word choice since that is the kind of society we are now). If you believe the finish line was reached with the new court ruling, I have some swamp land in the Everglades I would love to sell you. The finish line was not reached, the starting gun sounded. 




The secular, liberal, gay, - and many other adjectives - agenda is driving down a mountain with no brakes and no intention of pushing them if they did. There will be no satisfaction until they are not only allowed, but applauded for their actions. Full acceptance is the goal. Those who resist will become the target.

Here enters the Church. 

For the first time in my lifetime, it has finally hit me that Christians are not the moral majority. It may have been that way for a few years, but Friday's ruling solidified it. The moral/sexual revolution in the United States is quickly changing the landscape of our country. I suspect that I will never witness Christian morality as the majority again. This could be the best thing for the Church.

"Whatever do you mean, Erik?" Well, let me explain. There are no rocks for Christians to hideout under. We will be pressed now to answer the question on where we stand on this issue. It will become the litmus test of our social standing. If you believe, as a Christian, you will be able to keep your view on this sealed, you are wrong. If you believe you will be allowed to simply "agree to disagree," you are wrong. If you believe this is an inconsequential issue that is not worth all the fuss being made about it, you are wrong. 

There are a lot of ripple effects that could come from this decision. I will address them in future posts. The goal of this little soirée is to make clear to Christians that putting your view in your back pocket, hoping you will never have to take it out, is foolish. Are you going to submit to the authority of God's Word or surrender to the authority of the Correctness Police? Are you willing to go against the mob and intolerista? They are coming. 

The Church will thrive from this. It may not be reflected in our numbers, but the Church will become clearer about its mission and calling. The Church will be pruned of those who have half-heartedly associated with Christianity. The Church will be pruned of those who claimed Christianity because it was the socially acceptable thing to do. Only genuine believers will claim Christ and stand on His Word when it is socially unacceptable. This issue is going to forcefully shake the tree of the Church and I am imagining a lot of debris is going to come raining down. But good news, friends, the church will shine. The gates of hell will not prevail against her (Matthew 16:18).

Now is the time to solidify your position, friends. The world is going to call your hand and make you show your cards. There's nowhere to hide. 

*I proudly have my name attached as a signatory of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission's declaration "Here I Stand" evangelical declaration of marriage, read it here

*A great resource on the Bible's teaching on homosexuality and an answer to the popular arguments for same-sex marriage is Kevin DeYoung's What Does The Bible Really Teach About Homosexuality (a short, but important book)  

The last several months at TJC have been unbelievable. We have experienced remarkable growth. In just four months we have witness attendance shoot up from 400 to 600. We are moving from 2 services to the 3 services, beginning March 22nd (8/9:30/11). We anticipate 750-800 people to visit on Easter (April 5th). We are witnessing salvations, baptisms, people signing up to serve, people joining Gospel Communities, folks becoming covenant members, and endless stories of people inviting, serving, and meeting the needs of others. It has been incredible. 

If I am being honest with you, all of these incredible things excites me beyond all belief, but it is also scares me. It scares me because I do not want us (the church and me personally) to do anything that hinders what God is doing. It is evident that God's presence is with us and is moving in our midst. So I keep humbly praying, "Oh God, thank you for making Your presence very real to us and showing Yourself to us, please don't let us blow it." While you may think I'm playing, I'm not. 

As I was thinking about this phenomena we are experiencing and my own heart's yearning to not mess it up, the phrase, "God is in the camp" came to mind. As I google searched the phrase - as all pastors do when they are trying to remember where that verse they vaguely remember is - I came across a passage. 

Deuteronomy 23:14 - Because the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.

Moses is giving a vital reminder to Israel, the people of God. He sets their minds on the reality that God is with them. His presence dwells with them. God walks in the midst of the camp. This leads Moses to declare to them that they must be holy. Because God is with them, they should strive for holiness so He does not turn away from them. If they want to dwell in His presence, and if they want Him to continue to remain in the camp, they must be careful to walk in obedience. 


Oh friends, this is the tug my heart was experiencing. I cherish God's presence in our "camp" and what He has being doing in our midst. I've visited and experienced many churches, and I can tell you, not all of them have God in the camp. I want Him to remain with us and do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20), but we must walk in humble obedience to Him. We must submit our lives willingly to Him. 

With humble and hungry hearts, we cry, "God is in the camp! Let us walk in His ways." 

If you had the power to write the story of your life and submit it to God for execution, I highly doubt you would script any trials, struggles, or pain. We are creatures of comfort. We don't want to hurt or experience suffering. We are as adverse to pain as Cousin Eddie is to a job or James Harden is to a razor.

In fact, this aversion to pain has led many to believe the blessing of God in our lives is incompatible with suffering or loss. The idea goes like this: God's blessing in my life equals relatively pain-free living and smooth sailing. Pain and struggle must mean God is displeased with me.

This could not be further from the truth. This false thinking has come into our minds from poor teaching in churches and pink-haired ladies on TV.

God's love for you is not measured in your level of pain.

God's blessing and favor is not determined by your trials.

I was reminded of this truth when reading from Genesis this week. In Genesis 35, we see God protects Jacob as he travels through rivaling cities who could try to plunder Jacob's possessions. Jacob does not fear and describes God as "the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone." (vs 3). This is an incredible promise and hope that Jacob clings to. And it was true.

But later in Genesis 35 we see that Jacob's wife, Rachel, is having their son Benjamin, Rachel dies in childbirth. In an instant, Jacob's wife is dead.

Though God's blessing and favor are clearly over Jacob, Rachel dies giving birth. Trials and tribulations are a part of life for all of us. Trials in our life and God's presence and favor in our life, are not two separate lives, but one.

I don't know what you are going through today or what trials are consuming your thoughts and emotions, but I know God wants you to seek Him in them. I don't know what hurt you are processing, but I know that Jesus wants you to process it at His feet. 

A simple reminder today: God's pleasure with you and His favor in your life is not indicated by the trials you suffer. When you face trials of many kinds, rejoice, for God is working in them to mature you and grow your faith (James 1:2-4). Remember that Jesus' grace is sufficient for you in all things (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Never mistake trials for God's abandonment or displeasure of you. The world is broken due to sin. In this world you will experience trials and tribulations. But take heart, Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33).

I have been the pastor of The Journey Church for over 8 years now. It has been a wild ride. We have met in a small strip center, schools, and our current building. We have started several campuses in surrounding cities. Those churches have since been planted off as autonomous churches with their own governing elders. In the course of these years, we have witnessed God do some great things. But something different is happening right now. Something is happening that is unlike anything in our history. 

Over the last 6 months, subtle, but massive shifts have been happening in the hearts of leaders, and the vision, mission, and strategy to reach people who don't know Jesus and grow to maturity people who do, has never been more clear. I believe when we look back years from now at the history of TJC, we will look back at where we're at right now and say, "That's it, that's where we transitioned. It was at that point we took off and never looked back."

I say this with all sincerity and excitement: I have NEVER been more excited about where we are as a church, and where we are going, than I am in this season of our history.

Why am I so excited? Several reasons:

1. As a leadership team of elders and staff, we have never been more on the same page and unified about the clarity of our direction and how to get there. God has given us a clarity of focus and a strategy for how we are going to get there. About 5 months ago our elders and staff read Tim Keller's article, "Leadership and Church Size Dynamics." It is such a helpful tool in understanding the different ways churches, based on their size, have to adjust and structure in order to reach more people. As we read the article we began to see a clear picture of things we needed to begin working on.

Those things included:
- preparing our building to better accomadate people and growth
- transitioning our shepherding, discipleship, and care-giving focus to groups
- clarifying the role of elders, staff, and volunteer teams
- creating a clear and simple assimilation processes for people to go from a guest to a fully committed member
- hiring needed staff members for the purpose of raising the quality of our ministries and their effectiveness
- communicating more clearly the vision and direction

We have a clear focus on where we are heading and every elder, staff member, and key leader is excited. Watch a brief video of this here.

2. We are healthier than we have ever been financially as a church. We have over 70K in our FORWARD fund that has been raised for renovations and expansion in the building. In addition to these funds, we have over 70K in our savings and checking accounts, with zero debt. This is a great place to be and positions us to do some amazing things. 

In addition to this, we hit and raised our FORWARD goal several weeks before the finish line! God is doing a great thing in our midst, and the excitement is being felt in our people too.

3. We have a plethora of high quality people with a interest in working at our church. We have several men currently being interviewed for the Associate Pastor position. These are guys who are eager for a change to join the TJC family and be a part of what we are doing. They are willing to pack up their family and move here to do it. This is something to be excited about. We have a church that people want to be a part of.

4. Our mission focuses are active and growing. Our Imago Dei ministry, which focuses on ministering to families with children with special needs, has VBS this week. Our Haiti mission focus has been great with a future trip coming up in a few months. 

5. This last thing is more of a personal excitement, but it is a renewed passion that God has stirred within me for preaching His Word. It is not that I have ever lost a passion, but God has reinvigorated me with a desire to be more evangelistic. I want the messages to be Christ-exalting, but terribly practical to help people's lives. 

TJC exists to show Jesus as incomparably glorious so that to disregard him is incomprehensibly absurd. We want everything we do to show Jesus as unrivaled, without competitors. We want to live, worship, arrange our lives, time, and money in such way that makes Jesus non-ignorable, in Lebanon and beyond. Everything we do, every decision we make, every dollar we spend as a church, is going through the question: does this help us make Jesus look incomparably glorious?

All of these things really only capture a snapshot of the overall momentum that is building at our church. May TJC put a dent in lostness in Lebanon and beyond, help believers mature into Christlikeness, and all of this for the glory of Jesus Christ. Get excited TJC! I am, more than ever before.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Erik

As someone who counsels and talks with a lot of married people, I come across a lot of different scenarios. I see both older and younger couples hitting roadblocks in their marriages and relationships. I encounter people who really want their marriages to be healthy and enjoyable, but have struggles they often don't know how to overcome. Like a storm which creates waves that threaten to sink a boat at sea, trials and tribulations bang up against many fragile marriages, threatening to sink them. 

But interestingly, I found one common factor in many of these situations. I have spotted a lie that is passed around and believed hook, line, and sinker.

You want to know what it is? Wait for it...

Good marriages don't have problems, bad ones do. 

X!!!!!! [FAMILY FEUD BUZZER SOUNDS]

In the words of the professor from Waterboy, "Well, folks, mama's wrong again."

We live under a lie and illusion in our culture that there are good marriages and bad marriages. Good ones are believed to be those where there are no issues. Bad ones are the one's that have conflict, struggles, and trials. But this is a lie. 

There are good marriages and bad ones, but it is not based on whether or not you have struggles and conflicts. Every marriage has conflict. Every marriage has struggles. Every marriage has some issues that need to be addressed and cleaned up. This is not the mark of a bad marriage. 

A Bad Marriage

No, the mark of a bad marriage is the one that has all these issues, yet does not deal with them. That is a bad marriage. A bad marriage is the one that tries to band-aid problems by not dealing with them. A bad marriage is the one that thinks ignoring problems will make them go away. A bad marriage tries to keep "peace" by not having hard conversations. 

A Good Marriage

In contrast, good marriages, which are also marked by struggles, conflicts, and trials, deal with issues. A good marriage admits there are problems and seek solution. A good marriage is one that can comfortably admit it is not perfect, but is striving to become so. A good marriage faces the realities confronting the relationship and seek to honor Christ and surrender to his guidance and will. A good marriage is marked by imperfect people who don't pretend or act as if they are perfect. A good marriage is marked by a lot of apologies. A good marriage is saturated with forgiveness and grace. A good marriage seeks not one's own needs, but the needs of the other.

This is why, to our shock and dismay, a good marriage can be one that goes to marriage counseling. A good marriage is one where sometimes hard conversations damper our spirits. But this is not a bad thing. It is healthy. 

Sometimes in order to heal physically, you have to break and cut in order to repair. A marriage is no different. In a relationship as dynamic as a marriage, sometimes you have to injure in order to get stronger. Sometimes you must cut so you can be healthier. This is a good marriage.

So...

Next time you are feeling down and depressed because you think your marriage is bad, ask yourself this question: do I think my marriage is bad because we are having some difficulties or because we are not dealing with our problems? If it is the former, then you do not necessarily have a bad marriage. If it is the latter, then you do.  So fix it.

You may never be problem-free in your marriage - and by "may never be" I mean you won't - but if you deal with the problems in your marriage, you are in a good marriage. The bad ones are not the one's with issues, but the one's that do not deal with their issues. Big difference.

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When it comes to people moving to places to spread the gospel, whether that be a city in America with few churches and professing Christians or whether that is a country where Christians are beheaded by radical Muslims, the question I think worth asking is: why not me?

When I read the New Testament and look at the lives of early believers, I can't help but be deeply moved by their courageous boldness to be on the move for Jesus. I cannot help but notice their willingness to face ridicule, scorn, and even death for Christ. 

Why not me?

Where is my willingness to even lose a Facebook friend or Twitter follower? Am I so worried about being misunderstood or labeled something that I keep my mouth shut about things happening in our society that grieve the heart of God? Would I pick my family up and move to a city where I knew no one, all with the intent of helping more people get introduced to Jesus? 

Why not me?

Is Jesus not worth every bit and more of what I just wrote? Do I believe that to live is Christ and to die really is gain? Are these just words in my Bible that sound great as Twitter posts and t-shirt fodder, but in reality is not how I live?

Why not me?

One life. Just one. Am I wasting it on comfort, popularity, safety, familiarity, and long-life?

It is not the super-Christians (no such person) who do crazy things like this. It should be every Christian willing. If we are unwilling to even ask the question, perhaps we are living in self-deception. 

Why not me? 

Why not you?
 

There is a pervasive trend that has developed within American Christianity, or at least a segment of professing believers. The development is terrifying. What is it? The lessening of sin and dismissal of any such notion in the Bible that God deals with sinners. It seems the gospel message has become all about the love of God with the absence of any warnings and set standard which God upholds. The idea is that God just loves you as you are and you are free to continue living as you do. 

Where does this idea creep in? Well, it usually begins by making claims that the way of Jesus is to welcome and accept sinners. So we immediately throw out Old Testament passages which highlight God's judgment and we go only to Jesus, as if we can pit them against each other. Yet, interestingly, if you examine the Gospels close enough, you will notice Jesus is no pushover on sin. He does not dismiss it or ignore it or lower God's standard one bit. In fact, he warns that anyone who lessens even the least of the commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of God (Matt. 5:19).

Then if you look at other prominent stories that many like to highlight to paint a pushover Jesus, such as the adulterous woman and the woman at the well, you find interesting facts. Rather than being examples of Jesus flippancy or ignoring of sin, they are the opposite. Jesus tells the woman caught in adultery (John 8) to "go and sin no more." He confronts and brings up the sin of the woman at the well (John 4). He is the one who highlights her continuous failed marriages and live-in boyfriend. If sin was of no matter to him, why would he do this?

The reason sin matters, and the reason we should not lessen or lighten it up, is that it shows us our rebellion and separation from God. This in turn shows us our need for a Savior. There is a reason Jesus goes into this woman's sin with her before revealing to her that he is the Messiah. People need to see the reality of their sin before they will understand their need for a Savior.

This is why any "gospel" void of discussing the reality of sin and God's righteous judgment against it is a false gospel. The Good News of the gospel is good news in response to very bad news. The bad news is that sin separates us from God and we are sinners. The bad news is that we are not good people who do bad things, we are rebels against God. We willingly sin and often try to lessen its heinous nature. The bad news is that God is holy, so holy that he cannot ignore and look past sin, and we are sinners, so sinful that we stand condemned before God. But the good news of the gospel is that God so loved us, and desired to ransom us from this condition, that He sent His Son to bear our sin and the punishment attached to it. If you strip away the bad news of the gospel, the good news doesn't really make much sense. 

So back to my original issue. The trend currently in fashion is to lessen sin and God's view of it. The narrative is that God is loving and accepting, and we Christians should not warn people about their sin or their persistence in it. We seem to forget that Jesus warns that a tree is known by its fruits (Matthew 7). So if we see people living in habitual sin, we should rightfully warn that it is not the way of God, and to continue unrepentant is to reject God, which will incur judgment. 

Many will scoff at such sentences, so narrow-minded and Old Testament-like. Yet the Hebrew writer (New Testament, by the way) says in Hebrews 10:31 "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." That is a terrifying sentence. The writer sees falling into the hands of God in judgment as a fearful and dreadful thing. But what is the context of this verse? What provokes the writer to make this statement? Answer: "For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins." (Hebrews 10:26). Who runs the risk of falling into the hands of God in judgment? Those who know and have been told the truth, yet go on sinning deliberately. 

The Hebrew writer wasn't as cultured and in-the-know as many Christians today are, but he seemed pretty convinced that sin will damn people. So while the trend today may be to lessen the talk about sin and talk more about love, we may find the love they are speaking of has no backbone to it, it is shallow emotionalism, the kind that damns people because it deceives them into thinking sin doesn't matter to God and they can keep living how they want. 

Oh, what a fearful thing.

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