Cancel Culture

Psalms 66:8-12 ESV

 

“Bless our God, O peoples;

    let the sound of his praise be heard,

who has kept our soul among the living

    and has not let our feet slip.

For you, O God, have tested us;

    you have tried us as silver is tried.

You brought us into the net;

    you laid a crushing burden on our backs;

you let men ride over our heads;

    we went through fire and through water;

yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.”

 

Things are Changing

 

When I sat down to write, I inquired of the Lord as to what he wanted me to write about, and he put the phrase “Cancel Culture” in my mind. So, I did a search online to try to understand what that means. I had heard it being talked about, but I wasn’t seriously following all the stories on that subject, so I admit that I don’t have a real clear understanding of what all it entails.

 

It appears to have to do with people publicly rejecting, boycotting, censoring, or ending support for certain other people or people groups with whom they disagree on particular issues related to beliefs and practices or history, I think. It appears to also mean putting an end to people who do things that other people don’t like, things that they find unacceptable.

 

But I think it is broader than that. For one, I believe it is politically motivated, and that the purpose of it all is to destroy the old order of things so that out of the ashes of the old order the “Beast” New World Order can rise and can take over. It is to create chaos so that order can come from the chaos. And it has to do with “divide and conquer,” too.

 

I mean, these past 20 months have been utter chaos with them always trying to get us fighting against one another over race, skin color, sexual preference (orientation or identity), religion, politics, politicians, marriage, wearing or not wearing masks, social distancing, lockdowns, and the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, etc. And fear mongering is in the news and on social media daily.

 

They (the wealthy powerful elite of the world) are breaking down our culture, but not just in America where I live, but all over the world, I think. They are putting an end to the way of life we had been accustomed to, and the “new normal” is not normal at all. We in America no longer have the freedoms we once enjoyed, but these are being robbed from us.

 

And now it appears that we are being brought into a totalitarian and tyrannical regime change. And I do believe that prophecy of Scripture is being fulfilled before our eyes. For, the “mark of the beast” is first and foremost the influence and characteristic traits and evidence of this “beast” on our thinking (foreheads) and on our deeds (hands).

 

When we just accept whatever we hear coming from our government heads and the media (mainstream, sanctioned) as fact without praying about it first, inquiring of the Lord as to whether or not they are telling us the truth, then we open ourselves up wide to taking the influence and philosophies of this beast system on our thinking and on our actions.

 

And please, don’t count on the fact checkers to tell you what truth is, either. Look at who finances them. Study the Scriptures. Listen to the Holy Spirit. Pray for wisdom and discernment. And walk in obedience to the Lord. For you aren’t going to hear the Spirit’s voice if you are deliberately and habitually committing the same willful sins over and over again.

 

You Have Tested Us, O God

 

Our God is completely sovereign over all that he has made, right? He is still on the throne. He is still in control. Nothing thwarts his purposes. What he says will happen will happen. So, none of what is going on in our nations escapes his notice or is out of his realm of power and control. So, he has allowed all of this to take place for a divine purpose.

 

And I do believe it is to test us, his people. And I believe the reason is because so many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ today are not living godly and holy lives. The church has largely moved away from following the Holy Spirit’s leading to following the thinking and philosophies of humans and their marketing schemes and techniques.

 

They have largely lost the fear of God and they have gone the way of the world and they are living for the pleasures of this world rather than to please God with their lives. And the gospel is being diluted to teach that faith in Jesus Christ requires no repentance, no obedience to God, and no submission to Jesus Christ as Lord (owner-master).

 

So, it is the Lord God who is cancelling our culture. For, “culture” has to do with the ways of the world, with our customs, philosophies, traditions, habits, values, ways of life, lifestyles, beliefs (some of them generational), attitudes, and practices that we learned from our society and which are contrary to God’s word and to his will for our lives.

 

Now, I am not suggesting that everything our culture taught us is evil. We learned good things from our culture, as well as bad things, but we are talking here about the world’s influence on our lives and on our thinking and on our behaviors, and this has gotten much worse in recent years with so much worldliness being encouraged within the gatherings of the church.

 

Now, I also realize that part of this “cancel culture” which is coming from the world’s system is against Jesus Christ and his gospel, and it is against us, his servants and his messengers, too. But God is allowing that, as well, to test us, to try us, and to purify us, and to make his bride ready for his return. So, this will be allowed to take place, too (See Revelation 12-14).

 

Psalms 66:13-14 ESV

 

“I will come into your house with burnt offerings;

    I will perform my vows to you,

that which my lips uttered

    and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.”

 

So, although this “cancel culture” has evil intent, I believe, and even though it is against us, the people, and it is against us who are followers of Jesus Christ, God is using it for our good to purify us who are walking with him, and to revive his wayward church, and to bring her back into pure fellowship with him. For, I believe he is getting us all ready for his return.

 

For, Jesus Christ died for us on that cross, not just to forgive us our sins, and not just to deliver us from the punishment of sin, and not just to give us the hope of eternal life with him. He died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. And he died that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up for us.

 

The truth that is in Christ Jesus is that we are “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

 

[See: Eph 4:17-24; cf. Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Lu 9:23-26]

 

Please also know that if we deliberately and habitually sin against the Lord, repeating the same sins over and over again without true repentance (turning away from the sin to walk in obedience to the Lord) that we do not have the hope of eternal life with God but a fearful expectation of God’s wrath. For, if we live according to the flesh, we will die in our sins.

 

[Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 2 Co 5:10]

 

A love song to our Lord Jesus

 

You're still the one I run to

The one that I belong to

You're still the one I want for life

You're still the one that I love

The only one I dream of…

Ain't nothin' better

 

[Lyrics taken from a secular song called “You’re Still the One” by Robert John Lange and Shania Twain]