VIEWPOINT with Chuck Crismier
THE GATEWAY TO HELL
This is viewpoint with attorney and author Chuck Chris Meyer. Viewpoint is a one-hour talk show confronting the issues of America's heart and hope. And now with today's edition of Viewpoint, here is Chuck Chris Meyer. It seems that hell is one of the most talked about places on earth. It's amazing. People tell others to go to hell continually. They say they're going to do something for the hell of it. It seems like hell is everywhere being mentioned in American life and throughout the world. Why such talk about hell? If hell doesn't exist. And if hell does exist, then shouldn't we be concerned about it? What does the Bible have to say about hell? Well, the Bible refers to hell over 162 times in the New Testament alone. It doesn't necessarily have to use the word, but that's what it refers to. Jesus preached about hell more than 70 times in the New Testament. But heaven is a wonderful place. As the song says filled with glory and grace, I want to see you by Savior's face, heaven is a wonderful place, so that why does everybody want to talk about the gates to hell? Well, we're going to find out a little bit about that here today on Viewpoint. Does hell have a gate? Is hell a pit? What is hell anyway? And it seems that for centuries, in fact, millennia on this planet, people have believed in hell. In fact, I have an article right now talking about 17 gates of hell around the world. Others say 10 gates of hell. Some say seven gates of hell. Does hell have a gate? And if so, who's going to get into the gate? How do you get into the gate of hell? And maybe it is that the gate of hell is not really a gate at all. Maybe it's a wide superhighway all of that here today on Viewpoint, even as increasingly within the broader Christian community, people are debunking the idea of hell, including pastors. In fact, going back to a few years back into the Los Angeles Times, a leading evangelical pastor was interviewed by a reporter in the Los Angeles Times asking him if he believed in hell. He said, yes, I do believe in hell. So the reporter asked him, well, do you preach on hell? And he said, no, I don't preach on hell anymore because, as he said, hell isn't sexy anymore. Well, apparently hell may not be sexy, but it's serious scary to an awful lot of people. But why is that? What is it about the knowledge or idea of hell that grabs people by the neck? On the other hand, it's almost as if heaven just doesn't quite compute too much anymore. People are more pursuing heaven on earth, whereas they're interested, fascinated with the gates of hell wherever they may be descending from the earth. So today on Viewpoint, we're going to take a look at this. And I'm glad that you've joined us. This conversation is always with ever increasing convictions, talk that transforms. Even or not, heaven has mentioned 691 times in the Bible, that is King James Version. Well, hell is mentioned as a word 54 times and hell fire three times. Well, so much for what the Bible has to say about it, but what are other people saying about hell? In 1878, Reverend Thomas DeWitt Talmish delivered a widely reprinted sermon titled "The Gates of Hell at the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York," based on the scripture of Matthew 1618, where Jesus said to Peter, "On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Well, there is that metaphorical phrase, "The Gates of Hell." Are there gates of hell or was it a mere metaphor? Was it really referring just to the entry of hell? And if Jesus talked about hell, is it truly a place? And if it's a place, then should we be concerned about our pathway on the way there? That's what we want to look at here on Viewpoint today. But in order to get to that, I want to share with you some very fascinating things. For one thing, there's a portrait of King Charles III that just came out, it was just unveiled, and as the report goes, it's done in an amazing kind of red color. Red color, and red is always or frequently referred used as a color referencing the devil or Satan. So here is Prince Charles that some say really is a satanic worshiper. Many people have believed that, that he was actually the Antichrist. Well, we're not here to testify to that, but indeed, this painting was just revealed. And as you look at this painting, it's pretty weird. Here is King Charles III being depicted all in red, and the background is all in this fiery red. But then as people have discovered, if you take the picture, the painting, and you produce a mirror image of it, so you put them side by side, right in the middle is a rather clearly this expression of bathament, which is a depiction of Satan himself. Well, are they saying that Prince Charles then or now King Charles III is part of the entryway to hell and leading people there? I cannot tell you that, but this is the latest news report just this very day. But how about the entrance to hell? One writer says, ask the question, why are we always looking for the entrance to hell? There are hundreds of places around the world that have been famously dawned the entrance to hell. Human beings have been fascinated by finding spots they believe could be the place where the devil himself rises onto the earth to wreak havoc in the world. Well, another article actually was written by a woman who has created, shall we say, a tour guide, a tour guide to the gates of hell. That's right, a tour guide to the gates of hell. Many cultures, she said, believe in a frightening underworld that could be accessed from earth. If these devilish tales are to be to believe, then there are 17 places around the world where you can visit the gates of hell. In the middle ages, European artists popularized the Christian worldview by painting humans tumbling through hell's gateways into a realm of eternal torture. Then where are the gates of hell located, yes, and how many hell gates are there? Local legends suggest Satan has several hellholes on earth, including a blazing gas crater in Turkmenistan and a skull littered cave in Belize. Someone just recently called our nation's capital a hellhole. Apparently, they were referring to something different, but actually indicating it wasn't exactly a desirable place to be. Then comes the little book of Satanism. The little book of Satanism is about a tour guide to the hellholes on earth. If you brave enough to pasture the doors to hell in Mexico, China, or Turkey, then the demonic-inspired travel guide is for you. And then there is Turkmenistan's Kharkum desert contains what looks like a CGI rendering of a gate to hell, a 230-foot-wide pit glowing red with flames, and surrounded by miles of sand, the fiery hole in Darvaza, a gas crater that's been in conflagration since 1971, and researchers can't figure out how deep the crater turned into an inferno, and all that's going on there. We'll be back. Once upon a time, children could pray and read their Bibles in school, divorces were practically unknown as was child abuse. In our once great America, virginity and chastity were popular virtues and homosexuality was an abomination. So what happened in just one generation? Hi, I'm Chuck Chris my and I urge you to join me daily on viewpoint where we discuss the most challenging issues touching our hearts and homes. Could America's moral slide relate to the fourth commandment? Listen to viewpoint on this radio station or anytime at saveus.org. The gates of hell are the gateway to hell. Today we're looking at a variety of different interest factors they are fascinating indeed. But the reason we're bringing this up here on viewpoint today is not for fascination. It's for faith. It's not for fascination, but for faith. Fascination goes nowhere. It's like information. It does nothing until it's applied. Applied information then can produce change or transformation and actually result in genuine faith that is an ultimate form of transformation. If you were to search Google, well here it is right here. Is there a gate that leads to hell? The Google Map image search results for gateway to hell. I'm reading this right from a printout that I took today from Google. There are dozens and dozens and dozens of references to the gates of hell. Wow, people are really talking about this and have for centuries. Is there a hell? Or are we just talking about it for the hell of it? People are always talking about doing things for the hell of it. Really, why would anybody want to do that? You notice how strange our language is? Very, very strange indeed. It's almost as if people are afraid of hell and the gate to hell, but they're not afraid to talk about it. In fact, they talk about it in jest. But is it something to jest about? Here's something that was rather worrisome. This came in the Jerusalem Post today. Due to worrisome reason, the entrance to hell in Russia has been sealed. This came in the news today, friend. The Russian borehole called the entrance to hell drilled over 12 kilometers deep and encountered unexpected water. Near the Norwegian border, somewhere in the depths of the Arctic Circle in Russia lies the deepest hole ever drilled. It's called the entrance to hell. The hole was made creation through, it was a man-made creation through drilling, creating a depth of over 12 kilometers, which is the height of Mount Everest and Mount Fuji combined. In other words, about 45,000 feet. According to the BBC, locals say the hole located near the Cola Peninsula in northwest Russia is so deep, they can hear the screams of souls from hell. This hole is incredibly deep and narrow, and it took 20 years to dig it. But the hole is only a third of the way through the Earth's crust, with temperatures reaching 356 degrees Fahrenheit. Now that's pretty hot. That's oven hot, my friends. It's the deepest man-made hole on Earth. But is hell man-made? Well, some people would say, "Hell is man-made. We just make a hell on Earth." You've heard the phrase, "It's a hell on Earth." "Well, is hell man-made? And if hell is man-made, then why did Jesus talk about the gates of hell? Why did Jesus warn about hell? Am I descending into hell?" Well, apparently we need to delve a little bit more into this, don't we? And don't you find it fascinating that hell isn't sexy anymore, at least in Christian circles. It used to be something commonly understood and believed in. Jonathan Evert once preached his famous sermon, "Sinner's in the hands of an angry God." What did that sermon look like? What did it depict? It depicted people hanging by a thread over the flames of hell. It was so poignant and so piercing to the mind and heart of the people who listened, and by the way, he didn't preach it per se. He just read it. He just read it. It's so gripped people's minds and hearts that began to grip onto the posts of the building for fear they would fall into that fiery pit. Not much fear that today. Not much fear that in our churches today. Not much fear that in America today. So whether or not hell has a gate, I could not tell you. Whether or not hell where it exists, 17 places on earth, one place, I could not tell you. But whether it exists or not depends on whether or not you believe what the Bible has to say. Now in the Old Testament, it refers to Sheahol and Gehenna and Hades. Those three words. The word hell actually, many would say doesn't actually appear in the Old Testament. It appears in the form of Sheahol, Gehenna, and Hades. And each one refers to something a little bit different. Even the valley down below Jerusalem, the hill of Jerusalem down there in that valley was referred to as hell. Why was that? because the fire continued to burn there to burn up the trash of the scrap. So it was used as a metaphor for eternal hell. The book of Proverbs, chapter 27 verse 20 says, hell and destruction are never full. Now why is that? Well, because fire is never satisfied. The Bible says that fire is never satisfied. Why? The more you put into it, the more it burns. It needs more fuel and it will continue to burn. Hell is very much like that. And it's never full because it continues to deal with, shall we say, the branches that are cut off as Jesus referred to in John, chapter 15 and cast them into the fire. You might want to read that again, John, chapter 15, I am the vine and you are the branches, but if the vine is disconnected from the branch, it gets cut out, pulled out, thrown into the fire. What is Jesus referring to? It seems that hell is related to fire and that's why we call it hell fire. And hell and destruction are never full. But let's not talk about the gateway to hell right now. Let's talk about the road to hell. It has been said, commonly said, the road to hell is paid with good intentions, right? And we believe that as a truism, but in actual truth, we kind of act as if it's just an idle phrase, having little relevance. In fact, usually it's spoken in kind of a jesting flair. But the truth of this phrase, I think needs to be taken to heart as it off repeated warning. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. So what are good intentions and how do they lead to the road to hell? And does the road to hell lead to the gates of hell or do the gates, once you enter the gates lead you to a ever broadening road that leads to destruction, as Jesus described in Matthew chapter seven, straight as the gate, narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. But broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be that go in there at. All right. So we're going to take a look at this matter of good intentions, what it looks like and we're going to take a look at where the road to hell begins. Are you interested where the road to hell begins? Now, maybe you don't want to listen or maybe you just want to listen for the, as they say, the hell of it on the other hand, you might want to listen for the truth of it because it has eternal consequences. Why do you think people were historically afraid to fall into the various pits and places around the world that they thought were the gates to hell? It was terrifying to them. Should we be terrified today in a spiritual sense? Jesus thought so, the apostles thought so, but apparently this just doesn't quite market well in today's revised version of the gospel. Because people don't interpret that as good news. The problem is that we don't understand the true gravity or meaning of the good news because we resisted the understanding of the bad news. The bad news has to do with a place called hell. The good news has to do with the fact that we don't have to go there and that we can be delivered from there if we will walk on the straight path through the narrow gate that leads to life where few enter. Before we go further today on viewpoint because we're going to get into some terrain here that may be a bit challenging, a little probative of our thinking. You might want to consider getting a copy of my book, "Seduction of the Saints." How to stay pure in a world of deception. How to stay pure in a world of deception. It's an $18 book, yours for $15, it's on our website, saveus.org, saveus.org, you can call us at 1-800-SAVEUSA, 1-800-SAVEUSA, or write to us at Save America Ministries, PO Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia 2, 3255, writing a check and $5 for postage and handling. Okay, now the road to hell paved with good intentions. I think it would be honest to say that very few people would intentionally embark on the road to hell with gusto, I don't think people would do that. So why then do so many find themselves on that road? Like accelerating to full speed like they're on the German Autobahn somewhere, on the way to eternal destruction, of course, but they don't realize that. It's almost like they're following the pied piper himself over the cliff to hell. Well, I believe that the answer lies with what we call good intentions. The good intentions alone, without an absolute, shall we say, anchor this unmovable and unshakeable in truth that won't on drift, will inevitably lead down the long on ramp to a multilane expressway propelling all travelers, unsuspecting to the abyss. So what is it that's the engine that propels good intentions toward eternal deception? What is it? That's what we want to be looking at here as we launch into the balance of the program here today on Viewboy and our viewpoint determines destiny, no matter what you may think. If Jesus talked about hell and his apostles talked about hell and believed in it, then maybe if we claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, we might want to take a further consideration of the matter of hell because Jesus said not everyone who says unto me, Lord, Lord, not everyone who claims to be a follower of Christ is going to inherit the kingdom of God. Well, what are they going to inherit then? They're going to inherit the kingdom of Satan. And what kingdom does he inhabit? Oh, hell, where the fire never stops burning and the worm never stops eating, as the Bible says, it's not a pretty picture, but there's something about it that God himself wanted to portray as extremely undesirable, not a destination that you want to sign up for for your eternal vacation, right? Now, here's the problem. You see, there are going to be many people, many, many, many, many, many people, including professing Christians who are going to be seduced away from the kingdom of God, away from the straight and narrow pathway to follow the broad path because it's easier. And one of the ways they're going to be seduced to do that is through persecution. It will set up a situation in their minds and hearts that they will apostize for the faith. All with good intentions, of course, and we'll be back. There is so much more about Chuck Chris Meyer and Save America Ministries. On our website, saveus.org. For example, under the marriage section, God has marriage on his mind, Chuck has some great resources to strengthen your marriage. First off, a fact sheet on the state of the marital union, a fact sheet on the state of ministry, marriage, and morals, saveus.org, marriage, divorce, and remarriage. What does the Bible really teach about this? Find all of this at saveus.org. Also, a letter to pastors, the Hosea Project, saveus.org. And many more resources to strengthen your marriage. It's all on Chuck's website, saveus.org. Again, you can listen to Chuck's viewpoint broadcast live and archive, saveamericaministries website at saveus.org. The road to hell, we've been talking about the gates of hell, well, now we're going to talk about the road after you enter the gate on the way that broadens out and you should see vast numbers of people seeming to be glorying in their freedom on the broad road to hell. So how did they get there? What is it that actually leads people, even professing Christians, maybe especially professing Christians, to enter the gate that leads to the broad road to destruction? Well here it is. It's called compromise. Compromise becomes the engine that propels our good intentions toward eternal deception. Yes. Now there's some forms of compromise that don't have eternal consequences. For instance, if you and your wife are trying to decide what color to paint your house and your wife wants it to be some shade of blue and you want it to be some shade of tan or something like that, the choice that you make in that regard has no eternal consequence in and of itself, it's just a matter of what you like. On the other hand, there are other forms of compromise concerning our moral decisions, our eternal decisions, our faith in Christ, what that means, what it means to obey God or not to obey Him, those kinds of compromises open the doorway to hell, the road to hell. So in reality, the road to hell begins at what I call compromise corner. Compromise corner is at the intersection of all the major roads of our lives, all of them and the decisions that we make and the terms that we negotiate at compromise corner inevitably lead toward the multilay and expressway to destruction, even while still believing we're headed in God's general direction. Oh, yeah, I believe in God. Oh, yeah, I believe in Jesus. Well, so does the devil, my friend, and he's leading you on his pathway, oh, but I believe in God, and I believe in Jesus, see, believing in God accomplishes very little because the devil believes in trouble, so do his demons, almost everybody believes in God, even the atheists when they're in a foxhole believe in God. And if they didn't believe in God, why do they constantly use the name God? And if they didn't believe in Jesus, why do they continue to use the name Jesus? You see, they do believe it's just not a very intense belief. It's a parenthetical belief. So all compromise as it relates to God's truth is real compromise and all compromise on the issues of truth is deceptive and very seductive and the great danger that few travels realize the seriousness of the seduction because they're measuring themselves and the correctness of their decisions by the overwhelming majority who seem headed with clarity and certainty toward this multilay and expressway to hell. And they're comfortable, oh, I feel so comforted. This is the way it must be right because this is what the majority are doing. So they reason like this. If popular pastors, parent church leaders and the seeming majority seem comfortable with a particular direction, well, it must be okay that even though deep in their heart, they've been had this haunting suspicion that something is wrong. It can't be wrong if it feels so right, they think, but in the end, compromise bites like a cobra, it's very deadly, very deadly. So again, compromise corner is at the many intersections of our lives. And by the way, there are many intersections sometimes even during a single day in which we have to make decisions, right? We have to choose and the pathway we choose will lead us on to another pathway and eventually, if we're compromising at any of those intersections, we may end up on the broad way that leads to destruction. So the interesting thing is that small compromises are more deceptive than great ones. You know why that is because it's so easy to justify them. So we reason we're thinking in our mind, well, it's only a little compromise. Not realizing that that small compromise is on a series of secondary roads that's leading to ever greater compromises all that we will similarly justify because we learned how to do that. So it's not demons, but actually our decisions that are our worst enemies and where does all that lurk between our ears? That's where spiritual warfare is waged. The majority of spiritual warfare is not out there in demonic realms. It's right between our ears. That's why Jeremiah talked about the heart. He said the heart of man is desperately wicked who could know it. If we don't realize that and if we don't realize our propensity to make ungodly compromises and decisions, then we already have set the stage for massive deception at the end of the road. So let's take a look at some general ways that we find ourselves at compromise corner. Then here on viewpoint, we provide a lot of information. We're not short on information, but the information that we provide here on viewpoint is for one purpose and that's transformation. How then do you get from information to transformation? You know what it requires? And that's where the rubber meets the road and that's why people get upset. The moment you start applying spiritual truth in ways that really touch our lives where we live, then all of a sudden people get uncomfortable and they don't want to hear it. Some will vote with their feet. They'll vote, say, well, I don't want to listen to that pastor anymore. I don't want to listen to that or I don't want to listen to this viewpoint program anymore. That troubles me. I come under conviction. I don't want that besides shouldn't I just have continual peace and joy in the Holy Spirit? Why should I have to deal with issues of compromise and conviction in my heart? Well it's because Jesus said so. That's why the Apostle Paul said so. He said the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of these strongholds, casting down our reasonings and thoughts, our imaginations he said, our reasonings and thoughts and bringing every one of these things, our thoughts and reasonings into captivity through the obedience of Christ. That's spiritual warfare. And when we do that, we have victory. When we don't do it, we don't have victory, we have defeat and compromise always leads to defeat. So here are three general ways in which we find ourselves at a compromise corner. First, which is very obvious, we'll call it the cultural corner. Look at what's happened in our culture. The drift of culture, it's like the sea, the water we swim in, the air we breathe, it's everywhere. You can't escape it. It's just everywhere. So when the Bible says we're in the world of the world, what it's meaning is, yeah, you're in, we're in this culture, we're in what's happening, but we're not participating in it. We're not becoming part of it. We're not embracing its ways. We're not embracing its values. We're not embracing its thoughts and ideas. So when you're talking about things like CRT, Critical Race Theory, that's a cultural idea. It's a belief system that is highly destructive. It doesn't bring peace on earth, it brings destruction and division. We have to recognize it for what it is. Even if it is taught in our schools, even if it is promoted by the government, it doesn't matter. We have to discern and be able to identify what these things are, the practice of homosexuality. In the 1970s, it wasn't an issue. By the 1980s, it became an issue because in the 1970s, we compromised so severely with regards to marriage, divorce, and remarriage that we were no longer able to hold the line with regard to what the Bible has to say about marriage, divorce, and remarriage. So then we were faced with the issue of homosexuality. And then as we began to accommodate to that, then we faced the issue of same-sex marriage. How was that any worse than divorce and remarriage, which Jesus called adultery? It's the same thing, but you see how we compromised. We compromised at the cultural corner, and that's how it works. The trajectory of America's demise is being found at cultural corner, compromise, image versus integrity. Then you have the second area, which is the moral corner, the moral corner, and I call that pragmatism versus principle. In other words, what seems practical as opposed to that which is true in a principle. And then finally, you have the spiritual corner. See, these are ever more refined decision areas. First the culture, then the moral, then the spiritual. In the spiritual, it's the flesh versus our faith. So the Apostle Paul said right there in Romans 8 that if you were ruled by the carnal nature, you cannot be ruled by the spirit of God. In fact, he says in 1 Corinthians that the natural man, the carnal man, cannot even understand the things of the spirit of God, their foolishness is evil. So in the spiritual arena, we find ourselves, I would say, at the moment of truth, in the valued decision, it's the spiritual intersections where our decisions, whether small or great, direct our destiny. We'll delve into it a little further just a few moments. This is you, Paul. Have you ever considered what the early church was like? Many people are developing a heart longing for a greater fulfillment in our practices as Christians. A recent study showed 53,000 people a week are leaving the back door of America's churches in frustration. What is going on? Why has there not been even a 1% gain among followers of Christ in the last 25 years? Could it be that God is seeking to restore first century Christianity for the 21st century? Jesus said, "I'll build my church." Is Christ by His Spirit stirring to prepare the church for the 21st century? The early church prayed together and broke bread from house to house. They were family, and it was said by all who observed, "Behold how they loved one another." Incredible. But the same can be found right now. Go to saveus.org and click sell church. We can revive first century Christianity for the 21st century. It's about people, not programs. It's about a body, not a building. That's saveus.org. Click sell church. We're talking about the road to hell today. We begin by looking in the first section of the program at the gates of hell. All over the world, people think they've found the gates of hell. As we noted, one person even wrote a travel guide to find the gates of hell all over the world. People, the places that have the reputation of the gates of hell. But we're delving a little more deeply now. We're talking about the spiritual aspect of hell. We're talking about an eternal destiny, and that eternal destiny is defined by whether we walk the narrow path that leads to life or walk the broad path that leads to destruction. And as Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, the majority walk the broad path. And that includes even professing Christians, I'm afraid. I've watched it happen for years from coast to coast, grew up in the church, have worked among Christians my whole life, even my law practice, 80% of my clientele came for the broader body of Christ. And I saw the compromise that was made over and over and over again. Very painful. But God doesn't desire that we live that way. He wants us to be victorious. He wants us to be successful. He wants us to be overcomers in the area of compromise. So here are some of the things that in the spiritual arena where we find the intersections where our decisions with a smaller great direct our destiny, our desires versus God's desires, our appetites versus God's ordinance, our fears versus Godly faith, our happiness versus God's holiness, our pleasure versus God's purity, our comfort versus God's call, our purposes versus God's purposes, our ways versus God's ways trusting man versus trusting God. You see, if we were really aware of those things, we would not so easily succumb at a compromise corner, but compromise has a corrosive effect, both on our character and on our lives as Christians. So we want to take a look at some distinctive patterns or characteristics of what that compromise looks like in our lives. Okay. Is that all right with you? Now, before we do that, I want to make available to you my book, Seduction of the Saint, Staying Fear at a World of Deception, because actually there's an entire chapter in the book called The Road to Hell. It's called chapter nine, and it's the end of a series of chapters called the truth about deception. In other words, as one man said, this book was the most important book I've ever read other than the Bible. So I asked him, I said, why is it that you said that? He said it because it's so practical. It is so applicational. That's what he meant. It's really taking the word of God and apply it where I live. And isn't that what we say we want? So if you want to be encouraged and strengthened in your faith in times like these, then you will consider getting a copy of the books and not sort of the saints. It's an $18 book. Here's for $15 on our website, save us.org, give us a call 1-800-SAVEUSA, 1-800-SAVEUSA, or write to us at Save America Ministries, PO Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia, 2-325-5. Ready to check at $5 for postage and handling. Okay, there are four patterns that I have found concerning compromise, distinct characteristics that reveal the patterns in our lives. The first is that compromise always exalts pragmatism over principle. Now, the word pragmatism, it's a philosophy, a method of decision making that is made on the basis of what seems practical at the moment, and produces what I think will be a desired result. The problem is that pragmatism doesn't necessarily line up with the principles we say we believe in. And so when we are ruled by pragmatism as a plan and pattern for our lives, we necessarily find our way making compromises at many points. So truth gets in the way of what I value as practical. So the pragmatic Christian may embrace a written creed or biblical principle is true, but his life seldom conforms to those claimed truths. So what he says he believes is very often different from what he does. So there's a serious disconnect between what he sees as his Christian life and the way others or God sees his real life. You might be thinking of the word hypocrisy. Oh yeah, pragmatism leads to hypocrisy and it lacks integrity. This is one of the reasons why I cringe when I hear people continually say that our country was built on Judeo-Christian principles. Well that may be true, but if the principles are not lived out, whatever they may have been that we said we believe mean nothing today because we don't follow them. That's why the word obey has become a four letter word in the church today. It's the most aided word in the church, obey. Why? We don't want to do what we say we believe. We just want to do it our way. You know, we're all bunch of Frank Sinatra's, I'll do it my way. So even within the Christian community, even in Christian publishing and broadcasting and yes, even preaching, the compromises are so great. Just choosing pragmatism over principle in order to grow churches, in order to raise money, in order to do this, that or the other and the end result is continuing compromise and it doesn't bode well either for us as individuals, our congregations, our families or even our own lives. So in reality, over the past 50 years, the market has become the master. It's amazing how this has happened. We don't have time to talk about the depths of it, but we could do that for an hour. The next characteristic of compromise is it always exalts the flesh over faith. Now probably the best way to understand this quickly is the lordship of our feelings. The lordship of our feelings, our feelings are the manifestation of the flesh. When our feelings dominate over what we say we believe, our faith, we are living a compromise life and it will lead to all kinds of moral failure and does. It's led to the divorce rate in the church equaling or exceeding that of America as a whole. The divorce rate of the Bible built of America for the past 25 years, 50% higher than the nation as a whole. The divorce rate among pastors equal to that of their parishioners. The out of wedlock birth rate, all of these things are the result of compromise by Christians. All right, next compromise always exalts self-consciousness over God consciousness. Now what kind of a world do we live in today? What's the nature of the culture? It's a selfie culture, right? Everything is about the self. That's exactly what the apostle Paul said it would be like on the dear edge of the second coming. Perilous times, he said, them will be lovers of themselves. That's it. So when we, our primary focus is on ourselves and self-consciousness and self-esteem and self-self-self, we're missing the point. And so we forget, there's a God who is watching over us. There's a God to whom we hold old account, right? And then lastly, there's compromise always exalts the temporal over the eternal. Now we see what that looks like in the life of Jacob and Esau. Esau was willing to sell his birthright for a mess of potties because he was hungry. And then later on he wept over it. He lost the birthright because he did it himself. So for Esau, the road to hell began at compromise corner because of his flesh. That which was temporal over that which was eternal and valuable. So here's the question that I have for you. What is your life pattern? What are your family values? Are they the same as God's family values? You see, our viewpoint on these things always determines destiny. And destiny always awaits our decision. It's almost like there's a compromise within us to propel us into a conspiracy within us rather to compel us into compromise. It's just there. That's the unredeemed flesh. We all battle that, don't we? We all battle that. So the question is, are we winning the war? Are we winning the battle? Jeremiah reminded us that he said, "I, the Lord, search the heart to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings." So as the Lord searches our hearts even now, even as we've been sharing these principles right here on the program. What will he find concerning our reasonings, our thoughts, our arguments? Have we been caught in this sinister, conspiratorial web of fleshly and worldly choices at Compromise Corner? Have we been actually fraternizing with the enemy of our souls through a kind of persistent and progressive compromise? And when Christ knocks at the door of our heart upon his return, will he find the enemy cohabiting in the temple of the Holy Spirit right in our own mind and body? Interesting way to put it, isn't it? So do you agree with God in his word only in theory or in daily practice? When two walk together, unless they be agreed, ask the prophet Amos, we've got to kick the cohabitors out of our life that conspire to seduce our souls. Time to bring every thought, every one of our thoughts into the captivity, to the obedience of Christ. Now when Jesus said in Revelation, "Behold, I come quickly," then what we do, we must do quickly. So we have to make a choice. And if we will make the necessary choices, God will help us make the necessary changes by his spirit to get off the road to hell and get on the narrow pathway that leads to life. We don't want to be seduced. You see, the warnings of Bible are not to the pagans. The pagans are deceived and seduced already. The warnings about seduction and deception are to professing believers. That's God's warmest audience, and he doesn't want to lose anybody. Nobody can take you out of the Father's hand, but you can take yourself out. And that's the problem. Don't let it happen to you. Thanks for joining us here on Viewpoint Today. To copy the books, the Doctrine of the Saints, staying pure in the world of deception, oh, it contains so much, it's going to be so helpful to you as you delve into it on so many, so many different levels, $15 on our website, saveus.org, and can I urge you to become a partner with us, day after day after day, 29 years that we're on our 30th year confronting the deepest issues of America's art and hope from God's eternal perspective. I hope you value that, and if you do, get on board, put some skin in the gate, and let's work on this together to prepare the way of the war until he comes. You've been listening to Viewpoint with Chuck Chris Meyer. Viewpoint is supported by the faithful gifts of our listeners. Let me urge you to become a partner with Chuck as a voice to the church declaring vision for the nation. Join us again next time on Viewpoint as we confront the issues of America's heart and hope. of the world. of the world.