Danger Zone

Changing The Character Of God It is no secret that this culture we are living in is a complex one. We have political parties that cannot seem to work together for the good of the people. We have wars being fought on the left and the right. We have people struggling to make ends meet on a daily basis. We live in a world where political correctness has become a mainstay in the political, personal, and cultural arena that we reside in. We live in a world where you cannot even call a man who cries out religious connotations to a false God as he is shooting people a radical terrorist. This makes the ever day struggles for the average human being even more difficult to live with. The saddest part of this narrative is the fact that this mentality of political correctness has slowly been creeping its way into the body of Christ. The end result of that is the effort to minimize the parts of God that we don't like and elevate the parts of God that we love. The danger of doing this is the fact that we will begin to teach people about a god who does not exist. As a matter of fact, this will lead to people teaching about a god that looks, thinks, and acts just like them. I call this practice, changing the character of God. The question is: Has changing the character of God started changing the character of our churches? I do not believe i can definitively say that it has affected every church, but i can say that it has affected many churches. I can also say that those churches whom it has affected are heading down a road that leads away from God, not toward Him. This practice of changing the character of God is dangerous and it can destroy our churches. How Does It Happen? How does this dangerous mentality find its way into our churches? I think we can look back at scripture to see one of the telltale signs of the beginning of this process. Let’s take a look at the beginning of time and the life of Adam and Eve. The bible teaches us in Genesis chapter one and two that God created Man from the dust of the earth, breathed the breathe of life into him and walked daily in fellowship with him. I am thinking, at this point, that man is in a pretty good place. He is in a garden of paradise with a perfect woman, fruit that tastes as good as a ribeye steak and he gets to walk and talk with God every day. What more could a guy want? Apparently, he wanted more, but what? Tucked away deep in the garden was a tree that contained a fruit that would give you knowledge of all things good and evil. It was this tree and the desire for its fruit that would be Adams downfall. It was this fruit that God specifically told Adam and Eve not to eat. It was this fruit that Satan would use to deceive Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:1-7, "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, 'you shall not eat of every tree in the garden.'? And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; But of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. Then the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked..." This passage really shows us how people who have fellowship with God can be deceived into pursuing a dangerous mindset that will destroy them. Just as the tree was tucked away deep in the garden, the reason Adam and Eve fell is tucked away deep in this scripture. It is found in verse 5, " For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be open, and you will be like God knowing good and evil. " Adam and Eve apparently had a desire to be deity. Their desire for deity, however, was truly rooted in their desire to please themselves. They had forsaken the wisdom of God in order to satisfy their own desire. Plainly put, they made this earth and heaven show about them instead of God. Satan managed to convince Adam and eve to forsake their creator by helping them focus on themselves. That is what Satan does best. He convinces us to make this life about us instead of God. Once you begin to make this life about you, then the God given truths that once directed your life will be compromised according to your desires. Just as it was in the Garden of Eden it is in the body of Christ today. The danger of selfishness is lurking around every corner, every business meeting, every staff position and every encounter. How does a church begin to change the character of God and walk down a road of destruction? By eating the fruit of selfishness and making everything about them. Once your heart begins to focus on you, so goes God and His truth along with Him. This has to happen in order for someone to Change the character of God. Please understand me; I am not saying a person does this blatantly or even on purpose. I am saying that being selfish is a prerequisite of changing the character of God. Selfishness leads to recreating a god to look just like you. So, all of a sudden God goes from being a sovereign, powerful, just God, to being a tolerant God who bows at your every desire. Let me give you an example. On one particular occasion, I had a lady I was counseling with express to me that she felt like God wanted her to divorce her husband. When I began to share scripture with her about how God only allows divorce in adulterous situations (which did not apply in this scenario), she began to completely change the character of God to think like her. Suddenly, scripture did not matter; God didn't matter only she mattered. See how that works. It is dangerous.