As you read through the whole Biblical text, there is a fundamental God-principle that will be seen over and over. It is a principle that is practically the opposite of what some churches are teaching today. The principle is this, Yahweh divides, elects and separates.

He makes distinctions and draws boundaries. Due to the distance the modern church has set between itself and the actual words of the Holy Scriptures, we mistakenly cry out for unity at any cost. Today, it seems many in the church seek wide spread inclusion above all else. This is accomplished by “tolerance”.

God’s Word does not teach tolerance and inclusion at any cost, rather, God divides light from darkness, good from evil and truth from lies. However, God’s Word does teach us to love one another and to show compassion for the lost, the hurting and those in need. But we are never told to compromise the truth of God’s Word. To be tolerant means to accept or permit something even though you don’t agree.

When the church becomes tolerant, we begin to believe a lie and we compromise the truth of God’s Word. The consequences of this thinking are no one is set free and no one is restored and made whole.

According to the prophet Jeremiah, when the so called religious leaders preached tolerance it “strengthened the hands of the evil doer and no one turned back from their wickedness.” The church is not called nor was it established to be tolerant of sin, neither was it called to condemn the sinner. Recently in a sitcom the following statement was made, “God’s a jerk! He made me gay and he allows those people to condemn me.” This is a sad indictment on the church for a few reasons.

One reason is that someone would teach this person that God made them this way (which some Christian leaders teach this view) and second, that any Christian would condemn them, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

As disciples of our Lord and Messiah Jesus, we should be moved with compassion to love, just as our Savior loved. While Jesus welcomed the sinner with open arms of love, His love was rooted and grounded in the truth of the father’s words, as seen in his message of repentance. He instructed the people to repent and sin no more. He allowed them to follow him and he taught them the truth concerning the Kingdom of God.

The gift of repentance leads us to reconciliation with the Father and it is the father’s love and wisdom that restores and makes whole the lives of the broken. Just like the prophets before him who also preached repentance, Jesus was neither indifferent nor detached from society and those called sinners like many of the religious leaders were.

He had a deep, abiding love for the lost and hurting that provoked him, like the prophets, to speak the truth in love. We need true prophets in our nation to stand up and speak the truth of God’s Word without compromise but with love and compassion.

Pastor Butch Deer can be contacted at pbd90@yahoo.com