In With The Old, Out With The New

I am an Apostolic Pentecostal. I make no apologies for that fact.

I believe the Bible is the whole Word of God and I believe it is something that I can build my life on, the Rock in my Foundation. I believe it is what keeps me from tumbling down because it is firm, solid.

And I believe if it is in the Word then it should be in my life. I am not a proponent of "Cafeteria Style" Christianity. I don't believe we can go through the Word and just "pick and choose" what we want to believe.

I can qualify that by saying I know it to be a fact that there is a blood line that runs throughout the Bible, from beginning to end. There are no contradictions in the Bible, none.

But, that is for another discussion.

As an Apostolic Pentecostal, I believe in the "Old Ways." I believe in holiness, I believe in living a separated life, I believe in listening to my Pastor who is my "Watchman on the Wall."

I don't expect anyone who has not tasted this life to see that it is good.

It has been so very good for me.

To my sadness, I have watched as those that I used to look up to in this walk of faith have taken those things that were once important and laid them aside for a "new" way of thinking. Things that the pioneers of our faith set up as boundaries of protection for us have been torn down and cast away.

There is a pattern I have seen in those that have taken these "bold new steps."

That pattern is destruction.

Destruction of children that had been raised to believe that something was important and are now given the message that never really mattered.

Destruction of families as these boundaries that protected our homes are torn down allowing those very things those boundaries protected us from to come in.

Destruction of our churches as I hear over and over that doors are shut, congregations are compromised and communities are left without someone to herald the Truth to the lost.

You know, satan hasn't changed his tactics. They are still the same. "Ye shall not surely die," (Genesis 3:4) he says to us as we begin to partake of the very things we have been warned against.

But, we are dying. We are dying......

I have not run across one instance, not ONE instance, where the new ways have been a benefit.

And, if you think our children are confused, our spouses are confused, our congregations are confused by this mix-message we have been delivering.....

What about that lost and dying world?

I have said it before, and I will, with all probability say it again....Sin is attractive.

I mean, would we give up the blessings of God if we could see it for what it really is?

Sin doesn't show up fat and nasty, driving an old clunker. No Sir!

Sin shows up dressed in its finest, cruising in the ride of your dreams.

But the promises of sin never deliver what you expected. Sin only takes, it doesn't give. Before you realize what has even happened that one little thing that you decided was no longer important has turned into one more little thing.

And that one more little thing has become another, and another, and another.....

Until you have developed amnesia, not even remembering who you were or what you stood for.

Today I saw a family that once was part of the ministry. They taught me much about this journey of faith that I am now on.

I hardly even recognized them. They were broken apart. And that broke my heart.

I still believe that sin will take you farther than you ever wanted to go. And, it will take you away from God.

I know that some of my family and friends do not understand why I CHOOSE to live the way that I do, why I am so passionately in love with living for God with my whole life.

This is why. I have seen the consequences of letting go of the old paths, of turning aside the old ways.

I don't need the new ways to bring me joy, I have joy. I don't need to let go to be free, I AM free. Because you see living for Him is freedom. Living outside the dictates of the world is where the joy is.

Jesus, I am so thankful today that You put a Pastor in my life that still preaches that there nothing wrong with living right. I am thankful for men and women who still live this way, who are still passionate. I am thankful for all the heartaches that my family has been spared because of a love for You and Your Word. Lord, I pray for those who have let go. Let them fall in love with the "Old Paths" again.