When people worship what is not worthy of worship instead of worshipping God, He will give them over to whatever it is. This giving people up or giving people over is the same thing as giving people a spirit of stupor. This is a spiritual blindness that cannot be overcome by any power other than God’s.
“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! Matthew 6:22-23 (NASB)
Since I began this blog and became involved with discernment ministries such as Christian Research Network, I have become aware of a disturbing phenomenon in the Church in America. Perhaps you have noticed it as well. The phenomenon I am writing about is willful ignorance in our spiritual leaders. In the early to mid 1980’s I lived in the Edmond, Oklahoma area. During this period a postal worker at the main Edmond Post Office came to work one day with his National Guard pistol. He entered the employee area and locked the doors so people couldn’t escape then systematically started shooting and killing his former co-workers. The expression “Going Postal” came from this incident. In 1989 into 1991 I worked at the F.D.I.C. office in Oklahoma City. One of my co-workers was the daughter of a postal worker who was there in the Edmond Post Office that day. She told me his experience. He was able to escape being killed by fleeing in the opposite direction from where the shots were coming from. He found one unlocked door and was able to get out. However, on his way out he found several of his co-workers hiding behind cabinets or in closets or behind doors. He tried to get them to follow him out, but they refused. They were convinced that they would be safe where they were. They were all killed. Those postal workers who thought they were safe staying put were being willfully ignorant of a clear and present danger. It cost them their lives. The Compromised Church is being led by those who are spiritually blind. The spiritually blind Christian leader exhibits that blindness in several ways, however, willful ignorance is perhaps the one we see the most. What is the source of spiritual blindness? How does a professing Christian fall into spiritual blindness? Is it something that God does or allows to happen? If that is true, why does He do it? The following passage speaks of how God worked to blind some of Israel, but not all, to the truth of His saving Grace.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. Romans 1:18-32 (NASB)
When people worship what is not worthy of worship instead of worshipping God, He will give them over to whatever it is. This giving people up or giving people over is the same thing as giving people a spirit of stupor. This is a spiritual blindness that cannot be overcome by any power other than God’s. What causes people, even professing Christians, to be given up or given over to false worship or false religion? Why would God do this to them? In my study, “Judge Not!” I wrote a chapter called: “The Curse of Self-Righteousness”. In it we explored what happens to Self-Righteous people when they refuse to humble themselves before God. Pride begets self-righteousness which begets spiritual blindness. Humility, on the other hand, begets self-examination and a penitent heart which is full of God’s light, wisdom and discernment.
