Psalm 18:2 ESV
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
When I read scriptures like this, that utilizes imagery to describe God, his character, his personality, his power, his might, his justice, etc….I often wonder how people are interpreting the meaning of the imagery.
In the case of the verse above, I can’t help but wonder how many people have interpreted “The Lord is my ROCK” to mean something like the rock that David used in his sling, or like the rocks that Elijah used to build an altar to demonstrate the power of God before the prophets of Baal.
By taking a deeper look at this verse, however, I find that these comparisons would not actually be doing the imagery justice. Do not get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with imagining God as the weapon to slay your giants…or the altar which you lay your faith on when seeking God and his power.
But you see, the word “ROCK” in this verse is actually better interpreted as a cliff, or more specifically – a mountain. A mountain is something MASSIVE and IMMOVABLE. Talk about a symbol of real strength! God is indeed immovable.
His character is immovable.
His word is immovable.
His truth is immovable.
His love is immovable.
His justice is immovable.
Have you ever tried to push against a mountain and slide it out of the way?
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you were probably not very successful in that attempt.
And yet, this is exactly what God’s creation…man…seems to think we can do. We apparently think that we can look at the immovable mountain of God…his character, truth, justice, word, love…and say to that mountain, “Mountain, be moved…because I, the creation…made by the hands of the almighty creator…say it must be so.”
Don’t get me wrong…we are told in the bible that if we have the faith of a mustard seed we can tell a mountain to jump into the sea and it will be so.
But that mountain is a creation of God…not God himself.
And yet…we humans seem to confuse the two WAY too often.
A member of my church recently sent me a link to a “church” here in Charleston, SC that seriously broke my heart to see when I went and explored their website. I put the word “church” in quotations because they can hardly be called a church…at least based on what I’ve seen as their fruit on display for all the world to see.
You see, the interim pastor there is a gay man who apparently has a “husband”, and lives in an open, unrepentant, pride filled, gay relationship with another man.
Yes, you read that right…the INTERIM PASTOR is an openly practicing homosexual.
He even gives us a brief snippet of his theological views in his bio on the church web page:
I consider myself theologically progressive and to the left of the religious spectrum. While I respect and honor my religious roots, I am no longer in that space.
No longer in that space?
Sir, you are not just “no longer in that space”….you are no longer in that dimension…or plane of reality or existence.
Upon doing some more research, I found that this church actually belongs to a “denomination” that was established back in the 60’s and 70’s by a practicing homosexual who was “prophesied” over that he would become the pastor of a great denomination.
They are called The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, and to give you an idea of where they stand on things…here is a snippet from their website:
The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches is a Christian church founded in and reaching beyond the Gay and Lesbian community. We embody and proclaim Christian salvation and liberation, Christian inclusivity and community and Christian social action and justice. We serve among those seeking and CELEBRATING the integration of their spirituality and sexuality.
This “church”, and others in their community/fellowship, actually see it as their God-given mission to push forward homosexuality, gay marriage rights, and ultimately to have everyone embrace something that God has called evil and sin…and do it all without shame or remorse or conviction.
In other words, they are the epitome of Romans 1:28-32 and are trying to push against and move the immovable (God’s Word).
Romans 1:28-32
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Now, please hear me when I say this (if you’ve made it this far), we are to embrace the homosexual community in as much as they are sinful people who need salvation…and as a community of people who were also made in the image of God, who are living in sin, and are just as fallen as we ONCE were. The homosexual community is in need of a Church willing to speak to them the truth in love so that God’s word can pierce their heart and liberate them from their deception and sin.
But what this “church”, and this denomination are doing is not love. Not in any way, shape, or form is this love.
It is not an act of love to teach sinners to embrace their sin as a good thing and encourage them to keep sinning, and to fight for their rights to publicly sin and be accepted for their sin…and to have their sin sanctioned and codified by our governments, cities, public schools, and state legislators.
I repeat…THIS IS NOT LOVE!
This is equal to giving someone a hug and a kiss, and then wishing them well as they walk off a cliff that you knew they were heading toward, but…in the spirit of political correctness and a pathetic attempt at “not offending anyone”….you avoided telling them about the cliff.
In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that what this “church” and denomination (and any other Christian who engages in this sort of “love”), that they are actually doing one of the most hateful things a person could do to another person. To know that they are in sin, and in danger of an eternity apart from God, and you would hate them so much that you simply hug and kiss them as they plunge to their eternal death.
Do you really love your neighbor by encouraging them to sin and encouraging them to celebrate their sin? Based on your actions…I can state with an affirmative NO.
You hate your neighbor.
And perhaps the thing that frightens me (and I would hope you as well) the most is that because you are doing this…because you are not only participating in the sin but encouraging others to participate in it as well…you are actually on the path to join them.
To you MCC Church…to you “Christians” who are fighting for gay rights and gay marriage and telling other Christians they are being hateful for not accepting these people simply because they don’t “love” the way we do….you are in danger of sending everyone of your souls (including your own) to hell because you choose to try and move the immovable. Because you choose to violate the immovable word of God and you choose to encourage others to do the same.
God’s word is immovable.
God’s character is immovable.
God’s truth is immovable.
God’s justice is immovable.
God’s mercy is immovable.
God’s love is immovable.
And it is time for you to recognize that you are trying to move the immovable.
Your only option at this point is to repent and turn from your evil and wicked ways, and be saved! God is indeed a merciful and loving God. His word tells us that he does not desire that any man should perish.
But this is the trajectory you are on.
You need to wake up before it is too late…even for your own soul.