F.O.G.

As the announcer used to say before airing that old soap opera--"These are the days of our lives"--

"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--"


It's strange, but though that passage from 1 Timothy 3 often comes to my mind (like whenever I read the news or certain blogs or listservs), I almost always forget what comes next. Do you remember? It's this:

"--having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."

Form of Godliness--or F.O.G--kills.

F.O.G. blinds you and Truth turns blurry. And when Truth gets wrapped in FO.G., you'll start heading toward any old foghorn you hear in the distance, even if it's one sounding from the enemy's camp.

F.O.G. confuses you because it's thick and dark and it messes up your sense of direction. And when you're lost, alone and confused, any voice is a welcomed one, even an evil voice when it's disguised.

F.O.G. hides the real face and the real heart of those who say they've come to pull you out of the greyness. And by the time they've pulled you along their path, you find you've been pulled in too deep to ever find your way back to the light of Truth again. You find yourself wondering if Truth ever existed in the first place.

F.O.G. can whip itself into just about any form you wish to see--it takes pride in always being ultra pliable and changeable. It criticizes Truth for being like a Rock--unmoveable.

F.O.G. is like the most subtle poisonous gas which gets sucked into your pores and lungs... You have to spend some time around it before it finally kills you. But during that time, you have no idea that your destruction is just around the next cold, grey corner.

Yes, F.O.G. kills. And that's why God more than gives His permission for us to stay out of it, even when He knows that insults and jeering and unfair accusations will be hurled at our backs as we step away.

He more than gives His permission--He commands us to have nothing to do with F.O.G., no matter what form it may show itself to us.



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