In my third installment of words and phrases that confuse and mislead Christians and add to an atheist’s arsenal of arguments against a belief in God, I mentioned one significant source of sin that can lead followers of Jesus Christ down a path of destruction.

I believe the type of sin I referenced is so pervasive in our culture and so destructive – particularly for our youth – that I feel compelled to expound on the topic.

Before I discuss the idol in question, I must point out that I write not as a preacher speaking from a lofty ivory tower of moral superiority or piousness. I write as a fallen sinner who struggles with the same temptations and sinful nature that we all have in common.

With that said, we should remember that most Westerners – including myself - live a life of comfort and excess in our daily lives.  According to a U.S. Federal Reserve consumer finance survey in 2022, the net worth of an average American household, adjusted for inflation, is $1.06 million. While Americans enjoy a very high standard of living compared to much of the world, over 50% of the world’s population lacks indoor plumbing.

Relatedly, even many low-income American families have cell phones, internet access, and wide-screen TVs – luxuries unheard of in many developing countries.

What does prosperity have to do with sin and salvation? A lot, in my humble opinion.

God made clear in the Ten Commandments that we should have no other gods before Him and make no idols that we would bow down to or serve. Unfortunately, our ancient forefathers did both.  Even the Israelites, who were God's chosen people and whom Joshua led into the promised land, regressed into the worship of many false gods, including Baal and Ishtar. 

For an in-depth discussion of the evil powers from the past who have now returned to a backslidden and increasingly sinful world, I highly recommend Jonathan Cahn’s landmark book, The Return of the Gods.

2 Judges 10:6

Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashthoreths.

Baal is an evil ancient god known as the possessor who leads people away from the one true God and toward the worship of money, power, and pleasure, and the Ashthoreths is the plural for a group of evil spirits who serve their master, Ishtar, who is the queen of immorality, sexual sin, prostitution, adultery, and pornography. The two are linked; many view them as lovers or married in a carnal sense.

We do not know the origin of either god. Still, we can assume Father God created them as righteous supernatural beings and that they fell with Satan and became major powers in the second heaven.

Why are Baal and Ishtar important?  Because many Christian researchers agree that when America began to push God out of our public schools, our government institutions, and the public square in the 1960s, Baal and Ishtar rushed in to fill the vacant house, and with them, they brought rebellion and sexual sin.

The Book of Luke provides a clear warning of what happens when someone or some country accepts Jesus Christ and then turns away:

Return of an Unclean Spirit

24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

As Jonathan Cahn points out, two of the critical events that pushed out God and ushered in Baal and Ishtar back into American society were the removal of prayer and Bible reading from our public schools. I witnessed the falling away firsthand, as I was in middle school, when the changes took effect. 

The U.S. Supreme Court declared prayer in public schools unconstitutional on June 25, 1962, in Engel v. Vitale. The following year, in the Abington School District v. Schempp, the Court disallowed Bible readings in public schools for the same reasons.

At the same time, our nation began to move away from God, we entered a time of post-WWII prosperity. America became the world's only superpower; its economy came to life – raising the standard of living for most.

With our wealth and the culture of comfort that came with it, we began to develop technology that magnified our potential to obtain earthly pleasures – many of which contained the seeds of destruction. 

One of the areas in our culture that imploded was in the area of sexual morality.  The 1960s also heralded the start of the sexual revolution that brought down our sexual mores as a country. Many seasoned observers identify 1967 as the year it all began.  My generation, the Baby Boomers, was severely impacted by the sexual revolution in a very negative way. In a sense, the moral guardrails of our culture fell off.

As our slide has continued unabated for decades, we now find ourselves with the potential to descend down a path of unintentional idol worship and, ultimately, sin and eternal death, even if we have professed our faith and belief in Christ.

How so?

Our lives of relative comfort give us sufficient spare time to pursue an almost limitless supply of entertainment and leisure activities.  Today’s smartphones and other electronic devices offer us a portal to a previously unimagined digital world of entertainment, information, and a great sin.  Pleasure or perversion is just a few clicks away.

The digital outlets we choose for entertainment can quickly become idols. Sports figures and teams, Hollywood stars, famous musicians, and any number of media personalities can gain our attention to the point that we spend more time thinking about them than we do Jesus Christ.  I’m guilty of that sin, and I struggle daily with the urge to spend hours looking at the things I like rather than focusing on the One whom I truly love and need – Jesus Christ.

The threat from digital devices is particularly serious for our youth, who don't have a clear set of moral values.  Many spend hours scrolling through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Tick Tock. Unfortunately, a child’s unsupervised access to the internet will most likely have disastrous results.  I believe many of our youth – and some not so young – have fallen prey to the digital sirens who beckon the bored and the lonely.

A recent opinion piece by the Epoch Times editorial staff, entitled Popular Culture – A Decadent Indulgence, summed up the magnitude of the problem succinctly:

"The introduction of the internet and smartphones has brought major changes to the porn industry. The total amount of pornographic content that a typical adult in the 1980s might have been exposed to over the course of years can now be accessed by a child in mere minutes.  On average, children are now exposed to pornography by the age of 8. One 12-year-old British boy became so addicted to online pornography that he raped his sister."

Of all of the temptations that our youth face in our rapidly declining culture, online pornography is probably greatest threat. Parents must be vigilant when monitoring the digital content their children consume. While access to pornography was very limited in my youth, now a child can view pornography in the privacy of his or her room, at no cost, and on demand.  I can’t think of a more destructive and toxic vice than the addictive sin of viewing pornography.

Many of us know that while scrolling for completely innocent content, we sometimes see sexually suggestive images intermingled in our AI-controlled feed that stimulate a normal human response.  If we're not alert and fail to control our dopamine cravings or hormonal responses and allow them to overpower us, we can click on a lust-stimulating image and get pulled into a moral cesspool that can lead to a porn addiction and ultimately eternal death.

In addition to our innate physical responses, we get added "help" from the likes of Ishtar and her subservient army of demonic entities who pump urges and appetites into our spirit and soul. The perfect storm of lustful appetites is created.

Some may think, what can be so wrong about admiring a shapely but scantily clad female or male body? We’re in the 21^st century and long past the age when puritanical values shackled our ancestors with feelings of guilt.

We need to look no further than the Bible, where Jesus tells us that lusting after a woman or a man in a person's heart is considered adultery.  We are all guilty, but we can and must confess our sins and move on.  However, if we rationalize in our mind that a few glances at a shapely person are harmless, we are setting ourselves up for a disaster.

A contributing factor in our culture today is the almost complete collapse of our moral boundaries.  In decades past, sexual relations between two people were to be within the confines of marriage. Sex – a gift from God - is supposed to be an act of loving intimacy that leads to procreation, not just an activity for physical pleasure alone.  Now, we live in a hook-up, shack-up, and breakup culture that has all but destroyed God’s institution of marriage and family life.

Our entertainment is a major contributing element.  Sexual images permeate movies, television, and online content. We gradually become desensitized to sexually promiscuous content to the point that it provokes no sense of moral conviction.  If we allow ourselves to continue to view sexually suggestive or explicit content, we run the risk of acting on our urges and sinning.

If we don’t resist the worship-like attention to fellow humans and material objects that digital platforms facilitate, we will pursue our love of things instead of our love of our Creator and our Savior.  Cars or similar high-value possessions can also absorb our attention and our covetousness.  One needs to look no further than the ubiquitous car auctions on cable TV.  One can spend hours watching wealthy fellow Americans spend thousands of dollars on a refurbished muscle car or rare exotic auto. 

Resisting all of the idol worship opportunities is increasingly difficult in our secular culture.  Still, we must hold tight to the reality that this life is temporary, and our eternal life after physical death will be filled with either constant ecstasy or unimaginable suffering.

We have to choose who or what we worship – the Son of God or the temporary offerings of this world.  I hope you choose wisely – I struggle to do so daily.

In my final installment, we conclude our attempt to answer the following questions: Are some of the sermons and teachings that you hear sound oddly detached from reality? Do otherwise good sermons leave you spiritually empty? Are we using words and phrases that confuse and mislead Christians and add to an atheist’s arsenal of arguments against a belief in God?

If the answer is yes, you may be suffering from an overdose of Christianese. To address what I consider a weakness in the Christian church writ large, I'm continuing to address the common words and phrases that many Christian pastors, teachers, and believers use that confuse, dissuade, and turn away seekers and non-believers from the Christian faith.

In the following exposition, I address the last two of six phrases that I suggest you avoid using in conversation with others when discussing the Bible and its truth.

I believe many would agree that we live in a post-Christian society. We’ve banned prayer and Bible reading in our public schools, in most local government proceedings, and at many public events. As followers of Jesus Christ, we’ve been marginalized and canceled on many social media platforms. We must measure our words carefully when we attempt to express our Christian faith.

With the preceding stated, here are the last two on the hit parade:

God Is All Loving.

In my humble opinion, a common misdescription of Father God is the common phrase - “God is all loving.”

I don’t know the origin of the phrase, God is all loving, but I believe it's a misleading verbal bromide that ignores the true nature of God. Yes, God's essence is love, but He's also holy and just. No verse in the Bible declares that God's love for His creation overrides His just and holy nature. His holy nature confirms that He cannot and will not co-exist with sinful beings, whether they are created angels or mankind.

Why is the distinction important? When a discussion about hell takes place, those who reject the literal existence of hell invariably state that God would never allow anyone to suffer for eternity because God is “all loving.”

The Bible tells us something different.

2 Corinthians 5:10

 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

In addition to God’s unwillingness to tolerate sin, His divine nature of justice also demands that sins be punished. God cannot abide sin, and if you have not repented of your sins, sought Jesus Christ’s forgiveness, and dedicated your life to Christ, God will not intervene when you physically die, face judgment, and fall into hell.

The Bible is replete with verses about God judging man. The following verses are just a small sampling of declarations confirming God’s promise to judge man:

Psalm 75:7

But God is the Judge;

He puts down one and exalts another.

Isaiah 66:16        

For the Lord will execute judgment by fire

And by His sword on all flesh,

And those slain by the Lord will be many.

Psalm 9:8  

And He will judge the world in righteousness;

He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity.

1 Peter 4:5 

But they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Revelation 20:12

And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.

God’s love for us is so great that he sacrificed His only son, Jesus Christ, to take away our sins and convey to us His righteousness. I can't think of a more loving act – an act that was necessary for us to receive forgiveness for our many sins that would otherwise leave us vulnerable to God’s judgment.

Once Saved, Always Saved

Those of you who have read my books know that I’m a proponent of vetting, studying, and learning from select near-death-experience (NDE) witness testimonies that contain information that illuminates and confirms the written word of God.

If you’ve not had a chance to read Final Departure or Divine Return, I recommend the recently released movie After Death, which was produced by Angel Studios. I believe most film viewers will gain an appreciation of the power and authenticity of NDEs.

With the foregoing stated, some Christians dismiss NDEs as not reliable and anti-Biblical, but I prefer to judge each experience individually. One recurring theme that I’ve gleaned from reliable and forthright NDE witnesses is that they state that the oft-repeated phrase "once saved, always saved" is false.

Why do they say that? Many NDE witnesses report witnessing trapped souls in hell who had been followers of Christ but ended up being rejected because they were still sinning and unrepentant at the time of their death.

How can that be? Didn't Christ say no one can snatch us from His loving arms? Yes, that is true if we cling to Jesus and rely on His righteousness and saving grace. However, if we accept Christ into our lives and begin to follow him but refuse to relinquish one or more areas of darkness or sin, we disqualify ourselves from salvation.

Salvation is a continuing condition based on our continuing faith.

I recently heard a pastor describe what I think applies: you can't lose your salvation, but you can leave it.

What are some examples of believers in hell? One witness reported encountering a woman who loved the Lord but became enraged when she found her husband cheating on her, and she never forgave him. Another murdered her cheating husband but felt justified in taking his life.

Another NDE witness observed a pastor who had been secretly stealing money from the collection plate and using it for personal expenses; he never repented before he died.

A common sin that many struggle with is having idols while still attempting to follow Christ. One of the most destructive categories of idols is the actresses and actors in pornographic films. In today's secular culture, viewing porn is deemed harmless when in fact, the viewers of porn are worshiping the demons behind the pornography. Also, as Jesus warned us in Matthew 5:28, looking at someone, not your spouse, and lusting after them is the sin of adultery. When one fails to reject porn and repent, the result is eternal death.

Some will say that the souls that NDE witnesses saw in hell were never really saved in the first place. True, many never develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, while I can't confirm the status of the poor souls in hell, I can confidently state that NDE witnesses who enter the supernatural realm have a form of extra-sensory perception that allows them to know a person instantly when they encounter them. Another factor I considered before writing this piece is the number of NDE witnesses who aren't connected, all making the same observation.

What does “saved” really mean?

One way of looking at salvation is that it’s a personal decision that starts a process culminating in a final event. Some pastors describe the process as justification, sanctification, and glorification.

Technically, we are not saved until the instant our spiritual body materializes in Heaven. Before that event, you and I were on the road to salvation if we had accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and our acceptance of Him transformed us and how we lived our lives. Simply affirming the divinity of Jesus Christ and acknowledging that the Gospel is true will not save us. We must act on our decision, turn away from our old sinful ways, and have an ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ through frequent prayer.

If I’m really saved, can I fall away or walk away from God?

Some say that if you’re saved, you can’t fall away because of the keeping power of God’s grace.

Accepting and following Jesus Christ is an act of our will – we choose to obey or not obey. We don’t lose our free will when we surrender to Christ. We still have the unilateral authority and ability to make choices in our lives – good and evil.

One truth that seems to be forgotten in the discussion of "once saved, always saved" is the undeniable mutiny of Satan and one-third of the angels in Heaven. Satan made a choice – fueled by sinful pride – to challenge God and persuade an untold number of angels to follow him.

If one of God’s most cherished creations – one who literally hovered in God’s presence in Heaven - could revolt and turn away from God, then why do we think that we mere mortals can't make the same horrendous decision? Why can't we change our minds after sensing the Holy Spirit? Satan was directly in God's loving presence, yet he chose to betray God. Why do we think we're stronger than Satan and immune to making horrific choices after becoming a follower of Christ?

We can make eternity-altering decisions while on the road to salvation; that's why God's word warns us to endure until physical death. Scripture is replete with warnings about veering off the narrow road that leads to eternal life:

Matthew 10:22

And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Hebrews 3:14

 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

Hebrews 10:38

But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

James 5:19-20

 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, ²⁰ let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

2 Peter 2:20-22 

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. ²² What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

Many will say that we have the Holy Spirit in us after we surrender to Jesus; therefore, we can't lose our salvation. As the scripture states above, I believe we will continue to have temptations and opportunities to sin even when we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. How we respond to those temptations will determine whether we stay on the road to salvation.

The Holy Spirit will convict our hearts and make sinning feel abhorrent, but He will not stop us from sinning. We decide whether we stay on the straight and narrow by avoiding sin and confessing sin when we fall short or whether we place our pleasure and desires above the Lord in a select area and suffer the eternal consequences.

If we cease to have faith, we will cease to be on the road to salvation, but we can return to the Lord. It’s our choice.

I realize some of you will disagree with me. My purpose is not to spread fear and anxiety. My goal is to shine a spotlight on a misleading phrase that could cause new believers to think they can backslide into old sinful habits and not be held accountable on their judgment day.

I recommend praying and asking the Holy Spirit to confirm or refute what I have written. Ultimately, your personal relationship with our Savior will determine your address in eternity.