Peace Sells

In my former life, the life where I was a dead sinner, I loved listening to Megadeth.  Mitch Mustain's haunting voice and raw lyrics combined with their unique electric sound to pump what must have been gallons of adrenaline through my veins.  In one of their songs, Mustain asks the question, "Peace sells, but who's buying?"  Twenty years later I think I have found the answer.

One of the tactics satan has used to weaken the church in America is distracting Christians.  If he can keep us focused on anything other than Christ, he weakens our effectiveness.  He has been particularly effective at disarming believers under the guise of tolerance.

Durning my formative years, tolerance meant to disagree with people yet respect them and their beliefs. Tolerance was agreeing to disagree.  Somewhere over the last twenty years tolerance has come to mean that you affirm another persons "faith" as right or correct for them, regardless of the actual veracity of their beliefs.  Tolerance used to mean that personal beliefs could be labeled wrong.  Today personal beliefs cannot be labeled as wrong without a firestorm of consequences.

The misunderstanding of tolerance has morphed into a catapult for unbridled sin.  Homosexuality is now an 'alternative lifestyle', not a sin.  Abortion is a woman's choice and not murder.  Along the way, biblical Christianity has been pressured to label sinful beliefs and sinful actions as 'right' or 'good' instead of calling them sin.

The Church has suffered.  Unbelievers have infiltrated the local church in America, weakening her understanding and resolve.  The Church has been pushed to reneg on John 14:6,

"I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."

The world wants the church to revise John 14:6 to read,

"I am a way, a truth, and a life.  No one comes to a father except through me."

Why does the world strive for this type of tolerance?  I think it is, in part, because all human beings want peace.  Most people do not like conflict.  Why do we have to fight and argue?  Can't we all just get along?  You see, peace sells.  Peace sells and the whole world is buying.

What I find brilliant about this strategy can be seen in the antichrist's rise to power.  If people are taught that tolerance means to affirm the worship of any god, when antichrist rises to power, how easy will it be for people to continue their damning beliefs by simply replacing the face of their god with the face of antichrist.  People of many different belief systems can all worship their gods because antichrist will take the name of them all.  They can then worship antichrist as their god, in peace with others, on what they think is their terms.

But God is a jealous God.  He shares His glory with no one.  He will not allow such evil.   His peace, true peace, comes at a price.  Christ paid that price at Calvary.  And in an ironic turn of events, He will no longer tolerate the world's idolatry and He will make war against them, avenging His Holy Name!

Come quickly, Lord!