The {Lukewarm} Captivation Of Nonchalance

THE {"LUKEWARM"} CAPTIVATION OF NONCHALANCE

[The Seduction Of Mediocrity -OR- The Addiction Of Indifference!]

There is what I call the "lethal shrug". It's evil! The narcosis of the soul which lulls even believers who know better into unreal stupors which end in unbelief! It's as though one spiritual "foot" is nailed in place while the believer attempts to walk in faith. For the children of Israel, that "foot" was back in Egypt, and caused a fourty-year (40=probation) "wander" which ended in oblivion for millions!

Jesus called this sort of thing a house (city/nation) divided against itself! It is as though one leg arbitrarily chooses to go off in one direction, apart from the "other"! The end is a "dividing asunder" of the person! Prayer without "watch!" is like "faith" that doesn't work, or "selfish love": a contradiction of Reality - a LIE! No faith exists that cannot PROVE Love! And no "believer" Lives whose "faith" does not produce a Life of Fruit-growth OF-THE-SPIRIT! It is the nature of faith to pray (share with God). As it is the nature of prayer to WATCH & LISTEN & WAIT upon the Lord! Prayer is reciprocal-response between God and man! This is rendered impossible without attentiveness! If either party loses "focus" or attention, the "bond" of Union (One-ness) is broken! God calls this sin! Ro 14:23 "...whatsoever is not of faith is sin."

Too extreme? Paul is saying that anything; any little thing that is not shared with God (my definition of faith) is sin! Wow! Think about that! But Jesus said much the same thing; Jn 15:5 "...without ("apart from"- R.V.) me ye can do nothing." And he also said the same was true for Him!; Jn 5:19 "Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, (apart/without/alone), but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." After all, the definition of sin is "alone/apart/without/separated from God! The opposite of sin is faith! If sin is without God, then faith must be with God! That's why I call it sharing (with God)! ANYTHING shared with God is Eternal, and cannot be sin!

People seem to think faith is some-thing you believe in - as though even a philosophy qualifies as "faith"! But faith is never in things, but in persons! We all soon learn the frustration of placing trust in things! But growing up is all about turning loose of childish things we've learned end in futility (vanity!). Why is it so hard to "TURN LOOSE!"? That's where the "captivation" comes in!

There are two Hebrew words which shed light on the Reality of this dark illusion! "Shama" (or "Shema") means to listen, pay attention, hear (with intent to obey!), watch, stay alert!, remember, teach your children! (all this is implied & understood in the Hebrew!). The "Shema" is the very heart of the "Living Oracles" (God-Breathed Scripture!) as Echoed by Jesus and Re-Iterated (Spoken again) and quoted from Deut 6:4-5 "Hear, ("Shama!") O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD (Person!): And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." This is the first of four "parts" which make up the "phylacteries" (Ex 13:1-10, 13:11-16; Dt 6:4-9, 11:13-21) which were to be bound by leather to key body points on the person of the worshiping believer! Pay attention to (SHARE WITH!) GOD! Jesus Christ is God's very own Personification of His Meaning of this Hebrew Doctrine of the "Shama/Shema"! God did not Design us to exist or operate alone!

The other Hebrew word is very similar in spelling and pronunciation, but has exactly the opposite meaning! And, as Messiah Is the fullness of the meaning of the first - in Person (as the "Prince Of Peace"); So His counter-opposite "the Coming Prince" (although a cunning counterfeit) personifies evil vanity, and will remain forever without God! Dan 9:26 "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." Here we see the Anti-Christ described by the Angel Gabriel. He calls him "The Coming Prince". But the Hebrew word translated "desolations" is "Shamem": "to stun, lay waste, stupefy, paralyze, lull to sleep by false confidence!, to destroy with "peace!, peace!" (when there is no peace!)".

Here we find the "abominations of desolations" personified! Dan. 9:27 "And he (AntiChrist) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." (The name "Shamen" is unusually common among most languages, [even with some which apparently developed independently!], as meaning "Witch Doctor", or "Sorcerer"). By what "magic" will this "Coming Prince" "make them desolate"? What will "bewitch" them (as Paul says to the Galations)? No "fear" (or true love!) of the Lord! Overconfidence & "self-assurance" ("peace & security"!)! NONCHALANCE! Nonchalance literally means "showing indifference"!

Can you imagine? I mean, there's pride; and then there's HUBRIS ! "Hubris" is defined as excessive (MASSIVE) pride! For man to be "indifferent" to God is simply monumental hubris of the most subtle (cunning & deceitful - sneaky!) kind! This is why I call it the "lethal shrug"! It seems so insignificant, so "innocent" - but at it's black heart is the determined-death of a serpent so sly its bite is hardly felt! Indeed, this venom is addictive! It's narcotic! It mesmerizes and hypnotizes it's victims into believing they're "home free" (safe, saved irrevocably!) as it dulls the eyes, blunts the guilt, sears the conscience, clogs the ears, and distracts with "do-gooder" issues about "other's" lives as a bypass to putrid decay within! A seething, ignorant, anesthetized, sterile, dead, vacuum of a zombie-like creature posing as an independent agent of free-thinking, "free will"!

The best hiding place for such damned souls? Why, religion, of course! Where else could man find all the ammunition to self-destruct by auto-stoning (the hills falling on them!)? This is the "Form of Godliness" which "denies the power thereof (the Holy Spirit)" (2 Tim 3:5) which Jesus warned CANNOT be forgiven! How do you warn of such "captivation of nonchalance" ("lethal shrug")? After all, there are none so deaf as those who will not "Shama"! Mat 18:16-18 (Jesus) "But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Pretty scary stuff, huh?

I Cor 10:12 "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." What better hiding place for pride than indifference? Even Paul himself was "afraid" of this "creeping paralysis" of unbelief; I Cor 9:27 "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." Jesus did not allow Paul to become "puffed up"! He gave him his "flesh-thorn" for just that reason, remember? God grant us too such "irritation", "proddings", or "chastisements" as will not "allow" us to slip into such insignificant disregard of Him with a callous shrug! - Lord, KEEP us close! Amen!