People of the holiness church often like to say that “we have the full truth” or “we live by the entire Word of God.” Today’s holiness church, however, is a pitiful, powerless copy of its former self.  She is like a lion with no teeth. There is a mouth full of words with no courage to back those words up. As a matter of fact, much of the holiness church is full to overflowing with a form of godliness without even half a particle of power – not even enough power to obey the Word they love to talk about so much.

There was a time when saints of the holiness church believed the Word of God and took His instruction seriously. The Word instructs us not to let our good be evil spoken of (Romans 14:16). The saints used to take that to heart and governed every part of their lives accordingly; taking care not to allow anything they said or did to be evil spoken of. For example, when people used to see someone walking and offer them a ride, the saints would not drop you off at the liquor store or the nearest place of ill-repute. It would not be a sin to offer a ride to one in need, however, they were not going to place themselves in a position that could possibly taint their reputation as a child of God – AND they were not going to strengthen the hand of the evil doer in ANY way, shape, or form. It might not have been a sin for them to do a particular thing, but for the sake of association with a sinful world they would not do it. The saints of yesterday would not allow themselves to become choked to death by their Christian freedom; in other words, they would not give the devil a stick to beat them with.

Today, sadly, many of the holiness church have sat this command on the shelf to collect dust with other divine instructions they don’t like. Now “believers” don’t believe actions send a message that prove or disprove their confession of faith; they don’t care what anyone thinks, including God. We may not actually do the wrong thing but we will buy the tools for one who does. We have laid wisdom down to walk gently among fools.

God’s Word tells us to AVOID the VERY APPEARANCE OF EVIL (1 Thessalonians 5:22). There was a time when the holiness church took this so seriously that they would literally AVOID THE VERY APPEARANCE OF EVIL. If it looked wrong they would not do it. If it could be misconstrued as wrong they would not do it.  If there was any possibility of being associated with the wrong thing they would not do it. They didn’t dress immodestly because they avoided the very appearance of evil. They didn’t allow their children to live like sinners, because they avoided the very appearance of evil. Some things might not have been a sin but they opted not to do it or participate in it because they avoided the very appearance of evil. They did not celebrate sin because they avoided the very appearance of evil; they didn’t want to send the message that sin was okay.

Today, this instruction has been tossed out of the window in favor of appeasing people and “loving” individuals straight to hell. We fall all over ourselves to support that which is shameful in the eyes of God under the guise of [false] love and not wanting to drive sinners away. Oh we will talk about what’s right but not stand up for what’s right when and where it counts. We will speak against what the world is doing but turn right around and cause confusion, placing the church in a bad light by bringing blatant worldliness into the house of God. We totally ignore the instruction to avoid the very appearance of evil; we don’t say anything, and we even have the nerve to participate! We take part with a smile and haven’t the guts to stop the madness and take a stand for righteousness. We sit back with our lips tight and give silent approval to evil doers. What on God’s green earth is wrong with us?!?! Why have we put our Bible’s down and picked up the playbook of fools?

Gutless wonders are what comprise the superficial holiness church of today, from the pulpit to the door! What do we expect to say to God when holy people of the recent past have taken a stand for righteousness and suffered the consequences of severed relationships, spit in their faces, bodily harm and threats to their lives? What do weak-kneed saints today expect to say in the face of those who have lost jobs and suffered severe persecution because they, having INTEGRITY as children of God, refused to back down on their stand for righteousness? What are we going to say to God, in the face of such witnesses, for carrying our do/say nothing stools with us everywhere we go?

We must pick up our backbones! We are supposed to have holy boldness, but we cower down to sinners as though we have something to apologize for! We forget that we have been instructed to LIFT JESUS UP and HE will draw all men. We are not to do the drawing but to let the light of Christ shine BRIGHT in the midst of darkness. And it is a crying shame that what we do now is hold up the flash light but don’t even have the intestinal fortitude to turn the thing on!!! We don’t want to offend? We don’t want to upset? We don’t want to drive people away from us, but we don’t mind driving them to hell? These are the souls of men, women, and children we are dealing with so carelessly.  Our calling as believers in CHRIST will sometimes offend and upset. That is what the TRUTH does! I will even go so far as to say that it will sometimes be said that we drive others away. The truth drives those with dark hearts, those who don’t want the light, away!  Those who don’t desire Christ or who haven’t the mettle to walk with Him will most definitely be driven away by the message and the stand. Jesus said lift Him up and HE will draw. That tells me that Jesus knows what to do and how to do it. We aren’t to be so concerned with who walks away. We are to make sure that we do not give them an excuse through our compromise and watered down gospel.

I am sure what is passing for holiness today is disgusting to God and stinks in His nostrils. We must get back to our foundation as HOLY people of God. We must give up this weak-kneed, pseudo-holiness that we have adopted. Pull your Bible out, dust it off, read it, and determine to obey what God has instructed within its pages, no matter who doesn’t like it – be they family, friend, or foe. The time is over for this namby pamby American Christianity and it’s pusillanimous (chicken-hearted) christians.

Juanita Deloris