Too Much Salt Ruins A Good Steak

There are two Greek words in the Bible (akatastasia and synchyseos) that surround one idea (confusion / mayhem) that should be taken into consideration when we discuss diversity or what the modern culture calls tolerance and what they consider acceptable nowadays. By understanding these words and how the modern world relates to them will allow us to better understand why today’s “diversity” and "tolerance" or the accepting of everything under the sun is actually a bad thing. 

The first word is ἀκαταστασία / akatastasia and it is found in James 3:16 and 1 Cor. 14:33.

1 Corinthians 14:33 for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

James 3:16 ~ “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.”

In 1 Corinthians it is translated confusion and in James it is translated disorder. It is actually a compound Greek word formed from (a) meaning not, (kata) meaning down and (stasis) meaning stand/steady. Together it means "cannot remain steady". It literally means something is unstable or it is an instability brought on by disorder.

A nearly identical word is found in Acts 19:29.

Acts 19:29 ~ “The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.”

The word confusion in Acts 19 is actually συγχύσεως / synchyseos and is often translated tumult or uproar and means to pour or mix together. When used in this context it means to trouble, stir up or agitate (people in particular). So at its root we see the idea of pouring different things together to the point that they can no longer be separated just like we saw the crowds in Acts 19 when they got a hold of Paul and his companions. Here is where this idea applies to us today.

Our society prides itself on multiculturalism and unity in our diversity. There are many cases where this interacting is a good thing. True diversity is indeed an asset to not only the Body of Christ but also our nation. One man’s weakness can be another man’s strength. Additionally, gasoline in the right environment can make a vehicle go but used incorrectly or with evil intent and it can be used to make a Molotov cocktail. Mixing and using differences can always be used to suit God’s good purposes. Just like anything else that the Devil can counterfeit, it can be used for destructive ends…even subtly. This is where the word diversity and confusion begin to fuse together and become almost indistinguishable. It takes a diversity of people mixed chaotically together to cause a confusing uproar.

It is here we see that there are types of melding that just shouldn’t take place. The reason they shouldn’t be mixed is because they cause chaos, not unity. They cause disunity and mayhem. It is the exact idea gleaned from 1 Corinthians 14:33 and the fact that God is not a God of confusion. By removing God from the equation, disorder and chaos reign. The absence of God’s presence allow it to happen. God Himself is order and maintains order. So to remove Him from any given situation is to produce disorder. The restraint of God’s grace is removed and the sin and evil of man enters in its place like a spiritual vacuum. This is exactly what we see in Acts 19. It is also what we see in Luke 21:9 which is the description of the destruction of the Temple in the End Times. It is idea in the word translated uprisings. In the End Times when people ignore or turn away from God…there will be more war, disorder and confusion. Chaos will reign.

Luke 21:9 ~ “When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”

We saw the mingling of the Israelites with the original inhabitants of the Promised Land. This in turn led to the chosen people reverting back to pagan worship. We saw it also when Solomon married pagan wives. What we read in the Bible about the Canaanites and other people surrounding Israel were that they were workers of iniquity. They were not the friendly neighbors next door unless the next door neighbors were Satanists or purveyors of human sacrifice. 

These neighboring people also routinely attacked the Israelite people. In Numbers 25 and 31 we see the Israelites had joined with the Moabites and Midianites to commit fornication to idols. Here mixing wasn’t only bad…it had been forbidden. God eventually calls for destruction of the pagan people (and eventually His own people). When we see Solomon, we see a man that does the same. Unfortunately, he is the king of the entire nation of God's chosen people.

Another absolute must is that light should have nothing to do with darkness or truth with untruth or confusion ensues.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 ~ “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

The idea of being unequally yoked together means to be "joined in participation toward a common goal" by two disparate people. It is the idea of joining two things together that are spiritually incompatible. Not all religious fellowship is pleasing to God. It displeases God when fellowship involves the wrong people as we saw in the Old Testament. In the same vein, when joining two spiritual ideas together we should see the same incompatibility. Taken to the extreme we can see how even double-mindedness and incompatible thoughts are bad news (2 Cor 10:3-4). 

The same idea applies today when people pick and choose what they wish to adhere to or obey in the Bible. Murder is viewed as bad…except if it is in a mother’s womb and the mother doesn’t wish to bring the unborn child to term. Then in is called tolerance of that woman’s wishes and she is allowed to have her choice (See what I did there?). Love is viewed as good no matter how the people match up or whom they engage in relationships with. Homosexuality and mix-and-match gender relationships are okay with the culture even though the Bible calls them sexual immorality outside of heterosexual marriage (I did it again). Not all mixing is acceptable regardless of what a pluralistic sexually immoral society says.

Finally, we have the mixing and confusion caused by the mixing of word definitions as I just showed above. In our society…no one can be wrong. It is only acceptable or tolerant to allow everyone their viewpoint or opinion and society says that we have to accept all as valid truth claims. This is where mixing and matching of truths just does not work (neither in logic, nor in reality). Those bent on immorality will merely change word meanings to make their sin less sinister sounding or even try to make their sin sound good. Murder is now “pro-choice” and sexual immorality is now “alternative lifestyle”. Call it whatever you want…depravity is still depraved.

In any given context, only one truth can be true. It is an issue of agreement or disagreement of terms that allows the above twisting of language to take place. Our society in its push to get everyone’s opinions accepted has allowed all definitions of word meanings in these arenas. In formal logic it is called The Law of ID or The Law of Identity. The failure to adhere to this rudimentary logic causes a fallacy called an equivocation. That is to say, people try to use the same words/terms in the same discourse while having signify different senses or meanings–even though the different meanings are conventionally prescribed to that term. In our case for this post “love” means “immoral sexuality” and “abortion murders” are called a woman’s right to “chose”. This mixing of meanings causes, among other things, confusion and disorder. So…if this is what’s happening in our culture and worldwide and it is causing a tumult, is it of God?

Answer: No. So where is truth? I already told you, its in the Bible...and I didn't equivocate.

The truth is this folks....real truth is in the Bible. Anything that stands opposed to the truth of Scripture is not of God. Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Start in the Scripture whenever in doubt and odds are you will end up with less confusion. Christians are not to mingle with those that perform deeds of wickedness.

Ephesians 5:11 ~ “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”

In the end our attempts in evangelism to try and mingle the Word with the world to get our message out comes at a cost. The more we put the culture, science, worldly philosophies into our messages and sermons, the more we depend on the culture, science and worldly philosophies to convey our message. The truth is exclusive and it doesn’t need mixing. The Gospel worked fine for 2000 years. Do we really think it needs to change to adapt to the culture now? Every time we piggyback things into the Gospel to make it more pleasing to the world we only end up watering it down, or diverting attention from it. We end up showing people that the message of the Gospel is not quite enough. Like gold, sometimes things are most valuable when they are most pure. Like believers, sometimes when things are emptied of all their unnecessary filler, they are most useful. 

Sometimes…mixing too much salt can ruin a good steak.

#boyertownministry, #andypierson, #pottstownministry,#souljournaler,#jesuschrist, #biblical, #scripture, #christian, #salvation, #jesus