We humans, well…..we’re just plain crazy. We manifest our zaniness in multiple ways. We are scared of eating sushi yet we pay big bucks to ride on roller coaster that propels us against gravitational pull and high speeds. We buy things of lower quality to save a few bucks and then charge that purchase on a credit card that has a high interest rate.

Sometimes, in our supposed intelligence we’re just plain……SILLY!

The area where I most notice this duplicity is in realm of faith. I am not proclaiming views as right and wrong, but let’s be real – with the same-sex marriage, gun control, and even abortion debates there is PLENTY of duplicity. “God Hates Fags” being held by a church member who also swears that the sign is showing love to his neighbor because, if he “didn’t know the truth, he wouldn’t know he was going to hell”.

But this post is not really about political duplicity in the context of religion as noted above. Because, I feel there is a much more dangerous threat of duplicity in our lives, especially in our churches. And it scares the hell out of me, no pun intended.

You see, in the last year I have been taught from very loving and caring people some of the following concepts:

Idea #1 – It’s important to use your words to share the truth, even if what you have to share is not “politically correct” or is “viewed as judgment”.

Idea #2 – It’s important to NOT give satan power by using or believing words that are lies.

Let me give you examples of both of the above so that you can understand them in context.

Context of Idea #1 – We need to tell church members that they’re not doing enough to be considered a “good Christian”.  Francis Chan likens this to being a lukewarm Christian, that which will be spit out from God’s mouth as noted in Revelation.  

This concept is great in many ways, of course.  Show me faith without works and all that.  The pastor in question went on to say that we ALL should not only seek out the truth, but not be afraid of it.  His example was that when you go to take your car to the dealership to be repaired and the brakes need to be replaced, you want to know the truth and details so you can address it.  Or when we go to the doctor, to get the real news about what’s up.  You do not want the dealership, or your doctor for the matter, to tell you “good” news if the news is really bad.  You want the truth so that you can deal with it appropriately.  More on this topic in a minute. 

Context of Idea #2 – Satan wants us to believe lies so that they can take hold in our lives.  For example, falling for the lie that you have cancer; if you verbalize this if you’re told it will take hold.  Satan lies about illness and we, as Christians, have been healed by our Lord and Satan wants to get us to buy into the doctor’s lie about illness in our life.

This concept, when presented in a way that is encouraging, can really get people fired up.  It reminds us in many ways about how much we don’t trust in our Lord and believe in His power!  It tells us to lean not on our own understanding but trust and WALK in the power of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  It becomes more problematic, however, when a person progresses in the diagnosis.

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And here is my point – how can we both seek the truth AND deny what is told to us?  Given the above scenarios, how can you get the truth about the diagnosis, for example, and then immediately refute it as a lie from Satan?  Even if you do refute it as a lie from hell, if you get treatment from your doctor, isn’t that sort of giving into the Satanic lie that the illness is really there?  And if you DON’T get treatment, then what?  Why even go to the doctor to get “the truth” in the first place?  Further, I have seen where the teaching of #2 cause good, honest, but scared Christians to even SHARE that they’ve been diagnosed with cancer or other serious illnesses because they are afraid that having people even THINK the words would give a stronghold to Satan to push the illness in their lives.

This not-so-sublte duplicity – seek the truth and then push it away for fear of allowing Satan to run with it – is damaging to so many lives.  To say in one breath “you need to know what to pray for or ask prayers on” while also saying “don’t you claim in word that you have cancer!  don’t you dare do it” is DUPLICITOUS!  It is mean.  It is painful.  It is dangerous.

I bring cancer into the mix because I have lost 6 lives to cancer in the last two years.  In my own walk I have feared asking for prayers from some of my sisters and brothers in Christ for this very reason; I was tired of being told that I was propagating the illness by my insisting that the doctors were correct with their diagnosis.  I felt both insulted and as if I relied too heavily on my intelligence and not enough on my faith.  I seriously QUESTIONED my faith!  And that of my loved ones – both in my family and in my church – who got more sick with each passing day.

And yet, when the deaths came, the words changed to “God just wanted them in heaven”.  That’s a whole different duplicity, because hello – we are ALL going to die someday right?

But I digress.

Let’s just stop putting these rules on life people.  Let’s stop putting parameters on faith.  When someone is scared, don’t pummel them with indirect chastisements because they lack the amount of faith they should have (by saying they have cancer, or admitting they’re scared, or for throwing out the F word right after the C word, or anything else).  Let’s remember that Jesus Christ CRIED and BEGGED God to take away the needed death He was facing.  He was so freaked out that He sweat blood!  Let us have those moments of fear and begging out to God without your judgment and supposed “God Hates Illness” signs.  Stop insisting we cannot speak our fears audible or share facts received by medical doctors with intelligence provided by God by saying we are putting more faith in doctors than the Bible and God which says we were healed by the stripes Jesus took.  (Again, not to say we weren’t healed, or can’t be healed of cancer, but saying “hey, my doctor says I have cancer” doesn’t negate a dang thing).

Anyway, I am getting fired up and that means I am no longer logically approaching this subject, so I will leave it at that.  Feel free to comment about how wrong I am.  This is a free country and, to avoid being duplicitous, I don’t want to tell you not to use your words.  🙂