Beware The Bypass
Author: Dr. Kris Jackson
Category: Popular Read
Publish Date: Mar 19, 2011
Views: 27148
Im putting out my own bright yellow warning road sign, Beware the bypass. We think the new freeway that zips around the outskirts of town means progress, but really, is it? I remember trips to Grandmas as a boy, a 210-mile drive that took all day traveling from central Nebraska to Iowa. Not as slow as Kumbanad to Trivandrum but two-lane nonetheless. US 34 went right down the main streets of dozens of little towns. The seven Jackson children had gams that we would play to bide the time. I especially remember playing word games with billboards and viewing the county courthouses on the city squares we would pass. Dad had his favorite gas station and hamburger joint where wd always stop. But then came Interstate-80 that bypassed all those little towns. Our six-hour drive shrunk to three and a half hours. Modern "progress" had done its job, just like it did for Radiator Springs in the Cars cartoon. Smalltown America has become a ghost town in the process. Driving down the bypass, we see an exit ramp and a water tower evidencing that there is a town over there somewhere but we never stop at the little hamburger joint on the way to Grandmas anymore.
I cant change the trend in society. The devils highway commission continues to build bypasses away from the strait and narrow way. In a supersonic age no wants their agenda to be slowed. So we bypass intimate relationships, bypass church attendance and in the process bypass God. Preachers today have bypassed sin. You wouldnt want to stir up a controversy by mentioning sin, holiness, heaven or hell. We appease sin, but dont oppose it. Monotonous monologues of ministerial mush are muttered from many pulpits today. Clear moral absolutes like thou shalt not steal or bear false witness are turned into vague generalities that leave the listeners confused and scratching their heads when they exit the church building. As the old fireball evangelist on Brankel used to say weve preached so much sugar and spice and everythings nice that weve given the Body of Christ a bad case of spiritual sugar diabetes! The strait and narrow way has been exchanged for a four-lane super-highway. Anything and everything goes now. The church is not just broad-minded nowadays, we are Broadway-minded!
This is the day of religious get-alongism. It claims that if John the Baptist would have kept his nose out of the governments business, he could have kept his neck out of the guillotine. We have called for a truce between light and darkness, but such a truce is not possible. The flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. Enough of this popgospel. It has less power than a popgun. Leonard Ravenhill thundered that the only place we should join the popularity contest is before the Judgment Seat of Christ.
We have bypassed old standards and old definitions. Even biblical words dont mean the same thing anymore. A liar is now just an extrovert with a vivid imagination. Pornography is adult entertainment. Homosexuality is an alternate lifestyle. Cheating and stealing are considered wise business savvy. Premarital sex is a trial marriage and alcoholism is just as disease. Funny how many millions of dollars are being spent to spread that disease! The problem is that weve bypassed the old standards. You hear it in todays youths language, lyrics, looks and likes. Dont justify as weakness what the Bible calls wickedness. Those who travel the bypass have left the main road. The new highway may be quicker but has anyone checked the map to see where it is going? I can say one thing in favor of the little one-lane road, what Jeremiah 6:16 calls the old path, it has taken tens of millions already to heaven and there are still many who are still on it. We dont need a revised roadmap. There are no detours on the old path, the bridge is never out, and the toll has already been paid at Calvary. I guess we could call it Route 66 as there are 66 books in the Bible. Observe the warning sign one more time, Beware the bypass, flip a U-turn if you must, get back on the strait and narrow way.
I cant change the trend in society. The devils highway commission continues to build bypasses away from the strait and narrow way. In a supersonic age no wants their agenda to be slowed. So we bypass intimate relationships, bypass church attendance and in the process bypass God. Preachers today have bypassed sin. You wouldnt want to stir up a controversy by mentioning sin, holiness, heaven or hell. We appease sin, but dont oppose it. Monotonous monologues of ministerial mush are muttered from many pulpits today. Clear moral absolutes like thou shalt not steal or bear false witness are turned into vague generalities that leave the listeners confused and scratching their heads when they exit the church building. As the old fireball evangelist on Brankel used to say weve preached so much sugar and spice and everythings nice that weve given the Body of Christ a bad case of spiritual sugar diabetes! The strait and narrow way has been exchanged for a four-lane super-highway. Anything and everything goes now. The church is not just broad-minded nowadays, we are Broadway-minded!
This is the day of religious get-alongism. It claims that if John the Baptist would have kept his nose out of the governments business, he could have kept his neck out of the guillotine. We have called for a truce between light and darkness, but such a truce is not possible. The flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. Enough of this popgospel. It has less power than a popgun. Leonard Ravenhill thundered that the only place we should join the popularity contest is before the Judgment Seat of Christ.
We have bypassed old standards and old definitions. Even biblical words dont mean the same thing anymore. A liar is now just an extrovert with a vivid imagination. Pornography is adult entertainment. Homosexuality is an alternate lifestyle. Cheating and stealing are considered wise business savvy. Premarital sex is a trial marriage and alcoholism is just as disease. Funny how many millions of dollars are being spent to spread that disease! The problem is that weve bypassed the old standards. You hear it in todays youths language, lyrics, looks and likes. Dont justify as weakness what the Bible calls wickedness. Those who travel the bypass have left the main road. The new highway may be quicker but has anyone checked the map to see where it is going? I can say one thing in favor of the little one-lane road, what Jeremiah 6:16 calls the old path, it has taken tens of millions already to heaven and there are still many who are still on it. We dont need a revised roadmap. There are no detours on the old path, the bridge is never out, and the toll has already been paid at Calvary. I guess we could call it Route 66 as there are 66 books in the Bible. Observe the warning sign one more time, Beware the bypass, flip a U-turn if you must, get back on the strait and narrow way.
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joy chembakasseril, u s a (March 21, 2011)
dr. kris jackson i just want to say hello to you, i did not get time to read your article but i promise i will read it in the coming days. i was listening you preaching in one of the previous conferences and i was very much moved by your speech. may the good lord use you more and more in the coming days for the furtherance of gospel. please do write more and more articles in our columns in future !
dr. kris jackson i just want to say hello to you, i did not get time to read your article but i promise i will read it in the coming days. i was listening you preaching in one of the previous conferences and i was very much moved by your speech. may the good lord use you more and more in the coming days for the furtherance of gospel. please do write more and more articles in our columns in future !
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Enjoyed the article! Amazing alacrity and allegory creates a memorable and enjoyable read. I re-read many parts of the article and could see myself nod in affirmation! Time to reset our GPS to that old country road and bypass the new toll gates thats eating up our pockets and souls!!