Don’t Be Like The Great Gray Owl: Stand Out For The Kingdom!

 




 
 
 
“God designed the great gray owl as a master of camouflage. Its silver gray feathers have a collective pattern of coloring which allows it to blend into the bark when perched in trees. When the owls want to remain unseen, they hide in plain sight, blending into their environment with the help of their feathery camouflage.
 
God’s people are often too much like the great gray owl. We can easily blend into the world and remain unrecognized as believers in Christ, intentionally or unintentionally.”
 
 
----Reverend Patti, Daily Scripture Series [1]
 
 
The reason why far too many professing Christians are like the great gray owl of which the featured item speaks is because they are afraid of being ridiculed for their faith, discriminated against, losing their job or livelihood, being socially ostracized even by friends and family, or they fear civic punishment, violence against themselves and their families, torture, and even death to themselves or to those whom they hold dear.
 
And those entrusted with teaching the full counsel of the divinely inspired scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16) either do not teach it in full, or even worse, don’t even teach it at all and teach things even contrary to what the scriptures by which the Gospel message of salvation and every teaching, instruction and doctrine of our faith are delivered.
 
Or they attempt to harmonize worldly wisdom with the teaching of scripture under the misguided thinking that doctrines and teachings opposed to one another can be reconciled together or they do not believe that the scriptures are sufficient enough to address all things that pertain to this present life but it is not always what is being taught that is the problem but what isn’t being taught and the reason why there are things that ought to be taught but which are not but are being avoided is because the Pastors, teachers, professors, evangelists, and seminarians and anyone else entrusted with the preaching of the Gospel and the teaching of the Word of God value the favor of men rather than the favor of God and fear men more than they fear God and rather than risk offending their audiences with the full counsel of God’s Word, they would rather speak to them those things by which they will not risk offense or controversy when the faith they claim to hold to and the scriptures to which they profess to adhere are by nature offensive but not for the sake of offending but because they rebuke the pride and self-righteousness of men, they challenge what men believe to be truth, expose the things of darkness, and call men to turn away from those things deemed evil in the eyes of God lest they should come under a severe, devastating, and terrifying judgment.
 
Most seem to think that the growth of a congregation is evidence of the success of the Church but never consider that it is not success if their congregations are filled with unrepentant unregenerated souls.
 
Instead condemning the wicked deeds and policies of political leaders, they remain silent.
Instead of calling men to repent of their sins, they affirm their sins.
Instead of holding their members accountable for ungodly living, behavior, conduct, and for the false doctrines that they bring into the midst of the congregations, they tolerate and even affirm their sins and false doctrines and they do so in the name of love, tolerance and unity, claiming that they do not want to address topics and matters that they claim to cause division and controversy for fear of losing members and an audience and for fear of less funds in the bank account or offering plate.
 
We may hear much about the love and mercy of God as we should, but we do not hear about the righteousness and holiness of God enough nor do we really understand what that means, nor do we hear many explaining to us what sin is, its origins, and the consequences thereof, the need for repentance and redemption and why Jesus is the only way to redemption, and while we may hear much about Heaven and why we should want to be there, we do not hear much about Hell and why we don’t want to be there.
 
People within the Church are not being taught as much about godly living as they should be.
When the Gospel is presented, the need for repentance is not explained in many cases.
The matter of sin is often avoided as is any preaching against those things sinful in the eyes of God such as LGBT behavior, abortion, false doctrine, fornication, adultery, witch craft, occultism, idolatry, lying, thievery, covetousness, harboring hatred, unforgiveness; anything that damns the soul to Hell for all eternity and there be many within the body of Christ doing at least one or more of those things who are not being held accountable nor purged from their respective congregations, nor are they being called to turn away from these things and therefore remain in error and then go forth to perpetuate those same errors and even worse ones.
 
Many professors of the faith will not even make it known that they are followers of Christ nor attempt to persuade as many as they can to repentance and when faced with the risk of any degree of persecution for their faith or standing for righteousness against evil, they will capitulate rather than take a firm stand probably because many of them  In a previous blogpost, I wrote about the sad case of professing Christian soccer player Korbin Albert who had initially shared some posts condemning LGBT behavior but after being castigated, deleted the posts and issued a public apology. [2]
 
Where is the faith and courage of the first century Church whose member were willing make whatever sacrifices were necessary to make sure that the message of redemption would be heard by as many as possible and persuade as many to repentance as they possibly could?
Where is that Apostolic dedication to preserving within the body of Christ the purity of doctrine and instruction in godly living? Where is their commitment to the diligent study of scripture and reliance on the sufficiency thereof?
 
Where is the faith and courage of the reformers who opposed the errant teachings, doctrines, and creeds of a spiritually tyrannical Roman Catholic Church who risked their lives, and in some cases, even gave their lives, to ensure that the scriptures which were confined to a language most people did not understand were translated to the common tongues of men so that they would be able to read the Word of God for themselves and thus hold accountable the false and errant teachings of the clergy?
 
How can we hope to make an impact on our society, culture, and nation for the glory of God if we just simply blend in with the rest of the world?
How can we hope and pray for a revival if we are too cowardly and faithless to be a part of it?
 
How can we show ourselves to be a people of courage if we allow ourselves to fear the threats and possibility of even the most lightest forms of persecution such as ridicule or the loss of a relationship? If we cannot stand firm against verbal ridicule and castigation and if we are not willing to risk the loss of relationships and even social ostracization on account of our faith in and dedicated service to Christ, then how can we be expected to even lay down our lives for His name’s sake if called upon to do so?
 
How can we show ourselves to have our hope in the next world to come if we fear death?
How can we show that Jesus is our first love when we are not willing to relinquish friends, family, and even spouses and children for His name’s sake should their animosity towards our faith become such as to place us in that position?
How can we show ourselves to value the favor and honor of God above all else when we fear men more than we fear God?
How can we show ourselves to be trusters in God to meet all of our needs when we are fearful of losing a job, career, or livelihood on account of our faith?
How can we call ourselves champions of righteousness and truth when we are afraid to preach it?
How can we claim to have our sites towards the things of Heaven when we are consumed with the temporal things of this present world?
And how can we possibly claim to be looking forward to the new and better world to come when we are placing our faith and hopes in the things of this present one?
 
Jesus prepared His disciples for the cost of following Him and the testimony of most them was sealed in blood but how well have has the leadership within the body of Christ today been preparing their congregants for the cost of following Christ? I doubt that much attention has been given attention to that subject because if it were, we might not have too many cowards within the body of Christ and I can promise you this: Those who choose to be like the great gray owl cited at the beginning of this post will not have any impact on the world.  It is only those who dare to stand out and defy the status quo in the name of Jesus whom they claim to follow and serve.
 
It is only the steadfast and unwaveringly courageous who will make an impact on the culture for the Kingdom of God because they fear God more than man,
they value His favor and honor above that of man,
they desire the eternal heavenly rewards and honors more than they do those of earth,
they seek to store up for themselves treasures in Heaven more than the temporal treasures of earth, and they fear the righteous judgments of God more than they do the wrath of man and the  temporal sufferings of the earth and because they would rather be judged of man and commended of God than to be condemned by God and commended by men.
 
For it is not men who will give the final rewards and sentences on the day of judgment, but it is God who is the Almighty Creator of the universe who will hand out the final honors and sentences on the day of judgment because it is God before whom all men will stand and have to give an account for all that has been said and done in this life; even the very thoughts, motives, and attitudes of the heart by which the things said and done are produced.
 
The mockers will be made into an eternal spectacle.
The slanderers will be subject to everlasting contempt.
The liars and deceivers will be exposed and put to an everlasting shame.
They who have ostracized the people of God will themselves be ostracized into an everlasting darkness wherein dwells no light.
They who deprive us of our possessions and wealth will themselves be deprived of both wealth and possessions for all eternity while the followers of Christ will be blessed with possessions and wealth of an everlasting nature.
They who bring us before the courts will find themselves before the courts of Heaven and be given their final sentence.
They who imprison us for our faith will find themselves in an everlasting prison filled with an unrelenting and unimaginable torment.
They who inflict violence and misery upon us will themselves be subject to a misery and punishment unending.
And they who shed our blood will one day find themselves subject to a living death filled with an astronomical amount of pain, grief, and suffering beyond anything that anyone can comprehend.
 
And they will see from afar off all the saints they had hated and persecuted in this present life in the Kingdom of Heaven in the presence of the Lord filled with an everlasting peace, happiness, contentment, and joy that is beyond imagining.
 
Souls are at stake.  The course of our nation is at stake.  Our freedoms are at stake and we who are in Christ have not begun to show as nearly enough concern for where those who have yet to repent are going to spend their eternity nor have we begun to show nearly enough concern for the direction that our nation is headed and before we can have a revival that impacts the nation and the world for that matter, there first has to be a reformation within the Church and one that restores our confidence in the divinely inspired scriptures,
that restores our faith in its sufficiency,
that instills in us a commitment to diligently read and study the Word of God on a regular basis, (2 Tim. 2:15)
that convicts Pastors, teachers, professors, seminarians, and other figures of influence within the body of Christ to commit themselves to teaching the scriptures in an authoritative fashion from the first verse in Genesis to the last verse in the book of Revelation and within their full counsel without imposing a rendering on the text to which the context thereof does not bear witness and without adding to or taking away from what God has spoken in His Word,
that prompts professing followers of Christ to pursue godliness and righteousness,
that leads congregations to no longer tolerate, affirm or celebrate sinful behavior or the preaching of false doctrine amongst their ranks but to hold members living in sin and bringing in false doctrines accountable, urging them to turn away from the sins they are harboring, and the falsehoods to which they hold, and if necessary, purging themselves of such members if they refuse to repent, (Mt. 18:15-17, 1 Cor. 5:1-8, 11, 13, 2 Cor. 11:3-4, 12-15, Gal. 1:6-9, 1 Tim. 1:19-20, 4:1-3, 7, 5:22, 6:3-5, 20-21, 2 Tim. 2:16-18, 23, Titus 1:10-16, 2:10, 11, 13, 2 Pet. 2, 3:15-16, 1 Jn. 4:1-3, 2 Jn. 2:10) until those members come to a state of repentance, (2 Cor. 2:1-11)
that instills a fear of God greater than the fear of man within the body of Christ (Mt. 10:28)
that produces within the body of Christ a love for God that is greater than a love for anything else, (Mt. 22:37-38)
that produces an unrelenting zeal for the Lord and all things that pertain unto him,
that inspires professing followers of Christ to in faith, confidence, and boldness to actively call as many to repentance to Christ as they can possibly persuade,
that leads them to place their faith in God to meet all of their needs rather than in the things of this world, (Mt. 6:25-33)
that causes them to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven before anything else (Mt. 6:33)
And to place their hopes in the new and better world to come that we are promised. (Rev. 21-22)
 
And when we see that kind of reformation take place within the Church, then we will see the Great Awakening for which we so long and hope for and then might we prolong the days of our nation until the day that we hear sound of the last trump and are caught away to meet our Savior in the air.  (1 Cor. 15:51-55, 1 Thess. 4:13-18)
 
But when the Church is caught up to meet its Savior Jesus Christ, then the darkest and most terrible time that the earth will ever know will begin for all they who have rejected the Gospel of salvation will face a judgment of the likes that has never come upon the earth in all its history and a day is coming when the wickedness of this world will reach a certain measure and when that measure is reached, Christ will call every saint on the earth up to be with Him for God has not subjected His people to wrath (1 Thess. 5:9) but has promised to keep them from that hour of testing that is to come upon the inhabitants who remain on the earth. (Rev. 3:10)
 
For though God takes no pleasure in judgment and punishment, a day is coming when He can no longer withhold that day in which all sin and all evil will be eliminated from the earth but that will require the elimination of all who persist to remain in their sins and take pleasure therein because in the world to come, there will be no sin and no evil, but only goodness, peace, joy, contentment, and happiness as God intended it to be in the beginning when He had first created the universe and everything in it.  For when God had made the heavens and the earth, there was at that time only peace, joy, happiness, and contentment.  There was no death, no evil, no sin, no decay, and no suffering, pain, nor any grief or misery of any sort and there was a perfect harmony between God, man, and nature but that harmony was disrupted when the first man Adam and the first woman Eve who was Adam’s wife ate a fruit from a tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  They had been warned that in the day that they ate that fruit that they would surely die (Gen. 2:16-17, 3:3) and it was in that day that as a result of that first act of disobedience, that sin entered into them and when sin entered into them, then so did death (Gen. 3:19) for it is by sin that death receives its power, but sin and death were not confined to just Adam and Eve, from whom all of mankind descend, but was passed down to all of us, because we all descend from them, (Rom. 5:12) for sin is not merely confined to an outward act or even wrongly and evil spoken words, it begins from within because it is an inward corruption that influences not only speech and actions, but also defiles our thoughts, darkens our hearts, corrupts our motives, and poisons our attitudes and because sin is the corrupted condition of our inward human nature that produces within us things that are contrary to what God created us to be and because of this corrupted condition, we all sin and as a consequence, we all die (Rom. 6:23) just as Adam and Eve did but the consequences of sin have not been kept confined to just man alone, but have, by way of a curse, been extended to all of creation which is why the creation groans and travails in pain to this day (Rom. 8:19-22) which is why the earth is filled with famines, sickness, disease, death, decay, misery, evil, suffering, hardship, cataclysms, grief, pain, and sorrow of every sort and severity but worst of all, our sin has made us to be estranged from our Creator for that which is sinless and incorruptible cannot join itself to that which is filled with corruption and sin and when we take time to examine ourselves before the Lord God Almighty and not just our acts and even the words we speak, but also every thought, motive, and attitude of our hearts, it is only then we begin to understand how we all fall short of the glory of God which (Rom. 3:23) which is moral perfection and why we are all in need of redemption by which also comes that inward transformation that makes us no longer a part of the figurative swamp though we still be in it and in His love and in His mercy, God has provided us redemption on our behalf in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who came to earth as a man to offer Himself up to death on our behalf and did so by His death upon the cross on which His blood was shed and by the death of Him in whom there is no sin (2 Cor. 5:21) was the demanded penalty for sin satisfied and mercy granted and after having offered Himself up as that needed perfect and unblemished sacrifice, (Heb. 7:26-27) He rose from the grave so that we may be made justified in Him by our faith in Him for the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of our souls (Rom. 4:25) from what would otherwise be an unimaginably agonizing terrifying, fearful, judgment and punishment filled with an unrelenting torment from which there is no relief day or night for that is what must be done with all sin and with those who remain in their sins, but those who call upon the name of Christ for the forgiveness of sins are saved from that judgment (Rom. 10:13) and are assured a place in Heaven and in the new and better world to come and with the forgiveness of sins comes the inward transformation of our souls (2 Cor. 5:17) and reconciliation to God from whom our sins had once separated us (2 Cor. 5:18) and it is that transformation that causes us to no longer desire to follow after selfish and worldly pursuits but after those things that pertain to the Kingdom of Heaven,
to no longer take pleasure in those things that are evil and displeasing in the sight of the Lord, but in that which is good, right, and pleasing in His sight,
to no longer desire to walk in the lies of this present world, but only in the truth that comes from Christ Almighty, (Jn. 14:6) no longer placing our hopes in the things of this present world, but looking forward to that new and better world to come, (Rev. 21-22)
to no longer rely on worldly resources, men, or even our own power, abilities, skills, and wisdom for our needs and provision but upon God who is able to meet all of our needs, recognizing that the resources of this world and even the people He brings into our lives are but instruments and vessels through which God meets our needs and that the skills, power, knowledge, and wisdom by which we might acquire our provision are provided and instilled in us by God, (Mt. 6:25-33)
to no longer fear what men can do to us, but rather fearing the God before whom we will have to one day give an account for how we lived our lives, (Mt. 10:28)
to no longer look to corruptible institutions within our society for direction and order in our lives but to God who, by His written Word has given us laws and precepts to be applied to our lives and which serve to produce and maintain an ordered life, and who, by His Holy Spirit which comes to dwell within us upon repentance, establishes in our lives a course and direction in our lives to pursue for His glory,
to no longer seek our own glory but the glory of God,
to no longer rally behind corruptible men, but instead behind the incorruptible God in Heaven bearing in mind that those men and women God raises up for our edification are but instruments and servants of His for that respective purpose to which He has called them,
to no longer seek to align ourselves with the things of darkness but only with the things of the light,
to no longer trust in the wisdom of the world but only on the wisdom and knowledge that comes from above, nor depend on corruptible earthly authorities to swiftly administer justice, but only in the power of God to deliver us from evil.
 
 
 
And just as our souls are made clean from sin, so one day also will we be liberated from bodily death when our bodies are transformed from that which is corruptible into that which is incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:51-55, 1 Thess. 4:13-18) for in that which is incorruptible dwells no sin and where no sin is, death is not.  And finally, creation itself will be delivered from the curse that came upon it because of sin when it is made anew into a creation in which there is no sin, no death, no curse, no decay, no evil, no pain, no grief, no misery, no sorrow, no hardship, nor any suffering of any kind but only peace, joy, harmony, and happiness before the Lord God Almighty. (Rev. 21-22)
 
 
If you have not done so already but are disgusted and fed up with the evil and falsehoods of this present world and yet lack the courage to take a firm stand against the status quo, then call upon the God who is able to give you the courage you need to take a firm unwavering stand for what is right and for what you know to be the very truth that comes from Him and of which He is also the source (Jn. 14:6) and if you find yourself concerned about the fate and future of this world and wish to escape the judgment that is to come upon this present world and want assurance that you will not be condemned to an eternity of unrelenting torment and have yet to call upon the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, then so that you will be forgiven of all your sins and redeemed from what would otherwise be a never-ending punishment, then I urge you reader to call upon the name of Jesus Christ today to forgive you of all of your sins.  It is but a simple prayer of repentance away:
 
 
 
"Lord Jesus I need you.
 
 
I realize that I am a sinner
who has fallen short of the glory of God
and that my goodness falls short
of your standard of Moral perfection.
 
Please forgive me of all of my sins.
Come into my heart and into my life
to be the Savior and Lord of my life.
Make me into the servant and follower
that you want me to be.
In your name Lord Jesus, I pray.
 
 
Amen."
 
 
Know that God is not concerned with the words that you use to call upon Him forgiveness, but with the attitude of your heart and if you have, with all sincerity, have asked Christ to forgive you of your sins, placing your trust in Him only for your salvation and in nothing else, then your sins are forgiven and your place in Heaven is certain.
 
 
 
End notes:
 
 
 
1.  Rev. Patti, “Daily Scripture Series,” No Thought Police, September 19, 2024
https://nothoughtpolice.home.blog/2024/09/19/daily-scripture-series-sept-19th-3/
 
2.  D.H. Manheim, “STOP APOLOGIZING FOR PREACHING THE TRUTH OF GOD!” Contender’s Edge, June 30, 2024
https://contendersedge.blogspot.com/2024/06/stop-apologizing-for-preaching-truth-of.html
 
 
 
 
Scripture references:
 
 
 
1.  2 Timothy 3:16
 
2.  Matthew 18:15-17,
 
3.  1 Corinthains 5:1-8, 11, 13
 
4.  2 Corinthians 11:3-4, 12-15
 
5.  Galatians 1:6-9
 
6.  1 Timothy 1:19-20, 4:1-3, 7, 5:22, 6:3-5, 20-21
 
7.  2 Timothy 2:16-18, 23
 
8.  Titus 1:10-16, 2:10, 11, 13
 
9.  2 Peter 2, 3:15-16
 
10. 1 John 4:1-3
 
11. 2 John 2:10
 
12.  Jude
 
13.  2 Corinthians 2:1-11
 
14.  Matthew 22:37-38
 
15.  Matthew 10:28
 
16.  Matthew 6:25-33
 
17.  Matthew 6:33
 
18.  Revelation 21-22
 
19.  1 Corinthians 15:51-55
 
20.  1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
 
21.  1 Thessalonians 5:9
 
22.  Revelation 3:10
 
23.  Genesis 2:16-17
 
24.  Genesis 3:3
 
25.  Genesis 3:19
 
26.  Romans 5:12
 
27.  Romans 6:23
 
28.  Romans 8:19-22
 
29.  Romans 3:23
 
30.  2 Corinthians 5:21
 
31.  Hebrews 7:26-27
 
32.  Romans 4:25
 
33.  Romans 10:13
 
34.  2 Corinthians 5:17
 
35.  2 Corinthians 5:18
 
36.  John 14:6