Time Magazine’s article “Redefining Torture” reignited the sobering reality in my mind that the world we once knew has changed forever. A series of leaked legal memos has revealed that since late 2001 the Administration has been quietly but fundamentally reshaping America’s stance on torture…. The memos meticulously list all the laws against torture – then offer methods of evading them.
Time, June 21, 2004. Though the White House downplays it, there is no doubt a developing shift in the way America handles its enemies.
I’ve noticed that the idea of redefining terms is not unique to the American government. Restructuring long-held definitions happens in churches, too. In order for leaders to support compromise, definitions of terms must change. For example, in order to support the idea that we cannot overcome sin until Jesus comes again, they must redefine who Jesus was. They falsely assert that Jesus was like Adam before the fall and therefore cannot be our example in overcoming.
But the changes don’t stop there. In order to support this false view of the nature of Christ, there has to be a redefinition of sin. Sin is now by nature, not by choice. You were born guilty. Thus Jesus could not have been like us, or He would have been guilty, too. Logically, one would eventually have to conclude that Jesus could not have been born of a woman quite like us. And then the nature of Mary is redefined, et cetera.
We have redefined many terms including legalism, victory, obedience, perfection, worship, modesty, jewelry, Sabbath, inspiration, prophecy – and the list goes on.
Even among those of us who believe the truth, there are times when we personally redefine what we think God means, especially when we want to compromise. In fact, even though some support the truth doctrinally, they have strong emotional feelings against those who who take God’s Word as it reads concerning standards like dress, social relationships, sports, etc. They claim that these things are peripheral.
But God doesn’t change. Principles don’t change. If we are going to come into full harmony with heaven, we have to take God’s Word as it reads, not redefine it, restructure it, or relegate it to some other era.
When the threefold union spoken of in Revelation fully connects, every principle of our constitution will be repudiated (5T 451). Torture is a likely possibility, friends. The same satanic spirit that in the Dark Ages consigned men and women to prison, to exile, and to the stake, that conceived the exquisite torture of the Inquisition, … is still at work with malignant energy in unregenerate hearts.
(RH, January 16, 1900).
When this crisis comes—and it is very soon upon us—will you be in the habit of personally redefining what God’s Word says in order to justify compromise? We must be loyal stewards of God’s Word now and live by its principles now, so that we will be faithful when called upon to sacrifice for it.
