Which of these would you say is most important? According to Solomon there is much to consider here.Proverbs 29: 23- 27 gives us a clear picture of the two opposing motives. Verse 24 says whoever is a partner with a thief hates his own life,He swears to tell the truth but reveals nothing.25 The fear of man brings a snare ,But whoever trust in the Lord shall be safe. My wife and I have had a front row seat for this reality for two years running.We have engaged concerns over those in THIS snare and watched people we love and trust be everything but honest.This is heart breaking but true.

So here is the tension- we are in the world but not of it. We are called to be Salt and Light and separate from sinners and yet FRIEND of sinners as was /is Jesus.We can all be glad for that divine disposition .But how do Christians navigate the above mentioned  divided ? There seems to be found a virtual battlefield of dead evangelical bodies giving stark testimony to our failure in this endeavor.Yet we refuse to learn from others mistakes and missteps. The resulting train wreck is getting hard to watch.The Biblical Evangelical -though perhaps as yet unaware- is watching the standard of Faithful- God ONLY Fearing Christian testimony all but vanish from our cultural and church landscape. Why- Fear of Man-Partnership with (the ) THIEF -and seeking the rulers favor when justice for man comes from the Lord.(vs 24,25,26). The church is being led into the SNARE of political correctness- The SNARE of being mainstream-The SNARE of not being disliked- The SNARE of not being “with it”on the latest wave of culturally relevance driven evangelical self marketing motif .And we are drowning in a sea of SELF. In the US- America is burning and we are hanging cool drinking Latte and espousing our preferred systematic theology .

Here is what we missed. vs 27. The unjust man is an abomination to the righteous ( so why do we fear him or want to be his partner or appease him) and He who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked ( so why would he/she outside the faith want to be our pal? They really don’t we just – out of fear hope that they do). Abomination is a strong word .One we FEAR using these days.Friendship with the world is enmity with God -James 4:4 and Even our carnal mind whose reasoning got us in this mess is enmity against God.Romans 8:7 .What is the cure? A man’s PRIDE will bring him low,But the humble in spirit will retain honor.If we do not humble ourselves and do major course correction then we will lose BOTH FAITH and FACE. The leaders of many today’s evangelical churches and denominations are caught in this SNARE . Pray for them but do not follow them off the cliff if they are unwilling to humbly admit they are wrong. WE must ALL give account- Fear the Lord- only let HIM be your dread .