Deuteronomy 16-23: Culture vs. Christianity

Deuteronomy 18:9-14   When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.  10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,  11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.  12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.  13 Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.  14 For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

     It seems from this passage that the dichotomy of  culture and Christianity has existed long before any of us came on the scene.  The world and the nominally religious crowds cry out for the church to seek cultural relevance at the expense of clear biblical teachings.  But what does God say?

     As Israel prepares to go into the land of Canaan God gives them instructions on how to deal with the cultural differences they will encounter.  In verse nine Israel is instructed not to learn the ways of the nations among which they will find themselves.  They are warned that the culture of the Canaanite is saturated with occultist and demonic influences.  The evidence of these negative influences upon the people is brought to light with the allusion to the fact that the people are even sacrificing their children to the demonic beings they are worshiping as gods.

     So how does this affect our dealings with the culture of America as Christians today?  Well, it seems that the voices that are calling for a desertion of biblical principles and practices to minister in this culture are not the Voice from Heaven.  We are reminded here that culture is nothing more than man's wisdom under demonic direction in verse fourteen.  Let us choose the wisdom of God revealed in the Scriptures as our guide.  Many say this difference from the culture will make the church irrelevant.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Our ministry is to make those in the culture new creatures through the power of the Gospel.  What better way is there to declare the glory of a changed life than living it!

Daily Devotional: Romans 2:5-11  God's Judgment Explained