Milk Is The Cause of Cancer!

My wife and I were talking the other night about repentance and what it really means to repent. I understand this concept very well in my own heart. As the saying goes, "He who is forgiven much, loves much." But I often struggle to articulate the degree and severity that Jesus meant when He said, "Repent! For the kingdom of Heaven is near!" The Holy Spirit gave me a parable of sorts that night that says it more clearly than I have ever heard:

Let's say that I was able to definitively prove to you that the drinking of milk other than human was the direct cause of cancer as much as blood is the vehicle for transferring AIDS. Would you continue to drink milk? At all? Would you say, "I love milk, but I know it's bad for me, so I will start weening myself off slowly. This month I will drink only 10 glasses. Next month I will drink 9. And so on." This person would either have to be insane or they didn't actually believe the truth in the beginning. But it is true! So what would be the proper response? Stop drinking milk! Now! Then, I would start finding out what was made with dairy. Anything that had any dairy in it would be cut out of my diet.

This is the difference between a Paul-like conversion and the majority of 'Christians' I meet today. Many treat sin and purity flippantly. They assume that their life operates on their own time-table. They use grace as a scapegoat for sin.

"Sure you want to do good things and stay away from the bad. But we are all forgiven in the end anyway. Don't be so uptight about it. Enjoy your life and trust in Jesus"

These thoughts pass through a lot more heads than speak it. But there is an increasing number who are starting to speak it as well. Repentance means going out on the battlefield and defeating the enemy head on at the outset. And once the battlefield has been won you go throughout the towns and countryside routing out the enemy, leaving none alive. This is what repentance and the Christian walk should look like. Yes, you will be under constant attack from the flesh until the day you die. But you should be defeating the massive frontal enemy at the outset.

If a drug addict was trying to get clean the first step would be... stop taking drugs! Then he would begin routing out the causes of his drug addiction. The dealers, the co-dependents, the enablers. Then he would dig deeper and rout out the emotional causes of his drug addiction: depression, hurt, bitterness, regret, selfishness. In this way he would win the lifelong battle, but it begins by not taking the drugs! He can't say, "This month I will only take two hits of crack a day. And next month only one hit a day." That would be ridiculous! Everyone knows that wouldn't work and no one would believe he was serious about getting clean.

We all face the same battle and demon in varying ways. Stop sinning! Then find and cut out the things that make your sin possible. Then find out why you are committing the sin in the first place. This is the process of sanctification. This is holiness. Remember Jesus' words,

"If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."