It’s not pleasant to buck an evil world system that also includes a religious system, It is uncomfortable to face the mixture of half-truths that have infiltrated and compromised the Church by that same system. It’s not easy to face our own propensity to live from our human wisdom and understanding, from our own self-effort and works. 

Paul wrote a prayer to the churches throughout central Turkey. This prayer is our response to those teaching deception and to those who are deceived:

I pray a release of blessings flowing from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus—blessings of undeserved kindness, peace, health, prosperity, and total well-being.The Anointed Messiah offered His soul as a sacrifice for our sins.

Just as God desired, Jesus has taken us out of this evil world system and set us free through our salvation. Throughout all time and eternity, all the glory will go to God alone (see Galatians 1:3-5).

Paul went on to write that he was in shock at how quickly the churches had strayed away from the Anointed One. They had distorted the gospel of salvation with human works. Their message of grace was mingled with law, confusing the people with lies. It was a fake “gospel” and simply not true ((see Galatians 1:6-7). 

We too must have real conversations with each other, and wrestle with our false beliefs, and with what God judges to be true and right. Grace meets our deception head on. Grace is God’s message. We must allow beauty to come from the ashes.

As I read these Scriptures and the seriousness behind them, I am drawn even more to the simplicity of trust in the shed Blood of Jesus. We are blessed with the Father’s extravagant mercy and grace in light of the seriousness of sin—so serious, Jesus became the sacrificial lamb. He bought and paid for what we owed, without compromising truth and justice.