RECOGNIZING HIDDEN SIN

As we prayed on Wednesday evening, considering the possibility of sin in the camp at cciph, three sources of hidden sin were revealed to me. They are all evil spirits that disguise themselves so as to cause us to not recognize them. Yet, such sin unconfessed and unrepented of can kill us and steal our joy.

Generational Sins. Generational sins are sins that have been in our family, sins that we have more or less inherited. Perhaps Father was an alcoholic or Mother was a worrier, Grandpa gave way to fits of rage or Grandma was depressed. Psychologically, these can be described as learned behaviors, or spiritually, as familiar spirits. Either way, we often don't see them as sins because it is the "normal" life that we grew up in. It seems that the biblical way of dealing with these generational sins is to confess the sins of our parents, our grandparents, and our families, and to consciously forsake the sins of our heritage. Jesus said that we are to hate our father and mother compared to our love for Him. Perhaps recognizing their sins is a start.

Cultural Sins. Cultural sins are those that permeate our society, sins that have become part of the atmosphere in which we live. Men visit pornographic websites and women watch daytime TV drama, everyone watches movies and listens to top 40 radio unquestioningly, and all people in our culture seem to lie and cheat on their taxes and greedily pursue gain and make ethical compromises. Again, we live with consciences unpricked because no one around us seems to consider it to be sinful. But the Bible seems to be clear on this one, too: Just because the entire nation has decided that wrong is right, that doesn't make it right. God will judge American society, not approve of it because the majority decided it was okay. He calls, "Come out of her and be free!"

Religious Sins. Religious sins may be the most unrecognized of all within the church. A religious spirit seems to invade organized religion in every generation with smug self-righteousness, judgmentalism, legalistic righteousness, and holier-than-thou hypocrisy. Our lives are filled with control, hatred and bigotry, and we can't even recognize it because all of the seemingly holy people at church are the same way. We actually reward the biggest hypocrites, awarding them places of honor and leadership (by giving them "control" and "power"), because they are the best actors in our assemblies. Jesus was merciful on the prostitutes and tax collectors, but he was uncompromisingly harsh toward the religious leaders of his day. Why was our Lord so hard on them? It is because they were dead and couldn't even see it. Theirs is the blackest judgment of all. We are called to see the spirit of religion among us and cast it out in Jesus' name.

"LORD, I see familiar spirits in my life, and I confess to you the sins of my parents and my extended family. I recognize that I have been soft on sin because I have bought into a cultural permissiveness in areas that Your Holy Spirit has told me are wrong. And I know that your Bride is corrupted by pride and hypocrisy, and I am chief among the hypocrites, for I love the reputation of being a holy man. I agree with you about these sins that they lead to death, and I accept again Your gift of life in Jesus' name. Amen."