THE MAGIC SHOW

“We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”

– Hebrews 2:1

Let’s be honest, much of the modern church has fallen in love with the Vegas-style show. Churches everywhere have turned Sunday worship into a performance. Don't take my word for it, check out this facebook page >>HERE<< or visit their website https://disntr.com/

Many have traded theological depth for spectacle—smoke, lights, catchy slogans, charismatic performers, and emotionally charged moments that entertain but fail to convict sinners and urge them to repent. It may look "spiritual" to the ignorant, but it’s a hollow shell. It might "feel" like church to the simple, but it’s far from anything the Father in heaven desires.

The truth is, many churchgoers have unwittingly become cult members. They've grown comfortable and satisfied with lies. They've accepted the garbage that goes on and embraced feel-good messages over the soul-piercing truth of God's WORD. Many have made peace with alternative-gospels that gloss over sin, repentance, surrender, sanctification, and holiness—and now, they flinch, duck, fight, or flee when they hear the real thing.

When someone breaks the bubble of their illusion and speaks God’s unfiltered WORD, many don’t repent—they get offended. Sadly, they’re not angry at the exposed deception or their deceivers. Instead, they’re angry because their fantasy and delusions are ruined. Like the character, Cypher, in the movie THE MATRIX, they willingly choose the "blue pill" and opt to be reinserted into the lie. This isn't a dangerous place to live... It's Sheol. It is the way of death. It is the wide path that leads to eternal torment and destruction. God doesn't send people there, they choose it.

Anyone more concerned with the performance and production than the Person of Christ is already long adrift. The longer they float adrift, the closer they come to a shipwrecked faith.

Hebrews 2:1 gives a sober warning:

“We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”

Drifting doesn’t happen primarily in the storms, but in the stillness. The enemy seduces people into a false sense of utopian arrival. That's when people stop looking heavenward for the ANATOLE, the bright and morning star, that is Christ Jesus. That's when people abandon the Anchor behind the veil. It’s subtle. It’s quiet. And it’s deadly. Always.

That's why the Apostle Paul urged Timothy with such urgency in 1 Timothy 1:18–20:

“...that by [the prophecies] you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have shipwrecked their faith.”

Spiritual compromise is never just an opinion shift or lifestyle tweak. It’s war. When we let go of the objective truth of God's WORD, nobody stays "neutral," as if such a thing were even possible! They drift and eventually crash. Paul names names: Hymenaeus and Alexander. These weren’t pagans. These were professing believers, companions, and fellow saints who rejected the truth and ended up spiritually ruined.

We cannot flirt with deception and walk away unscathed. We cannot ignore God's objective truth and expect to stay anchored. Paul told Timothy to hold on to the “prophecies previously made”—in other words, the revealed Word of God. Christ is our compass. He's our Anchor. He alone is our fixed point in a world gone mad with hyper-individualism, moral relativism, and spiritual confusion.

Today, culture is imploding in personal truths, opinions, ideologies, and human traditions parading as reality. Colossians 2:8 warns us plainly:

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit… and not according to Christ.”

Many are being held captive right now. Some might not even realize it. Many others have willingly chosen to be seduced by deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons masquerading as "Christian" messages, which are nothing more than cultural ideologies, political idolatry, and pseudo-Christianity. Like Hymenaeus and Alexander, these people are either adrift or shipwrecked. And because they’ve rejected the Anchor of Scripture, the WORD, Christ, they are at the mercy of the tides (Eph 4:14). Kindness isn't in affirming people as they near the deadly rocks of ruin. Love is heralding the truth and wisdom of Scripture... but fools despise all this.

Wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square; in the main concoursec she cries aloud, at the city gates she makes her speech: -Proverbs 1:20-21

King Jesus doesn’t invite us to a comfortable life of health & wealth. He told us to expect suffering and rejection in this world. John the Baptist was beheaded in jail. According to early church history, the Apostles died horrible deaths. Christians under Nero were fed to lions, burned alive, and used for entertainment. King Jesus doesn’t offer affirmation—He demands allegiance, not as one possible way, but THE ONLY WAY. In Luke 9:23, He spells it out clearly:

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Deny ourselves. Take up our cross. Follow Him—daily. This isn't metaphor. This is the cost and reality of true discipleship. This is the test of 2 Corinthians 13:5, exposing whether we are truly in Christ or exposed as counterfeit. We cannot mix the Gospel with worldly philosophies and expect to stand. We cannot serve Christ and conform to the pattern of culture. The path of faithfulness is narrow— compromise is a slippery slope that always, always, always ends in destruction. For those who want to be entertained by the magic show, King Jesus says, "I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’"

Satan, the cunning and crafty serpent, doesn't typically use overt tactics. He's subtle. He masquerades as an angel of light. His playbook isn't deep, but it's horribly effective. It always begins with questioning, doubting, and denying God's word and will. "Did God really say...?" Once people engage in that deadly dialogue of "deconstructing their faith," drift is inevitable. Slowly. Quietly. Comfortably. It's a one-way ticket to unending torment in the fiery lake of burning sulfur (Rev 21:8).

Satan's best weapon isn’t persecution. It’s the comfort, security, affirmation, distraction, and compromise of "another" gospel. The final destination is always the same.

So how do we fight theological drift? We get anchored in Christ!

• Get anchored in God’s WORD—read it, believe it, obey it, share it!

• Get anchored in Christ—not your personal version of Him shaped by cultural preferences, but the Jesus of Scripture. The eternal Son of God.

• Get anchored in biblical community—not a cult or a crowd, but a body of Holy Spirit-led saints devoted to Christ, speaking the truth to sharpen and build up the Body & Bride of Christ.

• Get anchored in prayer and worship—not entertainment, but daily surrender and accountability.

We're not living in neutral times. Ephesians 5:15-18 is clear on this. The deadly tides of deception are rising. The pressure to compromise is increasing. Far too many people are spiritually asleep at the helm. We all choose. We're either in the fight, suited up in the full Armor of God, intentionally anchored to Christ, the Way, Truth, and Life, or drifting into everlasting destruction.

Know this: Jesus still saves. He's still setting captives free. He is the Anchor that always holds.

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” – Hebrews 6:19

Playing chicken with eternal destruction isn't a game anyone ever wins. Don't wait until you’re wrecked to reach for the Anchor. Call out to Christ and grab hold now!

• Repent: If you've been drifting, stop. Ask God to forgive your compromise and renew your heart.

• Recommit: Get serious about truth. Open your Bible daily. Invite God's WORD to convict and correct you.

• Resist: Stop chasing the performance. Pursue the Person. Stop dabbling in cultural lies. Stand in the truth—even if it costs you.

If you're angry in reading this, it's likely because the curtain has been pulled back and the lie exposed. The question is, do you want to submit and surrender to the TRUTH, or return to the show? What you choose has everlasting consequences.

Blessings & love,

Kevin M. Kelley

Pastor

Big Island Christian Church