"Are you covenanting today to live for Him?"
We are witnesses today that we really serve the Lord.
I tell you that on the basis of what you performed
Throughout the years of leading you as a nation
You will fail to keep your promise
You will surely be judged severely for all nations to see.

Joshua, we are witnesses!
Then do what God is commanding you!
Do what your fathers refused to do.
Go back to your tents and remove the
Abominable detestable gods in your midst
That you worship privately alongside with Jehovah!


We will serve the Lord, Joshua!
Then Joshua made a declaration of testimony
"As for me and my house we will serve the Lord -
Choose ye today whom you will serve:
The Lord of your fathers and live
Or the gods you privately worship!"
Joshua's statement was:
"Fear the Lord and serve Him with faithfulness."
This do in totality.
While Israel capitulated:
"We will serve the Lord for He is our God."
Then comes the crunch!
"Throw away the foreign gods that are among you" (NOW)
Yield your hearts to the Lord (now) the God of Israel
(nothing academic and, theoretical or far away!)
Joshua demanded the verdict
"Show with your actions that you are choosing
To serve the Lord your God in totality"
What did the idolaters of Israel say?
Since the audience was made up of people
Who had long espoused foreign gods secretly?
These people were enslaved to foreign gods
Enticed to what the Canaanite gods offered
With the ritualistic fornication that accompanied
Worship and dance
This made the worship of God pale by comparison
Practically and experimentally they were not ready
To throw out the gods "in their midst"
Yet their lips were more than ready
To make rash vows of commitments
They had no resources to follow.
What do they say to Joshua who demands:
"Throw away the foreign god now?"
The dichotomous religious mentality responds
"We will serve the Lord our God and obey him"
Then they returned to their homes to serve
The Canaanite gods
Losing no face whatsoever at the apparent dishonesty
Between the covenant they made and their actions!
The conversation ends with verse 25 of chapter 24
Not once do the Israelites respond to Joshua
With zeal
With determination
With repentance!
As a matter of fact while the great leader charges them
For presently engaging in idolatry
They neither deny the charge
Nor address it!


Like the evangelical Christians we are
They read, heard and knew the Word.
Then immediately proceeded to sin with determination
Whether the issue is moral, financial, ethical, vocational
Christianity demands the verdict on the totality
of obedience!
For the Lordship of Christ is a non-negotiable
He must be Lord of all if He is going to be God at all.
Yet dichotomous mentality fogs up the devotions
As believers insist on duplicity
Insist on denial
Refuse to repudiate all evil unconditionally
The believer insists on personal rights which were long
Given up to the Sovereign Lord
"Serve Him with all your heart"
Joshua begged them
It was too demanding to expect the loyalty of the heart
They opted for the religious game of make believe!
This is the line of least resistance
That is attractive to believers.


Why are you set on marrying an unbeliever
In direct violation of Scripture?
"Oh, but we will serve the Lord!"
Are you conscious of deliberately violating Scripture
Through your unremitting fornication
Before your marriage?"
"Oh, but we will serve the Lord!"
Are you conscious of violating Scripture in your life?
"Oh, but we will serve the Lord."
Are you aware of the moral danger you represent in the church
By your continued depravity?
"Oh, but we will serve the Lord!"
Are you conscious of the scandalous behaviour
That is affecting your Christian testimony?
"Oh, but we will serve the Lord!"
Besides, I have peace about the whole situation
I know that the Lord will bless my situation
For He blesses me when I read and pray
He gives me so much assurance!
What about sinning against the Lord?
We will serve the Lord!
Dichotomous Christian Living!
Remove reality and fake your life!
Fake the peace of God
Fake the blessing - the most abominable
Expression in the Christian faith
For it has been used to accommodate evil!
Why be fastidious in your devotion to the Lord
When you can enjoy Christianity
With no demands for purity
You don't have to press to live like that today
For there is always tomorrow
Complacency!


With Ezekiel It was different!
The prophet was warned about the spiritual complacency.
He was abundantly warned about
The abominable dichotomous mentality of Christians
"Hearing they will hear
Doing they will not do what God requires”
Since there is no parchment for righteousness
Nor hunger for godliness in their mindsets
Their hearts are satisfied with complacency.
It is like a religious mental cancer of Christians
To not do
To not gaze intently into the mirror of the Word
To not remain in the Word.
To put it crudely yet aptly
It is a Christian tendency to not THINK at all
About the Word of God.
Nor THINK about its significance
Nor THINK about our own inner response to it
Think about what God has in mind
Think about our own inner response to it
Think about areas where we have SINNED
Again and again and again
While confessing to the Lord at the same time.
Again and again and again.
It seems to be a Christian thing
To refuse to THINK about the implication of the Word
Where it might apply to specific circumstances
To refrain from demanding the most obedience
To repudiate the close inspection of inner THOUGHTS
It seems to be the Christian thing
To refuse to let the Word invade our MENTALITY
Dominating
Refuting
Liberating!


Is it shocking that testimonies, sermons and songs
Are not REFLECTIVE
Nor INVESTIGATIVE of motives of the head and mind?
Do not reflect changes of THINKING
Changes of behaviours and habits
Changes of MOTIVES
Changes of strategies to overcome confessed failure?
Veritably it is not a thing of beauty to speak
Sermonize
Testify (we Africans are great in these exercises)
About matters of the heart!
"The Lord has been plaguing me
About my inner THOUGHTS of arrogance lately!
Frankly, I am disgusted with myself.
For I have not spoken heart to heart
In loving intimacy with the song leader
For a long time
How then could I continue such vile behaviour?"
"Our churches split. That should not


To be continued