1Samuel 15:22 — And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

Words are important. It’s important to use them carefully, and to respect them, and to listen carefully to how other people use them. This piece is about a critical example. Dr. Al. Mohler drew attention, recently, to this chilling extract from a comment in a New York Times editorial about the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act:
“The freedom to exercise one’s religion is not under assault in Indiana, or anywhere else in the country. Religious people — including Christians, who continue to make up the majority of Americans — may worship however they wish and say whatever they like.”

“Why chilling?”, you might ask. It’s the shift in the wording. Religion is the theme … but at the end it’s the right to worship that is asserted to be secure. It’s a significant shift. Another comment from the Times makes the point clearer:

“I would argue that when you enter the sphere of commerce in America — regardless of your ‘deeply held religious beliefs’ — you have entered a nondiscriminatory zone in which your personal beliefs are checked at the register, and each customer is treated equally.”

Do you see it? You can “worship” as you like, as long as it has no impact on the world! That’s not freedom of religion, it’s religion restricted by law. 

No Christian can buy the idea that worshipping God without obeying Him is being faithful. Some Christians are already discovering that if they refuse to “check their personal beliefs at the register” they are not going to be able to do business.

Does this set off an alarm in your head? It did in mine. It sounded like a sign of the times — the end times! Remember this scripture?

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:16-17)

In the Tribulation, anyone who won’t declare allegiance to the devil will not be able to do business. Of course, we’re not in the Tribulation yet.

We’re not in the Tribulation … but listen carefully to the words people are using. Those are end times ideas. Don’t let anyone use them to persuade you to replace a full life of faith with “Worship” locked up in churches. It’s not just worship.