In 1957 Disney produced a film called, Old Yeller. Unlike most other Disney productions, it wasn’t animated and filled with a bunch of catchy songs. The story revolved around a family and their adopted dog, Old Yeller. The dog bravely saves the family from an attack by a rabid wolf and in the process acquires rabies himself. When it becomes obvious that the dog is infected, one of the sons, Travis, is given the task of killing him with a gun. It’s a heart-wrenching scene. Travis, though he loved his dog, realized that if allowed to intermingle with the family, the dog would eventually turn on and kill the rest of the family. If we were on a playground, here in New Jersey, with our children or grandchildren, and a rabid animal entered the premises, would we sympathetically feed it or would we seek whatever means possible to eliminate it if we were unable to escape? The life and death consequences of Rabies seems obvious to most, but the life and death consequences of a life apart from God is tolerated rather than confronted. David Cooper's common-sense rule of Biblical interpretation has been shortened to, "When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense, lest it result in nonsense." Another rule to Biblical interpretation is to take any portion of Scripture: Observe what it says, letting the words mean what the words say. Then interpreting the verse or portion literally, not allegorically. Then applying the Scripture to our own lives. Though we do not live in a theocracy, and we are not the Israelite nation, we have a done a tremendous disservice by rendering basic Biblical principles not applicable. In our soft-hearted and soft-headed society which accepts, tolerates, and celebrates every form of evil and every godless whim we have seen our society turn from one that exalts God to one that accepts every alternative to Him. I would go so far as to state that we now live in a society which has completely reversed what is right. To most Americans, and most in this world, God and the principles which He has clearly stated are deemed narrow-minded, intolerant, and hateful, while the godless principles done in the name of so-called love are embraced and elevated.

To our western culture, some of the punishments outlined in Deuteronomy 13 seem extreme and harsh. We read in 13:6-9, "If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, of the gods of the people which are all around you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people." The Israelites chose to largely not follow this principle which directly applied to them. As a result, they allowed the enemy to take root in their society and their families, and rather than being separated for God, they assimilated into the godless and pagan cultures that surrounded them. We will read of this as we continue through the Scriptures. God had so much better planned for His people, as we read in 14:2, "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth."

We must all decide what is truly important to us. Is it more important to be conformed, assimilated, accepted, and embraced by the godless and pagan culture that we find ourselves living in; or do we want to be God's holy children? As God's children we are set apart for His service, not absorbed into society. No one would flirt with a cancerous tumor inside their body, they would want it eliminated completely. But when it comes to the cancer of godlessness, this we tolerate everywhere, even within our homes. We write it off as rebellion, adolescence, inquisitiveness, etc. Paul wrote in Galatians 5:9, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump.", meaning a little false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads though the whole batch of dough. We are reaping what has been sowed (Galatians 6:7). We have allowed every form of evil and godless behavior to infiltrate our families, our workplace, our schools, our government, etc. All in the name of tolerance and love. In the process the only true One, the only Example of true love, has been deemed intolerant and has been marginalized and pushed out of our homes and societies. It is not too late, until God says so. May we, His children, take seriously what it means to be separated for Him rather than conformed to society.