Decaying Christianity

Jesus referred to His followers as “salt”  (Matthew 5:13) because they would possess the ability to preserver and preserve themselves in a dying and decaying world. While I was growing up in West Virginia we killed and processed our own hogs on numerous occasions and my dad would always cure the hams by rubbing salt on them. He would then place them inside of cloth bags and hang them up until they cured. Ultimately, the salt would work as a preserving agent for the meat. Without salt the meat would have become unsafe to consume or useless. In fact, for centuries meat has been cured to provide food in preparation for famines. So obviously salt plays a vital role this side of heaven.

However Jesus also said “if salt loses its flavor…its good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men” (Matthew 5:13). In light of recent court decisions concerning same sex marriage and the celebration of homosexuality, this verse came flooding into my mind. Something that seemed almost unthinkable is now a reality and has regrettably been enabled and supported by numerous Christian denominations. While this has undoubtedly impacted Christianity in America and around the world, it has also provided evidence that many so-called Christians have lost their saltiness while exposing many who are not salt and never have been.

Can salt lose its flavor or saltiness? It actually can’t. This is actually Jesus using irony, because what He means is that it’s impossible for a true disciple to lose their saltiness. Translation, a true disciple cannot lose the Holy Spirit, because He has sealed them from the inside and that can never be taken away. When genuine regeneration occurs by the power of the Holy Spirit, the transformation begins in the heart and consumes the being of a believer.

So why has homosexuality, abortion, and casual sin gained such a stronghold in America and Christian denominations? Because so many false converts have infiltrated the church and falsely posed as Christians. They may appear salty on the outside, by on the inside they are decaying. A decaying mind is depraved and will only darken as it embraces a lifestyle of universalism and relativism. Which is why impostor Christians have supported the legalization of same sex marriage, given financially to Planned Parenthood, and justify sin in other areas of the public square.

Only genuine disciples are “salt” and they can never lose their preserving ability and perhaps the “salt” is fewer than we think.