The temptation to do whatever it takes to be prosperous is very strong. It is a kind of magic spell that beautiful Babylon puts over us. It’s like a potion that dulls our spiritual senses so we cannot fathom living any other way. Babylonian worldliness leads people to trust in their prosperity. It perpetuates the myth of security.

You would think that one thing every Christian would agree on is the need for personal and corporate holiness. After all, the Bible tells us repeatedly, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2; 20:7; 1 Peter 1:16). As God’s people, we must strive for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).
And yet, many Christians seem scarcely interested in holiness and little concerned by Scripture’s warnings for those who do not pursue holiness. It is easy to get Christians passionate about family matters, or cultural issues, or political concerns. But some Christians have actually argued that part of “knowing what time it is” in our cultural moment is recognizing that virtues like obedience, truth-telling and purity of speech are unnecessary obstacles to defeating our political enemies. More commonly, churches or pastors that lean hard into the Bible’s exhortation to holiness are likely to be called pietistic, legalistic and unloving.
We should not be surprised at these protestations. The world, the flesh and the devil have always hated holiness. How could they not? God is holy, and the unholy trinity (the world, the flesh and the devil) hates God. To be holy is to be like God, which means that a necessary step toward God is to flee the world. 
In Revelation 18:1-4, John hears a voice from Heaven calling Christians to come out of Babylon. Here, Babylon does not refer to one literal/historical kingdom. Babylon is a composite picture of many kingdoms—Rome, Tyre, Sodom, Nineveh and Jerusalem. Babylon is manifest today in the corruption, idolatry and immorality in America, in Canada, in the United Kingdom and in every other country. 
Babylon is the anti-church. She is the opposite of Christ’s pure, spotless bride. Babylon is corrupt society, fallen culture, decadent civilization. In a word, Babylon is worldliness. Wherever sin looks attractive, impressive and pervasive—and it seems that you cannot live without it—there is Babylon.
So how do we flee Babylon? It doesn’t mean we must leave our urban centers. There is often “Babylon” in the country as much as there is in the city. We come out of Babylon by not taking part in her sins (verse 4). Revelation 17 and 18 are a warning against spiritual adultery and compromise.
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For many, grief brings despair, anger, or fear. Yet, my father’s passing hasn’t stirred those emotions in me. He lived his life with nothing left unsaid or undone. My four brothers, sister, and mother—his wife of 66 years—feel the same. We didn’t face his death with regret or unfinished business. We shared the rare gift of a complete relationship without the “what-ifs” or “if-onlys.”

After four decades as a caregiver, I thought I understood grief. I’ve watched my wife, Gracie, battle relentless pain and loss since her devastating car accident in 1983—a crash that led to more than 80 operations, multiple amputations, and a struggle with chronic pain that would crush most people. I’ve grieved alongside her in stages, mourning the parts of her health and life that slipped away over time. Some call it incremental and continual grief.
But standing beside my father’s casket, I encountered something new—a grief that cuts to the bone and leaves a void, like a door slammed shut. This wasn’t the slow, grinding sorrow of caregiving, where you brace yourself daily for another blow. And even though not unexpected, it was swift and final—a full-stop in the story of a man who shaped me.
My father and I shared a bond built on respect, love, and a mutual commitment to our Christian faith. His unwavering support and wise counsel were anchors in my life, especially during the most challenging caregiving moments. When I was lost in the wilderness of Gracie’s suffering, his words guided me back to solid ground.
For many, grief brings despair, anger, or fear. Yet, my father’s passing hasn’t stirred those emotions in me. He lived his life with nothing left unsaid or undone. My four brothers, sister, and mother—his wife of 66 years—feel the same. We didn’t face his death with regret or unfinished business. We shared the rare gift of a complete relationship without the “what-ifs” or “if-onlys.”
Caregivers know the unique pain of “anticipatory grief”—mourning the losses you see coming while still wrestling with the ones at hand. I’ve lived in that space for decades, grieving bit by bit as I watched Gracie’s body and spirit endure the unimaginable. That kind of grief is a slow bleed, exhausting even the strongest spirit. But this grief for my father is different—blunt, piercing, and conclusive. I am no longer waiting for the inevitable but living in its aftermath.
As I sit with these feelings, I’m struck by how my sorrow is softened by the lessons my father imparted throughout his life. One such lesson came unexpectedly when I was asked to speak at the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) conference some years ago. Huntington’s is a devastating genetic disease that haunted my father’s family for generations. It was a heavy legacy, and knowing this weighed on me as I accepted the invitation.
I arrived the evening before and met many wonderful people at a meet-and-greet. I listened to their stories and felt the weight of their suffering. Even though I’m no stranger to harsh realities, the depth of their pain overwhelmed me. Later that night, as I sat in my hotel room, mentally rehearsing my keynote address, I called my father and confessed, “Dad, I don’t feel worthy to talk with these people.”
He didn’t hesitate. “You have been uniquely prepared and equipped by God to minister to these people and more—and there’s no one in line behind you to do it. Now get down there and do your job!” His voice, honed by decades as a pastor and Navy Chaplain, was steady and unyielding. My only response was, “Yes, Sir!”
The next day, I spoke with passion and conviction, knowing I was fulfilling my father’s commission. I’d seen him walk into the most horrific circumstances with the confidence of the Gospel and the authority of God’s Word. With his words echoing in my ears, I felt his hand on my shoulder as I stepped into that same role.
As I navigate this different kind of grief, I find solace in reflecting on the countless lessons my father imparted—in both word and deed. His life was a gift, not just to me but to so many others. My gratitude tempers the sting of loss. Though the tears come, they are mixed with joy for a life well lived and a race well run.
Many people experience grief tangled up with unresolved issues. My father had a difficult relationship with his own father, and his life was marked by sadness over “what could have been.” Yet, he allowed that sorrow to be transformed by God’s grace. He became a father to not only his six children but to our spouses, cousins, and a host of others who found refuge at our home.
As I wrestle with this different kind of grief, I am determined to let it be shaped by God’s provision, principles, and purpose. The loss of a father is a unique, incalculable pain. Sometimes, that loss comes from abandonment—but death comes for us all, even the most loving of fathers.
Since my father’s charge to take the stage at that conference, I’ve spoken to tens of thousands of fellow caregivers who struggle with the same kind of incremental grief and heartache I’ve carried. Now, while shouldering this different kind of grief, I find new resonance in the scriptures that describe Jesus as “…a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3).
Reflecting on my father’s legacy of ministry to broken lives, I am reminded of his favorite hymn:
“There is a balm in Gilead, to make the wounded whole.There is a balm in Gilead, to heal the sin-sick soul.”
My grief—a different kind of grief—is real and will last a lifetime until I am reunited with my father in Heaven. But I know what he would want me to do now: allow God to turn this grief into a balm for others. So, when my head hangs in sorrow, I still hear his voice echoing in my heart:
“Get out there and do your job.”
Peter Rosenberger hosts the nationally syndicated radio program, Hope for the Caregiver. His newest book is A Minute for Caregivers—When Every Day Feels Like Monday. www.HopeforTheCaregiver.com

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It’s easy to think, “Well, I’ve never bowed before a golden calf. I’ve never kneeled before a shrine.” But idolatry isn’t just about tangible images; it’s about worshiping God in ways He hasn’t commanded. Every time we sit through a sermon and let our minds wander, playing with our phones during worship, or when we’re treating His holy Word as just another TED Talk. When we neglect the reading of Scripture, we are choosing our own version of Christianity. And in doing so, we’re crafting an idol—not with our hands, but with our hearts.

4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. – Exodus 20:4-6
When the Lord commands, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image,” He is not being unclear, vague, or slippery with His words (Exodus 20:4). There is no fine print. No hidden loophole. No invitation to play interpretive gymnastics. He speaks plainly and directly because He wants us to understand Him without confusion. When God says we are to make no image of Him—Father, Son, or Spirit—He means exactly what He says. It’s straightforward. No carved image. No painting. No representation.
And if that wasn’t clear enough, God Himself practices what He commands. Nowhere in the Bible do we find Him sanctioning or providing an image of the divine nature. No portraits of the Father. No etchings of the Spirit. Not even an artist’s sketch of the Son while He walked this earth. Think about that: the same God who crafted the universe, who filled the heavens with stars, who formed man out of dust, and who conquered death itself—if He wanted an image of Himself, He could have easily given us one. He could have had a perfect, holy rendering commissioned for every age and eye. And yet, He did not.
Even in the first century, when Jesus lived in a world full of portraits and sculptures made to honor emperors, philosophers, and generals, we have not a single depiction of Him from life. The God-man, the most important person in human history, chose to live without leaving us a visual representation. Why? Because God does not want us to worship Him according to what we think is best. He wants us to worship Him according to what He has commanded.
Jesus Himself made it clear: “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29). He is the same God who withholds visual depictions so that we might learn to trust His Word alone. And yet, some of us might still think we can improve on God’s design.
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Like Adam and Eve in the garden, I found myself scrambling for the nearest fig leaves to cover my nakedness. But being in the hand of the Lord is the safest place. It is God’s disciplining grace that exposes our sinfulness so that we will be cleansed, purified, and conformed into the image of Christ. This is why Jesus died. On the cross, he exposed the world’s sin through what he suffered, and when he rose again, he showed what we all shall be like when he finally gathers us home at the resurrection.

This blog was written by a man who finished the group discipleship ministry at Harvest USA.
The first time I read the book of Hosea, I was struck by just how related my struggles with sexual sin were to eighth-century Israelite idolatry. In Hosea, the Lord takes his people to court for their disordered, idolatrous worship, which amounted to spiritual adultery. But in that process, they experience the grace of exposed sin.
Whether single, dating, or married, sexual sin is an outward manifestation of inward spiritual brokenness. Like Israel, when we bend the knee to sexual idolatry (pornography, fornication, homosexuality, adultery, and so on), we are saying that God himself is not worthy of our full devotion and worship. Our worship is disordered. But the message of Hosea is indeed one of hope for the weary sinner.
The Sinfulness of Sin
In Hosea’s day, idolatry was rampant in Israel. They had broken the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3). Thus, as a sign against his people and their adulterous worship, God commands Hosea to call his second child “No Mercy” and his third child “Not My People” (Hos. 1:6–9). This was a declaration that God’s presence had departed from his people and judgment was imminent. 
This is the state you and I were born into. We were born in sin, separated from God, without mercy, and a people not his own. Our disordered desire for sexual sin, expressed in its various forms, is an outward expression of an inward idolatry of the heart. We are actively choosing that which is not God himself. We were born worshiping the creature rather than the Creator.
But for those who have a relationship with Christ, consider Paul’s words, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?” (I Cor. 6:15). Paul is saying that we are so united to Jesus by faith that when we give ourselves over to sexual sin, it’s as if we are implicating Jesus in the very same sin. This is why a wife whose husband has cheated on her is so grievously harmed. Her husband, who belonged to her in their one flesh union, has shared that union with another. It’s the same when we as Christians sin against our Lord Jesus. In fact, it is worse. 
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Those who lament the declension of many among the present professed ministry should cry day and night unto the Lord to bless his people with pastors after his own heart. Let them also see to it that they walk wisely towards those they have. It behoves established believers to bear their testimony faithfully, but kindly, to young divines who are beginning to step aside; for it may be that a gentle word may save them. In grosser cases, firmness may be needful as to the matter of quitting an unfaithful, Christless ministry; or as to the removal of the false teacher.

Writing in 1889, after the Downgrade Controversy, Spurgeon wrestled with the question of unfaithful ministers and congregational accountability. Under the new modern theology, these ministers were using the language of historic Christianity, but redefining that language in rationalist and anti-supernatural ways. But how are churches to hold them accountable? As a congregationalist, Spurgeon believed that the congregation was the final authority in its discipline and doctrine. But again and again, Spurgeon watched unsuspecting congregations call modernist ministers, believing them to be orthodox, only to be corrupted by their teaching over time. So as important as congregational authority was, Spurgeon also understood that pastors play a crucial role in shaping the theology of a church through their preaching. All this created a dilemma:
QUIS custodiet ipsos custodes? So say the Latins. Shepherds may keep the sheep; but who shall pastorize the shepherds? A question of the weightiest import, both for the flocks and the pastors.
What is to become of anybody of Christians whose ministers are not loyal to their Lord and to his gospel? When a church has over it a man of whom it can be justly said that he shows no sign of ever having been converted, what spirituality can be expected to survive? When another preacher has one creed for the pulpit, and another for the private fraternal meeting, how can truth and honesty flourish in the community? When a third changes with the moon, and is not quite sure of anything, how can his hearers be established in the faith? We are not imagining cases; there are too many who answer the description. Evil in the pulpit is poison in the fountain. In this case we find death in the great pot out of which all the guests are to be fed.
What is to be done? Spurgeon offered three reflections:
We must look to the Great Shepherd
But who shall keep the keepers? There is the great difficulty. This is a task beyond the power of the church and its most valiant champions. We might do well to watch the schools of the prophets, that more of deep devotion and fervent piety should be nurtured there. We might do no more than our duty if we were more jealously watchful over every election of ministers in which we take part, so that none were ordained but those sound in the faith, and filled with the Spirit. Even for these things, who is sufficient? But if these were done to perfection, the plague might still break out among the teachers: their heads might be dazed with error, or their hearts grow chill with worldliness. We are thrown back upon him that keepeth Israel. It is well that it should be so. That which develops dependence upon God works for good.
All plans, however wise in themselves, and however effective they would be if we had to deal with honesty and truth, are baffled by the moral obliquity which is part of the evil. The men are not to be bound by creeds: they confess that such things are useless to them. Their moral sense is deadened by the error they have imbibed. They have become shepherds that they might poison the flock, and keepers of the vineyard that they might spoil the vines: if this was not their first motive, their course of action distinctly suggests it. There is no reaching them: they are bewitched and benumbed. Neither from within nor from without are healthy influences likely to operate upon them; we must carry the case to the great Head of the church, and leave it in his hands.
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Life gets in the way. Good intentions don’t always lead to good, godly practices. The things we ideally should be doing don’t get done and we cultivate weeds and not valuable plants. Busyness is not a mark of importance.

Weeds have been dominating my garden lately. I have all kinds of beautiful plants I would like to see flourish, yet the things that are most successful are the weeds. You don’t need to put in any effort for weeds to grow. They just happen. And if you don’t do anything about them, the garden will become dominated by weeds. It takes significant effort to pull weeds out, to spray them, or to mulch to try to slow them down.
This has made me think about the realities of the Christian life. Living a life that trusts Jesus and honours Him requires effort. Yes, the Spirit motivates us and points us to a life of holiness, that is true. But we need to plan and to do things. It is far easier to drift through life like so many do and not think about what we are doing.
Jesus spoke about the wide and narrow paths. Going down the wide path was both easy and popular, but it ended in destruction. While going down the narrow path was complicated and required effort, but it ended in life. Living in the kingdom of God requires effort and cost from us.
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