There was a reason the Lord gave specific orders to His people before they entered the promised land. They were entering a place whose inhabitants had entirely different beliefs and customs and who worshiped other gods. The Lord commanded Israel to drive out those peoples and destroy their idols, and He forbade the Israelites to intermarry with them (see Numbers 33:52; Deuteronomy 7:1–6). God knew that if the Israelites failed to obey Him in all this, they would turn to idolatry and away from Him (see Exodus 23:32–33). The Israelites disobeyed God, doing everything He commanded them not to do. They compromised, and the consequences continued to be seen through the future generations.

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Compromise Leads to Demise

God’s commands were clear: There was to be no agreement between His people and the people of the surrounding lands, because once they did that, it would lead to their eventual downfall. In one example, we see how Aaron compromised due to fear, and he then fashioned the golden calf (see Exodus 32:1–6). As a result, the Israelites became ensnared in idolatry. Another example is King Solomon: He began his reign with godly zeal, rejecting riches and honor for himself and choosing instead to seek wisdom from the Lord to enable hime to rule righteously (see 1 Kings 3:4–15). But by later making alliances with and marrying the daughters of foreign kings, thus multiplying wives for himself from among idolatrous peoples, he moved in the wrong direction. This compromise led to Solomon’s demise — his heart turned from the worship of God and toward the worship of idols.

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter — Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been (1 Kings 11:1–5 NIV).

Never Treat Sin Lightly

King Ahab did evil himself, just as his father, Omri, had done, but he provoked the Lord even further by marrying the evil and idolatrous Jezebel. Under her influence, Ahab became fully given over to the worship of Baal and Asherah. Together, Ahab and Jezebel led the entire kingdom of Israel into idolatry. God noted that Ahab was effectively regarding the sins of Jeroboam, the first ruler of the northern kingdom of Israel, “as a light thing” (see 1 Kings 16:31). That’s what spiritual compromise does: It enables something or someone to convince you that sin isn’t really such a big deal. Behind that false logic we hear the voice of the Serpent whisper: “Did the Lord really say … ?”

When we begin questioning whether what God calls sin is really sin, we’re headed for trouble. 

What starts with compromise usually leads to our wandering away from the Lord. The further we wander from His presence, the more trouble we get into. But compromise is not one-sided: We aren’t forced into anything; compromise involves our agreement with sin, and this usually starts out small. For King David, it began by neglecting to go out to battle as he should have been doing. He stayed home, idling, and from his rooftop he saw Bathsheba bathing and became consumed with lust. This led him to commit adultery with her, and he impregnated her. Then, he tried to cover over his affair, but when that failed, he contrived and conspired to have Bathsheba’s husband effectively murdered (see 2 Samuel 11:1–16). So, sin may start out small, but it never stays small. 

Paul addressed the seriousness of treating sin as a trivial matter with two churches. He reprimanded the Corinthian church for allowing a man in its congregation to engage in an incestuous relationship with his stepmother. The church had neglected to correct the man on this matter, so the apostle had to do it (see 1 Corinthians 5:1–6). Paul also had to correct the Galatian church, whose membership was a mix of Jewish and gentile believers, when they began returning to an illegitimate adherence to the law. 

You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough! (Galatians 5:7–9 NLT) 

In both cases, Paul likened the sins to yeast: It doesn’t take much to permeate the rest of the dough; it only takes a little, and then it spreads quickly. 

There Is Nothing New Under the Sun

You may say that was only something that happened back then, but it is actually also happening right now. Look at the condition of our nation and of some churches. Many leaders, political and ecclesiastical, have compromised and bowed dwon to an ungodly and wicked culture. This is why wokeness and perversion have invaded our cities and churches. The Church should have stood its ground, but it did not. This failure to stand up has emboldened evil leaders to take their own diabolical stand. 

Our nation is a much different place than it was at its founding. We do not have to look very far to see just how heavy the evil and darkness are all around us now. But there is a remnant that refuses to lay down in defeat or to compromise the word of God. This is precisely what we need. There are people we read about in the Bible who are examples. They clashed with the culture, and they rejected compromise.

Elijah thought he was the only one left who worshiped God, until the Lord reminded him that there were 7,000 who had not bowed their knees to Baal or kissed him (see 1 Kings 16:29–33). This is also our reminder that when it feels like we are all alone, there are others standing with us — whether we are aware of it or not.

Daniel and his friends were captives in Babylon, a very wicked place. But they remained faithful to God, refusing to eat any of the king’s food that violated God’s dietary laws (see Daniel 1:8). Later, they refused to bow before the golden statue Nebuchadnezzar had set up for mandatory worship. They were willing rather to go into the blazing furnace than to bow down to an idol (see Daniel 3:1–23). But there was even more: Daniel also was thrown into a lion’s den for his refusal to submit to an idolatrous royal decree mandating the worship of King Darius. The prophet chose instead to keep praying only to the God of heaven — publicly (see Daniel 6). 

In Christ, We Become the Answer

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven (Matthew 5:13–16 AMPC).

Avoiding compromise requires us, the Church, to do more than just pray about the issues and sins that grieve us. We must be the Church. In Christ we are the answer someone is praying about, and we have the truth that they need. Everyone understands that salt imparts flavor, but in biblical times salt was also a purifying agent and a preservative. We are to be the preservers of biblical truths, or those truths will be erased. And erasing the truth is what many in this evil culture are attempting to do right now. 

We must not whitewash God’s word. Sin is sin — and we cannot call it anything else. Jesus is coming back for a pure and spotless bride, not for a harlot.   

We are also to be the light, a city upon a hill. It only takes a little light to illuminate an area. Imagine if we all stood together — how bright that light would be! God receives all the honor, the glory, and the praise when we shine.

Jesus said we cannot serve two masters (see Matthew 6:24). We cannot abide with one foot in the world and the other in the Church (see 1 John 2:15–17). The church at Laodicea received a divine rebuke for being lukewarm. That church couldn’t choose between being hot or being cold, so it tried to mix and be both, which the Lord considered even more detestable  than its being one or the other (see Revelation 3:15–17). God’s word tells us how we can be free from compromise and lukewarm behavior:

I counsel you to buy from Me gold that has been heated red hot and refined by fire so that you may become truly rich, and white clothes [representing righteousness] to clothe yourself so that the shame of your nakedness will not be seen, and healing salve to put on your eyes so that you may see (Revelation 3:18 AMP).

We Need the Fire 

It’s not about goosebumps and giggles — the fire of God is about His holiness. Fire burns, but it also purifies by bringing the worthless dross to the surface for removal. Do you know that dross is a mixture found in gold? It can be lead, or copper, or anything worthless that gets exposed to the heat. Once the dross rises, it is skimmed off the top. In the same way, God will turn up the heat in our lives so that any “mixture” within us will be exposed. When that happens and we repent of that mixture and let it go, we become like pure gold. Our faith will be tested, but as we endure trials and persecutions, we bring praise and glory to Jesus Christ in the process. We will be tested, but God can be trusted. 

If we Christians will be honest, we must confess that we’ve all compromised our faith before, in one way or another. Maybe it was in regard to your personal holiness: You tolerated “a little leaven,” and it spread quickly, and perhaps you don’t even recognize yourself now. Sin will always take you further than you were willing to go. But there is forgiveness for you today, if you will repent. Don’t just turn away from your sins, turn around, and run back to God. I recommend reading all of Psalm 51, which King David wrote after he had sinned so grievously against God. 

Or maybe you should have spoken up about God’s truth in some situation, but you kept silent because of fear. I know there have been times I should have said something and didn’t. And there were also times I should have kept my mouth shut and didn’t. There is grace for you and me, however, if we are willing to repent and to resolve to do things God’s way. The time has come for us to be all in — no more straddling the fence. 

Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing (1 Kings 18:21 NIV).

Let’s pray about this right now:

Father, forgive us for ever compromising our faith due to people-pleasing or the fear of man. God, if You are for us, who can be against us? Forgive us for allowing any leaven to remain in our lives, and for those times that we have self-justified our sins. We repent of being lukewarm and complacent. Today we choose to follow You wholeheartedly. We know that trials are complex and that dark days are ahead, but we say yes to Your refiner’s fire, even when that fire becomes overwhelming. We know that we are not alone in the furnace — You are with us. Purify every part of us, and give us an undivided and unadulterated heart. In Jesus’ name, amen.

This article is part of a series:

Cleansing the Temple, Part 5: Pride

Cleansing the Temple, Part 4: Offense – Intercessors for America (ifapray.org)

Cleansing the Temple, Part 3: Compromise – Intercessors for America (ifapray.org)

Cleansing the Temple, Part 2: Self-Worship – Intercessors for America (ifapray.org)

Cleansing the Temple, Part 1: The Religious Spirit – Intercessors for America (ifapray.org)

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IFA contributing writer Gloria Robles is a passionate intercessor with a prophetic voice for today. For more from Gloria, go to Spotify or Anchor and listen to her podcast, Something To Share. Photo Credit: ninjaMonkeyStudio/Getty Images.