These words were spoken by Pontius Pilate. He was not a good man, and yet these words have begun to burn in me because he, at that moment, showed a quality of integrity I find increasingly absent in the modern evangelical church: The guts to stand by what you have said, and not dilute or change it because of pressure, or because it offends, or because it is expedient.

Increasingly, the modern church has become a fast-food restaurant, where its purpose seems to be to cater to the wants, whims and sensual desires of the believers. The priority is to create a church that mimics every day life so closely that one hardly knows they are at church.

We like it when pastors preach on marriage tips, finding your purpose and keeping your chin up. Frankly, we're being comforted to death.

But when the pastor confronts gossip, or sexual impurity, or challenges people to DO something, you can feel the discomfort, even anger. As an old Pentecostal church member once said, “Preacher, now you've gone off preachin' and gone to meddlin!” And megachurches don't get built that way.

This became very clear to me recently when a youth pastor gave a message about television shows. He made it clear that he wasn't telling the kids what to watch, but just presenting the facts about the violent, occult and sexual content of their favorite shows, and challenging them to make a godly decision based on that knowledge. The rage was PALPABLE. Snide comments and ridicule followed the message. But not before we ended in worship, and I cringed as I watched the same kids who hated being challenged raising their hands in “worship”.

To be fair, many of them had never been challenged on this, some grew up in unbelieving homes, and many came from Christian homes where NO ONE dared challenge the parents on their viewing habits. They have grown up seeing that their parents, if they do go to church, leave religion at the door at 12 p.m.on Sundays.

Perhaps there's hope, we'll see. But what disturbed me was that (a) They had to be told what the problem is, and (b) they were clearly angry when they were. It was the same way the parents act when the pastor gets tough. (I use that word loosely - to many, even saying, “Well, the Bible is clear about X issue” is too “tough”.)

The biggest reason is an absence of the truth of the Word of God in a person's life. “Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.” (Psalm 119) A Holy Spirit conscience about right and wrong can only be developed if one knows what the Word of God says about something. If that is absent, there's no clear guide.

But it does not stop there. The Word of God develops in us a sensitivity to HIM. It then goes beyond a knowing that “I shouldn't watch this because the Bible says it's wrong”. Your conscience is PRICKED if you watch or listen to or do something wrong! When Peter preached at Pentecost, it says they were PRICKED TO THE HEART and said, “What must we do?” What a contrast to a generation who when they are told the truth scream, “Don't TELL me what to do!” I briefly watched part of an action movie the other night that suddenly switched to the beginning of a sex encounter, and I FELT HIS PAIN and TURNED IT OFF! That's the Holy Spirit.

My grief is that this generation, and many Christians as well, does not HAVE any sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. The scriptures warn of having “their consciences seared with a hot iron.” (1 Tim. 4:2) We have so much scar tissue on our hearts that nothing offends, nothing makes us ashamed, nothing makes us sorry.

Most people are so media addicted that it truly is a god, an idol. An idol is anything that has taken the place in time and importance over God.

Now go without TV, computer, video games and computer for one day. What do you feel? Lost. Shaky. EMPTY. Right? Face it - you're addicted.

But worse, as this generation (and their parents) has fed the addiction, it has numbed the conscience, drowned out the voice of the Holy Spirit and filled its mind with filth, corruption, perversion and lies.

And this is a god who resents anyone challenging its central place in our lives. You only understand the spiritual nature and stronghold of this god when you point out its sin and then, look out. Pleasant people suddenly become defensive, attacking and even hateful. Doesn't that say something? If someone says, “The Bible is a lie” most believers will make a lame attempt to defend it, then walk away humiliated and defeated and feeling sorry for themselves. But ask a Christian, “Why are you reading Harry Potter, when God condemns witchcraft?” and suddenly these same believers become aggressive defenders of their own private god. That says it ALL.

But going back to the root of the issue, it is the result of years of the church becoming the Gospel of Vague. We have become little more than a self-help clinic. We are a pleasant pastel painting without clear lines or a defining image. We are an abstract art piece where everyone came come and decide for THEMSELVES what it means. We are a neat, potpourri-filled home with “Footprints” art on the wall, Christian logo coffee mugs and the latest in wholesome fiction. We are Dreamsickle Christians.

The world has had two or three generations to thoroughly dilute and delete the truth and make it irrelevant to the modern world. There have been small outposts of truth-tellers challenging the lies. But the majority have seen the handwriting on the church wall, and rather than speak the truth boldly and simply and consistently, they have lowered the standard to the level of people's sensitivities and culture's norms to make the message nice, attractive, inoffensive, and VAGUE.

In a time when so many believers cannot even clearly explain what a Christian IS, how much truth have they even absorbed, and how can we even begin to address the other issues, the issues of “How then shall we live?”

I believe we have made a huge mistake by believing if we lure people in with a happy, vague, seeker-friendly message, then eventually we can start to talk about the “tougher” issues. That is FRAUD! “Come on in, it's fun, no commitment.” Then, “Well, there's a CATCH…”

Being consistent and strong in our message in this day and age will not make friends, fill your wallet or grow megachurches. But God bless all those brave men and women who dare to proclaim., “What I have written, I have written”, who will not change their message to satisfy or attract the masses, or compromise and “repackage” the Gospel to make it acceptable, whose message will always be, “God's Word, nothing more, nothing less, NOTHING ELSE.”

That Gospel needs no embellishment. God's Word is plain, direct and decisive. Put the Gospel ON THE TABLE, UP FRONT, with no hook or hidden agenda behind the pretty package, and it will do what it always has, what no Gospel of Vague can do - CHANGE LIVES - permanently - and raise up mighty men and women of God who are fearless and free.