One of the most talked-about developments in this year's election cycle is the topic of how far to the left many Republican politicians have shifted in terms of their thinking. Democrat candidates have campaigned in the center or even slightly right, and then abandoned that platform upon being elected.
 The GOP, however, by large measure has not only started campaigning left, but has actually fooled itself into believing it. John McCain, for example, has started stumping a global warming initiative he would enact as president that reads like it was copied out of a Democrat playbook!
 This may be partly out of personal convictions, but it's also perceived by the right as a noble reach across the aisle, an attempt to prove they're not so stuck in their ways that they can't be persuaded toward an alternative viewpoint. The problem with this approach is that the left refuses to make similar gestures. Compromise as defined by a Democrat means you agree with them. Consequently, one side has given nearly everything to prove itself...and the other side has let them. The result is an ideological potpourri that leaves two factions nearly indistinguishable from one another.
 Sadly, the body of Christ has fallen under a similar spell. Once upon a time our desire was to warn of the wrath to come, to point the way to Christ Jesus, to call out for the repentance of those enslaved in sin. Nowadays the church has adopted a new strategy: under a seductive guise of tolerance, she has caved to many elements of the world in order to carve a more magnanimous image, having no idea of the disservice(and ultimately, destruction) it brings to the lost!
 Let's take a quick look at a few examples of the wide tent that's being pitched by the Christian community today:

• People that actively and obviously reject Christ are labeled as "more 'Christian' than anyone I know" by born-again people that should know better, simply on the merit of that person being in their clique or displaying good deeds.
• "I'm drinking in moderation and besides, it shows my unsaved friend that I can relate to them. The Bible says to take a little wine for your stomach's sake, doesn't it? *hehe* (Yes, wine...not Coors, schnapps, or Mike's Hard Lemonade. Way to justify your departure from holiness there, sparky!)
• "Who cares about a marriage license? God's laws are more important, and we're not doing anything wrong if He's the one who brought us together and made a home for us."
• Refusal to call out sin on the rationale that "Hey, I sin too so I really shouldn't say anything..." or "Yes, that may be sin, but so is <insert other, comparatively lesser sin here>." (Paul referred to himself as the chief of sinners, yet he was somehow still able to provide essential leadership to much of the early church, which included *gasp* discipline!)

 It can be noted in the examples above that the "aisle" that's being crossed isn't just that of the world. Some of this also occurs in our own minds when we give the adversary a foothold by believing his clever philosophies. Allowing any tentacles of sin into the camp is an invitation to transforming it into something that cannot be distinguished in any way from the rest of the world! No amount of imagined "harmony" is worth that kind of compromise.

 The enemy is not going to witness our attempts at appeasement and say to himself, "I really appreciate those Christians willing to bend a little...I think I'll return the favor and offer a few of my own concessions!" No, his motivation will not be deterred in any way, which is why the Bible says "he walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour"(I Pet. 5:8, NKJV).
 Remember that on the occasions when you are tempted to fall for the politically correct falsehoods the world spews out, when you see it threaten to infiltrate God's people. The more we seek to negotiate with sin, the more it will seek to devour us! Walking this line doesn't always require us to be militant; but it does demand that we ever be alert, ever discerning of the spirits, always ready with a defense for the hope that is in us. As soldiers of the cross, it falls to us to champion the liberties that Jesus and His Gospel bring without cheapening them.