Half-Baked

There is a term that speaks to plans and ideas that lack any forethought. That are bereft of even a scintilla of common sense. It’s called “half-baked” plans or ideas. This term once caused people to feel they have missed the mark and would lead them back to the drawing board. Today it has become commonplace.

Half-baked plans lack any studied forethought. Those who are tethered to reality see these plans as impractical or fundamentally flawed. Unlikely to succeed. Can lead to failure or even death. The plan or idea may have a basic outline or goal but it ignores all logical steps or resources to properly execute it. Too often it relies on wishful thinking rather than on grounded facts. It often comes from the soulish realm. Plans built on one’s own thinking or emotions or willful ways which do not allow the Holy Spirit to guide. In fact, He is often purposefully excluded.

I am speaking directly to those who seek to lead in our government and our church. They consistently reject Godly wisdom and speak deceptive statements that combine partial or made-up facts with omitted context or falsehoods that seek to mislead the listener. They use the veneer of factual accuracy to sell a deceptive narrative. This is not just President Trump, but all who seek to gain power, wealth, and prestige from half-baked ideas and outright lies.

Hosea 7:8 says, “Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake unturned.” This was a cake burnt at the bottom and raw at the top. A nation that was inconsistent, full of compromise and spiritually stagnant. They served gods of their own making. This was what we see in the church in Laodicea. Neither hot nor cold. They are wretched, miserable, poor and blind. And right now, the Lord is standing at the door and is knocking. He is not being heard. No different than the warnings in Hosea. We see a god being worshipped that has no resemblance to our Lord. We have combined practices of the world with the Word. We have turned a blind eye to injustice. We allow the self-aggrandizing of one in Trump who seeks wealth and power and stand idly by while injustice and cruelty rule the day. We have allowed worship of the Lord to be intermingled with worship of people in power. This half-baked thinking leads to separation from Him and death.

We have somehow allowed half-baked ideas that promote the exclusion of our neighbor because they do not have the same ethnicity or skin color as one who is Caucasian. We have allowed timid and lukewarm responses to thievery and self-enrichment and even to the actual murders of those who stand and exercise their First Amendment right to protest. We watch as a war in Iran is waged without direction and as inept excuses are given as to why this folly has so adversely affected our economy.  We have watched as the combining of ungodly thoughts and actions become part of the daily fabric of a government gone amok. And we watch as so many in the church allow this to happen as they have become basically mute. We will all stand before Him and answer for where we stand.

Hosea paints a scary picture for those who continue to follow a path that is half-baked. Their rulers will fall. Their pride will cause them to not notice their decay, both in the natural and spiritual. Their self-deception will be their downfall. Like today, prophets warn of coming destruction but they look to other voices that speak to their lustful appetite. We must take a stand against this unrighteousness. We must realize that if we are truly in Him and seeking Him that we have the mind of Christ. And if that is so then we cannot follow half-baked plans or ideas. That which is contrary to His ways. That which has no part in Him.

We must truly cast down every argument and high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. We really must look to punish all disobedience to Him. And we must start with ourselves. (2 Corinthians 10) We must stand in all things. Blessings.