Act 20:28-30 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. (29) I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; (30) and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

The Bible is filled with repeated warnings just like this one. Evil, wicked, creeps will always be at work creeping in among us in the church, disguised in wool. And yet, it would seem that the majority of people who claim to be Christians willfully blow off these warnings. Which is, of course, unbelief and disobedience to the King.

Let me give an illustration.

I used to live in a small mountain valley in Montana. Just before we moved away, the fish and wildlife people along with others decided that it was a good idea to re-introduce wolves and to increase the grizzly bear population as well. They have done so. What used to be a place to stroll through the woods, camp out, and so on has now become a place where a sensible person fears for their life.

But there are many who don’t seem to be sensible. Recently one of the business owners posted a security camera video of a sow grizzly and her sizeable triplets walking right behind their home and store. It’s not the first time by any means. The response by locals on social media? “Oh, how beautiful they are.” “My, how wonderful this is.” “I saw some the other day behind my house too.” Yada, yada.

Now, grizzly bears are beautiful, majestic critters and in some ways so are wolves. But then there is reality. Grizzly bears kill people. Ferociously. Wolves rip apart and decimate deer and elk populations – emphasis on rip apart. And I’m not really sure a human is all that safe with wolves on the prowl either.

But if you point these things out to people, you get hammered. I know. I’ve done it and received the hammer. “If you don’t like it then you can just move out of here. You don’t belong. They do.” As I watch the little kids waiting in the morning for the school bus.

Here is my point, regardless of what your wildlife theories might be. A very similar naive, blind attitude to bears and wolves in the church is a plague among us. There is a willful denial of evil that is widespread and those who point out the danger of wolves and bears sitting in the pews are the ones who get thrown to the wolves and bears. Most of you know this. Most of you have received just that kind of treatment. “Just carry some bear spray. That will calm him down.” When I lived in Alaska and carried a shotgun along when out in the woods, I have actually been looked at with derision by people who fancy themselves nature lovers. “How dare he intrude upon our peaceful world with such an evil tool.”

So now I sit back, watching and waiting. Waiting for the grim news report that a grizzly bear has killed a person. I wonder how many of these naive people have ever actually seena human being’s remains after a bear got done with them? Oh, we don’t want to publish anything like that. It’s just too…..too….shocking you know.”

And how many of these protectors of evil in the church have ever actually seen the remains of a domestic abuse victim who has endured decades of evil at the hands of her “Christian” spouse? “Oh my. I don’t want you to talk about such things. It’s just too negative and unpleasant.”

This is not Christ. These are not the people of His kingdom who hunger and thirst for righteousness and refuse to walk, stand or sit with the wicked.