Like most of us, I was warned not to eat too much candy when I was a small child. Like some of us, I did not listen.

Even worse, I loved wild cherry candy and would store it in my left cheek like a chipmunk and let it dissolve for awhile. The storage left and aftertaste that lasted for hour--which I enjoyed.

Sure enough though, in my early twenties I had to have two teeth removed from that area.

Of course, some people have done worse than that and probably have lost all their teeth.

The same thing has been happening in the spiritual realm in "Christendom." Many have forgotten the fact that a lot of the great revivals where lives were changed came about because of hard-hitting preaching, preaching with spiritual teeth. Yes, there should be a balance, but we are now living in the time when the majority of those that claim to preach the Gospel always present the "fluffy side" of Jesus. As a result, people are developed that will not confront wrong. After all, Christ preached peace, so they say.

What is neglected here is the fact that there can be no true peace until sin is dealt with and removed.

Jesus was very confrontational at times: the Samaritan woman at the well, the blind man in the Gospel of John, and of course the religious leaders of His day.

Yet, if you or I point out that someone has had numerous adulterous affairs or even imply that sin might be in someone's life, then we are being too harsh.

I really think Christians need to stand up and proclaim what are the right things to do, behind the pulpit or behind the wheel of their car. Yes, a Christian should be a driver that honors the law, but there are times others need to know they also should honor the law. Yet some, in order not to cause a fuss, let the J-walker have his way or tell a driver it's un-Christlike to utter a rebuke when someone brazenly breaks a traffic law.

A time is coming when the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth. It is written in Ezekiel 44:23 that, at that time, the priests "shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean."

For those that have committed to Christ, we currently have a share in that since we are priests before God. For those uncommitted to Christ, it is a call to come into His Kingdom where one is cleansed and is given the knowledge and power to stay spiritually clean and go on to Eternal Life.