Pastor’s Piece, Pastor Kevin Cernek, FCFI Chaplain

October 26, 2025

A friend of mine had some money stolen when somebody got into his locker at work. At about that same time, someone broke into my truck and rummaged through my center console and glove box and side door pockets. They didn’t get much, just some loose change and maybe a crescent wrench, screwdriver set, and pliers. That was enough. And, they ransacked the whole interior. I remember feeling violated and disrespected. My friend was really mad and I remember him asking, “What’s the matter with people? What’s the world coming to anyway?” I didn’t blame him for being  upset – who wouldn’t be? That’s a terrible violation of one’s rights. But I also remember thinking that the world has pretty much always been like this. That’s why you lock your stuff up. I guess the evil around him didn’t offend him until it became personal.

When Jesus met Paul on the road to Damascus, He knew what was the matter with people. He said, “They are blind and living in darkness.” Two thousand years later, that is still exactly what is wrong with our world – People do not know where to turn. They do not know where the answers lie. And they don’t even know how to analyze the problems accurately. They can’t see what is happening and they can’t predict the outcome of the choices they make.

This sense of being lost pervades our society. The Lord Jesus analyzed why people are blind. He said it’s because “they are under the power of Satan.” Behind the darkness is the great enemy of mankind, who is twisting and distorting the way people think, clouding their eyes, and spreading delusions. And everywhere today men and women have believed his delusions and lies. All the commonly accepted philosophies of our day reflect the basic satanic lie that we are capable and adequate and independent, able to run things our own way. Lies and unbiblical philosophies are accepted and praised.

That is the power of Satan. But the power of the gospel is that it comes in to turn people from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to the power of God. The Gospel is that God has found a way to forgive our sins, to wipe out all the guilt from the mistakes of the past, from all that we have done in our ignorance and enslavement to the lying propaganda of Satan, and to give us a Resource from which we may live in fulfillment and strength.

That is what Jesus meant in Acts 26:18 when he said the gospel will “turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith in me.”

The gospel message is a message about dramatic transformation. It is a message of radical change. It’s about total transformation from death to life, darkness to light, bondage to freedom.

I grew up in the age where we saw a mass exit from the church. The faith of our parents’ generation didn’t stick. And parents were left wondering why. But the truth is, what many had wasn’t real transformation. It was just religion. It was rule-following without power. It was tradition without life. And people aren’t buying it anymore. Life is hard. It’s messy. It’s painful. Most people are just trying to survive, and they’re not looking for polite clichés and spiritual fluff. They need truth. They need power. They need something that actually changes things. And religion, all soft and polished and flexible-to-your-comfort level, doesn’t cut it. And that’s the problem. Somewhere along the way, the gospel got watered down. Made soft. Presented like it’s optional or adjustable – something you mold to fit your life. Don’t like what God says? Just tweak it a little. Still go to church, still feel good about yourself, but I’ll say it again, the gospel isn’t something you shape, it’s something that shapes you. Jesus didn’t die to make us comfortable, He died to make us new. Real faith doesn’t blend in, it stands out.

Jesus said in John 8:12: “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Paul said Ephesians 5:8: “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” Colossians 1:13: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” 2 Corinthians 6:14: “What fellowship can light have with darkness?”

Here’s a Big Idea: Following Jesus is not about spiritual improvement, it’s about spiritual resurrection. The gospel doesn’t make you slightly better, it kills the old you and raises up a new creation. There is no neutral zone between light and darkness. You’re either alive or dead. Saved or lost. In Christ or in sin. Jesus didn’t die to make you nicer – He died to make you new.  C.S. Lewis said: “Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live.”

We need to stop treating Jesus like an add-on to our lives. He’s not a vitamin – He’s the resurrection and the life. Light and darkness do not, actually, cannot, coexist. Light and darkness don’t wrestle. When light shows up, darkness flees. There’s no such thing as a half-lit heart. If Jesus isn’t the Lord of your heart, you’re not in the light, you’re still in darkness. 1 John 1:5-6 says: “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in darkness, we lie.” It’s not that darkness and light are fighting over your heart, it’s that your heart has to choose its master. Jesus or Satan. There is no third option. True conversion is night-and-day difference. 

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

(Kevin Cernek is Lead Pastor of Martintown Community Church in Martintown, Wisconsin).