Revivalist and deliverance minister Isaiah Saldivar says Christians have become skilled at renaming sin until it sounds harmless. Gossip becomes venting. Lust becomes attraction. Greed becomes ambition. What God calls sin, culture increasingly calls normal.
“We don’t define our morality by the culture and by society,” Saldivar says. “We define our morality based on the Word of God.” His message confronts five sins that receive far less attention than they deserve.
1. Gossip
Gossip often hides behind spiritual language. We claim to need advice or share private information under the banner of prayer.
“I’m just telling you this so you can pray for them,” Saldivar says, exposing a common excuse. He defines gossip as “spreading damaging or private information about another person when the person hearing it has no legitimate reason to know it.”
Gossip does not need to be false to be sinful. “You can sin while telling the truth,” he says. Before speaking, we should ask whether the information is true, necessary and helpful.
2. Gluttony
Saldivar says gluttony is not determined by someone’s appearance or an occasional large meal.
“You cannot look at someone’s body and automatically know whether they’re guilty of gluttony or not,” he says. “Gluttony is ultimately about an uncontrolled appetite.”
The real question is whether we control our appetite or it controls us. Food is a gift, but Saldivar warns, “Food is good, but it makes a terrible master.” Fasting helps bring our flesh back under submission to God.
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3. Lust
Sexual content has become so pervasive that lust is treated as inevitable. Saldivar distinguishes unwanted temptation from choosing to entertain it.
“Lust happens when you start taking that temptation,” he says. “You start entertaining it. You start imagining. You start fantasizing about them.”
Repentance must become practical. That may mean blocking an account, ending a conversation or abandoning entertainment that feeds temptation. “Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do with lust is leave,” he says.
4. Drunkenness
While Christians debate alcohol, Saldivar says Scripture leaves no room for disagreement about intoxication.
“Nobody can argue drunkenness. Drunkenness is a sin,” he says. He extends that warning to getting high because both surrender sobriety and control to a substance.
“It never travels alone,” Saldivar says. Intoxication often brings arguments, sexual sin, violence, reckless choices and destructive words.
5. Greed
Greed is not limited to wealthy people. It is the relentless belief that more money or possessions will finally satisfy us.
“The issue is not, do you have money? It’s, does money have you?” Saldivar says. “Greed is not determined by your net worth. It’s the posture of your heart.”
The answer is generosity and eternal perspective. “Money is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master,” he says.
Saldivar’s challenge reaches beyond identifying bad behavior. We must recover conviction, repentance and holiness. Grace does not teach us to excuse our chains; it gives us power to break them. As Saldivar says, “Biblical grace does not make you comfortable in sin. Biblical grace sets you free from sin.”
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
