Christianity vs Nominal Christianity: People Need to Know the Difference

  

Over the years Christianity has gotten a lot of bad publicity because of the actions of people who claim to be Christians but are not—they are only nominal Christians. As a result many in the world want nothing to do with Christianity and thus reject their only hope of salvation and being able to be forgiven of their sins and one day being able to enter into heaven. 

Let’s discuss this. First off what is a nominal Christian? 

Definition: a Christian nominalist is one who claims the name Christian, but who has no authentic, personal, sin-forgiving and life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. His allegiance to Jesus is in name, not heart. 

By this definition the vast majority of those who call themselves Christians in the world today are nominal Christians—they have no authentic, personal, sin-forgiving and life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. I would estimate it to be 90% or more of all who claim to be Christians are just nominal Christians. 

They sometimes go to church, pray, give a little money but inside they are basically just like everybody else in the world. If you examined their life, you could not see anything different about them than the average person in the world. I know many nominal Christians—they drink, smoke, cuss, gamble, cheat, etc. They are no different than anybody else. 

I know by personal experience what a nominal Christian is, I grew up a nominal Christian, it was not until I was twenty years old that I was exposed to the true gospel and received the Lord Jesus Christ into my life and entered into a life-changing relationship with Him. 

Over the years it is the nominal Christians that have given Christianity a bad name. One action of nominal Christians that I have heard people bring up over the years is the Crusades.

 

The Crusades were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims started primarily to secure control of holy sites considered sacred by both groups. In all, eight major Crusade expeditions—varying in size, strength and degree of success—occurred between 1096 and 1291. 

…the Crusaders were regarded as immoral, bloody and savage. The ruthless and widespread massacre of Muslims, Jews and other non-Christians resulted in bitter resentment that persisted for many years. 

Deaths from the Crusades have been estimated from 1 to 9 million. This was an absolutely horrible occurrence that has blighted Christianity for centuries even to this day. This should have never happened; true born-again Christians would not have done this. These were the actions of nominal Christians—fake Christians—controlled by satan.

And unfortunately, it is events like these that have given Christianity a bad name over the years. Which satan has used to deceive and drive people away from true Christianity and a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I implore all who are reading this to not be deceived by the actions of nominal—fake—Christians. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ—the true God and creator of the world—for your salvation. 

And what does God tell us about salvation? There are 4 things we must know and accept to be able to go to heaven when we die.

1. We are sinners.

As the Bible says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). 

Sin is falling short of God’s perfection. Everyone has sinned many times in life. We have all lied, or stolen, or cheated, or done something wrong at some time in our lives. 

“As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). 

We are all sinners.

2. We deserve Hell.

Realize that there is a punishment for being a sinner, and that punishment is death. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). 

Not only a physical death, but also a spiritual death. The place of spiritual death is called Hell. 

“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

There is probably no person alive who can say that they never told a lie. We have all sinned and we all deserve the punishment of Hell for our sin.

3.  Jesus loves us and died for our sins.

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). 

Jesus willingly went to the cross, shed His blood, and died for our sins. He paid the price for our sins. He suffered the punishment that we deserve. When He was on the cross, Jesus suffered Hell for us. Hell is a place of total separation from God. When Jesus was on the cross, God the Father separated Himself from God the Son. That is why Jesus cried out “with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Jesus was experiencing separation from God the Father. He was suffering the Hell that we deserve. He was paying for our sins.

4.  We must receive Christ by faith through prayer.

In order to receive the forgiveness of our sins, it is not enough to know that we are sinners, that we deserve Hell, and that Christ died for our sins, but we must receive Christ by faith.

 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9). 

Notice that verse tells us that we cannot earn our way to heaven. We obtain salvation through faith, not by works. Faith basically means to place your trust in something or someone. If you are sitting down while reading this, you are placing your faith or trust in the chair that you are sitting upon. Faith requires more than just an intellectual belief; it involves an action of your will. 

For example, if there were a pond covered with ice, and there were people standing around saying that the ice could hold them up, but they were not willing to walk on the ice, then they would only be demonstrating an intellectual belief and not demonstrating faith. However, if they stepped out onto the ice, then they would be demonstrating faith.

 

Placing our faith in Christ

One can place their faith in Jesus Christ by simply calling out to Him in prayer, for the Bible says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” I expressed faith in Jesus Christ by sincerely praying a prayer like this:

 

“Dear Jesus, I am a sinner. I deserve Hell. Thank you for dying for my sins. Save me. Come into my life. Make me the kind of person that you want me to be. I thank you that you have and that you will take me to heaven when I die. Amen.”

 

If you sincerely pray that prayer to God with all your heart, then the Lord Jesus will come into your life and forgive your sins and save you from an eternity of Hell. And if you were to die tomorrow, you would go to heaven. Not because you are good enough to get there, but because you have received the payment of your sins. It is that simple as the following verses tell us. 

And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 

He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:11-13) 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)

Jesus loves you and wants to save you, call out to the Lord and be saved today. 

Have you had your epiphany? You need to be prepared for the end times! Read The Coming Epiphany; Your Guide to Understanding End Times Bible Prophecy. 

War or Nuclear Breakout; That is the Question.

  

The latest reports out of Israel are that Iran is 3 to 4 months away from “breakout.” 

But Israel’s overriding focus is on Iran’s furtive advance on its objective. According to its intelligence services, Iran hs been creeping forward to breakout time for a nuclear weapon and reached a point no more than 3-4 months away from this target.https://www.debka.com/iran-is-just-3-4-months-from-breakout-says-israeli-intel-whos-to-stop-it/ 

And just what is breakout? 

In technical terms, breakout refers to when a state achieves nuclear weapons capability as a fait accompli before it can be stopped by diplomatic pressure or military action. 

Opinions differ on what constitutes “nuclear weapons capability,” but it is generally accepted as the moment when a country has enough fissile material to make one nuclear device.https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/iranian-nuclear-breakout-what-it-and-how-calculate-it 

Israel has stated many times over that they will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons. Thus if the data about breakout is accurate and Israel keeps its promise and will not let Iran have nuclear weapons, then we will be coming to an inflection point—war or breakout? 

And if it is war it could be the beginning of the infamous coming Mid-East centered WW3. 

How Will the Plan Unfold? 

How will the culmination of this plan produce the New World Order with the antichrist as the world ruler? The framework of this plan was given to Albert Pike on January 22, 1870. This plan was kept secret for many years, but was revealed by former Illuminati, Doc Marquis, in his book Secrets of the Illuminati. Marquis tells us that Pike received this plan from a “guiding spirit.” In other words, he received this plan for the establishment of the New World Order from satan or one of his demons. The major components of the plan entailed the fighting of three world wars. 

The First World War was designed to overthrow czarist Russia and establish communism.^[1] The Second World War was to be started by Britain and Germany and had as its eventual goal the strengthening of Russia into a superpower.^[2] As we know from history, both objectives were fulfilled. Officially, some claim Pike’s letter is a fake. However the contents of the letter were revealed to the public just after WWI, and the fact that WWII fulfilled the plan in the letter is proof that it is authentic.

The Third World War is supposed to be triggered by war between Judaism and Islam and will eventually spread to the whole world. Listen to what Albert Pike said about WWIII: 

The third World War must be formented by taking advantage of the differences caused by the ‘agentur’ of the ‘Illuminati’ between the political Zionists and the leaders of Islamic World. The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam and political Zionism mutually destroy each other. Meanwhile the other nations, once more divided on the issue will be constrained to fight to the point of complete physical, moral, spiritual and economical exhaustion…Then everywhere, the citizens, obliged to defend themselves against the world minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity…will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in public view.^[3] The Coming Epiphany; p. 163

So if Iran is near breakout and if Israel will not allow that to happen, then we may be very close to seeing the Mid-East centered WW3. And what do the little silver men say about WW3? 

There is a group of people in Thailand that are in contact with E.T.s and they have communicated to them that WW3 will occur by 2022.

The aliens give members information about the future of humanity, warning about ecological dangers or global conflicts. One group member revealed that the aliens told him that World War 3 will begin by 2022...

The Coming Epiphany; p. 233. 

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. Luke 21:36 

Not sure that you will go to heaven? The end times are knocking on the door and so is Jesus. He wants to save you; will you let him in? Find out what you must do to be saved, click here. 

Do you want to understand what will happen in the end times and when, so you can be prepared? Read The Coming Epiphany;—Your Guide to Understanding End Times Bible Prophecy.

---

[1] “Who Was Albert Pike?” http://www.threeworldwars.com/albert-pike.htm

[2] Ibid

[3] Who Was Albert Pike?

The Jesus Film

 

The best ever

Hurricane Harvey: A Judgment On The USA!?

NOAA image

Update added 8/31 and 9/1 at end of post

Former Hurricane Harvey, which is now a tropical storm, is still deluging parts of the South. Harvey is being called a 500-year flood event. They are estimating that the damage from Harvey could reach into the tens of billions and be one of the costliest storms in the history of the USA.

Harvey set a continental USA rainfall record of 51.88 inches. Levees and dams are being breached and refineries have been damaged. It is also being reported that toxic chemicals are being released into the air and overhanging the city of Houston. They have estimated that 30,000 or more are going to need housing.

Truly this is a historic storm—our prayers are with the people affected by this storm.

Many prophecy watchers have proclaimed that the eclipse was a warning of Judgment coming against the USA. Here are a few examples.

The Great American Eclipse of 2017; Beware Of The Little Green Men .

The Great American Eclipse Of 2017; Yet ? Days And America Will Be Overthrown!

The Great American Eclipse; Beware Solar Saros 145!

Here is a concluding statement from the last post.

The measure of our wicked behavior is growing by the minute—judgment must come—judgment will come. This eclipse is screaming judgment is coming! America turn from your wickedness before it is too late.

The eclipse max first occurred in the USA on the West Coast at about 17:16 UT. Harvey developed into a Hurricane at about 1700 UT on 8/24/2017—almost exactly three days past the eclipse. BTW; Harvey is scheduled to make three landfalls.

Harvey then rapidly intensified and made landfall near Rockport Texas late at night on 8/25/2017. BTW; 8/25/2017 was a date encoded on the dollar bill, which was also the date of the Agartha inner earth symposium.

Agartha Inner Earth Disclosure Date Is Encoded On The Dollar Bill!

I believe Harvey was and is an ongoing judgment against the USA. Here is what was written in the post Here Comes Harvey and Irma posted on 8/17/2017 that featured a short message from Paul Harvey.

And what will be the result of America’s sin and the sin of the errant church within her? Judgment, just as was the case all throughout history—a nation sins and they receive judgment. One of the forms that judgment can take is with severe storms.

The above was written before tropical storm Harvey was named and as of this writing Harvey is forecast to track pretty much due west and hit Mexico.

Maybe Harvey is a Paul Harvey warning storm of what is to come—blazing iron as in war. For the next storm to be named is Irma, which at this writing has not formed yet but is forecast to soon.

America deserves judgment and Judgment is coming and by the way Irma is about to form. I repeat my conclusion from the post above.

The measure of our wicked behavior is growing by the minute—judgment must come—judgment will come. This eclipse is screaming judgment is coming! America turn from your wickedness before it is too late.

Do you think America will recognize this storm as a judgment allowed by God and turn from its sin? Unfortunately I doubt it, and unfortunately I believe greater judgments are on the way. Pray that America would turn from its wickedness.

And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. Mark 1:15

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Acts 3:19

Update 8/31: Remember the planned parent hood undercover videos exposing the selling of body parts. The people who took the videos were indicted by a Houston Grand Jury on 1/25/2016. 19 months later to the day Harvey made landfall. Hmm... And now for "the rest of the story," guess who else brought charges against the videographers? California.

I just found out that they have declared that Hurricane Harvey will be the costliest disaster in US history with an estimated cost of 190 billion or 1% of the GDP. They are now calling it a 1000 year flood.

Update 9/1 Here is another Houston synchronicity;

City of Houston demands pastors turn over sermons

End of updates.

The end times are knocking on the door and so is Jesus. He wants to save you, will you let him in? Find out what you must do to be saved here.

William Frederick is an end times Bible prophecy researcher who has written a must read prophecy book entitled The Coming Epiphany which is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com and for FREE download at his website.

He has also cracked the hidden codes on the dollar bill that have staggering implications which are explained in his book The Dollar Code; also available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. 

Here Comes Harvey and Irma

NHC Image

 

Update added at end of post 9/2

When I was looking over the storm names for the 2017 season I saw the name Harvey. What immediately came to mind was Paul Harvey and a message that he gave in 1965 entitled If I Were the Devil. In his short speech he details how the devil would attempt to destroy America and the church in America. Give a listen and you will be amazed!

 

 

And what will be the result of America’s sin and the sin of the errant church within her? Judgment, just as was the case all throughout history—a nation sins and they receive judgment. One of the forms that judgment can take is with severe storms.

The above was written before tropical storm Harvey was named and as of this writing Harvey is forecast to track pretty much due west and hit Mexico.

Harvey is an English family and given name derived from the Breton name Huiarnuiu, derived from an Old Breton first name Huiarnviu, derived from the elements hoiarn, huiarn (Breton houarn) meaning "iron" and 'viu' (Breton bev) meaning "blazing".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_(name).

Maybe Harvey is a Paul Harvey warning storm of what is to come—blazing iron as in war. For the next storm to be named is Irma, which at this writing has not formed yet but is forecast to soon.

Irma is a female given name…The name comes from the Old High German irmin, meaning world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irma_(name).

The name Irma is a German baby name. In German the meaning of the name Irma is: Universal, from the Old German 'irmin'. War goddess.

http://www.sheknows.com/baby-names/name/irma.

Put them together and you get world war goddess or war goddess of the world. Is this another sign of what is coming—a world war.

Hmm… and at present where is Irma forecast to go—the South East coast of the USA.

Of course these are long range models (links at side bar) and they can change 33 times between now and then, but the situation does bear watching. You can get the latest on Harvey and Irma at the National Hurricane site.

I guess we will have to wait and see to find out “the rest of the story.” But I do know that a world war is coming, because God tells us in His Word--Seal 2/WW3--and it could be soon.

Update 9/2: At present Hurricane Irma is forecast to hit the Virginia coast on 9/11/2017. All interests on the East coast USA should monitor this storm closely

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. Luke 21:36

The end times are knocking on the door and so is Jesus. He wants to save you, will you let him in? Find out what you must do to be saved here.

William Frederick is an end times Bible prophecy researcher who has written a must read prophecy book entitled The Coming Epiphany which is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com and for FREE download at his website.

He has also cracked the hidden codes on the dollar bill that have staggering implications which are explained in his book The Dollar Code; also available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

 

 

 

Eternal Security

 

From the archives...

 

When someone becomes a Christian a permanent change takes place, they are translated from the kingdom of the devil to the kingdom of God.

 

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:  Col 1:13

 

When one becomes a Christian they become a child of God and are born again and receive the Holy Spirit as a down payment or earnest of their heavenly future.

 

Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.  2 Cor 1:22

 

who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.  2 Cor 5:5

 

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. Eph 1:13,14

 

The word earnest means; “Its general meaning is that of a pledge or token given as the assurance of the fulfillment of a bargain or promise.

 

Once someone is truly saved they are always saved, they are sealed unto the day of redemption.  They cannot lose their salvation.

 

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39.  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:38,39

 

Salvation involves an irreversible change; once someone is born again they cannot be unborn.  Salvation is an eternal change that cannot be reversed; we cannot be saved and then lost.  Jesus will not allow any of His sheep to perish or be stolen.

 

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28.  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29.  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. Jn 10:27-29

 

Mr. Coombes in his book America The Babylon expounds upon Ephesians 2:8,9 and shows from that verse how the Greek indicates that those who are truly saved cannot lose their salvation.

 

Your reliance on the facts of God’s actions on your behalf as a gift to you is what activates the relationship and gets your account credited as paid in full.  Now, what God did for each of us in the past was an action that had eternal results.  So that when we activate God’s gift to us, it pays for all the past errors, all the ones occurring at the moment you accepted the terms in your mind, plus it also pays for all the future errors you will commit, because, God’s gift includes a future state of perfection, and until that occurs our gift covers everything we do.  We know this because in the New Testament book/letter to the Ephesian church, God through the Apostle Paul tells us …[Ephesians 2:8,9] 

 

“For by a gift, are you saved (“forever being continually saved” in both the past, present and future tense.  The verb, ‘saved’ is a perfect tense verb which means an action with results reaching into the past, affecting the present and the future also).

 

So, let’s restart that verse again. “For by a gift are you forever being continually saved, (from the past sins all way through all of your future sins) on the basis of reliance upon God’s actions, and not of your own actions. It is a gift of God; not of anything you’ve earned, otherwise man could boast…[and the boasting would nullify everything anyway] 

 

Now to be honest with you, the above rendering is a paraphrase of the original Greek language of verse 8, and 9. It conveys however the full in-tent of the original words, including the verb tensing. This verse means you and I can do NOTHING to earn favor with God, but that God’s gift cannot be earned. There are two large and heavy books that deal with this issue…Romans and Galatians. Also, the book of Hebrews deals with how reliance…(also known as ‘faith’) is all that ‘saves’ us.

 

God’s gift is a once and for all action, the verb tensing proves it! The apostle Paul and Peter also go to great lengths to affirm that the gift cannot be earned, and we can do nothing to lose it…IF we indeed are relying upon the sole actions of God and not of ourselves. Coombes,  p.154,5.

 

So I believe that the scriptures are clear that once saved you are always saved.  If you are truly born again you cannot get unborn.

The Modern Christian—A House Built on Sand

biblestudy1 image

 

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: Mt 7:26

 

Note: God has laid this message upon my heart. Some of the things I am going to say may make some of you mad, and some of you may not agree with all that I am going to say. All I ask is that you would listen with an open mind. If you disagree with what I say then that is between you and God. I will still love and accept you whether you agree with what I have to say or not, I ask you to do the same.

This message is also not meant as a personal attack against any one particular person or ministry. I am merely sharing what God has laid upon my heart to help others to serve and glorify Him in a greater way.

The modern Christian—they drink, they smoke, they listen to rock and rap music, they dress “sexy,” they tattoo, they body pierce, they celebrate Halloween, they play bad video games, they go to the beach, they watch unwholesome shows and movies, they…

Note: I am not talking about unsaved people who may have done or are doing those things and they come to church and are saved. I am talking about people who have been Christians for a period of time and they fail to remove those practices and or begin to partake of those things.

Do you know somebody like that? I know plenty of people who claim the name of Christ and partake of those practices. So what’s the big deal, right? As long as they “love the Lord,” that is the important thing.

That is what a lot of people who claim the name of Christ think. Let’s see what the word of God has to say about this. In looking at the list above, without getting into too much detail, let me quickly show you how each of those practices violates Gods Word.

Drinking Alcohol: Puts your stamp of approval on a product that has destroyed many lives. Is an addictive substance. Causes loss of mental, and physical abilities. Kills brain cells. Causes a loss of inhibitions.

Smoking: Addictive. Harmful to the body.

Rock/Rap Music: Breeds sensuality, rebellion, and violence. Addictive. Attracts evil spirits.

Note: many Christians have a hard time discerning how certain types of music can be harmful. Below are a few bits of information in this regards, for a thorough explanation read the post; Rock Music and the antichrist.

“The Guiding Spirits of Crowley made it quite clear to him that, soon after his death, the world was going to enter the final stage of preparing the hearts and minds of the people to accept the Black Magick attitudes and values of Antichrist. Crowley was told that a very special kind of music was to prepare the hearts and minds of the people for Antichrist. Rock-n-Roll was that music.”

Cutting Edge News Article #1758. http://www.cuttingedge.org/news/n1758.cfm BTW; Crowley was one of the most powerful satanist that ever lived, he died in 1947.

“In 1981, I was driving down a jungle road in the Ivory Coast with several African pastors in the car with me. I had recently received a couple of cassette tapes from our denominational headquarters that were intended for our teenage daughter.

These were recordings of various ‘Christian rock’ artists. In listening to the tapes, I was very disturbed in my own spirit that such material was being sent to our missionary kids.

But not trusting my own reaction alone and realizing that these pastors with whom I was traveling were very sensitive to the spirit world (both good and evil), I decided to play the tapes for them. The reaction I got was immediate and verbally violent!

One of the pastors asked me this question, ‘Do you mean to tell us that this kind of music is played in your churches in America?’

I answered in the affirmative. His response was filled with disgust and anger as he replied with another question. ‘What are you doing allowing your church people in America to call up the evil spirits with their music?’”

The testimony of Rev. Joe Meyers, Tacoma, Washington, printed in; “What the Bible has to say about... ‘Contemporary Christian’ Music,” Institute in Basic Life Principles, 1990, p. 8.

Immodest dress: Violates a direct command of God to dress modestly. Defrauds.

Tattooing and body piercing: Graffiti on God’s temple—the body. Is a practice of occultists and idol worshipers.

Halloween: Is an occult holiday that celebrates and glorifies death, satan, evil spirits, and the fall of man. Day of human and animal sacrifices.

Public beach/pool: Exposes someone to soft core pornography. If there was a park where people dressed in their underwear would it be Okay for a Christian to go there? NO. So why is it okay to go to a place where they dress in brightly colored “less than underwear”? It aint!

Bad video games/movies/TV: Engages one’s mind in unwholesome and ungodly thoughts and actions.

All of those things above, either by principle or by direct command violate the Word of God. Let’s just sum them all up as sinful worldly practices. And what does God’s Word say about sinful worldly practices—worldliness?

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Rom 12:2

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Titus 2:12

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. James 4:4

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 1 Jn 2:15-17.

Friendship with the world is enmity with God and hinders us from being the kind of people God wants us to be. The goal of a Christian is to be a mirror image of the Lord Jesus Christ and to have love as our greatest quality. That is the goal—love. What process must a Christian go through to progress to that point? It is laid out for us in 2 Peter.

3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So the process goes;

Faith—virtue—knowledge—temperance—patience—godliness—brotherly kindness—charity. Here is a little diagram depicting the process.

 

 

Notice that the first step after salvation to building true love into our life is virtue. What is virtue? Here is one definition;

1. Moral excellence; goodness; righteousness.

2. Conformity of one's life and conduct to moral and ethical principles; uprightness; rectitude.

Thus virtue or moral excellence is the practice of living righteously—the removal of sinful practices from one’s life. When a Christian fails to remove sinful worldly practices from their life the whole process of Christian growth, and the ability to reach the ultimate goal of love, breaks down.

Thus the more a Christian is able to remove sinful practices from their life the more they are able to grow in the Christian life and attain to true love and godliness. The more sinful and worldly practices a Christian has in their life the less they are able to grow in the Christian life and attain true love and godliness.

Here is what the process would look like if a Christian would fail to remove sinful worldly practices from their life.

Love is the goal and without removing sinful practices it is impossible to ever attain to it. In fact Jesus himself told us that in order to love God we must be obedient to his commands including the removal of worldly sinful practices.

If ye love me, keep my commandments. Jn 14:15

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 1 Jn 5:3

So if somebody says they “love the Lord” and fail to keep His commandments, including removing worldly sinful practices, they are deceiving themselves, and God says they are blind.

 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue… But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 2 Pet 1:5,9

So I say the worldly Christian who fails to have virtue/moral excellence by removing sinful worldly living from their life will short circuit the Christian growth process. Further their sinful worldly practices done under the guise of “liberty” will most likely lead to enslavement and moral failure in their lives and or the lives of their children.

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Gal 5:13

16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God

19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. 2 Pet 2:16,19-22

Bottom line: you cannot please God and grow in the Christian faith without the removal of sinful worldly practices. Trying to live the Christian life without the removal of these practices is like building a house on the sand.

Now here is the kicker. As I said in the past I have run into Christians who do some or all of those things that I have talked about as being worldly sinful practices. And to some of those Christians, because I believe—based on God’s word—that those things are wrong they look at me as being legalistic and or a weaker brother. They say I am weaker because they believe their stronger faith allows them to partake of these things.

I disagree; the problem is that they have been deceived by the evil one in thinking that God’s Word does not speak against those things, when it does. Will they still go to heaven? Yes. But their ability to love and please God and progress in the Christian life will be diminished. And further by allowing those things they, or more likely their children, may fall into major destructive sin and be enslaved thereby.

Now to be fair, on the other hand, there are people who say things are wrong that are not in scripture; like men have to be clean shaven, or it’s sin to not wear a suit to church, etc. Things like that have no scriptural basis and they are going too far the other way.

The Word of God is the key, if God’s Word condemns it by command or principle then it should be removed from a Christian’s life or they will be building their house upon sand.

The church needs to open its arms wide and provide love and acceptance to all people—even the worst of all sinners. But on the other hand the church must take a stand against and help its members to break free from these destructive sinful worldly practices or they will be building their church upon sand.

The goal of a church is not to get numbers; its primary reason for existence is to glorify God, and worldly sinful practices do not glorify God. A Church must have love and truth—we must worship in Spirit and truth.

Many churches in America have lowered their standards to try and attract a larger audience. Unfortunately they fail to realize that they are building their “house upon the sand” and will alienate those in their church who view the lower standards as sinful. This in turn causes those individuals, who live by principles, and thus are usually the tithers and faithful workers, to leave.

Sinful worldly practices need to be eliminated from our lives and from the churches in America. For our sake and our children’s sake may God help all of us to remove worldly practices and become more like Jesus. Here are a few prayers that I pray every day in this regards.

9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;

10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.

11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. Phil 1:9-11

9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Col 1:9-11

10 Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?

11 Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.

12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:

13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. 1 Thes 3:10-13