Most Christians are happy to follow Christ as long as they can still enjoy the world’s goodies and lifestyles. Christians believe they are fine to enjoy the fun, movies, music, dress and houses just like the world does as long as they are good citizens. The modern thinking is …
good citizenship means you can do what the world does and still act and feel like you qualify as good Christians.
Come out from among them and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing, 2 Corinthians 6:17.
The world is stronger than you give it credit. You can tell a worldly Christian by their reaction if you suggest they are worldly.
The bible declares that it’s impossible to stay a faithful believer of Christ when you allow your heart to mix with the world’s goodies. The forces of the world’s enticements are far too strong for any Christian to survive when they give themselves to getting the world’s goodies.
In the parable of the sower in Mark 4, the seed of faith fell among thorns. The seed did germinate in the person’s heart, but the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life choked the word and it became unfruitful.
Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, Ephesians 5:11.
Recently, I watched Cliff Richard being interviewed on sixty minutes TV. The interviewer described him as a man who had been in the rock and roll scene for several decades and yet had survived the normal drugs and sex and still was squeaky clean. As I watched I began to feel guilty that I had misjudged him. Perhaps it was possible to witness as a Christian by mixing with the world and still stay strong in the midst of the world’s evil? As I was thinking these thoughts, the interviewer then outlined Cliff’s stated position on homosexuality … that, like his parents, he regarded everyone as having the right to their own sexuality; that some of his homosexual friends had stayed as partners longer than his heterosexual friends, and therefore they were worthy of respect. He had the world’s conclusion of love … it doesn’t judge people; it accepts people for who they are. The real truth, Love must judge people as to whether their heart is towards God, and not accept their sin.
That one statement of support for homosexuality reinforced the truth, that unless you separate your heart from the world (not necessarily your body), you will ultimately think like the world, just as the bible warns. Cliff is a fake, acting nice, but, comfortable with the world, unthreatening to the world, and saying exactly what the world thinks. What makes a Christian different if we can do and believe just what the world does? Is it just that we don’t smoke, don’t swear, don’t cheat, don’t practice homosexuality, go to church? There are plenty of worldly people who don’t do those things either; so what’s different about a Christian? It has to be the heart, not just the outward appearance. A true Christian might have to mix with homosexuals, but in his heart he does not condone their behaviour; it’s sin, and to not take the opportunity to publically declare the Bible’s position as stated in Romans 1:27, means you have softened your heart to the world. It’s not a crime to listen to worldly music, but it becomes a sin when you open your spirit to it. If your heart loves worldly music, then there’s something wrong with your heart.
40 years ago, no one would have dared consider that divorce was Christian, let alone homosexuality. What’s changed? Has the church become more enlightened; more understanding of God’s grace? Was the church wrong 40 years ago and now we’ve all matured to see things as God would? Rubbish! What we’ve done is softened ourselves to accept the world’s thinking by opening our hearts to the world’s pleasures and argued our defence with biblical truths, when the fact of the matter is, any truth without the spirit of God activating it is a lie. Satan spoke the truth from the Word of God directly to Christ during the temptation. You can speak the truth, but it’s not the words that count it’s the spirit that’s speaking them.
As soon as the church softened its resolve to stand on the Word of God regarding divorce, it started an avalanche of compromise. Sabbath is for rest, but it’s also a sign to the world that a Christian is separate from the world. Now we disregard the value of God’s Holy Sabbath by merchandising with world, promote women above men contrary to God’s principle, place women as priests, turn church into a business, turn a blind eye to Medicare financed abortions, watch pornography, ignore the fact that our prime minister is an atheist as long as the economy is ok, support trade with China even though it tortures Christians, ignore and condone the building of anti-Christ Islamic mosques, accept sexual fornication as a weakness to be loved and tolerated, and are ok that homosexuals should have equal rights. The real truth, it’s money before principle, it’s economy and worldly lifestyle before biblical values, it’s tolerating and compromising before standing up for Christ’s values against the majority’s opinion.
The Word of God is absolutely clear about anti-homosexuality. Cliff Richard is under a deception. If Cliff really wanted to stand for Christ, he should have given up the rock and roll scene from the very beginning. That’s the price of salvation, and it’s the only way he could have survived the power of the world’s influence.
Lying spirits
Lying spirits and spirits of fear are everywhere. Jehoshaphat joined affinity with evil Ahab (2 Chronicles 18) because they were brother Jews. He failed to recognise Jezebel’s evil influence over her husband, Ahab, and in his niceness was blind to their sin. Instead of confronting him he turned to niceness, just like the modern church. His rational thinking went out the window, and he suffered a near fatal experience under the deception of lying spirits. Jehu the prophet confronted Jehoshaphat … should you help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath on you from the Lord (19: v.1). There’s a time to help and a time not to help.
In the same manner, compromise has exposed this nation to these same spirits of deception. Most people are now occupied by these spirits and under their control without any comprehension of it. By not standing up for the Word of God, you convince yourself that your sin is not bad and think it’s ok, but you can’t see the anti-Christ spiritual forces that will begin to occupy and manipulate your spirit. There’s always an unseen spiritual price for dishonouring God’s principles … it’s unseen to the person occupied but it’s obvious to the genuine Christian.
Correction = rejection, to most people
No one is standing against the flow. The church is dead, not dying for Christ. No one wants to face correction. To most people, correction is a put down, so we explain our sin away as not too bad and end up blaming the corrector for not delivering his correction softly or tell him that he should just brush over it and stop making such a fuss. We have even developed the evil technique of blaming the corrector for still remembering the sin when I, the sinner, have forgotten about it. We say, if you’re still remembering it, you’ve got the problem. Sinners ignore the fact that God remembers your sin and sends you to hell because of it. Unless there’s genuine repentance, it’s wise to not trust someone who’s deceived you, so you’d better never forget their sin; not so you can hate them, but so you can be on alert to the demonic spirit that occupies them.
No correction, no salvation (Hebrews 12).
If you mix your spirit with the world, you won’t be correctible, until you separate your spirit from the world. The spirit that’s in most people has evolved to the point where it won’t be told what to do, but actually tells others how to behave towards it. It may act willing to be told, but in its heart of hearts, it’s critical of anyone who doesn’t act towards it sensitively and in a manner that they think is right. In other words, the spirit in most people thinks it’s right and everyone else is wrong.
God doesn’t just address the sin action; He primarily addresses the spirit behind the action, just like Jesus did to Peter when he referred to him as Satan … another example of occupation. Occupation is the level of demonic influence over you, just below the level of being possessed.
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. The world passes away and the lust thereof, but he that does the will of the Father (he that has the principles of God’s Word in their heart and stands on them) abides forever. 1 John 2:15, 17
When the chips are down and you turn to the world for solace, you show where your heart is. If you never confront sin, and always accept it, you show where your heart is. If you consistently blame and won’t look at your own wrong, you show where your heart is. If you turn to moodiness, you show where your heart is.
Why is it absolutely vital to keep your heart separate from the world?
The blood of the world is contaminated by sin. If a Christian opens his heart to the world and its pleasures he mixes the pure blood of Christ with the sinful blood of the world. The result is coagulation and the ultimate consequence is spiritual death. Only genuine repentance can dissolve the coagulation and save your life.
If you don’t stand against the world, you stand for it. Friend of the world, enemy of God, James 4:4.
Pastor Ken McGinnis
