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Discussion Forum : General Topics : When the church hides under a rock instead of standing firm on top of One.

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Joined: 2017/2/12
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 When the church hides under a rock instead of standing firm on top of One.

When and once a church body seeks relief of persecution through false peace with the world, it is dying and on its way to dead. False peace is always achieved by compromise primarily through intermarriage between the church and the world of their values, life goals, ideas of good and evil, and their standards of belief and acceptable conduct. With this kind of intermarriage, you don't have to divorce God, just cheat on Him "a little."


When this intermarriage occurs, you will see the joys and treasures of this life taking precedent and supremacy in practical daily living over and above great personal sacrifice of this life and the joys of eternal things, mostly to be found found in the future. You will hear phrases like "God has a wonderful plan for your life" but the definitions and explanations of that will be all wrong.

You will see praise and thanksgiving given in prayer and personal testimony for material and physical blessing taking supremacy over testimonies of sacrificed lives, spiritual riches and demonstrations of power in miracles and the preaching of Jesus.

You will see sin minimized and made to become merely an impediment to a good life, worldly success and cultural peace. You will see blessing and prosperity maximized. You will see sacrifice and holiness marginalized.

You will see a diluted Gospel, a strategy based mission in place for a God ordained plan of preaching the offense and foolishness of the cross. You will see "relationship evangelism" as the supposed God preferred and almost exclusive means of winning the lost. You will see Sunday morning gatherings as the churches' means of reaching the world. Also, you will see being a nice person and quiet low key social justice become the centerpiece of salvation through Christianity instead of a loud clear clarion call to change your ways, repent and believe and behave as if Jesus is Lord.

Peace with the world as Christians has a huge magnetic pull, especially to families, but it always pulls Christianity and Christ down instead of the desired goal of pulling the world up.

I have again read Foxes book of Martyrs. It should be required reading for all new believers, especially the first two chapters. Seriously. It becomes a clear lens to be able to see and understand the true relevance, true meaning and true purpose of much of what Jesus and the apostles and prophets wrote.

The early church was a testimony of Jesus in His peoples' flesh. It was persecuted relentlessly. Many, many men. women and children were torn limb from limb, tortured, burned and beheaded for their worship of Jesus, testimony of Jesus and obedience to Jesus as Lord.

About 300 AD though, the world and Christianity started to make a false peace and the church enjoyed great political and business influence and power, protection and financial reward. The offense of the cross was put in a closet and the purity of the church compromised. Her sacrificial spirit was itself sacrificed for personal gain. She lost spiritual power but enjoyed comfort, wealth, and grew in great but false numbers. This is the key. On its face, the church seemed to be growing but in fact she was dying, a kind of slow but sure death that is a dying by fake addition.

Then the Protestant Reformation came and the protesting church reclaimed the Gospel and naturally with it, much persecution, but eventually, even it made peace with the world, enjoyed safety, comfort, influence and financial success. The dye was cast and we are now "enjoying" the product of that fatal peace.

Safety, comfort, political influence, financial success are not evil. Just the pursuit of it is. The pursuit of temporal riches in lieu of God and His spiritual riches and rewards that are only received through (not because of) true sacrificial love in all ways, uncompromising standards, full obedience and an unyielding pursuit of holiness and righteousness.

Purity of Christians in their doctrine and life has a great price but also great great reward. Dross has little sacrifice, some reward, but both at a great great cost, both to the person and the church.

Buyers and sellers beware, when the music of the worldly life stops, there will be many who will discover they do not have a seat at the banquet table. Jesus said that in as many words.


_________________
Robert

 2017/11/3 2:46Profile





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