The Scourge Of Racism
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Christians are to be physically in but no longer spiritually of or in love with the world (John 17:14-19; 1 John 2:15-17). We have been called out of it to become a holy (set apart, separated) people to God! And why is this so? We are to be and live holy because our God is holy (1 Peter 1:13-19, 2:9-10). Therefore, we are not to be “unequally yoked together with unbelievers” from the most intimate of human relations to the sinful things of worldly culture (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1, NKJV). Yes, we are to “Pursue peace with all people and holiness,” but not in conformity to their wicked ways since we are warned that without holiness “no one will see the Lord,” (Hebrews 12:14-17, NKJV). Amazingly, in His permissive will God is now forcing the separation of His people from the cultures of host nations through their rising hate-filled hostility (John 15:18-16:4) leading to the foretold events presented in this edited conclusion to my 2013 blog post. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Originally Posted December 15, 2013
While concerned and saddened to see in my time our nation’s secular culture carry on its campaign to extract the biblically drawn truth of Christ and His birth from the celebration of Christmas, I do not ultimately fault them. In accord with God’s Word, I fault those professing Western European Christians that created the holiday to begin with.
Rather than just simply deciding as a matter of devotion to mark the birth of Christ as a special occasion and invite the world for evangelistic purposes to come observe (as ostensibly we do in inviting the unsaved to our worship assemblies), professing Western European Christians in their manmade Christianity the religion attempted to Christianize an already existing pagan festival. As a result, instead of transforming this pagan festival with the overpowering worship of Christ, the world from that day to this has insisted on and been welcomed to add their stuff to what the professing Christians were doing.
For hundreds of years, there was seemingly, deceptively a peaceful integration of the religious and secular at Christmas time. However, one needed not to be a prophet to see the day coming when the world would seek to extricate itself from the Christian aspect of Christmas. Those that allowed the pagan world to introduce their story lines, characters and activities into the mix of Christmas to show themselves friendly, open, accommodating and culturally sensitive, should have remembered from the Bible that no matter how outwardly nice it is at any given moment, “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19, NKJV).
Satan could not have authentically offered “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” to Jesus as a prize for selling God out if he did not really control them (Matthew 4:8-10, NKJV). Consequently, any and every deal done with the devil is bound to eventually go south for it is not without reason the Lord calls him “a liar” (John 8:44, NKJV). He is the deceiver; deceiving is what he does very well (2 Corinthians 11:3; Revelation 12:9).
The former years of apparent harmony between the religious and secular aspects of Christmas were just a satanic ruse waiting for this day (and going forward) of hostile, hate-filled and scandalous separation. It is another tragic outcome of subjecting the faith to the conditioning of culture. So, like Dr. Seuss’ tale of the Grinch who stole Christmas, Satan has now unmasked his seething hostility toward the Christ of Christmas.
He has unleashed his human cohorts to aggressively oppose what may have been well meant at one time as a “holy day” of celebrating the birth of the Savior of the world in order to denigrate and scoff at Him! Now, except for the persistence of faithful Christians, Christmas has degenerated into an eclectic humanistic mix of secular warm and fuzzy motifs carried along by ill-tempered shoppers and rank commercialism that measures the holiday’s “joy” in sales and cold, hard cash; where whiny and spoiled children complain that they did not get what they wanted for gifts.
Much more troubling are the many professing American Christians and their churches that as a jilted, lovesick lover refuse to face the truth that the relationship with secular culture is over. Desperate for cultural relevancy (translated approval) and members, they run after the world and adapt themselves to the world’s new politically correct and tolerant, “Happy Holidays.” They go all out in décor to create holiday cheer and drag dying and artificial trees into the sanctuary where supposedly the living God alone is to be worshipped to show the secular culture how in step with it they remain or worse: how completely they have done their work as its agents!
Never mind the God they claim to know has expressly forbidden such worldly accommodations that offend His holiness, pollute His house and corrupt His Word. All of these idolatrous things ancient Israel formally did too and were thoroughly condemned by God who warns us to pay heed (2 Kings 21:1-7; Jeremiah 7:29-34, 10:1-5; Ezekiel 8:1-6, 23:1-49; Hosea 8-9; 1 Corinthians 10:1-7, 14-22; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1).
Therefore, the Lord calls all who profess to be Christians and are guilty to sober up and repent from their adulterous harlotries with secular culture (James 4:4-10). For in days shortly ahead, not only American and Western secular cultures but also all the cultures of earth will seek to rid themselves of Christians and every vestige of Christian influence arising legitimately from the remnant and corruptly from manmade Christianity the religion (they will make no distinctions in their hate-filled hostility).
Led by the definitive Antichrist, the world with its final divorce decree in hand will seek to destroy Jews and Christians from the earth and serve as God’s agents of judgment on the manmade religion of both as has been foretold (Daniel 7:15-25, 8:23-25; Mark 13:13-23; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; Revelation 12:13-13:15, 17-19:4). Organized Christianity and its local churches as they exist today (especially as outposts of manmade religion, sinful flesh led government, opinions, rules, traditions, programs etc.) will be no more forever! In those days, what benefit really will allowing the cultural conditioning of the faith have gained for the causes of which professing Christians among the many tribes, tongues and nations of men have done so?
Nevertheless, the deceiver and the world he has deceived will not themselves escape the judgment of God that is to be brought in full measure by the belittled, scoffed at and blasphemed Christ of Christmas when He comes; Jesus, the Anointed One of God who grew up and fulfilled His mission to “save His people from their sins” when He died on the cross (Matthew 1:21; John 12:27-33, 19:17-30, NKJV). Buried and resurrected on the third day after, Israel’s King and Messiah ascended back to Heaven forty days later and was glorified as foretold (Isaiah 9:6-7; Daniel 7:13-14; John 17:1-5; Revelation 1:9-18). He soon returns as is also foretold not to deal with sin, but to display His very real existence and consummate the deliverance of His two-fold elect among many other things (Micah 4:1-5:5, 7:8-20; 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12; Hebrews 9:28; Revelation 1:4-8).
In this first part and next week’s conclusion of a blog repost from 2013, the Lord leads me to expose and cry out against just a very few of the many ways--including the celebration of Christmas--professing Christians have allowed their ties to worldly culture to corrupt their practice of biblical Christianity. This was important then and is so now because God loves and warns us in enough time to repent if we will before it is too late!
This is just as He did with Israel through her prophets and Christ which in the aftermath of and seeing in advance God’s calamitous judgment, Jeremiah and the Lord Jesus lamented respectively (Lamentations 1:1-2:22, 4:1-20; Luke 19:41-44). The exiles that returned from captivity in the time Jeremiah foretold, acknowledged their judgment was just; at His appearing the remnant of Israel in bitter weeping will acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah whom their forefathers in rejection sent to the cross (Nehemiah 9:1-37; Zechariah 12:10-14).
The tide may ebb and flow for Western Christians, but what is foretold for these latter days will come to pass as it is written! As an example, in last year’s blog I opened it talking about the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin decision that found the clergy housing allowance was unconstitutional. Now, a year later back on November 13th the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a decision that reverses the lower court and allows the clergy allowance to stand. Obviously this is good news for Christian clergy to be allowed to continue receiving a tax benefit from the nation that recognizes their God ordained service to the people.
However, demonic and human forces of evil that continue to persecute the followers of the Christ of Christmas will not give up; they will press their Heaven permitted cause to destroy every manifestation of Him through His people from the earth. Sadly, culturally conditioned professing Christians whatever all of their motives and in spite of their compromises do not see that they are still in the line of fire from secular culture’s rejection of things biblically Christian. They also clearly do not see that the manmade form of Christianity they love is to be destroyed forever by God who will use His enemies in part to carry out His foretold judgment. Unlike Israel, there will be no future recovery for this harlot to the great delight of Heaven and faithful saints (Revelation 16:17-19, 18:1-8, 19:1-4)!
Originally Posted December 8, 2013
Watching the systematic spiritual deconstruction of Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as growing open hostility to Christianity in our nation, I was not surprised at all to learn of the recent US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin tax ruling that declared the long standing clergy housing exclusion for those that own their homes unconstitutional. Does the Lord have your attention yet professing Christians and leaders? The secular culture of America and Western Civilization has called for and is taking purposeful steps to accomplish its divorce from manmade Christianity the religion as its spiritual, moral and ethical wife. Clearly, there is to be no possibility for reconciliation since Western culture and the world in rebellion against God will not rest until the divorce is final and its former adulterous lover is obliterated from the earth (Psalm 2:1-3; Revelation 17:15-18).
God sent forth the Good News of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ first to the sons of Jacob beginning at Jerusalem, then reaching to Judea, Samaria and the farthest reaches of the earth where by grace, He has also welcomed Gentiles that believe (Isaiah 49:1-6; Luke 24:44-47; Acts 1:8; Romans 10:6-18, 11:11-22). As the Lord leads me to plainly infer in Chapter Sixteen of my book, The Strong Man Of God, “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” was to penetrate and transform the cultures of men, but never be co-opted or taken captive by those cultures (Jude 3, NKJV). However, because of the lack of appropriately maintaining this understanding through mistaken notions of evangelism, willful compromise and sin especially as displayed by those engaged in practicing manmade Christianity the religion, the biblical faith purely presented by Christ and His apostles has been culturally captured and conditioned among many peoples.
This captivity and conditioning of the biblical faith has enabled much corruption from the toleration of idolatry and sexual immorality to great doctrinal heresies and bloody wars. As it concerns doctrine for example, I have pointed out in other blogs how Americans living in willful sin (many of whom that have made no public claim of being Christ followers) are still put on a straight angelic flight to Heaven at death. Also, even otherwise solid Bible teachers allow themselves to imagine they will relate to departed loved ones in Heaven and the bodily resurrection to immortality as they did in this present age on earth.
In both cases, Bible instruction is clear: neither faithless unsaved sinners or willfully sinning unrepentant professing Christians--no matter how nice or worthy in our eyes--go to Heaven since God is the final Judge, not us. The shed blood of Jesus may be the grounds for salvation, but persevering faith (demonstrated by faithful obedience to the end) in Him and His sacrifice are the only grounds for obtaining it (Luke 13:22-30, 14:25-35; Ephesians 2:8-10; Hebrews 3:14, 12:1-2; James 2:14-26; Revelation 20:11-15).
Marriage created by God in this present age for procreation as His priority is completely dissolved at death and there will be no such thing in Heaven or the resurrection to immortality (Genesis 1:27-28; Luke 20:27-40; Romans 7:1-3). So, for professing Christians to imagine or speculate that marital ties remain after death in any measure is not drawn from Scripture, but inspired by personal desire along with the romantic ideas and conditioning of culture in this present age.
Indeed, it is cultural conditioning that causes professing Christians to stumble over the reality of a complete bodily transformation for an entirely new eternal order at the resurrection God has revealed in His Word that will end femininity (tied to marriage and procreation that is eliminated) as we have known it in this present age (1 Corinthians 15:35-38). They imagine God will just take these old bodies and make them indestructible. But even among earth’s creatures God has revealed the transformational magnitude of His intentions for us in the incredible reality of the caterpillar that dies and becomes a butterfly (1 Corinthians 15:50-52; 2 Corinthians 5:16-17; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2)!
Of course, it is now the Christmas season when this business of culturally conditioning the faith leaps vividly into view. Purposely declining to discuss when and how professing Western European Christians morphed the St. Nick legend into Christmas, I am concerned with the fact we are watching the secular culture rapidly remove its Christian aspect. Its media arm is leading the charge on this front cranking out many sappy and sentimental holiday yarns that rip off biblical themes, words, mores and values then secularizes them.
The angel’s glad announcement of Christ’s birth from Luke 2:10 and 14 for example, has particularly become source material for holiday words such as “joy,” “peace” and “goodwill.” But they have cast aside “Immanuel” (Matthew 1:23, NKJV) whose birth summons those words into reality and carry on as if in their sinful flesh; in the willful decadence and lawlessness of the times, they can and will yet bring those words to actuality on earth--I don’t think so!
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