Post by tlsitd on Jul 14, 2018 16:48:39 GMT -5
The mentality that many Christians have today is that they can do anything that the world does (with the possible exception of some gross sins) as long as they put Jesus in it or on it or do it "for Him". I call this "Christianization": The blurring or erasing of the distinction between the sacred and the profane---the result of demonic deception and the long and steady decline of Christian discernment.
Rather than seeking to be transformed by God's renewing of their minds and conformed to His ways, rather than avoiding the appearance of evil, rather than coming out from among the worldlings and being separate from them in conduct and attitude and appearance and pursuits, the prevailing attitude of Christians today is "Let's be as much like the world as we can" (either because they are in love with the world---being spiritually immature and/or disobedient to God's word and indifferent to His will---or because they have bought the demonic lie that Christians should imitate the world in order to win the unsaved to Christ, which was never God's will.)
It may come as a surprise to many that slapping a Jesus fish on a tank top doesn't make it Christian apparel.
Chanting Scripture or listening to Christian music while doing yoga doesn't make it Christian yoga.
(There is no such thing as Christian yoga. Yoga is a demonic religious practice of Hinduism and putting Jesus in it doesn't make it any less so. It has nothing to do with Him. It was created to honor the Hindu "gods", and it honors them still, just as the whirling dance of the Muslim sufis honors Allah. Do you want to do their dance to Christian music?)
What accord has Christ with Belial? (2 Corinthians 6:15) *See also 1 Corinthians 10:14-22.
Celebrating Halloween by dressing up as a Biblical figure doesn't make it acceptable to God for a Christian to celebrate Halloween, nor does it honor Him. It mocks Him. (My parents actually did that when we were kids. Totally outrageous. But that's the kind of thing that Christians lacking in discernment do. Can you imagine a little girl---my sister---trick-or-treating dressed as Mary, carrying a little baby doll? It's bad enough to dress up as a Biblical figure or pretend to be one; so much the worse to do it to participate in a Satanic festival. It's blasphemous. At least neither of my brothers dressed up as Jesus to trick-or-treat, which would have been triple blasphemy! I can't even imagine; but I don't doubt that some Christian has done it---and didn't see anything wrong with it; maybe even thought they were championing the faith by doing it.)
Putting the lyrics of "Amazing Grace" to the tune of "The House of the Rising Sun" (a rock song about a whorehouse) does not make it a Christian song, and it certainly doesn't please or honor God. (It's blasphemous!) Nor can you make music that comes from demons into sacred music by putting Christian words to it.
The Holy Spirit never had anything to do with "rock and roll" (a slang term for sex), or with rap, hip-hop, or New Orleans jazz, or big band music or the blues, or techno or disco, ETC; and putting Christ into this kind of music is simply profane. It's not reverent, it's not appropriate, and it's not pleasing or honoring to God. But in these last days when Godly wisdom and discernment have all but dried up from the church and from Christianity, this truth is largely mocked and rejected as an absurd personal bias.
If Jesus Christ came to one of these profane, smoke and laser light "worship" services with rock music blasting and long-haired musicians in t-shirts parroting portions of the Psalms, and people in worldly clothing drinking coffee, He'd tell them off like He told off those men who were changing money and selling animals for sacrifice in the temple. Those things have no business in a church assembly. (Can you imagine any of the apostles approving of a "worship" service like that, or presiding over one?)
It's a sad truth: Christians don't know the difference between the sacred and the profane. They seem to think that anything that is right in their own eyes and not a blatant sin, spelled out in the Bible, is acceptable to God. It is not. There are many things like this that are a matter of spiritual wisdom and discernment, and they are just as important to God as those things that are spelled out in black and white (or red, as the case may be).
(If you don't believe this, look at what He did to Keith Green, a pioneer of "Christian" rock. But instead of pitying the man for being judged by the holy God for his impropriety and presumption---like He judged Ananias and Sapphira for their sin and made an example of them for everyone to see and fear, so as not to do likewise, and like He judged those brothers in Corinth who were profaning the Lord's supper by partaking of it in an unrighteous way---many Christians think of him as some kind of a martyr, failing to recognize that what he was doing was not pleasing to the Lord. Thanks to Keith Green, and others like him, we have the abomination of every kind of worldly music being performed to "worship" God, from rap and hip-hop to death metal. And it's all blasphemous.)
Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:8-10)
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:15-17)
For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)
The Catholic "church" "Christianized" pagan festivals, but they never became Christian, even though Christians adopted them and still practice them to this day (to their shame).
(David Wood, a professing Christian apologist (some of whose methods I do not agree with, by the way) made a very good video about the origins of the Muslim religious practice called the "Hajj", which I commented on. His explanation of the origins of this practice and how it became a part of Islam is also a perfect explanation of why Christmas and Easter shouldn't be celebrated by Christians, for the very same reasons Mr. Wood presents in the video---besides the obvious reason that they are not found anywhere in the New Testament. Here is the link to that video for anyone interested in watching it: )
It requires discernment and wisdom from God to know what is acceptable and pleasing to Him when something isn't spelled out in the Scriptures; and the fruits of a lack of this discernment are evident everywhere in Christianity, in the "Christianization" of every carnal and worldly thing. This kind of discernment is the reward and result of God's renewing of our minds as we are obedient to His word and will and He gives us more understanding of His will and His ways---which is why there is such a lack of it in the church and among Christians in general.
(There's also the matter of there being a lot of professing Christians mingled in with the true Christians---thanks to a watered-down "gospel" and the church's departure from the New Testament's instructions for the churches---who are contributing their "bright ideas" and pressing their desires upon the true believers to be more like the world, which is what unsaved people want and what they do, obviously. That's the price you pay for doing "God's work" your own way. The demons are loving it: The saved are polluted by the unsaved and don't grow up, and the unsaved stay unconvicted and unsaved.)
"Christianizing" things that originate with demons and/or have nothing to do with God and are not of His Spirit but of the flesh, and are not appropriate for Christians to be involved in or imitating, and which do not uphold the holiness of God or the reverence that is His due, is abomination: The mingling of the sacred and the profane, and the profaning of the sacred. Just because Christians approve of such things doesn't mean that God does. And that's a very serious problem.
When I survey the landscape of Christianity, with all of its foolishness and abominable practices born of a departure from God's word and widespread ignorance of His ways and will due to a lack of spiritual maturity and discernment, I am reminded of what God said (of His own people) through the prophet Jeremiah:
"...My people are foolish; they know Me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are 'wise'---in doing evil! But how to do good they know not." (Jeremiah 4:22)
Christians who want to be like the world in every way and think that that is God's ideal, and who believe that anything goes for worship and evangelism as long as they have good intentions, are in grave error, and need to revisit all of the many Scriptures (Old and New Testament) that prove their belief wrong---for their own good, and for the glory of God.
"The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." (Romans 2:24)
Rather than seeking to be transformed by God's renewing of their minds and conformed to His ways, rather than avoiding the appearance of evil, rather than coming out from among the worldlings and being separate from them in conduct and attitude and appearance and pursuits, the prevailing attitude of Christians today is "Let's be as much like the world as we can" (either because they are in love with the world---being spiritually immature and/or disobedient to God's word and indifferent to His will---or because they have bought the demonic lie that Christians should imitate the world in order to win the unsaved to Christ, which was never God's will.)
It may come as a surprise to many that slapping a Jesus fish on a tank top doesn't make it Christian apparel.
Chanting Scripture or listening to Christian music while doing yoga doesn't make it Christian yoga.
(There is no such thing as Christian yoga. Yoga is a demonic religious practice of Hinduism and putting Jesus in it doesn't make it any less so. It has nothing to do with Him. It was created to honor the Hindu "gods", and it honors them still, just as the whirling dance of the Muslim sufis honors Allah. Do you want to do their dance to Christian music?)
What accord has Christ with Belial? (2 Corinthians 6:15) *See also 1 Corinthians 10:14-22.
Celebrating Halloween by dressing up as a Biblical figure doesn't make it acceptable to God for a Christian to celebrate Halloween, nor does it honor Him. It mocks Him. (My parents actually did that when we were kids. Totally outrageous. But that's the kind of thing that Christians lacking in discernment do. Can you imagine a little girl---my sister---trick-or-treating dressed as Mary, carrying a little baby doll? It's bad enough to dress up as a Biblical figure or pretend to be one; so much the worse to do it to participate in a Satanic festival. It's blasphemous. At least neither of my brothers dressed up as Jesus to trick-or-treat, which would have been triple blasphemy! I can't even imagine; but I don't doubt that some Christian has done it---and didn't see anything wrong with it; maybe even thought they were championing the faith by doing it.)
Putting the lyrics of "Amazing Grace" to the tune of "The House of the Rising Sun" (a rock song about a whorehouse) does not make it a Christian song, and it certainly doesn't please or honor God. (It's blasphemous!) Nor can you make music that comes from demons into sacred music by putting Christian words to it.
The Holy Spirit never had anything to do with "rock and roll" (a slang term for sex), or with rap, hip-hop, or New Orleans jazz, or big band music or the blues, or techno or disco, ETC; and putting Christ into this kind of music is simply profane. It's not reverent, it's not appropriate, and it's not pleasing or honoring to God. But in these last days when Godly wisdom and discernment have all but dried up from the church and from Christianity, this truth is largely mocked and rejected as an absurd personal bias.
If Jesus Christ came to one of these profane, smoke and laser light "worship" services with rock music blasting and long-haired musicians in t-shirts parroting portions of the Psalms, and people in worldly clothing drinking coffee, He'd tell them off like He told off those men who were changing money and selling animals for sacrifice in the temple. Those things have no business in a church assembly. (Can you imagine any of the apostles approving of a "worship" service like that, or presiding over one?)
It's a sad truth: Christians don't know the difference between the sacred and the profane. They seem to think that anything that is right in their own eyes and not a blatant sin, spelled out in the Bible, is acceptable to God. It is not. There are many things like this that are a matter of spiritual wisdom and discernment, and they are just as important to God as those things that are spelled out in black and white (or red, as the case may be).
(If you don't believe this, look at what He did to Keith Green, a pioneer of "Christian" rock. But instead of pitying the man for being judged by the holy God for his impropriety and presumption---like He judged Ananias and Sapphira for their sin and made an example of them for everyone to see and fear, so as not to do likewise, and like He judged those brothers in Corinth who were profaning the Lord's supper by partaking of it in an unrighteous way---many Christians think of him as some kind of a martyr, failing to recognize that what he was doing was not pleasing to the Lord. Thanks to Keith Green, and others like him, we have the abomination of every kind of worldly music being performed to "worship" God, from rap and hip-hop to death metal. And it's all blasphemous.)
Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:8-10)
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:15-17)
For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)
The Catholic "church" "Christianized" pagan festivals, but they never became Christian, even though Christians adopted them and still practice them to this day (to their shame).
(David Wood, a professing Christian apologist (some of whose methods I do not agree with, by the way) made a very good video about the origins of the Muslim religious practice called the "Hajj", which I commented on. His explanation of the origins of this practice and how it became a part of Islam is also a perfect explanation of why Christmas and Easter shouldn't be celebrated by Christians, for the very same reasons Mr. Wood presents in the video---besides the obvious reason that they are not found anywhere in the New Testament. Here is the link to that video for anyone interested in watching it: )
It requires discernment and wisdom from God to know what is acceptable and pleasing to Him when something isn't spelled out in the Scriptures; and the fruits of a lack of this discernment are evident everywhere in Christianity, in the "Christianization" of every carnal and worldly thing. This kind of discernment is the reward and result of God's renewing of our minds as we are obedient to His word and will and He gives us more understanding of His will and His ways---which is why there is such a lack of it in the church and among Christians in general.
(There's also the matter of there being a lot of professing Christians mingled in with the true Christians---thanks to a watered-down "gospel" and the church's departure from the New Testament's instructions for the churches---who are contributing their "bright ideas" and pressing their desires upon the true believers to be more like the world, which is what unsaved people want and what they do, obviously. That's the price you pay for doing "God's work" your own way. The demons are loving it: The saved are polluted by the unsaved and don't grow up, and the unsaved stay unconvicted and unsaved.)
"Christianizing" things that originate with demons and/or have nothing to do with God and are not of His Spirit but of the flesh, and are not appropriate for Christians to be involved in or imitating, and which do not uphold the holiness of God or the reverence that is His due, is abomination: The mingling of the sacred and the profane, and the profaning of the sacred. Just because Christians approve of such things doesn't mean that God does. And that's a very serious problem.
When I survey the landscape of Christianity, with all of its foolishness and abominable practices born of a departure from God's word and widespread ignorance of His ways and will due to a lack of spiritual maturity and discernment, I am reminded of what God said (of His own people) through the prophet Jeremiah:
"...My people are foolish; they know Me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are 'wise'---in doing evil! But how to do good they know not." (Jeremiah 4:22)
Christians who want to be like the world in every way and think that that is God's ideal, and who believe that anything goes for worship and evangelism as long as they have good intentions, are in grave error, and need to revisit all of the many Scriptures (Old and New Testament) that prove their belief wrong---for their own good, and for the glory of God.
"The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." (Romans 2:24)