"Ye did run well: Who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you."
- Galatians 5:7-8
Kenneth Bethel, a former schoolmate of mine and I met recently in Woodlawn Cemetery. We both attended the funeral of my first cousin, Clara Gibson's granddaughter, Tamaz Thompson. We both had a good laugh, much to the delight of his wife, when I asked him if she was his daughter. I told him that the years and he had been kind to her and vice versa.
Then he told me that he reads my articles and asked where I find the material each week, to which I told him that it is direction from the Holy Spirit.
Ann Rogers of The Voice of Triumph Ministries in Stanley, North Carolina wrote a book titled "You Can Be Holy!"
To those who do not believe that God is indeed a spirit and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth are living a life void of the purpose for which we reside here on planet earth.
This is what Ann had to say about those who depart from the purpose for which they are called to a life of holiness: "I have met many Christians recently who are doing things that they used to consider a sin, and some of them preached very hard against things that they now take part in."
This is what we are going to call regression. The scripture declares in 11 Peter 2:21: "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."
This is one of the worst "stumbling blocks" in the church world today; many of these regressors are backslidden and don't want to face it -- they grew tired of keeping God's laws, yet still want his blessings. Regression is the first step to backsliding. It is so sad that so many Christians are turning from a life of holiness to worldliness and ungodliness, yet many continue to attend church and many still preach and pastor.
The slimy, subtle serpent of deceit has slithered into their minds and caused them to believe a lie. Little by little, they have become entertainment-minded and started to look and act like "Hollywood." They have suffered a spiritual relapse and "wish not that the spirit has departed from them." [Judges 16:20]
A famous cigarette commercial proudly boasts, "You've come a long way, baby." I can't help but think of the church when I behold this billboard. Yes, we have come a long way from the church of the book of Acts, from the holiness standards of our forefathers who founded this nation on Christian principles.
The emphasis in the church world is not holiness or righteousness anymore, but prosperity and worldly possessions. The minister who teaches against the cesspools of sin is considered somewhat eccentric and an antique.
Duncan Campbell once said, "A baptism of holiness and a demonstration of godly living is the crying need of our day." We have many preachers in this nation, but very few who live holy, dedicated lives, free from sin and immorality. We have many churches, but very few where the Spirit of God is allowed free course and where the congregations are taught a holy standard. God turned against the church at Ephesus because they had left their first love. They had regressed and reverted back to old behavior patterns.
We are living in an age of ministers who teach forgiveness without repentance, and their consciences are seared with a hot iron, for they have departed from the faith. Churches are being constructed with swimming pools and tennis courts, while the old altar is left out of the blueprint. The prayer meeting has been replaced with one hour of socializing or a pie supper; Sunday evening service, if one is still attended, is often over before it even begins.
Men glory in their wisdom and are so knowledgeable in the Scriptures, yet so blind, to the coming judgment of God upon a cold, lifeless, sinful, religious, organizational-minded church world. Satan wants us to major in minors and hunt mice while lions roar in our midst devouring the prey. Prosperity, divine health, divine healing and loose living are the subjects again this month, while the spiritual barrenness and fruitlessness of the listeners are overlooked as they pass out the front door to hurry of to the beach or football game.
Today, we live in an age where holiness is out of style like the old Remington typewriter and the Gestetner printing machine. We need men and women of God who will be true ambassadors for the kingdom of God and let the nation know that there is punishment for those who continue to defy God's law and commandments. We must cease and desist from being mean-spirited, spiteful, wanting all, not sharing, putting down, letting down and keeping down those who through honest toil, labor and stress to strive to do that which is right in the sight of God and man.
Yes Ann, we are called from darkness into the marvelous light of Jesus our savior and no devil in hell will cause us to regress.
o E-mail rubyanndarling@yahoo.com, write to P.O. Box 19725 SS Nassau, Bahamas with your prayer requests, concerns and comments. God's Blessings.
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