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3 John 1:9-12 ESV
Do you realize that this is what is happening in the church today here in America? The American church, at large, though not including every church congregation, incorporated herself as non-profit businesses (charitable organizations) under the state beginning back in the late 50’s, I believe. They didn’t have to, mind you, for the church in America was already tax exempt. But their leaders talked them into it. And so the church, at large, essentially became a state church.
And I am not saying that this was not going on before this, but then the churches began acting like human-based businesses, and they began marketing their gatherings to the people of the world in many of the same ways in which other businesses market their businesses and their products. And they began patterning their gatherings after the felt needs of the people of the world, and so they began altering how they conducted their gatherings, and they altered the character of God and his word, too.
They removed from the people the fear of the Lord and they began presenting God as this grandfatherly figure in the sky who is there to meet our every need or wants, focusing primarily or solely on what God does for us while neglecting what is required of us that we must do for him, in return. And so they teach the blessings and the promises of God absent of the conditions for those blessings and/or promises to actually take place. And so we have many professers of faith in Jesus Christ still living for the flesh.
And then so many of them have altered the gospel message, too, and they are not teaching God’s requirements for us to turn from our sins, to forsake them, and to now follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands in holy and righteous living. But even if some of them do, they are teaching them as though they are optional, and not required of us at all for salvation and for eternal life with God. And instead of confronting the people in their sins they are largely coddling them in their sins, so they continue in their sins.
Thus, we have a large number of people here in America claiming Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and heaven as their eternal destiny who are still walking in sin, still making sin their practice. And one of the biggest areas of sinful practices (addiction) in the church today is in the area of sexual immorality, and a large portion of that is related to the viewing of inappropriate contentographic or sexually charged movies or videos, which includes child inappropriate contentography, so including child sex trafficking, too.
And what are the pastors of these churches largely doing about this? Nothing! Some of them are allowing these self-help groups to meet in their “churches,” but a lot of these support groups don’t even allow people to bring Bibles or to bring up Scriptures or to try to help one another out of their slavery to sin. And at least some of these groups just give these addicts a place to vent or to unload but with little to no accountability to the church leadership with regard to if they are still walking in sin.
And what about those who are being sinned against? I don’t know about you but my experience is that if you report that you are being sinned against then you become the enemy, and/or these pastors will refuse to help, and they may even take the side of the one who is sinning against you. And if you are a person who is following the Scriptures and you confront the sinful condition of the church, then you become an outcast and they may even create ways of getting rid of you, for they don’t want to hear it.
And so here is the encouragement here. We are not to be like them! We are not to be people who take God casually or who think God is just there to meet our desires but that nothing is required of us, in return. And we are not to be casual about sin, either, whether it is about our own sin or the sin that is running rampant in today’s market-driven churches because these pastors are coddling the sinners in their sin rather than insisting that they forsake their sins and that they now walk in obedience to the Lord Jesus.
But we are to be imitators of God and of his righteousness, holiness, godliness, moral purity, honesty, and faithfulness, i.e. we are to pattern our lives after the divine character of God and after the life of Christ. And we are to be students of the Scriptures who read them in their full context and who believe what they teach us and who obey our Lord’s commandments (under the New Covenant). And daily by the Spirit we are to be putting sin to death in our lives and doing the will of God for our lives.
For those who walk (in conduct, in practice) according to the flesh will die in their sins. For if sin is what they practice, and if righteousness and godliness and obedience to our Lord are not what they practice, they will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what their lips have professed. But if we walk by the Spirit, forsaking our sins, and we follow our Lord in obedience and in surrender to his will for our lives, we have the promise and the hope of eternal life with God.
So, not only for your own sake, and for your own salvation, but for the sake of all those who are being sinned against, especially the children, please take this seriously. Please forsake your sins and follow Jesus. And if you are living for the Lord, please be one who speaks up about these issues and who is willing to lay your life on the line to see others be free from their slavery to sin and to see those being sinned against free from the abuse that they are receiving at the hands of the sinfully addicted, too.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Where Could I Go?
By J. B. Coats
Living below in this old sinful world,
Hardly a comfort can afford;
Striving alone to face temptation sore,
Where could I go but to the Lord?
Where could I go? Oh, where could I go
Seeking a refuge for my soul?
Needing a friend to save me in the end,
Where could I go but to the Lord?
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“I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.
“Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.”
Do you realize that this is what is happening in the church today here in America? The American church, at large, though not including every church congregation, incorporated herself as non-profit businesses (charitable organizations) under the state beginning back in the late 50’s, I believe. They didn’t have to, mind you, for the church in America was already tax exempt. But their leaders talked them into it. And so the church, at large, essentially became a state church.
And I am not saying that this was not going on before this, but then the churches began acting like human-based businesses, and they began marketing their gatherings to the people of the world in many of the same ways in which other businesses market their businesses and their products. And they began patterning their gatherings after the felt needs of the people of the world, and so they began altering how they conducted their gatherings, and they altered the character of God and his word, too.
They removed from the people the fear of the Lord and they began presenting God as this grandfatherly figure in the sky who is there to meet our every need or wants, focusing primarily or solely on what God does for us while neglecting what is required of us that we must do for him, in return. And so they teach the blessings and the promises of God absent of the conditions for those blessings and/or promises to actually take place. And so we have many professers of faith in Jesus Christ still living for the flesh.
And then so many of them have altered the gospel message, too, and they are not teaching God’s requirements for us to turn from our sins, to forsake them, and to now follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands in holy and righteous living. But even if some of them do, they are teaching them as though they are optional, and not required of us at all for salvation and for eternal life with God. And instead of confronting the people in their sins they are largely coddling them in their sins, so they continue in their sins.
Thus, we have a large number of people here in America claiming Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and heaven as their eternal destiny who are still walking in sin, still making sin their practice. And one of the biggest areas of sinful practices (addiction) in the church today is in the area of sexual immorality, and a large portion of that is related to the viewing of inappropriate contentographic or sexually charged movies or videos, which includes child inappropriate contentography, so including child sex trafficking, too.
And what are the pastors of these churches largely doing about this? Nothing! Some of them are allowing these self-help groups to meet in their “churches,” but a lot of these support groups don’t even allow people to bring Bibles or to bring up Scriptures or to try to help one another out of their slavery to sin. And at least some of these groups just give these addicts a place to vent or to unload but with little to no accountability to the church leadership with regard to if they are still walking in sin.
And what about those who are being sinned against? I don’t know about you but my experience is that if you report that you are being sinned against then you become the enemy, and/or these pastors will refuse to help, and they may even take the side of the one who is sinning against you. And if you are a person who is following the Scriptures and you confront the sinful condition of the church, then you become an outcast and they may even create ways of getting rid of you, for they don’t want to hear it.
And so here is the encouragement here. We are not to be like them! We are not to be people who take God casually or who think God is just there to meet our desires but that nothing is required of us, in return. And we are not to be casual about sin, either, whether it is about our own sin or the sin that is running rampant in today’s market-driven churches because these pastors are coddling the sinners in their sin rather than insisting that they forsake their sins and that they now walk in obedience to the Lord Jesus.
But we are to be imitators of God and of his righteousness, holiness, godliness, moral purity, honesty, and faithfulness, i.e. we are to pattern our lives after the divine character of God and after the life of Christ. And we are to be students of the Scriptures who read them in their full context and who believe what they teach us and who obey our Lord’s commandments (under the New Covenant). And daily by the Spirit we are to be putting sin to death in our lives and doing the will of God for our lives.
For those who walk (in conduct, in practice) according to the flesh will die in their sins. For if sin is what they practice, and if righteousness and godliness and obedience to our Lord are not what they practice, they will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what their lips have professed. But if we walk by the Spirit, forsaking our sins, and we follow our Lord in obedience and in surrender to his will for our lives, we have the promise and the hope of eternal life with God.
So, not only for your own sake, and for your own salvation, but for the sake of all those who are being sinned against, especially the children, please take this seriously. Please forsake your sins and follow Jesus. And if you are living for the Lord, please be one who speaks up about these issues and who is willing to lay your life on the line to see others be free from their slavery to sin and to see those being sinned against free from the abuse that they are receiving at the hands of the sinfully addicted, too.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Where Could I Go?
By J. B. Coats
Living below in this old sinful world,
Hardly a comfort can afford;
Striving alone to face temptation sore,
Where could I go but to the Lord?
Where could I go? Oh, where could I go
Seeking a refuge for my soul?
Needing a friend to save me in the end,
Where could I go but to the Lord?
