Saturday, April 30, 2016

Appearances Take the Prize in this Day of Apostasy!

America will never be great again because it has crossed the threshold into the most wicked of sins. We are living in the apostate age, the time for saving our country is over, our aim now has to be instructing believers and witnessing to the unsaved.

If our focus is saving America through leaders and legislation, we may spend too much time on that while neglecting the weightier matter of witnessing the gospel while the days are short.

As an American, there is the temptation to attempt to preserve the lifestyle we have enjoyed, the freedom, the prosperity, the opportunities of many things. However, as believers we were not placed here to preserve a culture or a nation, we were place here to bring the gospel to unbelievers and to encourage believers to walk in holiness.

Never again will anyone hear coming from my lips; "God bless America", to say this would be to ignore all the evil that we have brought to the world through the promotion of liberal and ungodly ideas and action. We are infinitely more wicked than we were 80 years ago, without sign of any slowing. In fact evil is increasing at break neck speed as we fly down the slippery slope.

2 Timothy 3:1-7
"3 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,
4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions,
7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth."

I notice in these passages that one of the traits of the culture is the constant learning new things, continual studying, but little wisdom in all their efforts to be seen as intelligent. Appearing wise is all that matters in our day, actually being wise is not important to most. Appearance is everything now, trumping all sense of holiness or righteousness in the depth of one's soul.

The words of a culture are not a measure of it's condition, but the practices are what we can see lived out every day. Far too many people judge that something is good and are offended when someone judges something to be bad. God said we are to judge righteous judgment, that means we tell the truth when something is bad or good. It makes no sense to allow judging when we will be positive, but disallow judging when it is negative.

We are too judge all things, according to God's standard.

1 Corinthians 2:14-16 "…14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ."

John 7:24 "24"Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."

Our culture tends to value those who "appear" to be good while devaluing those who walk in righteousness. Appearances can be a lie and often is, people tend to hide themselves when they are sinful. The way in which someone operates in life is what we should be watching not what they say. If they say something, then their words must match their actions and attitudes.

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