When Christ changes us into a new creation we can never return to what we were. He is the One Who changes us, we do not change ourselves. Changing our actions does not change our hearts, it can be fake and often is so. When Christ makes us into a new creation we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise as a Guarantee of our inheritance. This cannot be undone.
Ephesians 1:13-14
"13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, 14 who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."
When someone walks away from Christ, this is evidence that they were never born again. Christ never changed them because their hearts wanted His blessings but didn't want Him. We know this by their rebellion against His Word.
I have known many "Christians" who had no interest in the Bible to read it or even obey it. Sadly many were those who cherry-picked passages out of context to make them say what they wanted to believe. They never asked God to show them the truth, but they often asked preachers or others they thought would endorse their desired lifestyle.
When we ask Christ to show us the truth He will answer and as a result, we will constantly be swimming upstream against the current of the culture.
We are living in the final days before the rapture and it is a time of great apostasy and rebellion against the ways of God even in the church gatherings.
Many believers who want to follow Christ are leaving the gatherings because of the opposition to the Word of God and the propensity to see the one-man-paid pastor as the authority over them.
Jesus Christ is our authority, aid pastors are hirelings. There may be some that are doing the right things but most are asserting authority as though they are the mediator between their congregation and God. They are not, there is only one mediator between God and each man and that is Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,"
So many traditions in the church today are not from God but from man's thinking and are treated as though they are necessary.
Mark 7:13 "13 Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.”
Acts 4:12
Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
John 16:13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."
Nowhere in the bible does God tell us to follow any man or to place our trust in any man.
1 Corinthians 3:3-5 "…3 for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man? 4 For when one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? 5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role.…"
1 Corinthians 4:6
"Brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written. Then you will not take pride in one man over another."
Leaders in the church and in the home are not authorities over, they are to lead by example and teaching, it is the Holy Spirit Who guides each believer. Every believer has the responsibility to evaluate what the leaders say and follow it if it is right and reject it if it does not agree with God's Word the Bible.
We are to follow Christ Who is called the Word, He is the very essence of His Own Word, no one else's word takes priority over Him.
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