Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Sometimes, young children will get up early in the morning and attempt to make a special meal for their parents. But because they are kids, a lot of the time they will add too much of one thing and too little of another. Occasionally, some adults will do the exact same thing when they make a big pot of soup. Rather than following the recipe in the cookbook, they will begin adding things that are not in the book at all. When everybody is finally seated at the dining room table, they are all excitedly waiting for one of their favorite meals for supper, but the problem is that the cook added so many different ingredients to the stew, that nobody wants to eat it at all. After eating a few mouthfuls, they all begin leaving the table because the food tastes so bad.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
For many centuries, people have tried to incorporate practices and rituals from false religions into the Christian life. Like a huge stew pot, they take pieces and parts of false religious practices and try to stir them all together with the teachings of the Christian faith. It is forbidden for a Christian to get involved with anything that has come out of false religions, and in order to please the Heavenly Father, we must come out and be separate.
2 Corinthians 6 ¹⁴ Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? ¹⁵ And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? ¹⁶ And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
¹⁷ Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, ¹⁸ And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Many people who claim to be Christian have come out of false religions, but rather than completely abandoning their false beliefs, they will try to bring some of them with them when they begin the Christian Life. In order to serve the Lord with a perfect heart, it requires rejecting the things of false religion. But what we are seeing today in modern forms of false Christianity, is a completely perverted form of the one true faith. Rather than being a faithful bride to Christ Jesus, it is turning into a wicked and unfaithful woman, spoken of in the book of Revelation. They profess that they follow Christ, but are disobedient reprobates. Rather than becoming lovingly obedient to the Lord, they openly reject His teachings instead.
John 14 ²¹ He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. ²² Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? ²³ Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
²⁴ He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
To truly be separate, means to have nothing to do with the false religious practices that one may have been raised in. For example, many people who profess to be Christian get tattoos which are forbidden in the Old Testament Torah. It was forbidden then and it is forbidden now. God doesn’t change because He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He didn’t like tattoos then, and He doesn’t like them now. Printing marks on your body is offensive to the Lord Jesus, and when somebody is baptized into the faith and gets involved with this type of behavior, it is an open display of rebellion towards God.
“Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:28
Many false religions make extensive use of tattoos, but they are also complete unbelievers. To take things that unbelievers do and try to incorporate them into church life is blasphemous. Another example is putting up a tree in your house for the holidays, and decking it out with ornaments and all other types of things. The early Romans did the same things, based upon their false gods. This is a heathen practice, which is condemned in Scripture.
Jeremiah 10 ² Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. ³ For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. ⁴ They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. ⁵ They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
These same false Christians proclaim that magic is acceptable with God, and is a form of entertainment. This is because they are of the world and the world heareth them. Who would possibly find entertainment value in something that is completely condemned by God? Only those who have no fear or love for Him at all. None of these wicked activities are going to be in heaven, and people need to repent or they will perish.
“Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.” Acts 19:19
You cannot have any fellowship with the dark and wicked works of false religion. Here is another example. Many people who profess to be Christian are involved with martial arts and other practices that are greatly offensive to the Lord. Many books have been written by men who have come out of martial arts, and explained how absolutely incompatible it is with Christianity. Only the devil would try to convince others of faith to get involved doing things that God hates. God is not changed since the Old Testament. He simply provides us with Grace so that we can repent of our wicked deeds before judgment. The impenitent can kiss their souls goodbye. God is not mocked, and He will punish that behavior. Many people on judgment day are going to be in for a rude awakening.
Matthew 7 ²¹ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? ²³ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Will people continue to have Christmas trees and participate in other practices that came out of false religions? Absolutely! Will they mock God and refuse to repent. Absolutely! Will they turn their ears from the truth and follow the world instead? Absolutely! Many people are not going to make it to heaven because they love the world more than the Lord Jesus. But their short-lived rebellion will end up in an everlasting fire of agony. False Christianity will continue to grow larger and larger, right up until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many people will be cast away from his presence because in the end they never really loved Him enough to obey Him.
The ingredients for living an obedient life for Christ are found throughout the teachings of scripture, and our own salvation depends upon following the recipe. But for hundreds of years people have added all types of things that are not found anywhere in the cookbook. This will only produce an inedible meal, something that happens when you combine all kinds of foul and sinful ingredients into…..
……The Religious Stewpot
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.❤️
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