Today’s Devotional – February 3rd (Fashionable Religion)

By admin On February 2nd, 2014

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Today’s Devotional – February 3rd

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Fashionable Religion

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IT’S A TRENDY WORLD

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It’s a very fashionable and trendy world today, isn’t it?

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Well, at least in the western cultures, it’s trendy. Just about every decade, we see a different look in the way people dress, and dance, and sing, and even talk!

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The 20th Century saw a number of trends in our state-of-the-art culture: The “Roaring 20’s”, the “Citified 30’s”, the “Gutsy 40’s”, the “The Rockin’ 50’s”, The “Do Your Own Thing! 60’s”, and so on, until here we are today!

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We Must Grow A Mustache – Wikipedia – US public domain

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PEER PRESSURE

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But along with this fickle and trendy culture has come a certain snobbery about our fashions!

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That is, we tend to think that unless one keeps up with the current trends, they are considered “nerds”, or “squares”, or whatever the current derogatory term happens to be to describe all “out-of-style” individuals.

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Of course, all this fickle fashionability finds its greatest adherents among young people. Yes, our youth are susceptible to this type of prideful elitism, so much so, that young people are willing to go to just about any lengths to avoid ridicule and even censure by their peers, fearful that they aren’t keeping up with the current trends of the day.

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Desfile de Autos – Wikimedia – share-alike license

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“JESUS, THE SAME…FOREVER”

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Now you might hope that the Christian community would be above all this shallow outward display!

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After all, the Bible tells us… “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8.

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Yes, as Christians, we have renounced this fickle, changeable world, and are seeking a far better kingdom which operates under a completely different set of standards.

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ABOVE PICTURE – 7 Stars Constellation as the Cross (aka Big Dipper) – winter – signsofheaven.org – not for commercial uses

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AS GOES THE WORLD, SO GOES…

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Unfortunately, the Church has found herself mired in the very same trendiness as the world. We have bought into this idea that we need to keep up with the fashions and fads and trendiness of society, if we are to “remain relevant”.

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And so, instead of conforming ourselves to the standard of Heaven, we have more or less given in to the world’s current fashions. And this shows up in our worship services, as a means of keeping our youth in the Church.

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But the problem with this is, that we do not take into consideration that God is the One who keeps people secure in the Truth. And our obedience to His Word is the only way to have our children blessed.

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And furthermore, anyone who is truly filled with God’s Spirit, will begin to see the folly of mingling the Gospel with the trendiness and vanity of society.

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Church worship music – cropped image – Wikipedia – Share-alike license

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SATAN’S MASTER-PLAN

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So what does Satan hope to achieve by this mingling of the sacred with the common? Well, this following passage answers this question by using an allegory concerning yeast.

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Listen… “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 1st Corinthians 5:6-8

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God has commanded us many times not to become leavened with worldly yeast. And as this passage states, just a little worldly yeast leavens the whole body of Christ. Young people, and even many oldsters will be greatly hindered from crucifying the “Old Man”, by such worldly compromises! And we are living in a very sensually-charged society. Church attendance, which should have been a safe-haven for weak Christians, had become a stumbling block for many of us. And as a result, church attendance became the problem and not the solution!

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Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – Wikipedia – US public domain

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“KEEP THYSELF PURE”

1st Timothy 5:2

Now the Bible, in many places, warns the Church, NOT to mingle the purity of Christ with the commonness of the world.

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Listen… “and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.” Jeremiah 15:19.

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Now this is just one of many passages which presents this concept of not compromising the purity of Christ with the world.

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We are not to return to the ways of the world! No, rather, the world must return to the ways of Heaven! God is calling a rebellious world back to Himself.

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Cry of prophet Jeremiah on the Ruins of Jerusalem – Wikiart – US Public Domain

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BEWARE OF EXTREMES!

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Now on the other hand, Christians are not to go to extremes with this truth.

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Christians are not to allow the Devil to pull them into the opposite extreme! Oh yes, Satan would love to pull some into fanaticism, by having them wear robes, or speak in Thee’s and Thou’s. By so-doing he only makes Christianity appear stupid and repulsive!

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No, there is a reasonable way of being godly, without falling into one extreme or the other.

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THE CHURCH TO SHINE AS THE SUN

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The Bible tells us that the world is waiting for the manifestation of the Sons of God.

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Listen… “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” Romans 8:18, 19

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Yes, the world is waiting for the time when the Church will “come into the unity of the faith…unto a perfect man” in Christ! They are waiting to see the image of the Holy One of God fully reflected in His people! (see Ephesians 4:13)

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Transfiguration – Bloch – Wikimedia Commons – US-public-domain

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THE MOVABLE WAYS OF THE APOSTATE

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But this cannot be accomplished as long as God’s people are so deeply immersed in the sensuality and giddiness of our fickle society.

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No, but rather, the people of God need to behold the majesty and greatness of our holy God and Savior. He is the Divine Pattern. His likes should be our likes. His disdain should be ours too! We are to love what He loves and hate what He hates.

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But listen to this verse regarding the adulterous woman… “her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them…Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:” Proverbs 5:6, 8.

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While this passage is speaking of an adulterous woman, it is actually speaking allegorically of a spiritually adulterous church. Yes, the ways of this adulterous woman are changeable. She is light and frivolous!

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ABOVE PICTURE – The whore city, Babylon, the apostate church-world – Burgkmair – 1523 AD – Wikimedia – US Public Domain

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THE UN-MOVABLE WAYS OF THE ELECT

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But the Church-Faithful is to be “The Church UN-changeable!”

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We are to imitate Christ in all our ways.

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We are to come out from among this mocking, giddy, irreverent world and, “be separate and touch not the unclean [thing], and I will receive you, saith the Lord, and will be a Father to you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters.” 2nd Corinthians 6:17

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Girl with a Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – share-alike license

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TODAY’S PRAYER…

“Dear Lord, Give me an exalted view of the Lord Jesus. Deliver me from the fickle ways of this vain world. Change me into the unchangeable image of Jesus…

Marine Praying – Wikimedia – USMC Public Domain

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THE END

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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN

Info & pics of constellations on this site from Wikipedia & International Astronomical Union (click here)

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THE HOLY-GHOST-RIDER CONSTELLATION

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This newest Signs Of Heaven Constellation (Fall, 2013) is by far the faintest of constellations, but is a very incredible and awesome in a number of ways (which this article will explain). Notice this faint outline of a rider on the back of the Goodly Horse in Battle Constellation. Now listen once again to Genesis, Ch. 49…

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“Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that HIS RIDER shall fall backward.” Gen. 49:17.

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So now this passage from Genesis, Ch. 49, makes even more since, because this horse now has a rider.

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If you wish to read more about this newly revealed constellation, please read… “The Holy-Ghost-Rider Constellation”

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TOMORROW:

February 4th (Why Doesn’t My Christianity Work? Part 1)

Question Mark – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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20 MINUTE+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY IN JEREMIAH

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ALL‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.

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THIS STUDY #34 IS PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING, FORMER CEO OF FAMILY RADIO…

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above picture: Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.org – Public Domain

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