'Together Forever And Never To Part'?!
There is something in us that longs for unity. It was in fact given to us by our Creator. He put in every one of us a desire to be one...with each other and with Him.
His word is full of commands and statutes that tell us not only to be one but how to be one.
Psalm 133:1 tells us : " How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!"
1 Corinthians. 1:10 urges us: "I appeal to you brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you , but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought."
Ephesians 4:11-13 reminds us: " So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists , the pastors and teachers, to equip his people what works service, so that the body of Christ may be built up, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
As we can see from just three verses, we are encouraged to be unified in "One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father" (Ephesians 4:4-6).
Could there ever be a problem when we come together as one, just as the Bible commands us to?
The answer may surprise you: Yes.
How can that be? Isn't our highest calling to be one in love and peace with the world?
....Sort of. Lets unravel this knot we seemingly made, but has really been there from the start.
"Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?" - 2 Corinthians 6:14
Notice the verse says "unbelievers". This is referring to all people who do not believe the truth that Jesus Christ IS the only begotten Son of God, born of a virgin, walked and lived among humanity, gave his life at the cross, rose again, is seated at the right hand of God, The Father and will one day, very soon in fact, return to earth for His bride and the ultimate Day of Judgement.
Wow! That is quite a lot to believe, isn't it!
But there are Many who Do Not Believe ALL of this. Many of these people, believe it or not, are professing "Christians", also known as followers of Christ.
So, am I saying not everyone who call themselves 'Christian' are true followers of the True Christ?
Precisely.
Read Matthew 7:21-23.
Jesus Himself says that not Everyone who calls Him Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. This is very difficult to take in. How can the Lord of all not want to embrace all of humanity? After all, we have been called to love and be at peace with everyone right? Isn't this following the example of Christ?
You must understand, God is not a God of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33) and He will never go against His word.
Jesus finishes His declaration by saying: "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness."
So we see that there is a foundational distinction that separates the true children of God from those who imitate: lawlessness.
Lawlessness is disobedience to the law(s) set in place, first by God, then subsequently those that are set for us as humanity, which also come from God. There are many scriptures to read through for this and I encourage you to take the time to!
You may be thinking: "seems easy enough, quite obvious in fact- don't associate with sinners". Not exactly. We are in fact to share the love of Christ, especially to sinners. How else do they see that agape love in action?!
No what I'm talking about is not so obvious. In fact, I am just skimming the surface of this extremely important aspect of being a true believer.
I am talking about the wolves who sneak in the churches (Jude 1:4), who come in wearing sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15); who have a form of godliness (2 Timothy 3:5-7); who come to you preaching another Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:4).
Another Jesus?! Did we just read that correctly?!
Yes. There are the true children of God Almighty. And there are those who masquerade themselves as such, but are really of their father the devil(John 8:44) with a false light.
" And no wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."
- -2 Corinthians 11:14
If you've never been taught this in church, I empathize and I lift you up in prayer. It has taken me years and only by the grace of God to read this for myself in The Bible.
It is of utmost importance that we read our Bible. Many churches don't even use them anymore. Let alone encourage you to read them for your selves.
No, sadly, many well-intentioned Christians are being tossed to and fro nod stand by every wind of doctrine(Ephesians 4:14). We must remember that the enemy Satan knows the Bible. And as an 'angel of light' he can and does use scripture to trip up the Saints.
Church has become halls of entertainment and places to socialize. We are a far cry from the church laid out plainly for us in the book of Acts(chapter 2).
This falling away has been going on for a long time. But the Great Falling Away is happening before our very eyes. And many are in a deep slumber, drunken with the wine of Babylon.
The true church Must wake up from this deception!!!
The true church of God must stand together as on in Christ ( Galatians 3:28), believing the Truth and living accordingly. The age of grace is about to end. There is no time to be lukewarm, compromising the Truth for half truths and exchanging full surrender for comfort zones.
As the world gets more confusing and humanity grows darker, and life gets more complicated- We must know and stand firm in the truth. There will be a time, virtually soon where our freedom to receive the truth will be taken from us and the opportunity to choose won't be available anymore (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). So please love the truth and be saved!!!
I will be writing more on this. I pray you will take heed to the words of God Almighty:
"Come out, my people, flee from Babylon. Save yourselves! Run from the LORD'S fierce anger!" - Jeremiah 51:45
* post title lyrics from: "Together Forever" by Rick Astley
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