Dear Brethren and Friends, We have some excellent articles in this issue about the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. All of us need to be preparing physically and spiritually for this annual memorial service. All of us need to be “examining” ourselves as Paul instructs in 2 Corinthians 13:5.
As we think about the Passover and about the original Days of Unleavened Bread, we remember that Israel was preparing to flee Egypt—a type of SIN. Likewise, we had better be preparing to flee modern Egypt in order to come out of sin. Yet when I have visited church brethren, I have often found that they—and all of us at times—still “enjoy” Egypt too much! Many still “feed” their minds and hearts NOT on God’s Word as much as they do on television programs, computer games, magazines, romance novels and other forms of diversion.
These things are usually FILLED with this world’s (Egypt’s) attitude toward romance, sex, marriage, child rearing, what to do when you are sick, violence, brutality, disrespect toward parents, teachers and nearly all in authority and, implicitly, disrespect toward GOD Himself.
In filling our minds with the messages and approach to life conveyed by this world’s print and electronic media, we are bombarding our brains with the attitude of spiritual Egypt and Babylon, which we are commanded to COME OUT of!
As this year’s Passover approaches, I urge all of you in Jesus’ name to cut WAY BACK on your exposure to this world’s media. And from my own hard-earned experience and suffering, I urge you NOT to allow your underage children to have their own private television sets, stereos or computers in their rooms, where you simply DO NOT KNOW—and some of you cannot even IMAGINE—the degree of violence, pornography and other filth they will be feeding their minds on!
Please do NOT think your children are somehow “better” and not susceptible to these powerful influences. Please HEED what I am saying or you may wake up someday and find that your teenagers are suddenly like “different persons”—having attitudes toward various aspects of life at TOTAL VARIANCE with everything you have tried to teach them. Yet, if you are honest, you may come to realize that the number of hours you spent teaching them was FAR surpassed by the number of hours they spent at the feet—so to speak—of the television “teacher” or the often perversely violent and obscene computer sites and computer games.
It is vital that parents realize that young children are being exposed to these influences at increasingly younger and younger ages than you were. Their young minds, in fact their entire spiritual outlook on life, can be TWISTED, WARPED and POLLUTED by the rotten, garbage, which is being spewed out on our modern nations by Hollywood and its ilk. So please, for your own good and the good of your children and of their entire future, examine yourselves.
What is your home really like? What are the “patterns” of conduct and activities of your children? How much time and effort do you really put into teaching and training them, interacting with them and guiding them—with God’s help and through much prayer—to reflect the values of Jesus Christ? What are the kinds of entertainment your children expose themselves to? What kinds of GOALS do they have for their future?
Again, as we approach the Passover, how much do you genuinely ABHOR this modern Babylon that we all live in and yet are not to be part of? Remember Jesus’ final prayer for His disciples: “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:14–17).
If we zealously “feed” on Jesus Christ (John 6:57) through constant and earnest Bible study, meditation, prayer and fasting, then we will not be “of” this world even though we are still in it. We will then begin to reflect Jesus Christ more in everything we think, say and do. Only in this way can we truly overcome ourselves, this present evil world and Satan the Devil.
Brethren, if we are to be among the select group of people God uses to finish His Work, we are going to have to continually put forth a “second effort.” We need to rekindle the spiritual ZEAL many of us had at baptism. And we are going to have to make a more profound commitment to genuinely “walk with God” in every phase and facet of our lives!
Jesus Christ asked the rhetorical question, “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find FAITH on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). Most people in the Church of God today are exposing themselves so much to the influences and attitudes of this confused world that they simply CANNOT have the degree of clean, wholesome, Spirit-led FAITH that the original disciples of Jesus had.
I have actually seen people supposedly “studying” the Bible with the television set blaring away right in front of them! How deep was their concern to COME OUT of this world and FOCUS earnestly on the Kingdom of God? Remember the account of the Apostle Peter literally walking on the water toward Jesus Christ? Jesus was walking on the Sea of Galilee and, when first seeing Him, the disciples “cried out” for fear. “But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.’ And Peter answered Him and said, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ So He said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O you of LITTLE FAITH, why did you doubt?’” (Matthew 14:27–31).
There are several lessons in this inspired account. As long as Peter was NOT watching television, NOT getting his mind on this world’s attitudes and approaches, he DID, in fact, walk on water! But as soon as Peter got his mind off Christ and began to consider the “around”—the things of this world—he began to sink.
But does God really want us to have enough FAITH to walk on water? Yes, He really does! For when Peter started to sink, Jesus immediately said, “Oh you of little faith, WHY did you doubt?”
Yes, it is so easy to get our minds off Jesus Christ and let them drift on to the things of this world, because this is Satan’s world. And Satan is continually “pumping out” his perverted propaganda—his perverted approach to life, which emphasizes “doing your own thing;” “Do not get too interested in God, it might make you unbalanced;” or “God is not fair;” “You need to decide what is right and wrong,” etc. These are the kinds of messages we constantly receive from “SBS”—Satan’s Broadcasting System.
Remember how the Apostle Paul warned us about walking “according to the course of this world according to the PRINCE of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (Ephesians 2:2–3). Satan is, indeed, the “prince” of this world (John 14:30, KJV). He and his rebellious fallen angels—now DEMONS—”work” continually to pull human beings down to their level. They constantly strive to impart wrong attitudes of hate, lust, selfishness and rebellion as they seek to prevent humans from joining the Kingdom of God and therefore ultimately becoming RULERS over them (1 Corinthians 6:3). In our own lives and in the lives of our children—who, with their childish minds, CANNOT understand fully—we have to be constantly on guard against this SATANIC warfare!
Brethren, if we are going to restore Apostolic Christianity, we must truly “come out” of this society— this modern Egypt and Babylon. This will make it possible for a more profound relationship to be built between each of us and Jesus Christ our Living Head and Savior. This will help us draw far closer to our Father in heaven and be able to have the living FAITH we need to fully preach the Gospel and to do the Work in a way that honors Him.
If many of us continue to have one foot in the world and one foot in the Church, we CANNOT have the faith we need, because one of the greatest “destroyers” of faith is GUILT. And when you and I “compromise” ourselves with this world and with Satan, we are markedly decreasing our own faith and closeness to God!
The Apostle John was inspired to write: “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:21–22). But when our “heart” DOES condemn us—and often for very good reason when we compromise and “water down” our approach to God and His ways—then we, feeling this GUILT, obviously do lack confidence in God. Our FAITH in God has been damaged! That childlike attitude of complete TRUST in God our Father, in His laws, His ways and His promises has been “sabotaged” by our compromises with SIN.
Anytime we begin to “pull back” from God in ANY facet of our lives, this action undermines our faith. Some brethren compromise by watching WAY too much television or going to worldly movies—thus weakening their own defenses against all kinds of assaults by Satan. Some brethren then proceed to compromise in their fidelity to their mates and bring upon themselves and their mates untold grief and sorrow. Some compromise in the way they keep the Sabbath or Holy Days. Some even compromise by STEALING God’s tithes! (Malachi 3:8–10).
Whatever type of spiritual “compromise” you make, realize deeply that it is DEFINITELY going to undermine your faith and TRUST in God. For that trust must be based upon a total reliance on the fact that God is REAL, that His laws and ways are RIGHT, and that true Christians acknowledge this and—in their hearts—determine to put their trust wholly in GOD!
Brethren, we must BELIEVE the words of King David which God inspired to be placed in the Bible: “The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their TRUST in You; for You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You” (Psalm 9:9–10). And again, “But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the LORD shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they TRUST in Him” (Psalm 37:39–40).
As we prepare to observe the Days of Unleavened Bread and to “come out of sin” physically—by removing leaven—so we must come OUT of this modern Egyptian/Babylonian society which surrounds us. We need to guard our minds zealously. We need to constantly bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
It is vital that we all realize that every sin we commit, every spiritual compromise we make—all work to DESTROY the depth and joy of the close relationship we should have with Christ, and the profound TRUST we must have in God to make it through the years ahead. As the inspired Paul wrote about “compromises” with physical things such as food and drink: “Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from FAITH is SIN” (Romans 14:22–23).
Dear brethren, let us strive and let us PRAY—and pray for one another—that we may grow to attain the level of absolute faith and TRUST in our God, which we must have! Then the Work of Christ through us will go forward with even greater POWER. And the promised “signs” (Mark 16:17–18) of casting out demons, healing the sick, and other signs, will be manifest, and more and more people will come to KNOW that there is a real God and that He still has faithful servants on this earth today.
