Whose changing who?

[Dhlaroroth]

I see a type of reaching out to the unsaved...some Christians disapprove of this ,consider it compromise..others think we reach more people this way..but you'll see Christians celebrating Halloween but dressed as people from the Bible instead of witches and the devil...you'll see Christians create a rock and roll band but sing Christians songs yet in a style of the world...among other examples.I personally am.of the group that its compromise,the Christians are copying the worlds ways to.gain people.Who is changing who?And it open a door where it gets extreme ,like a Christian can go to a group of devil worshippers and participate with a Christian spin on it ,to have it both ways?So is there a spritual danger in this ?There's debate amongst Christians on this.

 

[Articles]

We hear your heart in this question and we share your concern because this is a debate that has caused much confusion in the body of Christ, and we want to seek the Lord's wisdom together on it.

You are asking the right question when you ask who is changing who, because that is exactly the test Scripture gives us. We are called to go into the world to reach the lost, but we are not called to become like the world to do it. The Lord is clear that we are to be in the world but not of the world, and that our calling is to be set apart unto Him.

Romans 12:2 says Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God. And James 4:4 warns You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Also 1 John 2:15 says Don’t love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him.

When we take something that God calls darkness and try to put a Christian spin on it, we are not redeeming it, we are fellowshipping with it. Ephesians 5:11 says Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them. And 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 asks What fellowship does righteousness have with iniquity? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? Therefore come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you.

We understand the desire behind these methods. The heart to reach more people is good, and some will point to 1 Corinthians 9:22 where Paul says I became all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. But Paul never meant that we participate in sin or in pagan practices to win sinners. He became culturally flexible in matters of liberty, like eating or not eating certain foods, but he never compromised holiness or joined in idolatry to do it. He also wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:21 You can’t both drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can’t both partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons.

This is where the spiritual danger you discern is very real. When Christians celebrate Halloween even dressed as Bible characters, they are still giving place to a day rooted in darkness and the fear of death and the celebration of evil spirits, which God has forbidden. Deuteronomy 18:10-12 says There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh. To dress it up does not change its nature. In the same way, when we take music or entertainment whose very spirit and history is rooted in rebellion, sensuality and the glorification of the flesh and simply change the words, we must ask whether we are truly glorifying God or subtly bringing the spirit of the world into the church. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 says Abstain from every form of evil. And Colossians 2:8 says Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elemental spirits of the world, and not after Christ.

You are right to see the slippery slope. If we justify a little compromise to gain people, where do we stop. Could a believer then go and sit with devil worshippers and participate with a Christian spin and call it evangelism. Scripture would call that syncretism and God has always judged it. The world should not be changing the church, the church is called to change the world by being a holy light. Matthew 5:14 says You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden. Light does not blend with darkness to win darkness, it exposes it.

We do not win the unsaved by becoming like them, we win them by preaching the true Gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and by living lives that are visibly different and holy. It is only through Jesus that anyone is saved, for Acts 4:12 says There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved, and John 14:6 says Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. That Gospel does not need worldly gimmicks. It needs faithful witnesses.

We pray together for you and for all who are wrestling with this.

Father in heaven, we come before You in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son. We thank You for giving us Your Word as a lamp to our feet. We ask for wisdom and discernment for Your people in these days of confusion. Lord give us eyes to see where we have tried to be friends with the world and help us to come out and be separate unto You. Forgive us where we have loved the methods of the world more than the holiness of Your name. Fill us with courage to stand apart even when others call it narrow or judgmental. Teach us how to love the lost without copying their ways, how to speak the truth in love without compromise, and how to walk in the power of Your Holy Spirit so that our lives truly point to Jesus. Guard our hearts from deception and from every opening to the enemy. Lead us in Your good, well-pleasing and perfect will. We ask this in Jesus name, amen.

We encourage you to continue to test all things by Scripture, to pray for discernment, and to remember that God honors faithfulness over numbers. The Lord does not need us to make His Gospel cool or relevant. He needs us to make it clear and to live it holy, and He will draw those who have ears to hear.

 

[hostadmin]

We appreciate you bringing this honest wrestling to us. The question you keep returning to, who is changing who, is a really perceptive one and it shows you care both about reaching people and about staying faithful to the Lord.

That tension is felt by many believers. The desire to meet people where they are comes from a good place, and at the same time it is easy to slowly take on the shape of what we are trying to reach without meaning to. Your examples capture that well. Putting a Christian label on a worldly form does not automatically keep the meaning clear, and over time it can blur what others hear from us and what is happening in our own hearts.

What has helped others find clarity is to pause and ask a few steady questions before taking part: does this way of reaching out keep Jesus and His message clear or does it soften or confuse it, does it draw those involved closer to Christ or make compromise feel normal, and what kind of fruit does it actually bear over time. It can also help to talk this through with a pastor or a mature believer you trust who knows you, since this is an area where even faithful Christians see things differently and community helps us see blind spots.

Father, we ask You to give our friend wisdom and quiet confidence as they seek Your will in this. Guard their heart from confusion, guide their steps, and surround them with helpful counsel. Help them walk in a way that reflects Your truth and love and keep them close to You. In Jesus' name, amen.

 

[bobr69]

I prayed for this in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[wingsonprayers]

Praying in the precious name of Jesus. Amen

 

[Spurgeon]

You have put your finger upon a most needful question, and you have stated it rightly, Who is changing who?

There is indeed a spiritual danger in this course, and your conscience has not misled you. The Word declares, without holiness, practical, personal, active, vital holiness, no one shall see the Lord. Holiness is not mere morality which skims the surface and cleans the outside of the cup and the platter, while the heart remains full of wickedness. Holiness deals with the thoughts and intents, the purposes, the aims and the motives of men. It requires that the heart shall be set on God and that it shall beat with love to Him. One said well when asked what is holiness, it is having a clean inside. Morality is a clean outside, but holiness is being clean within. There can be no holiness in a worldling.

For this reason holiness must have its negative side, separation from the world. Election itself is a separation. God has set apart him that is godly for himself, has separated a people out of the mass of mankind. Does that separation allow us to draw the inference, God has separated me, therefore I will live as other men live? No, it were strange if the decree of separation should engender an unholy union. It cannot be. Put on as the elect of God, bowels of compassion, holiness and love, and let the world see that God's chosen ones are made by grace the choicest of men, who live nearer to Christ and are more like Christ than any other people.

The present age has its own commandment, be fashionable, and think with those who profess to be scientific, and the second is like unto it, do not be singular, but be as worldly as your neighbours. To wait till people are born again and become followers of Christ is thought a long process, so the counsel is to abolish the separation between the regenerate and unregenerate. This is no new temptation. Some have made a compromise, and one day they will serve God and another day they will serve their sins, like the Samaritans who feared the Lord and served other gods. If we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us, and He cannot walk with us, for we are not agreed. Can two walk together except they be agreed?

When the church borrows the world's revels and only changes the costume, or borrows the world's music and only changes the words, who is being changed? It is not the world that is made holy, it is the church that is made worldly. You ask if it opens a door where it gets extreme, that a Christian might go among devil worshippers and participate with a Christian spin to have it both ways. That is the very principle at work. Once we concede that we may do evil that good may come, or copy the unfruitful works of darkness to commend the light, we have left the path of wisdom. The way of God is not known by the lion's whelp of worldly strength and cunning, and a spark of true faith in Jesus Christ is better than a whole volcano full of worldly wisdom.

The true way to turn souls from ruin to glory, from sin to holiness, is not by making holiness look like sin, but by perseverance in holiness. If the grace of God has really changed you, you are radically and lastingly changed, and the promise is, they shall not depart from me. That fear of God which keeps us from departing is kept alive in our hearts by reading the Scriptures, for as we feed on the Word, it breathes within us that fear which is the beginning of wisdom. The sweetest evidence that we have been saved is that salvation secures a life of holiness.

Therefore keep to the old and safe path. Let your witness to the unsaved be a clean inside and a clean outside, a life that shows there is a great gulf of separation between the child of God and the world, not in pride but in fellowship with God. Do you walk with God? That is the pressing question. Seek not to be like the world to win the world, but to be like Christ to commend Christ. Pray that the Lord will keep you from compromise, give you courage to be singular for His sake, and make your very distinctness the means by which others see the beauty of holiness and are drawn to the Saviour who alone can save.

 

[usha rani]

Praying for this request in Jesus Name.

 

[The Encourager]

May God in Jesus' name answer your prayer request according to God's perfect love, wisdom, will, timing, grace, and mercy. God is so in love with you. Be Encouraged!

Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, the way You want me to know You. So that I will trust You with my life and anyway that You move in my life. Bless me to trust You with all my heart, lean not to my own understanding, acknowledge You in all my ways, and allow You to direct my footsteps and actions. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do.

God heal me in every area of my life. Deliver and cleanse me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God-conscious-solution-focused-heart-mind-spirit-and-attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by The Encourager-Prayer Warrior-Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach. www.theencourager.net

Heal Me Lord Jesus Spirit, Soul, And Body

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[Chrysostom]

Topic Automatically Translated From English Language:

You have asked a question that shows real spiritual discernment, and your concern is not without cause. There is indeed a danger when the people of God begin to copy the ways of the world in order to reach the world, for we must ask as you have, who is changing who.

Scripture does not call us to avoid worldliness only a little, but to deny it. To deny means to stand at the greatest distance from it, with hatred and aversion for it. Worldly lusts and the fashions of this present life are not neutral things. They can become idols when we cling to them, and we are told that Christ came so that we should deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly and righteously in this present age. Whatever is useful only for this present life and perishes with it belongs to that pattern we are to deny.

This is why the example of Demas is a warning to us. He did not forsake the apostle because he hated Christ, but because he loved this present world, loving his own ease and security more than sharing in hardship for the Gospel. When we love the present world we will slowly choose its comforts, its entertainments, and its approval over faithfulness.

You are right to see that dressing up for Halloween as Bible characters, or taking the music and style of the world and only changing the words, is not winning the world but letting the world shape us. The ancient faithful understood this and fled from the market places and the tumults of the cities, choosing a life that had nothing in common with the present vanities, not because they hated people, but because they knew how easily worldly sorrows, envy, lusts and cares choke the soul. Love that is for Christ's sake is firm and cannot be broken by loss or insult, but love that is built on temporal motives is soon severed.

There is also a danger to the soul that we must not treat lightly. We are called to rescue those who are in danger, but the true danger is the danger of the soul brought upon men by the devil. We do not rescue a man from drowning by drowning with him. To throw ourselves needlessly into the midst of spiritual danger and say let us see whether God will keep us is to test God, and that is a diabolical thing. To sit among those who worship darkness, even with a Christian spin, is to cast ourselves into a foreseen danger without cause. We cannot have it both ways and expect to remain unharmed.

The Gospel has never needed the world's methods to be powerful. The apostles preached the Gospel of God in much conflict and hardship, with boldness and with miracles, not with imitation of the culture around them. Their zeal and the holiness of their lives were the witness. Holiness in marriage, purity of life, and a clear denial of the world are what preserve the faith we have received and make our witness credible.

Therefore keep to the narrow way. Reach the unsaved not by becoming like them, but by loving them enough to call them out of darkness into light. Speak the truth plainly, live a life that is visibly different, invite them to hear the Word, to repent and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Pray for them, show them hospitality, open the Scriptures to them, but do not join their festivals or borrow their forms of worship. What they need is not a Christian version of what they already have, but the new life that only Christ can give.

Continue to stand firm in that conviction, even when others disagree. The Lord will honor a heart that wants to be faithful rather than fashionable, and He will use a holy life and a clear Gospel far more than any compromise ever could.

 

[Jonathan_M]

Praying in Jesus Name.