Do Not Love the World As Christians, we are confronted with three great and powerful enemies. These three enemies are, "The world, the flesh and the devil." They are terrible enemies that we MUST OVERCOME if only we want to be saved. However, in this article, we will consider only one of these enemies which the Holy Bible warns us not to be "conformed" unto. The enemy that we will consider briefly in this article is called, "THE WORLD." My cherished Brothers and Sisters, this world is under the dominion of Satan who is its "prince" and who controls its policies and politics. Satan is the god of this world who directs its various religious practices. This present evil world is hostile to godliness. This present evil world is dominated by selfish ambition, pride, greediness, self-pleasing and sensuous desires and interests. Its opinions are false. Its aims are selfish. Its pleasures are sinful. Its influence is totally demoralizing and soul-ruining. Its politics are corrupt. Its honours are short-lived and worthless. This present evil world is at rebellion against our God. It is in opposition to God. Dear Friends, this world seeks to gratify its own sinful lusts with no thought of or concern for God's will or glory. Most men and women of today do not care about the provocative dresses they put on, many do not care about the means they use to obtain wealth while most people now do not differentiate between what is good or spiritual to watch or listen to. Even as many keep loving the world, it is high time for God's children to walk on the path of righteousness and separate themselves from the world. It is God's purpose that as Christians we should detach our affections and interests completely from the things of this physical and corrupt world and set them upon things above. But from the look of things now, it is hard to detect any line of separation between those of us that claim to be Christians and the world. Looking at the way that so many of us conduct ourselves, it is difficult if not impossible to distinguish "him that believes" from "him that believes not" that Jesus is the only Saviour of humanity. It was never in the mind of God that as His people, we should make ourselves at home here, because our, "citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20). God separated Abraham from his people, and "righteous Lot" and his family members from the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. God carefully separated Israel from the nations and set them apart by special laws and customs. And during these final hours of the world's history, He commands us to, "have no fellowship" with unbelievers, or be, "unequally yoked" with them. With all these things in our view, what are we doing? Are we obeying God's command to separate ourselves from the world? If we are not, why are we not? Will God accept any of our useless excuses? He has given us our marching orders to represent Him in character in this world. Our duty is to do just that! Do we think we can mix the things of this wicked world with our lives and not sin? It's impossible. Sin is a serious matter. Jesus Christ, the very Son of God suffered and died in order to deliver us from it, and yet great numbers of those of us who claim to be Christians are taking an active part in the world's merrymaking and mad struggle after this world's pleasures, wealth and temporal rewards! If we do not believe in the loving and humble Jesus as the Saviour of humanity, then let us quit our miserable pretense of being His followers. In other words, let us stop being hypocrites and take our Christian walk seriously in these evil last days. Any of us who is seeking God must be prepared to make a full surrender of all sinful and worldly prospects, pleasures and benefits, and give himself or herself completely to God. All of us must be willing to give God all the affections of our hearts because His command is,"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with ALL THY HEART" (Numbers 22:37).It is a sad fact that at this end of the world, there are only two kinds of "Christians." These are the "truly repentant or possessors" and the "unrepentant or professors". Those of us who are mere professors of Christianity have been overcome by the love of the world, the cares of the world, the business of the world, the money of the world, the pleasures of the world, the desire to go along with the world, and, sadly enough, the desire to be LIKE the world. Of course, we are only pretending to live holy and religious lives. Yet, we still have the false hope of getting to heaven at last. Beloved Brothers and Sisters, when God commanded us through Paul to, "Come out from among them," He did not mean that as Christians we must give up all our worldly callings, our trades, our occupations, our businesses. No! If only they are lawful and according to the Holy Bible, we can engage in them. God did not forbid any of us from being teachers, farmers, or nurses, or engineers, just to mention a few. God does not expect man ...
