The Word of Truth Ministries
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We must buy from God, not
from the world |
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America and western nations are leading the
world in supplying human beings all their material wants and needs. But while they are doing that,
they are not supplying man with much of his spiritual needs. The
very things these western nations are supplying the world with are often the very things that
work against a
spiritual life in God. So abundant are the goods of the world that most Americans and westerners have excessive abundance, and they often think that they should have even more. While many in the world do not have the bare necessities, most Americans have vast excess of their needs and think they deserve it. So extensive is our excess that we have met all our material needs and now think that our wants are also needs. Look at the persistent obesity among Americans; we are eating ourselves to healthcare centers, weight control centers, and literally to death. This nation has made food and other worldly things its god. And among many Christians there is no distinction between them and those of the world. Many Christians want into the excessive-abundance class
and will go to any length to be a part of it. Often
morbid obesity is rampant among Christians—when was the last time
you saw a pastor who was of normal weight and who did not have
excess? You don’t see them too often because many Christians, like the
world, give their lives to food—morning, midday, night--and when
they are not engaged in stuffing themselves, they are stuffing their
closets, garages, and their houses with this world’s goods. Do they never think this is sin?
Gluttony is a sin! The Apostle Paul said that
one who strives for mastery must be temperate in all things.
[1 Cor. 9:25] Instead of being temperate, many call their excess the blessing
of the Lord. But they are blind and cannot and do not want to see sin even when God
has placed signs everywhere! Christians in America and western nations have
so much today that most of them have forgotten the real and true God; the
gold of God they once possessed (their zest and zeal for God) has become dim, so they
now make themselves
gods of gold, silver, and the things of this world. [Lam. 4:1]
Sadly, riches have deceived so many, and while they think they
are rich and in need of nothing, they have not seen their own
poverty and depleted state in God. [Rev. 3:17-18] As saints, we should remember that the things of old were written for our learning. Those things are to educate us to the mind of Christ and to the correct behavior of saints. Therefore, God says, quit you like men, and measure up to His word! Behave correctly. [Rom. 15:4; 1Cor.16:13] In the Old Testament, we also see that King David
and his son, King Solomon, of ancient
Israel, were careful about the deceptive nature of riches. Solomon
did not ask God for great wealth, but just enough; not excess, lest he forget God.
Not too little, lest he be tempted to steal and displease God.
This was his desire because he understood the deceptive nature
of riches and how they can turn man away from God. Riches tend to make one feel that he has all
that he needs in life, he can control the going and coming of other
men, and with such powers he forgets that the breath of man
is in his nostrils, and he is within God’s hand--God breathed into man and he became a living
soul. At anytime, God can take that breath back! [Gen. 2:7] And in so
forgetting this truth, man goes after the things
of this world as if they are enough and then turns his back on God, whether
consciously or unconsciously. But to fall into the hands of
the Living God is fearful because once you fall into God’s hands,
there is no one who can take you out of them. Today in America, the definition of enough has greatly expanded to mean
that we must have all that the world media says is enough to be happy.
And this enough is much like the proverbial rich man, when he
was asked, “How much would it take to be satisfied?” His
answer was, “A little more!” Always a little more is what
the world says; a little more is what westerners now trumpet as the
good life, and because many saints are so attuned to the form and
fashion of this world, they are corrupted by such notions of more,
excess, being happy, having it all, and having fun. Seemingly, the vast
majority of Americans
think that the good life is some God-given right that Americans
should have and desire--"Because, after all, I'm worth
it." And since this
is what worldly people think, many of their ministers, who claim to
be God’s ministers, have concocted the false doctrine of a Gospel
of Wealth for Christians. [2
Chron. 13:9] Such a notion, first of all, only makes the Wealth
Teacher a rich man; second, it legitimates greed and gluttony for
many so-called Christians. But
God’s word stands assured, and regardless of what false gospel
comes on the scene, God’s saints in light know the truth,
will adhere to it, and are therefore free of such madness! [John 8:32] But those who
are not saints in light and who are not saints at all, but
merely wearing his name to take away their reproach among men, [Isa.
4:1-4] will flock to false teachings and linger in them, as the
Bible says.* God had John the Beloved to write about the
age of greed that was to
come and that men would love the world more than God. John the Beloved
wrote to the seven churches of Asia, but those seven churches
represented the seven church stages or eras of the church. The last
church age would be the Laodicean Church:
The Laodicean Church is today’s church and its members--a church weakened by a concern with this world’s goods and engagements. They have lost their godliness; their minds are not the mind of Christ. [Phil. 2:5] They were once beautiful in their holiness, but have allowed the gold of their love for God to become dim, as the Prophet Jeremiah lamented—"How has gold become dim?" It has become dim because they have allowed Satan to seduce them through twisting God’s word, through diminishing the importance of God in their lives, through making them think that death is not near and that life is long, and through looking at and listening to the flare and call of the world’s notions of the good life. Worldliness has
popularized itself and made itself the thing to be if you are in the
swing of things; it is so attractive that it has seduced many away
from the only true and Living God. I have heard once-saved people
say openly and defiantly, "I just want to be bad! I just
want to have it all."
Bad to them is fun, attractive, enjoyable, cool. Resultantly, many church members have lost perspective; they
no longer focus on things above, but on things of this world. So
powerful is the lure of the world to many Christians that they can no longer be content with the things of
God;
they want and must have the things that seem so alluring in the world, yet they have
forgotten that this is an old trick of Satan--deception and
seduction.[2 Cor. 2:11; 1 Tim. 6:8; Heb. 13:5] Satan is of the school of thought, "If the old will do, why invent something new?" He uses old tricks and old methods that are tried and true on weakened saints, and that we can easily see, if we want to see them. But they will not work if we are strong in the Lord and the power of his might, which is his word. In the Garden of Eden, the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil was just another tree in the Garden until Satan
convinced Eve that it was alluring, desirable, and good for food. And at
that point, Eve would no
longer contain herself. It was just a small thing, no doubt, she
reasoned with very flawed logic. And it was just that little, small thing that took this
world off its course. [Psa. 82:5] Just a little, small fox, but that little
fox destroyed our vine to God and disconnected us from Him. [Gen. 3:6; Song of S. 2:15] One should always be sober and vigilant, for Satan is as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour; he needs your permission to devour you because all Christians have been given power over all the power of the devil. You have power over all the power of the devil and nothing shall hurt you! [Luke 10;19] Never forget this. Satan is to be steadfastly resisted in the faith by our alertness to his tricks that are geared to pull us away from God and allow him to devour us; stay in God's word and we cannot be deceived or destroyed. [1 Pet. 5:8-9] This alertness in the faith is our buying from God and not buying from the world. We often make decisions and seldom consider
their consequences; this is especially true when the decisions seem
minor, but the
devil will always diminish the importance of the
things of God--he will make them minor; he reasons with saints to show
them that God
didn’t really mean what He actually said. Satan always has an alternative way of seeing
and explaining God’s
word so that you will not do God's word. Satan leads
you away from the old land marks, but we should not be led from
them, nor should we remove them from us; it is
through them we find our way to God. [Prov. 23:10] Was it not
Jeremiah who, living in a similar apostate era, said, Stand in
the ways and see, ask for the old way, wherein is the good way, and when you find it walk in?
Notice what the people answered then, even as they are answering the same
way today:
But they said, We will not walk therein. [Jer. 6:16] When buying of the world, you must understand that the world removes all the old land marks so that the trail to God is obscure and hard to find. But God has said that we are to look for the good way and when we find it, walk in it. To find it and to walk in it is to buy from God; on the other hand, to be attracted to and engage in the things of this world is to buy of the world's goods. That is the way that leads to death. [Prov. 16:25] Then and now, the situation has always been the same; men love darkness rather than light because man’s deeds are evil. [John 3:19] And, as a result, men buy the faulty goods that Satan and this world are selling and not buy of God. Yet God is counseling all of us to buy of him that which is lasting, true, and that which can take us from this earth to glory. The temporal pleasures and things of this world will not last—they are temporary and they will come to an end. Then what will you have? You will have lost all your right-standing with God for what the world, inspired by Satan, calls having it all. The world’s all and God’s all
are worlds apart. Dear brothers and sisters, there will be an end to all of this cosmos and only those who are in h\His word can stand, for that is the only thing that will stand! I believe God! And God has said that ears have not heard, eyes have not seen, neither has it entered into the hearts of man the good things God has in store for us who love him. [1 Cor. 2:9] I say to you, as the song says: Hold to
His hand;
God’s unchanging hand; Purchase God’s gold, which is the goodness and good things of God—a transformed mind wherein you will set your hopes on things eternal; purchase of God’s white raiment, which is the righteousness of the saints as dictated by God, lest you think you are clothed amply with your own righteousness, but that is unacceptable to God (all our righteousness is little more than filthy rags in his sight—[Isa. 64:6]); anoint your eyes with the salve of God that you might see what God is saying to you; this means that your understanding must be open to God’s word, lest you become as one with a sealed book, whom neither he nor his learned and unlearned friends can open. Therefore all are in confusion, blindness and total disarray about the words of the book. [Isa. 29:11] Do not fall into Satan's ditch. [Luke 6:39] When you buy from God life and clarity of thought, you will be able to see that the actions and circumstances surrounding you at any time or place are but temporal and will pass. Be strong and know that no temptation has come upon any man but that is not common to man, and God always makes a way for you to escape that you may bear those temptations. [1 Cor. 10:13-14] Will you allow them to pass you as you hold to God's unchanging hand? I counsel you, brothers and sisters, in the high and holy name of Jesus Christ, a name that is above every name, to buy from God the things HE is selling! _____________ |
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Copyright © 2005 by The Word of Truth