Daily Devotional, Year 3 – May 21 (All Comfy-Cozy In Hell, Part 5: “Finding A Comfy-Cozy Congregation?”)
By admin On February 14th, 2021.
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Daily Devotional, Year 3 – May 21
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All Comfy-Cozy In Hell,
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Part 5:
“Finding A Comfy-Cozy Congregation?”
To read Part 1, click here…” March 27th (All Comfy-Cozy in Hell!)”
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“For when they shall say, Peace and safety;
then sudden destruction cometh upon them,
as travail upon a woman with child;
and they shall not escape.”
1st Thessalonians 5:3
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In the early days of the Church, the Lord established the local congregations as a safe-haven for believers to congregate together, to worship, to fellowship together in the name of Jesus.
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Mostly, these congregations met together in some Believer’s home.
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There were no church buildings or at best just a few, because they would have been quickly destroyed by the Antichrist forces of that day.
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Family Bible Reading – Sabbath Eve – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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WORLD & CHURCH AT PEACE
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But today, it seems that the world and the Church has made peace together.
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And so, the Christian community was now able to build designated church buildings, which were free from anti-Christian tyranny.
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ABOVE PICTURE: Satan, The False Prophet who offers a world-loving gospel – www.signsofheaven.org
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“WHEN THEY SHALL SAY, ‘PEACE & SAFETY…THEN SHALL COME SUDDEN DESTRUCTION”
1st Thessalonians 5:3
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And because of this “peace-treaty” between the world and the Church, many or perhaps most of the parishioners likewise lived in peace and safety in this supposedly Antichrist world.
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We lived at peace. We held jobs. We raised nice families.
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And we engaged in recreation each weekend, and all went to church on Sabbath morning.
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Church Attendance – www.thebiblerevival.com – Public Domain
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SOCIAL EVENTS GALORE
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And let’s be honest. Churches make really great social/fraternal organizations.
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They are a great place to get together for potlucks. They sometimes go on outings together. They often have bingo nights, many have parties, bazaars, dances, car-washes and various other social events. They have wedding ceremonies and baby showers. They often have sports teams. Some of them offer “Christian” schooling. Some have “movie night” in which all come together to watch some Hollywood movie. A few of the mega-churches even have their own built-in shopping centers and coffee shops! And several churches even offer “Happy Hour” in which they open up a bar, serving libations.
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Church music – Singers & Dancers – cropped photo – Wikipedia – Share-alike License
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“FOR THE TIME WILL COME…”
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But listen to this prophecy concerning these end-times…“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” 2nd Timothy 4;3, 4
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This above verse paints a bleak picture of the total apostasy of the church-world in these last moments of time!
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ABOVE PHOTO: church evangelist – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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“STRAIT IS THE GATE…AND FEW…FIND IT”
Matthew 7:14
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Yes, church-life, to a great extent, has become a fraternal/social organization, merely overlaid with a thin veneer of religiosity.
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And there are many parishioners who are very content to have it this way!
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Because, let’s face it! There are many worldly-minded parishioners who want little more than to have a weekly fraternal organization to meet the social/religious needs of themselves and their families! And they can also “get blessed” too, with a benign, non-judgmental prosperity-driven gospel, combined with jokes and singing. Seems pretty nice!
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Rock Music Christian CHURCH – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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MORALITY-BASED RELIGION
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There is a very prevalent gospel in today’s world which is morality-based.
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In other words, a great number of parishioners and churches rely on a counterfeit system of rules and ethics, “Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.” Colossians 2:23
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But such a moralistic religiosity falls far short of true Christianity in which God does a daily purifying work in the Believer’s heart, thus changing him or her into the self-sacrificing likeness of Christ, battling daily against the invisible forces of darkness, which requires joyfully and faithfully living by the “exceeding great and precious promises” found throughout Scripture! 2nd Peter 1:4
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Young business people – Cropped Photo – Wikimedia – the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Christian and Apollyon – Pilgrim’s Progress – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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MANY SOCIAL EVENTS!
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And so, most churchgoers are very happy to have all this social activity so prevalent in many of today’s congregations.
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And all this combined with the nice, non-threatening weekly Bible studies which explore some family-values topic, churchgoing has greatly fulfilled most parishioner’s social/religious needs.
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Church of Christ worship music – cropped photo – Wikipedia – Share-alike License
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A LUKEWARM CHURCH TODAY
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Unfortunately, while this situation seems to satisfy the social and religious needs of most of today’s churchgoers, it does NOT satisfy the needs of a sin-hating, worldliness-hating God!
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Listen to God’s assessment of today’s Church…“I know thy works…(because thou art lukewarm) I will spew thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:” Revelation 3:15-17
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Here is seen that God hates a lukewarm, world-loving, self-satisfied church-society.
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And such a lukewarm condition is nauseating to a God who refers to Himself as, “a consuming fire”. (Hebrews 12:29)
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ABOVE STAR-CHART – Sign of the Son of Man – www.theheavensdeclare.net – Not for commercial uses
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PART-TIMERS NOT NEEDED!
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No, God is wanting His Church to be on fire for truth and righteousness and holiness…“Follow
peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:” Hebrews 12:14
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Holiness is an absolute requirement in each and every Christian’s life. And God will not accept any half-hearted service. He wants His people to search for Salvation as if it is a hidden treasure…which it is…“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” Matthew 13:44
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Yes, Christ sold all to purchase us. And He wants us to likewise respond to this incredible gift with no less fervor, but rather, a fiery 100% devotion!
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USMC – Prayer before Bible study – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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HATING THIS PRESENT, SELFISH WORLD!
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Listen…“whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:33
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This and many other similar Bible passages reveal that God wants nothing to do with those who attempt to have Jesus in one hand, and the world in the other!
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He accepts no divided service.
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ABOVE PICTURE: Satan, The False Prophet who offers a world-loving gospel
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“DEPART FROM ME…I NEVER KNEW YOU!”
Matthew 7:23
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And all those who are seeking for a nice comfy-cozy religious experience in some socially-active congregation will one day stand before the Judge only to discover they had never even become a true disciple of Jesus.
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Because becoming a true disciple requires a full surrender to Christ and a complete renouncing of this selfish world in one’s heart.
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ABOVE PICTURE: Satan, The False Prophet who offers a world-loving gospel
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STRANGERS & PILGRIMS ON A HEAVENWARD SOJOURN
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In other words, we all must become “a new creation in Christ”.
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No, not just becoming nice law-abiding and morally upright citizens.
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But we must receive a “new heart“ in which we become strangers and pilgrims on a sojourn out of this selfish world, and upward and onward to the Celestial City of God! This, of course, is a supernatural transformation, brought about by the infilling and indwelling of God’s Spirit, the Spirit of Holiness.
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NO MORE SOCIAL-CLUBING
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And with such a holy fire burning within, there will be no more of this seeking after a nice, comfortable little social/fraternal club with a milk-of-the-word, non-threatening prosperity-driven gospel.
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Evangelist Preaching – Church – Audience hands – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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“FLAME-OF-FIRE” CHRISTIANS
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No, but rather, God’s “Born-Again On-Fire Believers” will be casting the world behind them “to the moles and to the bats“, as they run the race toward becoming Christ-like in every respect, allowing God to send them through the purifying fires of trials and tribulation, so that they may “come forth as gold“! (Isaiah 2:20 & Job 23:10)
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Picture – Lot Escapes Sodom – www.thebiblerevival.com offers free Bible clipart – Public Domain.
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to fully understand just where we are! Let me not be carried away in a Devilish dream, and begin to seek after the things of this world. But fix my eyes Heaven-ward, as I continue up the pathway to Heaven…
The Christian Martyrs Last Prayer – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Vanity Fair” & The False Prophet, or you can also read this shorter article…January 31st (You Can’t Fix Hell!)
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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THE ‘FIVE FOOLISH VIRGINS’ STARS
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A new constellation has been revealed, as of about May 29th, 2014. This constellation appears as a serpent (snake). Its body is comprised of stars from the Bootes Constellation, and its jaws are made of the four stars which Babylonians saw as the head of Draco, the Dragon. It also has a small single star for an eye.
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Now in this constellation is a group of five stars, which will be called “The ‘Five Foolish Virgins’ Stars”. These are located on the opposite side of the Glorious Crown of 12 Stars (AKA Corona Borealis), from the ‘Five Wise Virgins’ Stars. But one big difference between the two is, that The Five Wise are curved around the Glorious Crown, while the Five Foolish are curved away from it!
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… The ‘Five Foolish Virgins’ Stars
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TOMORROW…
May 22 (How Do I See These Signs of Heaven? Part 3: “A Matter of Desire, Or Desire-Not!”)
Starry Night at La Silla – Wikimedia – Share-Alike license
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