Today’s Devotional – September 4th (Christian “Cool”!)

By admin On February 3rd, 2021

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Today’s Devotional – September 4th

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Christian “Cool”!

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A growing phenomenon began to rise up in this society in the early Twentieth Century, or perhaps even earlier.

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It was called being “Modern” in those early years.

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It was the ideology that in order to be relevant, one had to be trendy or fashionable.

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And our society immediately and very eagerly locked itself onto this ideology!

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Roaring Twenties – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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A CHANGEABLE WORLD

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Yes, everything in society became subject to this unwritten law of conformity by fashion!

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The music we listened to, the clothing we wore.

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The trendy speech we spoke.

The places we went.

The cars we drove.

The drinks we drank.

The cigarettes we smoked.

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Everything became dictated by some unseen “Overlord”, who told us just what is “hip”, and what is not “hip”!

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And these societal dogmas and maxims were imposed upon us via television, radio, magazines, and eventually Internet!

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Store window mannequins – Wikimedia – Share-alike License 3.0

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THE YOUNG, SATAN’S SPECIAL TARGETS!

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And of course, this powerful ideology of “what is hip & cool”, found its most loyal adherents among the younger segment of society…

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…as the young scrambled to find some sort of proud identity for themselves among their peers.

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Well, as the decades progressed, this ideology of “being fashionable” changed with each passing decade, making the trends of the former decade obsolete!

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Oh yes, the retail industry loved all this planned obsolescence, since they could sell the newest fashions, the latest model of automobile, the most popular resort, the trendiest furniture, the newest colors in décor.

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And the peoples of the western nations became willing slaves and anxious devotees to this ideology of being in fashion.

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Elvis Presley – Wikipedia – Public Domain

The Beatles – Wikimedia – Creative Commons – Share-Alike License

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“COOL” ENTERS THE CHURCH!

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And of course, the Church eventually fell into this same notion, that in order to be relevant, we too had to be “cool and hip”!

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And so, fashionability found its way into the Church of God!

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Yes, reverent hymns were replaced with drums, guitars, sensual crooners & sexy-sirens, throbbing bass guitars, and all the while trying to somehow incorporate quasi-Christian lyrics into the midst of all this very earthy and sensual music.

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“Ministers of righteousness” also got on-board, by discarding their suits and ties, and instead, now donning un-buttoned sport-shirts, designer clothes, and a monologue combining stand-up comic humor, “coolness”, along with motivational-speaker dynamics!

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Rock Christian STP 2010 Pomona – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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APOSTATE CHURCHES THRIVING!

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And so, because the vast majority of churchgoers already had a self-imposed indoctrination via their own television and radio etc., at home, it took the spirit of Antichrist little effort to sell the church parishioners on this idea!

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Well, to a certain degree all this did actually succeed in keeping the youth in the Church.

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And by combining this “Christian Coolness” with the prosperity-driven gospels, the churches thrived like never before!

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skateboarder Jesus in Jeans by Peter Royle – cropped image – WIKIMEDIA – SHARE-ALIKE LICENSE

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JESUS: THE SAME, FOREVER!

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But the great spoiler to all this came whenever the true Jesus was held up against this clever counterfeit: against the “Christian-Cool” version of the Gospel.

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Yes, if this compromised gospel was compared to the Holy Son of God, then it began to appear in all its UN-holiness.

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And the light shining from the nail-pierced hands of Jesus exposed the darkness of this modern-day sophistry by His Satanic Majesty!

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The Bible declares… “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8.

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Jesus Teaching His Disciples – Luke 4:31-32 – www.lavistachurchofchrist.org

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SEPARATING THE COMMON FROM THE HOLY

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Listen to God’s speech to Jeremiah…

“Therefore thus saith the LORD,

If thou return, then will I bring thee again,

and thou shalt stand before Me:

and if thou take forth the precious from the vile,

thou shalt be as My mouth:

let them return unto thee;

but return not thou unto them.”

Jeremiah 15:19.

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God here, was telling Jeremiah to remove all commonness, and cheapness, and worldliness from his speech.

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This was the battle-line which God was drawing in the sand, so to speak, between Jeremiah, and the apostate congregation of his day!

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You simply cannot expect God’s blessing by mingling Christ with this Antichrist world! That’s not the way to bring sheep into God’s pasture!

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TOO NARROW FOR ‘COOL’

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The Narrow Gate is only wide enough for a redeemed soul filled with Jesus to fit through.

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So please don’t try to bring any ways & wares of the world into God’s house! God will not accept anyone who tries.

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They will be left in outer darkness, thinking that they are sitting among the “Congregation of the Righteous” Psalms 1:5, when in fact they will only be left on the outside, sitting among the “Congregation of the Dead.” Proverbs 21:16.

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PURITY & HOLINESS = PEACE & JOY

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God always gives joy and peace to those who desire to live in purity and holiness. It is a “peace of God, which passes all understanding”. Philippians 4:7

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Contrariwise, those who insist on having a compromised gospel will never find that true peace and joy until they turn and repent and “return to the Lord with all your hearts and put away all your strange gods”. 1st Samuel 7:3

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Woman with Bible – Braet von Überfeldt – 1866 – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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TODAY’S PRAYER…

“Dear Lord, Help me to shed of all my compromising ways, so that all the world might see Jesus in me…

Marine Praying – Wikimedia – USMC Public Domain

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THE END

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TODAY’S HEAVENLY SIGN

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“THE SIGN OF THE SON OF MAN IN HEAVEN”

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“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:

and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,

and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven

with power and great glory.”

Matthew 24:30

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God promised that “there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars;” Luke 21:25.

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And we didn’t remember that “the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” Hebrews 4.

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The Signs Of Heaven were already created from the foundation of the world.

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But as we have learned in the past, God often works in ways we aren’t expecting, or looking for.

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For instance, at the first Advent, Jesus came in a way that nobody was expecting.

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There was a general consensus amongst the theologians in those days, that the Messiah would come with conquering armies to overtake the enemies of the Jews.

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And of course, the quiet and gentle manner in which Jesus did actually come took everyone by surprise.

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TOMORROW:

September 5th (Nature’s Witnesses, Part 10: “The Joy of Creation!”)

Mother Child face-to-face – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0

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20+ MINUTE AUDIO JEREMIAH STUDY

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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.