Be Not Of This World

Be Not of This World

5/7/17

To what degree did God say this statement to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and to His Church and how much did He mean it to those who followed His Ways throughout their lifetimes?  The same question can be asked of ourselves today and most of us would not really have an adequate answer for such a question.  We have successfully downgraded the setting of such a covenant that means the entire definition of God and His people through the proper coaching from our eternal enemy.  Covenant is the most important way and necessity that we need to understand and live by, for it provides the standards of why we need to be separated from the world and the commitment that God has to His people.  We also must understand that since God is eternal and has no rivals this means by no means can He break or violate such a Covenant, a detail most fine and pure that can only bring violations since the one originating such a contract is Himself everlasting.

I have always believed that God has created each person for a specific purpose and it is this belief that God resounds this truth through our lives.  While we are continually walking in disbelief and confusion, God still uses us to promote and advance His Kingdom and to most of us, this action comes as a distraction in itself because we are so self-centered and fail to understand why God has created us in the first place.  God gave us a command way back in the Garden of Eden and through this command He expected us to understand the importance of separation from the world and all of the grieving issues that its presence would bring.  We have lived under the concept that God created us for our own existence but in truth, we were created for His Kingdom and its advancement. 

There is no way possible that we can ever compare ourselves to God or try and place ourselves on His level.  The closet that humanity came to this fact was when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden and had no influence of sin IN their lives, it became obvious that sin was around them but up until they accepted sin into their lives they knew no issues of wrath against them.  They were separated from the world and this truth is explained to us in Genesis 2:15 when God’s Word says that He placed Adam into the Garden to keep it and to dress it.  The Garden of Eden was a perfect setting for Adam and eventually Eve and it was through this placement that defined God’s intention for mankind to be separate from the environment that had been established by the one who thought he was just as good as God.

The concepts of Covenant were established between God and mankind in the Garden of Eden and it was clearly shown to both Adam and Eve through the teachings of God as each morning came into life.  God provided daily talks with Adam and Eve and while His Word does not directly state what they conversed about, God cannot hide things from His people so the reasons why this separation was necessary had to be discussed.  We must remember that God is a consistent God and through this truth about Him and through the patterns that we study about all throughout the Bible, it is clear that He established this separation pattern in the Garden of Eden because it is the same message to all people, both in biblical times and today.  It is evident that Adam and Eve watered down God’s separation truth just as it is evident that we are doing the exact same thing today.  How many times have we lifted up our own lives and do things according to our flesh instead of knowing, understanding and following God’s Ways?

It is not easy for our finite minds to understand why God wants us to stay away from the world and all that it has to offer.  The world is in constant motion and brings forth things into its path even when we are snoozing in our beds.  I have found it so convenient to accept just a little portion of the world into my life and then unknowingly have it grow until it becomes an idol or part of me that I find difficult to let go.  The time frame from the introduction and until the true realization of what is inside my life varies but as I take a closer look at it I can see the growth pattern and how it has wrapped around my inside heart.  It is this part of influence that cost Adam and Eve their place of dominion and currently resides in billions of us around the globe.  We have fallen for the inclusion theory of our enemy and have not even questioned his presence around us; how comfortable we have become with this setting.

The entire truth about Covenant is about protection and separation based on a holy and pure origin and then given to those who wish to live under its covering.  Covenant cannot have an origin because it originates from God and since God does not have an origin His protective covering is eternal as well.  Thus stated, since God is eternal, consistent and had no rival this means that His Covenant is also eternal and pure and cannot be broken by Him.  Since the base and foundation of this Covenant cannot be broken and that it is eternal and pure this means that those who live under its protection and then choose to leave this standard can only violate its contents.  For if God cannot break its contents and He is pure, holy, consistent, and eternal this can only mean that the ones who He made the Covenant for cannot break it either, only violate it.

Protected from what or from who is the logical question here.  We must remember that God is the Father of ALL living things and of created items.  This means that all life as our minds and hearts can comprehend and even those that we cannot were made by God at some point in history.  As God has shown us many times in His articles and what He has provided us throughout His Word we know that there is an enemy that does not like our presence for it represents the advancement of God’s Kingdom.  Yes, we are the reason God’s Kingdom is either advanced or Satan’s is advanced and it is 100% through the choices that we make that either kingdom advances.  The Bible states this because it says that for every plan that God has Satan has a counter plan in order to advance his kingdom instead, a logical strategy if one understands the rules of engagement and war.

If God is all truthful, holy, consistent, pure, and cannot change that means the enemy of His is the complete opposite of these traits.  The Bible actually gives us an accurate description of Satan in John 8:44 when it states: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”  Wow! What a vivid description of the one that God is keeping us from and no wonder He wants us to stay away from such antics and heartbreak.  Through this verse alone, God’s description of His opposite means that everything that comes from Satan is a lie for he is the father of lies.  If God is Father of all things living and Satan is the father of all lies this means that life itself is a truth which means that our lives represent God’s Kingdom.  Therefore, everything that Satan represents is the opposite of life which is death and death is a lie to life, then death cannot inhabit life which means that God and Satan cannot coexist and neither can their kingdoms.

This verse also states that Satan is the father of lies which means he was the first one to use a lie.  To be a father of something is very specific and definitive, another reason why it is important to our enemy that he destroys the family in every way possible; he lies and everything that he tricks us into believing is also a lie.  We must understand that since he is considered the father of lies that this means every act he performs is a lie and nothing else but a lie.  This means that God has never lied nor can He lie so everything in His Word is the truth and cannot change, which is consistent with God Himself, another reason that God wants to protect His children.  This means the opposite of God from Satan is true if Satan cannot tell anything but lies then God cannot tell anything but the truth, which is the foundation of Covenant.

God did His best to convey this message to Adam and Eve before they chose to fall into sin, God continued this practice of Covenant ideology and truth before they left the Garden of Eden and continued such truth telling to Abraham, Moses, Jacob, David, and all of the prophets in the Old Testament.  God also gave us His Son so that His presence on earth could eternally solidify this eternal Covenant with us and once and for all expose our enemy for who he is, the manipulator and liar that God’s Word says he is.  It is our eternal enemy that God wishes for us to be separated from and if we do not understand that the world and all of its short-term glory is actually Satan’s kingdom, we are doomed.  That is why God wants us separated from the world and more specifically not even in the world’s company.  Israel gives us plenty of examples of what occurs when we place our security and trust in the world, we fall hard and many times fail to recover to our previous standards.  God gives us 100% of His time, love and purity and that is why He expects the same in return from us because He knows that if we do not then we shall be subject to our enemy’s control.

A sobering example still comes from the land of Israel and God’s chosen people the Jews.  I have a great friend who I call upon to ask questions concerning the Jewish ways and thinking.  I asked her one day about how important covenant was to the religious Jews and she replied that covenant with God is their definition of existence and nothing less.  She also added that a growing number of Jews were falling away from God yet they were still arriving in droves to Israel.  She elaborated on her last statement that it is the covenant that Jews have with God that separates them from all other religious practices, hence their definition in God.  I politely said thank you, said our courtesies and ended the conversation.  It pains me to realize that there are millions of people in the world that know about God but still continue to walk with the world and living from underneath His Covenant.  This means that the nation of Israel was solely dependent on God for everything since they were to be separate from the world, and since God is a consistent God He has offered this separation status to gentiles as well which means that Covenant is open for everyone, an important detail that Jesus took care of when He died on the cross and rose again from the grave.

Our enemy has done a wonderful job in scrambling our mission statement enough to mire our activities in junk instead of cleanliness of life.  Even the Early Church struggled with the same ideologies of selfish perfection of the flesh instead of living under the protective covering of an eternal God that understand that sinful flesh cannot change its spots, so there have been thousands of added years of misconceptions concerning who is holy and who needs eternal covering.  If one looks at this statement – which is a vital truth to our existence – we will notice that the same identities haunt us today that did when Abraham walked this earth, a disturbing detail that has Satan laughing at God’s children.  All Satan needs to do is to convince us that it is ok for us to use God’s eternal Covenant as an umbrella and that it is ok to go from underneath it when times are good, a clear sky is just as dangerous as a cloudy and dark one for every element is present in detailed circumstances.  Equality in the name of the world shall only bring further division between

Every day in today’s societies we are witness to governments, persons, groups, and ideas clash with those who believe that their answers and ways of thinking arise higher than those who differ from them.  These influential sidings are growing at an exponential pace and while doing so fail to understand what is really transpiring not only in their own hearts but in society as well, all as a result of such activity.  We would rather depend and call upon a flawed societal and plagiaristic lie than live under a guarded eternal presence that has no worldly differences taking stage.  Covenant is a huge issue in our stability and is vital that we understand that it is our choice to either live under this Covenant or violate it.  We also fail to understand that when we choose to live from under God’s Covenant that we automatically lower the percentages of our protection which mean less of a chance of an eternal survival with God.  God does not want a short or small percentage of your life, He wants it all and that means that it is either all or nothing; not just Sundays and Wednesday nights.

Do we honestly believe that Jesus had this “couple of days a week” attitude while He was walking on this earth?  From my observations concerning the Church, I can state with confidence that we actually believe can obtain a true relationship with God by adhering to the umbrella concept of Covenant.  Many people play out only parts of Jesus’ ministry, you know, the parts that are deemed good for societal and social settings which require the least amount of commitment yet leave the penetrating and eternal truths about His fulfillment of Covenant with His Father and to us to nothing more that honorable mentions which deem little attention.  It is these “honorable mentions” that brought Jesus to the earth in the first place for it is these acts of Jesus that provide us with the eternal sacrificial offering that only He could give.  Every act that Jesus did while He graced this rock with His presence exemplified Covenant and the living meaning of separation from the earth and it is our responsibility to demonstrate His walk each day of our lives.

A while back I was walking down the street in my small town and noticed a woman provocatively dressed coming towards us.  As we approached each other, I glanced at hr neckline and noticed a large cross necklace which was very visible and shiny.  I could do nothing but shake my head in disbelief after she passed by us because it was obvious which portion of her existence was more important, yet still trying to keep her recognition of God present for everyone to see at the same time.  In all honesty, her appearance defines the modern world and more specifically the modern Church.  The Church wishes to supply the world with a watered down presentation of the Bible yet at the same time fail to recognize that she is actually portraying the world’s standards instead of God’s standards.  If Jesus would have said “no” to the cross and had His angels minister to Him and fight off the spirits around Him His actions would be exactly like the lady who passed us by on the downtown sidewalk.  Jesus did not take the umbrella approach to His life and the meaning of His life was to be, He totally separated Himself from societal whims and disguises and chose His Father’s Ways.

The sole reason that we are in the destructive situations that we wake up and hear about each morning is simply because we have failed to understand and then live under God’s Covenant.  It is easy to criticize the bible as being an ancient text that is not relevant for today’s societies and should not be in consideration as a text that has the capability to teach.  At the same time, I find that belief hilariously sad and deafening because when anyone proclaims that statement as a truth they prove God’s Word true for they have provided the exact reasons, reactions, and results that people in the Bible went through those seemingly “ridiculous” storylines.  Why do we allow our enemy have so much control over our lives that we cannot see what he is doing to us?  How can we become so distracted that we believe the father of lies over the eternal Father of all living things? 

Do we understand that as long as we continue to live outside of God’s Covenant – His Life and Word – that we shall only continue to be in decline?  How can the Church, the one institution be so inclined to join the world’s death march instead of seeing then promoting the eternal salvation that God’s Word provides?  If we really study Scripture and dive into the portions of God’s Word that define Covenant, then live by that eternal blessing our lives would dramatically change within a few short moments.  If our hearts are turned towards God and we have no desire than to live for Him, we cannot be a part of the world, simply through the definition of separation that John 8:44 gives. 

Our debts and chains may be gone through God’s Covenant but that gives no authority to selfishly take advantage of this grace and ignore the truth as to how it was obtained.  Covenant is an all encompassing truth which takes the time to learn about but so freeing when realized how our survival depends upon it.  So, the Covenant learning begins for when we begin to understand about Covenant, we then begin to understand how important God needs to be in our lives, how we cannot go one second without His Word in our hearts, and exactly how vital it is to be able to pass under the Covered Bridge He has provided for all His children as the way to restoration in God.  Oh, how God wants us to know and to live by the fact that restoration means to be not a part of this world and only through this truth can be obtained.

DLB