Of God or of the World?

Anyone who has good experience in following continually after the Spirit of God will seek with top priority to edify the faith and love of Christ in others (Rom. 8:14; Mat. 6:33). On the other hand, those who name the name of Christ and have received his Spirit, but are following after religious traditions instead; are going to care more for the things that pertain to this life (Rom. 8:5,6). Not only so, but they are not ABLE to edify true love and genuine faith in Christ to others. The apostle John said it this way: “They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (I Jn. 4:5,6). The ‘they’ that John spoke of, whom he said “are of the world,” were people who were in the body of Christ, but had gone astray from the Spirit after erroneous teachings. If you want to know how I know that, one must be of the household of God in order to be qualified to be a ‘false prophet,’ as John called these people. The identification of a false prophet in the old testament was an Israelite who was leading people to worship other gods (Deut. 13:1,2). There was Balaam the Syrian prophet who gave wicked counsel to the king of Moab in an effort to overthrow Israel, but he never prophesied falsely. So what that means is that one cannot be a false prophet today unless they have been baptized with the holy Ghost into the body of Christ, and thereby have come into covenant with God (I Cor. 12:13). These men that John spoke of were reprobates among God’s people, and their perverted ‘gospel’ was one that was of the spirit of this world, and was geared to the things of this life; namely sin. John knew that those who heeded what he and those with him taught, were being drawn and led by God’s Spirit to do so. He also knew, as he stated, that anyone who resisted his preaching, and others like him, was NOT following after God.

Probably the most significant saying that John recorded was about what it is going to take to be in the first resurrection at the Lord’s second coming: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath THIS HOPE in him purifieth himself, EVEN AS he is pure” (I Jn. 3:2,3). Friend, it just doesn’t get any more to the point and integral regarding this Gospel than that! John taught that IF we expect to be resurrected at the second coming of Jesus, and given immortality like unto his, we are going to have to make ourselves pure the same way Jesus is pure. That is clearly what he said. I have to tell you that according to the modern Christian Gospel that is universally taught, Jesus Christ is subtly declared to be a sinner! That is exactly right my friend. The whole bottom line of Christianity, which is said to be the faith of Christ, is that a believer never literally gets all sin out of their hearts and out of their lives. They will invariably say, “It’s HIS righteousness, not ours.” No kidding. But what they are REALLY saying is that HIS righteousness is not enough to truly and literally eliminate OUR sins. What this modern Gospel of Christianity is really saying is that God’s HOLY Spirit is not quite holy enough to “purify [our hearts] even as HE is pure.” And again I say, if the best we can do is to still have sin in our lives, then Christianity today is either saying that Jesus is a sinner too, or that the scripture is a lie. I will tell you straight up that I have a REALLY BIG problem with that wicked religious mentality. The Lord and Savior that I serve, who HAS redeemed my soul from sin [truly], did NOT suffer and die, and raise again on the third day; just so his sacrifice could be likened unto “the blood of bulls and of goats;” which the scripture says “it was not possible” that it “could take away sins” (Heb. 10:4).

The truth of the matter is, nothing has changed since the time that the beloved apostle wrote the words of our text scripture passage. Nothing except that the number of errant prophets and heretical teachers has escalated beyond measure, while those who uphold the holy truth, or truth of holiness if you will, has diminished to almost nobody. Almost all of the Christian traditions and doctrines that are recognized today as the Gospel, are of men and are of the world, as John saw in his day. Oh they are dressed up to LOOK like the Gospel of Christ, at least to the untrained eye; but underneath all of that disguise the bottom line is that you are still in sin, and that it’s just fine that you are. And that is what John called “speaking of the world.” And you should know who it is that “savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men” (Mk. 8:33). It is none other than the father of all lies (Jn. 8:44). Satan is still lying, and the religion that names the name of the Son of God is under dominion to his lies. He in fact IS that “other Jesus,” and his is that “other gospel” that the apostle Paul warned the early believers about (II Cor. 11:4). So the question becomes, who are you hearing, and who and what are you of? There are only two options, even as there were in John’s day, and there are only two spirits; “the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” The one seeks to edify the true holiness of God’s love and faith in others, while the other seeks to find subtle, religious ways to keep people in sin. So if we are of true holiness then we are 'of God.' If we are of a 'belief' that sin is acceptable with God then we are 'of the world.' It's really that simple. I personally am not confused about what Spirit I am of, and I pray that you are persuaded in the right direction as well. God bless.