MORE CHAPTERS TO COME...

I'm not going to be hypocritical in passing judgment onto folks who do simple worldly things (other than that which is considered evil or filthy, of course!), such as watching mild television, or in going to the movie theatre to watch family quality entertainment, listening to secular music, etc., for I do some similar things myself. But, even so, this is not an excuse for any of us! What do I mean by that last statement? It's an easy thing to make slight of such worldly activities – and, I'm calling such 'innocent' things worldly, for they are certainly not Godly, even if such vehicles can sometimes be used to spread the Gospel; the initial intention of the instruments themselves, however, were not begun with such thoughts. In fact, there used to be (once upon a time) ministers who would preach heavily against TV, theatre, bowling, sports in general, and even drinking coffee! By today's standards, though, such messages would appear ridiculous to most people, who would deem such worldly activities as extremely mild, and harmless in the eyes of God. But, then again, the average person is not familiar with even three fourths of their Bible, either! And with such a thought as this last statement, they would be hard pressed to prove, by scripture, that God doesn't mind such worldly activities to languish in their everyday lives. They might actually discover, though, upon close examination, that the opposite is true to what they had thought all along . . . impossible?

 

But, back to the preachers of old, who convinced a lot of people that doing such 'innocent' worldly activities was not walking a pure walk with God, and had actually replaced a lot of the people's normal schedule with Godly duties instead – and the astounding result was a closer and more spiritual walk with the Lord (see, for example, "In His Steps," by Charles M. Sheldon) . . . Not bad, eh?

 

It's not a secret that church services were much richer than what they are today, between about when this Country (America) had first begun until the 1950's AD, and that people were able to pull upon the Spirit of God a lot easier then, also. But, by replacing continual, Godly praise and worship with worldly activities instead, we have sacrificed a better life with God, and have watered down our relationship with Him. Again, is that impossible? If God really wants our attention at every moment (Isaiah 26:3, 2nd Corinthians 10:5, etc.), and that He's a jealous God (Exodus 34:14), then do we really think it impossible for Him to dislike anything worldly that we do? Let's face it, folks, it's better to at least realize our shortcomings (to be conscience of them), than to be so dogmatic about doing them, that we turn a blind eye to the fact that, ultimately, God really does care about what we do with our (what we call) spare time. Realization to His wishes, though, is a battle half won.

 

Friends, we must know, in my example here, that there are two different kinds of worlds out there – a total Godly world, and a total fleshly world – and that they are two completely opposite things, and are actually opposed to one another. Anything in the middle (even if it's very mild) is truly lukewarm; and the Bible does not recognize any gray areas. The Bible, instead, sees things in either black or white; in either hot or cold. There's nothing lukewarm; there's no gray; there's no middle ground (Revelation 3:16). And I, myself, realize that I have a long way to go before I can become whom I need to be for God, and that there is so much more that I can do to become a better person. Fortunately, for my own sake, I can see and understand my own shortcomings – even if I cannot overcome them immediately. There's always room for improvement for all of us, and we should never think otherwise. But, like I said (and not to discourage some), we need to at least be aware of what needs to be changed and weeded out, and certainly not to be proud of the worldly things that we do. But, this is all a part of our walk with God: we need to at least be able to see, by looking into our past, what or where we have made some improvements on, and be joyful about our triumphs for God.

 

All that being said, what we need to focus on, instead of worldly things, is in finding joy and strength in the continual service of serving God (“…the joy of the LORD is your strength.” – Nehemiah 8:10c) – even if it takes the rest of our lives to accomplish that goal; even if it takes us the rest of our lives to overcome the flesh and its desires; even if it takes us the rest of our lives to be an ultimate overcomer.

 

Now, I am going to contradict (or, at least seem to contradict) everything that I have just said, for there is a gray area in God's service. But, of course, this is going to take a bit of explaining. And, since I can't speak for anybody else, I'm going to speak from my own experiences; and reveal, in this short process, a little more about myself that a lot of people probably don't know.

 

Years ago, I developed a love for the story The Three Musketeers. I was eight years old, and it was when I had watched a movie of the same name, late at night, on television. It was an old cinema classic, from 1948, and had starred Gene Kelly in the leading role. As crazy as it may sound to anybody, that movie had actually changed my life! Not only so, but I am convinced to this day that God was the one who had ordained it so. In fact, I'll go as far to say that if I didn't watch that movie that night, or if it didn't influence me at all, then I wouldn't even be writing this book today . . . insane? . . . Not at all, if we can but understand how God works with what we would consider secular, and how He can use such things for the benefit of His kingdom.

 

Folks, we are living in this world, and even though we aren't supposed to be of it (that is, in wallowing in filthy pleasures), it surely doesn't change the fact that we are going to have to interact with it! And, being just a pilgrim passing through, it doesn't mean that we won't be stopping by places, saying hello, and interacting with the natives. We aren't an island to ourselves, and living separately to escape interaction with the ungodly (who presently are ungodly, but can prove-out later on – some of them, anyways – to be the elect of Christ) isn't good either, for to whom will we witness if we do so? The turtles? The rabbits? The animals don't need the Gospel, but people do. Therefore, if we are to interact with them, we are going to have to speak a language that they can understand – and we get that similar language by experiencing things in life ourselves. This is why some of the most successful Christians (though I am not speaking of all) are those who have had a very rough, rocky, and secular life up until their conversion; for they can now speak on a level to people who are burdened with similar things, and with authority, too. And, who is to say that it wasn't God Himself who had set that very course for them from their beginnings in life? Especially when it created a ministry for them down the road . . . So, when I say that there are no gray areas in serving God (and that saying still holds true), it's in future goals (of where we should be heading), and it's not necessarily in the journey to get there. It's where, as I've said, God is trying to lead us (to hot; to white); it's when we finally grow up and put away childish toys, and become adults.

 

Now, back to The Three Musketeers. My interest therein led me to have a desire to read, a desire to study history, and finally a desire to write. By the time I was sixteen years old, I had written the first rough draft to my first upcoming novel on historical fiction; which, of course, was about a Musketeer. This novel, when finally completed, was published in book form in 2009; followed, in 2012, by a second novel on historical fiction; which, too, had been composed from a rough draft back when I was sixteen years of age, back in 1987. This experience (from which if I did not have, would never have come to be) led me to publish my first book on Christian Theology in early 2016. Of course, since I first developed a love for writing because of these said historical novels, it led me to not only write my first rough drafts of my own books, on historical fiction, but it also led to me writing my very first piece on Christian Theology as far back as 1999.

 

I know, beyond a doubt, that the study of history is of extreme importance to Christianity, and I highly encourage my readers to take a special interest in it; for, being educated in such a way is entirely beneficial for our walk with God (of any historical time-period), for we can see where we have come from, and also know what mistakes to avoid in our own future. But, not only so, God's book is also a history book – which is the most important reason of all! As far as historical fiction stories are concerned, though, I know that I have a weakness there; and I feel almost like St. Jerome (compiler of the Latin Vulgate, in AD 405), in the comparison of how he loved his histories and stories by some Roman authors, who weren't Godly men. In fact, according to 'Reader's Digest: The Bible Through the Ages,' on page 220, St. Jerome had tried, "as he might, he could give up neither his cherished library nor his great love of classical literature. 'However much I did penance,' Jerome wrote, 'I always ended up creeping back to Cicero or Plautus.'" He, therefore, felt that he was distancing himself from God by reading these. I laughed out loud the first time I had read that about his concern, for I felt that it was merely a slight weight in his life, one that he shouldn't have even troubled himself about. But, then, I realized how I shared a similar burden to him with my Musketeer stories. And, admittedly, I still like them. And, even though they aren't raunchy in nature, neither filthy, but are decked with adventurous history, this takes a full swing back around to what I was first saying about these mild secular things, and how that they can keep us from thinking about God at every moment.

 

But, certainly, I am not trying to cast a stumbling block in front of myself or my readers, for I know that such things cannot keep us out of the kingdom of God. What they do, though, is that they can stop us from living up to our full potential for Him while we are still here on this earth. If these small things are a sin, it's only to ourselves, in that they can be a weight to weigh us down – a weight, that is, from keeping us from climbing as high as we possibly can. But, if we aren't careful, and we end up spending more time on our, seemingly, innocent activities, then they truly can become an idol to us, and can turn our fun into a serious sin! And, we don't want that, do we? Isn't our goal to be as close to God as possible? And, isn't our goal to please Him every opportunity that we can?

 

But, I spare you! I say to let God be your conscience in such matters – i.e. let God guide your conscience through the Holy Ghost. And, even though it's a common saying, I strongly believe in WWJD: What Would Jesus Do if He were in our place, doing these things? Would He even have done them at all? Therefore, whether it's in sports, music, movies, the arts, or whatever you feel that God has led you down the corridor of, then embrace it for all its worth for the time being, especially if it's giving you a useful skill for God's work in the future; but, we also need to know (and I am speaking to myself, also!) of when to let things go; or, to even loose ourselves from other ungodly activities that we know that God did not ordain us to do – especially, if we are beginning to feel conviction over them. But, again, even if you feel that God did have you use a worldly vehicle to express His love toward others, then please consider an example that my mother had shared with me, that years ago God gave her the first job she ever had – she was convinced that God gave it to her. But then, being as young as she was, she thought that since God gave it, that she should never leave it, else it would be an insult to her God. It took an older, wiser person to tell her that just because God gave it to her in the first place, that it didn't mean it was for forever.

 

Friends, when God moves, we need to learn to move with Him (that is, when He moves us away from earthen things), for the journey out of them will only lead us to become better people for Him. To reach the ultimate goal of becoming Christ-like is in moving away from all things secular, carnal, fleshly, or worldly; for, in all actuality, and ultimately, anything that isn't of God is really a big waste of our personal time! Let's be aware of the moving of the Spirit, and try to flow with that sweet river of life as it moves us away from our fleshly crutches. He only has our best interest at heart, He loves us beyond reason, and His understanding is infinite. Praise be to His worthy name, Amen!

 

Also, too, and in consideration to all of what I have just said, I do believe in the permissive will of God, as opposed to the perfect will of God, in that He can and does allow us to indulge in things that aren't particularly Godly; but, of which things, won't terminate our walk with Him, even though they slow us down in our race. He completely and totally understands the workings of our flesh, and is very kind, lenient, forbearing, and longsuffering with us in many areas of our lives. But, and just because He allows certain things to be, it does not, and should not, dictate our thoughts to believe (even for an instant), that this is where He wishes for us to wallow for the rest of our lives. Like I said, there is a time when we must grow up. But (and this may shock a few), this tolerance to our childish ways isn't just in worldly and fleshly matters, but we also can bring a lot of religious baggage (from man's religion, that is) into God's church world, too. And, in God's spiritual kingdom, we can act carnally, and perform His spiritually understood rituals with and in our flesh.

 

Galatians 3:3

Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

 

1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.