Pursue Holiness and Absolute Truth

I have been convinced for a long time now that we are to wage war against wickedness. What we tolerate - little by little - eventually,
sadly, becomes accepted practice. When we find a corporation, social, activist or legal group that so blatantly adheres towards a view that is immoral, Christians must take a stand to urge them not to empower
filth that undercuts biblical morality in our society and degrades the quality of life in America. By the grace of God, opposing evil will
continue to be a regular staple of our work here on this earth. But, at
the heart of any Biblically based ministry is this underlying burden
that never goes away and, with God's help, never will.

It's the matter of holiness.

Just as we must not be ashamed of the Gospel we MUST NOT be ashamed to "pursue holiness without which no man shall see the
Lord." And we need to promote it better than we do.

HOLINESS: "Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according to as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit
of agreeing in God's judgment - hating what He hates, loving what He loves - and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word. He who most entirely agrees with God, he is the most holy man....He will have a decided bent of mind toward God, a heart desire
to do His will, a greater fear of displeasing Him than of displeasing the world, and a love to all His ways. ..."

The Christian worldview rests on a foundation of absolute truth which
is revealed throughout Scripture (Psalms 25:5; 43:3; 119:30; John
1:17; 14:17; 2 Timothy 2:15; Ephesians 4:15; 1 John 3:19). Therefore, morality is defined by God and immutable because it is inherently
based on God’s immutable character. Humanists believe that morality
is ultimately relative because every person is the final authority for his own views. Such a view is not logically satisfying. God stands against
the moral relativist whose behavior is based on “whatever is right in
his own eyes” (Deuteronomy 12:8; Judges 17:6; 21:25; Proverbs 21:2).

In addition to this, pluralists (e.g. universalists) want all religions to
have credibility. The real question is can all religions ultimately teach
the same truth? No. There are many differences in doctrine in each religion that make this view impossible. Jesus taught that there is one and only one personal God who is triune in nature (Mark 12:29; John 4:24; 5:18,19). Jesus was exclusive in His truth claims and warned: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name claiming, ‘I am the Christ,” and will deceive many” (Matt. 24:4,5,23).

Those who attempt to know God's will and do it will know intuitively
that Jesus was telling the truth about himself. Have you ever listened
to religious speakers and wondered if they were telling the truth? Test them: (1) their words should agree with, not contradict, the Bible; (2) their words should point to God and his will, not just to themselves.
Each of us have our own testimony of salvation to share, and there is nothing wrong with sharing it. However, within their testimoney take note of whether or not the individual is giving the glory to Christ or self. That is a huge indication of who is genuine.

For more about this issue and many others, please visit my website and discussion forum at:

http://www.angels-helper.net

In the end times forum, there are several examples
of the apostasy creeping into many liberal Christian denominations as well as other important issues concerning the true Biblical Christian worldview.

Back to our topic.

Only God who knows all things could know the truth. However, postmodernism says there is no absolute truth anywhere. They believe that all truth is always changing, whether it be spiritual, moral, or political. Trouble is, no matter how hard humanists try, they cannot avoid arriving at the problem of claiming there are no moral absolute values. There is absolute truth in the Word of God (Deut. 32:4). There
is absolute morality in the teachings of Scripture and what constitutes
sin is defined by God (Matt. 15:16-20). And there is the ultimate
absolute behind it all...Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth and the
life (John 3:18-21).

Who is on the throne in the center of your life? God or self?

Putting yourself on that throne makes one vulnerable to evil and self-deception (John 8:44) by the "thief who comes only to steal and kill
and destroy" into your life.

Contrastly, Christ, "has come that they may have life and have it to
the full," (also, John 8:36).

Christians understand sin, which originates in the heart of man, to
be mankind's core problem (Psalm 14:1), something that humanism
does not have the capacity to solve. But Jesus has "overcome the world" ( John 16:33).

God takes sin very seriously and provided man's way out from its consequences through the sacrifice of His Son. The cross of Christ
shows that God the Father can take the worst thing that ever happened and turn it into good; the salvation of mankind. Without repentance of sin (John 8:34,35) and belief in Jesus (John 8:42), man dies in his sins (John 8:24) and is without hope. That's the truth (John 11:25,26).

However, people will constantly fight against the truth as revealed by
God in the Bible and through the Person of Jesus Christ in the
Scriptures.

A while back there was a letter written to our local newspaper and the writer claimed,

"A belief is a dead end - a short circuit of the mind;

" belief would "kill his life;" and

"...spiritual understandings have developed into believing nothing."

How sad!

He reminds me of the religious leaders who, after having their own questions answered, could not answer Jesus' question regarding the Messiah's identity - that he was God in the flesh (see Luke 20:41-44).

The central issue of life is to believe that Jesus is who he said he is. Without this decision, other spiritual questions are irrelevant.

In Matthew 11:25, Jesus mentioned two kinds of people in his prayer:
the "wise" - arrogant in their own knowledge - and the "little children"
- humbly open to receive the truth of God's Word.

Luke 9:18-20 requires us to hold beliefs for ourselves and when Jesus asks, "Who do you say that I am?"

He wants us to take a stand.

Who do you say Jesus is?

John 12:39-43 discusses how refusing to believe leads to a hardened heart.

Luke 23:39-43 shows that our deeds don't save us - our faith in Christ does.

The believing repentant thief on the cross next to Jesus reveals the ultimate mercy of God; that prior to our own death, it is never too late
to be forgiven and saved.

John 12:44-50 summarizes Jesus message and describes the purpose
of his mission and what will happen to believers and non-believers at
his second coming.

Decide now which side you'll be on, for the consequences of your
decision last forever.