Laziness
is a virtue! Well, at least it could be considered so when it comes to not
having to personally do anything that is contrary to one’s nature, if one is
righteous and without sin. The irony is that those who choose to work at being
unrighteous are better off being lazy when it comes to not bothering to do
evil.
One of the facts about the Bible is that truth is paradoxical and sometimes has to be teased out to express different sides of the coin of truth. When the Apostle Paul was writing to the congregation at Ephesus, he reminded them of what they themselves were once like when they were children of wrath, before they became Christians and were made alive by the indwelling Spirit of God. In doing so, he begins by stating that at a particular point in time, an event happened in their lives that changed them from being dead in their sins.
· And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3)
The Laodicean Christian religion is
one where people virtue signal, as many do today, rather than actually
confronting the issues about themselves and coming clean about their
complacency and lethargy regarding spiritual matters. The works of the people
who belonged to the congregation founded at Laodicea were not worth commending
because they were like what is found in the sewer; recycled (gray) water is
said to be acceptable, but it does have its pathogens and is not really fit for
human consumption.
The Laodicean Christian religion is
one where people virtue signal, as many do today, rather than actually
confronting the issues about themselves and coming clean about their
complacency and lethargy regarding spiritual matters. The works of the people
who belonged to the congregation founded at Laodicea were not worth commending
because they were like what is found in the sewer; recycled (gray) water is said to be okay, but it does have
its pathogens and is not really fit for human consumption. [1]
·
I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you
were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I
will spew you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16)
Human beings are like receptacles
that need to be washed and filled by the Holy Spirit. The washing of the water
of the WORD needs to take place during the regeneration process of being
sanctified in order for each individual to be set apart from the world.
However, during this process, even though a person might acknowledge the Lord
Jesus Christ as the Son of God, they are still in the process of being saved
and could very well be spewed out of His mouth if they are not truly set apart
from the world and designated as children of God.
·
He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness,
but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in
the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:5)
· that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word (Ephesians 5:26)
When
Jesus was speaking to His disciples, the need to be connected to Him was made
very clear, even though they had been made clean by the washing of the WORD.
·
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every
branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does
bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean
by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can
you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides
in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can
do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and
withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. (John 15:1-7)
People who are listening to televangelists are not necessarily
connected to the True Vine. If a person is not connected to the True Vine, then
they are not capable of bearing the fruit that is expected from the branches of
the True Vine. If people do not bear fruit, they are cut off and thrown into
the fire—or, as it states in the book of Revelation, spewed out of the mouth of
the Savior.
The reason people are not connected to the True Vine, even
though they have been washed clean by the WORD, has to do with their love of
this world. Like Judas, instead of seeking the truth and being set free from
sin, they remain in the world and, as is stated that the Ephesian congregation
once did, follow the passions of the flesh, the desires of their own bodies,
and the desires of their minds. They allow the Prince of Darkness to cloud
their thinking and entice them into virtue signaling rather than being truly
committed to expressing faith in God because they have repented of their dead works.
Ever since Abraham responded to the Word of God and secured his
own salvation because of his faith, only those who belong to the True Vine have
been saved; for only those who hate evil and love the truth are prepared to
take the necessary action to secure their salvation. The rest like to feel good
about what they saw rather than waiting for the day when they will rejoice in
the rewards for what they did that brought glory to God.
The reason televangelists are popular has to do with the fact
that people are conditioned to watching TV and virtue signaling rather than
being active and growing in faith. Hearing the WORD is much easier than having
to perform what the WORD requires.
On a positive note, one of the reasons that televangelists might be popular could be that too many people today are so isolated and alienated from each other that the only means of hearing anything written in the Bible read aloud is by watching people read it on TV.
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