We witness the beginnings of the cultural influences on the early Christian Church when the Roman government under Constantine in the early fourth century recognized the Christians as a legitimate religion. Many pagan practices by other religions throughout the Roman empire were adopted into the church for the purposes of appeal and general acceptance by the masses.
Of course these pagan practices were not adopted without them being altered to fit into the Christian faith, never the less, the practices of the early church were not adopted by the masses but rather the practices of the early church were adapted to fit the cultural of the day.
Mirage: a misleading appearance, usually in the desert or at sea, resulting from a reflection of some distant scene in such a way as to give the impression that it is near. Often the subjects reflected are inverted.
Brothers and sisters in the Lord, it is of utmost importance for us to abandon the pursuit of the mirage of modern Christianity.
It is nothing more than another noble human religion pursued by those who deem themselves righteous, whether they admit it or not. There are many good things talked about, taught, and encouraged in this religion based on the gentle aspects of Christ teachings but they ignore or twist the commands of our Lord. They spend enormous time satisfying the masses with their selfish desire for salvation and then lead them into a spiritual desert filled with mirages of the truth allowing them to wander towards varying degrees of their natural understanding.
Over the past few years I have heard it mentioned several times by others that God has led them through many churches and experiences, refining the truths of God through this process. I even struggled through this same process, I must admit, but never quite came to the conclusion that God had purposely led me through these various levels of spirituality. (...)
God does not lead us into partial truth, for he is completely incapable of it. God does not lead us to travel through the "bowels" of mixed truth and partial, or complete deception, in order to build us up in the faith gradually.
Understanding why we should be content is just as important as being content. Contentment for the Christian believer produces something that has eternal value. Biblically based contentment also prepares the believer to deal with spiritual choices that we make all the time whether we realize it or not.
Contentment is one of the most important character traits that the fruits of the Spirit develope in us, cf. Gal. 5:22-23.
When we find contentment generously displayed through our Christian walk we begin to experience the deep mystery of the gift of Faith, Hope, & Love planting our feet on solid ground allowing us to say the same as Paul did in Romans 8:37-39.
promise of reimbursement in the case of loss; paid to people or companies so concerned about hazards that they have made prepayments to an insurance company
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us. (1 Jn 5:14)
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Php 4:19)
For decades I struggled with a fruitless grasp of the principles of the kingdom of God. Every time I would come across a scripture that seemed to be impossible to apply literally I would then intellectually grapple with how I could apply it so that I could still be faithful to scripture. In my sincere desire to be faithful to what the scripture taught I entered the arena of "theological thinking". I believed that God honored my desire for the truth and that eventually I would come to a proper understanding and application for those things that conflicted with the realities of the day.
Written by Robert Cole | 
