Decadence is defined as that which is marked by decay or decline. Ironically it also means that which is characterized by or appeals to self-indulgence. Both definitions perfectly describe the underlying factors of all of the death and destruction we are witnessing today. But where did it start for us?
.
The answer is simple. The moment Adam ate the forbidden fruit, Satan knew that he had struck gold! Adam and Eve were one flesh. Eve was deceived and Adam decided to follow her deception. Adam, the head of the human race gave himself, and thus, his wife, and his posterity to be taken captive by Satan to do His will (see Gen. 3; 2 Tim. 2:26). As a result, the beautiful world God had given mankind dominion over had begun to decay and will continue to do so until it passes away (see 1 John 2:15-17).
.
Here is something worth remembering that we can glean from humanity’s original sin…
.
If Satan cannot overtly convince you to act against God’s nature, he will try to covertly deceive you into hoping that God will somehow act against His own nature. And if Satan is successful, then you will become convinced just like Adam was when he bit. And, my friend, you will lose! GOD will NEVER EVER act against His own nature.
.
But how was Adam convinced? He was convinced by the heart of his emotions. And the heart of his emotions was Eve. And Eve was tricked. I pray you see the modus operandi that Satan continues to so successfully use to this very day.
.
Am I specifically speaking of how Satan continues to deceive woman, whom the Bible clearly calls the weaker vessel? No. I am speaking of the fact that within each and every single human being there exists the tendencies of both Adam and Eve. They were our first parents. We have their physical DNA and thus we have their fallen sinful nature. We all can be deceived and convinced. That is why the Bible warns us of things to not be deceived by and exhorts us with things to be convinced of (e.g. Lk. 21:8; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; 15:33; also Rom. 12:1-2; Eph. 5:17; 1 Thess. 4:3).
.
As we look at a world today where so many either promote and/or legalize just about everything God’s word condemns—things we wouldn’t have dreamed of openly promoting just a few years ago—we see decadence everywhere. And by the self-indulgence of sin, people are taking the law into their own hands because they say the law can’t be trusted, while also breaking the law and proving that they can’t be trusted either. But many don’t even see it, because they have been deceived, and now they are convinced that they are justified in their wrongs.
.
And here is the sad fact. Much of the church is being led into the very same sort of deception…
.
Never mind the fact that such issues crescendo whenever a new major election cycle is upon us. Never mind that while we are vigorously protesting and promoting Black Lives Matter, more black people (including women and children) continue to die daily at the hands of other black people far more often than at the hands of police and people of other skin colors combined. Never mind that the Bible tells us that as we draw nearer to the return of Christ, perilous times will come and wickedness will pervade the earth. Never mind that whenever a senseless death of a black person takes place, people indulge their desires to have free stuff so they go and steal it from someone else. Let the church take up the cause! But what cause?
.
Just as evil politicians like to use race and racial strife to try to deceive and control the minds of people. Satan likes to use the same devices to try to deceive and control the minds of christians. The Devil absolutely loves it when we take up so much of the world’s “cause” that we have no room left to carry the bloodstained banner of Jesus Christ. The Devil is happy when we find ourselves at that juncture because he knows that the only real hope for anyone is to receive the soul-saving gospel of Jesus Christ.
.
So he covertly deceives us by our emotions. He orchestrates perfect-storm scenarios and imageries that incite anger among the masses of people who have no relationship with God, and who have no desire to. And then he uses some of those same people as tares among the wheat. Remember, Jesus said the tares are the children of the wicked one, and the wheat are the children of the kingdom.
.
Then, compelled by a flood of emotions, many undiscerning pastors and church leaders drop everything and seek to try to convince a world of people who hate God that they really care about their issues. Never mind that passages like Romans 1:16-32 make it clear that the very reason such chaotic things are happening in the world is primarily because they refused to glorify God or retain Him in their thoughts, they resorted to idolatry, and so God gave them up (v. Rom. 1:24-25), up (v. Rom. 1:26-27), and over (v. Rom. 1:28-32) to their own DECADENCE…
.
Saints, their ONLY HOPE IS REPENTANCE AND FAITH IN CHRIST… IF THAT IS EVEN POSSIBLE once God gives them up, up, and over like that. He is their only hope! Teach them why they need to repent and pray for God’s mercy. Stop worrying about them being offended. NEWSFLASH! Jesus said they would!
.
If we really cared, we would never stop trying to convince them of the only true and permanent solution to racism and all other sins in the heart of man—the gospel of salvation in Christ. Instead, many of us act as if we seem to know that Christ won’t be coming back any time soon. We sit on panels and talk about race when a white person kills a black person. And because we know that most on the panel or in the audience are not Christians, we refrain from speaking about the sin that causes it all and the only salvation that can cure it all.
.
And why do we keep repeating this failure? It is simply because we have been tricked in our emotions, and we have become convinced that this is what we must do, or risk turning people off. And so we resolve to put a bandage on a cancer that the Devil gladly and deceptively puts into remission until he has another convenient opportunity.
.
The gospel of Christ gets hidden beneath a social gospel. Nobody gets saved. The Devil tones it down just enough to make us feel like we’ve done something. And souls continue to die and go to hell. This is one of the great deceptions of decadence. Yet this decadence should be the very reason that we keep preaching the whole gospel of Christ…

8 But do not let this one [fact] escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:8-10).

And in case you don’t understand what the gospel we should be preaching entails, let me remind you with a snapshot from Romans 1:16-19…

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.”

Saints, don’t let Satan deceive you into helping the world continue to suppress the truth in their rampant unrighteousness! Saints, stop being so duped by the Devil. Saints, we must no longer be ashamed! We must tell them the good and the bad of the gospel, and let that which IS THE POWER OF GOD TO SALVATION do its work, or else we will be convinced that it is better to fight to try to save a world that Christ promised will pass away. May we never again be deceived by decadence!
.
I pray you will prayerfully consider what I’ve shared, beloved.

Decadence is defined as that which is marked by decay or decline. Ironically it also means that which is characterized by or appeals to self-indulgence. Both definitions perfectly describe the underlying factors of all of the death and destruction we are witnessing today. But where did it start for us?
.
The answer is simple. The moment Adam ate the forbidden fruit, Satan knew that he had struck gold! Adam and Eve were one flesh. Eve was deceived and Adam decided to follow her deception. Adam, the head of the human race gave himself, and thus, his wife, and his posterity to be taken captive by Satan to do His will (see Gen. 3; 2 Tim. 2:26). As a result, the beautiful world God had given mankind dominion over had begun to decay and will continue to do so until it passes away (see 1 John 2:15-17).
.
Here is something worth remembering that we can glean from humanity’s original sin…
.
If Satan cannot overtly convince you to act against God’s nature, he will try to covertly deceive you into hoping that God will somehow act against His own nature. And if Satan is successful, then you will become convinced just like Adam was when he bit. And, my friend, you will lose! GOD will NEVER EVER act against His own nature.
.
But how was Adam convinced? He was convinced by the heart of his emotions. And the heart of his emotions was Eve. And Eve was tricked. I pray you see the modus operandi that Satan continues to so successfully use to this very day.
.
Am I specifically speaking of how Satan continues to deceive woman, whom the Bible clearly calls the weaker vessel? No. I am speaking of the fact that within each and every single human being there exists the tendencies of both Adam and Eve. They were our first parents. We have their physical DNA and thus we have their fallen sinful nature. We all can be deceived and convinced. That is why the Bible warns us of things to not be deceived by and exhorts us with things to be convinced of (e.g. Lk. 21:8; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; 15:33; also Rom. 12:1-2; Eph. 5:17; 1 Thess. 4:3).
.
As we look at a world today where so many either promote and/or legalize just about everything God’s word condemns—things we wouldn’t have dreamed of openly promoting just a few years ago—we see decadence everywhere. And by the self-indulgence of sin, people are taking the law into their own hands because they say the law can’t be trusted, while also breaking the law and proving that they can’t be trusted either. But many don’t even see it, because they have been deceived, and now they are convinced that they are justified in their wrongs.
.
And here is the sad fact. Much of the church is being led into the very same sort of deception…
.
Never mind the fact that such issues crescendo whenever a new major election cycle is upon us. Never mind that while we are vigorously protesting and promoting Black Lives Matter, more black people (including women and children) continue to die daily at the hands of other black people far more often than at the hands of police and people of other skin colors combined. Never mind that the Bible tells us that as we draw nearer to the return of Christ, perilous times will come and wickedness will pervade the earth. Never mind that whenever a senseless death of a black person takes place, people indulge their desires to have free stuff so they go and steal it from someone else. Let the church take up the cause! But what cause?
.
Just as evil politicians like to use race and racial strife to try to deceive and control the minds of people. Satan likes to use the same devices to try to deceive and control the minds of christians. The Devil absolutely loves it when we take up so much of the world’s “cause” that we have no room left to carry the bloodstained banner of Jesus Christ. The Devil is happy when we find ourselves at that juncture because he knows that the only real hope for anyone is to receive the soul-saving gospel of Jesus Christ.
.
So he covertly deceives us by our emotions. He orchestrates perfect-storm scenarios and imageries that incite anger among the masses of people who have no relationship with God, and who have no desire to. And then he uses some of those same people as tares among the wheat. Remember, Jesus said the tares are the children of the wicked one, and the wheat are the children of the kingdom.
.
Then, compelled by a flood of emotions, many undiscerning pastors and church leaders drop everything and seek to try to convince a world of people who hate God that they really care about their issues. Never mind that passages like Romans 1:16-32 make it clear that the very reason such chaotic things are happening in the world is primarily because they refused to glorify God or retain Him in their thoughts, they resorted to idolatry, and so God gave them up (v. Rom. 1:24-25), up (v. Rom. 1:26-27), and over (v. Rom. 1:28-32) to their own DECADENCE…
.
Saints, their ONLY HOPE IS REPENTANCE AND FAITH IN CHRIST… IF THAT IS EVEN POSSIBLE once God gives them up, up, and over like that. He is their only hope! Teach them why they need to repent and pray for God’s mercy. Stop worrying about them being offended. NEWSFLASH! Jesus said they would!
.
If we really cared, we would never stop trying to convince them of the only true and permanent solution to racism and all other sins in the heart of man—the gospel of salvation in Christ. Instead, many of us act as if we seem to know that Christ won’t be coming back any time soon. We sit on panels and talk about race when a white person kills a black person. And because we know that most on the panel or in the audience are not Christians, we refrain from speaking about the sin that causes it all and the only salvation that can cure it all.
.
And why do we keep repeating this failure? It is simply because we have been tricked in our emotions, and we have become convinced that this is what we must do, or risk turning people off. And so we resolve to put a bandage on a cancer that the Devil gladly and deceptively puts into remission until he has another convenient opportunity.
.
The gospel of Christ gets hidden beneath a social gospel. Nobody gets saved. The Devil tones it down just enough to make us feel like we’ve done something. And souls continue to die and go to hell. This is one of the great deceptions of decadence. Yet this decadence should be the very reason that we keep preaching the whole gospel of Christ…

8 But do not let this one [fact] escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:8-10).

And in case you don’t understand what the gospel we should be preaching entails, let me remind you with a snapshot from Romans 1:16-19…

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.”

Saints, don’t let Satan deceive you into helping the world continue to suppress the truth in their rampant unrighteousness! Saints, stop being so duped by the Devil. Saints, we must no longer be ashamed! We must tell them the good and the bad of the gospel, and let that which IS THE POWER OF GOD TO SALVATION do its work, or else we will be convinced that it is better to fight to try to save a world that Christ promised will pass away. May we never again be deceived by decadence!
.
I pray you will prayerfully consider what I’ve shared, beloved.

Decadence is defined as that which is marked by decay or decline. Ironically it also means that which is characterized by or appeals to self-indulgence. Both definitions perfectly describe the underlying factors of all of the death and destruction we are witnessing today. But where did it start for us?
.
The answer is simple. The moment Adam ate the forbidden fruit, Satan knew that he had struck gold! Adam and Eve were one flesh. Eve was deceived and Adam decided to follow her deception. Adam, the head of the human race gave himself, and thus, his wife, and his posterity to be taken captive by Satan to do His will (see Gen. 3; 2 Tim. 2:26). As a result, the beautiful world God had given mankind dominion over had begun to decay and will continue to do so until it passes away (see 1 John 2:15-17).
.
Here is something worth remembering that we can glean from humanity’s original sin…
.
If Satan cannot overtly convince you to act against God’s nature, he will try to covertly deceive you into hoping that God will somehow act against His own nature. And if Satan is successful, then you will become convinced just like Adam was when he bit. And, my friend, you will lose! GOD will NEVER EVER act against His own nature.
.
But how was Adam convinced? He was convinced by the heart of his emotions. And the heart of his emotions was Eve. And Eve was tricked. I pray you see the modus operandi that Satan continues to so successfully use to this very day.
.
Am I specifically speaking of how Satan continues to deceive woman, whom the Bible clearly calls the weaker vessel? No. I am speaking of the fact that within each and every single human being there exists the tendencies of both Adam and Eve. They were our first parents. We have their physical DNA and thus we have their fallen sinful nature. We all can be deceived and convinced. That is why the Bible warns us of things to not be deceived by and exhorts us with things to be convinced of (e.g. Lk. 21:8; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; 15:33; also Rom. 12:1-2; Eph. 5:17; 1 Thess. 4:3).
.
As we look at a world today where so many either promote and/or legalize just about everything God’s word condemns—things we wouldn’t have dreamed of openly promoting just a few years ago—we see decadence everywhere. And by the self-indulgence of sin, people are taking the law into their own hands because they say the law can’t be trusted, while also breaking the law and proving that they can’t be trusted either. But many don’t even see it, because they have been deceived, and now they are convinced that they are justified in their wrongs.
.
And here is the sad fact. Much of the church is being led into the very same sort of deception…
.
Never mind the fact that such issues crescendo whenever a new major election cycle is upon us. Never mind that while we are vigorously protesting and promoting Black Lives Matter, more black people (including women and children) continue to die daily at the hands of other black people far more often than at the hands of police and people of other skin colors combined. Never mind that the Bible tells us that as we draw nearer to the return of Christ, perilous times will come and wickedness will pervade the earth. Never mind that whenever a senseless death of a black person takes place, people indulge their desires to have free stuff so they go and steal it from someone else. Let the church take up the cause! But what cause?
.
Just as evil politicians like to use race and racial strife to try to deceive and control the minds of people. Satan likes to use the same devices to try to deceive and control the minds of christians. The Devil absolutely loves it when we take up so much of the world’s “cause” that we have no room left to carry the bloodstained banner of Jesus Christ. The Devil is happy when we find ourselves at that juncture because he knows that the only real hope for anyone is to receive the soul-saving gospel of Jesus Christ.
.
So he covertly deceives us by our emotions. He orchestrates perfect-storm scenarios and imageries that incite anger among the masses of people who have no relationship with God, and who have no desire to. And then he uses some of those same people as tares among the wheat. Remember, Jesus said the tares are the children of the wicked one, and the wheat are the children of the kingdom.
.
Then, compelled by a flood of emotions, many undiscerning pastors and church leaders drop everything and seek to try to convince a world of people who hate God that they really care about their issues. Never mind that passages like Romans 1:16-32 make it clear that the very reason such chaotic things are happening in the world is primarily because they refused to glorify God or retain Him in their thoughts, they resorted to idolatry, and so God gave them up (v. Rom. 1:24-25), up (v. Rom. 1:26-27), and over (v. Rom. 1:28-32) to their own DECADENCE…
.
Saints, their ONLY HOPE IS REPENTANCE AND FAITH IN CHRIST… IF THAT IS EVEN POSSIBLE once God gives them up, up, and over like that. He is their only hope! Teach them why they need to repent and pray for God’s mercy. Stop worrying about them being offended. NEWSFLASH! Jesus said they would!
.
If we really cared, we would never stop trying to convince them of the only true and permanent solution to racism and all other sins in the heart of man—the gospel of salvation in Christ. Instead, many of us act as if we seem to know that Christ won’t be coming back any time soon. We sit on panels and talk about race when a white person kills a black person. And because we know that most on the panel or in the audience are not Christians, we refrain from speaking about the sin that causes it all and the only salvation that can cure it all.
.
And why do we keep repeating this failure? It is simply because we have been tricked in our emotions, and we have become convinced that this is what we must do, or risk turning people off. And so we resolve to put a bandage on a cancer that the Devil gladly and deceptively puts into remission until he has another convenient opportunity.
.
The gospel of Christ gets hidden beneath a social gospel. Nobody gets saved. The Devil tones it down just enough to make us feel like we’ve done something. And souls continue to die and go to hell. This is one of the great deceptions of decadence. Yet this decadence should be the very reason that we keep preaching the whole gospel of Christ…

8 But do not let this one [fact] escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:8-10).

And in case you don’t understand what the gospel we should be preaching entails, let me remind you with a snapshot from Romans 1:16-19…

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.”

Saints, don’t let Satan deceive you into helping the world continue to suppress the truth in their rampant unrighteousness! Saints, stop being so duped by the Devil. Saints, we must no longer be ashamed! We must tell them the good and the bad of the gospel, and let that which IS THE POWER OF GOD TO SALVATION do its work, or else we will be convinced that it is better to fight to try to save a world that Christ promised will pass away. May we never again be deceived by decadence!
.
I pray you will prayerfully consider what I’ve shared, beloved.

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