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Jesse Duplantis Ministries is an evangelistic ministry with a vision to reach people and change lives around the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have one goal: to share God's message of salvation through Jesus Christ with the world. We want everyone to have an opportunity to know the real Jesus. Approachable, personable, compassionate, and full of joy, that’s the real Jesus that Jesse Duplantis knows and loves. And it’s his mission in life to make sure everyone on every continent has an opportunity to know Jesus, too. The purpose of this Social Media Outreach is to share God’s Word by providing encouragement through video, and to keep you informed of everything happening at Jesse Duplantis Ministries. As part of this outreach, we encourage you to respectfully share your opinions, thoughts and comments. Our desire is to make this outreach a Spirit-filled, positive, and fun experience.
Jesse Duplantis Ministries is an evangelistic ministry with a vision to reach people and change lives around the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have one goal: to share God's message of salvation through Jesus Christ with the world. We want everyone to have an opportunity to know the real Jesus. Approachable, personable, compassionate, and full of joy, that’s the real Jesus that Jesse Duplantis knows and loves. And it’s his mission in life to make sure everyone on every continent has an opportunity to know Jesus, too. The purpose of this Social Media Outreach is to share God’s Word by providing encouragement through video, and to keep you informed of everything happening at Jesse Duplantis Ministries. As part of this outreach, we encourage you to respectfully share your opinions, thoughts and comments. Our desire is to make this outreach a Spirit-filled, positive, and fun experience.
Carnality: Symptoms and Cure
| By: Johnson Philip |
It is a widely used word! Every Christian at some time or other has used this word -- for other Christians, of course. So much so that this subject has produced more heat than light in the Christendom.
Carnality has been equated with every conceivable thing, (from using an expensive soap to keeping mustaches, and from keeping a dog up to walking through a certain street) all confusing and ridiculous. This word has become the best weapon to let down other believers. If you don't agree with some of his activities just label him as "Carnal" and you will get a lot of sympathetic ears (and gossiping mouth too) to spread your 'discovery' like a wildfire! Apparently, this subject has become so subjective that a pastor speaking objectively on this matter will himself be labeled Carnal or at least immature. The reason are obvious: many people do not care to use the Bible as the text when they speaks on this subject. Instead they rely on their feelings, prejudices, background, and 'inner voice' (which usually becomes intense when they see an opponent!), to decide what Carnality is! It is my aim in this article to examine what Carnality is according to the Bible, examine its symptoms, and then line up the remedy (from the Bible itself!) The word Carnal in the Bible means 'fleshly' or a person who walks according to the desires of the flesh. Flesh in such contexts refers to the Adamic or old sin nature. This old nature remains with us even after our salvation, and is removed only at our death. Inside us our old and new natures fight each other to gain control over us (Galatians 5:17). If the old sin Nature (or flesh) wins, it will dictate us how to walk. At this point we become fleshly or Carnal, because we are under the control of our flesh (ie our old sin nature). Hence, Biblically speaking, a person becomes carnal when he controlled by the old sin nature (or the flesh). Having defined carnality, we will study the symptoms of Carnality. It is amazing how people mix up their prejudices with a Bible doctrine, to come up with ludicrous ideas about Carnality. Recently a balanced and mature believer related an incident to me. A speech was scheduled for him during a missions tour. A little while before the meeting the pastor sensed some talcum powder on this brother's face. (He had applied it innocently, to avoid the sweat !). Immediately that pastor canceled the programme, labeling this believer as "Carnal"! Pitiful, isn't it ? But such incidents are common in Christendom. To avoid such foolishness in our judgement, we must rely on the word of God alone to study the symptoms of Carnality. We will base our study on I Corinthians 3:1-3 which is an important passage on this topic. I need not tell you that Carnality was a serious problem in the Corinthian Church. The Scripture says (1 Cor. 3:1) that Paul could not speak to the Corinthians as spiritual because they were Carnal. It is a strong word indicating that they were completely under the control of their Old Natures. Then he mentions the first symptom of Carnality : they were babes in Christ ! It means non-growth is the first symptom of Carnality. Imagine a person 20 years old, but lying in cradle and crying for bottlefeed ! This is the spiritual condition of the Carnal Corinthians. They cannot absorb deeper Biblical truths ! So childishness in spiritual matters is the first symptom of Carnality.
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