I had a blazing row with my senior sister, Amy, around 1am today about my spiritual orientation which seems outlandish to her. She asked me, “Why don’t you go to church now…?” I replied, “Christianity is 10% churchism and 90% purity. I have shunned mere churchism; I am learning the true art of purity.” Well, I am biblically wrong for not attending church meetings now. Yet my conscience in Christ compels me to address the matter in hand. My Bible-based assertions will actually sound repulsive to the religious folks who uphold churchism. They are pure revelations from God’s Word which many people in Christendom shy away from, mainly because they attack their spiritual folly. Remember, I present this divine message as a bad follower of Christ who has simply failed to live pure, and not as a holy prophet of God. But I pray for God’s Spirit to empower me in this new direction in Christ since my spirit is willing but my flesh is weak.
Moreover, “There are many people who do not want to hear the truth, because it will shake up the false hope that they have that they’re going to Heaven, when, indeed, they’re not,” Paul Washer preached in his historic “Shocking Message” usually dubbed “Examine Yourself.” For the vast majority of so-called Christians in today’s world are really lost, and they will definitely end up in Hell when they die. I am no exception at all! Oh really? Yes, we practically live in sin every day without a lifelong commitment to a constant life of purity. God does not actually forgive that sinful lifestyle because it will always be the same. We also do not understand the depths of our divine calling to purity. So we go to church, read the Bible, and pray, all as a religious duty, yet we are not truly pure in our hearts, and most importantly, our deeds. How hypocritical we are as the body of Christ!
Now let me explain what churchism is, and why it is makes up a tenth of Christianity, and what purity is, and why it makes up a ninth of Christianity. Churchism is a crude philosophy premised on the strong adherence to church practices largely as a religious duty. In the world of churchism, going to church, reading the Bible, and praying have overriding importance in the Christian faith. Of course, those religious activities are important, but they are not as important and not more important than a life of purity in the Lord. All dead people who professed to be Christians and are now in Hell probably practised churchism, but none of them continually lived in purity. Sadly, churches place a premium on churchism and neglect the all-important issue of purity. Have we forgotten that Jesus Christ taught that the pure in heart, and not the churchist in character, would see God?
Purity, therefore, is complete in nature – it includes purity of heart, mind, soul, spirit and body. So a Christian who lives pure all the time has a pure heart, mind, soul, spirit and body; everything about him is just pure. Come on, it is not an illusion, for it is possible and it happens – there are some Christians who actually epitomise that. However, the source of purity is the Holy Spirit who helps the genuinely committed ones to consistently live in purity through the right application of God’s Word and a true dedication to prayer. That differs from mere churchism which is founded on religious duty. Lastly, a Christian who always lives pure does not recurrently commit sin like fornication, greed, envy, strife, alcoholism, murder, theft, lying, gossip, occult, and the like.
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