The method for determining right and wrong differs greatly from the spiritual to the religious realm. In the religious arena right is whatever each religious organization (church, denomination, faith, sect, cult, etc.) wants it to be. Right is that which confirms the organization’s agenda and narrative. Wrong is everything else. Such is not the case in the spiritual realm where right and wrong do not involve group preference, desire or need, but rather the individual’s choice of master.

In the religious world right and wrong words, thoughts and deeds (one’s “walk”–1 Jn. 2:6) are irrelevant in that salvation was granted when one completed a prescribed ritual, repeated the prescribed words, was dunked in water and joined the church. In that world Satan’s dictated and inevitable sin is blamed on Adam while God’s commanded but impossible righteousness is the but of jokes.

In the spiritual realm one’s words, thoughts and deeds determine the difference between eternal life and eternal death. In that world sin is a choice and righteousness is essential required for acceptance.

In the religious world salvation is instantaneous and heaven is guaranteed for having completed a prescribed ritual, etc. In that world “sinners saved by grace” live a dual existence in which one’s “walk” consists of having one foot in God’s world and the other in Satan’s world, where the only difference between the churched and the unchurched is where one spends a couple of hours on Sunday morning. However, because the fix is in, church attendance is not actually required in order to enter heaven following death or the rapture. In the church world one remains a member in good standing while emulating the unchurched world by watching the same t.v. programs and movies, listening to the same music, reading the same books, going to the same places, wearing the same clothes, wasting the same time of the same flesh-pleasing pursuits, etc.

In the spiritual world salvation is reserved for the future and entrance into God’s earthly kingdom can be attained only through obedience to His Word to the end of one’s life or Christ’s return: “He who endures to the end shall be saved” (Mat. 10:22). Note the words “end” and “shall be.” Both refer to a future salvation. In the spiritual world one’s “walk” is not a “two (world) step” affair. In that world one’s “walk” is dictated by such Scriptural passages as 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 where the Lord lays down His rules of engagement for attaining eternal life. Here He uses specific, to-the-point words to condemn the two-world, saved-sinner “walk” practiced by those in the Institutional Church: “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness? And what concord has Christ with Belial? or what part has he that believes  with an infidel? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? for you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, ‘I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among them (the Catholic/Protestant system) and be separate, says the Lord, touch not the unclean thing and (then) I will receive you and will be a Father to you and you shall be My sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.” Due to such passages as this, it is essential that those who call themselves “Christians” know the difference between right (God’s spiritual way) and wrong (the church’s–Satan’s–religious way). See Matthew 7:13,14.  To be continued. L.J.