Your Relationship with the World and its Zeitgeist, Reflects Your Spiritual Nature and Position with God — An Evidence of Salvation or Not

Satan is the ruler of this world, "the god of this world" (2 Cor 4:4), in that he influences and controls the lives of all unsaved men (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:1-3; Rev. 12:9). Satan isn’t on vacation from his world system. He takes no holidays. He is ever roaming about seeking whom he may devour. Men love the world, and he knows it. The world is tangible, tasty, and at the tip of the fingers, with Satan feeding these unlawful lusts. What could be better than having Jesus, Heaven and the World, right.

What is it to be "of the world"? If someone is not to be "of the world," (Jn 15:18-19; 17:14-16; 1 Jn 2:15-17; 2 Pet 2:20; Ti 2:12-15; etc) then he needs to know what "of the world" is. Can he know? I contend that "of the world" has become meaningless in evangelicalism and much of fundamentalism. People know the words, but they do not give an interpretation or an application of these words. "Not of the world" is not some arbitrary concept. It actually means something. The adverb "worldly" can represent the prepositional phrase "of the world." If someone is not worldly, then he is not of the world. What is worldliness? When is someone worldly? It's nearly impossible for neo-evangelicalism to be worldly anymore, because they've made it meaningless.

With worldliness having no meaning in these so-called churches, they can be worldly and it doesn't matter to them. Professing believers can be worldly and it means little to nothing. By staying worldly, churches keep their worldly people. Since they don't preach against worldliness or at least explain what it means, the people most often don't know anything is wrong. They don't even know that worldliness clashes with being a Christian. If they stood and preached against worldliness, they would shrink to almost nothing.

What in the World is "the World"? When we read about the "world" and "worldliness" in the Bible, a heavy and uniquely negative theological term in the NT, what does the Bible specifically refer to? Its not trees and nature, as the picture above displays. It does not refer to the good things in the world that God made (e.g., trees, birds, rivers, mankind), though they are in the world. It also does not refer to innocent or wholesome manmade things. There are things that man has made and there are aspects of human culture that are not contrary to God’s Law, and the believer is free to enjoy. Many of the things in the world or on the world came from people from here. They made it, invented it, played it, or produced it. And most of those things are the problem for men, the competition with God for their hearts. The stuff that man generates has been affected by the curse of sin. Because of that, it isn’t all innocent and must be judged (1 Th 5:21). Music, dress, entertainment, recreation, and even the things that we put into our body have all been trouble for mankind since the beginning.

The "world" is called the “world” because it relates to this planet we live on. The NT does not describe or explain much of “the world” or “this present world.” In the many passages that speak of "the world," we are never specifically told what "the world" is. This lack of explanation implies that true believers will already know the meaning. By definition the word "world," translated from the word "kosmos" and found 152x in the NT, refers chiefly to the zeitgeist, the culture of the world, which produces an alienation from God, the world system and the spirit of the age that we are not to love that is dominated by “the prince of this world” (2 Cor 4:4), which is evil things associated with the culture of the world and man’s fallen heart in active rebellion against God – the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 Jn. 2:16). These can be summarized as all sin and darkness, specifically unlawful lusts, pride, idols and eveything that opposes God and His law. The believer is not to love anything pertaining to unlawful lusts and pride, and that is what makes up "the world." We note in Gen 3 that Satan worked on these three areas (1 Jn 2:16) when decieving Adam and Eve to sin.

What is the "Zeitgeist of the World"? The noun “zeitgeist” is German, and carries the idea of the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era. The word combines two words, “Zeit,” meaning "time," and “Geist,” meaning "spirit" or "ghost." As the word suggests, it is the defining spirit or mood of the age or culture wherein applied, characterized by the ideas and beliefs and essense of the culture of the world in that present time. This is well known philosophy, with the scholars of the world maintaining that each era has a unique spirit, a nature or climate that sets it apart from all other epochs. Zeitgeist thus refers to the culture of the world, the nature, characteristics, attitudes, temperaments that would generalize the culture of the age you live in. The Bible addresses this continually throughout Scripture, requiring the application of God's Word to the zeitgeist climate of the world. It has a purpose of course, and that is warning and separation.

In no age or epoch of the world has the culture been is so pervasively and pervertedly wicked, ungodly and unrighteous. We have reached a new high. Globalism along with technology has created a world of wickedness, but it's not new, only new levels, the foundation begotten at the Tower of Babylon, the first globalist movement. The Bible speaks to this repeatedly, indicating that evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse (2 Tim 3:13), that perilous times will come where professing Christians will be just like the world, "lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;” (2 Tim 3:2-4).

Scripture that Warns of the World and that Saved People do Not Love the World or Have the Spirit of the World but Are Hated by the World

The following passages in the NT refer to this subject: Pr. 4:14-15; Mk 4:18-19; Jn. 12:25; 15:19; 17:14-16; Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor 2:12; Gal. 6:14; Eph. 5:11; 2 Tim. 2:22; 4:10; Ti. 2:11-12; Jam. 1:27; 4:4; 1 Pet. 2:11-12; 4:1-4; 1 Jn. 2:15-17; 4:4-6; 5:4-5, 19. Consider some of these:

Mk 4:18-19,  

“And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”

Jn 12:25,

"He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.”

Jn 15:18-19,

"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."

Jn 17:14-16,

“I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

Rom 12:1-2, 

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

1 Cor 2:12,

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”

Gal 6:14,

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

2 Tim 4:10, 

“For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.”

Ti 2:11-12,

"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;"

Jam 4:4, 

“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

2 Pet 1:4, 

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

2 Pet 2:20, 

“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.”

1 Jn 2:15-19, 

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.  . . . They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”

1 Jn 4:4-6, 

“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

1 Jn 5:4-5, 

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”

Salvation and the World Are Incongruous — The Truly Saved Do Not Love the World

To love the world (1 Jn 2:15) is not the same thing as loving chocolate cake or ice cream. It is to love the world system (its music, likes, dress, appearance, attitudes, persona, entertainment, etc), which results in conforming to the spirit of the age (Rom 12:2). Those who conform to the spirit of the age love the world. They are of the world. And that means they are not of God. They are spiritual adulterers and enemies of God (Jam 4:4). A vast majority of churches today are worldly, including most Mennonite denominations. That means they are not "of God." They are "of the world." Because of a particular view of the grace of God, they think they are saved. It is not the grace of God. They have "turned the grace of God into lasciviousness" (Ju 1:4).

Saints are not conformed to this world (Rom 12:1-2). This text commands the believer to not be conformed to this world. That does not mean that saved people will characteristically conform to this world. Opposition does not equate causation. When Paul wrote this, he was telling his fellow bethren that though they live physically in the present age, they belong to the kingdom of the age to come, to which they conform. Thus conforming or molding into the values of the current age contradicts their true identity. Characteristically, believers will give their body a living and acceptable sacrifice by the mercy of God, which is their reasonable service, since they have a new and regenerated heart (Ti 3:5; 2 Cor 5:17) and thus will not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of their mind. They have overcome the world (1 Jn 5:3-4). Sin has no more dominion over the saint (Rom 6). They do not think the same way about the world as they did before they were saved, when they were lost. Its polar opposite. Their moral standards and philosophy has changed, permanently. Contrary to the regular strawman argument of "moralism" by neo-evangelicals and reformed calvinists, modern ministers of Baal, there is actual tangible external worldliness.

Saints do not love the world (1 Jn 2:15-17). Born again believers do not love the world (1 Jn. 2:15-17), which involves the lust of the flesh (see Gal. 5:19-21; Mk. 7:21-23), the lust of the eyes (Matt. 5:28; Ecc. 1:8), and the pride of life (2 Tim. 3:1-4). Again the text:

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

This passage is a salvation text. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all (1 Jn 1:5), and truly saved people “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 Jn 1:7). They do not love the world or the things in the world or else the love of the Father is not in them (1 Jn 2:15).  When a church loses one of these people or these families, those families go out from them, because they are not of them (1 Jn 2:19).

Those that proclaim to be believers but actually love the world (demonstrated by external worldliness), are lying about being believers. Scripture is very clear, "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Any person, whether professing believer or not, that loves the world, does not have the love of the Father in them and they are externally conforming their lives to the world. This means God the Father's love is not in him, as it is in all true born again believers (Rom 8:37-39), nor do they love God the Father. They are serving another master, which is the same master they have always served. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Lk 16:13). This passage, which is contrasting saved and unsaved, is precisely what false "believers" attempt to do in their spiritual adultery, claiming Jesus while married to the world. And their marriage to the zeitgeist of the world is evident by their cool or otherwise worldly speech, their immodest or zeitgeist manner of dress, with their worldly music, amusement choices, recreation and entertainment consumptions. These externals smack of a philosophy originating from a system operating in opposition against God.

The lover of the world is absent of the Father's love. This doesn't mean that occasionally they have the Father's love in them. No, this means they never have His love and do not actually know it, even though they proudly parade it. The reason being is that they are still in the flesh and dominated by its desires and lusts (1 Jn 2:16), and not in the spirit and after the will of God (1 Jn 2:17). Two verses later, John connected those verses with v. 19:

"They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."

"Of the world" and "of us" are a contrast with one another. If they were not "of us," based on those previous verses, it appears that they "loved the world" and were "of the world" instead. That fits with the thorny soil in the farming parable as well (Matt 13), and exemplified by Demas (2 Tim 4:10).

True born again believers love not the world and thus are separated from the world and its zeitgeist (Jn 15:18-20; 17:14, 16; Rom 6:17-22; 8:1-17; 1 Cor 2:12; 7:34; 1 Jn 2:15-17; 3:1, 11-13; 4:5; 5:19; Jam 1:27; 4:4). Demas is an example of a false believer. He forsook Paul, which is forsaking apostolic doctrine and thus God's Word, having loved this present world (2 Tim 4:10). False worldly "believers" want their ungodly, worldly, lustful music, but also their alcohol, even if it is just “social drinking,” which again is conformity to the world.

Saints are overcomers of the world (1 Jn 5:4-5). Salvation itself “deliver[s] us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Gal 1:4b). When does this deliverance occur? At salvation. The world is overcome through the new birth (1 Jn 5:4-5), as is the devil (1 Jn 2:13-14; 4:4).

"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 Jn 5:4-5)

The true believer is the overcomer and its at salvation that we first truly "believe that Jesus is the Son of God."

Of the world is the domain of Satan, the kingdom of darkness. Many passages contrast the the children of light with the children of darkness. Jesus in Jn 12:46 said, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” Emissaries of Satan are “the rulers of the darkness of this world” (Eph 6:12) and the enemies of God, further illustrated in Jam 4:4, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” In 1 Th 5:5, Paul again contrasts the saved in Thessalonica with the unsaved: "Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness."

The True Grace of God Produces Holiness and Contradicts Worldliness

No true believer lives a life of perfectionism, but you are however saved from the dominion of sin (Rom 6), which is the power of sin. Sin will not rule the saint; he is no longer under its charge or power because he is under a new power: the grace of God. This is what we read repeatedly in Rom 6, and its true. "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Rom 6:14). The born again believer is compelled to righteousness not because of the law but because of God's grace, which has removed the power of sin in his life. Thus sin is never again a habitual or characteristic lifestyle anymore, and that includes tobacco, the drink, worldliness and embracing doctrinal errors and false teachings, all of which are sin as well. Sin does not have dominion over you anymore (Rom 6). Sin does not characterize your life anymore (1 Jn). The same grace that saves (Ti 2:11) also leads, teaches, directs, helps and causes the saint to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and unholiness, and to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world (Ti 2:12-14), with the indwelling Holy Spirit working this out in the believer, from the moment of the new birth; those absent or diminishing of these characteristics, do not have the witness of the Spirit.

God’s grace is the growth agent in sanctification: increased holiness, godliness, righteousness and less sinning, which starts immediately at conversion (e.g. Col 1:4-6; Jn 14:15-24; 15:1-10; 1 Jn 3:1-10; etc), because that is the true grace of God, and all true born again believers have this grace, but you would not know that from many men who purport to be teachers of God but actually treat God's grace like a garbage can. God's “grace” however is not a garbage can. “Grace” doesn’t just keep taking all of your bad stuff and putting it in the garbage can. The true grace of God is a cleansing agent. It actually cleans your entire life up from the very moment of conversion (Col 1:4-6; Matt 13:23). It makes you a brand new person at the very moment of conversion, which is both supernatural and superdramatic (2 Cor 5:17). It changes how you live. Grace actually puts sin to death. That is what God’s grace does.

The true grace of God changes a life:

"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Ti 2:11-14)

The same grace of God that saves (Ti 2:11) works in believers to “deny ungodliness and worldly lusts” (Ti 2:12). As God is working in both to will and do of His good pleasure (Phil 2:13), true born again Christians are working out their own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12). What God’s children work out is going to look and sound like something way different than this world system. What is this “fear and trembling”? Fear of sinning, distrust of human power in the face of powerful temptations, and fear of dishonoring God. The fear of God and his judgment seat motivated Paul to labour for Christ’s approval (2 Cor 5:11-12; Gal 1:10). “To will and to do of his good pleasure,” in Phil 2:13 implies personal intent for the believer. It is God that instills in His own children the desire to please Him, just as He does the ability to love Him (De 30:6; Rom 5:5), which occured through the circumcision of the flesh at conversion (De 30:6; Col 2:10-15). The born again believer thus so loves His Saviour, he puts distance between himself and the world, making no provision for the flesh (Rom 13:14), for "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts," (Gal 5:24), which crucifixion occured at the moment of salvation (Gal 2:20; Rom 6:1-20). In the supernatural act of salvation itself is separation from the world, from the old world master to the new Godly Master (Matt 6:24), noted in the promise of God to be a Father to those who come out from the world and “be ye separate” (2 Cor 6:17-18). With that having occured in the new birth, a born again believer will “cleanse himself of all filthiness of the flesh, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor 7:1).

The Truly Saved Cannot Even Love the World, for They Are Hated by the World and No Longer Have the Spirit of the World

In 1 Cor 2: 9-16, Paul the Apostle describes the characteristics and nature of saved people ("spiritual") in contrast to those that are unsaved ("natural" and then "carnal" as he does in the passages that follow)—specifically those amongst the Corinthians who were professing to be saved but were not. In the midst of this text, he contrasts the spirit within the two-only natures:

"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." (1 Cor 2:12)

Every human being has one of two spirits: (1) the spirit of the world, or (2) the spirit which is of God. Its either one or the other, NOT both, and every single human at one time possessed the spirit of the world, and most, always. Its only the new birth that removes the the spirit of the world and replaces it with a new spirit, the spirit which is of God. Contemporary Christianity with its philosophy originating from a system operating in opposition against God, attempts to yoke the both, but that is an impossibility.

In what is commonly called His High Priestly prayer, Jesus prayed concerning the ones truly saved by Him,

“I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (Jn 17:14-16)

Of all that Jesus could have or may have prayed, He associated a big chunk of it with "not of the world." The phrase "of the world," is found 7x in His prayer.

More of the same had been stated already by Him in Jn. 15:18-19, on that same walk to the Garden of Gethsemane (cf. Jn 14:31):

“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” (Jn. 15:18-19)

This is black and white. If you are a true child of God and servant of Christ, you will be hated by the world. That means the opposite of loving you, which means they won't really be very affectionate or friendly towards you. The reason for this is "because ye are not of the world," for "if you were of the world," i.e., a worldly so-called professing "Christian," "the world would love his own:" But you are not, just like your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was not. He chose you out of the world, saved you, redeemed you and adopted you into His family, and thus are polar opposites to the world and the zeitgeist of the world around you.

The world doesn't hate contemporary Christians because this flavour of "believers" is of the world, of the same system as they are. They see them as equals, but hypocrites. They don't like to be hated, so they go out of their way to not be hated, but that is a deadly disease in of itself that ties into their false gospel of self-fulfillment, self-esteemism, psychology infested sermons and teachings, and worldliness. In the end, it exposes their unregenerate conditions, another purpose to what Jesus said in Jn 15, 16 and 17.

From His warning on the world and that saved people are not of the world (Jn 17:14-16), Jesus continued in Jn 17:17-20 how it is that the saved person is separate from the world,

“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.”

Its through the Word of God, the truth, which sanctifies, that is sets us apart, the saint reflects this holiness, godliness, and righteousness that runs in complete opposition to the world and its zeitgeist. They would be in the world, but since they were not "of the world," Jesus wanted it to continue that way. Not being "of the world" directly relates to sanctification. By nature they were "not of the world" (v. 16), but sanctification would be required for them to stay "not of the world" in a practical way or manner.

True Born Again Believers Are Separated from the World

Born again believers do not love the world (1 Jn 2:15-17), are not conformed to the world (Rom. 12:2), are not a friend of the world (Jam. 4:4), and do not adopt the way of the heathen (Jer. 10:2). We do not change with the culture when it changes. We do not need to be relevant. The Christian is not of this world (Jn. 15:19; 17:16). Like Paul, he is crucified unto the world (Gal. 6:14). These powerful words are ignored in vast majority of churches today. The whole world lies in wickedness from which the Christian has been delivered (Gal 1:4) because they "are of God" (1 Jn. 5:19), and thus the true Christian is diligent to "keep himself unspotted from the world" (Rom. 12:1-2; Jam. 1:27).

Since the true born again Christian is sacred and his body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, he can’t associate with worldly things that clash with God. Saints are in the world, but not of the world (Jn 14). Believers will visibly and tangibly separate themselves from the world like Noah and his family did on the ark, and like God expected of Israel in the wilderness. Part of personal holiness, biblical separation, has been to avoid ungodly associations in the world (1 Cor 15:33). Not to do so has always been considered worldliness. Separation from the world is not under the guise of self-righteousness, and does not refer to isolation from the world. Separation is not selfish but wisdom (1 Pet. 5:7). A avoiding the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life is not only commanded by the Lord but its also the way of protection from the devil, and the means to avoiding disobedience in sin and worldliness.

Separation from the world is to be strict (Eph. 5:11; 1 Th. 5:22; Jam. 1:27; 1 Pet. 1:14-15) because it's a matter of spiritual and moral protection. Separation is not legalism. The Bible very, very plainly teaches that the grace of God leads true believers to strict, holy and separated Christian living (Ti 2:11-14). This is the true grace of God, the very same grace that saved them:

"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Ti 2:11-14)

Many people despise the doctrine of separation, but Paul the Apostle, the theologian of separation, didn’t command separation in so many passages for no purpose. A renunciation of separatism is a renunciation of biblical Christianity. Every one of his NT epistles he talks about separation, not just from the world, but from error, teachers of error, etc. Consider Rom 16:17-18; 1 Cor 5; 2 Cor 6:14-7:1; Gal 1:6-9; 2 Th 3:6-15; etc.

Since separation is a Biblical doctrine, it must have originated with God, the author of Holy Scripture. Indeed this is true. God is a God of separation. Separation is Christ-like. Christ was holy and separated from sinners at all times (Heb. 7:26). When someone gets separation wrong or gets it unbiblical, he doesn't just get separation wrong. When someone misrepresents or corrupts separation, he also gets God the Father and God the Son, scripture, the truth, the church, and even the gospel wrong. Every doctrine relates to separation. The wrong view of separation corrupts a Christian worldview. You may ask, 'What do you mean?' God doesn't condone sin or error. God will not deny Himself. He becomes that when we teach separation erroneously or deny it. That's a different God. He isn't holy any longer and He can't be just either. Scripture isn't plain any more. The truth is either this or that. The church accepts error and/or worldliness. The gospel doesn't quite change a person or isn't quite following Jesus or it's a different Jesus. The true Biblical Christian worldview is one truth and this permits two. This is what we see everywhere in evangelicalism today, and much of fundamentalism.

Separation isn't isolation. True born again believers are separated from the world. Not isolated (like the Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites have historically done) but actually separated from the world in the heart which then compels godly and holy living. True born again Christians are those who have "thy word" which is the Word of God, and "the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world," just like Jesus was "not of the world," but that doesn't mean isolated from the world, as Jesus prayed, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world," but rather, separated from the world and its system (which is governed by the "prince of this world" Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) which opposes God and His Word and holiness and righteousness, "that thou [God] shouldest keep them from the evil." God will keep His own from the evils of this world, for "They are not of the world, even as I am [Jesus] not of the world.” (Jn 17:14-16).

Separation HAS to be practiced in this ungodly age at all cost, even though it is very unpopular in these apostate end-times as described in 2 Tim 4:3-4, which is a new type of "Christianity" where people are living after their own lusts, doing their own thing, even though it runs in complete opposition to God's Word. And then come the logical fallacies and heretical arguments to justify their behaviour or lifestyle.

Worldliness is Demonstrated Externally, Not Merely Internally

Some men, who proclaim to hate worldliness, vindicate worldly living by redefining worldliness. They make worldliness impossible to judge by anyone but God (and He will). They say it’s only on the inside, its merely internal. These men challenge definitions of worldliness that recognize worldly externals. Undoubtedly everything that is worldly in someone proceeds from his or her heart. However, that which comes out of a worldly heart will inevitably be worldly, and importantly this is how we know whether ourselves or someone else is worldly at heart. People that make this nonsensical and ridiculous argument of internal-only worldliness are attempting to offer some leverage in dealing with worldliness without depriving the worldly “Christian” of the worldly things he or she demands. In so doing, they in fact innoculate the adherent against the real thing. Neo-evangelicals and reformed Calvinists are notorious for this hypocrisy, and their audience is excited that they get to keep their music, and entertainment, and worldly worship, and dress standards, etc. After all, these contemporary churches got where they are by worldly standards, the spiritual adulterous golden eggs that filled their pews (and coffers), thus affecting church growth stategies. In no way would they then destroy the golden goose, so they go after “internal worldliness.” Nor do they want to be marginalized, or labeled a legalist or a Pharisee as we commonly are, a subject we deal with here: “Legalism” and “Phariseeism” — Evangelicals Convenient Excuses for Sin, False Doctrine and Practice.

Worldliness is not confined merely to the internal, as neo-evangelicals and others argue. Though there certainly is such a thing as a worldly heart (someone could be non-worldly externally but then be worldly in the heart, as the case could easily be with works-based false religious groups), the major problem referred to in Scripture is external worldliness, because that always derives from a worldly heart, and since we cannot see the heart, we see the effects of what is in the heart (Mk 7:20-23; Pr 23:7). This is exactly how Scripture reads: “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:” (Pr 23:7; see also Mk 7:20-23). The external is a reflection of the internal. However, that doesn’t mean that someone is not worldly if they claim not to be worldly in the heart (because we don’t really know what is in their heart), but they are in fact worldly on the external. The internal only worldliness is a fable invented by heretical, worldly neo-evangelical hypocrites, and is a diversion from what the Bible speaks mostly of: external worldliness. 1 Pet 1:14 tells us that obedient children do not “not fashion yourselves according to your former lusts.” “Lusts” are internal but “fashioning” is external. The “fashioning” comes directly from the “lusts.” Worldliness is folly (foolishness) and "Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom" (Pr 15:21). The primary verses on worldliness in the Bible are dealing with something that is external. The heart problem is an issue, but there is also the problem of what we look like, what we watch, what we listen to, how we act, and what we say. Paul wrote in Rom 12, “Be not conformed to this world” and “conformed” is an external concept. The internal-only worldliness people are fake “Christians” who actually do love the world. That way they can say that they don’t love it, when they actually do. How can we know? The music, the dress, the attitudes, the language, the entertainment. You can’t fake that.

Worldliness,Yoking with the Zeitgeist of the World, is Corrupt Fruit from Corrupt Trees --The Thorny Soiled Professor

Everything that smacks of the world system is the darkness of this world, ruled by the prince of darkness himself, Satan. These things are not neutral or ambigious. They are the things of the world of which John speaks in 1 Jn 2:15-17, appeasing to the eyes, flesh and life, all of which is driven by a love of self, even as Paul warned in 2 Tim 3 would be the prevailing attitude of false professing "believers" in the last days, "lovers of their own selves," (2 Tim 3:2).

The typical argument against worldly, fleshly, lustful things is that the Bible doesn't tell us what that those things are. The Bible also doesn't tell us what corrupt communication is. It doesn't tell us what is profane. It doesn't tell us what the attire of a harlot, the clothing of a prostitute is. Scripture expects us to know. What God says, people can know, if they want to know. The problem here is a will problem. People want their lascivious, sensual, worldly things and music that feeds their flesh without judgment. Their best argument is ridicule, scoffers walking after their own lust. Their justification is idolatrous. They want a god shaped like their own desires, and he only do they desire to serve.

What are some specific areas of worldliness, the corrupt things and zeitgeist of this world, that are clearly identified as representing this spiritual darkness and corrupt fruit? Here are a few.

Entertainment. Hollywood movies, "R" rated movies, and even those that claim the label "Christian," such as The Chosen, The Sound of Freedom, and Fireproof, all of which are corrupting the minds of people.

Music. Modern pagan culture influences their music as illustrated by their love for Rock & Roll music and hosting Rock concerts in their churches, and their lives filled with this ungodly pagan music, which uses aggressive rhythms, hypnotic repetition, and synthetic frequencies to manipulate the senses and produce a drugged-like state of hypnosis and trance, carnal and sensual excitement, and emotional anarchy with concupiscence. This is occuring in practically every single evangelical "church" today.

The worship of God must be in Spirit and in truth (Jn 4:23-24). This is accomplished through the singing of psalms, melodies and spiritual songs; praying together and responding to the preaching of God’s Word (Ps. 63:5; 150:1-6; Jn. 4:23-24). The singing must be solemn, Biblical, humble, godly, glorifying to God. We must hate this CCM stuff and churches that compromise and apostatize with it. We must hate what they do and the way they do it. We must hate the philosophy of ministry that it represents, and hate the way it misrepresents the God of the Bible, and hate the way it deceives the people with whom it is involved, and hate what it does to churches (which is, destroys them), and hate the way that it harms and even ruins discernment, and hate the way that it perverts a biblical or true understanding of spirituality and love. We must hate the way that it endorses false worship for churches. It's disgusting. It’s the mark of a false and deceptive worldly “believer” (1 Jn. 2:15-17; Jam. 4:4; Jn. 15:18-20; 17:14-16). We mustn't tolerate it even for an hour, and have nothing to do with it.

More on this critical subject can be read here:

• Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), Is It Honouring to God?

• Judging Music: Judging “Christian” Contemporary Music (CCM) to be Strange Fire and Unfruitful Works of Darkness

• The Incongruity of Contemporary Worship Music (CCM) and Country Music (High Valley) with God's Word

• Christian Contemporary Music (CCM), the Soundtrack of End-Times Apostasy

Dressing. Worldly "Christians" look to cultural fads to define what is perceived as acceptable style, including gender indistinctive clothing, confounding the garment that once differed the sexes for us—an androgynous attack on God's will and creative order and rejection of authority toward God and husband. This of course is especially true of women. There is a sinfulness with strange apparel, resulting in transgenderism. They allow pagan cultures to dress their people and dictate the manner of dress, promoting immodesty, vanity, rebellion and the glorification of the flesh rather than dignity and self-control, just like they allow modern pagan culture to influence their music, as discussed previous point.

The Apostle Paul commands women to adorn themselves “in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety” (1 Tim 2:9). Kosmios, the Greek word translated as “modest” refers to that which is orderly, well-arranged, and becoming, which is a direct contrast to disordered, provocative, and exhibitionist. The word translated “shamefacedness” (aidōs) refers to an internal sense of shame at the prospect of impropriety — a sense of modesty that is not merely external compliance but inward orientation. True Christian women would understand that the body is not an instrument of public display, but those that have no conpunction over these matters, demonstrate, at the very least, that the zeitgeist values regarding the body and its display have not been displaced by the true gospel’s values regarding modesty, chastity, and the godliness. John Bunyan’s test applies: does the love of the world, expressed in the desire to appear as the world appears and to be approved as the world approves, still reign in the heart? If it does, the love of the Father is, on John’s account, not in that person.

More on the subject of dress may be read here: Immodesty and Transgenderism.

Herein we see the major inconsistencies and hypocrisies evident in much of evangelicalism. They claim to and maybe even attempt to oppose some of the secular culture, at least that which effects their freedoms, finances, social life, etc, all the while they have accepted it and allowed it to influence them in so many other ways. Even worst, they have propagated and endorsed this secular and pagan culture as acceptable for Christians to indulge in for entertainment and appearance purposes. Essentially they are ashamed of the godliness and holiness of true Biblical Christianity.

Many contemporary churches are absorbed into the ungodly zeitgeist of the world, under the dominion of its adultery. They propel the False Gospel of Self-Fulfillment while rejecting The True Gospel of Self-Denial and Self-Abandonment, and thus their fruit is corrupt, corrupt fruit from corrupt trees, "for the tree is known by his fruit." (Matt 12:33). Many of the children that grow up in these churches and homes will go on to live after the lusts of their flesh, the world, humanism and anything else that fits this paradigm, fulfilling the corrupt fruit produced by corrupt trees. They either outright or subtly reject the God of the Bible, and invent their own god that fits with their love of the world, the flesh, and the eyes, the corrupt fruit of hypocrisy, which is the leaven of the Pharisees, what they've been exposed to all their life. They end up getting tattoos, punked out hair and appearance, go homosexual, marry unbelievers, get indoctrinated into psychology (which is more than just evil humanism, but a false god), attend much worse churches (such as Charismatic, Orthodox, Emergent, etc) and more, rebelling against and rejecting the God of the Bible.

True born again Christians however are quite differently. They allow the Bible to define their dress, music, entertainment, and every other aspect of their lives, and are not conformed to this world (Rom 12:1-2). Part of personal holiness, biblical separation, has been to avoid ungodly associations in the world. Not to do so has always been worldliness. It still is.

Worldly "Believers" are Recipients of the Seed Onto Thorny Ground

The love of the world is not a hinderance to a "believers" progression in sanctification, as majority of "preachers" preach today, an important element of heretical Keswick theology. Rather, its in fact a hinderance in coming to Christ, to true salvation, the act of repentant faith itself. The love of the world is not a post-conversion problem, gradually resolved or resolved through a moment of crisis as Keswick theology reports, but a pre-conversion bondage necessarily broken before a soul genuinely turns to Christ, hence Christs admonishment of not serving two masters, contrasting a true and false believer with the propensity of this very error of attempting to serve the world and Christ simultaneously (Matt 6:24), a contrast the Bible makes on a continual basis, NOT two types of Christians. The world must be left behind, or there simply is no entrance.

Jessu warned of the thorny ground "believer" in His parable of the sower and seed, found in Matt 13, Mk 4 and Lk 8. Lukes account says,

"And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection." (Lk 8:14)

Matthew and Mark add, "the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word," and "the lusts of other things entering in," (Matt 13:22; Mk 4:18-19). The seed evidently "fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit." (Mk. 4:7). Careful consideration of the words that Christ uses to explain this soil while interpreting in context, and careful comparison between the three harmonious accounts, and rightly dividing the word of truth, and considering the fact that its the seed falling onto the soil (onto thorny ground, which already existed) and the ground is never fruitful with the Greek word (akarpos) meaning absolute, there is no fruit with this seed that is pictured as permanently arrested in its progress, which does not portray someone who has a true life and merely growing slowly but rather of a counter-productive occupation — the thorns are growing, the tares are thriving, and the wheat never comes to harvest (in contrast to the only fruitful ground, the good groud which is the only one saved; all truly saved people are fruitful: Col 1:4-6), makes it clear that these are unsaved, falsely pretending "believers,” just as the first two soils, but there are further reasons: the thorny soul does not overcome but is overcome by its flesh; the thorny soul bears corrupt fruit (love for the world, riches and other lusts), and the thorny soul is carnal. There are many heretical teachings concerning “carnal Christianity,” the thorny soil fitting into that paradigm, but this has become more of a red herring than anything. Carnality according to God's Word is the estate of a lost person (Rom 8:1-9), of the unregenerate. Thats the actual meaning of the word. It is NOT another category of man (an addition to that of saved and lost, or spiritual and natural), a third category, like many today promote though its made out of thin air through the corruption of 1 Cor 3:1-3. The Bible doesn’t give a shred of hope to those described as carnal, Rom 8:6-9 makes that clear. Now that doesn't mean a true Christian can't sin or disobey the Bible; carnality reflects a manner of life, the nature of a person, and its not a characteristic of the saved but of the lost and the Bible does not create this third entity of man, and lest a sinning professing Christian is experiencing the chastisement of God in his life (Heb. 12:5-11) and exercises repentance (1 Jn. 1:8-10), he is actually not a Christian at all but a false pretending "believer.” And this is precisely what the parable of the sower is teaching. For further info on the subject of “carnal Christianity” please read:

• Does the Bible Teach the Class of Christian known as “Carnal Christian”?

• Misinterpretation of 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 to Produce the Erroneous Teaching of "Carnal Christianity"

Thorns and thistles will be cast into the fire (Matt 7:19; Jn 15:6). These fruitless trees are hewn down and thrown into the fire (Lk 3:9). These “corrupt tree[s]” are false “Christians” and certainly false teachers/prophets. This soul has clearly never overcome the flesh (which happens at salvation — Rom. 6), not "having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Pet. 1:4), will all true believers do as plainly evident by this passage. Worldliness and love of money and other lusts characterize this persons life, because that is his nature: “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Pr 23:7a; cf. Mk 7:15-23), “for the tree is known by his fruit.” (Matt. 12:33b). The Word of God (what little there was of it) is choked out by their flesh and unregenerate condition through a love for the world, love for deceitful riches, love for pleasure and a love for the lusts of other things entering in; all entirely contrary to true conversion and things that always have the prominence and preeminence in the false professors life.

When we see an individual choked by thorns in our present time, rarely is this a blatant apostate or a hostile critic of faith. No, these are professing believers that are instead characterized by a form of godliness while their lives deny its power. Spiritual apathy that reflects no outward impact in their life, no evangel sacrifice, no transformed character traits that reflect the fruit of the Spirit, while they busy their lives with almost anything except spiritual matters, which take a low-priority in their list of things to do. They certainly do not read and study the Bible, which would immediately bring condemnation of their unBiblical and ungodly lives. Their so-called relationship with God is treated as a secondary necessity rather than a source of life, and they consistently live a life of attempting to serve two masters, reflective of the rich man in Lk 12, who was busy building bigger barns for his American Dream to live his life of retirement of ease, eat, drink and be merry (Lk 12:13-21).

The Worldly "Believer" is the Product of a False Gospel and False Profession

The culture of the world places pressures on churches and professing believers to maintain the name of Christ while while absorbing the values of the zeitgeist, which many, very many, have capitulated to. This must be resisted on every hand, as the apostles exemplified, and our faithful forefathers, "contending for the faith [true salvation, in contrast to the "common" or profane/false salvation warned of by Jude in this epistle] which was once delivered" (Ju 1:3). They preached the gospel not as a cheap transaction that leaves the sinner’s loves intact, but a new birth regeneration that transforms them completely, root and branch (again, in complete contrast to the false scandulous gospel being promoted today by many). These worldly minions speak fluently of divine Biblical things and regarded by many unperceptive and undiscerning ones as a solid believe, but when God places the professor under test,  the mask slips. He looks and smells and speaks of the Kingdom but his love is with the world. He will likely talk of grace and of faith, but yet does not part with his sins, his pleasures, or his worldliness. He is, in the end, “of the world,” and the world knoweth him and heareth him, precisely as 1 Jn 4:5 describes those who are of the world rather than of God. He is a professor of the thorny soil.

The men and churches that promote this scandulous false gospel of self-fulfillment are worldly, yoked with the surrounding zeitgeist of the world in order to "reach it," and in reality are unholy and heretical false teachers who have no authority or power to call the world to repentance. How could they when the world has so much influence over the church. A so-called preacher who accommodates the world does not win the world, but becomes just one more voice within it, indistinguishable from the rest. The world, which is hostile to the gospel, does not need churches to sound like itself. It needs churches to sound like the Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy writ.

Conclusion

The world and its zeitgeist expresses itself in concrete behaviors, habits, dress, entertainments, and attitudes. When these things appear in the lives of professing Christians and churches without any rebuke, without any resistance, and without the true inward conflict that characterizes genuine regeneration, the new birth, they form evidence of the same worldliness that the apostles and the Lord Jesus consistently warned against, raising the same question about the genuineness of the profession of faith that underlies them. Worldliness is a major mark of a false profession, as we expose in Part 2, A Biblical Survey on the Evidence of Justification — Conveying Assurance of Salvation, and Judging a False Profession.

Those that are born again simply love not the world and thus are separated from the world (Jn 15:18-20; 17:14, 16; Rom 6:17-22; 8:1-17; 1 Cor 2:12; 7:34; 1 Jn 2:15-17; 3:1, 11-13; 4:5; 5:19; Jam 1:27; 4:4). Salvation “deliver[s] us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Gal 1:4b). And this deliverance, overcoming, occurs through the new birth (1 Jn 5:4-5). If you love the world, then you must overcome, and that can only occur through repentance and faith unto salvation.

The person who wishes to continue to live his own way, to “save his life,” will eternally lose “both soul and body in hell” (Matt 10:28, 39), while one who turns from his own way, denying himself, taking up the cross, and losing his own life for the sake of Christ and the gospel, will save his life or soul by receiving eternal life (Matt 16:24-26; Mk 8:34-38; Lk 9:23-26). “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (Jn 12:25). To encourage the lost to give up their own way and surrender to Christ’s Lordship for salvation, Christ reminds them that it profits them nothing if they would gain the whole world, but lose their souls (Mk 8:36-37). Those who, rather than being ashamed of their sins (Rom 6:21; cf. Rom 1:16; 2 Tim 1:8, 12, 16) are ashamed to follow Christ and His Words in the evil and adulterous world will have Christ be ashamed of them at His return and be damned—for Christ is “not ashamed to call [true believers] brethren” (Heb 2:11), and “God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city” (Heb 11:16; Lk 9:26).