ITS NOT CHRISTIANITY! There Is A New Emerging Religion and It Is Dangerous!
for the next few moments I want to demonstrate and illustrate why so-called Faith celebrities should not be Role Models or people you look up to and secondly I want to show you that at the end of the day it's not about who you are it's not about what you have but it's about your personal relationship to Jesus Christ now one of the trademarks of the end times that we can look for is the departure of doctrinal and moral beliefs between 2019 and 2020 Kanye West went public proclaiming his faith and conversion to Christianity this was followed by him making appearances at some very well-known churches he was even once quoted saying the following at an event I want to let you know that I am not here For Your Entertainment this afternoon we are here to spread the gospel I am a recent convert fast forward a few years later here are some of the headlines we read Kanye West claims to be the new Jesus in sexually graphic new album Kanye West says he has issues with Jesus after unanswered prayers Kanye West renounces Christian faith calls himself God so either this man was despite all appearances never truly a Christian perhaps he was struggling with intense doubts Andor Rebellion but is still a Christian then the final option is that this person was a Christian but is now walked away only God knows the answers to this but at the end of the day you have to remember that just because someone says the name of Jesus Christ that doesn't mean they are saved and have a relationship with him so never be too quick to place anyone on a pedestal especially those in the Limelight here is a Bible verse to keep in mind 1 John 2: 19 says they went out from us but they did not really belong to us for if they had belonged to us they would have remained with us but their going showed that none of them belonged to us as people we should never anchor our faith in God because this celebrity or this pastor says so we should never attach God to an individual person who has influence or wealth in these last days we will see great apostasy and this literally means a falling away from the faith this falling away can happen on two different fronts someone can fall away from the truth of the Bible and this is a kind of doctrinal apostasy but then there is also moral apostasy where a person falls from the moral instructions of scripture I believe in these last days we will see the decay of morality become more evident the words of apostle Paul will vividly describe the attitudes and behaviors that will prevail in the last days people will be lovers of self lovers of money proud arrogant abusive disobedient to their parents ungrateful Unholy heartless unappeasable slanderous without self-control and the list goes on across the world today we Christians can't help but notice the steady decline of people who regularly attend church or openly hold to the Christian faith it used to be that businesses were closed on Sundays employees allowed their workers to have Sundays off and attending church seemed to be the norm against our peers times have changed when I tell people that I prefer having Sundays off of work so that I can attend church people almost seem offended that I consider myself religious what is happening here as the Zeal and enthusiasm for the Christian faith decline all around us the hostility and dismissiveness of Christ and his teachings seemingly increase is it fair to say that the religion is dying no this is not a fair assessment religion is alive and well but people have shifted their priorities people today are more concerned with how they can personally benefit they are less concerned about how they can humbly serve God and serve others religion is still just as prevalent but the end goal is no longer loving God and loving our neighbors I submit to you that there is a new religion taking a foothold in the lives of people today this religion is contrary to the values and teachings of the generations that have come before us and the Very teachings of Christ we hold so dear this new emerging religion is a religion of self many churches and Christians today claim that their number one purpose in life is honoring Christ but is this true do their actions support th I would say that many indeed are convinced that they are putting Christ first in their lives because this emerging religion of self has grown subtly as Eve was deceived in the garden I fear many today have been ens snared by this selfish mentality many people seek to hear things about the Bible that make them feel good but never stop to consider if these things are true Christians and non-believers today seem to agree on this one thing what truly matters in life is happiness but what does the Bible say Jesus so perfectly enlightens Us in Matthew 16: 2 4 to 26 about what our focus in life should truly be on let's establish this portion of scripture as our main text for this lesson in verse 24 the Bible says then Jesus told his disciples if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me Jesus is very clear about what what he is stating here if people want to follow Christ which many claim they want they must be willing to put what they desire aside and dedicate themselves to what God desires this is extremely unpopular today the religion of self teaches that our happiness hopes dreams and comfort are the most important Pursuits a person can have although this idea may sound nice on the surface it's subtly picking away at the very Foundation of Christ's Ministry it's hard to convince a person that they should put God first in a society that is constantly impressed on them the exact opposite people are constantly being bombarded with ads of hot new items to buy pressure at work to become the biggest and the greatest or music that glorifies happiness over what is right and wholesome when people continue to live with this inward focus and lose sight of God the result is always empty consider the wisdom that proverbs 30 gives us Proverbs 30: 7-9 says two things I ask of you deny them not to me before I die remove far from me falsehood of lying give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with the food that is needful for me lest I be full and deny you and say who is the Lord or lest I be poor in steel it's profane the name of my God the religion of self teaches us to constantly acquire more and more every year a new model of popular vehicle hits the market and people do everything within their power to buy it every year a new cell phone comes out and people count every penny they have to ensure that they will be one of the first people holding that new phone but how often do people consider the fact that the car and phone they already have are just fine why is it that people are never satisfied it's because they feel like they deserve the hot new items on the market they're often too self-focused to realize there are far greater concerns in life to attend to than simply obtaining items that will lift their s