The Plague of Carnality in the Church

 The social media provides a window for the assessment of current events in the church. Most Christian denominations have social media handles, while some Christians share their experiences online. They also comment on topical issues affecting the church and society. On a personal level, I am amazed at the discordant tunes flowing from Christians in each of the social media platforms. It is disconcerting that many do not exhibit any level of spirituality. Even when they are commenting on Christian-related discourse, the flesh oozes out through the screen! No matter the subject being discussed, some people would post comments like, “Trinity is not scriptural”, “The title ‘Lord’ has a pagan origin”, “Operations of the Holy Spirit ended with the early church”, “Sunday worship is satanic”, etc.

          Nowadays, it is difficult to differentiate between a Christian and an unbeliever in terms of moral conduct. Ungodliness is becoming a norm among some people who call Jesus their Saviour. Those who condemn sin in Christendom are adjudged closed-minded and judgmental. In Acts 10:34-35, Peter explained that God is no respecter of persons. If that is true, which it is, His demands for holiness communicated to the early church through the apostles apply to us today. For instance, Paul the apostle did not mince words while addressing carnality among Christians in Galatia.

He said in Galatians 5:13, “For you brethren, were (indeed) called to freedom; only (do not let your) freedom be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse (for selfishness), but through love you should serve one another”. It is true that God has made us righteous through the merit of Jesus Christ. It does not end there though. We are expected to conform to His will in purpose, thought and action in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why it is critical that we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit for a victorious Christian life. It is impossible for us to please God in our own strength and wisdom

          As we noted earlier, the early church was also plagued by carnality which manifested in divisions and schisms. In fact, the problem was so serious in the Corinthian church in particular that it dominated the two letters sent to its members by Paul the apostle. In 1 Corinthians 1:18-19, Paul said, “First of all, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. And indeed, there must be differences among you to show which of you are approved”. Here, Paul saw the division from the perspective of a fisherman that needed to sort his catch to throw away undesirables, or a farmer that has to remove weed from his farm before the harvest.

I do not believe that any right thinking person would become a Christian with the intention of being discarded by Jesus at the end of time. I am certain that no one would join a church with the intention of being left out when the Lord appears to redeem His body. I believe that carnality or walking in the flesh has to do with two things- ignorance and deception of satan. Ignorance could be blamed on the so-called men of God who choose to preach their own version of the gospel for pecuniary reasons. They pervert the gospel in order to make merchandise of their followers. Peter spoke about them in 2 Peter 2:3, “In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep”.

           Yes. The false teachers and pastors will get their just reward. But would that change the destiny of their followers? Would any of them get any reprieve from God on judgement day because they were led astray? Let us not forget that God created us with a free will for a purpose. The early Christians could justifiably claim that they did not have a Bible to guide them. Of course, most of them did not have access to the Holy Book. But did that excuse their failures or carnality? Not with God. Paul addressed this issue in Romans 1:18-20,

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse”.

          In Romans 2:15, he went on to say that even Gentiles who did not have the Law of Moses cannot be excused for their wickedness and ungodliness. He declared that Gentiles “show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts either accusing or defending them on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Christ Jesus, as proclaimed by my gospel”. In effect, ignorance of the law or the demands of God’s holiness will not save anyone from His wrath on judgment day.

          While we condemn fake preachers for leading people astray, we must not forget that it takes two to tango. 2 Timothy 4:3 tells us that a “time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires”. A similar crowd existed in the Old Testament.

They were the ones who said to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions” (Isaiah 30:10). Paul was emphatic that the rejection of the truth would intensify in the last days. He said in 1 Timothy 4:1-3, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils”.

This brings us to the second leg of the discourse on carnality, which is deception from satan and his demons. It is very clear that the devil is anti-truth. In fact, he is not only a liar but the father of lies. Speaking to unbelieving Jews in John 8:43-44, Jesus Christ said, “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies”.

          Satan sowed the seed of carnality in the early church when he convinced Christians to identify with certain church leaders and doctrines to the exclusion of others. Paul addressed this issue in his first letter to the Corinthian church. In 1 Corinthians 3-5 he said, “for you are still worldly (carnal). For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man? For when one of you says, ‘I follow Paul’, and another, ‘I follow Apollos’, are you not mere men? What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role”.

Since then, the devil has used the same tactics against the church. Each time God raised men and women to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit, satan deviously caused their followers to take their eyes off Jesus and begin to worship them. Some of them even begin to bear the names of such men and women. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement now has the Methodists as his followers. Martin Luther who started the Reformation has the Lutherans. John Calvin has the Calvinists. Those who identify with Roman Catholicism call themselves ‘Catholics’, not Christians.

          And satan smiles to the bank daily as Christians fight to protect their turfs. They would do anything to promote the doctrines of their denominations but not the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have no time to read the Bible but would purchase and read all the books written by their General Overseers, Pastors, Prophets, Apostles and other Babylonish names men have assumed to feed their ego. Satan knows that God abhors pride, so he gives these so-called men of God with all sorts of crazy revelations that have no roots in the Bible. How did anyone come to the conclusion that the operations of the Holy Spirit ceased with the early church? Which Scripture gives a backing to this frivolous claim? Yet, most people in the Baptist church and other orthodox movements propagate this falsehood.

            There can be no triumphant church without the power of the Holy Spirit. The devil does not fear doctrines. He is not intimidated by the study of the Scripture. The devil cannot withstand the power of the Holy Spirit. That was why the Lord Jesus Christ restrained His disciples from preaching the gospel until they were baptised by the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49).

To ignore the word of God and concentrate on spurious ‘revelations’ of ‘men of God’ is to court spiritual disaster. That is exactly what is happening to most Christians across the world. They lack the power to resist satan and his lies because they have rejected the only Person that has the power to defeat the enemy.

          Jesus Christ said in John 14:16-18, “And I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him; for He dweleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you”. I John 5:7 tells us that three Persons “bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one”. On what basis would a Christian hope for victory against satan without relying on the power of the Holy Spirit? This is the cause of the carnality in the church. Of course, satan the master trickster is behind the false narrative that operations of the Holy Spirit are no longer required in the church.

           Romans 8:14 makes it clear that only those who are led by the Holy Spirit are the sons of God. These are the people who are no longer under condemnation because they do not walk after the dictates of the flesh. Those who are not led by the Holy Spirit are described as carnal or worldly. According to Romans 8:5, such people are controlled by their unholy desires. They set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh. Verse 6 states that the mind of the flesh, that is a person that does not have the Holy Spirit) leads to death.

Galatians 5:19-26 catalogue the manifestations of carnality as “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings and such like”. On the other hand, a person who is led by the Holy Spirit is expected to bear certain fruits. Galatians 5:22-23 state: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self- control. Against such things there is no law”.

So, what is the solution to carnality in the church? The first thing is that everyone who desires a relationship with God must accept the Bible as the immutable word of God. That is the best place to start a relationship with the One who upholds His word more than His great name (Psalm 138:2). Once this is settled, it would be difficult for such a person to use man’s standard to run his Christian race. It is true that Jesus Christ gave leadership positions to the church as recorded in Ephesians 4:11-12, “And He gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”. No one can dispute that such leaders are needed in the church. But they have no authority to change the word of God to suit their nuances. The church does not belong to them. Jesus said in Mathew16:18, “and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.

          If Jesus, the owner of the church says that you need to be clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit to be an effective witness to His resurrection, you need to flee from any denomination that tells you otherwise. Some of them have replaced the power of the Holy Spirit with Bible Schools and Seminaries. That is why most of them are the sources of heresies and doctrines of devils. They use humanistic principles to interpret Scriptures under the influence of satan.

It is not surprising that the products of such institutions end up setting up churches that produce carnal Christians. Anyone with genuine thirst for God must desire the infilling of the Holy Spirit. He is the only one that can make Scripture come alive for a Christian. Jesus is waiting for you to ask for this great blessing. He is the only Person that can baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Do not look to your pastor or minister. Ask Jesus to baptise you today.

             Galatians 5, verses 25 and 26 give us the antidote to carnality: “If we live by the (Holy) Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit. Let us not become vainglorious and self-conceited, competitive and challenging and provoking and irritating to one another, envying and being jealous of one another”. Verse 16 of the same chapter wraps up the admonition on how to shun carnality. It says, “But I say, walk and live (habitually) in the (Holy) Spirit (responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit); then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God). It is only then that you as a Christian can declare with Paul the apostle, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for you (Galatians 2:20). You would also be entitled to eternal relationship with God and can appropriate the promise in Romans 8:1, “Therefore, (there is) now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live (and) walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit”.