In the letter of Judas, we find a serious warning of
a certain kind of people and attitude that always has existed among bad
elements of Christianity, and even more nowadays.
“For certain individuals whose
condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you.
They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for
immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”
Judas 1:4
Perversion of God’s Grace is not exactly abuse of God’s
Grace, but a more sinister distortion with a very high degree of destructing
power, with a very convincing appearance of godliness.
WHAT IS THE PERVERSION OF GRACE
There are two main types of distortions of God’s
Grace that have always affected the Church of Christ through history, but one
is more dangerous than the other and it is necessary to distinguish them:
ABUSE OF GRACE: Consists
in the irresponsible practice of sin, knowing that what it is being done is sinful,
but it is committed all the same, under the vagrant thought that eventually we
will repent, and everything will be settled and fixed.
This attitude is not the casual fall into sin that
every believer experiences every now and then; it is a complacency in
sinfulness, a setting in a sinful lifestyle on a permanent basis. The Christians
who fall into this kind of behaviour, carry the feeling of guilt which they try
to put aside and conscious of their sinfulness, still have the Holy Spirit’s
voice fighting with their souls to come back to righteousness.
Even though this is a serious condition and they run
the risk of eventually become cauterized to any sense of remorse and lose
themselves, there is still an open window in their souls for God’s voice calling
them to repentance.
PERVERSION OF GRACE: Consists
in contravening consciously the express will of God as expressed in the
Scriptures, under the belief that because some one has been justified by Grace
once and for all, sinful acts are not counted against them, because God’s Grace
and Salvation on them is irrevocable.
People who fall into this deception, believe that
their salvation is assured under all circumstances, to the point that even if
they live in sinful behaviour, this will not bring any condemnation from God
over them.
This condition, which involves technically an abuse
of Grace as in the case above, it is of a more serious nature, because of the
belief that their actions are beyond accountability based on their faith in
Jesus’s atoning sacrifice. This eradicates from those who live under this
deception, all sense of remorse and any desire to change, placing themselves
beyond the scope of repentance.
Cases like this have always existed. Not only Judas
mentions them in his letter, but also Paul speaks of them in his letter to
Romans (Romans 3:8; 6:1-2, 15), and historians say that that was the case also
with the ancient sect called the Nicolaitans, mentioned in Revelation 2:14-15.
THESE DAYS
Today, this phenomenon is not different.
There are bad elements who claiming to be practicing
Christians, dedicate themselves to the pursuit of pleasure and sin; given
themselves to the use of drugs, alcohol, adultery, fornication, swindling and
all kinds of deceit for personal gain of any kind. They do this consciously that
it is wrong and against God’s Will, but they do it all the same, thinking that
their evil actions will not be accounted against them by God, because of their
Christian profession of faith.
This is a deadly deceit from the devil, and we all
must be always alert of not falling into this trap.
Sensual gratification of any kind alters perception.
This can be physical or mental, and if it is attained through illicit means, it
can be spiritually blinding, to the point of distant ourselves from God’s voice,
by killing in us all conviction of sin.
WHAT TO DO
The best way to prevent falling into this condition,
it is necessary to pray always, every morning and evening; read the Scriptures
every day, occupy our time in positive productive activity, participate regularly
of Holy Supper, and keep an active fellowship with other active Christians of
good standing.
This will maintain our spirits in constant closeness
to the Holy Spirit’s voice, our minds in awareness of what is truly right and
wrong and busy in positive concerns, while putting mirroring ourselves before the
testimony of other Christians.
What the devil wants, is to isolate us from other
Christians, cut off our communication with God, and take away from us all
guidance of truth; to dismember us once weakened by all of these.
“Watch ye therefore, and pray always,
that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to
pass, and to stand before the Son of man”.
Luke 21:36
Omar Flores
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