The true Christian life is one in which the believer continually is obeying the Lord and remaining filled with the Spirit. There are many believers who are convinced of the truth of the New Testament, and perhaps carry their Bible to church on Sunday morning. But they do not remain filled with the Spirit.

There is much hatred and forgiveness in the Christian churches of our day. Such believers have little or no of the Holy Spirit in them.

"Yes, but they speak in tongues," one might object.

There are people who are filled with bitterness and envy who speak in tongues. Speaking in tongues is not the evidence that we are living in the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are the evidence that we are filled with the Spirit.

I speak in tongues every day. But I am here to tell you that Pentecostal churches are filled with all the works of the flesh the Apostle Paul mentioned in his epistles.

The believer who is living in the Spirit is overcoming the compulsions of the sinful nature. The believer who is living in the Spirit is putting to death the actions of the sinful nature. He is preparing himself for the making alive of his mortal body in the day of the Lord's appearing.

As I have been walking with the Lord and meditating in the Scriptures I have come to the conclusion that only a fraction (perhaps a small fraction) of those who profess to be Christians are going to be raised from the dead and caught up to meet the Lord when He appears.

Since the words of Paul appear to leave the impression that all Christians will be caught up when the Lord appears, I asked God to give me a passage of Scripture that would say clearly that not all who profess Christ will be caught up in that Day.

What came to me was the parable of the ten virgins. There it is, just as plain as day. They were all Christians. They all had their Bible. Yet only half of them were able to go in to the wedding when the Lord appeared.

We can protest that the five who did not go in were unsaved, or never were Christians in the first place, or whatever we like. But it lies plainly in the Word of God that five virgins, each carrying a lamp, were denied entrance to the wedding.

A virgin with a lamp is assuredly not a portrayal of an unsaved person, or someone who denied Christ. A virgin with a lamp is a portrayal of a saved individual who believes in the Bible and who needs to live in the Spirit of God if her lamp is to continue to burn.

Or so it seems to me.

To be continued.