How can a sinful, rebellious, self-seeking slanderer, as many Christians are, serve God as a living stone in His temple, a member of the Body of the Servant of the Lord, a part of the Bride of the Lamb, a judge of men and angels?

Let us not be foolish!

The purpose of the new covenant is to carve the eternal moral law of God in our mind and heart. For us to remain basically unchanged, not becoming a new creation in Christ, is to remain outside the Kingdom of God whether or not we believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

The lady who followed Paul knew he was a servant of God proclaiming the way of salvation. Was she saved? Did she have eternal life on the basis of the accuracy of her profession?

It is time for the Church to wake up. We have been grievously deceived. We are a valley of very dry bones.

There are evidences of spiritual refreshing today. I am thankful for them but have little faith they will accomplish lasting good until evangelical doctrine undergoes a change from holding forth a belief system to demanding that Christian people keep the hundreds of commandments found in the New Testament.

I don't care how excited and blessed people get or how they fill the churches. They will not stand in the age of moral horrors we are approaching until they begin to take up their cross and follow the Lord Jesus in stern obedience to the Father.

We have a multitude of deceived believers who have been taught grace, grace, grace, rapture, rapture, rapture. They still are in diapers. They have no idea of the terrific spiritual forces that are to be unleashed on the earth in the last days. They will not be able to stand themselves and certainly will be of little help to the people of the world in the hour of trouble.

To enter the new covenant is to pray, study the Scriptures, and, as the Lord leads, begin to keep the commandments of Christ and His Apostles. Fellowship with fervent Christians is a requirement, that is, if you can find an assembling of fervent, cross-carrying disciples. We are to serve, give of our means, and do all else that is written in the New Testament.

As we faithfully press forward in prayer Christ begins to be formed in us. This is the rising of the Day Star in our heart. The more of Christ that is formed in us the easier it becomes to serve God. The day will finally come when Christ is living in us in His fullness. Then we will behave righteously by nature.

But if we do not do what He has commanded, if we do not through the Spirit of God obey the Word, then Christ will not be formed in us. We will fail the course.

I am not certain how we ever got drawn into this monumental error of believing ourselves righteous in God's sight because we give assent to the words of the Scriptures. But it is certain this delusion has destroyed the moral strength of the churches.

To be continued.