The American believer has a hard time entering the Kingdom of God because of his worship of money. If he does not gain victory over his trust in money, over his worship of money, over his amassing money, Christ will not be formed in him.

No person can serve God and money! Mammon, the god of riches, is the only one of the multitude of Roman and Greek gods that the Lord Jesus mentioned as being a rival of the God of Heaven.

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." (Matthew 6:24—NIV)

All true Christians are required to come out of the ways of the world, to not touch the uncleannesses of the world. We are in the world but not of the world.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1,2—NIV)

"Offer your bodies as living sacrifices." "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world." "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

We Americans are quite worldly. We are conformed to the world by magazines, the newspapers, the television, the motion pictures, by billboards, by our schools, and now by the Internet.

To keep from being harmed by our culture would be impossible if we were not able to go to the Lord continually for the wisdom and strength to rise above the moral pollution.

We are not to go to the motion pictures if there is any profanity, any allusions to sexual activity outside of marriage, witchcraft, violence, drunkenness, smoking, or amassing of money. We are not to expose ourselves or our children to that which we have been commanded to renounce.

Does this sound strict to you? It is! We Christians who are members of the royal priesthood are required to be holy as our God is holy. Without holiness no individual will ever see the Lord, will ever be able to serve as a ruling priest.

There are numerous things to do in place of going to the theater that are righteous, holy, and will impress our personalities and those of our children with that which conforms us to the image of God.

The same holds true for television, the Internet, even books. We as Christians have been commanded to come out from the world and cleanse ourselves through the blood of Jesus and the Spirit of God. If we do not, Christ will not be formed in us.

If this appears to you to be excessively strict it is because the Christian churches in America are in a backslidden condition. Our concept of the normal Christian life is distorted in favor of worldly, sinful behavior.

To be continued.