The Implications of CONFORMITY

I would like to go right to the book of Romans, which addresses this subject in detail, and sets the stage and foundation for this teaching, but first I will first define the word ‘implications’ as it relates to this teaching. Most people do not understand the true meaning of this word. Not only does it mean to imply something, but a much better definition is one that says to interweave or to entangle. When you conform to this world, you interweave and entangle yourself with the systems and functions of the world.

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. -- II Corinthians 4: 4

Satan presently runs this world. He is the God of this world. The only way that you can escape from his clutches is to walk by the Word of God. The only other choice that you have is to conform to his world which will result in no end of anxiety and problems and every other negative thing that you can think of in this present evil world. You will be entangled with Satan and he will run, control, and influence your life and you will have no choice if you turn your back on the true God. Now, let’s turn to the book of Romans. Let’s review two Scriptures in Romans chapter 12 which will spell out for you what God’s Will is and His Will will never change. Many times, we read just words but these words are very powerful and they are eternal. So try to push everything out of your mind and concentrate on what you are reading and what God is trying to tell you.

I have gone over these Scriptures many times with you, but in this particular teaching, the following Scriptures have the greatest application and impact concerning our subject matter.

I Beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable [logical] service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. -- Romans 12: 1, 2

God is saying to you that he is beggingly imploring you to present to Him your lives as a living sacrifice which is your logical service. The strange part about this is if you get away from the Word for too long, you will begin to feel sick inside and everything will stop working correctly. I have always told you the truth and shared my heart with you and this is no exception. I have been extremely busy doing different things, fixing different things etc. etc. and I was away from the Word for a bit too long. I started to feel sick inside and wondering what was happening and even wondering if I was getting physically ill. But today when I sat down to do this teaching, it all went away. It’s just like a miracle.

Notice in the second verse above that there is a keyword that I want you to focus on. I’m sure you know what that word is. God Almighty does not want you to conform to this world but He wants you to transfigure yourself by the renewing of your mind to His Word so that you can prove to yourself what is that good and acceptable and perfect Will of God. It is an amazingly powerful set of Scriptures. I took a class once called The Renewed Mind. These were the foundational Scriptures for that class. There are so many sections in the Bible that we can go over pertaining to conformity that I have chosen the ones that I felt were the easiest for you to understand and also would have the most impact on your lives. Before I move on to another verse, I must tell you and stress with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength, that the renewed mind is your key to power. Without renewing your mind to God’s Word and applying that Word in your life, you will have no power whatsoever.

The God of this world will destroy you in one way or another and he will influence everything that you do because you are conforming to his world and you are becoming just like his people. Glory hallelujah that we have God’s Word. As it says in Ephesians, we would be without God and without hope in this world if it weren’t for Him. Read the context, especially verse 11 and you will clearly understand the next verse.

That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: – Ephesians 2: 12

I am going to spend much time in the book of Romans which is a church epistle written directly to the born-again believers in this day and age, which is the Age of Grace as I explained to you in the teaching The Seven Administrations. You need to read this teaching and to master it because the whole Word of God will come together for you and you will understand the different time periods which are referred to as administrations.

You should know and never forget that the book of Romans is basic doctrine. It pertains to and emphasizes believing. Remember, there are seven church epistles and they all focus on doctrine, reproof, and correction. If we get off the Word anywhere in the book of Romans, there is the book of Corinthians which is a reproof epistle. That tells us what we were doing wrong in the book of Romans. And then there is Galatians which is a correction epistle and tells us how to get back on the Word. Isn’t that just beautiful? God and only God knows what He’s doing today. We just have to do our best and I said it a thousand times that God will do the rest.

Let’s move on to another section in Romans. Now we will begin to talk about the specifics of conformity – what the world says we should do and the complete opposite which is written in the Word of God – what God tells us we should do. I think you will find this interesting and exciting. I have never done a teaching on this subject and it just came to me one night. You all need to know that someone is standing with you and I will help you in whatever way I can. You should understand by now that I need to keep my head on straight and I need to play with a full deck in order to be able to teach these teachings to you for free and for nothing. (That is why I do not accept e-mails anymore since most were counterfeit.) Jesus Christ didn’t charge people when he taught them and I’m not charging you a thing. I have been asked and I turned it down very politely because I do not need the money. I need your believing and your application of the Word.

Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord. – Romans 12: 11

A more literal translation of the first part of this verse would be “Not slothful in the earnest care for others”. We are to be alive and positive pertaining to spiritual matters and that is how we serve the Lord. Now how many people do you know that will go out of their way to care for others expecting nothing back in return? This world has become quite corrupt where people only care about themselves. When a person does something for somebody, and receives no gratitude for it, he should not become upset. Remember when Jesus Christ healed the 10 lepers. Only one of them came back to thank him and that one was made whole – body, soul, and spirit. He was the only one that got born again of God’s Spirit.

So if you become one of these people who couldn’t care less about the needs of others or about their suffering, then you are now conformed to the rest of the world who may be doing the same thing. You will eventually pay dearly for your lack of concern for your fellow man. This is one of the examples of the implications of conformity. Every time you conform to anything that the world is doing, you will suffer consequences. They may not come for a day, a week, or for years, but they will come – you can bet your life on it. Now let’s move out of Romans for a minute and go to the book of Colossians.

And whatsoever ye do, do it [work] heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; -- Colossians 3: 23

The actual context of this verse is talking about working and how we work at our jobs and at our homes and we know that much of our life involves work. There are two ways to work: One is to enjoy our work and the second way is to dislike our work. If we work heartily and in a positive manner realizing that God is our supervisor, we will enjoy all the work that we do. If we work as men work, we will become as the following:

I’m sure you have heard the term “look alive”. This happens when you conform to the way that most men work today. The supervisor happens to be walking down near their work area and someone shouts this exclamation out. It means to get busy really quickly because the boss is on his way. This is no way to work properly. Whether the boss is on his way or not, you should work in the same fervent manner as you would if he were not present. I had serious problems in my life in this area. I found it rather repulsive and disgusting really when everybody started to look like they were busy because the supervisor was coming to their work area. This is not fair to the supervisor and people who call themselves workers are cheating themselves. That great law of giving equals receiving is always in operation and when a bunch of lazy man are doing only what they can to get a paycheck and no more, then this is wrong in God’s eyes. If you are one of these people, you better find a way to change because you will eventually get exactly what you got coming to you. As I said, it may not happen for a long time, but it will happen. You will suffer somehow or you will eventually lose your job or your company will shut down. This is another example of the implications or entanglements of being slothful, lazy and deceptive. How simple can this example be? I am sure that there are some of you that can identify with this example without any problem. If it hits home, then you better make a change. You work for God and not for man.

The next example is from the book of Romans and involves a very serious social situation with extremely dangerous implications. I, myself, have had no end of problems applying this principle. The world is this way in most all situations and it has many sayings pertaining to the subject such as “revenge is best served on a cold plate”. “I don’t get mad, I get even”. These sayings can go on and on and on. It talks about revenge and vengeance and we all try to talk ourselves into it by saying that it is only self-defense. It is not. It took a person wiser than myself to finally straighten me out and to show me that vengeance is always wrong. It makes you as low or lower than the person who has caused you harm. The best way to deal with evil people is to simply ignore them and act as if they weren’t even alive. I was skeptical about this until I tried it. I did a teaching called The Parasite Principle and still I did not see the most important parts about this subject. When an evil person cannot parasite off of you like the devil always does, then he has to go somewhere else and he eventually will leave you alone. The bottom line is that you are not to react. It is that simple but massively powerful. Try it and you’ll be amazed like I was and still am. It has become a permanent part of my life and I finally got rid of major problems that I was experiencing in this area.

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath [this is God’s wrath and make sure you understand that], for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I [God] will repay, saith the Lord. -- Romans 12: 19

Not to make excuses, but I highlighted something for you after the word ‘wrath’. For many years, I misunderstood this Scripture by thinking that ‘wrath’ was my wrath, and all the while it was God’s wrath. A strong believer showed this to me. We need to understand pronouns and who they relate to. In the second part of the verse it says that Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Again, the word ‘mine’ is referring to God. God is saying to us to step aside and do not seek vengeance on your own. I will take care of that subject for you and I will repay, says God. And you can surely take God at His Word because He does repay. I saw this happen in my own life after I was finally able to rightly divide the Scripture. I am doing this for you so that you don’t make the same mistake that I made and many other believers make. I hope this blesses you because this is one area where mostly all people conform to the principles of the world. It gets a man in no end of trouble and entanglements because he conforms to Satan’s principles and not to the true God. Remember, we are never ever to seek vengeance upon anyone. Just step aside and let God do His work and you will see that vengeance will come to pass. The smart man walks away – but its a tough pill to swallow.

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Because the carnal mind is enmity [at conflict] against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. -- Romans 8: 6, 7, 8

Here we can see, without a specific example, the results of conforming to this world as compared to conforming to God’s Word. The difference is astounding. We are comparing death to life and this is eternal life. God, in verse seven, goes on to explain that the five senses man who conforms to this world -- that his mind is at conflict with God. Therefore he is not subject to the law of God and he cannot be. He must be born again of God’s spirit to have that spiritual connection where he can talk to God and God can talk to him. Again in verse 8, God says, they that are in the flesh, not born again, cannot please God. Could God have written it any simpler? That’s why the book of Romans is basic doctrine for the believer. That doesn’t mean it’s not as important as the other church epistles. We must master the book of Romans before we can excel in our walk with God. Don’t just read words but digest the true meaning of what God is saying. Carnally minded man walks only by his five senses because he is not born again. That means that he legally belongs to the devil and the devil will control his life for him and he will influence everything that he does and make sure that he conforms to this world. That man has no choice. Until he becomes born again by his own free will and confesses Romans 10: 9 and 10, he will conform to this world.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. – Romans 10: 9, 10

Now we are going to change to a different leadership epistle which specifies the implications of conformity to this world. But the last Scripture in this group illustrates why this happens and is the cause of all evil in this world today. I am sure you are familiar with that verse but are you rightly dividing it? Let us list these 8 verses and study them individually.

I Timothy 6: 3 – 10

If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;

If a man teaches anything otherwise then the Word of God, he agrees or conforms not to wholesome words which are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. He does not consent to the doctrine of right believing which is according to your personal spiritual relationship with God. This relationship is, of course, based on the Word of God. This verse is addressing conformity in a very general manner. It is not specific as to certain conditions, but it sets the stage for the Scriptures which are to follow.

He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,

This man is described by God’s Word as being proud and someone who knows nothing even though he may think he knows everything about the world and what he is doing. He wastes time with questions and strifes of words which only gender envy, strife, railings, and evil surmisings. He does nothing but waste his time and wastes everyone else’s time who he comes in contact with. This is one of the implications of conformity to the world.

Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

God goes on to explain even more about the personality traits of this type of man. He perverts men and corrupts their minds who are desperate for the truth of God’s Word. He pushes his beliefs on others, believing that his type of gain is godliness. He believes that the more material things he owns, the closer he gets to God. As God said before, he knows nothing. And then God tells us what to do if you meet a person like this. This is something I have only learned lately, as mentioned previously, and it has saved my life. You are not to fellowship with darkness and that settles it. God says in the above verse to withdraw thyself from this type of person. He means to get away and don’t look back. This lesson appears to be one of the hardest lessons there is to learn in the renewed mind. We misunderstand the love of God which should be manifested in ways that sometimes we do not understand. You are doing this corrupt person a favor by avoiding them and getting away from them. You are doing yourself a much greater favor by doing the same thing. I cannot stress this point enough. I have done teachings about this subject. I have said many times that if you feel sorry for the devil, he will melt your face and then he will finish you off. You must learn this lesson to withdraw yourself from evil people who will conform only to this world and the world’s ways.

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

But having a strong relationship with the true God means that you conform only to do the true God’s ways. This type of conformity comes with great contentment and it is referred to as great gain or a great way of finding gain. Then, in the next verse, God tells us all that we really need in this life and the verse after that stresses it in detail. Even though God gives us so much more in this life, we should be content with only two things in life. The more material things you bury yourself with, the more they will choke you.

For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

How much common sense do we need to understand that? All the riches that a person can collect in their lifetime – they just can’t take it with them. So what good are they? The verse speaks for itself and needs no explanation.

And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

God says that if we have food and clothing, we should be content. Can you imagine that? And yet God gives us so much more that we really do need to be good managers of our lifestyle or the world will see to it that too many material things will make our life miserable. I will once again share my heart with you and tell you that I am on the borderline of having too many material things. God has prospered my life financially and I have more than I can use. But I believe I’m right on the borderline and it’s not time to start selling everything because I notice if something sits around for a year or two, that a day comes when I really need that material thing. This is a very tricky aspect of life and you must balance it out so that you can function according to the Will of God.

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

God states that those who are rich and loaded down with material things and money will fall into many temptations and a snare. A snare is a trap set by the god of this world. That man will also experience many foolish and hurtful lusts which are over desires. They will begin to control his life and (I like the word) drown, that man in destruction and perdition. No one wants to be in this state, but this is the result of conformity to the god of this world and his systems. Now we are finally going to get to the reason for this conformity. Believe it or not there is only one reason for all the evil in the world and it is not money. It is the LOVE of money. The love of money is the root system of all the evil on the earth today. Many people strive and covet after money. They live for money – that’s all they think about. I know a person who only buys money. Can you believe that? He goes on website auctions and buys money all the time. He spends money to buy money. This man is caught in a trap. He covets after money and that’s all he lives for. Well, let’s take a look at the verse and let God speak.

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

A more literal translation of the beginning of this verse is “For the love of money is the root system of all evil:” Many people believe that money is the root of all evil. There is nothing at all wrong with money – nothing at all. God wants you to prosper and I myself have experienced this prosperity later in my life. But you see I don’t love money. I couldn’t care less about it as long as I have enough to meet my needs. It’s when people love money that they fall into all types of traps and they err from the faith of Jesus Christ and they turn their back on God. The end result of this type of lifestyle is that they pierce themselves through with many sorrows. It’s almost a way to commit suicide. You can blame no one but yourself if you are a lover of money. Why? Because God states it as clearly as He could concerning the results and implications of conforming to the world and worshiping money.

Now as we head towards a conclusion of this teaching, we are going to go to another general epistle. This epistle has been written for those who are walking on the Word of God. It is I John. We are going to examine more of the counterfeit methods that the god of this world uses. I would like to point out that you will see three separate issues in the Scripture that we will study. God has a reason for every number that is used in the Bible. The number three represents completeness. So the adversary and his parasitic nature copies what God does. You’ll notice that his ministry is to steal, to kill, and to destroy. There you can see the three facets of the adversary’s ministry. In the following verse you will see everything that is in the world and it is divided into three sections. If you have followed my teachings, you will remember that we went over this verse many times, but it is most important pertaining to the implications of conformity. A person who conforms to the world will entangle himself in these three sections of life and they are all negative and very destructive.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. – I John 2: 16

This is what you are getting involved with when you conform to the world because that’s all that is in the world. The word lust means over desire and when you see what your neighbors have, many times you desire or covet what they have. You can refer to this as the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes. When you conform to the world, you will eventually experience fear in your life. Fear is negative believing and it brings negative results. To cope with this fear you will allow yourself to be filled with pride and pride is basically fear in its least common denominator. Pride is how the devil himself was cast out of heaven. He said to God that he will rise above God and be superior to Him and more powerful. Many people are filled with pride because they conform to this world. It’s that simple. So if you are going to go out into the world you have three things that you are going to deal with - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Your life is going to be miserable and it will continue to be so until you turn to the true God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I should mention here that along with covetousness you will experience envy and strife and every evil work. That’s what the Word says and that’s what the Word means. If you want to argue about it, argue with God. Do not argue with me as many people have tried. I can only witness to truth. It needs no defense.

The book of James has always fascinated me with its plain and simple straightforward common sense. Let’s go to the book of James for proof of what was just said.

For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. – James 3: 16

So where people are lusting after what other people have, many times they cannot have it. So they decide to be full of envy towards that person and will strive with them and have hostility towards that person. This is all the result of the implications of conformity. In this case it is conformity to the world’s ways. As a result of envy and strife, there comes about confusion and every evil work. Can you imagine that? Every evil work. That’s pretty bad. That’s what the world has to offer you when you turn your back on the true God. It makes no sense to me and never did why everyone doesn’t study the Bible and try to live by what it says. The enemy is strong and he will trick you in whatever way he can. But you always have free will and you can always turn to the true God and to His Word. Sure, there may be some tribulation, but there is never overwhelming tribulation. God says so and He says that He will help us when things appear to get out of hand to the point where we simply cannot handle it ourselves. I’ve seen this in my life time and time again. Let’s take a look at another Scripture in James so that we don’t have any excuses not to walk with God.

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. – James 1: 13

So often, God has mercy on our souls which is undeserved blessing. He covers for us even when we make mistakes. But there’s one thing God will never do and that is to tempt a man or woman. The true God will never tempt you to do wrong things but the other one, he is the one that will tempt you as many times as he can. And in our situation in this teaching what is it that the devil will tempt you to do? Obviously, he will tempt you to conform to this world. So now you know as you should know by now, that every time you are tempted to do anything in this world, it is coming from the god of this world and from no other source. This should help you in your everyday life and your everyday decisions. Don’t ever forget it. It will bless you immensely to be able to apply this simple principle in your life. Now watch how the subject matter that we are talking about in James continues.

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. – James 1: 14

Now take notice of the words “of his own lust”. This is referring to your old man – your ways that you acquired all your life before you became born again and renewed your mind. So that in conclusion of this teaching, we need to take a look back at the first two Scriptures that we went over in Romans talking about the renewed mind.

It is simply a matter of everyday study and practice of the rightly divided principles in the Bible. Many search engines will not pick up this website because I will not conform to their religious creeds and other worldly conformities. They reject me because I speak the Word of God and only the Word of God. Many so-called Christians search engines are interested in dating sites or in making money somehow. Now what is the root of all evil? I will continue to teach on subjects that I believe will help you in your everyday life pertaining to the rightly divided Word of God. I will not conform to religious beliefs or anything that conforms to the world. Absolute Bible Study subjects will not be complicated and confusing. The ones that are more involved will be in the Advanced section. Most teachings similar to this one will probably be put in the Basics category. I thank you for your continued reading and staying with me. I, like yourself, am sometimes under a great deal of tribulation. But God always comes through to help me when I need Him the most and He will do the same for you.

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