My dear Brothers and Sisters, I extend to you peace and blessings. This afternoon I’d like to cover a subject that is dear to me within my Christianity and Citizenship series on how to become and remain Spiritual Christians or at the very least [if you do not believe in a creator] a good human being. I feel I need to add before my Christian readers begin to tell me off that there are also non christians and people who do not believe in God who read this blog, and I need to acknowledge that fact.
In the Old Testament, God reveals something very important to us. We can read this in Numbers 23:23: “There is truly no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel.” What exactly does that mean? The apostle Paul answers this question in Romans 8:1: “Hence, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” [who do not live according to their own nature but according to the Spirit]. The precision in square brackets is only found in certain versions of the bible such as Segond 21, KJV, NKJV. In the first translation by the Rev. Louis Segond, there is no mention of the distinctness in square brackets. This is why many religious people are not aware of this clarification, especially pastors who preach the gospel’s message of blessing and prosperity.
When we analyse the events that unfold in Numbers 22 to 25, it is easy to understand why St. Paul’s bracketed clearness is of vital importance to us all. Since the curse will finally strike the children of Jacob during their stay in the plain of Moab. Why? Because of the sexual immoralities in which some of them will indulge. In the gospel of blessing and prosperity, this is what is written: “Hence, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. Now, over to you our reader who is reading this article, I ask you this: don’t you know any disgruntled Christians? Don’t you know any seduced Christians? Have you never met a Christian who acts as a Christian at church on Sundays yet outside of church its an entirely different person? Yes of course you do! we all do. But why are some Christians, despite their profession of their faith, easy prey for Satan? To put this simply, it is because they are False Christians, the pretend, they lie. They are carnal Christians who given in to their cravings. So what is a carnal Christian? A carnal Christian is a Christian interested in malicious gossip; who read worldly newspapers; who never prays; who never fast; whom uses and promotes pornographic images; who pronounces the names of other gods and to whom lying and deception come easily.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, unless you become a spiritual Christian, you should know that you make yourself vulnerable to evil, susceptible to sin. Therefore Numbers 23:23 would only apply to a spiritual Christians. Being baptised and believing in Jesus Christ is simply not enough, it does not shield you from harm or damnation. You can only ensure your own safety if you walk in the Spirit. The million dollar question is: How does one become a true Spiritual Christian?
Films are a bad influence and never edify a person 
New is mostly biased and often incorrect. 
Pornography immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world.
The first thing to do is to stop watching feature film of all kinds. Simply stop watching the feature film. They do not edify you in any way and the time spent watching them could instead be used to follow Christ. The second thing is to do is to stop watching Television. The third thing to do is stop reading the newspapers. Practical limitations to media neutrality include an inability by journalists to report all the available stories and facts, and the requirement that selected facts be linked into a coherent narrative. Government influence, including overt and covert censorship, biases the media around the world. So what you are reading is what they want you to read in order to elicit the reaction they wanted, and quite frankly they often get it wrong. To these I would add that you should limit or stop yourself from using social media, how often have you had to post a retraction when you’ve posted something you assumed was true only to find that it was incorrect?
I need to clarify that I only wish to provide you with the formula for Christian’s who would like to become spiritual. The Bible states that to arrive at this point, a person has to extirpate [ root out] all the pleasures of the flesh. You see, Satan feeds the desires of the flesh by employing four simple weapons in this day and age. He uses technology: radio, film, television, and newspapers, and as long as you continue to be interested in these mundane things, you will never be able to become a True Christian.
We should in this instant listen to the advice in Deuteronomy 7:26 “Nor should you bring an abomination into your house, or you, like it, will be set aside for destruction. Loathe and detest it, for it is something that is cursed” that being the case, why have a TV in your house. Many people become addicted to television viewing or mindlessly sucked in to whatever show may be on at the moment. This takes people away from family, friends, and time in God’s Word. Many of the most popular shows today focus on the worst aspects that mankind has to offer just look at the unauthentic Real Housewives; the immoral 90 Day Fiancé [where a person “imports” a potential foreign wife or husband]; the belittling Beauty and the Geek [where some of the most plastic enhanced and shallow women on earth are paired with the ‘nerdiest‘ — I would use ‘insecure‘– men]; the highly unimaginative and distasteful Toddlers and Tiaras; or the less said the better Keeping Up with the Kardashians; then we have the Orwellian psychodrama Big Brother they may as well place camera’s in a in a psychiatric hospital; and the one I dislike the most, the simply banal Made in Chelsea and many others too numerous to mention.
“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25).
I hope you make the choice to become a spiritual [Christian] person; just because you have been baptised does not mean you are a spiritual christian [there are also a few spiritual christians who have not yet been baptised], it needs to be followed with action on your part, it means surrendering yourself to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it means emulating Christ in everything that you do. Christ never did anything except that which glorified His Father in Heaven. Of course, Christ was the perfect example, the best of humanity. He never sinned, and He always did as the will of God commanded. Yet, when we are ‘within Christ’, we have the opportunity to live our lives spiritually, lives that have substance and meaning. Within Christ, we find that it is much easier to do the will of God.
We should not live to please ourselves, we must live to please God, when we do that everything fall into place. The Holy Spirit guides and empowers us to nurture the essential qualities of Christ within ourselves. Through this empowerment we have the ability to spiritually exceed all human constraints. You launch into the eternal life right where you are, now; just remember ‘to clothe yourselves with the new self created in God’s image, in the way of uprightness and holiness that belong to the truth’ (Ephesians 4:24) for God has already prepared a bountiful life for you, not just in Heaven, but here on Earth right now. Follow Christ, love others, do and seek God’s will, and you too can can live eternity right now.
May the Lord our God bless you, through the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
St. Mary’s Hermitage 