In the midst of trials, we need a place to turn to for comfort, help and answers. And when we turn to the Word of God, we find a source of eternal truth. But more than that, we find something that can go inside of us and make us into new creations. In Episode 8 of the Hope for Hurting Wives series, Kathy Gallagher talks about the incredible power of the Word of God, and why hurting wives should cherish it as their very life.

Resources

• Hope for Hurting Wives (Podcast Series) By Pure Life Ministries

Timeless Truths: Every sincere Christian has made a decision to submit to the will of God. But that decision is going to be tested—especially in America. We’re surrounded by so much prosperity that, if we’re not careful, we can easily be drawn away from devotion to Christ and into a spirit of covetousness.

Host: Steve, as we continue our discussions in “Intoxicated with Babylon,” I want to start off by reading a quote by Henry Drummond. Henry Drummond was an evangelist during the 1800’s and a contemporary of Dwight L Moody. He wrote, “There is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Half the world is on the wrong scent in pursuit of happiness.” When you consider that was written in the 1800s, think about what could be written today about the kind of path that people are on in America and what they are pursuing for happiness. And there is no doubt that we have become a nation that is consumer driven, but America really didn't start out that way. How did we get to this level of a consumer driven life?

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Steve: Well, as in the case of practically everything, things happen in stages. America was mostly founded by the Puritans, and they had a very strong work ethic, which was in their minds tied directly to godliness. That was good and that started things in a certain direction. But when the industrial revolution hit in the mid-19th century, a shift began to happen in not only the minds of the great manufacturers, but also in the minds of Americans. Basically what happened was that manufacturers discovered a very powerful concept and that was selling on credit.
       They discovered that if they could change the mindset that people had always had, which was to save their pennies, and change that mindset into one where they could buy it now on credit, it would make consumerism explode. And that's exactly what happened. So, advertisers and marketers took over the whole process and created a desire driven economy rather than a need driven economy.

Host: It was interesting too that you wrote about the fact that advertisers really changed the way that we even looked at a product.

Steve: Yeah, because in the old days we had “Sears and Roebuck” catalogs with these little ink drawings of the product. But when the marketers stepped in, they discovered another profound concept and that was creating an atmosphere. Selling the sizzle instead of the steak, as they say. For instance, if they were selling a car, the billboards would show a picture of a happy family driving down a winding country road. It wasn't so much focused on the actual car as much as it was the experience, and people flocked in to buy products that they wouldn't have purchased before simply because of the process the advertisers were using in capturing their hearts.

Host: You know, Steve, as you describe it, it almost sounds like they were setting up a scenario for addiction in a way.

Steve: Well, that's basically what has happened on a wholesale level. The American public has become addicted to consumerism. And I believe the enemy is behind that because people are going deeper and deeper into debt. Most Americans have pretty big credit card debt, car debt, mortgages, and other things. It's a lot like the company store back in the 19th century when a mining company wanted to get workers to work in the mines. They had their own grocery store and the miners would purchase their products there against their paychecks, but what happened was they never made enough to pay for the goods. So, their credit grew deeper and deeper, and they couldn't leave the mines because they owed the company money. So, they became enslaved by the system and there was no way to get out.

Host: I would suspect that most Americans, maybe even most Christians, would listen to what you're talking about and would say, “Well, yeah, I see that. I see how advertisers are on my television every night. I see how magazines are trying to sell me all of this stuff.” But I would venture to say most Christians probably don't see anything wrong with this. But you see a spiritual problem at work here.

Steve: Well, according to Scripture there is. The Bible is very clear about the sinfulness of coveting things. In fact, we don't like to even consider such a thing, but Paul lists it in Ephesians 5 as one of the characteristics of someone going to hell. So, it is a serious matter, even though we don't hear about it preached on the radio and we don't hear it from pulpit sermons very often. I mean, how many pastors are railing on the sin of covetousness in their sermons? But the Bible sees it as a serious issue. So therefore, since the Bible does, so should we. And I think the real issue here is that covetousness can become a very powerful passion in a person's heart that will dominate them and dictate the way they live their lives.

Host: What is the real power of covetousness? What is the impact that it has on our life?

Steve: Well, it's just another form of lust. When we think of lust, we tie it immediately to sexual sin. It can be that, but it's the lust of the eyes in general. That's what the Apostle John described as one of the three lusts that are very affiliated with worldliness. And Jesus understood that this appetite could drive people in the way they think, the way they live, the way they spend their money, the way they go after money and the way they view life. He understood that once covetousness gets a hold of your heart, it dictates your lifestyle.

Host: Steve, we talked just a minute ago about covetousness in the sense of addiction. How do we fall into an addictive mode when it comes to covetousness?

Steve: Well, Solomon said that he who loves money will not be satisfied with money and there is a lot of truth to that. The plain truth of it is, the more a person has, the more a person wants. Materialism is very addictive, and the more stuff you get, the more it drives you into a lifestyle where you want more and more. Any kind of sin or lust operates that way, the more you give over to it, the more you feel you must have. So, the person who gets caught up in that kind of a mindset, they just go from one thing to the next. Nothing ever satisfies. And before you know it, your life has been spent and you're in the grave and it's all been for nothing.

Host: Yeah. Well, we sure see that with sexual sin. We absolutely see it with drug use, but how many Christians have stopped to think how much that is true about the materialism that's in their lives?

Steve: Well, I think that the problem is that it's all they've ever known. This is part and parcel for American Christianity. It's one of those ways that our culture has more to do with the way we live our lives than Scripture.

Host: You make maybe the most important point on this topic in your book where you essentially say that if we are living in covetousness, then despite what we may believe, we cannot also be living for God.

Steve: Yeah, because again, Jesus said it very clearly, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24, NKJV) And I don't mean to be a spoil sport or negative or whatever, it's just the reality that 90 some percent of professing Christians are living for mammon. They can tell themselves all day long they're not, but the reality is shown in their lives.

Host: Paul warned Timothy to flee from these things. There was an urgency about a need to turn from these things.

Steve: Yeah, that urgency is very reminiscent of the angels warning Lot, “Escape for your life. Don't look behind you lest you be swept away.” And there is an urgency here that we are being deceived by riches and that we need to do something drastic to protect ourselves from being swept away with this delusion.

Host: Well Steve, for those who may be sensitive to what God may be saying to them about their own life in this world as a Christian, is there a way out? What should a Christian do if they see that their life is being overcome by covetousness?

Steve: Well, I put in the book three simple steps. First is just to repent. Go to the Lord and study the subject of covetousness and get brutally honest with yourself. And then two, whatever you need to repent over, get that straight with the Lord and then change your perspective about your life with God and your whole mentality about purchasing things. We don't have to have everything we want and we don't have to have everything we want right now.

Host: And probably shouldn't.

Steve: Yeah. So we just need to change our attitude. And the third thing is that if you have credit card debts, then you should establish a plan to pay them off. The bottom line is that we just need to simplify our lives. Jesus said do not lay up our treasures upon earth. And He went on to say we must lay up our treasures in heaven. And you know that's the real issue here. If we are believers, if we are living with an eternal mindset, then there is a payoff here. This isn't just a negative message of don't do this and don't do that. What the Lord is saying is, listen, there are untold riches waiting for you. And that's what Jesus is saying. Don't live for the temporal trinkets that the enemy offers but live your life for God and then you'll have riches awaiting you when you get to heaven.

One of the worst parts about addiction is the sinking feeling that you’ll never break free from the horrible cycle of sin. You start to wonder if there’s any way out at all. But many of the men who come through our Residential Program can point to a defining moment when God broke through the darkness and they knew they’d never be the same. These breakthrough moments happen regularly for men at Pure Life Ministries, and it’s the fifth reason our Residential Program works.

Resources

• Check Out Our Residential Program

The culture we live in can easily shape our attitudes and values. But if we are going to be true followers of Christ, all other allegiances must be renounced, and we must become assimilated into the Kingdom of God.

Host: Steve Gallagher has joined me in the studio. Steve is the president and founder of Pure Life Ministries. Steve, thanks for taking the time to talk with us today.

Steve: I'm happy to be here.

Host: Steve, we want to talk today, as we continue our discussions in your book, “Intoxicated with Babylon,” about the chapter entitled “Indoctrination.” I want to read just a short statement that you made in this chapter. You said,

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“It should be no surprise that when a person comes to Christ after years of listening to these affirmations of self-interest, he needs the Word of God to reshape his thinking and reorder his values.”

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       Host: What are these affirmations that you're talking about?

Steve: Well, you're referring to this chapter where I begin to deal with the influences that the spirit of the world has on believers. Basically, what I'm saying is that we have been raised in this American culture that our minds, attitudes, values and perspectives have all been shaped by. And when you come to Christ, you become a citizen of a new culture. It's the Kingdom of God, and if you've truly been converted, then there's going to be an overthrow of the old allegiance and in its place, there's going to be a new allegiance to a new kingdom. And the way that the mind gets adjusted to this new kingdom is through a saturation of the Word of God and to some degree, a separation from the voice of the spirit of this world.

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Host: You went on to say that the genuineness of our conversion really can be measured by how serious we take this need.

Steve: Well, certainly I think it's one of the standards of measurement we can look at in our lives. We need to ask ourselves, “How much has my life really changed?” And you shouldn’t take that question lightly. You may go to church, you may say all the Christian things, but how much is your daily life shaped by God's perspectives versus how much is your daily life shaped by the culture in which you live?

Host: You also went on to say that not only is there this general American kind of way of looking at life that has an influence on us, but really you pinpointed the whole area of entertainment. In general, in what ways has entertainment impacted us?

Steve: Well, let me just quote from my book, because this really just lays out the enormity of entertainment in the typical Christians life.

“America has become so addicted to entertainment that we cannot conceive of life without it. Americans play cards, board games, golf, baseball, soccer and football. They go swimming, biking, bowling, boating and fishing. They go to the movies, the beach, amusement parks, shopping malls and outlet centers. They read newspapers, magazines, romance novels and tabloids. They surf the internet, visit chat rooms, rent movies, play video games and spend endless hours sitting in front of a television screen. In short, there is no end to our indulgences when it comes to entertainment.”

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Host: Now, what you've just described is the typical American, and might I add, Christian life.

Steve: Yeah, and that's my point for mentioning that is because it shows you how little room God has in our daily life and how obsessed we have become with basically indulging our flesh.

Host: So that really is the issue, isn't it? Not necessarily that each of these things is wicked in and of themselves, but it is to the extent that it excludes God from our life.

Steve: That's the point. The issue is that we have this addiction to entertainment and we have to constantly be gratifying our senses. And what that lifestyle does is, it diminishes a sense of hunger for God and His kingdom because the more your flesh is agitated by entertainment, the harder it is to quiet yourself and get into a spirit of devotion to God.

Host: Well, I can just use an example in my own life and make this very simple. If after a hard day at work, I had the option to sit down and turn the television set on and flip through the channels, or if I had the option to go spend some time in the Word of God, my flesh is going to want to choose the television. And we don’t have cable television here at Pure Life for good reason.

Steve: I agree. Occasionally, when I'm in a hotel room, I can turn on the television. Kathy and I can watch The History Channel or something, but I know for myself that if I had cable at home, it would not end at one show. I would watch one and then I’d want to watch another. That’s why I don’t have cable television.

Host: Yeah. Well, let's park on this for a minute. I hope people will listen with an open heart because there really are some things about television that you talk about and I think are very helpful for us to understand in really being more discerning about the impact that television has on us. You mentioned in your book that there is a decisive message coming out of the medium of television.

Steve: Well, there definitely is a message and the message is: you can have life without God. I mentioned in the book that this message is even in shows as innocuous as “The Andy Griffith Show,” and it doesn't get much more innocent than that. Even in that show, you're going through a plot, whatever the corny little plot is, but I guarantee you God is not in that plot. And so, when you sit in front of a television set and you're going from show to show to show, from storyline to storyline, every one of these storylines are people living out their lives without God. God has no input. They're not seeking His will. They're not looking to Him for help. They're not depending on Him. It's life without God. What happens when you spend two or three hours every single night having that message pumped into your mind and into your heart? Well, you're affecting your spiritual life when you do that.

Host: Yes. And we're really naive to think otherwise.

Steve: There is a reason why advertisers spend millions of dollars for 60 seconds of precious airtime. Because they understand what Christians don't seem to want to face up to, and that is that television is a very powerful medium to affect people's thinking. We don't want to face up to it because we don't want to let our beloved little darling go and that's just the truth of it.

Host: Yeah. Another good point that I felt like you made is that television changes our view about our own sin.

Steve: Yes, it definitely does that. I mean, think about the different programs, whether it's CSI or comedies or whatever. They are all the enactment and the glorification of the deeds of the flesh. That's what television is all about. So, number one, we love television because our flesh loves television and it loves what's on that television. And number two, the more that we are focusing our minds and opening our hearts to that kind of message of sin, the smaller we will view our struggles with lust, with coveting, with lying and with all the other sins that we can think of as “minor sins.” It will cause us to minimize the evil nature of the sins we commit.

Host: Another point that you made about the impact of television is that it leads to a passivity and an apathy regarding spiritual life.

Steve: Yeah, you know, Peter said, “Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8, KJV) Now, let's be honest, how many Christians really take any of that seriously? The word sober and vigilant refer to a spiritual alertness. It's like the soldiers in Vietnam. When they were on guard duty, they understood that the Viet Cong would wait until the early morning hours while they were sound asleep, when no one was expecting an attack and that's when they would stage their surprise assaults on the camp. So, they were very alert for every sound they heard in the jungle. Well, it's also true of us and when the enemy plans his attack and television tends to put us in a state of passivity.  You're sitting in a recliner, a lazy boy chair, and your heart is wide open, your mind is open and you're just allowing the spirit of the world to infuse your inner man with his thinking, his perspectives and his mindset.

Host: You know, until you said it, I don't think I'd ever thought about the fact that it's called a lazy boy chair.

Steve: And that says it all, doesn’t it.

Host: It really does. And you mentioned Vietnam. I like what Tozer said, “Men think of the world not as a battleground, but as a playground.” And it's just true that the American Church is not grasping the idea that we are in a spiritual War.

Steve: Well, that's because most of them are not in a spiritual war. They are just floating downstream with everything else.

Host: Or have already been captured by the enemy.

Steve: Yeah. Basically, I have come to believe that most American Christians have never really gone through the conversion experience that would give them the kind of discernment you need to spot the voice of the enemy. That's why they just fall right in line with the culture that we live in and this whole television culture is a big part of that phenomenon.

In the 26th message of our “Unveiling Yahweh” series, we will be looking at what it means for God to be an ever-present Father.

The Bible testifies to the fact that, when a person is born again, the gracious Father who adopted them provides them with everything they need to live the victorious Christian life. In today’s sermon, Dustin Renz gives us four significant reminders about what God's fatherhood means for the true child of God, and also invites those who are bound in sin to enter in to this wonderful relationship.

At PLM, we have the ideal setup for men who want to break free from sexual addiction. A beautiful 45-acre campus that is separated from sources of temptation. And, we go straight to God's Word to find real answers for life’s deepest struggles. Plus, we have a team of men who have personally found victory over sexual sin and have been trained to help others walk that same path. But something still more is desperately needed. In today's episode, we'll look at the fourth reason why our Residential Program works: Because God is in this place.

Resources

• Check Out Our Residential Program

We're excited to be releasing our first Pure Life LIVE geared towards women who are hurting due to their husband's sin. If you have questions about your marriage, please submit them to live@purelifeministries.org. We are praying for this event, and hope you will join us, or share this event with someone you know who may need it!

Paul warned that many false teachers would gather followers by appealing to people's fleshly desires. As Steve Gallagher explains in this "Timeless Truths" segment, that warning is needed just as much in our day.

Host: Steve Gallagher has joined me in the studio. Steve is the founder of Pure Life Ministries. Steve as always it's great to see you again. Thanks for coming in.

Steve: Great to be here with you, Mike.

Host: As we continue our discussion in your book “Intoxicated with Babylon,” you make the point that a worldly-minded church will embrace worldly concepts that inevitably pervert the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and as you talk about this happening, you have laid the blame for this squarely at the top.

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Steve: There's a culture in Christianity that just makes it possible for people to rise to the top who are good at working the system that we have in place here, but you know Mike, this is nothing new. Paul faced it. All the first-century Christian leaders faced it. You know when Paul was giving his final address to the Ephesian leaders, he told them that after he left, there would be savage wolves in their midst, not sparing the flock, but wanting to accumulate to themselves followers. Elsewhere he talked about angels of light who are really serving Satan. And of course, Jesus alerted us to be wary of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. It's all through the New Testament we're warned to be aware of the fact that there's going to be false teachers who are going to try to capitalize on the Christian situation for their own selfish purposes.

Host: Steve, you talk about deceivers in the body of Christ, in your book you talk about two types of deceivers that are at work in the body today.

Steve: Yeah, there's those who are just outright deceivers, you know, television preachers begging for seed faith offerings or men who prey on vulnerable women or entertainers that are tapping into the lucrative Christian music industry. And you know that there are people out there that our capitalizing on the system to further their own aims. But not so obvious are the teachers who are inadvertently leading people astray. You know they've been taught wrong doctrine and they are simply passing along what's been given to them. And that's what makes the deception so powerful is because they're sincere, and they're simply telling others what they've been taught.

Host: So when we're talking about false teachers, when the average Christian is looking for a false teacher, they may not be as obvious; they may not be the wolf that so oftentimes we're looking for.

Steve: Well that's the problem; people are looking for wolves instead of sheep. They're looking for servants of Satan instead of angels of light. In other words, a deceiver doesn't look like a wolf; a deceiver doesn't look like a servant of Satan. That's what's really the challenge is that the people who are out there deceiving are so often very smooth in what they're doing.

Host: And a church that does not have a solid foundation to begin with is going to be in real trouble in this matter.

Steve: When Christians are wrapped up in the spirit of the world, their discernment is just going to be practically nonexistent, so it's very easy for a worldly-minded church to be led astray by false teachers.

Host: In your book, Steve, you've laid out four reasons that this kind of deception can occur. One is that false teaching is one of the inevitable side-effects of ambition within the Christian church.

Steve: What we have here, Mike, is a morphing of two distinct cultures: We have the Christian culture, which follows the teachings of Christ obviously, and things like what Paul said, “Do nothing from selfishness but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important himself.” Or Jesus saying to his disciples, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last and servant of all.” That is a kingdom mindset, but we also have fused into this Kingdom culture the American culture, which is exactly the opposite. The American culture all revolves around success, driving ahead, being the first. It's all about putting self forward, so you have a clash of two cultures. We have the American culture because of the worldliness in the church which has kind of overtaken what should be the culture of the Kingdom of God.

Host: You said earlier that this was not new in the church and of course even with Jesus we found the disciples arguing about who was going to be first already, looking to make their way up the ladder of the church even at that time.

Steve: Well, in those early days they just didn't understand things very well. It wasn't until after Calvary that they began to understand that it wasn't going to be like they thought it would be. Calvary destroyed that mentality.

Host: Steve, you said that the substitution of education for anointing is another cause of this problem.

Steve: Well, certainly in certain circles, academic achievement is given so much credibility that if you have a Ph.D., or you have a doctor before your name, that somehow is supposed to establish your credibility as a spiritual leader, but just because you have academic accomplishments doesn't mean the slightest thing in regards to your life in God. It reminds me of something that John Wesley said.
“I don't care about your seminary degrees. Just give me 100 men who are hungry for God and fear nothing but sin, and I'll turn this country upside down.”
        He understood that a man's life in God was the most important thing. Now education can be a good thing, but it certainly should be secondary to a person's life in God.

Host: Steve, the third cause that you bring up here really stems from that, and that is, men are going to the pulpit that are not prepared to be teaching and preaching. So they're just making assertions about things they really don't know anything about.

Steve: Well, what those kind of teachers are depending on is maybe not their academic achievements, but on their own personal abilities, their charismatic personalities, or their abilities to woo a crowd, affect people emotionally, or challenge them intellectually. In other words, it isn't their life in God that is giving them confidence. Their confidence is coming through their own personal abilities, and they use those abilities to create a following for themselves.

Host: In concluding your discussion on the subject, you did have something to say to the men of God, the true men of God that are really preaching the Word, about what they can expect.

Steve: I need to say, Mike, that there are many godly people pastoring churches, but the reality is that in this current culture that we find ourselves in, true men of God are going to be largely ignored by people who prefer charisma to godliness and flashiness to spiritual substance. But God did not call us to success. He called us to faithfulness. And when we stand before Him, even if we were nothing more than a pastor of a tiny church, or something like that, if we were faithful to what He called us to do, then we will hear those words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” And many of these big, big names that we have come to look up to so much are not going to be hearing that same thing.

In the 25th message of our “Unveiling Yahweh” series, we will be looking at the Severity and the Mercy of God.

“God hates the sin, but He loves the sinner.” While there is truth to these words, we have a propensity to make the love of God an excuse for living in habitual sin, while totally ignoring God's severity in dealing with sin.

So in this week’s message, Nate Danser breaks down what sin really is in order to help us more clearly understand how God sees sin. Then, he helps us appreciate the true love and mercy of God.

Ambitious athletes seek out a coach. Sick people find a doctor. New business owners get a mentor. Why?

Because they know they can’t get where they need to be on their own. And if this is true in sports, medicine and business, how much more necessary is it for those who want freedom from something as powerful as pornography? In this episode, we'll look at reason #3 our Residential Program is so effective at helping men overcome sexual sin: Because we provide true discipleship.

Resources

• Check Out Our Residential Program

Bob and Lori seemed like the picture-perfect, American Christian family —stable jobs, regular church attendance, a comfortable life, and a loving home.

But behind the scenes, their lives were falling apart. Lori discovered Bob’s infidelity and his struggle with addiction. Bob, drowning in shame and darkness, saw no way out but to end his life.

What changed wasn’t anything they could do to simply fix their marriage. It was what God did to transform their entire lives.

This is the powerful story of how God stepped in to their crumbling world to save them, restore their marriage, and give them brand new lives.

If you’re battling addiction, feeling hopeless in your marriage, or doubting whether God can redeem your life, take the time to watch Bob and Lori’s journey because what God did for them, He can certainly do for you too!

There are many people who believe that because we are justified by faith, the way we live our lives—our thoughts, words and actions—has no bearing on whether or not we are saved. The New Testament actually teaches the exact opposite.

Host: Pastor Steve, one thing you discuss in your book, “Intoxicated with Babylon,” is the difference between genuine and false faith. You started that discussion in the book by talking about two conflicting messages going out to the church in America today. What are those two messages?

Steve: There is a cry, I believe, going out from sober and godly people who understand how the spirit of the world has infiltrated the church and how it's affecting people's lives. They are passionate about the need for Christians to return to holy living. It's like a refreshing call to repentance and holiness going out from some. But unfortunately, there is another voice that is so loud and so dominating in Christian circles that it really smothers out the first voice, and basically, the message that they are propagating is this: "You don't have to be holy. You don't have to obey God. You can basically live how you want to live. As long as you go to church and just follow some basic outward rules, you don't have to get yourself in a strain about living a holy life. That's what grace is there for. If you have just a few little sins in your life, don't be too concerned about it. God loves you, and His grace will cover it all."

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Host: There is a kernel of truth to this message of grace you're describing. So would you say that the problem is that the message of grace is being overemphasized?

Steve: That's exactly what it is. Of course, we appreciate God's grace, and it does cover us in our lapses. But his grace is meant for sincere believers. We're talking about a holy God, and He does not wink at sin. Paul said, "God is not mocked." But the message of the modern church is largely that you can live for yourself, that you can live selfishly, that you can live a worldly, carnal and even a sinful life...and none of that really matters because God's grace is going to cover you no matter what. And that’s just simply unbiblical.

Host: You mentioned Paul's writings. Didn't Paul warn us about this kind of teaching becoming common in the last days?

Steve: Yes, he did. In one of his passages of Scripture where he started referring to what Christianity was going to look like in the end times, he gave Timothy what has become a famous warning—that the time would come when "they will not endure sound doctrine." Why not? Because they "want to have their ears tickled." And so, therefore, they will "accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires," and they will turn away from the truth. (2 Timothy 4:3) And that's exactly what we see happening in America today.

Host: If you look at the American church today, it seems like we think we can do whatever we want without any consequences. Is that where this false teaching has brought us?

Steve: Let me take it a step backwards. Our prosperity has affected us. There's a reason Jesus warned about the "deceitfulness of riches" (Mark 4:19). We have become accustomed to a certain type of lifestyle, and that lifestyle is very much to please the flesh. So what has happened is that there's been a subtle change in Christianity over the last forty years. We started with Christianity being Christ-centered and revolving around a sovereign and holy God—the Almighty. We had a huge perspective of the Lord forty years ago. And little by little, that has been withered away by this selfish desire for worldly living, until now, by and large, the Christian faith in the United States has become man-centered. Richard Baxter, an old Puritan, encapsulated what I'm talking about when he said, "As much as God desires the salvation of men, he will not prostitute heaven and set the gates of it wide open to those who only fly to it in extremity but never sought it in good earnest, nor indeed do now care for it or desire it for any other reason but to excuse them from going to hell."

Host: You're talking about our need to do more in order to seek God. But someone might ask, "Wait a minute. Are you talking about works? I thought we were saved by grace?" What's your response?

Steve: Yes, that is very true. We are only saved by grace and by putting our faith in Jesus Christ. But James makes the point that if there is true saving faith, there is going to be works accompanying that faith. And if there are no works, then it's a good sign that there is no true, saving faith. And so it seems like a contradiction with all that Paul says about works. But actually, there is no contradiction. Because when Paul is saying that we are not saved by works, he is referring to the Jewish system of trying to earn your salvation through works.
       If I could put it this way, what we're talking about is before and after conversion. If you have not been converted and you are trying to earn your way to heaven, you will never do it. You will never make it there. But if you have truly been converted, then there is going to be proof of that conversion in the way that you live your life. So there really is no conflict between what James is saying and what Paul said.

Host: In “Intoxicated with Babylon,” you give three proofs of true conversion. What are they?

Steve: These are three of many proofs of conversion, but they are maybe some of the bigger issues.

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1. One proof is a continual growth in obedience to God.

We begin this Christian life as spiritual babies, and of course, at first, God gives us a lot of latitude for our mistakes and sin issues that are still hanging on our lives—the struggles we have to work through, and so on. The Lord understands. But he expects growth, and for a person that has truly been saved, there's going to be that growth, because Jesus Christ is living within.

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2. Another proof of genuine conversion is the development of an eternal perspective.

The genuine believer is just simply going to have eternity in the back of his mind. It's going to shape his worldview and the way the sees the rest of his life. He's going to have eternal values in the equation. What many so-called Christians do is live with a temporal, earthly mindset, and that makes me wonder whether they have really been converted.

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3. The last characteristic that I mention in the book is love.
Jesus said, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). And here, again, the temptation is to take a superficial perspective of what love is: "I'm a nice guy, and I love people." But that's not the fiery love of Jesus Christ that burns through a real Christian's heart. That kind of love causes you to get out of yourself and meet the needs of other people in one fashion or another. So a true love that compels you to see the needs of others and to help other people is a sign of healthy Christianity.

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Host: If someone considering these things doesn't see evidence of genuine, saving faith in their life, what should they do?

Steve: If there is reason to doubt whether or not you have truly been converted, there is only one thing to do, and that is to get on your face before God, to begin to cry out earnestly for the Holy Spirit to make Himself real to you, to repent of your sins, to repent of your self-will and your worldliness—anything that you have allowed to get between you and God—and to refuse to get up, so to speak, until the assurance has come to you that you are a child of God. And then, you can go forth with the confidence of knowing that you have crossed that line, and that you belong to Jesus Christ.