THE PROFANE AND SACRED IN WORSHIP

Please read through this short study very carefully, as it is of great importance. Worship is an area that Satan has infiltrated to deceive the majority of churches into thinking that they are worshipping God in spirit and truth, when in fact God is rejecting their worship because they are mixing the profane and sacred, the worldly with the holy, in this "worship" of theirs.

Please read the following Bible verse very carefully and really think about what they are saying and how serious this issue is:

Leviticus 10:1-2 ..."And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD."

Do you see what has happened? Do you see the seriousness of this situation? Nadab and Abihu were accepted by God and received high positions amongst God's people (Exodus 24:9-11). So what did they do? Maybe they got comfortable with their acceptance from God, which led them to "think" that God would accept any form of worship other than what He has commanded.

All the utensils that were used in the sacrificial service were holy and therefore only holy fire was to be used in the offerings to God. But what did Nadab and Abihu do? They brought before our awesome God censers with common fire that they had kindled themselves instead of using holy fire from the altar. They maybe thought that because they were accepted by God, then they could offer their "OWN STYLE" of worship. How wrong could they have been?? To offer common worship to God, i.e. mixing the profane with the sacred, is a great sin and God will reject that worship.

Remember what happened to Cain? ... Genesis 4:3-5 ..."And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect."

God had setup the sacrificial offering of an animal to atone for the sins of the people (which pointed forward to Christ Jesus' sacrifice on the cross) right from the beginning after Adam and Eve sinned. Which is why Able offered a "firstling of his flock and THE FAT THEREOF". This is a sacrificial offering for sin. But what did Cain do? He thought that He could worship God the way HE WANTED TO, and just brought some fruit, instead of doing what GOD WANTED. Therefore God rejected Cain's offering (worship).

Also Belshazzar, as recorded in Daniel 5, brought the holy vessels from the temple to drink intoxicating wine from them at his feast. And what was the result of his mixing the profane with the holy? His kingdom was taken from him that night!

Now Satan has entered the majority of churches today and deceived them into thinking that they can worship God anyway they like. I hear it so often myself from Christians ... "Oh I can worship God ANY WAY I LIKE! God doesn't mind how I worship Him." Please, if you are one of these who think this way, then I plead with you to read through the verses above again and think long and hard about what Nadab and Abihu did and what happened to them. The Bible CLEARLY shows that God does not accept any form of worship. He is a holy God and one that rightly demands Godly fear and complete reverence in our worship to Him.

Psalm 89:7 ...'God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.'

So what has Satan done? He has deceived the churches today into thinking that it is ok to bring worldly styles of music into church to worship God, which is why we have so many churches with "rock style" bands blasting out worldly beats and rhythms. He has deceived the churches into thinking that it is ok to use COMMON INTOXICATING WINE in holy communion to represent the PURE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST JESUS!! He has deceived the churches today into thinking that it is ok to have pantomimes on stage, which has turned many churches into "theatres" rather than holy places of worship. Satan has convinced the churches that it is ok to dance around to the music as if in a nightclub or at a rock concert. He has convinced the churches today into thinking that we NEED TO ENTERTAIN the people, rather than simply preaching and teaching the truth of God's holy Word in the Bible. And the list goes on and on ....

The churches are so focused on "how can WE bring more people in", that they are accepting more and more worldly forms of entertainment to make "church" more acceptable to those outside the faith. What should we do instead? We should preach the plain Word of God and let the Holy Spirit convict hearts. It is only God who can draw people into His kingdom, not us.

Ezekiel 44:23 ...'And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.'

Is this plain truth being taught in the churches of the world today? In very few of them! Which is why the majority of Christians are happy to continue watching hours and hours of sin on the television. And are happy to continue going out drinking and partying in a worldly way. And are happy to spend most of their time on sport or some other form of entertainment. And are not bothered about what they eat, and what they are doing to their bodies, which are now the temple of God. And they are not concerned with HOW they worship God. Again, the list goes on ...

Isaiah 5:20-24 ...'Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.'

We cannot mix worldly things with our worship of God. We worship a holy God, an all consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24), therefore our worship of Him is to be pure and holy and is not to be mixed with the common profane things of the world. We must not think that God will accept any form of worship, because those in the Bible who did that very thing were rejected by God or even destroyed!!

2 Corinthians 6:14 ...'what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?'

There is such a relaxed attitude in the churches today with regards to how we live for our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus and how we worship God. It's time to get back to a "thus saith the Lord" rather than following the crowd. We are living in the end times of earth's history and Satan is working with all lying wonders and powers "to deceive if possible the very elect".

In Revelation 18 it says that "Babylon" has fallen. And in Revelation 17 it says that Babylon has "daughters" (harlots). Babylon is the "mother" church (the Roman Catholic Church) which has fallen, and the daughters are those churches (Protestant Churches) who came from Babylon the Great and held on to the errors and traditions of Babylon. So Babylon and her daughters encompasses the fallen churches of the world. And the reason they are "fallen" is because they have rejected the plain, simple truth of God's Word in favour of "worshipping" God their OWN WAY! Are you within Babylon? God is calling you to come out of Babylon.

Please heed the warning. Please don't think like the majority of others out there who think they can worship God the way THEY want. We HAVE to worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:24), the way HE wants. Let us not mix the profane and sacred in our lives and our worship. Let us not mix the worldly with the holy. Let us separate from the world and worship God with reverence and Godly fear, in accordance with His Word.