if we believe the end of all things is at hand, we must better come to grips with the spiritual teaching on holiness, for we claim to be headed to holy heaven, to spend our eternity in the presence of the holy god. Do we realize that our god is a consuming fire? Isaiah the prophet, who had seen god in his heavenly throne, asked the question, who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burning? (Isaiah: 33:14).
I believe the most missing ingredient among god's people today is holiness.
It is the least sought after commodity in the church. It is not the emphasis of today's ministry. Preachers are concerned with bother hood, Fellowship, community, submission, faith for possession, prosperity and better sex life. We have seminars and conferences on spiritual gifts, Family life, finance and healing and so on but is there any about holiness ?
Doesn't anyone want to be holy? The theme of holiness may not be a popular subject, but it is powerful without holiness we shall neither see neither god nor a revelation of his glory. What is going on in the land we live today? What is the condition of many Christian churches? We know God’s word says," woe to those who call evil good" but that is exactly what the political as well as the spiritual leaders do now. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have ridiculed the absolute truth of god's word and called it Pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyle .we have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the truth, time honored values of our fore fathers and called it enlightenment.
The moral catastrophe is real the loss of moral and traditional values in our community is frightening to the true Christian the survival of the family, the basic unit of our society and culture ,is now a serious challenge facing us all. The right to life questioned: On January 22, 1973, the supreme court of the United States legalized abortion nationwide in the roe versus wade decision .over 4000 abortions are performed every day in USA.
Sanctity of marriage in danger:
The sanctity of marriage is one of the great moral issues of our time. The moral catastrophe that we are experiencing with the breakup of so many marriages can be changed if we are willing to repent of our sinful attitudes and sexual misconduct and return to biblical standards of morality. Gay right groups have become powerful political lobbies and have influenced national, state and local legislations to a degree unparalleled in the history .homosexuality is a major attack upon the moral values of nations culture. The moral crisis that is now upon us has been greatly affected by the gay rights movement and the public exposure of the lifestyle, goals, and activities of homosexuals and lesbians within our society.
Pornographic nightmare:
Pornography is a central issue in the moral chaos facing our present culture.the diabolical and destructive influences are beyond our imagination.
Alcoholism is one of the largest health problems today. The drug abuse problem has become a natural tragedy that has far reaching consequences on the young people of the nations.
Gambling is another epidemic that is destroying many lives and homes today.
Our dangerous educational system
The bombarding of our school age children with the theories of secular humanism has produced a generation of people with severely damaged conscience.
The church has lost it's grip on holiness
Unfortunately the church has not escaped for many in today's church have witted under the heat sensuality is easily the biggest obstacle to Godliness among people today, and is creating havoc in the church. The Churches are hesitant to preach against sin. Many church people have even changed their vocabulary of sin to soothe their pricking conscience. What god calls abomination, they call it an accident. What god calls blindness, they call it blunder. What god calls a disease, they call it a defect what god calls a choice, they call it a chance. What god calls an enmity, they call it an error what god calls fatality, they call it fascination what god calls an iniquity they call it an infirmity what god calls lawlessness, they call it liberty what god calls madness, they call it a mistake what god calls willful they call it weakness.
The churches are hesitant to teach about holiness. it would be easy to believe ,in the light of the headline news in the television and newspaper Of ministerial immorality with children and women of the congregation. That ministers and pastors do not yearn for holiness. The startling rise of divorce among clergy and laity ,the glaring incapacity of churches to discipline their wayward members ,are all signs of moral disarray in a supposedly Christian society........... The recent surveys indicate that the conduct of the church is not too different from that of the world.
The church must get serious about holy living:
The Lord Jesus Christ has called his church to holiness. We are called to live by high standards. If we are Christians, it is imperative that we live a pure and godly life in the midst of this perverse and crooked generation.
We must live above the horrifying statistic of moral failures or the church will become increasingly irrelevant and powerless and our children will leave it. The church can have no power apart from holiness. It is high time for Christians to become serious about holy living. The moral catastrophe in our community cries out for absolutes. It is time for restoration of our moral and traditional values.We had enough of freedom without moral restraint .we desperately need to strengthen our understanding and commitments to holy life. One of the basic teachings of the church used to be personal sanctification and separation from the world. The bible states it very clearly: "do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall i then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For "the two" he says, "shall become one flesh". But he who is joined to the lord is one spirit with him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside of the body but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the holy spirit who is in you, whom you have from god, and you are not on your own? For you were brought at a price; therefore glorify god in your body and in your spirit, which are god's. (1 cor: 6:15-20).
Christians must be brought back to holy living in the home, the market place, and the work place. The church must become the solution for the moral catastrophe instead of being part of the problem. We cannot over emphasize the importance of the call to live a holy life. Holiness is not optional, it is commanded. It is not unrealistic; we are to Strive for it. Holiness is not unattractive; it is the most deeply satisfying and god glorifying way to live. It is not only possible, but nothing is more practical. Holiness is a matter of understanding who we are, and then putting that in to action. Every day, it is becoming clear that the most urgent problem besetting our churches is this: how can we live the Christian life, a holy life, in this modern world, in the midst of this 21st century moral poverty.
John Oswalt opens his book, called to be holy, with a powerful warning:
The fate of the Christian church in America and around the world depends upon what the church does with the biblical doctrine of holiness. And as long as we Pentecostals are part of the world wide Christian church, so does our fate. As long as we are guardians of this precious doctrine, we hold in our hands the fate of other Christians too. It is about time we got serious again about holiness.
Holiness is the only message of hope for this generation.
In every land and period of history, our dying world seeks the hope for which humanity bargains, begs, and battles, but rarely finds. When will we realize what hope is and is not? It will not be found in a system of education that increases the capacity of the mind, or economic growth that fattens the wallet. Freedom, education, wealth, these are just instruments that deliver what the heart desires. If the heart is evil, these instruments offer no hope to our dying world.
The real message of hope is heart transformation, which is called holiness.
(This article is an excerpt from the introduction of the book "Be ye holy " by Dr. Thomas Koshy Vaidyan)
