What most don’t realize or understand is that the “Christianity” they profess to follow is not true Christianity.
Jesus Christ established very tight requirements to become a True Disciple, a True Follower of the Son of God.
Luke 14:25-33 (NKJV) – Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
At this very time there are “great multitudes” that say they follow him. Yet they deny and refuse to follow the rest of what is stated in these verses.
Why?
“Because it isn’t required of them.” The moment this thought came into their heads they listened to Satan. Because Jesus Made it very clear:
“Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple..”
Luke 14:33 (AMPC) – So then, any of you who does not forsake (renounce, surrender claim to, give up, say good-bye to) all that he has cannot be My disciple.
When accepting salvation we are to give up all that we have per Jesus Christ as was just shown. This is reinforced by Paul in Timothy:
1 Timothy 6:6-19 (NKJV) – Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
As you can tell from these verses even Paul knew it was a commandment from Jesus Christ, which actually began on the sermon on the mount:
Matthew 6:19-24 (NKJV) – “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! “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.
What people don’t realize is that when rejecting the pursuit of materialism aka mammon they choose to remain in darkness. The more they keep and seek after mammon the deeper into the darkness they fall.
Mammon is what the world offers. Mammon is defined as riches (jewelry, and fancy clothes), money (seeking after and hording earthly wealth beyond what is needed to make it to the next day), possessions (those objects that gather dust all over your houses and as well as luxury vehicles and any vehicle that goes beyond the basic need of transport to places you need to get to) and then property (a huge house beyond the basic need for shelter and/or multiple houses as well as empty land filled with nothing to help those in need.)
As long as people keep their mammon they live in darkness. They blind themselves to the Truth. That is why it makes these verses make total sense:
Matthew 6:22-23 (NKJV) – “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
The eye can only be good by giving up mammon as instructed in previous verses:
Matthew 6:19-21 (NKJV) – “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
It is bad when it lusts after earthly rewards which are given by Satan:
1 John 2:15-17 (NKJV) – Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
Luke 4:6 (NKJV) – And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
When people seek after and gather unto themselves mammon they show they worship Satan not God. This includes those that go to churches as well. Why I say this is because churches teach seeking after mammon by saying they only need give their 10% tithe and the rest is theirs to do with as they please. This is TOTALLY opposite what Christ taught.
Anything opposite Christ is antichrist. Anything that is antichrist is damnation. PERIOD!
