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James 4:4 (ERV) You people are not faithful to God! You should know that loving what the world has is the same as hating God. So anyone who wants to be friends with this evil world becomes God’s enemy.

— This is not about having worldly friends, it’s about falling in step (joining in) with worldly thought.

What spirits do you see at work in our world, meaning our worldly society? (We will be looking at our modern Canadian society.)

1. Anti Christian perspective.
   – Opposition to any professing Christian desiring political leadership positions.
   — Blaming problems of today’s society, on Christian and church failures in our past.
   — Falsely labelling all Christian churches as cults.
   — Accusations that our personal belief in following the Bible makes us hate directed.
   (eg. not approving gay sex and unregulated abortions.)
2. Ridiculing those who believe in the authority of the Bible.
   — Accusations of being uneducated, unscientific, or brain-washed.
3. Perversion of justice and victim support.
   — Our ‘justice’ system has been altered to protect the rights of the offender (or criminal) over the rights of the victims.
4. Harsh judgment and accusations against the leaders of, and past generations.
   — Do we demand perfection from other generations but excuse our own failures.
5. Unforgiveness and a judgmental attitude.
   — Do we side with the worldly in judging another believer’s behavior, rather than rising to defend them on the grounds that no-one is perfect, but we are trying to help each other to grow and be better. (Read Matthew 9:12 to see the role of the church according to Jesus.)
   — How do we respond when others speak against another church or Christian?

Now, let us place this verse in it’s setting so as to understand it all better, James 4:1-12 (ERV) (1) Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that make war inside you.  (2)  You want things, but you don’t get them. So you kill and are jealous of others. But you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You don’t get what you want because you don’t ask God.  (3)  Or when you ask, you don’t receive anything, because the reason you ask is wrong. You only want to use it for your own pleasure.  (4)  You people are not faithful to God! You should know that loving what the world has is the same as hating God. So anyone who wants to be friends with this evil world becomes God’s enemy.  (5)  Do you think the Scriptures mean nothing? The Scriptures say, “The Spirit God made to live in us wants us only for himself.”  (6)  But the kindness God shows is greater. As the Scripture says, “God is against the proud, but he is kind to the humble.”  (7)  So give yourselves to God. Stand against the devil, and he will run away from you.  (8)  Come near to God and he will come near to you. You are sinners, so clean sin out of your lives. You are trying to follow God and the world at the same time. Make your thinking pure.  (9)  Be sad, be sorry, and cry! Change your laughter into crying. Change your joy into sadness.  (10)  Be humble before the Lord, and he will make you great.  (11)  Brothers and sisters, don’t say anything against each other. If you criticize your brother or sister in Christ or judge them, you are criticizing and judging the law they follow. And when you are judging the law, you are not a follower of the law. You have become a judge.  (12)  God is the one who gave us the law, and he is the Judge. He is the only one who can save and destroy. So it is not right for you to judge anyone. — (Does this agree with “Judge not lest ye be judged”? …God bless, KK)