{"id":2847,"date":"2018-02-21T17:10:03","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T17:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=2847"},"modified":"2023-05-04T13:50:52","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T13:50:52","slug":"enemies-of-the-cross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=2847","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Enemies of the Cross&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 5<\/p><p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; color: #000000;\">[<strong>Note: <\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our <strong>Brief Articles 1<\/strong> page.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the mildest of his epistles (in terms of rebuke and correction), the apostle Paul nonetheless warned the Philippian saints of \u201cenemies of the cross of Christ\u201d (3:18\u201319), which he at one time was. He thereby vividly aligned those who lived contrary to the Gospel with the former Saul of Tarsus in his most zealous days of persecuting the Lord. Notably, Paul here made the cross the apex, summary, and symbol of Jesus\u2019 earthly life and work (His purpose in coming, His doctrine, His church, et al.).<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In this context the apostle specified three identifying marks of these enemies, who still thrive in the time and place in which we live:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u201cWhose God is the belly\u201d<\/strong>\u2014These are those who live only to satisfy fleshly appetites. They live by the philosophy, \u201cIf it feels good, do it.\u201d The gross breakdown of sexual morality in our nation over the past half-century is a graphic manifestation of \u201cbelly-worship.\u201d \u201cBellyolatry\u201d also reveals itself in hedonisms ranging from road rage to alcohol consumption, drug addiction, gambling, and various criminal acts (some of which acts some politicians in the highest circles of power are guilty). As America has increasingly cast aside the Bible (and God with it), its righteous restraints of continence have increasingly vanished. <em>Belly-worship<\/em> is simply an apt moniker for unmitigated selfishness, which is a good working definition of Secularism and Humanism.<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cWhose glory is in their shame\u201d<\/strong>\u2014<em>Glory<\/em> here refers to behavior of which men might rightly boast and be proud, thus things men ought to honor. The enemies of Calvary, however, have turned things upside down, proudly parading and engaging in behaviors of which they should be ashamed. No more apt description than this could be drafted of homosexual practitioners and their defenders. In step with them are those who advocate removing all restraints in the entertainment media on nudity, sexual acts, and cesspool language. All who participate in and boast of <strong>any<\/strong> evil deed have thereby made themselves \u201cenemies of the cross.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cWho mind earthly things\u201d<\/strong>\u2014These folk live only for time, with little or no thought beyond (which is why their \u201cbellies\u201d are their \u201cgod\u201d). Theirs is the old Epicurean credo: \u201cLet us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die\u201d (1 Cor. 15:32). Its modern incarnation, Humanism, denies the existence of God, the immortality of the human soul, the resurrection of the body, and the realm of spirits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paul prefaced the foregoing list by saying of such practitioners, \u201cwhose end is perdition.\u201d That is, they will suffer the unrecoverable and eternal loss of their souls in Hell. Jesus will say to them: \u201cDepart from me\u2026into the eternal fire\u201d (Mat. 25:41).<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000;\">[<strong>Note:<\/strong> I wrote this article for and it appeared in the <em>Denton Record-Chronicle, <\/em>Denton, TX, August 23, 2013.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000;\"><strong>Attribution: <\/strong>From <em>TheScripturecache.com<\/em>, owned and administered by Dub McClish.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 5[Note: This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 1 page.] In the mildest of his epistles (in terms of rebuke and correction), the apostle Paul nonetheless warned the Philippian saints of \u201cenemies of the cross of Christ\u201d (3:18\u201319), which he&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"easywp-readmore\"><a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=2847\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span class=\"easywp-sr-only\">  &#8220;Enemies of the Cross&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[131,91,134,114,77,97,92,96,145,136,15,45,108,33,106,144],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antinomianism","category-atheism","category-cross-of","category-ethics","category-fornication","category-homosexualitysodomy","category-humanism","category-idolatry","category-immorality","category-immortality","category-judgment","category-law","category-marriage","category-moral-issues","category-purity-of-life","category-selfishness","wpcat-131-id","wpcat-91-id","wpcat-134-id","wpcat-114-id","wpcat-77-id","wpcat-97-id","wpcat-92-id","wpcat-96-id","wpcat-145-id","wpcat-136-id","wpcat-15-id","wpcat-45-id","wpcat-108-id","wpcat-33-id","wpcat-106-id","wpcat-144-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2847"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23006,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847\/revisions\/23006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}