This article is NOT mine, but is the most excellent I have ever seen on this topic.  Since I could not do as well and the page had no copyright, I copied it here for all to read because links sometimes fail to continue to work.  Originally in one page I will break it up into two parts.  Please consider it closely.  Also on their website is another excellent and wonderful article called ‘revive the fire’ that I think every Christian should read.

Pastor Troy D Bohn
www.newchristian.org.uk
 
Are You Adjusting to the Darkness- Part 1

READ AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF

"If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."
1 John 1:6

What is the first thing that you see when someone turns off the lights in the room that you are in? The answer is easy: you see darkness.

What about after two or three minutes of standing in the darkness? What do you see now? Do things appear as dark as they initially were when the lights were first turned off?

What happens is that the longer that you are in the darkness, the more that you will adjust to the absence of light. It will appear as though things are lighter or brighter but in reality they are just as dark as they were to begin with.

I am deeply concerned for the Body of Christ. My heart breaks as I see so many individuals and so many churches adjusting to the darkness around them while sincerely believing that they are walking in the light.

What was unacceptable behavior a few years ago is now seen as common place in the ranks of the modern church. Instead of desiring to be "Holy as He is Holy" we have instead adjusted and adapted to the darkness of sin and compromise in the name of being relevant.

Somehow the idea has slipped in that we need to imitate the world in order to win them to Jesus. What happened to imitating Jesus in order to win them to Jesus?

The "Seeker Sensitive" movement has really become the "Sin Sensitive" movement as people have learned to walk in the dark and think that they are in the light. They have adjusted to the darkness and are under the delusion that God is pleased with their carnality!

The Apostle John was dealing with a group of Christian who had been convinced that their lukewarm version of Christianity was an acceptable form of faith. John quickly and sharply addressed this issue and called it like he saw it, "If we say that we have fellowship with (Jesus) and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."

The fellowship that he spoke of was the koinonia or intimate communion that the faithful believer should expect to enjoy. This intimacy can only be attained and maintained when there is a constant fidelity to the Lord.

But if we "claim" to have that type of life-transforming and righteousness producing fellowship—but have adjusted to the darkness –then the Word of God calls our claim into question.

What does it mean to "walk in darkness" anyway? The Greek word that John uses here is the word skotos and Thayer's defines it as such:
 
1. Used of night darkness
2. Used of darkened eyesight or blindness
3. Used of ignorance in regards to the human duty towards divine things, which is then accompanied by immorality and ungodliness resulting in the eternal misery of hell.

Wow! That should chill anyone to the bone who is not in the desperate pursuit of he will of God.

Almost every single person that I meet and minister to on the streets of America lay claim to some type of salvation experience.

They say things like, "Go talk to someone that really needs it, I am already going to heaven." All the while they are looking and acting exactly like the world that Jesus died to save us from!

Someone, somewhere gave them a version of the Word that had been adjusted to the darkness. A mother, or aunt or preacher or Sunday school teacher convinced them that the only thing that God required out of them for salvation was a meaningless and fruitless prayer that neither changed them nor saved them!

They have believed the lie and as a result they have become liars! They failed to give them the full counsel of God and instead have reduced the CRIMSON BLOOD OF JESUS to a more palatable PASTEL PINK!
 

Let the Buyer Beware

       Many years ago we had a little, brown Chevette, a great car that put up with a lot of driving, at least one trip through the Rockies including a road up a mountain for four wheel drive only, and travel back and forth to work for years.  Then one day it gave up the ghost (too much to fix).

       Anyway, we decided to try and find another like it since it was such a great car.  We went to a dealer with a supposed good reputation who was also a supposed Christian, and we believed what he told us about the car. A few months later, the engine blew and we could not afford to fix it, but we figured out a solution.

       We learned a lesson or two after that.  Many people subscribe to the quote ‘buyer beware’ thinking it’s okay to scam buyers because they are supposed to examine the item with due diligence, whether it be electronics, cars, houses or anything else.  (Personally, I think the seller should just be honest and not try to cheat people, lie, or cover up damage etc.)  In the end, buyers get burned, lose out in time and/or money, lose faith in people, or end up afraid to make any big purchases again.

Sometimes I think some real Christians are just as bad (unintentionally of course).

       We want people to be saved and go to Heaven, so we tell them how wonderful the Savior and the Father are, how great it is to belong to a body of believers and how God will meet our needs, but we neglect to tell them the other side.  Like how you may lose some friends, or will still go through troubles that God may not deliver you out of, that sickness may still kill and finances still crumble, how people at church may not even say hi, may make you feel left out and not everyone is nice…

       This leaves new Christians reaching a crisis (and sometimes they don’t even have someone to help them through it) all because they were led to believe only the positive side of salvation instead of the complete truth.  Mind you, we don’t have to tell them everything because that would take too long, but we should at least mention some of it, shouldn’t we?

       I just wanted to put my thinking out there…  What if instead of only the good stuff we say before their final decision something like:  life’s still going to be difficult sometimes and believers will still make mistakes, but we have someone to go through the troubles with us who will never leave us or forsake us and who keeps working on all His children their whole lives…  Maybe then their first crisis won’t feel so bad, they won’t lose faith or be afraid of what’s coming next…  maybe.

For I did not keep back from declaring to you all the counsel of God.

Ac. 20:27

Sleepy…

Some say I'm like Dory!

      Okay, I don’t know what’s going to come out of the weird space that is my head right now, but we’ll see where it goes.  I fell asleep around 7:30 pm and woke up about 45 min. ago only to keep falling asleep at the computer.  Good thing God doesn’t fall asleep like that! 

       I guess He wouldn’t be God if He did since He knows everything and sees everything both of which you can’t do if you are sleeping.  When the movie ‘Finding Nemo’ came out, I went to see it in the theaters.  It was probably about twenty minutes in that I fell asleep.  It happened again the next two times I tried to watch the movie at home.  The kids would talk about different funny scenes, this group of turtles, and repeat some of the movie lines all of which I missed in my slumber.

…I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where shall my help come from? My help comes from Jehovah, who made Heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Jehovah is your keeper; Jehovah is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. Jehovah shall keep you from all evil; He shall keep your soul. Jehovah shall keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.  Ps. 121:1-8

Glad God doesn't do this!

       Our help comes from the One who watches over us (our personal watchman) day and night.  He doesn’t need sleep, so He can (keep) ‘stand guard’ over us.  He will not fall asleep on the job, let down His guard or leave us vulnerable to the enemy, but will continue to guard over us throughout the ‘dark times’ of the night.  He won’t drift off and miss important things when He’s tired because He doesn’t slumber.

       He shades us in the daytime during our ‘siestas’ so that the sun can not strike us / harm us.  In fact, His guarding over us doesn’t stop during the daylight hours, but continues all day long.  He is our keeper: He guards our soul from the enemy.  That doesn’t mean we can’t go through tough times for tough times are promised by the Lord (Jh. 16:33), but that the enemy will never have victory over us.  He can’t.  Victory is the Lord’s (1Cr. 15:57). 

…In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer.

I have overcome the world. 

Jh. 16:33