Nine Marks of Worldliness

Nine Marks of Worldliness

May 18, 2012

Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.For everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God’s will remains forever.
(1 John 2:15-17, HCSB)

Preoccupations that are wrong
Pride
Pleasures
Possessions
Popularity
Power obsession
Position oriented
People pleasing
Privilege for selfish reasons

Illustration: That evening, the assassin John Wilkes Booth stopped in a saloon near the Ford Theatre and used alcohol to nerve himself for what was to be his date with history. One drink, two drinks, three drinks and on…
Later that night Lincoln’s bodyguard John F. Parker was distracted while the president and party were comfortably enjoying the performance of “Our American Cousin” in the Ford Theatre. Charles Forbes (Lincoln’s footman) and Francis P. Burke (Lincoln’s coachman) left the Ford theatre with Parker for a drink at presumably the same saloon as John Wilkes Booth had just left. While Parker was distracted in the saloon the door to the presidential box was left unguarded. John Wilkes Booth went on the attack and slipped into the presidential box during the performance and shot Lincoln.
Those two saloon visits just could be the most costly drinks in American history!