Culture was not just invented by man when he lost God and went away from God’s presence; the instigator behind human culture – which is a godless culture – is Satan, who wants man to be independent of God and united with him, even though man doesn’t know this.
The way the human culture was invented is very meaningful; Cain lost God and left His presence, so he went away and invented culture to take care of himself, to entertain himself, and to meet his needs.
Man’s needs were met by God, and God is the only One who can satisfy man, protect man, make man happy, and cover man.
When man lost God, man lost everything, for God was his everything; therefore, man was instigated by Satan to invent something to replace God as his everything.
Cain refused to take God’s way of redemption and chose to go the way of death; he lost God and all the blessings which come from God.
So he felt insecure, he became a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, running from God’s presence and having no satisfaction, no rest, and no protection.
So he was the first one to build a city for himself, and he didn’t call the name of that city after God but after his son Enoch; this shows that he had become independent of God.
This is not just something Cain did; this is what he did because he was instigated and incited by Satan, the enemy of God, the one who deceived his parents and now also deceived him.
The descendants of Cain invented cattle-raising to make a living, music to amuse themselves, and weapons for self-defense; they invented a godless culture to replace God as their everything.
What we see around us today, what we grow up and are educated in, is nothing else but the consummation of this godless culture.
We may think that our culture is the best, and it is better than that culture or the other culture; culture has become part of us to such an extent that we may even think that we live Christ, yet what we express is our own culture. Oh, Lord Jesus!
Culture is necessary for our human living, but when culture replaces Christ, it becomes the kingdom of darkness, keeping us away from God and His purpose.
Even the highest products of our culture are nothing else but aspects of the authority of darkness by which Satan controls people.
We need to take a stand against our culture, allowing the Lord to shine on the aspects of our culture that we live out and rely on as a replacement for Christ. Oh, Lord!
May we be those who actively choose to live Christ, exercise the mingled spirit, and allow the Lord to shine and purge culture from our being!
Seeing how Culture was Invented by the Man Instigated by Satan and Standing one with the Lord for the One New Man
When man lost God and all that God was to him, he had nothing, so he was instigated by Satan (who operated behind the scenes) to invent something for his own protection, maintenance, and satisfaction so that he may exist on earth.
He invented a godless culture that became lawless, murderous, and violent (Gen. 4:23-24).
Let’s suppose that culture was something good, for it seems good to raise cattle, make music, and make a city for ourselves.
If we look at the results of the invention of the human culture, we see that Lamech married two wives and was a murderer, and mankind became completely lawless and corrupted to the point that God had to destroy them all except Noah and his family.
The initial consummation of the godless culture invented by man being instigated by Satan is that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually, and the whole earth was filled with violence.
So God had no choice but to repent for creating man and bring in the flood to destroy the human race completely (Gen. 6:5-7, 11-13), preserving only Noah’s family of eight people.
Apparently, a culture without God was invented by the man who refused to go God’s way and thereby lost God; actually, what happened is that Satan instigated and incited the man who had departed from God, and he invented a godless culture.
The intrinsic factor of culture was the instigation and incitement of Satan, God’s enemy, within the fallen man (Matt. 12:26).
If we look around us today we see a fierce cultural war going on in every country; there’s violence, hatred, lawlessness, rebellion, and immorality.
Everywhere we look, the authority of darkness is very active.
We are not for this culture or against that culture; we are against all culture, for culture is a replacement for Christ.
We are for the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, and we realize that behind the culture is Satan.
As the one new man, we want to not just be the Body of Christ and the bride of Christ, but also the warrior, fighting for God’s interest at the end of this age, fighting for the saints and the churches, so that nothing from now on would hinder our experience of Christ, our growth in the divine life, and our being built up.
The godless culture invented by Cain and his descendants was without God and was united with Satan; it became a model representing all human cultures throughout the ages.
All cultures are without God and have followed Satan, being united with him (Luke 4:6).
The culture in our country is so one with Satan, and he is so active even in all the cultural wars seeing around us; we shouldn’t be drawn in these wars but rather, we should realize that we belong to the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
As citizens of the kingdom of God, we pray kingdom prayers, prayers of authority, to carry out God’s government.
We pray prayers of warfare not for this or that side, but for God’s will to be done, for the white horse of the gospel would gallop through our country and throughout all the earth so that the end would come.
We want to pull the cover and expose the enemy even as he operates through culture; we stand against the enemy, and we stand absolutely with Christ as our absoluteness for Him!
We stand one with the Lord for the all-inclusive, extensive Christ to be our life, nature, and constituent for the one new man, and we make the decision to revoke and reject any ground that we have given him because of our culture.
We look to the Lord, for He is praying for us, fighting for us, shepherding us, and ministering us right now; we look to Him and we are one with Him for the bringing in of the one new man over all the earth.
Amen, when the one new man is manifested on the earth, the bride has made herself ready, and the Bridegroom is coming.
Lord Jesus, we stand one with You; we take You as our absoluteness, we lay our hands on You as our burnt offering, and we stand for the all-inclusive Christ to be our life, nature, and constituent for the one new man. Amen, Lord, we revoke and reject any ground we have given Satan because of our culture. We refuse to allow culture to replace Christ in our being and in our living. We look to You, dear Lord; we want to respond to Your heavenly ministry of praying for us, fighting for us, shepherding us, and ministering to us. Amen, Lord, we are here not for our culture or for our interest: we are here for Christ and the church! May the one new man be brought forth on all the earth so that the bride would be prepared and the Bridegroom would come!
Realizing that the Godless Culture will Develop to its Uttermost toward the Lord’s Coming
When the Lord spoke concerning His return in Matt. 24:37-39, He said that it will be as in the days of Noah, eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, not knowing that judgment is coming.
This indicates that the godless culture at the time of Noah will develop to its uttermost in the period of the Lord’s coming.
If we look around us, we see that the earth is filled with lawlessness, violence, immorality, and lust; we truly live in the end days.
Even among us in the church life, culture can replace Christ to such an extent that we may live out a good, refined, and high culture but not live Christ, thus having a replacement for Christ. Oh, Lord!
We may love soul-life more than the Lord, and we may love the present age more than we love the Lord’s appearing. Oh, Lord Jesus!
The satanic system, the godless culture invented by Cain and developed and refined throughout the ages, will arrive at its peak with the Great Babylon, and the call will be, come out of her, My people!
The godless culture began as a seed in Gen. 4, and it will develop throughout the history of the human race until it consummates in Babylon the Great in Rev. 18.
We will see this development with our own eyes; it is not at random that same-sex marriage is being made legal in more and more countries, the political system becomes and more and more corrupted, some get richer and richer, and violence grows.
May we realize that this godless culture will develop to its uttermost toward the Lord’s coming, and may we focus our attention more than ever before in our life on the person of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ.
We are not here being religious but rather, as Christ’s lovers, we really want Him to be the all-inclusive, extensive Christ to us, and we take Him as our life and everything.
We need to realize what the enemy is doing, not be distracted, and focus on enjoying Christ and taking Him as our life and everything.
And in our prayer, we want to utter what He utters, putting aside anything that is of ourselves and our culture, and pray for the one new man to come in!
While the godless culture is developing to reach its peak, we want to give the Lord a way to go on in us inwardly, intrinsically, practically, both personally and corporately in His recovery so that the all-inclusive Christ would replace our culture.
We cannot say before the Lord that we are aware of every aspect of the culture that is affecting us, but we want to be constituted with the all-inclusive Christ for the one new man, for the bride of Christ, and for the Lord’s return. Amen!
In the context of Matt. 24, after the Lord spoke concerning the culture at the time of His return, He said concerning the two men in the field and the two women grinding at the mill, one is taken and the other being left.
He is referring to the rapture of the overcomers; in the midst of all our situations, as we live a normal human life and Christian life, we need to be living in the divine and mystical realm, enjoying Christ as our everything and allowing Him to replace our culture.
So when the call comes, the daystar is shining, we would be raptured and be with the Lord.
We want to be raptured, not looking back on anything, not holding back on anything, but live a normal human life and enjoy Christ as the all-inclusive One, being ready to be taken when the Lord returns!
Lord Jesus, we love You and we give ourselves to You to just enjoy You and experience You as the all-inclusive, extensive Christ. Amen, Lord, become our everything in our daily life. May we stay away from the up-to-date development of the godless culture around us and in us, and may we just enjoy You, love You, and love Your appearing! Amen, Lord, be our person, our life, and our everything; replace every element of our culture with Yourself. We open to You, dear Lord, to be constituted with the all-inclusive, extensive Christ not for our spirituality but for the one new man, for the bride of Christ, for Your coming back! We love You, Lord Jesus, and we love Your appearing!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Truth Lessons – Level Two, vol. 2, Lesson 16 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The All-Inclusive, Extensive Christ Replacing Culture for the One New Man (2020 Thanksgiving Conference), week 1, The Urgent Need for Our Culture to Be Replaced by the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Christ must be preeminent in / Our love, our tripartite being, / And our daily living too! / In our spiritual experience, / And our private universes, / He must have the first place true! / We’ve all been chosen, / A corporate person, / To make Christ preeminent! / God’s ruling o’er us / In our universe / To give Christ preeminence. (Song on, Know and Experience the All-Inclusive, Extensive Christ)
– Pray with one accord in spirit, / Pray and watch persistently; / For God’s kingdom and His glory, / Pray and watch in harmony. (Hymns #779)
– Lord, how we bless Thee for this land, / The all-inclusive Christ! / We’ve eaten Him, we’re filled with Him, / O how He has sufficed! / Teach us to labor constantly / Upon this vast reality; / This is our joy, this our employ— / Christ our land! (Hymns #1164)
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