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A popular song in the 1990s began, "The world is a vampire sent to drain: Secret destroyers holding you up to the flame." It is an angry song that seems to be lashing out at Christianity. It ends sadly, the lyrics repeating, "And I still believe that I cannot be saved." There is truth in the song's beginnings. The world does drain us. Why? The whole world is under the control of the enemy. God and evil don't mix. The Apostle John explains in 1 John 5:19, "We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." (emphasis mine) As long as we are here, we will have to be mindful not to team up with the world, or its ruler. The Apostle Paul also understood that we need to watch out for the weakening of our souls by the world. He tells us in Romans 12:2, "Do not be conformed to this world." In Ephesians 2, he says that we were all once "dead in trespasses and sins" when we were following the course of this world. He recognized that Christians need to separate themselves from evil influences if we are going to live a healthy spiritual life. But apostles weren't the only ones to warn us. Jesus is in Heaven now, at the right hand of God, interceding for us. But He also prayed for us while He was on earth. The loving words of our Savior praying to the Father for us are recorded in the book of John: “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14-16).
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