While Acts tell the history of the Church, the Epistles present its main teachings or doctrines. The letter to the Romans, for example, sets out the doctrine of justification by faith, which means that God considers a sinner ready for heaven as soon as he places his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, this salvation obtained free of charge implies a sanctified life. Thus, the last five chapters of this letter are filled with practical instruction as to the conduct of justified persons in their dealings with God, with civil authorities, with the world, and with other believers. Indeed, according to some theologians, they deal with practical Christian life. In this sense, we have decided to deal with a theme [i], through articles, which states: A transformed life, taken from the book of Romans in chapter 12 v 2.

Do not conform to the present century, but be transformed by the renewal of intelligence, so that you will discern what is the will of God, which is good, pleasing and perfect (KJV, current version)

For this, we will focus on the latter in a series of three articles; and, moreover, to share the resulting reflections with the community of believers. Thus, this first paper will take into account only the first part of the thematic verse in question “Do not conform to the present century”. However, to understand it better, we need to understand the context in which the text was written, and especially to what category of people the apostle was addressing. Is it to people who did not know God or to Christian believers? This would allow us to detect the full meaning of the words used in this part. First of all, we want to elucidate the term "transformed" used in the theme, and not in the text, in order to properly give birth to our rejections of idea about.

I - DIMENSION AND MEANING OF THE WORD "TRANSFORMATION"

Speaking of transformation - with regard to the theme under study: a transformed life - there are two dimensions that must therefore be understood of the word in a biblical and spiritual context. The first of the dimensions is a positionally transformed life: It is the starting point of all relationship with God (Romans 5: 1; Col 1: 12-13; John 1: 12). We have moved from the position of old to now, from children of wrath to children of God, from children of darkness to children of light, from old to new creature. And how then are we positionally transformed? To answer succinctly, is when you are born again. Which amounts to being poor in spirit (Matt. 5: 3), as well elaborated by Mauley Colas, vice-president of Standing 4 Christ Ministry, in his article [1] on the happiness of being poor in spirit . According to James Boice, an author cited by Colas in his paper, the expression is understood as follows:

To be poor in spirit is to be spiritually bankrupt before God. It is the mental condition of a person who has recognized something concerning the righteousness and holiness of God, who is aware of the state of sin and corruption of his heart and has confessed his inability to please God (Boice , Op.Cit: .20).

So we undergo the work of the regeneration of the Spirit, when we recognize our inability to please God in order to satisfy his righteousness, which changes our position and puts us in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). So "to be poor in spirit" is the new birth; for both are rewarded: the kingdom of heaven (or the kingdom of God).

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs!" (Matthew 5: 3). “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3: 3).

Therefore, the transformed is a believer who has the Spirit of Christ, a child of God (John 1:12).

And the second of the dimensions is a life transformed gradually. From the starting point, the believer continues to grow spiritually to please God by walking according to His precepts. In this case, this transformation is a process that will only end with the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, with absolute dependence on God, that is, always being filled with the Spirit. To walk in the Spirit [1] is to let the Word of Christ dwell (live in) in us in all its richness (Col. 3:16). So Scripture should penetrate all facets of the believer's life and control every thought, word and deed during this process as the Psalmist aptly expressed in Psalm 119: 9, 11. And this dimension, Rick Warren understood it this way, writing:

Growth in the image of Christ is a long and slow process. For spiritual maturity is neither instantaneous nor automatic; it is a gradual and progressive journey that will take the rest of your life [2].

Without too much ambiguity, we have noticed that Scripture is the key to this process (2 Tim. 3: 16-17). In this sense, it should be understood that the text of Romans 12 v 2 is addressed to people who know God, because a non-Christian can in no way discern the will of God (2c). So we read, the apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in these terms:

So here is what I say and what I say in the Lord, that you must no longer walk like the Gentiles, who walk according to the vanity of their thoughts. They have darkened intelligence, they are strangers to the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts. (Ephesians 4: 17-18)

Therefore, an unbeliever is a stranger to the life of God. Besides that, the very context of the text affirms our point; for in the first verse of the chapter, the apostle spoke thus: "I urge you therefore brothers [3] ...". Indeed, they are exhortations addressed to those who are saved by the grace of God (Romans 1: 7).

II - CONTEXT

Why did Paul ask Christians not to conform to the present century? In this way, it is important to understand what it means to "conform" in the highlighted part of the verse. The Greek word for it is "suschematizo [4]" to speak of a shaping of mind and character following the pattern of another. This expression, for John MacArthur [2], is “to adopt an outward expression that does not reflect what is really on the inside, a kind of masquerade or comedy. The form of the word implies that Paul's readers lived this way, and he recommends that they stop [5] ”. So the apostle wrote to this church [ii] of Rome which was an assembly made up mostly of Christians coming out of paganism [6] (pagan religions) and a good number of Jews coming from Judaism. Converted Jews still retained a legalistic spirit, while believers who had emerged from paganism were, on the contrary, in danger of exercising carnal freedom. This situation had provoked controversies which threatened not only to create divisions within the assembly, but also to corrupt the truth. In this context, the apostle wanted to warn them against this conformity. This is how the apostle Peter, in his first epistle in verse 14, exhorted the Christians who were dispersed because of persecution, in these words:

Like obedient children, not conforming to the lusts that you once had, when you were in ignorance.

Note that it is the same Greek word “suschematizo” which is used by the apostle Peter to address these latter. Indeed, it shows us that believers are always faced with situations which invite them to behave differently and / or to conform to the characteristics of the world.

Now, being Christians, we must therefore have a way of life different from that of the world. This is why Paul asked us not to comply with it. When someone is asked not to do something, implicitly this implies that they have to comply with something else. Not conforming to the world in its current state, plunged in evil, where darkness and sin reign, inevitably leads to conformity with the Word of God, the main source for knowing the will of God. And it is this conformity that will give rise to the gradual work of transformation, so that the believer can discern and live by God's standards. However, nowadays it is so easy to get overwhelmed by the rules, customs, fashions, new trends that are prevalent in today's world, because in most of the time we are inclined to believe that we have an old fashioned way of life. And often we are tempted to conform to many things so that we can be accepted in our work environment, in our circle of friends at school, in our community, etc. This is what Abraham Maslow [3], an American psychologist, calls in his pyramid of needs [iii]: the need to belong.

This need has a social dimension. It is about feeling accepted in the groups in which we live such as family, friends, various associations. Within a group, the individual seeks recognition (therefore refers to the need to love and to be loved). And it's great to be able to seek out these things while we're still on earth; but, the entanglement is when we look for them to identify with those categories, and often to the detriment of our relationship with the Lord. So Paul said to the believers in Galatia the following:

And now, is it the favor of men that I desire, or that of God? Am I trying to please men? If I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ. (1:10).

So it is clear that we must be prepared to sacrifice whatever privileges are in order to keep our Christian identity. To do this, we need to know what to avoid; hence the importance of knowing the characteristics of the present century so as not to conform to it.

III - PRESENT CENTURY: ITS CHARACTERISTICS

What do we mean by "present century"? It is a turn used to speak of: current world, era, era, age. These are synonymous expressions used in other versions of the Bible. For John MacArthur [2], "present century" is better translated as "age". According to him, it is something “that relates to the belief system and values of the world at all times. All contemporary thoughts and values form the moral atmosphere of our world and are still dominated by Satan ”(2 Cor. 4: 4). Indeed, it is a system that has always existed, but hidden in laws, culture, education, politics, commerce, etc., in all spheres of societies around the world fueled by ideologies, currents of philosophical thoughts of the world, the different trends and theories of the time to isolate people from God. There are some that take shape or have emerged over the centuries. And all this takes place in the conception of man, in his way of thinking acting under the influence of Satan. It will therefore be impossible for us to draw up an exhaustive list; however, here are a few:

Atheism, denoting the rejection of the very existence of God. The atheist adheres to a system of thought, explanation of the world and of history according to which the non-existence of God is an affirmation appealing to experience and / or to reason. The fool says in his heart that there is no God (Psalm 14: 1).

Agnosticism or thought of questioning (skepticism), an attitude of thought considering that there is not sufficient evidence to confirm the belief or not of the existence or non-existence of God. Yet the Word of God declares that creation itself testifies (Psalm 19: 1-4).

Gnosticism7, a doctrine based on two misconceptions. The first asserts that matter is inherently bad, while spirit is good. Therefore, anything that is done in the body, even the worst of sins, is irrelevant [7], since real life exists only in the spiritual. Nevertheless, God through His Word lets us know that our whole being must be sanctified without any exception (1 Thes. 5:23), and that our body is also the property of God (1 Cor 6: 18-20) . The second declaring that salvation is obtained by acquiring a higher knowledge of God, consequently by works. Now, the Word of God advocates salvation by grace (Ephes. 2: 8-10)

Moral relativism [8] asserts that morality is not based on any absolute standard, but that ethical "truths" depend on variables such as circumstances, culture, our feelings, etc. In contrast, the Bible advocates objective moral values (moral objectivism), that is, a morality based on universal principles. For example, sin is not defined according to an environment, a culture, a country or a nation, but according to the immutability of what God says. There has always been disobedience to the Word of God.

Transhumanism [9], a doctrine that seeks to use current and future technologies in order to improve certain aspects of the human being. She devotes a certain obsession to wanting to transform him into a Superman. So Man can save himself by choosing the good, without recourse to divine grace; salvation comes from human ingenuity, not from the divine gift.

Modernism, a set of doctrines and trends that seek to adapt Christian beliefs and morals with what we believe to be the necessities of the times we live in (today's world). A whole philosophical current based on: total freedom [iv]. Prompted by the Spirit, speaking to Timothy, Paul had already related that there would be a time when men would give themselves a host of teachers according to their own wishes because of their inability to endure sound doctrine (2 Tim 4: 3). And, we are in that time.

Worldliness: Habits, pleasures, way of life of the people of the world as well as their mode of thought which enter the church. It is the conformity of the church to the world view. Today we have consumer-friendly churches where the contemporary philosophy of ministry has taken pride in its interest in worldly standards of success [v].

So therefore, these thought systems, which are characteristic features of the present century, prevent these people from understanding the things of God, and have blinded their minds (mind, mind, spirit). This is how we read in 2 Corinthians 4: 3-4 that:

If our Gospel is still veiled, it is for those who perish - for the unbelievers whose minds the god of this world have blinded their minds so that they do not see the shine that the Gospel shines of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Hence, Romans 12: 2 presents what can be called an antithesis [10], in which "conforming to the present century" is opposed to being "transformed by the renewal of the mind". Now, it is clear that the two terms of an antithesis are necessarily of the same nature. If the renewal of intelligence is located in thought, conformity to the present century can also only be in interior thought, and not in exterior attitudes [11].

So the danger lies in the spirit that drives us. In this case, worldliness becomes something that is in the heart, that is part of our nature and state of mind, of our will and desires. For that which defiles man comes from the heart (Matthew 15:11). This is why, in Proverbs 4:23, Solomon said this: "Guard your heart more than anything else, for out of it come the sources of life." In this context, the heart is used to speak of thought [4]. So the moral direction that our thinking dictates to us is important, because our behavior will depend on it. So when we seek and love everything that touches this world [12] to the detriment of what belongs to the kingdom of God - when we give in to jealousy, resentment, envy, careerism at all costs - when the spirit that rules the world: greed, pride, vanity, lust for power is in our heart - then worldliness dwells in us. And that's exactly what man-made thought systems do. They try to put man at the center of everything so that he creates a framework of happiness without God, but in vain. On the other hand, the psalmist describes to us that the way to true happiness is only found in God (Psalms 1).

Since the whole world is under the power of Satan, he cannot give us any happiness. This why the apostle John exhorts us in this way, saying:

“Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and its lust also; but he that does the will of God abides forever. " (2: 15-17)

He is not talking about the physical world or the created order, but about the system that man has built in order to be happy without Jesus Christ. This system can include the world of culture, the world of entertainment, the world of art, the world of instruction; in short, any sphere in which the Lord Jesus is neither loved nor received. It is about the invisible and spiritual system of evil, of the “world order”, of the “reign of existence”, of the “way of life” that Satan rules. In a word, it is only a question of the present century that John himself called "the world". Both are dominated by the same character: Satan. He is the god of the present century (2 Cor 4: 3-4) and the world system is under his rule (1 John 5:19).

     III - 1. Matrix of temptation used by the god of this century

Inspired therefore by the Holy Spirit, John took care to clearly specify what he means by the things which are in the world, and which we should not love: "… all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life ", and which summarizes in a few words the means which the system of the world, guided by the devil, uses to make people sin and conform to the age present.

          III - 1.1 What about lust?

Lust [13], a term used with a negative connotation to designate an intense desire, leading to evil, which causes people to break divine law. However, the transgression of the divine law is called sin (1 John 4: 3).

Therefore, the lust of the flesh is defined by the disorder and exaggeration in the satisfaction of the natural urges while the lust of the eyes refers to any intense desire misdirected by what we see. The eyes are often drawn to all that glitters, the outward beauty, the appearances of the world rather than the truth of God. On the other hand, pride is a very exaggerated opinion that one has of his person at the expense of the consideration due to God and to others. It is the refusal to depend on God and to submit to Him. It is the root and very essence of sin (Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28). All of this prompts us to sin against God.

           III - 1.2 Comparison of the two greatest temptation accounts

This three-sided matrix of temptation concretely and historically supports the way Satan always goes about attacking. To support our point, let's make a quick comparison of two of the most fundamental and central passages of Scripture: Genesis 3: 1-7 and Luke 4: 1-13 (Matthew 4: 1-11, also reports the same story that Luke). We will see that, in both cases, Satan used the same triple temptation to try to reach his target [5].

A) The First Adam in the first story: Genesis 3: 1-7

Satan, in the Garden of Eden, appeals to Eve's desire for food. She saw that the fruit of the forbidden tree was "good to eat" (lust of the flesh). And when the serpent offered to eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree, she found it pleasing to the sight, forgetting the command of God (lust of the eyes). It entered the hearts of Adam and Eve when the serpent encouraged them to be equals with Almighty God: "you will be like God", that is to say competitors of Yahweh (pride of life) .

Thus, Eve was therefore deceived by Satan (2 Cor. 11: 3; 1 Tim. 2:14). She ate the forbidden fruit and gave it to her husband, who was near her, who also ate it. In Adam's case, this is a direct transgression: he had not been deceived (1 Timothy 2: 13-14). In this way, Adam allowed the kingdom of Satan to enter the world to establish itself there as the god of this century and the prince of this world as explained previously.

B) The Second Adam in the second story: Luke 4: 1-13

In the second account, Satan used a similar approach in seeking to derail Jesus' redemptive mission. He appealed to the humanity of Jesus (his hunger for bread), to his eyes (his appreciation of the splendor of the world), and to the pride that Satan lent him (if Jesus had thrown himself from the roof of the Temple, his gesture would have presumed the protection of God and would have acquired more prestige by making him land safe and sound). He used a passage where it is a question of trust in God to justify an act which amounted to tempting him.

However, the three sinister approaches to the evil one were in vain, as the Lord refused every proposition citing the truth of the Old Testament. Hallelujah! And it is this worldliness that Jesus conquered for us, and which should no longer have the right of citizenship in our hearts. This is why the Bible tells us these facts in the following passages:

After tempting him in all these ways, the devil withdrew from him until a favorable time (Luke 4:13). Indeed, we do not have a high priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses; on the contrary, he was tempted in every way like us, but without committing sin (Heb 4:15). For, as he himself suffered when he was tempted, he can help those who are tempted. (Heb. 2:18)

Having been there before, He is our only recourse to overcome temptations and extinguish the fiery features of the enemy. By the way, God is Faithful (1 Cor. 10:13). Moreover, it should be understood that there is nothing surprising in the fact that, under the leadership of Satan, the world continues to attack us with the same triple temptation in this present century via its characteristics. So, we are called to triumph over the works of the flesh, because Jesus has already conquered this present century, this world that the devil uses to make people sin against God. Thus we read, in John 16:32, this declaration of the Lord himself:

I have told you these things, so that you may have peace in me. You will have tribulations in the world; but take heart, I have conquered the world.

So therefore, we have to rely on the key to the process of transformed life, not to conform to it, which is the Word of God. These three elements of worldliness illustrated by the sin of Adam, at work in the present world, push men in these end times to ignore divine commandments. We, being children of God, we are called to fight against the trends of the world, walking in the Spirit to produce worthy fruits in our life:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, benignity, fidelity, meekness, temperance; the law is not against these things. Those who belong to Jesus Christ crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. "(Galatians 5: 22-25)

So the only way to fight this system set up by the enemy to confuse us in our walk with the Lord, who has already granted us victory, is to put on His Spirit.

IV - DO NOT COMPLY: ITS CONSEQUENCES.

Not conforming to this present century means choosing to continue walking with God. Which was Paul's goal in this exhortation. Getting to this decision means that the Spirit can guide us according to God's will. Thus we engage in a fierce spiritual combat against the 3 main enemies of the Christian: the world, the flesh [14] and the devil. There is therefore a close connection between these three. The devil is our greatest enemy, he is called the prince of this world (John 14:30; 16:11). Having said that, he organized the human race into a “world system”, based on the characteristics described earlier, using his famous matrix, to make the people of God live according to the flesh. The apostle James did say that “we are tempted when we are drawn and enticed by our own lust (1:14)”. This fight, the Lord anticipated for us by praying to the Father, in John 17: 14-16, thus:

I gave them your Word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to preserve them from the evil one [15]. They are not of the world, like me, I am not of the world.

So the main enemy, when we are children of God and want to walk according to his Word, is the devil. We should not be surprised at the antipathy of the present century towards us, for “the love of the world is enmity against God” (James 4: 4). However, when we do not take the time to test God's will, sometimes we complain that it is not pleasing. Serving God is pleasurable when we serve him with conviction and determination. As soon as we decide not to walk this world's train, the persecution becomes inevitable as a consequence.

Jesus said: Verily I say to you, there is no one who has left home, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or fields, for my sake and because of the Gospel, which does not receive now, in this time, a hundred times as many, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and fields, with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life (Mark 10: 29-30). But also all those who want to live godly in Jesus Christ will be persecuted (2 Tim. 3:12).

Every faithful believer meets opposition simply because he lives, acts and testifies in a world which crucified his Master. Thus, suffering for the name of Jesus is one of the characteristics showing that we belong to him (1 John 3:13; Matthew 5: 10-12, 1 Peter 2:12).

Moreover, the society being controlled by the system set up by Satan, we hardly have the right to condemn evil openly, under penalty of being condemned by the established authorities. As long as we are conforming to the present century, or loving the world, we will no longer be inclined to serve God. Today's world is looking for an easy life marked by debauchery, an easy success without problems and without suffering. And speaking of suffering, we are not referring to the misery or the material conditions of existence of the human being; but the fact of accepting to suffer as a Christian, because of our piety, because of the nonconformity to the present century (1 Peter 4: 15-16).

The world and its lust pass away, but the doer of the Father's will remains eternally (1 John 2:17). This is why Christ Himself encourages those who suffer because of his name to rejoice, for they will be rewarded with eternal joy (Matt.5: 12). That said, accepting the consequences of not conforming to the world system is a privilege for the believer. Suffering or being persecuted for Christ, because of the world's aversion to us, sends back positive signals to signify that we are on the right track. “If you were of the world, the world would love what is its; but because you are not of the world, and I have chosen you from the midst of the world, therefore the world hates you ”(John 15: 18-19). So Jesus, in this statement, clearly shows us that this is the price of nonconformity: suffering and persecution of all kinds.

V - CONCLUSION

The main characteristic of the present century is hatred against God and against his Son; and, consequently, against all the children of God as made explicit in several passages of Scripture (John 17:14; 1 John 3:13). So we see that Satan, along with his entire army of demons, is using the world system to sustain his famous womb in order to trap Christians (2 Cor. 11: 14-15). This is to take away the joy of the Holy Spirit in their life and make them lose the power of God. Therefore, having belonged to Jesus Christ, we must continue to crucify the flesh and its desires (Galatians 5:24) as we walk here on earth. It is in this sense that the apostles Peter and Paul exhorted, respectively, the dispersed Christians and those of Galatia as follows:

Beloved, I urge you, as strangers and travelers on earth, to abstain from carnal lusts because they make war on the soul (1 Peter 2:11). Indeed, human nature (or the flesh) has desires contrary to those of the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires contrary to those of human nature. They are opposed to each other, so you cannot do what you would like (Galatians 5:17)

Likewise, it is better to look away from anything that can cause sin; but rather rely on the Holy Spirit to direct us to the contemplation of the wonders of God (Galatians 5:16). This is how our thinking will be renewed by the Spirit of God by using the Word to transform us every day. “Walking in the Spirit,” as meant throughout our thinking, is when we put the Word into practice in our lives by letting ourselves be guided by the Spirit.

Besides, brethren, let all things that are true, all honest things, all just things, all pure things, all lovable things, all things of good reputation, where there is some virtue and some praise, let all these things occupy your mind (Phil. 4: 8)

So let's stay awake if we don't want to conform to this century. This resistance of non-conformity requires the renewal of thought, of which the Word of God is the key, to lead to the discernment of the will of God, the aspect that we will undoubtedly address in a future article.

"Do not conform to the present century".

 
Rosemond SAINT-PAULIN
Secretary General of Standing 4 Christ Ministry


REFERENCES CITED

[ 1] M. Colas, “THE HAPPINESS OF BEING POOR“ IN SPIRIT ”,” www.s4cministry.org. [Online]. Available at: http://www.s4cministry.org/le-bonheur-drsquoecirctre-pauvre-ldquoen- espritrdquo8203.html. [Accessed: 07-Oct-2017].
[2] J. MacArthur, The Holy Bible with Commentaries by John MacArthur, 4th Edition. Biblical Society of Geneva, 2010.
[3] A. Maslow, BECOMING THE BEST OF SELF. Eyrolles, 2008.
[4] W. MacDonald, ONE DAY AT A TIME, 2nd ed. (Ontario), Canada: BIBLICAL ORIENTATION SERVICE, 1996.
[5] J. MacArthur, COMMENTARY ON THE NEW TESTAMENT, IMPACT Editions. Christian Publications Inc.

[1] “Being filled with the Spirit” and “Walking in the Spirit” are two expressions used in equivalent ways.

[2] https://www.topchretien.com/la-pensee-du-jour/devenir-comme-jesus-est-un-processus-lent-2/

[3] The Greek term used is “Adelphos” which means “a brother in Christ” instead of “lakobos” to translate a brother by blood tie. https://www.seignemoi.com/bible/strong-biblique-grec-adelphos-80.html

[4] https://www.seignemoi.com/bible/strong-biblique-grec-suschematizo-4964.html

[5] The Holy Bible with Commentaries by John MacArthur

[6] Paganism is a generic term used since the sixth century by Christians to designate the religion of those who are neither Christians nor Jews (pagans). It is the set of polytheistic religions of Greco-Latin Antiquity.

[7] According to Romans 12: 1, the body (the human being: body, soul and spirit) is to be a living sacrifice, healthy and acceptable to God.

[8] https://www.gotquestions.org/

[9] http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/johann-roduit/le-transhumanisme-nouvell_b_1326166.html

[10] A figure of speech which consists in bringing together in a sentence or a paragraph two words which have opposite meanings.

[11] https://www.topchretien.com/topmessages/texte/la-mondanite/

[12] Here, "world" means the world system. It is according to this meaning that the word is used in this article

[13] The Holy Bible with Commentaries by John MacArthur

[14] Here it translates to “fallen human nature”

[15] When Christ says "deliver us from the evil one," he is probably referring to Satan.

[i] Since the period of the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of our assembly, Church of God of the Fraternity of Montreal, there is a theme on which, from the beginning of July 2017, the leaders linger in order to sustain the people of God and participate in the spiritual growth of the church in general, and of each of its members in particular. This is how I was chosen as the current president of the juvenile association of the said assembly to speak, not necessarily on the theme but to bring the preaching, since that day was reserved for youth. Indeed, not to derogate from this principle, we have chosen to continue on the same momentum by focusing our speech on the famous theme, taken from the book of Romans in chapter 12 v 2, stipulated: A transformed life.

[ii] Paul himself had never been to Rome, although he had longed “for many years” to see believers in that city (Romans 1: 9-15). We do not know how the work began in Rome, nor what instruments God used to found the assembly there. It is generally accepted that Jews inhabiting Rome and going for the annual feast in Jerusalem, were informed there of the events and brought back in the great capital of the world what concerned Jesus. In any case, it is certain that neither Paul nor Peter, the apostle of circumcision, were its “founders”. They did not come to Rome until a few years before their death, which took place around the same time.

[iii] In his pyramid, he has prioritized the needs of the human being: fundamental needs are at the base, social needs in between, self-realization with spiritual needs at the top. He developed this theory, from a managerial point of view. However, this model was also developed by other authors with a different perspective (pedagogical, psychological point of view, etc.)

[iv] Humans have no right to seek to adapt the Word to the times, for it has remained unchanged for centuries and no one has the authority to add or subtract an iota (Rev. 22:18- 19). William MacDonald, for his part, said: “We should never interpret the Word of God in the light of the circumstances, no matter how difficult. Rather, we should interpret the circumstances from the Scriptures so that we can see that nothing can ever thwart God's purposes or nullify his promises ”. It is the Word of God that prophesied in advance what is to happen down the centuries until we return to eternity.

[v] The rationalist and mundane argument is that: “You must be presented with religion in a creative and visual way”. According to this pragmatic thesis, “almost everything is considered appropriate: rock and roll classics, heavy rock, rap, music to dance to and nightclub to, comedy, clowns, mimes and even acts of magic. are things that have become part of the repertoire of evangelical ministry, ”emphasizes MacArthur.