One of the chief defenders of the Christian faith, the apostle Paul, expressed a similar view of human nature and this world's systems and power structures. He viewed them as characterizing "this present evil age" (Galatians 1:4). Jesus Christ, interceding for His apostles in His prayer to God the Father on the eve before His death, specifically stated: "I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given Me, for they are yours" (John 17:9, New International Version).

A little later in the same prayer Christ said: "... They are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one [Satan the devil]" (verses 14-15, NIV, emphasis added).

Christ's message is clear. True discipleship has little in common with society's structures, which are based on the vagaries of human nature influenced by an unseen evil spirit, Satan (to learn more, please request our free booklet Is There Really a Devil?).

The biblical message to Christ's true followers is to "come out of her My people, lest you share in her sins" (Revelation 18:4; compare 1 John 2:15-17). But where does a person wishing to seek the Creator go from here?

Our responsibility is to ask God for help in changing our lives to meet the standards of the Kingdom of God. Acts 2:37-39 sums up the actions that we must take: real repentance and water baptism followed by the receiving of God's Holy Spirit.

Our free booklets Transforming Your Life: The Process of Conversion and The Church Jesus Built explain this whole spiritual process in detail and reveal the role of God's Church in it. Jesus Christ said He would build His Church and that it would endure throughout this age of man (Matthew 16:18). Searching for and becoming an active part of that Church becomes the task of men and women whom God is calling into the knowledge of the truth.