UNDUE FAMILIARITY WITH (ABUSE OF) DIVINE THINGS IN SOME CHURCHES IN AMANNAGWU AROCHUKWU TODAY

One characteristic of God emphasized in the Scriptures and necessary for believers in their relationshipwith Him today is His holiness, and His requirement of them to be holy as well. Believers must approach God with reverence to be acceptable before Him. This has always been the case. He told Israel long ago, “'For I am the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, to be your God; thus you shall be holy for I am holy" (Leviticus 11:45). Israel always sufferedterriblywhenever theydisregarded the holiness of God. To profane things which God has declared “holy” is a sin, then as well as now, whether it be the Scriptures, marriage, church, worship or behavior. It would do well for the church, or spiritual Israel, not to make the same mistakes Israel of old did (Quinn 56).The sons of Eli became priests in Israel, but had no respect for the holiness of God, their own positions, nor the commandments of God (1 Samuel 2:12-16; 17:22-25; 29). They did evil as they sacrificed to the Lord. They cared little for God and His will. They refused to honor God, and were dishonorable men themselves. They had betrayed the trust God had placed in them, thus they were judged by God.They met their doom as a result of their attitudes of undue familiarity towards the Divine.