Are Carnally-Minded “Christians” Saved?

by Helena Lehman | 2010

In my 2010 article about the Rapture of the Church entitled “Come Up Here and Come Away”, I wrote:

“Do not base your faith on experience alone! Base it on your relationship with God. Can you hear Him? Do you know Yahweh through the Word of God and Yahshua’s Spirit? Do you trust God’s Word and God’s Spirit to lead you and to help you make sense of your experiences? If you diligently seek God, you should eventually experience a supernatural relationship with Him. But if not, then your faith may be carnal and weak. This means it is based on one’s flesh or intellect, but not on a manifestation of the Spirit of God in one’s life.”

Since writing this statement in my article that looked at the clues in Scripture hinting that there will be two Raptures in the Tribulation period, several people have asked me how I would define someone who is fleshly or carnal in their approach to God and if these sorts of people can be considered “Christian” and “saved.”
These people have also asked if God has forgiven these carnal people and will take them up to Heaven in the Rapture regardless of their bad behavior.

Some people in the Body of Christ think that, since all believers are under Grace, this suggests that God does not expect Christians to be perfect. Though I agree with this assessment to some extent, there are plenty of New Testament Scriptures that call Christians and Messianics to strive to be holy and blameless before God. These Scriptures make it clear that, though God the Father has forgiven believers their sins and sees them as perfect through Christ’s shed blood (a simple definition of Grace), they are expected to follow Christ and emulate Him in every area of their lives. Here is just one fine example of this:

Galatians 5:17-25 - “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (NKJ)

There is no other way to interpret the preceding passage except as a stern admonition that acting in the flesh, which is what is meant by the term “carnal,” is extremely offensive to Yahweh God and His Son Yahshua. These offenses are listed before the Apostle Paul warns that those who practice such sins will not inherit the Kingdom of God. This means that these unrepentant people will be excluded from the Rapture and from participating in the future Millennial Kingdom of Christ on Earth. It is also clear from this Scripture that we are to view ourselves as dead to the world through Christ and that we are to live by Yahshua’s Spirit and behave with His character when we perform any action in His Name (See also Romans 6:11-18). We behave in Christ’s character through the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which are also listed in the preceding Scripture as a faithful guide for believers to live by.

The Bible is very clear about the distinction between carnal and spiritually minded people. It teaches that, while those who are spiritually-minded will be able to easily understand and apply God’s word, those who are carnally minded will not understand the Bible and will believe incorrect doctrines and be in rebellion against God’s truth. They therefore will not be able to understand Scripture when they read it. It will either make no sense to them or they will interpret it incorrectly. In a moment, we will explore some Scriptures that confirm this.

I have also seen a spirit (i.e. demon) of sleepiness and spiritual blindness in myself before I was truly saved and in others whom I have tried to reach with the Gospel that had professed to be Christians. Many of these people had a Roman Catholic background like I’d had. This spirit of sleepiness is a most frightening phenomenon where the person trying to read the Scriptures will not be able to understand the words at all and/or will feel totally exhausted all of a sudden and begin to yawn and be unable to focus on the Word of God. Furthermore, unless they recognize the sinister spiritual oppression they are under, they will quickly get discouraged and feel dissuaded from reading the Bible further, and will often indicate that they think the Bible is boring or hard to understand.

This unnatural sleepiness or weariness is a demonic manifestation that can only be removed by utilizing the principles of Spiritual Warfare. This means that either the person being so afflicted or a born-again Christian must pray in Yahshua’s Name and ask God the Father to bind the demons that are causing this evil phenomenon. Then they must ask Yahweh to loose His holy angels to prevent this manifestation from happening again and to protect the affected individual from further demonic assault and influence.

In one instance, I actually saw a person who was deeply steeped in New Age mysticism go into a near catatonic state when I was preaching to them. As I tried to tell them the steps to salvation, they suddenly stopped responding to me at all, and just sat there with their eyes downcast for several minutes. In fact, they continued to look as if they were in a trance until I stopped talking about Yahshua. It was truly astonishing but eye-opening to see this. It was also frightening because the affected person did not believe me when I told them what had happened after they snapped out of the trance-like state they were in! Unfortunately, this incident occurred before I knew anything about Spiritual Warfare and therefore I was not able to witness to this person further. But if people like this are not exorcised of the demons keeping them in spiritual darkness, there is a good chance that they will perish on Judgment Day.

Here are Scriptures that teach the difference between the carnally-minded and the spiritually-minded among those who profess to be saved:

Romans 8:6-10: “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (NKJ)

1 Corinthians 3:2-3: “I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” (NKJ)

The bottom line is clearly stated in Romans 8:6-10. There, the Apostle Paul says that carnally-minded people are not really Christians at all. In fact, Paul states that carnal or fleshly people are dead in their sins and unable to please God the Father or His Son Yahshua because they are still in rebellion against God! They have not manifested any sincere change of heart or behavior and hence are not Spirit-filled and are therefore NOT SAVED. As such, God will leave these types of fleshly “Christians” in name only behind in the Rapture to either find the oil of the Holy Spirit or perish.

For someone to be truly saved, they MUST believe that Yahshua is the Son of God, Savior of the world, and King of kings, and they must also begin to shun the pleasures of the world to live for Christ as Yahshua and Paul taught. If people are willing to humble themselves before God and declare their need for Yahshua to be their Savior and for His Holy Spirit to be their guide, then they will be given the discernment of the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth and to lead them to act righteously.

The following Scriptures indicate that people who are truly saved will gradually learn not to make incorrect choices or have unsound beliefs because, even if they never read the Scriptures, the Spirit of God will guide them into all truth. If they are listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, they will hear the Holy Spirit speaking to them in dreams, visions, through their conscience or directly in their private thoughts:

Acts 2:16-18 - “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.” (NKJ)

1 Corinthians 12:7-11 - “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” (NKJ)

What these Scriptures promise and proclaim as gifts of the Holy Spirit do not apply to a limited few, but to everyone in the Body of Christ! This means that every believer in Yahshua that has surrendered their life and conscience to Him will manifest one or more gifts of the Holy Spirit, at times including the gift of prophecy, words of wisdom and words of knowledge. These are supernaturally manifested bits of foresight or knowledge that can give believers insights into how to deal with various troubles, or what to pay attention to in the future. In addition, words of knowledge can help believers decipher their own and other people’s dreams, visions and prophetic utterances as well as the meaning of prophetic passages in Scripture - especially concerning the timing of futture events and the method in which they will unfold. The following Scriptures support this:

John 14:12-17 - “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father… If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever -- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

John 14:21, 23-26 - “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him...” “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and… We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (NKJ)

John 16:12-14 - “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” (NKJ)

1 Corinthians 2:9-11 - “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.” (NKJ)

All of the Scriptures just quoted from hold up the idea that the Holy Spirit can guide believers to understand and follow Yahshua’s path to righteousness. These Scriptures clearly teach that those who love Yahshua will be guided by the Holy Spirit to understand Yahshua’s commandments, and to know His desire for us as revealed in Scripture.

The impression given in these same Scriptures is that born-again individuals will be shown the truth by the Holy Spirit even if the Scriptures are unavailable to them (See 1 Corinthians 2:9-11). Furthermore, believers will be given words of knowledge, warnings or timely information about future prophetic events that people in the Body of Christ need to be aware of. In this way, people who are Spirit-filled will not be thrown about by every changing wind of doctrine or circumstance, but will hold fast to what the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures reveal to them to be the truth. They will also know what to expect on the world scene, and will be expectant rather than frightened when they witness the birth pangs leading to the Tribulation that Yahshua warned His disciples to expect and anticipate in the Last Days.

Contrasting the spiritually-minded person described in the preceding passages with a person who is carnally-minded or living in the flesh rather than the Spirit is a useful exercise. It can also help to determine whether or not someone is saved. A person who is Spirit-led and spiritually-minded will be at peace and joyful in their walk with Yahweh God. They will have an intimate relationship with God the Father through the Son and will be able to commune with the Holy Spirit when they pray, worship and/or meditate on God’s Word. These Spirit-baptized people need not be concerned about the future, for they will be supernaturally protected by Yahshua and included in the Rapture.

On the other hand, carnally-minded people will not manifest any real spiritual gifts. Instead, they will often be indecisive and unsure of themselves and their walk with God. They will be superstitious and easily swayed to follow false doctrines because they will be unable to discern the difference between deception and truth. Worse still, people who are ruled by their fleshly appetites have little or no self control or ability to resist evil. They tend to be worldly, wanton and selfish, living to satisfy their own need for physical pleasure or enjoyment rather than to further the Kingdom of God or to bring happiness to others. In short, carnal people have little desire to study God’s word or live a godly life. In fact, many of them are hedonists and anarchists that are heavily demonized and frequently swayed to do evil. People in this state of carnality and demonization are often driven into some kind of substance abuse or other destructive or compulsive behavior.

The carnally-minded person’s only hope of salvation and deliverance from sinful actions, compulsive disorders or substance abuse is for them to finally and humbly admit that they are sinners who are out of control of their lives and need Yahshua’s help to stop the madness that they have descended into. Then, through remorse, repentance, and belief in Yahshua’s saving Grace, they can regain control of their lives and become eligible to inherit everlasting life via the indwelling presence of Yahshua’s Spirit. Thus, the once carnally-minded person can become a true saint of the Living God.



If you are carnal, now is the time to repent and ask Yahshua into your life, for the time is short and the Rapture is coming soon. Don’t be left behind! Get yourself right with Yahweh and start living a godly life through Yahshua today!



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