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amusements and mimicking the behavior of unbelievers. Before long, symbolically speaking, their laughter turns to braying, their ears get pointed, they sprout tails, and an extra pair of legs. Scripture instructs us to “Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into gloom” (James 4:9). Don’t misunderstand. God doesn’t want us to mope through life, sour and downcast. True laughter is a gift from God and medicine for the soul. However, when it stems from a flippant and haughty spirit, God it not honored. The Lord certainly desires that we enjoy fun and lighthearted mo- ments. On the other hand, we’re at war with Satan and must enter into battle in earnest. Building on the above, let’s examine the following re- sults of degenerate love. As Paul writes, the three isms , as well as the 15 additional vices listed, lead to transgressors “Holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power . . . always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy3:5,7). Observe first, the problem, “godliness without power .” This is the person that embraces religion but displays little, if any, evidence of a personal relationship with Christ. Ironically,they might very well be faithful in their church attendance. However, they shun spiritual excitement and really don’t ex- pect God to do anything unexplainable or out of the ordinary. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day are a perfect example.They carefully adhered to the Law and considered themselves very religious.Yet, the Lord called them a “brood of vipers” (Matthew 23:33). As Jesus said, they conducted their religion for men to see and didn’t practice what they preached. He compared them to a cup that was clean on the outside but dirty on the inside.When Jesus healed a demon-possessed man, the Phari-

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