Demonic Oppression, Addiction, and Freedom - Purity 928
Purity 928 12/30/2022 Purity 928 Podcast
Purity 928 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a green ghostly entity floating through the night sky is not the disembodied soul of a long lost loved one, a demonic spirit, or an intergalactic cruise ship. No today’s photo are of the Northern Lights and it comes to us from my sister-in-law, who is on a post-Christmas vacation with my brother in Iceland! There are more on the blog today, here:
Well, it is THE last Friday of 2022 and very soon
just like those Northern Lights, this year will slowly fade away as tomorrow
evening the countdown will begin and 2022 will come to an end.
While I talked about how some are mourning the bad
fortunes of the year that is ending and looking to the new year with fear, I guess
since coming to Christ I would be considered an optimist – what some would call
a “glass half full” person, but I would have to disagree. Because I know who I am in Christ and have
experienced and continue to walk in my freedom in Christ, if we use the “glass
analogy” – I would insist that you call me a “glass full” guy for what we would
see as a glass filled to the half way point with some liquid, I would insist
that because God is omnipresent, everywhere at once, the “empty” portion of
that glass is actually full with the unseen presence of the Lord. So because
there is a God who lives – there is NEVER a real or “conceptual” glass that is
half full or half empty – of liquid, “good things”, “blessings” or “hope”. God
fills in the empty spaces. God gives us “good things”, “blessings” and “hope”
that not only fills the glass but who’s presence and love spill over to fill
the entire universe.
God is all around us. If you have put your faith in
Jesus as Lord and Savior, The Holy Spirit indwells you and the word of God
encourages us to be “filled with the Spirit” continually. And this indicates
that God’s presence is also yet another paradox of our faith. He is omnipresent – everywhere at once, all
the time – but if you have ever experienced the manifest presence of the Lord
or the “refilling of the Holy Spirit” in your life, you can understand
experientially how God can be “more present” at particular times depending on
the circumstances and according to His purposes.
Anyone who has said “And God showed up…” as part of
their testimony, knows what I am talking about. Don’t take the word of me and other “ultra-Christian
Pollyanna optimists” for it. Scripture
tells us repeatedly all about how the Lord makes his presence immediate and
powerfully experienced.
In the Old
Testament, the patriarchs and prophets demonstrated the presence of the Lord by
speaking for Him with a “Thus saith the Lord…” and to prove they were legit,
the Lord backed up His words with miraculous signs and wonders and magnificent
victories over “impossible odds” to show everyone that God was “with them”. He
was present in a major way.
In the New Testament, God came to earth in the
person of Jesus Christ. God wanted to
demonstrate the He was with us in such an extreme way that people could
physically reach out and touch Him, and sometimes with miraculous results.
When Christ ascended to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit
to be “God in us” and the book of Acts documents how the Holy Spirit was poured
out not only on the faithful Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah but
also upon the Gentiles demonstrating that God would be “with” and “dwell within”
everyone who put their faith in Jesus.
God is not just in a church building, in the Bible,
or “somewhere out there” – He is everywhere and His presence, love, and power
can be experienced by us when we call on Him and when we follow Him.
Sometimes when we have a bad year or things go wrong,
people ask “where is God in all this?”
To them I would marvel.. “Right here, right now. Don’t
you see Him?”
Things aren’t worse because of Him. The good things,
heck all the things, we experienced before this latest calamity were because Him.
This is His created universe and He shapes its history. And although this world
is broken by sin and death, He has a plan for that. His word tells us that if we put our faith in
Jesus Christ, we will have power over sin and we will never die. In Christ, we
receive a new life of freedom that never ends.
So if you ask me where God is in all of this… I have
to ask you: “Where are you?”
The joy of the Lord is our strength. But if you are not with Him, if you are not
In Christ, you won’t know His joy, His love, His peace, or His strength.
If you are focused on this world and this present
moment only, You don’t know the future hope that trumps everything.
God is with us… but are you with God? Did you seek
the truth in His word? Did you put your faith in Jesus? Are you walking and
talking with Him?
I hate to sound trite but when we understand the Lord’s
kingdom, there are no tragedies. The
dead go where they have chosen to go and our sufferings on this planet are
temporary. This is true for all of us
but for those in Christ there is hope as our futures are guaranteed and we will
one day experience the reality that God was working all things together for our
good, because we love him for loving us and we have been called for His
purposes.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NKJV) encourages
us:
16 Therefore we do not lose
heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is
being renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory,
18 while we do not look at
the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are
eternal.
So start walking by faith, believe what the word of
God tells us, and start living according to the reality of what you already
have received by the power of the Holy Spirit lives in you.
But as someone who struggled with just about everything
in life, you may be like I was: afflicted with doubts, disbelief, low
self-esteem, the sins of this world, or just plain old selfishness.
But just as I have found my freedom, you can find
yours by abandoning the course of your life that has led you to question where
God is and to instead seek Him and commit yourself to finding Him and receiving
all those “good things” that the word of God promises you.
If you have “believed on the Lord Jesus”, you are
already there. If you put your faith in
Jesus, you just need to follow Him by agreeing with His word and living
according to it.
If you haven’t put your faith in Christ, you can do
that – Right Now – with an act of faith – say a prayer – and ask for the Lord to
forgive you and to make Jesus your Lord and Savior.
For the both of you, now you have to renew your mind
and resist the devil.
Oh yeah, this might not just be a matter of
memorizing some Bible verses and deciding to be a “good boy or girl” now.
The difficulties that we have in “believing”, “obeying”,
and “repenting” can the result of a combination of things including:
· The world - Bad examples – corrupted environment –
worldly influences /philosophies – the world taught us some bad ways to think, believe,
and live and we need to reject those lies and commit ourselves to believe and
live by the truth of God’s word.
· The flesh -
our individual biological makeups may give us certain advantages or
disadvantages – talents or predispositions that have either made us weak toward
sins of the flesh or strong in the sin of pride – both are bondages that teach us
to live independent of God – but can be retrained – With the power God gives
us, our weakness can be overcome and our strengths can be used for good
· Spiritual forces of darkness – demons – who accuse,
condemn, tempt, and deceive us - whose
sole mission is to lead us away from the Lord and who uses the world and flesh
to lead us astray. By Christ’s
authority, we can cast out demons.
I was reading Karl Payne’s book, “Christians, Demonization,
and Deliverance” yesterday and his work provided me with food for thought, weapons
for spiritual warfare, and the follow insight.
Payne suggests a deviation from the common “possession/oppression”
paradigm. This paradigm suggests that only
Non-Christians could be “possessed” – completely controlled by demons, and that
Christians could be “oppressed” – tempted, accused, deceived – by the spiritual
forces of darkness.
The remedy for both of these situations is faith in
Christ and “putting on the whole armor of God” and using the word of God as an
offensive weapon, like Jesus did in wilderness, rebuking the devil when he shows
up with some timely Bible verses and either fleeing from sin or standing firm
to deny the lies and temptations that the enemy brings. Christians the world over have used these
tactics of spiritual warfare with great success.
However, Payne’s book documents the fact some Christian’s
battles with the enemy are unrelenting, thus his suggestion for a third
category of demonic involvement: “demonization” – where people who have put
their faith in Christ – Christians – have unwittingly given a ‘foothold” to the
enemy – and have unknowingly given the spiritual forces of darkness a “place”
in their lives – where they are free to remain and to wage a war of unrelenting
torment.
Demonization would be categorized by Christians who
can never maintain freedom from besetting sins or who never mature in their
faith because of demonic interference and continuous interior dialogs of
condemnation.
Payne asked us to wonder:
Why is it
that some Christians can have victory over addictions or other sins of the
flesh, while others can’t?
Why is it that some Christians have a rich
relationship with the Lord while others continuously remain unsure of their
place in His kingdom?
Why is it that some Christians can pray with
confidence and others don’t think their prayers go anywhere?
Why is it that some Christians love to read the
Bible and others find no joy in it at all?
While it certainly is possible that these
differences can be explained by individual biological or volitional differences,
Payne suggests that we should also consider the demonic as a contributing cause
in these struggles.
But there is good news to this dilemma as well. As state above Christ has given us the power
to overcome the spiritual forces of darkness. So even in this troubling “worst
case scenario”, we can have hope.
Ask me how I know…
In the 38 years prior to coming to Christ, I was
inundated with the sins of the flesh, a rebel spirit, addictions, anxiety, low
self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, hopelessness and depression.
While I was “saved” in 2010, I still struggled mightily
with the sins of the flesh, doubts, and those negative mind states despite
having a strong commitment to learn all I could about my faith and was actively
attending and serving in my local church.
As I continued to seek the Lord and His will for my life, I made some
progress but it wasn’t until I trusted the Lord with my addictions by going to
a Christian recovery group did the real work of repentance and spiritual warfare
begin.
I don’t remember where in my journey that I read Dr.
Neil Anderson’s The Bondage Breaker. It was probably after I had a year of
sobriety but I refer to those days as the “white knuckling days” where I had to
constantly be on guard against temptation and feared an eventual relapse.
But in Anderson’s book, I discovered “the Steps to
Freedom in Christ” which is a series of prayers, proclamations, and renunciations
that guides you through a repentance process where you commit yourself to
Christ and where you renounce the spiritual forces of darkness and resolve any
conflicts of unconfessed sins, pride, rebellion, ancestral baggage, and the
bitterness of unforgiveness.
While I can’t say I ever thought I was “demonized” before
going through the Steps to Freedom in Christ, I admit that I was at least “oppressed”
by the enemy afterwards because the condemning, blasphemous, tempting dialog of
mental chatter that seemed to be a part of “me” was gone!
Anderson states that many of the Christians that He
leads through the Steps to Freedom in Christ are amazed at the peace and the “silence”
they experience. And that was me. To this day, I can stop what I am doing and
just listen to the silence – of no thoughts, no condemnation, no “noise” and I
know that I am still free. The Lord has not only lead me out of the darkness of
the flesh but he put a stop to the mental torment that I always thought was “just
me beating myself up.”
Since then I have become trained to lead others
through the Steps to Freedom in Christ I have seen the enemy face to face in
others and have seen people get set free when they came to know who they are in
Christ and when they used the authority that Christ gave them to walk out of
the darkness.
So if you had a bad year or a bad life, if you just
can’t “believe like others do”, or if you are filled with fear or depression, let
me encourage you that the “glass is full” when you make Christ your Lord and
savior and when you choose to follow Him into the abundant life of freedom and
victory that He has for you.
It’s going to be a new year, so why not make it the
one where overcome the struggles? With God you are never alone but we also need
others to help us along the way. So
while I would first recommend becoming a part of a Bible believing church where
you can worship and serve, I would also encourage your freedom by pursuing the
wisdom and methods that have helped me at Freedom in Christ Ministries (www.Ficm.org). There you can find a free book “Restored”
that can tell you all about the Steps to Freedom in Christ, or you can even
join an online course that will guide you through the process with a trained
encourager.
The biggest lie that the enemy every told us is that
somethings are just “impossible” and that somethings will “never change”, but
with God you can find your freedom and discover all the “impossible” things you
can accomplish with your new life in Christ.
Well, I’m short on
time this morning because I think I wrote “too much” and I had to find a “new
resource” to share so I’m taking a
vacation from sharing the “Bible Verse of the Day” but I do encourage you to read the Bible every day,
for yourself.
I am including a link to Ligonier Ministries:
“Bible Reading Plans for 2023” ( https://www.ligonier.org/posts/bible-reading-plans?fbclid=IwAR0aVs0a31ebdwexS1-N9i-dwV5v45fVTH5zoKCHsnmCPJnDks9fY9AjWsQ) as
an encouragement to read the word this year - to have a plan, if you need one,
to draw close to God through His word to experience the power that He wants to
unleash into your life.
___________________________________________
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we begin sharing from A.W. Pink’s “The Sovereignty
of God”
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage all to purchase books for your own private study
and to support his work. This resource is available on many websites
for less than $20.00.
THE
SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
By ARTHUR W. PINK
INTRODUCTION
Who is regulating affairs on this earth
today—God, or the Devil? That God reigns supreme in Heaven is generally
conceded; that He does so over this world, is almost universally denied—if not
directly, then indirectly. More and more are men in their philosophizings and
theorizings relegating God to the background. Take the material realm. Not only
is it denied that God created
everything by personal and direct action, but few believe that He has any
immediate concern in regulating the
works of His own hands. Everything is supposed to be ordered according to the
(impersonal and abstract) “laws of Nature.” Thus is the Creator banished from
His own creation. Therefore we need not be surprised that men, in their
degrading conceptions, exclude Him from the realm of human affairs. Throughout
Christendom, with an almost negligible exception, the theory is held that man
is “a free agent,” and therefore, lord of his fortunes and the determiner of
his destiny. That Satan is to be blamed for much of the evil which is in the
world is freely affirmed by those who, though having so much to say about “the
responsibility of man,” often deny
their own responsibility, by attributing
to the Devil what, in fact, proceeds from their own evil hearts (Mark 7:21–23).
But who is regulating affairs on this earth
today—God, or the Devil? Attempt to take a serious and comprehensive view of
the world. What a scene of confusion and chaos confronts us on every side! Sin
is rampant; lawlessness abounds; evil men and seducers are waxing “worse and worse” (2 Tim. 3:13). Today, everything
appears to be out of joint. Thrones
are creaking and tottering, ancient dynasties are being overturned, democracies
are revolting, civilization is a demonstrated failure; half of Christendom was
but recently locked-together in a death grapple; and now that the titanic
conflict is over, instead of the world having been made “safe for democracy,”
we have discovered that democracy is very unsafe
for the world. Unrest, discontent, and lawlessness are rife everywhere, and
none can say how soon another great war will be set in motion. Statesmen are
perplexed and staggered. Men’s hearts are “failing them for fear, and for
looking after those things which are coming on the earth” (Luke 21:26). Do these things look as though God had full control?
But let us confine
our attention to the religious realm. After nineteen centuries of Gospel
preaching, Christ is still “despised and rejected of men.” Worse still, He (the Christ of Scripture) is
proclaimed and magnified by very few. In the majority of modern pulpits He is
dishonored and disowned. Despite frantic efforts to attract the crowds, the
majority of the churches are being emptied rather than filled. And what of the
great masses of non-church goers? In the light of Scripture we are compelled to
believe that the “many” are on the Broad Road that leadeth to destruction, and
that only “few” are on the Narrow Way that leadeth unto life. Many are
declaring that Christianity is a failure, and despair is settling on many
faces. Not a few of the Lord’s own people are bewildered, and their faith is
being severely tried. And what of God?
Does He see and hear? Is He impotent or indifferent? A number of those who are
regarded as leaders of Christian-thought told us that God could not help the
coming of the late awful War, and that He was unable to bring about its termination. It was said, and said
openly, that conditions were beyond
God’s control. Do these things look as though God were ruling the world?
Who is regulating
affairs on this earth today—God, or the Devil? What impression is made upon the
minds of those men of the world who, occasionally, attend a Gospel service?
What are the conceptions formed by those who hear even those preachers who are
counted as “orthodox?” Is it not that a disappointed
God is the One whom Christians believe in? From what is heard from the average
evangelist today, is not any serious hearer obliged
to conclude that he professes to represent a God who is filled with benevolent
intentions, yet unable to carry them out; that He is earnestly desirous of
blessing men, but that they will not let Him? Then, must not the average hearer draw the inference that the Devil has
gained the upper hand, and that God is to be pitied rather than blamed?
But does not
everything seem to show that the Devil has
far more to do with the affairs of earth than God has? Ah, it all depends upon
whether we are walking by faith, or walking by sight. Are your thoughts, my
reader, concerning this world and God’s relation to it, based upon what you see? Face this question seriously and
honestly. And if you are a Christian you will, most probably, have cause to bow
your head with shame and sorrow, and to acknowledge that it is so. Alas, in reality, we walk very
little “by faith.” But what does “walking by faith” signify? It means that our
thoughts are formed, our actions regulated, our lives moulded by the Holy
Scriptures, for, “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17). It is from the Word of Truth, and
that alone, that we can learn what is God’s
relation to this world.
Who is regulating
affairs on this earth today—God or the Devil? What saith the Scriptures? Ere we consider the direct reply to this
query, let it be said that the Scriptures predicted
just what we now see and hear. The prophecy of Jude is in course of
fulfillment. It would lead us too far astray from our present inquiry to fully
amplify this assertion, but what we have particularly in mind is a sentence in
verse 8—“Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities.” Yes, they “speak
evil” of the Supreme Dignity, the “Only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord
of lords.” Ours is peculiarly an age of irreverence, and as the consequence,
the spirit of lawlessness, which brooks no restraint and which is desirous of
casting off everything which interferes with the free course of self-will, is
rapidly engulfing the earth like some giant tidal wave. The members of the
rising generation are the most flagrant offenders, and in the decay and
disappearing of parental authority we have the certain precursor of the
abolition of civic authority. Therefore, in view of the growing disrespect for
human law and the refusal to “render honor to whom honor is due,” we need not
be surprised that the recognition of the majesty, the authority, the sovereignty
of the Almighty law-giver should recede more and more into the background, and
the masses have less and less patience with those who insist upon them. And
conditions will not improve; instead, the more sure Word of Prophecy makes
known to us that they will grow worse and worse. Nor do we expect to be able to
stem the tide—it has already risen much too high for that. All we can now hope
to do is warn our fellow-saints against the spirit of the age, and thus seek to
counteract its baneful influence upon them.
Who is regulating
affairs on this earth today—God, or the Devil? What saith the Scriptures? If we
believe their plain and positive declarations, no room is left for uncertainty.
They affirm, again and again, that God is on the throne of the universe; that
the sceptre is in His hands; that He is directing all things “after the counsel of His own will.” They affirm, not
only that God created all things, but also that God is ruling and reigning over
all the works of His hands. They affirm that God is the “Almighty,” that His
will is irreversible, that He is absolute sovereign in every realm of all His
vast dominions. And surely it must be
so. Only two alternatives are possible: God must either rule, or be ruled;
sway, or be swayed; accomplish His own will, or be thwarted by His creatures.
Accepting the fact that He is the “Most High,” the only Potentate and King of
kings, vested with perfect wisdom and illimitable power, and the conclusion is
irresistible that He must be God in fact
as well as in name.
It is in view of what
we have briefly referred to above that we say, Present-day conditions call
loudly for a new examination and new presentation of God’s omnipotency, God’s
sufficiency, God’s sovereignty. From every pulpit in the land it needs to be
thundered forth that God still lives, that God still observes, that God still
reigns. Faith is now in the crucible, it is being tested by fire, and there is
no fixed and sufficient resting-place for the heart and mind but in the Throne of God. What is needed now, as
never before, is a full, positive, constructive setting forth of the Godhood of
God. Drastic diseases call for drastic remedies. People are weary of platitudes
and mere generalizations—the call is for something definite and specific.
Soothing-syrup may serve for peevish children, but an iron tonic is better
suited for adults, and we know of nothing which is more calculated to infuse
spiritual vigor into our frames than a scriptural apprehension of the full
character of God. It is written, “The people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits” (Dan. 11:32).
Without a doubt a
world-crisis is at hand, and everywhere men are alarmed. But God is not! He is never taken by surprise. It is no
unexpected emergency which now confronts Him, for He is the One who “worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11). Hence, though the
world is panic-stricken, the word to the believer is, “Fear not!” “All things”
are subject to His immediate control: “all things” are moving in accord with His
eternal purpose, and therefore “all things” are “working together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose.” It must be so, for “of Him, and
through Him, and to Him are all things”
(Rom. 11:36). Yet how little is this realized today even by the people of God!
Many suppose that He is little more than a far-distant Spectator, taking no
immediate hand in the affairs of earth. It is true that man is endowed with
power, but God is all-powerful. It is true that, speaking generally, the
material world is regulated by law, but behind that law is the law-Giver and
law-Administrator. Man is but the creature. God is the Creator, and endless
ages before man first saw the light “the mighty God” (Isa. 9:6) existed, and
ere the world was founded, made His plans; and being infinite in power and man
only finite, His purpose and plan cannot be withstood or thwarted by the
creatures of His own hands.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
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