Reflections and Breaking Resistance - Purity 799

Reflections and Breaking Resistance - Purity 799

 Purity 799 08/02/2022  Purity 799 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of what I call “A River Torrens Reflection” comes to us from Dave Baun Photography (https://www.facebook.com/DaveBaunPhotography) as Dave made the best of the requirement to commute to work earlier than necessary on Saturdays due to the local train schedule by taking walks with his camera and capturing scenes like this along the way. Dave testifies that the time he gets to spend doing something he loves before work on Saturday morning usually sets him up for a very good day.

While I often say it’s not where you start but where you finish that matters, I have to agree with Dave’s sentiments that doing something you love to start the day can certainly help set us up to have a very good day. 

For me, my mornings are spent in the spiritual practices of gratitude, prayer and meditation, and the study of God’s word. By reminding myself of who I am in Christ, who God is, and all that He has done in my life, I start the day humbled and grateful and use the time to ask the Lord to help guide me through the day.  

But I also use several days of the week to exercise my body as my mind and spirit.  Although our Christian walk of faith is a spiritual endeavor, there are plenty of verses in scripture that tell us that our bodies are important too. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, so we should be good stewards with what the Lord has provided us with but scripture also indicates that part of our walk of faith involves “crucifying the flesh” as we seek to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.   

While the world pushes comfort foods to provide self-care, Christ said that the Holy Spirit would be our comforter.  While we need food to live, we shouldn’t necessarily live for food.  When our relationship with food is out of balance, our bodies show it with digestive issues and aches and pains that result from weight gain.

So part of our spiritual walk should include a reflection of how we are treating God’s temple and possibly the decision to make changes in how and what we eat as well as taking time to exercise our bodies to make them healthy and strong enough to diligently pursue what the Lord would have us do.  

Exercise enthusiasts will tell you all about the benefits of exercise and I am here to encourage you that the care of our bodies isn’t just a self-centered practice of vanity but can be a rich part of our daily spiritual practice of walking in the Spirit. 

I have struggled with overeating and seeking emotional comfort from food for all my life and recently realized that even in the midst of my regular practice exercise I had turned a blind eye to my eating habits and the weight gain that resulted. 

But my body was telling me all along that things weren’t good as my back would periodically ache, but I resisted those messages and persisted with my cheat days and what I though were only occasional over indulgences.  

But the truth is when you give up on your discipline over what you eat, even just a little bit, it’s like you let the dam break and all kinds of food comes flooding in.  Comedian Jim Breuer once did a routine about drinking and how drinking was like a party in your stomach and how you shouldn’t mix different alcoholic beverages because it would make you sick (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW-PqYrnruU) .  His routine documents how once you let somethings into your life, other things just pour on in.  In his routine, Breuer talks about how after beer is let into the “party in our stomachs” other types of alcoholic beverages sneak into the party with disastrous results – leading the stomach to throw everybody out, and up!  

Thankfully, even though I can relate to Breuer’s routine, the Lord helped me to be set free from those problems forever.  But the analogy of compromising our better judgement still stands and I have seen how it goes that way for food.  When you decide to indulge in sweets or other foods that go against your health goals, your tendency to compromise again and again increases and what may begin as a one time indulgence once a week turns into regular “cheats” that compound over time and result in the pains of weight gain.  

In the process , you know its happening but you just ignore it and you resist doing what you know have to do, you have to stop and go back to the habits that gave you success but you resist it and keep it a secret, and even may resort to secretly eating in front of others to hide your compromise, at least I did!

But if you persist in your compromise the pain will increase until it’s impossible to ignore anymore.  

I heard it said somewhere that we only change when we are uncomfortable, and it was only after being uncomfortable for quite sometime that I decided to go back to the drawing board and try to get my temple back to where I had it. I wish I had done it sooner, but I’m glad that I decided to confess it and to be intentional about making the month of August a month where I get closer to where was to get healthier.

I have learned that we are only as sick as our secrets and if we are hiding our behaviors from others, we need to “rat ourselves out” to break the resistance to change that seems so hard.   

With one day in, I can say I am on the right track. My eating yesterday was within the parameters of my plan and I exercised yesterday and did again today and I feel good about it.  

In my reflections of what I need to change, I have also resolved to “stay out of enemy territory”. Before August, I had a tendency to throw all my convictions to the wind when I found myself at parties or went to certain places, saying “When in Rome!!”  

But I was reminded of the importance of “places” for people in recovery. Former alcoholics should avoid the places where they used to drink. Similarly, I should avoid the places where I would eat the things I shouldn’t. So I have resolved to stay away from Stewart’s.  The only thing I get at Stewart’s, for the most part, is their ice cream and when I do, I eat the whole half gallon! So, I resolved that Stewart’s is “no man’s land”.

 And I am also recognizing my personal responsibility to be true to my health goals, regardless of the places I go and the company I keep, so I will endeavor to try to be “self-aware” and not declare that I am in the capital of Italy and let my convictions roam.  

The good news is that I am not alone. I have a wife who supports me in this walk but I also have the Holy Spirit to lead me in the Spirit and He has helped me to overcome this struggle in the past.

So as we go into the second day of this new month, let’s keep walking and talking with God.  Let’s reflect on “the way life used to be” and all “the love” that the world the flesh and the devil “took from me”, and decide that we are going to stop being uncomfortable with the compromises in our lives that cause us pain and instead decide to lean on the Lord for His strength and guidance to lead us in the way we should go. 

Hey Rome wasn’t built in a day and a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so put best foot forward, trust in the Lord, and start walking towards the abundant life of freedom and victory that He has for you,

 

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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Revelation 3:8 (NLT2)
⁸  “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.

Today’s verse comes from the Lord’s message to the church in Philadelphia and speaks of how the Lord gives us opportunities that no one can take away and the importance of being true to our relationship with God with obedience.  

In that letter in the book of Revelation, the church at Philadelphia was facing challenges to their faith, but the Lord acknowledged their hear for Him and encouraged them to persevere in their faith and their obedience to His ways with the assurance that if they held on to what they had they would be protected and have a place in His kingdom forever.  

So although we aren’t necessarily from Philadelphia, we can draw the general principle that God has “opened a door” for us that no one can close and that we should use our “little strength” to faithfully obey the Lord’s will for our lives, with the assurance of His divine favor and protection and our eternal place with Him.

______________________________________________________________________

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 continue sharing from Clinton E. Arnold’s “Powers of Darkness”

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Clinton Arnold’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available on many websites for less than $20.00.

Christ Alone Is Supreme

Paul was convinced that the teaching of his opponents at Colossae presented a direct challenge to the absolute lordship of Christ for these believers. By giving credence to the “philosophy,” they were transferring their allegiance from Christ and giving it to the principalities and powers. Quite likely fear of the evil supernatural world motivated them in part. They continued to dread the influence of terrestrial spirits who could injure them in day-to-day life, the astral spirits who controlled their destiny, and the underworld spirits who could torment them in the life hereafter. Could Christ truly protect them from those powers? They wondered and were apprehensive. Their doubt compelled them to take the “safest” route—worship Christ and the other gods.

In order to restore their confidence in the Lord Jesus, Paul began his letter by including one of the most eloquent and moving pieces of poetic praise of Christ in all of Scripture. Colossians 1:15–20 touchingly affirms the sole supremacy of Christ. The poetic arrangement, choice of words and beautiful expression have caused numerous scholars to refer to it as an early Christian hymn. Possibly Paul quoted a hymn that was known and sung during worship in the Colossian and other churches of Asia. Although Paul could have composed this passage specifically for the Colossians, the rhetorical power of his argument is enhanced all the more if he has cited an already existing hymn. In effect, the Colossians would be guilty of not internalizing what they were reading and singing!

Paul prefaced the hymn by establishing the fact that they are no longer in bondage to Satan’s dominion. Paul says, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Col 1:13). The hymn then brings out the Son’s character in a twofold way: Christ is both Lord of creation and Lord of reconciliation.

As Lord of creation, Christ is described in his unique relationship to the one, invisible God. Christ is not himself an angelic intermediary or one among many. He has a temporal priority over all of creation and is distinctively related to God by being both the “image” of God and possessing all of the rights of a firstborn. Christ is also Lord of creation because he is the Creator. Paul took special pains to point out that he was not only the creator of everything on earth and in heaven, but especially the realm most feared by the Colossians, the invisible realm “whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities” (1:16). In fact, these powers owe their continued existence to Christ since he is the sustainer of the creation (1:17).

As Lord of reconciliation, Christ is portrayed in the second part of the hymn in his role as bringing ultimate harmony to all of his creation. Marred by rebellion against the purpose of God, the creation faces constant upheaval and distress due to the degenerative impact of evil. The work of Christ provides the basis of hope for the future. At the consummation of the age, all things will be reconciled to God through Christ. Again, Paul stressed that “all things” include the heavenly entities, namely the principalities and powers.

This hymn brilliantly affirms the lordship of Christ over the principalities and powers. How comforting it must have been for the Colossians to be reassured that Christ is superior to the powers they fear and once worshiped. He not only created them, but he is their life-giving sustainer. History is in his control, and the powers will ultimately be brought to their knees before him.

Paul continued to build his case for the supremacy of Christ by declaring later in the letter that Christ is “the head over every power and authority” (Col 2:10). This is based on the fact that “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Col 2:9), which was also evinced in the hymn (Col 1:19): “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.” Christ is again portrayed in a unique and close unity with the God of Israel. Tom Wright explains that the incarnation of Christ “was and is the ‘solid reality’ in which were fulfilled all the earlier foreshadowings, all the ancient promises that God would dwell with his people.” God is now truly with his people, indwelling their lives and giving them direction and strength. In verse 10, the emphasis falls on the certainty of Christ’s control over the powers—not one evil angelic power stands outside the sphere of his sovereignty. Believers now share in this authority.

The high point of his case for the supremacy of Christ over the powers comes at Colossians 2:15. The principalities and powers were defeated on the cross. This sign of the end for the powers was decisive. They were stripped of their compelling influence over believers. They are now like vicious dogs on a leash. Although they are still active and continue to wreak havoc and promote evil, they are under the control and authority of one more powerful, one they are compelled to obey.

Christ is not one among a number of powers at a certain level of the angelic hierarchy. He is at the top. He is supreme. Despite the claims of other religions and counter to the assumptions of magic, the Colossians could truly worship Christ as pre-eminent. In spite of Paul’s eloquent and powerful case to this effect, we cannot minimize the difficulty it would have been for the Colossian believers to believe this truth in the deepest recesses of their consciousness. Years of believing in a multiplicity of gods and spirits and learning how each could be placated is quite different than trusting in one—who is so different.^[1]

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

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^[1] Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness: Principalities & Powers in Paul’s Letters (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 1992), 142–144.

So, We’re Doing This Now - Purity 798

So, We’re Doing This Now - Purity 798

Purity 798 08/01/2022 Purity 798 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a sunset on Seneca Lake spied through a window of trees comes to us from my sister in law, Katt, who recently shared this pic on social media encouraging her friends to check out the facilities at Seneca Lake Resorts in Romulus NY. 

Well the sun has set on the month of July 2022 and there is no going back, but rather than lament about the July’s passing, I am here to encourage all my friends to rejoice over the possibility of new beginnings.  

As I have often said in the past, scripture repeatedly indicates that we are to be forward thinking when it comes to our faith walk through life. Although I am happy to report that I managed to go to four new spots for swimming in the month of July, I am looking forward to doing more with the month of August than just relaxing in the sun. 

The great thing about our lives is that when we realize that we have wandered off course a bit in our focus and direction with our goals, we can stop and start again.

The Holy Spirit lives in us and if we are sensitive to His leadings, He will lead us into all truth, but sometimes the truth hurts. Sometimes the Holy Spirit reveals to us that we have ceased to move forward into what He has for us and because of our lack of attention or our self-indulgences we have sabotaged our progress by seeking comfort, purpose, or entertainment from things of this world rather than the things of God. 

We can go on in our own way and ignore His still quiet voice but the further we go the more we will tend to suffer the consequences until we realize that although we haven’t gone far off course, we stopped making progress with the things we were moving towards because we were distracted or because the going got a little tough and we decided to give ourselves a break. We may have even decided that we were happy with where we had made it to and decided it was “good enough” and we would just stay put where we were.  

Unfortunately, the world, the flesh, and the devil will come against us in subtle ways and as time goes on we start to slip, and we fail to maintain our position that was “good enough” and lose the progress that we have made. 

As Christians, we are in a battle. The Lord has a purpose for us and the world system, the spiritual forces of darkness, and our flesh all oppose it because the Lord’s purpose involves us humbling ourselves before God and serving Him and others rather than exclusively pleasing ourselves.

The world, the enemy, and our flesh work on us to consider the question: “What about me?” and encourages us to set aside the abundant life of meaning and purpose that the Lord has for us for a life of idleness and selfishness that the world system promotes.  The problem with the “What about Me?” answers to happiness is that they fail to satisfy us and go against the counsel of the Word of God.  

The insidious nature of the world, the flesh, and the devil is that they constantly tempt us to seek satisfaction independent of God with substances, relationships, or methods that have been proven to fail but they continue to push them anyway.  

Christ came to give us rest but He did state that His burden was light. The world, the flesh, and the devil say that even a light burden is too heavy and advocate for selfishness and no burdens, but the answers they push are bondage and are even more burdensome that the Lord’s, who simply asks us to abide in the peace that He has for us and to rely on His wisdom and ways to guide us.

So our Christian walk can tend to be a continual pattern of making progress and realizing the joy and peace of the Lord in the simplicity of being obedient to His ways but then the three headed monster tries to deceive us and tempt us to go back to the world’s ways that are easy and offer immediate gratification. 

In the beginning of our walk with God, this can be  a “sinning and confessing” cycle but if we are diligent in returning to the Lord and go to Him for strength and guidance, we can break that cycle and have victory over those besetting sins and experience our freedom in Christ.  

But even if we have experienced our freedom in Christ, that doesn’t mean that the enemy, the world system, or our flesh are done trying to prevent our realizing our purpose in Christ.  

With the Lord nothing is impossible, but the enemy will lie to us and tell us that there is a limit on what we can do, that “we are only human”, or that “others can do those things, but we can’t accomplish that” or “it’s just too hard.”   

The enemy, the flesh, and the world system which, can included our family and friends, will tell us that we have done enough, that we are too busy, or that we should rest.  These influences will actually lie to us and tell us that we are “doing well” or “looking good” when we are actually losing ground.

When we stop, or take a rest, at best we are no longer making progress, at worst we are going in the wrong direction.   

So what do you do?  

You stop and you make a new beginning.  And what better day to make a new start than the first day of a new month.  

I don’t know about you, but I want to leave August in a better place than where I start it.  I have decided to repent and to remember that the Lord’s ways are sufficient and that everything the world, the flesh, and the devil would choose for me to do would result in something less than what the Lord wants for me.    

The world’s entertainments leave you empty. The flesh is ignorant and satisfying its lusts leads to pain.  And the devil seeks to destroy us.  

So let’s begin again. Although we have been walking and talking with God, let’s walk in the direction that leads to progress and to new victories or to the goals that we were hoping for but somehow stopped actively pursuing somewhere along the way.   

Let’s do something new, let’s pick one thing or one area in our lives that we can accomplish or make progress in over the next 31 days and let’s go after it with intensity and purpose. Let’s pick one thing and either “get ‘er done” and bring us closer to getting ‘er done.”

God doesn’t want us to stagnate in life and say “that’s good enough”  God wants us to grow and progress personally and to show and share His love with others.

 The adage “nobody’s perfect” is often used to excuse our lack of progress but instead of wallowing in our imperfections, let’s rejoice over them because they provide us with lots of things that we can make progress in!  We will never be perfect like Jesus but let’s follow Him and lean on the Lord’s strength and guidance to leave where we are behind for better things.  

So pick something, anything, and make a plan that you can start working on today and let the Lord know that you need His help to accomplish it.  God is faithful and He will lead us into new things when we trust in Him.  Tell the world, the flesh, the devil that you are going to make a change in your life and that you have had enough of their lies.  

And declare with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit:  So, We are Doing This NOW!

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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)
¹³  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Today’s verse is the truth for all Christians and only needs to be applied and pursued to be realized in our walk.  

In Christ we have been given victory over sin and death. We are new creations in Christ.  And so, as today’s verse confirms, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. 

Context is king when we look at the Bible of course so I want to keep it real and remind us all that the Apostle Paul referred to both enduring through suffering and accomplishing mighty things for the kingdom of God through Christ who strengthens us.  He kept it real.   He knew what it was like to be abased and what it was like to be abound.  

So this is good news, no matter what we are facing we can make it. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. 

That means remaining faithful to our cause and to living according the God’s wisdom and ways.  

In Christ, we can do all things and what that is exactly depends on your walk with the Lord and where he has put you.  So follow Him and see where this month takes you and see what you can accomplish when you walk with Him.

______________________________________________________________________

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 continue sharing from Clinton E. Arnold’s “Powers of Darkness”

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Clinton Arnold’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available on many websites for less than $20.00.

The Connection of the False Teaching with the Powers

Apart from Ephesians, there are more references to the principalities and powers in Colossians than in any of Paul’s other letters. Paul used a wide variety of terms in referring to these powers: “thrones,” “dominions,” “principalities,” “authorities,” “elemental spirits” and “angels” (RSV). While a few scholars have tried to make a case for interpreting some of these powers as good angels, especially those referred to in Colossians 1:16, the broader context of the letter paints them in a rather dark light. The same “principalities” (archai) and “authorities” (exousiai) spoken of in Colossians 1:16 are pictured as defeated enemies in 2:15 over which Christ is the head (2:10). It is most likely that Paul intended all of his references to the spirit-powers in Colossians to be understood as the evil powers of darkness.

According to Paul’s analysis, the religious “philosophy” menacing the church at Colossae could ultimately be attributed to the inspiration of “elemental spirits” (stoicheia). In Colossians 2:8, Paul states: “See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit [1] according to human tradition, [2] according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ” (RSV).

In the first part of the verse, Paul indicts the obvious human involvement that propagates this erroneous teaching, which human tradition imparts. In the second part of the verse, he points to the true origin of the teaching in a personal, spiritual sense; that is, the evil “elemental spirits” inspire this teaching. He thus connects this false teaching with demonic involvement in much the same way that he characterized pagan religions in general as demonic in 1 Corinthians 10:20–21. A similar situation is envisioned in 1 Timothy 4:1, where believers are warned against demon-instigated teaching: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” Those purveying this teaching are described as “hypocritical liars,” implying that they claim to be Christians, but are actually Satan’s advocates.

The false teaching at Colossae is dangerous precisely because the supernatural opponents, whom Christ died to defeat, inspire it. For this reason Paul can later say, “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world?” (Col 2:20 RSV). Through union with Christ and by appropriating his resources, believers can resist the diverse evil influences of Satan and his powers. For the Colossians the perverse influence was especially felt through the rival teaching passed on by people within the context of the church.^[1]

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

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^[1] Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness: Principalities & Powers in Paul’s Letters (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 1992), 141–142.

Burn the Ships - Purity 786

 Burn the Ships – Purity 786

Purity 786 7/17/2022 Purity 786 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of pelicans skimming the surface of the surf underneath as the sun rises from a stand of clouds on the horizon comes to us from a friend who rose early to capture this scene at Wabasso Beach in Florida on July 16^th. 

Well it is Monday again and as the sun rises on a new work week I am marveling over how our movement forward in life also results in the familiar things of the past being left behind.   As we put our best foot forward on the path of Christian Discipleship, and honestly whatever path you are on path , we make decisions that will, perhaps unwittingly or completely intentionally, fundamentally change our lives and sometimes the familiar elements from our pasts will no longer be familiar.  

As I thought about this aspect about moving into the future, I thought of the advice to “not burn your bridges”, which advises against forgetting about where you came from, or from stepping on people on the way up, or offending people while you are on the way out because, honestly, we don’t know what the future will hold and shouldn’t cut ourselves off from the people, places, and things of the past that helped us to get where we are.   

As I have recently transitioned to a new job function, reporting location, church home, and ministry, there were moments in my journey where I was tempted to celebrate the new changes in a way that may have revealed my relief over leaving behind certain aspects of my previous situations that weren’t perfect. In the excitement of new things, the enemy brought to mind the things in those previous situations that were negative,  and he was silent in reminding me of all the good things that I enjoyed in the places I was before.  The enemy tempted me to show my joy over new things in a way that could have offended people that I had no offense against.  

“Look at who is so happy to go, he must have really hated it there.”

That is simply a message that was completely untrue and one I did not want to inadvertently send to people I appreciated having in my life. 

But luckily the Lord is with me via the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit since I put my faith in Jesus Christ and He and the study of the word of God has taught me to be a lot wiser than I was in the past and I have realized that although I have been blessed to move into new things, I was perfectly content with where I was even if there may have been some imperfect aspects or difficult people that were in those old places.  

That’s the most I will say about that.  I’ll keep it real. Not everything was perfect in my former places, but it doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t or couldn’t be content in going back to them tomorrow.  I didn’t burn any bridges.  I don’t think. Although I guess it is possible that the mere fact that I left could be enough to offend some people.  

All the moves I made were either better for me professionally, or personally, and were made after a considerable time of contemplation and through a period of prayer and were only made when I felt that God was subtly directing me to go the way I have followed.   

Of course, I don’t know what the future holds, and it is completely possible that the Lord will direct my path right back to some of the former things, places, and people that I have walked away from.  So you don’t act like a jerk on the way out the door, you don’t burn bridges.  The phrase, at least in my mind, has a negative connotation.  

But let’s face it…while we may not want to leave a path of charred earth in our wake, some of the decisions we make on our journey through life will lead us to a whole new world that may result in never going back to the former things.   

This whole new world concept made me think of the phrase “Burn the Ships” and the song by King & Country, whose lyrics say: 

“Burn the ships, cut the ties

Send a flare into the night

Say a prayer, turn the tide

Dry your tears and wave goodbye

Step into a new day

We can rise up from the dust and walk away

We can dance upon our heartache, yeah

So light a match, leave the past, burn the ships

And don't you look back”

Hey, we’re not burning bridges, okay?  But brother and sisters, sometimes the journey God has put you on puts you at a crossroads where you can make a decision to go to a whole new world.  

The question is: will you take the path to a new world?  And if you do, what does that mean? How do you commit yourself to a path that is unlike anything you have ever done before?  You burn the ships.  

If 1519, Cortez led a Spanish expedition to Mexico. Realizing that his crew was already exhausted from the long sea journey, he had to motivate them to succeed in the “new world”. So he ordered the scuttling of the ships they arrived in. They burned the ships not because they hated them. They burned the ships to motivate them to succeed in their new endeavor, by looking forward, by not looking back, and by intentionally making it difficult for them to return to their old lives. (https://www.markcperna.com/221-burn-your-ships/)  

"Burning the Ships" means doing something that makes it impossible for yourself to turn back, especially if it is done willfully and without necessity.” (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BurningTheShips#:~:text=%22Burning%20the%2Fyour%20ships%2F,invasion%20fleet%20to%20be%20burnt.)

“Burning your ships” doesn’t necessarily have to be as dramatic or extreme as what Cortez did. In fact, Cortez’s ruthlessness conquest of Mexico is not the model we want to follow!  

We follow God the Father, the Prince of Peace: Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.      

But when we answer the call of God on our lives, put our faith in Christ, and begin walking in the Spirit, we shouldn’t be surprised when we are given opportunities that will call us to leave behind what’s familiar and to pursue something that could lead to “the good” for ourselves and others.   Whether it’s a new career path, a new church, or a new ministry, we can’t really be surprised when the Lord responds to our heart’s cry to “send me”, when we get the invitations to “be sent”!  

It's like God is testing our faith and is saying: “Here's your opportunity, what are you going to do with it?  Oh yeah, I know it’s different. Will you trust me as I help you to make “all things new” in your life? Will you be “bold and courageous? Will you?”  

Now listen, before you run into the office and quit you job today,  make sure you are listening to the voice of the Lord. Seek His wisdom and guidance and follow the path that He would have you take.  

We should always try to be wise and follow His leadings and do so in a manner where we are good, faithful, kind, gentle, patient, loving, and self-controlled. 

We don’t burn bridges by being unkind, ungrateful, rude, or unappreciative towards those we have walked with but are now being separated from in our voyage to the new world God directs us to.     

Although Abraham was called to follow God into the wilderness and to leave His family behind, He didn’t say “See ya, wouldn’t want to be ya” At least that’s not recorded in scripture… 

But we might need to “burn the ships”, so we don’t look back. We might have to say goodbye to even the good things in our pasts to say hello to the new things in our future.  

So keep walking and talking with God.  He only wants what’s good for us but that doesn’t mean that He doesn’t have places for us to go to and new people to talk to and to share our lives with.  Hey, in Christ, like the Nina Simone song says “ It’s a new dawn, It’s a new day, It’s a new life…” so remind yourself to do what Jesus would do and be kind and be bold as you follow your heavenly Father’s directions to the new world He has for you.  

 

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”

This morning’s meditation verse is:

1 Timothy 6:17 (NLT2)
¹⁷  Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.

In today’s verse, we are encouraged to not to trust in the riches of this world and to trust in God for all we need for our enjoyment.  

The state of our post Christian society in America shows us that those who are spiritually blind they don’t see a need for a relationship with God.  In my interactions with some non-believers, I have gotten the impression that because they have some degree of financial security, they believe they don’t need God because they are providing for themselves. They are paying the bills and have a “good life” so they claim that they don’t need what God has to offer. They turn a blind eye to the big spiritual question of life and death by either claiming a belief of no afterlife, some form of reincarnation, or in a nebulous non demanding god of their own creation that will accept all into heaven, or at least the “good” people like them without any conditions or discernable relationship with Him. 

But mostly their focus was on the here and now: the things they can buy, the place they could go, the rich experiences they can have because of the money that their hard work or cleverness could provide.  Rather than seeking the Lord, they are enjoying and trusting in the money that make their good lives possible.  

I’m not advocating poverty here.  The Lord provides us with our ability to work and provide for ourselves and we are to be good stewards of what we have been entrusted with to provide for ourselves and our families and if we are given the opportunity to enjoy prosperity we shouldn’t feel guilty about it.  

But we shouldn’t forsake a relationship with God because of money.  Money won’t last forever. Our lives on earth are finite and even if our fortunes are vast, our lives wil expire and we won’t benefit from our vast reserves of wealth in the afterlife.  

Only having peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ, gives us a “place prepared for us” in God’s kingdom.   So we should not tire ourselves by chasing after riches and by putting our trust in our money rather than God.  

God is eternal and He is the only One who can give us the security that never runs out and can’t be spent.   So trust in the One who can give us all we need for our enjoyment and the One who can give us life everlasting: trust in God by putting your faith and Jesus and following where the Holy Spirit leads.

______________________________________________________________________

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 continue sharing from Clinton E. Arnold’s “Powers of Darkness”

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Clinton Arnold’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available on many websites for less than $20.00.

In Christ

Paul’s favorite expression for describing the position of the believer is “in Christ.” The phrase (and its cognates) occur well over 200 times in Paul’s writings. It is packed with deep significance for understanding who we are as Christ’s redeemed people. Its frequency underlines Paul’s desire for believers to see themselves closely linked to their victorious Lord.

We may begin explaining it by describing what it is not. It should be distinguished from living “in darkness,” “in sin,” “in the world,” “in Adam” and “in the flesh.” It is interesting that Paul never referred to the pre-Christian life as being lived “in Satan” or “in the devil.” This fact highlights the qualitatively different relationship that occurs between the believer and Christ compared to the nonbeliever and the devil.

The person who is “in Christ” has experienced a fundamental change. Paul says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor 5:17; italics mine). A divine creative activity occurs in the life of a person who becomes a Christian. Donald Guthrie explains that this refers to “the death of the old creation dominated by adverse spiritual forces, and the emergence of a new creation in which everything is Christ-centred.”

Being “in Christ” also reflects an initiation into a new age. Christ’s death and resurrection inaugurated “the age to come,” consisting of life, righteousness, peace and joy. In contrast, Adam is the representative of life in the present age. Through Adam came sin, condemnation and death (Rom 5:12–14). Paul can therefore say, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor 15:22).

Paul’s concept of being “in Christ” is not a mystical idea of absorption into a pantheistically conceived deity with a resultant loss of individuality—like a drop of water falling into the ocean. In Christ self is maintained, but unity and relationship with an empowering and directing leader is the distinctive trait. This truth comes out most clearly in Paul’s concept of believers being members of “the body of Christ.”

Joined to Christ and to One Another

The new identity of the believer must also be understood in connection with what Paul termed “the body of Christ.” The work of the Holy Spirit joins every new believer to the body of Christ upon conversion (1 Cor 12:13). The body image is one of Paul’s methods for depicting the solidarity of believers with one another and their closeness to Christ. Paul stressed the interdependence of the various members of the body because God has uniquely endowed each person with a particular ability (charisma) to minister to others (1 Cor 12:1–30).

When he wrote to the Ephesians and the Colossians, Paul took the image one step further, describing Christ as the “head” of the body (Eph 1:22–23; Col 1:18). As the “head,” Paul implied that Christ functions, not only in a position of leadership, but also as “the inspiring, ruling, guiding, combining, sustaining power, the mainspring of its activity, the centre of its unity, and the seat of its life.” The head truly empowers the body and enables it to fulfill its mission in spite of intense demonic hostility. The head is able to accomplish this because God has exalted Christ and placed all of the evil demonic powers under his feet (see Eph 1:22). We believers must respond to the leading impulses of the head and receive his enabling power.

The same thought is expressed with Paul’s image of the church as the bride of Christ (Eph 5:22–33). This image, above all others, emphasizes the closeness and intimacy Christ desires to have with his people. Christ not only loves his people and sacrifices his life for them, but he also “feeds and cares” for them (Eph 5:29). Out of his divine resources he gives them all they need for life and godliness.^[1]

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

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^[1] Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness: Principalities & Powers in Paul’s Letters (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 1992), 112–114.

Moving On Up – The Path of the Upward Call – Purity 753

 

Moving On Up – The Path of the Upward Call – Purity 753

Purity 753 06/09/2022  Purity 753

Good morning,

Today’s photo of the “Waite Road Comet” comes to us from yours truly as I was out walking the dog this past Sunday and took this “no look” photo only to discover later that I had captured the sun sitting atop a cirrus cloud formation giving us this “comet like” scene. 

Well it is Thursday, and I share today’s photo today because it features a pathway, Waite Rd is just outside my country side home so get used to it, and this comet like feature directs our gaze to the heavens. I share pictures of pathways on Thursdays because today is the day I have traditionally taught recovery ministry, and now lead a Men’s Freedom in Christ Discipleship Course on Zoom, where I encourage others to start, or to continue, the journey on the path of Christian Discipleship to discover, or to maintain, their freedom in Christ.  And I am using the “Waite Rd Comet” in today’s photo to similarly encourage my friends to look up and to answer the “upward call” on their lives,   As

Philippians 3:14 (NKJV) says
¹⁴  I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

So yeah, that is written to the body of Christ, and it wasn’t just the Apostle Paul’s call to answer. The “upward call of God” is to follow the Lord’s will for our lives by living according to the wisdom of the Word of God and by finding and fulfilling our purpose in Christ.   

What exactly is that for you? 

I don’t know.  But the Lord does and somewhere in your heart of hearts, you may have an idea of what you “should have always done: but haven’t.  

God made us to be the unique individuals that we are, giving us specific talents, abilities, and dispositions. Why does one person have certain talents and seem to be called to pursue a certain path in life and why does that vary so much from person to person?   

We could talk about nature and nuture, about our genetics, our temperaments, and our environments all day long and wonder why “it has to be this way” or we could accept where we are today and set a course for tomorrow.

In 2019, my divorce finalized and I found myself faced with the reality that I had to pay spousal support, that means less money, and that I had to find a place to live because the terms of the divorce when completely fulfilled included the sale of my house in Craryville, and my compensation from the potential sale would be next to zero.  

So, I was faced with some cold hard facts like – I need money! – I nee a place to live! – What am I going to do!?    

Luckily, I wasn’t alone.  And no this tale doesn’t include the church body coming to save the day, nor does it include friends, or family coming to the rescue. 

Quite frankly, in many ways in life we are completely on our own and have to deal with our problems by ourselves. So it would seem that  I was “BY MYSELF”, as I am reminded of a Kevin Hart comedy routine where he described a street hardened individual who described his experience by saying: “ALL DAY, JUST ME , BY MYSELF, On The Block, Holding in it down, Gun in my waist, straight face, ALL DAY, Not a Game… etc.   – Luckily it wasn’t that way for me, not really. 

I wasn’t alone. I had been walking with the Lord since 2010 and He had led me out of the darkness of my addiction, and I knew He could help lead me out of the mess I found myself in. 

And sure enough, I felt what I believe to be His inward compulsions and intuition from the Holy Spirit to start working towards solutions.  And even though it was a process that didn’t have any quick fixes, I followed the Lord’s leadings and in June of 2020, He lead me to my new home “down by the River”.  

Part of our walk as Christians is to solve the problems before us. So we lean on the Lord’s strength, apply His wisdom to our lives, and keep going onward and upward into the life that He has for us, the life we always wanted but were afraid to pursue because we thought it was “too hard” or that we were inadequate or deficient in some way. 

Before Christ, we were deficient. We were spiritually dead and consumed by the flesh.  But after we put our faith in Jesus, we receive the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit and are given a new spiritual life. We are made free from sin and death.

We will live forever with the Lord in eternity and are given the power to overcome the sins of the flesh that kept us in chains and to break the mental strongholds that made us think we weren’t good enough to live the life that we wanted and the Lord calls us to.

Through our faith in Christ, with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can face harsh realities and have peace. We can persevere and eventually move out of difficult situations with joy.  The Apostle Paul’s testimony encourages us. He said in:

Philippians 4:11-14 (NLT2)
¹¹  Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. ¹²  I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. ¹³  For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
¹⁴  Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.

I shared from the NLT because it simplifies the message.  Many just share Philippians 4:13, that “we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us” but I like to share the preceding verses and  verse 14, because they keep it real, stating that we are to be content in every situation, in times of plenty or in times where we lack, and they fully admit to the reality of “present” difficulties.  

Life isn’t perfect the moment you become a Christian, but if you keep walking and talking with God and apply His wisdom to your life, things will get better, although they could get worse for a season or three, but the beauty of walking with the Lord is that even if you are “BY MYSELF”,  you never have to walk alone and you can have peace in the storm and joy that goes beyond your understanding and exists regardless of the present difficulties that you face.   

So keep going, keep going with God.  We will all face God in eternity and if you walk with Him now, through faith in Jesus Christ, oh yeah I said it, there will be no confusion about whether or not you are His.  When you are in Christ, He knows you and He calls you to follow Him.  And one day, when He calls you home, you will know the truth of your salvation and purpose in Christ when you finally see the prize for answering the upward call on your life.

______________________________________________________________

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Proverbs 20:7 (NLT2)
⁷  The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them.

Today’s Bible verse reminds us that the godly walk in integrity and that their children can benefit if they are faithful to follow in their footsteps.  

Proverbs is one of the books that are considered to be “wisdom literature” in the Old Testament and here we see some simple wisdom that we should apply to our lives.  

Integrity is defined as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.” For the Christian,  moral principles aren’t based on the latest trends in our culture but are based on the truth of God’s word.  The Bible’s standards are less permissive that our society’s standards where “anything goes”.  What’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong is based on what God says in His word not on our feelings or our opinions.    

In fact, I had an idea of writing a book about living according to Christian ethics and titling the book “God said it was wrong” because in my walk I have seen Christians “take their liberty” in things that the Bible either implies or directly states that you shouldn’t.  

Walking in Godly integrity is living according to the word of God so we should do that, rather than claim our forgiveness and freedom to cover what could be either overt or subtle transgressions of God’s word.   

It’s not an easy road and the longer you walk with the Lord you become more and more aware of the many ways that you “miss the mark” of God’s righteousness, but we can grow and make changes when we become aware of the lies we have believed, or the errors that we have made, or are still making.    

The key is to keep walking in integrity because it brings us closer to the Lord’s will for our lives and it provides a good example for others.  

As today’s verse states our children could be blessed by our decision to walk in godly integrity.   Kids learn from their parents and often follow in their footsteps. So we should provide an example of integrity with the way we live our lives. The good we do today could be seen and influence our children tomorrow.  

So be honest and live by the principles found in God’s word because a life of godly integrity can not only bless your life, it could bless the lives of those who follow close behind.  

 

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 Clinton E. Arnold’s “Powers of Darkness: Principalities & Powers in Paul’s Letters”.  

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Clinton Arnold’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available on many websites for less than $20.00.

POWERS OF DARKNESS

Clinton E. Arnold

Principalities & Powers in Paul’s Letters

Introduction

In 1992 Salem, Massachusetts, commemorated the 300th anniversary of the city’s infamous witch trials. More than 400 persons were accused of being witches in the inquisition. Of these, 150 were jailed, 14 women and 5 men were hung, and one supposed witch was crushed to death under several tons of rock.

Today, as visitors tour an 1845 stone church converted into Salem’s Witch Museum, the museum narrator greets them with, “Welcome to the Witch Museum. Do you believe in witches? Millions of our ancestors did.”

Many people today find it incredible that our forebears gave credence to these ideas. How could anyone possibly believe that “witches” have actual supernatural powers, that spell-casting can work, and that evil spirits wreak all kinds of terror in peoples’ lives? For most, these beliefs were rendered obsolete with the rise of the scientific age and the spread of educational opportunity for everyone.

Now, three centuries after the witch trials, no threat of a similar inquisition is looming, and I hope that that threat never will loom. But there is an upsurge of interest in witchcraft and the occult throughout the West. Note, for instance, the following advertisement that appeared in a recent tabloid:

I will cast a spell for you. I can cast a spell to make one love another, or cause a person to change his mind about a relationship, or bring two people together. I can do all these things because I have the combined powers of my mother who was a sorceress and my father, one of the most powerful warlocks who passed on his secrets to me moments before he moved on to a different world. My magical powers are beyond your imagination. I can cast a spell in your behalf regarding a relationship, your financial situation, future events, or whatever is important to you. I have the power and I use the power.

This announcement is typical of a number of occultic advertisements that appear regularly in tabloids throughout the United States.

This burgeoning interest in the occult is not a local fad but a trend in Western society. The growing fascination in the occult of the sixties became what the eminent history of religions scholar Mircea Eliade termed an “occult explosion” in the seventies. He notes, “As a historian of religions, I cannot fail to be impressed by the amazing popularity of witchcraft in modern Western culture and its subcultures.… The contemporary interest in witchcraft is only part and parcel of a larger trend, namely the vogue of the occult and the esoteric from astrology and pseudospiritualist movements to Hermetism, alchemy, Zen, Yoga, Tantrism, and other Oriental gnoses and techniques.”³ Then came the New Age movement, a definite “explosion” in its own right during the eighties and continuing vigorously into the nineties. The movement received a strong impetus from the publicity it received from a number of entertainment celebrities who popularized its teachings. The religious vocabulary of the West expanded with a barrage of neologisms such as “channeling” (getting in contact with a spiritual entity), “spirit guide” (a spiritual entity who provides information), “cosmic consciousness” (the perception that all in the universe is “one”) and “astral flight” (soul travel during meditation or the night).

It is difficult to gauge the size of this growing “movement” since it is loosely organized. Its current popularity can best be seen by perusing the shelves of any bookstore. Increasing space is given to the literally thousands of New Age publications. Businesses and corporations are hosting more and more “human potential” seminars based on New Age principles. The New Age concept of channeling has grown increasingly popular, especially in Southern California. A Los Angeles Times poll revealed that more women in West Los Angeles are consulting channelers than psychologists or counselors. In a recent cover story, entitled “New Age Harmonies,” Time magazine summarized the surprisingly rapid acceptance and popularity of the movement in many sectors of Western society.

The New Age movement is characterized by a monistic world view that has much in common with classic Hinduism. Monism is the belief that the entire universe is a living unified whole. God permeates the entire universe, and in a sense every person is a part of God. God and humanity are therefore one. What is needed, according to this view, is a change in our consciousness to heighten our level of awareness into our essential unity with the divine. The New Age movement also has a lively belief in the realm of spirits and thus practices forms of divination and magic (under the euphemism “channeling”). For this reason some evangelical analysts have described the heart of the New Age religion as occultism.

Given this rise in occultism, expressed also in the form of the New Age movement, we need to ask if the church is alert and ready to face this fresh challenge? Is the church prepared to effectively handle the spiritual problems that will surface in ministering to people who have opened their lives to the direct and immediate influence of the realm of Satan?

There are some encouraging signs. Many evangelical seminaries and Christian colleges are offering courses in spiritual warfare (or the equivalent) and, almost invariably, these courses have turned out to be the most popular courses among the students. Quite a number of books and articles have also appeared, treating topics on spiritual warfare, demon possession, counseling the demonized, and the New Age movement. Regrettably, the Christian community has not been well served with material dealing with a biblical perspective on demons, principalities and powers, and the nature of the church’s conflict with the powers of evil. I hope that this book can be a helpful first installment on developing a biblical perspective on the powers of darkness.

But is this topic relevant for everyone? Certainly not everyone in the church has had contact with professing Satanists or witches, with New Age advocates, or with those deeply involved in the occult. Furthermore, this topic is rather frightening. Why spend time exploring the varied dimensions of evil, especially in terms of demons and evil spirits? Would it not be better to avoid this topic altogether and spend the time meditating on the positive aspects of our Christian life?

I believe this topic is important for all Christians because it touches us in a profound way, regardless of whether we have had any involvement in the occult. The Bible teaches not only that evil spirits exist, but also that they are actively hostile to all Christians; their perverse instigations adversely affect our day-to-day life and the lives of those around us. The Bible consequently provides us with vital information, information designed to give Christians an appropriate perspective on these malicious forces and how to deal with their activity against us.

My personal interest in this theme originated during the course of my doctoral studies. Nestled in my office high in a tower of the sixteenth-century King’s College of the University of Aberdeen (Scotland), I banged away on a keyboard, researching and writing on the biblical concept of power. I was not far into my research before I realized that it was nigh well impossible to study the power of God without studying the opposing sphere of power, the kingdom of Satan. The end result was a dissertation entitled, “The Power of God and the Powers of Evil in Ephesians,” a study of this theme in one New Testament letter.

Not only in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, but also throughout the New Testament, Christ is portrayed in terms of a struggle with the powers of darkness. Jesus confronted the demonic in his earthly ministry, dealt a decisive blow to the kingdom of evil on the cross, continues to wage war against the hosts of Satan through the church, and will finally vanquish Satan and his forces once and for all after his Second Coming. Christ’s conflict with the powers of evil surfaces as a major theme in New Testament theology. Surprisingly, this theme has been terribly neglected in the exegetical and theological study of the New Testament. Why? I am not certain. It may be due partly to the Western post-Enlightenment world view that has interpreted the New Testament references to evil spirits as outmoded primitive myth.

The grip of our common Western world view provides yet another reason for this book. In contrast to people in Africa, Korea, China, and other parts of the non-Western world, we have grown up disbelieving in the realm of spirits, demons and angels. Most Westerners, if asked, “Do you believe in evil spirits?” would say no. This is also true of many Christians in the West, although we display some doublemindedness on the issue. Many Christians would affirm a belief in demons because they are mentioned in the Bible (and perhaps because some missionaries have come home with tales about dealing with the demonic). In actual fact, however, the spirit realm may have no more a part of a given Christian’s world view than it does of that person’s non-Christian neighbor. It is tough to break the all-pervasive influence of one’s culture. If the realm of spirits and angels is a dominant part of the biblical world view, it should thus be a dominant part of a Christian world view in our age.

In the following pages I hope to show precisely what role evil spiritual powers had in the world view of one of Christianity’s most brilliant and inspired thinkers, the apostle Paul. Comprising about one-quarter of our New Testament, Paul’s letters constitute an important source for building a Christian world view today.^[1]

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Pat

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^[1] Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness: Principalities & Powers in Paul’s Letters (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 1992), 13–17.