"Smile" - The Enemy Hiding in Plain Sight - Purity 859

"Smile" - The Enemy Hiding in Plain Sight - Purity 859

Purity 859 10/11/2022 Purity 859 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a display of the fruits of the harvest of autumn comes to us from a friend who visited Longwood Gardens in Kenneth Square Pennsylvania back on October 1^st and shared this among many other photos of the garden grounds on social media.   

Well, we are eleven days deep into the tenth month of the year and yesterday the stress of watching my beloved suffer from dental pain all weekend and the less than idyllic weather on the last day of our extended weekend sent me to Regal Cinemas yesterday afternoon to unwind by tensing up to the suspenseful macabre delights of a film called “Smile”, and although I heard some relieved laughter after a few “jump scares” in the theatre there was really nothing to smile or laugh about as this horror movie unwittingly portrayed some scenes and themes that were logically consistent with the realities of  demonic oppression and possession and how our secular society is ill equipped to resist and defeat the powers of darkness

While “Smile” was grotesquely over the top and “schlocky” with some of its special effects near the climax of the action, the movie was entertaining and informative if you have a knowledge of the scriptures in the Bible concerning the spiritual forces of darkness and how Satan operates.   

The premise of the movie is that people are being tormented and being driven to insanity and compelled to suicide or murder by an enemy that no one can see, who uses visions and memories of the past to torment its victims. The phenomenon looks like mental illness or a curse as the terror and carnage move from host to host leaving a trail of trauma and blood in its wake.    

Without giving away too much of the film, the main character is a psychiatrist who has unresolved issues in her past that drives her to serve in her post at the psychiatric ER with religious devotion, working 80 hour weeks. She also is under family stress due to issues with her PTA picture perfect sister and from being engaged to be married to a picture perfect fiancé.  All the “perfect” pictures in this woman’s life are exposed to the light of truth when she is suddenly exposed to the spiritual forces of darkness as one of her patient’s complains of an unseen evil entity tormenting her moments before she commits suicide in front of her with a silent and devilish grin.  

In the ensuing drama we see that the unseen enemy torments this young doctor to see things that aren’t there, to do horrific things she can’t remember, and to be confronted with the unresolved issues of her past.  

She pleads with doctors, family, and her fiancé to understand that what is happening to here is caused by evil spirit and no one believes her and fears that she has simply lost her mind.  

Because this entity requires a “witness” to be carried on to the next host, the main character makes the unwise decision to isolate and do battle with this, I’ll say it, demon with her imagination, on her own?  

Again, no spoilers, but let’s just say that there is more than ample room for a sequel, because although the demons of this doctor’s past are resolved, the continuation of the dark entity may be another story…  

The things that popped out for me in “Smile” that make me endorse it for as a somewhat accurate portrayal of demonic oppression and a decent movie to give you a few chills, although the running time may have been a little too long, are the way the film subtly laid out the things that can cause a demon to attach itself to someone and how a demon could flourish.  

In describing Satan, Christ says in

John 10:10 (NKJV)
¹⁰  The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…

The dark entity in “Smile” definitely came to steal and destroy the peace and sanity of its victims and actively sough to kill thtem.

James 4:7 (NKJV) tells us
⁷  Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  

Although the doctor in “Smile” was told by her patient, and was herself later convinced that, this situation was caused by a spiritual force of darkness, no one in this entire movie ever even mention a spiritual remedy to try to cast it out. No mention of the Bible, no mention of God, priests, or even voodoo or white magic or any spiritual means were considered to solve this problem.   

In our modern secular post Christian society, this shouldn’t be too surprising but I knew that the only thing that can cast out darkness is the spiritual power and authority of the light of the world found in Christ alone.

Instead the doctor actually asks for medication to make the disturbing images go away and then only seeks to play by the enemy’s rules and in her desperation even considers murdering someone else to save her own life and pass on the demon to some one else.   

Instead of submitting to God, the doctor considers submitting to Satan!

And you may ask yourself why is this doctor selected by this dark spirit, how can she be tormented so badly by this unseen enemy.  

Ephesians 4:26-27 (NKJV)
²⁶  "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
²⁷  nor give place to the devil.

As I indicated the doctor had no relationship with the Lord.  She wasn’t submitting to God but by her lifestyle of casual sin also makes room for the enemy in her life.  

In the early going we see the doctor self-medicates against stress with alcohol, against the Bible’s clear instruction against drunkenness.  

The doctor lives with her fiancé, from which we can surmise that she has gone against the word of God by committing fornication.    

And finally, she has unresolved guilt from the past that the enemy delights in tormenting her with that could have been removed by a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ.   

In the thick of the action of when the doctor decides to fight the enemy,  the dark spirit cackles: “Your mind is SO inviting!” which caused me to think that the enemy really is hiding in plain sight in this movie and seems to be cackling at the audience who disbelieves in the spiritual forces of darkness, who has no relationship with God, has no conviction of the sin in their lives, and who finds entertainment in a movie that puts the enemy’s dark arts on display.  

At the end of the film, some people actually applauded as there was room for more fun with this dark spirit as a sequel is all but certain.    

I know, it’s just a movie, right?   Society is basically good and we only watch these things for entertainment, right?  

Well, let’s just say I think it is dark out there and things are getting darker as the more secular we become the enemy is drawing people deeper into sins that are now common place where they were taboo in no too distant past.

Rather than resist the devil, people resist God.  

I wouldn’t think that’s true but over the weekend I had a comment on my videos on You Tube, that suggest that because Christians should pray for sinners, that we should pray for the biggest sinner of them all, Satan.  Even in jest, the suggestion to pray for the Evil One really shows the spirit of darkness, rebellion, and ignorance that is common in our world.   

Revelation 20:10 (NKJV) tells us
¹⁰  The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

So as scary as the enemy can seem He is defeated foe. He causes evil to flourish in the hearts of men and He is not worthy of our prayers or sympathy.  

 

So as we walk through the spooky month of October, let those around you know that God is in charge and although the spiritual forces of darkness and the evil that they perpetrate in the hearts of men will be overcome by the Lord when Christ returns and that if we submit to God and resist the devil in our lives we can live in peace and safety with the Lord’s protection. 

 

The enemy may be hiding in plain sight these days but we should point Him out when we see flee and cause him to flee by the power and authority that Jesus gives to all the people who put their faith in Him.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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:

Matthew 16:25 (NKJV)
²⁵  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Today’s Bible verse encourages us to put our faith in Jesus as He assures us that our life is found when we lose it for Him.  

Christ encourages us to pick up our cross and to follow Him in the previous verse and this is the promise for those who do that.

If we surrender our lives to the purposes of Christ, we will find life in Him.

But if we choose our own plan for saving our lives, by our own efforts or reasoning we will lose our life.  So keep walking and talking with God and follow Christ and you will be saved.

___________________________________________

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 Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Discipleship”, also known as “The Cost of Discipleship”

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

Chapter Six

The Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5

On the “Extraordinary” of Christian Life

The Beatitudes – Continues

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” No rights they might claim protect this community of strangers in the world. Nor do they claim any such rights, for they are the meek, who renounce all rights of their own for the sake of Jesus Christ. When they are berated, they are quiet. When violence is done to them, they endure it. When they are cast out, they yield. They do not sue for their rights; they do not make a scene when injustice is done them. They do not want rights of their own. They want to leave all justice to God; non cupidi vindictae [not desirous of vengeance]^[22] is the interpretation of the early church. What is right for their Lord should be right for them. Only that. In every word, in every gesture, it is revealed that they do not belong on this earth. Let them have heaven, the world says sympathetically, that is where they belong. But Jesus says, they will inherit the earth. The earth belongs to these who are without rights and power. Those who now possess the earth with violence and injustice will lose it, and those who renounced it here, who were meek unto the cross, will rule over the new earth. We should not think here of God’s punishing justice in this world (Calvin).^[24] Rather, when the realm of heaven will descend, then the form of the earth will be renewed, and it will be the earth of the community of Jesus. God does not abandon the earth. God created it. God sent God’s Son to earth. God built a community on earth. Thus, the beginning is already made in this world’s time. A sign is given. Already here the powerless are given a piece of the earth; they have the church, their community, their property, their brothers and sisters—in the midst of persecution even unto the cross. But Golgotha, too, is a piece of the earth. From Golgotha, where the meekest died, the earth will be made new. When the realm of God comes, then the meek will inherit the earth.^[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] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 105–106.

Do you want to be made well? - Choosing to Believe the Truth - Purity 841

Do you want to be made well? - Choosing the Believe the Truth  - Purity 841

Purity 841 09/20/2022  Purity 841 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a large heron standing in the surf of the Gulf of Mexico comes to us from the Church at the Well in Cullman Alabama who recently organized a Ladies Beach Trip and shared over 80 photos of their adventures to Orange Beach.  

How do I know the Church at the Well in Cullman Alabama being a Yankee amongst the “frozen chosen” in upstate New York? 

Well last fall I participated in a training conference that Freedom in Christ Ministries put on in Latham where the conference attendees were introduced to Pastor Mike and Chare’ Rester who gave their testimony of how Chare’ had suffered from bizarre medical symptoms and seizures that defied medical explanation and how she was healed after going through the Steps to Freedom in Christ. 

I will always remember Pastor Mike’s emphatic and passionate plea to the conference attendees to complete their training as Community Freedom Ministry Associates and to help others to receive healing and resolution to spiritual conflicts and to let the world know of the reality of the spiritual forces of darkness that can oppress even those in the body of Christ.   Pastor Mike had seen the enemy face to face and it was clear that he he would never forget how his family suffered because of a supernatural enemy that seeks to destroy us. His voice rang out through the conference room as he concluded his statements by saying: “There are demons and we have to fight the enemy!”  

While I enjoy this morning’s photo I reminded that as beautiful as this world can be at times, there is an unseen enemy that seeks to deceive, tempt, condemn, and accuse us and to lead mankind away from the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God.    

Tonight I host the third session of the Men’s Freedom in Christ Discipleship Course that I facilitate on Zoom for Freedom in Christ Ministries and I have already received reports from one of the group that he believes that he is under spiritual attack with negative thought and temptations that have been on the increase since he started the course.  

Tonight’s lesson is on Choosing to believe the Truth and in my short stint in this latest ministry role I know this is the week that the enemy like to afflict people as my past two sessions had participants report difficulties in their spiritual walk or who ended up having to miss the session unexpectantly.   

The enemy doesn’t want people to know who they are in Christ and that our freedom and victory as Christians is not the product of some magical blessing as much as it is driven by our choice to believe what God’s word says, to live according to it, and to continue to walk in faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit.   

Tonight’s lesson reveals that we have a role to play in our relationship with God and that the reception of our healing and victory comes from making the decision to believe and to follow the Lord. 

Unfortunately, some Christians still believe the fallacy that faith is some magical characteristic that God imparts to some and not to others.  

“I only wish I could have faith like “so & so”!”  

You can! Choose to believe God’s word! Choose to apply His wisdom to your life by changing the way you live to match up with His ways! And keep choosing to do that!

If you don’t know what the Bible says: Read it.  If you want a better prayer life, set time aside and pray.  

Our part is to seek the Lord and keep on seeking Him.   And when we do that our faith grows as our minds are renewed by His word and our lives are changed by  the positive experiences we encounter when we start walking in God’s ways. 

So if you are one of those Christians that are wishing for God to give you “great faith”, start walking towards Him by taking action to know what His word says and apply it to your life. 

The spiritual forces of darkness will attempt to distract you with temptations in this world to stay away from the things of God and they will condemn you that you aren’t good enough to “have faith”.  But the truth is that you can choose to have a deeper walk with God, you can overcome the things that keep you stuck, but you have to choose it.  

John 5:6 (NKJV) tells us about the healing of a man that was unable to walk for 38 years. It says
⁶  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"

So do you want to be made well?  Christ asked the question to make the man choose whether he would stay where he was or to rise up and walk into a whole new life.  

It’s the same with us. Do you want to be well?  If so, you have to choose to believe the truth and keep walking and talking with God until you see that the old has been made new and the further you go you’ll see and experience the fact that you have been set free the moment you said “Yes” to Christ and it was only a matter of choosing to get up and follow Him to know it.    

 

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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:

Hosea 14:9 (NKJV)
⁹  Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right; The righteous walk in them, But transgressors stumble in them.

Today’s Bible verse speaks of the fact the Lord’s ways are right and that the righteous walk in them because they are wise and prudent.  

We all want to be wise right?  And today’s verse indicates that it is wisdom to walk in the ways of the Lord. The verse assures us that God’s way is the right way and thus if we walk in them we will be righteous.  

But transgressors, those who ignore God’s ways and choose their own wordly ways are guaranteed to stumble through life.  I know I  got tired of falling down and stumbling over the negative consequences of doing things my way.  So the Lord shared His wisdom and understanding with me and I realized that His word was true and if I walked in His ways I wouldn’t stumble like I used to. 

Today’s verse encourages us to follow the Lord’s ways and live a life that is right.  And I encourage you to listen and follow the Lord’s lead into a righteous life that is wise and prudent.

 

______________________________________________________________________

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 Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Discipleship”, also known as “The Cost of Discipleship”

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

Chapter Two

The Call to Discipleship - Continued

At this point let us now take a look at Christian pastoral care. It is particularly important for pastors giving care to speak from knowledge of both of these statements. They need to know that sorrow over a lack of faith repeatedly comes from disobedience, which may be intentional or even no longer noticed, and that such sorrow all too often corresponds to the comfort of cheap grace. But the disobedience remains unbroken, and words of grace become a consolation which the disobedient grant to themselves and a forgiveness of sins they accord themselves. But for such people, the Christian message becomes empty; they no longer hear it. Even though they forgive themselves a thousand times over, they are incapable of believing in true forgiveness, because in truth, it has not been granted them. Unbelief feeds on cheap grace, because it clings to disobedience. This is a common situation in today’s pastoral care. What then happens is that people get so stubborn in their disobedience through their self-granted forgiveness that they claim they can no longer discern what is good and what is God’s command. They claim it is ambiguous and permits various interpretations. At first they know clearly that they were disobedient, but their knowledge is gradually dimmed until they become unapproachable. Then the disobedient have entangled themselves so badly that they simply are no longer able to hear the word. Then they can no longer have faith. Something like the following conversation will take place between the obstinate disbeliever and the pastor: “I can believe no longer.”—“Listen to the Word, it is being proclaimed to you!”—“I hear it, but it doesn’t say anything to me. It seems empty to me; it is beyond me.”—“You don’t want to hear.”—“Yes, I do.” With that, they reach the point where most pastoral conversations break off, because the pastors do not know what is going on. They only know the one statement: only the believer obeys. With this statement, they are no longer able to help the obstinate unbeliever, who does not and cannot have this kind of faith. Pastors think they are standing here before an ultimate puzzle, that God gives faith to some and denies it to others. With this one statement, they surrender their efforts. The obstinate persons remain alone and continue to bewail their predicament. But this is the turning point in the conversation. The change is a complete one. There is no longer any sense in arguing; the questions and worries of the other person are no longer taken so seriously. Instead the person hiding behind them is taken all the more seriously. The pastor breaks through the walls such a person has built with the statement, “Only the obedient have faith.” So the conversation is interrupted, and the pastor’s next sentence is, “You are disobedient; you refuse to obey Christ; you desire to keep a piece of autonomy for yourself. You cannot hear Christ, because you are disobedient; you cannot believe in grace, because you do not want to obey. You have hardened some corner of your heart against Christ’s call. Your trouble is your sin.” At this point Christ reappears on the scene; he attacks the devil in the other person, who until then had been hiding behind cheap grace. At that point everything depends on the pastor having both statements ready: only the obedient believe, and only the believer obeys. In the name of Jesus, the pastor must call the other to obedience, to a deed, to a first step. Leave what binds you and follow him! At that moment everything depends on that step. The position taken by the disobedient person must be broken through, for in it Christ can no longer be heard. Fugitives must leave the hiding places they built for themselves. Only when they get out of them can they again see, hear, and believe freely. Indeed, as far as Christ is concerned, doing the deed itself gains nothing; it remains a dead work. But in spite of that, Peter has to step out onto the rolling sea, so that he can believe.

In short, the situation is that people have poisoned themselves with cheap grace by the statement that only the believer obeys. They remain disobedient and console themselves with a forgiveness that they grant themselves, and in doing so, they close themselves off from the word of God. The fortress walls around them cannot be broken through, so long as all they hear is the statement they are hiding behind being repeated. A change has to come about by calling people to obedience: only the obedient have faith!

Will people thus be led down the fatal path of belief in their own works? No, they will learn instead that their faith is not faith; they will be liberated from their entanglement with themselves. They have to get out in the fresh air of a decision. In that way Jesus’ call to faith and discipleship is made audible anew.^[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] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 67–69.

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------------------------

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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.