Spiritual Warfare – James Farrell Fisher

Satan’s ‘Religious Zealots’ or Christ’s Re-Born Disciples?

James Farrell Fisher — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 14:11:38 +0000

“SATAN’S ‘RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS’

OR CHRIST’S RE-BORN DISCIPLES?”

Examine our vast world of population explosion on every continent and every nation of the vast world and their divided allegiances between the ‘kingdom of darkness’ and Christ’s “Kingdom of Light”! There ARE those deceived who believe in the reality of “mixed blessings”, assuming: “I’m devoted to Christ, but I enjoy and am excited by, at times, my ‘fleshly indulgences’. You see, I think God understands that one can have the best of both worlds.” Really?

It’s so illuminating and convicting and convincing about one’s choosing to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and His passions OR, though ‘believing’, to find one’s self “deceived by the powers of darkness”!

In Joshua 24:14-15 we read of Joshua challenging his people, Israel, who’d been in bondage but by the grace of God had been freed. Joshua said: “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and ‘put away the gods which your fathers served’ on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seeks evil to you to serve the Lord, CHOOSE FOR YOURSELVES THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.”

But, you are aware that there are some ‘religious zealots’ who serve Satan thinking they’re servants of Christ! In 2 Peter 2:12-22 Peter enlightens servants of Christ, if they want to be, exposing the “pretenders” who are “presumptuous, and self-willed”! He said of them: “But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed (which they will be before the judgment seat of Christ!), speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will UTTERLY PERISH IN THEIR OWN CORRUPTION, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. (Of course, some prefer the “darkness”!). They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions WHILE THEY FEAST WITH YOU (the true believers!), having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and ARE ACCURSED CHILDREN. They HAVE FORSAKEN THE RIGHT WAY AND GONE ASTRAY, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. (That’s a shocker isn’t it? Peter mentions “the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error”, becoming prime targets of Satan and the powers of darkness!). While they promise them liberty, they themselves are SLAVES OF CORRUPTION; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. (Do you understand that? Satan has deceived, blinded, equipped and trained those who, yes, were given liberty, but he makes them slaves of corruption!).

For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and ‘a sow having washed, to her wallowing in the mire’.” WOW!

Do you remember what Paul wrote to Titus? In Titus 3:3-7 lay hold of both ‘fleshly deceit’ OR “the kindness and the love of God”! Paul said: “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived,( by whom? Satan and his equipped ‘deceivers’?), serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. BUT when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, BUT ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY HE SAVED US, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Once known sinners were ‘foolish’, once they walked in disobedience, deceived by Satan, indulging in various lusts and pleasures, easily angered, easily hateful, but then, “I got saved and baptized, joined the church, enjoying the ‘fellowship’, as I do as I please spiritually or fleshly,” strongly suggesting they are under the influence of the powers of darkness!

The saddest thing I could ever imagine is a man who is born a sinner and continues under the Hell-inspired head of darkness, Satan, but “believes in Jesus” in the best of ‘head knowledge’, and not understanding Christ Jesus is his Savior, his Healer, and Emancipator from the rule and darkness of Satan! How many have you encountered who just ‘sit and watch’ as the world Christ died for becomes consigned to Hell because they “played the game of both worlds,” the kingdom of Satan and The Eternal Kingdom of the Resurrected, Reigning Christ?

The Holy Word is fully aware of how Satan sought to influence Job adversely saying to God, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing?…but You, God, stretch out Your hand and touch all that Job has, and he’ll surely curse You to Your face!” And God allowed Satan to take on all Job had but not to lay a hand on his person! Satan stripped Job, and Job’s wife wanted him to “Curse God and die! But Job responded, to her, “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” And the Holy Word then says: “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

Thank God for men like Paul who stood strong against ‘disciples of Christ’ with tendencies of walking both sides of the street of faith And disobedience! I don’t think Colossians 1 is an encouragement in one’s accepting Christ that what your old life was without Him is acceptable as you walk with Him in the Spirit-realm now! Colossians 1:18-23, and Verses 26-28, IS a powerful Word about “Striving according to His (God in Christ!) working which works in me mightily” so Paul wouldn’t be a “split-personality servant” of Christ and Satan! He said: Colossians 1:18-23 first: “And He (Christ Jesus) is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. (Get ready!!).

And YOU, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight – IF INDEED you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached (Is that message “Christ in you the HOPE OF GLORY”? You’ll see it in a few seconds!) to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.” [Did Paul mention those who were “alienated and enemies in their minds by wicked works” – but you don’t, won’t, or can’t see Satan as the author of the “Book of revolt against God’s plan” with his desire to use slaves of darkness to build his kingdom of darkness with his darkened help?].

Now: Verses 26-28 of Colossians 1! “…the mystery which has been hidden from ages and generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: WHICH IS CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

And Satan’s realm, not only in Hell, in the world at large, but even in some churches or denominations that flourish on “Christian activities” but fail miserably in revealing “The Indwelling Christ”, because they don’t like: “dying daily that Christ may be exalted through us; it just doesn’t measure up to OUR ‘religious understanding’!”

I love what Dr. Charles Stanley wrote in his book entitled, “When The Enemy Strikes”. There was a section in his book, (p.200), entitled “Be Bold In Your Testimony About Jesus”. He said: “Your testimony is not based upon what you believe, what you have done, or what you are doing. Your testimony is based upon who Jesus is in your life, what He has done on your behalf, and what He desires to do in you, in your family, and through you and your family to others in your community.

When you hear a lie being told by a family member, speak the truth of God’s Word. When you hear statements of doubt about God’s love or about God’s provision, speak the truth of God’s Word.

When you hear a family member take the Lord’s name in vain, speak the truth about who Jesus is, who God is, and who the Holy Spirit is. [And I say, JFF, be sure your identify Satan’s activities as, yes, he seeks to destroy your marriage, your family, and your witness!].

Don’t allow yourself to become comfortable with “just a little sin” in your family. A little arsenic spoils a plate of food – a little cyanide poisons a large body of water. (And I,JFF, say: “Be careful when Satan seeks to poison the waters of your family’s faith by denying Biblical Truth, even truth about the devil and demons!). Sin is deadly. It pollutes and infects and destroys. (So does Satan’s lies!). Don’t develop a tolerance for any amount of it in your life or the lives of loved ones.

If you allow yourself to be comfortable with sin (Or Satanic deception!), you soon will begin to defend the presence of sin (and you’ll even find yourself defending Satanic demonology!) – to justify it and to give place to it. Deal with those issues that underlie a person’s willingness to commit sin or to act in rebellion.” [Or to “give place to the devil through YOU!”].

There is SATANIC ACTIVISM, Satanic temptations, Satanic enticements, Satanic traps, like for animals, hoping you’re open to his “hook and lure”, Satanic horns that blow loud verses of fleshly pleasures with “death” as its final verse or chorus, there is Satanic invitations out to get one voluntarily rejecting “Holy Truth” because it lies “about what your flesh should enjoy”, there is Satanic deception about you, about self-interest, about ‘self-preservation and self’s indulgences, about the validity of ‘human nature’ as the center of its own universe ruled by “what my flesh tells me – I’m my own man”, with no consideration at all why God made you!

It was Martin Luther, in his writing “Table Talk,” who wrote: “The Devil has two manner of shapes or forms, wherein he disguises himself; he either appears in the shape of a serpent, to affright and kill; or else in the form of a silly sheep, to lie and deceive; these are his two court colors.”

And, consider: “Where does ‘not according to Christ’ come from?” If one reads Paul in Colossians 2:8 saying, “BEWARE lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ,” but I add, “The traditions of men in their personal philosophies and empty deceits and principles of the world were and are authored by Satan himself – from Satan himself: ‘Anything goes, but not God’s Truth, and it’s OK to “exchange the truth of God for the LIE because you can sin and not die!”

Satan will not speak the TRUTH either, and if, as he has, convinced ALL they can sin and not die, exchanging the truth of God for Satan’s lie, Paul says in Romans 1, Verse 21b, men become futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts are darkened, or Verse 22-23, men profess to be wise, but become fools, substituting the glory of the incorruptible God into images made like corruptible man, or Verse 24, God gives them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves, exchanging the truth of God for the “Lie”, or, Verse 26, receiving Satan’s lies, “God gives them up to vile passions,” or Verse 28, “God gives them over to (Satan’s version) – a debased mind, to do those things WHICH ARE NOT FITTING;

Verses 29-32, “being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving (except still ‘loving their flesh & old sin natures’!), unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

BUT, don’t ever forget, overlook, or take lightly Colossians 1:19-20, which I’ve already highlighted for you, but I sense after shocking you with Satan’s premier practices, you need to be reminded of Colossians 1:19-20!! Paul wrote, inspired by the Holy Spirit, “For it pleased the Father that in Christ Jesus all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to RECONCILE all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having MADE PEACE THROUGH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST’S CROSS.” Have you ever been to Calvary’s mountain? It was there Christ Jesus “put to death the body of the sins of your flesh,” and according to Colossians 2:13-15, (Get ready to sing the “Hallelujah Chorus”!), “And YOU, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh (or old sin nature!), He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers (including Satan’s chains binding your Christless life?), He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

And, if that is true, and it is Eternally True, “if YOU died with Christ” and “died with Him from the basic principles of the world, including Satan’s kingdom of darkness”, why, as though living in the world to the glory of God, do you give Satan inches, feet, yards, or miles on the property of your life “blood bought” by the very blood of the Lamb of God?

This is why in Colossians 3:1-4 Paul exposes some and encourages others who live by His enlightment: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died (Did YOU?), and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears (or is unveiled in us!), then you also will appear with Him,( unveiling ) in glory!” AMEN?

Satan’s ‘Religious Zealots’ or Christ’s Re-Born Disciples?

James Farrell Fisher — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 14:11:38 +0000

“SATAN’S ‘RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS’

OR CHRIST’S RE-BORN DISCIPLES?”

When you hear a lie being told by a family member, speak the truth of God’s Word. When you hear statements of doubt about God’s love or about God’s provision, speak the truth of God’s Word.

Broken Walls or God’s Protective Walls?

James Farrell Fisher — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 14:11:37 +0000

“BROKEN WALLS OR GOD’S PROTECTIVE WALLS?”

July 28-30, 2017

It’s interesting in reading the Word to come across a verse that catches your attention, and you begin to ask yourself, “Does this have relevance to a life, a family, a marriage, a business, a state or nation”? For instance, in Deuteronomy 3:5 the Word tells us: “All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many rural towns.” Protection? Defense? A surrounding of safety and care?

My dictionary mentioned “walls for defensive purposes,” or “a wall of secrecy”, or “a wall of fire”, or “driving one ‘to the wall’ forcing a desperate situation.” That really hit home because one is confronted with death or Life situations, failure or blessed, flesh or Spirit, Satan or the Savior!

So there is the question: Is your world as you define for yourself your personal being of flesh or Spirit, or is it ruled over by the powers of darkness or the Conquering Savior and Lord, by the demon armies of Satan or by the King of kings and Lord of lords?

“Broken”? Can a life become like ‘broken city walls’ that were meant for protection under Holy God’s administration, but the ‘life’ determined independence, self-indulgence, temporary ‘satisfactions’ in the pleasures of the world, the flesh, and, yes, Satan himself who strongly moves on every life in keeping it on a downward path? “Broken” can be “ruptured, divided, pulled apart, torn”, like the man in the synagogue in Mark 1:23 who had an ‘unclean spirit.’ The unclean spirit cried out in Verse 24, “Let us alone! Did you come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God,” and Verses 25-26 says, Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him.” [Do you think that Jesus Himself just may be your “protective wall” and able to cast out, cover over, or bind and blind unclean spirits in opposition to you?]

“Broken”? In Ezekiel 4 we read about Jerusalem, the “Holy City”, under a ‘siege’! The reason? Ezekiel 4:16-17 tells us, Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, surely I will cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem; they shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and shall drink water by measure and with dread, that they may lack bread and water, and be dismayed with one another, and waste away because of their iniquity.” “Waste away?” “Waste away because of their sin?”

Have you ever witnessed a young life that YOU KNEW could be an awesome tool in God’s hands, but they chose to indulge the flesh and became inward and downward in satisfying their sin-natures, becoming tools of Satan, rather than instruments of blessing in and through God’s awesome creative skills naturally and spiritually as He always chooses to shape them in the image and likeness of His Son? But it’s not only ‘wayward youth’ deceived by ‘mortal flesh’ and Satan, but ‘mortal flesh walking according to the inherited sin natures’, loving the ‘wages of unrighteousness’, bathing and perishing in their own corruptions, carousing in and around their own deceptions, ‘eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls’, trained by the world around them by spiritually blind friends and partners in ‘flesh’ whore-doms, even unashamed that they are enslaved by but personally ‘enriched’ in the wages of unrighteousness.

“Broken”? Do you see and sense “broken walls” of serious, doubtful, questionable thoughts about God’s abilities in meeting human needs or instituting successful creations or practices of scientific, educational, medical, fleshly, or military usefulness, even ‘spiritual miracles’? It was Dallas Willard, in his book entitled “The Great Omissions”, who wrote: (p.19), “In our culture, and among Christians as well, Jesus Christ is automatically disassociated from brilliance or intellectual capacity. Not one in a thousand will spontaneously think of Him in conjunction with words such as “well informed,” “brilliant,” or “smart.” Sadly, we’re living in a darkening world where trust in God, in His Son, in His Holy Word, and in His passion for world redemption –“His traits don’t meet the modern-mind or societal needs – just leave us to our own brilliance and our own passions!”

“Broken walls”? If earthly kingdoms are godless, wouldn’t you consider that the God of eternity had a better design and plan for the kingdoms of men than what fallen men long for and fell for, or fall for even now? In fact, in the early days of the Messiah’s mission and ministry, what happened between Jesus and Satan? In Matthew 4:1-11 we read what went on then AND what is going in this very moment worldwide – Satan is busy! It says: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” (Lust of the flesh temptation). But Jesus answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He (God) shall give His angels charge over you,” (Boastful pride of life), and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’

Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You fall down and worship me.” (Lust of the Eyes).

How awakening do you find 1 Corinthians 3:18-21a? Paul wrote: “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is WRITTEN: “He catches the wise in their own craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise , that they are futile.” Therefore let no one boast in men,” unless you’ve determined yourself wiser than God!

In William Cowper’s writing called “The Task,” (Bk.111,l.221), he wrote: “God never meant that man should scale the heavens by human wisdom,” but, since in our modern-day we’ve touched seemingly unfathomable heights, have we become so ‘high’ intellectual we can just write God off? How stupid can stupid men get to deny the awesomeness of God and His miraculous Creation? Is it possible that merciful God allowed ‘human wisdom’ to, at least, turn men toward Him, understanding their unredeemed minds, for many, does nothing but expose their ‘spiritual stupidity’?

“Broken walls”? Pilfered minds, selfish hearts, superficial thinkers, learned infidels, scorners of Truth, mercy, and grace, God-forsakers, or as Horatius Bonar once said: “In all unbelief there are these two things: a good opinion of one’s self, and a bad opinion of God,” which introduces the need of truth about one’s self (“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”) and the essential truth about God! (“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever should believe in Him would not PERISH (in Hell with Satan and all unbelievers!) but have everlasting life!”

“Broken walls”? Because fallen men give in to temptation and are led into the unseen cloud of evil that would destroy any leaning toward Redemptive Faith! Do you sense around you the divinations or occult, or satanic, or hellish teachings, even many proud, intellectual professors that ‘biblical faith is insaneness’, and all that because of fleshly pride in fallen humanity? There IS “fleshly pride”, “self-glory”, and “hypocrisy” or ‘play-acting’ that says, “You are your own god – do as you please!”

“Broken walls” that become hermit-homes of hollowness? “Broken walls” around one’s life that invites one’s enemies in? “Broken walls” of disappointment, failure, short of my goal? “Broken walls”, intended for protection originally, but becoming open-doors to whatever the fallen world has to offer? “Broken walls” because “Paradise” has been lost, and one settles for less than God’s best?

Think of America’s major cities today, and consider living under the bondage of “street gangs” rather than blessed through the Savior’s grace, mercy, and watch-care, or hearing over and over and over “the intellectual superiors” who major on anything rather than God’s love, grace, and mercy, OR the bondage of the “religiously deceived” who know nothing about “Free at last, Praise God, I’m free at last!”

But, praise God, there are ‘true citizens’ of the Kingdom of God who ARE instruments of God in extending, expressing, continually ‘resting’ within, sharing in “God’s Protective Walls”! And one does not have to live in worldly, fleshly, or demonic ‘wisdom’ according to their leanings, likes, or dislikes of God’s unveiling of Eternal Truth! Didn’t Paul tell us, “Let no one deceive himself”, yes, even resting the major culprit as one’s own self-centered, self-justifying strategy of “successful living in my godless world of what gives ME meaning, pleasure, and satisfaction” – even if the end result is Hell, Satan and his demons, and the ‘world’ of the unredeemed by the Blood of the Lamb! Are YOU still deceived?

In Luke 19:41-44 the Lord Jesus “wept over Jerusalem the Holy City”, and sadly still weeps over those who choose blinded eyes, closed minds, and self-centered wills over His amazing love and grace! Luke wrote: Now as Jesus drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even YOU, especially in this your day, (July-August, 2017!), the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies (World, sinful nature, and Satan!) will build an embankment around you, surround you, and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because YOU DID NOT KNOW THE TIME OF YOUR VISITATION.”

But, “the tears of Jesus” over YOU can be the turning point of your life to God’s eternal longing, desire, plan, and provision of “rescued from darkness, rescued out of an unbelieving world, rescued out of the clutches of, yes, your enemy, Satan, and rescued from an ‘acceptable lifestyle opened by the powers of darkness’” – godlessness, sensual pleasures, counterfeit allegiance to ‘flesh’ void of the Spirit and the Word, even, at times, ‘family’ allegiance to the realm of one’s sin nature, world ‘pleasures’ void of eternal intent, and the ‘strange gods’ of devilish invention!

Oh, then the Lord Jesus exposed the Pharisees “blinded eyes” as He still does today across our world! And, today, The “present, resurrected, reigning, reaching, rescuing Savior” is still saying, “IF YOU HAD KNOWN, IN THIS YOUR DAY, WHAT BLESSES YOU WITH ETERNAL PEACE, BUT ALL YOU’VE DONE IS LIVE WITH BLINDED EYES TO MY GRACE, MERCY, AND LOVE!” How about YOU and those around you? As Jesus entered Jerusalem, He did so with “weeping eyes”! Is that true as He knocks on the door of your heart, your family, your city, maybe even your church?

It was Charles H. Scott who wrote an old hymn entitled “Open My Eyes, That I May See”, published and copyrighted in 1923! It says: “Open my eyes, that I may see Glimpses of truth You have for me; Place in my hands the wonderful key That shall unclasp and set me free. Silently now I wait for Thee, Ready, my God, Your will to see; Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!

Open my ears, that I may hear Voices of truth You send so clear; And while the wave-notes fall on my ear, Everything false will disappear. Silently now I wait for Thee, Ready, my God, Your will to see; Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine!

Open my mouth, and let me heard Gladly the warm truth everywhere; Open my heart, and let me prepare Love with Your children thus to share.

Silently now I wait for Thee, Ready my God, Your will to see; Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine!”

Do you remember the Lord Jesus’ Gethsemane experience in Matthew 26? He was in prayer in the Garden, and then on His third experience after sharing twice before with His disciples, He said in Matthew 26:45-46, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer Judas, Satan, even ‘disenchanted church folk’ are at hand” with Verse 56 explaining, “But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” THEN ALL THE DISCIPLES FORSOOK HIM AND FLED. (Have YOU fled with disciples of Christ who remain silent about “Amazing Grace”?).

We’re not called, ‘set apart’, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb to be silent followers, mute church-folk, unconcerned ‘disciples’ about the perishing world around us – we’re to be “more than conquerors”, more than “bench-warmers in uncaring churches” as related to local, national, and world redemption, but ‘trustees of Truth’, messengers of the “good News,” honorees as Christ’s ambassadors, touching our world with His Presence in us, His Word through us, and His witness by us as ‘miracles of His love’!

In Acts 1:8 the Resurrected Christ said to ALL disciples then and now: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. BUT you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and YOU shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And don’t we read in Acts 2:32, “This Jesus God has raised up, OF WHICH WE ARE ALL WITNESSES.” And, dare I tell you, it’s more than your visible “new-born” character – it’s your faithful, verbal declaration to the needy world around you!

Messengers of Truth, ambassadors of Christ, ministers of mercy, affirmations of resurrection power, centers of Christ-consciousness, the spiritual ‘breath’ for suffocating sinners who don’t know they’re dead in the Spirit-realm, not ‘barterers but blessers’, not ‘silent witnesses but vocal proclaimers’, not our ‘best efforts’ but redeemed vessels through which the Holy Spirit bears witness to the work, the blessing, the fulfillment, the transformation from ‘flesh natures’ to anointed, Spirit-filled servants of their Master’s calling! Romans 8:16-17 declares: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that WE ARE children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

Do you realize how many ‘professing believers’ live with an unconscious conviction about ‘witnessing’? It’s certain! Yet, in Galatians 1:15-16, Paul said: “But when IT PLEASED GOD, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, TO REVEAL HIS SON IN ME, that I might preach Him”, reveal Him, unveil Him, share Him, tell your world, yes, ‘I’m a Christian, and here’s why’”!! Are YOU?

In John 15:11-17 Christ Jesus declared: “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (Did He love you enough to lay down His life for you, and do YOU love Him enough to lay down YOUR life in ministry to those, especially the lost, the blinded, the darkened, the Satanically misled, the worldly educated but spiritually bankrupt?). Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends IF YOU DO WHATEVER I COMMAND YOU. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. YOU DID NOT CHOOSE ME, but I CHOSE YOU and APPOINTED YOU that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.”

True disciples are not consumed by the love of the world – they burn like shining lights in the love, mercy, and grace of God! Yet, how many do you know who profess faith but live sidetracked from their ambassadorship as representatives to a lost and needy world? Did Jesus say, Matthew 13:22, “Now he who received seed, among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.”

Yet the joy of Jesus prospered richly as He cringed about what the world was about to do to Him! Oh, He was appointed to the Cross by merciful God, but Jesus, in human body form, knew and accepted and celebrated what was going to happen as He voluntarily laid down His life for their blood redemption! In Psalm 40:7-8 we read: Then I said, “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.” ARE YOU “DELIGHTING IN THE WILL OF GOD, YES, TAKING CHRIST”S CROSS UNTO YOURSELF DAILY THAT HIS RESURRECTED LIFE WILL BE MANIFESTED IN AND THROUGH YOUR MORTAL FLESH?

This old hymn needs to be ‘resurrected’, re-issued, and sung to honor Christ the modern church professes to honor! It says: “All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.

All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow; Worldly pleasures all forsaken, Take me, Jesus, take me now. All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee; Fill me with Your love and power, Let Your blessing fall on me.” Can you sing it, ring it, announce it, proclaim it? “Christ in you, through you, the hope of glory”?

CHRIST JESUS – MY GIVER, GUIDE, AND GUARDIAN!

James Farrell Fisher — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 14:11:37 +0000

“CHRIST JESUS – MY GIVER, GUIDE, AND GUARDIAN!”

By: J.Farrell Fisher, September 16-17, 2017

Very, very interesting when reading 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 Paul said: “For though we (in the flesh physically, and, yes, spiritually) walk in the flesh (our physical bodies), we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts ITSELF against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”

Is ‘your obedience’ to Christ Jesus absolutely essential in overcoming disobedience in your walk as a disciple? Of course it is, but many scold themselves rather than daily taking the sentence of death to the old man that the resurrection life of Christ may be manifested in their mortal flesh.

Many “professing Christians” are thankful for their “justification” by God Himself “as if they’d never sinned”, but “sanctification”, or set apart for the glory of God in Christ alone, becomes a major hurdle that some never appropriate in and through Christ Jesus! Christ Jesus dealt with our “sin natures” in and through His “blood redemption” at Calvary’s Cross, but the battle between ‘flesh’ and spirit, between the old man and the new man, between the natural of the past and the Spirit-life of the present, faces an on-going struggle, battle, and warfare that has to be “fought” in and through Biblical Faith alone, not one’s “best effort”, but resting in Christ’s victory over sin, death, and the world of fallen mankind around Him!

In his book “My Utmost For His Highest”, (p.185-186), Oswald chambers wrote: “Deliverance from sin is not deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudices, which the saint has to destroy by neglect; and other things which have to be destroyed by violence, i.e., by the Divine strength imparted by God’s Spirit…It is only when God has altered our disposition and we have entered into the experience of sanctification that the fight begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin: Jesus Christ deals with sin in Redemption. The conflict is along the line of turning our natural life into a spiritual life, and this is never done easily, nor does God intend it to be done easily. It is done only by a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the sense of character; He makes us holy in the sense of innocence, and we have to turn that innocence into holy character by a series of moral choices. These choices are continually in antagonism to the entrenchments of our natural life, the things which erect themselves as ramparts against the knowledge of God. We can either go back and make ourselves of no account in the kingdom of God, or we can determinedly demolish these things and let Jesus bring another son to glory.”

Again, what did Paul tell us in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5? “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…”!!

The obedience of Christ? Captive to the obedience of Christ? Bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ? Is it possible in a modern world that some ‘disciples’ have been ill-trained in some church communities that ‘obedience is an option in the age of grace’, even if Jesus said in Luke 6:46, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and do not do the things which I say?” Are you not aware that Christ Jesus calls us to a life of submission and obedience to, yes, King Jesus and to God as our Father and the Holy Spirit as our “Guide”?

“Christ Jesus is what?” “Christ Jesus – My Giver, Guide, and Guardian!” It’s as if some ‘believers’ (and I use that word hesitantly!) have never read the foundation-truth of Galatians 1:20-21a! Paul said: “I (we) have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives IN ME; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside (or frustrate) the grace of God.”

Some fail to see that true discipleship IS “living by THE faith (that is in) in the Son of God!” Our faith or His faith? And that’s the problem: Many live or try to live by their ‘faith’, in themselves, and not the true faith in Christ’s work in and through the Cross and the empty tomb!

Our hearts “burn within us” when we live in and through His Resurrection Presence! The Holy Word teaches us three things which MUST BE the true foundation of our saving faith! It Says, FIRST:

“CHRIST JESUS IS MY GIVER!” Vitally important passage in Matthew 11:25-30 when Jesus said: “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent (IN THEIR OWN EYES) and have revealed them to babes. (That’s the “new-born” in Christ!). Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. (Do we today survey, examine, decide what’s best for us in what ‘we see’ or from “God’s sight, His eyes, His purpose for us in and through Christ?).

All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Do you remember Paul’s anointed word in Galatians 5:1? “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Are you truly aware of, yes, the yoke of bondage and the yoke of liberty? A yoke of bondage is a yoke of personal imprisonment to your old sin nature! The yoke of liberty is Christ’s yoke of freedom from the law of sin and death – He CONQUERED BOTH SIN AND DEATH, and HE LIVES AS OUR VICTOR, the One who is more than conqueror over your old life of sin and transgression against the law and the death it always produces! We who are “in Christ” are not living by our “best effort” of imitating Christ – we ARE “more than conquerors through Him who loved us and gave Himself for us” – we live, we obey, we overcome, we live victoriously because He “paid it all, all to Him we owe, sin had left a crimson stain, but He washed it white as snow!”

Christ Jesus opened the closed door to God’s Presence and unveiled One living and dying for the will of God, and Galatians 6:24 tells us, “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” But there can be, and too often is, in the lives of ‘professing believers’ a counterfeit of outward allegiance apart from the Christ-like desire of being one with God and His attitude of: “Lord, what would You have Me to do?” What did Paul later say in Galatians 6:14? “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Christ Jesus our eternal, blessed “Giver”? Matthew 10:1, “Jesus gave us power over unclean, demonic spirits!” In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus spoke about the gifts of the talents and how some honored Him while there were those who dishonored Him! OH, and He “broke the bread and gave them the juice to drink!” He gave some their ‘sight’ who had been blind! (Let that sink in!). How about John 1:12-13? John said, “But as many as received Him (gave Him His rightful place in their hearts as Savior and Lord!) to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name; who were born (regenerated), not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, BUT BORN OF GOD!” Have YOU truly been “born again”?

“CHRIST JESUS IS ALSO YOUR GUIDE!” Genesis 24:27 says: “As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me…”. Again, what did Jesus say to the Father? “Lord, what would You have me to do?” Our Savior, the Lord Jesus, lived His earthly existence in complete and total obedience to the Father! And, it’s not our option whether we will or we won’t – if YOU won’t, you don’t know Christ Jesus as Lord, Savior, and Master over your life!

Hear Oswald chambers again! (“My Utmost…p.237-238): “Most of us live on the borders of consciousness – consciously serving, consciously devoted to God. All this is immature, it is not the real life yet. The mature stage is the life of a child which is never conscious; we become so abandoned to God that the consciousness of being used never enters in. When we are consciously being used as broken bread and poured-out wine, there is another stage to be reached where all consciousness of ourselves and of what God is doing through us is eliminated. A saint (one “set apart” to the glory of God only) is never consciously a saint; a saint is consciously dependent on God.”

Are you familiar with Psalm 25? Examine Verses 12-15 where David said: “Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him shall God teach in the way God chooses. He himself shall live in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.” To be without true, redemptive faith in God is to live trapped in the “net” of the world, the flesh or old sin nature, and to be under Satan’s domination!

But Christ Jesus takes us out of the “trap” and guides into the spiritual plains of eternal blessings and heavenly fulfillment!

William Williams and Thomas Hastings, in the old Broadman Hymnal of 1940, (published by The Broadman Press, Nashville, Tenn.), the blessed and scripturally founded hymn entitled, “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah”. It says: “Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, Pilgrim thro’ this barren land; I am weak, but You are mighty, Hold me with Your powerful hand; Bread of Heaven, Feed me till I want no more; Bread of Heaven, feed me till I want no more.

Open now Your crystal fountain Whence the healing waters flow; Let the fiery, cloudy pillar Lead me all my journey thro’; Strong Deliverer, Be Thou still my Strength and Shield; Strong Deliverer, Be Thou still my strength and shield.

When I tread the verge of Jordan, Bid my anxious fears subside; Bear me thro’ the swelling current, Land me safe on Canaan’s side; Songs of praises I will ever giver to You, Songs of praises I will ever give to You.”

Christ Jesus my Giver, Christ Jesus my Guide, and, LAST, “CHRIST JESUS OUR GUARDIAN”! In Isaiah 60:1-3 you see a strong Word of Holy God for the “true remnant of trusting Israel” but even of the “gentiles”, like us today, who trust in God’s faithfulness through His Son and our Savior and Lord! Isaiah wrote:

“Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; BUT the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

Dare I ask YOU? Believe I will! “Have YOU been ‘raised up’ in the brightness of Resurrection Light, Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope?” In Matthew 4:16-17 Jesus came to the ‘regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying’: “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death LIGHT HAS DAWNED.”

Oh, and then He disappointed those who like the “darkness” because in Verse 17 Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And through His life, His ministry, His death, His resurrection, THE KINGDOM OF GOD CAME ON EARTH AS IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN HEAVEN!!! If you are “in Christ”, you’re not looking for His Kingdom-Rule out there in the “sweet by and by” – YOU, IN CHRIST”, are reigning in the kingdom of your own heart and life to His glory, honor, and praise, extending His kingdom, expressing His love, and proving His power!

Another old hymn says: “THE KINGDOM IS COMING” specifically saying: “From all the dark places Of earth’s heathen races, O see how the thick shadows fly! The voice of salvation Awakes every nation, Come over and help us, they cry.

The sunlight is glancing over armies advancing To conquer the kingdoms of sin; Our Lord shall possess them, His presence shall bless them, His beauty shall enter them in.

With shouting and singing, And jubilant ringing, Their arms of rebellion cast down; At last every nation The Lord of salvation Their King and Redeemer shall crown!

The kingdom is coming, O tell you the story, God’s banner exalted shall be! The earth shall be full of His knowledge and glory, As waters that cover the sea.” And what did Jesus say as He began His earthly ministry? Matthew 6:33, “But seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” ARE YOU BEING “ADDED TO” BY THE CHRIST WHO FILLS ALL IN ALL?

In Luke 21:19 our Lord and Savior said: “By your steadfastness possess your souls,” understanding Christ Jesus IS the door and we enter kingdom living in and through Him, and when He says “possess your souls”, He was so aware of those who seldom accept discipleship responsibility, but many failing to “build” on the foundation He laid and is, ignoring His promises, provision, and power, choosing to ‘live out the faith’ with undisciplined, ‘fleshly’, or unaroused allegiance to the King of kings! They are blinded, clouded, or willfully neglectful of discipleship, yes, responsibility! They ‘joined the church’, got ‘baptized’, and for far too many that is the height of their spiritual assignment!

Oh, but beyond that, there is an ignoring willfully or ignoring spiritually the reality of the Holy Spirit in “guiding us into all truth”! You’ve heard it! “I got saved, baptized, and joined a church – nothing else is necessary.” Really? I believe Jesus said, “Forsake all, and follow Me,” and does that mean, having forsaken all, we’re willfully committed to extend His Kingdom, express His love, and prove His power?

I close with a very old hymn from the early 1900’s entitled “You Christian Heralds!” It says: “You Christian heralds! Go proclaim Salvation through Immanuel’s name; To distant climes the tidings bear, And plant the Rose of Sharon there.

He’ll shield you with a wall of fire, With flaming zeal your hearts inspire, Bid raging winds their fury cease, And hush the tempest into peace.

And when our labors all are o’er, Then shall we meet to part no more – Meet with the blood-bought throng to fall, And crown our Jesus – Lord of all.” AMEN?

Fear of the Lions’ Roar or Faith

James Farrell Fisher — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 14:11:37 +0000

“FEAR OF THE LIONS’ ROAR OR FAITH

IN THE FATHER’S FINISHED WORK?”

By J. Farrell Fisher, June 23-25, 2017

I pray that you clearly understand a ‘metaphor’ because when the Word of God speaks about a ‘lion roaring’, it was not a physical lion but it represented Satan, demonic activity, and, yes, even some human lives “roaring against God and His people”!

At the same time one must consider his/her choices that puts one at times in perilous, dangerous circumstances, yes, opening the door and inviting “the roaring lion” in! As a result, most live on the edge, or even have already invited spiritual warfare, opening the door to the ‘wild lion’ of devilish intent with one’s life as the “wild lion’s battlefield”.

As Hebrews 4 talks about the promise of rest, and especially in examining “the fear of the lions’ roar”, this passage is highly relevant. Hebrews 4:6-12 tells us, “Since therefore it remains that some must enter it (God’s ‘rest” in Christ!), and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, ‘Today,’ after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts”.

For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from His works as God did from His.

Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. {Rest from the bondage of sin? Certainly! Rest from demonic world influences? Without a doubt! Rest from the “lions’ roar” or deafened to Truth by it?}.

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. [Exposing reality as it is – all-out surrender to Christ’s Lordship or compromising with Satan as the ruler of darkness?]. And there is NO CREATURE HIDDEN FROM HIS SIGHT, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

It was Shakespeare, in “Measure for Measure,” [Act 11, sc.2. l. 73], who wrote: “Why, all the souls that were, were forfeit once; And He that might the vantage best have took Found out the remedy.. How would you be, If He, which is the top of judgement, should but judge you as you are?” Oh, and in Daniel 5: 27, I read: “You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting,” which is true of every life without Christ, or true of the ‘disciple’ who followed Him, then abandoned Him, or, yes, true of every man in the kingdom or out who opens the door ‘playing with the lions’ roar’!

Sadly, many men ‘laugh’ about the “Lions Roar”, and, yes, ridicule those who examine themselves as to whether they ‘fear the lions’ roar’ or “rest” in the faith of Father-God’s finished work through Christ through the cross and resurrection! Sin, rebellion, disobedience, denial of life in the spirit-realm only through Christ’s shed blood, eternal plan, purpose, and power to fulfill it, are ‘blinded by the “fear of the lions’ roar” rather than resting in Christ’s gracious gift’!

“Fear of the lions’ roar” even closes many minds to the inevitable doom of their deplorable minds as they journey, yes, in darkness that they really think is ‘light’, living loftily in the flesh, blinded to the tomb of their impending death and a death that will not die, because they had no faith in Christ’s finished work at the Cross in and through His eternal plan of “His Shed Blood and Gift-Offering of intercessory death”!

The greatest tragedy of all human existence? A fleshly heart that has no awareness of God’s great love, interceding sacrificially on the Cross, yes, Christ taking the toll, enduring the suffering, so that the “lions’ roar” would be silenced by the Hallelujah Chorus of the Savior’s Resurrection, but unbelief, rebellion, and the captivity of demon forces, hold them forever in the devil’s prison!

Tragedies as the result of the “lions’ roar”? “The wages of sin is death”, a death that will not die, a death that eternally has to hear the “lions’ roar” – no ear-plugs in Hell! “The wages of sin is death”, a death capitalized by Satan himself without any dividends, only pain, heart-aches, and bankrupt wages, a death that is not gentle but eternal in its pain of lost fleshly dignity, ill but no physician, a death that turns ‘fleshly pleasures’ into constant hellish torment, a death that constantly, twenty-four hours a day, reminds the “devil’s new classmates”: “There is no graduation, no cap and gown, no awards but only curses, no open doors or even windows but closed to light, love, and liberty – only darkness, only hate, only bondage – and the chains are heavy”!

Dare I tell you? There will be, in Hell, “good men” who were deaf to Amazing Grace who will share the tortuous consequences of men who refused to be “washed in the blood of the Lamb”, offering themselves to be, yes, Christ’s Holy Temple, but they said, “No! I’m my own man determining my own fate!” The death of a “good man” but deaf to the call of God is fleshly obstinateness and can only, in Light of God’s love, be described as ‘a cheapened life’!

Don’t you find it strange that mortuaries or funeral ‘homes’ are voiceless concerning deaths, and I’m sure would never want to have to talk about the Christ-filled life OR the finished product of the lions’ roar? But be assured, I’m sure that there are ‘guardians of the bivouacs of the dead’ because both Heaven and Hell will protect its own! I found Socrates’ words in “Plato’s Apology” to be so unsound when he wrote: “Be of good cheer about death, and know this of a truth, that no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.” Really?

Later, in the same writing, as I read it, I said to myself: “Plato should have apologized, but he couldn’t because I’m not sure he knew anything about the “fear of the lions’ roar” or “Faith in Father-God’s Finished Work” at the Cross through Christ! Plato wrote: “To fear death, gentlemen, is nothing other than to think oneself wise when he is not; for it is to think one knows what one does not know. No man knows whether death may not even turn out to be the greatest of blessings for a human being; and yet people fear it as if they knew for certain that it is the greatest of evils.”

No – death is not the greatest evil; the greatest evil is rejecting God’s love through Christ to transform men now from sons of Satan into sons of the Savior and Lord! I say to you, that men fear death because they have no fear of God! I even read one man writing about “fine dying is a man’s privilege”, but without Christ dying is an unceasing scourge, not the ‘fine wine of pleasurable living’! There are no “sweet hopes” after death for a Christ-rejecting life lived out under the “sweet tyranny” of a sour Satan!

I’m not sure what John Greenleaf Whittier was trying to prove when in his “Maud Muller” he wrote: “Ah well! For us all some sweet hope lies Deeply buried from human eyes; And, in the hereafter, angels may Roll the stone from its grave away!” Really? Slaves of Satan have no “sweet hope”, and what Satan plans to do is not hidden away but clearly revealed in the Holy Word of God, and heavenly angels will not be “rolling away stones” for those who’ve already chosen their assignment to the devil’s ‘playground?’! “Holy God, continue to open blind ears, deafened ears, hardened hearts, even stubborn, rebellious men who ‘dance the dance of death and Hell’!”

Considering “Fear of the Lions’ Roar Or FAITH IN FATHER-GOD’S FINISHED WORK?”, how could one ignore the message and truth of Job’s journey unless the Holy Word of God to them is unimportant? Jesus said, “Man does not live by bread alone but by EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD!” And Job’s journey is highly enlightening!

In Job 2:1-10 we’re introduced to the Sovereignty of God, to Satan’s attacks on all mankind, to ‘divided allegiance’, and to True Faith sustaining the “blood redeemed” even through Satanic attacks! It says:

Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?”

Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” [Have YOU witnessed Satan’s ‘walking back and forth’ around you, your home and family, your city, state, or nation, even your ‘church grounds’?’].

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who FEARS GOD and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity (a Gift of God’s grace!), although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.”

So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.”

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”

But Job said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” [Have YOU ever seen the “troubles of your soul” as stepping stones into the fullness of His blessing and His protection and watchcare over you?]. IN ALL THIS JOB DID NOT SIN WITH HIS LIPS.”

Oh, YOU may find yourself at certain times “sitting among the ashes” like Job because, just as Job, true followers and disciples of Christ will be “tested” by the powers of darkness, or if you’re really a threat to Satan, you may be met by him face to face! But, praise God, He wants us to know: “True Faith IS Faith In Christ’s Finished Work”, and even when “crucified”, HE AROSE three days later!

And Satan’s darkest ‘night’ surrounding your soul may put you into a moment of doubt and desperation! But, child of the True Faith, be reminded of Gypsy Smith’s song of the early 1930’s, “Jesus, Revealed in Me”! It says: “Christ, the Transforming Light, My love, my strength, my will; Piercing the darkest night, Making His glory shine. Oh, to reflect His grace, Causing the world to see, Love that will glow Till others shall know Jesus, revealed in me.” (Like Job?). AMEN?!?

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

James Farrell Fisher — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 14:11:37 +0000

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

‘PLAYED FOR THE FOOL’

“PURCHASED BY GOD”?

Beyond the shadow of any fleshly doubt is the reality that there is not a man or woman who has ever lived without an awareness of the presence of God, even if it’s only the acknowledgement He HAS KNOCKED ON THEIR HEART’S DOOR! AND, IF HOLY GOD BIRTHED MANKIND WITH AN AWARENESS OF HIM, what is it that blinds one to what he/she already knows? Would you be bold enough, truthful enough, to admit, though now you deny Him, that you have been possessed and over-run by a strong spirit of “natural individuality” that says, “For me, NO NEED OF GOD”? Could it be ‘deceived by Satan’?

“No need of God?” Psalm 14:1 clearly declares, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” But, at least for true believers, understanding spiritual identity as ‘new-born sons and daughters of God’, one is aware of the warfare that does exist in the unbeliever’s heart as one truly ‘deceived by the powers of darkness’! Most unbelievers being ‘played by the powers of darkness’ as “fools” are blinded to, yes, the grace and mercy and love of God as “new-born sons and daughters by the Holy Spirit”, having been “crucified with Christ”, old sin-natures done away with, with Satan and his demons telling folks, “That’s just impossible – natural sin-natures done away with and Resurrection Life manifested in you? Impossible! Be satisfied with your sin-nature; God will still love you.” Really?

In Galatians 2:17-21 Paul illumines the “crucified life” that has now been “justified” by Christ’s death on the Cross. He wrote: But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but CHRIST LIVES IN ME; and the life which I now live in the flesh (the old man!) I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” WHAT AN AWESOME, LIBERATING, CHRIST-HONORING WORD!

Yet the fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ Really? In Exodus 5:1-2 the Word tells us, Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh (of Egypt), “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’

And Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.” He bought his personal ticket to the eternal Hell, choosing separation from Him as his personal choice.

Yet how many unbelievers do you know who live casually, comfortably, supposedly convinced “life without your God and His Son is a life I choose that is superior and more satisfying than your walk as a disciple of Christ”! There is a spiritual war related to the true saving of souls in and through Christ only, but the spirit of a darkened world, the independence of a self-sufficient soul, and the vainness of a proud ‘self-made man’ pumped up by Satan and his demons deceives the minds of many of “no need of faith in your ‘saving’ God – we’re sufficient in ourselves”!

But in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 the Apostle Paul wrote: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” Know anyone exalting himself/herself against the knowledge of God?

Yes, many are “played for the fool” by Satan, demonic forces, the world spirit, and a strong, self-independent, soul existing life, they think, with no need of merciful God! Yes, though many are “played for the fool” by Satan, at the same time there ARE multitudes who understand that “in Christ” one no longer has to be enslaved to the old sin nature because, by His “blood-purchase” Jesus set us free from the law of sin and death, freed us from the world’s deceitful bondage and slavery, and, yes, freed us from the chains of fleshly death into the ‘Kingdom-Crown of liberty, freedom, and the peace that passes all understanding – through the “Lamb’s Blood” we were washed, birthed, and indwelt with the fullness of the blessing of His Resurrection Life, Resurrection Hope, and Resurrection Power!

Through His “blood purchase” we were delivered from bondage to WALK IN THE NEWNESS OF LIFE, to WALK IN OUR NEW IDENTITY, and to WALK EMPOWERED BY THE MIGHTY HOLY SPIRIT AND OUR TRUST AND OBEDIENCE TO HIS ETERNAL WORD! YES, “IN CHRIST” WE “BRING EVERY THOUGHT INTO CAPTIVITY TO THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST”! WE “quit trying” and learned “to trust His ever faithful Word and His abiding Presence in us being Himself through us to honor, glorify, and BE the LIFE” THAT HONORS MERCIFUL, LOVING, COMPASSIONATE, ENABLING GOD!!

Yet, still, many ‘believers’, many ‘followers of Christ’, many ‘disciples’, have those ‘lapse moments’, having, yes, sinned then doubted whether they can ever again see themselves as sons or daughters of Holy God, living in immense frustration with the ‘old self’ blinding, clouding out, or thinking they’ve lost their identity as a true servant of Christ Jesus! Dare I tell you? Believe I will!

IF GOD BIRTHED YOU INTO HIS KINGDOM, IF ONE ‘STEPS AWAY’ IN A MOMENT OF SELF-INDULGENCE, DOES “FATHER-GOD” DISOWN A CHILD OF FAITH, BECAUSE IN A MOMENT OF IMMATURE, CHILDISH ABANDONMENT, HOLY GOD WRITES THEM OFF AS UNWORTHY, NOT TRUST-WORTHY ENOUGH TO BE CALLED HIS SON OR DAUGHTER ANY LONGER? SATAN WILL TELL YOU THAT – BUT NOT YOUR LOVING FATHER!

There was a time in Paul the Apostle’s life when in the ‘present tense’ he called himself ‘a miserable man’, and that was a time period in his life as merciful God was pouring the Word through him, yet he KNEW those ‘moments’ he’d strayed away – but he learned, “God wouldn’t let me go where I foolishly had chosen to walk for a time, but held on to me, and wouldn’t let me go”!

Holy God uses ‘life-walk-failures-as-disciples’ TO BE MOMENTS OF ETERNAL EDUCATION IN THE MERCY, LOVE, AND GRACE OF GOD! Receive Paul’s inspired testimony in Romans 7:21-8:14!! “I find then a law, that evil is present with me, THE ONE WHO WILLS TO DO GOOD. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I THANK GOD – THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Romans 8:1-14 follows: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (New Covenant!) has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors –not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” How SPIRITUALLY CLEAR IS THAT TO YOU?

“Led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God?” Sons of God, birthed by the Spirit, led by the Spirit, guided by the Spirit, gifted by the Spirit, are blessed with “the glorious liberty of the children of God”, no longer pawns of the powers of darkness! It’s so interesting to read in Jeremiah 17:10, God speaking, “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS WAYS, according to the fruit of his doings.” A difference between ‘the fruit of a man’s doings’ OR is there an opportunistic way of things that please and honor Holy God blessed by the Holy Spirit in a yielded vessel’s life?

In Galatians 5:22-25 Paul wrote: “But the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. AND those who are Christ’s HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH (DAILY!) WITH ITS PASSIONS AND DESIRES. (SO…) IF we live in the Spirit, LET US ALSO WALK IN THE SPIRIT.”

‘Best effort’? OR “SPIRIT-BLESSED”? ‘Trying’ OR “TRUSTING THE SPIRIT TO HONOR CHRIST THROUGH YOU AS YOU DAILY CHOOSE TO LIVE THE LIFE HONORING CHRIST JESUS BY THE BLESSED FRUIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ALLOWED TO BE HIMSELF IN YOU AND THROUGH YOU?

The third verse of the old hymn published by The Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1940, says: “Come, Holy Comforter, Your sacred witness bear In this glad hour: You who Almighty ART, NOW RULE IN EVERY HEART, and ne’er from us depart, Spirit of power.”

I.H.Meredith in the same hymnal wrote “Seal Us, O Holy Spirit.”

“Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Grant us Your impress, we pray; We would be more like the Savior, Stamped with His image today.

Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Help us Your likeness to show; Then from our lives unto others Streams of rich blessings shall flow.

Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Make Us Your own this hour; Let us be useful, dear Master, Seal us with witnessing power.

Seal us, seal us, Seal us just now, we pray; Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Seal us for service today.”

Concerning YOU in your present path of ‘faith’, as if misguided, diluted, or truthfully a lack of faith, choosing for yourself again the mortal sphere of misguided men, OR have you willfully stepped over into the immortal sphere of the redeemed, the “blood-bought”, the “new-born”, indwelt by the Spirit of the Resurrection Life of Christ, anointed by the Holy Spirit sensing more and more every day of, yes, the “fruit of the Spirit” as God’s Holy Word verifies it? Does “the tree of your life of saving faith” flourish with the “Fresh Fruit of the Holy Spirit”?

Satan’s Governance or God’s Grace

James Farrell Fisher — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 14:11:37 +0000

SATAN’S

GOVERNANCE

GOD’S GRACE

JAMES FARRELL FISHER

INTRODUCTION

It’s not easy introducing a new book about Satan because, not only is there reactions from Satan’s domain of Hell, but there is ridiculous reactions from the “non-truth sayers”! I don’t know if I’ve ever been “encouraged” by too many Christians to EXPOSE Satan, because, there are many in the “professing Christian community” who sees one like me as ‘demented’ or certainly “ill-trained” in my university training and seminary!

Yet in Mary’s song of magnificence about Christ, in Luke 1:51-52, she said of the Lord Jesus: “He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud ‘in the imagination of their hearts.’ He has put down the mighty from their thrones, (including Satan on his throne of darkness and deceit?), and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich (rich in themselves!) He has sent away empty.”

Self-sufficiency is the “hall-mark” of Satan himself, because he sees himself as proud, extremely strong, and, certainly, rich in anything he desires or wants to do – and especially through YOU! Satan covets you, your family, your business – emphatically longing to keep you in darkness, interfering even if you only have a leaning toward God’s Way!.

And be assured, even if in Jesus’ case as Satan tested Him, left Him for a season, and targeted Him for worse than Jesus already experienced through Satan’s on-slaught, Satan still has you in his ‘target-sight’, anxious to take you down with him to the very Pit of Hell! He may even leave YOU for a season, or temporary time – but Satan is out to take you down!

In Jesus’ Name, don’t let him! Resist him, strong in the Lord and in His Word! Read prayerfully this new book!

OUTLINE

CHAPTER ONE: DEFENDING THE INDEFENSIBLE?

CHAPTER TWO: ACCEPTANCE OR DEFEAT OF DEMONIC ACTIVITY?

CHAPTER THREE: SATAN’S SNARES – THE SAVIOR’S DELIVERANCE?

CHAPTER FOUR: VAIN IMAGINATIONS OR AUTHENTIC, BORN-AGAIN DISCIPLES?

CHAPTER FIVE: SATAN’S RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS OR CHRIST’S RE-BORN DISCIPLES?

CHAPTER SIX: WHEN THE WORLDS OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT COLLIDE!

CHAPTER SEVEN: FEAR OF THE LIONS’ ROAR OR FAITH IN THE FATHER’S FINISHED WORK?

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE RULE OF DARKNESS OR THE REIGN OF LIGHT?

CHAPTER NINE: FEARING SATAN OR FEARING GOD?

CHAPTER TEN: SPIRITUAL MONARCHIAL MADNESS OR CHRIST-MASTERED NEWNESS OF LIFE?

CHAPTER ELEVEN: EARTHLY VOICES OR HEAVENLY PROCLAMATIONS OF DIVINE TRUTH?

CHAPTER TWELVE: FLESHLY DETERMINATIONS OR DIVINE DISCERNMENT?

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: DEMONIC DOMINATION

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: ACCEPTANCE OR DEFEAT OF DEMONIC ACTIVITY?

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: KINGDOMS BURNING OR KINGDOMS BLESSED?

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: MERE MEN MEANDERINGS?

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: IT’S A MATTER OF THE HEART BEFORE GOD!

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:

CHAPTER NINETEEN:

CHAPTER TWENTY:

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE:

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER ONE

“DEFENDING THE INDEFENSIBLE?”

“Indefensible”? The Random House College Dictionary of 1975 defines ‘indefensible’ as “not justifiable, inexcusable, incapable of being defended against attack, incapable of being defended against criticism or denial.”

How aware are you concerning the, yes, strong movement in the U.S.A. of many who resent Biblical Truth and especially are devout enemies of the King of kings and Lord of lords, of truly the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, enemies of the Church that Jesus loved and gave Himself for, enemies of the unveiling of Holy Word truths, yes, the Holy Bible, and enemies of true disciples who desire to extend His Kingdom and express His love to the needy world of alienated lives from Loving God?

Sadly, men and women, boys and girls, are too numerous who basically are completely unhinged from the existence of God, from His amazing love to reconcile the world to Himself, and unhinged from His desire to prove His unchanging love for the lost, alienated, and separated from God by the eternal work of Messiah, Emmanuel or “God With Us”, by Christ Jesus the Son of God who came to be Savior and Lord of repentant hearts and lives who want to be reconciled to God! Some say, “Why be concerned about reconciliation to a God who doesn’t exist – just a figment in the minds of brain-dead people!”

It’s interesting that as Jesus came into the world in His Day under divine appointment, there were even those who acknowledged Him but still held onto the old life. In John 2:23-25 we read about His exposure of those who did acknowledge Him but Jesus wouldn’t commit Himself to many because He knew what was really in their hearts! John 2:23-25 says: Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, many believed in His Name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” Jesus didn’t commit Himself to them?

I find it so amazing that in the last few days on nation-wide television Hillary Clinton spouted at least “24 different reasons for her election loss” without any consideration of Holy God on His Throne exposing and deposing her because of her “defense of the indefensible” – the nation didn’t want her because Holy God had had enough of her constant hypocrisy! [Consider that Hillary was schooled by Saul Olinsky in her ‘heart-dead education’ at her major university! Olinsky authored the book, “Rules For Radicals”, which indoctrinated her to Socialism and Communism!].

There is a world full of skeptic unbelievers who are convinced they are smarter than God Himself, overpowered by self-centered cynicism and self-centered spiritual illusions, ignoring the emptiness of a godless heart, blinded to the aching abyss of the absence of the divine life, needing greater and more deceptive, ‘innocent’ ignorance to try and overshadow their darkened, disillusioned spiritual thinking! The unbelieving world that builds its faulty foundations of godless living do so on ‘fleshly ideas and ideals’ not on revealed Biblical Truth!

“Defending the Indefensible” is the stubborn indifference of a mind-set, (nothing to do with the heart, because the heart was birthed void of the presence of God), and a man discerns in his mind, “Who needs a God or a Savior or the Lord?”, overcome and ruled by ‘natural independence’ and willful self-assertiveness, revealing many, many souls, who as Oswald Chambers once said, “Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence.” [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.256]. Many men live in a state of “my own independence”. And fleshly men discern for themselves that what they settle into in their own minds is their ‘religious faith’! From their death-beds many still oppose Holy God, some in their last dying breath to family and friends: “There is no God!” So they get introduced to Him at His “Judgment Throne”!

In Matthew 16:24-28 the Lord Jesus delivered the most powerful word any ‘wrestler’ with ‘defending the indefensible’, OR surrendering to the Sovereign Lord of redeemed salvation through His shed blood alone when He said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life (for himself!) will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the SON OF MAN (JESUS CHRIST) will come in the glory of His Father, with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” [Tell me about YOUR reward according to your works if they are not the works of Jesus!].

Did Jesus say of the one who desires to follow Jesus, that he/she is to “deny himself, take up his/her cross, and follow Jesus”? Does that refer to dying to the defense of the indefensible? But, you are aware, the majority of fallen humanity holds on to the ‘shell of fleshly individuality’, opposed to the truth of a redeemed life purchased by the blood of the Lamb of God! “No funeral for me and my fleshly independence, even if my ‘individuality’ shames what your God intended for me” – unaware their choice of individuality for themselves alone produces and debases one’s self-ordained sin nature for flesh’s goriness, not for God’s glory!

In 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 Paul wrote: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” He had written earlier in 1 Corinthians 1:18-19, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, BUT TO US who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I (God) will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” And I have no doubts about Paul’s biblical wisdom about ‘natural men of religious pretense’!

One wonders if Paul was thoroughly schooled in Old Testament prophecy! In Isaiah 29:13-16 the prophet Isaiah was clearly schooled in prophetic wisdom! He wrote, God speaking through the prophet, “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden. Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; for shall the thing made say of him who made it, ‘He did not make me’? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?” A marvelous work? God’s eternal judgment upon unbelieving, self-sufficient men, women, boys and girls!

But in Isaiah 29:18-19 the Lord speaks of a greater, blessed day for true repentant hearts! He said: “In that day (the coming day of the Promised Messiah?) the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” Praise God for the humble, the repentant, the true child of faith that leans not to his own understanding but in all his/her ways they give Jesus His rightful place as Lord, Savior, and Ruling Master of their lives!

I cannot even begin to imagine what a horrible experience it must be and is to physically die yet have to live through all eternity under the domination of the devil and his demons and under the never-moving cloud of spiritual darkness and devilish, demonic activity in the place called Hell where the devil reigns, and his ‘family’ of captives living in bitterness, resentment, horrible pain, and without the Hope they so easily denied and debunked, cursing God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit they so easily rejected because they chose to live yielded to themselves and not to the Loving Savior and Lord!

To give you a present day update of the sad condition of, yes, multitudes, just a few days ago someone spoke out for their city, state, nation, and the world to hear: “Why would one invoke the Name of Jesus in a public prayer?” Because Christ Jesus IS Emmanuel or “God with us”! In Matthew 6: 9-13 Jesus said: In this manner, therefore, pray:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

Kingdom rule, Kingdom power, Kingdom glory – but there has always been the choice of God’s sovereignty and man’s ‘fleshly imposition of self-will’ rather than submission to God’s sovereignty! In 2 Peter 2:9-11 Peter wrote: “then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.”

Have you surmised, even through ‘modern television shows today’, how debased and godless many people live, especially the ‘Hollywood crowd’, ignoring divine revelation through Holy Scripture? Yet, at the same time, the holy revelation of God’s precious Word still stands! In Revelation 21:3-8 John saw “All things made new!” He said: And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’

And He said to me, “IT IS DONE! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. BUT the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” [And did you know: THE SECOND DEATH NEVER DIES!! That’s the eternal torment godless men bring on themselves!].

Are you aware of ‘the fall’ of great cities worldwide? And Revelation 14:8 speaks of “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” Later, in Revelation 18:1-8, is a ‘nation-awakening’ passage of Holy Scripture! I pray America welcomes it as a truly holy “wake-up call”! [Be assured, Babylon, in Revelation 18, is a word-picture for Jerusalem, the ‘Holy City’, and its “death announcement” that occurred in 70AD!]. [And be assured: “drinking the wine of the wrath of her fornication” is not a Chardonnay glass but the fiery force of divine wrath over one’s spiritual fornication!]

Revelation 18:1-8 says, After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.

And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.

In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no more widow, and will not see sorrow.’ THEREFORE her plagues will come in one day – death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.”

No man under Heaven’s compassionate eye is hidden from Holy God but is read like an open book with every page of his/her life fully exposed, but as Oswald Chambers wrote in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.206), “The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin; but that the disposition of sin, viz., my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race by one man, and that another Man took on Him the sin of the human race and put it away (Hebrews 9:26) – an infinitely profounder revelation. The disposition of sin is not immorality and wrong-doing, but the disposition of self-realization – I am my own god. This disposition may work out in decorous morality or in indecorous immorality, but it has the one basis, my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced men with all the forces of evil in them, and men who were clean living and moral and upright, He did not pay any attention to the moral degradation of the one or to the moral attainment of the other; He looked at something we do not see, viz., the disposition.”

The beloved John shared this truth in John 3:18-21 when he wrote: “He who believes (trusts in, relies upon, adheres to) in Him (Christ Jesus) is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And THIS IS THE CONDEMNATION, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. BUT he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” [Do you just think that this may be why Paul said, “I die daily” that Christ’s Resurrected Life may be manifested in his mortal flesh, like all true disciples?].

Isn’t this why Galatians 5:1 becomes so valuable to the true believer? Paul said, “Stand fast therefore IN THE LIBERTY BY WHICH CHRIST HAS MADE US FREE, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” You’ve heard it: “I tried”, when God isn’t interested in your “trying” but in trusting in Christ’s finished work; God isn’t interested in you trying to defend the indefensible, but in “resting” through repentance toward God and faith in Christ’s overcoming life! Isn’t this why also in Galatians 6:7-8 Paul told us, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who SOWS TO HIS FLESH will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

Defending the indefensible or death to the old self that Resurrection Life may be manifested in your mortal body? Nanny J. Crosby and W.H.Doane shared in the writing of an old hymn entitled “Safe In The Arms of Jesus”. It says:

“Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe on His gentle breast, There by His love overshadowed, Sweetly my soul shall rest. Hark! It’s the voice of angels Borne in a song to me, Over the fields of glory, Over the jasper sea…

Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe from corroding care, Safe from the world’s temptations, Sin cannot harm me there. Free from the blight of sorrow, Free from my doubts and fears; Only a few more trials, only a few more tears!

Jesus, my heart’s dear refuge, Jesus has died for me; Firm on the Rock of Ages, Ever my trust shall be. Here let me wait with patience, Wait til’ the night is o’er; Wait till I see the morning Break on the golden shore.

Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe on His gentle breast, There by His love o’er shaded, Sweetly my soul shall rest.” AMEN?

CHAPTER TWO

“ACCEPTANCE OR DEFEAT OF DEMONIC ACTIVITY?”

There is in Luke 19:41-42 a very sad response as Jesus drew near the holy city of Jerusalem and wept over it, saying: “If you had known, even you, (religious Judaism!), especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”

But one has to ask, “Does Jesus look over our cities today and weep over them?” Though for Jews in Jerusalem, it may have been a ‘foreign god’ that they bowed down to and worshipped, is it possible that today our nation and citizenry bows down to the gods of their own making?

A greater question! “Does Christ Jesus look upon YOU and weep over you ‘in this your day’?” “Your day” determines what YOU have allowed to rule and master you, and, yes, whether You have allowed “Acceptance Or Defeat of Demonic Activity”!

1 Peter 5:8-10 tells us, (This is Peter the disciple who walked with Him those three years of His public ministry and probably in his and Jesus’ growing up years together!), “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered for a while, perfect, establish (or make to stand), strength, and settle you.”

And, “in this YOUR day, what is it that you have experienced, are experiencing, or will soon experience, as your adversary, like a roaring lion, stalks you to devour you”? And I say, if you don’t know, haven’t experienced demonic activity, it’s because you belong to him so fully your captivity has become so comfortable that you’ve accepted your enslavement to the powers of darkness! “If you had known” – are you aware of your culpability? ‘Culpable’? The Random House Collegiate Dictionary says ‘culpable’ means, “Deserving blame or censure, held liable, (being) reprehensible.”

Understand! The Holy Word of God in 1 Peter 5 says that true disciples KNOW “the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” And also understand: It’s because you’ve been born again by the Word and the Spirit, and the Christ in you calls for the intense opposition to the powers of darkness!

But that same word also says, “the God of all grace, after you have suffered for a while, will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you,” everlasting words of eternal hope! If the Lord Jesus suffered in agony as the Son of God, as sons of God also, are we convinced we don’t have to face the same Gethsemane highway? Didn’t Peter just tell us n 1 Peter 5:8-9, “Be sober (or serious-minded!), be vigilant (armed and ready against your enemy); because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, KNOWING that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” Dare I tell you that “the greatest world wars are in the souls of all men, women, boys, and girls, between them, YOU, and the devil and the powers of darkness called ‘demons’?”

In John 16:33 Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” So, disciples of Jesus who have troubles from the world, the flesh, and the devil (or Satan himself or his demons) have been marked out by the powers of darkness for assaults, accusations, attacks, or to tempt you away from your God-given assignment as Christ’s ambassador to follow your own fleshly pleasures, your own mental, moral, or Christless purpose, opening wide the door to self-interests, inner desolations, worldly dreams of self-satisfied ‘flesh’ and ‘fleshly feelings’, leaving Jesus alone in your world of choice as you willfully deny His Lordship to satisfy your lusts!

Don’t dare miss in your Bible the reality of the “Prayer-Life of Jesus” and “sleeping disciples”, because what happened then still happens today! In Matthew 26:36-46 we read: What you’re going to see is a picture of “disciples” accepting “demonic activity” rather than defeating and resisting demonic activity! And so, one has to ask himself/herself: “Have I opened or closed the door to demonic activity”? It says: Then Jesus came with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.”

And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”

You understand: Sleeping for the natural body IS normal and natural, but sleeping for the spiritual body is extremely dangerous! Yet how easy is it for many believers to “sleep” and leave Jesus Christ “alone” to the darkness of the devil, to the ignoring of His purpose and providence, and let Satan has his way with family, friends, our nation, and a blinded, darkened, demonized world?

But what was Jesus’ last words in John 16:33? Don’t miss this! “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” And Jesus overcame, not only the world, but His flesh and the devil!

Oh, and then, in John 17, Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven again, praying for Himself about what He faced, praying for His disciples, and praying for all believers, then and now! Do not casually read and then overlook what Christ Jesus declares to us!

John 17:6, “I (Christ Jesus) have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world” – are YOU the chosen of God in Christ?

John 17:11b, “Holy Father, keep through Your name those You have given Me.” Are YOU a “gift of God” to His Son Christ Jesus? Verse 13b, “that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.” How’s your “joy-in-Jesus register”?

John 17:15b, “that You, Father, should keep them from the evil one.” Are YOU being kept from the evil one by Jesus or do you fit in with a Judas? Verse 17, “Sanctify them (“set them apart”) by Your truth. Your word is truth.” Are YOU set apart to the glory of Christ Jesus only?

John 17:20-23, Get ready! Firm yourself up in Christ with what we’re about to hear! Jesus prayed! “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe (or trust) in Me through their word; THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given to them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in My; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

And did YOU receive it? “and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW!

Oh, I know some of the world gathers around “what they know about themselves”! Agnostics, atheists, unbelievers, dissenters, active opposers against anything that has to do with Truth, with Christ, with the Word written and living, with especially the “True Church”, with missions, missionaries, evangelism and discipleship – there Are enemies for them! It was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in his writing, “Faust”, (Pt.11), who said: “While man’s desires and aspirations stir, (in himself!), he cannot choose but err.” That’s because man’s desires and aspirations, apart from Divine Will, instill within fallen men unbelief in the need of God as Lord and Savior but adaptable to devilish and demonic activity- so he errs! And especially was I encouraged by the wisdom of St. Augustine, in his writing entitled “Sermons”, (no. 164, sec.14): “It is human to err; it is devilish to remain in error,” even understanding, “Yes, there is an ‘acceptance, by many, of demonic activity’ rather than its defeat”!

But what about “the defeat of demonic activity” in their attacks, in their deceit, in their intimidation and accusation of you as simply a ‘pretender’ in following the Jesus you claim to be surrendered to as you find it convenient to follow or not, to obey or disobey, to proclaim allegiance as you’re defiled by devilish domination, yet at the same time have been the most faithful follower of Christ up to now, not a claim but a testimony – but then the sad moment came and you didn’t resist? Maybe, like Jesus, in Matthew 16:23, even indicting Peter at that moment as a slave of Satan: But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men,” and, yes, even the ‘most faithful’ do face dangerous moments, but usually it’s fleshly, demonized men who can be, and often are, the tools Satan uses to bring the ‘walks’ of the most faithful to a stand-still or to use them to frustrate your faith-walk, inciting you and tempting you! Yes, at times in the spiritual world, there are or can be dangerous, demonic, disappointing, disillusioning temptations to ‘shame the name of Jesus’ by His own ‘professing servants’ like a Judas!

You may remember Shakespeare in his writing “Hamlet” saying, “The spirit I have seen may be the devil: and the devil has power to assume a pleasing shape,” and immature ‘disciples’ become a major ‘front’ of the devil’s spiritual warfare, yes, even in “pleasing shapes”!

Hollywood’s Academy Award Winners are no match for the devil himself! He can, at times, appear as an angel, but he comes to shoot death into one’s veins! He’ll even bring the best world symphonies to play their melodious, historic melodies, while he opens death’s door for your entrance! Even ‘sweet voices’ are not necessarily men at their best but the devil himself at his worst! And his ‘marching bands’ and symphonic voices are nothing more than Satanic attempts to calm one before his/her eternal enslavement in the devil’s headquarters! The devil doesn’t introduce himself to one as an enemy but a ‘virtuous friend’, and when one succumbs he leads that one downward, not upward toward the throne of God!

I came across a statement by Henry Fielding, in his writing entitled “Tom Jones,” (Bk. XV111, ch.8), that pictures devilish ‘dads’ in our world today: “What the devil and Doctor Faustus, shan’t I do what I will with my own daughter?” That’s godless, devilish, demonic activity that achieves Hell’s highest awards!

Be careful about the glib talk of family, friends, professors, worldly men and women, even some “pastors or preachers”, whose conversation often readily reveals they easily have been “ensnared” by the devil himself when “snared” by the devil can become, yes, eternal slavery, bondage, and captivity, taking one, a family, friends , often even businesses and ‘churches’ down the dark trail in “chains”!

This is why the inspired Word of God through Paul in Ephesians 6:10-16 tells us: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD, that you may be able to STAND AGAINST THE WILES OF THE DEVIL. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having to done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

You do know, you understand, you equip yourself and your family, to faithfully “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one” who is Satan who has you and yours targeted for spiritual destruction! What does John 3:16 tell us? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” AMEN? Sadly, the “perishing” ARE the result of demonic and devilish domination, entrapment, slaves to the will of the devil’s darkness!

It was Robert South who once said: “He who would fight the devil with his own weapons, must not wonder if he finds him an overmatch.” Never assume on your own that YOU can win any battle with Satan you find yourself in – not so! The devil is stronger than you, smarter than you, and able to destroy the best a godless world has to offer – only Christ Jesus speaks with Heaven’s Authority! “Get behind Me Satan!” And YOU better be ONE IN CHRIST, WITH CHRIST, THROUGH CHRIST as you wage war against him and his armies of demon-powers!

There’s an old, old chorus that my church in my early years used to sing. It says: “Moment by moment I’m kept in His love; Moment by moment I’ve life from above; Looking to Jesus till glory does shine; Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.”

To WHOM do you belong? “The world, the flesh, the devil”? Or do YOU belong to Jesus, bought by His precious blood on Calvary’s Cross? And King Jesus IS conqueror over the world, your old sin nature, and the devil himself! Amen?

CHAPTER THREE

“SATAN’S SNARES – THE SAVIOR’S DELIVERANCE!”

Born June 12, 1936, with family and friends I just celebrated my 81^st birthday today, June 12, 2017! Words would never be able to express the eternal joy from knowing deliverance from Satan’s snares and the blessed victory through my Savior and Lord, King Christ Jesus! Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

How could any sane person ever think that just because Jesus ran His race with endurance, endured His cross because of the joy set before Him, despising the shame of nakedness on the Cross, and NOW sits at the right hand of the throne of God, that what Jesus did, He did for Himself and for the glory of the Father who sent Him, but you, me, all of fallen humanity was not His consideration?

I’ve paraphrased John Greenleaf Whittier’s words in his writing “Tauler”, (1. 79), “The dark path ( Jesus walked)…is but the unveiling of the heart of God, the unveiling of God’s divine love for all of fallen humanity”, because God so loved you and me He gave His own Son to shed His blood for the defeat of Satan and the deliverance of every fallen man!

But some are uninformed of Satan’s snares, ill-advised by many false teachers, and, in themselves, assert: “There can be no devil, though at times I like to live in the devil’s snares and with his companions and friends of darkness!” But stubborn denial doesn’t free one from Satanic assaults! Even Peter, in 2 Peter 3:17-18, instructed his fellow disciples, “Beware lest you (believers!) fall away from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.” Why did Peter write that?

Examine 1 Peter 5:8-11! “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Some folks professing ‘faith in Christ’ know nothing about “serious-mindedness” or “vigilance” in opposing Satan because they don’t see the reality of “a roaring lion seeking to devour them” – they live their ‘faith walk’ (?) blinded to the devil and his demon forces, even questioning “the same sufferings experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”

It didn’t take long for Holy God in Genesis 3 to introduce “the serpent” who was and still is so cunning, “more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.” And NOTICE, FIRST, EVE WAS CONFRONTED BY SATAN! HE CASTS DOUBT ON THE WORD OF GOD!

In Genesis 3:1 “the serpent said to Eve, ‘Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’? In Verses 2-3 Eve corrected Satan! “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall eat not of it, nor touch it, lest you die.’” In Verse 4-5 the serpent responded, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Satan says, and has deceived many minds, “Just because you celebrated good and evil doesn’t mean you don’t know God, but enforces the ‘truth’ that men can celebrate his good and evil because he’s really just like God!” How phony is that? ‘Knowing about sin and the sin nature’ is not “celebrating it” as the devil does – Satan accepts your good and evil while Christ Jesus took it to the Cross with Him!

God’s Holy Word says, Romans 3:23, “For ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD”, oh, but then following in Verse 24, “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus!” “Justified freely”? Through the shed blood of the Lamb of God I am accepted, “justified as if I’d never sinned”! And the devil has no power against the ‘slave of sin’ who by grace, mercy, and love has become the willful “servant” of Christ Jesus, one’s Savior and, yes, one’s Lord and Master who always says, “Lord, what would You have me to do?”

Freedom from sin and death IS also freedom from devilish, demonic activity IF Christ Jesus is truly made Lord in one’s life, and they daily take “the sentence of death to one’s old sinful nature that the Resurrection Life of Christ may be manifested in their mortal flesh” – and as one dies daily to himself/herself, one also chooses to, yes, “resist Satan and the powers of darkness”!

In 1 Thessalonians 2:18 Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers and us saying, “Therefore we wanted to come to you – even I, Paul, time and again – but Satan hindered us.” The word ‘Satan’ means ‘enemy’ or ‘adversary’ intent on your defeat and corrupting your spirit of faithfulness to Christ Jesus!

Freedom in Christ? But you’ve never considered ‘freedom from Satanic interference’? If one is called to take the sentence of death daily to his old, crucified with Christ sin-nature, were you taught by a faithful pastor or brother or sister disciple to take the sentence of death daily to devilish intimidation, devilish interference, and devilish incendiary ‘bombs’ pertaining to loyalty to the Christ within, granting disobedience to His eternal Truth without consequence? When did “the wages of sin is death” become untruth for any believer who professes and possesses Christ’s presence, but their yielding to the pleasures of the devil himself has no consequences in their pilgrimage of a ‘faith-walk’?

Some ‘disciples’ (?) live in a constant state of spiritual stupidity if they think it’s OK if, at times, they are enticed, even intimidated, in showing their loyalty to both Christ and the ruler of the darkness! But Paul said in Acts 24:15a-16, “I have hope in God…Verse 16, This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” But “Satan’s snares” instill doubts about sin producing death! Oh, the devil is forever assigned by his own will to maintain an open grave for himself, his demons, and his slaves of disobedience to divine Truth, even denying ‘half-truths’ dig graves for the disobedient, for the devil “just spiritual stupidity for those sold-out disciples.”

It was William Shakespeare in his “Merry Wives of Windsor”, (Act111,sc.4,1.15), who wrote: “No man means evil but the devil, and we shall know him by his horns,” with most seeing the devil with horns out of his ears but never realizing the “trumpets” he blows for enticements, disobedience, and rejection of pure Biblical Truth! Just maybe this is why John Wesley used to talk about, “All the works of our evil nature are the work of the devil.”

Do you remember Peter challenging Ananias in Acts 5:3-5? “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to mean but to God.” Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.”

In Revelation 12:7-17 we read about Satan’s past history and his present warfare! “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who DECEIVES THE WHOLE WORLD; [Is the whole world at large now still deceived?]. He was cast to the earth, and his angels (or demons) were cast out with him.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, AND THE KINGDOM OF OUR GOD, and the power of His Christ has come, for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. AND THEY OVERCAME HIM BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB AND BY THE WORD OF THEIR OWN TESTIMONY, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman (the Body of Christ) was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness TO HER PLACE, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. AND they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their own testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

Therefore rejoice, O heavens (You who dwell in them!). Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and time and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be swept away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

And the dragoon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Are YOU the “offspring of Christ Jesus”? And, if you are, you don’t expect any opposition from the devil as your enemy?

The devil IS YOUR DECEIVER! In 1 Timothy 4:1-2 Paul enlightens all believers! “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own consciences seared with a hot iron…”!

How clear do you find Revelation 20:10? “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” That’s what is going on right now with the devil and his demons – you don’t have to live in his deceit, unless that is truly where your heart lies!

The devil IS YOUR DIVIDER! In Hosea 10:1-2 we see the picture of the ‘degenerate vine’, Israel, who “brought forth fruit for himself!” And the Word describes Israel and all fallen humanity, alienated and separated from God, Hosea 10:2, as “their heart is divided”!

Interesting words in Luke 11:17-20! [Especially when much of “modern Christianity” doesn’t even know they are dominated by the devil and his demon tribes of warriors!]. Christ Jesus said: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” “Modern-day Christianity doesn’t “cast out demons” today because they’ve become comfortable in their ‘co-existence’ (?) as they ‘play’ the game of Christianity!

The devil IS YOUR DIVINER! One finds it so heart-breaking to read of God’s “chosen people” who would birth the Promised Messiah yet the majority of Israel, past, present, and future only witnesses the “True Remnant” coming to the reality of one in Christ because of, yes, the devil’s ‘divining’! In fact, Holy God spoke in Ezekiel 12:23b-25, “…But say to them, ‘The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision. For no more shall there be any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. For I am the Lord, I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass; it will no more be postponed; for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it,’ says the Lord God.” God said it, He performed it, and in 70 AD Israel’s religious community witnessed it’s “death-nail”!

The devil is YOUR DARKNESS-MAKER AT TIMES! He hates the “Light”! In Genesis 15:12 we read, “Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.” Be assured God Himself will bring darkness in your life at times to encourage you to find your rest in those times “in the Light,” but I believe this darkness was intended to discourage Abram by the devil from trusting God, His Father, when the battles would rage!

To true disciples does Holy God, The Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit, encourage darkness or challenge us to walk in the Light as Jesus is the Light of the world? If Psalm 82:5 speaks of people who ought to be walking in the Light but they ‘choose’ to walk in darkness, does this Verse challenge us all to wake up? “They do not know, nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the (or their) earth are unstable.” Why? Because some people CHOOSE “to be gods unto themselves” but “living in death” and falling like “counterfeit princes”!

The devil is YOUR DELIVERER TO YOUR ETERNAL RESIDENCE IN HELL ITSELF when he promised a ‘play-maker’s paradise’! In fact, Jesus boldly declared in Matthew 23:27-28 and Verse 33, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites (or pretenders)! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness,” Verse 33, Jesus calls them, “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”

I close this message with a word of warning from Isaiah 5:11-16 and verses 20-30! This is the holy, unchanging, but life-changing Word of Almighty God! He says: “Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may follow intoxicating drink; who continue until night, till wine inflames them! The harp and the strings, the tambourine and flute, and wine in their feasts; BUT THEY DO NOT REGARD THE WORK OF THE LORD, nor consider the operation of His hands.

Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore Sheol (“place of death”) has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure; their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and he who is jubilant shall descend into it (or Sheol). (Living life in the ‘party spirit’ rather than the “new-born life in Christ in the Hallelujah frame of reference”!)

People shall be brought down, each man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled. But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness.”

Verses 20-30, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away justice from the righteous man!

Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend like dust; BECAUSE THEY HAVE REJECTED THE LAW OF THE LORD OF HOSTS, AND DESPISED THE WORD OF THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL. Therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them and stricken them (WARFARE!), and the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets.

For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still (“Poised to strike again!”). He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar, and will whistle to them from the end of the earth; surely they shall come with speed, swiftly. No one will be weary or stumble among them, no one will slumber or sleep; nor will the belt on their loins be loosed, nor the strap of their sandals be broken; Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses hooves will seem like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.

Their roaring will be like a lion, they will roar like young lions; Yes, they will roar and lay hold of the prey; they will carry it away safely, and no one will deliver. In that day they will roar against them like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and sorrow; and the light is darkened by the clouds.”

Do you think the “lions” roared in 70AD as the Holy City was destroyed by invading armies? Check out Luke 21:20-24!!

The judgment that comes because of yieldedness to the world, the flesh, and Satan is judgment because of the sinking of one’s soul to the domination of enemies of God, or souls sinking because of fleshly sin domination, a slumbering in the soul and spirit with eyes closed to the Way, the Truth, and the Life, closed to the God who saves, heals, and delivers, or the fleshly manifestation of fear, faithlessness or disobedience, or simply the ‘flesh’ ruling over the Spirit!

James 4:7-10 is today’s Holy Word of saving grace! It says: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.” AMEN? Defeating Satan himself?

“Submit to God day by day, yes, moment by moment!” “Resist the devil rather than entertaining him!” “Draw near to God, press in, hold tight!” “Wash your mind and heart in the blood of the Lamb!” “Lament, mourn, and weep – because you don’t want Christ walking away from you!” “Humble yourself before Holy God, and He will lift you out of the clutches of the devil’s hands!” Will you say, “Yes, Lord, help me walk away with You from the devil’s temptations and snares’?

CHAPTER FOUR

“VAIN IMAGINATIONS OR AUTHENTIC, BORN-AGAIN DISCIPLES OF CHRIST?”

I want to lay the foundation for this chapter in Romans 1:16-24! Paul wrote: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for IT IS THE POWER OF GOD TO SALVATION FOR EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES (trusts in, relies upon, and adheres to!), for the Jew first and also the Greek. For IN IT the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: ‘The just shall live by faith.’

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, (sponsored by Satan!) who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for GOD HAS SHOWN IT TO THEM. For since the creation of the world the invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God (knew He existed!), they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Darkened by the willful rebellion of Satan in heaven BEFORE THE WORLD WAS EVEN CREATED?).

Professing to be wise, they became fools, and (in cooperation with Satan!) changed the glory of the incorruptible God into ‘images’ made like corruptible man (and Satan himself!). Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves (as Satan does with his demonized partners!), who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, (“The Lie?” “Satan said, YOU CAN SIN AND NOT DIE!”), and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

Though fallen man does not realize it, he ‘worships’ Satan and his ways, even in the “best of ‘flesh’ adoration”! So… God gave Satanized-mankind up “to their vile passions,” “to debased, devilish minds,” ignoring “the righteous judgment of God” against Satan and his ‘disciples’!

CHAPTER FIVE

“SATAN’S ‘RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS’ OR CHRIST’S RE-BORN DISCIPLES?”

When you hear a lie being told by a family member, speak the truth of God’s Word. When you hear statements of doubt about God’s love or about God’s provision, speak the truth of God’s Word.

CHAPTER SIX

“WHEN THE WORLDS OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT COLLIDE!”

It is so good and gracious that God inspired Psalm 103:19 saying, “The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.” And that “reign of the Lord God” is over the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of darkness AND the Kingdom of the Savior and “Light of the world”!

It’s interesting to read Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 7:10 when he wrote: “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but THE SORROW OF THE WORLD PRODUCES DEATH.” How clear is that to you?

“The world of darkness” is a Satan – authored and inspired song- and- life-situation of enslavement to the world, the old sin-nature, and Satanic rule, or at least, an attempt at deceiving and darkening your God-ordained life and eternal purpose! We just read, “godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted,” but there is a “cloud of sorrow” that most men have no understanding about why it hangs over them!

But at the same time, as the world of darkness reigns over and in a fallen man’s existence, so does the “world of eternal Light “ shine to unveil Christ Jesus as one’s only hope!

Jude was described in Scripture, his letter inspired by the Holy Spirit, as “a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, (writing to) those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ.” [Does that include you?]. And HE certainly contended against and opposed those who walk in darkness, even in ‘religious’ darkness! Jude contended “earnestly for the True faith”!

In Verse 4 he described ‘certain men’, no doubt deceived by Satan, who “crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Oh, and then in Verses 5-7, Jude instructs us wisely to be aware of spiritual darkness and spiritual blindness in the world around us today! He wrote:

“But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but LEFT THEIR OWN ABODE, He (God) has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange gods, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

I pray you saw “the world of darkness and the kingdom of Light” colliding! Jude went on in Verse 12 speaking about “those who are spots in your love feasts”, describing some as ‘trees without fruit, twice dead’, ‘raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame’, ‘wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever’.

There IS the reality of “apostates” who are “professors without possession of the Indwelling Christ”, but Jude 14b-15 speaks about “apostates” who are depraved and live in a doomed state though they “primp up” as if they were truly “stars in the production of Christ”! “Behold, (the day comes when) the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints (metaphorically speaking), to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Christ Jesus.”

And you don’t think “ungodly sinners” speak against Christ Jesus inspired by Satan? You’re not aware of a despicable meanness, inspired by Satan, in attempting, by the world, the flesh, and Satan himself to dishonor Christ Jesus and befuddle ‘disciples’ about their ‘empty gains in Christ’? Satan himself LIVES in a state of rugged, ragged, ruthless impatience, because, as hard as he tries, Christ Jesus gains more and more of what ‘he thought’ was his world!

Oswald Chambers, in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.131), said, “The characteristic of the life to begin with is that it is maimed… There never has been a saint yet who did not have to live a maimed life to start with. But it is better to enter into life maimed and lovely in God’s sight than to be lovely in man’s sight and lame in God’s,” but saying also that through the finished work of Christ, “You shall be PERFECT, even as your heavenly Father is perfect,” assaulted by Satan in the flesh, but resurrected into the fullness of Christ in the Spirit!

If “the Son sets you free”, free from what? And, of course, what a blessing to be freed from the law of sin and death! But you’ve never considered, since the Fall, all men, yes, have been enslaved under Satan and the powers of darkness? Though Holy God made us for Himself, He knew he wanted sons and daughters of faith, free to be His or not be His, when, at the same time, Holy God understood fallen men would face the onslaught of Satan and demonic armies! But, Holy God wanted us “free to choose” – and, praise God, after the tenure under demonic powers, some want to be free of their chains in spiritual enslavement, living as liberated sons and daughters of the Most High God!

If, “the Son sets you free,” understand, it’s the mind and heart of God to see you tired of your natural individuality and ready to be “raised into newness of life,” yes, ready to be freed from Satan’s deceitful darkness into the Lord and Savior’s “Kingdom of Light”! In Galatians 2:20-21 Paul wrote: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the live which I now live in the flesh (earthly body) I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God…”!!

The ‘world of darkness’, ruled over by Satan and his kingdom of darkness, is out to enlarge his kingdom numbers, enslaving people proud of that natural individuality but unaware they have no need of God and just living ‘satisfying’ their fleshly enslavement under the deluding influence of Satan’s army of deceiving demon powers!

Satan kindles “fires of deception” in fallen mankind for sure, and, at least, attempts to inflame deception and a falling away of disciples (like Judas) from “grace living” to “grit at its best” for ‘disciples’ (?) of Christ, totally avoiding the “Victorious Path” over sin, temptation, and self-centered living, promoting the carnal rather than Spirit-Truth and Spirit-Life in Christ alone, and ending up, yes, as ‘slaves of darkness’ though the sin-filled, Satan-dominated walk is darkness in his brightest ‘light’ (?)!

A few words of Satan’s deception: “Easily kindling without Christ’s presence, the dark fires of Hell are easily resident; souls of the flesh are easily deceived, and the dark spirits of Hell reside indeed. But souls of flesh and evil spirits, as enemies of Christ, are nailed in the world as insignificant ‘rivets’, holding hearts and minds to interests of darkness, slaves to the one who would give them a room, forever cursed by his torture and gloom! But here came Jesus, the Savior of men, and shed His own blood “to save us from sin”, plus putting nails in the coffin of our enemy, releasing us fully from Satanic dilemmas!” [By James Farrell Fisher.]

Did I say, “Worlds of darkness Colliding with the Kingdom of Light”? But a godless intellectual community, evidenced sadly in many school settings today, openly ridicule, resent, even reprimand anyone who promotes the Word of God, preaching salvation by grace and faith in Christ alone, or exposing Satan’s, yes, works of darkness, will confine Biblical Truth about Satan or the Savior, determined that the Truth be “hidden by invisibility”, not allowing any Biblical Truth: “Not in our schools!”, even though “Satan walks about seeking whom he may devour!” And though those “teachers or professors” have long tenures in their schools, the day will come, when escorted by the devil of darkness, they’ll “wake up in Hell’s classroom”, never to leave!

I had to laugh when I read Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s writing in “Aurora Leigh,” (Bk. V11, l. 105), “The devil’s most devilish when respectable.” And do you realize how “respectable men (who are unbelievers and totally deceived by Satan) but ‘wise in their own hearts’ toward God’s “saving Grace”, are like Elihu who at least said to Job, (Job 37:24), “Therefore men fear Him; He shows no partiality to any who are wise of heart.” It’s true! Some, most, of unbelieving men, ‘wise in their own eyes’, priding themselves with their own ‘superior wisdom’, will, at least, reverence God in their wise hearts, yet never turn from their thrones of self-importance, self-centeredness, and, yes, self-rule, not knowing they already have their own seat-assignments in the classroom of Satan’s “school of death under Satan’s eternal tenure of teaching his darkness of unbelief “!

Individual self-importance and pride sadly missed God’s eternal purpose of human vessels who would give Him the place He desired to extend His love and prove His power, yes, over Satan who still says: “Has God really said…?”, but most, like Adam and Eve, didn’t and still don’t, have burning hearts to give God room to be Himself in and through them.

Satan, some unbelievers, some pastors, and some ‘church folk’, rather than taking the sentence of death unto themselves that Christ’s resurrection Life would be manifested in mortal flesh, never take the sentence of death to themselves but ‘accept’ that if they mindfully believe, the heart, the self-will, and the fleshly plans of self-importance will not be set aside but ‘religionized’ – and they can have, they think, “the best of both worlds”!

Satan thrives on unbelievers but also on pretenders! Satan rejoices that men call themselves “Christians” or “disciples of Christ”, but never receive “crucified with Christ”! Satan celebrates ‘emotional impressions’ without biblical Truth! Satan loves “high levels of emotions” that touch or impresses one’s mind but leaves the sinful heart unchanged! Satan gets excited when he knows, though never “born again”, that unbelievers often feed on their ‘imitation’ of Christ! Satan is uplifted when he sees “professing believers” in awe of their own honoring of their mortal flesh or sin natures without any concern at all of “Be holy, for I am holy” says God!

Satan, yes, encourages fleshly “grit” in all religious circles – while Christ Jesus celebrates the souls who rest only in His grace and mercy, and allow Him to establish His Holy Temple in their hearts! Satan will erupt in mindful pleasure when he sees “ believers who THINK ‘pure’ thoughts of ‘right’ or wrong”, but Christ Jesus said, “BLESSED are the pure in heart; for they shall see God”! A man can be ‘innocent’ related to civil law or innocent because he at least knows the difference between ‘right and wrong’ in the general public, but related to “the kingdom of God”, impurity shuts the door to the gates of Heaven because only the “blood bought” have an acceptable “pass” into Christ, the Holy Spirit, or to the Throne of God the Father!

Do you remember Christ Jesus “weeping over Jerusalem”? In Luke 19: 41-44 we read, Now as Jesus drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “IF YOU HAD KNOWN, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because YOU DID NOT KNOW THE TIME OF YOUR VISITATION.”

It was Oswald Chambers who said in his famous book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.67), “Jesus had entered into Jerusalem in triumph, the city was stirred to its foundations; but a strange god was there, the pride of Pharisaism; it was religious and upright, but a “whited sepulcher.”

Dare I tell you? Satan gloats over “whited sepulchers”, Satan is gleeful when ‘darkness’ in one’s walk takes precedent over the Light of Christ, Satan celebrates when even ‘seekers’ are easily turned away, blinded to the Truth that liberates, but they accept Satan’s bondage to the Lord’s liberating grace and mercy! Do you understand? Satan can ‘blind’ your seeing eyes, contaminate your mind and heart, imprison you to his ways, even ‘darken’ your eyes if you’ve seen in the past, and NOW, “Now you don’t see, now seeing only what you want to see, he uses your culpable carelessness and sinful, selfish choices, to live with the awareness you choice, your selfish ambition to satisfy the old sin nature, and, as a result, came to a dangerous stage of life with the heavy heartache of “What Might Have Been!” I want you to follow John 16:25-33! It says: (Jesus speaking),

“These things I have spoken to you in figurative language, but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about that Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. I came forth from (or out of) the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”

His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this, we believe that You came forth (or out of) from God.”

Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Darkness and Light HAVE COLLIDED in the hearts and minds of all men – even now, in our ‘modern day’, Satan is busy trying to insure many will love his darkness and refuse “The Light of the world” whose name is Christ Jesus! As Christ Jesus has come into your world, is He gathering you to Himself or, sadly, you are turning away to the dark world of your ‘flesh’, your sinful ambitions, or your ‘pride’ of being in Satan’s “Hall of Fame” of “disregarders” to the True Faith?

Christ Jesus’ one desire is that YOU and all men “may have My joy fulfilled in themselves”, but far too many settle in to the world, the sinful flesh, and Satan’s kingdom of darkness! Don’t let it be you and yours!

CHAPTER SEVEN

“FEAR OF THE LIONS’ ROAR OR FAITH IN THE FATHER’S FINISHED WORK?”

CHAPTER EIGHT

“THE RULE OF DARKNESS OR THE REIGN OF LIGHT?”

You do realize that multitudes of people today, even like the ‘play-actors’ in Jesus’ day – the ‘religious’ Pharisees, rulers over Israel – ‘professed’ the reign of Light, yet crucified Him, as they devoted themselves to “the rule of darkness”! And in Matthew 24:31-36 we read, Christ Jesus speaking, “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

Therefore, indeed, I (CHRIST JESUS) send you prophets, wise men, and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.”

And, Jesus said, “I say to you – judgment is coming upon this generation.” Which it did! And in 70 AD the world witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple they so desecrated!

My only concern? As a result of God’s faithful judgment upon Israel because of, yes, their submission to the rule of darkness even though they ‘professed’ loyalty to the light they had, is the same judgment on the rule of darkness occurring even if one “pretends” allegiance to the reign of light? Has the rule of darkness so blinded some that they naturally devote their ‘religious hours’ to creating “fetishes” of their assumed faith that has nothing to do with being “born again”, supposedly becoming disciples of Christ when their heart-allegiance is, yes, to the “rule of darkness” under Satan’s manipulating strategies?

Here’s how Oswald Chambers saw it in his day: “My Utmost For His Highest”, (p.237), “It is easier to be a fanatic than a faithful soul, because there is something amazingly humbling, particularly to our religious conceit, in being loyal to God.” Have you ever witnessed “warped loyalty” as one professes Christ but his/her fruit is more of Satan’s manifestation through his trees in his vineyard?

“The Rule of Darkness Or The Reign of Light?” How clear and revealing do you find the words of Paul, when inspired by the Holy Spirit, he wrote in Galatians 5:24-25, “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh (old sin nature!) with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” A ‘flesh-walk’ unveils an allegiance to the world, the flesh, and to Satan, But a “Spirit-walk” IS “Christ in you the hope of glory” led by the Indwelling and anointing of the Holy Spirit!

In Galatians 5:22 Paul unveiled the evidence of a Spirit-anointed, Christ-honoring life! “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” But in Galatians 5:16-21 he unveiled “the works of the flesh” which have Hell’s inspiration and Satan’s “rule of darkness”! Paul said: I say then: “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (inspired by Satan!). For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Dare I say “under the law of sin and death?”).

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: (Dare I say “Satan’s portrait unveiled by the Holy Spirit?”), adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, AND THE LIKE; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in times past, THAT THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”

The “Rule of Darkness” IS the devil’s domain – and the citizens of his ‘kingdom’ feed eternally on the bad fruit of death in Satan’s rule! But, at the same time, I must ask: “Have YOU rested in the immutability of God’s Word, God’s promises, and God’s grace, mercy, and love?” Or, are you out to ‘prove’ your best, your strategy, and your self-dependence? Does ‘your best’ change? Has your ‘self-dependence’ ushered in “the kingdom of God on earth”, or is it “improved flesh” camouflaged by Satan? Christ’s presence in you is unchangeable, but Satan’s image is like an impish, mischievous, fleshly desires-rebel doing as he pleases!

The “Rule of Darkness” is every man’s ‘right’ to choose for himself what he/she determines to have their time and effort – and “If it satisfies my sin-nature, let it be!” And Satan certainly considered, and still does, “The hope of self-righteousness, as I determine what self-righteousness is, is my ‘religion’ even if it produces only a ‘death-state; because for me, Satan, that’s better than being under the Sovereign Rule of your Holy God’!”

Yes, there is a huge difference between Satan’s “Rule of Darkness” and God’s “Reign of Light”! Have you bathed yourself recently in Psalm 91? Follow with me!!

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. [ Satan’s snares? Satan’s ‘perilous pestilence’?].

He (Holy God) shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings YOU shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. (Examine someday what “the high wages” really are that Satan uses to subsidize his deception on the “free-swingers away from God’s oversight”!).

Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. (Yes! Hallelujah! ANGELIC OVERSIGHT!!).

In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. (In my early days as a child and a teen-ager, on a Saturday morning usually around our Courthouse, I would watch the ‘snake handlers’ as they professed their stupidity not having a clue about metaphorical language that “lions and cobras” were Satan’s soldiers who promoted demon’s “sharp teeth” and demons ‘poisonous venom’ – yes, even a child of faith knows Truth and Christ or Falsehood and demons!).

In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and cobra (the demons are under your feet of faith!), the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”

Godless lives live not only with the absence of ‘divine life’ but they live under the curse of the sin nature, corralled by a ‘flesh-centered’ world, and corrupted by Satan with ‘solemn groans, and hollow moans, and shrieks of tortured ghosts’! And Satan wants to seal in you, in your state of unbelief or even ‘half-hearted allegiance to Christ’, his “curse” of death, not life, his “purpose” of poisoned pleasure, not eternal blessing, his “award” for a reputable performance, not a Spirit-transformed new creation! Without Christ as Lord and Savior every man lives under the domination of the devil’s darkness – and to him and them, “The Light of the world” makes no sense since he takes pleasure in the darkness of men’s souls!

In the ‘mortal nature’ of all men there is ingrained the kingdom of darkness, the dominion of evil, the sway of Satan, the lure of demonic activity, the marks of fleshly imperfections, the ‘floating phantoms’ of the defiled sin-nature that is not of God but from the heart, mind, soul, spirit of “born in sin”! The ‘old self’ is enough to open Hell’s doors for us, but Satan wants to insure he takes advantage of any crack in your life that will allow him in to reside and re-assign you from God’s purpose and plan to his perverseness and Hell’s ‘peasant’ status!

It’s so encouraging and powerful and, yes, redemptive to read John in 1 John 3:7-8, and then Verses 10-12: “Little children, (in the Faith, not age), let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness (Biblical righteousness, not one’s fleshly or demonic interpretation!) is righteous, just as He (Jesus) is righteous. He who sins (present tense, continuous action) is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.” Then…

Verses 10-12, In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? BECAUSE his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.”

Cain was “of the wicked one”? And you’re not sure that was Satan? Do you remember Jesus talking to His disciples in Matthew 13:36-43? The disciples had asked Jesus to “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”

Jesus answered and said to them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.[Do you think there is someone else other than Satan who is the wicked one?]. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels (or messengers of God!), (the end of the age is the end of the Old Covenant, the Judaisation system). Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. (70AD & the end of the Judaistic system!). The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

In 2 Timothy 2:19-26 Paul, again, is instructing his spiritual son, Timothy, and us – and I believe here he’s nailing down understanding for all believers about Satan’s snares! He said: Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity,” (unless you’ve been ingrained by “false professors” that ‘YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING BUT SIN UNTIL YOU GET TO HEAVEN’!!).

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work (not the works of Satan!). Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue (press into) righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape THE SNARE OF THE DEVIL, having been TAKEN CAPTIVE BY HIM TO DO HIS WILL!”

Are there in God’s awesome, created world men of honor and men of dishonor? Are there ‘clay vessels’ that are invaded by Satan, and through his demonic agents take up ‘residence’? It’s interesting to read in Amos 4:11 where the prophet illumined the danger Israel was in as a nation BECAUSE, hearing God, he wrote: “I overthrew some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and YOU WERE LIKE A FIREBRAND PLUCKED FROM BURNING; yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord.

Again, why did Jesus teach His disciple to pray, “Deliver us from evil” or “Deliver us from the evil one”? Do you receive the biblical truth of Hebrews 2:14-18? “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham (sons of redeeming faith!). Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”

Have you come to the understanding, by the grace of God, of the need of “The Reign of Light IN and Through Christ ALONE”, because you’ve been made aware through ‘life experiences’ of “The Rule of Darkness” in your life apart from Christ? Yes, are YOU assured, that Christ Jesus, in YOUR behalf, “that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil (or Satan), and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”? Have YOU prayed to Jesus: “Lord Jesus, free me from the law of sin and death, AND destroy Satan, in my behalf, because I know he still wants me all of my lifetime subject to his bondage and seeking to blot out of my life Christ Jesus’ “rescue story” for me!”

I pray for you right now: “Lord Jesus, enlighten every reader to the blessings of the Master’s blood redemption, and open every believing eye to His ransom purchase of their freedom from the bondage of the old sin nature and the bondage and blasts from my Satanic enemy and demonic forces, in honor of Christ alone! Amen!!”

CHAPTER NINE

“FEARING SATAN OR FEARING GOD?”

You do understand that fallen men who live without “blood redemption” through Christ alone usually live without any fear of Satan because once he has domination over a life, most men live unassuming lives of the dangerous hold and orders by Satan, being totally oblivious to his schemes, strategies, and saltless lives of any divine truth’, so they continue in their chains and bondage, because all they see around them are men and women demonized just like them!

But, Paul, for years upon years, lived under the ‘religious control’ of that which along with the rest of fallen humanity crucified Christ! But a day came when “fearing God” was birthed in a heart and mind that lived under the assault of Satan without any fear!

According to 2 Corinthians 5:11, Paul wrote: “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.” But even in Proverbs 1:7 Holy God set in the hearts of ‘wise men’ the blessing of fearing God. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction,” and so they live without fear of God but stupefied under the influence of Satan with little or no sense of the need of God’s saving grace!

It was Robert Herrick in his writing, “God’s Price and Man’s Price, saying: “God bought men here with His heart’s blood expense; and man sold God here for base thirty pence.”

Do you remember Paul’s passionate preaching to the Corinthians when in 2 Corinthians 6:12 he wrote them saying, “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections”? And their own affections were poisoned by their ‘false teachers,’ by their ‘corrupted parents and families’, by a ‘religious nation’ walking on its own alienated and separated from Holy God!

I’ve come to the basic conviction that ‘fallen men’, influenced strongly by a “fear of Satan rather than a fear of God”, are diseased and dis-eased by spiritual stubbornness that, yes, breeds spiritual stodginess, birthing “the graceless or inelegant” in one’s mind and heart, void of the absence of divine life within that comes only by “Repentance toward God and Faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross and the Empty Tomb”!

Yes, there IS a ‘black fear of Satan” that binds one to his world of godlessness, but there is the reality of a “White Fear of God” that so wants, desires, and urges His participation, presence, and power, in washing away the black fear of Satan by the red, shed blood of Christ the Lamb!

And if one, maybe like yourself, who wavers between ‘fearing Satan or fearing God’, tries to avoid “examining your own heart,” one then must be confronted and convicted with the reality of one’s sin and the sin nature that avoids examining one’s need of Him, determined to rest in my own way AND Satan’s way because he/she is not sure he/she wants to yield to the sovereignty of God Almighty, because the Word of God and the Spirit of God says, Isaiah 60:16b, “You shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob”; and the “Redeemer” bought us all with a price from our enslavement and bondage, not only from our old sin natures, but from the domination of Satanic control or slavery to the powers of darkness!

But if ever one faces up to the reality of his/her alienation and separation from God, there is the reality of conviction that “I have been more devoted to and serving the world, the flesh, and the devil more than even a thought about God” – and that should break a man’s heart and bring him to his knees before Holy God!

At the same time, it would be vitally important to seriously study and examine what Christ Jesus went through in His agony of Gethsemane! Oswald Chambers was inspired by Holy God in writing in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.69), using Matthew 26:36,38 as his foundation. He wrote: (“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” Verse 38, Then Jesus said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”

Chambers then wrote: “We can never fathom the agony in Gethsemane, but at least we need not misunderstand it. It is the agony of God and Man in one, face to face with sin (and I say, sin’s consequence!). We know nothing about Gethsemane in personal experience. Gethsemane and Calvary stand for something unique; they are the gateway into Life for us.

It was not the death on the cross that Jesus feared in Gethsemane; He stated most emphatically that He came on purpose to die. In Gethsemane He feared lest He might not get through as Son of Man. He would get through as Son of God – Satan could not touch Him there; but Satan’s onslaught was that He would get through as an isolated Figure only; and that would mean that He could be no Savior.

Read the record of the agony in the light of the temptation: “Then the devil left Him for a season.” In Gethsemane Satan came back and was again overthrown. Satan’s final onslaught against our Lord as “Son of Man” is in Gethsemane. The agony in Gethsemane is the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Savior of the world. The veil is drawn aside to reveal all it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God.

His agony is the basis of the simplicity of our salvation. The Cross of Christ is a triumph for “the Son of Man”. It was not only a sign that Our Lord had triumphed, but that He had triumphed to save the human race. Every human being can get through into the presence of God now because of what the Son of Man went through.”

Sadly, though forgiven through the shed blood of the Lamb of God, forgiven men and women can still choose to go their own way – not Christ’s! And though forgiven, they choose the domain of darkness, not the Kingdom of Light! Jesus’ response to the forgiven who choose Satan’s wide-open door and kingdom of darkness? Matthew 25:41, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (or ‘messengers’).”

If you didn’t know, Acts 24:15 declares, Paul speaking after being arrested, “I have hope in God…that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust,” with the just graced with a free pass into Heaven’s eternal Presence, but a costly ticket for the unjust and no longer any way to pay themselves out of Hell’s forever darkness, deceit, and damnation!

In the early, early days of church beginnings, after Jesus’ crucifixion, and, of course, after Judas’ betrayal and sad suicide, we read in Acts 1:21-22, “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” And Verse 26 then says that Matthias “was numbered with the eleven apostles.” In spite of Satan, there is Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope!

I’m awed every time I read the declaration of Paul about Christ Jesus risen from the dead, and certainly Christ Jesus our only hope of a blessed life in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – the Triumphant Three in One! But I’m also aware that as Christ Jesus prayed in His early days of ministry, in Matthew 6:13 He prayed, “But deliver us from evil,” and no doubt, “deliver us from the evil one, Satan!”

God help us to never turn our minds away from Him, but to abide through Christ in God’s indwelling as He calls His children His temple or His tabernacle! We turn to Him in our weaknesses and in our strengths, we turn to Him when we sense and know that Satan and his soldiers are out to wipe out our faith, surrender, devotion, and allegiance to the God who made us, lost us, and bought us at a price! We turn to Him, because of repentance toward God and faith in Christ’s finished work at the Cross, that, yes, we became citizens of His Kingdom, sons and daughters of the family of God, and that we were commissioned to turn our world to submission to the will of God as revealed through Christ Jesus!

One of the major problems both unbelievers and believers have is that we grew up in our old sin natures in allegiance, whether one understood it or not, of being a part of the kingdom of the flesh, the kingdom of world influences, and the kingdom of the dominion and rule of Satan himself, bruised in what one author described as “manifold seductiveness.”

But “manifold seductiveness” has been exposed by Christ Jesus, and His shed blood has set mankind free from the seductiveness of Satan whether they recognize and accept his defeat or not! In 1 Corinthians 15:12-28 there is a monumental unveiling of Christ concerning the defeat and conquest over every ‘enemy’ you face. Paul wrote:

“Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our pre aching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up – if in fact the dead do not rise.

For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.

For HE MUST REIGN till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For ‘He has put all things under His feet.’ But when He says ‘all things are put under Him,’ it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”

If Satan was and is THE major opponent to Christ Jesus, is he THE major antagonist to the disciples of Christ? Satan lies to you about God as he did to Eve! Satan is antagonistic against any follower of Christ or any church that stands for eternal Truth! Satan is an ‘opportunist’, examining most and testing most at their weakest moment!

In fact, in 1 Peter 5:8, Peter, yes, was inspired to write by God, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,” followed by Verse 9 and Peter’s instruction, “Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”

Are YOU “of the brotherhood in the world”, but you’ve never known demonic testings? Could it be, sadly, that your ‘proposed faith in Christ’ is no threat to Satan? The world, the flesh or old sin nature, and Satan himself are, yes, great threats to those who’ve been chosen and respond to God’s invitation, “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest” – and that “rest from” includes Satan’s testings of your faith!

I came across a “treasure” one day in an old book store in Waco, Texas, years ago. It was a book entitled “Mrs. Browning”, authored by Elizabeth Barret Browning from 1826 to 1844, over two hundred years ago. One poem is entitled, “The Soul’s Travailing”, and is about five pages long! I’m only going to share a few lines! She wrote:

“I dwell amid the city. The great humanity which beats its life along the stony streets, Like a strong unsunned river In a self-made course, is ever Rolling on, rolling on! –

I sit and hear it as it rolls, That flow of souls! The infinite tendencies, In the finite, chafed and pent, – In the finite, turbulent! – The long, drear monotone, made of many tones that rise Each to each as contraries! –

The rich man’s ambling steeds – lolling their necks as the chariot comes With its inward gleam of the eddying plumes! – The poor man’s abject needs – The feet that wearily, wearily roam, Unquickened by thoughts of the fire at home –

The cry of the babe unheard of its mother, though it lies on her breast, while she thinks of the other Laid yesterday in tomb! – The whine of voices that have made Their own grief’s sacredness a trade – The curse that ringeth hollowly The crime against the misery – [Several paragraphs down, I’ll close it with a few more words from Browning:],

I dwell amid the city, and hear the flow of souls! I do not hear the several contraries – I do not hear the separate tone that rolls in act or speech, For pomp or trade, for merrymake or folly – I hear the confluence and sun of each, And that is melancholy! – The voice is a complain, O crowned city, The blue sky covering you, like God’s great pity! “

Yet, hear me, many “amid the city” where you dwell, are ill-informed, because as one man wrote years ago, “The devil’s ever kind to his own.” (Alexander Brome, “New Montebank”).

There’s an old, old hymn you’ve probably never heard, written by William Pierson Merrill and Aaron Williams. It’s entitled “Rise Up, O Men of God”. It says: “Rise up, O men of God! Have done with lesser things; Give heart and mind and soul and strength To serve the King of kings.

Rise up, O men of God! His kingdom tarries long; Bring in the day of brotherhood And end the night of wrong.

Rise up, O men of God! The Church for you does wait, Her strength unequal to her task; Rise up, and make her great!

Lift high the cross of Christ! Tread where His feet have trod; As brothers of the Son of man, Rise up, O men of God!”

Are you “up” to joining Christ in delivering fallen humanity from the evil one and extending Christ’s “Kingdom-Rule”, yes, over Satan and his evil ones? You don’t “make the best of it as you can” in your battle with the powers of darkness – you Trust Christ to be Himself in you, delivering you from Satan and his soldiers! Christ is Victor over sin and death – and Christ is Victor over Satan! Amen?

CHAPTER TEN

“SPIRITUAL MONARCHICAL MADNESS ORCHRIST-MASTERED NEWNESS OF LIFE?”

Have you ever known of “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which come on the earth”, because in their own spiritual monarchical madness they shut Holy God and His redemptive love out of their lives, homes, businesses, even their ‘self-education’ or choosing schools and universities ‘mastered’ by philosophical stupidity?

There is an on-going war for the souls of men – and Satan is the primary leader in ensuring unbelief in a lot of boys and girls, moms and dads, and men and women! Spiritual monarchical madness is the classic theme Satan has used to indoctrinate, yes, nations and schools and universities, families, or the singles that don’t want families, or godless government leaders who seek to ensure God’s absence from what they want to control themselves – all suggested, inspired, instilled by the devil and devilish demons!

It was Noah Webster, founding father of much of our nation’s founding educational system, who wrote in his “The American Dictionary of the English Language,” (NY: S. Converse, 1828, reprinted, San Francisco Foundation for American Christian Education, facsimile edition, 1967), saying: “The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all of our civil constitutions and laws… (Listen now!)…All the miseries and evil which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.”

I’m also afraid it’s because men, women, boys, and girls, teachers and professors, pastors and their people, yes, “despise, neglect, or see as unimportant the God-inspired Truths of Holy Scripture” –and, yes, they keep the door open to Satan and his associates to cloud the minds, blind the eyes, seal the hearts from Divine oversight with Christ-Mastered, eternal Wisdom of the Word! Spiritual Monarchical Madness has more than a foot in the door of men’s minds and hearts – too often most men are “diseased” with their monarchical madness in the spirit realm – and that ‘disease’ is contagious!

It’s really, really interesting and eye-opening when one devotes himself/herself to read carefully and intently the Word of God! For instance, come with me to Mark 3:13-15, where Christ Jesus called to Himself the first “twelve apostles” or “those He Himself wanted. AND THEY CAME TO HIM.” Then notice, Verses 14-15, “Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, AND to have power to heal sicknesses and TO CAST OUT DEMONS!” [Are YOU aware of how controversial it is to even read Scripture about “demons”? I’m sure, if you accept and walk in the Word of God, that at least you know Satan and his army of demons have successfully blinded a lot of preachers and ‘disciples’ (?) in “covering” for them in their degrading, enslaving activities!].

Back in Mark 3:15 after appointing “the twelve” to “have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons,” follow carefully Verses 20-30! [The American “church” and the “church” worldwide must learn about the ministry of deliverance, yes, from demonic activity in their world today!]. Mark 3:20-30 instructs us:

Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.” (And much of the world in the church today would label any minister of deliverance as being “out of his mind”!).

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said (of Christ Jesus!) “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.” So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.

Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation” – because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.” [And do you understand that Jesus was condemning those who attribute the works of the Holy Spirit, yes, even deliverance from demons, to be the works of even the devil himself?].

In reading Hebrews recently I paused with, yes, great fear for those who take lightly, if at all, the Holy Word of God! Hebrews 10:26-27 tells us: “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.” Oh, but then comes Hebrews 10:29-31! It says:

“Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

I pray that YOU are not one of those “who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul,” and, yes, trust in the Savior to deliver YOU and break your chains of demonic bondage!

Oh, and then reading Spurgeon WITH THE WORD OF GOD, I was awed by his penetrating words when he was teaching about “The Curse Removed,” from his Memorable Library series, Volume 2 of “Spurgeon’s Sermons”, (p.285), when he wrote: “On the walls of heaven you are proscribed, written upon there as “deicides”, who have slain the Savior – as rebels against God’s government, who have committed high treason against him; and perhaps even now the dark-winged angel of death is spreading his pinions upon the blast, hastening to hurry you down to destruction. Say not, O sinner, that I would affright you; say, rather, that I would bring you to the Savior; for whether you hear or not, or believe it or not, you cannot alter the truth thereof – that you are NOW, if you’ve not given yourself to Christ, ‘condemned already’.”

What does John 3:18 tell us from the very lips of Christ Jesus? “He who believes in (trusts in, relies upon, adheres to) Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is CONDEMNED ALREADY, because he has not believed (or trusted in) in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Satan said what to Eve in Genesis 3? “You surely shall not die,” but Eve and Adam and all of humanity since has lived in need of the Savior and Lord with Satan still saying, “Your sin is not serious – you surely shall not die as you ‘party’ with the world, the flesh, and my fellow demons of darkness!”

Did Spurgeon described fallen humanity as “deicides”? The Random House Collegiate Dictionary of 1975 defines “deicides” as “a person who kills a god or the act of killing a god”, but consider: “Who crucified Christ?” How about Satan and ALL of fallen mankind who live in and through their fallen sin-natures?

Is “the dark-winged angel of death” still spreading his wings, and especially upon you? There’s an awakening event in Luke 9:37-43! [Please! Don’t give me the darkish-rendition that this was an isolated event with a little boy when “the dark-winged angel of death” gloats over men’s spiritual stupidity! The “deicides” are clearly interpreting fallen humanity themselves by their own existence without God!]. Luke tells us:

Now it happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him. Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, “Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child. AND BEHOLD, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him. So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”

Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” And as he was still coming, the demons threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.”

The ‘convulsing activity of the devil and his demons’ is as alive today, I think even more so, because of the vast numbers he desires to destroy – but most churches and many pastors don’t even consider that a concern! But in Luke 9:49-50 we read, Now John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.” But Jesus said to John, “Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.” THE FREEDOM-DELIVERERS WHO FIGHT THE DEMONS ARE CHRIST’S SERVANTS!

But, if Satan and his ‘soldiers of death, deceit, and enslavement’ are still around, it is certain that true disciples of Christ should not be giving him any of their ground to occupy, but I guarantee you he and his devilish companions will tempt you with devilish activities, and lude-filled lusts that WILL distress you, annoy you, trouble you, vex your best effort, and are capable of ultimately destroying your soul-life!

In Luke 6, after a night of prayer, we learn of Jesus’ encounter with “unclean spirits”. Luke 6:17-19 says, And He (Jesus) came down with them (His disciples and the crowd ) and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all." A” least four truths I want to enlighten you with, especially brightening your understanding of Christ Jesus “freeing” us from our troubling wars with Satan.

FIRST, SETTLE IT IN YOUR MIND AND HEART THAT SATAN WILL NOT STEAL FROM YOU YOUR CONFIDENCE IN HIS HOLY WORD! What did Satan do with Eve? “Has God really said that you shall not die if you partake of forbidden fruit?” Yes, it’s Satan and his earthly slaves who cast doubt on the Word of God!

Oh, but at the same time, Satan is a stickler for ‘legalism’ apart from grace, mercy, and love! He won’t oppose ‘legalists’ because they are not “born-again disciples of Christ”, but ‘strive’ to enter through their best efforts, when true salvation is the gracious gift of compassionate God through Christ!

But at the same time, Satan twists Truth and misuses Scripture! He fights for what he “thinks” is his! He induces bitter, boastful in self folks, to end their sadness and disappointment in themselves before they find the “joy of the Lord”! Satan is the master of anxiety, worry, fear, doubt, discouragement, eventually majoring on shifts of eye contact from the reality of Christ’s promises to his devilish, fleshly, demonic tendencies!

SECOND, SATAN CONFESSES TO ‘LIES”, NOT TO BIBLICAL TRUTH, AND ENTERTAINS IN EVERY MIND DOUBTS AND FEARS! And, yes, he travels in his ‘fallen spirit’, not some earthly body, yet is still able to speak to you as if you were Eve or Adam!

Reading Spurgeon recently, (same Volume as earlier mentioned, pps.302-304), the brilliant preacher, teacher, and author wrote: “Satan is not very scrupulous, and he sometimes throws the coming (to Christ) sinner down and tears him ‘by telling horrible falsehoods.’ Some of you may not have known this, and I thank God if you do not understand some of the things which I am about to speak. Many a time when the soul is coming to Christ, Satan violently injects infidel thoughts. I have never been thoroughly an unbeliever but once, and that was not before I knew the need of a Savior, but after it.

It was just when I wanted Christ and panted after Him, that on a sudden the thought crossed my mind, which I abhorred but could not conquer, that there was no God, no Christ, no heaven, no hell; that all my prayers were but a farce, and that I might as well have whistled to the winds or spoken to the howling waves. Ah! I remember how my ship drifted along through the sea of fire, loosened from the anchor of my faith which I had received from my fathers.

I doubted every thing, until at last the devil defeated himself by making me doubt my own existence, and I thought I was an idea floating in the nothingness of vacuity; then startled with that thought, and feeling that I was substantial flesh and blood after all, I saw that God was, and Christ was, and heaven was, and hell was, and that all these things were very truths….It is when Satan finds the heart tender that he tries to stamp his own impress of infidelity upon the soul; but, blessed be God, he never accomplishes it in the truly-coming sinner.

He (the devil) labors to inject blasphemous thoughts, and then tells us they are ours. Has he not sometimes poured in most vehement torrents of blasphemy and evil imaginations into our hearts, which we ignorantly thought must be our own? Yet not one of them perhaps belonged to us. I remember I had once been alone musing on God, when on a sudden it seemed as if the floodgates of hell had been loosed; my head became a very pandemonium; ten thousand evil spirits seemed to be holding carnival with my brain; and I held my mouth lest I should give utterance to the words of blasphemy that were poured into my ears.

Things I had never heard or thought of before came rushing impetuously into my mind, and I scarce could withstand their influence. It was the devil throwing me down and tearing me. Ah! Poor soul, you will have that perhaps; but remember it is only one of the tricks of the arch enemy. He drives his unclean beasts into your field and then calls them yours.”

THIRD, SATAN WILL POINT YOU TO YOUR OWN GETHSEMANE BATTLE, ACCUSE YOU OF YOUR WEAKNESSES, AND, WHEN HE SEES YOU CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST, HE’LL NOT STAY AROUND – HE DOESN”T CELEBRATE CHRIST’S SHED BLOOD COVERING YOU BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT’S HIS DEFEAT, NOT HIS VICTORY! Were YOU “crucified with Christ? Then rest in His shed blood, and Satan and his demon forces will flee!

It’s better to understand “I was crucified with Christ” than to stand with the devil’s crowd who can’t even contemplate talking about Christ and His shed blood setting fallen humanity free from their sin and death! And though Satan inspired, “Crucify Him,” there is no doubt, once done, the devil knew his demise was ushered in because the Resurrection of Christ was soon to come – and “Christ Arose”!

Charles Wesley, in one verse of “O For A Thousand Tongues”, wrote: “He (Christ) breaks the power of canceled sin, He sets the prisoner free; His blood can make the foulest clean; His blood availed for me.” And though ravished by sin and death and the devil’s captivity, a repentant heart and faith-filled soul walks free in Christ’s gift of freedom, liberty, and the gift of eternal life in Him alone! AMEN?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“EARTHLY VOICES OR HEAVENLY PROCLAMATIONS OF DIVINE TRUTH?”

Has there ever been a moment in your life when you hear or read something, and you ask yourself: “Is that man’s thoughts, his interpretations, her opinions, or is what I heard, read, and, maybe, wrestled with: “The Proclamations of Divine Truth?” And, of course, those questions, doubts, hesitations, have to be answered, responded to, or just denied a response: “Who cares?” God cares how you respond because He understands your wrestling with earthly voices or His heavenly proclamations of divine truth, your struggles with fleshly acceptance of others or divine approval of God, or even your desire to know only eternal truth or drawn by the powers of darkness to his devilish philosophies! And our world is filled with “earthly voices” that has no resemblance to the Voice of God or His proclamations of Divine Truth!

“Earthly voices”, yes, bound by the first opposer to Divine Life and Divine Truth, “the devil or Satan”, or as Genesis 3:1 entitled him, “the serpent”, cooperate with all new-born life in the ‘flesh’ without God, encouraging early in Adam and Eve’s life, “You will not surely die,” but they did – Why? “Because the wages of sin IS death” though the devil denies it! He told Eve in Genesis 3:5, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it (forbidden fruit) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Oh, God may “know” of “good and Evil”, but His choice is that you know Divine Life apart from good and evil! But the devil, unbelievers, ‘pretenders’, even some ‘preachers’ without regenerated hearts through the birth of the Spirit, affirm with their earthly voices, “Accept your good and evil, you will not die”, yet “The wages of sin is death!” Do YOU, with the devil and earthly voices around you, accept that ‘good and evil’ is OK?

The devil, the powers of darkness, the deniers of the reality of even God’s existence, the compromisers of Holy Truth, the inventors, perpetrators, even, yes, ‘liars’ about the need of hearing, receiving, and certainly not walking in any claim of the need of obedience to “the God of uneducated, brain-dead believers”, has gotten to the day and time of ‘scandalous, nonsensical claims’ about Christ Jesus and salvation by grace through faith! Many men, women have “washed their hands, minds, and hearts of the need of God in our lives!” You’ve seen them, heard them, witnessed them ashamedly make light of, yes, the only Lord and Savior who IS “the Light of the world”, but they call Him ‘darkness’ through their own blinded eyes!

In 1 Corinthians 15:3-20 we read of historic proclamations as to the reality of Christ Jesus and our relationship to Him. Paul wrote out of the overflow of his own heart under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, saying, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: THAT CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.

After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as one born out of due time.

For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH WAS WITH ME.

Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. NOW if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection from the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.

Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up – in in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. BUT NOW Christ IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Though dying and dead and buried, three days later, “Up from the grave He arose, With a mighty triumph over His foes; He arose a Victor from the dark domain, And He lives forever with His saints to reign. He arose, He arose, Hallelujah! Christ arose!….Death cannot keep his prey – Jesus My Savior! He tore the bars of death away, Jesus our Lord!”

But “earthly voices are still influenced by the devil himself or his demon forces”! This is why in Ephesians 6:11-13 Paul instructs and inspires us saying: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

True disciples understand the necessity of daily equipping and dressing one’s self in the full armor of God to withstand the strong assaults from the world, the flesh, or the devil that we once belonged to and entertained! The devil doesn’t cease his attacks because you surrendered your allegiance to Christ, but the brother of Jesus said in James 4:7, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” That’s more than just resistance to temptation, but the active, alert, aimed resistance to the devil’s attempts to open any window or door in your ‘house of a redeemed, blood-bought life’, yes, devoted to Christ and His honor alone!

Your faith in Christ’s resurrection and His ascension to the right hand of God on Heaven’s throne as YOUR INTERCESSOR means more than most Christians have been discipled in – ‘sins forgiven’, yes, He watches over you, but according to N.T. Wright, in his strong book, “The Day The Revolution Began,” (p.5), “According to the book of Revelation, Jesus died in order to make us not rescued nonentities, but restore human beings with a vocation to play in God’s purposes for the world.” WOW! Are YOU a ‘rescued nonentity’ or a true disciple of Christ, a soldier in His army, yes, fighting the good fight of everlasting faith? If so, you’re busy daily being equipped in the “great warfare” against Satan and the powers of darkness!

FIRST, WHAT DID PAUL TELL US IN EPHESIANS 6:11? PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD! The reason? In order “that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” In Ephesians 6:16 Paul told us about “taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

“Fiery darts of the wicked one”? It begins in the home faith-filled or faithless; it extends to, yes, the school rooms and universities, where godless teachers become tools of Satan to spoil minds, wills, and emotions concerning loyalty to the God who made them, lost them, then bought them with a price, the blood of the Lamb of God, even to neighborhoods or city gatherings where “your God isn’t welcome here!”, or even national governments that spurn God’s word and spin their ‘godless rhetoric’, or even, biblically criminal pastors and churches who promote their religious opinions rather than the eternal Truth of the Holy Word!

And dare I tell you that ONLY “the whole armor of God” withstands the wiles and wickedness of the devil and the powers of darkness? Sad to say, but even “Hollywood” accepts, promotes, and uses “the wiles of the devil” to capture, to trap, and to ‘entertain’ with the devil’s intent of overcoming the Godly truths, Godly lives, and Godly intents of “the Kingdom of God on earth” – they prefer the kingdom of flesh, darkness, and the devil!

SECOND, DID THE BELOVED JOHN INFORMS US AS TO HOW SATAN ENTICES THE GODLESS TO BECOME HIS SLAVES OF DARKNESS? OF COURSE! And – In 1 John 1:5b-6, the beloved John wrote: “… God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

In 1 John 2:15-17 the Holy Word through John exposes the ‘traps’ Satan uses to turn men from God to his kingdom of darkness and kingdom of slavery to the devil’s passions and evil ways! “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world (AND the kingdom of the devil’s darkness!) – the lust of the flesh (or sin-nature), the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

A slave of darkness is a prisoner of the kingdom of religious indifference! In 1 John 2:22-23 the faithful John declared: “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges (or gives Jesus His rightful place as Lord and Savior!) the Son has the Father also.” And THIS TRUTH does cause major or minor religions across the entire world serious trouble because Christ Jesus is not a partner with their deception! Jesus said: “I AM the way, the truth, and the life – no man comes to the Father but through Me!”

THIRD, DIDN’T PAUL EDUCATE TRUE DISCIPLES ABOUT OVERCOMING WHEN SATAN ATTEMPTS TO SWAY ONE FROM THE KINGDOM OF LIGHT INTO THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS? That’s 2 Corinthians 10:3-6! Paul trains us as true soldiers of Christ against His enemy and ours – Satan! He said:

“For though we walk in the fleshly body, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal BUT MIGHTY IN GOD FOR PULLING DOWN STRONGHOLDS, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”

Oswald Chambers wrote powerful words about our spiritual warfare against the devil’s onslaughts against true believers! In his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (pps.185-186), Chambers wrote:

“Deliverance from sin is not deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudices, which the saint has to destroy by neglect; and other things which have to be destroyed by violence, i.e., by the Divine strength imparted by God’s Spirit. There are some things over which we are not to fight, but to stand still in and see the salvation of God; but every theory or conception which erects itself as a rampart against the knowledge of God is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God’s power, not by fleshly endeavor or compromise. (v4).

It is only when God has altered our disposition and we have entered into the experience (or step!) of sanctification that the fight begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin: Jesus Christ deals with sin in Redemption. The conflict is along the line of turning our natural life into a spiritual life, and this is never done easily, nor does God intend it to be done easily. It is done only by a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the sense of character; He makes us holy in the sense of innocence, and we have to turn that innocence into holy character by a series of moral choices. These choices are continually in antagonism to the entrenchments of our natural life, the things which erect themselves as ramparts against the knowledge of God. We can either go back and make ourselves of no account in the Kingdom of God, or we can determinedly demolish these things and let Jesus bring another son to glory.”

FOURTH, AND LAST, YES, THERE MUST BE THE DAILY DISCIPLINE OF EXERCISING THE WILL OF OUR LIVES TO HONOR HIM, NOT SATISFY ONE’S OLD SIN NATURE THAT WAS CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST! Back to 2 Corinthians 10:4-5! “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…!”

2 Corinthians 1:9 clearly states: “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead…!”

Arguments against God’s thoughts or submission to Christ’s Truth, fleshly speculations or the Savior’s eternal remedy, world accusations or the redemptive knowledge of God, high things of lofty philosophies or eternal truths of divine revelation, ‘my thought life’ or the Savior’s offer of “new life in Him”?

There’s possibly or probably that every day you live satanic invitations will come for you to ‘satisfy’ your flesh nature, OR, you can clothe yourself in the Savior’s presence, purpose, and power, to daily honor and give glory to God alone!

There may be assaults by Satan and the powers of darkness, but if Christ is in you, you can rest in His eternal presence, promises, and power! “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

In Philippians 4:6-9 we read: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Yes, thank God for the God of peace who is able to keep you, even against the wiles of Satan himself! Martin Luther wrote the old hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God”. The first verse only says: “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; Our helper He, amid the flood Of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe Does seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great, And, armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.”

But out of Heaven to earth came the Conquering King, Jesus, and His truth and His kingdom IS the forever conqueror over sin, over Satan, over death itself! In Christ, yes, “we are more than conquerors – we’re sons of the conquering King Jesus!”

CHAPTER TWELVE

“FLESHLY DETERMINATIONS OR DIVINE DISCERNMENT?”

1 Corinthians 15:33-34 reveals so much about folks who are deceived and, yes, true believers who have been enlightened. The Word says, “Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits. Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.” But SOME do!

It was in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 that the Apostle Paul highlighted the difference between ‘fleshly determinations or divine discernment” when he wrote: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…”! Have YOU been brought into a state of life of obedience to King Jesus our Lord and Savior and Master of our redeemed lives?

Did Paul mention ‘warfare’? I was just a small boy when the Second World War broke out. I was under the care of my grandparents from three years of age to about twelve. And I’ll never forget Papa Lemons glued to his radio in his main chair listening intently because he had two sons in Armed Services, one a “flight engineer” for a bomber and the other a “top turret gunner on a bomber”! My granddad was intent about learning all he could about warfare because he knew his sons could be killed – he did know about intercessory prayer!

But some around us are aware of national warfare more than they are the warfare between Heaven and hell, even unaware of the demonic warfare for the captivity of one’s soul under devilish domination – they’re blind and deaf about their separation from God as they give themselves fully to the natural, the fleshly, the worldly without a thought about why Christ took them to the Cross to be crucified with Him, then resurrected from the dead spiritually to a “new creation,” a “new life”, and an “eternal hope”!

Fleshly lives, living by fleshly determinations, yes, are enraptured with ‘fleshly imaginations and every fleshly thing that exalts itself or one’s self from the true knowledge of God’!

In Hebrews 2, having amplified ‘bringing many sons to glory’, the author unveils the intent of Christ, in His coming, AND His willful offering for our salvation though He knew the pain and trouble involved in crucifixion! Hebrews 2:14-18 tells us, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil (or Satan!), and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”

But, if the Lord Jesus “suffered” because of Satan’s temptations, modern believers even in the reality of Christ’s “suffering”, see no place for “modern Christians today ever believing they’ll be tempted by the same devil or having to suffer to overcome”! All I can say is, “They are not students of the Holy Word of God or they excuse Jesus not meaning what He said”! “In the world you’ll have great tribulation,” “In the world of a disciple’s walk there will be demonic opposition,” “In the world of ‘churchianity’ be careful of the false teachers who resent My Word,” “In the world of ‘Christian professionalism’ be alerted to the, yes, false teachers and preachers who deny the devil and his demons – they are foreign to the mind, heart, and spirit of the Living God and the Resurrected Christ and the Holy Word” especially of Revelation 12:7-17!! The Holy Words says:

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and the angels fought with the dragon (or Satan); and the dragon and his angels (demons) fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, WHO DECEIVES THE WHOLE WORLD; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the ‘accuser’ of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has COME DOWN TO YOU HAVING GREAT WRATH, because he knows that he has a short time.”

Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

But remember, and never forget or overlook, Hebrews 2:14-15, because it illumines ‘fallen mankind’ in need of the Deliverer! “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

Unbelievers without Christ are dominated, controlled, instructed by the devil who operates in and out of the power of death – and unbelievers don’t even know they are tools of Satan, from the highest intellectual PhD professor to the lowest slave of darkness, all under his subjection to bondage, godlessness, and faithlessness!

“Fleshly determinations”? Just how big do you see this problem in the church, in the minds of those who’ve never truly been disciples in the Spirit of Christ who faced ‘warfare’ with the devil and won?

Paul instructs us wisely in Colossians 2:18-20 & 2: 23-3:6 “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly PUFFED UP BY HIS FLESHLY MIND, and not holding fast to the Head (King Jesus), from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations –

Chapter 2:23-3:6 then says, These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. 3:1-6 then says: If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears (manifested or unveiled!), then you shall also appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry (and it’s also the very nature of the devil!). Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.” Be assured: A SELF-IMPOSED LIFESTYLE IS THE VERY RESIDENCE AND THRONE OF SATAN AND HIS DEMONS!

Let’s shift gears!! If the Holy Spirit of God “guides us into all Truth”, if Satan is out to “deceive us” who are in Christ, then what does Satan do to turn us away from a true walk in Christ?

FIRST, SATAN TWISTS BIBLICAL TRUTH, EVEN ENCOURAGING COOPERATION AND PARTICIPATION WITH GOOD AND EVIL, BUT HIGHLY OPPOSED TO HOLY TRUTH, PRODUCING COOPERATORS WITH THE DEVIL BUT NOT DEVOTED FOLLOWERS OF HOLY GOD! Look at Genesis 3:1-24, the whole chapter! It says:

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’? [Casting doubt on the Word of God!]. And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” SO when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, AND THEY KNEW THAT THEY WERE NAKED; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. [A ‘covering’ does not convert, transform, or make new – it only promotes pretense, self-illusion, and clouds one’s vision of the need of the Savior and Lord!].

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves ( and unbelieving men and women are still “hiding themselves” from divine reality!) from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (I call this man-made “Fig-Leaf Religion”!).

Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” [That’s the eternal clear calling to every man, woman, boy or girl – WHERE ARE YOU?]. So Adam said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” [Where are YOU hiding yourself right now as Holy God calls your name?].

And God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” [Blaming behavior?]. And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than any beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

To the woman God said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you.” [If you didn’t know, husbands ‘ruling over their wives as well as wives ruling over their husbands’ is an anathema – if a husband is the ‘head of the wife’ it’s because he has chosen to walk as the servant of Christ! Jesus said, “I didn’t come to be served, but to serve and to lay down my life as a ransom for the many!” True biblical marriage is “mutual submissiveness in the will of God”!].

Verse 17, Then God said to Adam, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat of it,” ‘Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.’”

Verse 20, And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. [Tunics of skin? Why not the robes of righteousness? Because Adam and Eve were not righteous! Why not clothed with salvation? Because Adam and Eve fell away from Holy God! Why not clothed in blood redemption? Because Adam and Eve walked with closed ears to spiritual Truth! Why not clothed in blessed assurance? Because, remember, in Luke 8:2 Christ Jesus met a certain man from the city “who had demons for a long time. And he wore NO CLOTHES, nor did he live in a house but in tombs.” He didn’t know what to do about Jesus, but Jesus knew what to do with him!

In Verse 30 Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”, because many demons had entered him. And they (the demons) begged Jesus that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. (For them, a herd of swine would do! So they begged Jesus that He would permit them to enter the swine. He did!).

The scene changes dramatically! Verse 35, Then the city went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus, AND FOUND THE MAN FROM WHOM THE DEMONS HAD DEPARTED, SITTING AT THE FEET OF JESUS, clothed and in his right mind. And his fellow citizens were afraid. They even asked Jesus to depart from them “for they were seized with great fear.” They departed further away from Christ Jesus as men still do today!

Jesus told the man set free from his demons: “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” Are YOU telling what great things God has done for you through Christ?

SECOND, YOU MUST SEE HOW SOME MEN LIVE IN THEIR IMAGINARY ‘SELF-CLOTHING’ APART FROM THE GIFTS OF HOLY GOD – FLESHLY DETERMINATIONS APART FROM DIVINE DISCERNMENT AND HOLY INSPIRATION! It’s so awakening to discern what happened to, yes, religious Jews when the Apostle Paul “stripped” Judaism of its pretense and ‘play-acting’! In 2 Timothy 3:1-7 Paul wrote: “But know this, that in the last days (of Judaism! Not ‘end-times’ as some allege!) perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! [A form of godliness is not godliness!].

For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these men also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.”

Oh, but then there are “the few” as Jesus told us: “Few there be who find it, or find the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life in Christ Jesus alone!”

In 2 Timothy 3:14-17 we learn about “divine discernment and holy inspiration”! Paul wrote: “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

THIRD, ONE MUST COME TO “REST”, NOT IN WHAT HE OR HIS FALLEN WORLD AROUND HIM DETERMINES AS ACCEPTABLE, BUT “RESTING” IN THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST AT THE CROSS, LIFE BURIED, THEN RESURRECTED IN THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST!

In Galatians 5:24-25 Paul wrote: “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

I love Oswald Chambers’ wisdom and enlightment in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.256), “It is the things that are right and noble and good from the natural standpoint that keep us back from God’s best. To discern that natural virtues antagonize surrender to God, is to bring our soul into the center of its greatest battle. Very few of us debate with the sordid and evil and wrong, but we do debate with the good. It is the good that hates the best, and the higher up you get in the scale of natural virtues, the more intense is the opposition to Jesus Christ. (But, Chambers then said:), “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh” – it is going to cost the natural in you everything, not something. Jesus said – “If any man will be My disciple, let him deny himself…”. Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence.” Amen?

FOURTH AND LAST, THERE MUST BE A WILLFUL, FULL SURRENDER OF WHAT THE “OLD MAN LOVES” AND WHAT ,YES, CHRIST JESUS DEMANDS! There’s an inspiring Verse in Psalm 138:8 when David, King David, wrote: “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me,” and we can rest assured, “In Christ, our Lord, Savior, and Master of our lives WILL PERFECT IN US THAT WHICH CONCERNS HIS NAME, HIS MISSION, HIS PURPOSE”!

Prior to Jesus’ betrayal and arrest, He prayed for His disciples then AND even NOW! John 17 unveils Christ’s intent for, yes, every single disciple: Verse 6, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world…”

Verse 8, “I have given them the words which You have given Me…”. Verse 9, “I pray for them…”. Verse 17, “Sanctify them by Your truth. You word is truth…” Verse 18, “I have sent them into the world…” to be salt and light! Verse 20, “I pray for those who will believe in Me through their word…”. Verse 22, “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them,” – Are YOU living in, under, through, around His glory-cloud? [A glory hidden in the privacy of one’s proud heart, or a glory shared to the needy world around you?]. Verse 23, “that the world may know that You sent Me, and have loved the world as You have loved Me.”

I believe it’s time for, yes, every disciple to begin praying, “Lord, what is Your eternal, perfect, Christ-honoring purpose for my life? It was George Eliot who once wrote: “It is vain thought to flee from the work God appoints us, for the sake of finding a greater blessing, instead of seeking it where alone it is to be found – in loving obedience?”

It’s so clear! In John 4:34 Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” Can you say, as Jesus did, before His crucifixion, John 17:4, “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. Verse 5, AND NOW, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”

Can you take yourself back before the world was and see God’s planned intent, ministry, and way of glorifying Himself through YOU? It’s time!!

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Demonic Domination?

I find it so amazing that Jesus says in John 15:16, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain….”

But when it comes to the “descending devil,” we were all birthed with a sin nature, totally enslaved, branded with the devil’s markings, traits, identity, as a bond-slave to him.

In Zechariah 2:13 the prophet spoke: “Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is aroused from His holy habitation.” And then, in Zechariah 3:1-4 the prophet tells us:

The he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and SATAN standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”….

Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” [Are you robed by God?].

I certainly do not know how it is with you, but I rejoice and celebrate the truth that Jesus rebuked Satan and snatched the branding iron from the fire!

And though God’s servant had been wearing filthy garments, don’t you rejoice that his filthy garments [robes of iniquity] had been removed from him, and he was then clothed with rich robes? How about you? Robes of iniquity or robes of righteousness?

In Proverbs 15:11 the wise man tells us, “Hell and Destruction are before the Lord; So how much more the hearts of the sons of men.” And as ‘the hearts of the sons of men’ are before the Lord, what does God see, what does God read about your present-conditioned heart? Acts 1:24 says, “You, O Lord, who knows the hearts of all…”, and knowing your heart, how does it read before Holy God? Devotion to the descending devil or allegiance to our Ascended Lord?

And if you didn’t know the ‘descending devil’ authors “woes” while the God of the Cross authors births, and blesses “the worshipping of the King of kings and Lord of lords”! The ‘descending devil’ birthed eternal death while Jesus authors “eternal life”!

In I Corinthians 15:46-58 we read: “However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth made of dust [earthy]; the second Man is the Lord from heaven….

As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust, []also ‘earthy’]; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly….

And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man….

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed -….

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed….

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’….’O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory though our Lord Jesus Christ…..

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

Death does have the ‘devil’s sting’ because his lifestyle was rebellion against Truth and surrender to sin and its eternal destructive nature! When did “the wages of sin” no longer become “death”? That, my friends is only the mind of the devil and his followers! Sin IS falling short of God’s glory and embracing the devil’s maligning pleasures that are so cancerous and deadly producing eternal separation from God, except for the blood shed by Jesus as the Lamb of God to reconcile us to Him!

There is a ‘law of sin and death’, but the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me [us] free from the law of sin and death.” [Romans 8:2].

You understand that the devil’s mind of carnality results in the reality of spiritual death, but the mind of Christ is life and peace! This is why in Romans 8:12-14 Paul tells us:

“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will lived. For as many as are led by the Spirit, these are sons of God.” Led by the flesh, led by your old sin nature, led and motivated by the devil and his demon forces, one dies without ever dying – but in and through Christ one receives eternal life and “Lives” supremely!

Since it is a ‘descending devil,’ where is he headed, and where are his followers headed? Do you remember Jesus’ condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees? In Matthew 23:33 Jesus said, “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”

Oh, in Luke 12:4-5, Jesus unveils powerfully the fear of God! “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: FEAR HIM [God] who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!”

Do you remember Jesus’ challenge to enter “by the narrow way”? That’s Matthew 7:13-14; our Lord and Savior said: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Is that alarming to you as it is to me? Many go the “broad way” with the devil’s destructive style following, but “few” go the “narrow way” because it’s tough, demanding, costly – yes, die to self that you may live in and through Christ!

Dare I tell you that to be one with the devil is impure Hell? Do you comprehend that “Hell” IS the absence of God and the very presence of the devil and his demon forces and the suffering men of unbelief yet now living with eternal sorrow and pain? Do you understand ‘eternal darkness’? Do you sense Hell to be unceasing, everlasting pain, coupled with constant torture by ‘demons’?

Do you understand ‘incurable sin-diseases,’ or a constant decaying that never rots out? Have you even comprehended the costliness of ‘self-love’ while you rejected willfully God’s free gift?

It was Shakespeare who wrote: “Divines and dying men talk of hell, but in my heart her several torments dwell.”

Do you just excuse ‘resounding woes’ as a justifiable way of life, accepting not only the devil’s ‘testings’ but his torments, accepting his lies while you set aside God’s truths, accepting his costly offers while you reject God’s costly Cross, accepting the devil’s guilt while God has before you eternal forgiveness?

And do you realize that the “descending devil” will hide your reward in Hell, while God opens His “pearly gates” wide for you to see your eternal blessing in Heaven? What is the reward for criminal activity of the Spirit-realm when unbelievers, deceived by the devil, are waiting and looking and expecting a rich pay-out for their godless life?

Alighieri Dante, in “Inferno,” wrote: Here sighs, pliants, and voices of the deepest woe resounded through the starless sky. Strange languages, horrid cries, accents of grief and wrath, voices deep and hoarse, with hands clinched in despair, made a commotion which whirled forever through that air of everlasting gloom, even as sand when whirlwinds sweep the ground.”

Whirlwinds of eternal punishment for demonic yieldedness! Storms of ceaseless winds of destruction because one loves the ‘flesh’ rather than the Cross of Christ! Terrible cyclones of horrendous penalty because one loves “fleshly activity” rather than “Spirit-Atonement”! Skullish living that brings death and bones rather than Spirit-anointing that opens doors to everlasting life!

Do you not know that godless men step, they think upward, but in reality, they’ve stepped downward into an abyss of the devil’s making that is torture, godlessness, pain, because of the great furnace of never-ceasing flames, visible darkness the devil thought would hide the truth of everlasting punishment, but easily lighted up the torture and pain and godlessness guilt, and, without ever ceasing, eternal judgment!

Wouldn’t YOU say that the devil, Satan, is like that godless, adulterous woman that Proverbs 9:13-18 tells us about? The Word declares: “A foolish woman is clamorous [boisterous]; she is simple, and knows nothing. For she sits at the door of her house, on a seat by the highest places of the city, To call to those who pass by, who go straight on their way….

Whoever is simple, let him turn in here.” And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”….

But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of hell.” Did you see it? Do YOU receive it? Spiritually dead are IN the depths of hell! Adulterous waters are not sweet but bitter! Hidden sins are not pleasant ‘in secret’ but exposed before God’s throne for all to see!

What does the eternal truth of God’s Holy Word tell us in I Corinthians 6:9-11? “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? DO NOT BE DECEIVED. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,….

Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God….

AND SUCH WERE some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

The devil and fallen flesh, men without God, are co-conspirators against the holiness, righteousness, oneness, with the true Lover of men’s souls, Holy God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit! There is no blossoming spring garden of the soul for the man under the demonic domination and devilish intimidation of Satan himself – his seeds are ‘weeds’, his treats are ‘twisted roots of conscious-less behavior,’ his prizes are ‘complete emptiness’ of eternal purpose, divine blessings, or royal relationships, and his winner’s crown turns out to be only ‘deceitful hopes.’

Do you even fathom one degree of the devil’s reward for your allegiance to his view of life that is godless, totally selfish, demonically dominated, bankrupt of holy truth, deathly in his ‘rewards’ or ‘benefits’, and when you stand before him for your ‘honors,’ he blankets you with the darkness of guilt, deadliness that will not die, and, not a crown, but ‘dumb-donkey’ defined and designated!

In Proverbs 2:14 we read, “The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.” The Fool? Proverbs 18:2 tells us, “A fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart.” Self-centered, strongly self-willed, inwardly self-determining, because the devil assures them they’re wise enough not to look beyond themselves, and definitely not ‘up’ to God, “understand – it’s your life, your way, your desires – you don’t need God!” That’s the devil and his devotees who warp men’s minds!

The devil is after nation after nation, family after family, school after school, yes, even church after church, with the purpose of ungodly and wicked generations.

Tell me about the “field of your life”! What is being produced there? In Hebrews 6:7-8 we read, “For the earth which drinks in the raion that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, IT IS REJECTED and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.” From where or from whom does the seed come that you’re saving in the field of your life and home and family? And, is it God’s “blessing” or Satan’s “curse”?

In the Dallas –Ft. Worth region of Texas, in the last few months, there have been over thirty earthquakes, but tell me, in the region of your very life, are you experiencing spiritual “quakes”? Is it time to consider if it’s God or Satan shaking you, quaking you, to awaken you to the reality that devastation and judgment is on the horizon for you!

In Revelation 6:13-17 John saw, yes, a ‘cosmic disturbance.’ He said, “And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind….

Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place….

And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains….

And said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

“Descending Devil or Your Ascended Lord?” From the beginning of earthly living, who wooed mankind away from allegiance, faithfulness, and devotion to God? If there is a drawing away from loving and serving God, who is the magnetic attraction? That’s your ‘descending devil’ because he has in Hell already a permanent residence! Read carefully Deuteronomy 30:11-20!!

“For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’….

Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’….

See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess….

But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess….

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;….

That you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life, and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Do you understand how easy it is to find hiding places from Holy God? Do you ever consider the length people go to, to ignore even a Word about God’s redemptive love affair with wayward, rebellious, unbelieving sons and daughters whom God created, but who alienated Him from their presence, and who rejected even a word about the “Blood Sacrifice”?

The ‘fallen,’ the ‘fallen away from God’ people, the ‘slaves’ of demon powers, choose blackened hearts to blood-washed lives, choose lust over God’s love, choose blaspheming God’s Holy Name over living in the blessing of His Precious Name, who choose adultery over a blood-washed and pure heart, who, yes, willingly accept God’s wrath over the Wonderful Savior and Lord, and who side with blackened hearts and vile minds and dirty ‘flesh’ over the Indwelling Presence of the Prince of Peace!

In I Peter 3:22 the disciple speaks of the resurrected Christ “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.” But then Peter goes on to tell us in I Peter 4:1-2,

“Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose or mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh, has ceased from sin, that he NO LONGER should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”

And Peter brings us all to eternal decision time: my way or God’s way, sin or the gift of the Savior’s righteousness, rebellion or submission to His Word and will, earthly pleasures that are deadly or Heavenly Pleasures that are eternally blessing the surrendered soul, focused on ‘NOW’ or eyes fixed on the eternal glory, fallen flesh or Reigning Spirit, fruit of the flesh or the fruit of God’s Spirit, the devil’s temptations fully embraced or one’s full surrender to God’s eternal Truth?

I would ask you to answer right now: “HAVE YOU MADE YOURSELF SUBJECT TO CHRIST OR ARE YOU, BY FLESHLY CHOICE, STILL A SLAVE TO THE DEVIL’S CONTROL, POWER, AND AUTHORITY OVER YOUR LIFE?”

You do understand that one can ‘choose’ his willful deliberation of a spiritual catatonic disengagement with God. He becomes immobile, unresponsive, purposeless, inflexible, surrendering to intense mind and heart inactivity related to the voice, will, and heart of God!

Jesus didn’t act on ‘impulse’ when He was sent by God to the Cross, but “willful obedience,” wondrous inspiration, and full surrender to God’s eternal plan. [This is why Paul instructs all believers to bring, even every thought captive to the obedience of Christ! And, of course, if believers today act on ‘impulse,’ they miss the Way of Christ! Far too many ‘believers’ live their life of faith acting on fleshly impulse rather than Jesus’ “Father, not My will, but Your will be done through Me.”

Oh, please hear me! Again, what does I Peter 3:22 tell us about Jesus? “who has gone into heaven, and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.” To whom, because of your life-style choices have YOU been made subject to? I CHOOSE TO BE SUBJECT TO THE KING OF kings and the LORD OF lords! And you do understand: rejecting Jesus’ Lordship puts you under for eternity, slavery, chains, and hellish prison-bars that the devil supervises!

But Jesus Christ, Resurrected King? Why did He stay in the grave for three days? Recorded history lives concerning His death and burial and Resurrection! Why did He stay around for 40 days before His Ascension? Do we find in the four gospels and Acts that Jesus comforted the heart-broken, strengthened the fearful, assured the lonely of His abiding presence, and to prepare them for the fierce battles coming their way, embracing and enlightening and encouraging His disciples: “Earth-life may be short – but I, the Lord Jesus, am yours forever!”

Has Jesus gone into Heaven? Yes! Will we go there? “Absent from the body but present with the Lord!”

It was H.G. Spafford and P.P. Bliss who wrote the hymn: “It Is Well With My Soul.” Only the second verse here, but it tells the Old, Old Story! “Though Satan should buffet, tho’ trials should come, Let this blessed assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, And has shed His own blood for my soul…It is well, now, with my soul!”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“ACCEPTANCE OR DEFEAT OF DEMONIC ACTIVITY?”

John 17:6, “I (Christ Jesus) have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world” – are YOU the chosen of God in Christ?

And did YOU receive it? “and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW!

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“KINGDOMS BURNING OR THE KINGDOM BLESSED?”

There is a very interesting passage of Holy Scripture in Matthew 4:1-11 informing us of Satan’s attempt to turn Christ Jesus away from His eternal mission and purpose, as well as Satan coming against all true believers and pretenders, and even the unbelieving from allegiance to the King of kings and Lord of lords, tempting us all with lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life, and with the lust of the eyes!

The one thing you must grasp and hold onto in your journey is that Satan is out to keep you in the throes, the troubles, and, yes, the terrors of ‘kingdoms burning’, and turning one away from “Kingdom Blessed”!

Notice the Word as a strong foundation for this teaching! Matthew 4:1-11 we read: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” (Lust of the flesh!).

But Jesus answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’. Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He (God) shall give His angels charge over you”, (Boastful pride of life!), and ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You fall down and worship me.” (Lust of the eyes!)

The Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, sand Him only you shall serve.’” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Kingdom realities are something the devil himself is eternally interested in because his ‘kingdom of darkness’ he longs to enlarge AND to pollute the “Kingdom Blessed” by King Jesus! In Hebrews 2:14-18 the author of Hebrews enlightens us as to our Christ-given victory over “kingdoms Burning”, granting us a wide=opened Door into “Kingdoms Blessed”! The Word says:

“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”

Yes, King Jesus Himself had before Him an open door to worldly temptations – it caused Him ‘great suffering’, but He never gave in to fleshly temptations! It was Oswald Chambers, in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest” (p.192), who wisely wrote: “Temptation is not something we may escape, it is essential to the full-orbed life of a man. Beware lest you think you are tempted as no one else is tempted; what you go through is the common inheritance of the race, not something no one ever went through before. God does not save us from temptations, He succors us in the midst of them.”

Later, in Hebrews 4:15-16, the Holy Word declares: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let US therefore come boldly to the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

When ‘kingdoms’ are burning around us or in us, is there no help from the Lord God Almighty? In Jeremiah 8:21-22 the prophet mourned asking, out of the overflow of pain and misery, “For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; astonishment has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people?” But THERE IS!! His name is Christ Jesus, the Great Physician!

There’s an old Hymn written by J.H.Stockton and William Hunter published in the old “The American Hymnal.” It’s entitled “The Great Physician” – and I praise God that I learned it as a child, a teen-ager, and adult, and sang it as long as the old hymnals were published, then we came to the period of “new music” (?), much of it without solid foundations in the Word! The old hymn says:

“The great Physician now is near, The sympathizing Jesus; He speaks the drooping heart to cheer, Oh, hear the voice of Jesus.

Your many sins are all forgiven, Oh, hear the voice of Jesus; Go on your way in peace to heaven, And wear a crown with Jesus.

All glory to the dying Lamb! I now believe in Jesus; I love the blessed Savior’s name, I love the name of Jesus.

Sweetest note in seraph song, Sweetest name on mortal tongue; Sweetest carol ever sung, Jesus, blessed Jesus.”

But how much of modern society today recognizes, admits, or even tries to deal with “kingdoms burning”? To me, it’s so awakening to come to the Holy Word of God and find the Loving, Caring, Merciful God does not desire to punish, to sentence to death any man – He’s the Author and Finisher of true redemptive faith, blessing obedience but offering curses and eternal punishments upon those who live for the “flesh” and not to the honor of the Spirit and Truth of the Living God!

In Deuteronomy 28:15 we read, “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you,” and that’s because men and women, boys and girls, (Verse 14), “go after other gods to serve them.”

In fact, we live in a time period of human history when speaking of “fearing God” results in fierce opposition to a faithful messenger! Yet in Psalm 25:12-22, “Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses,” yet fallen mankind decides for himself what has his heart, and he/she isn’t interested in what Holy God has to say! But one who is tired of ‘kingdoms burning’ can, by the grace and mercy of God, enter the “Kingdom Blessed”!

Didn’t Christ Jesus teach His early disciples and us to pray: Matthew 6:9-13, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. (Or so be it, Lord!).” Does YOUR prayer ministry include, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”?

In Ephesians 1:15-23 Paul encourages us in the “Kingdom Blessed”! He said: Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

If YOU are “in Christ” and “Christ in you”, are you walking in “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”? “The man who fears the Lord?” Back for a closing moment in Psalm 25! “Who is the man who fears the Lord?”

Psalm 25:12b, He’s a learner! “Him shall He teach in the way He chooses!

Psalm 25:13, He’s blessed! “He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and His descendants shall inherit the earth.”

Psalm 25:14, He’s fearful! “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them (unveil in them) His covenant.”

Psalm 25:15, He’s able by God’s grace to fulfill God’s purposes through him! “My eyes are ever toward the Lord, For He shall pluck my feet out of the net.”

Psalm 25:16-17, He’s aware of his own weaknesses! “Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have enlarged; bring me out of my distresses!

Psalm 25:18, He knows God’s heart! “Look on my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins.”

Psalm 25:20-22, He knows where and with Whom to yield himself! “Keep my soul, and deliver me; Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for You.

Redeem Israel, Oh God, (or redeem Bedford, Texas, Tennessee, New York, California, every state, every city, every home!), redeem us out of all our troubles!”

One last Verse of Holy Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:11b-12, “Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” AMEN? REJOICE IN: “KINGDOM BLESSED!”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“MERE MEN MEANDERINGS!”

In 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 Paul challenges us, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal (fleshly or according to the old Adam-nature!). For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and BEHAVING LIKE MERE MEN?”

It was Fenelon who once said: “There is practically nothing that men do not prefer to God. A tiresome detail of business, an occupation utterly pernicious to health, the employment of time in ways one does not dare to mention. Anything rather than God.” A number of lessons I need to deal with in these moments:

1. MERE MEN WALK AND WANDER APART FROM GOD! In 2 Corinthians 5:11 Paul said, “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…”. In fact, in Proverbs 1:7 the ‘wise man’ wrote: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” And the ‘persuasion of men’?

A. Though they’ve been ‘lost’ to God, “In Christ” they are found! B. Though they’ve been separated to God, “In Christ” they’re made one with God in and through Him! C. Though they were without Christ mortal only, “In Christ” they become immortal in Him! D. Though they were dominated by an old sin nature, “In Christ” they’ve become partakers of the divine nature!

Genesis 5:24 tells us, “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for GOD TOOK HIM!” In 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 and Verses 17-21 we read: 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

Verses 17-21, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” That, my friends, is a Glory to God Word!

2. MERE MEN THOUGH SUBSTITUTE THEIR BEST FOR GOD’S BEST! In Genesis 2:15-17 we read, Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord commanded the man, “of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

I love Jose Desalzo’s comment in his writing, “God’s Frontier” when he wrote: If God is lacking, nothing a man does is of more consequence than the acts of a mouse.” Your best as a ‘mouse’ or God’s best as a “man in Christ”?

In Galatians 2:20 Paul wrote: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Christ Jesus said in John 15:4-5, “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”

3. MERE MEN WALK DIVISIVELY, NOT IN A UNIFYING MANNER! Again 1 Corinthians 3:3, “for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?”

In Psalm 133 we find a powerful, unifying theme! It says: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of (Mt.) Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; For the Lord commanded the blessing – Life forevermore.”

Do YOU love the ‘brotherhood’? I’ll never forget doing a meeting in southern India in Coimbatore years ago – I had insisted outreach to every church, every pastor or priest, every gathering regardless of denominational affiliation! After four or five days together, I saw men truly “love one another”!

4. MERE MEN WALK IN THE FLESH, NOT IN THE SPIRIT! In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, not thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

I love what the blind Helen Keller said before her death. “Never consent to creep when you feel the impulse to soar!” But again, Paul in Ephesians 5:17-21, said: “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.”

5. MERE MEN WALK WITH FLESHLY AMBITIONS ONLY – NOT TO PLEASE GOD! In 2 Corinthians 5:4-9 we read: “For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God; who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.” But not unbelieving men consumed with fleshly ambitions! It was Pierre Duplessis who said: “Surely, if all the world was made for man, then man was made for more than the world.” Do YOU know what that is?

6. MERE MEN WALK WITH AN AFFIRMATION OF THEIR LIVES APART FROM GOD – THE MASTER’S MEN HAVE NO TRUST IN THEMSELVES! In 2 Corinthians 1:9-10 Paul wrote: “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, Verse 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us…”

Paul enlarged our understanding in 2 Corinthians 3:5 when he said, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.” Proverbs 3:5-8 is so essential in living a victorious, overcoming life. It says: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him (Giving God His rightful place as Sovereign Administrator over your life!) and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.”

It was Thomas a Kempis who once wrote: “God never deceives; but a man is deceived whenever he puts too much trust in himself. MAN PROPOSES BUT GOD DISPOSES.” The prophet Hosea gave a call to repentance to the nation Israel, and, yes, to all across our world today: Hosea 10:12-13, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you. You have plowed wickedness; you have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you have trusted in your own way…”

7. MERE MEN WALK WITH BLINDED EYES – GOD’S MEN WALK WITH SPIRITUAL, HEAVENLY VISION! Again, Paul made it so clear by the anointed writing through the Holy Spirit! In 2 Corinthians 4:3-7 he said, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Men with blinded eyes? Epictetus, in his writing, “Fragments”, wrote: “Man is a little soul carrying around a corpse.”

8. MERE MEN WALK ON THE BASIS OF THEIR PERSONAL PERFORMANCE – GOD’S MEN WALK ABOUT STANDING ON THE PROMISES! In 2 Corinthians 7:1 we read, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

In Daniel 11:32 the prophet tells us, “Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.”

Oswald Chambers wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.239), “The promises of God are of no value to us until by obedience we understand the nature of God. We read some things in the Bible three hundred and sixty-five times and they mean nothing to us, then all of a sudden we see what God means, because in some particular we have obeyed God, and instantly His nature is opened up. “All the promises of God in Christ are Yes, and in Him Amen.” The “yes” must be born of obedience; when by the obedience of our lives we say “Amen” to a promise, then that promise is ours.”

9. MERE MEN WALK EARTHBOUND – GOD’S MEN LIVE IN THE HEAVENLIES! In Ephesians 2:4-10 we read, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Mere men earthbound or Holy Men of God living in the heavenly kingdom now? Mere men or Messengers of God? Mere men or Mighty Men of valor? Mere men or Ambassadors of Christ? Mere men or sons and daughters of God our Father? Mere men or ministers of reconciliation? Mere men or Witnesses of Saving Grace? Mere men or the Elect, the Chosen of God? Mere men or the Apples of God’s eyes? Mere men or God’s workmanship? Mere men or Partners with God? Mere men or Vessels of honor before Holy God?

Mere men or clay in the hands of the Potter sculpted in His Holy Image? Mere men or partakers of the divine nature? Mere men alone in emptiness or One in Him the fullness of Him who fills all in all?

10. MERE MEN WILL WALK RELIGIOUSLY – BUT NOT RE-BORN! In John 3, If Jesus says, “You must be born again,” does that mean “best effort” or “Amazing Grace”? It was Max Depree who wrote: “We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” And that means all of fallen mankind must accept the crucifixion of their “old man” with Christ at Calvary’s Cross, and the “new-birth” resurrection life in Christ!

Mere men or the new born? “In Christ” has profound, life-changing, eternal realities! Her Me! “I’m chosen of God to bear His Name! A royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own special person!

I’m the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, born again into the Holy Family of God. “in Christ” we’re sons and daughters of our heavenly family, our lives have been “hidden with Christ in God,” and He’s raised us up to be seated with Christ in Heavenly Places, declared to be ministers of reconciliation, ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ, entrusted with the Gospel and counted worthy to walk with Christ.

Jesus is the Bridegroom – we’re the Bride of Christ, witnesses of His Redeeming Grace, trustees of the mystery of godliness, and God says we’re “priests and kings unto Him”, the very fragrance of Christ, His peace-makers, His disciples, His soldiers of the Cross.

And “in Him” we’re more than conquerors, new creations, living sacrifices, epistles, poems of the grace, mercy, and love of God – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, disciples, “Followers of Christ”, servants of the King, bearing the image of the Heavenly Man, the called, the separated, the anointed, indwelt by the Fullness of God, Messengers, Proclaimers, Heralds of the Gospel,

The Glorious Body of Christ and members of that Holy Body in particular, Vessels through which God reveals His Son, the salt and light, the Symphony God sings about, the music of His heart, and over us He sings the sounds of joy and sweet pleasure!

There’s an old hymn by Charles Wesley and John Zundel published in”The American Hymnal” in 1933 by The Broadman Press in Nashville, Tennessee. It says: “Love divine, all love excelling, Joy of Heaven, to earth come down! Fix in us Your humble dwelling; All Your faithful mercies crown. Jesus, You are all compassion, Pure, unbounded love You are; Visit us with Your salvation; Enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe Your loving Spirit Into every troubled breast! Let us all in You inherit, Let us find that second rest. Take away our bent to sinning; Alpha and Omega be; End of faith, as its beginning, Set our hearts at liberty.

Come, Almighty to deliver, Let us all Your life receive; Suddenly, return, and never, Nevermore Your temples leave; You we would be always blessing, Serve You as Your hosts above, Pray, and praise You without ceasing, Glory in Your perfect love.

Finish then Your new creation; Pure and spotless let us be; Let us see Your great salvation, Perfectly restored in You; Changed from glory into glory, Till in heaven we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before You, Lost in wonder, love, and praise.” AMEN?

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“IT’S A MATTER OF THE HEART BEFORE GOD!”

There’s a powerful, eye-opening, convicting statement when Isaiah said in Isaiah 64:6-7, “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities. [You are aware, I would think, that the ‘unclean thing’ or ‘filthy rags’ are rags stained, like a woman’s disposable rags, from her menstrual cycle!). And, how many do you know outside the ‘redeemed community’ who ‘appreciate’ Holy God’s description of their sinful lives and condemned position as ‘a menstrual rag’ prior to its ‘waste basket’ tossing?

In another prophetic book, Ezekiel 37, the prophet, in Verse One, describes, in a vision, “The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.” In Verse Three God asked Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And Ezekiel said to Him, “O Lord God, You know.” Oh, and then there is the eternal calling of Holy God upon His ‘chosen people’ saying to an Ezekiel and every true, blood-bought servant of the Most High God, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: ‘Surely I will cause breath to enter into you (physical breath or the spiritual breath of Holy God?), and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring (new) flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.’”

You are, more than likely, fully aware that many within the professing ‘church family’ are void of understanding or comprehension of “sinners made saints,” the “lost being found,” the “ungodly declared godly through God’s grace,” or the “worldly becoming true citizens of the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior”! The unredeemed have only a “grave address”, living without any hope in themselves to influence their world redemptively, but can do an admirable job in “fleshly best” living apart from God, leaving their “friends” as unredeemed as themselves! Only God’s amazing grace unveils what human nature looks like apart from “Christ in you the hope of glory”!

I’M SURE YOU’RE AWARE OF WHAT Genesis 6:5 DECLARES early in ‘human history’! It says: “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Romans 3:23 clearly says: “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And, sadly, many are aware of the glory of God but more devoted to their sin and sin nature! But they do not understand that “the wages of sin is death” when they are so alive in themselves to what their fallen flesh dictates! And impregnation with devotion to the old sin nature continues until convicted by the Holy Spirit and converted to “new life” in Christ! It was Spurgeon who once said: “Sin is a sovereign till sovereign grace dethrones it.” So true!

The counterfeit of obedience to God, if there is any inclination to that ‘thought’, is one’s “best effort” of determination to prove what many perceive “ought to please Him as He sees my strong self-will”! And nowhere in the Word of God do you find any indication of God desiring you to do your ‘best’ but acknowledging and resting in YOUR “crucifixion with Christ at the Cross” and receiving the fullness of the blessing of His Resurrection Life as you repent! Isn’t this what Paul was telling us in 2 Corinthians 7:10? “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

You haven’t forgotten already Isaiah’s declaration of fallen men’s hearts before Holy God in Isaiah 64:6-7a? “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; [and in the ‘flesh’, the old sin-nature] we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And THERE IS NO ONE WHO CALLS ON GOD’S NAME, who stirs himself up to take hold of you,” BUT Jesus tells us in Revelation 3:20, “BEHOLD, I stand at the door (of your heart!) and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

And this is why I know Paul wrote in Romans 15:13, “NOW may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing (trusting in, relying upon, adhering to!), that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Several things I want you to “rest in” as you see: “It’s A Matter Of The Heart!” FIRST, IT’S A MATTER OF HEART CONVICTION INITIATED BY THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT! Receive Spurgeon’s words in “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.255), when he wrote: “The entrance into the Kingdom is through the panging pains of repentance crashing into a man’s respectable goodness; then the Holy Ghost, Who produces these agonies, begins the formation of the Son of God in the life.”

In 1 John 4:9-13 the beloved John wrote: “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By THIS WE KNOW THAT WE ABIDE IN HIM, AND HE IN US, BECAUSE HE HAS GIVEN US OF HIS SPIRIT.” Have YOU received, rested in, and relying upon the Holy Spirit daily?

Even in the short ‘epistle’ of Jude he wrote: Verses 20-21, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

SECOND, IT’S A MATTER OF THE HEART CONCERNING HEART PREPARATION DAILY FOR NOT ONLY ACKNOWLEDING HIS PRESENCE WITHIN US BUT YIELDING TO HIS LEADERSHIP THROUGH US IN GLORIFYING AND HONORING THE LORD JESUS! In the Galatian letter Paul wrote: Galatians 6:8, “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” How vital is it to you in your journey of faith to be daily yielded to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in you and through you?

There Is, for some, a counterfeit of allegiance apart from full desire to be one WITH God and honoring the Christ within by being yielded to the Holy Spirit! It’s as if for them the Holy Spirit is an unnecessary part of the Godhead! But for true believers who honor Christ in their daily walks of faith, there is a deliberate, daily determination to be “led by the Holy Spirit”!

The Lord Jesus said in John 16:13-14 of the work or ministry of the Holy Spirit in every true believer: “…when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears (from God the Father) He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine, and declare it to you.”

You do realize, out of spiritual immaturity or out-right rebellion, that some believers live with a pious attitude worked up in their flesh and minds with ‘good intentions’ but fall far short of glorifying or honoring Christ Jesus when we’ve just read King Jesus saying, “He, the Holy Spirit, will glorify Me!” Grace includes God’s gift of the Holy Spirit to the true child of the King! In John 7:37-38 we read: On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believed in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

Do you remember Jesus’ conversation with “the woman at the well” in John 4:23-24? He said: “…the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

THIRD, IT’S A MATTER OF HEART-AND- MIND TRANSFORMATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT! Paul told us in Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be (being) transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Even in the Old Testament, Ezekial 11:19, as God informed Israel and the world-at-large of a coming “new covenant”, He declared, “Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of the flesh and give them a heart of (tender) flesh”, willing to follow His Word and His Spirit!

In 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 Paul also exposes ‘fleshly’ disciples and pretenders, even demonic presence, desiring to keep people from the “eternal Truth”! He said: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to THEIR works,” not God’s work through Spirit-anointing, presence, and power within His true disciples!

Do you ever find yourself in a “so-called spiritual gathering” where some are so easily led astray, even falling away, because they bought in to ‘fleshly lies’ substituted for spiritual, eternal Truth? In 1 Timothy 6:20-21 Paul wrote to his spiritual son and us saying, “O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge – by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith.”

The Spirit-inspired Word of 1 Peter 4:1-2 says, “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”

Disciples of Christ today are often challenged, criticized, condemned, or ostracized by the ‘kingdoms’ or ‘worldly men’ of devotion to the “best of human ability”, whether by godless governments, spiritually-mindless educators, unbelieving entrepreneurs, or unredeemed neighbors who see your love of Christ, His Word, and His church as ‘misplaced, brainless devotion’ to an empty cause! But in 1 Peter 4:13-14 Peter went on to say: “…rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, FOR the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.”

FOURTH, IT’S A MATTER OF HEART-ILLUMINATION AS TO THE REALITY AND EVIDENCE OF SPIRIT-ANOINTED SERVANTS OF CHRIST! In Matthew 7:15-20 our Lord and Savior warns us, saying, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn-bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

Paul had given a substantive challenge when in Galatians 5:16 he said: I say then: “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” In Verses 22-25 he then instructed us: “But the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” There are no ‘short-cuts’ to victorious living as a disciple of Christ or “cheap-shots of my best effort” – Death to self only and life in His Resurrection fullness, no fleshly, personal ambition but only His revelation and unveiling of the Spirit, no individual determination to reveal or unveil Christ ‘through me”, but only, as Jesus said, “You’ll know them by their fruit!”

Isaac Watts and George F. Handel really nailed it when they wrote the old Christmas classic together entitled “Joy To The World.” It says: “Joy to the world! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, and Heaven and nature sing!

Joy to the earth! The Savior reigns; Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy!

No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found! He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love!” What song of faith do you sing right now in your life?

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Satanic Duplicity or Christ-Like Resistance?

James Farrell Fisher — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 14:11:38 +0000

“SATANIC DUPLICITY OR CHRIST-LIKE RESISTENCE?”

By: J.Farrell Fisher, July 11-14, 2017

How would you describe “Satanic Duplicity” as you seek to make a difference in your world around you as, yes, an “ambassador of Christ Jesus”? Sadly, I fear “ambassadors of Christ” are often mislead, ill-advised, and ‘cooperative with the powers of darkness’ rather than True Lights of Christ expelling and exposing and unveiling victory over Satan through Christ but sadly compromising their calling as ‘disciples of Christ’ ,and cooperating with, rather than “fighting the good fight of faith” against Satan and his enemies of Christ!

If true disciples are called to “glorify Christ” in their daily walks, how is it that many assume ‘pietistic pilgrimages’ apart from supernatural presence and power or ‘washed in the blood of the Lamb’ or none, if any, anointings of the Holy Spirit – no “new birth”, no “Kingdom of God identity”, no “transformation” by repentance toward God and faith ONLY in the finished work of Christ at the Cross and Empty tomb, but “Jesus is our pattern while in and of ourselves we seek to live like Him”! No! Ten thousand times, No!

‘Trying’ is not “trusting” but a fleshly attempt to ‘duplicate’ Satan’s ‘trust’ (?) in himself rather than surrender to and allegiance to the honor of being “saved by grace through faith” in Jesus’ Calvary’s Cross and Empty Tomb victory over Satan and his powers of darkness. Satan’s ‘religious philosophy’ is void of the absolute need of being ‘born again,’ regenerated by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, and assuming that attempting to ‘live’ like Jesus is as good as His indwelling Resurrection Life! No! Ten thousand times no!

There is no doubt that in God’s awesome birthing of humanity from Adam and Eve onward were all, yes, birthed with a humanitarian need for God, but the ‘sin natures’ we were all birthed with imitates Satan but not duplicating Christ Jesus! Holy God is not interested in any natural life being ‘programmed’ to “try your best” because ‘natural life’ will attempt, at times, to even try to live ‘like Jesus’ but is void of the birthing of “spiritual life” by the Holy Spirit! Holy God determined all of fallen humanity to be “crucified with Christ at the Cross and raised to new life in His resurrection presence” – your ‘best’ as well as your worst was summed up as deserving of death only, and Jesus took your death unto Himself so you could have His Resurrection Life!

But ‘Satanic Duplicity’? “Sin may be my ‘curse’, but it doesn’t produce ‘death’ and separation from God – it’s my reminder to do my best, while those Christians who insist ‘my best is the tyranny of godlessness while I really desire to please Him’, are those Christians telling me, ‘Only the Son sets you free’, when I know I can overcome Satan,” not even aware they’ve already been overcome and owned by him in their satanic duplicity!

It was Leo Tolstoy, in his writing “The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays”, (Oxford University Press, 1936, p.158), who wrote: “Man’s whole life is a continual contradiction of what he knows to be his duty. In every department of life he acts in defiant opposition to the dictates of his conscience and his common sense.” Tolstoy understood “satanic duplicity or Christ-like resistance”, but examining fallen mankind, he saw undergirding their rebellion to truth ‘a pervasive and profound hopelessness and sense of worthlessness,’ being unaware they were living with ‘savorless salt’ without any assistance for their godless families, friends, or associates – no eternal meaning but only ‘cosmetic’ coverings and unfulfilling imitations!

It was really, really interesting to hear Christ Jesus exposing the ‘religious elite’ of Judaism who cooperated with Satan in Christ’s crucifixion saying in Matthew 23:1-5a, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat (self-appointed!). Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men…”.

Is “seen by men” one of the strong evidences of ‘Satanic duplicity’? In John 6:66 we read, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him.” And Jesus turned to the twelve saying to them, “Do you also want to go away?” A little later Jesus said, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” That was Judas – and just as there has always been a Judas, there have been and will be those who “choose” to ‘walk away from the Savior and Lord’ because “deceived by Satan” is ‘masterful strategy’ – the world, your old sin nature, and Satan are out to pull you away from the true Lord, Savior, and Master of eternal life!

In fact, in John 2:23-25, we read, “Now when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” This just may be why the Apostle Paul said later in his ministry: “I die daily! I take the sentence of death daily unto myself that His Resurrected Presence may be manifested in my mortal flesh.” [Too many ‘believers’ like ‘faith’ without dying daily!].

Jesus’ words about “Follow Me” aren’t words to be taken lightly but purposefully! In fact, in Mark 10:21, Jesus responded and counseled the ‘rich young ruler,’ “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But the next verse tells us, “But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” Or could we say, “His great possessions had him”? Consider it! What or who has your heart?

Jesus’ words “Follow Me” comes not from a dictatorial ruler but from the Lord and Savior who said, “I didn’t come to be served but to serve and to give My life as a ransom for the many!” (Matthew 20:28). Nondiscipleship majors on, yes, ‘human achievement in the name of Jesus’ but is an overflow of religious activity, not availability to His indwelling presence! Nondiscipleship majors on personal performance apart from seeking to have a vessel, temple, or tabernacle through which He extends His life, expresses His love, and proves His amazing power to “raise the dead” to His honor and the honor of Father God through the mighty anointings of the Holy Spirit!

Resurrection Life, in and through Christ’s living presence, is the only hope modern-day churches have in giving Him honor, glory, and praise – He’s not interested in “your best” but your availability to all He is in His Resurrection Presence! Many ‘professing Christians’ will thank Jesus for His forgiveness, but never ask Him His intent through His resurrection presence – too many believe they serve Him in the best of their head knowledge, missing out on “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ” which IS, “Christ in you the hope of glory”. I think it’s time modern-day Christians “loose Him and let Him be Himself in and through them!” Why would one accept His forgiveness but never find out what a forgiven disciple is to be about?

Satanic duplicity is evidenced by the godless, by individual lives and, for many, by ‘family’ godlessness or by ‘family’ church attendance with no concern, really, about why they are there. Satanic duplicity is strengthened and furthered, yes, by religious attendees of church gatherings but no grasp at all about “dead to self” or “tools in God’s hands – not knowing what dominates their ‘church attendance’ or what their ‘salvation’ in God’s plan has to do with them where they live”!

Satanic duplicity will blind ‘church attenders’ to ‘why am I here in this gathering’(?), knowing nothing of a true church’s equipping, training, raising up the “new-born” into true sons and daughters of kingdom living in touching their world with the love and grace of Almighty God, revealed through Christ, the Lamb of God! In the ‘flesh’ they are aware of its lust, of worldly eyes, and the boastful pride of life! But Christ took your old man to the Cross, and there YOU were crucified with Christ, all that was under Satan’s domination and control – that was crucified! But now, having repented, and put your faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross, you live as “the tabernacle of Holy, Resurrection Presence”, you being His footstool upon which He stands to extend His life, express His love, and prove His power through you!

Satanic duplicity blinds far too many ‘church attenders’ to the intent of Christ’s Resurrection Life in them and through them. In fact, I’m convinced Satan has achieved awesome ‘self-destruction’ in many ‘believers’ rather than Christ’s victory over sin and death because he deceives in saying, “You can’t do anything but sin until you get to heaven,” denying Jesus’ words: “Go, and sin no more!”

Oswald Chambers wrote in his famous book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.206), “Sin is a thing I am born with and I cannot touch it; God touches sin in Redemption. In the Cross of Jesus Christ God redeemed the whole human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. The condemnation is not that I am born with a heredity of sin, but if when I realize Jesus Christ came to deliver me from it, I refuse to let him do so, from that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “And this is the judgment,” (the critical moment), “that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light.”

Several truths I want you to be aware of: FIRST, BLOOD FORGIVENESS THROUGH CHRIST’S SHED BLOOD IS NOT AN OPENED DOOR FOR A ‘BELIEVER’ TO KEEP ON SINNING SO HE CAN EXPERIENCE MORE AND MORE OF CHRIST’S FORGIVENESS! Have you ever encountered those who openly talk about receiving Christ’s forgiveness, and yet, beyond that day they were “reconciled”, they see it as such ‘amazing grace’ that they can just go on ‘sinning’?

You do understand that modern-day ‘Christianity’ in many churches has interpreted ‘grace’ as the license to sin, convinced that ‘obedience’ is an option in the age of grace because that would be ‘salvation by works’! No! You don’t obey in order to be saved – you obey because you have been saved!

Dallas Willard, in his book, “The Great Omission,” (p.14), having quoted Tozer saying, “that salvation apart from obedience is unknown in the sacred scriptures,” went on to say himself: “This ‘heresy’ has created the impression that it is quite reasonable to be a ‘vampire Christian.’ One in effect says to Jesus, “I’d like a little of your blood, please. But I don’t care to be your student or have your character. In fact, won’t you just excuse me while I get on with my life, and I’ll see you in heaven.’ But can we really imagine that this is an approach that Jesus finds acceptable?”

In fact, didn’t Jesus say in Luke 6:46, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do the things which I say?”

SECOND, BLOOD FORGIVENESS IS FAR MORE THAN YOUR SIN’S FORGIVENESS, IT IS GOD’S ENTRANCE INTO OUR LIVES TO REVEAL HIS SON THROUGH YOU AND ME! In Galatians 1:15-16 Paul wrote: “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me…”. But, for you, there was a different purpose? Forgiveness without a purpose? Forgiveness without a cause? Forgiveness without any divine, eternal intent?

In 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 Paul wrote: “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, AND has given to us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now then, WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

But how many “church members” see themselves as available vessels in and through which Christ Jesus has open tabernacle doors through which He reveals Himself? And if Christ’s entrance into my heart and life is divine, eternal reality, out of the overflow of God’s loving, merciful heart, if it’s not by our best efforts, what is it or who is it Holy God uses to unveil the Christ in you? And the Word tells us that it is the Holy Spirit interpreting Christ through us! In Galatians 5:16 Paul wrote: “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh”, adding in Galatians 5:22-25, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If WE live in the Spirit, let us also WALK IN THE SPIRIT.” Do you?

THIRD, BLOOD FORGIVENESS, CHRIST-AWARENESS IN THE REPENTANT, FAITHFUL HEART, IS ALSO EVIDENCED BY TRUE DISCIPLES WHO UNDERSTAND “PLAY-ACTING” IS NOT THEIR CALLING AND MISSION! Follow Luke 12:1-3! It says: In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, Jesus began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy (or “play-acting”, pretending). For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.”

God knows when a sparrow falls, but your “hidden sins” are unknown to Him? I don’t believe that’s what Jesus said! Your walk as a disciple of Christ is carefully recorded on God’s amazing ‘mind-chart and heart-chart’ of your every spoken word and every ‘deed’ of your heart you thought was hidden from Him, but He knows! Exposure of one’s bent to sinning is not something many men and women and, yes, youth, had rather not hear about! But it’s true – judgment day comes when every life has its ‘history’ unveiled before Holy God!

There is in the redemptive process of “being saved” the reality of birthed as a babe in Christ, growing from infancy to childhood, from childhood to teen years, from teen years to young adults, from young adults to mature adults, processing in a way as a child of the King to solid citizens of the “kingdom of heaven on earth”! Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

And I pray you understand, rest in, and hold on to what we read in Acts 10:38! “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” AND, is God with you, in you, released through you to touch your needy world with Christ Jesus, the only Lord and Savior and Master of life?!?

Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:17-21, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation (or unveiling!) of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”

My question for this moment? Are YOU living in ‘the age which is to come’ when in the fullness of His resurrection Life He is, yes, again being honored through your redeemed, fully surrendered Life, to His Presence, Power, Purposes, and Plan to touch the world around you with His grace, mercy, and love? As a recipient of “the keys of the Kingdom”, are YOU presently unlocking doors in men’s hearts that Christ Jesus might enter and be Himself in them as He is in you? Dallas Willard said, “Grace is opposed to earning, not to effort.” How about the ‘effort’ of daily taking the sentence of death to your ‘old man’ that the Resurrection of Christ’s Presence in you may have full release through you? Amen?

The Sin-Corrosive, ‘Flesh-Captive’, Satanically-Controlled World or the Creative, Compassionate, Caring Kingdom of God?

James Farrell Fisher — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 14:11:38 +0000

“THE SIN-CORROSIVE, ‘FLESH-CAPTIVE’, SATANICALLY-CONTROLLED WORLD OR

THE CREATIVE, COMPASSIONATE, CARING

KINGDOM OF GOD?”

BY: J. FARRELL FISHER, AUGUST 22-24, 2018

The issue in this message, the continual warfare of the soul, the captivity under Satan’s ‘lies’, the sad ‘sickness’ of “the sin-corrosive”, ‘flesh-captive walk’, and “the strong delusion” that the devil isn’t real, or, even if he is, it’s not a serious thing to have to deal with, since one can choose to ‘get along with darkness’, tolerate warped religious thoughts, stay away from churches in order to enjoy your ‘flesh’, rather than believe one’s “Christ” crucified it, and that there is even allowance of both good and bad, right or wrong, because “a little sin never will be the reality of separation from your holy god” – “you’re just blind to human potential!” Really?

The “sin-corrosive, ‘flesh-captive’, Satanically-controlled world”, inspired and deceived by Satan, who, yes, provokes rebellion and disobedience, deludes the fallen mind of eternal Truth, filling the heart with ‘lies’, encouraging, inciting, even giving ‘academy of Hell awards’ for going against God’s sacred will and heavenly plan! Even though the brother of Jesus, James, wrote, in James 1:13-15, “Let no man say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted of God’: for God, cannot be tempted with evil, neither does He ‘tempt’ any man; But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death”.

But ‘warped’ theologians’ and ‘modern, deceived, professing disciples’ today are convinced “believers can’t do anything but ‘sin’ until they get to Heaven, and because God is so merciful, so understanding, so gracious, that He ‘accepts’ the ‘continuing sin of the believer’ even though King Jesus said, “Go, and SIN NO MORE”, assuring themselves that though there IS sin, it’s not ‘deadly eternally’ because merciful God has, does, and will overlook one’s ‘sin-nature’!

You’ve heard it: “Sin is NOT death, but the occasional side-track from a life ‘believing in God’, but seeing no demand to “do what He says”, even though Jesus Himself said: “Why do YOU call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, YET you do not do what I say?”

True believers do not ‘excuse their sin’; true believers do not ‘pretend’ obedience by their willful ‘choose’ to “walk both sides of life” with their ‘two-street-interpretation’, the highway of holiness AND the highway of optional but forgiven ‘sin’.

James was so right when in James 1:14 he wrote: “But every man is tempted, when he/she is drawn away by his/her own lust, and enticed”, but some, interpreting the ‘faith walk’ as simply an act of disobedience, but void of any consequence, broadcast continuously their warped interpretations – “Sin IS death, but not eternal separation from God, whether one ‘believes’ it or not-just a ‘mis-step’, but merciful God grants realignment and acceptance so you continue to enjoy both ‘good and evil’ under God’s banner of ‘amazing grace’!”

“Drawn away”, for some, does not mean ‘the door is closed TO God’, but, because He is so merciful, He allows us ‘who believe’ to trust, while continuing to sin, because God’s mercy is overwhelmingly more powerful than the ‘flesh-desire’ to sin!

‘The sin-corrosive, flesh-captive, Satanically-controlled world’, IS NOT an avenue of acceptability for those who choose to “walk the Highway of Holiness” but void of “Blood-Redemption” through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus on Calvary’s Cross!

I love Spiros Zodhiates’ comments when in his book, “The Behavior of Belief”, he wrote about James 1:14, saying (pps:67-68), “The verb “tempted” here is to be understood as having the same meaning as in the previous verse, the solicitation to sin, the inner desire to do that which is contrary to the law of God laid down for you as an individual. “But each one is tempted by his own lust.”, continuing,

I hesitate to say that I am satisfied with this translation because of the necessity of a careful examination of the Greek word translated “lust”. In the Greek it is “epithumia”. The English word “lust” is almost always associated with the bodily appetites and lasciviousness, whereas the Greek “epithumia” is rather associated with the desire of the soul, which is the moving force of that which pertains to the body. It is an ardent desire, the inclination of the soul to enjoy or acquire something. In its verbal form it means “to set one’s heart upon a thing, to long for, to covet, to desire.” The root of the word is “thumos”, which means “the soul or spirit as the principle of life, feeling, thought, mind, will, and purpose.” Who go into all this detail as to the meaning of this word? Simply to show

That we cannot blame the weakness of the flesh, which God created, as the responsible factor in inducing us to sin. It is the spirit of man; it is the voluntary attitude of man; it is the mental imagination of the pleasure of sin that is condemned in the Scriptures, and not only the actual physical performance thereof. This is just what our Lord meant in the Sermon on the Mount. WATCH YOUR INNER DISPOSITION, YOUR INNER ATTITUDE. You can commit sin simply by looking and wishing, simply by thinking and imagining. The sins of omission and commission are bad, but the worst sins are those of disposition.”

“Disposition”? The Random House Collegiate Dictionary, Revised Edition of 1975, describes “disposition” as follows: “the predominant or prevailing tendency of one’s spirits; mental outlook or mood;…”! It’s like a “two-faced” or “divided heart”, committed TO Christ, but the ‘door’ to the ‘old man’ left opened or cracked, trying to maintain the desires of both worlds, “flesh, old-sin nature, AND the spirit-nature” birthed in and through the Indwelling Christ Jesus!

Zodhiates went on to say, (p.68), “But each one is tempted BY HIS OWN DESIRE OF THE SOUL,”adding, “That would really be a perfect translation of this verse. The diagnosis is now made. Sin is something that begins with the desire of the heart. The remedy, therefore, is not the casting away of parts of your body or the seclusion of the body in a monastery, but the PURIFICATION AND SUBLIMATION OF THAT INNER DESIRE, the cleansing of the heart by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ”, truly understanding, grasping, ‘resting in’: “crucified with Christ”!

But, Do YOU understand? Really, truly, there is no release after repentance and faith in Christ alone to be ‘privileged’ to hold onto, take advantage of, enjoy ‘the old sin-nature’!! AND, yes, the “divided heart” WAS and STILL IS “crucified with Christ”!!! THE ABSOLUTE NECESSITY? “You must be BORN AGAIN”, appreciative, thankful, ever rejoicing that your ‘old man’ WAS “crucified with Christ”, and YOU, through true repentance and faith, RECEIVE THE LIFE OF CHRIST IN YOU THAT DOES NOT SIN, learning from the Word daily that YOU “take the sentence of death daily that His Resurrection Life may be manifested, released, unveiled in your mortal flesh” for the world around you to see!

Didn’t the Lord Jesus say, “And I, if I be lifted up (IN YOU), WILL draw all men (around YOU) unto Me”? Are YOU aware of His abiding Presence in you? Do YOU “take the sentence of death daily to your old man that the Resurrected Christ may be manifested, unveiled, revealed, and eternally active of touching your world around you with “Amazing Grace, His awesome Life, and His eternal power, and heavenly intent of, yes, bringing ‘Heaven’ to earth in you, through you, around you?

Do You, daily, execute that sentence of death to ‘self’, AND “rest” in His Abiding Presence, that, through YOU, He might extend His Life, express His love, and prove His power? In 2 Corinthians 1:9 Paul wrote: “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but trust in God “in us” who raises the dead around us and through us”, saying also in chapter 2:14, “Now thanks be unto God, which also causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.” 1 Corinthians 15:31 Paul said, “I die daily”, that he didn’t ‘rest’ in his best efforts – he died to himself that Christ Jesus would be His all in all!”

Of course, I KNOW that there are those who, even in their faith walk, look inward to self, inspired by ‘fleshly pride’, resulting in doubt, in distress, and disappointment, because ‘self’ is not the Abiding Savior, self is not the Great Physician, and self is not the Spiritual Emancipator that “sets the captives free”!!

Examine thoroughly James 1:17-18! “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. OF HIS OWN WILL HE birthed us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creative, spiritually eternal, regenerated, sanctified nature!

“OF HIS OWN WILL”? It’s not men ‘trying’ – it’s men “trusting”! It’s not men ‘attempting’ – it’s men “atoned for” by the shed blood of Christ alone! It’s not men ‘sensing a heavenly nature’ – it’s men repenting, resting, and relieved that God “birthed us in Him by His Holy Spirit”!

Does Holy God still say, “Choose YOU this day whom you will serve,” even knowing that many men will ‘lean’ to themselves and never ‘enter His Haven of Rest’, the Resurrected, Reigning, Restoring Savior of fallen men to His “eternal intent” – “Christ in you the hope of glory”!! It was George D. Moore and H.L. Gilmour, in the old American Hymnal, who wrote: “The Haven of Rest”. It says:

“My soul in sad exile was out on life’s sea, So burdened with sin and distress, Till I heard a sweet voice saying, “Make me your choice,” And I entered the haven of rest.

I yielded myself to His tender embrace, And, faith taking hold of the word, My fetters fell off, and I anchored my soul; The haven of rest is my Lord.

The song of my soul, since the Lord made me whole, Has been the old story so blest, Of Jesus, who’ll save whosoever will have A home in the haven of rest.

Oh, come to the savior, He patiently waits, To save by His power divine; Come, anchor your soul in the haven of rest, And say, “My Beloved is mine.”

I’ve anchored my soul in the haven of rest, I’ll sail the wide seas no more; The tempest may sweep o’er the wild stormy deep, (but) In Jesus I’m safe evermore.” Are YOU a selected one, a chosen one, a ‘crucified with Christ’ sinner saved by grace, complete in Christ, lacking nothing, one living in “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”?

“OF HIS OWN WILL?” Around you, you’ll find men who say, “Let your conscience be your guide”, and, if you do, you’ll find ‘self-consciousness’ to be the downfall of personal spiritual blindness, never leading you to “the foot of the Cross, to the empty tomb, or see, sense, celebrate the Resurrected Christ on His eternal Throne of glory still fulfilling, obeying, and submitting to the Sovereignty of the Holy Father, thankful to Him for receiving His volunteers of repentance and faith and obedience to the King of kings and Lord of lords!

“OF HIS OWN WILL!!” In Ephesians 1:3-14 is an anointed, uplifting, Word of encouragement! It says: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, WHO HAS BLESSED US WITH EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST, just as He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons BY JESUS CHRIST TO HIMSELF, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which HE MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED.

In Him (in Christ Jesus only!) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to the good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him. In Him also we HAVE OBTAINED AN INHERITANCE, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should BE TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY.”

In Him, Ephesian disciples, American followers, and you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, HAVING BELIEVED (HAVING TRUSTED, HAVING “RESTED” IN HIS FINISHED WORK AT THE CROSS AND THE EMPTY TOMB!!), you were SEALED with the Holy Spirit of promise, who IS THE GUARANTEE of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

Have YOU been “filled with ALL the fullness of God”? Have YOU held onto the “unsearchable riches of Christ”? Are YOU “walking worthy of the calling with which you were called” or are YOU ‘drunk with the wines of self-indulgence’, OR do you “LIVE” “FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT”? Are YOU “self-motivated” OR are YOU “being ‘mastered’ by the Master?

Is your walk of faith ‘weak’ OR are YOU “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might”? Are YOU a “devil entertainer” or do YOU live, clothed in the full armor of God, able to withstand the days’ evil, and having done all, to stand, yes, for the honor and praise of King Jesus? Do YOU pray in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, withstand the evil around you in the Spirit, overcoming worldly and fleshly ambitions to LIVE For The Glory of Christ Alone? Are YOU a disciple of ‘dead weight’ or a true warrior of faith living, walking, fighting, serving in “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”?

In closing, a few words of mine, yes, inspired testimony by the “guiding Holy Spirit”:

“I once was ‘lost’, but now I’m found; I once was blind, but now I see; I once was dirty in the garment of ‘sin’, but now I’ve been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.

Darkness prevailed, and then came “The Light”; darkness distressed, and “The Light” offered “REST”; darkness ‘tired’, but the Spirit “inspired” LIFE IN THE LORD THAT NEVER RETIRES!

‘Darkness’ ease is a deadly disease, but the Great Physician brings “Heaven’s Release”! ‘Darkness’ author is the Satanic Liar, offering release to a ‘lesser lair’.

‘Darkness’ song is an off-key chord, eventually bringing a life that is bored; but Jesus comes to offer His Light to free you from ‘the cellar of devilish might’! Yes,

“Free from the Law, O happy condition; Christ Jesus bled, and there is “Remission”! Free to ‘rest’ in His resurrection, boldly declaring, “I’m His habitation”!! Amen?

VICTIMIZED LIVING OR A VICTORIOUS LIFE?

James Farrell Fisher — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 14:11:38 +0000

CHAPTER NINE

“VICTIMIZED LIVING OR A VICTORIOUS LIFE?”

The Random House Collegiate Dictionary, Revised Edition, 1975, by Random House, Inc., says ‘victimized’ means, “to make a victim of, to dupe, swindle, or cheat; to slay as or like a sacrificial victim.”

And “victimized living by the masses of unbelievers in Christ’s Blood Atonement” live, yes, like many ‘church folk’, deceived, demeaned, distressed, yes, led astray from the victorious Truth of “crucified with Christ”, and following repentance toward God and a vibrant faith and trust in the Blood Atonement, those of true repentant, trusting minds and hearts are “New Born” by the Holy Spirit into Heaven’s gracious gifting of “everlasting life”!

BUT “Victimized living” is deception accepted from the world around you that easily blinded even Adam and Eve from the ‘flesh’ that deceives you and keeps the door of one’s heart and mind opened to the world, the flesh, and Demonic, Devil-constant temptation, so wanting to keep those doors opened, so one loses sight of the fullness of the blessing of Christ as their deceit, the gift of Satan himself, leading them on in yielding to devilish deceit while professing allegiance to Christ’s revealed Truth! It was John Wesley who once said: “All the works of our evil nature are the work of the devil,” but some ‘professing believers’ live their ‘faith-walk’ consenting, yielding, and for a time enjoying their satanic deception!

It was William Shakespeare, in his writing “Twelfth Night”, (Act 111, sc.4,l.108), who wrote: “What, man! Defy the devil: consider he’s an enemy to mankind.” But far too many keep their doors open to Satanic invitations blinded by his hellish ways!

What was it Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:10-13? “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

Yet, many ‘believers’(?) professing Christ have no mature, scriptural understanding that Satan’s aim is to deceive true disciples, seeking, yes, daily, to ruin your witness, your testimony, and your surrender faithfully to Christ’s Lordship, leading YOU down the pathway of his “darkness”!! If you’ve ever read St. Augustine’s “The City of God”, XV, remember, he said: “The Devil often transforms himself into an angel to tempt men, some for their instruction and some for their ruin.” He IS a “master deceiver” out to hold captivity captive under “the wiles of the devil”!

Oh, have you ever read Alexander Brome’s writing called “New Montebank”? Brome wrote: “The devil’s ever kind to his own.” So, there are multitudes of worldly folk who “know the kindness (?) of Satan” as he leads them, deceives them, distracts them from the “true salvation in and through Christ only”, even substituting ‘fleshly best’ for the fullness and fruit of the Holy Spirit! And, dare I say it? Believe I will! “Every temptation of Satan to citizens of God’s world of divine opportunity are temptations DOWNWARD, not to turn you TO God, but away from Him!”

Satan IS “the birther of lies, the author of deception, and the Hollywood-imitator of a sincere ‘religious’ soul”, as he leads you down the pathways of self-indulgence rather than knowing you were crucified with Christ, that your old man, yes, deserved death but Christ Jesus took your old man to Calvary so that no longer he (or YOU) could be manipulated by Satan’s powers of darkness, disbelief, and distraction away from God’s gracious pull on your heart, mind, and spirit. Satan loves, adores, appreciates “falling stars” who were birthed “in Christ”!!

Are YOU aware how Satan so easily sways people, serving them devilish consequences rather than divine rewards? It’s a sad, sad day when one is blinded to his, yes, gentle, calm, but corruptive ways! An old Dutch Proverb said: “Never was hood so holy but the Devil could get his head in it;” and, sadly, far too many ‘religious folk’ are blinded to his occupation in them and around them through their wide-open acceptance of all Christ Jesus died for, Satan wanting to maintain his deceitful and misleading occupation around them, even for some ‘in them’ with his dark presence trying to dim the Light of Christ and His Word!

“Victimized living”? Satan BINDS, Satan BLINDS, he BRUISES, he BELITTLES, he ‘BLESSES’ with his ‘happy, self-satisfying bits and tastes of diseased honey,’ he BETRAYS promising one thing that seems so ‘blissful’ but is BEDABBLED with the ‘paint’ of his satanic artistry, he BEFOULS, he BITTERS every word and every promise of God assuring his enchained that it was God who BOUND them over to Satanic care! Really?

It was Cotton Mather, in his “A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World”, who wrote: “That there is a Devil is a thing doubted by none but such as are under the influences of the Devil. For any to deny the being of a Devil must be from an ignorance or profaneness worse than diabolical.” WOW!

What about what Shakespeare wrote in “Troilus and Cressida”, (Act 111, sc.4,l.108)? “Sometimes we are devils to ourselves When we will tempt the frailty of our powers, Presuming on their changeful potency,” no doubt understanding that, yes, true believers can “play-act”, willfully betraying the Christ within to indulge the old crucified life in fleshly, demonic, worldly desires and unfulfilling fantasies that cannot, will not honor the divine within!! Satan’s portrait of a life professing both faith in Christ and a consistency with hell’s intentions is a life that loves being blessed by God, but quietly, privately, indulges darkness not knowing their ‘dance partner’ is Satan himself or one of his assigned demons to ultimately take you down again to his dark domain!

“Victimized living”? Can true believers, at times, be overtaken by spiritual carelessness, even being unconcerned about demonic activity? In 2 Peter 5:6-11, the beloved disciple of Christ wrote: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; Casting all your care upon him; for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

But the God of all grace, who has called us unto eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. OR “SO BE IT, LORD”, as you daily take the sentence of death daily to your old self that Christ in you, for you, and through you, wages war against Satan for Christ’s honor through you as Christ’s servant, not Satan’s slave!!!

Jessie Brown Pounds wrote a hymn entitled “A Place in the Ranks for Me”, in the old “American Hymnal” of 1933! It says: “Listen! The trumpet of God is sounding, Is sounding from sea to sea; On the field where the brave are falling, There’s a place in the ranks for me.

See, the army of God advances, In strength of His holy might; See the flash of the moving lances, And the glitter of helmets bright.

Like the trumpet of God is sounding, Is sounding for victory; I must go, for the brave are falling, And the Captain has need of me.

There’s a place in the ranks for me! A place in the ranks for me! On the field where the brave are falling, There’s a place in the ranks for me.”

Whether YOU are aware of it or not, Satan is alive, he is active, and he so longs to reinstate demonic bondage! He comes as a thief in the night to steal every rich blessing Christ has promised, given, and will protect if we give Him His rightful place as Lord, Savior, Master, Conqueror over every evil we face including Satan and his demon forces that are just as active today as they were in the days of our Lord and Savior thousands of years ago!

In Luke 22:31-32 the Lord Jesus said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not; and when you are converted, strengthen your brothers.”

There is a “strong-arm commander-in-chief” of the forces of darkness, desirous that God’s created world should be a kingdom of darkness, even challenging Jesus as he does us, so desirous of leading us astray from loyalty to our Lord and Savior to a supposedly sanctified life of good AND evil, of the Savior and Satan, and of Heaven’s best and Hell’s imitations! Luke 4:1-13 is an insightful Word of preparation for all believers! It says:

“And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost (Do YOU understand for Christ to be in You is also for YOU to live in the fullness of the Holy Spirit?) returned from Jordan, AND was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto Him, If You be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

And Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word of God.” And the devil, taking Him up into a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And Satan said unto Him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”

And the devil, taking Him up into a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, All this power will I give to you and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me (by every birthed man, woman, or child? It doesn’t take long for every birthed baby to instantly ‘cry’ for what they want!); and to whomsoever I will I give it. If You (Jesus) therefore will worship me, all shall be Yours.

And Jesus answered and said unto Satan, Get behind Me, Satan: for it is written, You shall worship the Lord God, and Him only shall you serve. [What about YOU? Are YOU still “serving” the world, the old sin-nature, AND Satan? OR are YOU fully submitted to the King of kings and Lord of lords?].

And he brought Jesus to Jerusalem, and set Him on a pinnacle of the Temple, and said to Him, “If You be the Son of God, cast yourself down from here. For it is written, He shall give His angels charge over You, to keep You. And in their hands they shall bear You up, lest at any time You dash Your foot against a stone.” And Jesus answering said, “It is said, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” And when the devil had ended all temptations, he departed from Him for a season.

How illumined are you in your mind, your spirit, and your walk, as YOU LEARN that YOU are a prime target of Satan, understanding he’s out to turn YOU away from ALL JESUS IS for you, in you, through you, substituting fleshly failure for full obedience, or momentary pleasures for eternal obedience, or “ONLY ONE LITTLE FALLING AWAY”, when the demonic activity can be fatal to faith, obedience, and love of the Savior, because obedience to Satan introduces again that fatal darkness?

Again, receive Peter’s incisive, illumining, liberating words! 1 Peter 5:6-11 we read: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you. Be sober, (serious minded!), be vigilant; because YOUR adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brothers (of faith) that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who has called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.”

I have to share Shakespeare’s words in “Comedy of Errors”, (Act IV, sc.3,l.65), “He must have a long spoon that shall eat with the devil.” Oh, and Martin Luther’s words in “Table Talk”? Satan has two manner of shapes, as he disguises himself: the shape of a serpent, to affright and kill; or else in the form of a silly sheep, to lie and deceive; these are his two court colors.”

Satan IS the world’s principle author and boastful egotist as he lies about himself, lays traps for all, ‘hires’ the brain-dead, the self-fulfillers, and the ‘flesh –world’, bound by his chains of darkness, immorality, and self-pleasure in sensual fulfillment that ‘smells’, self-idolatry that ‘binds’ and ‘ruins’ even some ‘professors’ of religious faith! In his writing, “Handbook of Proverbs”, Henry George Bohn wrote: “The Devil entangles youth with beauty, the miser with gold, the ambitious with power, the learned with false doctrine.” Is it possible that you, a ‘professor of faith in Christ’, having been blinded to victory over Satan because, for you, his ‘poisonous delights, worldly pleasures, and self-indulging, was just too delightful to turn from, that you refused “Christ’s knock”, and kept on being deceived in “Satan’s lock” though broken by Christ Jesus on the Cross, through the Cross, for the glory of His Name, not Satan’s fame?

What was it Elizabeth Barrett Browning said in “Aurora Leigh”? “The devil’s most devilish when respectable.” Are you still “respecting” Satan as he leads you joyfully in his deceits and lies and imitation-spiritual-skills? There IS a hell to gain and a heaven to lose if you choose to play with him on his terms, willfully choosing to shut God’s door to His never-ending, freeing, yes, emancipating, liberating, disengaging ministry of, yes, His victory and conquest over Satan’s devilish, demeaning, destructive, disuniting activity, but you ‘think’ it’s OK to ‘play’ around with Satan and his army, like children with their birthday play-toys, but Satan is not a ‘play-toy’ – he’s an enemy of God, of the Holy Spirit, of Christ Jesus, including the ‘church’ Christ Jesus births and keeps on birthing! Satan ‘loves’ to disguise himself and his hellish co-laborers called ‘demons’ because he’s out to literally crucify Christ but to nail His ‘children of faith’ to the same cross of cruel suffering!

But Jesus Christ IS our “more than conqueror” – He’s our Victorious Liberator over sin, over Satan, over death itself! William F. Sherwin wrote the song, “Sound the Battle Cry” found in The American Hymnal of 1933! It says:

Sound the battle cry! See, the foe is nigh; Raise the standard high For the Lord; Gird your armor on, Stand firm, every one; Rest your cause upon His holy word.

Strong to meet the foe, Marching on we go, While our cause we know, must prevail; Shield and banner bright, Gleaming in the light; Battling for the right We never can fail.

O! You God of all, Hear us when we call, help us one and all by Your grace; When the battle’s done, And the victory’s won, May we wear the crown Before Your face.

Rouse, then soldiers, rally round the banner, Ready, steady, pass the word along: Onward, forward, shout a loud Hosanna! Christ is Captain of the mighty throng.”

Are YOU strong in the grace of God? AND – Are YOU “a soldier of the Cross of Christ, yes, His spiritual army fighting the good fight of faith, and knowing your field of spiritual warfare,ready to daily show up warring against Christ’s enemies in the spiritual realm with the armor of the Word and the lead of the Holy Spirit ? Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:3-15 the following words of encouragement saying,

“You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.

Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This IS a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. (So, Paul warns “the wages of sin IS death”, even if you’re a consenting disciple in sinful participation!).

Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Were YOU crucified with Christ? Have YOU repented and turned from your sin nature and its practices? Were you “enlisted” by the Spirit as a soldier in the Lord’s spiritual army? Tell me: Just how faithful does your heavenly report card reveal about your honorable walk as representative of the King of kings and Lord of lords? Are YOU “duty-ready”, having died with Christ, raised by the Holy Spirit, equipped by the Word and the Spirit, and, yes, daily fighting the good fight of faith in uplifting Him, honoring Him and His Word, His purpose for your life, and His desire to use YOU to free “the prisoners of sin, of Satan, of a dark world”, igniting in YOU the Light of His Glory?