Post by Zac Loh on Jul 19, 2006 9:37:47 GMT -5
Light and darkness cannot co-exist.
Where there is light, there is no darkness.
The absence of light results in darkness.
Satan distorts, perverts, manipulates the truth. He hides and camouflages the truth. The truth is light. Lie is darkness. And Satan, also known as the devil, is the father of lies (John 8:44).
And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. (Romans 13:11-13; underline mine)
Snakes have a venomous bite which they use to kill their prey before eating it.
Some other snakes kill their prey by constriction.
Venoms
Satan disguised and hidden within the serpent in the Garden of Eden, gave a venomous thought. It started a downward spiraling thought process in humanity.
Venom is modified saliva. Its primary function is to capture/kill the prey and then it also helps to digest the prey. Snake venom is made up of about 20 different enzymes. Species usually have 6-12 of these enzymes. Satan’s spiritual venoms contain an assortment of deception. These enzymes determine the toxicity of the snake and whether it is hemotoxic or neurotoxic.
Venoms referred to as hematoxic means that they primarily affect the blood. A hematoxic venom destroys tissue and is very painful.
The Bible says that life is in the blood (Genesis 9:4). This hematoxic type of spiritual venoms adversely affects our spiritual life. These are words that hurt us, offend us, discourage us, dishearten us and demoralize us. There are sarcastic and derogatory remarks made directly to us. These include gossip, back biting and character assassination. Satan uses demonic thoughts directly speaking to our brain, and he uses people.
Some people rejected God over one bad remark or one bad incident.
Many couldn’t overcome their hurt and bitterness. They are overwhelmed by the pain. They are caught by the process. The issue is so big to them, so much so, that their thoughts are overcrowded and overshadowed. Inadvertently, they are distracted and drawn away from God.
Neurotoxic venoms attack the nervous system and brain. These may cause almost no pain, but shut down the respiratory systems and interfere with heart functions. Good examples of these types of snakes are the cobra and coral snakes.
This neurotoxic type of spiritual venoms are deceptive doctrines, philosophies, thoughts which lead us away from God; and defective understanding which leads us to a counterfeit, ineffective, powerless Christian living. Satan plants defective knowledge for our future malfunction and breakdown. It is a spiritual computer virus that last for ages.
Is it getting difficult to enter God’s presence? When was the last time you take a breath of the spiritual atmosphere of heaven? Have you stop taking-in the breath of the Holy Spirit? Are you finding yourself acting-out less-and-less the heart of Jesus in your daily activities?
It is no wonder that the serpent is described as the most cunning species. It is a portrayal of Satan himself (Genesis 3:1).
Satan causes ignorance, arrogance, fear, worry and confusion. His goal is to keep us where he wants us to be; and deflect, divert, distract us from where we should be.
He is deceptive to the point that people do not know that they are being deceived. He imitates their own voice, and he put them in their heads. People think that these are their own thoughts, and accept them. His deceives people into accepting, and settling down, on their defective beliefs and lives.
One of the most deceptive acts of the devil is allow Christian to have a certain amount of head-knowledge about their spiritual authority; and yet, at the same time, prevents them from realizing their complete scope of authority in Christ.
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. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. (Colossians 2:8-10)
Our spiritual authority over Satan is inherited by us through Christ’s victory on the cross.
Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:15)
It is freely given to us because of Christ’s sinless life, vicarious death, resurrection and ascension to the right hand side of our Father God.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in 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, (Ephesians 2:1-6)
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. (Ephesians 1:17-21)
Constriction
Constriction is a method used by various snake species to kill their prey. The snake initially bites its prey and holds on, pulling the prey into its coils or, in the case of very large prey, pulling itself onto the prey. The snake will then wrap one or two coils around the prey, typically the prey's chest.
Spiritual constriction is when the enemy uses spiritual force and control over you. It oppresses you, suppresses you and possesses you. It is either a direct demonic influence, or indirectly demons using people, circumstance and situation.
Contrary to myth, the snake does not crush the prey, or even break its bones, but instead squeezes, tightening its grip every time the prey exhales and holding firm, until the prey can no longer draw in air.
The devil encircles you, wraps around you, and says that `it’s okay’. Every time you compromise, he squeezes a bit tighter. He catches you every time you let go of your guard. He lulls you into a spiritual deadly sleep.
Are you encircled and wrapped ever so tightly by the spiritual system of this world?
Did the people, circumstance and situation of this world; grip and squeeze you?
Hardly spend time in God’s presence. Distracted. Too busy. Does this sound like you?
Satan loves to keep you this way until you spiritually die.
Another common misconception is that the snake asphyxiates its prey when, in fact, the pressure applied to the prey is so great that it causes the heart to stop beating.
The devil cannot stop you from entering God’s presence.
He just makes your heart unwilling to do so.
The snake will then begin to feed. The entire process is surprisingly rapid, with prey often succumbing as quickly as a minute after being struck.
Eternal death is what the devil is looking for.
We are in the world, but not of the world. We need to be spiritually strong and active, exercising spiritual wisdom so as not to open the door to demonic influence.
If we have a half-half attitude, and tend to compromise, then we are on the way to defeat.
The only reason darkness exists is because light is absent. Darkness cannot stop the light. Therefore, it is not the level of darkness, but rather the level of light. The brightness is dependant on the level of light.
So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just as the LORD commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. (Exodus 7:10-12)
The power of God’s truth is always greater than the power of Satan’s deception.
Darkness is swallowed-up by light.
The Black Hole
A black hole is a region in outer space that has so much mass concentrated in it that there is no way for a nearby object to escape its gravitational pull.
Let’s use this as an analogy to our spiritual life, which means to say that we will have spiritual darkness i.e. a spiritual black hole - if we have so much mass concentrated i.e. living a life so massively concentrated on meeting our bodily wants and self-wants.
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24; underline mine)
The speed of which you need to throw an object in order that it just barely escapes a black hole's gravity pull is called the escape velocity. The speed is depended on the concentration of mass: more massive, the gravity pull is stronger; hence the escape velocity is higher.
A black hole is such an enormous concentration of mass in such a small radius that its escape velocity is greater that the velocity of light. Nothing can escape a black hole’s gravitational pull within its horizon. Therefore, even a beam of light would be pulled back by gravity and would be unable to escape.
It is accepted that most of the black holes that are actually out there were produced in the deaths of massive stars.
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:22-24)
SATAN ATTACKS OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
The greatest spiritual battle we have to fight with Satan - is not over our ministry, nor is it over our business, nor is it over our career, nor is it over our vocation, nor is it over our family, nor is it our finance, nor is it over our psychological state, nor is it over our physical state.
The greatest battle, where our priority is needed, is the spiritual battle over our relationship with God in our daily lives.
It is the battle with the spiritual system, and demonic spirits, of this world - of which Satan is prince (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
One of the devil’s strategies is to distract us, so that we would fight the wrong battle!
At the world political scenario, the United States will come to realize the time to fight the greater battle with terrorism. The greater battle, they will realize, is not military - but ideology.
No military can stop any one of the many millions of potential terrorists, who are so easily recruited, from infiltrating the borders and shores of the U.S. There is no way to stop every single person, who is willing to carry a bag containing an atomic bomb.
The greater battle they will have to fight is world ideology.
SIMILARLY, the devil wants us to fight the wrong spiritual battle at the wrong time.
We got to be conscious of this.
PUTTING ON THE ARMOR OF FAITH, LOVE AND HOPE
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. (1 Thessalonians 5:4-8; underline mine)
Putting On Faith
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 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. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. (Colossians 2:6-10)
Light And Darkness: Faith And Philosophy
Philosophy is generally defined as the pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means based on logical reasoning. It is a system of thought or values, a set of ideas or beliefs.
Philosophy can be a hindrance to our faith in God.
Philosophy can be a tool used by Satan.
When we can think-out everything, we are prone to absolve ourselves from exercising faith in a real relationship with God.
Our mind, then, takes precedence over a real relationship with God.
Our mind even takes the place of God Himself in our lives.
In reality, our philosophy keeps God merely as an entity in our thoughts.
The truth: faith and reason doesn’t always have to agree, even though many times they do.
The lie: faith and reason have to always agree.
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274) was an Italian Catholic philosopher and theologian, is considered as the most famous proponent of natural theology. He is certainly the most famous example of that intellectual movement which is called the medieval scholasticism, as universities were being founded. He lived at a critical juncture when the arrival of the Aristotelian collection of teachings reopened the question of the relation between faith and reason.
Yet, we should know, it was reported that Aquinas had a mystical experience while celebrating Mass on 6 December 1273, after which he stopped writing, leaving his great work, the Summa Theologiae, unfinished. When asked why he had stopped writing, Aquinas replied, “I cannot go on…All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.”
Perhaps Aquinas had an experience similar to Paul the Apostle on the way to Damascus. Paul had a supernatural encounter with Jesus Christ (Acts 9:1-9).
And this is what Paul had to say:
But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:7-8)
Other mystical experiences reported include a voice telling Aquinas from a cross that he had written well and monks finding Aquinas levitating.
My question: if he had written well, why did he stop?
But then again, it was written somewhere that he stopped his writing after a physical and mental breakdown from years of overwork.
Jesus said: And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)
I can assure you that if your mind is consumed with the spirit, the power, of truth: you will not have a mental breakdown.
Jesus said: It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63)
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Corinthians 3:17)
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)
Any knowledge without Christ being the center of it, is deceptive knowledge or defective knowledge.
And look how many have been deceived!
Cessation Theology
It is through the same vein of natural theology, that Cessation Theology came into play. This is the problem when we depend solely on our natural mind to figure out the truth in the Bible.
Cessation Theology is the doctrine which states that revelatory and miraculous spiritual gifts passed away with the Bible apostolic age. Its claim that a revelation or a miracle represents an attempt to add new content to the Bible is basically an erroneous human assumption.
The genuine supernatural working of God will never contradict the Bible.
The genuine supernatural working of God affirms and elaborates the Bible.
God uses people.
Any discrepancy exists is due to the failing, weaknesses and limitations of the human vessel or instrument.
In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. (Luke 10:21)
Without the help of the divine, our natural understanding tends to misinterpret the Bible, no matter how much we try or how good we think we are. How can we pretend to humanly master the Bible which is inspired by the Spirit of God? In our human pretense - we try to understand the divine with our minute, fallible minds.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
Our faith is tied-up with our supernatural God. Frequently, He bypasses our natural thinking and reasoning. Take for instance, the peace of God that surpasses human reasoning.
and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)
In fact, if we follow and abide by the peace of God within us, our hearts and minds will be protected from Satan’s power of deception.
The peace of God has power over Satan’s deception.
And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. (Romans 16:20a)
The snake, the serpent, is crushed at the head, where the thinking is. Satan’s deception is crushed by the peace of God.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)
We relate to God in spirit and truth. Without the Spirit of God, there is no truth.
We are spirit, soul and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
Our spiritual person is able to bypass our natural person to relate to God. We discern, hear, know and understand God through our spiritual faculty.
But as it is written: “ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? 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. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 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. (1 Corinthians 2:9-14)
Lies and deceit have certain power. They have the power to influence our minds, and setting our course of action. The devil is a liar. It started with the conspiracy in heaven which deceived one third of the angels to rebel against God. Lying is a deception to change the truth.
Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He 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.” (Matthew 16:22-23)
Earlier, Jesus said to Peter:
Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 16:17)
Unfortunately, Peter had forgotten. Satan’s rationale and philosophy was very humanly-inclined. Therefore, it was easily accepted.
We are not against scholarly work nor are we against logical thinking. We don’t undermine, degrade or negate any intellectual studies. But the problem, here, is the mere intellectual approach to God. To think that we can relate to God by mere intellect; is wrong. To think that we can know the things of God by our mere intellect; is wrong.
That’s why we are `born again’ spiritually (John 3:3-7), so that we can relate to God. We are the spiritual children of God (John 1:12-13).
To say that faith has to be readily, and always, understood by the natural mind; is wrong. To say that we can have a relationship with God without faith; is wrong.
The fault is that people do not derive their thoughts from the Bible. Rather, they superimpose their own thoughts on the Bible. Some do not really believe the truth in the Bible at all. They have their own secret reference of belief.
But we know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. In Him, we have spiritual life, and this spiritual life is the light of men. But those who chose to be in spiritual darkness will not understand this. We read about this life of Jesus Christ in the Gospels of the Bible.
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, (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
The devil’s tactics are to get people, consciously or unconsciously - to get them to:
1. disbelief, turn away or be drawn away from reading the Bible themselves, the devil insinuates that truth cannot be found in the Bible, or that the Bible is not the source of ultimate truth.
2. discredit, distort or manipulate the truth in the Bible.
3. compromise and water-down the truth in the Bible; the devil creates, spreads, the lie that the truth in the Bible is either impractical or impossible to live-out.
The famous book, The Da Vinci Code, is just a tip of the iceberg of the devil’s recent plan in his master plot.
The devil is the enemy of God, the enemy of the saints, the enemy of mankind, and the enemy of our soul.
Where there is light, there is no darkness.
The absence of light results in darkness.
Satan distorts, perverts, manipulates the truth. He hides and camouflages the truth. The truth is light. Lie is darkness. And Satan, also known as the devil, is the father of lies (John 8:44).
And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. (Romans 13:11-13; underline mine)
Snakes have a venomous bite which they use to kill their prey before eating it.
Some other snakes kill their prey by constriction.
Venoms
Satan disguised and hidden within the serpent in the Garden of Eden, gave a venomous thought. It started a downward spiraling thought process in humanity.
Venom is modified saliva. Its primary function is to capture/kill the prey and then it also helps to digest the prey. Snake venom is made up of about 20 different enzymes. Species usually have 6-12 of these enzymes. Satan’s spiritual venoms contain an assortment of deception. These enzymes determine the toxicity of the snake and whether it is hemotoxic or neurotoxic.
Venoms referred to as hematoxic means that they primarily affect the blood. A hematoxic venom destroys tissue and is very painful.
The Bible says that life is in the blood (Genesis 9:4). This hematoxic type of spiritual venoms adversely affects our spiritual life. These are words that hurt us, offend us, discourage us, dishearten us and demoralize us. There are sarcastic and derogatory remarks made directly to us. These include gossip, back biting and character assassination. Satan uses demonic thoughts directly speaking to our brain, and he uses people.
Some people rejected God over one bad remark or one bad incident.
Many couldn’t overcome their hurt and bitterness. They are overwhelmed by the pain. They are caught by the process. The issue is so big to them, so much so, that their thoughts are overcrowded and overshadowed. Inadvertently, they are distracted and drawn away from God.
Neurotoxic venoms attack the nervous system and brain. These may cause almost no pain, but shut down the respiratory systems and interfere with heart functions. Good examples of these types of snakes are the cobra and coral snakes.
This neurotoxic type of spiritual venoms are deceptive doctrines, philosophies, thoughts which lead us away from God; and defective understanding which leads us to a counterfeit, ineffective, powerless Christian living. Satan plants defective knowledge for our future malfunction and breakdown. It is a spiritual computer virus that last for ages.
Is it getting difficult to enter God’s presence? When was the last time you take a breath of the spiritual atmosphere of heaven? Have you stop taking-in the breath of the Holy Spirit? Are you finding yourself acting-out less-and-less the heart of Jesus in your daily activities?
It is no wonder that the serpent is described as the most cunning species. It is a portrayal of Satan himself (Genesis 3:1).
Satan causes ignorance, arrogance, fear, worry and confusion. His goal is to keep us where he wants us to be; and deflect, divert, distract us from where we should be.
He is deceptive to the point that people do not know that they are being deceived. He imitates their own voice, and he put them in their heads. People think that these are their own thoughts, and accept them. His deceives people into accepting, and settling down, on their defective beliefs and lives.
One of the most deceptive acts of the devil is allow Christian to have a certain amount of head-knowledge about their spiritual authority; and yet, at the same time, prevents them from realizing their complete scope of authority in Christ.
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. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. (Colossians 2:8-10)
Our spiritual authority over Satan is inherited by us through Christ’s victory on the cross.
Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:15)
It is freely given to us because of Christ’s sinless life, vicarious death, resurrection and ascension to the right hand side of our Father God.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in 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, (Ephesians 2:1-6)
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. (Ephesians 1:17-21)
Constriction
Constriction is a method used by various snake species to kill their prey. The snake initially bites its prey and holds on, pulling the prey into its coils or, in the case of very large prey, pulling itself onto the prey. The snake will then wrap one or two coils around the prey, typically the prey's chest.
Spiritual constriction is when the enemy uses spiritual force and control over you. It oppresses you, suppresses you and possesses you. It is either a direct demonic influence, or indirectly demons using people, circumstance and situation.
Contrary to myth, the snake does not crush the prey, or even break its bones, but instead squeezes, tightening its grip every time the prey exhales and holding firm, until the prey can no longer draw in air.
The devil encircles you, wraps around you, and says that `it’s okay’. Every time you compromise, he squeezes a bit tighter. He catches you every time you let go of your guard. He lulls you into a spiritual deadly sleep.
Are you encircled and wrapped ever so tightly by the spiritual system of this world?
Did the people, circumstance and situation of this world; grip and squeeze you?
Hardly spend time in God’s presence. Distracted. Too busy. Does this sound like you?
Satan loves to keep you this way until you spiritually die.
Another common misconception is that the snake asphyxiates its prey when, in fact, the pressure applied to the prey is so great that it causes the heart to stop beating.
The devil cannot stop you from entering God’s presence.
He just makes your heart unwilling to do so.
The snake will then begin to feed. The entire process is surprisingly rapid, with prey often succumbing as quickly as a minute after being struck.
Eternal death is what the devil is looking for.
We are in the world, but not of the world. We need to be spiritually strong and active, exercising spiritual wisdom so as not to open the door to demonic influence.
If we have a half-half attitude, and tend to compromise, then we are on the way to defeat.
The only reason darkness exists is because light is absent. Darkness cannot stop the light. Therefore, it is not the level of darkness, but rather the level of light. The brightness is dependant on the level of light.
So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just as the LORD commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. (Exodus 7:10-12)
The power of God’s truth is always greater than the power of Satan’s deception.
Darkness is swallowed-up by light.
The Black Hole
A black hole is a region in outer space that has so much mass concentrated in it that there is no way for a nearby object to escape its gravitational pull.
Let’s use this as an analogy to our spiritual life, which means to say that we will have spiritual darkness i.e. a spiritual black hole - if we have so much mass concentrated i.e. living a life so massively concentrated on meeting our bodily wants and self-wants.
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24; underline mine)
The speed of which you need to throw an object in order that it just barely escapes a black hole's gravity pull is called the escape velocity. The speed is depended on the concentration of mass: more massive, the gravity pull is stronger; hence the escape velocity is higher.
A black hole is such an enormous concentration of mass in such a small radius that its escape velocity is greater that the velocity of light. Nothing can escape a black hole’s gravitational pull within its horizon. Therefore, even a beam of light would be pulled back by gravity and would be unable to escape.
It is accepted that most of the black holes that are actually out there were produced in the deaths of massive stars.
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:22-24)
SATAN ATTACKS OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
The greatest spiritual battle we have to fight with Satan - is not over our ministry, nor is it over our business, nor is it over our career, nor is it over our vocation, nor is it over our family, nor is it our finance, nor is it over our psychological state, nor is it over our physical state.
The greatest battle, where our priority is needed, is the spiritual battle over our relationship with God in our daily lives.
It is the battle with the spiritual system, and demonic spirits, of this world - of which Satan is prince (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
One of the devil’s strategies is to distract us, so that we would fight the wrong battle!
At the world political scenario, the United States will come to realize the time to fight the greater battle with terrorism. The greater battle, they will realize, is not military - but ideology.
No military can stop any one of the many millions of potential terrorists, who are so easily recruited, from infiltrating the borders and shores of the U.S. There is no way to stop every single person, who is willing to carry a bag containing an atomic bomb.
The greater battle they will have to fight is world ideology.
SIMILARLY, the devil wants us to fight the wrong spiritual battle at the wrong time.
We got to be conscious of this.
PUTTING ON THE ARMOR OF FAITH, LOVE AND HOPE
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. (1 Thessalonians 5:4-8; underline mine)
Putting On Faith
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 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. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. (Colossians 2:6-10)
Light And Darkness: Faith And Philosophy
Philosophy is generally defined as the pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means based on logical reasoning. It is a system of thought or values, a set of ideas or beliefs.
Philosophy can be a hindrance to our faith in God.
Philosophy can be a tool used by Satan.
When we can think-out everything, we are prone to absolve ourselves from exercising faith in a real relationship with God.
Our mind, then, takes precedence over a real relationship with God.
Our mind even takes the place of God Himself in our lives.
In reality, our philosophy keeps God merely as an entity in our thoughts.
The truth: faith and reason doesn’t always have to agree, even though many times they do.
The lie: faith and reason have to always agree.
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274) was an Italian Catholic philosopher and theologian, is considered as the most famous proponent of natural theology. He is certainly the most famous example of that intellectual movement which is called the medieval scholasticism, as universities were being founded. He lived at a critical juncture when the arrival of the Aristotelian collection of teachings reopened the question of the relation between faith and reason.
Yet, we should know, it was reported that Aquinas had a mystical experience while celebrating Mass on 6 December 1273, after which he stopped writing, leaving his great work, the Summa Theologiae, unfinished. When asked why he had stopped writing, Aquinas replied, “I cannot go on…All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.”
Perhaps Aquinas had an experience similar to Paul the Apostle on the way to Damascus. Paul had a supernatural encounter with Jesus Christ (Acts 9:1-9).
"For those with faith, no explanation is necessary. For those without, no explanation is possible."
- Thomas Aquinas -
- Thomas Aquinas -
And this is what Paul had to say:
But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:7-8)
Other mystical experiences reported include a voice telling Aquinas from a cross that he had written well and monks finding Aquinas levitating.
My question: if he had written well, why did he stop?
But then again, it was written somewhere that he stopped his writing after a physical and mental breakdown from years of overwork.
Jesus said: And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)
I can assure you that if your mind is consumed with the spirit, the power, of truth: you will not have a mental breakdown.
Jesus said: It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63)
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Corinthians 3:17)
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)
Any knowledge without Christ being the center of it, is deceptive knowledge or defective knowledge.
And look how many have been deceived!
Cessation Theology
It is through the same vein of natural theology, that Cessation Theology came into play. This is the problem when we depend solely on our natural mind to figure out the truth in the Bible.
Cessation Theology is the doctrine which states that revelatory and miraculous spiritual gifts passed away with the Bible apostolic age. Its claim that a revelation or a miracle represents an attempt to add new content to the Bible is basically an erroneous human assumption.
The genuine supernatural working of God will never contradict the Bible.
The genuine supernatural working of God affirms and elaborates the Bible.
God uses people.
Any discrepancy exists is due to the failing, weaknesses and limitations of the human vessel or instrument.
In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. (Luke 10:21)
Without the help of the divine, our natural understanding tends to misinterpret the Bible, no matter how much we try or how good we think we are. How can we pretend to humanly master the Bible which is inspired by the Spirit of God? In our human pretense - we try to understand the divine with our minute, fallible minds.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
Our faith is tied-up with our supernatural God. Frequently, He bypasses our natural thinking and reasoning. Take for instance, the peace of God that surpasses human reasoning.
and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)
In fact, if we follow and abide by the peace of God within us, our hearts and minds will be protected from Satan’s power of deception.
The peace of God has power over Satan’s deception.
And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. (Romans 16:20a)
The snake, the serpent, is crushed at the head, where the thinking is. Satan’s deception is crushed by the peace of God.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)
We relate to God in spirit and truth. Without the Spirit of God, there is no truth.
We are spirit, soul and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
Our spiritual person is able to bypass our natural person to relate to God. We discern, hear, know and understand God through our spiritual faculty.
But as it is written: “ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? 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. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 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. (1 Corinthians 2:9-14)
Lies and deceit have certain power. They have the power to influence our minds, and setting our course of action. The devil is a liar. It started with the conspiracy in heaven which deceived one third of the angels to rebel against God. Lying is a deception to change the truth.
Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He 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.” (Matthew 16:22-23)
Earlier, Jesus said to Peter:
Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 16:17)
Unfortunately, Peter had forgotten. Satan’s rationale and philosophy was very humanly-inclined. Therefore, it was easily accepted.
We are not against scholarly work nor are we against logical thinking. We don’t undermine, degrade or negate any intellectual studies. But the problem, here, is the mere intellectual approach to God. To think that we can relate to God by mere intellect; is wrong. To think that we can know the things of God by our mere intellect; is wrong.
That’s why we are `born again’ spiritually (John 3:3-7), so that we can relate to God. We are the spiritual children of God (John 1:12-13).
To say that faith has to be readily, and always, understood by the natural mind; is wrong. To say that we can have a relationship with God without faith; is wrong.
The fault is that people do not derive their thoughts from the Bible. Rather, they superimpose their own thoughts on the Bible. Some do not really believe the truth in the Bible at all. They have their own secret reference of belief.
But we know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. In Him, we have spiritual life, and this spiritual life is the light of men. But those who chose to be in spiritual darkness will not understand this. We read about this life of Jesus Christ in the Gospels of the Bible.
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, (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
The devil’s tactics are to get people, consciously or unconsciously - to get them to:
1. disbelief, turn away or be drawn away from reading the Bible themselves, the devil insinuates that truth cannot be found in the Bible, or that the Bible is not the source of ultimate truth.
2. discredit, distort or manipulate the truth in the Bible.
3. compromise and water-down the truth in the Bible; the devil creates, spreads, the lie that the truth in the Bible is either impractical or impossible to live-out.
The famous book, The Da Vinci Code, is just a tip of the iceberg of the devil’s recent plan in his master plot.
The devil is the enemy of God, the enemy of the saints, the enemy of mankind, and the enemy of our soul.