From time to time teachings circulate through the body of Christ that are neither Scripturally nor historically held. The Apostle Paul calls such unsound teaching "wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14)." Tragically, as these winds blow through the church some people find themselves caught up and blown out!
Recently, there has been interest in the so-called "deliverance ministries" which claim to have cast demons out of Christians. They often report of demons being coughed up and vomited out of believers.
What about these experiences? Let us always be careful never to let experience supersede the Word of God. The Word is the only authority upon which we can build doctrine. Paul said, "but though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8)."
So what does the Bible say about demon possession in Christians? First of all, we are told, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12)."
These demonic forces seek to hassle our walk with Jesus and hinder our work for Jesus. Sometimes, for no apparent reason, you may find yourself bummed out and feeling down and discouraged. This can be the work of a demonic attack, but a demon cannot enter into or exercise control over the life of any true believer. Let's see why.
First, you are in Christ Jesus
When you accepted Jesus as your Lord, you were placed into Christ Jesus. Jesus said, "... ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you (John 14:20)."
In that same teaching Jesus went on to say, "... for the prince of this world (Satan) cometh, and hath nothing on Me (John 14:30)."
Satan and demons have nothing in Jesus for Jesus is, "Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named ... (Ephesians 1:21)."
Where are we? "And (He) hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6)."
We see that Satan or any of his powers have nothing in Jesus Christ and, therefore, have nothing in us either! Praise the Lord!
Secondly, Christ Jesus is in you.
When you accepted Jesus as Lord, Jesus came into your heart to live in you (see Revelation 3:20).
He is, "... the light of the world . . . (John 8:12)" and Scripture declares that, "... God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5)." Darkness and light cannot dwell in the same place at the same time.
Now, those who teach demons can possess Christians often hide behind a semantical smoke screen and say, "Demons possess or invade the body and the mind but not the spirit." But the Lord dwells in the body as well, as the word clearly states, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you ... (1 Corinthians 6:19)." The Lord also dwells in our mind for we are told, "... we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16)." There just is no room for darkness when the Lord of light lives in us!
Thirdly, the Bible gives absolutely no example or teaching on demons in Christians
If such a major problem as demon possession in Christians was possible, without a doubt we would see several examples of this in the Gospels and the Book of Acts. We would also have clear teaching on this in the epistles, but it is just not there. The one example some do use as a "proof text" is that of Ananias and Sapphira. A careful study of that text, however, seems to indicate that they were not true believers at all. Even if they were, there was not an "exorcism or deliverance" that took place but rather instant judgment (see Acts 5)!
Also, is it not arresting that nowhere in the epistles is a teaching on demon possession or demon invasion of believers? Would God ignore such an important issue if it were such an important issue?
Then, why do people have such experiences of demons being regurgitated, cast out, or coughed up? I believe that these unscriptural practices come from sincere people who have a tendency to pass the blame for their carnal acts onto the devil. remember Flip Wilson's famous comedy sketch in which he said, "The devil made me do it?"
It is interesting to me that often the supposed demons identify themselves as the demon of lust, envy, impurity, witchcraft, anger, etc. But Galatians 5:19 specifically lists these activities as being "works of the flesh!" We are told to "... put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (Ephesians 4:22)," and recognize these things to be dead (Romans 6:11). We are never told to, "cast them out."
I believe we, as Christians, should avoid pitfalls of looking for demons and focusing on Satan; rather, we should keep our focus, teachings, and attention on our Lord Jesus Christ. The way to overcome darkness is to turn on the light. The way to overcome the devil is to resist him, and he will flee from us (James 4:7). We resist him by keeping close to our Lord (James 4:7), for "greater is He (Jesus) that is in you than he (Satan) that is in the world (1 John 4:4)."
by Jon Courson
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Wiccan or "Christian" America
On the 4th of July, 2007, pagan religious leaders led a rally across from the White House to call for the appointment of a Pagan military chaplain and to request approval of Pagan religious symbols by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Elevating the “religion” of paganism as a legally-endorsed activity by the United States Military, of which the President is Commander in Chief sounds both fair and odd.
Fair: Democratic rights must be applied to all religious expressions. Everyone should be free to worship the god of their choice, as the saying goes. But what should be classified as a religion? The lines between religion and politics cannot be clearly drawn. People are political, social and religious entities—all the time, and all at the same time. Political questions always have a moral/ethical component and morals cannot be separated from religious truth. When well-known politicians die, the so-called “state funeral” always ends up in a cathedral somewhere, and the living politicians show up on the front row. Church/state separation, so vigorously applied during the politician’s life, evaporates before the great religious mystery of death.
more
recommended reading: Spirit Wars by Peter Jones
Fair: Democratic rights must be applied to all religious expressions. Everyone should be free to worship the god of their choice, as the saying goes. But what should be classified as a religion? The lines between religion and politics cannot be clearly drawn. People are political, social and religious entities—all the time, and all at the same time. Political questions always have a moral/ethical component and morals cannot be separated from religious truth. When well-known politicians die, the so-called “state funeral” always ends up in a cathedral somewhere, and the living politicians show up on the front row. Church/state separation, so vigorously applied during the politician’s life, evaporates before the great religious mystery of death.
more
recommended reading: Spirit Wars by Peter Jones
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Free Bible Software
E4 Bible Study Library, Vol. 1 & 2
Titles: Greek New Testament (Textus Receptus - parsed with Strongs Numbers), King James Version with Strongs Numbers, Young's Literal Translation of the Bible , The Weymouth New Testament , American Standard Version , La Biblia (Versión Reina-Valera De 1909), E4's Naves Topical Bible , Thompson Chain References , E4's Hebrew Lexicon , E4's Greek Lexicon, E4's Tense Voice Mood, Easton's Bible Dictionary , McCheynn - Sermons and Letters, Ryle - Holiness, Edwards - Jonathan Edwards on Revival, Smeaton - Paul’s Doctrine of the Atonement, Owen - The Glory of the Trinity , Haldane - Commentary on Romans , Hodge - Commentary on Ephesians , Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary , Hodge - Outlines of Theology , Guthrie - Your Salvation, Spurgeon - All of Grace, Spurgeon - A Collection of Sermons , Hodge - Sermon Outlines , The Westminster Confession and Catechisms , Hodge - Commentary on Westminster Confession , Vincent - A Family Instructional Guide, Baxter - The Reformed Pastor , Witherow - The Apostolic Church, Which Is It?
Go to Free Bible Software
Titles: Greek New Testament (Textus Receptus - parsed with Strongs Numbers), King James Version with Strongs Numbers, Young's Literal Translation of the Bible , The Weymouth New Testament , American Standard Version , La Biblia (Versión Reina-Valera De 1909), E4's Naves Topical Bible , Thompson Chain References , E4's Hebrew Lexicon , E4's Greek Lexicon, E4's Tense Voice Mood, Easton's Bible Dictionary , McCheynn - Sermons and Letters, Ryle - Holiness, Edwards - Jonathan Edwards on Revival, Smeaton - Paul’s Doctrine of the Atonement, Owen - The Glory of the Trinity , Haldane - Commentary on Romans , Hodge - Commentary on Ephesians , Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary , Hodge - Outlines of Theology , Guthrie - Your Salvation, Spurgeon - All of Grace, Spurgeon - A Collection of Sermons , Hodge - Sermon Outlines , The Westminster Confession and Catechisms , Hodge - Commentary on Westminster Confession , Vincent - A Family Instructional Guide, Baxter - The Reformed Pastor , Witherow - The Apostolic Church, Which Is It?
Go to Free Bible Software
Monday, September 7, 2009
Biblical Illiteracy
I have to admit, I have been extremely surprised at the level of biblical illiteracy among God's children. Why is this phenomena occurring? I think that we have such an influx of Bible teachers that we simply don't believe that we need to read the Bible for ourselves or to practice what the Bereans did in Acts 17:11 'And the people of Berea were more open minded than those in Thessolonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul's message. They searched the scripture day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.' The Bereans had a goal: they wanted to know the Truth that could set them free and they were responsible enough to know the scripture to make certain that they were not being misled.
I once spoke at a conference that had a speaker who taught that Christians would 'get a demon' by viewing The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe movie. The biblically illiterate Christians bobbed their heads in unison as though they just knew that to be truth. However, it is hogwash. Kenneth Copeland teaches that faith is a 'force' that is released etc. That's not exactly what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that faith is simply a believing trust in God and His word. Do you see how easy it is to be led astray if one does not know the scripture and relies on others to teach you?
Folks, I will do everything that I can to assist you in your biblical understanding. We have a link StudyLight, that has a vast amount of free resources for your understanding. I will post offers for free CDs, MP3s, bible software and biblically balanced articles on topics. I also strongly recommend that you request your free MP3 Bible. However, only you can do as the Bereans did; search the scripture day after day for the Truth.
I once spoke at a conference that had a speaker who taught that Christians would 'get a demon' by viewing The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe movie. The biblically illiterate Christians bobbed their heads in unison as though they just knew that to be truth. However, it is hogwash. Kenneth Copeland teaches that faith is a 'force' that is released etc. That's not exactly what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that faith is simply a believing trust in God and His word. Do you see how easy it is to be led astray if one does not know the scripture and relies on others to teach you?
Folks, I will do everything that I can to assist you in your biblical understanding. We have a link StudyLight, that has a vast amount of free resources for your understanding. I will post offers for free CDs, MP3s, bible software and biblically balanced articles on topics. I also strongly recommend that you request your free MP3 Bible. However, only you can do as the Bereans did; search the scripture day after day for the Truth.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
The Legend: Anton Szandor LaVey
"I'm one helluva liar. Most of my adult life, I've been accused of being a charlatan, a phony, an impostor. I guess that makes me about as close to what the Devil's supposed to be, as anyone. It's true. I lie constantly, incessantly. Because I lie so often, I'd really be full of @#$% if I didn't keep my mouth shut and my bowels open."
- Anton LaVey, Satan Speaks, page 101
"The bigger the lie, the more the people will believe it" - Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
LEGEND: Claimed that "Anton Szandor LaVey" was his genuine birth name.
REALITY: Born "Howard Stanton Levey".
SOURCES: Birth certificate 4/11/1930, Cook County, Illinois. Confirmed by relatives.
LEGEND: Claimed his parents were Joseph and Augusta LaVey.
REALITY: Parents were Michael and Gertrude Levey.
SOURCES: Birth certificate 4/11/1930, Cook County, Illinois. Confirmed by ASL's daughter Zeena and daughter Karla according to her entry on ASL's death certificate.
LEGEND: Claimed he was introduced to the Dark Side by his Transylvanian Gypsy grandmother, who regaled him as a child with supernatural folklore and tales of vampires and werewolves.
REALITY: ASL's grandmother was not Transylvanian nor of Gypsy stock. She was a Ukrainian named Cecile Luba Primokov-Coulton ("Coulton" was Anglicized from "Koltonoff"). Despite his frequent claims, ASL had no Gypsy ancestry.
SOURCES: Relatives, including ASL's parents.
LEGEND: In 1945 the 15-year-old ASL was brought to the ruins of postwar Germany by his uncle, a U.S. Coast Guard officer. There the teenaged ASL was shown top-secret films inspired by Satanic cult lodges and their rituals. ASL claimed that the "German" rituals in his 1972 book The Satanic Rituals were actual transcripts of the filmed rituals he saw as a youth.
REALITY: Young Howard spent the entirety of 1945 in suburban northern California, and never visited Germany at any time in his life. The uncle who he claimed brought him to Germany was incarcerated at McNeill Island Penitentiary for involvement with Al Capone-related criminal activity during 1945, and was never in the armed forces. Allied martial law forbade U.S. citizens from visiting postwar Germany. The "German" rituals in the Satanic Rituals are written in extremely poor, Anglicized German. They are clearly uncredited adaptations of the short story The Hounds of Tindalos by Frank Belknap Long and H.G. Wells' famous novel The Island of Dr. Moreau.
SOURCES: ASL relatives, former wife Diane LaVey, The Hounds of Tindalos, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Satanic Rituals, Church of Satan member Rosalind Herkommer (who translated ASL's rituals into German).
LEGEND: ASL purchased the house at 6114 California Street (which would later become the headquarters of the Church of Satan - the infamous "Black House") because he discovered on first inspection that it was the former brothel of Barbary Coast madam Mammy Pleasant. The house was honeycombed with trapdoors and secret passageways, built by Pleasant to elude police raids.
REALITY: 6114 was ASL's parents' home. It was never a brothel, nor did Mammy Pleasant ever live or work there. ASL's parents first allowed ASL and his first wife Carole to live in the house, then transferred ownership of it to ASL and his second wife Diane in 1971. Such secret passages and hidden rooms that exist were constructed by ASL.
SOURCES: Relatives, San Francisco property records (Michael & Gertrude Levey, Joint Tenancy Grant Deed, July 9, 1971).
LEGEND: ASL wrote the Satanic Bible, his principal work, to fulfill his congregation's need for a scriptural guide.
REALITY: The Satanic Bible was conceived as a commercial vehicle by paperback publisher Avon Books. Avon approached ASL for some kind of Satanic work to cash in on the Satanism & witchcraft fad of the late 1960s. Pressed for material to meet Avon's deadline, ASL resorted to plagiarism, assembling extracts from an obscure 1896 tract - Might is Right by Ragnar Redbeard into a "Book of Satan" for the SB, and claiming its authorship by himself. [Ironically these MiR passages are the ones most frequently quoted by ASL disciples.] Another third of the SB consists of John Dee's "Enochian Keys", taken directly but again without attribution from Aleister Crowley's Equinox. The SB's "Nine Satanic Statements", one of the Church of Satan's central doctrines, is a paraphrase, again unacknowledged, of passages from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. The last words in the SB - "Yankee Rose" - have been puzzled over for years by readers. "YR" is actually the name of an old popular tune in ASL's nightclub repertoire.
SOURCES: ASL, The Satanic Bible; Ragnar Redbeard, Might is Right, Port Townsend: Loompanics (reprint), 1896; Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (Galt's speech, ca. pages #936-993); "Yankee Rose" by Sidney Holden & Abe Frankl (Irving Berlin Music, 1926).
LEGEND: ASL claimed that at the height of the Church of Satan's popularity there were hundreds of thousands of formal members.
REALITY: Diane LaVey (who administered the Church as High Priestess 1966-1984), Michael A. Aquino (senior Magister of the Church and Editor of its Cloven Hoof newsletter 1971-1975), and Zeena LaVey (High Priestess of the Church 1985-1990) have all affirmed that the figures claimed by ASL were grossly exaggerated. The membership of the Church of Satan never exceeded 300 individuals, several of whom were nonmember subscribers to the newsletter or ASL friends receiving complimentary mailings.
SOURCES: Diane LaVey, Michael A. Aquino, Zeena LaVey.
LEGEND: ASL claimed to be a multimillionaire, owning three homes in northern California, a convent in Italy, a chateau in France, a fleet of luxury automobiles, a 185-foot yacht, three salvage ships, and other property.
REALITY: During Diane [LaVey] Hegarty's 1988-91 lawsuit against ASL, and ASL's subsequent 1991 filing for bankruptcy, ASL stipulated under oath that he owned nothing more than 50% of the house his parents had given jointly to him and Diane, along with the personal items he kept therein. ASL's final years were subsidized by California state aid. Assessors declared the house to be in such poor repair as to be nearly worthless on the real estate market. Family members have attested to the fact that by the mid-1970s the LaVeys lived in near-poverty, frequently having to rely upon ASL's father's generosity. According to other LaVey relatives, ASL continued to rely on handouts from friends and relatives until the end of his life.
SOURCES: Hegarty v. LaVey (San Francisco Superior Court Case #891863), Anton LaVey Bankruptcy, Chapter 7 (U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern California, Case #91-34251), Zeena LaVey, other relatives.
And, yes I am aware that Blanche Barton is refuting this.....
- Anton LaVey, Satan Speaks, page 101
"The bigger the lie, the more the people will believe it" - Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
LEGEND: Claimed that "Anton Szandor LaVey" was his genuine birth name.
REALITY: Born "Howard Stanton Levey".
SOURCES: Birth certificate 4/11/1930, Cook County, Illinois. Confirmed by relatives.
LEGEND: Claimed his parents were Joseph and Augusta LaVey.
REALITY: Parents were Michael and Gertrude Levey.
SOURCES: Birth certificate 4/11/1930, Cook County, Illinois. Confirmed by ASL's daughter Zeena and daughter Karla according to her entry on ASL's death certificate.
LEGEND: Claimed he was introduced to the Dark Side by his Transylvanian Gypsy grandmother, who regaled him as a child with supernatural folklore and tales of vampires and werewolves.
REALITY: ASL's grandmother was not Transylvanian nor of Gypsy stock. She was a Ukrainian named Cecile Luba Primokov-Coulton ("Coulton" was Anglicized from "Koltonoff"). Despite his frequent claims, ASL had no Gypsy ancestry.
SOURCES: Relatives, including ASL's parents.
LEGEND: In 1945 the 15-year-old ASL was brought to the ruins of postwar Germany by his uncle, a U.S. Coast Guard officer. There the teenaged ASL was shown top-secret films inspired by Satanic cult lodges and their rituals. ASL claimed that the "German" rituals in his 1972 book The Satanic Rituals were actual transcripts of the filmed rituals he saw as a youth.
REALITY: Young Howard spent the entirety of 1945 in suburban northern California, and never visited Germany at any time in his life. The uncle who he claimed brought him to Germany was incarcerated at McNeill Island Penitentiary for involvement with Al Capone-related criminal activity during 1945, and was never in the armed forces. Allied martial law forbade U.S. citizens from visiting postwar Germany. The "German" rituals in the Satanic Rituals are written in extremely poor, Anglicized German. They are clearly uncredited adaptations of the short story The Hounds of Tindalos by Frank Belknap Long and H.G. Wells' famous novel The Island of Dr. Moreau.
SOURCES: ASL relatives, former wife Diane LaVey, The Hounds of Tindalos, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Satanic Rituals, Church of Satan member Rosalind Herkommer (who translated ASL's rituals into German).
LEGEND: ASL purchased the house at 6114 California Street (which would later become the headquarters of the Church of Satan - the infamous "Black House") because he discovered on first inspection that it was the former brothel of Barbary Coast madam Mammy Pleasant. The house was honeycombed with trapdoors and secret passageways, built by Pleasant to elude police raids.
REALITY: 6114 was ASL's parents' home. It was never a brothel, nor did Mammy Pleasant ever live or work there. ASL's parents first allowed ASL and his first wife Carole to live in the house, then transferred ownership of it to ASL and his second wife Diane in 1971. Such secret passages and hidden rooms that exist were constructed by ASL.
SOURCES: Relatives, San Francisco property records (Michael & Gertrude Levey, Joint Tenancy Grant Deed, July 9, 1971).
LEGEND: ASL wrote the Satanic Bible, his principal work, to fulfill his congregation's need for a scriptural guide.
REALITY: The Satanic Bible was conceived as a commercial vehicle by paperback publisher Avon Books. Avon approached ASL for some kind of Satanic work to cash in on the Satanism & witchcraft fad of the late 1960s. Pressed for material to meet Avon's deadline, ASL resorted to plagiarism, assembling extracts from an obscure 1896 tract - Might is Right by Ragnar Redbeard into a "Book of Satan" for the SB, and claiming its authorship by himself. [Ironically these MiR passages are the ones most frequently quoted by ASL disciples.] Another third of the SB consists of John Dee's "Enochian Keys", taken directly but again without attribution from Aleister Crowley's Equinox. The SB's "Nine Satanic Statements", one of the Church of Satan's central doctrines, is a paraphrase, again unacknowledged, of passages from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. The last words in the SB - "Yankee Rose" - have been puzzled over for years by readers. "YR" is actually the name of an old popular tune in ASL's nightclub repertoire.
SOURCES: ASL, The Satanic Bible; Ragnar Redbeard, Might is Right, Port Townsend: Loompanics (reprint), 1896; Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (Galt's speech, ca. pages #936-993); "Yankee Rose" by Sidney Holden & Abe Frankl (Irving Berlin Music, 1926).
LEGEND: ASL claimed that at the height of the Church of Satan's popularity there were hundreds of thousands of formal members.
REALITY: Diane LaVey (who administered the Church as High Priestess 1966-1984), Michael A. Aquino (senior Magister of the Church and Editor of its Cloven Hoof newsletter 1971-1975), and Zeena LaVey (High Priestess of the Church 1985-1990) have all affirmed that the figures claimed by ASL were grossly exaggerated. The membership of the Church of Satan never exceeded 300 individuals, several of whom were nonmember subscribers to the newsletter or ASL friends receiving complimentary mailings.
SOURCES: Diane LaVey, Michael A. Aquino, Zeena LaVey.
LEGEND: ASL claimed to be a multimillionaire, owning three homes in northern California, a convent in Italy, a chateau in France, a fleet of luxury automobiles, a 185-foot yacht, three salvage ships, and other property.
REALITY: During Diane [LaVey] Hegarty's 1988-91 lawsuit against ASL, and ASL's subsequent 1991 filing for bankruptcy, ASL stipulated under oath that he owned nothing more than 50% of the house his parents had given jointly to him and Diane, along with the personal items he kept therein. ASL's final years were subsidized by California state aid. Assessors declared the house to be in such poor repair as to be nearly worthless on the real estate market. Family members have attested to the fact that by the mid-1970s the LaVeys lived in near-poverty, frequently having to rely upon ASL's father's generosity. According to other LaVey relatives, ASL continued to rely on handouts from friends and relatives until the end of his life.
SOURCES: Hegarty v. LaVey (San Francisco Superior Court Case #891863), Anton LaVey Bankruptcy, Chapter 7 (U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern California, Case #91-34251), Zeena LaVey, other relatives.
And, yes I am aware that Blanche Barton is refuting this.....
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Telling Yourself the Truth
How is your thought life? Are you under the influence of the Holy Spirit when it comes to what is going on in your mind?
Folks, the way and what we think affects everything; the way that we feel and our behavior/actions. Wrong thinking produces wrong emotions, wrong reactions and wrong behaviors - and unhappiness! So, when you learn to deal with your thoughts, you have taken your first step on the road to real contentment.
Jesus promises us in John 8:31-32 that if we remain or abide in His word, we will be His disciples. And, His disciples are free. Go get your Bible and read it for yourself. Are you free? Adam Clarke states "It was a maxim of the Jews, "That no man was free, but he who exercised himself in the meditation of the law." No man is truly free, but he in whose heart the power of sin is destroyed, and who has received the Spirit of adoption, through which he cries, Abba! Father! See Romans 8:15. The bondage of sin is the most grievous bondage; and freedom from its guilt and influence is the greatest liberty."
We need to be set free from our own sin in our thought patterns. Maybe we have been told by someone that we will never amount to anything, so we feel like a failure and live a life of failing. That was my thought pattern, simply because I believed a lie from one of my parents. I thought wrong (I would never amount to anything), wrong reaction (anger and depression), wrong behavior(set out to be 'someone' by entering the occult). I was unhappy! However, Jesus words have been (it is a process) setting me free as I renew my mind.
I am responsible to believe God's word and to place my mind under His Spirit's influence. By that I mean that I am to think correctly which is a discipline. Ouch! that is a word many of us do not want to hear. We like for God to 'do something' for us. But Jesus told us that it is our responsibilty to abide or remain in His word, or for His word to remain in us; believing His word, responding to His word, producing His fruit by His Spirit. It is a simple three step process of:
1.locating a lie in our thoughts and self talk
2.arguing against the lie
3. replacing the lie with the truth.
Remember folks, Jesus said if we would do this, He and His word would set us free!
recommended reading : Telling Yourself the Truth by William Backus
Folks, the way and what we think affects everything; the way that we feel and our behavior/actions. Wrong thinking produces wrong emotions, wrong reactions and wrong behaviors - and unhappiness! So, when you learn to deal with your thoughts, you have taken your first step on the road to real contentment.
Jesus promises us in John 8:31-32 that if we remain or abide in His word, we will be His disciples. And, His disciples are free. Go get your Bible and read it for yourself. Are you free? Adam Clarke states "It was a maxim of the Jews, "That no man was free, but he who exercised himself in the meditation of the law." No man is truly free, but he in whose heart the power of sin is destroyed, and who has received the Spirit of adoption, through which he cries, Abba! Father! See Romans 8:15. The bondage of sin is the most grievous bondage; and freedom from its guilt and influence is the greatest liberty."
We need to be set free from our own sin in our thought patterns. Maybe we have been told by someone that we will never amount to anything, so we feel like a failure and live a life of failing. That was my thought pattern, simply because I believed a lie from one of my parents. I thought wrong (I would never amount to anything), wrong reaction (anger and depression), wrong behavior(set out to be 'someone' by entering the occult). I was unhappy! However, Jesus words have been (it is a process) setting me free as I renew my mind.
I am responsible to believe God's word and to place my mind under His Spirit's influence. By that I mean that I am to think correctly which is a discipline. Ouch! that is a word many of us do not want to hear. We like for God to 'do something' for us. But Jesus told us that it is our responsibilty to abide or remain in His word, or for His word to remain in us; believing His word, responding to His word, producing His fruit by His Spirit. It is a simple three step process of:
1.locating a lie in our thoughts and self talk
2.arguing against the lie
3. replacing the lie with the truth.
Remember folks, Jesus said if we would do this, He and His word would set us free!
recommended reading : Telling Yourself the Truth by William Backus
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Providence and Promise: How God Rules His Universe for the Good of His People
Pastor Bob DeWaay has written an extraordinary article. Here is an excerpt of the article:
'People's lack of knowledge of the doctrine of providence (or their failure to believe it) has practical implications. The most profound is that Christians begin to think like pagans, resorting to spiritual warfare teachings to ward off curses or bad fate. They resort to divination to seek to divine information that supposedly will ensure good outcomes to their endeavors. All of this is a result of their not believing that God can care for us unless we obtain new, secret information.'
http://www.cicministry.org/commentary/issue113.htm
'People's lack of knowledge of the doctrine of providence (or their failure to believe it) has practical implications. The most profound is that Christians begin to think like pagans, resorting to spiritual warfare teachings to ward off curses or bad fate. They resort to divination to seek to divine information that supposedly will ensure good outcomes to their endeavors. All of this is a result of their not believing that God can care for us unless we obtain new, secret information.'
http://www.cicministry.org/commentary/issue113.htm
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