When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice:

but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

Proverbs 29:2

  

    Edmond Burke, a famous British parliamentarian and political writer once said; “All that’s necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.” This certainly was demonstrated during the late 1930s. All of Europe was horrified when Nazi Germany’s Adolph Hitler also known as “Der Fuehrer”, marched his troops into Austria and annexed Czechoslovakia. So intimidated were the Europeans that they did absolutely nothing. In fact Britain’s then Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain said “Maybe” many of my countrymen seem to feel, if we ignore those who oppose us, it will just go away.” Of course history goes on to demonstrate that the exact opposite happened. Hitler continued to grab power until most of Europe was subverted, and millions of lives were lost to his wickedly despotic tyranny. With the exception of a courageously determined response from Britain’s new Prime Minister Winston Churchill, along with help from America and the Allied forces, Hitler would have overran the entire world.

   This is exactly the position that America finds herself in today in reference to what has become the explosive issue of marriage and the family. Presently America is in the throws of a cultural revolution that has as its ultimate goal the capture of her psychology with the intent to reconfigure it to the spirit of Postmodernism. The forces of evil have made great strides in their attempt to subvert the God ordained institution of marriage and family. These forces have manifested themselves in a liberal agenda fueled by a postmodern religious philosophy called Secular Humanism. Secular Humanism is any system of thought or action based on the nature, interests, and ideals of man. It is a modern, rationalist movement that holds that man is capable of self-fulfillment, and ethical behavior without recourse to supernaturalism. In other words man is capable of determining standards of morality without deistic absolutism. This pseudo philosophy asserts that all worldviews and lifestyles, including male and female homosexuality are valid. There is really no such thing as sin except in cases where somebody else’s views and/or lifestyle choices are criticized. Reason and rationality are really just cultural biases, and truth¾especially God’s truth doesn’t exist.

   One very important aspect of postmodern thought is relativism, which states that all values or judgments are relative, differing according to the diversity of the human status quo. In other words there is no absolute truth. That is to say that there is no set standard of spirituality, morality, and/or reality. Relativism says that truth isn’t fixed by external reality, but is decided by the group or individual for him or herself. Gen.3:5 Truth becomes manufactured, rather than discovered. Judg.17:6 As a consequent result of this mindset, the biblical definition of marriage and the traditional role of the family have been targeted for extermination. The spirit of perversion is now dictating policy in the public square, and as a direct result, America is in a spiritual, economic, and moral decline of epic proportions. All of this has led us into the quagmire of attempting to legitimatize homosexuality by redefining marriage and the family to include this perverse lifestyle. Through his supernatural ability to skillfully access the various grotesqueries of human nature, the enemy of all that is right and good, has successfully sodomized the American culture.

   From the very moment of its genesis, a conspiracy was launched against the human race. This plot has as its targeted goal the complete eradication of humanity through the elimination of marriage and the family. Contemporary evidence of this is more prevalent now than it has ever been. The advocates of the liberal homosexual’s agenda attempts to legitimatize homosexuality through its recent judicial invasion of the institution of Holy Matrimony, embodies the proof of this in their over forty years push. It must be understood by all, especially the Believer in Christ, that to allow both male and female homosexuals legal access to the marriage covenant is flat out wrong. We must remember and reemphasize the reality that God has designed marriage to propagate and perpetuate humanity in the earth. In His original plan for humanity, man was commanded to Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” Gen. 1:28a. This speaks directly to what I call the Dominion Mandate, and humanity’s ability to reproduce itself in the earth. When the sexual act in particular is considered in terms of the homosexual lifestyle, our ability to procreate is heinously repudiated, and viciously distorted into a satanic vitiation of said act. First of all, it must be understood that the sexual act, including all that pertains to it, is sacred, and is exclusively confined to the marriage covenant. Therefore God has outlawed this act when it is participated in outside of the parameters of the God ordained relationship of marriage. Gen. 2:21-24. Furthermore, God declares that Marriage is honorable in all: and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” Heb.13: 4. This means that marriage is to be held in the highest esteem by both those who are married and single, but particularly by those who are married.

   The Greek word for honorable is timios, and could be translated “costly”. In other words, everyone who is married is to value his/her marital relationship so highly that they will avoid defiling or dishonoring the marriage  “bed” by keeping themselves from any kind of sexual relationships before getting married, and from any adulterous relationships while married. Premarital sex (fornication), sodomy, prostitution, and homosexuality are all included in the Greek term pornous, and like adultery will fall under the judgment of the Thrice Holy One. Revelation 21:8.  Again, God has commanded humanity to reproduce after its own kind, and has given it the power of procreation. Both the male and female are anatomically and biologically designed to facilitate human reproduction. The genitalia of both the male and the female are complimentary to that end. The man is equipped with a pair of testicle glands, which are housed in the part of his anatomy known as his scrotum. These glands produce a creamy white milky substance called spermatozoa. The sperm in a man is also known as his “seed”. A man’s seed are the progeny or children that God has put in him. Thus, every generation of man has been produced by the preceding generation of men. Every man’s house is within him via his sperm or seed. This is why when a man is murdered all of the people in that man are also murdered, and will never come forth.

   Likewise, the woman is anatomically designed to receive the male spermatozoa via the part of her, called the uterus or, as it is commonly called, the womb. The woman has what is called “eggs,” which are stored in her ovaries located in the fallopian tubes. Whenever a man and a woman come together in sexual intercourse, the man climaxes, and ejaculates his sperm into her womb. If and when the sperm meets the egg, the sperm will fertilize the egg, and at least one child will be produced. The woman becomes pregnant, and goes through a gestation period, and at the end of nine months gives birth to their baby. Hence, one of the functions of the marriage covenant is to allow both the man and woman to legitimately engage in sexual intercourse for the express purposes of conveying their love for one another to each other, and to reproduce after their own kind, according to the biblical mandate.  

   One of the greatest paradoxes of modern times is the irrational notion of men that promote the homosexual lifestyle who say that they feel like a woman trapped inside a man’s body. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, many women are now beginning to assert that men must begin to get in touch with the feminine aspect of themselves. This kind of thinking is very ironic, since the Bible teaches that after putting him into a deep sleep, God took one of Adam’s ribs from his ribcage, and made a woman, and brought her to him. Gen.2: 21-22 In other words, all that has ever been feminine in the man, God has already taken out of him, and presented it to him in the form of a woman. Only when a man gets married, will he be able to access his feminine side

    Homosexuality is a satanic perversion and egregious refutation of all that God intended as sacred to the marriage covenant. First of all, one has to ask: How do two men, or two women participate in the sexual act? The very thought itself is a study in extreme absurdity. The kind of love, which a man and a woman express to each other during the sexual act, is known as erotica. It is erotic passion expressed through the physical conduit of sexual intercourse. The anatomical and biological design of human physiology doesn’t allow for same sex erotica. What happens to a man’s sperm after it is ejaculated into another man’s rectal cavity or for that matter, into any other orifice in his body? Remember that, the sperm is a man’s seed or his offspring, his progeny, his children. The homosexual act cannot produce children. In fact, this act treats the spermatozoa as waste material, since it is ejaculated into a man’s fecal material. The homosexual act is a horrendously horrific mockery of the original command to be fruitful and multiply, and the sacredness of the marriage covenant. One would have to be psychologically and emotionally imbalanced to consider homosexuality to be legitimate, especially within the framework of Holy Matrimony.

   One of the definitions of the word “wicked” is “twisted”. Any person who seeks to justify homosexuality is psychologically and emotionally twisted, because homosexuality is literally the very personification of wickedness. Hence, the Lord of the entire universe has declared both male and female homosexuality to be a fundamental abomination in His sight. Lev. 18: 22; 1st Cor. 6:9-10 The word “abomination” means something that is full of hatred and loathing, something disgusting and detestable. God is saying that homosexuality is disgusting, detestable, and loathsome to Him. God loathes homosexuality!!! Conversely speaking, God loves all of those who find themselves held captive to the homosexual lifestyle through the spirit of perversion, and has made available the provision for their salvation and deliverance.

   Having said this, it is my endeavor to remind Believers everywhere of their individual moral responsibility to support the sanctity and perpetuity of marriage and the family. If no one else in the entire world will stand up for the marriage covenant the Body of Christ should and must. After all, God uses Holy Matrimony as an analogy to demonstrate the relationship between Christ and His Church/Bride. Hence, there is an incumbent responsibility upon every member of the corporate Body of Christ to uphold the covenant of marriage both publicly and privately. Publicly we must become both active and vocal in defense of what is most dear to our Father’s heart. We must realize and understand that we do have a civic responsibility to participate in the electoral process of the country in which we live, and the form of government that we are under.

   The Bible teaches that as Believers we must be submitted to all governmental authorities. Rom. 13:1-7 This includes performing our civic responsibilities as citizens of the state. As Christians we live under a democratic form of government, and we have a dual citizenship. Phil. 3:20 Our primary citizenship is in Heaven, however, we live in this present world, and as Christian citizens we must walk circumspectly. We must know and understand that both the Church and the state are institutions of God. Our spiritual obligations belong to Christ and the Church. Our other obligations belong to institutions that existed long before the Church. Matt. 22:21 Contrary to popular contemporary thinking, human government is a divine institution. The Believer must realize that he is a member of a spiritual institution called the Church, and as such is under the law of God. He is also a member of a divine institution called the state and is subject to its laws. The Church is a spiritual institution: the state is a secular institution. Both the saved and unsaved are subject to the laws of the state. God has established three institutions, which control our lives. They are the family (Gen. 2:18-25), the civil government (Gen. 9:1-7), and the Church (Acts 2). In each of these institutions there are authorities to which we must willingly submit in order that God’s will may be performed both in our individual and corporate lives. However, it must be understood that submission to all authority is mandatory whether the ruler is righteous or wicked. 1st Peter 2:17-18.  Hence, there is an incumbent responsibility upon every member of the Church in America to exercise his or her constitutional right to participate in the electoral process. In order to do this effectively we must become acquainted with the political issues of the day. We must research who is currently in authority, who aspires to be so, and we must proactively pray for all of those who are in authority. 

   Ironically Paul wrote these instructions to Believers who lived in Rome, the capital of the great Roman Empire. During that period of time, the form of government under which they lived was an absolute dictatorship. The emperor had the power of life and death over every citizen in the empire, and there was no recourse to appeal. Nero, a man so wickedly sinful and bloodthirsty that to this day his name is still synonymous with lust, murder, cruelty, and corruption was the emperor of Rome. Under his authority Rome, the capital of Italy was in a state of perpetual turmoil. It is commonly reported that Nero set the city of Rome on fire, and blamed it on the Christians. During his tenure as emperor, Nero murdered his stepfather’s son, and his own mother. He murdered two of his wives and a mistress. He had his mentor poisoned, and finally after being declared an enemy of the state, he committed suicide. Truly this is a prime example of what happens when the wicked are in authority. The people will definitely mourn. Yet it was under these circumstances that the first century Church was instructed to be subject to the state.

   Juxtapose that form of government against the form of government under which the contemporary Christian in America lives, and you will discover that there is no comparison. Our government is a constitutional democracy that allows its citizens the right to a voice in the public square. We have a constitutional right to vote, because ours is a form of government, which is of, for, and by the people. If the electoral process should inadvertently endorse the wicked or unrighteous person(s), our form of government has checks and balances that will immediately expose and impeach said person(s). It is an absolute shame on our part that we have allowed the enemy to practically overthrow the institution of marriage in this country. The problem comes from the fact that very few of the leadership in the Body of Christ will actually stand up to the intimidation tactics employed by homosexual activist. Ironically, it is by exercising their constitutional rights as United States citizens, through their adoption of the legal stratagems of the late civil rights movement, and their appeal to the juggernauts of liberalism such as the ACLU, that homosexual activists have been able to successfully manipulate the legislature to do their bidding. 

   This has happened, because the framework through which the Church sees itself is utterly flawed. It is true that we are to live simple, quiet, and peaceable lives, but this doesn’t mean that we are to allow everything that we stand for to be trashed, mocked, and ridiculed without a fight. Jesus told His disciples then and now Behold I give unto you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing by any means shall hurt you.” (Lk.10: 19)  The word “power” used twice in this verse has two different meanings. The first word “power” in the Greek is exousian and is translated “authority.”  The second word “power” in the Greek is dunamis, and is translated “ability, efficiency, and might.” The enemy has ability, but has no legitimate authority to exercise that ability. This means that we are the ones who have the real authority in the earth, and as Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we should never capitulate to any form of intimidation. 2nd Tim.1: 7 Amp.

   Our most basic challenge is dealing with the controversial issues of the day; however, we must realize that our earthly assignment is to bring the influence of the Anointed One to bear upon these issues. Matt. 5: 13. Ours is the task of overthrowing the psychological and emotional strongholds that the enemy has set up in the minds of the people. Through written, vocal and peaceful dissent, we must refute all arguments, theories, sophisticated reasonings, and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself against the true knowledge of God. 2nd Cor. 10: 3-5. This is a perpetual struggle, and we must be willing to endure until the psychological and emotional makeup of humanity is completely led captive into submitted obedience to the Anointed One. We have also seriously compromised our position in the earth by blending with the culture. This has happened to us, because we have refused to renounce our earthly heritage. We have allowed the earth to distract us by capitulating to our personal carnality. Subsequently, we have developed an earth dweller mindset, and as a consequent result, we have lost both our personal and corporate distinction.

   We must remember that we are under the Dominion Mandate. The Dominion Mandate is basically divided into two aspects. First, there is the Cultural aspect of the mandate. Through the New Birth experience God has called and restored man back to his rightful place over His creation as its Federal Head. According to the Genesis record Adam; the first man, was originally created to be God’s vice regent over the created order. His purpose was to propagate humanity in perpetuity in the earth. He was also to subdue and dominate the earth and every living creature in it. Through this aspect of the Dominion Mandate man is to use every resource available to him in order to express the image and likeness of his Creator in the earth. This means that we are to discover truth through the sciences, to apply truth through technology, to interpret truth through the humanities, to implement truth through commerce, and to transmit truth through education. The second aspect of the mandate is called the Great Commission or the Evangelistic Mandate. Matthew 28:18-20 declares: And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Amen. There is a comprehensive imperative in this statement, which when defined means that we are not only to lead individuals into conversion, but entire nations as well. This means that we are to use every available resource to make all nations Christian nations. We are to teach the nations to obey everything that Christ has commanded us. The intended effect of the execution of this command is to superimpose the image and likeness of God upon all of humanity. Hence, Christianity would become the universal culture. This is why the only way to be relevant to the culture is to live lives that are counter to the culture. Num. 14: 21; Matt. 5:13; Rom. 8:5-8; Phil. 3:18-19  

   On the other hand, there are those of us who believe that we are to have nothing at all to do with the world. In our ignorance we interpret the expression “in the world, but not of the world” to mean that we are to refrain from all worldly activities. However, we must understand that we live in this world, and if we are to live an effective life in the world, we must actively work to influence the system of government under which we live. This means that in addition to prayer, we must use all of the rights and resources that we have as citizens of the state to exert the influence of the Anointed One over it. Noted marketing research and statistical analyst, George Barna has observed that American society is crumbling at multiple points — economically, politically, educationally and morally. He states “Christians are not sufficiently armed for the struggle.” I believe the reason for this is because; the enemy has effectively dumbed down the Believer’s spiritual discernment and intellectual abilities down through his/her habitual, however unconscious, support of philosophies and activities, which contradict the Christian faith. This renders the Believer woefully incapable of demonstrating the relevance of the Christian perspective to the issues of the day.      

    Privately we must model what marriage and family really means to both our spouses and our children. The Bible is replete with instruction concerning the administration of marriage and family. I believe that the cornerstone of both the Kingdom of God in particular and society in general is the institution of marriage and family. The question that we as Christian spouses and parent(s) must rhetorically ask is; “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalm 11: 13 Verily, our response to this question will determine both the direction in which our country will go, and the fate of our way of life.  One thing is certain; divorcing our spouses, abandoning our wives and children, and the wholesale murder of our progeny through the heinous evil of abortion must stop immediately, if not sooner. It is imperative that we renounce the self-life and recapture the meaning of self-sacrifice. Rom. 12:1 The state in which both the Church in particular and the nation in general find themselves is directly related to our lust for self-gratification. We must come back to our first love, resubmit our lives to Him, and return to the assignment to which we were called. This requires that we sacrifice our several theological, denominational, and ethnological differences on the altar of Christian unity. Eph. 4: 1-6 It is only through these means can we escape the extraordinarily inexplicable phenomenon of “When the Wicked Rule.”               

 

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Seeking Deliverance from Demonic Darkness

By Apostle W. D. Carter, III

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  Ephesians 6:12                                                 

 

One of the greatest challenges to Christian theology is; “Can a Christian have a demon?” This question has perplexed multitudes of Believers. Both the leadership and congregation have had great difficulty answering this qucocdm-logo-2.jpgestion. The Bible does not explicitly say that a Christian can have a demon, however, it must be understood that the Bible does imply that the Believer may be oppressed by demons. There are several scriptural text, which make it abundantly clear that the Believer very often is plagued by demon activity in their lives. Consider the following: Jesus was teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath. The synagogue was the place where those who believed in the True and Living God assembled every Sabbath day to hear the Word. On this particular day there was a man in the synagogue who had an unclean spirit. This man was a Believer, and yet he had a demon! In fact the spirit in the man cried out and began to disrupt the service, saying, “Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.” Mark 1:24.

 Please take note that it was the spirit in the man that was talking and not the man himself. Demons are spirit entities or bodiless personalities, and must have a human host in order that they might express themselves. The demons use the faculties of those they inhabit to manifest themselves. The word ‘faculty’ means the power to do, the ability to perform an action i.e., the faculty of sight, hearing, speech, etc. The spirit in the man spoke out because he felt threatened by the Lord’s presence. Jesus, however, did not rebuke the man, but his oppressor. Jesus commanded the spirit to hold its peace, and come out of the man. After a very violent reaction, which manifested itself in the man, the spirit left him. Mark 1:25-26.

 In another incident found in the Gospel of Luke we find Jesus casting a demon out of another Believer. This time it’s a woman who had been possessed of a spirit for eighteen years of her life. The spirit that the woman had was known by how it manifested itself in the woman’s body. The manifestation was weakness, frailty, or sickness. The chief characteristic of this spirit is infirmity. The woman was bowed over and could not lift herself up. This might have been a spinal condition, which caused her to bow her head.  A lot of Believers unwittingly suffer from this spirit. If you are experiencing a series of physical ailments, which do not run a typical course, and/or fail to respond to medical treatment, chances are that you are suffering from this spirit. Jesus laid His hand on her, and the Bible says that she was immediately made straight, and glorified God. The religious leaders began to rebuke Jesus for having performed this miracle of healing on the Sabbath day. Jesus immediately responded by rebuking them for their very obvious hypocrisy.

 He asked them didn’t each of them loose his ass and oxen from the stall so that they could be watered on the Sabbath day? “And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” And with that saying His adversaries were put to shame. Luke 13:16-17a. It is very interesting that the ministers of the day (in this instance, the ruler of the synagogue) were more interested in the minute details of their traditional interpretation of the Scripture, rather than in the one to whom the Scripture was intended to minister healing. Such is the case today. Theologians are more interested in the integrity of their theology, rather than in the wholeness of the ones that their theology is intended to educate. More important than any theological argument is the speedy deliverance of God’s people from demonic oppression in their lives. As long as the leadership in the House of God refuses to consider this question in the light of what has been revealed in Scripture, we are going to continue to have spiritual war casualties on our hands.

 It is essential that the Believer knows and understands that we are in a multidimensional sin war. This war is being waged against humanity from the invisible realm of the spirit through the avenues of the world system and the part of humanity, which the apostle Paul referred to as the flesh. The world is the external foe, its evil influences surrounding the Believer. The flesh (the self-life) is an internal enemy, its weaknesses making it susceptible to temptation. Satan is an infernal foe, which goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He uses the influences of the world, and the rebellion of the flesh to seduce the Believers, and takes advantage of them by attacking them at their weakest point. However, it must be understood by the Believer that God has not left us at the mercy of the enemy of our soul. He is the Eternal Friend and Deliverer through whom we will experience the victory over the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.

The word ‘flesh’ is a very important expression in terms of the Christian experience. It is the Greek word Sarkos, pronounced sarx in English. This word refers to the baser side of man or his ungodly human nature. It is the unregenerate self of man. It defines either the impulse to sin itself or at least the seat of it. Roman 7:18, 25 declares: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not”. Here, the apostle Paul asserts that he realized that he was experiencing the struggle with indwelling sin. He wanted desperately to do what was right, however, how to perform what he desired to do completely eluded him. Thus, in verse 25 Paul finds complete deliverance through Christ Jesus. “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.”

 It is essential that the Believer knows and understands that his flesh has been crucified with Christ. This makes him dead to the world, and the world dead to him. However, he must appropriate this new reality by faith. He must also recognize that he is totally incapable of affecting his own deliverance. Gal. 2:20; 6:14. The Bible teaches us that we are saved by grace, through the spiritual principle of faith, and not by our own works or efforts. Eph. 2:8-9. This is very important for the Believer to understand, lest he become frustrated and weary at his apparent lack of progress. This means that, first of all, the Believer must recognize that salvation is both present and prophetic. That is to say that we are saved, and we are being saved.

We are saved in the judicial sense of being saved, because we have repented of our sin, and have put our faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. This aspect of our salvation refers to our legal standing before God. We are being saved experientially via the process of sanctification, which is operational in our lives on a daily basis. 2nd Cor. 3:18. This aspect of our salvation refers to our present state before God. The process of sanctification however, must be voluntarily capitulated to in order for it to be effectual in delivering the Believer from the power of indwelling sin.

There are three Greek words that describe man. Pneumatikos is the spiritual man who “walks after the Spirit.” Psuchikos is the natural, or unsaved man. Sarkikos is the carnal Christian who does not have any victory in his life. The carnal Christian does not experience victory in his life, because he is in bondage to his flesh. Consequently, he walks under condemnation, because “sin is condemned in the flesh”. Rom. 8:3.  Although the terms carnal and Christian are antithetic to one another, it must be understood that if a born again, Holy Spirit filled, blood washed Believer continues to pander to the lusts of his flesh, he will become carnal.  This is why this kind of Believer cannot experience the victory that is inherent to the Christian experience.

 In the third chapter of 1st Corinthians, Paul refers to the Corinthian believers as carnal, because they were fighting among themselves in reference to who had baptized them, Paul told them that he was unable to address them as spiritual men, because they would be unable to bear what he would say to them. He wanted to share some deep spiritual truths with them, but because they were walking in envy, strife, and division they were babes, and would be incapable of receiving revelation knowledge. Paul told them that they were acting like unsaved men, because they were responding to one another in the flesh, or as men who are dominated by their carnal nature. This is exactly the situation in which we find ourselves today. The Believer must know and understand that as long as he continues to allow his carnal impulses to control him, he can never experience progress in his walk with the Lord. Therefore he will be unable to experience the deeper life in the Spirit. “So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:8.  It is of paramount importance that the Believer knows and understands that a relationship with the Lord, which is spiritual in its character, can never be developed through a carnal perspective. John. 4:24; Romans 8:7.

 The contemporary Christian is a wanderer. He is a spiritual thrill seeker, wandering from one assembly to another. Many Believers who have a call in their lives have been unable to realize it, because they have refused to allow the sanctification process to operate in their lives. This is a result of their lack of commitment to the local assembly. One of the evidences of spiritual immaturity is constant faultfinding. Many Believers are looking for the “perfect” church, and as soon as they see something wrong in the church that they are attending, they wander off somewhere, and end up getting into sin. This is because they are operating in the flesh. “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith I will return to my house from whence I came out; and when he is come he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.” Matthew 12:43-45. This parable can be applied to the experience of many believers today.

 Many people have had a true conversion experience. They were able to clean up their lives in the sense that they stopped living an ungodly lifestyle. They were able to get rid of the evil habits that they formerly indulged in. However, because they failed to commit themselves to a diligent seeking of God via the study and apprehension of the Word, regular church attendance, prayer, and fasting they soon find themselves back in their old haunts, doing the same things that they did before their conversion. But, now they discover that they have become worse than prior to their conversion. This is because, although they managed to clean up their outer life, internally there was never any real change. They were still the demon’s dwelling place, they were still empty, and void of the Spirit and Word of God, and so, the demon was able to reenter them with stronger reinforcements. This is why when a person backslides it is so hard for them to regain the ground that they have lost. In other words, unless a person has really made up his mind that he is going to truly live for Christ, he will end up in a worse state than he was in before coming to Christ. Hence, the key to avoiding this kind of consequence is a constant and consistent renewal of the mind. The psychology of the Believer must be conformed to the mind of Christ.

 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1.  In view of all that God has done for us, Paul enjoins the Believer to make a decisive dedication of his body to God.  The word “bodies” in this context means all that the Believer is comprised of, all of his faculties. In other words, the Believer must live the remainder of his earthly life in sacrificial service to God. This involves a voluntary submission to the sanctification process. The word “sanctify” is another very important term in the Christian experience, and means to set apart as holy, to make free from sin, to purify, to consecrate. The Believer must live a life wholly devoted to the honor and glory of God.

             However, it is essential that the Believer knows and understands that the sanctification process is excruciatingly painful, because the natural impulse to commit sin must be willfully and consciously denied. Hence, the apostle Peter declares “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh, has ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.” 1st Peter 4:1-2. Essentially, what this statement means is that the Believer must no longer spend his earthly existence living to please himself (the self-life), but instead he must live to please God. Jesus Christ has sacrificed his earthly life for us, and now we are required to sacrifice our earthly life for Him. Therefore, the Believer must know and understand that in order for him to live an effective life for Christ, he must be willing to surrender all of his worldly aspirations, ambitions, and social relationships that the will of God might be realized in his life. “If anyone come to Me and does not hate his [own] father and mother [in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and children and brothers and sister[yes] and even his own life also he cannot be My disciple. So then, any of you who does not forsake (renounce, surrender claim to, give up, say good-bye to) all that he has cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14: 26,33. Amplified. 

When one considers this statement in terms of his Christian experience, he must admit that it is a most profound one, especially when one considers how self indulgent contemporary Christianity has become. It must be said that God has given the revelation of Prosperity to the Body of Christ, however we must realize that our personal prosperity is given not only for us, but also primarily for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God. The Bible teaches the Believer that prosperity is available to him for the express purpose of establishing God’s covenant promises to our forefathers. Deut. 8:11-19. The New Testament Believer enters into these promises through faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ. However, the Lord warned that we are not to forget from whence He has brought us, and to remember to keep his commandments, lest we perish. This means that the Believer must not allow himself to become self indulgent, or to feel as though he had become prosperous through his own strength, In other words, the Believer is not to receive God’s blessing and then abandon his devotion to Him. 

When Jesus said that it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God, the disciples were astounded, and wondered who could be saved. Mark 10:23-25. They were amazed at this statement because according to Deuteronomy, the 28th chapter, material blessing was a sign that one had the favor of God in his life. However, Jesus was letting the disciples know that there was an inherent danger in material acquisition, because it has the power to lull the possessor thereof into a false sense of security. This means that although God has provided material blessing for the Believer, he must never lose focus on who has provided it for him¾namely God. 

In this regard the Believer must experience a complete revolution in his psychological makeup. This means that the Believer must not allow his thinking to be adapted to the capricious superficiality of this evil age. Thus, although Paul’s appeal to the Believer for total consecration is based on the Lord’s mercies to him, and is not a command, nevertheless this consecration is mandatory if effective service is to be realized. The Believer must know and understand that service to God is vitally related to consecration and separation. This calls for nonconformity to the world. Hence, even though prosperity is an inherent advantage in service to God, it must be acquired by the Believer meeting legitimate biblical criterion. 

If the Believer allows himself to become over anxious and covetous, he will most likely begin to operate in his flesh, and as a consequent result, he will compromise his position in and relationship with the Lord. Thus, becoming demonically infected through some sin that he will have committed. It is essential to the spiritual well being of every Believer that they keep themselves rightly related to prosperity. Solomon correctly observed that money answers all things, nevertheless, the Believer must keep in mind that the acquisition of monetary wealth is not the goal of the proclamation of the Gospel, but, rather, the reconciliation of man to God. 

In the Book of 1st Timothy, chapter six, verses 1-10, Paul gives the Believer instructions concerning relationships and false teachers. In verses 3-5, Paul describes these teachers as those who would not consent to wholesome doctrine. The word “consent” is proserchomai in the original, and means, “approach” with the derivative sense of “attaching oneself to.” The “wholesome words” that Paul referred to are the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine that promotes godliness. Furthermore, in verse 4, Paul describes the false teacher as being stupefied with conceit, although he is woefully ignorant. He is sick, and argumentative. Their teachings result in dissension, quarreling, blasphemies, slander, malicious talk, and suspicion. In verse 5, Paul goes on to say that these men perverted the real meaning of the Gospel, and were bereft of the truth. They assessed the doctrine of godliness as a means of financial profit, a way to make money. Paul cautioned that the Believer is to avoid this kind of association. In verses 6-10 Paul begins by defining genuine profit as godliness with contentment. He reminds us that as we came into this world with nothing, and we shall depart from this world in the same manner¾with nothing. This teaches the Believer, that although material possessions are important in a limited sense to our existence, if our basic needs have been met then we must be content therewith. 

In verse nine Paul is concerned with those whose motivation is to be rich. He says that it is through covetousness that many will end up overthrowing their faith. He says that people who have purposed to be rich fall into many temptations, and many foolish and harmful lusts that suffocate them in destruction and miserable perishing. In verse ten, Paul warns the Believer that it is the love of money that is a root of all sorts of evil. He says that it is because of coveting financial gain many of the Believers had wandered from the faith, and have caused themselves serious mental and emotional anguish. It is essential that the Believer knows and understands that once he begins to walk in self-will, he will incur demonic activity in his life. That is to say that many Believers suffer from disillusionment, backsliding, grief, and heartbreaking remorse, because of their personal greed. The term “erred” literally means,  “Were led astray”. This suggests that those who are greedy for money become victims of an unrelenting deception. The expression “pierced themselves through means “the many sorrows” were self inflicted. 

It is in this regard that the Christian can have a demon. The Christian community must realize that whenever we yield ourselves over to any form of sin, we become servants of sin, and as a consequence, we condemn ourselves to death, that is to say we become separated from God all over again. The enemy now has a legal right to access our lives, and unless we repent there is nothing that either we, or God Himself can do about it. This has been amply demonstrated in the Book of Judges. Israel would experience spiritual declension, God would allow her enemies to vex her, Israel would cry unto the Lord in repentance, and the Lord would give her a deliverer who would usher in revival. “But if we walk in the Light as He is in the Light, we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.” 1st John 1:7,9.  The Believer must know and understand that if prosperity is realized without a true devotion to God, it has been realized in his own strength, and can only lead to his ultimate destruction. Proverbs 1:32; Hebrews 6:4-8; 10:26-29.     

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