Delusional

Lately I have seen on social media people's discussions debating heaven and hell, and other Biblical truths. While the Bible is still the most read Book in the world, we are seeing more and more that people are walking away from its truths, and choosing instead to believe what scripture calls dangerous "delusions". As used in the New Testament, the Greek word for delusion is plane/planos meaning "a wandering, a straying about, one led astray from the right way, that which leads into error, deceit or fraud/corrupter, deceiver, imposter, seducing". However, accepting the deception is a choice: "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (mavet - death, dead, place of death (hades)." (Prov. 14:12, 16:25). Death, as we see above, is not just a condition, but includes the place of death, which is hades or hell. Hell exists. God never intended Hell for people, but for the devil and his angels. God does not send anyone to Hell, but it is a choice made by the individual to reject the gift of salvation in Christ and His everlasting life, and instead choose to remain separated from God. Death and the place of death are the results of separation from God, Who is life. Jesus also taught that this place of death is a place of torment as well. The LORD revealed this to His prophet Ezekiel: "Say unto them, As I live, saith the LORD God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" (Ezek. 33:11), This prophetic Word is being delivered to God's people, telling them to turn away from their ways that lead to death. Second Chronicles 7:14 states the same thing: "If My people...turn from their wicked ways...I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." Sin is defined as "missing the mark", as if an archer were aiming at a target, but misses that target. God swore on His own life (above) in concern for His people and their sins, yet the church accepts wickedness! Paul wrote that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). He also wrote: "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. 6:22-23). The church is not meant to be the house of sin and death, but of the holiness of God and life. Paul wrote also in Romans when discussing the evil doers of the world, "And such were some of you..." (1 Cor. 6:11). We who are in Christ are no longer to be of that wickedness. Delusions and deceptions will appear as the return of Christ draws nearer. We have already seen cults, false teachers and false messiahs. Paul wrote in order to correct misconceptions, and to lay out the true order of events before the coming of Jesus Christ: "...be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." (2 Thess. 2:1-4). We see now the "falling away" from faith that Paul spoke of above: falling away from truth, changing scripture instead of changing ourselves. Paul wrote above of the son of perdition (as Christ said of Judas the betrayer also), whom we call "the antichrist". The son of perdition's coming "is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish (apollymi - destroy, put to death, to give over to eternal misery in hell); because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a (the) lie: That they all might be damned that believed not in the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (v. 9-12). "Deceivableness" accompanies unrighteousness, and they will believe THE lie (in Greek), which is the lie first told to man in the garden by Satan: "Hath God said...?" Deception which leads to death starts with questioning, doubting and twisting the Word of God, as it did with Adam and Eve. This delusion comes upon them from the Lord because they chose to hate the truth and prefer the lie. The Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming both the son of perdition, who is the antichrist, and those who are deceived into following him (v. 8). Calling out sin and unrighteousness is not being judgmental. It is what God says in His Word. There is pleasure in sin for a season, scripture says, but you will pay with eternity. The world doesn't just want us to be silent about sin, but to celebrate sin. Don't be deceived. As Paul wrote in Colossians: "...lest any man should beguile you with enticing words...As ye have therfore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith." (Col. 2:4-7). Paul warned further: "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." (v. 8). There are many philosophies and traditional knowledge of men, but as they are without Christ, none of them can save anyone from death. Only the understanding, knowledge and wisdom hidden in Christ can do that and with full assurance ( v. 2-3). It is too easy for men to be deceived - wake up! Jesus revealed to religious people the source of their rejection of truth: "You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not...He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." (Jn. 8:44-46). The Book of Hebrews tells us to heed what we have heard: "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?" (Heb. 2:1-3). Not only did Jesus Himself bring the news of salvation for men, but He was heard by those who gave witness to His words. God confirmed the truth of those words of the witnesses with miracles, signs and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the manifestation of His spiritual gifts. Knowing the truth, do we remain silent to the lies and their delusion? When we speak the truth of the Word of God, and His salvation delivered to man by Jesus, is it judgmentalism or love? I say it is love. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 4/23/23 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, theshroudofturin.org, and END TIME SCHOOL, also on Facebook. You can also get a free ebook titled "The Shroud of Turin- A Perfect Summary" at www.TheShroudofTurin.org/freebook.

Spiritual Warfare

 

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

 

The Devil has been portrayed as a cartoon character with red suit, horns, and pitchfork. Nothing could be further from the truth. If we do not understand who the enemy is, and the nature of the enemy, we will always be defeated by him. If we do not know ourselves honestly, understanding how this enemy works towards us, we will never have victory. If we do not have knowledge of the things of heaven and earth, we become easy prey.
There is nothing cartoonish about our first glimpse of Satan in scripture. In Genesis, he takes the form of a subtle creature, a serpent, deceiving Eve and Adam by questioning God's command to them: "Yea, hath God said...?" (Gen. 3:1-4). Satan challenged the truth of what God had said to Adam, and lied about the consequences. Jesus similarly explained Satan's character to us:

"...He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it."  Jn. 8:44

Satan murdered in the beginning by drawing man from eternal life in God to death in sin. He does not do it with truth, but with lies. Because of this, Jesus went on to say that those who rejected the truth of God, and Himself as the Bringer of that truth, were after the likeness of their father, Satan. Those who believed Christ, and the words He brought from the Father, were of their Father, God (v. 44-47). We can't have it both ways. We can't disregard God's Word as truth, or the Son Whom He sent, and still say, "God is my Father".

The Apostle Paul explained the difference between those who belong to God, Who brought us back to life through Christ, and those who belong to the world, and the spirit that influences the world:

"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world. according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ...."  Eph. 2:2-5

The mind and ways of the world and the flesh are ruled by the prince of the power of the air, and that's where the battle begins-in our own minds and flesh. He is a spirit who is not confined to hell, but who inhabited heaven, and now falsely claims the earth as his. We have been delivered out of his realm of sin and death by Christ.  We who have been so miraculously delivered, are no longer to be one of the children of disobedience, subject to Satan's deception.

His fall from heaven is described in Revelation. After great warfare, Satan and the angels that he deceived into rebellion with him, were cast out:

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him....Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil has come down unto you having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."  Rev. 12:7-12

Not only is Satan a murderer and a liar, but he is filled with great wrath. He viciously and unendingly accuses believers before God. The work of this vicious accuser is overcome by the brethren by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and the fact that they do not love their own lives even to death (v. 11). Natural weapons, and natural strength have nothing to do with victory over this spiritual enemy. Daniel warns that it will be those "who know their God" that shall be strong and do exploits in the face of this spiritually powerful enemy (Dan. 11:32). In the end times shown to Daniel, the worker of evil will lure the world, and even some of God's people with "flatteries" (smooth, slippery, deceitful promises, (promises) to plunder, divide, share, distribute or apportion). As these end times were described to Daniel as an age in which knowledge increases (Dan. 12:4), the time in which we live now definitely qualifies. Natural knowledge and advancement in just this past generation alone has surpassed that of any other age in history. Daniel also prophesied that those who serve God in the time of the end will teach others the knowledge of God with wisdom.

We have not been left defenseless in the face of this unmerciful enemy of God and His people. Paul describes the spiritual armor and weapons that God has provided for us through Christ, and he urges us to use them, to stand against the wiles (cunning arts, deceit, craft, trickery, method, settled plan, lie in wait) of the devil. "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. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all of the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance for all saints."  Eph. 6:12-18

Paul gave this revelation having been in the midst of spiritual warfare himself, under arrest and in chains (v. 19-20). The spiritual armor and weapons of truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God (Who is Jesus Christ), are the tools given to us to stand against and overcome the spirit of murder, lies, accusation and hot anger that is Satan. As Paul taught, we cannot take this armor on and off, which happens when we carelessly desire to be of this world. Jesus also told us that while we are physically in the world, we are not to be of the world. Paul told us in another place that we were not to be conformed to this world, but transformed. We are in a spiritual battle that requires perseverance, praying always, not only for ourselves, but together with and for all the saints.

The enemy that all of God' s people face is not a cartoon. Because God has already prophesied his utter defeat, Satan knows his time is running out, and he seeks to destroy as many as he can in his seething anger, especially in these end times. However, Almighty God has given us the means to attain the victory in Christ.
If you want to know Jesus like this in these end times, if you want to know the truth concerning the things of heaven and earth, there is a prayer below which will start you on this journey. You will never be the same!

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Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior:Lord Jesus, I desire to know You, and to know Your salvation. I believe that You died for me, and that You were resurrected for me. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart, change me, fill me with Your righteousness. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn the truth of Your Word and ways, and be strengthened in my walk all the days of my life. You are the hope of my life, and You are my eternal life. I place my trust in You, Lord, for myself, and my whole household. Use me to do the will of the heavenly Father, Who sent You, in Whose name You came. In Your name, and in thanks and praise I pray, Amen.