THE POWER OF SIN
Here, you'll find articles that talk about sin, its consequences, and how it can be avoided.
REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE
This was a very important warning made by Jesus Christ in Luke 17:32. “Remember Lot’s wife.” The story is in Genesis 19:1-30. The only reason why Lot even ended up in Sodom and Gomorrah was because of grazing rights. Both Lot and Abraham were rich, and their servants and shepherds were having many arguments. So they split up. Abraham went west, while Lot went east. That east was where Sodom and Gomorrah were.
Sodom and Gomorrah were well fertilized cities, but the people who lived there were anything but righteous. They indulged in very wicked sins, and God wanted to get rid of them. But he’d previously had a conversation with Abraham in Genesis 18, and God wanted to save Lot from the calamity that was going to happen to Sodom and Gomorrah. That was why he sent an angel to meet Lot and his family, and warned them that they had to get things ready and escape to the mountains.
Lot tried to encourage other people to go with them; after all, the angel didn’t put a limit to how many people could leave. But nobody believed him, and they just wanted to continue what they were doing. And so, as a result, it was only Lot, his wife, and his two daughters that could leave the city.
Then, here’s where the warning of Jesus Christ comes in. The angels warned Lot and his family that they could not turn back, otherwise they’d be punished. Lot’s wife, however, disobeyed the instruction by turning back while escaping. She immediately became a pillar of salt.
This story is symbolic because in the last days, we have to spiritually flee to the mountains (Matthew 24:15-16, Luke 21:20-21. This means we have to study the truth, and we are therefore being gathered together by God into this fold (John 10:16, Zephaniah 2:3, Matthew 13:24-30, etc - similar to the Cities of Refuge). It’s the Mountain of the Lord’s House as well (Zechariah 8:3, Isaiah 2:2). Lot’s family, as a whole, represents the people who, by the grace of God, have the ability to be called by God to come and worship him. Few people have that opportunity. Lot’s wife represents those people who take the opportunity for granted, and decide to misuse it. Such people will not be saved.
There are some very important distinct lessons that we have to learn from this story.
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God doesn’t like disobedience. Lot’s wife was disobedient because she, and the rest of her family, were strictly told that they couldn’t look back. But she died, and was penalized by God as a result (2 Peter 2:6-7).
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We should never take God’s grace for granted. It’s sinning against the Holy Spirit in the last days. And if we do that, there is no other opportunity to worship God (Matthew 12:31-32, Hebrews 6:4-6, 10:26-29, 2 Peter 2:20-22, etc).
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We should never love the world. It was clear Lot’s wife loved the world, because she turned back as a result of missing what she was going to leave behind in Sodom and Gomorrah. Not really her belongings, but her way of living, and traditions. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” (1 John 2:15-17 - see also Luke 12:15-21).
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God’s judges, and sometimes, he can judge speedily. Many times, he gives a long rope, but disobedience against God can pull the cord of punishment closer to us. However, the time at which he can bring judgment isn’t guessable - but we should do what we can to prevent it from coming to us. (Matthew 24:36).
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When we put our hands to something, we should never give up, or turn back. In the last days, when we say we want to worship God, and we start doing that, we can’t turn back, for any reason. “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” (Hebrews 10:38-39).
It’s important we understand that worshipping God isn’t about turning back, but about making it to the end. “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62).
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"LIE WITH ME"
This statement is drawn from Genesis 39:7. “And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.”
The whole story is in Genesis 39:1-20. Joseph was exalted to the position of manager over all Potiphar’s belongings. Potiphar’s wife admired Joseph, and wanted to sleep with him, though already married. Joseph refused, though, because adultery was against God’s law (Exodus 20:13). She tried to force him, but Joseph didn't yield, and she lied against Joseph to her husband so he was thrown into prison.
Potiphar’s wife is like Satan, who seduces people into having a taste of his wickedness. Remember, just as how Potiphar’s wife was covetous - she wasn’t content witb Potiphar - Satan isn’t satisfied with his own people, who he’s blinded (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). He is covetous and desires God’s people to forsake their integrity and join him in sin. This was illustrated in Revelation 17 by a woman who sits upon many waters (political, social and economic systems), and is a harlot because she (Satan’s Organization - Satan, demons, wickedness) lures people into her fold, only to end in misery, and not righteosuness (Proverbs 7:4-27 - an illustration of this concept).
Satan did this to humanity in Genesis 3:1-6. God created humanity for Himself (Isaiah 43:21), and not for Satan, but Satan wanted to have humanity for himself, and he lured Adam and Eve into eating the apple, and therefore into sin (Genesis 3:1-6). And ever since then, the world has been under his clutches (1 John 5:19, NKJV). One major group of people he uses for this job are false prophets. They twist their doctrines to lure/seduce people to give them money (Ezekiel 13:10, 2 Timothy 3:13, Mark 13:22). They make doctrines that will suit the itching ears of ignorant Christians (2 Timothy 4:3-4, Isaiah 30:10), to lure them into following them (Isaiah 9:16). They are like Satan himself (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
However, we shouldn’t fall in Satan’s hands. We do so by not loving the world, because Satan uses that to lure us into his fold. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (1 John 2:15-17).
We shouldn’t be lured in by seducing doctrines (1 Timothy 4:1), or have a lust to fit in with the world. After all, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” (John 15:19). Neither should we defile ourselves with the world and its temporal standards. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” (2 Corinthians 6:17 - see also Isaiah 52:11). And to do this, we have to be proud of worshipping God and keeping His commandments. Feeling ashamed of it is dangerous, as Satan can pounce on that and satisfy us with worldly things. We should be like St.Paul, who said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16).
When we retain our integrity, though, persecution is inevitable. “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matthew 11:12). Because we live in a world that Satan rules in (2 Corinthians 4:4 - the god of this world - John 12:31, 14:30 - prince of this world) there will be consequences for those who don't love it. But we must understand those consequences and endure them, knowing that it won’t last forever. “But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” (1 Peter 3:14, 4:13).
If we know Joseph’s story, we will realize that everything that was just discussed fulfilled on Joseph’s life. Potiphar’s wife attempted to lure him into sin (and by the way, Satan was ontop of all this), and Joseph refused, and persecution quickly followed. But he wasn’t the only one in this case.
Satan wanted to lure Job into declaring unbelief in God. He did so by destroying all his riches. However, because Job had an idea of why he was suffering, he vowed to retain his integrity (Job 27:2, 4-6), and he did. As a result, his riches were restored.
Jesus faced similar conseqences. He proved to the Pharisees and Satan that he wasn’t interested in what they had to offer (Matthew 4:1-11). He didn’t gang up with the Pharisees because they were of the devil (John 8:44). He suffered major persecution, namely his crucifixion in Matthew 26-27. But in the end, he was resurrected (Revelation 1:18), and his prayer in John 17:4-5 for glorification was answered, as his prophecies regarding the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 23:33-38, 24:2, Luke 19:41-44, 21:20-21, etc) were fulfilled, and he was exalted (Philippians 2:5-11).
Satan wanted to lure David into sinning against God and turning from His commandments. He made sure Bathsheba was naked in an area where David would see it. David lusted for her, and he sinned against God by committing adultery and killing Uriah (2 Samuel 11). However, he repented of his iniquities and rebuilt his integrity in God, and eventually his kingship was restored.
It’s clear now that when we don’t give in to what Satan wants, there will be persecution, but in the end, we win. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).
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THE SIGNS OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM
The disciples listened to Jesus talk about a kingdom a lot, but they wanted to know when it would come. “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3).
It’s worth mentioning that there are many signs proving the coming and establishment of Christ’s kingdom; this article will review several.
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Globalization is a sign that Christ’s Kingdom has come. Jesus said that all nations would be gathered before him (Matthew 25:31-32). This has been done with social media (the whole world uses it), and other things. God wants the world to work as one, to share standards, to believe in the same things. And the world is gradually moving to be completely secular, all over the world. With that kind of system controlling the world, when God makes something occur that dismantles that system, the whole world will be affected and judged (2 Corinthians 5:10).
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The abomination of desolation is another sign of the time. Jesus Christ warned us of it in Matthew 24:!5-16). The abomination of desolation is the political system in this world which is God’s “whip” for spirituality, as it doesn’t represent what God wanted. The abomination of desolation does not regard God (that’s why it’s an “abomination”) and it takes apostate Christianity out under God’s control (Revelation 17:16-17). But, we must remember, the abomination of desolation itself will be taken out by Jesus Christ, too, because it’s wicked and doesn’t regard God (Revelation 19:11-21).
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Another sign of the time is that the heavens have been shaken. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” (Matthew 24:29). The monarchical leadership that used to dominate the earth has now been replaced (through war) with a more liberal kind of hierarchy. And the Egyptians faced the same fate. The Pharaoh, the astrologers, prognosticators and magicians were the heavens in that time, but God shook them with the ten plagues, and the Israelites were set free (Exodus 7-12). They even went with much spoil. This was all in fulfilment of a promise from God to Abraham in Genesis 15:13-14.
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Another sign of Christ’s Kingdom is that people and governments have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof (2 Timothy 3:5). The constitutions of various nations sprinkle Bible laws and traditions, like a prohibition of murder and theft (and these are from Exodus 20:13-17). However, they don’t honour or worship God. They take people to themselves, and not to God.
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The general society is included, too. Many people go to church, but they don’t seek after God’s will or honour Him. They deem it more important to pay more attention to worldly things than God’s plans. And the Israelites were like this, as they would perform the burnt offerings, celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and annually do the Day of Atonement, but mercy, faith and loyalty to God was not present in the land (Hosea 6:6, Matthew 23:23).
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Another sign of Christ’s Kingdom is that people love their own pleasures more than God (2 Timothy 3:4). 300 years ago, everything was about God. If a woman wanted to buy an expensive dress, it was for church. People were excited to go to church and attend Bible meetings. A big chunk of the money made was spent on that, and there was deep glory in it. But now, football and other sports seized such honours. This is a fulfillment of Philippians 2:21. “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.” And this is a sign of Christ’s Kingdom, because the abomination of desolation drives people to care more about worldly things than spiritual things.
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The fact that a great, spiritual famine is raging in our time is a sign of the time, too. And this is explained in Amos 8:11. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.” The interest that people used to have in God has decreased dramatically (Matthew 24:12 - iniquity has decreased people’s love for God) to the point where people feel celebrate being secular (Revelation 11:10). This is a sign of Christ’s Kingdom because Jesus is controlling the abomination of desolation to do that to people, to eliminate Satanic Christianity.
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One more sign of the time is the abundance of false prophets. “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” (1 John 2:18). Jesus has come to take down Apostate Christianity (Revelation 19:11-21, 18:1-24), and Satan is using wealthy false prophets, who change their doctrines into smooth sayings to suit the ears of society (Isaiah 30:10, Jeremiah 23:17, 2 Timothy 4:3-4), to make Christianity still look appealing. False pastors also take advantage of this time of ignorance (people don’t know what’s going on, spiritually) to make as much money as possible, with clever snares (Jeremiah 5:26).
The signs of Christ’s Kingdom aren’t just things we know, though. We have to utilize such knowledge by rejecting the concepts from the abomination of desolation (enumerated in 2 Timothy 3:1-5), soberly and prayerfully, so that we can escape these things, and be judged by Jesus Christ as righteousness and worthy of eternal life (Romans 14:10-12). “”And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:34-36).
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THE LOVE OF MONEY
The world we live in is built around money. Those who have money get many benefits over those who don’t have as much. Honour, glory, influence, praise - even godliness, sometimes - is based on how much money you have. All the “good” stuff in this world can only be achieved by money, and those who have money just seem like better people than those who don’t have as much. The rich dominate over the poor and are like powerful leaders to them (Proverbs 22:7). Those who have a lot of money have many friends (Proverbs 14:20). The list goes on and on.
Satan the Devil, the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4; see also 1 John 5:19, John 12:31 and 14:30) set up the world to be like this. Money is what belongs to the “other man” (Satan the Devil is that “other man”; see Luke 16:12). He is the enemy of God and man, so by setting all of this up, people can take their focus away from God and just pay attention to how to achieve glory for themselves and be wealthy, because with wealth comes influence, glory, power, authority, etc. People end up living worldly lives because if they don’t incessantly seek after worldly things such as money, the world will leave them behind and they’ll be looked down upon. And most people don’t want that.
That is the world we live in today, and that is why so many people, including Christians, love money. But in this article, we are going to see what the love of money is, what it might make us do, and how it wrecks our spirituality.
To begin, loving money is something that every person in this world - child, adult, parent, wife, husband, senior, etc. - can do. To love money is to look at the world through money, and how to gain more of it. What money can gain is what’s most important in your life, and you are constantly in competition with others to secure for yourself a good amount of it. Also, you’d most likely be talking a lot about how to invest, retire, etc.; a lot more than studying about God and His will. And when you love money, you can go against spiritual (or even physical) civility to gain it.
Now, we can look at some things people do when they love money, and what the Bible has said about such acts.
Some people who love money take bribes. A bribe is usually an amount of money that one gives to a person to do something bad for them. The wicked use it “to pervert the ways of judgment” (Proverbs 17:23). That’s what the sons of Eli were doing in 1 Samuel 8:2-3. However, the Bible makes us know that this is ungodly. “For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.” (Job 15:34).
Others who love money might steal/covet other people’s money. Judas was stealing money from the money bag in John 12:6. But one of the Ten Commandments is “Thou shalt not steal.” (Exodus 20:15; see also Leviticus 19:11), and covetousness obviously isn’t a godly attribute (Hebrews 13:5, 1 Corinthians 5:11, etc).
Many who love money are also greedy. Money isn’t satisfying (Ecclesiastes 5:10), so when you love money, you will always want more, and the more you have of it, the more you’ll want more. One person in the Bible who was greedy was Achan, in Judges 7. What belonged to Jericho was “accursed” to God, and Joshua warned people against taking some of it’s belongings, but when Achan saw the money and luxury that they had, he couldn’t resist. What he took was listed in Joshua 7:21: “When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.”
However, the love of money can even be considered “sinful” because of its effects on our spirituality. You see, the head can’t be split in half; it can only pursue one target. God and Satan the Devil are two different beings with separate agendas, and to love one of them, you need all your heart, soul and might. Moses told the Israelites that you need to worship God “with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” (Deuteronomy 6:5). The way people love and seek money is the way we need to love and seek God (Matthew 6:33). And it is because you can’t love Satan’s things (like money) and God’s things (such as holiness, righteousness and His wisdom) at the same time that Jesus Christ said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24; see also Luke 16:13).
Therefore, if we love money, it will wreck our spirituality. like smoking does to your physical one. In Mark 4:19, Jesus Christ had something to say about this matter: “And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”
If you look at the lives of the Pharisees, how your spirituality is wrecked by the love of money is evident. They were lovers of money (Luke 16:14), and because of that, thye cared more about tithes and offerings than God’s principles, such as love, mercy and judgment (Matthew 23:23). They inflated the concept of giving to God so that caring for your parents was less important than giving the temple and those who work in it your tithes (Mark 7:11-13).
It should be noted, though, that this does not mean we can’t get a job, or if we’re rich, we can’t be saved. St. Paul told us that we should make our own living (2 Thessalonians 3:8-12). It may be more difficult to worship God if we have a lot of money (Mark 10:25), but worshipping God is about the heart (John 4:24, Romans 2:28-29, Philippians 3:3). So if we give our hearts to God in full, and not to the world, then no matter how much money we make, it won’t really affect us that much. If we give our hearts to God, we’ll most likely use that money to further God’s purpose, anyway, and build a better relationship with Him and Jesus Christ (Luke 16:9).
Ergo, Christians shouldn’t fall in love with money. King Solomon said in Proverbs 23:4, “Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.” We shouldn’t be covetous (Hebrews 13:5). Rather, we should build a sense of contentment (1 Timothy 6:6), and only work for what we need to live a decent life and be comfortable. King Agur only prayed for what would be “convenient” for him, and for a life neither poor nor rich, in Proverbs 30:8; he didn’t pray for what would enliven his life and make it very luxurious. And St. Paul said in Philippians 4:11, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”
There are a couple of reasons why Christians shouldn’t love money. One, money is vanity. The rich fool in Luke 12:15-21 acquired so much of it, only to have to die that night. It won’t deliver us from trouble, either (Proverbs 11:4). No matter how much money we acquire, it won’t satisfy our lusts. “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10). In fact, King Solomon even said, “There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.” (Proverbs 13:7).
And the second reason is complemented by Proverbs 13:7. The Bible makes us know that physical wealth isn’t the only kind of wealth that exists, and neither is it the most profitable. There is spiritual wealth, sometimes even called “true riches'' (Luke 16:12), which people can’t steal from you (Matthew 6:19-21), and which can help you get eternal life. Jesus told us that we should “make to ourselves friends'' (those friends being himself and God Almighty) “of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.” (Luke 16:9). We have to seek for that wealth, and receive it (Proverbs 8:10-11). Doing this will give us peace that the world can’t provide (Matthew 11:28-30, John 14:27, Philippians 4:7, Revelation 14:13, etc.).
It should be clear now what the love of money is and how the Bible views it. A summary of what has been said here is found in 1 Timothy 6:10, and then verse 6. “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But godliness with contentment is great gain.”
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"MAKE US GODS, WHICH SHALL GO BEFORE US"
This statement is drawn from Exodus 32:1. “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.”
The ultimate questions that need answers are: who gets sovereignty, who should solve humanity’s problems, and who should take the credit? Is it God, who created the universe - “I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.” (Isaiah 45:12) - or is it humanity that sought out its own inventions and attempted to solve their issues? “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” (Ecclesiastes 7:29).
Let’s start off with the story.
As said above, the Israelites had waited a considerable length of time for Moses to return from what he was doing in a mountain with God, and they got very impatient. As a result, they requested that Aaron make a god that would go before them. Aaron obeyed the people, and after creating them out of people’s pieces of jewelry, even said, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.”
God had seen everything that happened (Hebrews 4:13, Psalms 11:4), and informed Moses that the Israelites had “corrupted themselves”. And Moses certainly didn’t disagree; he called them “a stiffnecked people” (Exodus 32:9, Deuteronomy 9:6, 10:16). And after Moses had conversed with God, he came down and heard them singing and dancing, as if they were celebrating. When he realized it was for their god, he destroyed it, ground it into powder, strawed it on the water and even made the Israelites drink of it.
But what was wrong with what they did?
They were disobedient and stubborn. God had told them that they couldn’t create any gods that would replace Him (Exodus 20:3-6). However, they violated that law.
They dishonoured themselves by reducing their glory to simple handmade idols. “Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.” (Psalms 106:20). “Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.” (Jeremiah 2:11). The Egyptian gods were proved worthless by God testing them with various plagues, which ended up ravaging the land and proving His power as the true God (Exodus 9:14, 16). However, the Israelites reduced themselves to the level of those Egyptians by worshipping idols just like them.
They showed a lack of belief and trust in God. When such a situation comes up, the first thing that should be done is to pray to God, the person Who delivered them in the first place and entered into a covenant with them (Exodus 19:4-5). However, instead of doing that, they rejected God (1 Samuel 8:8), and seized the opportunity to walk in their own ways. They took laws into their own hands, and without consulting God, set up false religion and even enjoyed it (Exodus 32:6, 18).
This story is also similar to others in the Old Testament. For example, King Saul took Samuel’s delay (as a problem) into his own hands and solved it by disobeying God’s commandment that it is a priest that makes the offering before war. King Jeroboam had an issue where people were going to Jerusalem to serve God, which wasn’t in his land to rule. Instead of consulting God, he created false religion for his people, casting God out of the equation. And in 1 Samuel 8:1-8, the Israelites were having serious trouble with their leaders, but instead of coming to God, they counselled themselves and requested that a king be given to them, to compete with other Gentile nations (1 Samuel 8:19-20).
In our time, the last days, this story applies. As the world was being formed from a developed system of monarchies and autocratic rulers to dictatorships to democracies, a constitution was built to suit the needs and desires of the people. Instead of coming to Jesus, the author of the immense defeat of power (the whole point was to answer the Lord’s Prayer and clear Satan the Devil’s powers on this world - Matthew 6:9-10, Revelation 12:7-12, Jeremiah 51:20-23)), humanity as a whole took laws into their own hands and set up a new way of living, supervised by an elected government. This entire system has been called “the beast”, which people are worshipping (Revelation 13:1-4).
Just as God tested the power of the Egyptian gods and proved them worthless, God is letting people use the constitution to attempt to solve humanity’s problems - corruption, poverty, war, etc - but it will ultimately fail. The powerful angels in heaven, with the power to make plagues and other devastating things for the world (Revelation 11:6), will ultimately prove the gods humanity set up for themselves worthless, so that they may be removed. “Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.” (Jeremiah 10:11). “ For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.” (Exodus 9:14).
However, how do we act otherwise?
It is beneficial that we trust in God’s plan and let him lead us. When we have problems, we shouldn’t try to solve them ourselves, to prove to God that we know more than He does. Rather, we should trust that, as our Father, he knows best. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.” (Proverbs 3:5-7). We should acknowledge that our ways (absent of God’s influence) will always be corrupt and influenced by Satan’s forces. “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” (Jeremiah 10:23 - see also Proverbs 20:24). “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.” (2 Corinthians 3:5).
It is only when we as God’s creation are humble and obedient towards Him that he can lead us to success. “Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” (Isaiah 66:1-2).
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THE WORLD AND THE LOVE OF IT
This article is based on the statements of John the Apostle in 1 John 2:15-17, where he said, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
The world that we live in is a physical place. Therefore, to be of the world is to think carnally; to care more about carnal things than spiritual principles and values. St. Paul said in Romans 8:5, “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” Things in the world aren’t permament, and people who are worldly are unstable, and in many cases greedy, because the empheralness of the world drives people to want to gain as much of the world as possible. To worldly people, life is about physical benefit and pleasure. These standards and ways of living are held up by political leaders, who worldly people trust. That’s what the Bible calls, “making flesh your arm” (Jeremiah 17:5-6). Most importantly, though, because the world is carnal, while God is spiritual, worldly views are distinct and in opposition to God’s principles, and those of one side are not those of the other. They don’t have hope in God’s plans. That’s why people who are “natural” or worldly, can’t discern or understand spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14).
The world, as a whole, including those who are “of it” are headed by Satan the Devil because he is the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and the world is under his “sway” (1 John 5:19, NKJV).
But to really understand the world, we have to look at examples of people who loved the world, and were “of the world”.
The story of the twelve spies in Numbers 13:27-33 and chapter 14:1-19 is a good story to understand the world. It’s noteworthy that Egypt, as a nation, had held them in bondage (Exodus 2:23-25) so the “world” in their case was heavily based on what they saw in Egypt (e.g. their gods). And “Egypt” was used in other places in the Old Testament to represent the whole world in our time (like in Zechariah 10:11).
Joshua and Caleb had given a positive report of the land. “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” (Numbers 13:30). Caleb was thinking spiritually, because he had hope in God’s Promised Land and knew that He had the power to lead them to it.
But the other ten spies who’d went with them had a “worldly” view of the matter. They thought about it carnally. They knew that their “physical” strength wasn’t to the caliber of the Anakims. They had no hope for the future, which was to go to the land of Canaan. Their view was in opposition of a righteous report, and this relfects what was said above, about how the worldly view is always in opposition of a righteous view.
Another story which helps us understand the “world”, and those who are “of it” is the story of Job’s wife in Job 2:9-10. Job was in a bad situation, but he was thikning through it spiritually, and this is evident by what he said in Job 1:21. “And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” He was looking at his situation in the perspective that God is Almighty, and that what has happened is just one of the things that God does.
But Job’s wife looked at it carnally, and we can see this in her statement, “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.” (Job 2:9). Her statement was not only in oppsotion to that of Job’s, a spiritual man, but her thoughts were void of spiritual understanding and hope. She just thought that if you’re suffering, why not just forget about God and die? At least you don’t have to bear the pain.
One more example that we can use to understand the world is the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42. While Jesus Christ was teaching, and Mary listened, Martha thought it was better she cooked for the guests. The food they would eat was a carnal matter, but the Word of God was a spiritual matter.
Martha’s worldliness didn’t stop there. She not only decided to cook while Jesus Christ was preaching, but she even wanted Mary to leave Jesus Christ and cook with her. That’s when Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42). Marth was worldly, because she valued carnal things, and not spiritual things. Therefore, she was “worldly”. But Mary knew the importance of God’s Word, and Jesus Christ as a person. If there was any opportunity to hear the Son of God, especially when he’s preaching God’s Word, she wasn’t going to miss out.
These examples help us to understand what it means to love the world/be of the world. But how does the opposite work?
To not love the world is to hope in God’s future, and not restrict your life to worldly and carnal things. When you want to make a decision, or live a certain way, you will make the decision based on God’s laws and principles, not based on what the govenrment says, or what will earn you more money, fame, etc. What you seek the most is God (Matthew 6:33), and you trust in Him (Proverbs 3:5-7, Jeremiah 17:7-8). You use your physical resources, like money, to learn about Jesus Christ and God Almighty, and become their friend (Luke 16:9). To know more about how not being “of the world” works, we can look at a couple biblical examples.
The lives of Jesus Christ and the apostles are good examples of how to not be worldly. In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus Christ rejected all the worldly power and authority that Satan the Devil wanted to offer him. When his family members wanted to talk with him in Matthew 12:46-50, because he wasn’t worldly, he prioritized the Word of God and let family matters come after. Also, in Acts 6:1-6, when there was an issue with the daily ministration (widows were being neglected), instead of the twelve apostles geting enveloped with the matter, and creating all kinds of clubs and business meetings, and making the whole ministry about that (as many pastors turn the Word of God to), they just appointed seven people of “honest report” to take care of that business, and that was the end of the matter. The ministry of God’s Word moved on without disturbance.
One main reason why any of this is relevant is because the world is passing away (1 John 2:17, Matthew 24:35; the world being referred to, as you’d know by now, is not the physical planet we live in). The way the world has always worked is coming to an end, because the leaders who would keep worldly things steady are becoming weak (Isaiah 34:12, Revelation 6:15-17), and the unreliability of many worldly things in our time are being exposed (Luke 12:2). A new system is being put in place, called in the Bible, “new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17-25, 66:22, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1-5). It’s a new way that the world will work; people will not be running after money all the time, nor will life be about meeting personal standards and caring just about yourself and your success. The benefit of others will be considered by everyone, and currently, that kind of society is being installed, as new organizations and institutions are coming up and reworking the world to how God wants it to be.
The only way we can inherit the new world God is creating is if we are meek (Matthew 5:5, Psalms 37:11) and if we act spiritually, instead of acting carnally and being of the world. As St. Paul was speaking about carnality, he said, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6).
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WHAT IS MAN?
Man is the creation of God. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1:26-27). Our main goal is to fear God, and keep his commands, because it is the whole duty of man (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). “This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.” (Isaiah 43:21).
God created man perfect (Genesis 1:31, Ecclesiastes 7:29), but we fell, and came short of the glory of God (Romans 3:10-12, 23) because we sinned against God. In Genesis 2:15-17, God told Adam and Eve that they could eat anything but the fruits of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was a self-explanatory and straightforward order. However, Satan through his own instruction at them, and even though the consequences for disobeying God were clear, they still went ahead and did it (Genesis 3:1-6), and then they were sentenced to death (Genesis 3:16-19, Romans 6:23).
Something important that must be understood is that we are vanity to God. “If thou sinnes5, what doest thou against him? Or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? Or what recevieth he of thine hand?” (Job 35:6-7). God doesn’t need us to survive. God proved that to Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:34-35) to Herod (Acts 12:21-23) and many other people. Therefore, we shouldn’t be putting our trust in people who are nothing before God, but God and his son Jesus Christ (Psalms 146:3-4). To God, our lives are like a breath, because he lives from everlasting to everlasting (Job 5:6-7, 14:1-2, Psalms 8:3-4, 144:3-4, 90:2, 93:2, Jeremiah 17:5-6, 7-8, 5-6, etc).
Because we need God in order to survive, we need to put our trust in his hands (Psalms 36:7-9, 39:3-8). God promised eternal life to people who obey him, and keep his commandments. If we want such rewards, we must humble ourselves before God. God exalts people who humble themselves before him, and humiliates people who exalt themselves above who they really are (Ezekiel 21:26, Isaiah 24:1-7, Luke 14:11, Isaiah 57:15, Psalms 25:9, etc).
It is important we understand what man is. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
ARE YOU UNDER THE INFLUENCE?
Secularly speaking, when someone is under the influence, they are being controlled by alcohol or drugs. However, in Bible times, it was only alcohol that caused people to enter such a state, and the Bible mainly talked about drunkenness in a negative light.
For example, it is condemned in Luke 21:34 and Galatians 5:19-21; in Isaiah 5:22-23 it is used in a metaphorical way to describe sinners; and in Isaiah 28:7, Isaiah says that wine causes religious leaders to err, or sin.
However, it isn’t just wine and drugs that can change the behavior or people. God and Satan also, being very powerful spirits, can influence people in various different ways. However, unlike with wine and drugs, a lot of times we can’t choose, or even know, how and when we’re being controlled.
In Luke 4:1, for instance, the Spirit of God led Jesus into the desert, and in Numbers 24:2-4, the Spirit caused Balaam to place a blessing on Israel instead of a curse like Balak wanted. However, Saul in particular is an interesting example of the power of God to control people.
In 1 Samuel 16:14, God placed an evil spirit on Saul that made him mad at times, and it would only leave him when David played the harp. And in 1 Samuel 19:18-24, Saul sent three sets of messengers to capture David, but whenever they got to him, they saw the prophets prophesying near him and the Spirit made them start prophesying too. When Saul himself went to grab David, the spirit made him prophesy also, and he laid naked all day and all night.
Clearly, God has the power to greatly influence people, as said in Proverbs 21:1; in fact, all children of God are controlled by him throughout their lives, according to Ecclesiastes 9:1.
Now, let’s look at how Satan can put people under control. In Mark 9:17-27, Jesus met a boy who had a demon in him that would give him epileptic seizures, and although his disciples couldn’t get it out of him, Jesus successfully cured him.
Also, in Luke 8:26-39, Jesus met a man who had multiple demons inside him, but, acceding to the wishes of the demons, he didn’t cast them out, but allowed them to enter into a herd of swine.
Satan hasn’t just controlled people in the past, though. He is also controlling many people in the present (Revelation 13:1-4, 11-17), and he will continue doing so until he, his allies, and the people he has deceived are all destroyed (Revelation 19:19-21).
However, God and Satan don’t need to use spiritual powers to control our behaviours. Sometimes, all they require is ideas.
In Genesis 2:16-17, God controlled Adam through the idea of freewill with limits; God gave Adam an extraordinarily large amount of choice as to what he could do in the Garden of Eden, but there was still a part of this place that God wanted to keep for himself: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Satan, however, had a different idea.
He gave Eve the idea of complete freewill (Genesis 3:4-5); they could be under the control of no one, not even God. However, what Eve didn’t realise was that it gave them the freedom to believe what they wanted and do what they wished, but it also gave them the freedom to be destroyed by God (Jeremiah 34:17).
Now, it is important for us to understand that there is no middle ground: we have to be under God’s influence, or Satan’s influence (Romans 6:16-22), and since Satan and everyone who believes in him will be destroyed (Revelation 19:19-21), we have to let ourselves be controlled by God in order to survive. But how?
Well, first we must make sure that we eliminate any ties to Satan. We must not have friends who are under his influence (1 Corinthians 5:11), and we must reject all teachings about God that do not conform to the Bible (1 John 4:1). Then, we can start building our connection with God.
We have to start by loving God (Deuteronomy 6:5), because that is the fuel that will drive us to become under his control and stay there. After that, we have to study his word (Joshua 1:8), so that we can understand Jehovah and figure out how to get closer to him.
While we’re studying, we should meditate on what we’ve learned (Psalms 77:6, 11-12; Proverbs 2:3-5), because that will allow the information we’ve read to stick in our heads, and if we need help with that, we can ask God, because he provides wisdom (Proverbs 2:6-7; James 1:5), and he’ll share it with us as long as we’re serious about obtaining it (James 1:6-8).
When we diligently go through this process for a few years, we can actually start serving God (Deuteronomy 27:10), and we can become qualified for eternal life (John 5:28-29).
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REVENGE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
Revenge is when we do evil as a response to evil. When somebody offends us, in order to satisfy our hatred that we’ve built towards the person, we do evil back to them. However, is revenge a righteous deed, and who is qualified to do it?
There are examples in the Bible of people who had taken revenge. For example, in 2 Samuel 2:18-23, Abner killed Asahel, Joab’s brother. When Joab found out about this, he became angry, and he killed Abner (2 Samuel 3:22-27). David then cursed Joab and lamented for Abner because of this (2 Samuel 3:28-39), and Joab was eventually murdered (1 Kings 2:5-6, 33-34).
Another example is in 1 Kings 19:1-7. Previously, in 1 Kings 18:1-40, Elijah the prophet killed the 450 prophets of Baal after they’d failed to prove that their god is superior to Elijah’s. When Jezebel heard about this, she’d wanted to kill Elijah, to pay him back for the, “evil”, that he’d done, though God was completely on his side, simple because he wanted to prove that the gods of Baal were powerless, being man-made.
Some people have the tendency to take revenge on the people that persecute them, which is a natural phenomenon in places where righteousness doesn’t prevail. However, we are not allowed to take vengeance against people who persecute us in the service of God. David, for example, after committing adultery with Bathsheba, had had his first son killed by God and his house scattered. For such reasons, when Shimei was cursing David, the King of Israel, Abishai offered to cut off the man’s head. However, David refused to give him permission, because he knew that it was persecution, punishment in that case, that wasn’t to be paid back with evil. There is also Jesus Christ, who did not take revenge on the Pharisees on earth, but let himself be killed by them (Isaiah 53:7, 1 Peter 2:23). And we must do the same (1 Peter 4:19, Matthew 5:38-41). The apostles who came to be successors of Jesus Christ were no different (Acts 5:41-42).
The only person that is qualified to take revenge in this world is God Almighty. “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Romans 12:19 - see also Leviticus 19:18). God is qualified to take revenge because he is not a sinner, and is the owner of all human beings (Isaiah 43:21, 45:7). For example, in Judges 15:1-20, God took vengeance on the Philistines using Samson. In 1 Samuel 15:1-3, God gave an assignment to King Saul to take vengeance on the Amalekites because of what they’d done to the Israelites, by coming from behind to take the old people, ones who couldn’t run as fast (Exodus 17:8, Deuteronomy 25:17-19). And in these last days, God is taking vengeance on his enemies. “God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth: the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserved wrath for his enemies.” (Nahum 1:2 - see also Isaiah 47:1-15, Jeremiah 46:10, 20:12, 10:10, Isaiah 13:13).
One thing that must be pointed out, though, is that discipline isn’t revenge. A parent disciplining a disobedient and stubborn child isn’t taking revenge on the child, because you’re not paying, “evil for evil”. Revenge is when somebody is doing evil to somebody simply to satisfy the level of hatred that that person has for that person, mostly built because of something that that person had done that happened to be offensive. Parents should discipline their children, and train them well (Deuteronomy 6:6-7, Proverbs 22:6, 15, 23:14, Ephesians 6:4). God does the same to his children, to train them in the faith (Hebrews 12:1-13).
If we don’t want to fall into God’s vengeance, we have to stay on his side (Jeremiah 10:24-27, Isaiah 59:20). God isn’t taking vengeance on everyone. He is only taking vengeance on his enemies, and those are ones that have done him evil by taking his institutions, and using them for their own gains (Joel 3:5-8). A part of staying on God’s side is not taking revenge on others. “Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.” (Proverbs 24:29 - see also Proverbs 20:22, 1 Thessalonians 5:15, 1 Peter 3:8-9 and Romans 12:17).
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RAGE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
Rage is an attribute that is built into the systems of some people. When somebody offends them, they just don’t have the ability to control their anger, and they make regretful decisions resulting from that. However, is rage an attribute that is to be desired or contained by any true Christian?
There are some instances in the BIble of people who raged. For example, King Uzziah was a God-fearing king, and God strengthened and expanded his kingdom. However, pride soon got to him, and in 2 Chronicles 26:16-21, he attempted to burn incense in God’s temple, a ritual that was only for priests. When Azariah and eighty other priests attempted to stop him from doing this, King Uzziah got mad at them, and God punished him by making leprosy appear on his forehead, which not only prevented him from entering the Lord’s temple, but it also meant that he couldn’t rule the land of Israel any more; his son Jotham ruled the land for him.
In Genesis 4:3-5, Cain and Abel each brought offerings to God: Cain gave some of the plants that he had harvested, and Abel gave some of his sheep. However, God rejected Cain’s offering and accepted Abel’s offering, which made Cain mad, and despite God’s attempt to lead Cain away from sin, in Genesis 4:8, Cain murdered his brother, and God told him to live a wandering life, where the land would yield less crops for him than before.
Rage is clearly a negative emotion, and it is condemned in Galatians 5:19-21 and Colossians 3:8-10. But why is it something we should avoid? Well, it’s mainly because anger can cause strife (Proverbs 15:18; 29:22). It can sometimes leave us in a sinful state, which is why we aren’t allowed to pray if we’re angry (1 Timothy 2:8)
However, if you look carefully at all the examples that I’ve given, you can see that they talk about sin. Great anger can cause even righteous people to sin against God. However, righteous people can get angry for good cause sometimes.
For example, parents are allowed to get angry to discipline their children (Proverbs 22:15 and 23:13-14), and in a similar manner, God has used his anger to punish those who sinned against him.
In Numbers 16:46-49, after the children of Israel supported Korah, a person who rebelled against Moses, instead of supporting Moses and Aaron, the Lord killed fourteen thousand people in a plague; and in Lamentations 2:1-8; Jeremiah had poetically described how God, in his righteous anger, had utterly destroyed Judah through the Babylonian conquest.
Furthermore, God is also angry in these last days. The only reason the period we live in is called the last days in the first place is because God will destroy this world when the period ends to destroy all sinners (Isaiah 13:9). Many people in this world have incited God’s anger by abandoning him for their inventions and God will make sure that they are destroyed for that (Psalms 106:29).
However, God isn’t waiting to just punish them with death. He is punishing them right now by causing their inventions to fail. For example, modern leadership methods, like democracy, are failing, because children are starting to rule now (Isaiah 3:4), and eventually, no one will want to be involved in leadership (Isaiah 3:6-7). Plus, all the inventions the world is trying to create to solve its problems will fail, because those problems will only get worse, as Jesus said in Matthew 24:6-7.
Now, let’s look at what Ephesians 4:26-31 has to say about anger, because there is a lot that those verses can teach us. For example, verse 26 reads: “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” We can’t bear grudges against others; instead, we should forgive others and use our reasoning to control our rage (Proverbs 19:11). Also, verse 31 reads: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.” This isn’t actually all wrath (because as I said before, it is possible to be angry without sinning), but rather, the wrath of man, because the wrath of man is against God’s purpose (James 1:20).
Therefore, we should avoid people who do such rage (Proverbs 22:24-25) and listen to the advice of verse 32 of Ephesians 4: “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” This is the kind of character that we are supposed to have as children of God (Colossians 3:12-14).
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CHRISTIANITY AND THE BUG OF ENTITLEMENT
Entitlement is a big part of this world, because it drives a lot of our decisions. When we think we have the right to something, we will do anything to have it. But the Bible doesn’t view entitlement as a good thing. How come? The Bible has answers.
God and Jesus created this world, and therefore they understand everybody in it (John 2:24-25). As a result, they can do certain things from happening so that our levels of entitlement don’t grow. Remember, when somebody feels entitled to something, even though they aren’t, they become stiff necked, stubborn, and hard to control. Therefore, God can do certain things to prevent that from building up. For example, in Judges 7:1-7, God didn’t want them to fight with 32,000 people. If they had, they would’ve won easily, and they would’ve given all the credit to themselves, thought that it was their own power that delivered them (2 Corinthians 3:5, Psalms 20:7, Isaiah 31:1, etc) and felt that they were entitled to win that battle. That was why he allowed the people who didn’t want to fight to leave, and 23,000 of them left. Another 9,700 left after another test. This left only 300 people left. But they still won their battles with that.
There are examples in the Bible of people who felt entitled. Adam and Eve are a great example, because their sense of entitlement led them to take their own decision on whether they should eat the apple, causing them death (Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-6, 16:19). King Saul clearly qualifies, because he felt that God’s choice in utterly destroyed all the Amalekites, and therefore made his own decision on the matter (1 Samuel 15). Same goes with when Samuel had taken a long time, and he just did the sacrifice himself (1 Samuel 13). Even St.Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, admitted that he went through that a little himself. He already had a lot of gifts, many of them in 1 Corinthians 12:4-12, 28-31, and Romans 12:4-8, but there was a sickness he had. He’d prayed to God for it to leave, but God told him that he’d already had enough, and shouldn’t be praying for more.
We as humans must understand that we are not entitled to anything by God. Jesus Christ reflected on this well in Luke 17:7-10. He owns the world, and the humans in it (Genesis 1:26, Isaiah 45:12, 18, 43:21, etc). Therefore, we can’t just feel entitled to whatever we want, or to take decisions on our own. It’s a dead end. When God rescued the Israelites from Egypt (Exodus 2:23-25 - the prayers of the Israelites - Exodus 3:1-14 - God chose the person he wanted to use to rescue them - Exodus 7-12 - the process that it took for them to be rescued), the Israelites sense of entitlement started to grow, and though God had already done a lot for them, they started to feel entitled to more, and more. They were complaining continuously (Numbers 11:4-6, 14:1-45, Numbers 21:4-9, etc). They later felt entitled to a king, ruling a kingdom (1 Samuel 8:5). Their entitlements grew to a point where God had to put an end to it, and that was why he stripped them of everything he’d given them by putting them in exile in 586 BC. This inspired some of the statements made by various prophets like, “Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.” (Isaiah 47:3 - see also Lamentations 1:8 and Ezekiel 16:8-63).
Even righteous ones can’t feel entitled, simply because they are righteous. Rather, God has made promises, and history shows he doesn’t go against his promises. He has promised his righteous ones a world without evil, and we are seeing that developing already (Isaiah 65:17-25, 33:24, Revelation 21:1-5, 2 Peter 3:13, Jeremiah 29:11, etc). Similarly, a wife that is obedient isn’t entitled, but the husband will protect her simply because he wants her submissiveness to continue, and not fail (Proverbs 31:10-12). A child who is obedient will be supported by the parents because they like the behavior of the child (Ephesians 6:1-3).
God is destroying any institution in this world that builds their ideas on entitlement, and thinking they have the ultimate right to decide for themselves. The worldly spirituality, for example, is going to suffer that, because they couldn’t listen to Jesus Christ (Revelation 18:2-4, 14:8-11, 14-20, 9:5-6, etc). Therefore, we have to cut out all kinds of entitlement from our lives, because it doesn’t get us anywhere. Rather, we should acknowledge the fact that God knows the best way for us, and we should therefore trust in thim (Psalms 20:7, Proverbs 3:5-7, etc). And, when we succeed, we should never thing that it is our own selves that did it, or that we were entitled to it, because it was God that made it possible (Deuteronomy 8:10-18).
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WHAT IS INIQUITY?
One thing we must understand is that iniquity isn’t just robbery, or theft, or murder. God owns this world (Exodus 19:4-5, Isaiah 43:21, 45:12, 18, etc), and he therefore has the ultimate right to decide what is right, and what is wrong. People who comply with such principles are considered righteous, while people who don’t, whether ignorantly or deliberately, are wicked, and are workers of iniquity. That’s why we call Satan an evil doer (Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:15, 17, 9).
Iniquity, or sin, started on this earth with Adam (it began in heaven, but Adam and Eve committed it in this world), when he violated God’s principles, but disobeying what he considered right (Genesis 3:1-6, 16-19). And that’s why every Christian confesses to be a sinner. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalms 51:5 - see also Job 5:6-7, 14:1-12 and Romans 3:9-20, 23).
Another example was the story of Israel. “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” (Isaiah 1:4, 6 - see also Amos 3:2, Jeremiah 2:2-3, 3:8-9 and Lamentations 4:6). They had been flocking with people who didn’t do God’s will, and had continuously gone against God’s orders (e.g Numbers 21:4-9), asking for a king (1 Samuel 8:5), and running after worldly things (Lamentations 1:8).
Now, let’s go into some examples of iniquity:
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Murder. Murder is when we kill somebody intentionally. It is going against God’s will to kill anybody (Exodus 20:13), because God gave life to everybody, and it’s priceless. However, if a righteous one is murdered, such people will be brought back to life. However, if we prevent a person from coming to God, we are spiritually killing the person, making them wander into the land of the dead, the ignorant ones (Proverbs 21:16). We are killing them in God’s eyes, and we are therefore true murderers (Romans 14:15 and Isaiah 9:16).
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Fornication and Adultery (Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Now, even though one is before marriage (fornication), and the other is after marriage (adultery), they are pretty much the same in the spiritual sense. This has to do with already accepting God as the one you want to worship, but loving this world. People who love the world are not of the father (1 John 2:15-17, James 4:4, John 15:19, etc). 23,000 people in the nation of Israel were killed as a result of this (Numbers 25:1-9, 1 Corinthians 10:8). And the churches are a great example of this. They have ruined themselves by looking for money, the tastes of the world, instead of Jesus Christ, who is the head of the church (Ephesians 5:23). They have completely gone against instructions (Matthew 24:44-51, Ezekiel 34:1-11, Revelation 16:13-15, etc). Therefore, God is going after them (Revelation 18:2-4).
In these last days, God is coming after all workers of iniquity through his son Jesus Christ (Psalms 21:3, Isaiah 9:6-7, 32:1, Daniel 7:13-14, Revelation 12:1-12, 19:11-21, etc). The works of iniquity workers are going to be bound in bundles to be burnt (Matthew 13:24-30, 39-43, Revelation 14:8-11, 17-20, 18:2-4, etc). They have been cooking their own punishment, and their cup is full, which is why God is deciding to come after them (Galatians 6:7, Job 34:22, etc). That is why these last days have been described as a very gloomy day (Joel 2:2, Zephaniah 1:14-18, etc).
God is going to remove all kinds of iniquity, so that this world can be filled with righteousness; simply put, people doing his will. Considering this, Isaiah the prophet had said, “And the inhabitant shall not way, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.” Isaiah 33:24). However, in order to achieve this, we must move away from all kinds of iniquity, and do good. (Isaiah 1:16-20).
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THE DANGER OF ENVY
Envy is a feeling of discontent to see somebody’s success. This is a Satanic attribute, because it doesn’t have any benefits of any kind. It’s that feeling of hatred when you see somebody doing better than you. And if that person starts to fail, to rejoice, and feel happy.
There were many people in the Bible who were envious of others. For example, in Genesis 4:1-12, God asked for a sacrifice from each of them. Both had the ability to give good stuff, as Abel had good sheep, and Cain had good crops. However, Abel had given the good sacrifice, while Cain gave the worthless one. And, as a result, God preferred Abel’s sacrifice to Cain’s. Cain got envious of Abel, and later killed him while they were taking a walk. Even though Abel was dead, he was faithful to God (Hebrews 11:4), and will be resurrected to come live eternally. Cain, however, was banished by God, clearly proving the consequences of envy.
Another example of envy is in Genesis 37:3-32. Joseph had been having dreams of bundles bowing down to his bundle. And Jacob, his father, loved him more than all of his brothers. This got his brothers envious, and they plotted to kill him. Reuben, however, made them change their minds to simply throwing him into a pit, before he was finally sold for twenty pieces of silver. However, Joseph ended up becoming great in God’s service, and also in Egypt. He was like a prime minister with so much power. His brothers, however, didn’t really become any more important than they were before.
One more example of envy is in 1 Samuel 17-18. In 1 Samuel 17, David defeated Goliath for all the Isralietes. And, in praise, people had been singing, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” This got Saul very angry, and he gradually wanted to kill David as a result of his envy. However, it was said that David got stronger and stronger, while Saul got weaker and weaker. (2 Samuel 3:1). And, no matter how much Saul plotted against David, David still became king, while Saul was killed in war.
There are other examples I can use (Daniel 6, John 7:1-5 - Jesus’s brothers were envious of Jesus) but a habit that many people have in this world is to envy sinners. Envying sinners is bad, because if we understand the Bible, they don’t really have anything to offer. “Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.” (Proverbs 3:31). “Let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.” (Proverbs 23:17).
The stories I’d just told already show us some of the consequences that envy can have, but let’s go a little deeper. First of all, people who envy others won’t inherit the Kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21*, Romans 1:28-32, 29*). People who envy others won’t really know anything in the end, but will just want other people who are succeeding to fail (1 Timothy 6:4). It’s the root of all evil, because envy can lead to hatred, stupidity, riots, etc (James 3:14, 16). It’s the rottenness of bones (Proverbs 14:30). “For wrath killeth the foolish one, and envy slayeth the silly one.” (Job 5:2).
Therefore, instead of envying people, we should rejoice for others when they succeed (Romans 12:15, 1 Corinthians 12:26). Jonathan, when he knew David had been chosen by God to be king, rejoiced for him (1 Samuel 23:16-17). We should love our neighbors, and rejoice for them, (Matthew 22:39).
If we are envious of others, we must pray to God for him to deliver us, because it doesn’t bring any benefits, it prevents us from inheriting eternal life, and we end up knowing nothing in the end.
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OVERCOMING TEMPTATIONS
A temptation is the desire to do something unwise, something that’s regrettable. Temptations don’t come from God, but from Satan the Devil. “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” (James 1:13). He allows them, not to kill our faith, but to strengthen it (James 1:2-3, 1 Corinthians 10:13). But we have to understand where they come from, and how we can endure them.
It’s a common understanding to believe that your greatest enemies aren’t really your family members, but maybe somebody far away that you’ll possibly never see. But, in reality, that isn’t true. “And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” (Matthew 10:36). If you’re parents, it will be your children. If you’re a husband, it will be your wife. If you’re an employer, it will be your workers. Because they are the closest people to you, they will cause your biggest problems, and also bring your greatest rewards.
Then, another way to look at it is through the five senses. Satan tempts people through the five senses. For example, many people get tempted by what they see. When they see wine, they want to overdrink it, which is wrong (Proverbs 23:20-21, 29-32, 25:16, etc). When they see riches, they want to steal it. We shouldn’t love the world, but rather God. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For if any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in himself. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of the LORD abideth for ever.” (1 John 2:15-17). There’s also taste, touch, smell and hear.
Even though we can’t be sure when temptations come to us, that doesn’t mean we can’t avoid them. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7). Many people draw Satan the Devil to themselves by simply creating a lifestyle where God can’t thrive. We have to create a lifestyle that’s open to persecutions, but not open to them taking over our faith (Matthew 5:10-12, 2 Timothy 3:12, etc). We should never let Satan the Devil take us over. “Be not overcome of evil: but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21).
We also have to learn to endure temptations. And our faith is the main block to doing so. And where does that faith come from? “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17). When we build our faith on the truth, all that’s left is to endure the temptations that are surrounding us. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many (love and respect for God and his laws) shall wax cold: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” (Matthew 24:12-13 - see also Hebrews 3:6, 14, and 1 Peter 1:9.
There are many blessings that come from enduring temptations. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptations: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the LORD had promised to them that love him.” (James 1:12). Once we prove to God that we will do whatever possible to cling and stay with him, God will provide us with more wisdom and the Holy Spirit to continue what we’re doing. And in the new world - The Third World - the world without end, we will be worthy of inheriting eternal life (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17,26, 3:5, 12,21). But that can only come to us if we take to heart the danger in these last days, and not let our faith be destroyed by it. “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of the earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Luke 21:34-36.
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THE CITIES OF REFUGE
In Numbers 35:6-34, Deuteronomy 4:41-43, 19:1-21, and Joshua 20:1-9, those accounts tell the story of the Cities of Refuge. There were six of them: Kedesh, Shechem and Hebron west of the Jordan River, and Golan, Ramoth-Gilead and Bezer, east of the Jordan River. God chose those six cities because they were spread out, and allowed manslayers, people who commit manslaughter, to enter in at any time.
Then, there would be an avenger of blood. When you kill unintentionally, you don’t alert anybody. You run to one of the cities. The avenger of blood would be a relative of the person you unintentionally killed. If he catches you before you get there, you’d be killed. But if you got there before him, you’d explain to the elders why you’re there, and if the case is valid, you’d be given a home, food and other necessities to survive. Most important, though, the avenger of blood would no longer have the consent to come after you, because the avenger of blood can’t go there. You’d remain there until the death of the High Priest; after that, you could leave freely. If you left before, however, the protection goes away with it.
All these parts are symbolic. For example, the Cities of Refuge in these last days are the teachings of the saints (Matthew 24:31, 14), because once we accept them, we are gathered together by God in his fold (Zephaniah 2:3). We are fleeing into that fold (Matthew 24:15-16) by studying the Bible (James 1:25, 2 Timothy 2:15), and living by its principles, to be accepted into God’s protection - Joel 2:32, Proverbs 18:10, Isaiah 26:20-21, etc.
In these last days, everyone is a manslayer. Everyone is a sinner, but most people have unintentionally sinned, because we inherited it from Adam (Titus 3:3, Psalms 51:5, Ezekiel 18:20, Romans 6:23, etc). However, if we don't’ take advantage of this, or we flee from the opportunity, there is no room for forgiveness - Hebrews 10:26-29
The avenger of blood in these last days is Jesus Christ. He is coming after anybody who doesn’t listen to what the anointed Christians have to say. He is God’s Vindicator, Referee, etc (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, Revelation 12:1-12, 19:11-21). The Holy Sanhedrin are the saints (Revelation 4:4, 1:6, Luke 22:28-30, Psalms 149:5-9).
The High Priest is also Jesus Christ (Hebrews 3:1, 9:11). The death of the High Priest is the end of his work, the death of spirituality (1 Corinthians 15:24-28). Then, he will hand everything back to God, so that he may be all in all.
It is very important that we understand how we need to be taking refuge in God’s Purpose. This age is indeed a very dangerous time (2 Timothy 3:1-5, Matthew 24:3-51) but if we know what to do, we will be safe.
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THE DUMBEST THINGS CHRISTIANS DO
This article will list five dumb things Christians do and give relevant advice to avoid them.
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One dumb thing Christians do is monetize Christianity (make Christianity all about money). Christians love money and limit God’s true blessings to just money and what it can bring. As for pastors, they teach their flock to focus on money and bring money to them so that they get richer (Micah 3:11). At every level, Christianity has become about money, and this fulfills Jeremiah 6:13. “For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.”
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However, Jesus Christ (a righteous man) drove out the sellers, money changers, etc. at the temple (Matthew 21:12-13). He exposed the Pharisees because they’d excuse obeying certain commandments if you’d give gifts and money (Mark 7:11-13; see also Isaiah 1:23). If money was everything in God’s service, he wouldn’t have done so.
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There are two problems with monetizing Christianity. One, money itself has been considered “unrighteous” on its own (Luke 16:12), and something that much evil comes from (1 Timothy 6:10). It doesn’t satisfy, either (Ecclesiastes 5:10). Also, God set up Christianity with the ransom sacrifice so that people could serve Him, and the blessings that He intended on giving weren’t just related to money. Jesus Christ said you would get peace in your life (John 14:27, Matthew 11:28-30), and if you’re humble, God will reveal His purpose and will to you (Matthew 11:25-27). Those are blessings that Christians ignore because to them, they aren’t as profitable. They want money because people buy private jets and fancy cars with that.
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Instead of making Christianity all about money, we should flip it around by using our money to build a better relationship with God (Luke 16:9). We can use our money to support His people (Matthew 10:42), the way Joseph of Arimathaea donated his tomb to bury Jesus (John 19:38-40). We can also buy resources that we’ll use to learn more about God and His purpose.
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Many Christians involve God in their worldly lusts. They are more interested in the pride of life and look for a God who can provide those things. They read places like Matthew 21:22 and John 15:7 which suggest that God will give them whatever they ask for. Then, they start bringing all their worldly requests.
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In another way, Christians drag God along with what they want in life, instead of the other way around. The Pharisees did this because they taught the commandments of men (Matthew 15:9). These commandments were ones that humans would want to hear (Luke 16:15), but they would bring God into such commandments, even though they didn't come from the truth. That’s what made them kill Jesus.
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Many Christian children in this world do the same thing (Isaiah 3:4-5, 12, 2 Timothy 3:12). Instead of listening to their parents (Exodus 20:12, Ephesians 6:1-3), they want to tell their parents what they think and make them provide resources to help sustain their life goals.
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If we don’t want to do this, we should trust that God knows what we need to live a fruitful life (Philippians 4:19, Proverbs 3:5-7). We should let God guide us and decide what we should do. Abraham, for example, let God decide where he should go with his belongings and people (servants, relatives, etc). He didn’t show God where he thought he should be going (Genesis 12:1-3).
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The third foolish thing Christians do is in Hosea 6:6. “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” When Saul was king, for instance, he offered the necessary offerings, but he was not righteous because he didn’t value spiritual orders, values and principles, which was why he decided to offer the offering before war in 1 Samuel 13, picked and chose what Amalekite property to destroy in 1 Samuel 15 and even killed God’s priests at Nob in 1 Samuel 22.
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Christians act similarly because they believe Christianity is all about going to church, singing and listening to a pastor. To support this, they might quote places like Acts 16:25 and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 where rejoicing and singing was done/advised. But what about integrity, faith and love? Those were things Jesus Christ hammered on. Most Christians don’t have time to learn about those attributes because their hearts are to the world and what it can provide, and they don’t have the Holy Spirit (because it is the Holy Spirit that enables you to exercise such characters - Galatians 5:22-23). Their hearts are “far from God” (Matthew 15:8), though they pay lip service to Him (verse 7).
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However, Christians should learn to not do this. God is a spirit (John 4:24) and worshipping Him requires the heart (Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:39). Our hearts have to seek for God because God judges by the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Plus, as St. Paul said, we have to present our bodies (our hearts in particular) a “living sacrifice” unto God (Romans 12:1). That doesn’t refer to clapping and singing, but loving God and keeping His commandments. We are donating what the “issues of life” come from to God (Proverbs 4:23) so that we can serve Him faithfully.
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The fourth thing is mixing church and state. To mix church and state is to share your heart between politics and spirituality. Many Christians are influenced by what politicians say and want to find favour from them. The chief priests did this by calling themselves subjects of Caesar (John 19:15), and King Herod also became friends with Pilate (Luke 23:12). The 400 prophets in 1 Kings 22 did this by acting as yes-men to King Ahab, an evil political leader, and their prophecies were influenced by what Ahab wanted. These examples can be contrasted with Nathan and David. It was Nathan, the prophet, who’s spiritual words influenced David’s feelings and made him repent (1 Samuel 12), and not the other way around.
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Christians should understand that political forces are taking over spiritual forces because God wants to remove the spirituality (mainstream spirituality) that was influenced by politics. The abomination of desolation (the political system in this world) has the authority spirituality used to have (Matthew 24:15-16). Therefore, we have to keep our hearts towards God and not share it in half to include political leaders. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13).
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Therefore, what Christians should do is to physically respect governments, pay their taxes, etc. (Romans 13:1, Titus 3:1, 1 Peter 2:13-14), but give their hearts to God. As Jesus Christ said in Matthew 22:21, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.”
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One more dumb thing that Christians do is to have unhealthy relationships with others. Many Christians do everything that married couples do before deciding whether marriage is good for them. They want to enjoy everything that marriage has to offer before actually going into it.
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Christians shouldn’t do this because God didn't set up relationships that way. Sex was something that sealed marriage together. That was why when Shechem slept with Dinah, he immediately decided that he would marry her. There was no question about it (Genesis 34:1-12).
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Fornication and adultery have been seen as sins in the Bible (Galatians 5;19, 1 Corinthians 6:18) because God’s intentions towards setting marriage up in this world didn’t include having sex with someone but potentially marrying someone else. Therefore, Christians should do things properly by being married to the person they have sex with, just like Shechem wanted to do in Genesis 34.
Christians do these dumb things because they don’t understand the identity of a Christian. Christianity to most people is something they put in their pocket and run after the world with. But it’s more than that. It’s a lifestyle that we have to constantly live. Christians shouldn’t run after the world or conform to it. “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2). We have to be unique from unbelievers and not seek what they do (2 Corinthians 6:14, Matthew 6:25-33). Jesus Christ is a good example to follow because his principles were God’s principles (John 4:34, 5:19, 6:38, 12:49-50, etc). He wasn’t interested in what Satan had to offer (evident in Matthew 4). He was obedient, disciplined and retained his integrity to God’s principles. To be a good Christian, we must do the same.
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SATAN 101: AN INTRO TO LUCIFER
Satan the Devil was a very valued angel of God, and a morning star (Job 38:7). He was somebody of joy, and spiced things up (Ezekiel 27:3-26). However, he became proud and puffed-up, and eventually rebelled against God (Isaiah 14:12-15).
Satan the Devil has an assortment of names. For example, he is the, “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), Belial (2 Corinthians 6:15 - Beliah means, “good for nothing” {see Deuteronomy 13:13 and 1 Kings 21:10, 13}) the prince of this world and of the devils (John 12:31, 14:30, Mark 3:22-23), Tyre (Ezekiel 28:2) and some others.
Somebody who was like Satan the Devil was Esau. Esau was supposed to be a normal person, but Satan interferred with him. The relationship that he had with Jacob is the same kind of relationship that Satan the Devil had with Jesus Christ. Esau was a foolish man, because, “for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” (Hebrews 12:16-17) Esau lost the blessings that he could have as the firstborn, and when it was time to have the blessing, it was given to the younger, Jacob. And though Esau wanted to kill Jacob, it failed.
Now, Satan the Devil isn’t older than Jesus, but there were eternal blessings that he could’ve inherited from God, but he went his own way, contrary to God’s laws and principles, and lost all those blessings. And neither is it that Satan failed to kill Jesus. He did kill Jesus on this earth, with the help of the Pharisees and their gang, but his main goal was to distort and jeopardize the plans, but it failed, because Jesus Christ defeated the devil, and death (1 John 3:8, Hebrews 2:14-15, etc). “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Revelation 1:18).
The reason why we call Satan the Devil a very wicked man is because a wicked person is somebody who opposes God’s will, rather ignorantly or deliberately, but people who do it deliberately are more wicked. Satan the Devil directly opposes God’s will, which is why temptations exist in this world (Matthew 18:7, Luke 17:1, James 1:13, 4:7, etc). He opposed God’s plan by interfering with God’s creation (Genesis 3:1-6) by tampering with Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11, Matthew 26-27), and other times.
Here are some examples of tools he uses to rule this world:
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Ignorance and deceit. “But if our gospel be hidden, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). He used the Pharisees, and they were blind (John 9:39-41, Luke 19:41-44, etc). "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). However, everybody will come and know his stupidity and foolishness in the end (Isaiah 14:16-17).
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Influence. The spirits, including Satan the Devil, influence us into doing things. “The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” (Proverbs 21:1). He influenced the Pharisees, making them blind (John 9:39-31, John 8:44, etc). Satan the Devil also influenced Judas Iscariot, to betray and sell Jesus out to everybody (John 6:70). Even David, at a time, was influenced by Satan the Devil to count people in Israel (1 Chronicles 21:1).
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Craftiness. Satan the Devil is a very crafty person. Some of Jesus Christ’s parables help us to understand his craftiness. For example, in Matthew 21:33-46, the workers in the vineyard were crafty, because they wanted to take over the vineyard, and plotted against him, doing various clever things in order to steal the vineyard. Satan the Devil did that to Jesus Christ, but he gained victory over Satan, and he is going to be crushed by God.
Speaking of being crushed, the Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty is going to be the ultimate defeat of Satan the Devil and all of his standing institutions. Jesus Christ has been crowned as King over God’s government (Psalms 21:1-3, 110:2, Isaiah 9:6-7, 32:1, Daniel 7:13-14, etc), and he is going to gain victory of Satan, his own mate (Revelation 12:1-12, 19:11-21). Nothing of Satan the Devil will stand any longer (Ezekiel 38:19-20). Nothing Satan the Devil does will stop that. “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.” (Proverbs 11:21).
We have to learn from the idiocracy of Satan the Devil, and resist his temptations. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” (James 1:12). “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7).
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WHO ARE OUR ENEMIES?
An enemy is like an opponent; somebody who is hostile to another. And, though we may not realize it, the biggest enemies that we’ll ever have to face aren’t the ones outside us, but the ones inside us. And what is that biggest enemy? Our hearts.
The Bible has made us to know that all the evil that occurs in this world comes from the heart (Matthew 15:18-20). The evils in Galatians 5:19-21 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 are cooked from the heart. The evils that people were doing in Genesis 6:5 (keep in mind, when I mention evil, it’s not just murder and fornication - it’s about not doing God’s will), came from the heart. When Esau wanted to kill Jacob, it was cooked in the heart (Genesis 27:41). Same goes with Judas Iscariot, his heart being influenced by Satan the Devil (John 6:70-71, Luke 22:2-3).
Now that we know that this is our biggest enemy, how do we overcome it? Well, we can clearly learn from Jesus Christ, who overcame the temptations of Satan the Devil in his heart (Matthew 4:1-11). “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” (Hebrews 12:2-3). He overcame the thoughts of his heart, and the blessings that came from overcoming such things came to him (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26).
Now, the heart isn’t our only enemy. At a lower level, there are people who are in our lives, many times in our houses, that will not support us, though being our brothers and sisters. For example, Jesus Christ’s family didn’t even believe in him (John 7:1-5, Mark 3:21). That inspired Jesus Christ to say, quoting Micah the prophet in Micah 7:6, “And a man’s foes shall be the of his own household.” (Matthew 10:36).
Then, there are our friends, co-workers, and other people in that category, that can have influence over us, against God’s will, and for such reasons, are our enemies. For example, Abiram, Dathan and Korah were the enemies of Moses and Aaron, because they didn't believe in him, despite them all being Israelites, on the same journey, with the same idea in mind (Numbers 16:1-50).
The Bible has offered some critical advice to overcome such people. For example, in 1 Corinthians 5:11-13, 15:33 and 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14, St.Paul advised that we should avoid people who aren’t in support of the work that righteous ones of God do. King Solomon also, advising people on this, had said, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed”. (Proverbs 13:20).
We have to understand, throughout all these parts, that Satan the Devil is in control. Our enemies are controlled by Satan the Devil. He is also very weak, because of his defeat (Revelation 12:7-12, 1 Peter 5:8-9), so he is an enemy that we as humans can defeat, by simply rejecting his ideas and sticking with such rejections (James 4:7).
We should also pray to God to help us in this, because sometimes these processes can be difficult. “Repent therefore this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.” (Acts 8:22). Same goes with what David the Psalmist had said: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalms 139:23-24).
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THE PRODIGAL SON
In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus Christ told the parable of the prodigal son. He told this parable because he wanted us to understand the story of humanity - it’s beginning, fall or “going astray”, and how it would return.
In the parable, there was a man with two sons. One of the sons decided that he wanted to leave with his share of his father’s inheritance. The father yielded and gave him the money.
He then travelled into a far country and squandered his money on riotous, vain living.
Eventually, he became poor, and the famine in the land worsened his condition. Food was now scarce. He became a servant in someone’s house, and he had to feed pigs. Life was so bad for him that he wanted to eat the food that he was feeding to the pigs.
After a while, it dawned on him that he was dying from hunger while the people he left behind at his father’s house still had food to eat and to spare. He realized how senseless he’d been, and how unprofitable his decision to go on his own was. He convinced himself that he wasn’t even worthy to live like a son in his father’s house after being so foolish; he humbled himself to desire the position of a hired servant.
With this in mind, he returned home. But his father spotted him long before he arrived at the house, and he was so excited that he ran all the way to meet him. He greeted him with the warmest welcome imaginable. Despite how his son had messed up, he threw a big party and dressed him in the best robe he had. He saw the need in celebrating the return of his son.
The other son didn’t see why his brother deserved all this celebration, especially since he’d been the responsible one, and his brother had squandered his money. But his father said in response, “Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.” (Luke 15:32-33).
Beautiful story, isn’t it? Let’s now look deeper into the story. The next paragraphs will dive into the feelings and thoughts of the characters, and how they relate to humanity as a whole.
The prodigal son decided to leave his father’s house because he wasn’t content with the way life was. He wanted things to be more lively and fun. This is the same way humanity saw God’s ways after Satan’s conversation with Eve in Genesis 3:1-6. Satan the Devil told Eve that they didn’t really have to obey God, and that if they ate the apple, they would be wise, and be like gods, and would be able to do great things, from knowing good and evil. Eve thought that his words made sense, and she got Adam into it too. That was when we veered off, and became like lost sheep (1 Peter 2:25, Isaiah 53:6).
In the parable, it was physical money that the prodigal son took. But humanity’s version of that is God’s grace given to humans to live their lives, and express ourselves. It’s an opportunity. God gave us that chance, but we decided that instead of using it to worship Him and live peaceful, righteous lives, we’d do something different, guided by Satan the Devil, the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). That’s why we set up empires, symbolized by the “seven” empires in Revelation 17:10-11. We had powerful lords (many of which claimed to be semi-divine), along with diviners and prognosticators, and dukes and nobles. There were different classes of people; the elite, the normal class, and then the poor people. Oppression, impoverishment, social injustice, etc, began to plague the world. In Genesis 6:1-5, this was what God was looking at. We spent God’s grace on “riotous living”, just like the prodigal son did by engaging in the wildest things in life.
As humanity engaged in more sin, we became separated from God. Isaiah 59:1-2 elaborates on this: “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (see also Jeremiah 5:25).
To understand how the “squandering process” - the process by which we’ve wasted God’s grace - works in real life, we should go to the lives of the Israelites. God gave them customs and traditions and ways of living that were superior to those around them. These customs, traditions, etc, were compared with jewels, ornaments of all kinds, etc. (read Ezekiel 16:8-18 to know the details). However, the Israelites “squandered” it with “riotous living”, by engaging in the practices of their fellow nations. The Asherah pole became an established and recognizable pole all over Israel. There were temples to worship wood, stone, and false gods. They also persecuted the prophets who God sent to help the Israelites return to and remain in righteousness. They were seen as the “balm” and the “daughter of Zion” in Jeremiah 8:22, which the Israelites squandered. Eventually, they weren’t different from anyone else. Their worth diminished. This is why God referred to them as “Sodom”, and “Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:10), which were places infested with sin. And this ultimately relates back to the story of the prodigal son, because eventually, after he squandered all his money, he became like the basest of fellows.
Like I said when telling the story, it eventually dawned on the prodigal son that everyone he left behind at his father’s house wasn’t suffering what he was suffering. He realized he was foolish, and he wanted to return to his father and be like one of his hired servants. The title of “son” was too high for someone as foolish and riotous as him.
Humans who realize their sins, and how those who are righteous don’t go through what they go through, and therefore want to return to God in humility are like the prodigal son. Those who convince themselves that the way they were living their lives (without God Almighty, and just on worldly things) was bad, and humble themselves before God, and plead for His guidance, are like the prodigal son, and the Bible makes it very clear that God will help such people. Job 33:27-28 helps us know this, because that place reads, “He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.” God loves people who humble themselves before Him. “Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.” (Psalms 138:6). “The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.” (Psalms 25:9; see also James 4:10).
David was one of such humble ones. He “squandered'' God's grace - the fact that God made him king - with riotous living (committing adultery with Bathsheba and killing her former husband). He was then buffetted with the scattering of his house, the endangerment of his life, and heavy shame. He was very sorry for what he did; he acknowledged how foolish he was (read Psalms 51). Eventually, though, he returned to office.
Now, the last third of the story is the celebration. The father of the prodigal son didn’t mind all the nonsense that his son had gotten into, or the fact that he had no more money to inherit. He was just so happy that his son was back. He had mercy on all his faults. This is like how God has mercy on all the bad stuff that humanity has done, and is now reworking us to get out of that horrible condition that humanity has gotten into (described above). In Psalms 102:19-22, King David described the mercy God has on us, and what He’ll do to bring us out of our condition. “For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.” His lovingkindness will not depart from humanity, just like a father won’t hate his son, even if he’s engaged in the most irresponsible of activities. God said in Isaiah 54:10, “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.” God and His righteous family in heaven celebrate when sinners come to their fold, according to Luke 15:7, where Jesus Christ told us, “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”
To conclude, let’s look at Isaiah 35:10, because it summarizes the return of those who humble themselves before God, and all the joy that comes from that. “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
BIBLICAL BALM FOR SPIRITUAL AILMENTS
Due to our environment, humans are susceptible to sickness. Sicknesses make it harder for us to live life and enjoy it. There are a variety of sicknesses that humans can suffer (e.g. hay fever, influenza, Alzheimer’s, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.) with different effects, and for different lengths of time. Sicknesses get worse as time goes on, but with proper treatment, we can recover from them.
Spiritual ailments are similar to physical ailments; they are things that prevent us from worshipping God properly. They disrupt our relationship with God because they act as a smooth pathway for iniquity, which God is not compatible with (Deuteronomy 32:4, 1 Peter 1:16), to enter our lives. And we find lists of these ailments in different parts of the Scriptures. St. Paul enumerated some of them in Galatians 5:19-21, which reads, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” (see also Romans 1:28-32, 1 Corinthians 5:11, 6:9-10, 2 Tmothy 3:1-5). When spiritual ailments such as these control our lives, they’ll eventually prevent us from living forever.
Spiritual ailments affect individuals and institutions (nations, organizations, or other big bodies). Esau, an individual in the Scriptures, had a spiritual ailment: foolishness. He didn’t understand nor regard spiritual things, so he was completely natural (see 1 Corinthians 2:14). That’s why he decided to sell his birthright (which had spiritual significance) for a morsel of meat (which did not), in Genesis 25:29-34 (Hebrews 12:16-17 explains this).
Israel was a nation that was affected by spiritual ailments. In Isaiah 1:4-6, they were described as sick and ill because of their iniquity. In that text, God said through Isaiah the Prophet, “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” Those ailments were the bribes, immorality, covetousness, etc., that destroyed the righteousness of the state, and prevented them from serving God properly. The state’s sickness was built up by the individuals in the nation whose spiritual ailments drove them to sin. Eventually, it represented the entire nation. And the prophets who were sent as a balm for them (by teaching them how to come back to God and do the right thing) were ignored, and sometimes killed (Matthew 23:33-38). That’s why God said in Jeremiah 8:22, “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” Was God speaking of physical ailments? No. He was speaking of spiritual ailments, which His Word, preached by prophets in their time, could heal them from.
The Bible has described The Word of God as something which will help us recover from spiritual ailments. King Solomon said in Proverbs 4:20-22, “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.” We can use the Word of God to cleanse ourselves of spiritual ailments, by understanding the wrongness of our current ways and fixing it with the texts and stories/examples we find in the Bible (Ephesians 5:26, Isaiah 1:16-20).
Because of the potency of God’s Word, God sends it to people who need it to overcome their spiritual ailments (Psalms 107:17-20), with appointed teachers and pastors, who teach us about that balm and how to apply it. In that sense, they are like physicians. “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” (Jeremiah 3:15).
Below are the steps we need to take to successfully apply the word of God like a balm for our spiritual ailments:
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We need to study it diligently. In Joshua 1:8, God told Joshua, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” By studying the Word of God, we’ll understand the way a righteous man should behave, and how we may differ from that. We’ll be able to identify our spiritual ailments, which is fundamental towards recovering from them (after all, you can’t recover from something you don’t know about). For instance, we can look at the Pharisees, who were ignorant/blind (which is a spiritual ailment) and also didn’t know and acknowledge that they were (John 9:39-41). As a result, they remained with that spiritual ailment, despite having Jesus Christ and his teachings (the physician and the balm) to help them.
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Then, we need to pray about it. Spiritual ailments are difficult to recover from because they have a way of controlling everything we do in our lives, pretty quickly (our friendships, marriage, spirituality, etc.). We should take such matters to God, because God can fix what is wrong with our hearts, being a spirit being (John 4:24). And the statements of David in Psalms 66:16-19 show that God can indeed answer prayers for us, so long as we are sincere. “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.” (Psalms 66:16-19).
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Repentance is also important. Spiritual ailments are caused by sin, and for God to help us get out of our sin, we have to ask God to show us mercy and forgive us. With repentance, we are asking God to give us a chance to recover from our spiritual ailments. As said above, God isn’t compatible with iniquity, but when we repent, He can give us a chance, and help us recover, according to Psalms 130:3-4. “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.” St. John encouraged us to repent in 1 John 1:9 by saying, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
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And, of course, the Holy Spirit is essential towards recovering from spiritual ailments, because of the motivation and strength it gives us. St. Paul explained how it does that in Romans 8:26, where he said, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” The most important thing to do when we have the Holy Spirit is to take advantage of it and use the motivation it gives us to recover fully from any spiritual ailments we might have. By letting it guide us, we’ll eventually be at liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17).
It is clear now what spiritual ailments are, and how the balm God has provided for us (the Word of God) can be properly applied to help us recover from spiritual ailments. We should know that being clean from spiritual ailments gives us a lot of liberty in our relationship with God, and they prevent Satan from pulling us away from God (fulfilling James 4:7, about resisting the Devil). It’s like falling ill, going to the hospital for a while, and finally returning to normal life. It feels like you’ve been granted freedom.
So let’s use the balm God has provided us to cleanse ourselves of our iniquities, so that He may bless us and be our Guide and Friend for the rest of our lives.
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