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Thought Nugget
Satan doesn’t have the power over what we think or say but what he can do is intimidate and ultimately demoralize us into self-cancellation. The reason for this is to take us out of the battle completely.
Scriptures for the Thought; 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2, John 3:19, 2nd Corinthians 10:5, Romans 8:37, and 2nd Timothy 1:7.
The Complete Thought
When I was writing the first draft of today’s blogcast it was a different type of written piece. Most of it was me complaining about the state of my life and how monsters in this world are not as easy to identify and kill as in lands of your favorite fantasy series. I was drawing heavily on Tolkein’s work The Lord of the Rings when I wrote the paragraphs that I will share with you. Yet in my dismal writing I had an eureka moment. Here is what I had written that led me to the subject of today.
“In our world the evil masterminds sitting atop of dark towers are replaced with invisible demons who increase the rate of moral decay which began since the first sin in the Garden of Eden. Hordes of monsters are replaced with humans who believe the lie that sin brings life and not death. And heroes are found in those who speak truth but are so often overrun by the vast tide so that other heroes become discouraged from even trying.
There are those parts of me that see the sources of my own discouragement and recognize them as both normal emotional responses to the instability in my life. Yet I recognize that some are more than just mere physical reactions but are spiritual attacks from our enemy who sees individuals with potential. Individuals who are doing nothing wrong legally and are following the proper procedures and thus have no way to be “shut down” save for them doing it themselves. Self-Cancellation becomes the only possible way for these individuals to be stopped. Stopped before true resources have to be spent on them.”
I have highlighted that last sentence because it is that made me realize just why those efforts to cause depression and demotivation exist. Unlike God, Satan is not all powerful or unlimited in scope and reach. Because of this he needs to choose when and where to spend his resources. What battles does he deploy actual spiritual forces to compared to just using the herd mentality of humanity against them.
I have mentioned in previous blogcasts that Satan has become something of a master of human behavioral psychology. Thus all he needs to do is put something in front of the right people and they will do all the work for him. Think of it like strategically setting off an avalanche.
One thing that is done to ensure mountain safety is to cause avalanches periodically so that we have smaller ones that do minimal damage instead of giant ones that level absolutely everything. But all that needs to be done is find a good spot on the mountain, drill the hole, prime the explosive, get to safety, detonate the explosive, and watch the carnage ensue. It may take a bit of effort to find the right spot the first time but afterwards it’s easy, more or less, to go back to the same place and do it all over again.
There is a scientist called Ivan Pavlov who is most famous for his research into the function of the brain using dogs. But in that time he also learned of how people can be conditioned into certain behaviors. Many people know of how he was able to make dogs drool just by showing them things associated with being fed. Satan has been able to observe us for millennia and when combined with the fact that he is the father of lies we get someone who could be considered the “expert at manipulation.” With all of this being said it shouldn’t surprise anyone when he decides to simply use groups of passionate and vocal people to do his work for him.
Want to demoralize Christians? Well then simply find a group and condition them into going hysterical when someone opens their mouth to speak God’s truth about reality openly. It doesn’t matter if they are a Christian all that matters is that they agree with Christians to get the point across. Then all Satan has to do is assign a few squads of demons to ensure the humans in their pockets get wind of events or speakers coming around their part of town. A Christian wants to expose our influence in the way people act? Just bring up that bunch of “other believers” who are going to mock them for being outdated.
I may be having a bit too much fun writing those examples and if you are listening to the audio I hope that you are laughing. But I think they get the point across that our battle once again is not against flesh and blood. Humans are just pawns in Satan’s game of “make God cry” and most humans don’t realize the malevolent forces at play. Many times these people are allowed to deceive themselves into believing that the forces don’t exist.
2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 is written to give Christians an understanding of the antichrist who will come at the end of the age. But in reading it we also get an understanding of the spirits of antichrist which work to draw people away from God. Many people get confused about this subject and I will break it down like this. When the word antichrist is written with a capital letter “A” (like this → “Antichrist”) it is reserved to mean the final one which shall come at the end of this world. But when it is written with a minuscule letter “a” (like this →”antichrist”) it is simply used as a description of a person being against Christ Jesus. As I write this I am realizing that this means all of the demons, false prophets or teaching who do so falsely, teachers of false religions, and spirits that deny the resurrection are all antichrists.
Going back to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 9 through 10 give us information about what the Antichrist’s coming will be like and what he will do on earth. He will seduce people into sin and the word seduce means to lead astray or into disloyalty, and it also can mean to entice to sexual actions. The fourth definition that Merriam-Webster gives us is to simply attract. And that’s what he does, he attracts man into sin by tempting their darker desires into being released and acted upon. Verse 11 reveals that because they want to do these things God will send a strong delusion so that they believe the falsehood that the antichrist preaches. Using the Blue Letter Bible we can look up that work for “send” and find that it is the word “pémpō” which also means to permit. So God permits this delusion to take hold of them and that’s how they are driven into doing what they do. Many have said similar things to what I am about to say in the next paragraph.
The delusion which holds most of society captive is that there are no spiritual beings and if they exist that they play no active role in our world. Because of this when forces of society move in a way that is in direct opposition to God many discount the possibility of a spiritual influence. Leaving them unable to properly combat the root of the problem. But those who understand this fact will attack or defend this with unbridled passion. Warriors of light will work to expose the darkness that exists to hide the evil while the victims of the darkness out of a fear for what might be revealed, will fight to end all that carries the light before it can come to its destination.
What I have just said explains the reason why people will try to cancel us who speak the truth. But what they want is for a person to Self-Cancel because it is a sign of surrender. Traditional cancellation is just a battle won in a war against a person who is motivated to fulfill their calling. If a person who has invested a lot of time and energy into doing something and then decides to stop it becomes a sign of them saying to their followers “This isn’t worth it.” Our enemy likes nothing better than people giving up the fight against him because it means he doesn’t need to dedicate resources against them. A person who gives up is not the same as someone who is defeated.
A defeated person is one who didn’t choose to give up but was forced into it. While a person who gives up is someone who sees it as his only option and chooses not to fight anymore. The defeated person in this case wants to fight but can’t while the one who gave up won’t fight even if given the chance. Satan wants us to quit fighting and not be put in a position where we are out of action only to be gearing up for a return to duty.
When the persecution of the Christian church happens we always see a division happen as a result of it. There will be those who conform to society’s pressure and become passive but it shall also be revealed those who are of pure heavenly gold. Untainted by the world’s many avenues of influence and actively pursuing the mandate that all hear of the Good News of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead. How by receiving the Holy Spirit we are made empowered to have freedom from sin in our lives.
Society doesn’t mind the existence of Christians who preach the resurrection. What they get mad over is when we preach the doctrine of sanctification. When we preach the turning away from our sins which they love to live in. Proving the words of John 3:19 which read thus; “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”
Through self-censoring, we submit to the spirit of fear that is not of God as Paul makes clear to us in 2nd Timothy 1:7.
“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” (NIV)
Look at the structure of the verse. First Paul identifies the lie and then he presents us with the truth. Saying that we have been given power which counters the fear and then he reminds us that we have love and self-discipline. When he says self-discipline he is reiterating something that he has written to the church in Corinth that they are to take every thought captive(see 2nd Corinthians 10:5).
As I have been writing this something else has occurred to me as to why this Self-Cancellation is more desired than anything else. Self-Cancellation is another form of believing the lie that we are powerless to affect change when the truth is that we are more than conquerors through Christ who gives us strength as he told the church in Rome(see Romans 8:37).
Courage and Godspeed in the battles ahead.