Tag: Christianity

As a Child

I am reminded by Jesus that God cares most about what is inside me than what is outside me. Specifically in the way that I love Him and love my neighbor. This is sort-of hard to grasp because we usually think the meat of love is the expression of love, because after all, in biblical economy love is an action.

But as in mobius fashion, the ways of God are not always that easy to grasp. This is what is at the heart of the Mary and Martha story. Mary wanted to serve and love God first, and learn from Jesus by sitting at his feet, and that appeared selfish. Martha wanted to serve others first, by cooking and serving, and that was expected and acceptable by society standards. Not only did Jesus clarify that loving God over your neighbor comes first, but one’s heart-felt gentle expression of love is more important than working yourself to the bone doing what is expected. Remember that Martha loved Jesus too.

Expectation comes in many forms. Social mores “are preferred and socially sanctioned ways of behaving in any given society. Mores are the traditional customs and codes of behavior that are typically followed in a place or in a group but are not codified by law. In other words, mores are the unwritten rules of social behavior, backed by morality“. Mores are the unwritten expectations each culture or group places on a person in that group. Mores are a psychological term that represents a culture’s morality. It’s fundamentally a religion for the secular. And this can even creep into the Christian church. We just call it ‘legalism’. Christians already have a code of ethics given to us by God Himself and it is contained in the bible, and is sufficient.

As human beings, we are always judging and comparing others and their aura as it relates to us. Our brains scan and conduct micro-calculations below the surface of our awareness all the time. We note when people behave differently or outside what we are used to and we develop expectations for behavior this way. As we grow older, these expectations become more cemented in our mind. It is easy for us to become ‘close-minded’. That is why children and youth are more ‘easy going’ because these ideologies are not yet as fixed in their minds. Older folks scoff at the whimsicality of youth and think they ‘don’t know any better’ or ‘they will learn’. But Jesus warns about this when He says:

Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. ~Matthew 18:3

As with many, the full import of this verse did not register with me before, but now it does. Jesus wants us to be as children and youth in that they have not allowed rigid expectations to guide their thinking; they are simple-minded and single-minded in their approach to what they want. And what all Christians should want the most is a close, loving relationship with God. Not serving our neighbor and our neighbor’s expectations–or society’s mores–first, but Him first.

Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom!

‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ~Matthew 15:8-9

Oh, how often have we gone astray, even as believers, because we obey the doctrines of man (mores) over God’s commandments! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. (Matthew 23:26) The more I study and learn about the real God, the more I realize it is what is in the heart of man that matters first and foremost, followed by the outward action, because the action flows from the heart. No matter our intentions, or even our good deeds, if our heart harbors darkness, no light can issue forth from us. That is why He is most concerned about our inner selves, our heart, and our mind, because these affect our soul, and ultimately our very ability to love.

“But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” ~1 Samuel 16:7

We must have grace for others because only God can see into the true essence, or heart, of another. Once our heart is aligned and in love with God, then we can love our neighbor as we should. And this will be a lifelong process, which is called sanctification. This is why grace is so important. Grace is what replaces legalistic expectations of others in our mind, to keep us young in the Lord. We are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God and we have different sins that might plague us. We are called to exhort and gently rebuke each brother and sister to keep the biblical standard, but this must come from a soft place in our heart that has no condemnation.

For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. ~Romans 2:1

As soon as we judge others out of our rigid mores, we will be judged, for with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ~Matthew 7:2

God calls us to love as children do, completely and without expectation and judgment. ❤

God’s Nomenclature

Nomenclature means simply devising or choosing names for things. God gives general names to things as He creates them as shown in the first verses of the bible. Day and night. Light and dark. Matter and antimatter (waters/expanse/waters). Earth and seas. Grass and trees. Sun and moon. Swarmers in the sea and air. Cattle and creepers on the earth. Man and woman.

He then makes Adam a steward over all the earth and the creatures in it, and Adam is given the responsibility for giving each creation its name: Out of the ground the Lord GOD formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called every living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field…~Genesis 2:19-20

Adam may have given general names to animals, but through observation and study, Carolus Linnaeus in the mid-1700s refined these into a naming system called ‘binomial nomenclature’ based on a creature’s physical characteristics. This works by giving an animal a latin name based on a general category (genus) followed by a more specific characteristic (species) of it. Linnaeus was Christian who believed that God created everything. This term to identify animals and plants is still used today!

An example of binomial nomenclature is the name Tyrannosaurus rex. Tyrannosaurids were bipedal carnivores with massive skulls filled with large teeth. Despite their large size, their legs were long and proportioned for fast movement. In contrast, their arms were very small, bearing only two functional digits. This is the general category of its kind. Rex means king. That specifies that this creature was the largest of the tyrannosaurs.

We believe that this system works well for animals, but not for man, such as in Homo sapiens, etcetera, because ‘Homo’ is a genus of great apes, and the bible is clear that man is created on the last day by God, in His image. This is where science starts turning into atheistic philosophy and guesswork with the use of phytological trees and untenable links for presumed evolution between species.

And GOD called, “Make man in Our image and all in Our likeness; and may he have dominion over fish in the sea, and over birds in the heavens, and over cattle over all the earth, and over all creepers creeping on the earth.

And created GOD the holy man in His image.  Male and female He created them and GOD blessed them.

A great, brief article on the subject is written by Roger Patterson where he teaches us a new concept of creation called the ‘created kind’. “Created Kind (Baramin): the original organisms (and their descendants) created supernaturally by God as described in Genesis 1; these organisms reproduce only their own kind within the limits of preprogrammed information, but with great variation. A group of creation scientists called the Biology Study Group is currently attempting to classify animals within created kinds, or baramins (from the Hebrew bara—create and min—kind).”

Orchard Family Tree

Illustration from Dr. Kurt Wise and Creation Science Fellowship of Pittsburgh from the 1990 ICC Proceedings, Bob Walsh editor, vol. 2, p. 358.

As modern Christians, we must appreciate that we have been raised in an era of atheistic science and textbooks influencing our school curriculum since the 1950’s. As such, we need to rethink what we have been taught and assumed to be true. We do this by going back to the bible and lining out scientific understanding with scripture. If science fits scripture, we keep it, if not, we throw it out. The burden of proof is on those making their various hypotheses and theories, and so far, the bible has never been proved wrong.

All Sufficiency of Scripture

All of God’s Names

Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. ~Genesis 1:26-27

It’s interesting that God created man in His image. He could have made man any way He wanted, but He made us like Him. That means we were not created as an animal or micro-organism, but as people that have His characteristics in appearance and personality. Also of note is that when God was first creating things, He made the Holy Spirit, and they made Jesus (YHWH). THEN everything was created through Yahweh, the Son of God, because God was giving Jesus dominion from the beginning even though the man of Jesus would not be born in human form for thousands of years.

All things through Him were made, and without Him, nothing was made that was made. ~John 1:3

God has numerous facets to His person. You could say His personality is limitless, of course, and man over millenia have given Him names based on their experiences with Him. I was going to make an exhaustive list but found others have done it far better than I would have, so I linked it here.

The most important things to know about God’s names are that He begins existence as we know it, and He is Infinite in personality, and both of these facts about Him are illustrated in His very name. To begin with, His name starts with the first letter of the alphabet because He is the First. His Hebrew name is ALHYM. Most translate this as ‘Elohim’ but I prefer the original Hebrew lettering because A is not only silent (as He is) but it is obviously understood as the beginning, because A is the first letter of our alphabet. Even more interestingly, ALHYM is also plural in and of itself, because anytime Hebrew shows the YM at the end of words, it’s a tip-off that it is plural, or means more than one, otherwise, the M is left off. So in the very first words of the bible God is telling us He is first and He is plural. He is the OG of multiple personalities, but in Him it is not pathological. He is all things to all men, just as we are called to be.

בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית Bereshith (In the beginning) בָּרָ֣א Bara’ (created) אֱלֹהִ֑ים ALHYM (God Almighty) ~Genesis 1:1

These are the FIRST THREE WORDS in the bible. Note that God is plural before He created the Holy Spirit or Yahweh, which make up the Holy Trinity.

Father God’s names mean:

Creator, Strongman, Sovereign, Mighty, Everlasting, Seer, Father, Knower, Ancient One

Yahweh/Jesus’ name is I AM THAT I AM, or simply I AM. It is not plural.

His names mean:

Creator, Life Giver, Sanctifier, Forgiver, Shepherd, Friend, Family, HEALER, Righteous One, Provider, Protector, King, Peace Giver, Lord, Judge

Then we come to the final person of the Trinity: The Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit in Hebrew is ruach: Spirit, wind, breath Original Word: רוּחַ
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine Definition: Spirit, wind, breath
Meaning: wind, breath, exhalation, life, anger, unsubstantiality, a region of the sky, spirit

And in Greek is pneuma: Spirit, wind, breath Original Word: πνεῦμα Part of Speech: Noun, Neuter AND paraklétos (male): Advocate, Helper, Comforter, Counselor

It is usually attached to one of God’s names or Jesus’ names in the bible, as a force given to help man. As I have related before, I believe this is a feminine Spirit, but perhaps it also has male attributes due to its parakletos nature. The Holy Spirit acts like a glue or invisible cord to connect God and His Son to man, primarily to comfort, but also to heal, prophecy, and to bring justice when needed. The Holy Spirit is arguably the most ambiguous of the Trinity. It’s ethereal, effervescent, but also grounded in that it comes down from heaven and can be everywhere at the will of God. It is invisible and points to God the Father and the Son, who are more tangible.

I cannot help but notice that this is how women are. God has imbued women with the ability to be helpers to their men. And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” ~Genesis 2:18. Men who pass this up are making a grave mistake in that they are overlooking a pearl of great value available to them. This is not to say that every wife will have the power of the Holy Spirit, but that as created in His image, women are given gifts that men are not privy to and probably cannot even understand.

Finally, all of us are called to be all things to all men:

For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you. ~1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Just as God was All things to us first. ❤

There is Only One Baptism in the Spirit

I just discovered a doctrine in the church that teaches that there are different Holy Spirits; that there is the Holy Spirit you receive when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, and then there is a separate ‘baptism in the Holy Spirit’ which some people receive immediately, some people receive after years of being a Christian, and some never receive, even though they are a Christian. This is a false doctrine!!

There is only ONE Holy Spirit

Our living Jesus in Heaven sends us that Spirit when we accept Him as our Savior. The issue about degrees of Holy Spirit is simply how much faith you have in God. The more faith you have, the more Spirit can work in you. If you have little faith, the Spirit has no room to move or work. It’s as simple as that. The BAPTISM of the Spirit is the same thing as the INDWELLING of the Spirit. It’s just that after justification in Jesus, some people have a long way to go for sanctification to reveal the fruits and power of the Holy Spirit. This is probably how it was in me.

In this false doctrine of a dichotomy of the Spirit, theologians teach that men received the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament (before Jesus died for us) when they loved God, made sacrifices, and kept the commandments. This is heresy! If that were the case, Jesus would not have needed to come and die for our sins! Before Jesus, men could know God, they could walk with God, they could keep His commandments, albeit very poorly and with a lot of killing of animals, but they could not fully commune with God. That is the whole reason for the room in the tabernacle or temple, the Holy of Holies, where the shekinah of God lived. This room had to be separated by the veil so that no one except the most devout priest on the most holy day of the year, after a lot of ceremonial purification could enter, lest he be stricken down in death! After Jesus was crucified, the veil was torn in two, indicating that man was no longer separated from God.

The Holy Spirit was sent forth by God before YHWH–or anything–was ever even created. The Holy Spirit existed in Old Testament times, yes. But the Holy Spirit was in God’s realm only. It was never capable of indwelling man until Jesus sent it forth on the day of Pentecost.

Pentecost is the Greek word for ‘fifty’. In the New Testament, the day of Pentecost was the 50th day after Jesus was crucified. After Jesus was crucified, he appeared to his disciples numerous times within 40 days as told in the gospels and Acts. During one of these encounters, Jesus shared a meal with His Holy-Spirit appointed apostles, and He gave them instructions not to leave Jerusalem, but to

Wait for the fulfillment of the Father’s promise that you heard about from Me. John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days…..you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in the rest of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. ~Acts 1:4-5, 8

The reason for this was because Jesus wanted to send God’s Spirit to His chosen ones on the New Day of Pentecost. It was a symbolic replacement of the old Day of Pentecost, one of the three main Jewish feast days. Since the crucifixion of Jesus took place on the feast of Passover, the most holy day of the year when a lamb was sacrificed for all the sins of Israel in the past year, Jesus was replacing the old covenantal feasts with a new, final covenant. No more lambs would need to be slaughtered. To understand the new covenant fully we must understand the old covenantal feasts.

The most important of these was the Passover feast which I just mentioned. The next feast celebrated was Shavuot, or the Jewish Day of Pentecost, 7 weeks (50 days) after the Passover feast. During this feast, the first fruits were brought in from the harvest and the best were offered to God in a pilgrimage celebration in Jerusalem. It was also a time when Jews commemorated the giving of the Torah (law) by Moses, their greatest prophet.

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to believers on this new day of Pentecost to show everyone that He is the New Covenant, that the fruit is no longer a physical plant, but is figurative fruit of the Spirit which was poured out on His disciples beginning on that very day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, when tongues of fire rested on those who believed Jesus is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit indwelled man for the FIRST TIME ever and gave them as much power as they could handle. That is why their works increased over time, and why He said we would do greater things than He did. As our faith increases in God, our power in the Spirit increases as well. It isn’t a separate form or type of Spirit!

Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament law so that we no longer need to pay homage to Moses as the greatest prophet and son of God, or the Torah law, but give our allegiance to the Only Begotten Son of God; Who represents all the law and the prophets, and who

sends the Spirit who makes the most valuable fruit for God.

The One who has the power to send forth the Holy Spirit to indwell man so that we need never be separated from God forevermore. ❤

Can Christians Have a Demon?

I believe that Satan and his demons can reside in living things which draw breath. This includes animals and man. This is one of the three ways problems can come upon man. The other two ways are sin, and organic disease. Indeed, to not believe in this would be to deny Christ, as so much of Christ’s ministry (and later, His apostles’) was in casting out demons.
 
As a true crime junkie, I often wonder how often serial killers or other criminals are ‘possessed’ by demons. At least some of them are. People tell the same stories about how their ‘eyes went black’ and ‘he became a different person’. Now, most of the time criminal behavior is due to straight-up sin, so we cannot give the devil all the credit. But I do think a significant portion can be attributed to Satan and his demons.
 
I posted the story recently about Jesus saving the demoniac. In those days, a man was inhabited by numerous evil spirits who called themselves ‘Legion’, and he had been kicked out of town and was living on the edge of town, in the place where they buried the dead, among the corpses. The demons inside the man recognized Jesus and begged Him not to hurt them and requested that they be cast into a neighboring herd of swine. They probably did not realize that the swine would go mad and race down the hill into the sea and drown, but that is exactly what happened.
 
Since 1614 The Catholic Church has authorized the use of exorcism for those who are believed to be the victims of demonic possession. In my lifetime, the Catholic religion became infamous in the 1970’s for their belief in demon-possession and exorcism, exemplified by the movie, ‘The Amityville Horror’. I remember being on vacation in Oklahoma as a little girl and my big sister got to go see this movie with our friends, and I was forced to stay home. Of course, I had no idea how scary that movie was and am glad now I wasn’t allowed to see it. Anyway, I do not think the perpetrator, Ronald DeFeo Jr., was demon-possessed. I think he was influenced by the perfect storm of drug and alcohol abuse, the provocation of his father’s poor parenting habits, and his sins (namely anger and who knows what else) combined with his father’s sins. He was raised in a Catholic household, so the name of Jesus would have been heard and voiced, even if Jesus was not personally known by Ronald Jr. 
 
In the 1970’s the concept of psychiatry and psychology had taken root and its practitioners began to provide counseling and ‘mental health services’ to those who struggled with problems that they could not overcome. Even the Catholic church bought into this ideology and began telling people they probably did not have a spiritual problem but a ‘mental health problem’ and the priests offloaded their patrons to these practitioners. Fast forward to today and we can see that those who came long before us actually were closer to the truth: that what really ailed these folks WAS spiritual, not ‘mental’. There was no ‘mental’ until it was separated out as its own idea. Spiritual WAS what encompassed ‘mental’ back then. That knowledge was taken from us by Satan himself. He was tired of being seen for what he was, a harbinger of destruction. He was tired of being called out and cast out. So he camouflaged not himself, but the problem, so that man could no longer see him as clearly.
 
Characteristics of the demon-possessed individual
 

What the Church views as signs of demonic invasion vary depending on the type of demon and its purpose, including:

    • Using languages unknown to the person or people around them.
    • Having extraordinary strength or resistance to physical restraint.
    • Knowledge of events or people that the person could not have possibly known.
    • An aversion to holy objects or places, such as holy water or churches.
    • Self-harming and displaying violent or aggressive behaviour.
    • Ailments or conditions that cannot be diagnosed or treated medically.
    • Having hallucinations or hearing voices not attributable to drug or alcohol use or abuse
    • An abrupt change in behavior or personality.
    • Sudden spiritual dryness.
    • Expelling of objects or animals through the mouth.

In Hostage to the Devil, Malachi Martin also mentions a type of demonic attack called “familiarization”. He writes:

“

The possessing spirit in “familiarization” is seeking to “come and live with” the subject. If accepted, the spirit becomes the constant and continuously present companion of the possessed. The two “persons”, the “familiar” and the “possessed”, remain separate and distinct. The “possessed” is aware of his “familiar”.

”

The last book of the bible, the book of The Revelation of John, explains that the dragon (Satan) recruited a third of the angelic realm to join him in rebelling against the Lord. This third of the angelic realm are called demons. Demons are fallen angels, which move between heaven and earth doing the bidding of the enemy. Demons may bring torment to believers and unbelievers, and they may indwell both believers and unbelievers as shown in the Gospels.

The bible says the way of the transgressor is hard; the transgressors being those who do not know God. The bible also says: 

It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. ~Hebrews 11:6

As you might already know, the subject of demon-possession is not without some controversy, especially as it regards Christians. Some Christians believe that once they are justified (saved) in Christ, no demon can enter him, and others disagree. They believe Christians can be heavily plagued, or even inhabited, by demons. Wayne Grudem argues in his Systematic Theology (2004) that the translation “demon possessed” which is common in many modern versions of the bible does not actually reflect the Greek. The Greek term really just means “to have demons.” Jesus validated the term to ‘have a demon’ in reference to God’s people many times in his discourse with Pharisees. The Old Testament speaks of some Israelites having a demon, namely King Saul. So, it is possible for believers to be plagued by demons.

I call it ‘dancing with demons’ when they are still outside of a person, seeking entrance. ‘Having a demon’ implies they have entered the person. To be clear, all prominent Christian scholars agree that a person cannot lose their salvation in Christ, but that he can be given over to various afflictions by the devil and his demons while alive; and can become a slave to Satan, instead of Jesus Christ.

This is a good article on the subject: https://bible.org/seriespage/9-can-christians-be-demonized-or-possessed .

I also believe that the Devil and his demons can inhabit animals and use them to wage war on humans. I came to understand this after watching a movie that made me consider the phenomenon of demon possession in animals. It is a documentary called “Night of the Grizzlies“, and it is based on the book of the same name about two fatal grizzly bear attacks occurring minutes apart on the same night in Glacier National Park. As a Christian, I do not believe in coincidence or that things just happen randomly. God is sovereign and He orchestrates everything that happens, even as He allows the devil to rule this earth.

I cannot overlook the significance of the Glacier Park killings which both occurred in two 19-year-old blonde girls on the night of August 13, 1967, by two different bears about 8 miles apart. As I recall it was a ‘windy night’ and get chills thinking about Satan sending his demons into those bears to do his dirty deeds. I know at least one of the girls was a Christian, and probably the other as well. They were in the park working as seasonal employees. This particular night they were both camping with friends in two popular places in the park. One admittedly was near a notorious bear feeding ground, but the other was not. These bears literally went mad, killed these girls, and drug their bodies away to store as a food cache. The bears had to be hunted down and killed by park rangers. What a horrific tale. I know that night that the devil sent his demons to that region of the wilderness to kill those girls. Interestingly, a Catholic priest was present on vacation in that locale on that very night, and minstered to one of the girls before she died.

The GOOD NEWS

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ~James 4:7

The Good news is that Jesus came to save sinners. And if you abide in Christ, you cannot sin (1 John 3:6) and the devil cannot obtain a foothold. What does it mean to abide in Christ? While the Apostle Paul, the greatest evangelist in the early church, was imprisoned in his last days on earth he reminded us that we are all soldiers in God’s army. And as a soldier, we also need to put on armor, except our armor is not physical armor, it is spiritual armor. This is because our enemies are spiritual, not physical. The best way to abide in Christ is to don our armor daily. Stephen Armstrong lays it out very well in his bible study from 2017. I will summarize below.

Our Defensive Weapons:

  • Belt of truth
  • Breastplate of righteousness
  • Shoes of evangelism
  • Shield of faith
  • Helmet of salvation

Our Offensive Weapons:

  • Sword of the Spirit (the word of God)
  • Praying always in the Spirit

If we wear our armor daily, the devil will not be able to gain a foothold to tear us down. Then we will also be able to help our brethren who are falling to demonic activity.

Test the Spirits

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ~ 1 John 4:1-4

But just wearing armor daily is not enough. You must love the Lord your GOD with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength in this war because love is what it all comes down to. Love is the essence of why God created us. Without love, nothing else matters. Without love, we fail. To fully love God, we have to continue in our sanctification (purity, refinement) DAILY, replacing those old sinful habits with righteous ones. If we are lackadaisical or haphazard about this–Jesus called it being lukewarm–then we actually set ourselves up for MORE failure, ironically.

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils……When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” ~Luke 11:21-22; 24-26

The best way to know if you are protected in the Lord, and abiding enough in Him, is to see the fruit that is produced when you walk in The Way of Christ. The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. The devil cannot live in this realm. If you are lacking some of this fruit, you are opening a door for demons to enter in and destroy you, and I admonish you to work on that.

So, yes, even Christians can have a demon, unfortunately, but this usually occurs in folks who have long-ago abandoned God, or who have a heart turned against God. By far, the usual cause of man’s problems is sin itself, not demons.

Selah~

Agape Love

My realization today is that I have always been the person in the room who has loved the hardest. The intensity of my love is fierce. Those who have known me describe me as ‘intense’, and people often have to create distance from me because I am more than they can handle. Since I was born, I have poured out all my love to those around me. But since I was conceived, I was not loved like I love. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me. I have made peace with this, my reality. But I realize today it has been the most characteristic thing about me, and the thing which–at the bottom of everything else–defines me.

The bible speaks about the devil as a roaring lion who prowls around seeking whom he may devour. That is what I feel like, except instead of wanting to destroy someone, I want to love with them. I understand today that all my life I have been seeking those who love like I do. I have been searching out love, REAL love. I have found the world’s best versions of love. But it was never sustainable. And to be honest, it was usually because the other person or people fell away, or backed away, or just could not sustain it. I am NOT saying I was never at fault; I was. I am a sinner extraordinaire. But for the most part, it wasn’t me, it was them who did not want the intense love I brought.

The Ancient Greeks had different types of love, elaborated in four main categories:

  1. Eros: sexual passion and desire.
  2. Philia: deep friendship.
  3. Ludus: playful love.
  4. Agape: love for everyone.
  5. Pragma: longstanding love.

I have had all these loves the world has to offer. But I did not know agape love until Christ saved me. ALL of those other loves failed me. And I know they fail others.

For a long time, I thought that my fellow Christians would be able to share–and return–that elusive agape love with me. But I have found even they are really not capable of it. Yes, they have the fruits of the Spirit we look for to know who carries the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But they just don’t have it in the measure I do. I really don’t mean this to sound conceited. I don’t hold it in my heart that way, and I don’t think about it that way. It’s just that now that I am here in my walk with the Lord, and I have had opportunities to commune with born-again Christians, I see they are still not that much different than the world. Yes, they are different, and if the world were ending, they are who I would look to for solace, camaraderie, and comfort; but they still are not capable of meeting my love head-on.

Whereas loving others in the world, or unbelievers, they just sort-of take you like you are, and everything (and anything) goes. They don’t know truth or right from wrong because they don’t know the Word. That is a superficial, evil sort of love which isn’t really love at all, but it masks itself as love. Anyone can fake love for a while, because, “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15)

On the other hand, Christians know Truth, and the Word, but they want to put me in a box, they want to fence me in with their idea of what love is. Usually this involves some kind of expected behavior on my part. I am not talking biblical behavior. I believe in 100% of the word of God in the bible, and to err from the word of God is sin. I do not believe in taking away, or adding to, what the inspired word of God says. But most Christians have this learned churchy ideology that is not in the bible, or that they have extrapolated from the bible. It might be ‘legalistic’ but it is also ‘new agey and mystical’. And the love I have to offer doesn’t match it. So, then the undercurrent of tension sets in. I am not functioning in the way they think I should function; therefore I see doubt creep into their mind that maybe I am not a good Christian, or not walking with God. When the truth is, I have come to know, that I am walking with God more than they are. Then the distance begins to set in. Again.

I do not fit in a box. I never have and I never will.

What is this love, and why do I have it in larger measure? I have not really thought of it as a gift before, because it has always set me apart. And things that cleave you from others don’t usually feel like attributes, or gifts. But maybe it is a gift. Maybe God gives me the ability to love harder because I am honestly His messenger of love. I really don’t know any other viable explanations.

The world might try and label me as ‘co-dependent’ or ‘borderline personality disorder’ or ‘clingy’ or something like that. And I have been guilty of the actions that warrant these labels. But I am so much more than those things, and my love is PURE for the most part. I will not drown someone else to save myself. I usually always put others over myself. I am the one who walks away when the writing is on the wall, when people show they don’t really love me, or when people are mean to me.

So many people are mean. And I am talking about Christians here. Especially when they cannot conscribe me to their idea for me of what I should be or look like. They do not appreciate my unusual gifts such as healing. And they don’t want to even get close enough to me to see all the things below the surface that are hiding, waiting to be used by God. I have tried to analyze this phenomenon in my life ad nauseum and have not come much closer to elucidation, but I sense that people just can’t figure me out and literally don’t know what to do with me. I seem to confound people. Then because they don’t understand me, they distance themselves from me.

Their love doesn’t even scratch the surface of who I am.

So, I continue on, seeking in others the love I have been given in great measure. I have come to understand that I probably won’t find it on this earth, that it is otherworldly; it is God’s love from His realm. The best way I can honor this love I have been given is to share it with those He sends me and sends me to, because He has given me this ability to love deeply for a reason, and even if I am not sure exactly how to use it, He does. ❤

I am one as God is One

As I have argued in recent posts, the crux of the problem as to why Christians are so easily misled into thinking medicine is good is because they are not aware that for millennia philosophers have been viewing humans and the way they think from a non-biblical perspective. There is no end to the way they slice and dice up the mind, body, spirit, soul, function, and heart of man. Once these thought experiments are formed, then they are labeled with a name. Once something has a name, it implies legitimacy. Legitimacy leads to the creation of hypotheses, which leads to the development of theories, which leads to models, which leads to algorithms, and diagnoses. So far this is all a mental exercise and while it is wrong thinking, it has not yet caused harm to another. However, the final step is treatment. And that is an action that is applied to a patient or client. That is the final culmination of this mental and physical atheistic experiment.

Pretty soon paradigms spring up, like the practice of medicine and psychology. Schools are built and training programs are made so that students can become knowledgeable in all the nuances of these concepts, which we forgot came from man, not God.

The most important prayer in the bible before Jesus came was the Shema Israel, which is a prayer taken from Torah and recited twice daily, in the morning and at night (and other important times as well). I will write the beginning verses out here:

Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you today shall be upon your heart. You shall teach them thoroughly to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for a reminder between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates. ~Deuteronomy 6:4-9

By contrast, in the New Testament, Jesus said all the law and the prophets hung on two great commandments, the first of which is:

And Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. ~Mark 12:29-30

Jesus confirmed for us here in the oldest gospel record, the book of Mark, that the greatest commandment is to love God with your heart, soul, and might. But He also added ‘mind’ because mind was a word not used in Hebrew. Mind was understood in Hebrew as part of the concept of heart.

Since this is the greatest command in the bible–Old and New Testaments–then we should think about ourselves as God does here. Let’s delve into it. Heart in the Greek here is Strong’s entry 2588 kardia and it means the center of all physical and spiritual life, the INNER SELF. It includes thoughts and feelings, but not necessarily deep thoughts. Soul in the Greek here is Strong’s entry 5590 psuche and it means LIFE and gives the idea of what makes us alive. Mind in the Greek here is Strong’s entry 1271 dianoia and it means ‘through the intellect’ or deep thought, THINKING. Finally, strength in the Greek here is Strong’s entry 2479 ischus and it means FORCEFULNESS, as in power and strength manifested.

To interpret these words which are really more like ideas, we find that

We are a unique person with a will, capable of thinking, and able to enforce our will for God.

We are way more than a mere mind and body. In fact, body is not even mentioned here!! The Hebrew and Greek words for body are not included in the most important commandments. The material body is understood as the physical container for all these other things. If you consider we are a living soul with a will (our heart/inner self), thought (mind), and drive (strength), these are all abstract concepts. This implies that God considers what is most important about us are those aspects of ourselves that are immaterial!

No one can call themselves a Christian (or Jew), if they do not believe in the greatest commandment in the bible. And if you believe in the greatest commandment in the bible, it precludes you from separating out the parts of us that God calls to worship Him. What God has joined together, let no man separate (Mark 10:9). To separate our mind from our body is a pointless activity. Our body is just a house for all the things about us that God really cares about. Our bodies become sick through literal and figurative sin and Jesus can heal this, but God is far more concerned about our inner selves and how we function as His creation.

In our world, which is ruled by Satan, we are duped into focusing on our physical bodies over everything else. This separation originally occurred with Babylonian and Egyptian philosophers and shamans who were polytheists and atheists thousands of years ago in ancient times. It was never a biblical concept. These ideas were carried forward by more atheist, agnostic, and deist philosopher-physicians who created the field of science, and it has became one of our biggest idols today: the idea of medicine, health care, mental and physical health.

But the bible discourages us from focusing on our physical bodies, as the Apostle Paul says here:

For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. ~1 Timothy 4:8

Jesus healed people from physical ailments to show them the power of God to heal them and their sin–not physically, but spiritually; to heal those parts of us that God really cares about, our inner beings. God gives us everything we need to do His will, and that goes for His greatest will of all.

to love Him. ❤

Smitten by God

I have noticed a weird phenomenon for many years now. God smites those who have been mean to me. I know it sounds petty and immature. But that is the simple truth.

The first time I noticed it was around 2016 when a business I had with some other people closed and we had to default on our private loan. The loan was through a notable, kind, elderly Christian couple in what ended up becoming my denomination and my church. I was a new Christian at the time, but I already loved studying the scriptures, and in that time wrote my two books for the LORD, to learn about Him and glorify Him. We (mostly me, working two jobs plus raising my children as a single mom) worked diligently to pay the monthly mortgage to them as they were owner-financing us. This was very gracious of them, to owner-finance us, as we were a group of poor midwives and could not come up with a loan on our own. However, when the business had to be closed, we all met at the lawyer’s office and had our final meeting to sign papers for it to revert back to them. They were going to turn around and sell the building, and all the 6 years of payments I had made were going to go down the drain. We had spent literally 80K dollars improving their building, not to mention appliances and other upgrades. Nevertheless, it was an affable ending between us and the owners, and they were very gracious about us not being able to continue in the terms of the loan. I also lived in an apartment in the building at the time and was going to be displaced, having to find an apartment short notice with a pet. I had loans to pay, and I made a pittance and did not know how I was going to afford to move, live, or take care of my sons. So, I went to the last meeting armed with this bible verse, hoping for mercy on their part:

If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest. ~Exodus 22:25

I nicely suggested to them that the interest that we had paid on the building could possibly come back to us after they had sold it to someone else. I cannot remember exactly what I was pitching but I was open to anything. I think I would have been happy with 10K each, as a gift for improving their building and helping us on our way. I laid out my case before them with my colleagues present (and watching bemusedly), that we had put all of our money, blood, sweat, and tears into that building and that I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to live now. My colleagues were single women at the time as well. The owners listened but declined my request, and even became offended and defensive, saying that paying interest was the term of the loan that we all agreed to, and they were not about to do anything of the sort. I distinctly remember the wife raising her voice to me and becoming angry.

I will also mention that they lived in a large, lovely home with land on the lake which one of the parents had purchased for very little money back in the early 1900’s. I have heard it is a beautiful place. They had plenty of means and were already old by this time. Selling this building to someone else assured them hundreds of thousands of dollars more. I agreed with them about the terms of the loan and that what they were doing was fair and lawful (according to man), and I did not say anything more about it. Immediately after this, I scrambled around and God came through with the perfect apartment for me, the appliances I needed, and I was able to get on food stamps for that time in my life. He miraculously provided everything I needed to raise my sons and live a nice life.

But as we were completing our moving out of the building, the couple stopped in and told us that their daughter had been struck with a very serious illness and was in the hospital, I think in the ICU, and they were not sure she was going to recover. It was very startling because she wasn’t that old at the time, and it was a surprise for everyone. They were distraught about it. But I couldn’t get over the very real feeling that God was punishing them for how they had treated me, and more: for not honoring His word. I think He was showing me that He had my back. I was shocked, but did draw comfort from that form of justice, I will admit, because those days were so hard for me. And no one seemed to care, except Him. I found out after another year or so that the owner was afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.

As time went by and other offenses happened to me, I noticed that some sort-of reckoning would often follow. It always happened relatively quickly, following with days to weeks of their mean behaviors. I came to understand and trust that God grew very angry when people hurt me, and I knew He would take care of it. I do take the bible verse very seriously that says, ‘vengeance is the Lord’s’, and that we are not to return malice with malice. Even if God does not visibly punish my perpetrators, I would not seek vengeance, and indeed, on my journey of sanctification I try to always do good to those who hate me.

I have also noticed that these punishments are stronger for believers (those who profess to know Him and call themselves Christians) who hurt me, versus unbelievers. But this is telling as God chastises those whom He calls sons. And He expects MORE from those who bear His name.

When I first realized this was happening, it reminded me of the horror movie from my childhood, Carrie, by Stephen King and Lawrence Cohen. Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom. Who doesn’t remember this iconic scene?

Except I wasn’t the one doing it. God was.

Another instance occurred in my own son and his wife about a year ago. They grew angry because they thought I had destroyed a figurine from his dying grandmother that was being handed down from his siblings as a sort of fertility idol. It was a big misunderstanding, and I had done nothing wrong (they had misplaced it), but I did admonish them that they should know better than to worship idols and that it was a sin. They responded by literally tracking me down and verbally abusing–even cornering me–like demons will do. I responded as lovingly as I could but was very shaken by this event. These children of mine want babies more than any other my other kids, and now they are struggling with infertility. I think back to their treatment of me and their idolatry, and I know there is a link. I believe that if they would repent, seek forgiveness, and turn to the Lord, He would forgive them and grant them children. But they do not; they are seeking fertility treatment from man (against my advice).

Okay, so in the past few months I have been treated poorly from a brother in Christ who actually became a rare friend of mine. I say ‘rare’ because I don’t let people ‘in’ easily anymore. It takes years for me to be able to open up to folks enough until they actually feel like a friend, and I call them ‘friend’. Regular Christian folks are my brothers and sisters in Christ, but to be my friend is a step above this, and I take it very seriously. I began noticing over time that this brother/friend was spending more and more of his time fraternizing with a pagan physician whose wife his wife worked with. My friend’s wife goes to church but doesn’t necessarily abide in Christ, so she is already at risk for falling away from the Lord. Anyway, they have started spending every week with them, camping with them, going to concerts with them, barbequing with them. Like that has become his main social outlet. I tried to broach this subject with him a couple years ago when it was starting. I told him it wasn’t really biblical to spend more time with unbelievers than believers, that we were called to give most of our time and attention to the brethren. But he disagreed because he saw this family as his mission, to win for Christ. Fast forward two years later and they have become not only his mission but his best friends. I found out that they don’t even take their two kids with them now because he knows it is not a kid-friendly or Christ-friendly environment. They leave their kids with a baby-sitter or grandparent, like on a weekly basis! And he sees nothing wrong with this! The doctor appears no closer to accepting Jesus as his savior than he did two years ago.

So, I gently rebuked my friend for this, reminding him that it wasn’t the right thing for him to be doing, especially in light of leaving his kids behind; that it wasn’t a good example of Christian family life, nor good for the children! He seemed to listen at first, then recovered with his usual explanation: “Jesus spent time with tax collectors and sinners!” To which I refuted, “Yes, but one meeting with Jesus was enough to turn them to His way and make them Christians! They didn’t remain sinners and tax collectors!” The bible clearly says to preach the Word, and if they won’t hear it, to shake the dust off and move on.

But you see his pride is all caught up in this thing now. He refuses to walk away. Once I gave my rebuke, I let it go, but after this chat my friend began distancing himself from me, and even being mean to me, which hurt. I am not sure he was aware of how he was treating me, but I noticed. I gave him some space, and he kept carving out more space. He had told me he was going to help me with a certain project, but he ignored the subject, and I had to find someone else to help me. He was cold and distant. It got to where we were no longer chatting about real things anymore, just superficial things. I would try to keep returning to the former flavor of our friendship, but he wouldn’t budge. I felt slighted. Since I am trying to live a biblical life as much as possible, I employed the bible verse ‘do good to those who hate you’, and one day I told him I was going to pick up his favorite meal for lunch to which he responded as his old friendly self. Then when I went to the restaurant, it had just closed down a few days before! Weird. I took this as a sign from God. I did not end up buying him lunch since my effort flopped. He was nicer to me for a couple days after that, but then reverted back to his distant self. I struggled and was sad. I felt I was losing my friend. But all my efforts to try and grasp it back into existence, failed. I finally sort-of let it go and distanced myself too. I made peace with the fact that my old friend just couldn’t hear my rebuke, and he was too proud and ensnared in this sinful lifestyle to want to do anything about it. I knew that it was going to take a different effort from God to make him see the light.

Then last night this brother texted me that his young son was in the ER, having been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes mellitus! I was so sad for him as this son has been challenging for them. He has always struggled with bad anxiety issues and easily folds under pressure. I went to bed and then when I woke up, I remembered God’s curse to those who are mean to me. I was like, WOAH. It’s sort-of scary actually. This punishment phenomenon makes me see Him as the mighty God He is and reminds me He is to be feared.

I should not be surprised though, because the bible tells us He will do this:

You must not bow down to them or worship idols that you have placed over me, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. ~Deuteronomy 5:9

I am not God, but I bring the word of God to people to try and convict them of their sin. And in that way, I guess God holds them accountable.

I have found there is a fine line between friends and enemies. Someone might be your friend today and your enemy tomorrow. Thankfully, Jesus takes the ambiguity out of it and tells us to treat everyone, friend and enemy, with love.

Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, because their fathers did the same to the false prophets. But I say to you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. to him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him to takes away your goods do not ask them back. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. ~Luke 6:26-31

I find I serve Him best by treating fellow believers as brothers and sisters in Christ, not friends. I find that people cannot sustain my level of friendship very long, and it ends up breaking down, which is hard on me. I would rather devote my time and energy to God. ❤

Were Job’s Children Incestuous?

And his sons feasted in the house of each one on his day (1). And they sent and called their three sisters to eat and to drink with them (2). And it happened, when the days of feasting (3) had gone around, Job would send and sanctify them. And he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt sacrifices according to all their number. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. This Job always did. ~Job 1:4-5

Job’s sons sinned in at least 3 ways in this opening chapter of the story of Job. To feast ‘on his day’ meant to celebrate his own birthday, which was not done by God’s people. Celebrating birthdays was a pagan practice. They sent for their sisters to eat and drink with them. The word for drink here connotes ‘drunk’ or ‘drunkard’, which was admonished in the Old Testament. Finally, feasting was a sin if not done specifically on one of the holy days set apart in the oral Torah. Job, being a righteous and blameless man, offered sacrifice for each of his children in case they sinned or also cursed God in their hearts.

It makes me wonder what else Job’s sons and his daughters did together. I think this passage implies that they might have practiced incest with each other because if you are partying unlawfully with food and imbibing excessive drink with serial sinful feasts, why would you not also commit sexual immorality?

Interestingly, the story only states that Job’s sons were killed when their house fell on them, not his daughters. Just as his wife also was never harmed.

Job was a lone man serving God. He had more riches than anyone which made him the ‘greatest son of the east’. Yet he appears to have had no one near him, family or friends, who believed in or worshiped YHWH as he did. Job is an example for us of loneliness, suffering, and God’s redemption.

Physical Illness is Really Moral Illness

My mind has been blown by this revelation. I came to it after writing my previous post, Mental Illness is Really Moral Illness. What happened is that as I was pondering the primary reason for mans’ problems stemming from sin, I realized that we cannot exclude physical problems from that as well. It has been suggested by Christian practitioners that at the root of most physical disorders which send people to seek medical care is sin manifested as unbiblical lifestyle choices which become habits. Then I remembered Jesus said this:

When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ~Matthew 9:12

Jesus provided both physical and emotional healing, along with casting out demons. He intimated that the mind and body were both sick from sin. Those who ‘are well’ would have been those who were not living in sin.

Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked…Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you”. The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ~John 5:8-9, 14-15

Wow.

Of course, sin is not always the reason for physical, or mental, sickness. Sometimes God allows a body to become ill to illustrate His glory or for His purpose which we cannot understand.

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus,“but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ~John 9:1-3

I know it is a bold to say that physical illness is moral illness. But the physical and mental aspects of man are two sides of the same coin, which comprise the body of man, and Jesus did not differentiate the two. Indeed, He addressed the person and their sin-state as a whole.

While alive, man’s body also contains his soul, and that is his spirit that does separate from the body when it dies. The soul is the fuel that causes us to live. I call it encapsulated antimatter. But that is for another blog post.

I guess somewhere along the way, man separated the two primary aspects of his body into physical and mental entities, and in so doing, made things more complicated than they needed to be. And he also besieged God’s domain further by prescribing new etiologies, diagnoses, and treatments for the sick or diseased state of man. But back in ancient times, man understood he was one being, and that sin was the reason he was sick.

We have lost this knowledge. That is why we worship doctors and psychiatrists. They are just modern-day philosophers plying their trades in innovative ways to trick man into idolizing the devil, who is the ruler of this world. The Apostle Paul warned us about being ‘taken captive by philosophy and empty deceit’:

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. ~Colossians 2:6-15

Paul makes it clear for us that when we accept Jesus as our Savior, He dwells bodily with us, and we are physically changed (through circumcision of our heart) and made alive in the flesh through faith in Christ. In other words, we are made well; we are healed.

We are not just made new in our minds, but in our bodies as well

You cannot separate the two aspects that make up man, because these aspects are part of the same flesh. Jesus is the healer of both body and mind. That is why He merely needed to speak to people and they were healed of physical and mental ailments. Sometimes He did lay hands on them, and sometimes He gave them a prescription. But everyone who sincerely sought Him was healed.

We are wasting our time with modern medicine. It is a complete waste of time. It is unholy, unbiblical, and idolatrous. Think about how much time, effort, money, and lives are lost within it.

I think about chronic diseases such as lung cancer, heart disease, diabetes, intestinal problems, obesity, liver disease, etc., and the causes are mostly sinful: smoking, consuming wrong foods and fluids, gluttony, slothfulness, etc. High blood pressure is caused by an elevated body mass index, clogged arteries, or stress, all of which are predominately related to sinful habits. Acute diseases such as infections are often also caused by sin, including sexual immorality. They can also occur for lack of implementing God’s word in our lives, even those rules put forth in the Old Testament which we don’t think apply to us anymore, such as not eating pork, eliminating mold from your house, secluding yourself when you are sick, avoiding incest and sexual immorality, or testing the Lord your God which can lead to accidents and injuries.

Man’s whole bent is to try and dissociate himself from sin. If he labels his problems as disease, categorizes them in distinct units, and separates them from the greater whole, he can point to an object (diagnosis) to blame for his problem, and distance himself from its primary root cause, sin. In other words, he can shirk his responsibility for sin and blame something else. This form of evil was the outcome of original sin, and goes all the way back to the Garden!

As I wrote previously, God is the only Healer. Life and death are His domain and He should be given the glory and honor of this. We should not seek out man to do for us what God says He will do. We should not seek to change God’s will for our lives via manly means. Christians are duped by each other and the world into this false doctrine that modern medicine and health care are biblical. They are not biblical, but evil, at their core.

But God is merciful and in His mercy He does provide healing for us, but only through His unique son, Jesus! And for true healing, you need a Christian who has been given the gift of healing. ❤