1. Put everything into one
pot
2. Apply heat
3. As the contents of the pot
heat the pure substance sinks to the bottom while the impurities rise to the
top.
4. The impurities are then
skimmed off so that the pure of the wanted substance can be obtained.
We can see that in the
formation of our nation, the Biblical purity of the Judeo/Christian principals
were what was used as the basis for our laws, liberties, our rights and the
formation of our government system. The
impurities were skimmed off, and the United States was created. Since the God of the Bible was so
instrumental in our founding, we can see why Satan is so determined to destroy
us.
“Satan is the personification of wickedness. Satan, the Jetzer Hara (evil impulse), and
the Angel of death are all one.”[1] The Talmud explains that we should never
rebuke Satan on our own, but to call on God Almighty to rebuke him. Through Christ we are given the authority to
rebuke Satan in the name of Jesus.
Again, from the Talmud, Satan can only be in one place at a time and
therefore must have many emissaries to do his bidding, and that good angels
accompany the righteous and evil angels the wicked.
“Satan has three functions: he seduces men, he accuses them
before God, he inflicts the punishment of death.”[2]
“The forces of good and evil (God and Satan) are at work around us at all
times. It is hard, sometimes, to rebuke
the subtle forces around us in order to do the right thing. We must keep the word of God constantly in
our hearts, in order to allow the Holy Spirit to triumph. If we should slip, we have the knowledge that
our mistakes are covered by the Blood of Jesus.”[3]
“You can’t get rid of sin if
you treat it like a creampuff instead of a rattlesnake.”[4]
When you are confronted with truth versus fiction: choose
truth. As I have said before, the
difference between ignorance and stupidity is that ignorance is the lack of
information and stupidity is the lack of ability to use information. In the movie “Forest Gump” he said, “stupid
is as stupid does”. It is my opinion
that ignorance is not acceptable to the Lord and that most stupidity is self
induced. He didn’t design us to be
stupid and even supplied us with all the knowledge we needed about Him, in the
Bible. He gave us the scriptures to point
out our ignorance and sent Jesus to give us a way to overcome our
stupidity.
Satan is not stupid.
Over his long existence he has gained a lot of knowledge, and the
ability to use it. He has been around
longer than you, seen more than you,
knows the Bible better than you, and knows you better than you do. He knows your desires and your
weaknesses. He, most times, will not
tempt you with something that is obviously and blatantly against what you know
to be wrong. He will look for any
opening to entice you with something that, on the surface, looks good, but is
not the best that God has for you. Once
he has done this enough times, and you are used to being seduced in this manner,
he will move on to bigger things, and other methods.
We need to flee from Satan’s three favorite types of sinful
temptation: idolatry, sexual
immorality/youthful lusts, and greed.
Anything can become an idol if we place it above God in importance. Fornication is the act of sex before marriage
while adultery is the same act after marriage, when performed with someone
other than your spouse. One of the main
reasons you don’t commit fornication and adultery is that The Lord said He
would never leave you or forsake you[5]; do you really want to
drag the Holy Spirit into a bawdy house?
Desire for your spouse is not lust; its righteous, God approved,
yearning. Greed could be said to be an
inordinate desire for more. The Lord
said He would supply all of our needs; is this not enough. I have heard it said that he who dies with
the most toys wins. Build your wealth in
heavenly things rather than earthly toys.
As I heard Billy Graham say; I have never seen a hearse pulling a U-haul
trailer to the graveyard.
It was a premeditated act when Jesus cleared out the temple. He had stopped and made a whip out of chords
before He attacked. This is a prime
example of righteous indignation. When
you see a wrong that is hurting God’s people, such as the apostate church or
turning God’s house into a sales convention, it is an act of righteous
indignation (anger) to act against that indignation like Jesus did. It is our duty to fight and disrupt the Devil
when he attempts to fight and disrupt the will of God.
It was easier when we were kids to recognize good and
evil. In the cowboy movies (generally
speaking), the good guys wore the white hats and the bad guys wore the black
hats. Today people who sit on the fence,
instead of making a decision for one side or the other, are wearing grey
hats. Indecision is not the Lord’s will,
and grey hats represent indecision[6]. If you come to the Lord, He will lift you off
of the fence. If you stay on the fence
or fall off the fence, you will be lost[7]. We are offered the choice of life or
death. Please choose life: I would
rather spend eternity, in Heaven, with you, than without you.
Jesus said He did not come to abolish the law, but to
fulfill the law[8]. He also said He did not come to condemn the
world, but to save it[9]. You are part of the world he came to save[10]. Satan would rather have you continue to sit
on the fence or fall off of it. Jesus
does not condemn you, but Satan does[11].
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