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Benedict of Nursia, Christianity, contemplation, deception, discerning the spirits, dying to self, experience, false gospel, false teachers, fame, following Jesus, Francis of Assisi, Jesus Christ, Joel Osteen, John of the Cross, Joyce Meyer, Lester Sumrall, mediation, Michael Clark, mystics, Resisting the Devil, riches, sacraments, Satan, success, Teresa of Ávila, the cross, worldly spirits, ZEN, Zig Ziglar
Photo by Susanne Schuberth
I just did a short research on the internet that left me quite frustrated, at least regarding the Christian notion of small things and big things. It has been quite obvious to me that this world is all about recognition, fame, money, fulfilling all your dreams and the pursuit of happiness through sensual pleasures. However, reading the views of famous and successful Christians (aha!), you could find several instructions and to-do lists on how to ”pray for the big things” (Joel Osteen) or the advice that ”spending time with God through prayer and His Word is a prerequisite for having a great life and fulfilling your purpose” (Joyce Meyer). The latter also said that, “I can tell you from experience that God’s help and presence in our lives is vital. He is the Author of all true success and everything that is good-without Him, we can do nothing of true value.” The problem with what these famous Christian preach and teach is that they sometimes offer a great deal of truth mixed with a tiny amount of lies. That can be really tricky at times as you might see when you read Joel Osteen’s whole quote that says, “I don’t think you should spend your life praying for things, but I do believe you should thank God for what He’s given you… but I think the scripture teaches us that we can pray for our dreams, pray for the big things… he’s not a small God; this God is incredible” (Emphasis in red is my suggestion of the little lies in these two quotes here).
Enough about the prosperity gospel preachers! In fact, I was just interrupted by a phone call which was quite thought-provoking for me. I learned that someone who has got stressed out with their everyday life (too much work, studies, and family activities) planned to attend a weekend seminar which offers an introduction into ‘Christian’ contemplation at a monastery. I put ‘Christian’ in quotes here since I found out that there were well-meaning Benedictine monks who did not know which spirit they were of as they mixed Asian Zen meditation with that which their founder, Benedict of Nursia, taught from his own contemplative experiences with the Holy Spirit working inside him. It seems to me it has been the same with any of these movements, whether their founders were Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Ávila, John of the Cross, or even Martin Luther. There was always one person who had genuine experiences with God who felt nudged or urged to share them through their writings or through communication by speech. If their listeners and readers did not share the same Holy Spirit, they tried to continue in the flesh what had begun in the Spirit by creating religious principles and methods that seemed to be reasonable. Furthermore, they chose to rely on dogma and doctrine that satisfies human intellect or they sought salvation from their miserable condition by putting their confidence in visible and tangible things like sacraments or singing hymns which can bring forth some ‘religious’ feelings in our souls. Far from the idea to judge that behavior, I asked God during that phone call about what to DO or SAY here. God only answered, “I care!” My job was simply to pray two or three words, maybe a bit more. 😉 Also, I was just reminded of what Paul had written.
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” (1 Tim 2:1-6 ESV)
It is relieving for me to surrender my idea of having to ‘save’, or at least warn, other people who have not yet come to a knowledge of God in Jesus Christ through my own words and doing(s). “Pray, and leave the rest up to me,” was what God once told me. His truth is always so simple. He does not make things complicated by burdening us with long speeches and addresses, either. God is truly a Man of few words, as Michael Clark often says. I know I wrote about this and other things before, however, I believe it is important to see that an inner voice that tries to convince us of truths we cannot grasp due to their complexity and confusedness cannot have originated in a genuine divine source. Instead, the author of confusion and an overworked mind is always Satan! If you look for an easy way to get confused (I am not really kidding here), you merely need to follow a (Christian) motivational speaker’s advice like this one, “If you can dream it, then you can achieve it. You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.” (Zig Ziglar) Or look at this quote by a former Pentecostal ‘apostle’,
“Don’t let environment get to you, we are the creators of environment, we are not the partakers of environment. We are not what the rest of the people are around us, we are what God made us to be. Our world is a place of environment and we all try to blend into environment, except God’s people; and we don’t blend we create, we are the light of the world and anything that needs to brighten up needs us. I am glad we are to be part and parcel of what God is doing in the earth today” (Dr. Lester Sumrall)
Not yet confused? Just rereading the last quote several times might help… 😉 Indeed, Lester Sumrall could easily be mistaken for having been a real Christian because he was a very smart guy who taught and preached Christian truth, too. Satan’s subtle lies are not that obvious to recognize in his case. But whoever has received Christ’s anointing won’t be easily deceived by any famous name because the anointing always warns us immediately when we have to do with the wrong spirits. My problem often is that I know (read perceive) at once when something is wrong about someone, but it needs a much longer time until I have received a both compelling and evident confirmation from God I can finally share with others.
I do not really know how I got off on this track as to discerning the spirits of ‘Christian’ names and leaders, but I guess there might be a reason why God led me this way. Originally, didn’t I plan to write about how to meet God in our daily lives? 😉 Well, let me say it this way, by paraphrasing my old mystical friend Teresa of Ávila whose quote can be found at my kitchen cabinet (but only in German). She said,
“Don’t forget that God is there between your pots and pans. He remains steadfastly on your side, ready to support you in any inner and outer task.”
It seems to me the lesson today is to seek God’s help and advice more than man’s. Even we as Christians can be easily led astray when we allow ourselves to be blinded by success that expresses itself in numbers, by impressive worldly or religious titles, and even by what other Christians might tell us haphazardly. A group of people can be very convincing, right? If you are the only one who senses that there is something wrong, you need a lot of staying power to resist other believers’ often both logical and scriptural arguments. This power to resist the devil and to endure must come from the Holy Spirit as we particularly see when we look at Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. As He went to the cross, He was all alone. Let us also take up our crosses daily and die to our old self’s tendency to belong… to this world…. to an acknowledged Christian community…. in fact, to anything or anyone else but Jesus Christ.
Susanne, what is wrong with the heart of what these false teachers put forth is that they have MAN as supreme and they have made God out to be a genie in their bottle that they can rub just the right way and get whatever they want, popping out and saying, “Yes, master, what can I do for you?” The “power of positive thinking” does not come from minds that are surrendered to God. James was addressing this humanistic mindset where man is in control of his own destiny when he wrote,
Come now, you that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas you know not what shall be tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. For you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now you rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. (Jas 4:13-16, KJ2000)
For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ… Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams (KJV – “filthy dreamers”), defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones… Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. (Jude 1:3-13, ESV2011)
Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities …As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’ (Rev 18:4-7, ESV2011)
This is the final state of the apostate church and we have a choice to follow Christ and take up our crosses or to follow men who put their trust in riches. The sheep are being separated from the goats even now.
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Thank you for your affirming comment and Scriptures, Michael.
Indeed, the cross makes all the difference between the true follower of Christ in the Spirit and the imitation that only seems to have His Spirit. In case of these prosperity preachers, it becomes obvious when you look at their lifestyle that has been fed by their sheep’s ‘wool and fat’ (read money).
I believe it is more difficult to discern a wrong follower of Christ when they are more lowly in behavior and appearance. And what is much worse is when you meet someone who imitates a real Christian by proclaiming the (real) truth he never experienced on his own. You know this ‘imitation-revelation-strong-willed-power-seeker’ who grasps divine truths on a mere intellectual level (paraphrasing T. Austin Sparks here). These men and women are VERY difficult to make out! 🙄
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It is a heart condition that God looks at. “This people draw close to me with their mouths, but their hearts are from me.” “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Often just checking out a person’s blog shows where their REAL interest lies. But we have also been given the gift of the discerning of spirits and that is what we have to rely on in many of these cases.
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Yes, these Scriptures nailed it, Michael. A blog check as you said above is often the easier way to find out that something stinks. 😉 But without a blog, or even without someone speaking or writing, we truly need the gift of discerning the spirits which is directly connected with sharing God’s heart, i.e., His view of man’s heart we normally do not and cannot know.
What I just said might sound a bit strange to some. In fact, I was thinking about the subtle but strong perception that there is something wrong about a person BEFORE they open their mouth, even before you have seen them for the first time. God gives us such warnings while we are being finetuned by Him. Not fun to FEEL this, but necessary so that we avoid being misled by the wrong spirits.
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Susanne, I know that you have experienced many an occasion where you have felt the Spirit warning you and like many of us, suffered on occasion the consequence of not taking heed to His warning. Your spiritual senses have been “exercised to discern both good and evil.” You have heard Him say,
“Don’t go this way. Go that way.”
“Avoid that person.”
“Don’t accept that person’s comments on your blog. They have a deceiving spirit.”
As I wrote this I thought of what John wrote about Jesus along this same line. Our Lord was extreme about distrust for our fellow man according to our normal way of thinking!
Jesus even distrusted “believers!” I think it is in our basic human nature to want to believe people at face value, especially when they present themselves as Christians. Eve believed a talking serpent that the fruit he offered her would make her wise and “like God” if she ate it. Jesus knew that “in man” is the fallen nature of Adam. Mankind is “snake bit” and infected with a deceptive nature and an equal capacity to be deceived. Paul warned Timothy about this very thing.
The deception of man just keeps getting worse and we can see the fruit of it more and more in this world and even in Christian circles with the rise of false teachers, false prophets and false apostles. This is a time to closely heed what Paul wrote to the Ephesians,
Thank you for your timely warning in this blog article, dear sister,
Michael ⭐ 👍 ⭐
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You’re very welcome as to the warning, Michael. Since you said it was ‘timely’. it made me wonder why…? 😉
The last verses from Ephesians directly spoke to my spirit. It seems God nudged you to share them with me, both as a confirmation and in order to strengthen me to keep commenters from posting their seemingly reasonable and intellectual but misleading stuff on my blog. As you could already see, the more rigid I got by listening to God’s guidance regarding this issue, the less blogger likes I get. To be honest, the natural Susanne does not like it. But whenever someone comes to my blog and gives me likes without having read what I posted, I do not like that, either. 🙂
Your sister and friend in Him,
Susanne 🐱
PS
Yes! Sometimes I think Jesus had no real friends unless He did miracles. And even then, they did not love Him but the miracles He performed before their eyes, the visible and tangible blessings He gave them. Also, if we as His disciples share His heart, we won’t have many real friends, either. Only a handful, if at all…
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Susanne, I think that what you wrote and what I commented form a timely warning for believers because of all these carnal ministries out there that perpetrate doctrines of demons and pander to the flesh. I am suspect of any blog or website that features a “donate” button or PayPal. I also find suspect these people that heap to themselves degrees and titles that they may lord over the body of Christ. Notice our dear brother, T. Austin-Sparks. He never calls himself, “Dr. T. Austin-Sparks” or Reverend T. Austin-Sparks” or “Apostle T. Austin-Sparks, etc., but he saw himself as a brother in Christ to the rest of us. Yet, I have never read anyone’s contemporary writings that are more anointed than his.
Basically, most contemporary Christian authors appeal to the flesh with formulas on how to have a happier life, become rich and prosperous, move up the ladder in the church or in business, how to grow your church (in numbers), how to exploit your “giftedness,” etc…. ANYTHING, but the flesh killing CROSS! Like Jesus said, “Many will come in my name saying I am the Christ and they will deceive many.” These people do not claim that THEY are the Christ, but rather they use HIS name and words and weave them in with their lies to deceive the people and get a following.
Yes, I felt that that passage from Ephesians was for you as an encouragement, dear sister. Jesus amassed great crowds around Him by His miracles, but He also turned them off with His words because they went right to the middle of their carnal, greedy hearts seeking fleshly comforts. The true gospel of Christ is a sword that separates soul from spirit then it kills the preeminence of the soul over the spirit. Most people don’t have a clue as to what part of them is soul and what part is spirit and they think that both are one and completely good in them. But we read in Paul’s letter that the flesh (soul) wars against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and this war keeps us from doing the things of the Lord under HIS Spirit. The flesh has to die. Out from our old nature comes no good thing and apart from Him we can do nothing.
Preaching the gospel of the cross of Christ will not win us any popularity contests or win our blogs awards from the world system. Someone said that A.W. Tozer preached on every major Christian platform in America, never to be invited back again. THIS is the sign that the Spirit is speaking through us. Jesus put it this way,
Bless you, my dear sister. God is with you,
Michael ❤
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Dear Michael,
Thank you so much for saying that God is with me. That means A LOT to me! 😊
Reading your well written comment, I can only say that I wholeheartedly agree with all you said.
May God keep blessing you, my brother! God is with you, too!!
Susanne ❤
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Yes, you’re so right about the rich and successful preachers who mix subtle lies with the truth and enrich themselves. But when it comes to discernment itself, please consider that the deceiver can counterfeit that also. We have to live by faith and the goal is not to be right but the goal is to love. I can have the discernment to read every heart but without love I’m as blind as a bat. I know a person who believes she has that gift of reading hearts and feels it’s her mission to tell other people what’s wrong with them, hurting people in their relationship with God, Who deals with us intimately and privately. That seems to me to be a case of ungodly discernment that doesn’t come from God. Just an extreme example of what can happen when discernment, not love, becomes the goal and we get too focused on charisms.
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Dear Nancy,
You are absolutely right here. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us! Without love, any gift is worth nothing. I do know that Satan counterfeits everything!!
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Wonderful.
“‘Pray, and leave the rest up to me,’ was what God once told me.”
Thanks for sharing, Susanne.
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You are very welcome, David. I need to admit that it is easier said than done since I rather want to do something. 😉
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Ha.I knooooow the feeling. 🙂
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🙂
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https://enteringthepromisedland.wordpress.com/2017/02/03/small-things-and-big-things-or-how-to-meet-god-in-everyday-life/comment-page-1/#comment-15953
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This comment made me wonder, Michael…? What did you mean by this link? 🙄
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I just ask that you read it again and see if the Holy Spirit speaks to you through it.
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I reread it since I did not know what to do else 😉 and answered you here, Michael.
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It’s a trap easy to fall into, that praying is not doing…
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Amen, Louise. It is easy to stumble into this trap. To me, NOT speaking can be just as difficult as NOT doing. Even if I think I KNOW the truth, it is not my job to tell others about it unless all happens in His timing. Waiting on God, you know, not always that easy… 😉
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The flesh is impulsive. We see a brother or sister locked in an error and we want to run right in and fix it. But God often shows us these things to get us to pray for them, then maybe after much intercession HE might provide the occasion to say something to them in HIS timing and not ours. Often that timing comes when THEY ask YOU what you think about their situation. I really think that this is what is meant by the phrase “you who are spiritual” in this verse…
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.” (Gal 6:1, KJ2000)
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Amen, Michael. This Scripture fits perfectly! ⭐
Our flesh cannot grasp God’s guidance that urges us in one case time to lock the door against some persons and only pray for them, to speak up boldly before other people, to remain silent regarding those persons of whom we clearly see they are wrong, and finally to let the door open as to other believers who seemingly fell prey to similar errors the first group did (the ones we had to shut out). All these things might have to do with how God’s sees people and their hearts. He alone knows His plan and we, honestly, know nothing about it.
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Read todays post from New Zealand by T Austin Sparks 02/06/17–it says it all!
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I read this devotional and the article related last night before going to bed and, indeed, it fits like a glove! Thanks for the reminder, Ken. 🙂
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Susanne, my dear sister in Christ.
I read your blog again and something else jumped out at me. That passage you quoted in 1 Timothy ch. 2 about praying for kings and those in authority and how it is very specific on what we are to pray!
Paul did not say that we are to pray for the protection of world rulers or the establishment of their administrations or their health, or that they would carry out the right political solution to all our worldly problems, etc. which is always how I have heard this passage interpreted.
NO! Paul was not interested in the kingdoms of men in his emphasis here or anywhere else, but rather the establishment and safety of the KINGDOM OF GOD that we who belong to that kingdom might lead lives in the peace and tranquility in all godliness and holiness. I being one, have to admit that most American Christians are political and put their hopes in the kingdoms of men more than in Jesus Christ and HIS kingdom.
When I started out as a “born again” Christian in 1968, I came into this life with a lot of baggage and great part of that baggage was right wing politics. My experience in the Vietnam War made me a political reactionary to say the least. Well, part of my salvation was God saving me from looking to the kingdoms of men for my help instead of to the kingdom of God and Jesus Christ as my ONLY Lord and Savior.
How to meet God in every day life? The Kingdom of God is found where Jesus Christ is King and that must first be in our hearts.
This might come as a shock to many of our readers, but Jesus Christ is not an American, nor does He elevate this nation above any other nation on earth. He is the same Christ that told the worldly ruler that was about to condemn Him that HIS KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD (Grk. kosmos – world system)! The Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah when He refuse to be their worldly king and insisted that He came to suffer and die. Do Christians today reject Him for the same reason when they put their hopes in carnal men and their governments?
Thank you, Susanne, once again for your inspiring blog post,
Michael ⭐ 🐻 ⭐
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You’re very welcome, Michael. I think your explanations of the Kingdom of God are very good! ⭐
I was just reminded that I wrote a blog post about this particular Scripture in Timothy before (if you like, see here). Prayer is so crucial, more than anything else we might do since through prayer we show that we trust more in God than in ourselves. With this “old” blog post of mine in mind (I just reread it briefly), I can say that I never pray for rulers nor for other people unless I sense the God wants me to do this. And that happens not that often… Of course, I pray for others as they ask me to do so, but I cannot help but perceive when He hears these prayers and when He doesn’t answer them.
What made me grin in your comment was your remark about Jesus not being an American… 🙂 Yes, sometimes I too wondered why the States thought they were a Christian nation. That is at least the way it comes across in German media. But also in Germany I heard them say that our country here was built on a Christian fundament, on Christian principles, that is. From the outside it might seem as if that was true, but reality shows in the States, in Germany, and in every ‘Christian’ nation that it is NOT the truth. Where Christ reigns, there is peace, righteousness (justice), unconditional love, joy, etc. This condition can only be experienced in the Kingdom of God, in fellowship with one another when we let Christ be our Head and follow His guidance. Can this be found anywhere in this world to a greater extent? I doubt it.
Susanne 🐱
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Susanne, I can see that the Germans could point to Luther as to there claim of having a “Christian” foundation and history. Americans like to point to Washington, Jefferson, Adams and the other founding fathers as being Christians, which they did claim to be, but many of them were also into Free Masonry and that is a satanic cult! It is not hard to find Masonic symbols even in the founding buildings of our nations capital and masonic and satanic symbols in the way the streets are laid out.
https://www.google.com/search?q=masonic+symbols+in+washington+dc&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjf5tGbjIHSAhXFEpQKHbL8AE8QsAQIGw&biw=1296&bih=609
So, if our two nations are so Christian, why is it that we have engaged in so many wars to conquer and kill? What was done by our army and people to the American Indians would rival what was done to the Jews under the Nazis, (massacres of native men, women and children, germ warfare, forced marches in the winter, starvation, and finally herding them onto reservations on barren lands that were useless to our industrialists at the time). Finally, our two “Christian nations” engaged in a “holy” war against one another, each one calling on the clergy to bless our troops as we sent them off to kill one another. Yup! Sound “Christian” to me! I guess our churches only refer to the words of Jesus when they back up our private and national agendas. You know, the same Jesus that said,
They quote the words of Edmond Burke as if they are from the scriptures, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Never mind that Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone.”
Do we always know what spirit WE are of?
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Michael, I did a search on these satanic symbols years ago and I believe we can find them all over the world where money and power are ‘at home’. Even our Lord Jesus Christ was tempted/invited by Satan in the wilderness to receive power and wealth from him instead of listening to God’s more subtle voice that called Jesus to a life of seeming insignificance regarding worldly matters. From hence, it is no surprise that there is no Christian ‘super power’ in this world.
My brother, I do hope and pray that God gives us His wisdom to always discern His voice from Satan’s and the strength to resist the devil whenever he tries to win us over, through other ‘Christians’, for instance, which happens quite often as we both know.
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Yes, dear sister, Satan can come at us in many forms and through many people. May we hear God’s voice of warning always, and not be drawn away by our own fleshly desires for that is what Satan uses.
“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (Jas 1:13-15, ESV2011)
But two or more walking together in Christ’s light is a formidable bulwark against the wiles of the devil.
I appreciate your God given insight and input, dear Susanne. ⭐
Michael 🐻
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I highly appreciate your God given contribution, Michael. ⭐
It appears to me that God gives us insights that are often complementary so that no part of the Body of Christ can say, “I’ve got it all and therefore others must listen to ME alone.” Big temptation for Christian leaders…
Every blessing,
Susanne 🐱
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Susanne, you bring up a good point about Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. I can see in that instance why Satanic symbols are found everywhere that money and power are to be found; These are the brand of the one behind the powerful,
And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. (Luke 4:5-6, ESV2011)
All the kingdoms of this world have been given over to Satan who is the prince of this world. Christians who think they can infiltrate and change governments under Satan are delusional. In the end THEY are the ones who will be changed. “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” is an adage that has been proven over and over again. It happened to Saul, to David, Jehoshaphat, even the best kings of Israel were corrupted by worldly power, how much more the ungodly leaders we have in the earth today?
Here is an very interesting treatise I found on the net on how this happens…
http://acton.org/pub/religion-liberty/volume-2-number-6/power-corrupts
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Yes, this treatise nails it, Michael. The soul that is not submitted to God will always become corrupt when given any power over other people, whether in this world or in this-worldly oriented churches.
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Wow, thanks for sharing that! Pray for leaders that…!!!
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Louise, it seems to me you might given Michael the confirmation to make a blog post out of his comments on here, Lord willing! 😉
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I am still praying for His leading regarding another blog article. Right now I am ambivalent about it. It is easy for me to share these things in a conversational format like this comment thread on your blog, but to make an article out of what I share with you seems two dimensional to me at this time.
I think it has something to do with this thing we call “fellowship in the Spirit” and body life.
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I believe you are right, Michael.
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