Bible, NT-20, Spiritual Warfare: Part 2

Bible, NT-20, Spiritual Warfare

Part 2

LESSON 20

SPIRITUAL WARFARE – IT’S BENEFITS & DANGERS

PART 2

By Rev. G. Evan Newmyer

We war against spirits, we cast out devils, yet there are times when casting out a spirit seems the same. A devil is an entity, often an unclean spirit is an attitude or condition picked up by people from demonic influences. There was a woman who suffered from the spirit of infirmity some eighteen years (Luke 13:11-14); she was “bowed”, or bound by this thing, then Jesus “loosed” her, He didn’t bind the spirit, or loose the spirit, He loosed the woman (Luke 13:12). Jesus didn’t cast the devil out of her, yet it shows she had a “spirit”. She is what we would call a hypochondriac, she felt comfortable being sick, yet she hated sickness. Some people feel comfortable in self-pity, yet they hate it. They have a “spirit” or a strong attitude based on a lust seeking self-pity to gain attention. There are others who are so starved for attention they make up stories to get people to pay attention to them.

Jesus knew her problem was binding her; of course this was the Sabbath, causing the religious rulers to have a fit. Jesus told them, “ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, who Satan has Bound, lo, these eighteen years, be Loosed from this Bond on the sabbath day?” (Luke 13:16). It wasn’t Satan in her, but Satan who bound her, thus Satan did the binding, Jesus the Loosing. Not only do we find the correct application of Binding and Loosing, but we find the concept of “spirits” defined in this case as Satan the slanderer planting a binding thought in this woman. She used it, then it became a ruler over her, thus trapping her thinking. She was just as bound as if she had fifty devils, but devils weren’t her problem, her thinking was, thus when she accepted the thought, it became a governing entity. This is also true with unbelief, being bitter, or any of the rulers of darkness, they bind the mind to produce a spirit about the person.

It may seem strange at first, but we know there are people who have a spirit about them, yet they are not possessed; they nonetheless have an obvious wrong or evil attitude governing them. It would be easier if they were demon possessed, dealing with “spirits” is more difficult than casting out devils. Not an impossible task, but it’s a much easier to say, “come out”, then discern the root of a thought process binding someone. This is not a time for carnal psychology, it’s far too lacking, this area takes the Manifestation of the Spirit. There is no soul able to heal another soul, no tare planter is going to help us with our tares, no natural mind is going to show us the spiritual side of things, no formula is going to help us through this process, only the Spirit of Truth can guide us on this path of Righteousness.

However, before we go there we have to look at these “spirits”, and get an idea of how the Balaam types, Jezebel types, and other elements can invade a body. They are not “the devil of Balaam”, but the “spirit of Balaam”, they are mindsets, or attitudes forming the outward expression of the personality of the person, something detected, but not seen with the physical eye. This is a warfare with fronts, if we are faced with a Balaam or Jezebel how do we deal with them? On the other hand if the spirit is part of us, how do we become free indeed? All good questions, the Key is first and foremost to ask for and receive the Wisdom of God, then apply it as God intends.

To define some of these spirits in a general sense we continue on:

False Freedom which is Bondage, using false liberty to place others in bondage (II Pet 2:1, 2:19-20 & I Pet 2:16). False teachers promise us freedom, but we never seem to find it.

Deaf and dumb, ears refusing to hear, eyes refusing to see, a mouth cursing man while praising God (James 3:9 & 1:19-23). John says some say they walk in the Light, yet hate (slander and come against) their brother, they are in darkness and “know not where they go, because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (I Jn 2:11). These are antichrist, they refuse to walk in Mercy, but claim Grace.

Fear – whether its a fear of man, or fear of what man will think, it’s still fear (Prov 29:25 & I Thess 3:2), we have not been given the spirit of fear, which means we neither use it on others, or allow it to be used on us. Fear is a ruler, it governs the actions of the world.

Jealousy – jealousy and envy are sisters, Jealousy is a fear of losing something we think we possess, envy is wanting something someone else has, but a lust to envy is not willing to walk the same path to get what the other person has. Jealousy is also a ruler of darkness, it will destroy rather than give up what it thinks it has (Gen 4:8), it uses wrath (Gen 4:5), revenge (Prov 6:34), lusts for competition (Gen 4:4-5), brings variance (division – II Cor 10:11-15). It uses insinuating circumstances, sets a snare with false circumstantial evidence.

Pride is the basis for the Judas mindset (attitude), it connects to Balaam and Jezebel; Balaam was unteachable until he saw his life was in danger; Balaam is an example of the misuse of an office. Jezebel points to using emotions against others, or being self-appointed. Balaam was a prophet of God, the man never gave a false prophecy, but his attitude and goals were nonetheless greed driven. Peter used Balaam as an example of one who is presumptuous, or assumes God will honor whatever he does based on having a position. There are those who speak to make God perform for them, thinking if they are pleased, so is God. Pride is a ruler of darkness, it’s Principality is control. It is self-willed, with a self-righteous motivation. Jezebel was self-appointed, she was not a Jew, but she married one to become a queen based on the marriage. She would do whatever it took to make herself seem superior, even threatening the prophets of God. Jezebel controlled the emotions of others, even to the point she caused the prophet of God to run.

Ego and Pride are sisters, their brother Arrogance runs hand in hand with them, the old man is the protector of egos, he inflates the ego with arrogance. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Ego and Pride sneak into the event to steal the glory from God, setting itself up as king, while rejecting humbleness. The phrase “pride of life” means “self-confidence”, or confidence in the self, removing confidence in God. The pride of life ranks among the three main rulers of darkness, joined to the lust of the eye and the lust of the flesh. There is no “good pride”, no where do we find the Father saying, “This is My beloved Son in Whom I am so proud”, neither do we find the Son saying, “My Father is proud of Me”, nor do we find Jesus saying, “I cast out devils with precision and I’m proud of it”, neither did Jesus tell the disciples, “I’m proud of you”, nor did He become excited over their works, they were excited, not Jesus. Pride is a sneaky ruler, it uses bits and pieces to gain a foothold, becoming the enemy in the battle after the battle. We think it’s fine to say we’re proud of our children, but it denotes their goodness is a result of what we have done, not what God has done. Pride, regardless of the amount is always self-based, it’s the very reason the world makes idols out of people, or gives rewards and honors to exalt mankind, while ignoring God.

The antichrist spirit is of the world, it’s a product of the spirit of the world, it’s opposed to the Spirit which is of God. The spirit of antichrist refuses change, it links itself to the Lucifer complex (I Jn 2:18-19). It’s the spirit of error, the error is using the traits of the spirit of the world in the Kingdom (I Jn 4:1-6). It will mask it’s behavior, but it seeks to stop the Spirit of Christ, it will use the flesh, or intellect to counterfeit the Spirit of Christ. Rather than wanting to know what Jesus would have them do, they make it appear as if they tell Jesus what to do. The biggest clue is giving more honor to mankind then God. It’s the fable of being able to pull oneself up by their own boat stripes. The antichrist spirit isn’t against God, it isn’t against Jesus, it isn’t against the Law of Moses, it’s against the nature of Christ; it’s against the Spirit of Truth in a person. First John centers on this very issue, telling us Fellowship with God begins when we treat the people of God, as God does. The spirit of antichrist uses the brethren to get what it wants, it’s impressed with the things of man, they are Judas minded, Balaam motivated, as they walk the way of Korah. Paul said they come with the a self-transformed appearance of Righteousness, but inside Satan still rules. Peter says they were delivered from the pollutions of the world “through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Pet 2:20). These are not heathens, they are those who entered the Body, yet desired the feelings they obtained from the deeds of the spirit lusting to envy. They like the feeling of pride, of being superior, of being honored among men, or appearing morally correct, or superior over mankind. They have the power to put away the old nature, but they like it, worse, they use it. It’s one thing to slip into the old form, another to use it at will. They returned to the ways of the world by choice (II Pet 2:22). They tasted of the heavenly gift, were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, have tasted the good Word of God, they know about the powers of the world to come, they understand enough about the last days to know sudden destruction comes, thus they know there will be a Day of Judgment, but they don’t care, they are power hungry assuming their acts and intellect will gain them status with God. They have deceived so many, they have become deceived, thinking God will set them above all mankind, they will be the king who sits next to the King of kings. Of all the wrongs we face, this is without a doubt one of the most dangerous, yet when the New Man as the Greater He enters this war, it’s as good as over, our victory over the wicked is in hand.

The nature of Korah is next, it’s connected to usurping authority, or the attempt to do so. Korah is the thief who steals congregations, he had a calling, was a member of the tribe of Levi, assigned a very important position regarding the Tabernacle, yet he lusted for a power not granted him. He didn’t want to do more for God, he didn’t want to assist the leader, he wanted to be in the place of the leader, yet God didn’t pick him. This attitude is powered by envy, wanting the anointing of others, because they assume it will give them a greater status. Korah attacked Moses to get the anointing of the position, yet David refused to attack Saul, not because of Saul, but because God had anointed Saul for the position. Balaam misused his office, Korah came against an office, two different circumstances, both men were termed “spots in your feasts of charity” (Jude 11-12). They are examples of people called of God, but failed to face the spots on their garments, they used the flesh to their advantage.

Here we have a few, by no means are these all the elements we run into, but we will find one or more as the source of those who follow the spirit of man, or use the spirit of the world. Of course we must not attack the person, rather we address the intent. If these are hidden elements are in us, we can be assured the Greater He in us is fully able to drive them out of us as the Word separates and exposes. However, we could sit around and say, “Oh my God, my God we’re done for”, but we need to add some faith words to the statement, “Oh My God is able, Oh My God is great, the weapons of my warfare are mighty through My God”. This war isn’t lost by any means, it’s just beginning. God is working with us, there are times when we think we just keep failing, but it’s the flesh or old nature attempting to get us to quit. We feel the pains of death, but it’s exactly why we need to rejoice, those old tares and strongholds are dying off. We gain as we move forward; there are times when we learn little by little, but it’s never “less by less”. The truth remains, “Greater is He in you, than he in the world”.

Method and motivation are always exposed by the Word in us, we could use formulas, or fancy words, but it still comes down to having a New Nature. We know Paul had the New Nature, after looking at his prayer in Ephesians it becomes clear, he is telling us to Come Against something, by not coming against it, rather we reach for something of God then hold tight, in so doing we are defeating what is coming against us. Rather than yell at the darkness, we are the Light. When we walk in the Spirit, we defeat the flesh, but if we put our mind on the flesh, we end granting it power. To the carnal mind this seems like pure foolishness, rather they come head long against what is coming against them, in so doing they are giving their enemy honor, place and power. Not so in the spiritual realm, we imputed the flesh dead, but it doesn’t mean it’s dormant, ineffective yes, but it still tempts us. It doesn’t mean we can’t fall, it means when we do, we are the only ones on this earth who can be recovered and restored (James 1:2).

When we fall the Lord picks us up, cleans us, restores us, but we must be ready for the battle after the battle. The battle after the battle can come whenever there is a victory, or when God did something in our presence. God used us, recovered us, or something happened, Joy filled us, we were excited or delighted, as we should be. We were used, Praise ye the Lord, but then comes Pride knocking on the back door. “Wow, you are special, did you see that?”, “Oh thou are a prayer warrior for sure”, “do you know what kind of power you have?”. The battle is at hand, the weapon of our warfare in this case is Humbleness. Grab it quickly, know being used by God is great, stealing the glory isn’t.

If anyone understood this it was Paul, the man had many things happen as a result of his position, but he kept things in their proper order, knowing it was God, not Paul doing the great and wonderful things. Paul’s famed “thorn in the flesh” was termed by him as a blessing, he saw it as an opportunity for order. The thorn showed him there were some who didn’t consider him the “Apostle of Grace”, rather they demanded a sign of Christ speaking through him. The carnal minded are about as stable as air, at times they attack the spiritual for fear of exposure, other times they enter mentor worship: “Oh, you are such a person of God, oh I don’t know how you do it, you are so wonderful”. “Oh yes I am, am I not”. Ouch! Pride comes knocking, but humbleness better answer. If Ego answers, we’re in for a wilderness experience in the sand pit of despair.

The thorn as we know were carnal people, but to get a better grasp of this event let us view it again, only closer. The phrase reads, “there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan” (II Cor 12:7); the messenger was not Satan, it was a messenger of Satan. The word Messenger is the Greek Aggelos which is usually associated with someone who brings “good tidings” as a message, indicating the persons bringing the thorn should have been giving good tidings. Surely this thorn is not “good tidings”, it was directed to reject the Apostle or his teachings. A thorn in the flesh hurts, yet it’s in the flesh, thus the purpose is to get us into the flesh. In this case the message was to arouse Paul to react by the flesh, but rather than immediately react, he did the wise thing: he went to Jesus and found “Grace is sufficient”. On the way to find Grace he gained Mercy removing the desire to retaliate, by instilling the ability to forgive. He then found Grace, enabling him to respond to the attack in a Godly manner.

The temptation to make flesh and blood our enemy comes from the flesh, the flesh will use whatever means it can to retaliate against the attack, yet it’s exactly what the intent of the attack is centered on. Paul knew there were some among the Corinthians who had the outside appearance of Righteousness, but inside Satan was still in residence (II Cor 10:13-15). The message came from Satan through flesh and blood, but not just any flesh and blood, it was from some in a congregation he fathered (I Cor 4:15). It’s also evident how one of the wiles of Satan is to hold unforgiveness (II Cor 2:11). Paul had to respond in a Godly manner, not justifying himself, but allow the Holy Ghost to expose the motivation behind the attack in order to gain recovery, then do it all in accordance with the Will of the Lord. Paul saw a blessing, the temptation to exalt him above measure was something people do, often termed mentor worship. It wasn’t simply exalting him, but above measure, or above what is proper, or in order, thus we do honor the leaders, we respect their position, but in we do not exalt them above measure.

In the experience Paul gained, what the enemy planned for destruction, God turned to good. Paul never forgot it was God who turned it to good, even when talking about the things he went through he knew it was God who delivered him. The event is just an event; what we do with it, how we deal with it, and who we give the glory to determines who we stand with. God can deliver us out of the event, grant us the freedom and victory, yet we can turn right around assuming it was by our greatness, or by our power we gained the victory, but in so doing we use pride to steal the glory, which gives the devil opportunity. On the other hand we can fall into self-pity, thinking we’re no good, which gives the devil another opportunity. When Paul faced his perils, he did so in faith. His confidence was not in his position, nor in his faith, nor in his ability, since he also told us the Lord delivered him out of them all. Paul listed his perils as Waters, Robbers, Own Countrymen, the Heathen, City, Wilderness, Sea and False Brethren (II Cor 11:26). Each peril is a type of warfare, each took a different weapon, but the victory was always based in the Ways of Christ.

The metaphors are:

Waters: Bitter, slanderous people who lacked mercy

Robbers: Those who steal the mercy of God and refuse to pay it back

Own Countrymen: Jews in reality, but the Wicked

Heathen: Unbelievers

City: Jerusalem

Wilderness: Those dry places

Sea: The world

False Brethren: Wolves in sheep’s clothing

The Jews beat Paul five times, he was beaten three times with rods, stoned three times, suffered shipwreck, spent a night and a day in the deep (II Cor 11:24-25). “Wow, I think I would rather walk on water.” Some of us think if we go through these things we’re not in the faith, but faith doesn’t avoid them, it gets us through them. However, faith misguided is dangerous, we can have faith in our ability, but it puts us right in the middle of the event without hope. Or we can have faith in God, putting the event under us as we find the Precious. The rain falls on the just and unjust, things happen, but only the just know why; only the just gain a Godly benefit. Faith avoiding events is “fear faith”, or a faith activated by fear of adverse events, often ending using witchcraft to avoid the event, rather than facing it with faith in God.

Did Paul consider the false brothers his enemy? Yes, they were out to destroy every good seed Paul planted. Did he attack them personally? Or did he preach the truth in love? The weapon used will always tell us the source, the false brothers were motivated by pride, their weapons were false doctrine and slander. We don’t war against flesh and blood, but neither do we ignore them. The enemy came with the vile, but Paul sought after and found the Precious; warfare with victory in hand.

Turning the other cheek doesn’t mean we allow them to drive a truck over us, it means we don’t react in the same manner as the attack. Rather than react with slander, Paul used Truth. We all face Perils, but our gain is dependent on our faith. If our faith is in God, then our ways will prove it. Anyone can praise God after deliverance, it’s during the event praise will prove who we are. When Patience was called for, Paul trusted in the pureness of Jesus; when in affliction, he held to the knowledge of the Lord; in the times of necessities, he held to the longsuffering of Christ; in distresses, the kindness of the Lord brought him through; during the times of stripes, it was the Holy Ghost who gave him strength to endure; in the imprisonments, he held to his love in God; in tumults, he held to love unfeigned; in the many labors of the office, the Word of Truth was his pillar; in watchings and fastings it was the armor of the righteousness of Jesus on the right (watchings), and on the left (fastings). There were some who knew he stood in honor, some accused him of dishonor, there were the good reports, but there were some who issued evil reports. Did they judge him? Yes. Did he receive it? No. He took it to the Lord, allowing the Lord to Judge.

None of this means we ignore or reject what people say, it means we take it to the Lord. If we feel our chest is puffed out when we preach, or we feel pride when we lay hands on people, yet someone says, “the Lord wants you to deal with your pride”, don’t reject the warning, take it to the Lord. You know you were feeling pride, but you also know you are not dealing with it. How do we deal with it? Admission, then repentance, if we don’t admit it, we will put a mask on it while denying it. After Repentance the Word in us begins to wash us clean of the spots, we become humble, rather than prideful.

Not to leave the area of personal warfare, but we want to interject Body warfare, as we see the weapons God has given us. We came into this by God’s Mercy, the power of forgiveness should have been our first taste of the mighty works of God. The ability to forgive the unforgivable is mighty indeed, the ability to walk in Mercy is a wonder in itself. If we have held back any area of unforgiveness we must deal with it, if it’s the person, event, or even God. God? Yes, we can hold God responsible for not moving in an event, or for not changing the event, or for not changing people. It usually is detected with the “God could have” thoughts, imaginations must be brought into the obedience of Christ. Yes, God could have, but He didn’t, it was then, this is now, if we truly Love God we accept His wisdom as supreme.

The source of the thought is the problem, we submit to the Word in us to deal with it, not ignore it. If we are seeking validation, or justice, or any form of revenge, we must deal with it as well, the source, or intent needs to be exposed. It’s not “where did the thought come from?”, but “why did I have the thought?”. If we retain areas of unforgiveness we will slam the door shut on people the second we hear, “you must forgive”, hardening our heart the more.

Let us look at some attributes and weapons God has given us. If we are in Grace, then there are Gifts attached to Grace. The Greek word for Grace is Charis, the workings of Charis are called Charisma, but there are also the words Charismatic and Evangelical. The word Matic means Motivated, the word Auto means self, thus someone who is “Automatic” is self-motivated, but if someone is Charismatic they are Grace Motivated. The word Evangelical means one believes we are saved by Grace (Charis) through faith, not of our own. It stands, if we are Evangelical we should be Charismatic as well, or if we are Charismatic we should be Evangelical, but we should not be divided. Unity of the Spirit joins to the Unity of the Faith of Jesus.

We understand Grace is a Covenant, there are duties involved, Jesus gives us Peace, we keep His commandments, He grants us the Keys, we turn them, He gives us the Kingdom, we seek it. These are not works of the flesh, they are works to defuse the flesh. We needed something far better than us to accomplish any of this, therein comes Grace, thus Grace is the ability to do Grace by the Spirit. The Comforter is the Holy Ghost, Another Comforter is the Gift by the Holy Ghost also known as the Seed, Spirit Holy, Holy Spirit, the New Man, the Greater He, the Spirit of Christ, Jesus in us, or Christ in us the Hope of Glory. The New Man is created or formed especially for us, he is endowed with special knowledge and awareness to guide us along this path of Righteousness, he is equipped to save our emotions, personalities and souls, yet he is the self same Spirit. We didn’t get different spirits with different objectives, or agendas. The New Man will abide with us forever, if we abide in him, thus the purpose is for the two to be one. The ability to conduct spiritual warfare is not in our ability, awareness, or intellect, it’s based in the New Man.

The Spirit of Truth cannot be seen by the world, they don’t understand spiritual matters, but we do, because the Spirit of Truth is enjoined to our souls (Jn 14:17). By the New Man we have a firm knowledge of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, thus the Witness is forming our souls into Spirit. The New Man hears ABBA Father, then teaches us what He hears. He has the holiness of the Father, based in the Father’s Mercy, thus by the New Man we can be as holy and merciful as our Father. The New Man holds the Righteousness of Jesus, the Scepter to the Kingdom. Through the New Man we are trained in the things of God, the New Man is the New Nature forming our souls. The New Nature seeks the will of God, knowing what to ask for, and how. The New Man will guide us into all Truth; Jesus is Truth (Jn 16:13). The New Man never speaks of Himself, but He does speak of Jesus, so much so we know it’s Jesus in us. These are the very basic elements of the New Man, but they also relate to warfare. Warfare is designed to take us further from the darkness and deeper into the Light, to rid us of the old nature and secure us in the New. We would never know the path of Jesus if it were not for the New Man guiding us. We need ears to hear and a teachable soul, the other matters will fall into place.

Personal warfare has to recognize how the New Man is fully capable of cleaning us by the Blood as well as the scrubbing us by the Washing of the Water (mercy) by the Word (Rhema). We must know the Word in us is the New Man, the Bible is a Word from God about God, but the New Man is the very Word of God implanted in us to bring us into a spiritual nature. Warfare on our part is making sure the Word in us operates unhindered, as we are willing and open for exposure. The guiding includes the engrafting process to save our souls (James 1:21); our faith and belief join knowing the Word in us is dividing asunder as it separates for clarification, correcting unto perfection, is a discerner of our intents and thoughts, as well as the intents of others (Heb 4:12).

There are other elements to Grace, the Charisma of Grace is found in Romans 12:6-21 as a list of “gifts” attached to the Gift of Grace; including prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhorting, giving, ruling and mercy. These are not pick and choose gifts, rather they are attributes found in the New Nature; therefore, they are character indicators accompanied to each Born Again believer. The area of prophecy is not the Office of Prophet, but it does relate to Paul saying how he desired we all prophesy. This type of prophecy is from the New Man to bring comfort, exhortation and edification. It’s not always a pat on the head, it can involve a rebuke, or correction. Ministry should be conducted by all of us; ministry is reconciling people to God. Ministry would include the concept of never rendering evil for evil, rather give words of Grace to the hearer. Teaching is the ability to disciple others, it doesn’t mean being a Sunday School teacher, or holding the office of Teacher, but it is nonetheless important. Exhorting should always be within the limits of exhortation, not venturing into the field of opinion, or exalting someone above measure, we want to Encourage them in the Lord. The attribute of Giving falls within the same concept as a Cheerful Giver, it doesn’t mean one is cheerful because they know the return will be greater than the gift. A Cheerful Giver enjoys giving, regardless of the return, if any. If the Cheerful Giver never obtained a cent in return, it still won’t disrupt their joy in giving. The area of Ruling is the same context as one finds for the qualifications of an Elder, it doesn’t mean to Rule over, rather it means to Rule by example; often this word was used for someone who encourages another. Mercy with cheerfulness separates this from reluctant forgiveness. Reluctant forgiveness is based in, “I forgive you because the Lord told me to”. Rubbish, it’s so self-based it isn’t even funny. Oh sure it sounds right, the word Forgive is there, the Lord is mentioned, but no where are we told to go about telling someone we forgive them, we are told to seek their forgiveness. Turning the principal around to gain the advantage is a deed of the old man, not a manifestation of the New Man. The statement supposes we’re so holy we couldn’t do anything wrong, so the entire problem is their fault, then we show our superior greatness and holiness by forgiving them. It’s self-exalting, not Mercy; rather mercy with cheerfulness is one who is happy to forgive, they enjoy it, like their Father in heaven they look forward to it. All this is still based in a Love joined to Grace; therefore, we never render evil for evil, nor attempt to overcome evil with evil, but we will overcome evil with good (Rom 12:21). These attributes assist us in warfare. The old nature would use, “oh yeah, well I come against you in the Name of the Lord”. What are we going to do if they look at us and say, “Oh yeah, well I come against you in the name of the Lord”. “Oh yeah, well I’m a member of the family of God”. “Oh yeah so am I”. “Oh yeah will I’m anointed”. “Oh yeah, well so am I”. Both maybe, but clearly neither are operating in it.

The next area connects to the last, in First Corinthians 12:1-6 we find four areas connected to Grace, in Romans we saw the “gifts of Grace” (Rom 12:6-21 & I Cor 12:4). Then the Offices of the Lord consisting of the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Teacher and Pastor as the Administrations, or Offices of the Lord (I Cor 12:5 & Eph 4:11). The Offices are different from Helps, these five offices are appointed by the Holy Ghost on behalf of the Lord, yet confirmed by man, but man never appoints to the offices (Acts 13:1-3). Helps (Bishops and Deacons) are appointed by leadership, as are the Elder positions. The Offices are not listed by “importance”, rather we find they are based on time and timing. The disciples were ordained as Apostles before the Holy Ghost gave the Gift, but they were not Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors or Teachers until after Pentecost. On the Day of Pentecost Peter was used by the Holy Ghost to interpret the prophecy of Joel, which was “direction”, thus opening the Office of Prophet. Philip, one of the seven Deacons held a dual position, as a Deacon he operated in Helps, but he was also the only person in the New Testament called an Evangelist (Timothy was told to do the work of an Evangelist, but he was not called one), showing one can be assigned to Helps and Governments.

The role of the Apostle begins churches in virgin areas, it doesn’t mean a new denomination in an area with churches, but establishing bodies where there are none, another act of the Apostle is to bring Commandment. They differ from the Evangelist, since an Evangelist casts the net bringing converts into established bodies, whereas the Apostle starts new bodies, as did Paul, Peter, John, Thomas and the other apostles. Philip began in Samaria, but the Apostles were sent to assist him. The Apostle position before the Cross was somewhat like the New; the disciples brought the Gospel to those it was promised to, but it was virgin ground for the Gospel. They also carried Commandments from the Lord regarding mercy, which is what they preached.

The appointment of Bishops and Deacons in Helps, with Elders was the job given to Titus and others; however, neither Titus or any other disciple was told to appoint Pastors, or Apostles, or any of the five fold office positions. Leaders do Confirm the appointment, but they do not appoint to the offices (I Tim 4:14, II Tim 1:6 & Acts 13:1-3). Acts chapter one is a prime example of what happens when we make decisions outside the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Peter and the others were told to Tarry until they received Power, they were not told to appoint anyone to any office. They prayed, heard nothing, they had verses, but verses don’t establish the authority, thus they ended voting, rather than hearing. They attempted to replace the man, not fill the position. Warfare in this area is maintaining the order of establishment, we as leaders do not make the decision regarding who is to be in an Office, we merely confirm the calling on their life (Acts 13:1-2). On the same note leaders should be able to detect the self-appointed, there is evidence regarding the calling in a person’s life, but the leader still has to hear from the Holy Ghost before making a confirmation.

So far we have seen the Gifts of the Spirit (I Cor 12:4), the Administrations of the Lord (I Cor 12:5), now the Operations of God the Father (I Cor 12:6), which are found in First Corinthians 12:28. The word Operations means the Manner in which God has ordained the operation for the local body; fond in the word Operations as the Greek Energema meaning the Effectual working, or how to gain the Effectiveness of God in the gathering. Connecting to First Corinthians chapter 11 as the leadership governs the authority and anointing over the congregation. Beginning with the Apostle who establishes the local body by bringing Commandments. Then the Prophet, who delivers Doctrine, or gives Direction. Then Teachers to teach the Doctrine. What’s missing? Evangelist and Pastor, how come? The Evangelist is not in the local body, they cast the net to bring converts into the local body. The Pastor is the overseer of the entire thing, making sure all is kept in Order. All three areas, the gifts of the Spirit, the Administrations, then the Operations are for the saints dealing with saints. Even the Evangelist is bringing in converts to local bodies, thus their position is building the Rock.

Any leader given the gift (Doma) of the Office has all it takes to keep the system in Grace, but any leader can take the same good gift and twist it into lasciviousness (Jude 4). The leader can resort to the spirit of fear, or use domination, or manipulation to control the flock, if so they place a yoke on their Head, preventing the authority and anointing, causing their congregation to remain silent. If it were not possible, Peter would never have warned us of the error of controlling the flock (I Pet 5:1-3). Are there signs to show if they are walking in the anointing? Yes, “feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint (manipulation, domination or spirit of fear), but willingly, not for filthy lucre (in it just for the money, more of a job than a calling), but of a ready mind (clear, sober, and centered on the Holy Ghost); neither being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock (the concept of ruling – I Pet 5:1-4). How do we know this points to Pastors? After all Peter does address it to “Elders”. First Peter 5:5 says, “and when the Chief Shepherd shall appear”, the word Shepherd comes from the same Greek word from which we get the word Pastor. Most pastors are Elders, guided by God’s wisdom.

Of course the twisted concepts seem to show up, Shepherding is one of them, which is a dominating influence, rather than guiding. Sheep must be able to venture forth, but to keep sheep locked up is slavery.

After the offices are established in the Operations then comes Miracles, “gifts of Healings”, Helps, Governments, different tongues (both unknown and New). These are all within the local body, all showing Order established, something the Corinthians lacked; therefore, Paul tells the congregation to remain silent. The Operations are for the group, displaying a type of warfare; miracles go further than someone being able to hear or see, it refers to the impossible taking place, deliverance, victory, freedom from bondage, people being loosed. The term “gifts of healings” shows more than one gift with more than one healing. The word Gifts is the Greek Charisma linking it to Romans 12 as extensions of Grace. These are spiritual matters, not carnal ones, thus the Corinthians being carnal had some signs, but lacked the spiritual nature. One will not see Order in a carnal gathering, rather they will see division, strife, women being told to be silent, leadership separated from Christ. They may see some signs, but the carnal minded will have no idea what the signs mean or represent.

Within the gathering we may not have an apostle or prophet present, but we can be assured we began with Paul and Silas, if we are established on the New Testament principles. First Corinthians 12:29 is a series of rhetorical questions showing the answer is built into the question; not all will do miracles, if they did who would receive the miracle? Not all will talk in tongues, or interpret, but neither does it say none will. Each person with a spiritual function, each operating according to the function. What it to do with warfare? Unity; a battle to be fought by each of us. Without Unity we begin to lose the effectiveness of the corporate Unction, rather we end in competition. If we are in a place where only leaders are allowed to function we miss the importance of the Body being in Unity. Of course allowing a novice to become involved in the working, rather than observing would be error as well.

Now to the personal warfare found in the Manifestation of the Spirit, this area points to the New Man in those one on one contacts when Jesus is Manifested by the Spirit through us. Like Romans chapter 12 this is not a pick here or there, rather all of the manifestations are things we expect if we are Born Again. This is how the Born Again Spirit filled believer ministers to all men, within the Body, or without. The nine areas found in First Corinthians 12:8-11 are all by the Spirit in us as the Word (Logos) brings forth the Rhema showing the Witness of Jesus, or as John put it, “confessing Jesus in come in the flesh”.

There are always “general” words anyone can give to anyone at anytime which fit regardless; “So saith the Lord, He has called thee to a closer place with Him”, “God wants you to know He loves you”, “The Lord is with thee, and will not forsake thee”, or “God has called thee”. All of those are true for each person in the Body, but the area of the Manifestation of the Spirit is much different. This is not some thought process of “wonder what would sound good now”, this is yielding ourselves to the New Man. If we are interested in helping people, we can be assured the Greater He in us will manifest.

The word Manifested in First Corinthians 12:7 is the Greek Phanerosis meaning making something invisible to be visible. This may be bringing clarity to an area for a person who has been searching for an answer, or bringing to light something needing to be handled in a Godly manner. It may be as simple as, “you have to forgive them”, or as complex as naming the name of the person to be forgiven. It may be how to deal with someone, or awareness of what the event calls for. However, the New Man is not going to belittle anyone, or exalt us, the manifestation is to minister. An example was Jesus at the well, He told the woman all about herself, her heart was exposed, she knew who He was. Another example is Jesus telling Nathaniel, “before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (Jn 1:46-49). These areas open the mind of the hearer where they knew God is among us of a truth. The one hearing knows God does care, God is interested in them. Of course there are those who reject the words given, but at least they were given.

The Manifestation has nine areas, the number nine is the number of the Spirit, there are nine fruit of the Spirit, and nine blessings in the Commandments of Mercy. Some like to group these into three groups of three as they relate to each other, but we will keep them separate, since anyone of them can be manifested, or any grouping, or all at any given time. The premise here is one person who is Born Again being used in any one or more of these areas at any moment. They may give a word of knowledge, then a healing, then nothing. They may be used in all nine, or just one; however, it’s important to know we are being used of the New Man, we are not directing this battle. Is it a battle? Yes, first we are battling to keep our opinions to ourselves, then we are battling to submit to the Spirit within. Next the battlefield is centered on the one being ministered to; there are some who say they want help, but in truth they merely want their fables confirmed. They may say, “I am having such a problem with my mother-in-law”, but the problem is really with their mate, or even with them. The New Man will discern, divide, separate, open up, to bring to light to what is hidden for the specific purpose of bringing a healing, or correction.

When the Truth comes it may not be what they want to hear, they may respond in a kind manner, they may even say, “Oh no, it isn’t it at all”. In some cases you will wonder, “It must have been me and not God”, then off you go saying to yourself, “I will never do it again”. Wrong, we must face the battle after the battle. Months later the same person may come up and say, “you remember the word you gave me? Well it was right on, I just didn’t want to face it”. In the meantime you became so paranoid you refused to give another word. What did it expose in you? A lack of faith? Perhaps, fear of what people think? Perhaps. Whatever, when the exposure “comes right back at ya” it’s time to be as “teachable” as we want others to be when we give them a word. Oops another battle? Yes, we want everyone to be alert, ready, pen in hand when we are about to speak, but when someone else speaks to us we say, “yeah, yeah, okay”. We have to be as courteous and teachable toward them, as we want them to be to us.

The Manifestation of the Spirit begins with a Word of Wisdom, the word for Word is Logos, showing it comes from the Logos in us. Since this is Wisdom it will show how God wants the person to deal with a person, or event. Next is a Word of Knowledge or the awareness of something, or the opening of a fact, but it doesn’t tell us how to deal with people or events. It can be connected to the Wisdom, such as “You must forgive them, you know it’s the Will of the Lord do so”. The last part was Knowledge, the first part Wisdom. It could be information to bring clarity, yet not regarding how to deal with the person or event. It could be revealing the message in Scripture as Philip did with the Eunuch.

The area of “faith” is not some faith we receive, if all this relates to the other person, why would we give them a word of knowledge, yet we get the faith? In Acts 14:9 Paul was preaching to a man as he was preaching he saw the man had the faith to be healed. How? The man heard, the Rhema manifested as faith. How many times have we been sick and had many people tell us, “you don’t have the faith”? Here we find if they spoke the Rhema we would gain the faith needed. Negative statements like “you don’t have the faith”, would be the opposite of bringing the word to encourage faith in the hearer.

The next area is “gifts of healing”, one healing, many gifts. This is different from the Operations, in the Operations it was many gifts, many healings, here it’s for the one person we’re talking to. The gifts may very, physical, mental, emotional, or like the woman bound with the spirit of infirmity. The word Gifts here is Charisma, or the working actions of Charis (Grace), again showing this is the New Man operating through us.

The working of miracles has been covered in the Operations, a miracle can be physical as well as mental, or whatever is needed at the time going beyond the capability of man. Prophecy in this case is not the Office, we are not delivering direction or doctrine for the Body, this is one person we’re talking to. This is the area of comfort, exhortation, or edifying. They may need to be encouraged, or corrected by the Spirit. They may be in an event, wondering if it’s of God or not, thus needing assurance, which is Comfort. Prophecy is different from Wisdom and Knowledge, although it may have either or both. Knowledge is based on information, wisdom is telling us how to deal with the event or person, prophecy is giving us a look at the purpose of the event we’re in, or going to be in.

The discerning of spirits is the New Man dividing the attitudes and separating the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of error. This is the point of clarity, again this is talking to someone else, but it can also assist us. This is different than seeing the obvious, the disciples cast out devils, even Judas did, but it was obvious devil possession, here it’s discerning the source behind the actions of the person.

The Next two areas do relate, Speaking in unknown tongues with the interpretation. It’s evident, if this is a Manifestation of the Spirit, then it’s the Spirit speaking, or giving the interpreting. This is a very touchy area, yet there is only one Commandment concerning speaking in unknown tongues. Whether we want to speak or not is up to us, it’s not a Commandment to speak, but it is a Commandment telling us not to forbid anyone from speaking in unknown tongues (I Cor 14:37-39).

The projection of the language is not a Translation, it’s interpreted by the Spirit. A translation is the exactness of what is said; if the Exactness could be given, why even speak in unknown tongues? To impress people? Not hardly, yet if we do speak just to impress people we need our spirits discerned. This language is not translatable into any human language, the enemy may have counterfeits out there, but only the Spirit can interpret what the Spirit says. This is the area connected to First Corinthians chapter 11, if the leadership has yoked their head, the congregation cannot pray or give prophecy, yet even the carnal Corinthians did both of these, as did Paul (I Cor 14:18).

This is still warfare, “should I, or shouldn’t I?, the person over there says if I don’t, I’m not of God, another one says if I do, I’m not of God”. What does the New Man say? Whatever the New Man says to do, do with the assurance of our obedience is greater than sacrifice. However, after the Spirit speaks, or interprets we find another battle, the time to keep our views to our self: “Should I say something now, they are all looking at me”. If the Holy Spirit gives us something to say, we speak as an oracle of God, if not, just smile and sit down. Speaking what we think should be an interpretation just to have something to say is soulish, often dangerous. The check and balance is found in the discerning, or judging. Paul said the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets (I Cor 14:32). Wow! How many spirits do they have? Sounds like there needs to be some casting out of those spirits. No, it’s the same context we saw before. We know the word “spirits” in this case refers to the attitude, intent or concerns of the prophet. “Son of man prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say thou unto them who prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord; thus says the Lord God; woe unto the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing” (Ezek 13:2-3). Let the other prophets judge the prophecy, never become subject to giving the interpretation of a word we have given, it only leads to us guessing, rather than discerning.

Paul said the Holy Ghost teaches by comparing spiritual with spiritual (I Cor 2:13). The word Comparing is the Greek Sugkrion, from Sun (together) and Krino (to judge), which means the Holy Ghost teaches the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit teaches our souls, but if we are carnal, we gain nothing. We can do, or say anything, then say it’s the Spirit, but what check and balance will indicate if it was or not. Some of us will belittle a person, then say, “It was a Word of Knowledge”, or “It’s righteous indignation”. It was something, but it was anything but righteous, far from Godly, let the others Judge.

The manifestation of the Spirit can come at anytime, it can be for a brother or sister in the Lord, a relative, someone at work, or a perfect stranger. All of us have had an occasion when we told someone something we really didn’t understand, yet their jaw dropped, as the Spirit in us manifested, it surely wasn’t our great intellect.

All of us need to know our motivation before we engage in warfare; are we doing it because we want to show the devil we have more power than he? Are we doing it to show others we have power? Are we doing it to impress people? Are we doing it to feel powerful? Are we inflating our ego? Or, are we doing it because we want to walk in the Spirit? It better be the last. Paul also said, “But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man” (I Cor 2:15). Was Paul judged of men? Yes, time and again; what then could he mean? Gee, do you think Paul is telling us he isn’t spiritual? Hardly, it depends on whether, or not one receives the judgment of men, or whether man has any authority to judge the spiritual, or whether it’s judgment or correction. On the same note there are those who reject any correction, presuming it’s judgment, yet they turn right around and judge others. The Greek word used for Judge in First Corinthians 2:15 is the Greek Anakrino meaning To examine, or Investigate. The spiritually minded Discern all things, but the naturally minded can’t discern the spiritual. Like a dog studying a man, the natural cannot understand spiritual things, yet like a man studying a dog, the spiritual do understand.

Does it give us a right to brag? No, we would be allowing something carnal to take credit for something spiritual. Faith entails the knowledge regarding our authority, but we are a people under authority, we know to use our authority in a manner acceptable to the authority over us. Two dangers exist, one is to presume our authority is greater or equal to the Authority of Jesus, the other is attempting to overthrow the authority of Jesus by using our authority out of order. Both of those are countered by having an awareness of the purpose of authority and power we have: we are a people of authority, but under authority.

Perhaps by looking at the word Battle in the Bible we may be able to find an easy method to view the various battlefields. At last one Greek word which is Polemos, Jesus said there would be Wars (Polemos), and rumors of Wars (Polemos). James warned us how our own mouths can cause Wars (Polemos) among us (James 4:1). A war is usually between two or more entities who have taken opposing sides on an issue, they enter combat to settle the issue. The enemy has waged war against us, we move to the New Man allowing him to wage the war, as we put our minds on the things of the Spirit. “Well, I tell you what, I put Satan under my feet everyday”. If you have to do it everyday, it isn’t working. We don’t see people coming to Jesus and saying, “Lord the devil you cast out yesterday is back in me again”, or, “Lord you healed me yesterday, but this is another day, can you heal me again?”. It doesn’t mean we won’t face what appears to be the same situation over again, but what appears to be the same, may not be the same, it may be the Progression of little by little removing the leaves, limbs, truck and root. At times it’s like climbing a ladder, each step looks the same, but in truth we’re gaining ground. Each chip at the wall of the stronghold weakens it, until the day when it falls as did the mighty wall of Jericho. Warfare for us must be Peace centered, faith motivated, and Spirit activated.

We can form all sorts of strongholds attempting to defeat strongholds, yet be none the better. There are some phrases in the Bible which could toss us a curve if we weren’t prepared, or study minded. Look at the phrase, “unclean spirit of a devil”, what is that? How many clean spirits of a devil do you find? One might think it’s the most redundant phrase in the Bible. Are not all devils fallen spirits? So then what is the unclean spirit of a devil? This has to help us understand the term “sprit”, as it relates to the demonic realm. The unclean spirit is what the devil left behind, the tare formed into a stronghold. The stronghold then became a way of life for the person, as it rules their thought process. Whatever subject the stronghold was established in becomes a filter of knowledge for the subject, whatever is said in the same vein has to be filtered through the stronghold before the person will accept it. Whatever they think has to be filtered through the stronghold before they say it. We’ve seen it many times, someone has a stronghold, thus whenever the subject comes up, so does the strongman. People who defend strongholds use carnal methods based on soulish behavior, but the source is still the old man protecting the stronghold. If we bind the strongman (old man), then the stronghold is left defenseless, allowing Truth to remove the stronghold. However, if the strongman remains unbound, he will fight the Truth with a vengeance.

We know there is the devil and there are devils, yet no where in the King James Bible do we find the word “demon”. Why is it important? How many strongholds have been formed over the use of the words “devils” or “demons”? “Oh well you see the demons are greater in power than devils”, or “demons are little, devils are big”. They are one in the same, the same Greek word means either, yet we do find some translations attempting to make a difference, for whatever reason they may have. Nonetheless, the word “demon” is derived from the same Greek word meaning devil. There is the devilish, meaning acting like a devil, we know people can be devils, as was Judas, but there are no regions or grades of devils, a devil is a devil, don’t play with them, cast them out. The Greek word Daimonizomai means Vexed or Possessed by a devil. Then the Greek Daimonion means Demonic, the Greek Daimon translated as devil or devils, but the meaning could throw us. It means One who distributes it’s own fortune or misfortune. Devils are givers, they know the principal of giving and receiving, but they use it in a wicked manner. They give their fortune, which is condemnation, fear, darkness or most anything evil in nature, which seems to end in misfortune. The concept of sowing and reaping is well known in the demonic realm, they give trouble and sorrow, it comes back the more, so they can give the more. Their purpose is to trick us through deception into giving evil to others, thereby propagating the evil in our own lives. How would we counter this? By using the principle as God intended, give Mercy, words of Grace to the hearer, maintain faith in God, keep our eyes on heavenly things by walking in the Spirit.

The devil is known by many terms; we know the Bible uses metaphors to refer to the devil in various ways. For instance in the Hebrew we find the word Saiyr meaning A he-goat, then the Hebrew Shed meaning Malignant, with a root word meaning Insolent. It’s also from the Hebrew we obtain the word Satan, which is the Hebrew spelling meaning Opponent of mankind, Accuser, Adversary, or Slanderer, thus Satan is opposed more to mankind, than God. Slander is based on the intent to harm someone, it doesn’t matter if the information used is fact, or an outright lie, if it’s used to harm someone, it’s slander. An example? Our past was factual, we were in sin, we were darkness, but God said All things are New, the devil says, “has God really said?”. When someone accuses anyone with information simply to harm them it’s from the wrong source as an unclean spirit of a devil.

In Revelation 16:14 we find the wording “spirits of devils”, in Luke 4:33 we find the phrase “spirit of an unclean devil”. Wait, could this mean there are clean devils? No, these point to different things, we need to know the difference. We cast out devils and evil spirits, but what would we call a “spirit of a devil”? Ahh, two devils, no. We just found the spirit of a devil is what is left behind, or something planted by a devil, an attitude, tare, or a thinking formed into a stronghold, but it doesn’t mean the person has a devil, rather it means they have a stronghold based on demonic thinking. The phrase “unclean” means something rejected by the Law Of Moses, or something not accepted by the Law, meaning it’s unholy. Peter obtained a great theological lesson regarding unclean things, one wherein we can gain. The word Unclean is the Greek Akathartos meaning Impure, Foul or Lewd, it’s a compound word meaning Without (A), Cleansing (Kathairo); referring to something not Clean, or something which can’t be cleaned; to a Jew you can wash a pig for hours, yet it’s still going to be unclean. Accordingly Paul used this word in reference to all idol worship and heathen impurity, yet we know we were all heathens, but now we’re being cleaned by the Blood of Jesus as well as the washing of the Water by the Word. Does it mean devils can be cleaned? Hardly, it shows the phrase has two meanings. Some things can be cleaned, some cannot. God is not out to save devils, they cannot be cleaned, but He is out to save us, we can be cleaned through and through.

In Peter’s eyes some things other than devils could never be cleaned, but he found God’s view, and our view sometimes differ. Peter was hungry, so much so he would have eaten six Jewish meals, but rather than eat, he felt it best to pray. He fell into a trance, seeing a sheet Knit (bound) at the four corners, the metaphor Four Corners refers to the entire earth. On this sheet Peter saw all sorts of unclean beasts and creeping things. Peter looked and heard, “Peter, kill and eat”, the part about Kill made sense, the Eat didn’t. Could this be a test? Would Peter fall to his lust and eat anyway? Would Peter engage in warfare telling Satan to get behind him? Ahh, it wasn’t the devil, it was the Lord, it wasn’t a test, it was sent to open his thinking. Another interesting question, was Peter still under the Law? No, but at the time the Jews were the center of interest, thus the disciples kept points of the Law to gain entry into the Jewish gatherings to preach Jesus.

Peter assumed all these common things were unclean, and must remain so, but he heard “what God has cleansed (made pure), don’t you call it common” (Acts 10:13-15). Is this a stronghold Peter held? Let’s go back to Mark chapter 7, where we find the disciples were eating bread with unwashed hands, as the Pharisees attacked them for their unwashed hands. Jesus said, “there is Nothing from without a man, entering into him can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those defile the man” (Mark 7:15). What is Peter saying here? “I have never taken anything into me to defile me”. Not only did Peter find God could clean the unclean, but he found he did obtain Liberty in Christ, a stronghold was exposed, setting Peter free. This was well after Pentecost, or the Gate Beautiful, thus we continually learn and grow. We know the purpose of the lesson was to allow the Gentile Cornelius into the Body, thus a Gentile at the time was considered unclean by the Jew, but how God would make Cornelius Clean? The same way He did Peter; however, we can see how God used this to clean Peter as well. Not only do we find God is fully able to remove strongholds, but we find even a Spirit filled saint like Peter can have them. Any of us can have strongholds, some may not seem important, but everything produces after its own kind, thus it’s far better to be rid of all of them, rather than ignore them.

The word devil appears 4 times in the Old Testament, 41 times in the Gospel accounts, then 9 times thereafter. Since the ratio is 4 times in the Old, with 50 times in the New, it stands casting out devils is New Testament thinking. The word devilish is only used once in James 3:15 in reference to the wisdom of man, devilish means an act or motive condoning or using the ways of the devil. The word Satan appears 18 times in the Old Testament, with 14 of those in Job, and 35 times in the New. The name Lucifer appears once in the entire Bible, in Isaiah 14:12, the context shows he is a man, but the same context shows this Lucifer as the “son of perdition” or “beast of the earth” as well. The “son” of the household represents the entire household, thus Jesus as the Son of man stood for all mankind, as the Son of God, He stands for God, thus giving Him the Name above all names. The son of perdition gained authority over the world, but entered back therein, representing the house of Perdition. There are those who have escaped the pollutions of the world, but returned to using the ways of the world like a pig to the mud.

The wording “unclean spirit” appears 17 times in the Gospel, and 5 times thereafter. In the Old Testament we find the spirit of jealousy (Numb 5:14), an evil spirit from God (I Sam 16:14), a familiar spirit (I Sam 28:7), and a lying spirit (I Kings 22:21-23). In the New we find there is a dumb spirit (Mark 9:17), a foul spirit (Mark 9:25), a spirit of infirmity (Luke 13:11), a spirit of divination (Acts 16:16), an evil spirit (Acts 19:15), and the spirit of antichrist (I Jn 4:1-4), which is also termed the spirit of error. Yet, we know Jesus gave His disciples Power over all unclean spirits, yet at the time they didn’t have the Spirit (Mark 6:7). Among the group was Judas, thus Judas cast out devils, it was his own soul he failed to deal with. Therefore, the evidence shows as members of the Rock, whether we have the Spirit or not we still have power over devils. However, in order to have authority regarding the saving of our soul we must be Born Again.

When we find the phrase “spirit of an unclean devil” it must be a clue to some mystery. We have three elements, the “spirit”, “unclean” and the “devil”, remove any and we lose the importance of the term. The metaphor spirit is relative to an attitude or intellect tending to guide a person, the unclean aspect has to do with something in a religious nature becoming none acceptable, of course the devil is in opposition against God, or the ways of God. Teaching “doctrines of devils” is not teaching about devils, it’s teaching the same thing the devils teach, which is always centered in unbelief and/or fear. The term “spirit” also refers to a seed left behind, or something suggested by the prince of the power of the air, then received by the person, thus in the realm of disobedience we find the “children of disobedience”. This is an important area since some of us think we had a “devil” cast out, when it was an evil spirit, or we thought we had a “devil”, when it was the “spirit of an unclean devil”. It doesn’t mean there are no devils, since in order to have the “spirit” of one, there must be one. Neither does it mean we don’t cast out devils, it means there are elements relating to these areas we need to explore. We cast out devils, we cast out the spirits of unclean devils, so what’s the difference? The devil will go, no problem there, but the “spirit” has developed into a personality trait meaning the person may not want it to leave. They have to see it for what it is, then allow changes in their character, with mediation in the Bible coupled with prayer to bring about deliverance. Anyone can assume they had a devil, someone cast it out, yet the next day the same thoughts and attitude remain. “I guess it’s just me, I’m a devil, no hope”; not true, it’s the spirit left behind, a thought process, a manner of life, something of darkness taken seed in the person’s personality, it will take a change in character and nature to make the difference.

In Psalm 106:37 we find another reference where the children of God sacrificed their children to devils, in this case the devils referred to were the idols of Baal, meaning idols according to God are devils, thus the Jews also considered idols devils. The people actually burned their own children alive as a sacrifice to the Canaanite gods of Molech, Milcom and Chemosh (all Baal type idols – II Kings 23:10). History shows those who engaged in those horrid practices assumed their children were being purged of their dross (evils), so they might obtain union with the deity they used. It seems completely out of place, but shows the natural mind of man builds strongholds. They gave their children to devils, to save their child from devils, in the process they took the life of their own child assuming they were doing the child a service. When we use the wiles of the devil against the devil, we are doing the same, thus using demonic ways to subdue the devil is playing right into his hands.

There are evil spirits unseen to the naked eye, who are bound in chains in darkness, yet they go about seeking whom they may devour. They can’t devour everyone, rather they seek whom they may devour, since they are in darkness, they can only attack those in darkness. They cannot venture into the Light, thus in order for them to vex us, we must give them place by moving into the realm where they are active. Jesus said, “You can do nothing to Me, unless it’s granted from on high”, the phrase became extended by the New Birth to include, “You can do nothing to me, unless I give you place”.

The devils use people, either by possession, which is rare, or by oppression, which is giving the devil place, or the more common method of using the “spirit” of a devil; which is the same as using the planted tares through the minds and mouths of natural thinking people. Most people mean well, but if they lack the Word in them to discern their own intent, their well meaning becomes tare planting. Paul’s teaching in Romans chapter 7 is about his own life before he received the Spirit, he wanted to serve God, so much so he dedicated his life to what he felt was the only religion on the face of the planet God ordained. He followed the Law to the letter, but he had to operate through the spirit lusting to envy (old man, or flesh), thus whatever effort he put forth he had to do it through the fallen nature, causing the Commandment Thou shall not covet to convict him, find him guilty unto death. However, Romans Chapter 8 is the saving Grace of God at work, showing once we have the Spirit all things are New, the Goodness then is God’s Goodness in us projecting through us by the Spirit. If we are dead, yet alive by the Spirit, then the works we do are Spiritual in nature, thus Romans 8 shows us how to serve God and please Him in the process. Does it mean our flesh is completely dead? No, it’s imputed dead on the Cross of Jesus, yet it’s still the tent we use on earth.

The consequences of the Fall proves the devil didn’t have to say a thing, his two victims were pleading his case for him. It hasn’t changed, carnal minds assume they are doing good, but they are still motivated by envy, strife and division. For the most part they have no idea their words are “darts”, just as the Corinthians had no idea by attacking Paul, they are also attacking the Office of man which means they were attacking Jesus. When someone hits us with a dart, it’s not the person, but the spirit behind them, yet the dart is still demonic in nature, often it hurts. Does it mean the person was possessed? No, it means the fallen nature is guiding them at the moment. Are there people in the Body who have the Spirit, but are still carnal? Yes, the letters to the Corinthians prove it. One battle which is vital is moving from having the Spirit to being Spiritual, is the battle of submission, trust and faith in God to bring about what He promised. The phrase “that Born of the Spirit is Spirit” is the promise of our souls being changed from flesh to Spiritual in nature.

There is a difference between devil possession and devil vexation, yet in both cases we can cast the evil out. However, there is yet the Strongman who holds to the fallen nature, rather than cast him out of another, they, like we must bind him, then put off his deeds. The mistake is thinking we cast out the old man, yet the old man is the corrupt flesh, still acting in the darkness. We impute it dead, thereby the Laws against us are also ineffective. When we put off the old man we are removing any authority over us the old nature had, in essence, we are enforcing the imputing process to make the old man ineffective. Will the old nature say, “oh you have defeated me”? No, it will fight back to show it’s supposed power. It happens often, we see our anger is dangerous, we impute it gone, within hours we find ourselves getting more angry then before. What happened? Anger is attempting to show it’s supposed power, is it bad? No, it’s good, the anger just found it’s defeated, thus we take authority over it by centering on the Joy of the Lord in the Spirit.

After the Fall neither Adam or Eve were devil possessed, yet they spoke from the source of their rebellion. Eve even blamed the devil, but in the process she was giving the devil glory, by ignoring her own fault. They became self-aware, they desired the things of the flesh, which became the things of man. The flesh was formed of the earth, the elements of the earth were in darkness, thus the flesh wants to adhere to the things of darkness. Adam and Eve accepted the nature of darkness, yet they really didn’t know a change had taken place. They didn’t run out of the Garden, they remained, Adam even sought a false covering for his flesh (fig leaves); thereby showing the flesh became the problem, not the soul. His thinking changed completely, from bone of my bone, to the woman you gave me. The seeds of the “self” were evident before the fall, when Adam man saw the woman he was excited, she was “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh”, yet we never see where he “thanked” God for the gift. If we assume for a second Adam was devil possessed we missed the point of the conversation at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The devil was using suggestions, he was not forcing the issue. Once the suggestions were accepted, the nature of disobedience was birthed. It was the received nature, not devil possession causing the fall. They accepted the disobedience, in so doing received the nature behind it, causing disobedience to become a way of life, the focus changed to using the flesh to make the soul pleased. How long did it take? A few seconds, yet it happened to each of us. Our connection by the flesh was our contact to the realm of darkness; we heard the flesh, then we accepted the suggestion, allowing the self-nature to become our nature. The Process of Change is what the Gospel is all about, being set free from the old, to be formed into the New. The further into the New we move, the further we move from the old.

We should have these areas fairly well under our belt of Truth by now, however, are there areas of warfare leaders face? Dumb question, we know Paul faced many, we just looked at some. Regardless of the gathering of Christians or those of The Faith, there are various stages of growth, some are still in the conception stage, some are the fetus fighting to secure the root, some carnal, some very carnal, some at the Blade stage, some mature, some very mature. How hard is it to address all in one sermon? Try it sometime. Who could we use as an example regarding leadership and proper warfare? Let’s see, oh yes, Jesus of course.

What was the first battle Jesus fought? Ahh, the devil, no, it was the first battle of the ministry, but not the first battle. Time and Timing was the first, we are not told a great deal about Jesus as a youth, there are many stories, many rumors, but our source is the Bible, not rumor. Luke tells us when Jesus was twelve He went into the temple at Jerusalem, in the mean time His mother was on her way home. She discovered Jesus was not among the youth, then went looking for Him. After Three Days she found Him in the Midst of the doctors and religious leaders who astonished at the answers and understanding of Jesus. Did He have knowledge at the time? Yes (Luke 2:47), if He had knowledge, if He knew who He was, why not just begin the ministry? Time and timing, He waited for the time and timing of the Father, when the Holy Ghost came the ministry for the Son of man was opened.

Being Called and being ready are different, the calling is the invitation, then comes the training, then we are sent. Faith in the process is important, it doesn’t mean we sit in some cave, although it will seem like it. The “cave of the prophet” is the place of discerning the exactness of the calling; however, we can be in the Cave yet among many people at the same time. Elijah was in an actual cave when the clarity of his calling was manifested to him, in our case it’s an inward cave. Three things are vital, we put our trust in God, we put our faith in God, and we maintain our love in God. We can trust others to do as they should, but we never put our trust in people. We never trust anyone for deliverance, security, support, or any facets making us depend on them for our livelihood. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding”. When we put our trust in people, or society, or the world we will fall very hard when they fail us.

Time and timing are elements where our time intersects with the timing of God. John the Baptist had a short timed ministry, but it was dependent on time and timing. John’s ministry couldn’t be late, or early, we wait, wait, wait on the Lord in His timing He will tell us where to go and what to say. It was once said God has missed some golden opportunities to be early, but He has never been late.

Here is a battle and a battlefield, of course the battlefield is our own soul, the battle is taming our impatience by Patience. Staying the course is a battle, we want to jump out of the boat, walk on the water, fly through the air, do something, anything but sit here in this boat. However, the command is to get to the other side, there waits the ministry. Stay the course, let Patience have her perfect work. Patience is not merely “remaining the same” all the time, since one can be nasty all the time, or impatient all the time. Patience means to stay the course until the end is reached without wavering from side to side. If we are told to go to the other side, then we go, we don’t stop to walk on the water, we don’t think about turning back, we don’t interrupt the process, we finish the course. Patience and faith are related, victory comes when patience has had her perfect work, until the result we hold our faith in God to complete what He has promised us.

The next area where Jesus would face a battle was of course the temptations: knowing the Spirit took Jesus into the wilderness just so He could be tempted of the devil would seem barbaric, cruel, or at least not fair. However, it shows the devil must be defeated before we begin. So how are we going to do it? Bind the idiot, no loose him, no, ah what? Don’t you think Jesus had this in hand? Yes, Hebrews 2:14 tells us through death Jesus destroyed (made ineffective) him who had the power of death, that is the devil. In the case of Jesus it was to defeat, then destroy the devil, for us it’s finally knowing the wiles of the devil are ineffective in our lives.

Jesus used the Scriptures, thus for us it’s the Word in us, the same Word defeated then destroyed the devil. Knowledge of our effectiveness as it relates to the ineffectiveness of the wiles of the devil is a victory in hand.

The wilderness of Jesus held many experiences, but the devil was limited to the same three elements of the lust of eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. None of which had any effect on Jesus. The temptation came, but it didn’t mean Jesus was tempted unto evil. As we know temptation is only complete if the person being tempted falls to the temptation. If Jesus would have turned the stones to bread, then temptation would have been complete. Just because the devil suggested or tempted Jesus, doesn’t mean Jesus succumbed to the temptation.

When we came to Jesus we accepted the Plan of Deliverance He offered, then we are elevated above powers and principalities. We must know all powers and principalities are under the feet of Jesus, they have no power over us. Our liberty is so complete we find we can use the Power of Christ, or reject it. Everyone who enters the Kingdom has the same potential, yet we must Accept the gift in its fullness. We don’t pick power alone then reject authority, neither do we pick the knowledge then reject the power. God is equal, we must be as well.

When Jesus was dealing with the religious leaders what Spirit do you think guided Him? The Spirit of God. Okay, what spirit guided the religious leaders? The spirit lusting to envy. When we see how Jesus dealt with the religious leaders we must keep several things in mind, Jesus came to save them, not to defeat them, kill them, or come against them. He presented them with Opportunity; Nicodemus is the best example to prove the point. All the teachers, Pharisees, rulers, scribes, lawyers and other religious rulers, even the high priest, had the same opportunity as Nicodemus. However, rather than submit to the obvious power to move on with God, they decided to be the ones to come against Jesus, yet, Jesus was reaching out to save them, while they were lying in wait to kill Him.

To us all this seems rather basic, but at the time do we think the religious leaders felt they were being guided by darkness? Of course not, they were deceived into thinking they were doing God a great service, giving us something to consider when we decide to tell someone what we think. We could be using the wrong source to accomplish what we think is a good effort, missing the will of God by miles. The religious leaders rejected the obvious, they felt Jesus was doing the works of the devil based on their own ineffectiveness. They failed to look at the evidence, not only the evidence of the works of Jesus, but their own ways as well. The Word in us will divide, separate and expose, but we must be open and teachable.

What did the religious leaders think about the Cross? Did they fall down and say “we have crucified the Son of man”? No, they went home to eat their Passover, like the children in the wilderness who made the golden calf one day then kept the sabbath the next, they felt they were the true warriors of God. They had no idea the Cross defeated the devil, or granted mankind the greatest opportunity of all time.

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, when the temptations came He knew it. He discerned each and everyone of them, but did the religious rulers discern the temptations they fell into? No, did they discern they were tempting Jesus? No, they felt they were only determining the truth of the matter. The person doing the tempting must have a lust in them from which they tempt, thus Jesus told the religious rulers, “why tempt you Me?” (Mark 12:15). The devil tempted Jesus, the religious leaders tempted Jesus, thus Jesus said they would do the lusts of their father the devil (Jn 8:44). Another clue, they ignored their lusts, their ego, religious pride, unbelief and were being used of the darkness, yet felt they were the only Light in town. Tempting is not the same as asking a question, if it were the case there would be no students or disciples. Tempting questions are used to insert superiority, or to lead a person into an area to trick or trap them, so the person asking can appear superior, different from wanting information.

Jesus showed His clarity by rejecting each of the three temptations, but each was later committed by the religious rulers, yet they didn’t have a clue to their intent. The religious rulers attempted to turn the stones into bread, attempted to elevate themselves above the Temple, they attempted to rule and dominate the people. The religious rulers felt they were in control, yet their control was exposed as religious manipulation. Jesus did offend the religious leaders, but did He intend to offend? No, yet the Truth will offend. The offense is not to make one stumble, it’s to expose so correction can produce perfection. When they tempted Jesus, He in turn gave them exposure as a test. The same was found in the Wilderness, the children tempted God, but God was not tempted, rather He sent exposure to them in the form of a test.

The Cross was the purpose since the foundation of the world, yet the Cross as an event took place 2,000 years ago. The Lamb was slain, not murdered, the Lamb “gave His life” for many, He was not escaping events He couldn’t handle. A sacrifice and suicide are completely different, suicide lacks hope, a sacrifice grants hope.

The wilderness was the place where Jesus was tempted directly by the devil, but did those temptations stop when Jesus left the wilderness? No, they continued on, only instead of the devil tempting Him directly, we find the children of the devil would do the lusts of their father the devil. Many of the temptations we face are not directly by the devil, but through people, yet flesh and blood is not our enemy. The religious leaders had no idea they were attempting to do for the devil, what the devil failed at. Jesus looked to the source, thus He was showing the religious leaders their motivation and intent. There are eight references where we find the religious rulers Tempted Jesus, thus the religious rulers were hearing the voice of the spirit lusting to envy by allowing envy to direct their actions and words; even Pilate knew the religious leaders were motivated by envy (Matt 27:13).

We will look at events wherein Jesus faced the religious minded, we see them as examples of Warfare. Whenever we find the Premise in the Bible, we must search out the example. We never make up our own examples for the premise, we will just form another stronghold. In Matthew 16:1-4 the Pharisees and Sadducees wanting a sign from heaven; it wasn’t just a sign, rather they demanded the sign they wanted. There were signs many, but they rejected them all; they wanted God to prove Himself to them by their rules, yet they failed to prove they were the people of God. Jesus told them how they could see the heavens and know “red sky at night”, or “red sky in the morning”, thus the sign was there, they just didn’t want to see it. There is an old saying connected to the premise, “red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in the morning sailor take warning”. A red sky at night means a nice day will follow, a red sky in the morning means a storm is coming. Even the religious rulers used the Plan of God to tell what the weather would be, but they couldn’t see the “Plan of God” for mankind. They wanted a green sky, or a purple sky, then they would believe. They wanted Jesus to change the stones into bread, or if the sky is green with no sun, then they would believe. “If Jesus goes through this graveyard and raises the ones I say, then I will believe”. What is it? Tempting Jesus. It was done then, it’s done now, but we war not to get involved in natural man’s foolishness. The temptation to prove ourselves comes as a dart out of no where, “say something in those tongues”, “if you are really a son of God….”, “if you really believe in healing how come you’re sick”, all temptations to get us to justify ourselves, or provide a “sign”, yet even if we did provide a sign, they would still refuse to believe.

Jesus didn’t tell the religious minded people, “Signs, Signs, I’ll give you signs”. Could He? Yes, but He didn’t. As evil as these religious rulers were, they were nonetheless part of those Jesus was sent to. Sending fire down on them, praying against them, or forcing them to believe was not in the plan. In our case we are sent to the call the called from the world, cursing the world isn’t the answer, the world is the world. Jesus presented the signs desired of the Father based in Mercy, yet signs can be falling around us like rain, but if we refuse to receive, we won’t.

Next we go to Matthew 19:3-12, which has to do with binding and loosing. The Pharisees were Tempting Jesus with questions of the Law, much like the Pharisees do today. Showing the temptations were still going on well after the wilderness, but it was the religiously conceited who were doing the tempting. The religious leaders asked, “what do you think about…?”, yet they could care less what Jesus thought. “Tell me brother, what to you think..”, they don’t care, they merely narrowing the path toward the trap. Nicodemus asked questions, but he wanted to know. This event with Jesus is just another example of how a temptation is not complete until the one being tempted is enticed by their own lust, thus when the diver temptations come, it doesn’t mean we have to fall in order to rejoice. There is a rejoicing when we see the temptation for what it is, then it becomes a test for us. How do we deal with it? The wisdom of man, or the Wisdom of God?

The question remains, Where was the lust? In the religious leaders, not in Jesus, so when someone tempts us, where is the lust? In the one doing the tempting, it doesn’t have to be in the one being tempted. The spirit lusting to envy uses envy, strife, jealousy, anger, religious conceit, wrath, tumults, the expressions of ego, pride, arrogance, all of which are rulers of the darkness in order to produce the temptation; however it doesn’t mean the temptation has to be received.

Paul and Silas were faced with the damsel who was possessed, she followed the two men saying, “These men are the servants of the most high God, who show unto us the way to salvation” (Acts 16:16-19). Her demonic soothsaying must have worked on some, she did bring her masters gain (Acts 16:16). Her saying seemed proper, Paul and Silas were servants of God, their goal was to show the way of salvation, so what was wrong? The motivation was to exalt the men more than God, she was attempting to entice them, in order to preach her Gospel, but Paul discerned the spirit in the damsel and cast it out of her (Acts 16:18 & I Cor 12:10). We find the same with Jesus, He was discerning the intent, separating and dividing and exposing by the evidence. It’s exactly the same as the Word does in us, the division is to separate us from using the wiles of the devil (James 1:21 & Heb 4:12).

The lust in the religious rulers became the source of the temptation, thus the damsel was demon possessed, the religious rulers were being used by the old nature. The damsel was bound by demon possession, the religious rulers by the demonic. The Pharisees wanted to know if a man could put away his wife for any cause. In His answer Jesus not only pointed to the Law, but to the nation as well. God didn’t put away the nation for Any Cause, it was specific, yet neither did He leave them, as evidenced by Jesus coming to the Jews. Jesus points to the purpose of God in the very beginning, in so doing He was showing them a sign established well before the Law. It was the same God, thus the Desire of God was in the beginning, the Law provided man a means of divorce, based on man’s heart, not God’s. The religious rulers thought they were the watchdogs of Jehovah, but they were the messengers of Satan; yet Jesus continued to preach the truth in Love. However, Love can produce a sound rebuke, as long as it’s correction leading to perfection. Every time Jesus rebuked the Pharisees He was showing them there remained a work for them, one they couldn’t do on their own, one which would take the Spirit of Christ.

The next place is in Matthew 22:18, the religious minded came with words of praise, but hearts of deceit. Edifying someone, and building their ego are different. The disciples of the Pharisees were joined by the Herodians who came with smooth words, “Master, we know You are true, and teach the way of God in truth, neither do You care for any man, for You regard not the persons of men” (Matt 22:16). Give me a break, even the carnal minded should be able to detect the source of those words. Jesus looked past the words to the intent, knowing the question was a trap, it went right back to the temptation to turn stones into bread. “Tell us oh Master, You who speak Truth, is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?”. For these religious leaders they presumed Rome was punishing the people, not the temple. After all the temple was still making money, surely a sign of holiness. Oops, they were also stealing the people blind. The evidence showed they were in error, thus the question should have been, “Master, how do we get free?”.

Jesus could have said, “tell Me, why do you have these money changers? Why do you have Caesar’s money in your hand?”, or “Why do you care?”, but He didn’t, rather He perceived their Wickedness by saying, “Why tempt you Me, you hypocrites?” (Matt 22:18). Tempt? There it is again, the devil left for a season, but he sent Tares to do his bidding. Of course, they didn’t answer the question, because they really didn’t know why they were tempting Jesus, they felt it was merely “testing Him”. Jesus perceived the intent, His answer caused the temptation to fail, thus He delivered a test to those who tempted Him.

In Matthew 22:35 a lawyer tempted Jesus by asking a question, this again was using a question as a trap. The lawyer said, “Which is the great commandment in the Law?”. We couple this question with the one asked in Mark 12:28, since they are two different things, yet the same question. The intent of this lawyer was to trap; the intent of the scribe in Mark is to find out something. Instead of Jesus saying, “thou shall not tempt the Lord your God”, He went to the source and said, “Hear O Israel; the Lord your God is One Lord: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength”, then He added the Second which is also based in Love, showing Love is the basis for the Commandments. In Mark the scribe told Jesus, “Well, Master, You have said the truth; for there is One God; and there is none other but He: and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:32-33). Jesus then told the scribe, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34). Jesus didn’t say the scribe was in the Kingdom, only his knowledge of Love placed him near it. Two questions with two different intents, the one seeking knowledge moved closer to the Kingdom, the one tempting moved further from the Kingdom.

In Mark the Pharisees with certain of the scribes found some of the disciples of Jesus eating with unwashed hands, presuming they “found fault” (Mark 7:1-2). What were they looking for? Fault; thus fault finding comes from the intent of envy. They wanted to find something wrong, so they could reject everything Jesus was saying. This washing was based on the “tradition of the elders”, it was not in the Law, it was something the elders did, but the religious rulers made it doctrine. They asked Jesus, “Why do your disciples walk not according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?” (Mark 7:5). This was a challenge, the evidence was in hand, some of the disciples were caught, what to do? Jesus now takes the words of the Prophets, displaying how the Pharisees were fulfilling prophecy, not in the manner they assumed, but fulfilling it nonetheless. In vain they worship God, teaching for Doctrine the commandments of men (Mark 7:7). What a lesson, what a time to examine ones Theology, or Doctrine, could we be teaching Traditions as Doctrine? We need to examine our Doctrine daily, allow the Holy Ghost to challenge any areas where we picked up some error, or misread a verse, or have formed a tradition of our elders into doctrine.

From Mark to Luke and another lawyer: the lawyers of the Law are different from the lawyers of the civil law we find today, at least for the most part. The lawyer of the Law of Moses was one who interpreted the Law for the Chief Priest, it was the lawyer who said, “this is the Law”, the Chief Priest would agree. The legal system in most countries came from the English system, but the English system came from the Justinian, as the Justinian came from the Jewish system, thus we also have lawyers who plead the law in front of judges. The punishments very, but how does one know stealing is wrong? The Ten Commandments said so; the punishment may be jail, or cutting a hand off, but the violation was known because God said stealing was wrong. This lawyer was attempting to get Jesus to interpret the Law as He saw it, just to find fault in His answer, thereby accuse Him. The real error was in thinking they knew more than Jesus, surely He would enter error and they would find their fault. In Luke a certain lawyer stood up tempting Jesus by asking, “Master what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25). Accordingly, the lawyers, Pharisees, scribes, or other religious rulers of the time assumed Life was promised in the Law. Later Jesus would say, “Search the Scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me” (Jn 5:39). This was just after Jesus said, “you have not this Word (Logos) in you; for Whom He has sent, Him you believe not” (Jn 5:38). Life is defined in the Bible (Scriptures), but the Scriptures do not impart life. The Pharisees felt since they read about life, they had it. We can read about Grace, but it doesn’t mean we have it.

Back to our lawyer, according to Agenda (tradition), a Jew could only spend one year in hell, after which they went to Abraham’s Bosom, the highest point one could reach at the time, so why even worry about hell? This lawyer wanted to know about “eternal life”, but in order for there to be eternal life, there must also be eternal death. To these people eternal life was in the Bosom of Abraham, they felt keeping the Law of Moses was the means; however, Abraham never kept the Law of Moses, he was a man of belief and faith. Instead of Jesus saying, “Watch it, you’re talking to the Anointed”, or “yeah, thou art so stupid”, He put the ball back in the lap of the lawyer by asking, “What is written in the Law, how do you read it?”. The man’s job was to say what the Law said; since the lawyer asked a like question to tempt Jesus, was Jesus now tempting him by asking the question? No, this is exposure; Jesus didn’t start this, but He was fully capable of finishing it.

This lawyer being responsible for reading the Law correctly, used the same terms regarding the Commandments as Jesus did prior; Love the Lord your God, and your neighbor, thus verifying Jesus was not in error (Luke 10:27). What does this Love entail? Mercy? Yes, was Jesus a “neighbor”? Yes, yet the lawyer was using his position to tempt Jesus, but how would he like it if some Pharisee used their position to tempt him? Not at all, so was the lawyer doing the Law? No, why accuse Jesus? We can see how the temptation came at Jesus, but Jesus returned a test to the lawyer. A temptation must entice us by deceiving us, Jesus was never deceived, neither did He deceive others.

Still in Luke we come to the time when Jesus was casting out a devil, some of the Pharisees said, “He casts out devils through Beelzebub the chief (prince) of the devils” (Luke 11:14-15). Prior we saw this event in Matthew, but here we want to look at something else, the attacking mind of the religiously conceited. The irony here is how the religiously conceited claimed Jesus was using the power of darkness, but when Jesus rebukes them He shows they were using the power of darkness against Light. They were attempting to stop Jesus by saying, “the Law doesn’t say you can”, but He kept saying, “Where does it say I can’t?”. Hindering spirits are all the same, they look for ways not to do something, rather than seek a way in Christ to do something. The religiously minded needed to recognize the evidence, not investigate it.

The religious rulers again tempted Jesus, seeking a sign from heaven (Luke 11:16). Jesus knowing their thoughts responded with kingdom principles. Their kingdom was in danger, Jesus was saving it, but they couldn’t see the salvation at hand. Satan was already dividing their kingdom, they held envy, strife and division, yet they looked at their Savior as the problem, rather than seeing the problem was the Strongman unbound. Jesus answered their question, If He casts out devils by the finger of God, then No Doubt the Kingdom of God is come upon them (Luke 11:20). From where did the Kingdom of God come? Heaven was loosed for them, yet they were bound to the earth. In essence their hearts betrayed them, if Satan was casting out Satan, then rejoice in the Lord, the kingdom of Satan is doomed, if it’s by God then rejoice in the Lord, the Kingdom of God is at hand, in either case seek the Precious by giving God the glory.

Warfare doesn’t mean we won’t have problems, Jesus had problems with the Pharisees. He also had problems with His own disciples; however, problems with answers, defuse the problem. The Holy Ghost will guide us by telling us things to come, thus we know the answer is at hand. Knowing we’re in the hand of God is a sign of Peace, knowing God is working to bring us into the fullness of Salvation is Peace in hand. It’s our own reaction to the problem, becoming the problem, not the problem itself.

The Doctrine (not doctrines) Of Christ came out of the mouth of Jesus, yet it came from the Father (Jn 7:16). One must Do the Will of the Father in order to know the Doctrine, but what is the Will of the Father? We know the Will of the Lord from Ephesians, the Will of the Father is “hear you Him” coupled with being merciful and holy as our Father is merciful and holy. Were the Pharisees doing any of this? No, they refused to Hear, they refused to grant Mercy, thus holiness was what they thought it entailed. Did they have the opportunity to apply mercy? Yes, more than once, but did they?

There came a time when the Jews had set their minds to kill Jesus. Jesus teaches them how God didn’t give them the Law, God gave the Law to Moses, then Moses gave them the Law, yet they couldn’t keep it (Jn 7:19). The Law of Moses is a paradox, on one hand it was designed for the carnal minded, but it came from a spiritual source, thus in order to finish the course for the Law of Moses one had to be spiritual, but if one was spiritual, they have fulfilled the Law of Moses, they are then ready to move on to the Law of the Spirit. As strange as it seems, by doing the Law of Moses one admits their sins are not forgiven by God, as well as admitting they are yet carnal in need carnal ordinances they can follow. The Pharisees were doing the Law of Moses, assuming they completed it, but because they were doing it, tended to show they had not completed it. Now they accuse Jesus of having a devil. Foolish? Yes, but the Strongman attacks when exposed (Jn 7:20). If we are offended with we hear truth, the Strongman will retaliate with, “well I’m not so sure it’s truth”. The Strongman makes his excuses, but he still can’t change the truth.

Jesus tells them, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteously” (Jn 7:24). They saw a devil come out, they judged it as Satan casting out Satan, but they never saw the person set free of their torment; where was their Righteousness? It was time for them to repent in order to gain some true Righteousness. Did they have their loins girt about with Truth? No, they were attacking the Truth. Did they have on the breastplate of righteousness? No, they were judging by appearance. Did they have their feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace? No, they were warring against repentance. Did they have the Shield of faith? No, they were sending fiery darts. Did they have the helmet of salvation? No, they were judging by using the lusts of their father the devil. These are lessons for us, the written evidence of the strongman unbound should be the incentive to bind him. We can learn, or we can ignore, but it doesn’t change the evidence.

Jesus ends this teaching to the religious rulers in the same manner as He taught the Woman at the Well. He who believes shall have rivers of living water flow from his belly (Jn 7:38). The Pharisees could have said, “well we believe the Law”, but they didn’t, since they failed to do the heart of the Law. The religious rulers also knew living waters pointed to Mercy coupled with Life from the Spirit. Now their envy was growing to the maximum, they would set their trap on the issue of Mercy. A plan made in secret, is the same as laying in wait to deceive. What is a “secret plan”? One where the accused is not invited.

They made their secret plan, then approached Jesus with an event demanding Mercy, yet would appear to be in conflict with the Law. They held a John 7 meeting, but like all John 7 meetings, there was one among them to expose the error. Nicodemus, the same one who heard Jesus teach on being Born Again, questioned the John 7 meeting (Jn 7:51). Going right back to, “judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (Jn 7:24). Did they hear? No, the next morning they began their evil plan, they found a woman caught in the very act of adultery. We don’t know how they knew this woman would be in the very act of adultery, but it’s not the point anyway, the point is Mercy. When they caught her did they have the opportunity to show her Mercy? Yes, but they made a decision to use her, in truth they were more the prostitute than she.

They had their plan, if Jesus fails to apply Mercy, He is a false teacher, if He applies Mercy, then He is going against the Law. They asked, “Now Moses in the Law commanded us, how such should be stoned: but what say You?” (Jn 8:4-5). Prior it was “what say You on the Law?”, now it’s “thus says the Law, what say You?”. Here we can see how the lust to envy in the Pharisees was doing the tempting, yet they felt it was gathering evidence.

This area in John regarding the woman caught in adultery was covered in our lesson on John, but here in reference to warfare we can see how the Law had things to say about this woman, but wait, where’s the male? Didn’t the Law have a few things to say regarding his part in this? Yes, but they weren’t concerned about the male, or the female, the woman was a tool to reach the means; all they cared about was their trap. Would Jesus say, “grant her mercy”? If so, what about Moses? Would Jesus say, “If it’s what Moses said, then do it”, then what about all the Mercy teaching? Answer the question one way, they would have their evidence, answer another and they would have their evidence, it appeared as if they had Him. What would Jesus do? Use the Scriptures to resolve the situation, but not from the Law, He used the Prophets. Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dirt, thus He wrote, He didn’t “say”, it was something they never considered. What did He write? The same prophecy Jeremiah gave, “My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of Living Waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jere 2:13), and “O Lord, the Hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed, and they who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of Living Waters” (Jere 17:13). Jesus used a physical effort of writing to display the exposure, thus they wanted Him to “Speak” the word, but He wrote it for two reasons. In Jeremiah God said He would write their names in the dust, but Jesus is also pointing them right back to the “written Scriptures”. They used the Law, Jesus used the Prophets, yet it was the same God who gave the words to Moses and Jeremiah, but they didn’t want to know what God had to say on the matter, yet the Proceeding word came forth rebuking the religious minded. The Pharisees wanted to kill her, Jesus forgave her, who then did the will of the Father?

There are the areas where we can’t find the wording Tempt or Temptation, but we also find where the exact words were not used, but the actions show a temptation took place; therefore, it behooves us to find how Jesus responded during those events as well. The Pharisees planned their attacks; if one has been on the other end of an attack, they know we Respond, we don’t react. The biggest battles we will face relate to Mercy; during the earthly ministry Jesus operated as the Son of man, a position of mercy. When we are attacked Mercy is always the call, we respond in Mercy, we don’t retaliate.

In the next event the Pharisees see the disciples, then report their findings to Jesus: in the last event they saw Jesus and ran to question the disciples, this time it’s reversed (Matt 12:2). The disciples were plucking corn (wheat) on the sabbath, Jesus responded to the religious rulers by giving a history lesson. Prior it was the Law, then the Prophets and Psalms, now History. David took the shewbread when he and his men were hungry, yet he did it by permission of the priest, not force (Matt 12:3). Jesus then goes back to the Law, showing the priests are free of the sabbath, since they are free they can’t profane it. Therefore, the Law was flexible, it had exceptions. Nonetheless the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. Which means the sabbath was servant to man, man was not servant to the sabbath. Jesus knows they failed the homework assignment by saying, “But if you had known what this means, I will have Mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day” (Matt 12:7-8). This is a very important passage, since it doesn’t say “the Son of God is Lord of the sabbath”, rather it’s the position of the Son of man relating to Mercy.

It didn’t take long before the next attack, again the stones of theological abuse would fly. Jesus entered their synagogue therein He did an act of Mercy, will they judge it righteously? Hardly, they attacked, attempting to trap Him again. If we are the ones doing the trapping, then repentance is in order, if we are the victims, then the warfare of Mercy is at hand. What benefit is there for us? Mercy, the more we give, the more we get. When given the opportunity to grant Mercy or vengeance, we must remember Mercy grants us Mercy, vengeance grants us big trouble. However, it’s obvious Mercy applied in a Godly manner may include a rebuke to be given, but a Godly rebuke always leaves room for repentance.

There was a man in the synagogue who had a withered hand, did they pray for him, or use him as a tool for their deception? The latter of course, Pharisees use the healed and sick as tools to attack other ministries. Whether the person is healed or not isn’t an issue with them, if they don’t get the glory, they will use the person as a weapon to get their brand of justice. The Pharisees asked, “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days?”, this was said to accuse Jesus. They just failed the practical exam on their homework; where did it say Jesus couldn’t heal? No where in the Law does it restrict good works on any day of the week. A great deal of attacks from the religious minded center in “I can’t do it and neither can you”, which in turn comes out to be “I won’t do it and neither can you”.

When Jesus answered them, He exposed their intent; however, what is exposed will retaliate to show it’s supposed power, the Pharisees proved it. When Jesus exposed their pride, they used anger and manipulation as weapons. They wanted Jesus to fall down before them, or exalt them, but when Jesus pointed to their source, they became offended. Seldom does the attacker think anyone has a right to question them, while they go about questioning everyone. Do we attack the person? No, neither did Jesus, He will address the source of the problem.

Instead of the Pharisees saying, “You know Jesus, we simply can’t find a place where You can’t do these things, so bless God, do them”, they kept saying, “we can’t find a place where it says You can do these things, so stop”. This is the same principle a hindering spirit uses to bring discouragement; however, it does show the difference between the Law of Moses and the Law of the Spirit, as well as why we can’t do both. The Law of Moses was to restrict the people, the Law of the Spirit is to encourage people.

The people were amazed at Jesus, when the Pharisees heard and saw the people, they retorted with “This fellow does not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of devils” (Matt 12:24). Envy? Yes, the same old spirit of man opposing the Spirit which is of God. This wasn’t the first time they made this accusation, back in Matthew 9:34 they said the same. Jesus taught His disciples by saying, “it is enough for the disciple to be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household?” (Matt 10:25). Find the premise, then the example, don’t go beyond what the Master did, we are not above Him.

Matthew 10:25 came in reference to, “behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be you therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matt 10:16). Know how the serpent reacts and attacks, but don’t use the same teeth, be as a Dove. The Dove is a symbol of Peace, when attacked with anger we remain calm, is it easy? No, but when anger attacks anger the devil will insert himself into the conversation.

It was the event in Matthew 12 which produced the saying, “bind the strongman”, yet Jesus just loosed a person, so this binding had nothing to do with what Jesus did, but everything to do with what the Pharisees said, thus they needed to bind the strongman. The Pharisees were told to define Mercy, they rejected the concept for the works of the enemy.

Which brings us to Matthew 12:38, where certain of the scribes and Pharisees demanded a sign, they didn’t Ask, they Demanded. Jesus then equated their attitude to an Evil and Adulterous generation. Signs follow the believer, we will see signs and wonders, but we don’t demand them from people.

If the men of Nineveh who heard one of the fastest moving sermons of all time repented, so could these Pharisees. The queen of Sheba who heard the wisdom of Solomon knew it was of God, yet she was a heathen. These Pharisees have dedicated their lives to God, or at least they said so, but they failed to see Wisdom before their eyes. They had eyes, but they really didn’t want to see, so it is with unbelief.

Is this warfare? Yes, Jesus is doing battle on a day to day basis, the battle to stay in the Will of the Father, the battle to apply Mercy at every turn, to allow Truth to flow, to remain in the proper position for all those who desire to be as Christ.

The next battlefield will be different from the others we looked at. This battle is the temptation of turning the stones into bread. Jesus entered the synagogue, the people were astonished, saying, “Where has this Man gained such Wisdom and these Mighty Works?” (Matt 13:53-54). So far, so good, but then the strongman with his unbelief jumps up in the unbelievers to judge by appearance, “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” (Matt 13:55). It doesn’t matter about the Wisdom, or the Works, this fellow is just some Carpenter’s son. They were Offended In Him, thus Jesus could do no mighty works because of their unbelief (Matt 13:58). Who lost this battle? Jesus? No, the people? Yes, their own unbelief choked the word right out of town. Faith came, but they allowed their own unbelief to hinder their hearing; we find we can’t make people believe. Either they do, or they don’t, it’s not our problem, our concern is our own belief. Unbelief closes the door, doubt jumps out of the ship before the command is complete.

Traditions of men become doctrines of men, when the issue came up, Jesus wasted no time rebuking the Pharisees for using the tradition to avoid the Commandment. Today traditions are used to avoid the Truth, in either case, if we hold to traditions, our worship is vain (Matt 15:9) making the Commandment of God of none effect. Which Commandment? Any Tradition made into doctrine will take something away from a Commandment. There are Traditions of God, but they never take away from the Commandment, they enhance the Commandments.

The things which most offended the Pharisees were either things they were doing which were not of God, or things they failed to do which were of God. Jesus was doing what they should be doing, but why couldn’t they? Traditions coupled to their unbelief, thus Jesus rebuked them, not to belittle them, nor to make it appear as if He was more powerful, but to set them free. Jesus came to save man, not destroy mankind. For every tradition we hold, we vacate the Power of Christ to some degree in our lives.

Why were the Pharisees so adamant regarding traditions? Their traditions made them feel superior, the tradition placed them above others, but they fed the strongman with more pride. They came seeking fault in order to show Jesus and His disciples had flaws, yet these simple disciples of Jesus were healing the sick and casting out devils. Did the disciples have flaws? Yes, but Jesus didn’t. When we seek the fault, we blind ourselves to the Precious. A devil is cast out, what did the Pharisees see? “This man does work on the sabbath”, they never saw the person who was set free.

We don’t want to confuse discernment with seeking fault either, or we will condemn ourselves every time we try to discern something. Discernment is when the Spirit exposes the intent or source regarding some event or situation in order for us to know how to apply the Wisdom of God. Jesus discerned, the Pharisees sought fault. The difference? Jesus was seeking to heal, correct, or set in order, the Pharisees were not. If all we desire is information so we can belittle someone we’re fault seekers. If we desire information so we can be used to heal, or restore, we are saints being used of the Lord.

One can imagine the frustration of the Pharisees, they assumed there was a calling to be a “watchdog for Jehovah”, they thought they were the holy Witnesses for Jehovah, but they were nonetheless doing the lusts of their father the devil. They were motivated by envy, jealousy, religious conceit, pride, ego, self-righteousness, a lust to feel superior over Jesus, yet they couldn’t see it. Did they pray? More than some of us. Did they discuss God? More than most of us. Did they read the Scriptures? Most of the time. None of it helped them, because their attitude was based in carnal religious thinking. As long as they were seeking self-righteousness they would continue to miss the righteousness of God. Therefore, we work out our Salvation with fear and trembling, if these religious workers of the Temple couldn’t see it, what about us? Do we have something better? Yes, the New Man saving our souls continually.

Was Deception ruling the minds of the Pharisees? Yes, do we think for one second they felt they were wrong? Do we think they knew they were doing the lusts of the devil? Not at all, they were convinced they were doing God a service. Deception is only exposed by the Holy Spirit examining the ways of a person. How do we apply our faith? To please us? Or God? If God uses someone else, do we get jealous? Are we mad because God didn’t use us? Are we full of pride because God used us, and not someone else? Do we get mad when God doesn’t perform for us? Are we excited because God is moving, regardless of who He uses? Is it war? Yes, the flesh is ineffective, but not silent. The spirit lusting to envy seeks whom it can use, in order to devour them. Those feelings are just feelings, we have authority over them, thus we can either allow the feeling of envy, strife and jealousy to rule, or take authority by allowing the Spirit of Christ in us to rule, we have the Keys.

Now to Matthew 21:23, Jesus was in the temple, the one place the religious rulers felt they were master. They felt the temple was their “turf”, but they would find although they had authority, they were also under authority. Was the temple in their hands? Yes, if not they couldn’t allow one money changer in, but they still had to answer to God for the manner in which they maintained the Temple. They couldn’t destroy it, but neither could they protect it. When they continued to use the temple in the same old evil manner the protection slowly drifted away until one day in 70 AD a drunken soldier of Titus tossed a torch into the temple burning it down. The gold ran between the stones, they destroyed the stones to get to the gold.

When Jesus did clean out the temple the chief priests (no less) and elders, the same ones who held to the traditions of men, came to Jesus and asked, “By what authority do You do these things?” (Matt 21:23). “What is this person doing coming into our church speaking to us that way?”, “Who do they think they are?”, “Look at them, casting out devils, what are we suppose do with those things now? They’re everywhere, why didn’t they just leave them where they were?”. Been there? Most of us have. When the issue of authority came up, Jesus didn’t say “I’m sent here by God”, or “Get away, don’t touch Me, I come against you in the Name of Jehovah”, they sound “right”, unless they are used from the premise of pride or manipulation. A humble anointed heart need not prove the anointing, the anointing will prove itself.

Jesus asked by what authority did John come? By man, or God? Of course the Pharisees were more frightened of the people, than the power of God. They reasoned through their fear by saying, “We cannot tell” (Matt 21:27). The day we can’t tell if someone is from God or not, we’re in trouble. Jesus told them, “Then I won’t tell you by what Authority I do these things”. Why? They can’t tell, what good would it do to tell them?

The next battlefield was an old one, but with a different twist. Matthew 22:15 relates to Authority: this attack came after Jesus gave the chief priests a lesson on the Wicked Husbandman (Matt 21:33-44). As soon as the religious leaders heard the Parable they perceived Jesus was talking about them (Matt 21:45). Did clarity finally come? Yes, but how would they handle it? Through their anger, the religious minded cause their own confusion by allowing their anger to govern their thinking.

This brings up the issue of defiled hands, the Pharisees saw Jesus “lay hands” on people, not in the same manner as they desired to lay hands on Him, rather they saw people healed, or set free. They also knew the disciples cast out devils, or heal people; not only was this Jesus doing it, but His disciples were. Surely John the Baptist would never have allowed this, after all neither John nor his disciples did any of these things. Comparing one ministry to another is like comparing one person’s walk in Christ to another, it tells us nothing, thus Jesus said, “what does it matter to you, you follow Me”. The ministry of John the Baptist was preparation, his anointing didn’t call for healings, or casting out devils; the two ministries were separated by purpose and effect.

When Jesus and the disciples went about “laying hands” on people the traditions of the Elders went awry, along with their faulty concepts. There was a lying on of hands in the Law, but it was laying hands on the goat which was sent into the wilderness, just the opposite of what Jesus was doing. What did it do to their tradition of “defiled hands”? If the hands of the disciples were defiled, how then could God use their hands to heal? Their own minds rejected the evidence, producing the fable, “Surely this is Beelzebub, the defiled one”. Why? Their traditions, they filtered everything through the “clean hands” stronghold, rejecting the obvious evidence. Even with the man who was born blind, they attempted to reverse the miracle by threatening to excommunicate both he and his parents.

Do we do the same? Perhaps, if someone came to our local body to preach and began to speak without praying, what would we do? “I won’t listen to him, he didn’t pray first”. Where did Jesus pray with the people before teaching them? Or Paul? Really it’s a good idea, but it’s not a mandatory perquisite. If we are proud of our non-traditional thinking, God will send someone to show us how traditional we are. The religious leaders challenged the authority of Jesus, but did He leave? No, He gave another Parable.

Jesus spoke a Parable about a Wedding being prepared, but where are the guests? They’re far too busy, one had his farm business, another his Merchandise, after all one must provide for his own house. The use of the word Merchandise goes right back to “Don’t make My Father’s House a house of merchandise”, another lesson they failed to learn. In this case the one who failed to bind the strongman, found himself bound to hell (Matt 22:13-14). The Pharisees were offended, as they should be, but they reacted when they should have seen the exposure and repented. It would appear as if Jesus was saying it was wrong for them to be concerned over their family, but it’s not the case. It’s priority, it’s not whether one is, or is not concerned, it’s whether they engage in self-righteousness because of it.

Jesus will also make a comparison between divorce and the Law, offending the Pharisees again. When asked about divorce, Jesus would say the law regarding divorce came because of “the hardness of your heart”. Now wait, is Jesus talking about the law of divorce in the Law, or the Law itself? Ahh, both; God didn’t give them the Law because of their righteousness or belief, but because of the hardness of their hearts.

The Pharisees now set their plan, they seek some method in which to Entangle Jesus in His talk (Matt 22:15). Using parts of what a person says, just to set a trap against them is still the mind of a Pharisee. The word Entangle is the Greek Pagiduo, it’s only used here in Matthew, it means To lay snares, or to Lay a snare by deceiving questions. This area connects directly to Paul’s comments on those who “lie in wait to deceive”.

Why would the Pharisees be so concerned about catching Jesus by words? Why not actions? After all they did say He cast out devils by the prince of devils. There is no punishment in the Law for being devil possessed, neither is there any sacrifice in the Law to rid someone of devils; therefore, since the Law didn’t cover “devils”, they simply left the devil issue alone. However, Jesus did teach, since there were no blackboards then, the words of the Teacher proved the Teacher. Jesus didn’t teach on the Law of Moses, but He did teach on Mercy. God’s Mercy endures forever, thus it’s eternal, showing it was before the Law of Moses. It had to be the “words”, Jesus Himself said the Words (Rhema) He spoke pointed to Spirit and Life (Jn 6:63). What were the Pharisees seeking? Death. Two completely opposed thoughts, yet both said they represented God. How would one test which is which? Jesus said, look at the ways of a person, not their acts, but words are ways as well. The Pharisees sought to destroy, Jesus presented Mercy, the ways were clear.

In order for the religious leaders to accuse Jesus they needed something from the Law showing a clear violation, something along the lines of “blasphemy”. In order to prove Blasphemy they had to have words spoken by Jesus, plus witnesses to those words. They themselves heard Jesus many times, yet they still didn’t have any evidence, so they decided to entrap Him. How could they do it? By asking questions with snares (Matt 22:18). Not only did the Pharisees use deceptive ways, but there would come the Sadducees with deceptive questions. This is a strange setting, the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, the Sadducees did not, thus the Pharisees and Sadducees had points they disagreed on, yet joined forces to trap and kill another Jew. Since the Sadducees didn’t believe in the Resurrection, showing their question was based in their unbelief. Jesus tells them “you do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matt 22:29). All they wanted Him to say, “yes, in the resurrection”, then they would say, “there is no resurrection, you speak falsely”. However, Jesus pointed to the Scriptures bringing a hammer to the wall of the stronghold, but did the wall fall? The truth will slam at the stronghold, but if we keep the strongman as the protector, the stronghold will not fall. We must make the decision to bind the strongman, as we submit to the New Man.

Why would someone who cares less what we thought yesterday, all of a sudden want our opinion today? A snare? Yes, “here, listen to this tape, I want your opinion”, “here read this book, I want your opinion”. Opinion? Who cares about the opinion of man? The words forming the snare are there, the same means as the Scribes used against Jesus. “Oh man of God, we need your opinion on this matter, tell us….”. Ouch, they set the snare by using their deception and cunning ways, then turn right around and say God told them to do it. How can something from darkness, be of the Light? It can’t; laying in wait to deceive is a wile of the devil, never use it, or condone it.

Jesus then used Scripture showing it was God who said, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”; showing the all presence of God. God didn’t say “I was the God of Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob”, rather it showed God looks at life, not death, accordingly God dealt with all three men as the One God. One could view this from man’s point of view claming Jesus was in error since all three men didn’t live at the same time, Abraham was dead (Gen 25:8), when Esau and Jacob were born (Gen 25:27), but God is not limited to time, He is always Now, thus when He was looking at Abraham He saw Jacob; God is still the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. Jesus used the Scripture to show the Power of God, as well as showing them, they didn’t know Abraham, but God did, neither did they know Moses, but God did.

The Sadducees wanted to find fault in the Doctrine of Jesus, but they ended with their unbelief and false theology exposed. The Pharisees wanted to find fault in Jesus, what they found was the exposure of their own strongman; what they did with the information was their decision. Both groups came to Jesus with the guise of Learning, yet both were given knowledge, would they receive? God’s people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge, not because God didn’t give them knowledge, rather it’s because they rejected it. Jesus never said, “By My words you will be justified, or by My words you will be condemned”, it’s our words determining the source, and result.

What about other ministry problems? Did Jesus face unbelief and problems from within? Yes, How many times did He tell His disciples “oh you of little faith”? When it came to the Gentile woman their ministry advise was, “send her away” (Matt 15:23). Also, Peter rebuked Jesus by saying, “Be it far from You, Lord: this shall not be unto You” (Matt 16:22). Then there was Judas, the one Jesus picked at the first, yet Jesus knew Judas was a devil. From the beginning Jesus knew about Judas, yet He appointed him as the, “keeper of the bag”. Did He tempt Judas? Or test him? Judas was a thief, yet he deserved the opportunity to repent as anyone else, but why not give the bag to another? The world tells us remove the weapon, save a child, but removing the weapon doesn’t deal with “Why” the child used the weapon to begin with. Jesus was working with Judas, thus Judas had more than enough information to know what was right or wrong. Jesus never forced change on anyone, He presented the evidence allowing the person to make up their own mind. Mercy does make a change in a person, Grace more so, if the person submits to the change.

Judas becomes our evidence, one can be anointed, yet turn on the Lord. One can hold an office, yet turn on the Lord. One can have the information, yet reject it for the self-nature. Jesus simply submitted by allowing Judas to follow the course Judas decided upon, yet Jesus also allowed Peter and Paul to follow the courses they decided upon. Jesus gave Judas opportunities to confess, repent and change. Jesus taught him, allowed him to experience the power, but He never forced Judas to do a thing. Jesus is very wise, anyone who has had a ministry for any length of time knows they must face their own Judas, whether he is in their hearts, or among the grouping. Judas knew how the chief priests felt about Jesus, he was there when they took up stones, he was there when they made it obvious how they hated Jesus, he was in the field when they attacked Jesus, right there with the other disciples. He watched the temptations and tricks of the religious rulers, he watched as Jesus conducted Godly warfare. Judas ignored the strongman in his own soul deciding to use the supposed enemies of Jesus against Jesus to get his own way, in the process he ended up as the first son of perdition. Judas attempted to control Jesus, the ministry and the Jews, but ended with a piece of rope, just long enough. Peter was weak, failing to do something for Jesus he honestly felt he could do, Judas did something against Jesus, completely different. Don’t get paranoid, we also know eleven of the twelve made it, so the odds of falling are much smaller than those for Victory.

In Mark’s Account in the Gospel, Jesus was in a house with the Pharisees and doctors (lawyers) of the Law when a man with palsy was brought to Him. Not only was this man brought to Jesus, but the man’s friends cut a hole in the roof and lowered the man down to Jesus. It’s a wonder someone didn’t yell, “you can’t come down to Jesus, He is above all things, you have to come up to Him”. Jesus told the man, “your sins are forgiven”, yet how could Jesus do this before the Cross? Is there a difference between Forgiveness of sins, Forgiveness of the sin nature, or Forgiveness of sins on earth and Remission? Yes, very much so. When we look at the acts of Jesus and the disciples before the Cross we wonder if those days can return. Those days were Mercy based, not Grace based, we are in the time of Greater Works, but we may be bound to carnal traditions making the Word to no effect.

What do you think the religious rulers did when they heard Jesus say, “your sins are forgiven”? Did they say, “Yes amen”? Or “What say thee?”. There were certain of the scribes sitting there who reasoned in their hearts, “who can forgive sins but God only” (Mark 2:7). This reasoning was not a stronghold, it was not a lie, it was the truth, but they failed to apply it to the event before them. God forgives sins, only God can, since only God is sinless. However, God can also delegate authority, through delegation He sends Ambassadors forth to act in His place. Jesus will qualify the act of forgiving sins by saying, “you may know the Son of man has power (authority) to forgive sins on earth”, thus showing the delegation of the authority of the Father’s Mercy, yet it was restricted to the earth, not heaven. Therefore, Jesus used the title of Son of man, not Son of God. We are told to be as holy and merciful as our Father, here we find forgiveness relates to Mercy, remission to Grace. The authority must have evidence, it did, the man stood and walked out healed.

After hearing Jesus, the scribes then said “We never saw it on this fashion”, which is the same as saying “we never saw it done this way” (Mark 2:12). What did they see? When the high priest came out once a year on the Day of Atonement he said, “your sacrifices have been presented”, it was the same as saying “your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more”. Did they go and sin no more? No, they were back every year. How would we like to wait a full year to ask Jesus to forgive us? The Law only granted forgiveness based on the Law, which is a far cry from what Jesus was doing. Jesus was applying the Father’s Mercy directly on the people, the Law of Moses worked through the sacrifices of the people, yet it really didn’t free them, since they came back over and over again.

There are those who see Truth, or see a sign, yet their own unbelief will cause them to mock, laugh, or challenge. Is it warfare? Yes, we must remain on course and not allow the voices of unbelief to sway us. The example? Jesus was on His way to heal the daughter of Jairus, the crowd was there, the people were wondering what He would do, but in the house there were the mockers. Before Jesus arrived a woman with an issue of blood was healed, then came the news from the house, “Your daughter is dead”, but Jesus was on His way to heal her, didn’t He know she would die? Jairus looked to his side, there stood Jesus, the battle for Jairus was on, would Jesus leave? Would Jesus continue on? Would Jairus say anything? If so, what? Jesus made one statement keeping Jairus calm, “be not afraid, only believe” (Mark 5:36). For Jairus the battle was, “only believe”, which would counter the Fear in his stomach. Believe what? Believe in what he said, plus the action of Jesus based on what Jairus said. Going back to Mark 5:23 we find Jairus asking Jesus, “come and lay hands on her, that she may be healed, and she shall live”. The last part was the point of belief now, which was, “she may live”. Did Jesus respond to the request? Yes, it was the point of belief, if Jesus responded then all was well, it would come to pass, the daughter would live. For Jesus the battle came when He entered the house, where He was laughed to scorn (Mark 5:40). In the face of bad news the weapon was “be not afraid, only believe”, but when faced with the mockers, Jesus didn’t say, “don’t mock, only believe”, rather He cast them out, like one would cast out a devil. The voice of unbelief was abundant in house, but Jarius just heard, “only believe”, there are times when remaining silent is the best weapon we have. The result was the daughter of Jairus did live, thus the reward of silence was in hand.

This also relates to another battle, one the disciples fell into when Jesus returned from the Mount of Transfiguration. A man came to disciples to have a devil cast out of his son, yet they couldn’t. The child would act delivered, but then not. The devil was playing a mind game, but when Jesus came down He discerned it by telling the devil, “go and enter no more”. Then He told His disciples this kind does not come out, but with much prayer and fasting? What, the devil coming out? No, the unbelief of the disciples. The people had gathered, they wanted a show, they were seeking “Jesus Christ and His traveling puppet show”. It’s a small step from ministry to entertainment, we must be on guard, we don’t want to leave ministry to find we have engaged in entertaining people.

Ministry battles happened, Jesus came to Capernaum, where He asked the disciples, “What was it you disputed among yourselves by the way?” (Mark 9:33). The word Disputed is the Greek Dialogizomai which is a compound word with Dia (division, or separation) and Logizomai (reasoning), this was a Division based on Imaginations among members of the ministry, yet Jesus approached it with Truth. The hammer of Truth was striking the wall of the stronghold, inside of the stronghold was the strongman. What was the dispute? Who would be greatest, a battle of egos based in pride and superiority. Why did this come up? Just prior Jesus told them The Son of man was to be delivered unto the hands of men, and they shall kill Him (Mark 9:31). They understood not this saying, but they knew someone had to take over, they sought after position, but Jesus never said, “and one of you shall take My place”. They were ready to divide up the ministry based on the death of Jesus, yet Jesus told them, If you want to be Great, be the least of all. Serve, be humble, receive the children of God. In the world this is foolishness, but we’re not of the world. If we want to be Great in the eyes of God, be servant of all with a heart willing to serve as the Lord desires.

Asking Jesus is the same as praying, James and John came to Jesus Asking (praying) for something. This asking was a matter of supplication, or asking Jesus to do something for them. This was also after Jesus told His disciples the greatest would be determined by who would be the least. Prior they argued among themselves, now we find they are tempting Jesus by requesting positions based on their faulty reasoning. Prior it was position on earth, now they desire position in heaven. They wanted Jesus to place them next to Jesus, but they didn’t know what they were asking. It sounded good, after all who wouldn’t want to sit with Jesus in High Places. Didn’t Paul tell us we sit with Jesus in heavenly places? Sitting with Jesus, and taking the place of Him who sits next to Jesus is different. Jesus plainly told them, “You know not what you ask” (Mark 10:38). Would Jesus grant them their request? No, instead He offered them another means, To drink of the cup and Take of His baptism. Jesus knew their request had to do with “who will be greater”, thus He again taught them on Greatness In the Kingdom, only this time He produced greater clarity. Whosoever will be great among us, will be our minister, and whosoever will be chief, shall be servant of all (Mark 10:43). James and John were looking to “sit”, but Jesus tells us there are things to do before we “sit”. Even the Son of man didn’t come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and give His life a ransom for many. Again two items, to Minister and Give. The Cup and Baptism indicate Ministry and Service, not personal honor and self-glory. Without the Spirit in us we have no idea what proper prayer is all about, much less “spiritual warfare prayer”.

The scribes and chief priests were on a mission, a mission based on demonic intent, but still a mission. At the Passover, the most holy of all the feast days, they sought how they might take Jesus by craft in order to put Him to death (Mark 14:1). However, they needed some help, a like minded person from within the ministry of Jesus. Judas saw the ointment placed on Jesus, assuming the money the ointment could bring was being wasted: what a failure to be a good steward, someone should say something, and he did (Mark 14:5). Judas having the bag felt the bag was more important than the anointing of the Lord, rather than sale the Dove, he was stealing it. For Judas the ministry was a means to fill the bag, the more in the bag, the more successful the ministry, of course it also means the more for Judas. Some things seem reasonable, but we never make decisions based on money, we make them based on the Will of the Lord. For Judas the ministry became more important than the anointing, the money more important than service.

Judas had some influence with the disciples, this is seen in Mark 14:5 when Judas was able to get the other disciples to murmur against the woman who put the oil on Jesus. Jesus would often step between the Pharisees and His disciples, here He steps between the woman and His disciples by saying, “Let her alone” (Mark 14:6). Judas got them in trouble by using the concern over money as a tool, rather than the Will of the Lord.

The woman was doing a good work, but why is Judas so concerned about money? Then Judas heard, “the poor you have with you always” (Mark 14:7). The heart of Judas said, No, there must be a way to be free of poverty, God’s prosperity wouldn’t allow it. Jesus didn’t say Judas would be poor, only a ministry to feed the poor was open regardless of the season, but this one act by this woman was a one time for all time event. Judas was blinded by greed, he was in the ministry for what he could get out of it, not what he could put into it. There are several ways to obtain prosperity, but only one gains us God’s Prosperity. The key to prosperity isn’t in tithes, rather it’s in the saving of the soul. John said, “Beloved, I wish (pray) above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers” (III Jn 2). What is the issue? The saving of the soul, John isn’t telling us to seek health or prosperity, rather he shows when we enter the saving of the soul, then the prosperity and health will follow. The key here is “even as your soul”; the word Prosper is the Greek Euodoo meaning “Godspeed”, or having a directed prosperous journey, or having an easy way, or success, thus this really points to the success promised in the saving of our souls, the real key to victory.

Judas felt there had to be a way around the words of Jesus, there must be a way, a way, ahh, force Jesus to set up His kingdom on earth, open it up to the Gentiles, get more money, fill the bag to overflowing. Wait, didn’t Jesus say, “Thou shall not tempt the Lord your God”? “Well, this isn’t really tempting, it’s merely bringing Jesus into a place to do something He should be doing, it’s, it’s, it’s faith, yes that’s it, it’s faith”. It’s a stronghold full of self-deception and greed. Judas would bow to using the professed enemies of Jesus to get his hands deeper into the bag, he would run to the edge of the temple to engage with the messengers of Satan to complete his agenda, he would attempt to turn the stone into bread for his advantage. To Judas stolen water was sweet, bread eaten in secret was pleasant. Judas would do for the devil and the religious rulers, what the devil, or the religious rulers couldn’t do for themselves. The difference? Judas was on the inside, neither the devil, or religious rulers were. All the devil needed was one out of the twelve, it didn’t matter which one, but the treasurer would be nice; tear down the ministry by stealing the money. Battle? Warfare? From the very first Jesus knew all about Judas, yet Judas not only remained, but Jesus ordained him as an apostle. Jesus warned Judas, just as He warned the others, but we find the last time Judas Iscariot is mentioned is before the Holy Ghost came on Pentecost.

Judas went to the chief priests, they were Glad (Mark 14:11). Anytime we make the religious conceited Glad, we have to wonder about ourselves. All this appeared to be done in secret, but did Jesus also have a plan? We know all things work together for Good to them who Love God, to them who are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). Judas had his own agenda, Jesus had The Purpose. Although the Cross looked anything but good to the disciples at the moment, it was the best of all things.

One would think Jesus would be glad for Judas, after all he became the means for the chief priests to take Jesus to bring about the Cross. Not so, the intent of Judas was not to do good, rather it was to betray Jesus for self-benefit by using deception (Mark 14:11). Jesus was fighting a battle, but so was Judas, Jesus won, Judas lost. What Judas did, he did by his own power, yet God was able to work it into the plan. However, it doesn’t mean God forced it, manipulated it, caused it, or ordained it, it means God saw it, then used it for the benefit of those who love Him. The betrayal by Judas was a moment to moment happening in the mind of Judas, but seen by God from the foundation of the world.

Jesus was teaching the people what would be, while at the same time giving them the benefit of God’s Mercy. The people still had the responsibility of faith and acceptance. It was time to be free indeed; however, having it presented and receiving it are different, thus receiving can, and often is a battle in and of itself. These people standing before Jesus listened to their strongman, thus they failed at enduring. They ended doing what their strongman said, not what Jesus said. When Jesus said, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears”, He didn’t say it was settled in their hearts, only it was at their ears (Luke 4:21). “Now wait, faith comes by hearing”. True, but hearing comes by the Rhema, which includes the desire to enter Life by the Spirit. Man also lives by every Rhema proceeding from the mouth of God; like Bread the Rhema must be received and acted upon.

The people reasoned, the strongman began to question, they produced their own wild imaginations. Although faith came, they rejected it. Jesus brought Truth as the hammer to the stronghold, “You will surely say unto Me this proverb, Physician heal yourself; whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country: Verily, I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country”. First Jesus told them, “You will say”, then He told them “I say”; the clarity was there, the strongman was exposed, but Jesus wasn’t done with the Hammer. He then told them the many works done in the past, and how the majority of the people called by the name of God rejected what God presented. Before Elijah came on the scene the people had bound themselves to idol worship, thus they bound heaven from them, yet God still had His prophets. Among them was Elijah, one man who proved God provides, when there appears no provision. One widow woman among many heard, then acted in faith. Then came Elisha, a man from the ministry of Elijah who heard the request of one leper out of many, Naaman the Syrian was told by the prophet to do something sounding silly and childish. At first Naaman rejected what he heard, but then he repented and acted on the request, as he received. Although there were many lepers in the land, Naaman received. Two prophets, two people, does it make any difference if Jesus sends us to one, or one million? No, Jesus proved one person is worth the travel, even if it’s a woman by a well who is rejected by the people of our own hometown.

When the people heard Jesus speak on receiving, they got mad, really mad, so much so they were filled with wrath (Luke 4:28). When we are filled with wrath, there is a war going on; wrath on one side, the call to peace on the other, with the soul in the middle, thus the battle for us is the Spirit within calling us to Peace, the flesh calling us to wrath. If we lean toward the flesh the wrath will seem the easy way, it will almost feel good to yell at them, tell them exactly what we think, but it’s nonetheless demonic; a spirit of wrath is not conducive to the Spirit of Truth.

The wrath of man became a ruler in the souls of the people, it directed them, guided them, causing them to act. They were of one accord, but their motives were destructive in nature, they wanted to kill Jesus. Like most people they felt they were in control of their emotions, but their emotions were controlling them. Jesus could have said, “what a lousy ministry”, but He knew there was a plan of the Father in the making. Some of us think what’s the use, we brought Truth, a promise of freedom, yet the people rejected it! We have Jesus as our example, we present, the receiving is up to them. We believe, yet we can’t make others believe. The people wanted to cast Jesus off the edge of the hill, wait, why didn’t He just jump and let the angels hold Him up, for it is written, He shall give His angels charge over You, to keep You, in their hands they shall bear You up, lest at any time You dash Your foot against a stone (Luke 4:9-11). The people entered reasoning, then tempted the Lord in the same manner as the devil did. Could Jesus have said, “Stop, receive or die”? Yes, but He didn’t. All of us will face the temptation of validation, the desire to make people admit we are sent, we should be honored as the “servant of God”, but a true servant is humble. Rather than jump, Jesus passed through the midst, untouched, showing how the Anointing can benefit others, while it protects us.

Jesus knew the Cross was future, the ministry was not purposed to stop on the same day it started, no man could bring to an end what God has purposed to continue. The means of the Sacrifice was the Cross, not a cliff. Does it mean we can’t hinder our ministry? No, it means we can cause ourselves to be removed from the anointing of the ministry, but it doesn’t mean the ministry stops. God knows all things, if we Tempt Him, He has a method in the plan to bring us to repentance.

The biggest deception of all, is thinking we have fooled, or manipulated God. We put on the mask of holiness to get God to give us what we want, we are only deceiving ourselves. Will God provide? In many cases, Yes, but it’s still a great quail hunt.

Jesus was in the house of Simon the Pharisee (not to be confused with Peter the disciple) as a guest, this Simon invited Jesus because he wanted to be associated with this Man of miracles, or be around the power. However, Simon didn’t have the same respect for Jesus, as he would a fellow Pharisee. A fellow Pharisee would have received some personal attention, even the most common of welcomes was to have a servant wash the feet of the guest, but this Simon didn’t give Jesus any of the expected respect. While in the house a woman of sin burst in with an alabaster box of ointment. She was at the feet of Jesus, but instead of being His footstool, she worshipped at His footstool. Her tears were washing away her tares; she was anointing Him, but His Anointing was healing her. Simon seeing this, judged the person, not the purpose, by saying within himself, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is who touches Him: for she is a sinner” (Luke 7:39). Simon the Pharisee was right to a point, but Jesus knew this woman was a sinner, yet if she is never forgiven, she will die a sinner.

Jesus compared her reactions to the thoughts and reactions of Simon. Of course Simon didn’t Speak the words, thus we find the discernment of spirits detects the unbelief in a person. Jesus told a Parable regarding forgiveness, in the Parable we find if it’s one sin, or a billion, it’s still sin; however, we also see the word Love (Luke 7:42). Who is more apt to Love the most, the one forgiven of one sin, or the one forgiven of more sins than they can bear? The latter of course, if we knew how many sins Jesus forgave us of, we would surely love Him the more. This doesn’t mean we can go out and commit more sins, so we will love the Lord more. It means awareness of sin brings more appreciation for the Lord, when our sins are forgiven.

When Jesus was in the temple caring for the people, where were the religious minded? They were bound to their religious conceit, or captive to their strongholds, thus they came against Jesus. When Jesus asked, “For which good work do you stone Me?”, they said, “not for a good work, but for blasphemy”. They knew He went about doing good, yet they refused to accept the Good, they conjured up what they thought was the evil. Even when the man born blind confronted them, they rejected his witness as well.

One such case where the religious rejected the good was the matter of the woman whom Jesus healed of a spirit of infirmity. When the ruler of the synagogue saw this healing, he answered with Indignation. This ruler didn’t answer Jesus, rather his “answer” was directed to the people, as he said, “There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath” (Luke 13:14). Here we find the religious ruler was hindering the people, prior it was to hinder Jesus. “Don’t come to the Bible study to get hands laid on you, we do it on Sunday night”; yet we should be ready in season and out.

When Jesus operated on the sabbath day, the Jews were insulted, seeking to kill Him (Jn 5:18). The sabbath called for “rest”, yet the Rest of God is for those who believe (Heb 3:19). If we believe we are in a constant Sabbath, the true and everlasting Sabbath of the Rest of God. One can keep the weekly sabbath, as well as all the other high sabbaths, yet fail to believe in their heart, their efforts are for naught.

Jesus came to the Pool of Bethesda where there was a man who had carried his bed, even on the sabbath. Yet, it was permitted in the Law, since in his case it was a required need. Unless of course he was healed, which would produce a whole range of theological problems. Jesus asked the man, “will you be made whole?”, instead of saying, Yes Lord, the man said, “I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool”, but why would he say that? It was the sabbath, no one was going to enter labor on the sabbath, even if the angel troubled the water all day long. The angel must have troubled the water on the sabbath before, or else why would the man be there? The angels are not subject to the sabbath, since the sabbath is for those under the Law of Moses. What about someone who keeps the day simply because they love the Lord? Their love is the source, whether one keeps the day or not, they nonetheless do so unto the Lord. Meaning they don’t brag on it, they don’t expect special favoritism from God, and they don’t make it doctrine. It’s not the day, but the heart of the person.

The man was healed without having to enter the water, Jesus is greater than angels. Of course since the man is healed he was not allowed to carry his bed, yet he brought the bed. He couldn’t leave his bed, so now what? The legalism of carnal behavior produces more problems, than it can solve.

Another time the religious rulers thought they had Jesus, saying, “because He not only had broken the sabbath, but said also God was His Father, making Himself equal to God” (Jn 5:18). Wait, didn’t Jesus many days prior teach the people to pray by saying, “Our Father”? Yes, but those who seek fault forget many things. A violation of the sabbath was dangerous; in the days of Moses it cost a man his life, but now they think they have the added charge of blasphemy. Their wording was close, but not close enough. Jesus didn’t make Himself God, it was God making Himself man, by taking on the form of man. Paul saw this and wrote, “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God” (Ph’l 2:6). The word Equal in both cases is the Greek Isos meaning Similar in amount or kind, or if you’ve seen (perceived) one, you’ve seen the other.

We saw how some of the people knew who Jesus was, giving Him respect and honor, yet there were others who reasoned and attempted to push Him off a cliff, yet others who tempted, mocked, or attempted to manipulate Him. Some changed from calling Jesus “Master” to “hey You” in one day. Jesus taught several thousand at one time, a great meeting indeed, so great it went on until late in the night wherein the people became hungry and needed food. Jesus took the opportunity to prove several things; one was to prove (test) Philip. Okay, what is the difference between a test and temptation? The lust, if it comes from a lust, it’s a temptation, if not it’s a test. However, here we want to look at the people, not the test of Philip. The people were many, the food little, yet when the little bit of food was blessed by Jesus it became more than enough. Some might contend it was a mind game, there was no food, just the thought. There are some who think the Cross was a mind game, or a type of mass hypnotism on the part of Jesus. Strongholds from carnal thinking avoid the truth, missing the glory. Anyway we know the people ate, the disciples took up baskets full of leftovers, they didn’t consider the leftovers a product of a mind game.

It was one day, the next day the same people followed Jesus to the other side of the lake, but not to gain Mercy, or to apply it. When they came to Jesus they said, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” (Jn 6:25). Jesus responded with “I say unto you, You seek Me, not because you saw miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves, and were filled” (Jn 6:26). Exposure, it was there, why are you here? “Oh to hear the gospel of course”, no, they were there for another reason, Jesus didn’t answer the question, He answered their intent. There are several points of exposure, why do they even care? Are they attempting to control Jesus? It would appear so, since they want Him to account for His actions, then provide for them on their terms and demands.

Let’s face it, taking five loaves and two fish to feed this massive group was a miracle, but the people didn’t see it. What they saw was the Provision, not the Provider. One of the most interesting concepts is God meeting our Need; at times He meets our Want, but do we seek the product, or do we seek the Provider? Are we more impressed with the Prosperity, or the Provider? Warfare includes the battle to keep things in their proper order by never confusing the Provision with the Provider. Here Jesus says, “Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for the meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you” (Jn 6:27). The principle is there, when the Cross is provided the everlasting life will be presented, then the provision will seek you.

Jesus ends this with “Does this offend you?”, oh yes, the Truth will offend the old nature. What caused all this fuss? There were some there who didn’t believe, it wasn’t the fault of Jesus, He gave them more than enough reason and information for them to believe, but they allowed the strongman to reject the Truth. The only verse and chapter in the New Testament reading “6:66”, it’s found in John, as it reads, “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him” (Jn 6:66). This had to include many of the Seventy, yet they were the ones who came back from the mission field all excited saying, “Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Your Name” (Luke 10:17). Excitement is often for the moment, enthusiasm in the Lord lasts. The devils may have been subject to them, but were the disciples subject to Jesus? Perhaps it’s why Jesus said, “rejoice for your name is written in heaven”. Just because the devils bowed to the Name of Jesus, didn’t mean the 70 bowed to Jesus.

The next battlefield has to do with family members, a battle most have to face, or have faced. One particular Feast of Tabernacles was about half way through the earthly ministry, the brothers of Jesus told Him, “Depart from here, and go to Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works You do. For there is no man who does anything in secret, and he himself seeking to be known openly. If you do these things, show Yourself to the world” (Jn 7:3-4). Then we read, “for neither did His brothers believe in Him” (Jn 7:5). It’s true they did believe after the Resurrection, as they were present among the 120 on Pentecost, thus we find simply because some family member doesn’t believe today, doesn’t mean they won’t tomorrow.

Like Joseph, Jesus was faced with jealous brothers holding their envy and strife, but Jesus didn’t come against His brothers, rather He told them, “My Time is not yet come; but your time is always ready” (Jn 7:6). This isn’t a rebuke, as much as hope, the Time for Jesus to ascend wasn’t yet, but the time for the brothers to believe was in hand. He told His brothers to go to the Feast on their own, yet we know He showed up, thus He was sparing the unbelieving family members, while still doing the work of the ministry. A battle taking Mercy, Patience and Longsuffering.

When Jesus went to the Feast He found another battlefield, it was developing into a raging War before He even got there. The order had gone out from the Synagogue, “speak of this Jesus, and we’ll excommunicate you”. The people couldn’t say, “Fine, we’ll just go to the little church down the street”. Why? The Jews had the only show in town, there was no “down the street” temple.

The conflicts abounded, the warring fraction of the synagogue was armed with envy, pride, and religious conceit. They were ready for Him now, they had their watchdog teeth sharpened and ready to go. The stones of theological abuse were piled next to the high priest, the knife of envy was sharp, ready to cut deep, the sword of tradition was set, the helmet of self-righteousness was in place, the shield of unbelief was there, their feet were shod with religious pride; they had their corrupt armor on.

We know some of the events here, but for the subject at hand we want to jump ahead to the purpose and victory as it relates to family members. Jesus did go in secret, but made Himself known during the Feast, during the time we find “As He spoke these words (Rhema), many believed on Him” (Jn 8:30). Battles have victories, we may not see the victory before we begin, but it’s there. Stop counting the stripes, and start giving honor and glory to the Lord who has delivered us.

There was much murmuring already going on among the people, the prince of the power of the air was active, the atmosphere was thick with envy. Conflict and confusion were about, some of the people said “He is a good man”, others said, “No, but He deceives the people”, two sides to the issue, debate, division and strife. Some of us would have perceived all this going on and said, “I’m not going there, there is no way I’m going to give them a chance to destroy me”, but Jesus knew who He was, as He said, “My Doctrine is not Mine, but His Who sent Me” (Jn 7:16). Clearly as the Son of man Jesus was doing the will of the Father. Jesus made the invitation for them to unite, by knowing the Doctrine of Mercy in order to make the decision if it’s God or not (Jn 7:17). At this point in time Jesus was speaking for the Father, thus the earthly ministry centered on Mercy, it’s after the Resurrection when the Holy Ghost speaks of Grace and Mercy.

Christianity is never afraid of the religions of the world, what do they have to offer? Self-discipline? Self-righteousness? The paranoid religious mind makes it illegal to preach the Truth, because the Truth far out weighs religious fables. Many worldly religions are afraid of the power of the Gospel. Rejoice, know you are the Power of His Christ. Self-discipline and discipline in respect to denying the self are much different, just as self-righteousness and the Righteousness of God are different. Worldly Religions offer mind power and self-righteousness, with strong self-discipling trends which are more habits than holiness. The person “feels moral”, or “feels religious”, but so did the Pharisees. Self-righteousness is a trap, it generates a “feeling”, or a mindset of holiness as a facade. Paul told us none are righteous, no not one. Those who seek their own righteousness, become blind to God’s Righteousness. We seek the Kingdom and God’s righteousness, at times it too is a battle. The flesh will tempt us to use self-righteousness, as the false thinks seeks to “feel good” about ourselves, yet we used our determinations and flesh to produce the feeling. It wasn’t God being well pleased with us, it was we who became well pleased with ourselves. The true sensation of being pleased is when we know God is pleased.

Since Jesus was the center of the controversy, does it mean He also produced the division? He did say, He came to bring division, but Paul said division was based in the carnal mind. What gives? Jesus presented choice between the darkness and Light a type of division which is Godly. Paul is talking about the opposite effect, a division into darkness from the Light.

Since Jesus showed up, the people assumed He was there to be killed by the Jews, after all they were warned, talk of Him and be excommunicated. Some felt Jesus must have had a “spirit of suicide”, as they said, “You have a devil: who goes about to kill You” (Jn 7:20). They were looking at the vile, not the Precious. Jesus knew the time and timing of God; often it’s not what is said, but how it’s said. The people made a conclusion based on the anger of the religious rulers, rather than the Peace of Jesus.

These people were facing their own warfare, it was the time of decision, the time of division, If God be their God, then join Jesus, but if religious conceit be their god, then join those of a like mind. The invitation Jesus gave was in the form of a question; the exposure was there, as was the choice. Even the Law of Moses supported Jesus, what possible reason could they have for taking His life? They had no reason, just their envy and strife motivating them.

As Jesus was speaking the division grew larger, He didn’t cause it, it was their own carnal thinking producing their division (Jn 7:43). Did the Truth cause it? Or was the strongholds in the minds the cause? Truth is never divided, strongholds produce their own tornados. Truth merely exposes what was already there; in some cases we find Truth exposes the stronghold, the stronghold produces confusion, but the person will blame the Truth, yet Truth is never confused.

After this event the real battle took place, Truth versus the stronghold. Right after the woman was forgiven, Jesus said, “I Am the Light”, He didn’t say “I am Of the Light”, or “I am part of the Light”, or “I have come to show you the Light”; His statement was clear, He is the very Light spoken of in the Beginning, now a New Beginning was at hand if they receive it. God said “Let there be Light”, several thousand years later the Light came to open the Day before the Night falls on mankind.

However, as soon as Jesus said, “I Am the Light”, He was bearing record of Himself, or was He? Wasn’t He merely confirming what the Father said in the Beginning? Wasn’t this the Prophecy of, “Let there be Light” coming to pass? When God said it, the elements obeyed, here the Light came, yet the religious rulers were refusing to obey. This is the Doctrine of Mercy, yet Jesus also said, “though I bear record of Myself, yet My record is true: for I know from where I came, and where I will go: but you cannot tell from where I came, and where I will go” (Jn 8:14). They couldn’t be sure where they were coming from, or where they were going. Jesus defines the division by telling these Pharisees (Jn 8:13), “You are from beneath; I am from above: you are of this world; I am not of this world” (Jn 8:23).

It would appear on the surface all was lost, yet there were many who stood there who did believe. Jesus didn’t leave them, rather He edified them (Jn 8:30-31). The believing group were told to Continue in the Word, the Truth shall make them Free (Jn 8:31-32). A call for commitment and responsibility, from the Gospel Accounts we know those who placed Jesus on the Cross were few. It was Passover, a time when a majority of the people were home, or had no idea what their religious rulers were doing. There were those who did believe, at least 120 in the upper room, with 3,000 more waiting to hear.

It’s not simply knowing the Bible, but knowing the Truth, Jesus is Truth. The Pharisees knew the Scriptures, they simply didn’t understand them; they retorted with, “We are Abraham’s seed and were never in bondage to any man: how then do You say, You shall be made free?” (Jn 8:33). Never in bondage? What about Babylon? Egypt? Look about gentlemen, what about Rome? If they confessed Abraham, where are the Ways of Abraham? Jesus confessed the Father by proving it through His Ways. If we see Jesus, we have seen (perceived) the Father, so if one saw these religious rulers, have they seen Abraham? Not hardly, they saw something, but it wasn’t Abraham. Ishmael maybe, but not Abraham.

Not only did these religious leaders talk evil about Jesus, but they talked evil about His mother, then talked evil about God. The same old schoolyard accusations from the unbelievers, yet we don’t war against flesh and blood. If we narrow our battle down to personalities it only ends in personal attacks. Although the religious rulers were engaged in personal attacks Jesus remained on course.

When they said Abraham was their father, they lied, failing to know their own ways. When they said God was their Father, they lied the more, failing to see their words. Both their ways and words proved they were of their father the devil, the lusts of their father they would do. If they were really of Abraham, then the works of Abraham they would do, if they were really of the Father, then the ways of the Father they would do. The difference is how they were planning to destroy Jesus, but He is reaching out to save them. Therein lays the difference between carnal warfare and spiritual warfare; the carnal use self-justification to exalt themselves, the spiritual attempt to save.

As this is taking place Jesus drops a theological bomb by saying, “Your father Abraham rejoiced in My day: and he saw it, and was glad” (Jn 8:56). Now they go crazy, this time they do pick up stones, their anger is controlling them, their envy has given birth to rage; they are about to do something Abraham never did. “Wait, Abraham took the lad to the mount”. True, but he didn’t kill him, neither did he kill any member of his three families, not even Hagar. If one is truly a descendant of Abraham they respect the family order, they don’t attempt to kill it. Ishmael might have mocked Isaac, but he never attempted to kill him, not withstanding some of his descendants have a different mindset.

How many of us have been faced with the stones of theological abuse? Here they have real stones, yet Jesus points to the mystery by saying, “I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (Jn 8:58). What? Didn’t they just say “Abraham is dead, the prophets are dead, and Who do you make Yourself” (Jn 8:53). More exposure, they take up stones, yet they couldn’t toss them, they couldn’t even come close to tossing one at Him, again He went through the midst of them (Jn 8:59).

Was Jesus done with the battle? No, there remained the finish, thus the finish of any battle for us must end in a Good Work, or we lose. Every battle Jesus fought had a good work, either before, during or after; someone got healed, someone was set free, someone was raised from the dead, someone received a good word, someone was presented freedom from their bondage. As Jesus was leaving the temple He found a man who was blind from birth (Jn 9:1). This man was born blind; the means of the miracle, plus the comments from those who knew him show he was born without eyeballs. As Jesus and His disciples passed by this man, His disciples asked, “who sinned, he or his parents” (Jn 9:2). They knew from the appearance of the man this was not blindness to the eyes, this had something to do with conception, or birth. Wow, a lesson, the Pharisees will die in their sins, so this man must be in this condition because of sin, but whose? If born in this condition, how could it be his sin? Wait, what did Jesus just teach? Blindness is not physical, there are some who have excellent physical vision, but are spiritually blind as a bat. Jesus would prove it, this one man who was born blind, he was not the product of sin, he was there so the works of God could be manifested. Jesus saw opportunity, the disciples were looking for fault. The nature of fallen man is to seek out fault, the battle for us is to seek out the Precious. We can debate the result of sickness all day long, yet never pray for the sick.

It’s not to say the man wasn’t under the sin nature, only his blindness was not a product of sin. How do we know? Jesus also said, “Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents: but the works of God should be made manifest in him” (Jn 9:3). The wording “should be made manifest” is the Greek word Phaneroo meaning To reveal, it differs from the Greek word Apolkalupto meaning to Exhibit. Apolkalupto refers only to the object revealed, but Phaneroo refers to those to whom the revelation is made; therefore, the purpose was to Those to whom the manifestation was purposed. Back in John 7:4 the brothers of Jesus said, “show Yourself to the world”, the word Show is the Greek Phaneroo, thus Jesus would Show Himself, but not to the world, rather He would be shown through the belief of this blind man. Jesus saw something in this man, something the Pharisees lacked, belief. This is evident when Jesus asked the man, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” (Jn 9:35). The man says, “Who is He, Lord, that I might believe in Him?” (Jn 9:36). The man didn’t say “show me a sign”, or “I don’t know, let’s hear his doctrine”, he was teachable. The key word is “Who is He?”, not “show Him to me”.

Later during the Feast of Dedication Jesus was in the temple, as the Jews asked, “How long do You make us to doubt? If You be the Christ, tell us plainly” (Jn 10:24). Did He tell them plainly? Miracles upon miracles, a man born without eyeballs, having eyes and seeing for the first time in his life, the inability for them to harm Jesus, their continued failure to trap Him, not counting the other miracles, healings and profound teachings. Jesus didn’t make them Doubt, their own stronghold of unbelief was their problem. It’s sad how unbelief blinds a person, they want a sign, they get one, yet deny it. Jesus confirmed this by saying, “I told you, and you believed not” (Jn 10:25). Did the Word come to them? Yes, Jesus just said “I told you”, but they failed to have ears to hear. Faith can come, but we must have ears to hear before it becomes beneficial to us.

Unbelief refuses to believe in the face of the evidence, unbelief produces a hard heart; it shuts off the hearing, blinds the eyes, producing it’s own deception. When the evidence of Truth is right there, unbelief will say it’s not. Unbelief will seek out scholars who also fail to believe, but using the unbelief of another never negates our own.

Prior Jesus said “Before Abraham was, I am”, causing them to pick up stones. Now Jesus says, “I and My Father are One”, they pick up stones again (Jn 10:30-31). Did the Jews know the meanings of the statements? Yes, the question was answered, Jesus told them plainly, to be The Anointed One means He must be equal to God, as He was One in God. Jesus came from the Bosom of the Father, the New Birth puts the Seed of God in our bosom, thus to be established as the Church one has to of the Bosom of Jesus.

Jesus asked the Jews, “Many good works have I showed you from My Father: for which of those works do you stone Me?” (Jn 10:32). Again Jesus puts the question, Why? If He did good works, then the Father was manifested before them, why would they stone Him? What motive? What possible reason could they have? Envy, the only answer to the question, the question produced the exposure. The choice was there, would they admit it was envy, or allow envy to rule over them? Their answer tells it all, as they said, “For a good work we stone You not; but for blasphemy: and because You, being a man, make Yourself God” (Jn 10:33). What were they doing? They were taking the responsibility of a person’s life, or acting in God’s place, thus they being men made themselves God.

Jesus went on to show it was not He, but the Scriptures calling Him Elohiym, as Jesus pointed to Psalm 82, showing God called the religious rulers Elohiym, but perhaps it was their definition of Elohiym. Psalm 82 shows God rebuking those He set as Elohiym, because they failed at Mercy. In quoting Psalm 82 Jesus went right back to the “homework” assignment. They never did find out why God desired Mercy, how do we know? Where is their mercy? Clearly, this battlefield called for Mercy and Clarity by the words of Truth.

The religious rulers had one stronghold upon another, the stronghold will not stop God from using us, but it does stop us from understanding how God is using us. The stronghold becomes the hindering hedge of natural thinking causing us to miss what God is doing. God was reaching out with the hand of Mercy, but the religious rulers were casting it aside for the foot of envy. The high priest proved the point, he was used of God, even gave a prophecy because of his office, yet he failed to understand the prophecy, or why it even came to him.

The last Passover was near, the time touched the timing, the Hour had come, the enemy assumed he had it won, some of the people called of God were now the children of the enemy, the tares were putting together their final plan. Even a trusted member of the ministry had turned on Jesus, from all appearances it would seem like Jesus lost, He failed, it was over. At least it appeared so at the time, but we know better.

However, let’s put ourselves in the shoes of the disciples, what would we think then? Jesus taken captive, beaten, spit on, yelled at, punched, then nailed to a Cross. Surely He will now come down, this is what He has been waiting for, to show His ability. Yet, He isn’t coming down, He is slipping away from us, what is He saying? “Why has Thou forsaken Me”? Is that it? Has the Father forsaken Him? if so, it means He will forsake us, it was all a bad joke, what do we do now? We believed, now look, it’s over. The warfare of continuing to believe in the face of absolute adversity is the greatest war of all time. When it appears as if God has turned His back on us, do we still believe? The cries of anguish are heard, do we still trust in God?

During those times there will still be signs of hope, the earthly ministry was Mercy related, the disciples knew it, freely they received, freely they gave. What did Jesus just said? Did you hear it? “Father forgive them”? Forgive them? Mercy, even in anguish the nature of the Mercy of the Father was coming from Jesus, it should be a sign showing His nature and character. One small point of belief will lead to another, remember what He said? In three days, let us tarry for the miracle. However, if we panic, or allow fear to rule, vacating our belief for fear, as we end hiding in some corner.

The religious leaders were happy, so pleased, they truly thought they did God a service by saving the nation of Israel. So confident were they in their plan and action, they couldn’t wait to have their Passover. Surely God would honor them more than the prophets, perhaps more than Moses, they were ready to receive their Blessing, they just knew God would favor them greatly. They never questioned their motives, they never considered the evidence, they simply allowed their emotions and envy to guide them. Two separate groups, one saw their Master on the Cross, the other saw what they supposed as the enemy of Israel on the Cross, both had thoughts concerning the event at the moment, yet both were wrong.

We know the result, Jesus conquered the grave, destroyed the devil, yet He still had to upbraid the disciples with their unbelief. Did He say, “That’s it, all these years and hard work, yet you people still don’t believe, I’m going to find some who will”. No, He told them they were picked, even if they didn’t believe, they were to go out and preach, surely someone would believe, the signs would follow those who believe (Mark 16:16-18). It was all true, what appeared to be the Finish, was really the Beginning of something Great. We never define the event by the event, we seek the Precious.

Now, what about devils themselves? How do we combat devils? We will look at how Jesus handled devils, which will lead us to Mars’ Hill, and how Paul faced devils. John’s account doesn’t show one event where Jesus cast out a devil, thus the old saying, “all I ever see Jesus do is cast out devils”, is not based on Scripture, there were times when He cast them out, times when He cast out the spirit of a devil, times when He healed those who suffered from the works of the devil, times when He didn’t even mention the devil.

In Matthew 8:16 we find Jesus cast out devils by His Word (Logos), thus before Jesus came no one cast out devils. This also shows His Name gives us the Authority, the Holy Ghost grants us Power. No wonder the religious rulers got angry, they thought they were the power and authority. Then comes Jesus who has authority over devils, no one, not the high priest, nor Elijah, not even Moses had authority to cast out devils. They had to ask, “Where could He have gotten it? Must have gotten it from the devil”. Why? They didn’t have it. When any religious minded person sees someone do something they can’t, they will always give the devil credit.

Then we find Jesus telling the devils to be silent, but we also see they knew who Jesus was (Mark 1:34). This helps to explain why the unclean spirit in Acts told the seven sons “Jesus I know”. Really the seven sons of Sceva didn’t know Jesus, they didn’t have the authority of the Name, nor where they in the Body, thus the devil didn’t know or fear them (Acts 19:13-17).

Jesus cast out devils several times, one of those events is recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke, which means it must have some importance. There was the country of Gergesenes (or Gadarenes), a place by the Sea. In the place there were two devils, one inside a man, the other controlling the people, who attempted to control the man (Matt 8:28, Mark 5:1 & Luke 8:26). The man had a bunch of devils, more than one could count, yet they spoke as one (Mark 5:12). The devils wanted to possess the man, but why? The authority of a human on earth, it’s still the case. How powerful is the spoken voice of a human? So powerful a human can still name the animals, or say “yes” or “no” to God.

Regarding this man in Gadarenes, the people often bound him in chains and fetters, but he broke the bands, and was “driven by the devil into the wilderness” (Luke 8:29). Not only was this man being used by the devils, the people were using him to fend off visitors. The people bound him, he loosed himself, but was nonetheless still bound. This man bound or loosed, appeared to have no hope, then Hope did appear one day in the form of Jesus. Although this man was possessed with so many demons they went by the title “Legion”, all of them together couldn’t stop the man from worshipping Jesus. The man couldn’t cast them out of himself, since he lacked position and authority, but all the devils couldn’t stop him from coming to Jesus.

When Jesus confronted the devils, they talked to Him, but it doesn’t mean every time we come across devils we carry on conversations with them. The devils in this man wanted to be cast into the swine, or at least they said so, but it was the one place they didn’t want to be cast. The swine were unclean, when unclean enters unclean it brings about panic and self-destruction. In this case, Jesus granted them their request by putting them in the pigs, result was both falling into the deep.

What about the people? Were they demon possessed, or merely acting on behalf of the devil? When the people saw the possessed man in his right mind, they got mad at Jesus. The man, like most of us wanted to leave, but Jesus told him to remain (Luke 8:39). The man became obedient, other than the disciples this man became the first male hometown preacher, the woman at the well was the first outside of the ministry. The man did as he was told, in so doing he filled the House with Mercy, thus even if those devils came back, they wouldn’t be able to find his address.

In Matthew 9:32-34 we find a man possessed with a devil, but in this case the devil kept the man’s mouth shut. We also find two different Greek words used for devil, in verse 32 it’s the Greek Daimonizomai, but in verses 39 and 40 it’s the Greek word Daimonion. The difference is how Daimonizomai means violently possessed by a devil, but Daimonion refers to the demonic, whether it’s devil possessed, or devil oppressed, or just the fallen nature of man, it would still be Daimonion. We get our English word demon from the Greek word Daimonion, some modern translations use “demon”, but it’s the same Greek word translated as “devil” in the King James, there is no difference between a devil or a demon: really the word “demon” doesn’t appear in the King James.

When the devil was cast out of this man, the people marveled saying, It was never so seen in Israel (Matt 9:33). The devil was in the man prior, but the casting out of the devil was not seen before. This was a New Thing, the Pharisees were stuck in the Old, refusing to enter in, yet both the Old and the New were of God, but for different people. We have the Spirit, the Cross, Resurrection and Blood of Jesus, but before the Cross, before the Spirit was given, before the Resurrection and before the Blood of Jesus was shed, the disciples had power over unclean spirits (Matt 10:1). In Mark 3:15 it says they had Power to cast out devils, also in Mark 6:7 Jesus sent the twelve out two by two by giving them power over unclean spirits. How can we think for one second any devil has authority over us? The evidence is clear, the disciples before the Cross, yes even Judas had the authority to cast out devils, and did. They operated in Mercy without the Spirit, we have Mercy and Grace by the Spirit. Why then does the realm of the demonic cause us undue concern? Are we afraid? Fear over devils was called by Paul as “superstitious” (Acts 17:22). Devils are like dogs they can sense fear, at times we use “faith statements” in our attempt to convince the devil we have faith, or we are attempting to prove to ourselves we do? We tend to forget the Name of Jesus is Above the realm of darkness, thus what is below must always obey what is above. John told us to believe in the Name of Jesus, now we know why.

In Matthew 12:22 we find one possessed with a devil, who was blind and dumb. Jesus “healed him”, insomuch the blind and dumb both spoke and saw. Yet, the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out the devil by Beelzebub, the prince of devils (Matt 12:24). We went over this prior, but here we find the devil kept the man blind and unable to speak, but the Pharisees saw and spoke, yet their words were demonic, so much so they blasphemed the Holy Ghost. Why the Holy Ghost? The ministry, Jesus was acting within the bounds of the ministry the Holy Ghost was overseeing, thus to attack the works of the ministry, is to attack the Holy Ghost.

Jesus also warned once the unclean spirit is removed, it goes through dry places then returns to the House. If it finds the welcome mat, it will bring seven others more wicked than the first. The “house prepared” for the darkness is one who refuses to accept the Light; yet the person is set free, but rejects the call to enter the Body; however they will never be able to say they didn’t have the opportunity.

The Gentile woman from Canaan came to Jesus, her daughter was vexed with a devil, which means her daughter was under the authority and power of a devil (Matt 15:21-22). The disciples said “send her away”, or “really Lord, we don’t have time for those who are not Jews. After all Lord, You’re the one who said we are only sent to the Jews”. Jesus saw it differently, He encouraged the woman to exercise her faith. The more she exercised her faith, the closer she came to seeing her daughter set free. In this case Jesus didn’t say “come out”, but He did say, “O woman, great is your faith: be it unto you even as you will” (Matt 15:28). Her faith was reaching to the hope, the hope came early to her daughter. When she said, “True, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which Fall from their masters’ table”, she was submitting to the Master of the Table by asking for the crumbs, or the little pieces of Bread rejected by the children to whom they were delivered. What was she doing? Knocking, Asking and Seeking, she knew Jesus came for the Jews, but she also knew many of the Jews rejected Jesus, thus what they rejected was more than enough to heal her daughter.

In order to break the barrier, the woman had to exercise her faith, once her faith grew, she was able to connect to the Mercy of Jesus. In Mark we find this same woman “fell” at the feet of Jesus, thus she placed herself in the position of the crumbs (Mark 7:25). Also in Mark we find the confirmation regarding the woman’s faith as we read, “For this saying go your way; the devil is gone out of your daughter” (Mark 7:29). Her faith reached beyond her position to a time of hope in Jesus. Her belief was also important, but she was reaching to something yet to come through Jesus. This was not a fable hope, or one she dreamed up, it was based in Jesus. Although the disciples were limited to a certain realm, Jesus was not. Something we tend to forget from time to time in the face of adversity.

Luke was a companion of Paul’s, he penned Luke’s Account, and the Book of Acts, the question then becomes, “After the Day of Pentecost did the disciples operate as they did before the Cross, or did they operate like Jesus?”. The Resurrection changed the course of events, the Spirit was given. We can look at Matthew 4:24 as it compares to Acts 5:16:

Matthew 4:24 Acts 5:16

“And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.” “There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.”

The verses are nearly the same; therefore, the relationship between them shows a change took place in the disciples after Pentecost to make them “Christian”; proved when we see Matthew talks about Jesus, but Acts about the disciples. Prior to the Cross they rejoiced over the ability to cast out devils, after Pentecost they matured to know it’s far better to have your name written in heaven. The evidence shows there was a change in Natures, the old nature of darkness was removed when they were Born Again.

What about those who were not the Apostles? Did the ability to be Like Christ, or did it stop with the first Apostles? Hardly, one evidence is Paul, he didn’t begin until some time after Pentecost. However, he was nonetheless an Apostle. How about others? Philip the Deacon was appointed by the Apostles, but anointed to be an Evangelist. This Philip is not to be confused with Philip the Apostle, rather Philip the Evangelist was among the seven who were appointed Deacons by the Apostles. Philip did many things, including water baptism in the Name of Jesus, as well as casting out devils. Although he was a Deacon, we find he was also appointed by the Holy Ghost as an Evangelist among the five fold Offices (Acts 8:6-13 & Eph 4:11). Another is Stephen, who was a Deacon, not an Apostle, nor did he hold any of the Doma offices, yet he did wonders, and miracles among the people (Acts 6:8). This is a hope, some of us think, “all I’m good for is sweeping the parking lot”, not so, we are being trained for the position; then having done the little things well, we will be granted more abilities.

Philip went to Samaria, which is also important, since the call was to begin in Jerusalem then Judea then Samaria, then to the rest of the world. Philip completed the call to the Jews displaying how he operated as an Evangelist, as the mission field changed to Samaria, then the next step would be the Gentiles. Philip turned the knob on the door to the Gentiles when he water baptized the Ethiopian eunuch into the Body (Acts 8:36-37). Peter cracked the door when he saw Jesus baptize Cornelius with the Holy Ghost, then Paul busted it wide open as the Holy Ghost moved to bring the Gentile into the Kingdom.

When Philip went to Samaria it was without the company of any other disciple, it was the Holy Ghost and Philip, thereby showing us how the “two by two” requirement was no longer in effect. At times warfare includes not attempting “to copy” something of the past to make it appear as if we’re holier than those who lived in the past: in our zeal we may be making the claim how we lack the ability to operate today.

Paul came across a man called “Elymas the sorcerer”, for so was his name by interpretation. This Elymas stood against Paul, having done all to stand against Paul, he stood the more (Acts 13:8). Then Saul (who is also Paul) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on Elymas and said, “O full of all subtilty and all mischief, you child of the devil, you enemy of righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the Hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a season” (Acts 13:9-11). Seems like Jesus went about opening blind eyes, but Paul was closing them, or is there more here? The most obvious sign is Paul being “full of the Holy Ghost”, thus is not something Paul decided to do, it was governed by the Holy Ghost. This Elymas was a Jew, he was not only a sorcerer, but a false prophet, so why didn’t Paul cast the devil out of him? It wasn’t a devil, Elymas was a child of the devil, thus he being a Jew made him worse then Simon Magus. Elymas was among the chosen of God, he made his choice to walk in the Mist of Darkness, thus the Holy Ghost merely allowed his eyes to match his heart (Acts 13:11).

Elymas connected himself through demonic soul-ties to a man by the name of Serguis Paulus, a prudent man. Elymas used the soul-tie to possess and control Serguis, which is a trait of the Wicked (Acts 13:7). When Paul came on the scene things changed, Serguis saw the result of the hand of God then believed (Acts 13:12). The evidence shows Elymas made his decision to be Wicked, but his victim, Serguis made his decision to accept the Gospel and be free.

Then there was the damsel who was possessed with a spirit of divination, whom had the devil cast out of her by Paul. In her case, she was unable to connect her mental powers to the minds of Paul or Silas, yet her goal was to possess as she was possessed. Here we find the use of the Greek word Echo for the English word Possessed meaning to Have hold, this word was used some 709 times in the New Testament, running from Shall have, to Counted, it’s meaning shows one has control over another, or control over something, if someone controls our emotions, they control us. However, we lay hold of the good thing, we don’t lay hold of people’s souls. Once the devil of divination lost it’s hold on the damsel, she was loosed, but her masters were not. Her masters made much money from her, thus showing her divination did work on some. Her masters were bound to money, even to the point of using devils to get it.

We’re not done yet, we have to travel to Mars’ Hill, where we see how Paul handled devils. The only place we find the wording “Mars’ Hill” is in Acts 17:22. It is a real location, it was used by the people to worship the god Mars, thus this hill was designed by the people for one purpose, to worship idols. The first thing Paul said was, “I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious” (Acts 17:22). Why didn’t he bind these devils? Why didn’t he cast the devil out of the people? One can be an idol worshiper of idols, yet not devil possessed. Paul saw opportunity while looking at idol after idol, devotion after devotion, he also knew there was an interest to know God (Acts 17:22-23). He did call them “too superstitious”, adding “in All things”. Did they have Imaginations and high things? Yes, their Superstitious nature invaded their way of thinking; in the English the word Superstitious means A belief, conception, act or practice resulting from ignorance, or a fear of the unknown, or a fear of devils. Some of us have a fear of the unknown, which makes us Superstitious. Some of us are frightened of devils, which makes us Superstitious. What makes one Superstitious? Being ignorant of the Power we have over devils. The word Superstitious is the Greek word Deisidaimonesteros meaning Fear of the gods, or fear of devils, making the person worship what they fear. A promise of faith is, “so we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Heb 13:6). Faith in God removes fear, but fear in the devil, removes faith.

It’s interesting to look at Athens, and the many idols Paul faced. Also interesting is how Paul, of all things, picked the heathen devotion with the inscription “To The Unknown God” as a basis to preach Jesus. Most of us would never use some idol to preach about Jesus, yet here Paul surely did (Acts 17:23). Try it today, they will call you New Age, among other things. Paul was moved by the Holy Ghost to use this devotion, indicating he had no fear of devils, but picked something the people could associate to. He wasn’t afraid of some transference of spirits, or some devil taking over his mind, or some devil taking away his possessions, he knew he could tread on all the power of the enemy. Every method of idol worship was on the Hill, history tells us not one element of witchcraft, devil worship, or idol worship was left out. Each idol or witchcraft segment was covered in some manner, so much so they had the devotion to the “Unknown God” just in case they left one out. Yet, Paul the Apostle of Grace marched up the Hill preaching Jesus. Perhaps Paul found the secret of Rejoicing over his name being written in heaven.

In the early days Athens went through several periods, there was the Hellenistic Period from 300 BC to around 228 BC. Then came the Roman Empire when Athens became a free and sovereign city. A favor which was given to them for their zealous Caesar worship, thus Rome rewarded them for their idol worship, in their minds it “worked”, after all they were a free city in the Roman Empire. The Jews were captive, yet they worshipped God, the people of Athens were free because they worshipped idols, so to them the idols had more power than God. Simply because one idol worshiper grants favor to another doesn’t mean idol worship is greater than God, the result tells the tale.

Standing on the Hill Paul would have seen several statues of Mars (also known as Mavors, Mamar, Marspiter or Maspiter); who in the ranking of idols was second only to Jupiter. Mars was commonly identified with the Greek god Ares; the importance of this false deity ran throughout Italy. Rome itself had a month named after him, as we do today (March). Mars was a god of war, yet the Holy Ghost used Paul to engage in warfare, but Paul wasn’t about to use the “ways of Mars”, rather he was used of the Holy Ghost. Paul faced the Mythology of the people with their various idols, yet instead of binding them, he preached Jesus, meaning the people who accepted the Truth were set free.

The word Mythology means the Study of myths, the actual term comes from the Greek words Mythos (A tale), and Logos which in classical Greek means An account, or Word spoken once. We know the Logos as Jesus the Word of God made flesh for us, nonetheless the Greek word means an Account or the Word used once. Mythology defined means “the study of fables”, thus any theology filled with fables is really Mythology.

Many of the idols gained in their deity position around 400 BC, thus there was a history on Mars’ Hill, a 400 year old history of traditions facing Paul. There was not a mountain, plain, river, fountain, grove, woods, or person of some importance not hallowed by some legend or poetic tale. The twisted concept of one being a Poet was seen in Mythology; James tells us to be a doer of the Word, the word Doer means a Poet, but the actual definition of a Poet means one with beautiful thoughts, not one who makes up stories, or fables about idols.

Greece had her artists who used their talents to make idols; there was Pheidias (500 BC), Praxiteles (400 BC), Apelles (400 BC), and Zeuzis (500 BC). There was also the philosophers, Socrates (400 BC), Plato (400 BC), and Epicurus (300 BC). The statesmen as orators, Pericle (400 BC) and Demosthenes (300 BC); adding the historians, Herodotus (500 BC), Thucydides (400 BC), and Xenophon (400 BC), with the intellects in math, Archimedes (200 BC), and Euclid (300 BC). Greece gained much fame, but as we know the Romans conquered her, yet Athens simply looked at Caesar as another god, from the premise the city gained favor, as noted.

We’re not going to enter a history lesson here, but we do want to determine why the Holy Ghost gave Paul the ability to use a false deity, and why the Holy Ghost picked this one Unknown God over all the rest. The counterfeits were many, each counterfeited some attribute of God; although twisted. Today we know the idol worshipers considered the highest idol the “light of the world”, yet Jesus is the Light. We begin to see how the devil saw something coming, he didn’t know for sure what it would entail, but he nonetheless knew it would crush his head. The devil began to form his own “heads” in his feeble attempt to turn the prophecy around to his favor. The devil is the tail, but he wants everyone to think he is the head.

According to mythology the Sun and Moon were brother and sister, yet we know the Sun is Jacob. the Moon is Zion of the earth, thus mythology twists something true, to produce an imagination, then calls the imagination a truth, while declaring the truth as the fable. For instance the creation of the world according to mythology promotes the fall, becoming a complex issue at best. According to mythology the world was a great shapeless mass of Chaos, out of which was fashioned the first spirit of love called Eros or Cupid, who was in union with the broad-chested god Earth (Gaea). Then came Erebos (darkness), and Nyx (the night), to form a union of these two, from them came forth Aether (the clear sky), and Hemera (the day). Today the theory of the earth coming from a mass of a gaseous form fits more with Mythology than Theology.

We know Eros as Cupid, the little angel; he is not the messenger of love, he is flesh centered, we get the English word Erotic from the Greek Eros. The so-called Olympian deities were twelve in number, is this by chance? Hardly, the counterfeit is too coincidental. The twelve Olympian deities were Zeus (Jupiter), Hera (Juno), Poseidon (Neptune), Demeter (Ceres), Apollo, Artemis (Diana), Hephaestos (Vulcan), Pallas, Athene (Minerva), Ceres (Mars), Aphrodite (Venus), Hermes (Mercury), and Hestia (Vesta). We know from Paul’s letters how the craftsmen of the images of Diana caused Paul many problems. It’s more interesting how these deities had their problems within, thus they seldom acted in harmony. They would fight and compete among themselves for power and honor, all based in envy or jealousy.

We know the children were subject to the gods of Egypt while they were in captivity, yet they made the golden calf indicating they retained their training from Egypt. We also know about Balaam, with his involvement with Balac to get the children into idol worship, but we also know Jesus used Balaam and the doctrine of Balaam as a type and shadow of false teachers. Using them as examples doesn’t mean Jesus, Paul or John worshipped them. Using Balaam as an example of evil, doesn’t mean Jesus condoned the behavior of the man. Some of the modern day idol worshipers think if Paul went to Mars’ Hill he did so to worship idols, foolishness is still the product of the spirit of man.

The Romans considered themselves actual descendants of Mars, Rome had a place called the “Field of Mars”, thus Mars’ Hill was a place connecting Athens to Rome. The term Areopagos is the same as Mars’ Hill, according to the myth Mars’ Hill was the place of judgment on which courts of justice were held when the decision involved life or death. The method of voting was a black stone for death, or a white stone for life. Paul being on this Hill was not some mistake, he didn’t take a wrong turn, or find himself there, he was sent by the Holy Ghost to save those called of God from the hands of idols.

Athens was also the place where the Mysteries of Eleusia were held, these Mysteries had initiation ceremonies as well, taking place at night. They involved play acting to show the mythical concepts of the creation of the world, or the power of the gods and goddesses. A certain modern cult system uses a like ceremony in their rites. These ceremonies took place twice a year, once in the spring and once in September, the latter taking nine days. These Mysteries were held by the people Paul faced on Mars’ Hill, the people were known for their intellect, but they were people with many strongholds and imaginations. This was a warfare of great proportion, one centered on the weapon of Truth preached in Love.

We are viewing this area to see the contrast between the strongholds Jesus faced, and those Paul faced. It’s obvious Jesus didn’t face idols made of stone, but He did face strongholds formed from mental idols. Paul had an example in Jesus, thus Paul used the same methods Jesus used. Paul lived Warfare, doesn’t it make sense to find out how he conducted it? Paul never considered himself above the Master, he used the methods of Jesus. Some of us are using methods not in the Bible, in our zeal we are saying we are above the Master. Not wise, not wise at all, especially when we call it spiritual warfare.

Paul also spent time among the Gentiles in locations like Corinth, thus he had first hand knowledge of the stories of the various idols. The church in Corinth was warned about mixing the cup of devils with the cup of the Lord. Athens had a story, or mythology of Erichthonios, who was suppose to be the first mortal who learned from the goddess Minerva how to harness horses for chariots of war. The visible proof and testimony of Minerva’s power was the famed Olive on the Acropolis (temple) of Athens. Minerva was also known as Polias, the Protector of Athens. Her image was of a woman with an angel in her right hand, and a great serpent as her power, indicating mythology is a tall tale from the serpents mouth.

Apollo was also known as Thargelios, there was a festival in his honor called Thargelia which was held in Athens during the month of May. This festival was to celebrate the Ripe Fruit of the Fields; in August there was another festival in Athens called the Metageitnia, when Apollo would become “god of the harvest”, the Firstfruits were presented to him at this time. His mother was called Leto, the mother of darkness, or the dark of night, thus we find mythology has light coming from darkness, a lie and counterfeit making the light subject to the darkness. According to mythology Apollo held the number Seven as sacred; he was often considered the “god of light”, or the “god of heaven’s light”. We know more about his sister Diana who was also know as Artemis, whose name implies “modest spotless goddess”. Not only do we see her in Athens and Corinth, but she held the title “Diana of Ephesus”. Her temple in Ephesus was classed as one of the seven wonders of the world. The traders of the shrines of Diana made a great deal of money selling idols in front of her temple. This contrast between the silversmiths of Diana, and the sellers of the Dove in the temple shows why Jesus became angry. Only two times do we find Jesus getting mad, had to do with the Temple becoming corrupt at the hands of man: the only time Jesus struck anyone was for selling the items used for sacrifices, more specific was selling the Dove.

Any fruits or sacrifices presented to Diana had to be perfectly clean and spotless, much like the Law of Moses. Diana like the Pharisees of old, wanted her fish cleaned before she would touch them; we on the other hand we catch the fish, then allow the Lord to clean them. The counterfeit of God’s plan has been around since the devil heard his head would be the footstool of the Lord. We as Christians present ourselves as living sacrifices, but when we came to the Lord we were anything but clean and spotless.

Then there was Dionysos, in Athens during the month of December there was a festival in his honor. Dionysos was a god of many names, Bromois, Lyaeos, Dithrambos and Bakchos, he was borrowed by the Greeks from oriental mythology, later introduced to the Romans. This idol was the god of the vine, only in his case it was the excess of wine, pointing to Paul’s comments to the Ephesians, “be not filled with wine to excess”.

One of the goddesses named Themis held the Delphic oracle, before it was yielded to Apollo. According to mythology it was during the war between the Greeks and Titans when she descended from heaven. We may know her as Justice, the woman with the balances and blindfold. Another goddess was Helios, or Sol who held a torch in her hand as she wore a crown on her head. There were only two goddesses in Athens sharing the seasons with Apollo; both of which were termed “inferior deities”. Not only did Paul face the main twelve false deities, but their offspring as well. There is Thallo, the goddess of Blossoming, then Karpo the goddess of Harvest and fruit; however, in Greece the usual number was three, not two. Hora was the third, who was pictured as a woman dancing with a wreath of Palm Leaves on her head. Athens also had the Muses or Pierides, they were suppose to be the cause of Water, of no surprise, there were nine of them. These nine were looked upon as the patron goddesses of music, song, and of poetry. Their intent was to promote the civilization of mankind. Wow, guess we have to stop singing. Not so, it’s the point, the devil counterfeits the things of God to scare us, making us toss out the Baby Jesus with the bath water. We tend to hear “New Age”, then go about attempting to make the Real the counterfeit, simply because we are too superstitious. Paul said, the idol is nothing, the idols Paul faced were nothing, it was the honor given them by man becoming the sin, not the idol in and of itself. A piece of stone is a piece of stone, bow down to it, it then becomes an idol. A stick is a stick, bow to it, then it becomes an idol.

They had the wind goddesses, among whom was Lips, the goddess who was said to use the south-east winds to bring home the ships as they neared the harbor of Peiraeus at Athens. We already know of the story of Eros, Psyche and Aphrodite (Venus), as Aphrodite sent her son, Eros (Cupid) to trap Psyche into falling in love with a mortal, thus causing Psyche to lose her powers. However, Eros and Psyche became lovers, thus Paul used the self-based, self-centered love of Aphrodite in contrast with the self-less love of God in First Corinthians 13:1-7; however, in Athens he was looking right at their images. We should be getting a picture of what Paul faced, yet some of us go into what we term “spiritual warfare” when we find the bank overcharged us, or someone wearing a crystal walks into our church.

The Greeks in Athens also had Nemesis, who was the goddess of punishment, with her was Poena, Dike and Erinys, the punishers of evil-doers. In Smyrna there were several “winged beings” of this type, all showing the avenging angels of the gods. There was Eris, called Discordia by the Romans, who was the goddess of strife, it was she who caused a dispute between Athene and Aphrodite over the “golden apple”. Fables are imaginations (strongholds) based in natural concepts of man’s natural reasoning. These people lacked a “check and balance”, a failure proved true by history, on the other hand we have a check and balance, it’s called the Bible.

Not only did Paul face the images, but the countless stories as well. Paul would talk about the Protection of the Lord, but those in Athens would say, “we have that”; or about prosperity, they would say, “Look around, we have that”, or about Liberty and Peace, they would say, “have that too”. Paul didn’t talk only about the things of God, he talked about God, they didn’t have Him. Paul began by saying, “God who made the world and things therein, seeing He is Lord of heaven and earth” (Acts 17:24). One sentence and fifty idols became useless, the people were looking at this idol, then another, all are said to have part in creation, but Paul said, “One God”. These people were wearing themselves out going from one god to another, often attempting to keep the gods from getting mad at them. They presumed sickness, or harm was the result of making the gods mad. They also felt if they followed one idol, yet there was a war between their idol and some other idol, they would be caught in the middle. Yet, Paul preached the Gospel of Peace by telling them, I have One God who is All, above All and in All, Who is willing and able to save you, yet here you are with all these, showing you really don’t Know Him. Then Paul went on to say how his God, “dwells not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He gives Life to all” (Acts 17:24-25). Instead of idols who take life, Paul has a God who gives life. This was the key, a God who can give Life.

Within Athens there were many temples dedicated to the idols, so many the entire center of the city was one temple after another. According to mythology the gods and goddesses obtained their status through personal efforts, but the efforts were so “god like” no common man could reach the same plateau; however, Paul said God “has determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might chase after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us” (Acts 17:26-27). Paul was speaking of the God above all gods, yet could it be this God would really care about the common man? He pointed out there were the “times of ignorance”, a time when man did make graven images, a time when God Winked, but the time has passed, the Day has come, the Light shines, yet there is a time Appointed when God will judge the world in righteousness. It was when they heard of the Resurrection of the dead; some mocked, but others said, “We will hear you again” (Acts 17:32). It wasn’t the Cross alone, but the Resurrection sparking their interest, but why? Mythology has gods of death, even the Daemons and Genii, but mythology, like the devil, is centered in the fear of death. Jesus destroyed him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered them who through Fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb 2:14-15). It’s when these people saw the confidence Paul had in the Resurrection they knew this man had a Hope the idols couldn’t deliver. When Paul preached Freedom from death and devils, the people listened.

According to mythology all people had a Daemon assigned to them at birth, this Daemon would identify with the person, as it guided them through life, it would die with them as well. Of course they termed some as good, and some as evil, much like some people look at witchcraft as white and black magic, witchcraft is witchcraft regardless of what name one puts on it, just as devils are devils.

Paul was speaking the truth in love, opening the revelation of Eternal Life, yet the goal of idol worship was simply to survive. Paul went beyond survival in the natural, by speaking of Jesus who through death took away the sting of the grave, giving Life to those who would Believe in Him. The point being the confidence of Paul in his Lord far out weighed the confidence the people had in idols. Among those who believed the words of Paul was one Dionyusius the Areopagite, (Mars’ Hill was called Areopagos), Dionyusius was a priest assigned to the Hill, a high ranking member of idol worship. There was also a woman by the name of Damaris, her name tells us she was associated with the worship of Diana, yet from both believed, as others saw them believe, they joined. As high ranking in the act of idol worship as these two people were, the devil couldn’t keep them from Jesus, they heard, believed then moved from the old kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of God. The reason they failed to know of this “unknown God” was because they filled their minds with strongholds and fables, plus they never heard of the One God Paul knew.

After Paul left Athens, he went to Corinth, although Corinth had many idols, it still wasn’t as bad as Athens (Acts 18:1). After facing the many idols in Athens, Corinth was easy, but not the Corinthians, there were some in Corinth who opposed Paul, not idol worshipers, not heathens, who were they? Paul entered a synagogue to preach Jesus to the Jews (Acts 18:4). In Athens some believed, some didn’t, but in the synagogue he was faced with strong opposition, he said “henceforth I will go to the Gentiles” (Acts 18:6). Of course Paul made the same statement many times, but we can see there are the lost who fall down before idols, and there are lost who fall down before their theology, but lost is lost.

After seeing all those fables and idols, we wonder, “so what?”. Because we see so many fables in theology it tells us how much the old man loves fables, or loves to get us to seek those areas where we can say we have something no one else has. The Truth is still part of the Armor, it’s still the hammer to the stronghold. In Ephesians we find the English word Truth, but we also find two different Greek words for the English word Truth. In Ephesians 1:13 and 4:21 it was the Greek Aletheia meaning The unveiled reality lying at the basis of, or agreeing with an appearance, manifestation and veritable essence of matter. In Ephesians 4:15, 4:25, 5:9 and 6:14 it’s the Greek Aletheuo meaning Real as Not counterfeit, or To act genuinely, thus Aletheia is the Act, Aletheuo is the Way, we need both areas of Truth in our lives. The phrase “Spirit of Truth” is the Greek Aletheia, this same word was used when Jesus said, “I am the Truth” (Jn 15:26 & 14:6). Paul says we Hear the Word (Logos) of Truth, as we were Taught Truth, in both cases it’s Aletheia, the Act or the Unveiling of Jesus, thus Jesus is the Word, by the Spirit of Truth in us we gain Truth.

When we Speak the Truth in Love, it’s a Way, although it suggests an Act (Eph 4:15). The same is true when we Speak the Truth to our neighbor, for we are members one of another (Eph 4:25). The Fruit of the Spirit includes Truth, thus the Righteousness and Goodness are Ways (Eph 5:9). How can we Walk in the Truth if we haven’t Put On the New Man? We can’t, thus, Putting on the New Man is akin to Taking on the Armor. When the New Man begins to bring Light to our thinking many things are exposed. We can’t jump to Righteousness while avoiding the Truth, Truth must be first in line, then Righteousness, thus Truth is also related to the foundation of the Kingdom of God.

Perhaps the best example of proper Godly warfare is found in Love, as strange as it might sound. We know mountain moving begins when we “say” to the mountain, then we must believe God is able to move it, yet Paul says without Love we can move all sorts of mountains yet become nothing. We could burn ourselves up in service, yet without Love it profits nothing. Those are “good works”, but they don’t address the commandment, “Love one another as I have loved you”, neither do they address, “if you Love Me, do My Commandments”. Without Love as the basis, we allow pride to enter, failing to fight the fight after the battle. There are all sorts of reasons for doing things, some do things to look important, some to gain validation, or be seen of man, or to feel important, but there are those who do things because they Love the Lord.

There are some elements of Agape Love dictating our stand in Warfare. There are eight “do not’s” and eight “do’s” associated with Agape Love, the do’s are; 1) suffers long, 2) is kind, 3) rejoices in the truth, 4) bears all things, 5) believes all things, 6) hopes all things, 7) endures all things, and 8) never fails. The eight do not’s are, 1) envy, 2) vaunt itself, 3) puffed up, 4) behave unseemly, 5) seeks her own, 6) is easily provoked, 7) thinks evil, and 8) rejoices in iniquity. Now the warfare, we can put our mind on the do not’s, or watch making sure we never do the do not’s, but it’s the wrong approach, coupled to the wrong warfare. We can watch our flesh day and night, making sure we always appear morally correct and holy, but it’s still minding the flesh. We can Mind the Spirit after we impute the flesh dead thereby becoming Holy and Righteous by the New Man. The same is true with any form of Spiritual warfare, we can fight and fight not to slander, or we can speak words of Grace, thereby knowing we can’t slander. We can fight and fight to keep the eye gate shut, or we can allow the New Man to clean us of lusts to remove the fear of the eye gate. It stands to reason, if we fight Methods, we must have Methods, yet the Methods we use can’t be anything like the Methods we fight. We war against the rulers of darkness by having the attributes of Light. We war against spiritual wickedness by being spiritual in nature. We war against Principalities by growing up into all things, even the Head. We war against strongholds and fables by holding the Truth. We must have the proper Method, with the proper weapons, then we can put a kick in our step, with a song in our heart.

All this comes down to the phrase, “with man it’s impossible, but with God all things are possible”. We’re all different, no formula is going to bring all this together, yet the Greater He in us can. We must receive with meekness the Engrafted Word so our souls can be healed on the path of Righteousness. The greatest warfare of all is in the saving of our souls, a victory found in the Blood of Jesus. Follow the Master, He won this and gave us His victory.

By Rev. G. E. Newmyer – Les20/rev11/ © 2003

Bible, NT-21, Metaphors/Allegories: Part 1

Bible, NT-20, Spiritual Warfare

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