11 March 2012
Dear Phyllis,
The other day Pammy and I had a
monumental squall. When it was over, and the dust settled, it became
clear that the devil had done a real number on me, causing me to make
an enormous problem over nothing. I was 100% in error. In sharing
this with Gary, he suggested, “Why don't you write something about
how the devil has access to our minds?”
Indeed he does. My goodness, he had
access to Jesus' mind. In all three cases in the temptation of Christ
in the wilderness it starts out with, “The devil said to him...”
(Mt. 4:3,5,9). This was a re-enactment of what happened in the Garden
with Eve, when the Fall all stated when “the serpent (devil) said
to the woman...” (Gen. 3:1). In 1 Chron. 21:1 we read, “And Satan stood up against Israel to provoke David to number Israel. And
David said...” That incident of numbering the people was not
something that originated in the heart of David, but that one came
from the devil.
The main arena of spiritual warfare is
fought in the mind. Paul says, “The weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into capticvity every
thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:4,5). All three
objects – thoughts, knowledge, and imaginations – are things of
the mind.
We know that the heart is composed of
three elements – the intellect, emotions, and will. These can be
pictured as a horse, a cart and a rider. The horse is the thoughts,
the cart is the emotions, and the driver is the will. The proper
configuration is when the driver directs the thoughts; or the will
controls the mind. But sometimes this gets reversed. The cart pushes
the horse and the driver is carried away by an out-of-control horse.
This is what happens when emotions get control and takes over the
mind. In that case the will is carried away where the emotions leads.
This is what happened with Ananias and
Sapphria (Act 5:1-10). Peter said, “Why hath satan filled thine
heart?” The word “filled” used here is the same word
used in Eph. 5:18 where we are commanded to be filled with the
Holy Spirit. It is the same process. How did satan fill their
hearts? First of all they sold some property. There is nothing wrong
with that. Next they made a lot of money. That's okay. Then satan
said to Anania, “That is a lot of money. There are a lot of things
you could do with that money.” True. But the emotional impact of
all that they could do with that money got excited. The devil was
helpful in suggesting, “You don't have to give all that money
away.”' That also was true. But everybody else was giving
everything to God. It would look bad if they didn't give everything
also. The emotional struggle got to the fever pitch. A. and S. knew
it was wrong to give false pretense, but they couldn't handle the
issue of parting with all that money or look bad with the other
Christians. The devil moved them to do something they knew was wrong.
When the devil got control of their will, he had them. He filled
their hearts – thoughts, emotions and will.
Rev. 12:11 is a key verse in spiritual
warfare – “They overcame him (devil) by the Blood of the Lamb,
the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto
death”. Here we have the three basic areas of spiritual conflict,
and the devil's tactics, how he attacks us. There are only three ways
he can get to us – defilement, deception, and intimidation. All
three of these are in the area of the mind.
When the children of Israel were
threatening Moab in the days of Moses, Balak sent for the leading
occultist in the world, Balaam, to come and curse them. This incident
in Numbers 22-25 is most instructive. Balaam told a frustrated Balak,
“There us no enchantment against Jacob,, neither is there any
divination against Israel” God's people are above this. The
devil simply cannot bring curses against Christians. But Balaam gave
Balak a clever solution. Get them defiled. Get them gunked up in sin
and the curse of God will come down on them (Rev. 2:14).
This tactic is as old as sin in the
Garden. This is the devils primary object for sale. This was the
primary ruin of the OT. This is what has turned humanity and the
world into a moral sewer. This is what has been the downfall of
countless of thousands of Christians – sin! If the devil can't get
to a Christian any other way, a highly effective tactic is to get him
gunked up with compromise with sin. Sin is the basic means the devil
uses to separate man from God.
The whole purpose of the Cross of
Christ was to correct this problem. It is only by the Blood of Christ
that sin is cleansed (1 Jn. 1:7; Heb. 9:22). There is nothing the
devil hates more than the Blood of Christ. It is by His Blood that
the Lord has disarmed the devil. This is our weapon against
defilement. We overcome the devil by the Blood of the Lamb. In
spiritual conflict we frequently plead the Blood. It is common to
pray, “Lord cover us by Thy Blood.” This is a barrier demons
can't penetate. This is the first thing, mentioned in Rev. 12:11.
But if the devil can't get to a person
by defilement he has another highly effective tactic – deception.
There are many references concerning deception in the Bible, and Rev.
12:9 says the the devil deceives the whole world. There is only one
answer for deception – truth. God will give a man a choice to
believe truth or the devils lie. The devil makes his lie persuasive
by deception. This how is he got Eve (1Ti. 2:14). It is only by a
word of testimony that we can combat deception. We must say, “What
the devil is showing you may look good, but the truth is...”
There is another facet of the devils
lies that is equally destructive among Christians –
misunderstanding. Who knows what enormous disruption the devil has
caused in the Body of Christ between Christians by misunderstandings.
I heard the story of a Japanese Christian man who went to his pastor
to ask for help for his son. The next Sunday the pastor's wife was
sick and the pastor was unusually heavy due to his wife's illness.
But when the man saw the strained look on the pastor's face, he
thought the pastor was upset over him, and left the church, never to
return.
I knew two brothers who were very close
and daily prayed together. But something came between them. Sonny
came to me to talk about that problem. I suggested they have it out.
So the next day Sonny said, “Craig, what is wrong with you? You
have been so cold lately.” Craig answered, “It isn't me. You are
the one who has something against me.” They finally were able to
trace it back to a phone call, which Craig had overheard. He
misinterpreted some remarks that Sonny had said. This caused block in
Craig's' heart, and over the next two weeks it just kept amplifying
in each man feeling uncomfortable with the other. When they finally
got to the baseless stone the devil had inserted, they laughed and
fellowship was restored.
The thing that happened to me last
Monday was a classic. The devil really did a number on me. Sunday
night Pammy did something that I grossly misinterpreted. What I
imagined was very real to me, and my emotions ran extremely high.
Pammy was shocked and hurt. I said, “You pull that stunt one more
time, there will be serious consequence.” She slept in another
room. Monday morning I called Pastor Kichikun saying that we had an
extremely serious problem to deal with. The first thing he said to me
was, “Calm down.” Then he talked to everyone involved. Finally he
said to me again, “You are making a huge problem over nothing.”
He was right, but I couldn't see it at the time. As the Lord began to
answer prayer, He opened my eyes to see where I was totally mistaken.
I apologized, and Pammy has been very forgiving. Everything has been
wonderful since then. But it took a word of testimony to save what
could have been a disaster.
If the devil can't get a person by
defilement or deception his last tactic is intimidation. Tragically,
this has been very effective in silencing much evangelism and closed
down many Christians. The answer to this tactic is difficult, but it
is watershed between the real servants of Christ, and those who just
claim to be. Jesus said if a man did not hate his own life he
COULD NOT be His disciple (Lk. 14:26). It is easy to say that we
are Jesus' disciple and following the Lord, but intimidation will
prove whether or not that is real. The only way to overcome
intimidation is by not loving your life unto death. If this is real,
the devil has no leverage.
One time Ron Blough got in a hot
go-around with the base chaplain at Yokota Air Base, and called him
wicked – which he was. The chaplain was furious and said, “I am
going to pull your base pass.” Ron replied, “I defy you to do
it!” He didn't have one. There was nothing the chaplain could do or
get leverage on Ron. If you have surrendered your life to Jesus there
is nothing the devil can take from you. You can't lose what you don't
have.
Sadhu Sanda Sing was a famous Indian
mystic. His passion was give his life for Jesus; and one of the
saddest days of his life was his 34th birthday. He never
wanted to live longer than Jesus. The Lord later granted him his
request in giving his life for Him. For years he was the only man to
penetrate the border to carry the Gospel into Nepal and Tibet. Every
summer he would trek deep into the Himalayas preaching Christ where
no one could get in. One summer he went in on his summer dendo
(evangelism) but never returned, leaving his body in an unmarked
grave in the Himalayas.
Should this not be the passion of every
Christian? What sin is this that Jesus should leave heaven to come
and give His life for us, but we selfishly want to give so little for
Him? The Islamic terrorists are a rebuke to the Body of Christ.
Thousands are willing to be suicide bombers for the questionable
motive of gaining heaven with its 72 virgins. This is, at best, a
sinful, selfish, hope. But it is a fact that Jesus has done
infinitively more for us than we could ever repay. The least we can
do is to give our lives to Him.
Fear is a paralyzing emotion. Fear to
pass out a tract or speak to someone about Jesus, has silenced
millions of witnesses. Fear of losing a job or suffer a little
reproach for the Name of the Lord has crippled millions. Intimidation
is a very poor means of guidance, but many Christians have been
guided by it. “It looks a little dangerous. Maybe we shouldn't do
it.” Hang it! Where in the Bible does it say fear should be my
guiding light?
This is all the devil can throw at us –
defilement, deception, and intimidation. The over comers in Revelation
overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives unto death. All of this is fought in
the mind. And the devil attacks us daily with thoughts in all three
areas. It is unlikely that any of us will be exempt or be out of
arrow shot range until we get inside the City. But with the very
Spirit of Christ living in our hearts, He should be able to keep us
until we get that far.
Deshoo? (Isn't that true)
bill
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