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Church Shooting – Questions about Compassion and Evil

In Agape Love, Anger, Bible, Bible Study, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Compassion, Confusion, Demon, Demon Possession, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, Forgiveness, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Grief, Hate, Hatred, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Loss, Mental Disorder, Mental Illness, Persecution, Suffering, Truth, Wicca, witchcraft on December 10, 2017 at 4:15 pm

Please feel free to send me any of your own thoughts or questions, locate and click the comment link below. I will continue to address them in follow up posts. This post and/or related posts will be the only post[s] I will be making available for the next few weeks, as I believe this topic needs to stay front and center for a season.

To address some additional thoughts and questions…

Compassion for Perpetrators

Yes, if we are unable to find compassion, which is an aspect of agape love, for those individuals who are so wounded or damaged that they wound and damage other people we are no different than the world. Scripture makes it clear that it is easy to love those who love us but not so easy to love those who mistreat us.

Luke 6:32–36 (NKJV) Jesus speaking

³²“But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ³⁴And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. ³⁵But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. ³⁶Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.

I was wounded just recently by someone I care a great for, wounded more than they most likely realize. However, I have chosen to trust God to deal with the matter and not retaliate. I realize that the individual can only treat me with the spiritual, mental, and emotional maturity they currently possess despite what my heart might desire.

Evil

Yes, evil does exist! It is a powerful spiritual force that can destroy individuals and lives. Evil is a byproduct of the fall of both Satan and the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden. If we had to trace goodness back to one source that source would be God. Likewise, if we had to trace evil back to one source that source would be Satan. Evil and its father, Satan, are a very powerful force second only to God and not one to be taken lightly.

Please understand this point. Without God man is completely powerless over evil. Whether you are a child of God through the rebirth of your spirit or a child of God through creation who has yet to recognize God as their Father you would not be able resist evil without God’s help. Without God this entire world would be consumed with evil. The world is Satan’s playground, his domain in some manners and therefore we are not to be naïve when it comes to the evil that surrounds us in our society.

Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)

¹²For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

The issue of labeling evil as demon possession, demonic influence, congenital evil, or consensual evil is in all honesty an extremely difficult thing to do. People like to place labels on things or actions but in order to truly label almost any action or behavior a person would require so much information that gathering said information would be almost impossible. This is why I find it difficult to respect people who place labels. Yes, we can offer insights and possible reasons for why someone will say or do something but to say, “we know” without doubt and place a label on that person is in my belief almost impossible – it also borders on condemning a person, the worse form of judging another person. Most people do not even talk to people enough to get a good understanding of what they think, believe, or to understand why they took certain actions much less gathering enough information to slap a label on them. Therefore, I would exhort you to be very careful before deciding what type of evil might be presence in a situation.

Evil is a topic that is challenging to undertake in such a forum as the sheer volume of what could be written on the topic is enormous. I will address just a few matters here but in no way, will I even scratch the surface of what should or could be written on the matter. I will confine myself to the previously mentions aspects of evil – demon possession, demonic influence, congenital evil, and consensual evil.

Demon possession did exist during biblical times, and does exist to date. Evil spirits aka demons where sent upon King Saul (1 Sam. 16:14). Both Jesus (Luke 7:21) and Paul (Acts 19:11, 12) acknowledged demons and demon possession casting demons out of those afflicted. There are situations where people are labeled as being mentally ill, which I believe without much doubt are cases of “demon possession” yes, demon possession. With that said, I also believe some people have been considered possessed by a demon when they were legitimately mentally ill. Overall, I believe there are a great deal of things labeled as mental illness or mental disorders that are in truth a form of evil influence or a result of sin.

People are prompted to do evil by the demonic influences around them or around someone who has access to their life, such as was the case with Ahab (1 Kin. 22:1–23). Demonic “influence” is possible for all people including Christians. For this reason it is extremely important that we examine our every thought, feeling, action, and prompting against the Truth found in God’s Word. Every thought must be taken captive, so we do not fall prey to the insidious influences that find their way into our own hearts (these influences enter people’s hearts through various means which I will not go into here, but it is not always the person’s own fault.)

2 Corinthians 10:3–6 (NKJV)

³For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, ⁶and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Matthew 15:19 (NKJV) Jesus Speaking

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

Congenital evil has to do with those things we find that run in our families or as some would like to say, ‘are in our DNA.’ Evil can be passed on through families via the environmental influence that opens the spirit to such evil. There can also be evil in the heredity of a family, evil known as generational curses. However, through the power and blood of The Lord Jesus, The Christ, generational curses of all type can be broken whether physical curses, behavioral cures, or mental curses.

Exodus 34:6–7 (NKJV) – When Moses was being given the second set of Tablets in the Wilderness, after the Hebrew children of God had left Egypt.

⁶ And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, ⁷ keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

Exodus 20:5 (NKJV) – In relation to and inclusive in the Ten Commandments.

⁵ you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Restated in Deuteronomy 5:9 (NKJV)

⁹you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

That leaves us the final form of evil we will address here, consensual evil. A person can become demon possessed through opening themselves up to evil in their actions. Through choices they have made to involve themselves in evil actions, in satanic activity, etc. Christian can open themselves up to evil influence in a greater degree by involving themselves in sinful behavior and even evil activities. There are those people who claim to be Christians yet partake in tarot cards, horoscopes, evil media, attempting to channel, consulting spiritualist or fortunetellers, etc. These are not actions God would have His people partaking in, He expects them to shun all evil and cling to goodness, godliness, and Truth. I exhort you not to think you can play or tamper with evil without getting burned – run from all forms of evil, run quickly and far!

Deuteronomy 18:10–12 (NKJV)

¹⁰There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ¹¹or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. ¹²For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you.

Romans 12:9 (NKJV)

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (NKJV)

Abstain from every form of evil.

John 17:15 (NKJV) Jesus speaking

¹⁵I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.

Jesus’ prayer for his disciples is my prayer for each of you.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

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Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 31 – Take Back What the Enemy Has Stolen

In Advice, Agape Love, Anger, Anxiety, Apostasy, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, Devotional, Encouragement, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, False Doctrine, False Gods, False Teaching, Fear, Forgiveness, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Grief, Hate, Hatred, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Idolatry, Jesus, Loss, Love, Marriage, Media, Mental Disorder, Mental Illness, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Religious Freedom, Remnant, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spiritual Fruit, Spiritual Remnant, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on June 14, 2017 at 4:45 pm

This piece, will be the last in our review of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon, should you desire to do so. This book and review of it has been such a blessing to my readers and myself, we are so grateful that God led David Kupelian to write the book.

To effectively combat an enemy, one must understand both their enemy and themselves. Seek to gain godly wisdom and understanding. Act and respond in accordance with that godly understanding and godly wisdom. How one responds to the evil and hated that is unleashed in our society and world is a key element in how well they are able to resist both and be a godly spiritual activist for Truth.

Control of oneself and one’s own actions is essential to being powerfully effective. As the author points out, ‘there is a world of difference between righteous indignation and seething hatred.’ As Christians, we want to possess righteous indignation but we do not want to enter into that realm with our Enemy, and enemies, who reside in seething hatred. The author also points out that righteous indignation is based on a strong sense of justice. However, seething hatred is always found to be self-destructive, out-of-control rage. We must rise above the temptation to hate those who hate us so we can embrace a truly righteous passion to right the wrongs we see strangling God from the consciousness of our country.

There is a universal human imperfection that we all suffer from. However, we cannot allow our own imperfects to render us mute when it comes to what God wants from us as a people. I have said more times than I can count, ‘Just because we do not live up to God’s Standard does not mean His Standard changes or that we have a right to try and pull God’s Standard down to our level so we can feel better about ourselves.’

There is a moral compass, the needle of which is our conscience, and every individual is born with one. We must employ methods to jump-start people’s conscience whenever possible. There was a saying that went around years ago within the Body of Christ, ‘Stop trying to be the Holy Spirit for people.’ This was a most destructive statement for the spiritual well-being of the Body of Christ. Why? Well my brothers and sisters the Book of Hebrews was written to address the issue of apostasy, and command Christians to cling close to Christ and God’s principles. Our part in seeing that takes place is exhorting one another toward living out God’s principles. You cannot very well do that if you see sin and never say anything about it to anyone, you never call sin sin and call for repentance from sin and a return to God. A novelist George Orwell has been often quoted as saying, “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

Hebrews 3:12-15

¹²Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; ¹³but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, ¹⁵while it is said:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

We must be willing to act when necessary as well, not just talk. There are those individuals who are so disconnected from their conscience that Truth does not compel them to do the right things. That is when the application of proper pressure done in godly way becomes necessary. Even after that there will be some individuals who will still remained unmoved.

To quote the author, Kupelian, in the last sentence of this book, “Truth is enough – because when properly honed and targeted, it is more than sufficient to annihilate all of their grand seductions.”

When Jesus was answering Pilate, He stated the following.

John 18:37 (NKJV)

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”

Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Are we supposed to do something different from what Jesus stated here He came to do, “bear witness to the truth” – yes or no? No, I do not believe so, nor does the author of this book. We are God’s people and as God’s people we should stand for Truth forever!

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms our country entirely. Evil can be understood and overcome before it transforms someone you know or even you. Knowledge is power and without it we will perish. We need to be extremely knowledgeable when it comes to evil.

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption Disguised/dp/1942475217/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483474172&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Marketing+of+Evil

Evil is sold in our society just as anything else might be sold, through marketing. Satan has marketed his product through those willing and those ignorant to his schemes. Through his craftiness he has turned the minds of even Believers to think that tolerance of his evil is some form of love. In so doing he has transformed to a large degree the once Devout Church and transformed our society to an enormous degree. He has not accomplished this without his workers however, the willing, the sold out for their own gain, and the ignorant masses following blindly behind the majority.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

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Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 27 – Happiness and Peace

In Agape Love, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, Devotional, Encouragement, Evil, Exhortation, False Doctrine, False Gods, False Teaching, Fear, Forgiveness, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Grief, Hate, Hatred, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Jesus, Loss, Love, Persecution, Prayer, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Remnant, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on May 15, 2017 at 12:11 pm

In this piece, we continue with our review of chapter ten of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon, should you desire to do so. This chapter requires many postings to review however there is so much to be gained from this chapter, and it is well worth the investment of time.

Where is happiness and true godly spirituality found? People “spend their entire lives coveting and acquiring the possessions and relationships we figure will make us happy,” the author writes. But does that make us happy? Do those things and relationships make us happy? In a sense as the author states, “to actually find true and lasting happiness, we must somehow forsake these very desires.” I would agree with that statement to some degree. Things and relationships do bring us a certain amount of happiness but they do not fully, and can never fully, satisfy us in a way that brings deep and lasting contentment. Often, people are very wrong about what they believe will bring them happiness, and especially what will bring them deep and lasting contentment.

St. John of the Cross, who authored the Christian Classic Dark Night of the Soul wrote, “If you purify your soul of attachment to and desire for things, you will understand them spiritually. If you deny your appetite for them, you will enjoy their truth, understanding what is certain in them.” What truly has value and what does not? What is the value in each thing, each activity, in our lives?

Jeanne Guyon wrote in A Guide to True Peace therein stating, “If the malignant enemy is not resisted in his first attack, he enters by gradual advances, and takes entire possession of the heart: and so long as opposition is deferred by habitual negligence, the power of opposing become every day less, and the strength of the adversary proportionally greater.” The Enemy (thief) will steal, kill, and destroy our peace and our joy (John 10:10). However, the truth be told he cannot do anything lasting to us until we open the door to him. Resist and he will flee (James 4:7). However, the first portion of that verse, James 4:7, is extremely important. “Submit yourselves to God.” We must submit to God first, in order to have the strength and grace to resist the devil.

The author talks about that internal tug of war going on in each of us. God making His presence known within our conscience and that malevolent intelligence within us that makes us ultimately rebel against our God-given conscience, against God Himself. Even though Christ might have us there is a battle for our daily life (our soul – our mind, will, and emotions) going on all the time. That battle is fuel by pride, pride in every form, the pride deep within each one of us – the sin nature. Pride is like a living being, and living beings can be either feed or starved. Paul said it best, “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31). The author makes a wonderful statement, “As our pride (or “sin self”) diminishes and dies through our obedience to God, the direct result is that our “good side,” our true, God centered character and identity, enlarges.”

When we starve our pride, our dark side, the born-in-sin nature, we draw closer to God. When we pursue security, pleasure, comfort, the endless quest for new highs, the lust for power and prestige or when we escape into porn, drugs, entertainment, food, alcohol, shopping, whatever it might be, these things enlarge our pride. Enlarging our pride keeps us in conflict with our own conscience. Pride will also keep your eyes darkened to your own sin thus keeping your bound to your sin.

Living our way is a pursuit in pride though I doubt many people see it as the destructive pursuit and poison to life it actually is in truth. Pride, the pursuit of self, has a solution. Jesus gave us the answer very clearly. “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12:25 (NKJV) When we live for Jesus, when we give up our own agenda, our pride, our pursuit, our ideas of what is best for us and we live Jesus’ Way life takes on a happiness, peace, and contentment that only Jesus can show us and be trusted to give us. No thing or person will be able to give us this degree of happiness and peace.

I will close by quoting the author who says it brilliantly, “I realize this is worlds apart not only from all that today’s pop psychology teaches, but also from much of what the modern church preaches. Be that as it may, it is the deep core of what the godly life once was understood to be in Christendom.”

“He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12:25 (NKJV) – Life Jesus’ Way, try it and open the door to…

We finish exploring chapter ten in the next posting. In the conclusion of this chapter review we consider the need to go within to walk in the Light of Christ.

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption Disguised/dp/1942475217/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483474172&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Marketing+of+Evil

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

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A Warning

In Anxiety, Apostasy, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, False Doctrine, False Gods, False Teaching, Fear, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Idolatry, Jesus, Loss, Persecution, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Religious Freedom, Remnant, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spiritual Fruit, Spiritual Remnant, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on May 8, 2017 at 6:48 pm

Beware to the modern-day pastor who wishes to lower the Standard of God, the standard on being a Christian, so it will be tempting to those people who want heaven but they don’t want God’s government.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

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Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt.25 – Does God Go Missing?

In Agape Love, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Encouragement, Exhortation, Fear, Forgiveness, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Grief, Impatience, Jesus, Loss, Love, Persecution, Prayer, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on April 20, 2017 at 5:24 pm

In this piece, we will begin to explore chapter ten of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon, should you desire to do so.

The questions that have been heard through the cracked raw voices. The question in the eyes flooded with burning tears that roll down a red-blotched strained-to-breaking face. Where was God when X happened? Why didn’t He do anything? How could He let this happen? Why was God missing from my life when I needed Him the most? Does God go missing?

Does any minister or any individual have an adequate answer to such questions? I do not believe they do with the key point being, “an adequate answer” for the heartbreak some people face. Do we live in a fallen world racked with sin? Yes. Do we suffer at the hands of another person’s freewill? Yes. Is Satan alive and well and attempting to create as much evil and destruction as possible. Yes. However, even knowing all of that is not a sufficient answer for why The Sovereign God did not intervene in some manner – a question made all the more painful when an individual prayed fervently that God would act on their behalf.

Let us examine for a moment what “sovereignty” is and is not in relationship to God.

“Sovereignty of God” per Nelson’s new illustrated Bible dictionary. 1995 (R. F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, R. K. Harrison & Thomas Nelson Publishers, Ed.). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

“SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD — a theological term that refers to the unlimited power of God, who has sovereign control over the affairs of nature and history (Is. 45:9–19; Rom. 8:18–39). The Bible declares that God is working out His sovereign plan of redemption for the world and that the conclusion is certain. Immediately after the Fall He talked about the curse of human sin and specified the cure for it. To the serpent He said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Gen. 3:15). The whole redemptive story of the Bible is the fulfillment of this prophecy by the sovereign God, as Paul clearly teaches in Romans 8–11.

The story of redemption from Genesis to Revelation is possible only because the sovereign God loves the created world and His creation, fallen though it is, and is able to do something about it. Without the sovereign love of the Father ministered to us through the Son and the Holy Spirit, there would be no real human freedom and no hope of everlasting life.”

Because God is sovereign over His plan of redemption for mankind does not mean He controls, plans, orchestrates, fates, or even desires every event in history, and in our lives, to take place. He most certainly does not in my theological view. The omnipotence (Jer. 32:17, 27) of God is without question but the fact that God can or could do anything does not mean He does or is going to orchestrate all events.

God is without a doubt (all-powerful) omnipotent. God is (ever-present) omnipresent, even before the creation of the world. Without question God is (all-knowing) omniscient. He certainly has all fore-knowledge, and is no doubt the wisest of the wise. Reference the following Scriptures: Ps. 139:7–12, 1 John 3:20, Acts 15:18, Is. 48:3, 5, Jerm. 32:17,27 and many others. God guides the individual who wishes to be guided by Him but that does not mean that no person or nothing can affect their life. Do not misunderstand me. Nothing happens to me that God does not “allow” but allowing something and causing it to happen are two very different things.

God may allow something to happen, and God may know it is going to happen but that does not mean that God wanted it to happen; yet, God is present, and God does have the wisdom to know what to do with the event after it has happened. However, if we are to benefit from that wisdom we must get past any anger or confusion we feel and seek His godly wisdom for how we are to respond to the event. What He desires to do through the event. What He wants us to learn from or get out of the event.

God is so far beyond even what He has revealed to us in His written Word that fully grasping Him while on earth will never be possible.

As the author pointed out in the beginning of this chapter, all we have is the Word to use to “explore the realities and realms far beyond words.” He also points out that “most of the religious or spiritual words “we have available to us today in our English language have been “sullied by overuse and misuse.” A fact that is very apparent if you being to dig into the words found within the Bible in their original Greek or Hebrew language for the depth of their meaning. We have a shallow understanding of what the words in That Amazing Book (The Bible) actual mean and entail.

When you seek God’s Will and not your own, then you purpose to live out that Will moment-by-moment day-after-day, you are walking with God. Of those who walk with God the author say, there is “an intimacy to their relationship with God, a moment-by-moment flow of understanding, guidance, and what the author describes as a “special energy called “grace.”” This type of relationship is available to anyone who desire to have it, yet, even some individuals who have accepted Christ’s free gift of salvation there are those who are not willing to take their relationship with Him to this level. However, for those who have drawn close to God in a relationship that can be defined as walking with God, the author reminds us that many people who have walked with God, good people, people God loves dearly, have gone through horrible persecution and difficulties in life, while they were passing on some “simple, life-giving truths, to the rest of us.” Many people are still being persecuted, hated, and maligned because of their walk with God. People hate them because it easier than facing the absence of God in their walk.

There are so many individuals within the church buildings every Sunday morning but it is only a few who truly find that walk, the walk on the narrow path. Kupelian, a journalist, notes that 4 out of 5 Americans call themselves Christians, yet, most “don’t seem to have a clue about what it means to “follow Christ.”” He goes on to state that 45% of those “teach their children there are no absolute values.” A very few find out what life, real life, is all about – that God Himself is our destiny. Walking with God is our purpose in life.

Matthew 7:13–14 (NKJV) Jesus speaking

¹³“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Sadly, the established church is not helping to shepherd these individuals in a fruitful manner. As the author states, and I have seen myself, “committed, born-again Christians are exiting the established church in massive numbers.” This is both true and heartbreaking to me. I personally have been crying out to church leadership all of the US and beyond for over 20 years to recognize and change what was wrong within the established church to stop this mass exodus.

We will explore that mass exodus of born-again Christians from the established church, along with continuing to review chapter 10 in the next posting.

Please know your questions and comments are welcome anytime.

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption Disguised/dp/1942475217/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483474172&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Marketing+of+Evil

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

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Anger, Arrogance, Bible, Biblical Principles, Christian, Christian Lifestyle, Christian Living, Christianity, Evil, Fear, Forgiveness, God, God’s Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Guns, Hate, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Impatience, Jesus, Pride, Renewal, Resentment, Revival, Rhema Words, Satan, Truth

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 24 Impatience, Anger, and Evil

In Agape Love, Anger, Anxiety, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, Encouragement, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, False Gods, Fear, Forgiveness, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Hate, Hatred, Humanism, Impatience, Jesus, Loss, Love, Persecution, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on April 7, 2017 at 9:09 am

In this posting we will finish reviewing chapter nine of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. The latter part of this chapter connects impatience to anger and hate.

Kupelian explains that impatience is about “literally our making what we want (to go faster) more important than what is right (God’s commandment that we be patient with our neighbor’s shortcomings). In so doing we are making our will more important that God’s Will. We are playing God. We may try to justify being impatient but impatience is selfishness, immaturity, and a lack of love on display in our reactions to life. Anger also makes us feel strong because it feels like strength but it is not strength, it is actually a terrible weakness. Excessive impatience and anger show just how weak a person you truly are.

Anger is one of the greatest self-destructive emotions of all the human behaviors. Anger destroys social, business, and romantic relationships. No one should have to or should allow themselves to endure the abuse that comes from someone who cannot control their temper.

An important side note: There is a difference between displaying anger and being angry. There is a time to display anger. An impression of being really upset, even angry, might be called for in certain situations. However, being angry means you are out of control. Anger over true injustices within the world and society is not the type of anger we are dealing with here. Righteous indignation, like Jesus had in the temple courtyard (Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15–17, Luke 19:45-46), does not harm or destroy it seeks to correct injustice and drive out sin through nondestructive means. True righteous indignation leads to a desire to change something not to resentment.

There is a time and there are people who are called to stand up against and courageously oppose evil oppressors. This is the mark of a true martyr. However, a true martyr does not kill for their cause. A true martyr does not kill people because they disagree with their religious beliefs. A true martyr does not kill people because they believe said people are less than human. A true martyr does not kill an abortion doctor because the doctor performs abortions. A true martyr would rather die for their cause and beliefs at the hands of another person rather than kill another human being. Courageously standing up against evil oppressors does not mean killing.

What causes anger? Impatience. What causes impatience? Arrogance. A person who cannot control their temper, who rains on those around him or her angry yells and insults is a very arrogant person. Anger is a clear sign of an inflated sense of self-importance. Someone who is truly humble is a person who is almost impossible to anger.

Real patience is agape love, real love. To release hostility can feel like a loss, like we are letting go of something that we need, that protect us, something important and necessary for our safety. This pride that has convinced us of such lies, and indulging in it, will only nourish everything that is wrong inside of us. That anger appears to our pride to be righteous when it almost never is, it might even seem noble in our minds. Anger problems in people are everywhere because “anger is the necessary food for pride, and pride is at the very core of most of our problems in this life.” May God grant us humble hearts and gave us the destruction of pride.

Proverbs 16:18 (NKJV)

Pride goes before destruction,

And a haughty spirit before a fall.

People are wronged. People are hurt. People are damaged by other people. The people who truly recover from traumas are those people who can find the path to forgiveness and forgive those who have hurt them. Psychology, religion, common sense, and experience agree that forgiveness is the way to find true healing. Those people who can forgive are able to move on with their life. Those individuals who cannot forgive stay bogged down in their mire of the trauma until they learn to let it go. Failure to forgive keeps the wound inside of us open and bleeding.

Resentment is our measuring stick to how patient, loving, and forgiving we are. Resentment is evidence of our failure to forgive, our failure to love, and our failure to be patient with the imperfections of other people. To forgive is to give up our resentment.

Un-forgiveness is a form of hate. Hate will eat us up inside. To justify our un-forgiveness or hate will not save us the ravishes of their sin. Hate is never okay.

In the next posting, we will begin to review chapter ten of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. In chapter ten we will examine the difficult question that so many people ask. Where is God while evil is running ramped in the world?

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption Disguised/dp/1942475217/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483474172&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Marketing+of+Evil

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

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Bible, Biblical Principles, Christian, Christian Lifestyle, Christian Living, Christianity, Evil, Fear, God, God’s Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Guns, Hate, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Jesus, Pride, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Satan, Truth

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 23 – The Instrument or The Self

In Agape Love, Anger, Anxiety, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Hate, Hatred, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Jesus, Loss, Persecution, Renewal, Revival, Suffering, UN Resolution, Uncategorized on March 30, 2017 at 2:42 pm

In this posting we will continue reviewing chapter nine of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. The second half of this chapter continues to deal with this issue of hate.

Guns are blamed for many killings but guns do not kill, the people with the guns kill. The instrument itself that is used to hurt another is not evil in and of itself, the individual using the instrument is what is driven by evil. As the author points out the evil is within us not in the guns. However, it makes us uncomfortable to fact that fact so we blame the guns.

Guns, knives, instruments of hate provoke in us horrible thoughts. The very sight of a weapon makes many people sense the presence of evil. The author contends that the presence of a gun in a person’s close proximity can cause that person’s “own buried, angry, violent tendencies to surface” at least for a moment. This reality, according to the author, can create a dislike or discomfort around guns for many people. However, he exerts that their uneasiness is because of their own fears about what they would do with such an object. People carry much buried and unrecognized rage inside. A concept too difficult for many people to face thus they blame, dislike, and cast their negative emotions or feeling on the guns.

Evil is continually watching each of us, looking for that open door, an opportunity to tempt or destroy us. Evil moves upon our mind to provide us with a mental shove in his direction – Satan’s direction, the father of evil. People can give into this evil if the shove is hard enough. People are especially susceptible if they have spent most of their life living in anger, doubt, and despair. We are all born in sin thus we are all somewhat subject to some measure of a dark force. Those of us who face what is wrong inside of us and call upon God for help, find help in Christ. While other people live in denial until evil brings about a tragedy and death.

What to do?

1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV)

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Call upon Christ to save us from the evil within, to cleans us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 (NKJV)

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Anger has great power. When we become angry and resentful we literally are stepping into an alternate dimension, according to the author. We begin to think and feel differently. Anger causes the mind to work in another way. Another form of logic begins to take over, an evil distorted logic. The anger cuts us off from God, the usual calm self with the sensible mind become overshadowed by the evil the anger brings into your spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical sphere. You become a conduit for something else, for the work of the Evil One. Most assuredly Satan does not have your best interest in mind. One moment of anger can leave you with a lifetime of regret and consequences once that anger is acted upon. Evil, anger, is just a question of degree for each person.

Even many “normal” people are filled with hostility. Hostility that is only shown to their family members perhaps but it is there, per the author’s beliefs. This emotional turmoil often leads to breakdowns within families and divorce. The husband blames the wife and the wife blames the husband. People smoke, drink, or take legal or illegal drugs to ease this ever-building anger inside. Illness is also often a result of unresolved anger. This has been affirmed by a major study noted in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

In the next posting, we will finish reviewing chapter ten of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. The latter part of this chapter connects impatience to anger and hate.

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption Disguised/dp/1942475217/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483474172&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Marketing+of+Evil

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

▶ Comment

Bible, Biblical Principles, Christian, Christian Lifestyle, Christian Living, Christianity, Devotional, Encouragement, Evil, Exhortation, False Gods, Fear, Femininity, Feminism, Forgiveness, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, Gender Idenity, God, God’s Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Hate, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Idolatry, Jesus, Masculinity, Mental Disorders, Mental Illness, Narcissism, Political Correctness, Prayer, Pride, Psychiatric Drugs, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Satan, Spiritual Fruit, Spirituality, Strength, Truth

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 18 Men and Masculinity

In Advice, Agape Love, Anxiety, Apostasy, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, False Gods, Fear, Femininity, Feminism, Gender, Gender Idenity, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Idolatry, Jesus, Loss, Love, Masculinity, Mental Disorder, Mental Illness, Persecution, Prayer, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Psychiatric Drugs, Religious Freedom, Remnant, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spiritual Fruit, Spiritual Remnant, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on November 14, 2016 at 5:51 pm

In this piece we will explore the first half of chapter eight of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon, should you desire to do so. Here are some of the highlights as found within this chapter regarding the cultural war on fathers, men, and manhood in America.

If you doubt that there has been a cultural battle raging against men and fatherhood in American in the last thirty years, I would say you might have had your cultural head buried in the sand. Men have been pulled down under the pretense of lifting others groups, especially women, up. Typically I would not reveal this information but for this posting I do believe it is important; I am a woman. In my view the rise in “women’s liberation” since the nineteen-seventies has stolen so much from women where men and relationships with men are concerned, not to mention what it has done to the masculinity of men in the United States of America. The author points out that this war on men, boys, and masculinity has not only be cultural but legal as well, for decades now.

Over activity is often found in boys, as it has been since I was a young girl. However, today a means by which educators deal with this hyperactive behavior is to label the young boy as having a disorder that has been given the name ADHD, and having the placement of the child on medication mandatory for school attendance. One of those medications is Ritalin, which is a trade name for methylphenidate a Schedule II substance with a high potential for abuse. If you have ever taken Ritalin you cannot join the Navy. Now what does that tell you about the believed long-term damage or effects?

As the author points out, now years later after medicating millions of children long-term scientific research into ADHD now tells us that fidgeting and moving around are better for boys in aiding their learning process – Mark D. Rapport, clinical psychologist, professor and longtime ADHD researcher at the University of Central Florida. However, what have we as a society allowed to be done to all those millions of children who were medicated unnecessarily.

According to Dr. Tim Kendall, joint director of the National Collaboration Centre for Mental Health, “Almost every possible human behavior can be classified as being in some way aberrant.” A statement he made in a BBC radio show The Medicalization of Normality. I would add, any behavior or belief system that has become undesirable by society has now become a mental illness or disorder. How sad!

In his research the author found that many sources believe that boys “are being targeted for radical reprogramming by academics offended by masculinity itself.” The author quotes Gloria Steinem, “We need to raise boys like we raise girls.” Without deeper context or understanding I would have to say that this is a ridiculous concept in general. Boys are not girls, they were not created to be girls or be feminine and there is no way they can be raised in the manner girls are raised. Girls are to be raised to be as God created them, girls, infused with femininity, and boys are to be raised as God created them, boys, endowed with masculinity. The author notes that even a maverick feminist such as Camille Paglia reminds her man-hating contemporaries that masculinity is “the most creative cultural force in history.”

Can you imagine why feminist inspired experts would want to destroy masculinity? Masculinity has ‘tamed the wilderness, structured civilizations, changed our lives and history through inventions, and sacrificed their very lives to protect women and children.’

What has all of this tearing down of men and masculinity done for our society? Where has it led? In part it has led to a gender revolution that defies and attempts to remove God as Creator, by altering ones born gender and identity. This however, it a topic we will take up in part 19, when we review the second half of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works.

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption-Disguised-ebook/dp/B006N75LFI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-2&keywords=How+evil+works

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

▶ Comment

Bible, Biblical Principles, Christian, Christian Lifestyle, Christian Living, Christianity, Devotional, Encouragement, Evil, Exhortation, False Gods, Fear, Forgiveness, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, God, God’s Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Hate, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Idolatry, Jesus, Mental Disorders, Mental Illness, Narcissism, Political Correctness, Prayer, Pride, Psychiatric Drugs, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Satan, Spiritual Fruit, Spirituality, Strength, Terrorism, Truth

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 17 God is Out

In Advice, Agape Love, Anger, Apostasy, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, Encouragement, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, False Gods, Fear, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Idolatry, Jesus, Loss, Persecution, Prayer, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Religious Freedom, Remnant, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spiritual Fruit, Spiritual Remnant, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on October 6, 2016 at 11:28 am

In this piece we will explore chapter seven of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon, should you desire to do so. Here are some of the highlights as found within this chapter regarding people’s rejection of God.

In America a large majority of people have begun to reject God, both the reality of His existence and/or His right as their Creator to be their Lord. For many people God is out, no longer in vogue, and Christianity is certainly not fashionable any longer. As we have seen this type of attitude increase in America we have seen the decline of America.

Kupelian address this issue by addressing atheism. At the time of the printing of his book in 2010, in his view atheism was undergoing a remarkable change. The group has gone, in the author’s view, from a group on the fringes of our society to a group that is increasingly vocal and unapologetic when it comes to mocking religion, coalescing into a political force and crying of discrimination against them at every turn. Just as homosexuality was once considered shameful by the larger culture, atheism was considered shameful. However, now both are becoming “hip, sophisticated, even a badge of honor” as the author puts it.

Here are some noteworthy facts the author discovered in his research.

· According to the American Religious Identification Survey, people who claim “no religion” were the only demographic group to expand in all fifty states. Can you imagine how much more that number has increased since that survey in 2009?

· In the United Kingdom atheism is so popular that over one hundred thousand Britons officially renounced their Christian faith by download “certificates of de-baptism” off the internet.

· Many atheists have adopted a euphemistic label, and now they know by the name “Brights.”

· According to the National Journal atheist are less willing to partake in what they deem violent conflicts of a religious nature such as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars/conflicts.

· Atheists have no ethical problem with euthanasia.

· As a collective group atheists believe pharmacist should not be allowed to refuse to fulfill chemical abortion prescriptions as a matter of conscience or religious faith.

· The majority hold the view that only evolution should be taught in schools, no “intelligent design” allowed.

· Many atheists believe all federal funding should be pulled from the Boy Scouts should they choose to teach that a good Scout has a “duty to God.”

· Some very influential atheists reportedly want to clone humans. Atheists are “emerging as an enthusiastic voice on behalf of scientific efforts to clone human beings, a technology with the potential to ‘conquer mortality.’” – Starobin

· Atheists expounding the evolutionary belief system follow the party line of belittling and ridiculing anyone who dares to criticize or question the “utterly unproven theory of macroevolution” – one species morphing into an entirely new species.

The author points out that many atheist authors believe God is not needed because man has a strong innate moral sense. The author Sam Harris makes that point by forcefully stating that ‘human beings are born with an ethical sense of right and wrong – regardless of whether or not they believe in God.’ I would say to that, who do they think created them with this inner conscious and this ethical sense of right and wrong – God of course!

Kupelian makes the point that at birth most people’s inborn sense of right and wrong operates just as God intended it to work. I would like to make the point that just as an organ or limb can become damaged a person’s conscious can become damaged, as they harden their hearts toward the promptings of God within their own conscious.

People love to blame those they deem “hypocrites” for their lack of faith in God. God is God, God is not the individuals who make up any particular religion, nor is God any particular person one might view as a hypocrite. Most noble Christian religious groups are made of up of imperfect people. If the atheist’s problem is truly with God, then there may not be any solution for them but if their problem is with religion and the imperfect people therein, perhaps the atheist deserves a big of slack. Perhaps they have seen the “anesthetizing shallowness and superficiality of far too much of the modern Christian church” as the author notes, and I fully agree. To me this is the greater concern, that this is the true problem, the real issue behind the abandonment of Christianity, and by association God. Decent people have been turned away from God by religious leaders who are phonies. However, keep in mind there is a difference between a phony Christian spiritual leader and an imperfect Christian spiritual leader who is struggling to be all God wants them to be. As the author, Kupelian states, “These may be tough words, but if we’re ever going to understand why so many people are turning not only to atheism, but to pagan and New Age religions and myriad other strange spiritual philosophies and practices, then we need to face the sad state of the modern church.”

The rock of the atheism can be found in the question of, ‘If there is a loving and all-powerful God, why does He allow people to suffer so horribly?’ As C.S. Lewis stated in his famous journal through grief titled, A Greif Observed, “these things are sent to try us” – God wasn’t “trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn’t.” Lewis goes on with a profound personal truth, “He [meaning God] always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize that fact was to knock it down…” C.S. Lewis had a quality that understood that the good things that happen to us should be considered truly good, and the bad things that happen to us should be considered good as well because they have redemptive value – God uses them to perfect us.

The miracle of character growth can take years, and it cannot take root in the garden of resentment. We must endure with patience and dignity. The acorn dies and becomes a giant oak tree; we too must die to pride and come alive to the change God is trying to bring about in us as we endure patiently all we suffer. We can storm through life like a bull charging at a concrete wall and get nowhere but injured or we can ride through life above the crowd on God’s shoulders being carried.

Hebrews 5:8–9 (NKJV) – Scripture regarding, and speaking of, Jesus

8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

Pride can give us the delusion that we are the maters of our destiny. However, we are not our own god, and the true seekers of truth know this fact.

Some people love to deny God’s existence and His power or authority over their lives. However, let a crisis or disaster strike and many so called atheist and agnostics go searching for that God they have claimed does not exist.

In the next posting we will begin to review chapter eight of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. That chapter deals with the cultural war on fathers, men, and manhood in America.

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption-Disguised-ebook/dp/B006N75LFI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-2&keywords=How+evil+works

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

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Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 16 – The Attraction to False Gods

In Advice, Anxiety, Apostasy, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Depression, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, False Gods, Fear, Forgiveness, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Grief, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Idolatry, Loss, Mental Disorder, Mental Illness, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Psychiatric Drugs, Religious Freedom, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spiritual Fruit, Spiritual Remnant, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized, Wicca, witchcraft on October 2, 2016 at 2:50 pm

In this piece we will explore the second half of chapter six of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon, should you desire to do so. Here are some of the highlights as found within this chapter regarding the cause and reasons that people are attracted to false gods.

I will start this piece where I left off in the last piece, with a direct quote from Kupelian as found in chapter six. “Here is the problem. If for any reason we’re not ready or willing to submit to God – a state of honest transparency that tends to annihilate our selfish pride and bring us the blessing of genuine happiness, contentment, and understanding – then by default we find ourselves attracted to false gods. That is, to worldviews and weird religions that fill our spiritual void while also sustaining our secret rebellion against our Heavenly Father.”

The author makes two great points that are without a doubt true about why there is rampant rebellion against God in our society today. 1) The failure of fathers to be truly noble. This lack of nobility causes resentment and thus rebellion in their wives and children. 2) The failure of many of today’s Christian Churches to be truly noble. This lack of nobility causes people to seek spiritual fulfillment elsewhere.

As the author notes, the upsurge in neopagan religion has been “fueled by the plasticness and shallowness of so much of the modern, institutional church.” “Growth in feminism and lesbianism are all fueled by disillusionment with, and alienation from, men.” I totally agree with that statement. The author believes that Wicca has become “the spiritual home for many feminist, including lesbians.”

How can families, men, and church congregations truly change, truly get better, if no one speaks out about what the problems are. Speaking out is not an act of attack but instead an act of deep love. If we had no care or love for the family, men, and the church we would not bother to say anything at all. We need change, we need drastic change, and we need it now.

Now a few words about magic versus miracles. The Biblical miracles did not have anything to do with magic, witchcraft, or sorcery. Jesus made it clear that even He did not do according to His own Will or own desires, He did as the Father instructed (John 5:30). Jesus was accused of finding the power for His miracles in Satan, yet this was not the case (Matthew 12:24). It is an abomination, a sin, for human beings to attempt to harness and direct hidden power for their own gain, to accomplish their own will. Our core nature desires to serve another, either a higher or lower unseen will. We can choose to serve God’s Will or we can choose to become slaves to unseen dark forces that help us run away from God. These unseen dark forces pull the strings of our mind and body allowing us to think it is our own will, our own desires. We fall prey to this when we lack the commitment to what is right.

Aleister Crowley, a very important mentor to the Wicca founder Gerald Gardner, defined magic, which he spelled with a k “magik” as “the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.” Wiccan’s make the claim that they use their psychic energy and the aid of benevolent spirits in their magic spells, ceremonies, and rituals to the service of the witches’ will.

We must not forget that is not just God who can confer gifts on people. Satan knows many things he can, and will, share with those willing to surrender their spirits to his influence, either knowingly or unknowingly. Those people gullible enough will be deceived by Satan and lead astray, even being used to deceive other people. In truth, Satanism and Wicca are simply two different forms of rebellion against God. All forms of occult practices are prohibited by the Bible because they invite evil and deception into the world. It does not matter if it is witchcraft, talking to the dead, white magic, or sorcery – all is prohibited by God. Know whom the spirit of the person you are dealing with serves.

As we abandon pride and wait patiently on God each day of our lives, we experience grace. Grace is that invisible hand that aids us and walks us through the difficulties of life. Grace is the blessing that makes things seemingly effortless at times. In the state of grace we are in effortless alignment with God’s Will and thus have the creative powers of the universe made available to us. There is a sense of well-being, a lack of pressure, and a knowing that God will roll out the future before us. We become grateful receiver of His grace, people filled with wonder as our life unfolds before us.

The full measure of God’s grace is given to us at the moment of salvation. Therefore, everything that God ask us to do is possible through His grace. It is only when we choose not to believe that God’s grace is available to us to empower us to do as He has instructed, that we fail to obey what He has given us to do. During those times of questioning of our ability, if we will reaffirm within our spirits the Truth of God’s grace with us, to act in accordance with His Will, we will be able to do all that He instruct us to do. This is what it means to live in endless inner obedience. We have, we rely upon, and we affirm the grace of God with us always, in all things, for all things.

The turning to false gods, the use of witchcraft, sorcery and occultism is people literally trying to play god. They are harnessing the hidden forces in creation to accomplish their will. This will open a doorway for hell to enter the earthly realm. Do not forget that it was first Adam and Eve who could not resist the promise that they would be “as gods.” Sadly, people have been falling for that lie ever since.

The attraction to false gods is about having our will done, satisfying our desires and our longings. We are meant to serve God’s Will, not our own – to obey, not to control!

In the next posting we will begin to review chapter seven of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. That chapter deals with rejecting God.

Updated 10-2-2016

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption-Disguised-ebook/dp/B006N75LFI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-2&keywords=How+evil+works

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

▶ Comment

Bible, Biblical Principles, Christian, Christian Lifestyle, Christian Living, Christianity, Devotional, Encouragement, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, Forgiveness, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, God, God’s Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Hate, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Jesus, Mental Disorders, Mental Illness, Narcissism, Political Correctness, Prayer, Pride, Psychiatric Drugs, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Satan, Spiritual Fruit, Spirituality, Strength, Terrorism, Truth

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 14 – Healing Forgiveness

In Advice, Agape Love, Anger, Anxiety, Apostasy, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, Encouragement, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, Forgiveness, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Grief, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Jesus, Loss, Love, Mental Disorder, Mental Illness, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Psychiatric Drugs, Religious Freedom, Remnant, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spiritual Fruit, Spiritual Remnant, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on October 2, 2016 at 2:42 pm

In this piece we will explore one key point, forgiveness, from chapter five of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon, should you desire to do so. Here are some of the highlights regarding the power of forgiveness as found within this chapter.

Healing from many of life’s issues can be found through forgiveness, true and complete forgiveness. As the author notes in this chapter, the Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus gave us as a blueprint for approaching God just might provide insight for how to heal what we in our society have labeled “mental Illness.” That might sound crazy to you, but is it really?

Below I have provided the Lord’s Prayer from the Book of Matthew just as Jesus spoke it in bold font. In the (parentheses beside each section in regular italic font I have expounded with life application for each principle found within the prayer.)

Matthew 6:9–13 (NKJV) Jesus speaking

⁹In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name. (Revere and submit to God.)

¹⁰ Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven. (Want God’s Will.)

¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread. (Trust God.)

¹² And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors. (Give and receive forgiveness.)

¹³ And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one. (Seek to be away from, and protected from, sin.)

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. (Trust God for it all and seek to glorify Him.)

When it comes to dealing with God and man it is in forgiving others, requesting forgiveness for ourselves, and receiving forgiveness or the lack thereof that we live or die spiritually. In forgiveness, manifest in all three forms, or the lack thereof we either find true happiness and innocence or conflict and separation from God and man.

I have heard it said, though I do not know by whom, that forgiveness means giving up all hope that the past would have been different. This statement is so true because in order to forgive we first must stop clinging to, ‘I wish this had not happened.’ It has happened and there is nothing that can be changed about that truth, however, you can change how you continue to react to what has happen. By forgiving you let go of the idea of there being a different yesterday, and you free yourself to live your tomorrow fully.

The author rightly states, forgiveness is about finding the grace to give up anger and resentment over an injustice. Forgiveness, the willingness to give up this anger and resentment, can be very healing. It is additionally true, that un-forgiveness, clinging to hostility and rage, feeds our pride, because after all we certainly deserved better. Only in releasing pride and embracing humility can a person find the courage to truly forgive.

True healing, God healing from mental illness or mental disorders is possible. There are individuals who have been diagnosed with what we call “bipolar disorder,” “depression,” “anxiety disorders,” “schizophrenia,” and other serious conditions that have mysteriously gotten better as Kupelian states. They discovered how to listen to the godly part of themselves aka the right side and stop listening to the ungodly forces at work around and in them aka the wrong side. Godliness grows and evil diminishes. The Light of God comes in, shines on their conflicts, and untangles their inner messes – primarily through various aspects of forgiveness. Once they give up their resentments and rage, no longer getting upset all the time, they simply get better as the author puts it. Having your mood strings pulled chemically through the use of psychiatric drugs will not accomplish this feat.

Our society seems to have forgotten the concepts of personal choice and personal responsibility. A blindness dominates our age which conceals a truth that even children know and understand naturally. We all have a “good side” (conscience) and we all have a “bad side” (sin nature). It is imperative that we are careful which side we heed and which side we feed. Listening to our wrong side will result in terrible consequences.

There is a famous story of an old Cherokee chief talking to his grandson. The chief said:

“A fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible battle – between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, pride, anger, envy, lust, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, lies, and cruelty. The other wolf stands for honesty, kindness, hope, sharing, sincerity, humility, friendship, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too,” he added. The grandson reflected on these words for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old chief simply relied, “The one you feed.”

Forgiveness feed the good wolf, forgiveness feeds the spirit, forgiveness feeds healing, forgiveness feeds wholeness, and forgiveness feeds godly character.

In the next posting we will examine chapter six of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. This chapter will confront our false gods.

Updated 10-2-2016

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption-Disguised-ebook/dp/B006N75LFI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-2&keywords=How+evil+works

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

▶ Comment

Bible, Biblical Principles, Christian, Christian Lifestyle, Christian Living, Christianity, Devotional, Encouragement, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, God, God’s Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Hate, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Jesus, Mental Disorders, Mental Illness, Narcissism, Political Correctness, Prayer, Pride, Psychiatric Drugs, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Satan, Spiritual Fruit, Spirituality, Strength, Terrorism, Truth

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 13 – Spiritual Illness

In Advice, Anger, Anxiety, Apostasy, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, Encouragement, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Grief, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Jesus, Loss, Mental Disorder, Mental Illness, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Psychiatric Drugs, Religious Freedom, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spiritual Fruit, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on April 20, 2016 at 2:21 pm

In this piece we will explore the spiritual aspects of mental problems as found in a very controversial chapter from David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works, chapter five. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon, should you desire to do so. Here are some of the highlights found within this chapter.

A fair description of a mentally, emotionally, and spiritually tormented person is given by the author in this chapter. It is a person who has cultivated a secret inner life that is controlled by extremely dark thoughts and compulsions. Wild mood swings. Resentment that has so taken over an individual that they are on the edge of a violent frenzy. Paranoid delusions that are fueled by a person’s out of control and intense emotions. Perhaps even satanic visitations and inner voices that torment a person without mercy, for years at times, pushing them toward murder, suicide, or both.

Doctors actually believe they can solve the types of problems listed above with pills. However, as the author points out, ‘If they truly believe that they just might be as delusional as they people they are attempting to help.’

People are attempting to medicate their pain in life away, either through illegal drugs or by taking prescription drugs. Either way they are attempting to escape dealing with life’s problems and instead they are turning to a quick fix. As the author notes, many do this to get a “painless fix” as dealing with and overcoming life’s problems can often be painful hard work. Each time we fail to deal with issues in our life problems develop.

People are being filled with medication instead of receiving the help they truly need to deal with their emotional conflicts, depression, addictions, anger problems with their roots in trauma, flawed family relationships, and hidden resentments toward unresolved buried cruelty they have suffered. These people need help and understanding to heal their negative programming, overcome their destructive attitudes, surmount unhealthy relationships, and learn to develop and function in healthy ones – these people need genuine healing, not a chemical trick that tells their body and mind they “feel better” when they actually do not.

When they stop taking those drugs, the chemicals that trick their mind, they will be worse off than they were before they started taking the medication. There is a biblical principle that evil influences or vices that are not dealt with properly, when they return they will be much worse than they originally were (Matthew 12:43-45 and Luke 11:24-26).

As the author points out, until fifty years ago Western culture reflected Judeo-Christian conviction that God created the human race with the ability to chose between good and evil. Now the “cultural elite” no longer think of man in spiritual terms – morality, character, self-understanding, repentance and forgiveness. Instead man is viewed as a soulless animal, whose behavioral problems are genetic and can be dealt with by drugs. How is that working for us?

If you research the APA’s actual explanation for the cause of depression you will find that “the causes haven’t been pinpointed yet” is their explanation. Yet, if a person is depressed can there be any doubt that somewhere there is a real underlining and understandable reason. Reasons a person with common sense could comprehend and act upon, in order to bring about genuine healing. Find the root issue and deal with it based on biblical principles and find freedom, true freedom from emotional turmoil.

The great psychiatric lie; everything bad from temper tantrums, drunkenness, road rage, pathological lying, cheating, stealing, physical aggression, and drug abuse is now a disease. It is all physiological or genetic and a drug will fix it. Nothing is your fault, you are just a victim. Well, if nothing is your fault you can’t help yourself, therefore you can’t control yourself. If you can’t control yourself, you can’t trust yourself. If you can’t trust yourself, you can’t think for yourself, thus, you need someone else to think for you – doctors, government, etc. Do you see where this is going, where it could go, or where is has gone for some people?

Kupelian correctly notes that for some people the ego loves the idea that they are not at fault. They like not having any responsibly for their actions. They feel relieved to tell themselves that whatever is wrong with them is an organic disorder and not a sin, weakness, or deficit of character on their part. They are comforted by the lie that it is not their fault. When in reality and truth it would be better to stop blaming all psychological-spiritual problems on chemical imbalances, hormones, genes, and “newly minted mental illnesses” and instead look more deeply for the real causes and find the real cures.

The author describes an interaction with a very perceptive woman who summarized her experience with psychiatric drugs this way. “Do you know what the Valium did for me? It deactivated my conscience.” Another Christian lady was advised by her pastor to go on antidepressants because she was stressed–out and depressed. She did and she felt nothing. No conscious at all. She sinned many times and felt nothing. Then she went off the meds and she described how the first time she committed the same sin she had committed many times while on the meds without the meds, she felt conviction and sorrow. However, while she was on the meds, when she committee this same sin yet she felt justified because she was stressed. On the meds she described herself as feeling neither joy nor sadness. Another woman shares how the prescribed drug she became dependent on made her numb to the seriousness of her sins. She stated the drug was stunting her spiritual growth. That my friend is what is wrong with our society, a lack of conscience toward God and man.

Just as alcohol or illegal drug impair the conscience, so too can prescribed drugs. Feeling better often involves eliminating conflict; even when that conflict is internal within one’s own conscience. However, internal conflict tells us that something is wrong in our life, our thinking, or our heart. Anything that alters how God created the mind to work can have a negative result.

God’s inner revelation of Himself to all of mankind can be found within a person, within the human conscience. The conscience is, according to the author, “literally the presence of God in us, the friction between the way we are and the way we could be.” This correcting and illumination Presence is our greatest friend. However, sadly we as individuals experience Him as a psychic pain when we deviate from His urgings – urgings toward goodness, godliness, righteousness, and justice.

In the next posting we will examine one key point from chapter five of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. This point is the answer to healing from many of life’s pains – forgiveness.

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption-Disguised-ebook/dp/B006N75LFI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-2&keywords=How+evil+works

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

▶ Comment

Bible, Biblical Principles, Christian, Christian Lifestyle, Christian Living, Christianity, Devotional, Encouragement, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, God, God’s Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Jesus, Political Correctness, Politics, Prayer, Presidential Election, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Satan, Spiritual Fruit, Spirituality, Strength, Terrorism, Truth

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 8 – Response is Chosen

In Advice, Anger, Anxiety, Apostasy, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Encouragement, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Loss, Persecution, Prayer, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Religious Freedom, Remnant, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spiritual Fruit, Spiritual Remnant, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on February 11, 2016 at 12:16 pm

In this piece we will complete exploring chapter three of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon. Here are some of the highlights found within the latter part of this chapter.

Throughout this last portion of chapter three the author reflects upon how the “Greatest Generation” might response to the evil we face today, based upon how they responded to the evil of their day. The author does likewise with how President Ronald Reagan might respond. Both of these journeys into refection are meant to help us understand how we might better respond to the threats of evil that surround us.

During World War II, during the horrific and monstrous movements that took place guided by the hands of evil men, America was a country with “tremendous national unity and a strong sense of identity” as the author points out. Judeo-Christian values were still dominant in people’s life. The culture was a culture of values and principles. The author goes on to note that this was not a time like today, where we, our country, is crippled by national guilt, self-doubt, and self-hatred.

The author goes on to make the point that during that time in history, the World War II era, the people would have never been deceived into thinking same-sex marriage is normal, or that abortion is moral and constitutional, or that posting the Ten Commandments on federal or city property, like a courthouse wall, violated the First Amendment.

The Church and American have lost their unity and loyalty both to one another as a people and to the One and Only True God who blessed them. In the words of the author we allowed ourselves as a collective group to become ‘corrupted with the anti-biblical philosophies and utterly confused to the point of suffocating our modern era and robbing it of genuine moral strength.’ Great strength comes through righteous living, also known as biblically based morality. Moral weakness, which appeasement often is, always encourages violence both on a national level and a personal level.

When writing about Ronald Reagan the author makes the point that though revered for his leadership now, Ronald Reagan was reviled in his day, just as Winston Churchill was. Most non-appeasing leaders are reviled initially or during their reign. It is only later people see the positive, productive, godly results of their moral and wise leadership. Unlike Reagan who had a mission to stand up for moral clarity – displayed as he faced the communist takeover of Hollywood when he was an actor, through his years as California’s governor, and later as President of the United States – we do not see that type of moral character in our leaders today. Steadfastness for Truth is not as prevalent as it once was.

Do you care what people say about you? Do you care about getting credit for your accomplishments? How much do you care? If you could have a choice between getting three things done and getting credit for none of them or getting two things done and getting credit for both, which would you choose? Be honest with yourself. If you care what people think, and you need the credit given to you by man for your accomplishments, this will affect your ability to stand up for Truth. Ronald Reagan did not care what people said about him, in that is found a secret strength and power. When he was president he kept a plaque on the desk in the oval office that read, “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”

Are you able to stand alone when it comes to morality, Truth, or godly biblical principles? Strength and courage are a must if you are going to. If you want to be a consequential person, if you want to make a difference in life, you must be able to stand alone. Just like Reagan, a person who makes a difference has to not only endure their critics they must endure their friends, family, and advisers as well. When advised incorrectly take a play from Reagan’s playbook, he gracefully overruled them and forged ahead with what he knew to be morally right and a sound plan of action. A person must be willing to do as God directs them, with or without any support whatsoever.

Worldwide totalitarian movements – the terrible “isms” the author calls them, communism, fascism, Nazism, and Islamism are about seducing millions of people into enslaved nations, subject to utterly ruthless leadership. They are on par with the “ites” of the Bible. As a people, as a person, we must stand strong. “The denial and deference we display toward forces intent on destroying us is actually great weakness – evidence of our loss of courage and moral clarity – disguised as virtue.”, Kupelian states, and I completely agree.

We must face evil with great courage and moral clarity displaying a calm, fearless determination to do what is right, to stand up for Truth, no matter what – grace under pressure. We must withstand cruelty and craziness without becoming emotionally twisted up inside. Strength and patience emanates from true faith. Hate the sin, but not the sinner. Learning to do that will shield you from both Stockholm syndrome and many other evils in this world.

In the next posting we will begin to explore chapter four of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works.

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption-Disguised-ebook/dp/B006N75LFI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-2&keywords=How+evil+works

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

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Bible, Biblical Principles, Christian, Christian Lifestyle, Christian Living, Christianity, Devotional, Encouragement, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, God, God’s Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Jesus, Political Correctness, Politics, Prayer, Presidential Election, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Satan, Spiritual Fruit, Spirituality, Strength, Terrorism, Truth

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 7 – Prolonged Siege

In Anger, Anxiety, Apostasy, Bible, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, Depression, Encouragement, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Grief, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Jesus, Loss, Persecution, Prayer, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Religious Freedom, Remnant, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spiritual Remnant, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on January 30, 2016 at 12:55 pm

In this piece we will explore more of chapter three of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon. Here are some of the highlights found within this chapter. This chapter embodies principles and truths that can be applied globally as a collective society and personally as a private individual.

The author points out that the mind of an individual who has been subject to excessive stress and cruelty can become confused and disorientated. The author calls this having their “brains scrambled” due to the overwhelming emotions that come with intense stress and cruelty. That confusion can take many different forms; including confusion about things we were previously very sure of or confident in. The mental, emotional, and relational disorientation a person would begin to feel can cause a breakdown in long held beliefs about right and wrong or a breakdown in previously cherished relationships. A prolonged siege of stress and cruelty changes a person on the inside, and that change will inevitability begin to be seen on the outside.

Israel and its leaders understood the psychology of war. Ariel Sharon, a former prime minister of Israel, made it known in his autobiography, titled Warrior that the nation’s Arab attackers who wanted to annihilate his beloved nation, had to be dealt with swiftly and severely, defeated and defeated badly in order to build in them a psychology of defeat that would cause them to develop the conviction that they would never win against Israel. Sharon understood, as we must understand, that “anything short of overwhelming, paralyzing, courage-destroying strength” comes across to terrorist and tyrants as contemptible weakness and encourages them to commit more mayhem.

Self-blame or self-hate is a powerful tool destructive people create and install in other people. Like the author notes in his example of the abused child who blames themselves believing if they are good enough the abuse will stop. Another example could be the abused wife, who believes likewise. Her husband will stop his cruelty if she is this way toward him or that way in dealing with him, attempting to “correct” all the things he finds wrong with her. Yet another example would be a country who believes that extreme political correctness will help them fly under the radar of extremist who might attack their homeland.

Dr. Kenneth Levin, a clinical instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a Princeton-trained historian makes the following point in his book, The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People under Siege. “Segments of populations under chronic siege commonly embrace the indictments of the besiegers, however bigoted and outrageous. They hope that by doing so and reforming accordingly they can assuage the hostility of their tormenters and win relief.”

Kupelian points out, Brits have embraced extreme “tolerance” when it comes to dealing with militant jihadist who came to be found in their mist, and to the jihadist this has registered as nothing more than weakness. As he expresses you cannot offer a timid smile to the bully to pacify him in hope that he want hurt you anymore – of course he will, if you tolerate it.

Fear of persecution is the driving force behind political correctness. In America and Europe that whole bend-over-backwards political correctness toward Islam is about appeasing someone we fear. The political correctness movement in general within our society, that silences the voices against all manner of evil and sin, is effective because of a fear of persecution. Yet, we are now finding that people are waking up to the extreme dangers of political correctness, and the reality of the price they have paid for keeping their mouths closed is beginning to set in.

The author claims that most of us are secretly intimidated by extreme Islam and living under that intimidation for years has warped our perspective about them, leading some people to believe they are misunderstood or not truly set on the evil they are set on. However, in the face of weakness as a nation or as a person evil will grow and flourish. Conflict intensifies when weakness is shown. Please understand weakness and biblical gentleness are two very different things. Weakness, according to the author, and I would agree, is actually fueling the growth of Islamofascism. Since 9/11 we, as a country, have gone from ‘We will get you.’ to extreme political correctness regarding Islam.

The author uses an example of a teenage boy with an explosive anger problem. The boy is out of control, a danger to himself and other people. The people around the boy try to be extra nice to him in order to keep him from getting angry, so they walk on eggshells around him. This only serve to enrage the boy more as his contempt for the people around him builds, because they are too weak to stand up to him. The people around the boy are well meaning, and they are trying to keep the peace, but they are not helping the boy learn to take responsibility and deal with his anger. In situations like this the aggressor will almost always just continue to be abusive. Being a doormat does not help the bully, and it certainly does not help you, it actually hurts you over time. Being a doormat also does not glorify God.

When someone makes us extremely upset and fearful of them, our behavior and attitude toward them will change, and change profoundly. This does not always just lead to resentment, with some people that upset and fear can psychologically flip to love and loyalty – strange but true – Stockholm syndrome. This psychological flip is sad and unfortunately disgustingly true. A distorted love and loyalty emerge out of a need for literal, mental, and emotional survival.

The corrosive impact of being under the siege of stress and cruelty can lead a person or a nation down a path called self-destruction.

Whether it is a group coming under siege from those who wish to spread terror throughout the globe or it is a single individual coming under siege from a lone person who wishes to terrorize them, terrorism must be dealt with swiftly and fully in order to ensure the overall wellbeing of our global society or the overall wellbeing of simple yourself. If we as a society allow ourselves or you as an individual allow yourself prolonged exposure to terroristic stress and cruelty we jeopardize our humanity as a whole or you jeopardize being able to function as the person God created you to be.

In the next posting we will complete chapter three of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works.

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption-Disguised-ebook/dp/B006N75LFI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-2&keywords=How+evil+works

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

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Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 6 – Fear, Terrorism, and Stockholm Syndrome

In Advice, Anger, Anxiety, Apostasy, Biblical Principles, Chrisitan Lifestyle, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Courage, End Times, Evil, Exhortation, Fear, God, God's Voice, Godliness, Godly Counsel, Grief, Holy Spirit, Humanism, Jesus, Loss, Persecution, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophetess, Religious Freedom, Remnant, Renewal, Revival, Rhema Words, Spiritual Activism, Spiritual Activists, Spiritual Remnant, Spirituality, Suffering, Truth, Uncategorized on January 6, 2016 at 12:12 pm

In this piece we will explore the first half of chapter three of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works. Please find a link below where you can purchase the book from Amazon. Overall this chapter deals with how fear works in connection with terrorism and the result, Stockholm Syndrome.

The first point Kupelian makes is that although “violent Islamic jihadism” had been in remission for centuries it is currently growing and multiplying worldwide. The author reminds us that Islam has attempted global domination in the past, conquering Arabia, Persia, Syria, Egypt, and major portions of Africa, Asia, and Europe until it found itself conquered, ultimately losing what it gained and its will to fight for a season. The spread of Islam as a geopolitical force during the last fourteen centuries has had a horrible impact on billions of lives.

A point I would like to make is that this conflict with Islam dates back to the biblical days of Ishmael and Isaac (Genesis 16, 21, and 39), approximately BC1910. Ishmael’s descendants are now Mohammedans (Islam). Joseph was sold to them (Genesis 39).

One of the things I would agree with the author on is the misuse of the word “martyr” to describe the radical Islamic individual who chooses to die in order to advance terror and fear, while taking innocent people’s lives. These are killers committing atrocities not martyrs! Stephan who was stoned to death because he was a Christian, because he believed in Jesus the Christ, now that is a martyr (Acts 7)!

Terrorism works by producing the fear of what “might” happen in the future. If that fear is strong enough then those individuals perpetrating the terror can get people to give into their demands. The ideal for terrorist would be to convert us to their manner of thinking. As the author points out, militant Muslims will, and have for centuries, demanded conversion to their religion even if that conversion had to be obtained by means of the threat of death. Either way, they wish to control our minds. God warned, and warns in His Word of the dangers of allowing the mind to be controlled by anything other than His Truth, which is why we are to take every thought captive to the Truth of Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:4–5 (NKJV)

⁴For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

In the face of serious intimidation we must remain calm and seek Christ. Most people become upset in the face of fear or intimidation, and thus emotional upset, allowing anger, fear, and confusion set in. Within the grasp of extreme emotion the mind cannot work properly and even worse is thrown into a program mode, which makes Stockholm Syndrome or conversion at the point of a sword possible. Emotional upset, especially when it is intense, can alter our perceptions of what is good and what is evil. People, groups, and governments love to produce fear and anger so they might alter the people’s perceptions about what is right or wrong, in order to advance their own agenda.

We see this same type of thing happen to wounded people. Psychologically when people become wounded their perception about the world, people, or themselves changes because of the intense emotional upset they endure. Jesus’ inner psychological upset was so intense that He sweat drops of blood (Luke 22:44). In the Scripture His inner emotional pain was referred to as agony. (Side note: There is a medical condition where people sweat blood. The psychological agony they are in is so intense that the blood within their blood vessels rises to the surface producing and mixture of sweat and blood that actually exits their pores.)

That emotional upset left uncontrolled opens the mind up to reprogramming and thus evil becomes good, hate becomes love. Intense emotions causes a type of “mind meld” then fear and/or rage wipes our mental hard drive and begins the reprogramming process. This is what brainwashing is at the most basic level.

The author notes one of the most famous individuals in recent history who was reprogrammed in just such a way. Patty Hearst, the granddaughter of the famous newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. She was taken captive, locked away, and emotionally tortured to the point of such great emotional distress that her perception of right and wrong became so twisted, she did anything she had to do in order to make the emotional abuse stop. People think her not so innocent, but Kupelian warns us against thinking ignorantly that under the right circumstances we too could not find ourselves manipulated by others in just such a way.

There truly is a fine line between love and hate. Hate can turn into love under the right conditions. Not real love of course, but instead a distorted and perverted form of love. The author calls it “an emotional identification and bonding” that people mistakenly think is love.

Think for a moment about the following. Those we love bring out the worst in us. We love them, and because we love them so much when emotional distress enters into the picture that love can turn to hate quickly. If the love we have for them is severely damaged this may set the emotions we might otherwise temporally feel as hate into a permanent state of hatred.

All of this is used by, and makes it is possible for, people who administer terror to use fear, anger, and grief to imprison people within a prison without walls – the prison of political correctness, silence, and fear. Creating a world where people are afraid to call sin, sin or evil, evil. A world slowly and methodically taken over by that creeping slime of evil.

In the next posting we will explore the second half of chapter three of David Kupelian’s book, How Evil Works.

How Evil Works

http://www.amazon.com/How-Evil-Works-Understanding-Transforming/dp/1439168202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-1&keywords=How+evil+works

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

The Marketing of Evil

http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Evil-Pseudo-Experts-Corruption-Disguised-ebook/dp/B006N75LFI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443464127&sr=8-2&keywords=How+evil+works

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

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God's Truth In Love

God's Truth in Love

Archive for the ‘Loss’ Category

Church Shooting – Questions about Compassion and Evil

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 31 – Take Back What the Enemy Has Stolen

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 27 – Happiness and Peace

A Warning

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt.25 – Does God Go Missing?

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 24 Impatience, Anger, and Evil

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 23 – The Instrument or The Self

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 18 Men and Masculinity

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 17 God is Out

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 16 – The Attraction to False Gods

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 14 – Healing Forgiveness

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 13 – Spiritual Illness

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 8 – Response is Chosen

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 7 – Prolonged Siege

Evil Transforms (If We Let It) – Pt. 6 – Fear, Terrorism, and Stockholm Syndrome

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