Persuasive Enemy

My pool sharks. These pictures have nothing to do with the following post, but were too cute not to share. Plus, I thought I would start light since I'm about to get heavy.



I read such a great book on my vacation. "This Present Darkness" by Frank E. Peretti. I won't give it all away, but the gist is this:
A small town is being taken over by an outside company. Morally, the town is being oppressed by demons. A young pastor has just started at the church and is the first Bible preaching pastor that hasn't been driven out. The demons call him "praying man" in disgust. Angels have been dispatched to the town to fight the evil presence. It's amazing. The story itself is a thrilling mystery, then the author pulls back the veil and shows the spiritual battle going on as well.
While I don't agree with all of the ideas in the book, I recognize this is one man's fictional idea of what the spiritual world may look like. It's fascinating and a great reminder that there is so much more in our world than we see.
One very interesting part is that he talks a lot about people using mysticism and meditation and the idea of Karma to better themselves and their world view. He does an amazing job of showing the very real danger of dabbling in these things.
Did you know the true biblical purpose of meditation is to "chew" on God's word? To roll it around and around in your mind, searching it over and through and back again to memorize and absorb all that God is saying?
The danger with present day meditation is that you are supposed to empty your mind. The danger is that your mind can never be empty. Either it's filled God or the Enemy. You are either for God or against Him. TO be indifferent is to make the decision for Satan. To empty your mind of God is to allow Satan to move right into that empty space.
(Jesus talks about this in Luke 11:21-28)
There is danger all around us. A battle for your soul and mine. If you belong to the Lord, then your soul is His and you are victorious in Him. However, Satan does not want you to grow, be fruitful or lead anyone else to Christ, so you are still in a battle against him. Once you belong to the Lord, His enemy is your enemy.
And what a wicked, cunning, subtle enemy he is. No red suit or pitchfork here. Satan is said in the Bible to have been the most beautiful of all angels. His great downfall?
He thought he could be God and sought to become God.
No one -no one- can be God but God alone. As subtle and innocent as some mystical practices and "simple" meditations seem, the outcome is the same: you must seek to be your own god with these practices and that is the worst thing anyone could ever do. Oprah's beliefs go along this path.
I don't know why this is on my heart today. I'm not a philosopher and I am not good at expressing my thoughts on issues like this. But I know that I can't sit quietly.
There is a new movement sweeping through the world called the "Emerging Church". (You can read about it in the book, "Faith Undone" by Roger Oakland) The idea of this church is to make God more accessible and interesting to this generation. They embrace Mysticism. They desire to be "seeker friendly". While I do believe the church and believers should be loving, welcoming and accessible, we should never seek to change the truth of God. We cannot shy away from His Word or His commands. We should not be afraid to declare the name of God or His promises even if it offends.
We cannot change God. He is everlasting. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Revelation 4:8b)
2 Peter 2 warns us of false teachers that will be so convincing even the most dedicated followers will be deceived.
The only way to protect ourselves from the lies of a very persuasive Enemy is to know God's word, inside and out. To cover ourselves in the promises of God and to take every thought captive to Him.
He will not fail us, nor will He turn us away while we seek Him out.
1 Corinthians 13-14 "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love."
I know this is heavy, but it's so important. It's all that matters : to know God, to declare Christ as Savior, to seek His ways above ours.
If you ever have questions about things I say and don't want to leave a comment, please feel free to email me: untilparadise@hotmail.com.