spiritual laws – Godinterest

April 30, 2018April 30, 2018

What If Your Child Doesn’t Like the Gender GOD Gave Them?

Disclaimer: I acknowledge the fact that this article may be incredibly offensive to some, even those that I call friends. However, this article is in NO way saying that I hate transgender/homosexual people. I love and respect them as humans (and friends!), I just simply don’t support their decision. I want to freely express my views and this article happens to hold a view that has recently been quite controversial in American culture.

You are a parent who loves the LORD and seeks to obey Him in all things, and you raise your children to do the same (Deut 6:6-7). What happens though, when your child tells you that they do not like the gender that GOD gave them? Do you accept them as they are to avoid possibly ostracizing yourself from your child’s life, or do you call the fires of heaven upon them because their dislike of their gender will lead them away from GOD’S truth?

You’re going to have to just pause and really listen to your child. Ask them questions. Hear what they have to say about what they are feeling and believing. You need to remember that you remain an example for your child- if you, a Believer, chooses to speak rashly and say the first things that come to mind (which will most likely be negative) to your child, then you stand a greater chance of losing them. James 1:19 says: So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of GOD. You need to readily listen to your child, you must choose your words carefully and you cannot afford to get angry. After all, you are an ambassador of Christ (2 Cor 5:20), you cannot misrepresent Him.

If anything, be angry at Satan- he is the one influencing your child. Am I saying that your child is possessed and needs an exorcism? No, but you do need to be sensitive to the situation. Satan wants to lead your child away- he seeks to pollute every creation of GOD. Think about it for a moment: why on earth would GOD have your child be born male/female, and then, a few years later when they are able to give voice to their feelings, they believe that they should have been something other than what they are? Do you not know that Satan is a deceiver? Do you understand that all he wants is your destruction? What better way to cause destruction than to separate you from GOD? The Scriptures say this about our adversary: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). Our Heavenly Father will continue to love your child- His love is not dependent on who you are, but who He is- but if they do not realize that being transgender goes against GOD, then they will be lost (it doesn’t have to be permanent).

Our feelings are not reliable, in fact, they can often lead us astray. You may find your child saying: “I don’t feel female, I should have been a male” and vice versa. Once their feelings and thoughts are strong enough and most likely justified by society, then they start to believe that they should be female/male. What makes them feel this way? Let me create a scenario for you: one day you wake up, and a sudden thought just pops into your head. The thought is that you find your neighbor annoying. You didn’t find him annoying yesterday, but you do today. You start to think of all the things that annoy you about your neighbor: he doesn’t close his car door properly, he sometimes talks while chewing gum etc. Now you’re working yourself up with all of these thoughts and feelings, but you have not even stopped to question them. You walk out of your house with these feelings swirling about in you and lo and behold, you see him doing the very things that you find annoying. Now you feel angry at him- why can’t he just shut his car door properly? Why doesn’t he just spit that gum out before talking to people? Doesn’t he know that it’s rude? You’re quite worked up now. The neighbor sees you and waves at you with a smile on his face. Oh, but you’re angry, so you glare at him and storm back into the house, banging the door closed behind you. The neighbor is naturally taken aback by your reaction to his friendly greeting- you were not like this yesterday! One day GOD tells you to speak to your neighbor about Christ, but guess what? Your neighbor does not want to hear anything that you have to say about Jesus because of the way that you once acted towards him. Now you’re questioning yourself- why were you so annoyed with him? Why did you get so angry with him when you really don’t have a problem with him? Do you want to know what happened? You didn’t filter your thoughts! You didn’t stop to think: is this thought mine? Or is it coming from somewhere else? You just accepted that you felt annoyed with your neighbor and then like a wildfire, it got out of control. You took it to another level. Do you know that Satan can put thoughts into your head? He cannot read your thoughts, but he can plant a thought in your mind. Why do you think we were given this Scripture: …casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor 10:5). Jesus said to love your neighbor right? How were you showing love when you chose to accept that negative thought and so treat your neighbor poorly? Do you understand how your thoughts exalted themselves against the knowledge of GOD? By accepting those thoughts and acting out your feelings, you disobeyed GOD and you gave Satan a stronghold in your mind (see 2 Cor 10:4). He planted a thought in your head and sat back to watch you run with it- you did all the work of disobeying GOD.

Let’s use this knowledge to now figure out what is going on with your child.

A thought gets put into your child’s mind- they do not feel male/female. Obviously, they do not think that there is an outside spirit force trying to influence them, therefore they accept the thought as their own: ‘I thought it, therefore it must be mine’. Guess what happens now? Since your child accepted the thought, the devil now has a stronghold in your child’s mind. You see, there are spiritual laws that all spirits must abide by. When GOD tells us not to do something, it’s for a reason! It’s not just about controlling us! When we go against GOD, we give the devil legal ground to afflict us.

Now your child’s mind is the devil’s playground. He is going to continue to inject thoughts contrary to GOD’S Word into your child’s mind. When under such an onslaught, your child has no way of fighting it, not on their own. Eventually, your child will not only be influenced by thoughts alone, but the devil will purposefully put certain people in your child’s life that will convince them that it is okay to feel and believe that lie.

Transgender people say they were assigned a sex that isn’t true to who they are. They will even tell you that it’s not about sexual orientation, how they dress or even surgery. It’s about how they feel inside. Did you know that suicide attempts are significantly quite high for transgender people? In particular for those who went as far as to have a sex change op? Go and research it for yourself. Even such actions as cutting oneself and other activities aimed at bodily harm are reported among transgenders. Now, if they were so certain about what they feel they should be, then why would they want to harm themselves or commit suicide? Professionals will chime in and say that it is a psychological problem, which is partially right- it did start in the mind after all. So they will either seek to align their patient’s thoughts and feelings with their ‘true gender identity’ or prescribe the medication to deal with their troubling thoughts. Do you see how everything revolves around thoughts and feelings? The devil is a master manipulator- we can never know where his blows are going to come from. What is worrying is that his lies have become mainstream truths. This means that GOD’S Word becomes the lie (in their eyes), and all who go against these mainstream truths are hypocritical, judgemental, unloving and dangerous people to society. What a mess.

So what can you, the parent, do? If you cannot reason with your child by using Scripture, then they need to know that you love them unconditionally, but you do not accept them seeking to change their gender in any way. Now it’s time for you to kneel down before the LORD in earnest prayer. You are going to have to pray and use the Word of GOD as a weapon against the forces of evil. Didn’t Paul the Apostle say that we ‘…do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places’ (Eph 6:12)? You’re not fighting against your child or even against the people that are trying to influence him/her. No, your fight is against Satan and his demons. They are the ones that are taking your child away, not just from you but from GOD as well. They want your child’s soul, and the only way to get it is to be separated from GOD through sin. When you pray, make sure to fast as well (look to Isaiah 58 to find out what a fast should be like). Prayer, fasting and using GOD’S Word are our weapons against evil principalities- ‘…for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds…’ (2 Cor 10:4).

Some people might say that your child being transgender does not mean that they will be taken away from you, but those are just lies. Your child changes, not only physically (with the help of hormones, the sex op or clothes), but also in personality, beliefs, etc.

If you do not know where to start when using Scripture, read 2 Peter 3:9 and 1Timothy 2:4. These Scriptures tell us that God wants everyone to be saved- that’s the basis of your petition. In 1 John 5:14-15, it tells us that when we ask according to GOD’S will, then He will hear us and that we will have the petitions that we have asked of Him. That’s a promise!

Do not expect your child to change their minds overnight. Continue to pray and believe in GOD. It could take years, but your job is to continue to have faith in GOD and in His promises to us. Do not give up.

Ending Thoughts: The devil will most certainly try to deter you in any way that he can. His most powerful weapons against us are fear and doubt. Jesus has the victory (Col 2:15), so all he can do is try to get us to think contrary to GOD’S Word.

When in doubt, look to Luke 10:19 and Acts 16:31, and for fear, look to 2 Timothy 1:7. There are many other Scriptures that you can use, these are just the main ones that I use when I go into open warfare against the devil. Get deep into the Scriptures and study them. If you do not understand something, then ask GOD for wisdom according to James 1:5, but do not doubt, for if you doubt, do not expect to receive anything from GOD (James 1:6-8).

November 16, 2017November 11, 2017

6 Simple Alternatives to Sharing the Four Spiritual Laws in Evangelism

I am not totally anti-four spiritual laws (although I prefer to call them, “spiritual truths”), especially if they include a call to repentance (and not just “belief” in God—Mark 1:15).

Nevertheless, I am among those who wonder if there is perhaps a better way to approach evangelism than starting with “you’re a sinner” (that sure is “good news!” isn’t it). What might be some other approaches to evangelism?

Invite a friend to talk with God (just wherever you are or perhaps invite them to Church). Basically, if salvation includes a relationship with God, then why not introduce people to God, instead of just teaching people concepts about God.
Related to the above, help a person identify how God has already been at work in or around them. Ask them a question like, do you think God has ever spoken to you? How do you see God in the world?
Pray with people. God will work in their life and they will see it.
Ask people about what matters to them. What do they crave in life (love, a sense of value, adventure, etc.)? And then consider how God might be the answer to those existential needs. From the documentary “Crave,” I gather this is the idea behind Erin McManus’s book Soul Cravings. Some philosophers are also moving in the direction of considering existential reasons for belief in God rather than only rational arguments.
Tell somebody about Jesus. I don’t mean tell them the “spiritual laws.” I just mean, tell them about Jesus. Who is he? What did he do in life? What did he teach? It is interesting that the four “Gospels” (meaning, good news!) talk a lot about Jesus, not just about his death!
Tell people how God has changed your life. What difference has Jesus made for you? Isn’t that good news? (That is, “gospel.”) The 4 Gospels in the Bible were once titled, “The Gospel According to Luke” (John, Matthew, etc.). And the stories in these 4 Gospels include many stories about how Jesus made a difference in people’s lives (for example, John 9:25). If Jesus makes a difference in your life, that is your “Gospel.” You might even call it the “Gospel According to Andrew (or whatever your name is).”

I don’t know about you, but I think in most situations I’d be more comfortable with one of the above approaches to evangelism than starting with, “you’re a sinner,” or even, “do you know where you would go if you died tonight?” And the above approaches definitely fit better with the “relationship evangelism” that many people talk about, which is less a shot-gut approach to evangelism and more so an approach to evangelism that takes place over time.

I don’t think the above approaches are a cop-out. Rather, they are about sharing the Gospel, which is the very essence of evangelism (“evangelism” comes from the Greek euangelizomai, meaning, “I proclaim” and related to the Greek euangelium, meaning, “good news”).

Question: What are some more ways to evangelize other than through sharing the four spiritual laws?

May 4, 2014May 4, 2018

You’re Possessed, Now What?

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’

“And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order.

“Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” Luke 11:24-26

Demonic spirits are constant – their existence does not change just because the times we live in have changed. While many Christians may believe that demonic possession is not possible for them and may not even be a reality for others anymore, the forces of darkness still continue with their rampage through the earth to take as many souls as they can before Jesus comes again. Instead of burying our heads in the sand, we should arm ourselves with GOD’S Word and remain vigilant because our LORD is fast approaching.

In warfare, it is advisable that each side learns as much as they can about each other. Many a time a spy will be sent to learn secrets that could have one gain advantage over their enemy. With the gleaned information, they can launch an attack that will either defeat their opponent or at least temporarily put them out of action. Based on Scripture, we know that, as Believers, we are in open warfare against “… principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). Some Christians may say that this Scripture is not as relevant today as back then, but they would be in error. In Matthew 24:3-28, Jesus speaks of the Last Days. He tells us that wickedness will increase upon the earth in various ways, whether it will be a lack of love, false prophets etc. 2 Timothy 3:1-7 also describes these Last Days, how the condition of man will be and what to watch out for. What is behind this wickedness? Do you think that it is just man taking greater liberties in deciding what is right and wrong and even blurring those lines? Perhaps this Scripture will give you an idea: “We know that we are of GOD, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19). Did you catch that last part of the sentence? The world is under the influence of the wicked one, the wicked one is Satan.

Seeing as how the world is being influenced by Satan, how is he doing it? Fallen angels, beloved, demon spirits. Their handiwork is open to your viewing pleasure, just check out the latest movies, the decrease in morals, the increase of hatred (especially towards Christians), popular music and their artists… they are everywhere! Still in doubt? Just go to Youtube and check out what is going on- people are constantly posting about the influence of these fallen angels. Some may not be credible, but I assure you that there are many truthful videos available. Make sure to pray about what you are watching, you wouldn’t want to be deceived into believing the wrong things now would you?

These demons are affecting the world through people. Demonic possession does not always mean that you’re going to levitate in the air, change your voice, become supernaturally strong etc. It just depends on the situation really. These demons are intelligent- they have been around far longer than you have (obviously), and they have been studying mankind all of this time. They have been essentially monitoring you-possessed or not. Being possessed is different with all people because each person is different. It still all boils down to the same thing really, but the circumstances are always individually influenced. Some people do not realize that they are possessed, they may feel something odd about themselves, but other than that they just don’t know.

There are demons for everything! Lust, hate, addiction, covetous, idolatry, adultery, murder, destruction, witchcraft, unbelief, death- you come up with the rest. Not only are there demons for everything (of an evil nature), but through these demons, you can receive counterfeit gifts. You know about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, right? Prophecy, healing, wisdom… read 1 Corinthians 12 to find out what the others are (by the way, each Believer has a gift/s, it’s a matter of prayerfully finding out what they are). The dark kingdom also has their version of these gifts, thus counterfeit gifts. Remember when Paul and the other disciples had that one girl following them around and proclaiming them as servants of God (Acts 16:17)? The Scriptures tell us that she had a spirit of divination and earned her masters a living by fortune telling. This would be a counterfeit gift of prophecy. Well, Paul became quite annoyed with her and eventually commanded the spirit to come out. Boy, were her masters mad!

The counterfeit gift of tongues is often mistaken for the true one in many churches. Instead of communing with GOD, they are uttering curses down on the church. It’s sad really, this kind of atrocity can be prevented if only people adhered to John’s words in 1 John 4:1-3 and Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 14:27.

Let’s tackle a more taboo subject among Christians: demon possession of a Believer. You might say: Oh come on now, Steph, that’s not possible! When we accepted Jesus, those evil spirits had to go! Okay then, perhaps they did, but did you close your doorways? Doorways are the openings that you give the demons to dwell within you in the first place. Some doorways are through your own sin, some come about through dreams, others through traumatic events (eg rape, molestation etc) and others are hereditary.

Okay, you’re born again now. You have been freed from bondage to sin and the works of the devil. Perhaps for a few weeks, everything is okay, but suddenly all hell breaks loose. What could have happened? Read Luke 11:24-26 again. That demon/ s that were cast out of you, they roamed about, looking for somewhere to dwell. Well, they couldn’t find anything and decided to come back to you, just to see if they could try their luck. It turns out that you’re available and there is ample room for them to bring in seven more demons, more wicked than the first lot. Now your situation is worst off than when you began. They came into your house (your body), through the door (your doorway). This doesn’t mean that you’re no longer Christian- salvation doesn’t work that way. It is by grace that you have been saved, not through what is going on with you. But guess what? According to Luke 10:19, you’ve got power and authority over these spirits and you can rebuke them and cast them out of you. If you’re not certain about doing it yourself, rather find true Believers to help you. Repent of the sin, ask for forgiveness from GOD, and finally, close that doorway in Jesus’ name, praying the blood of Jesus to seal up that door.

Some Believers are probably up in arms because of this, but I’ll explain this demonic possession a bit further- with Scripture of course. Look to Ezekiel 8:1-18. There were abominations in the temple of GOD, while the glory of GOD was there! So how does this fit in with us? We are the temple of GOD (1 Cor 3:16 & 1 Cor 6:19), the Holy Spirit dwells within us. So, if the abominations could dwell in the sanctuary of GOD while He was there, why wouldn’t a demon dwell within us if we commit a sin that opens a doorway for them or, through lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6), we neglect to close the doorways already present? Instead of shying away, examine yourself. Were you involved in the occult? Did you dabble in occultic games? Were you raped, whether as a child or adult (please, I am not seeking to lay blame on rape victims, but this doorway is a major one), had an abortion? There are others, but I would advise you to please pray about this and get others to be in agreement with you. You are a child of GOD, you do not have to suffer alone. You can walk around, pretending that everything is okay, or assume that whatever problems are befalling you are trials sent by GOD. Often times certain sicknesses have demonic origins, some traumatic events happening (losing a loved one) have been caused by demons- there are just so many things caused by them because of their possession of you. And they have the right to- you didn’t close the door. Throughout the Scriptures, examples of spiritual laws are given- how the spiritual world operates, etc. That is why GOD has commandments in place, they are to protect you! When He says do not do something, He is keeping you from harm.

I’m not saying that all sins lead to demonic possession, of course not! But there are sins that do and you need to be aware of them. Please, study the Scriptures- the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. It is mighty indeed. There is life in the Word of GOD, and you need it amidst all this evil.

Ending Thoughts: “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death, I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is a sin, and there is a sin not leading to death” (1 John 5:16-17).