THE WAR WITHIN 2

THE RE-TOOLING OF THE TRUTH

Whatever happened to the revelation of Jesus Christ, Who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6)? Truth is embodied in a person and that man is God’s Son. By Him all things consist and are held together (Col.1:17). He is the truth. So, how dare we even think we have the authority to change the truth when we do not even have the power to hold together even its smallest elements that which makes up the truth?

The Devil is not opposed to telling the truth, and often uses the truth to tell a better lie. Putting things into another context, taking things out of context, omitting things, re-sequencing events, and flattery are old tricks. He knows how much easier it is to get us to believe a lie if he coats it with or buries it in the truth. Poison is much more effectively served as a sweet treat (Pr. 23:3) than offered as a nasty trick hidden in a goblet of bitter drink.

The Enemy serves scripture out of context, re-tooling his theology in the rank and rancid discussion rooms of presumption, and promotes it through the high gloss, high powered marketing networks of Hell as the pure word of God. God calls us to make a decision and a distinction between the vile and the holy, (Jer. 15:19), and to “discern between the unclean and the clean.” (Ezek. 44:23). He calls us to feast on His unrefined, unadulterated, holy Word and live.

Our new theologies have mixed the holy with the unholy, satisfying our need for God with emotional experiences and substantiating our faith through our feelings. It has re-packaged its updated version of the “truth” as the evolution of the Holy Scriptures. This compounds the confusion for those who desire to know the truth and in their sincere search for it.

On the other hand, in an effort to protect themselves from the sway of modernism and religious error many believers ironically dig in their heels and resist any idea that the theology they were “born into” could be wrong. Even in an effort to “stay true to the faith” they may be standing for something that is not true! Most of us were not born with a clear and correct version of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The chances of that being the case are about as probable and being born into a mud puddle without having gotten dirty.

Many of their denominational dispositions, if closely examined are not in agreement with the Standard of Truth, the Holy Bible. Most of their denominational lines and tenants of faith do not support the idea of spiritual warfare as being real and personal or generational curses as patterns of demonic judgments or strongholds as the result of demonic activity in the believer’s life. These ideas are considered as archaic and irrelevant, if not downright heretical to their church traditions and personal experience.

Their loyalty to their denomination’s theology, even though they could not name or expound on any of those theologies specifically, does not allow them to explore anything outside of the parameters of their conventional thinking, common clichés and church practices. Remember, the truth can only be correctly understood and rightly divided in the context of the life of the one who speaks it. Jesus Christ’s life is faultless and His Word is reliable as well as true.

If we would allow the Holy Spirit who resides in us, to lead us, all subsequent matters of bondage, including generational curses, demonic control and corrupt behavior would be addressed in the simple but ever-ongoing process of sanctification which operates through obedience. If we understand and submit to the Holy Spirit as our Guide into all truth, the matter of transformation and conversion becomes His work in us as simply as the matter of growing is to a child.

Children do not fret or make any conscious or concerted effort to grow, they just grow. If they get sick, measures are taken to rid them of the sickness, as sickness and disease are not seen to be a good or desirable part of the child’s growth and development. Except we are “converted and become as ‘little children’ we will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 18:3) How is it we know how to do natural things but stumble in applying that same understanding to spiritual things?

Though the Bible makes it very clear that evil does pass down the blood lines, most people have never heard of it, or if they have, they have rejected it because it sounds too scary or weird. They would argue the existence of the presence of evil with a cliché that “the past is the past, so just let it be.”

THE PAST IS THE PAST

The past is often difficult to deal with because it carries with it so many secrets and gaps in the information. Secrets, different interpretations of what really happened and making assumptions make the past a “less than sure” foundation upon which to build the future. But because our past is our past and that fact cannot be changed, the foundation that was built in the past becomes the foundation we must begin with.

Denial and avoidance will not make things right or safe. Only under the direction of the Holy Spirit Who has been sent to lead us into all truth will there be the revelation of truth that is needed to bring deliverance and freedom to our generations. Only a close examination and diligent repair of the default settings that have cast our families into a destruction that shaped our past and dictated our present can cleanse our bloodlines and give our children a better dwelling place as the next occupants of our family’s house.

Some would reject the idea of examining of our generational bloodlines as unnecessary and spiritually unbiblical. They denounce the idea as “digging up the past” and wonder what good can come of unearthing the secret sins of their ancestors. They fall back on the promise that “it’s all under the blood”, but technically that is not even a quote from the Bible. Our sins are forgiven. We have been made righteous through the Blood shed for us by Jesus Christ. Our debt has been paid in full, but nothing in that says we will not have to appropriate the victory of the Cross in the everyday war that goes on for the deception of our souls and the destruction of our lives.

Though Christ Himself has said, “No one having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Lu. 9:62), He is saying, “Follow Me” and don’t look back. He is basically saying, “Do not let your past determine your future,” which is what most of us are doing when we do NOT deal with our past. We are not called to be grave-diggers, nor are we here to blame our parents and grandparents for our sins. But, to casually proclaim that “the past is in the past,” and not dealing with it by saying that “my life is all under the blood” can be as deadly an assumption as digging it up!

Even though the work of salvation was finished on the Cross and rests in the past, finished work of Christ, the grace of God imputed to us through the life and death of Christ Jesus does nothing for us if we do not partake of it. The work of Christ on the Cross is all good, but no good to me at all, if I do not take part in it.

Part of the ongoing work of Calvary is the ever expanding revelation of the love and truth of Jesus Christ in my life. Breaking the curses that have enslaved me and my family to the Devil for countless generations is part of that liberation process. Without accurately understanding what took place at Calvary and what is necessary in the ongoing work of appropriating it to my life and spiritual needs, only sets me up as sure prey for the Enemy’s destruction.

If I am ignorant or naive about what is at stake in this war between God and Satan for the souls of men, and dismiss those things that have happened in the past I am prevented from receiving the benefit of the grace available to me as part of the ongoing process of redemption in my life. Sanctification is that process of cleansing and vigilance. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to be done by the Holy Spirit with my cooperation and consent.

Diligent obedience to the wisdom and direction of the Holy Spirit is essential in our successfully dealing with the past but also in recognizing the lies of the present. If we fail to recognize our connection with the past through our present mindsets, we will fail to know the seriousness of the spiritual war we are caught up in. We will soon become a casualty of an invisible war we may not even believe exists.