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Spirituality Theology

Love, Evil, and Freewill

Evil exists for a very simple reason: God gave us the gift of freewill so we could freely choose to love God or to reject Him. If we didn’t have freewill, then we’d be robots who always obey God. Love can only exist if it is freely chosen. We show our love for God by keeping His commandments: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). If we do not wish to love God, we are able to be unloving towards God by choosing to break His commandments, made possible due to freewill. All of the evil in the world is the result of man being disobedient to God, choosing to break His commandments, made possible through freewill.

From the beginning, it was God’s desire to create a family who He could love and who could love Him back, having a relationship with this family. In order for love to truly exist, it must be freely chosen, otherwise, it isn’t truly love. God gave us the freewill that allows us to freely love Him and to love His creation. By necessity, this freewill also gave us the freedom to be unloving towards God, giving us the freedom to break His commandments if we so choose.

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Christian Life Spirituality Theology

Truth and Falsehoods

In Mark 3:24-26, we read:

And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.

Mark 3:24-26

This is the nature of truth and falsehoods:

If everyone believes in the truth and does not believe in falsehoods, everyone can live in perfect harmony without division.

But if people believe in falsehoods, they will become divided since falsehoods often are not in agreement with each other. Any one truth, however, is always in agreement with all other truths.

This is what Jesus means in Matthew 10:34-36 when He says that He brings not peace, but a sword. The sword is the word of God, which is the truth. Truth causes division among those who believe in falsehoods as the truth cuts through lies, exposing the falsehoods for what they are.

Surely, there will be great conflict within the fallen angels while Satan’s kingdom is falling apart, especially as a result of the war in heaven mentioned in Revelation 12 when Satan and the fallen angels lose their place in the heavens, being thrown down to earth. The fallen angels will lose their trust in Satan, putting all of the fallen angels into chaos and confusion. If Satan alone is stuck down, then his entire army of fallen angels will crumble apart from within. Strike the head and the body will fall. Because Satan’s kingdom is built on a lie, its inevitable fate is to collapse because of that very same lie. The word of God will win in the end, destroying the falsehoods of Satan. Jesus Himself is the Word made flesh (John 1:14), and He is the truth (John 14:6). It is Jesus who will ultimately destroy the works of Satan.

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3:8
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Christian Life Spirituality

Burn Your Occult and New Age Books

We must always be careful of the things we allow into our minds and bodies, as well as into our homes. By purchasing occult or New Age books and bringing them into one’s house, one is endorsing the forces of spiritual wickedness behind those writings and allowing them into one’s life. Many of these books were written under the influence and inspiration of demonic forces. If one allows such material into their lives, especially by reading it and accepting it into one’s mind, the same kind of demonic entities which inspired the creation of this material will manifest in your life.

By bringing such material into one’s house, one is giving demons legal grounds to enter into their life. The mere act of owning an occult book means that it is a part of you as it is your property; your property is spiritually attached to you, being a part of who you are. Thus, one must be careful about which items they choose to own as property as that property becomes a part of one’s self spiritually. By letting the contents of an occult book into your mind, it is as though you are taking that occult book into your holy temple which is your body; the body is the temple of God (John 2:21, 1 Corinthians 6:19). If you accept these occult writings into your mind, you are desecrating your holy temple by bringing such false, demonic doctrines into that temple.

Spiritual discernment is a must. In order to safely read occult material, such as for research purposes, one must first have a very strong grounding in the Bible. One must be able to discern what is false doctrine and what is biblical doctrine. If you are an individual who lacks discernment, being prone to accepting whatever you read, then it will be very dangerous for you to read occult material. Without a firm understanding of biblical doctrine, one is easily swayed into accepting false, demonic doctrines. Someone who is very strongly grounded in biblical doctrine is able to read occult material without much danger as they will have a filter that automatically rejects all falsehoods in this material.

When you allow the forces of spiritual wickedness into your life by possessing and reading occult material, accepting it into your mind, these forces will start controlling your life, trying to steer your life away from God’s true plan for you. This spiritual wickedness will attempt to lead you down a dark path that leads to destruction.

The Bible describes a book burning that took place in Ephesus:

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books and burned them in front of everyone. When the value of the books was calculated, it came to fifty thousand drachmas.

Acts 19:19

In Ephesus, new Christian converts gathered all of their occult books and burned them, thus separating themselves from their former selves, who had been practitioners of the occult. As Christians, we must do the same. We must separate ourselves from the works of Satan. Get rid of all your occult and New Age books. Burning books is a ritual in itself; a profoundly powerful ritual which sends out the message that one wishes for the complete and utter destruction of such works of darkness. The spiritual ramifications of this ritual is immense, as the effect travels throughout the world, just as with prayer or other spiritual rituals.

Simply throwing away such books does not have the same weight to it. Even worse is if you decide to sell the books instead, as this means that your books will end up in the hands of others for them to read for themselves.

By destroying occult books, you are affirming that you wish to destroy the works of the devil, which is precisely the same mission that Christ was sent to do:

He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3:8

By destroying books which contain occult knowledge, you are taking part in the same mission that Jesus Christ was sent to do. In any case, you should not purchase occult books to begin with or take them into your house, lest you invite into your life those wicked spirits who are attached to such books.

Categories
Christian Life Spirituality

Practice Discernment in the Music You Listen To

I have a rule of thumb with the music I listen to: I will only listen to a song when I can imagine myself singing it, with me truly meaning each and every word that I sing. I refuse to sing lyrics which I do not agree with. That is, I must agree with all the lyrics for me to listen to that song.

If I do not understand what the lyrics mean, I will attempt to look up the meaning of the song. If this doesn’t help, then I won’t listen to the song. I err on the side of being safe: I see danger in listening to songs where I do not understanding the meaning of the lyrics as these lyrics could be at odds with my beliefs, morals, and values.

If the lyrics are in another language, then I must read the English translation myself before I continue listening to it.

Why is this? Let me bring up just one example: most of you probably know the song “Despacito”. It’s a catchy and immensely popular song that has some seven billion views on YouTube (yes, seven billion – not million). The lyrics of this song are in Spanish and so most people who listen to the song don’t even know the meaning behind the words. Did you know that from start to finish, the lyrics are extremely raunchy, filthy, and highly sexual, describing sexual encounters and the act of sex itself while also taking the Lord’s name in vain? As a Christian, one should remove all such music from their life. I do not care if the music sounds good or is catchy. Your moral standards should be above this, refusing to listen to filthy music even if it’s catchy and fun to listen to. Do not be like the spiritually blind heathen who do not have any discernment in the kind of media they consume.

You should refuse to listen to any songs which glorify violence, money, fornication, drugs, material pursuits, carnal pleasures, and any sinful behaviour, etc. Refuse to listen to any song which makes you deviate from the path of God.

Also, many songs are written in “witch language”, that is, with layers of meaning you would only understand if you were initiated into the occult. This explains why lyrics can often be so baffling and bizarre and make no sense; sometimes it is because the words were chosen for the symbolic meaning they have in witch language. Witch language itself goes back many centuries. Perhaps the most famous instance of it is in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which depicts witches making a brew, as follows:

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

The ingredients mentioned in this witch’s brew are going by their names in witch language. For instance, “eye of newt” is actually witch language for mustard seed and “toe of frog” actually refers to a buttercup.

In the same way, artists who are into witchcraft or the occult will use certain words and phrases in their lyrics which have special meaning in the occult, but which the average person will not understand because they have not been initiated. And so, there is a danger in listening to such songs which have veiled occult meaning behind them.

Many artists are even openly practitioners of witchcraft. Lana Del Rey is one such artist that comes to mind, and there are many others. There are also bands which are openly satanic, such as the band known as “Ghost”, which is apparent in their music videos and lyrics. Imagine developing a liking to the songs of a band such as this because you enjoy how their music sounds, only to later find out about them being worshipers of Satan. You will curse the fact that their songs are deeply ingrained in your brain, now stuck playing inside of your head, coming up at random points of the day, and that you can’t make it stop.

By willingly letting sinful music into your mind (the brain being part of the temple of God, which is the body), you are also allowing the demonic spirits attached to those songs to influence you. The same thing happens when you purchase occult books or objects and bring them into your house; in doing so, you are giving demons legal grounds to enter into your life.

When you listen to music that is sinful in nature and delight in it, you are allowing those seeds of sin to be sown in your mind, which will grow to bear bad fruit. And just as bad, by delighting such music, you are endorsing the workers of iniquity who produced that music. Just take a look at the individuals who produce such music. Are they role models you wish to emulate? Are they individuals who contain many demons within them? Are they obsessed with material possessions and wealth? Are they drug addicts, fornicators, and doers of violence? If you endorse their music by purchasing it and listening to it, then you are giving an open invitation for the same demons behind those artists to enter into your life.

Did you known that both Beyonce and Nicki Minaj fully admit to channeling spirits/entities during their musical performances? By listening to their music and enjoying it, you are endorsing the work of demonic spirits.

Don’t underestimate the power of music. The angels were signing when the foundations of the earth were laid, and music has a profoundly sacred and powerful effect when used for good. When used for evil, it can corrupt the minds of individuals in the most insidious ways possible, sowing seeds of sin that eventually grow to produce bad fruit.

There is a saying, “You are what you eat”. The same applies to all media we consume, including music. If we consume worldly, materialistic music, then we are going to be conformed to the world. If we consume spiritual, godly music, then we are going to be conformed to Christ.

All in all, always practice discernment in the music you listen to. Listening to worldly music which has lyrics which glorify sin will open doorways in your life to demonic influence. Listen to music which glorifies God, which is good for you spiritually. Do not listen to worldly music which glorifies the sinful desires of the flesh. Such music is poison for your soul.

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31