The
Enemy’s Traps
I have decided to list this teaching under the
Advanced category. We are going to nail
the god of this world and expose him for what he really is. By this I mean, things that we are unaware of
and things that are extremely deceptive. These traps are so tricky that many
Christians are not aware of them. They
are very dangerous and I have fell for them many times over the years. The following verses are speaking of Satan,
who is the god of this world.
In whom
the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. – II Corinthians 4: 4
Who blinds people? Which category of people who do you think
that Satan blinds? He blinds Christians
because they can do more harm to him and he goes after a Christian’s weak
points. He, most often, picks on people
who do not believe completely because if they did, the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God Almighty should shine unto them and
they would defeat him. Light always
dispels darkness so Satan is working very hard to blind the minds of those
which believe and those which believe not.
To accomplish this, he sets traps by the thousands especially for the
Christian. It is these traps that we are
going to discuss and learn how to counter and, in turn, defeat the god of this
world.
Ye are of God, little children,
and have overcome them [all the negatives and devil spirits in
the world]: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. -- I John 4: 4
We are now going to go to chapter 11 of II
Corinthians. As in my last few
teachings, I have stressed the importance of reading the context of the chapter
so that you can understand what is going on.
In this chapter, we are going to begin with verse 13 of chapter 11.
For
such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the
apostles of Christ. – II Corinthians 11: 13
Who are these people? Running a Bible website, I can tell you who
they are. In the first place, they guess
at what the Word of God says. Why? Because they have not studied as much as I
have or as much as many other people and Christians have. So they make things up and they are
deceitful. But here is the trap. They transform themselves into the apostles
of Jesus Christ. They are as counterfeit
as a three dollar bill. And the problem
here is that many people believe what they say because they have nowhere else
to turn and they are just too damn lazy to study the Word by themselves. I am telling it like it is. I said this is an advanced teaching. It is not made for the wishy-washy Christian
and if you are that way, you should close the teaching.
The deception here is that these people are working
for Satan, but yet they appear to be working for the true God. This leads people to believe that what they
are saying is true and they follow their teachings. This is a trap.
And no
marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. --
II Corinthians 11: 14
You see we should be at the point where we do
not marvel at Satan's works. Satan obviously transforms himself into an angel of
light. He makes himself seem like he is
an angel of the true God. That's why
verse 13 and 14 was written so that we are aware of his methods and devices.
Now we have set the basic foundation for what
we are dealing with in this teaching. We
are now going to delve into some of the specifics of Satan's traps. If just one of you learns one thing from this
teaching, I will be blessed.
I simply want to first cover one small point
that just came to mind. Because my
e-mail address was available to many people, Satan took advantage of that
opportunity and he set trap after trap after trap. He sent pathetically disgusting e-mails to me
through his people. I had no choice but
to take down my e-mail address and it hurt me to do so for your sake. This e-mail address was much like a
trap. But you see, I had to pick the
best of the worst. I even had e-mails inviting
me to a witch’s coven. I had homosexuals
write to me and ask me disgusting questions.
And that was just the beginning.
Now, what is Satan going to do? I
prayed about this much and God gave me an answer. You do not need my e-mail address when you
have these teachings although some people find it. This is how tricky and how easy it is for
Satan to set a trap for you. You'll must
go to God and you must ask Him what to do.
He will tell you what is the proper decision. Then do it.
It's that simple.
Now here is the Scripture that is most often
misunderstood. It pertains, in a serious
manner, to the essence of this teaching and I would like you to never forget
the lesson it will teach you. We will
study II Corinthians chapter 10, verse 4, and we will put some stress on verse
5.
(For the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty through God
to the pulling down of strong holds;) -- II
Corinthians 10: 4
I never understood this
verse until it was taught to me by a great man of God who was part of our
research department. I was rather
surprised to finally understand what this verse means because of its importance
to a believer's walk. It talks about a
trap of all traps and we must be careful that we do not fall for it. Let me explain.
First of all, God sets the
stage by telling us that our weapons are not carnal, but they are
spiritual.
For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places [from on high]. -- Ephesians 6: 12
We are always in a
spiritual battle -- always. We deal with
people who are influenced by devil spirits all the time. I know that's a little bit hard to take and
that's why this is an Advanced
teaching. But it is the second part of
the verse that is most important and tells us and teaches us a lesson that we
must never forget because it can be deadly to us and cause no end of problems.
The terminology here
appears to be somewhat difficult, but it says that our warfare is not carnal
but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. These last five words tell us the meaning of
an extremely important principle. By not
understanding this verse, you'll can fall into a major trap and here's how it
works.
I have known many believers
that were weak in many areas because they did not study God's Word. So what some of these believers would do
would be to constantly cry on another believer's shoulder. They would look for sympathy and pity and yet
the reason for their a dilemma was their own fault. The strong believer can possibly follow them
into a hole or a pit. Now who do you
think the weak believer is going to confide in and actually deceive? You, out of the love of God, at least you
think it's the love of God, will reach into that hole and you will work as hard
as you can to pull that believer out of that hole. The major problem here is that you might
fall into this hole with the weak believer.
Now you have a real problem
because you cannot seem to climb out. I
know of a young girl who was in a great leadership program and she tried to
help a lesbian. Many of the believers
warned her not to fellowship with her because the lesbian was just playing
her. The believer could not see this and
believe it or not, one night they both went for a ride in an automobile and
both of them never came back. You see,
the girl fell into a trap and she was unaware of it because she wasn't
listening to God. We need to listen to
God so that we don't fall into these traps.
I hope this lesson stays with you for good because it is most important
that we stay sharp spiritually and we never feel sorry for the devil because he
will destroy you in any way possible.
Look what happened to the believer -- she died in a car crash. Do you think it was God's Will for her to go
on that car ride with that lesbian?
Lesbians and homosexuals are the enemy's strongest spirits. Don't you forget it.
Let's take a look at verse
five which is another Scripture that gives people some difficulty. If we work the Word, it is really not
difficult at all. But we want others to
work the Word for them and I hope you are not one of them. There is no greater exhilaration than to work
the Word on your own and feel the excitement of studying His Word on your
own. This next verse talks about that
subject.
Casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of
Christ; -- II Corinthians 10: 5
In the first place, the
word ‘imaginations’ means calculations, thoughts and reasonings. We are to cast them down and every high thing
that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We must bring, into captivity, which means we
must control our thinking, every thought -- every single thought to the
obedience of Christ. We must remember
what Jesus Christ did and we must imitate him because he imitated God. So it's the same thing as imitating God
Almighty. Now you tell me that doesn't
make sense.
I was recently accepted
onto a search engine. Three days later,
my site was taken down. What I believe
happened, was I did not believe in their statement of faith and someone picked
it up. They are the Trinity boys. There are fifty Scriptures that say that
Jesus Christ is the son of God and there are four Scriptures that could present
some difficulty in understanding this.
Even devil spirits called Jesus Christ the son of God. They were smart enough to know that Jesus
Christ was not God. How simple can it
get and how stupid can people be? I
wrote the manager of this search engine and just like the coward that he is, he
never wrote back. As far as I know, my
name was not re-added to this search engine list. Do you know what I say to all of this?
BEAUTIFUL!
You know what this guy can
do with his search engine and excuse my implication. The Word of God that is true will always
prevail.
Every time we have a
decision to make, we must ask ourselves what would Jesus Christ do. Sure it's hard. Look at the world we live in. It is full of negatives. But God's Word says, I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me.
I can do all things through Christ which [who] strengtheneth
me. –
Philippians 4: 13
The only reason God says this is because it is
available to you and to me, so let's put away all the excuses and do what the
Word says we are capable of doing. That
way, we live the more than abundant life and you know where the world can go --
it's already there.
I am talking MAJOR traps
here that can destroy a person's life on a permanent basis. We, as the strongest Christians on earth need
to be able to handle these true stories about what can happen and has happened
to many people even though they are Christians.
This next story has stayed
with me all of my life. This person was
a true friend of mine and I worked with him every day. But yet, he could not seem to get delivered. He suffered every single day of his life and
I'm going to tell you why. First, let us
let the Word speak and introduce this principle that is devastating to a man or
woman.
And likewise also the men,
leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another;
men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. – Romans 1: 27
A homosexual or a lesbian
cannot go any lower in their lives. They
are not at the bottom of the barrel, they are underneath it. This friend of mine moved out of his home and
got his own trailer to have some peace and quiet. He was a star basketball player and he had a
heart of gold. Satan fools people with
traps that they never ever expect. Two
of his friends came over to visit him when he got settled into his
trailer. Somehow, someway, they
convinced him to try something. Satan is
quite persuasive and this friend of mine, for some reason, gave in to their wishes. He had a homosexual experience with both of
these so-called friends. How bad was it? He could not seen to overcome what he had
done. He started to head towards a
nervous breakdown and he had a very serious one. Satan tricked him and he set a trap for him
and a very deadly one. This person wound
up in a state psychiatric ward for at least six to eight months. He tried to go home once on a long pass, but
he felt so bad that he wanted to come back to the hospital! Every time I saw him, he wanted to pray and
he prayed incessantly that God would deliver him. But you see this type of spirit is the
strongest devil spirit on earth and Satan would not let him go. He feared that he would stay, the rest of his
life, in this mental institution and I felt bad for him and tried to help him. I don't want you to ever forget this
story. It stayed with me for over 40
years and many times I wonder what happened to my good friend. He told God he was sorry every day and he
begged for deliverance. Whether or not
he did receive this deliverance, I will never know.
Let's re-examine the
Scripture in Romans 1: 27. God says that
man has left the natural use of the woman and he is burned in his lust one man
towards another man. These men receive
back in return the error which they have committed and this is a very deadly
error as I have said before. This is
referred to as without natural affection.
I have often thought whether Aids was a result of the actions of
homosexuals and lesbians. Did you ever
think about it? My friend had a great
heart. As to why he was not delivered at
the time I knew him, I simply do not know.
You talk about a trap. This
person let into his home people who he thought were his friends and they wanted
to have homosexual relations with him.
Could he have expected this to happen?
Surely not. However, if you know
the Word of God well enough, God can give you revelation and let you know that
there is serious trouble ahead. The
revelation manifestations are the eyes and the ears of the church. Apparently, this person did not have enough
knowledge of the Word of God to sense what was about to take place. He went along with it and then wanted to be
delivered from it, but he suffered and suffered day after day and month after
month. This is what you call a trap of
traps. I have had homosexuals approach
me and do you know how I handle it. They
proposition me and I say “Oh not today, sweetheart. I'm just a little bit busy right now.” You see I say this with a feminine touch
because I know it agitates the hell out of Satan and the devil. There ain't not a
devil spirit of homosexuality that ever comes near me because I know how to
handle it. I know it sounds unusual, but
it works for me. And then I walk away
and chuckle to myself. If you are ever
approached with this type of person, you should get away from them as soon as
possible until or unless God shows you how to deal with them as He did with
me.
It hurts me to even talk
about the subject and many times I pray for my friend. I'll say it again. He fell into a trap of traps. Possibly, he got delivered from his dilemma. I don't care to think about it because I
never saw anyone suffer like this young man.
You talk advanced material. This
is the most advanced material on the face of the earth and again I don't want
you ever to forget this story and you won’t.
We are always more than conquerors or
super-conquerors when we listen to God Almighty and His Word. You see, there is no other way. The enemy will place temptation after
temptation in front of you and he will disguise this as being good. These are the subtle traps.
I am about to tell you a final true story that
is very serious in nature. As I said
this is an advanced teaching and we’re simply not fooling around here. I am telling you the way it is and I'm
showing you the power that the god of this world has when we allow him to
function. That's the key. When we walk on the Word of God, he can't
touch us. Let me get to this true story
and it will surely blow your mind.
I know of a person who is always very friendly
towards others. A new person had moved
into his neighborhood and he waved to this woman and she waved and smiled
back. A second time he was passing by
her home and he looked at her with the same intentions and she looked at him
with a ghoulish look on her face. It
upset this person quite a bit and he didn't know what to do except to avoid
this person at all costs. He had felt
that this person needed psychiatric help.
I'm actually going to make this a short story and to the point. By the way, this believer was very strong.
I told this story once before but it seems to
fit with this teaching on traps very well.
I'm going to show you what the god of this world will do to his own
people and it is dreadful to say the least.
A policeman knocked on this gentleman's door one night and he (the
policeman) was all excited believing what this woman had said – that she was
being harassed! Now I want to get this
to you and you should never forget it just like in the previous story. Now this may seem hard to believe but it can
happen in this so called free country.
This policeman said that she said that she was being harassed by this
believer. Now here's the part. The believer never spoke to her -- he never
approached her -- he did not even know her name! But you see, she was making slight passes or
advances towards him and he just turned around and looked the other way. He was a happily married man and always
faithful to his wife. The person was a
believer and he was determined to go after this woman even though he knew she
was sick. He hired an expensive attorney
and it went before a magistrate. The
magistrate decided that they should go to mediation. In this meeting, it was said that he had
threatened this woman's life. This
believer was sharp and he held his peace just like Jesus Christ did. Why?
Because he knew what this woman had coming to her and it was going to be
hard to imagine. They reached some type
of an agreement. The husband would do
nothing even though he knew that the believer did nothing to his wife --
nothing at all.
It cost this believer $1000 for attorney fees
and three months of aggravation and stress.
But the worst was now over it seemed -- at least for the believer. Yes, this believer used his power of attorney
and rebuked this woman continuously in the name of Jesus Christ. It was about a year later that her husband
was helping her to hobble inside their home.
I had found out that this woman had taken a serious debilitating
stroke. She could just about move the
left side of her body.
Now what happened here from a spiritual point of view? What this woman did was insane and she had to pay for it. You remember God's law that what a person gives out always comes back to them. Did God cause this woman to have a stroke? He is all light – how could He?!
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. – I John 1: 5
No, He did not. He would have to contradict His Word to do so. But the adversary went to God and he said to God, “Hey, look what this woman did even though I provoked her to do it, it was still wrong.” Now I said this many times before about God being a just God. He is so just, He is just to the devil. So the devil said, well she's mine and I'm going to do with her what I please. So he attacked her physical health and practically destroyed her for the rest of her life. Did she have it coming? I believe that she did. Am I rejoicing in iniquity? Not at all. The wheels of God grind slowly but they grind finely. This woman no longer calls the police on this believer and she has practically disappeared from sight. She, in her heart, knows what she did and she knows that she's paying for what she did. The devil himself provoked her to go after this innocent man and this was a trap of traps. Then after he, the devil, tried to trap the believer, he trapped the woman. Can you imagine how devilish and treacherous the devil is if you let him have his way? This story can bother you if you let it. We will go over a Scripture that will help you to forget such situations.
Brethren,
I count not myself to have apprehended:
but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, -- Philippians 3: 13
This is a
Scripture for dwelling on the past and you should commit it to memory. I have run it through my mind maybe thousands
of times.
Finally, I want to show you what I believe God has revealed to me about a specific situation concerning this overall situation. You need to understand that I too do not understand everything that happens. There is only one reason that I could think that this happened to this certain believer and that is the fact that this person is simply too friendly. Can you believe it? It is sometimes best in our present social atmosphere to keep to ourselves and to mind our own business. I honestly believe that this social attitude has come about because Jesus Christ is very close to returning. What a day that will be.
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