A Spirit
Of Hilarity
Neither
filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but
rather giving of thanks. – Ephesians 5: 4
Did you
ever have an unwanted smile on your face and you couldn’t seem to stop smiling?
Ever wonder what it is? God tells us that He doesn’t really care for people
acting stupid and silly much of the time. Oh, God has a sense of humor, but
it’s genuine and not counterfeit. What do I mean? God says that filthiness,
foolish talking, and jesting are not convenient. Convenient here means it is not pertinent to
anything. It is meaningless. Now, this teaching may surprise some people and it
may anger others, but the enemy has a spirit for almost every emotion that
exists. Although we will focus on one area – hilarity – it may be good to start
off with another similar area.
Do you
think that many cell phone calls are meaningless and unnecessary? Do you think
this type of conversation is foolish talking? Only yesterday, I was walking on
a nature trail and here comes a woman talking on a cell phone. How ridiculous I
thought this was and how ridiculous it looked. People without an accurate
knowledge of God’s Word will turn to anything in search of peace……….. and NEVER
find it. The adversary will make a fool out of you if you let him. Cell phones
are one of his newest devices. You couldn’t give me a cell phone with unlimited minutes for
life. I am at peace with myself and I am at peace with God and nothing is going
to take that away from me. At least 40% of the calls people appear to be making
– THERE’S NO ONE AT THE OTHER END OF THE LINE. What a way to live.
For
my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of
living waters, and hewed them out
cisterns, broken cisterns, than can hold no water. – Jeremiah 2: 13
God gives
us a fountain of living waters, an unlimited supply while the world gives us
broken cisterns than can hold no water, such as religion. We make the choice as
to which road we will follow. We have free will. We can make no justifiable
excuse since we make our own decisions. What keeps us from making the right
decision? The god of this world, the devil, Satan and his many other names. And
the only force that defeats him is God’s Word rightly divided lived and applied.
SO YOU MUST KNOW AND APPLY GOD’S WORD TO DEFEAT THE ADVERSARY AND THAT IS THE
ONLY WAY YOU WILL BE ABLE TO MAKE CORRECT DECISIONS.
The word
jesting in Ephesians 5: 4 is referring to wit or liveliness in a bad
sense. The Lexicon refers to jesting
as ‘tricky’ or ‘dishonest’. I learned something many years ago and that was to
never joke on a negative. Example: You’re with someone and you are both eating
something. For some reason, you may think it funny to act like you broke your
tooth. Then when the person with you sympathizes and shows compassion for you,
you begin to laugh and tell that person you were joking. This is very wrong.
Why am I telling you this? Because it is attention to detail that is the
difference between success and failure. Attention to the details of God’s Word
should be a major priority in your life to make quite an understatement. In
Ephesians 5: 4, God says that this type of jesting is meaningless. God’s time
is precious – we are not to waste it. Curiously enough, the word ‘jesting’ appears
to be used only once in all of the Word of God.
However,
before I move on, let me tell you a true story. There was a person who did this
broken tooth jest at one time. It was myself……….. ironically, I chipped a tooth
as I was telling the joke!
If you study
the context of Psalm 35, you will see that the following verse refers to
godless men.
With
hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth. – Psalm
35: 16
These
godless men may be mocking someone, but God’s Word says they are hypocrites.
Have you ever met people like this who like to make fun of others by cracking
rude and insulting jokes? Much danger can come from this. We are not to jest in
this manner – in a bad sense.
This occurs a lot in grade and high schools. This behavior can result in
serious repercussions in the short and long term. That’s why the Word of God
says not to do it. You transgress the Word of God and the enemy will transgress
your face. Don’t give the enemy an open door.
Be
sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: – I Peter 5: 8
So, how do
you make the devil run?
Submit
[addict] yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he
will flee from you. – James 4: 7
Remember
that there is one key that will never fail you. Whenever you are TEMPTED, it is
always of the devil. This actually helps me when I go shopping or anywhere. If
you feel tempted to do something, NEVER DO IT! It’s a trick.
For
the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. – Romans 10: 11
If you
believe God, you will never be disappointed in your expectations. You should
realize from this verse that God will never make you do anything foolish. But
that doesn’t mean you won’t be confronted with foolishness. Here is the best
and one of the most prominent examples I can think of.
In the
last five or ten years, have you ever noticed the change that slowly took place
in marketing – mainly advertising and television advertising? They are beyond
the point of being funny – they absolutely insult your intelligence. There is
every type of idiotic behavior possible in television advertising today. They
don’t really show the automobile in car ads, they show the kids jumping around
and singing in the car. Why?! Because the car is so ugly and expensive! So the
advertisement DISTRACTS you by getting you to focus your attention on something
else besides the car itself. Think about it. Distractions come from the god of
this world – so the ads you see mostly all of the time are cleverly designed
counterfeits – hilarious, aren’t they? The last decent and true ads I’ve seen
for cars were for the Buick, many years ago. They actually showed the car, the
interior, and from different angles. Also, there was one sensible person who
walked around the car in the advertisement pointing out the features in a
normal, pleasant tone of voice. The car was not moving. There was no wet
pavement (an
advertisement gimmick to make the car stand out), no loud music, no one
running around the showroom like fools yelling and screaming. There was no cash
back so-called incentives which is utter insanity. Why pay $15,000 for a
vehicle and get $1000 cash back some time later after all the paperwork and
nonsense? Duh! Doesn’t it make sense to simply pay $14,000 right at the start?
The world tries to make fools out of people and is very successful at it. Not
me, oh Lord. How about you?
Put
on the whole armour [all the resources] of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles [methods]
of the devil. – Ephesians 6: 11
Satan has
taken a sense of humor to an extreme. This is now one of his methods to
distract and deceive people. Remember, his main goal is to keep you away from
God’s Word. So let’s laugh it up. Let’s act like idiots. His vehicle for this
subtle attack has mainly been the business arena. The ironic thing about the
adversary is that he parasites off of good. Humor is actually one of five ways
to relax. He took this and perverted it into hilarity. Satan counterfeits
everything the true God does in a desperate attempt to be worshipped. He makes
things appear true when they are lies. The Bible teaches that he can deceive
even the very elect. All the while he will appear as a true angel. THAT’S WHY
you must know the genuine to be able to recognize the counterfeit. You should
read that sentence again and again until it sinks in. Be careful of what men
tell you. Listen to God.
For
such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no
marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it
is no great thing if his ministers
also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be
according to their works. – II Corinthians 11: 13, 14, 15
So then
there can be people that appear to be apostles, but God says they are FALSE
APOSTLES. You’ll see a lot of this on television. Be careful. Notice how they
always are trying to get you to reach into your pocketbook. Yes, you should
tithe to the church that teaches the true Word of God. I choose not to ask
people for financial support. I don’t need the money.
Who does
God say is transformed into an angel of light? So then God, being as cool as
can be, says: "What’s the big deal if his ministers are a bunch of
counterfeits?" You see, we shouldn’t be surprised. The adversary is hard
at work. We’ve got to work a little harder. It’s not hard and here’s why:
Ye
are of God, little children, and have overcome them [negatives]: because greater is he [Christ in you] that is in you, than he [Satan and his devil
spirits] that is in the world. – I John 4: 4
You have
as much power as you choose. The key to your power is the renewed mind –
putting on God’s thoughts. You have to study. It’s fun. Why would I be doing this?
You can overcome whatever the devil throws at you. God says it – that settles
it. You must believe and act to see God work. The world says ‘I’ll believe it
when I see it.’ GOD SAYS ‘YOU WILL SEE IT WHEN YOU BELIEVE IT.’
I have
done my best to make you aware of a device that seems so common today that you
may never realize its source. There is a devil spirit of hilarity and it is
running rampant today throughout this world. Possibly only the strongest
believers will be able to understand the workings of this devilish device. If
that is true, I can only pray that you are one of those believers.
Love
not the world, neither the things that are
in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is
not in him. – I John 2: 15
Now God is
going to tell you what is in the world. In all of the world there are only
three (3) things. Keep in mind that ‘lust’ is over-desire.
For
all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of
the Father, but is of the world. – I John 2: 16
These
things are not of the true God and Father of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. Could God put it any simpler?
And
the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he
that doeth [practices] the will of God abideth
forever. – I John 2: 17
THE WORD OF GOD IS THE WILL OF GOD.
So
remember, don’t conform to the meaningless jesting, the enemy’s newest device.
Be sharp and remember you have something greater within.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him
that [who] loved us. – Romans 8: 37
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