Stronghold Starter #4: Greed/Envy: I Deserve More. Others? Less.

In the pursuit of wealth and the good life: 

When it's me, I am being ambitious; providing for my family; investing in the future; enjoying life; grabbing some gusto; trying to make sure my kids lack nothing.  

When it's you, you are being greedy.  

Do you notice the duplicity?  I have rationalized my greediness into something respectable.  My motives are noble and yours are not.  

But greed by any other name would still stink.  Why?  Greed is love misplaced.  Greed says:

I deserve it. (God is taking too long or just doesn't understand the needs I have.)

I deserve more. (God will meet my needs, yes, but my wants?  I have to provide.)

I need more.  (God just doesn't understand the emptiness I feel; money and stuff help fill the void.)

I can give more to the Kingdom. (But I skim off my portion first; God gets the leftovers.)

My love for God is being poisoned, for deep inside I really don't trust Him.  My love gets poured into what I can do and what I can control.  Look what Jesus says in Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

Service comes from loyalty, love and trust.  I can serve me or I can trust God's love for me, and serve Him. 

OK.  We expect the world to be greedy.  They don't have the Lord.  But I have seen greed in church.  I have seen it in me in church.  I have seen my greed become envy and it is disgusting:  

Hey!  I am a talented singer.  Why is she on the worship team and not me?

Hey!  I wanted to be the women's ministry leader: I am the most mature.  Why wasn't I picked? 

Hey!  I have the most knowledge of the Bible than any of those folks.  I should be upfront teaching.  

Hey!  The men in our church are so passive.  Why can't women be pastors?  Why does the Word limit us? 

So, greed and its mini-me, envy, become a mindset.  "I, I, I..." is the key of the song of pride I sing.  I assume God has a limited number of pie slices of service, so if you get one slice, you've taken one from me.  So, I have to push, scheme and pray that I get it.  If I don't get it, I have the right to resent you.  

Even if the Lord has closed the door to me, I still look over my shoulder at you.  But I am like Lot's wife--I am encased in the salt of pride and greed.  I deserve this!  You?  Not so much.

Look at the advice that Paul gives to a young pastor in 1 Timothy 6:10:  "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

Hear that church?  How many pastors have built a foundation of "You give to me to get from God but I keep the money for myself" for a ministry?  How many people see a big church, a big building, big programs and a big budget and say, "Wow!  That church is blessed?"  Is it?  

Then Jesus was a failure according to the modern definition of church success: "Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (Matt. 8:20)

If we follow Him, we follow Him!  Look how Jesus lived:  He trusted in God's provision every day of His life. 

We don't rationalize our greedy grabbing because somehow God is limited in His resources. We look at money as a blessing to pass on to others, and not see it as an end in itself. Yes, God is delighted when we are delighted, but He is aggrieved when we focus on the gift, and not the Gift-Giver.

Greed is a stronghold starter because it keeps the focus on us and not on God.  It causes us to trust ourselves; to look at God with reservations and not with total love and gratitude; and it causes strife in the church:  "For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice." (James 3:16)  

How many churches and ministries are ineffectual because behind the scenes, disorder and evil practices reign?  

There is no "I" in Jesus.  There is "us."  You and me.  Jesus and us.  We are His body.  He loves us and nothing on this earth can ever replace that: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:6-7)

Paul learned this:  "But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Phil. 4:10-13)

Here is where we stand when Satan casts aspersions on God's goodness and provision: "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:19)

Amen. 

  

A Slight But Necessary Detour: Daniel 10

The Bible is very clear about the unseen world.   These days, we scratch our heads and wonder, "What is going on?"  Insanity, illogical thinking, rage, violence and just plain unkindness is the order of the day.  Left or right, liberal or conservative, young or old:  we all sense a level of insanity that is disturbing.  People look for all kinds of reasons.  It's gotta be the:

President 

Republicans 

Deep State

Democrats

Congress

Christians 

Whites

Supreme Court

News media

Young

Old...

The list goes on and on.  We humans are extremely talented at pointing the finger at everyone but ourselves; this started all the way back in the Garden of Eden.  After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam blamed God for giving him Eve and then blamed Eve; Eve blamed the serpent and the serpent was eerily quiet.  

The moment sin entered the planet, we have not taken responsibility for our sin and the consequences of it.  

Now, you may think I am letting people off the hook by focusing on the unseen world.  No. Far from it.  This blog series ("Stronghold Starters") is dedicated to how we allow ourselves to be used by the unseen world with our attitudes.  We host the attitudes; evil then hosts us.  But we open the door.   

The unseen world is active and influential, according to Ephesians 6:12: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."  

So, the magnitude of the struggle is much larger than just "those people."  

Paul squarely looks at us and then the unseen world:  "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." (Eph. 2:1-5)

Boom.  There it is.  We have a role (following and gratifying our sin nature) and we are also used to achieve a larger agenda for the unseen world.  What is that agenda?  It is our destruction.  Satan doesn't care how you get there...drugs, alcohol, war, suicide, mass murder...whatever puts you six feet under, dirt dead.  

You live without hope--no faith in Jesus, just despair and anger over how things are and a feeling of powerlessness to change it.  

You die without hope--no faith in Jesus, just an eternity without God.  God doesn't send us to Hell--we choose to live without Him here and thus we choose to live without Him in eternity. 

But, every now and then, the Bible draws back the curtain on the unseen world. Daniel, chapter 10, is such a place. Quick summary: Daniel has a vision of war to come and its great hardships. He has been fasting and mourning for three weeks. He then sees a beautifully dressed man on the other side of the river where he is standing, and he is overwhelmed by what he is seeing. 

A gently hand touches him and says, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.” (Daniel 10:12-14)

What a minute.  Who is this "prince"?  Isn't he a human ruler over the people?  No, because Michael, an angel, (chief prince) comes to his aid.  The "prince" is Heaven's enemy in the unseen realms and Michael is a prince sent to contend with the one who rules over Persia. 

Do you see my point?  Behind the human agent, is an unseen agent who uses, manipulates and then destroys the human agent.  The evil work gets done.  Does that mean that every evil act is from the unseen realm, and we are merely puppets?  No.

We are more than capable of doing harm to ourselves and to one another.  But:  There have been times in history where evil has been unleashed in a way that astonishes even us. 

In the 20th century, more than 100 million people died in genocides.   People were shocked at the depravity and numbers of dead in:

The Armenian genocide

The rape of Nanking, China

The Holocaust

China under Mao

The USSR under Stalin

Cambodia under Pol Pot

Rwanda

The Congo

Syria

Recently, we are appalled at young people going into schools with guns and mowing down their fellow students and teachers.  People throwing bombs into nightclubs.  A man mowing down concert-goers.  

The unseen world is on the march.  The New Testament calls this a "war" in the heavenly realms--not a one-off,  an occasional horror or a tragedy.  War is merciless and this one we are undergoing is no different.  

We can vote people in and out of the White House; we can protest; we can make our disgust known and we can be adamant that what we are seeing is wrong.  So be it. 

But it is bigger than that.  Jesus, who was in a world filled with violence, abuse, war and depravity (the Roman world was not a nice place to be) said to His followers, who would all face persecution and violent death in the future because of that Roman government: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Peace. Hope. Purpose.  That is what He offered them.  This is what He offers us.  

Stronghold Starter #3: Not Forgiving: Show Mercy? I Don't Get Any.

Wow.  This is a tough one.  We have all suffered at the hands of someone else.  Someone who knew better.  Someone who violated our trust.  Someone who could have stopped, but didn't.  Someone who wore the Christian label, but acted in ways that were anything but.  Someone that when we sought reconciliation, rebuffed us.  Someone who rebuffed us many times.   

Maybe we sought to take on some of the blame, be humble and offer to make amends, only to be looked at with disdain and contempt for appearing to be so weak.

Yuck.  Forgiveness is a touchy thing; I don't think Jesus would have taught on it as much as He did if it were easy-breezy to do.  Think quickly, and multiple verses pop up:

"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" (Matt. 6:12) Yeah.

"Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." (Col. 3:13) Ouch.

"For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matt. 6:14-15) Whoa.

"So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” (Luke 17:3-4) Yikes.

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." (Eph. 4:31-32) Alright already...I get it. 

Inescapable, right?  Yes.  Hard to do?   Yes.  Why?  Because at the core of unforgiveness is pride.  Pride provides the perfect starting point for Satan to come in and start building a stronghold.  

Wait a minute!  I was hurt by that person!  Shattered!  Abandoned!  I am the victim here!

True.  Satan loves it when our hurt is real.  He exploits it to get us focused on ourselves.  We pull in, nursing the hurt, and all the while Satan is fanning the flames of our wounded pride.  

Notice the above verses:  They redirect our focus back to the outside, away from ourselves and asking us to reestablish community.  Sometimes it is dangerous to reestablish community with our violators; but Jesus wants us in His community, with His people, seeking fellowship, prayer and healing.  

The last thing Satan wants is our healing.  Healing does not happen in isolation; it happens in community with loving, compassionate people who come alongside us, pray for us and then walk with us towards wellness.  

But pride says, Hey, I received no mercy when I was being hurt/abused/wronged/shattered...so why should I be the one to forgive?  I didn't receive any mercy--quite the opposite--I don't know what mercy looks like anyway.  I am sure not going to learn now.  My life has worked so far (self-protection is my name and unforgiveness is my game) and though deep down I am terribly unhappy, I will not let you see that.  I won't allow that kind of vulnerability to be visible.  I hate weakness.  I will act strong, that I've moved on, but don't cross me.  The unforgiveness is right below the surface.  I do life by myself, thank you very much.

I know of someone who is like this.  He is a pastor.  He knows the Word like no other.  He has benefited from excellent training in the ministry.  But he doesn't want anyone to hold him accountable.  To see his hurt.  To see his pride that has roared up, leaving a debris trail of broken relationships behind him.  Being in community with other believers who are his equals threatens him.  He is only comfortable when he is around those people whom he sees as spiritually inferior.  

I learned a lot from listening to his teachings.  He got me into the Word and excited about it.  My trust in him, however, eroded as I watched his pride take over.  He did not show compassion.  He scorned those who he saw as weak, especially as they battled an illness.  He sees weakness as being caused from a lack of faith.  He has told people, "I never get sick," which implies his faith outshines everyone else's.  

He was terribly abused as a child; his hurt and his wounds are real.  Despite his contention that God has "taken everything away," his wounds still influence his life on a daily basis.  

He didn't receive mercy as a child.  He did not receive compassion as a child.  It was not modeled and although he may intellectually know what mercy is, his hurt drives him.  This has lead to bitterness and a contempt for others.  

I have seen a lovely part of him break through--the Jesus part.  His smile is a joy.  His enthusiasm is contagious.  He loves the Word.  

But unforgiveness is a toxin to the soul, slowly but surely paralyzing it until a person feels dark inside and then acts dark.    

My heart longs for reconciliation.  I tried early on to repair a breach in our relationship, but I was met with accusations (that were proven false, but to no avail), anger (how dare I question him), followed by silence (my name is only mentioned to others with contemptuous tones).    

But, and this is HUGE:  I have to be equally as forgiving as I expect him to be.  Equally compassionate as I wish him to be.  Equally laying pride aside and not nursing the wounds, as I would like him to do.  

In other words, we both need to lean on Jesus. 

Satan would like to sabotage this.

Jesus would like to heal this.

It is his choice.

It is my choice. 

That is forgiveness and that starts to dismantle the stronghold. 

Stronghold Starter #2: Knowledge: I am Smartest/Most Spiritual Person in This Place

We are exploring how Satan starts to build a stronghold in our lives.  How do we open our hearts to such an incursion?  Pride is at the core of all Satan's forays into our lives.  Pride manifests itself in a lot of different ways; some of these ways are seemingly innocent or seem spiritual enough.  But at the core is the stench of pride.

Jesus used a lovely metaphor when describing this seemingly spiritual exterior:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." (Matt. 23:27-28) 

Jesus is detailing a long list of violations of God's call to His servants; the Pharisees wanted all the accolades and respect they could secure by appearing to be spiritual, yet Jesus could see the emptiness inside and how it was filled with pride.  

Jesus uses another way to describe this condition:

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” (Matt.12: 43-45)

Again, emptiness.  The person looks fine on the outside, but the heart is empty.  As in nature, the spiritual realm hates a vacuum.  To quote a Bob Dylan song, "You gotta serve somebody/It may be the devil, or it may be the Lord/But you're gonna have to serve somebody."   Interesting, one of the lines in the song includes, "You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride..."

A person may appear humble, but it is pride really drives this person.  

We talk about a someone who has to be the smartest person in a room; center of attention; life of the party.  Everyone knows who that person is--we can't help it, because that person is determined to take over the room.  We expect this of people who have not experienced the transformative touch of Jesus.  But when a Christian acts this way, it is injurious to the Body of Christ, for it makes Christ's Body mimic the world.  

Inside of serving from an overflowing cup, people serve from a deep insecurity that supports itself with "I have struggles, but I am not as bad as that person.  I am more spiritual than others at least."  People cling to the one thing that makes them distinctive--their supposed depth of knowledge and belief--and yet fail to see how that allows Satan to make his entrance into their lives.  

Satan then fans the flames of insecurity and also pride of spiritual superiority--a fire that sears all who come near this person.  

Paul called on his leaders in the early church to be teachable.  If I am teachable, I acknowledge several things about myself:

1.  I have not arrived spiritually; I will always have something to learn from Jesus and His Word and
from my brothers and sisters in Christ.  

2.  I may have misunderstood something and need to reexamine it by returning to the Word.

3.  This life in Christ is a process after I initially receive Him into my heart.  I am born again, but
I have to grow and develop in Him just as a baby grows and develops.

4.  I will have setbacks; either I feel sorry for myself or see them as opportunities for growth.

Finally, let's look at Paul.  If anyone could be the most spiritual/smartest guy in the room, it was him by far.  He was the architect of the early church under the work of the Holy Spirit.  

Notice something here with these verses.  Look at the dates when the letters were written, and how he chronologically sees himself:

"For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." (1 Cor. 15:9-10; written in AD 53-57)

"Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ..."  (Eph. 3:8; written in AD 62)

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.  But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life."  (1 Tim. 1:15-16; written in either AD 64-65 or AD 58-59)

Do you see pride in any of these verses?  Do you see an insecurity that needs to be nursed by being the center of attention?  Do you Satan having moved into an empty heart?  

No.  Paul learned, as he walked in Christ, a fundamental truth:  He had nothing to bring to Jesus and everything to gain by being in Christ.  Any insecurity or shame he felt had come under the healing hand of Christ.  Any arrogance of his greatness had been burned away by Christ's loving and purifying fire.    

He served Christ in Christ and by Christ.  

When your city gates flies open because you feel insecure or arrogant, bring it to the Lord and slam the gate shut in His strength and power.  Stand in Him alone.  

Stronghold Starter #1: Apathy/Judgement..."Why Should I Care?"

Let's go to the gates that have secured Garden of Eden.  Paradise is barred.  Angels with a flaming sword see to that.

Go a little further and you will see a family.  A father is tilling the soil, sweat dripping from his forehead.  A mother is preparing vegetables, soon to be placed in a pot that steams over a fire.  Two sons are in the distance.  We don't hear what they are saying, for they are moving further away.  Soon one son returns from back over the horizon.  He has a sort of sneer on his face.  Are those blood splatters on his tunic? 

Now, for the encounter:"Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?'
'I don’t know,' he replied. 'Am I my brother’s keeper?'" (Gen. 4:9)

Let's unpack this horrible moment and its origin.  Pride is at the core of this as it is with all stronghold starters.  Cain had pride in his offering, despite it not following the Lord's instructions for offerings:

"Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast."

Obviously, the Lord has instructed that the offering be from a firstborn creature, not from a fruit or a vegetable.  The Lord was training humanity to see that a life substituted for a life pleases Him and makes restitution, even this far back in our history.  Of course, this foreshadows the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world; these people did not know that, of course.  But the Lord asks not for our understanding (though He will reveal His plans as time goes on) but our obedience to His Word.  

Abel was obedient and Cain was not.

Let's listen in the dark satanic whisperings in Cain ear: 

Forget he’s your brother!
He doesn’t deserve to live for making you look bad with his sacrifice!
What’s wrong with your fruits and vegetables? They’re good enough!
Who does Abel think he is, bringing that lamb? Why should he be favored over you?
Is he special because he’s being obedient? Get real. He’s just kissing up.
It doesn’t matter what you bring…just bring something.
He’s always making you look bad!
Are you just gonna sit around and let him get away with it? Again?

Pride.  Pure and simple.  That's the beginning of the end.  For despite pride at the core of Cain's heart, you see a somewhat going-through-the-motions kind of guy on the outside.  

Until the dirty deed is done.  

The Lord then confronts Cain, and we get an unbridled response of apathy and judgement from Cain.  In essence, he is saying,   

Why should I care?  

He's not my problem.

He's his own problem.

He should be taking care of himself.

No one is looking after me.

If he's not around, that's his issue, not mine.  

Pride says, I don't have to care, because you are not my problem.

Pride says, If you have inconvenienced me in any way, I can ignore you.

Pride says, It is about me ultimately.  So, what do you have to do with me?  

Ugly.  God wanted this family to live in community together.  So, when Abel prepared the offering, Cain could have helped.  It wasn't Abel's offering per se; it was the family's offering.  So, the fact that Abel did it on his own, with Cain skulking around elsewhere, says that Cain had already isolated himself from his brother early on.  Cain has a "me versus you," kind of thinking, which quickly degrades into "I am better than you."   

Now, for the solution to a prideful apathy:

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." (Gal. 6:9-10)

How can we do this?  

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Col. 3:15-17)

Who do we follow?  

"Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!" (Phil. 2:2-8)

Cain needed to see his brother as a companion not a competitor.  We need to see each other like that as well.  We are the Body of Christ, with His love as the animating substance in all the members.  

There are people who suffer from auto-immune disorders, when the body attacks itself. Pride, manifesting itself in apathy and judgement, is when His Body attacks Itself.  

Ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate pride in your heart, then lay it on the altar.  

 

Stronghold Starters

I am back.  My winter was rough--I suffer from depression and have for many years.  Sometimes it gets the better of me, so I went on hiatus.  Spring has come to the mountains with wild flowers a-plenty and so I thought, Hey, it's time to blog again!  So away we go...

I have posted a lot about spiritual warfare.  I am no means an expert, but my studies have led me to ponder what allows Satan to gain a stronghold in our lives.

The word "stronghold" in Greek means "castle."  Let us consider a castle for a moment.  How do you start to build a castle?

Select a strategic area in the landscape.  Sticking a castle 20 miles way up in the hills would be useless.  You put it where you can control the surrounding area for miles around, with good views and a seemingly invincible structure to wow your enemies and comfort your people.

Excavate the land and prepare it.  Bring in local materials.  Build a strong foundation.  A castle that is wobbly or easily knocked over wouldn't be considered worth the effort.  Having the castle fall down after one or two onslaughts would be a waste of materials, time and labor, and would be laughable in terms of protection.

Build slow and sure.  Rome wasn't built in a day nor should a strong castle be.

Make it look intimidating.  No frou-frou.  Strong walls, tall ramparts, strong gate and lots of strategically located vantage points and attack points from which to engage and vanquish (that's the whole point, isn't it?  You don't build castles when all is peaceful) your foes.  Once vanquished, you keep them subdued with your mere presence in your castle.

You are safe inside this castle.  Your enemies do not just stroll in and you are able to survive their attacks.

Think about the Trojan War.  The Greeks attacked this city on a hill for ten years to no avail.  Then, hidden inside a peace offering of a large wooden horse to the Trojans, the Greeks finally got inside the city walls by stealth alone.  Then, once the Trojans had partied themselves into a stupor, the Greeks emerged (having waited quite a while cramped inside that horse) and BOOM! they attacked and vanquished the Trojans.

Many times we think about ourselves in Christ as dwelling in a strong citadel of His love, protection and forgiveness.  True.  But, Satan, even with us strong believers, still manages to sneak into our lives and wreak havoc.   Newer believers, despite wanting to follow Jesus, get broadsided so often that sometimes they doubt their salvation.

What is the "Trojan Horse" then?  How does Satan get into our castle and starts to erect his own?  Here are the stronghold starters and the attitudes that is contained within them (which no one sees but God and maybe you, if you are being listening to the Holy Spirit's voice):

1. Apathy/Judgement: Why should I care?

2. Knowledge: I am the smartest/most spiritual person in this place.

3. Not Forgiving: Show mercy? I don't get any.

4. Greed/Envy: I deserve more. Others? Less.

5. Insecurity/Fear/Lack of Trust: God is not reliable.  I take care of me.

6.  Lust:  I deserve to have my needs met, no matter the cost.  

7.  Doubt/Confusion:  "Did God really say..."  (Gen. 3:1)

8.  Past wounds, Physical & Mental health Challenges:  I am who they say I am.

9.  Offense/Anger/Hatred:  I only give people what they deserve.

10.  Hypocrisy/Denial:  Only my truth counts.

Now wait a minute, you might be saying, The world acts this way, but believers?  We are new creations in Christ.  He has cast such ugliness away.  

Yes, but the old nature wants to creep in, take over and the enemy of your soul is all too happy to help.  If we think we are immune to such attitudes, Satan has already established a stronghold.  What does His Word say?

"This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts." (1 John 1: 5-10)

Our pride is the way in for Satan into our lives.  Pride is the Greek soldiers hiding inside what looks to be, on the outside, respectable and Christ-like.  We appear to be a gift to others, when we are really hiding something deeper, more sinister inside.  That inner pride will someday disrupt whatever we are doing for the Lord, which is Satan's endgame.  Satan wants to render you useless to the Kingdom of God and all the while you are denying that you have any issues.

I am going to explore each of these stronghold starters.  Pride feeds each of the attitudes and then each of the attitudes feeds pride.  It's a deadly to the soul kind of exchange, and it starts very subtly.  Sometimes we are so deceived as to our own self-righteousness, (we would never call it "pride--that's what unbelievers have!) we don't notice we are compromised until we are losing our ministry, our family, maybe even the will to live.

Join me.  It's good to be back. 

The Seven Deadly DISTRACTIONS

We have all heard of the Seven Deadly Sins.  They are not listed in the Bible as such, but are list of sins that the Catholic Church created as requiring utter contrition and confession; otherwise, a person could be eternally damned. Serious stuff to be sure.  The list was created in the Middle Ages by a pope; it no doubt answered the question, "What sin will cause me to go to Hell?"  Because seven is a divine number, this list gave a cogent answer to the question, with seemingly divine authority behind it. I am not here to debate this list; I am going to use it to take another tact.  Here are the sins:

1.  envy
2.  gluttony
3.  greed/avarice
4.  lust
5.  pride
6.  sloth
7.  wrath

All of these sins are certainly listed in the Word; so Biblical precedent is here.  These sins are ugly in a person, and will lead to all sorts of misery when practiced. If you would like to characterize our nation right now, these sins are regularly practiced with no apologies.  Allow me to list where I see these sins most manifested:

1.  Envy:  The beauty industry is entirely built upon the idea that you are missing out if you don't dress/look/accessorize/behave like the women in the magazine.  The magazines stir up insecurity in women ("You look like WHAT?") and then offer a "solution":  Take our advice and do/buy ________.  This is also why we have a love/hate thing going on with celebrities:  We want to have what they have and look the way they do, but our resources won't allow it.  So we envy them and look for ways we can be like them, even if it's from a bottle of their signature perfume or their favorite make-up brand.  Envy comes from discontentment; discontentment is the lie that happiness is just "over there." 

2.  Gluttony:  Food channels, advertising, super-size, large portions, lots of portions, snacks (whole aisles in supermarkets are dedicated to them), fast food, all-you-can-eat:  all shout that food is important and lots of food is really important.  Emotional eating and comfort food provide merely a temporary fix to the real hunger within.   

3.  Greed/Avarice:  Wallstreet, CEO's, evangelists with jets and extravagant lifestyles, Trump and his ilk, the green god... We call it "the pursuit of wealth" (when we're doing it) and "you're just being downright greedy" (if our competitor is doing it.).  We are fascinated by the lifestyles of the rich and famous, yet we cringe at $1200 air-conditioned dog houses and $139.00 steaks for your portable pet.  Money is supposed to buy you everything the world has to offer and so the more of it you have, the more happiness is to be yours.  Hollywood should then be the happiest place on earth.  Not.

4.  Lust:  Sex-trafficking, porn, movies, book, animation (Japanese cartoons come to mind), video games, advertising (sex sells), a divorce rate that leaves shattered families in its wake and children growing up with no idea what healthy (yes, I mean Biblical) love and marriage look like.  Lust relieves anxiety, provides an escape and in the end, makes sex not a request but a demand.  I demand to be happy, and you are going to provide me that sexually, whether you want to or not. 

5.  Pride:  You deserve ______________ is the bottom line of advertising. You are special.  You are awesome.  You need not work hard, just show up and everyone gets a prize.  If families are shattering children, then schools must pick up the slack and make children feel good about themselves.  In some churches, prosperity, healing and God wants only the best for you (read, materially) is an appeal to the flesh, which thinks it deserves only the best.  It's all about you, you, you.  And why not?  Aren't you the center of the universe?  We may not say that, but we sure act like it. 

6.  Sloth:  The government must provide for its citizens.  Several generations later, it is still providing.  An easy A, lowered standards and making a challenge less so is leading to apathy and a sense of why bother.  "I love to work at nothing all day," says the song.  With addictions to help us check out, we do little because we care little. 

7.  Wrath:  "Mean People Suck" was a popular bumper sticker years ago, and those who thought it was a noble sentiment catered to the very meanness they were shunning.  Our culture is mean with its jokes, comments, tweets, and overall social media posturing about what everyone else should be doing.  Bullying, cyber-bullying, and presidential tweets create an atmosphere of anxiety and a need to strike first.  Being offended is the anger-du-jour, and who isn't being offended these days?  Fake news to upset us, real news to confound us and so we get angry and stay that way. 

But, wait a minute.  How about recasting these Seven Deadly Sins as the Seven Soul-Numbing Distractions?  The sin element is still there, but in a world of not-so-quiet desperation, people want an escape.  Whenever you tell your pride, "Hey!  You deserve this!" you will jump on the Distraction Bus and go for a ride.  Sadly, for too many people today, this bus goes nowhere. 

Wait!  Isn't that the point?  A sin separates us from God, so we try to avoid sin most of the time.  But a DISTRACTION...now that doesn't sound so serious, does it?  A distraction is a less I'm-raising-my-fist-against-God and is more of a I-may-be going-nowhere-but-I-deserve-this-darnit kind of thing. 

Let's revisit the list, and look at these as distractions:

1.  Envy:  I am going to spend a lot of time on social media to poo-poo those folks who think they have it all.  I will not be overtly mean, but if I need to jab a bit, I will do so.  I will distract myself with other people's joys, sorrows, foul-ups and post all of my stuff, with the clock ticking away and my heart not thinking a whole lot about God.  It's not SINFUL, but...I am using my time to escape, not engage in His Word and spend time with Him.  I am distracting myself from the emptiness I feel inside.

2.  Gluttony:  The 1/2 gallon of ice cream is a distraction from my inner hunger, my inner emptiness.  Instead of feeding on the Bread of Life, I am distracting myself with a feel-good-for-awhile until the next bout of emptiness kicks in--and it will, for only Jesus truly satisfies.

3.  Greed:  Every moment shopping is a moment not thinking about my emptiness.  I think that a new _____ will make me happy but it cannot last.  So, I must shop/distract myself again and again.  God feels distant because my heart is distant. 

4.  Lust:  It is the one appetite that no matter how often you try to satiate it, it will continue to gnaw at you.  Why?  Because we were made for God's love and lust desperately tries to counterfeit this. 

5.  Pride:  If it's all about me, me, me, I can distract myself for quite a long time with getting my needs met...but after a while, I get sick of me.  I am trying to distract myself from myself.  It hits the spot, momentarily, but leaves us hungering for more. 

6.  Sloth:  Distraction, hour after hour, day after day...leaves me wanting to inhabit an alternate universe and there is no shortage of digital material promising a distraction from my hum-drum-accomplishing-nothing-of-meaning world.  I have a God-given purpose I am distracting myself from day in and day out, and patiently He waits.   

7.  Wrath:  If I enjoy the rush of pride and superiority that being angry all the time gives me, I am distracted from a fundamental truth:  the world with its values cannot be fixed.  Only human beings with a transformed heart by the touch of Jesus can change the world, because change is from the inside out.

So, if we allow ourselves to be persuaded that "Well, I am not really sinning..." when our distractions take us our of His presence and into a false Eden of our own creation, we lose the very reason we are here: to have deep fellowship with the One Who made us.