Our world view has much to contribute to how we respond in every day life. We view circumstances through our own biases we have already placed in our minds.
John 8:31-32 31Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
If truth will make one free then it stands to reason that a lie will place a person in some kind of bondage. We saw in part one of this teaching that the adversary lied to Eve in thThe lie that Satan used on Eve empowered him to deceive her and accomplish his immediate goal. This lie came to her by way of words. Eve began to question God's word. As soon as Eve began to question God's word and give heed to the devil things began to unravel in paradise.
The devil brought the fight right into paradise. Adam was told not only to dress the garden he was also told to keep it. The word keep, means to guard, to protect. Adam was given the responsibility to guard the garden. Why? Although things were perfect in the garden Satan had free reign and access to the garden.the responsibility to guard the garden. Why? Although things were perfect in the garden Satan had free reign and access to the garden.
God did not keep Satan out of the garden. Do you know why? It was not his job. Who was commissioned to guard the garden? Adam was. Thus it was Adam's responsibility to keep harmony in the garden. However, if harmony is not kept in the marriage it will never be observed in the home. God gave Adam and Eve dominion over all living things upon the earth.
Genesis 1:26-28 26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Was the serpent upon the earth? Did not Adam and Eve have the God given dominion over every living thing upon the earth according to verse 28 of Genesis 1? So did Adam and Eve have dominion over the serpent? Sure they did.
Genesis 1:28 doesn't say "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth except the serpent."
You see in order for the serpent to gain an advantage over Eve he had to trick her into believing a lie. This happened right smack in the middle of paradise. Do you think the devil has changed his methods? He continues to speak lies to believers today smack in the middle of church.
He brings the fight to the believer. You would expect him to deceive the world but he doesn't stop there. He is never satisfied with just deceiving man of body and soul. If he can infiltrate the church then he can attempt to destroy the one thing he has always been after and that is the word. Without the Word the world is hopeless.
The devil is always after the word; for it's that word that makes people free.
So inside the church he does some of his greatest work. He deceives the teachers of the church, and in turn, they present the lies he feeds them to their congregation. When the people accept these lies as truth then the devil is empowered in their lives to deceive them.
And he uses the resident clergy "men of God" to accomplish this goal. Take for instance the lie that is propounded throughout most of Christianity today that "the dead are alive now."
When uninstructed and ignorant, or poorly instructed leaders in the church teach that God kills their loved ones and takes them home to heaven and now they are alive and all is well in the great here after, they teach the devils catechism.
Luke 24:13-20 13And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 14And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 16But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. 17And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? 18And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? 19And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 20And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
There is always sorrow in the death of a loved one. According to verse 17 these two disciples were sad. When a person experiences the death of someone close to them they naturally grieve. The loss of a loved one can be a very emotionally charged time in a person's life.
Many times a grieving person does not think clearly and will grab onto any comfort offered them. Because of the adversary's insidious nature, he offers the brokenhearted false comfort and hope. He does this to further his control and influence in their lives and not out of compassion.
If you believe the dead are alive right now in heaven then why would not you believe that your lost one is watching over you? And if they are watching over you then why would it be so hard to believe that they can talk to you?
And if the dead are alive now then why not pray to some great believer of the bible to help you? The list goes on and on. Then when you go to a medium and they bring up your dead husband or dead wife etc. why not talk to them?
I do not mean to sound unloving or cruel. It is the devil who is unloving and cruel by lying to the church. And when you believe the lie that the dead are alive now you empower the devil to deceive you in so many areas of your life that were not available to him had you known the truth and believed it.
Anyone who hears from the dead is listening to a demon.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.Psalm 6:5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?KJV Psalm 88:10-11 10Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. 11Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?NIB Job 7:8-10 8The eye that now sees me will see me no longer; you will look for me, but I will be no more. 9As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to the grave does not return. 10He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more.
The dead will rise in the future. This is part of the great hope of the church. God will raise the dead some to be rewarded, some to be judged and some to suffer the second death. As for the church of grace some will never see death. Some will be changed; the mortal will put on immortality.
1 Corinthians 15:51-53 51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
The corruptible are the dead ones who will put on incorruption. The mortal are the saints that will be alive when Jesus returns they will put on immortality.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
This is the true comfort of the word. If we fall asleep before our Lord Jesus comes back, he promises to raise us from the dead. We will be raised with a new and glorious body: an incorruptible one. If we are alive he will change our mortal bodies to immortal ones and so shall we ever be with the lord.
We will be with him when he comes back to the earth and reign with him for a thousand years here on the earth. And we will be with him and our father God in the eternal kingdom forever. What a glorious hope and future we have to look forward to. This is our true comfort this is our true hope this is what the scriptures teach.ÿ
Note: All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. NIV indicates The New International Version, NLT indicates the New Living Translation, NAS indicates the New American Standard version, NKJV indicates the New King James Version, ASV means the American Standard Version, NJB means the New Jerusalem Bible, BBE means the Bible in Basic English, DBY means the Darby translation, NAU means the American Standard Version, 1995 Edition, and NAB means the New American Bible translation. For more information, go to the Works Cited page.