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“DELIVER US FROM ALL EVIL,” (DANGER & ABUSE,) AND “RESTORE OUR SOULS”
Renette Vermeulen
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[Acknowledgement to the people who compiled and published these images]
God continually “delivers us from evil” on a multilevel, and although we must also pray that we do not “come into temptation,” the reality is, we live in a sin-riddled “world that is “in the power of the evil one,” (1 John 5:19.) Thus, Jesus also warned, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! ...Take heed to yourselves, [beware or be on your guard, that you do not “fall into temptation and a snare,” 1 Tim. 6:9.] If [someone repeatedly] sins against you, rebuke him. And if he repents, [sincerely confesses and stops the abuse,] forgive him,” (Luke 17:1-3.) Here, the reality is that only a few people truly repent from abusing others. It is said that one in every six people are narcissists — not just guys who ‘like’ themselves, but dangerous, sadistic, psychopathic predators of destruction. Narcissism is at the root of all dangerous psychological disturbances — and especially in violent crimes such as assault, rape, psychological and physical abuse, sadistic torture, child molestation, murder, and serial killing. Those self-entitled beasts of destruction have been among humanity since the fall in Eden, but 2 Timothy 3:1-6 warn, “Know this, that in the last days, [that we now live in,] perilous [dangerous] times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, [narcissists…] having a form of godliness but denying its power. From such people turn away!” So, they come to us as normal, loving, even religious people, but “inwardly, they are ravenous wolves… You will know them by their [constant] fruit,” not their mere mistakes, which we are all prone to. Only Jesus can “deliver us from evil” to “restore” or renew our souls, (minds or thoughts, beliefs, and emotions) through the Truth of His Word in Holy-Spirit teaching and power, (John 16:13-14.) No psychologist, psychiatrist, or medical doctor can do this. Consulting them might relieve some of the burdens for a while, and the drugs doctors push onto those who suffer emotionally may calm them for the moment. But only Jesus can truly heal people emotionally, and often, He uses sincere believers as His instruments to quell their hurt and confusion. Point is: Jesus comforts and heals us through His Word, (the Rod or Scriptural correction,) and Spirit, (the Staff or Holy-Spirit conviction and leading,) to “restore” our souls or minds: (will, intellect, and emotions,) (Ps. 23:4.) Thus, He promised, “If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. And [then] you will know the truth [about everything] and the truth will set you free,” (Jn. 8:31-32.) ¨ In other words, we must get a reality check from above on everything that keeps on torturing us. As long as believers allow people to deceive them, they will be enslaved by abusive sadists at home, in religion, politics, and everywhere else, (2 Pt. 2:19-22!) That is why Jesus warned in Luke 8:18, “Take heed [or be careful] how you hear: for whosoever has, to him will be given; and whosoever has not, from him will be taken even that which he [might think] he has.” We must always make sure we know what God and people are saying so that we do not miss the truth, become confused, make mistakes, draw our own conclusions, take an overall view which leads to misunderstanding, and miss deceptions and trickery that mighty destroy us. So, to “understand” is the crux of our spiritual, intellectual, and emotional lives. ¨ As Jesus illustrated in Scripture, ‘understanding’ with the motive of obeying God, was passionately practiced even under the Old Testament Covenant, (Nehemiah 8:3,5-6,13,) and so, it is vital to understand the Word of God to know where we are with Him and what He expects us to do, ( Mt. 22:29, 2 Tim. 2:15, Mt. 13:19 KJV.) One must begin by understanding Who Jesus Is, what He really did for us at the cross, and that our obedience to the true context of His Word is mandatory, (Mt. 3:13-17; 28:19-20.) Jesus warned in John 12:47-48, “…He who rejects Me and does not receive My Words has one that judges him – the Word that I have spoken will judge him in the Last Day.” We can never say we belong to Jesus if we do not accept His words. When we receive Jesus’ words, we accept Him. Jesus Himself Is The Word of God, (Jn. 1:1-5.) Jesus Himself Is Almighty God, (Col. 2:9; Jn. 1:1-5; Heb. 1:1-14; Rev. 1:8!) Should we reject His words, we reject God; we reject Jesus, the Only Way to heaven! [Taken partly from the “Water Baptism of disciples as Jesus illustrated by example, and commanded just before He ascended into heaven,” Mt. 28:18-20.]
We have talked about “inner healing” before, (which is actually just another New Age practise that was adopted by the churches,) but this is always a relevant subject because of the broken world we live in. “Inner healing” is not a specific term in Scripture. Yet, while our human spirits, which were born again through acceptance of Jesus, are “complete” or perfect in Him, there is still a lifetime of work in Him to systematically “restore,” “renew,” or heal our souls or minds from all the affliction, false priorities, and deceptions of this world, (Col. 2:10; Jn. 1:12-13; 1 Ths. 5:23; Rom. 12:1-3!) Still, the entire Bible radiates God’s concern and care for the “broken hearted,” the “oppressed,” and all the other suffering people in this world. Whether “emotional wounds” were caused by things like childhood or marital trauma and abuse; grief, loss, persecution, hopelessness, (“depression,”) poverty, or disabilities, they mess up our minds and lives, manifest sickness in our bodies, create problems in relationships, and even destroy our relationship with the Lord Jesus. Thus, at the cross, our Redeemer, Savior, and Blessor Jesus Christ “has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed,” (Isa. 53:3-5.) Now if this does not describe God’s promise in Psalm 23:3 to “restore our souls,” I don’t know what will, (1 Ths. 5:23.) That is why our Father in heaven, looking at true believers through Jesus’ full atonement in their place, declares them guiltless, holy, accepted, in peace, comforted, and healed spiritually and emotionally; even physically according to His will for every individual person, (Jn. 1:12-13; Col. 2:10.) Note that all these marvels in Christ are described in the past tense, as it was already fully accomplished for us that day when Jesus declared, “[My complete atonement for all believing humanity] is finished [or completed,]” (Mt. 5:17; John 19:28-30; 3:16.) Should we willingly bring everything to His throne in humble prayer, and follow His Spirit in obedience to His Moral Law, (the Only New Testament/Covenant Law Jesus ever commanded, John 13:34,) He really “restores, renews, or transforms” our souls or “minds,” for He is indeed “close to the broken hearted and those who are crushed in spirit.”
So, in the light of the above, why does God allow the innocent to suffer so continuously in this world; even to the point where they can lose faith in Jesus Christ and the Truth of His Word, because their suffering and circumstances never seem to change? To speculate about the ‘whys’ and ‘why nots’ where God’s Sovereign Decisions are concerned, is useless. God’s Word encapsulates everything we need to know on this side of the grave. I am not willing to attempt any such foolishness as to dissect the decisions of the Sovereign, Almighty God, but here follow some of what He did reveal to us. The reason why we cannot see God’s Almighty hand in suffering is that churches neglect to teach us Who the God of Scripture really Is. Jesus, the Only Christ or Redeemer-Savior, is the God of both the Old and New Testaments; the Creator God of heaven and earth, to Whom everyone and everything will always remain subjected, (Heb. 1:1-14.) He ingrained His Moral Laws, by which He governs His universe, in the mind of every human. All humans can distinguish right from wrong on a moral level, (Rom. 2:14-15; Jn. 13:34; Gen. 9:5; Rom. 2:13-16!) Accordingly, Scripture simplifies suffering as follows. Through the sin of man in Eden, “the whole [innocent] creation became subject to futility,” and God’s innocent creatures will only be redeemed That Day when Jesus returns, (Rom. 5:12; 8:20.) It is the sin of humanity that destroys God’s marvelous creation, themselves, the innocent, and perverts God’s goodness through Christ. This exemplifies the scope of unrepentant sin, and the reality that God does not allow the suffering, which sin causes, to destroy His people, but so that they might grow on a mind level “in knowledge and in grace” through it, (2 Pt. 3:18; Mt. 24:27-31; Heb. 5:7-8.) It is a fact of life that God forges our character growth in Him by allowing controlled trials and tribulation, (Acts 14:22.) But to confuse believers, duotheism, (the good-and-bad god dogma,) teaches that the God of the Bible, (Jesus,) is the One Who sends disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes to kill thousands of people, sets up evil governments to murder millions of their own citizens, etcetera. However, by giving Himself in the human body of His Son Jesus, the One and Only Christ, the Righteous Judge of the Universe also revealed Himself as the God of Grace, (Jn. 3:16.) What most people grossly overlook is that the Creator God Jesus Christ, (John 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:1-14,) gave every person and even animals a free will, intellect, and emotions, (souls or minds,) and He will not, like Satan does, crush any of that. Similarly, He does not take back the gifts and talents He had entrusted to us, and so, gifts like prophecy are abused in fortune-telling, etcetera, (Rom. 11:29.) God has destined the whole unrepentant world for The Day of Judgement, but until then, He will not change or stop the self-willed, sinful course of those without Him in the world, (Jn. 3:16-18; 1 Jn. 5:18-19.) Thus, God will not redeem, save, or “restore the mind” of anyone who unrepentantly chooses to follow darkness and destruction. Jesus is not the dual, or good and bad god of truth and lies, light and darkness. He is the all-good, righteous “Father of lights, in Whom there is no shadow or turning, [darkness or doubt,]” (Jam. 1:17 KJV.) The Lord does not murder, destroy, and oppress people, (Luke 9:56.) If He starts to annihilate evil doers, very few people would be left on earth, (Jn. 5:19.) The Lord Jesus calls, and we must follow, He speaks, and we must listen. He warns, and we must obey, (Heb. 3:15 KJV.) Otherwise, our own sin will destroy us, (and as a consequence everyone and everything around us,) as we shall all “reap what we sow,” (Gal. 6:7.) Consequently, God never forces anyone to accept and obey Him. He never grabs sin from our hands. He never takes captives to heaven; or give them redemption, salvation, and blessing in Christ, (which was fully won at the cross, Colossians 2:9-15,) if they do NOT “ask, seek, and knock” to enter into His eternal Kingdom. All of that can only be obtained by free choice and obedience to God’s New Covenant Word, (Jn. 1:12-13.) That is why the only commission Jesus gave His disciples is to “go into the whole world to preach His [redeeming, saving, blessing] Gospel to all [those who would willingly choose to listen, understand, and obey,] (Mt. 28:18-20.) This is God’s incomprehensible Love and Grace in Christ. This is how He redeems, saves, and blesses those who choose to believe in Him, follow and obey Him. There exists no other way. In the light of the above, it is clear that churches lied to us to say we must come to Jesus to find a utopia here on earth. The Kingdom-Now theology or restoration of the whole earth is a great deception. God’s Kingdom is inside the born again ‘hearts’ or human spirits of true believers, and He mostly changes our circumstances by changing us inwardly by “restoring our souls,” (Luke 17:20-21 KJV.) Instead of promising us the proverbial rose garden, Jesus warned, “...Whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father Who is in heaven… Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it [and stay on it.] Do not think that I came to bring [outward] peace on earth… but a sword. For [as people choose what they believe,] a man will be against his father, daughter against her mother… and a [believer’s greatest] enemies will be those of his own household. [Five in one house will be divided: three against two…] But he who loves [them] more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take up his cross, [the burdens and afflictions of this broken world that from his character,] and follow after Me [in spite of it all,] is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life [in prosperity in this world] will lose it. But he who loses his life for My sake will find it [for all eternity.]” (Mt. 7:15,16; 14; 10:32-39; Luke 12:52-53.) The Holy Spirit came to call every person in the world “out of darkness” by convicting them in their innermost being of sin, [their state of lostness without God, which is a spiritual place in darkness,] righteousness, [as redemption, salvation, and blessing can only be found in Jesus and through His full atonement in our place,] and judgement, [for those who reject Jesus and for those who disobey His Word,]” (Jn. 3:16; 16:8-11; 2 Ths. 2:6-12.) So, only those who decidedly heed His conviction and turn wholeheartedly to Jesus to follow Him to the end, will be redeemed and saved through personal faith in, and acceptance of Him, (Mt. 24:13.)
Those who are redeemed and saved by faith in Jesus Christ, must then begin the lifelong journey of following Him, which starts with the water baptism of true believers, (Mt. 28:19-20.) Jesus promised in John 8:12, “Whoever follows Me [as My disciple] will never [again] walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” After that, they must systematically move forward in Scriptural Truth and in the leading of the Holy Spirit so that their “minds,” (will, intellect, and emotions,) can be “renewed” or “restored” to understand God’s will for every situation to obey Him, (Rom. 12:1-2; John 16:13; 8:12.) If we do not obey God according to His New Testament Word, we are not saved and cannot be emotionally “restored.” 1 John 2:3 explains, “By this we know that we know Him, if we keep His [Moral-Law] commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and [chooses] not to keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His Word, truly the love of God is perfected in Him. By this we know that we are in Him.” We have to realize that believers are not in heaven yet. The real “home” of true believers is not on earth among the acceptance of people, in wealth, health, or any other tangible thing. We will live in this fallen, broken world until Jesus comes to take home - if we remain submitted to Him. So, the reality is that true believers are foreigners, strangers, and mere pilgrims in this world, (1 Pt. 2:11.) The “whole world [without the truth of God and His Word,] is in the [deceptive and controlling] power of the evil one,” (Jn. 5:19.) The world is not filled with good people but with evil people, “as in the days of Noah and Lot,” (Mt. 24:36-42.) Romans 3:9-24, “[Except for true believers, who are but a “few” in comparison to those in the world,”] there is none righteous, no, not one, (Mt. 7:14 KJV.) None who understands [God’s True Word and will...] None who does good [according to God’s Real Word.]’ Their throats are open tombs… They practice deceit… The poison of asps is on their tongues. Their mouths are filled with cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. And the way of [God’s true] peace they know not, for there is no fear of God before their eyes.” So, forget the false Kingdom-Now dogma that says this world will become a good or better world. Jesus warned in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 17 & 21 that “the world” will grow worse until That Day when He returns.
Consequently, we can never ‘change’ other people as we cannot choose ‘for’ them where the Lord Jesus Christ and all the incomprehensible benefits of His Scriptural Gospel are concerned. Once we have done our part according to the context of Scripture in Holy-Spirit leading, God will never “require their blood from our hands.” However, if we disobey Him and neglect His Moral-Law commandments, He will hold us responsible for the calamity, which our obedience could have avoided, (Ezk. 3:17-19 KJV.) Still, in the end, everyone will be solely responsible for all their own choices, (Ezk. 18:3, 19-22.) This proves that although we must pray, preach God’s Scriptural truth, warn as the Holy Spirit leads us, etcetera, we can never pressure people into submitting to God to share in everything Jesus has obtained for us through His suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, and at Pentecost when He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell all sincere believers “until the end of the world,” (Mt. 28:20.) That is why the Roman Catholic and Protestant Christian crusades and inquisitions during the dark ages and medieval times, were pure evil directly from hell; not God’s evangelisation of the world. The same goes for those who abuse us. As far as humanly possible, we must “confront” them with the motive to restore them to God and to us, but their choices remain their responsibility, (Lu. 17:1; Mt. 18:15-20.) Jesus never commanded us to “turn the other cheek,” to violence, treason, emotional murder, theft, or destruction. This metaphor goes for a mere insult or two — no more, (first the one cheek and then the other cheek.) It will benefit us greatly to understand that true forgiveness and fellowship are always attached to sincere confession of sin, repentance, and restitution, (when lies must be replaced by truth, etcetera:) Jam. 5:16; Mt. 18:15-20. Yet, we are not out to ‘force’ God to change people or to change them against their will. We shall not know them by their promises and clever schemes, but by their constant fruit. The person that cheats, lies, steals, etcetera, is the real person, not the one who does all that by hiding behind false promises, flattery, and a cheerful face, (Mt. 7:18.) The bad character of the person is exposed through his or her unrepentant bad deeds, and we cannot change anyone’s character — which they forged over a lifetime by their own dirty choices. So, Jesus said that a “bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” It may pretend that it is capable of bearing good fruit, but sooner or later it’s real fruit will always be revealed as deformed and rotten.
Often, for a lack of knowledge concerning the truth of God’s Word, people react sinfully to abuse by bargaining, reasoning, submission, never-ending forgiveness, and even excuses to justify and thus to enable the sins of their abusers. True forgiveness is not about feelings because we think ‘loving’ thoughts about those who abuse us. It is all about refusing to do evil and harm to other people, even those who did all that to us, while standing in the truth of God and live in obedience to His Word no matter what they do to us, (Mt. 18:15-20!) Sadly, because unrelenting abuse is totally overwhelming, this mostly result in the fact that abused people also sin instead of “doing what is right” according to the truth of God’s Word, which worsen their already unbearable burdens. In reality, all their goodness and prayers can never change anything about the abuse because abusers deliberately disregard God’s goodness. Still, the abused can become so disillusioned and indoctrinated that they believe their suffering is “God’s will,” and if they just keep on enduring, God will ‘save’ their abusers in spite of all their unrepentant choices. However, the abused must realize that their constant prayers, pleas, confrontations, etcetera, mean nothing to hard-hearted, unrepentant people. They are “[psychopathically] past feeling and alienated from God,” as Paul explained in Ephesians 4:17-19. In fact, Jesus forbade us to “throw [our precious] pearls of reconciliation and forgiveness before swine, as they [cannot see the value of the pearls and] will turn around and rend us,” (Mt. 7:6.) Jesus was saying we will only seriously endanger ourselves by disobeying this command. Let us be realistic and face the fact that we are never going to live in a paradise on earth. Until His return, “the whole world [will choose to be] in the power of the evil one,” (Jn. 5:19.) In contrast to the Truth of Scripture, churches programmed believers to think it strange when trials and tribulations come their way, while the entire Bible, but especially the New Testament Covenant in Jesus Christ, make it plain that we live in a fallen, broken world, and everyone without a sincere, obedient relationship with Jesus belongs to the world, (Jn. 13:34; 1 Jn. 2:3-5, 9-11.)
By ignoring all of the above, we actually become so “trauma and treason bonded” that we “partner” with thieves, emotional murderers, child molesters, and violent blasphemers, and unknowingly, “we [then] hate our own souls,” (Prov. 29:24.) When we “hate our souls, [the abuser] swears to tell the truth but reveals nothing [in spite of all his promises.]” In enabling such terrible sin against God and us, we disregard God’s warning that “light cannot fellowship with darkness, and so, we “must not be yoked together with unbelievers” and their sinful ways, no matter who they are, (2 Cor. 6:14-17.) We must never forget that fellowship with unrepentant sinners has the power to “take our crowns” or eternal lives, (Rev. 3:11.) 2 Peter 2:19-22 explained, “[As in the case of those who teach false church dogma,] they promise you liberty but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage… [So if you are] again entangled in them and [cannot] overcome,] the latter end is worse than the beginning…” If a person and his or her demons cannot be separated, they must all leave. Proverbs 22:10, “Cast out the scoffer [persecutor, mocker, infidel, provoker,] and contention [arguments and violence] will leave. [As a result,] strife and reproach, [outrage, shame, scolding, indignation] will cease.”
Coming out of such sadistic relationships, we often cannot get over the fact that we could have fallen and remained in their torturous traps. However, let us not beat ourselves up over our weaknesses, misunderstanding, and faults — which are human. If we could be perfect people, we would not need Jesus and His full atonement in our place. Nevertheless, that is not an excuse to remain under their control where they literally force their victims to sin. But where we did and do miss the mark, 1 John 21-2 declares, “...These things I write to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous…” Nevertheless, when we stumble, we must remember to live on a ‘cash basis with God and other people.’ This means we must confess all our sin as soon as possible to those whom we have seriously wronged, and of course, to our Father in heaven, and repent from it, (Jam. 5:16; Mt. 5:23-26!) On the sincere confession of our sins and our willingness to repent, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness. But if we say that we [do] not sin, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.” We must understand that we must strive to fully obey God, but we will always fall short on a soulical or ‘mind’ level, (Rom. 12:1-3.) Even if we think we have committed the “unforgiveable sin,” but we sincerely flee to God and strive to obey Him as described above, we must make a decided choice to also forgive ourselves and to see ourselves as human. Jesus was the only perfect human that lived after the fall on earth; we are totally reliant on His atonement in our place to please God. Without Him, there will never be any forgiveness for anyone, (Eph. 1:7.) Should condemnation refuse to ‘let go’ of us, we must then stand on Romans 8:1 that comforts us by saying, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who walk in the Spirit…” And our Wonderful Father in heaven made this promise in His eternal Word, “By this we know that we are of the truth, if we [can] assure our hearts before him. For if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things. [Jesus sympathizes with our blunders, [not wilful sin,] and weaknesses, because He sees everything in context and He knows the whole story about everything.] If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence toward God,” (1 John. 3:19-23.) After dealing with the realities of our human weakness and our total helplessness to fulfill God’s Moral law by ourselves, the next step to emotional freedom is to understand that forgiving unrepentant abusers is not a flood of wonderful emotions, but a process of obeying Jesus’ commandments to restore such people to Him and to us — and if they keep on refusing, to “let them go” because they are unbelieving destroyers, whom we must avoid as far as possible if we truly want to keep on following Jesus to heaven, (Mt. 18:15-20; Mt. 24:13.) Such people have only our demise in mind, (1 Ths. 5:21-22.) Flee from them, God commanded. Home The Power of Praise in Deliverance and Affliction Let’s Talk What do the Two Swords represent? (“Sell your cloak to buy a sword?” Luke 22:39) |
