Fighting the Four Evils

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10) Those who seek to be rich will pierce themselves with many sorrows. Such sorrows will then lead to destruction. People who chase after riches do not chase after riches because they are happy. They chase after it because of their sorrow. Their sorrow drives them to chase after riches, leading to even more sorrows. They are sorrowful for having less than they want, less than they think is fair, or less than others. It is because of this sorrow that they are driven to seek riches, thinking it will make them happy and joyful. However, such a person is like a hamster on a wheel. He seeks riches out of sorrow, thinking it will give him satisfaction, only to find that it drowns him in more sorrow. So, as he seeks more riches, he drowns himself in more sorrow each time. The spirit of mammon uses sorrow to dri...

" For the joy of the Lord is your strength " (Nehemiah 8:10). False teaching is dangerous because it teaches error, which destroys a person's right understanding of God and His ways. Without a right understanding of God, and His ways, one's relationship with God will be damaged, and even destroyed. One will not be able to have unity with God, which is the source of joy, from which one's strength of derived. True strength does not and cannot come from the arms of the flesh. Anything of the arms of the flesh is fallible and cannot be absolutely relied upon. Only God's strength can be absolutely and perfectly relied upon because He is the Creator of the Universe. That is why the Bible says: With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah (2 Chronicles 32:8). Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh f...

Many people in the modern Church have the mindset that a blessed life is one which receives whatever one wants or desires. That is an extremely dangerous false teaching which has ensnared many in seeking to get what they want, leading them to do move ahead of God, or resort to illicit ways of getting what they want. It has caused many to loose faith in God in waiting on God, resulting in much frustration, leading to bitterness, which leads to unbelief. To be blessed by God is to be favoured by God. What makes a person favoured by God is whether he or she walks righteously in the sight of God. He or she does not trust in himself or herself, but acknowledges God in all his or her ways. Proverbs 3:5-6 gives great wisdom: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.   In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. The Bible specifically exhorts us to trust in the Lord with all one's heart and not lean on one's own u...

Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart (Psalm 37:4). God created you for a unique purpose that only you can fulfil successfully.   No one else can fulfil it. He will give you all that you need to fulfil your calling that He has called you to.  You may be at a season in your life where everything seems dry, or that nothing which excites you is happening in your life. If that is what you are experiencing in your life, God is preparing you for something greater. He wants you to wait on Him expectantly, patiently, but not desperately.  If you are waiting on God for something desperately, it means that your desire for what you are waiting on God for is your own desire, and not a desire God has placed in your heart. The desires in your heart, and the only desires that God will give you, are those which He has placed in your heart. Psalm 37:4 says “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and He shall give thee the desires o...

Many in the modern Church in the west are smug behind their wealth. That includes not just those with large houses,  high levels of disposable income, and high-paying jobs. No, includes the many who do not consider themselves rich, but have a house to live in with electricity with a job, or who receive government assistance for the basic needs. Many of such people are just as proud in their hearts as those with large houses, much disposable income and high-paying jobs. Such people often do not realise that they are trusting in mammon, as opposed to God. A person trusts one or the other (Matthew 6:24).  They focus on long-term financial planning to ensuring that they and their families needs will be met, instead of simply trusting in God. They look forward to simply enjoying their "retirement", as opposed to working to advance in the Kingdom of God and do good works. They simply want to enjoy spending their life savings in old age, instead of giving their extra money or we...

A much-needed article on being ready to forgo all earthly comfort: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-if-god-takes-it-all-away

Many true Christians know in their heads that they cannot serve both God and mammon (Matthew 6:24). They do not want to, since they have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. However, they still struggle as they succumb to the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and pride of life (1 John 2:16). The lust of the eyes screams out to people to desire the things they can see, and their appearance of greatness, security, comfort and pleasure, tempting them to seek such things with no eternal value, instead of God. The lust of the flesh screams that one seek to have all that one can see, just because one can. The pride of life causes one to measures one's worth, or one's blessedness, that is, one's favour with God, by the amount of lust of the eyes and of the flesh that can be satisfied in oneself.  Perfect love casts out fear, and there is no fear in love (1 John 4:18). True Biblical love overcomes any fear that one may have at all, because its seeks God, focuses on God, and v...

An excellent and beautifully reflective article by Ravi Zacharias: http://rzim.org/global-blog/a-new-year-with-new-hope/

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!     For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High (Isaiah 14:12-14). We live in a world that loves to claim its "rights". Even many in the modern western Church, who are far more influenced by the western secular humanist thinking than they realise, love to claim their "rights". Such thinking is so pervasive and subtle that many in the modern western Church do not even know why they think the way they think, including the way they think about the Word of God, moral and ethical issues, and theology.  The whole doctrine of "rights" itself is a demonic, vile doctrine. It is because people fight for th...

With evil and wickedness, there comes no peace. Isaiah 48:22 makes this clear: There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked . The wicked have no peace with God for they are under the just wrath of God. The cause of their absence of peace is not their lack of support from their other wicked companions, or the guilt or shame their actions are associated with in their culture. Rather, the cause of their absence of peace is their wickedness, which incurs the just of wrath of God.  To experience peace, that is, peace in the true sense is to be reconciled to God, so that no one can condemn one: Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us (Romans 8:33-34). Peace, in the true sense in not in any way to have earthly comfort, as so many in the modern western Church do, so that they bec...

Debt. We are constantly bombarded by the debt problem we hear in the news. We hear secular commentators comment about how insidious the problem is. They are right: debt is a problem. However, what the secular commentators do not understand is the spiritual and moral side of debt which only a true follower of Christ can have the capacity to understand: But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). The spiritual and moral side of debt can only be understood by spiritual wisdom and revelation from God, not earthly, worldly wisdom. As 1 Corinthians 2:13 says: " Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual ". No secular commentary or secular movement, can fight what debt truly is: materialism, greed, pride, a disregard for fello...

Spiritual bondage is real. It is not a joke, or an just a excuse, a made-up concept to excuse one's own sins. Although it can be used to excuse sin, spiritual bondage is real and true. There is such a thing.  Unforgiveness is the classic case of spiritual bondage. If you harbour any bitterness or unforgiveness towards anyone, you are under the spiritual bondage of unforgiveness. Spiritual bondage comes from sin, which feeds on the desire to sin, which increases even more when one sins more. The Bible calls it 'slavery to sin' (Romans 6:6). The fear of people are also another classical case of spiritual bondage which so many are under, that is true converts who are orthodox, conservative and evangelical. However, there is also another type of spiritual bondage. It occurs ultimately because of one's sins, but it is also facilitated by demons, real demons who are responsible for encouraging and further holding a person in more bondage to sins. Demons are real and they ...