The Chains of Darkness

Psalm 107:10-16, "Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, Bound in affliction and irons 11) Because they rebelled against the words of God, And despised the counsel of the Most High, 12) Therefore He brought down their heart with labor; They fell down, and there was none to help. 13) Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He save them out of their distresses. 14) He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their chains in pieces. 15) Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! 16) For He has broken the gates of bronze, And cut the bars of iron in two."  

Before I start this post, I'd like to share how it was born. I wrote a post back in April of 2016 called "Prisoners of Darkness" that can be found in its entirety here. I didn't know then what I know now but it is fitting for these days and times we're in right now. The Lord had me read that post, which as I've shared before, I rarely read my own writings unless I'm led by the Holy Spirit. This was the case as I just went right to the post. Somehow I knew I was being led to my own post for a reason so I read it cautiously. As I read it, I understood just how prophetic it was and how the words I wrote 4 years ago could easily be used right this very moment! I went as far as even stating how I saw the many problems getting ready to come down the pike from a "strong nation" kowtowing to a minority of people/groups yelling "freedom" and "civil rights." Isn't that part of this current situation? The only difference being, between that post and now, is that the "birth pains" have exponentially intensified, lawlessness increased to a frightening level, and all signs of the end of the age is converging all at once. As I've done on a few posts in the past, I'm going to take some of my own words from that particular article and update it with the activities and events that apply to our current day. I do hope you all read the original post as well.

Jesus Breaks the Chains of Bondage!

There are prisoners of the darkness being held captive in their bondage to the things of this fallen, evil world. I see it everywhere, all around us. It's increasing just as the Lord said it would! These chained and shackled prisoners thirst for everything that is impure, violent, vulgar, evil, dark, unkind, and full of temporary satisfaction in a materialistic world. They are kept hostage in their own mind's dungeon cell, unable to break free while lacking the Light of Jesus that is desperately trying to get inside! The prisoners of darkness are bound by this world, bound by the chains that keep them from serving the Lord God Almighty, bound by their fleeting feelings, and bound by the world's view of what is perceived as satisfying, those sinful things of the flesh. Satan is clearly their master whether they know it or not. You choose your master by either accepting Jesus Christ or rejecting Him. If you reject Him, you accept Satan as your master. Satan is their tempter. Their leader. Their ruler. Their "giver". Satan, however, only wants to destroy everything that is good and pure and beautiful. He only wants to destroy those prisoners who have been blinded to the TRUTH while at the same time, desperately wanting them to be kept FROM the truth. You see, Satan knows the truth. It's the same Truth that cast him out of heaven for rebelling against our Creator. It's the same Truth that he saw his end through. Satan knows his demise. He understands what happened and that he would never become like our Creator. This is why he is constantly mocking and mimicking our Lord! Even including a "sacrifice." Yes, readers, it's true! Satanic sacrifices happen and they are REAL. God sent His Only Begotten Son to die on the Cross to pay our sin debt completely in full, becoming the ULTIMATE sacrifice for our souls. Satan saw that in a whole different way yet wanted the same thing for himself. He wanted the adulation of his followers. But you see the difference? God sacrificed Jesus Christ on the Cross and it was final. God didn't sacrifice His creation nor did He demand for us to sacrifice another for our Salvation!!! Satan on the other hand demands blood sacrifices all the time, from the most innocent of unborn children to animals to other adult human beings. Satan wants to BE God but knows he can't and never will be! His next best ploy is to gather as many unsuspecting, and some knowing, souls as he can before his time runs out! He knows God's children will continue to pray for those souls, will continue to intervene in the heavenlies, and will continue to witness to them.....

This is how I see all the lost people in the world right now; prisoners of the darkness. I don't think they would consider themselves as such because their darkness has become who they are internally and if darkness is all you see, then darkness is all that you will be and eventually become. You see, only children of the darkness, prisoners who know no light, could act and think the way we are seeing societies of people all over the world act and think. They aren't in the Light because they are choosing to be in the darkness. They wouldn't have to do anything to see the Light, either. The answer is so simple if they would just seek the truth no matter the cost. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life! I like to compare the difference of being a prisoner of darkness, or Satan, and being FREE in Salvation of the Light, Jesus Christ! You see, being a follower of Satan keeps you in chains, shackled, and in the dark. He keeps you a prisoner. Being a follower of Jesus Christ, however, breaks all the chains that bind, freeing each slave of the darkness, filling them with Light of Jesus Christ. Jesus breaks you out of prison! I know that it doesn't take much to sway the unbelievers because they are already his until, or if, they convert to know our Lord Jesus and accept His free gift of salvation. So most of the time, those are easy to get on his side to do his bidding for the dark. But with the believers, those who have accepted His free gift of Salvation, those who are following Jesus and who know He is the ONLY way, well, that's a little harder to do so what the enemy does is concoct all kinds of lies and causes and deception that he knows will work on the "emotions" and the flesh. He wants us to fall, to doubt, to turn from Jesus. He wants to hurt, kill, steal and destroy us just because of who we love, who we belong to and who resides within us! Satan desperately chases after the lost but you see, God LOVINGLY calls our names! He LOVINGLY pursues us because He created us, He KNOWS us intimately. He wants us FREE from the chains and the shackles of the enemy of the darkness. He has so much more for us than Satan and this fallen, temporal world can offer!

I took a break, albeit a short one, from the "global pathogenic crisis" and the civil unrest/riots/protesters and started glancing around at all of the other headlines of the week and I was completely in shock at what I saw being a very profound, dark, powerful pattern emerge. Evil was the

Iniquity Shall Abound

prevalent subject in some form, shape or fashion and it was disturbing. Very disturbing. It was full of utter chaos, lies, agendas, even dare I say, propaganda. Those headlines spoke volumes of a decaying, rotting selfish society. I sifted through headlines upon headlines seeking just a little, small ray of light. I couldn't find it. No wonder the percentage of unhappy and depressed people have recently skyrocketed! This was on such a larger scale than I'd imagined and permeated everything. Yes, I'm well aware of the evil that is abound in this country, and in countries all around the world. As you know, if you've been a regular reader of mine, I've written many posts on this very thing in varying degrees because I know Satan is the "god" and "ruler" of this fallen world. However, aside from what we are all experiencing on the grand scheme of things globally, the darkness and its growing prisoners have been quite an eye-opener in that the wickedness and the rapidly growing lack of compassion for life has become the "norm" in the workings of Satan and his minions. He has been diligently working overtime since that article was written in 2016 to condition the masses even more than ever to become numb to what we were inherently created to FEEL. Love, compassion, care, tenderness.....those have slowly been replaced and it's a little unnerving. He has succeeded to some degree because as we look into our current world, the current situation, we can see how love has been replaced with hate, how compassion has been replaced with brutality, tenderness has been replaced with aggression. The good is called evil and evil is called good. Woe to those!! People don't have the same reactions to the all-out evil as they once did years ago, even a short 4 years ago. They are complacent. They're comfortable sitting back in their chairs looking the other way, being politically correct, yet, eerily emotionally distant and appeasingly tolerant. Tolerance has taken on a new definition from the true definition but isn't it exactly what Satan wants anyway? To CHANGE the definitions of anything that remotely stood for TRUTH, morals, freedom of speech, religion and the equal rights of all people? I just want to point out one thing about the "riots" and the "pandemic" and that I am certain this was to divide the people of the world and to pit them against EACH OTHER to FIGHT eachother, rather than fight against those that brought it, cultivated it, dictated it and most definitely injected it into our society while they sat back and watched it unfold. Conspiracy? No. History and truth? Yes. Even history is being rewritten and torn apart so it can be rewritten the way they want it. Part of the one world government, new world order....it's been prophesied in the Bible and it will be fulfilled.

I'm going to take a quick break from the flow of this article and get off on a rabbit trail like I sometimes do! The hypocrisy is everywhere in the midst of these "crisis's" and it's hard for someone as detailed driven as myself to overlook. Patterns and sequences jump out at me without much effort on my behalf. Take for instance, our President of the USA. He is currently going on his presidential rally tour. The venue had been picked out, everything was in place. "They" (leaders) have allowed rioters and protesters to gather in numbers all over our country, breaking the social distancing rules, breaking the mask wearing rules, and breaking the LAW by looting, stealing and destroying without any consequences. As soon as President Trump announced he was going to hold the rally where he planned it, knowing he would draw a very LARGE crowd, the media and the "they's" (leaders) of the country, went absolutely insane because it wasn't "smart" and "wise" and "RESPONSIBLE" to hold a gathering of that magnitude, which was HUGE, during a pandemic! The very same people (leaders) that had absolutely no problem with the rioters/protesters gathering in numbers all over the country. The very parties are divided but the hypocrisy is like I've never seen it before. And getting worse. They, the "opposing" leaders, are being the same way with us, the tax paying citizens. It's OK for the protesters and rioters to gather in numbers but can't go to church in full capacity, can't hold important milestone graduations, it's OK for the rioters to destroy property and set fire to their communities but the police were "ordered" to arrest people for opening up their own businesses or walking on the beach. I find this whole thing hypocritical and it doesn't make sense to a thinker like me. And many of you reading out there. I find it very odd that you can "catch" the "virus" in church, graduations or school but it seems that you can't catch the same "virus" while eating at a restaurant, shopping in a big box retail store or grocery store or in a liquor store. A sad, disturbing world is emerging.....I see more "groups" of differing sin natures will be rising up as well demanding their "rights" to whatever their cause is at the moment. How dangerous it is to pander to one group while leaving out the rest. Eventually those groups will rise too. In the meantime, the Christians will continue to be persecuted and will be censored....Come, Lord Jesus, Come!

You see, everything that was once good, is now considered bad. Everything that was considered, and IS considered bad is now being hailed as good and right and being lumped, wrongly, in with human/civil rights. Those lines of human rights and civil rights have now been blurred because of the massive push to change history, twist the meaning and to condition people to accept everything that they feel is "right." I shake my head in sadness and a little disgust at what this world has come to, but more so, how a people allowed it to get this far down in the gutter in the name of "rights and freedom." See, while pushing "rights and justice" down the throats of the masses, they are subsequently taking AWAY those same rights from those that oppose. It's the minority of the people that are beginning to rule because the majority of the people that oppose and have morals are being squashed underfoot as though their opinions were the minority now but are being expected to comply against their morals to accept the opposite. Oh such a wicked, tangled web that we weave.....take for instance the "anti cop/cop free" zone in Washington that the mayor allowed those people to take over, occupy and destroy. They came out with a list of "demands" and it shouldn't surprise anyone, but part of the demands were very contradictory to what they "claim" they are against. One of the demands, for the sake of an example and not to bring up the more dividing issues, was the wall. They wanted the wall to be take down and completely open borders. However, the first thing they did upon occupying their new "country" is BUILD A WALL. Most of, but not all of, their demands were just like that and one could easily see the hypocrisy in each one.

In Luke 17:28-29, we are told clearly, "Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29) but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all."  What exactly were the days of Lot like that needed this kind of judgment and devastation? Well, let's look at Genesis 13:13, it tells us, "But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD." In the days of Lot, the people gave themselves over to blatant sexual, perverted sin. They were homosexuals and adulterers and they engaged in anything their wicked hearts desired because it was what they chose to do. The operative word is "choose." Lawlessness abounded everywhere you looked, much like it is today. Everyone did whatever they felt like from their own evil hearts without any moral thought. If you think about it, it doesn't take any moral thought to do and act evil. It just is. They did exactly what they wanted to obtain the "feeling of temporary satisfaction" that it offered. It became a normal, everyday thing in their cities to live in this manner. You see, the source of violence comes from the very one that was once very close to God, Lucifer. Ezekiel 28:16, "By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones." This verse speaks of Satan who was then cast as a profane thing from the mount of God. He was "filled with violence." Some of the people of this world now are filled with violence and you must understand where it comes from and from WHO! But, before this, he was perfect in all of his ways until sin was found in him, the sin of pride. Violence is the physical exhibition of pride. Most people want to argue that point but it's fact. Pure and simple. How do we know this? Psalm 73:6, "Therefore pride serves as their necklace; Violence covers them like a garment." The Bible has the answer to everything.....

Genesis 6:11-12, "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth." People are turning to violence to vent their personal frustrations,  to express their inner brokenness, to right a perceived wrong and considerably lacking the proper skills to handle it any other way. Sad, but true. Satan is the driving force behind the evil and the darkness that you are currently witnessing. He's the author of the confusion that he is spinning a web around. He is the author of every deceptive scheme that we see and can't see. All he wants is for as many souls to reject Jesus as possible so he has company in eternal Hell! I pray you aren't one of them!

So stepping away from the current madness, looking at the headlines and articles from the past week, from my country and around the world, I saw the increase in bloodshed, violent calculating bloodshed, terrorism, hate crimes of all races, human behaviors having no restraints, lawlessness  increasingly becoming the norm of society because everyone seems to be a "victim," abortions into late term, murders, parents killing their children, children killing their parents, unspeakable violent crimes are being committed towards other human beings and animals as well, unimaginable torture full of rage being played out right before our eyes on every street corner, increasing dependency on alcohol and drugs to self-medicate, our youth killing other youths and adults, inconsideration of neighbors, elderly abuse, violently attacking and becoming more aggressive towards eachother than ever before, inhumane and inhumane behavior is becoming the normal and accepted behavior, we have run completely amok having no restraints. Why? Well, really there's only this explanation; it's because there is no law with Satan, no real accountability because Satan is rebellious, it’s lawlessness through fear that he pushes and eventually gets to play out. The more tolerance that's shown today for the "plight" of whatever is going on, the less morals we have in a society that isn't being taught the morals of days gone by. There is a relationship between the two, no standard and anything goes.

We are living in a society full of prisoners of rage right from the belly of a demonic stronghold. This demonic stronghold is powerful to those who have not the right weapon! TRUTH! I've written about strongholds before in a few of my posts but here are two that might be worth taking a peek at "We're In the Process of Recovery" found here and "Letting God of What God Wants" here. Our minds are fragile. Fractured from pain, scars, trauma, hurts, and life experiences. Strongholds destroy, kill, steal and lie. Who do you think they come from? Bingo! Satan once again! We are living in a society that is selfish, self-centered and only cares about themselves. The "selfie" generation if you will. Attention seekers on a rollercoaster. There is an increasing of a total disregard for life, in all forms, that permeate our culture, including the video games our children, and youth, are being raised on. There is so much violence, sexual content, debauchery, and well, sin, peppered all through those games that parents allow their young, impressionable children play for hours on end. Adults participate as well so no wonder the culture is the way that it is. But Satan conditioned and desensitized the masses early on by slowly introducing those things little by little until one day, people weren't feeling bad about any of it any longer. Look at how the television shows have increased in their "shock value" because what used to be shocking to see, unacceptable to the majority of people and families, isn't so much any longer so they have to take it up to the next level. The movies do the same thing.....extreme violence, sexual content blatant or implied, partial/full nudity in nearly every movie, female/male role reversals, a sense of depravity that goes beyond what even our human minds can truly comprehend. There's a sickness, a darkness, a prison full of this evil and until they see the Light shining in their darkness, they will never know what they've been missing! All of this evil and darkness is being orchestrated by Satan himself. He has a short time to try to destroy everything God Almighty created for good! There are still so many good people, caring and loving, out there who are falling prey to this darkness but who aren't save by His Grace! Even though they are doings of some good, they are still living in the darkness because without Jesus, (Light) then there's only darkness left.
  

Something I'd like you all to think about before I continue. Why are the Christians, the Christ believers, the ONLY persecuted group? Why do you think that every other religion that is in this world can exist without being singled out or persecuted? Why do you think every other religion can worship as they wish, in some cases, violently, without being persecuted or attacked? Why do you suppose Christianity is the single most hated religious group? Have you ever stepped back and wondered why? Have you ever asked yourself what is DIFFERENT in Christianity than any other religion on earth? Have you ever asked yourself why Christianity is the only faith that ticks off Satan so much that he so desperately comes after and attacks at any chance he sees? Well, let me tell you as simply as I can.....all other "religions" are false with false "gods and deities" who are primarily idols. Christianity has the ONLY LIVING God, the ONLY LIVING TRUTH, the ONLY LIVING SAVIOR! All other deities, idols, false gods, new age, blasphemous "gods" are dead or made up in some fantastical, mythical fashion. Not one other religion claims a Living SAVIOR. They all worship false "gods" and idols. Dead ones at that. I want to be CLEAR here, so everyone understands how important this is, but ANY RELIGION THAT SPEAKS/TEACHES A DIFFERENT GOSPEL THAN THE HOLY BIBLE WHICH WAS INSPIRED BY OUR CREATOR GOD'S BREATH, IS FALSE. Satan doesn't want to attack those other "religions" because they're false and he knows it. Satan doesn't want to waste his time there because he also knows those who are followers of those new age idols and religions are his anyway. Satan knows JESUS CHRIST IS ALIVE! He knows what Jesus did for us. Why do you think he tried to tempt Jesus?

Well, let's look at Matthew 4:1-11, "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2) And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3) Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." 4) But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' " 5) Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6) and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' " 7) Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.' " 8) Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9) And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." 10) Then Jesus said to him, "Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " 11) Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him." I put the words of our Lord in red for easy to decipher Jesus' words from the enemy! I did this primarily for the new believers or the unbelievers who are visiting my site. Satan knows Jesus is the ONLY Way, the Truth and the Life and NO ONE will go to the Father EXCEPT through Jesus, as we are told in John 14:6, " Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Same with our Salvation found in Acts 4:12, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." You can't go to heaven through any other deity, mythical idol, any other "man made book" or idol. You only have the Truth....and that's why all other religions get a "pass." They are part of Satan's religions. But you see, he had to "create" so many false religions, as is his typical fashion, to confuse, deceive and try to steal away from God, all because of being jealous of the ONE TRUE GOD and HIS SON JESUS CHRIST! He set out to destroy the Truth, Christianity and anyone who wasn't a follower of Jesus yet....oh but the price that he pays in the end! 

Satan is always tapping our shoulders and the closer we get to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, the more rapidly he taps! It's purely desperation but he marches on. He doesn't want us to get close. He wants us to stumble. To fall. To doubt. To rebel. After all, isn't that exactly what he did himself? He was so good at the deception and the manipulation that he got a third of the angels to rebel against God and they too, got cast out of heaven. There is always going to be temptations that get in our way as long as we're living in this fallen world, in this broken, sinful body/flesh. But it doesn't mean we have to act upon those temptations. It doesn't mean we have to give up if we act upon the temptation because what we must do is repent of our acted our temptation and turn from our ways. The path isn't easy and it gets harder the closer you become, BUT, it's not impossible!!!! That's where Satan fools so many into believing that once they slip and fall into a past sin, that God won't take them "back" so to speak! Satan wants us to doubt our Savior! But it's here that I will say when we are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, truly saved by His Grace, we are seen sinless by the Father God because when God sees us, He sees His Son by the Blood! So while we may battle temptation and slip up and sin, we are still in His Grace! We are still His! It is not a pass to sin as some misunderstand and you can't continue to live IN your sin without sanctification and rejuvenation daily. It's a genuine relationship between you and the Father, through Jesus Christ. It's an adoption, sealed by the blood. It's not a free pass out of Hell. If it's not genuine then you aren't saved at all. If you are truly saved and your sin debt has been paid in full, then one of the biggest reasons Satan constantly is trying to trip us up, is to make us doubt and make us lose our faith and trust! God, however, gave us an armor to wear daily to protect ourselves from those fiery darts of the enemy, our adversary. The armor of God will not only protect us, but it will DEFEAT the enemy! The power given to us in Luke 10:19 says CLEARLY and LOUDLY, "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Ah, this alone should bring boldness and courage and strength to you!!! 

No Truth in the Devil's Lies!

Satan desperately wants your identity. He doesn't want you to be a child of God, the most High. The world's philosophy is simple. Live for self. The Word of God says die to self. The world is run by Satan. He is the "god" of this world. Having a dependence on yourself or your possessions instead of God will lead to a fall because it is actually Satan who forces your dependence on yourself or worldly possessions. That's what he does in order to gain ground. He wants nothing more than for you to find your identity in him, in the world, in the darkness and in sin. His time is short. He knows it. Proverbs 11:28, "He who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like foliage." Also in John 15:5 we find this, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." This tells us where our identity really is for those who are born again Christ believers! We are to live in total dependence upon Christ, who is the power and wisdom of God. In this world, we have an identity that is becoming harder and harder to protect from hackers, prying eyes and identity theft. There's privacy breaches all the time. Some we know about, most we don't know. The more advanced the technology becomes, the less security we have therefore the less privacy. We should still take care to try to protect ourselves the best we can but in the end, well, there's no guarantee it's going to be safe and secure. As Christians, there's another identity that is much more important and more valuable to us, and to the enemy. Our Christian identity. When we are saved, we are set apart. That's MY spiritual identity, my personal thumbprint proving that I belong to Jesus! It's far more valuable than any other identity that a thief could take from me. But just as it is important to me, and should be to all of us, it's also important for Satan and his pathetic minions too. He wants nothing more than to steal your identity and those hands are the wrong hands to gain access to your privacy, to your identity and to your soul. He can be compared to those "dumpster divers" who literally rummage through people's trash just to find a receipt, a check or anything else with a sliver of personal information that could possibly reveal our personal and/or financial identity. Or the same "dumpster divers" who do the same thing online. Satan dives into our hearts with his evil, diabolical intentions, with his evil lies just to steal our spiritual identity, our moral purity, and it's done so subtly through the morally corrupt secular world. The fallen world that Satan uses, with all of its trappings, does his bidding for him in order to quietly lure us into compromising our spiritual identity. 

Philippians 2:3-4, "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4) Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." This is a good example of not being self-centered, selfish and prideful! The three things Satan uses in this world to trap us, to lure us, to gain access to our minds and hearts. We are not to trust ourselves, but we are to trust God. Remember that our hearts are deceitful above all things as quoted in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" and so it can't be trusted on its own. I see this being played out right now, the heart being wicked and Satan using that to lure people in deeper. So then that means we have to test everything in light of God’s word so we know it's true, it's godly and it's His will. We have to trust Him in following God’s principles that we find in the Bible. Most people rely on their own wisdom and reasoning, and few seek God's counsel. This is what is meant in Philippians 2:3-4. Our confidence needs to be in the advice that God gives us through His word because we know it to be true. We are to live by faith, NOT by sight and in our own fleshly selves, but in Christ. The believer knows that he has a carnal, fleshly nature. Even an unbeliever knows this as it's imprinted upon our hearts. This nature is fully corrupt and sinful. It's the nature that Satan takes advantage of when our fleshly desires get in the way and our guards are let down. It seeks to destroy us. But the believer has the Spirit of God and a new nature that comes from God is a new identity in Jesus Christ! Our new identity nature allows us to understand God’s principles and how to apply them throughout our lives. All of these violent prisoners of darkness belong to the devil and we can find that in John 8:43-45, "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." According to this passage, the very nature of Satan is that of DECEIT. But take another, closer, look at John 8:43-45. 

Notice, though, how Satan isn't only described as a liar, but also as a MURDERER? Yes, a murderer. According to this passage, Satan is a murderer because he is a liar. He murders by lying. In essence, this means that it is your acceptance of Satan’s lies that causes you to die. Accepting his lies is equal to death! Not my opinion or interpretation, but take a look at Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death." That is spoken of and to the unbelievers. Pretty clear to me. According to Paul (the author of Romans) it is sin that leads to death: Jesus paid our sin debt in FULL at the cross through His shed blood, though and that's the one thing, the one TRUTH Satan so deceptively left out of his conniving ways. Simplified, let me put it to you this way, Accepting a Lie = Death, Sin = Death, Therefore, Accepting a Lie = Sin. Please DO NOT MISTAKE ME because I am NOT simply saying that it is a sin to accept a lie, but more so I'm saying that ALL sin is the RESULT of accepting a lie. Think about that for a minute. 1 John 1:8-9 says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." All sin is simply the result of our willingness to accept a lie rather than the truth that God has given us in His Word. This is an important reality that we need to understand, because it illuminates the strategy that Satan employs when he is trying to cause us to sin and relinquish the gift of eternal life. After all, this is Satan’s nature and goal; he is a liar and he attempts to get us to accept lies and commit sin. Now look around you, look at the lies that are being "perpetrated" and the violence that is ensuing surrounding just two of the issues in this world. When Satan gains a stronghold of the weak and broken, the lost and torn, they do his bidding without thought. 

Satan's Weapon of Distraction

A large ploy of his is distractions. Yes, those distractions that keep the eyes of the unsuspecting watching the right hand while Satan is doing something even more evil and nefarious with his left hand. I look around now and that's what I'm seeing in a magnitude of things. Through all of this, God is trying to get our attention, to wake us up, to be alert! The signs of the times are coming at us at break-neck speeds and from the looks of it, it's quickly looking like one of the most intense apocalyptic movies straight out of Hollyweird! Only this is real and there's no good, buttery popcorn to go along with it! These are very troubled times that we are living in and it's only going to get worse. I am not trying to scare you, my dear readers and friends, but I am trying to alert you to the reality of this life. There is still much greatness to be found on earth and lessons to be learned through these hardships that many, if not all, of us are facing. The biggest thing we have right now is HOPE IN JESUS! He is our Hope and our Light in this darkness. He is our rescuer of bondage and out of prisons! I continue to spread the truth as much as I can but since I'm not currently employed, I must do it through my words to my readers and pray that it reaches far and wide to those that God divinely brings to my blog! Satan changed this world in the blink of an eye and from what I can tell, there's alot of unhappy, disgruntled people all over the world because of it! He had to do something big and he has his own evildoer puppets in place helping things along. He still knows he's defeated and knows his ultimate fete. The worst part is that he doesn't tell his "followers" that they will burn in hell, in eternal fire for all of eternity. Jesus on the other hand tells us through His own words in the inerrant words through His Father, that if we believe in Him as our Savior, repent of our sins, believe that He was God in the Flesh who came to earth as Jesus, believe He was born of a virgin, died on the cross to pay our sin debt in full through His shed blood and rose three days later and IS ALIVE, then how could anyone refuse His free gift! He told you in writing! Satan? He dare not! Jesus told us to be on watch for the signs so we aren't caught unaware. I don't want anyone to be scoffers because I know there are many popping up all over the place talking about the Christians saying the end times are near. Look what we're told in II Pet. 3:3-4, "knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4) and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." He knew there would be scoffers and those will be the ones unaware and unprepared for their names to be called in the Rapture! Here's the thing, while the Christians are still here on this earth, we must warn others, watch for the season and the signs, and preach the Gospel...stand in the gap and shake the heavens with our prayers of the righteous ones! 

Although this world is full of prisoners of the darkness and are chained and shackled, it's only about to get worse than what we can visually see. Romans 1:28-32, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29) Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30) Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31) Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 32) Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." To put it clearly, there is a celebration of sin, of every kind and ilk, that has surpassed anything that I've ever witnessed in my years! The above scriptures warn that there will be some who are so evil, who have lived in such a vile, evil way and who are purely full of hate for our Creator, that God has given them up to their reprobate minds! They'd rather love the world and the sins in it, than to turn from their wicked ways. The whole WORLD has now become a cesspool of sin, of unadulterated, unapologetic, evil sin! It's being celebrated on many levels in many ways across the globe. We are all sinners; we've all sinned and fall short of the glory of God! I know this. The difference between the world and sin and a born again Christ believing Christian and sin is that a Christian doesn't, or SHOULDN'T celebrate sin. Instead, they repent, they ask for forgiveness and turn from their ways. A Christian also doesn't condone the sins they see in others either! The world, on the other hand, celebrates it, makes it appear good, fun and full of excitement and definitely doesn't show the side of error. Death. Death, eternally separated from the Creator God, from Jesus Christ our Savior that died on the cross to pay our sin-debt in full. That is the reality of sin. The "wages of sin is death." This is paid in full upon our salvation in Jesus Christ. Without that, eternal hell. 

Isaiah 3:9 says this, "The look on their countenance witnesses against them, And they declare their sin as Sodom; They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves." You see, the lewd behavior reveals much more than just skin; it reveals the heart. It reveals what's IN the heart. The revelers very countenances bear witness against them that they disdain God and his ordinances. Shame over sin is rarely seen any more in this age because it has been replaced with a pride that parades sin in the streets for all to see. Metaphorically speaking and literally in the case of the gay/LGBTQ  events. And here I will point out that humility is what makes a godly man....not pride. "Pride goeth before a fall" so isn't it ironic that the gay community would be the banner in which they march under? Their actions are a collective snubbing of noses towards God himself and the Christians around them. Woe unto their souls! I tremble for them because in their stark and sin-bent blindness they are actively choosing not to hear the warnings of judgment. That also goes for those who celebrate WITH them, condoning the sin nature and accepting the sin itself. Psalm 10:4, "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts." Pride does go before a fall and in the end, after the Tribulation, the proud will fall! The celebration of sins of man is upon us. Look at the cheering crowds when the violent attacks are perpetrated. Look at all the cheering crowds that get into a frenzy during the rioting and protesting and eventually cheer on the disrespectful nature of the doers. Look at the cheering of the passersby to the looters, thieves and destroyers of property. Sin is celebrated while the good, moral, righteous are being mocked and persecuted and trampled on.   

The Biblical picture of Hope for the sinner to escape sin in this fallen world is indeed, breathtaking! Jesus Christ did not come to make sin acceptable but, quite the opposite, to make it unacceptable. Willful, knowledgeable sin is totally unacceptable in the believer’s life. John’s Gospel said in his first epistle, 1 John 2:1-2, "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2) And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world." This is the perfect Biblical analysis of our Gospel message. We preach against sin, we warn people against sin, but if they sin, we immediately direct them to the merciful Redeemer where there is plenty of forgiveness. The saints of God must never forget how totally dependent they are on His grace and forgiveness. We must never treat sin in a casual, celebratory manner because sin, the WORLD'S SIN, cost the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, the most horrible treatment and inexplicably painful death and it's to be hated with the same passion as we treat His pain. The devil is currently extremely busy striving to deceive, confuse and destroy as many souls as he possibly can before time ends, and he has so many devices at his disposal in order to achieve his goals. He IS darkness. He IS sin. He IS hatred. He IS lies. He IS confusion. He IS evil. Please remember this one statement: EVIL NEEDS ATTENTION TO SURVIVE!!! I've said this on more than one blog post because it's worth repeating! Without attention, it can't continue nor can it thrive in the way that the devil needs it to thrive. All kinds of evil in this world survives only because there is much attention given to it and, in turn, that same attention is unknowingly given to Satan himself. This attention feeds the fires of Satan's agenda. Again, as a reminder, Paul noted that we disciples should ultimately behave in a particular way so as to not give the devil an opportunity to succeed. It is sometimes through our weakened and sinful actions, and behaviors that the devil finds his success and the last thing we should ever desire is to be his vehicle!!  

2 Corinthians 2:11, "lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices." The devil has many diabolical ways in which he will try to tempt us and lead us astray or simply delay our interest and/or obedience to God’s will and ultimate plan. So the more we know about how he operates, the better prepared we will be to ensure we are able to recognize his works of iniquity and to be able to thwart his efforts. Satan knows his war against moral values, and morality in general, can achieve him a great victory in controlling and eventually destroying humankind. Remember that the Roman Empire wasn't defeated by military force but, rather, it had destroyed itself by means of internal moral decay. That decay was rampant and in many ways, it's closely in comparison to today's immorality. Sexual immorality, hate, drunkenness, fornication, homosexuality, materialism, corruption, theft, and bribery gave rise to one scandal after another in the Roman Empire and  widespread immorality completely ruined and destroyed the integrity and effectiveness of the governments in Rome and Constantinople. Need we say anymore? The Bible says that we are to "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you" from us in James 4:7. So, if we are to resist the devil so he flees from us, then let's not give him any more of the limelight that he is narcissistically seeking! If we don't pay attention and we starve its hunger by shining the Light of Jesus upon all that is corrupt and standing against what Satan is for, then we can't be guilty of feeding the fires that are flaming his agenda! Our focus needs to be on the lost and forgotten. The unbelievers. The broken. Satan has already been defeated. He's toast. Our focus and our eyes need to be on Jesus Christ and planting seeds of truth and love and peace in a world full of turmoil, hate and destruction! Let's not take part in this agenda that is clearly unfolding before us all at a rapid pace. Let's clasp our hands together, pray, be strong in the Lord and rise above the falsehoods that are being permeated throughout the land! If you're saved and a Christ believer, belonging to the Lord, then help others who are bound by Satan, so they can be liberated by the only Savior of the world the same way you have been! Galatians 5:1, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."

Protect Us Father!

In closing, I know these times are tumultuous and dark and kind of scary. I know there are dark forces at work for the world to become "one" but worse than that is those same dark forces are at work for the souls of the lost ones and many of those souls are the prisoners of the darkness that are chained, shackled and in bondage that we are seeing at play in the world's stage. We can't stop what's happening nor can we change it because God is in control and He already knows all of the players, and what their next moves will be! We can pray for the lost to be found. We can pray for the Light to be shone in the darkness. We can pray for the peace to be given to the anxious. We can pray for the peace to the chaos. We can pray against the evil. We can pray for the leaders around the world to do the right thing. We can pray for the hedge of protection. Prayer works! God hears the prayers of the righteous! We can pray for the Lord to calm our fears and replace it with calming peace. It's a difficult road we're traveling down right now but it's not going to be our last "trip." The last trip we'll take for the believers is to be be raptured before the Tribulation to be with our Savior! What a trip that will be!!! Can't wait to meet each and every one of you so don't be left behind! Repent of your sins. Call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved! Don't be a prisoner to the darkness because it will steal your life!

The evil doers and those that have rejected Christ will be judged harshly! Be certain, a day of reckoning is coming. To him who has ears to hear, let him hear. God will not be mocked. A fearful day of judgement is ahead for the abominable and the society that turns away from God to embrace their actions. God is not slack concerning his promises, both for good and for judgment.

In the name of Jesus Christ our Loving Lord and Savior, I ask that you use each and every one of your children to glow in the dark! I pray for your protection over each and every child and for you to lead them in the way that they shall go! I ask Father, that you speak to the soul who is searching for your Light, and your voice, that they may receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and that they will be delivered out from the darkness of which they reside! Let us all impact the darkness in the world so as many souls will be saved. I pray for your Love to reach each one that has been led to this post, to comfort them and to give them peace and let them not be rebels any longer! In Jesus' precious name. AMEN!

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