Lucifer Rising - Part 1 Light of the World"

"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! —Isaiah 14:12
"LUCIFER, the Light-bearer! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light…Doubt it not!" —Albert Pike, preeminent Masonic authority, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, p. 321

"A generation would soon be born that had never known a world without Lucifer." Best selling author and world renowned scientist, Arthur C. Clarke, penned these words in his science fiction masterpiece, 2010: Odyssey Two–a book/movie sequel to his ground breaking 1968 work, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Unknown to those who only watched 2010, there was a major difference between the motion picture and the novel. Eerily, the book contained a section titled "Lucifer Rising."
In Clarke’s Lucifer Rising story line, the hydrogen atmosphere on the planet Jupiter is ignited. The ensuing new "little" sun is dubbed "Lucifer" and illuminates the earth with its light. The result: darkness no longer existed. Fear, suspicion, and crimes of the night disappear. Mankind has become illuminated through the light of Lucifer.
To occultists and New Agers, the symbology of Arthur C. Clarke’s writing was unmistakable. Lucifer, the "light bearer" shines his knowledge (occult "truth") upon all humanity, chasing away fear and ignorance, and providing mankind with the opportunity to discover his own intellect.
While Arthur C. Clarke helped to perpetuate the occult view of Lucifer, the source authority on the subject of the fallen angel is the Bible. According to Ezekiel, Lucifer was an anointed cherub created by God, he was gifted with wonderful musical abilities, and was adorned with beautiful gemstones. He was also a creature of intelligence, possessing memory and a will–and pride. Scripture makes it clear that he led an angelic rebellion against God, attempting to become "like the Most High" (Isaiah 14). In response God condemned Lucifer, along with those angels who had chosen to follow him in disobedience, and removed them from their exulted heavenly positions. Lucifer–an eternal being–is now named Satan, the devil, the king of death, and the god of this world. Scripture warns us about Lucifer’s current obsession: to twist God’s word, to lead souls to spiritual death, and to assail his wrath against earth’s inhabitants–those whom Christ died for.
While Christianity views Lucifer as the personification of evil, the esoteric teachings of the occult and the New Age movement embrace him as an agent of intellectual and spiritual freedom. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the "mother" of the New Age movement and modern occultism, taught in her Secret Doctrine that Lucifer was "higher and older than Jehovah, and had to be sacrificed to the new dogma" of the Church. She further expressed in her "great work" that Satan, under different god-names, is really an allegory of "Good, and Sacrifice, a God of Wisdom." Blavatsky believed that Satan was the only god of earth, "is one with the Logos," and is the "cosmic reflection of God."
Blavatsky also equated Lucifer with Jesus Christ. This thinking is partially derived from various mystical interpretations of God’s Word. In Revelation 22:16 Jesus is called the "bright and morning star," and in Isaiah Lucifer is referred to as the "son of the morning" (the NIV also says "son of the dawn"). Mystically and astrologically speaking, the bright and morning star is Venus, which, in the teachings of occult schools, is symbolically Lucifer. And in the solar cults, the morning star is frequently referred to as the Sun, or "son" of the morning, and "son of god." According to Blavatsky’s esoteric theology, "Lucifer is divine and terrestrial light, the ‘Holy Ghost’ and ‘Satan,’ at one and the same time…" Her Secret Doctrine further stated,

"And now it stands proven that Satan, or the Red Fiery Dragon, the 'Lord of Phosphorus,' and Lucifer, or 'Light-Bearer,' is in us: it is our Mind – our tempter and Redeemer, our intelligent liberator and Saviour from pure animalism." (Vol. 2, p. 513)

Thankfully the Bible sets the record straight, and in a very simple and non-confusing manner: 2 Corinthians 11:14 tells us: "for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light."
For a time the Theosophical Society published Lucifer magazine, a monthly periodical which proclaimed the inverted doctrine of Lucifer coming to redeem humanity. In the February, 1917 issue of Theosophy, the publication of the United Lodge of Theosophists in Los Angeles, an article reprinted from an early edition of Lucifer magazine gives a detailed account of Theosophical creation:

"And, when God said: 'Let there be light,' Intelligence was made and light appeared.
"Then, the Intelligence which God had breathed forth, like a planet detached from the Sun, took the form of a splendid Angel and the heavens saluted him with the name Lucifer.
"Intelligence awoke and it fathomed its own depths as it heard this apostrophe of the divine Word, 'Let there be Light.' It felt itself to be free, for God had commanded it so to be, and it answered, raising its head and spreading its wings, 'I will not be Slavery.'…"
"God then unloosed from his bosom the thread of splendour which held back the superb spirit, and as he watched him dive into the night, cutting in it a path of glory, he loved the child of his thought, and smiling with a smile ineffable, he murmured to himself: 'How fair a thing was this Light!'…""Perhaps Lucifer, in plunging into the night, drew with him a shower of Stars and Suns by the attraction of his glory?" (italics in original)

Our present day occult revival is firmly rooted within these teachings. And not unlike today, Theosophy itself sprang up during a surge of occult interest. During the 1800’s, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, Mormonism, Hermetic Orders such as the Golden Dawn, the blossoming of reincarnation teachings, and the writings of occultists such as Eliphas Levi and Aleister Crowley, had cut deep groves into the spiritual fabric of society. Borrowing from these demonic sources, Helena Blavatsky and her organization became fertile ground for spiritual seekers and experimenters. Theosophy, boiling out of this cauldron of mysticism, not only spawned the New Age Movement, but a host of other mystical orders and schools of thought–including Nazism.
Once hidden within the occult priesthood of the mystery religions, the New Age Movement has now made the teachings of Lucifer available to the public. Hence, a new period of rejuvenated spiritual experimentation has taken shape. But while this new generation of mysticism is flourishing, its Luciferic doctrines are old–going back to the early days of history when a serpent claimed that mankind could "be like God" (Genesis 3:5). Today, the New Age Movement and the secret doctrines of the occult are attempting to do what Lucifer himself tried, to be "like the Most High." Their claim to the throne: the Satanic "redemption" of man’s intellect.
The Bible plainly tells us that Jesus Christ, not Lucifer, is the savior of humanity. Jesus Christ alone offers salvation from Lucifer’s "illumination" of pride, greed, selfishness, hatred, maliciousness, deceit, pain, and death. Unfortunately, mankind has bought the lie of the dark lord, and is willfully being manipulated to build an earthly kingdom for the Destroyer.
The question boils down to this: Whom will you serve? Jesus Christ, who sacrificed Himself–the light of the world–for our spiritual freedom, or Lucifer, the "father of lies" and binder of souls? You need to choose this day.

"God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." —1 John 1:5-7

http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/2002/carl-teichrib/lucifer.htm

Schools: The War on Christianity

A fifth-grade teacher in a school in Colorado placed a wide assortment of books in his classroom for students to enjoy during daily reading times. When a parent complained that two of the 239 volumes were based on the Bible, the principal told teacher Ken Roberts to remove them. A judge upheld the school’s order to censor the two books from the classroom. In school, the children could legally read books on Buddhism, Indian religions, and Greek mythology—but not on Christianity.1
In San Jose, California, 300 teachers and school employees gathered to “improve education” with workshops and lectures on communication, relaxation, and self-esteem:

"One group sat cross-legged in a darkened classroom, learning how to reduce stress with Yoga. While some felt self-conscious, others happily released their minds to the quieting sounds that flowed from a tape player on the desk. In the next room, another group meditated behind locked doors."2

Since the ’90s, an explosion of New Age influence has occurred in North American schools—children from as young as pre-school age are being taught about  Mother Earth, Yoga, meditation, and just about every other kind of pagan religion and Eastern practice.
Masks of the New Age
New Age, or New Spirituality, is actually ancient occultism with a facelift. It is the “beautiful side of evil,”4 an enticing facade for the kingdom of darkness. Disguised as peace, inner-power, wisdom, and love, this attractive deception pretends to offer everything God promises, yet asks nothing in return—for the moment. Its seductive call to be like God dates back to the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:5).
God told us long ago about deceptions that would lead many to “depart from the faith, giving heed to "seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1). The Bible warns:

 "[T]he time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine....And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

Today’s most popular myth distorts the character of God and the identity of man. Unwilling to bow to a personal, holy God, multitudes have reshaped their Creator into an image of their own wishful thinking. This imagined god becomes an impersonal power source ready to fulfill the whims of a god-man determined to direct his own destiny....
For all intents and purposes, Satan can counterfeit almost any good thing God gives us. In his hands, even tools for learning can become weapons loaded with distorted messages aimed at young minds. Look at his three major thrusts toward global society:

• Replace biblical Christianity with a self-centered blend of all religions joined in spiritual oneness.
• Replace Judeo/Christian values with New Age values—anything that frees people to follow the desires of self and create their own reality.
• Replace nationalism with a one-world government under a spiritually evolved leadership.

War on Christianity
Despising Christianity, the 20th century humanists paved the way for New Age/global education, but most of us didn’t notice. Now we can no longer deny the fact that most -- if not all public schools -- teach goals and values that contradict biblical values. And the humanist-oriented educational establishment promotes its beliefs as aggressively as any other religious group. Listen to their war cry:

"The battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity....
These teachers must embody the same selfless dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach, regardless of the educational level—preschool, day care, or large state university.
"The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new—the rotting corpse of Christianity...and the new faith of humanism, resplendent in its promise of a world in which the never-realized Christian ideal of ‘love thy neighbor” will finally be achieved."5

American philosopher and educator John Dewey kindled the fire of such educational reform. The first president of the American Humanist Association, Dewey was determined to weed out Christian absolutes and reseed our schools with “truths” that could adjust to changing cultures. The Humanist Manifesto, which Dewey signed in 1933, declares the heart of the movement. This is part of its introduction:

"There is great danger of a final, and we believe fatal, identification of the word religion with doctrines and methods which have lost their significance and which are powerless to solve the problem of human living in the Twentieth Century . . . Any religion that can hope to be a synthesizing and dynamic force for today, must be shaped for the needs of this age. To establish such a religion is a major necessity of the present."6

Without the 3.2 million-member National Education Association, considered one of the nation’s most powerful political machines,  Dewey’s ideas might have been confined to university campuses. Supported by the NEA, comprised of textbook writers and superintendents as well as professors and public school teachers, Dewey’s vision spread like wildfire. Through its militant leadership, the whole educational system became involved—with or without the personal support of local educators, many of whom didn’t realize what was happening.
Few textbooks have escaped the watchful eye of NEA censors, who have doggedly followed Dewey’s plan to provide a “purified environment for the child.” Historical facts that clashed with "progressive education” have been distorted or erased. The NEA has sought total control of curriculum content, control of teachers’ colleges, and sex education, free from parental interference....
One book, Censorship: Evidence of Bias in Our Children’s Textbooks, unveils some alarming facts. Christianity, family values, and certain political and economic positions have been systematically banished from children’s textbooks. For example, in 670 stories from third-and sixth-grade readers:

"No story features Christian or Jewish religious motivation, although one story does make American Indian religion the central theme in the life of a white girl.
"Almost no story features marriage or motherhood as important or positive. . . . But there are many aggressively  feminist stories that openly deride manhood.
"In an original story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, the main character prayed 'to God' and later remarked 'Thank God.' In the story as presented in the sixth-grade reader, the words 'to God' were taken out and the expression 'Thank God' was changed to 'Thank goodness.”'8
"While some elementary history textbooks still tell about Thanksgiving, they do not explain to whom the Pilgrims gave thanks. Pilgrims were defined as “people who make long trips.”
"The Pueblo Natives “can pray to Mother Earth—but  Pilgrims can’t be described as praying to God.”9...

When children are subjected to such suggestions and pressures year after year, many yield to the hostile forces that oppose their beliefs....
Back in 1982, Professor Benjamin Bloom, an internationally known behaviorist, defined “good teaching” as “challenging the students’ fixed beliefs and getting them to discuss issues.”18 He stated:

"[T]he evidence collected so far suggests that a single hour of classroom activity under certain conditions may bring about a major reorganization in cognitive as well as affective [attitudes, values and beliefs] behaviors."19

Indoctrinating students with diverse beliefs, socialist values, utopian dreams, and idealized love leads to deception, disillusionment, corruption, and chaos. Today’s change agents need chaos and crisis to justify their oppressive action. Not only does it unravel the old social order, it gives an illusion of newfound freedom—from family values as well as moral restraints.23 ...

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Chapter 4: What Can Parents Do About The War on Christianity?

Now that we have glimpsed the conflict, let’s take a look at the invisible war behind the visible facts. Remember that the battle is infinitely greater than any potential conflict between your child and his school. Teachers and principals, many of whom share your values, are not the enemy. Neither are the humanist “new” spirituality missionaries in the NEA. The real enemy is the one who opposed God’s plan from the beginning—Satan, who uses his blinded victims to carry out his hidden agenda.
God is our strength in this struggle against a counterfeit force, and He will accomplish His purposes through us. As we trust Him to give us courage and strength, He will remove any fear we have of contending for the faith and doing what we must to protect our children, even if it sometimes means we are standing alone.
Step One: Be Alert & Always Keep on Praying
Pray! For as Jesus said, “[W]ithout me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5). The battle begins and ends with prayer. Pray for open and trusting communication with your child. Pray for discernment to detect teaching that contradicts God’s truth. Pray for wisdom to know when to speak up and what to say.
● Pray for your child. Pray that he learns to discern error on his own and that he will be bold enough to speak truth with courage and to stand alone when all his friends follow after other gods. Pray that pleasing God will be more important to your children than pleasing teachers and peers.
● Pray together as a family. Put on the “whole armor of God” daily. .... It means reading (or hearing) and following the Word, and knowing it well enough to discern error. Read and discuss Ephesians 6:13-17. Memorize the parts of the armor....
● Trust God, not yourself. “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” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Step Two: Know What Your Child Is Learning in School
● Talk with your child. Listen for clues that help you spot good as well as questionable teaching. Be objective and model appreciation of schools and teachers.
Perhaps you have a child who gladly gives detailed accounts of all events from the time he left for school that morning. My boys preferred to answer all my questions with a brief "Good!” or “Okay.” But I discovered that a tasty snack after school could produce at least five minutes of sharing. When my son was fourteen, a sandwich at a local deli boosted our conversations immensely. ...
● Scan elementary textbooks, take-home papers, and fliers. Check to see if significant facts are deleted or distorted. Consider their effects on your child. Ask yourself the following questions about the above material:

Does it censor out important facts about the influences of Christianity in the development of our country? ..

Does it emphasize, promote, or give detailed descriptions of other religions, while ignoring Christianity?

Does it include a blatant pro-homosexual slant?

Does it ask your child not to share information with his parents?

Discuss your findings with your child. Express your appreciation for the good things you see. Explain any area of concern. Teach  discernment by pointing out contradictions to God’s truth.

Step Three: Know & Exercise Your Privileges as a Parent
If you suspect a problem, you may need to talk with the teacher and, if necessary, ask to see the teacher’s manual and classroom projects.....
● Be spiritually and emotionally ready to face resistance, defensiveness, and denial, but don’t expect them. Cyndie Huntington, author of Combat Handbook for Parents with Children in Public Schools, tells about one encounter with school officials:

When you reach this step, it is not unusual to be told, “Mrs. Jones, your child doesn’t seem to have the problem, you do. Now what can we do to make YOU feel better?” or “We’re the experts, let us raise your children.”
[One parent] was told by the principal to consider counseling for herself. Upon the recommendation . . . she went to a secular counselor for two months of therapy. She stated that she . . . counseled the counselor more than the counselor counseled her. It was then suggested by the school that she take the STEP (Steps to Effective Parenting) course. The school said that this would help her “interact” better with people and her children. So she signed up.
At the second session, the instructor made the following statement: “No longer does the biblical principle of the wife being submissive to her husband and the children being submissive to both parents [apply] in society today. We are all equal.”
. . . The mother asked the instructor what she should do if her ten-year-old did not want to clean her room. She was told that the room was the private property of the child and she should close the door if it bothered her; she had no right to enter without permission!
She resigned herself to the fact that she did not have the problem, her child did not have the problem, the school system had the problem. She took her child out and put her in a private school.1

Step Four: Enlist the Support of Other Families
 ● Get together with other parents to discuss issues, compare notes, seek God’s guidance, and plan strategy. Go to the board meetings regularly and speak out! One strong and wise but gracious voice can wield tremendous influence.
● Show your child you understand the loneliness he may feel in an anti-Christian classroom, and remind him he is not alone.
Equipping Your Teenage Child to Deal With Deception
● Equip your children to discern evil and resist compromise. “Be not deceived...” (1 Corinthians 15:33).
● Listen! Give undivided attention! Be patient. Pray for understanding. Don’t react with shock, dismay, or fear when your teenager shares what’s happening in his world. Respond with gentle wisdom and compassionate love.
● Encourage your child to read the Bible each day. He needs to wear God’s armor as much as you do—and that requires regular feeding upon and exposure to truth....
● Get in the habit of praying together....
● Be a friend as well as a parent....
Children are a precious gift, an awesome responsibility, and your greatest investment. Training them to follow God challenges your faith, demands your time, drains your energy, forces you to your knees, shows you God’s sufficiency, and delights your heart. Hang in there—and “count it all joy” (James 1:2).

"...in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:31

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Note: I intend to eventually post excerpts from most of our 21 chapters. Few will be as long as these two. I trust that God will continue to guide me. May He use this book to encourage and prepare your family for the challenges ahead.

By His grace alone,

Berit

http://www.crossroad.to/Books/1-protect-your-child/excerpts/3-schools-war-on-Christianity.htm

The Valley of Decision

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.” Joel 3:14, KJV.

In recent months, the Spirit’s dealings have revolved around the renewing of our minds – bringing our thoughts into subjection to the Spirit. Part of us wants to see with heavenly eyesight – but we never quite make it to the mountaintop with the panoramic view – we’re much more apt to be found peeking through a knothole in the long, high fence that our reasoning mind has so painstakingly erected down in the valley of decision. All of our vain imaginings and assumptions weigh us down and distort our vision. We may desire to see more, we may desire to have the mind of Christ, but for our vision to be expanded, we must climb higher up the mountain of God. And we can only ascend to the heights, by leaving all of our baggage behind us, here in the valley. There is not one good thing in us, that is of value to God, exceptour broken and contrite heart.

It comes as something of a shock, to discover that even those seemingly ‘good’ things, we have to leave behind. And we have accumulated so many seemingly ‘good’ things while here in the valley. Even things that the Lord Himself has given to us. Things that were a blessing, an encouragement, that sustained us through our trials. We never imagined that He might require them back from us, that they were only given to us for a season. That relationship, that much loved companion, that friend and confidant. We were so close and found such comfort in each other. We were so sure that we were going to walk through this thing together; and suddenly they are snatched away, gone, and we are alone. Our heart is nearly broken, we are in despair. How can this possibly be of God?

We must make a decision. Will we lift our voice with Job and say, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” Will we accept whatever God allows to come to us as being for our good, that we may bring Him Glory? Are we willing to come to the place where from the depths of our heart, we can say, “Not my will Lord, but thine be done?” How appropriate, that one of the definitions for ‘decision’ is – a threshing instrument.

If our hearts desire is to ‘be like Him; to be found pleasing in His sight; to be conformed to His image,’ then there is only one way to bring it to pass. We must be willing to count everything we have worked so hard for and built, all of our knowledge and beliefs, as nothing more than dung. He will not compete with what we know ‘about Him.’ He will not be content with anything less than all of us; everything we are, everything we have, every thought we think, every desire of our heart. He, Who Is Love, desires to bring us into more than our finite minds can ever begin to comprehend. But we have to go through a death, before there can be a resurrection. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” Romans 6:3.

As long as we choose to reside in the valley, we will continue to struggle in our own strength, looking to Him for help with what we can’t handle on our own. We will continue to dream and envision what will be, someday, and miss out on what He desires to work in us right here and now! TODAY is the day of salvation. “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.” 1 Corinthians 9:24.

“Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.”Psalms 96:2. We show forth His salvation, day to day, by how we treat others, by our words and actions. We are called be living epistles…. “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:” 2 Corinthians 3:2.We walk by faith, and not by sight. We can choose to wait around for “Some glad morning when this life is through, and I’ll fly away,” or we can choose to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,” NOW. Jesus did not come to condemn the world. He came that we might have ‘Abundant Life’… “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Multitudes today are in the valley of decision. What can we offer them?They don’t need more doctrines, or denominations, or religious platitudes. They need to see men and women who have died and rose again, servants of the Most High God… “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16. We may know all about how to ‘do’ Church; but it takes a death and resurrection to ‘be’ the Church.

Our hearts cry must be…. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:” Psalms 139:23. “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;” Philippians 3:10.

“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” Revelation 3:18.

We can see through the eyes of Gehazi, or we can see as Elisha… “And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” 2 Kings 6:17. Do we want to see with the eyes of the Spirit? Then we have to leave our baggage behind, and climb higher. How far we travel up the Mountain of the Lord, will depend on the object of our adoration.

“Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” 1 Peter 4:19.

We can Rest in His faithfulness. Confident that….

“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,” Ephesians 1:18.

If there was ever an hour when we need to have spiritual vision, it is now.

“Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.” Joel 3:13.

“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21.

“Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17.

“So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” Luke 17:10.

“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” Colossians 1:18.

 May we seek Him with our whole heart,

Cathy Morris, 6/8/2013

http://lovestthoume.com/wp/?p=3644

Deliver Me From Presumptuous Sins

“Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then shall I be blameless and I shall be innocent and clear of great transgression” Psalms 19:13.

KJV – deal proudly, presumptuously, presume, proud, to boil, boil up, seethe, act proudly, act presumptuously, act rebelliously, be presumptuous, be arrogant, be rebelliously proud.

Dictionary

– Presume: take for granted that something exists or is the case; be audacious enough to do something; make unjustified demands; take liberties.

-Assume: suppose to be the case without proof. (it is reasonable to assume); take or begin to have power or responsibility, seize power or control; take on a specified quality, appearance or extent; take on or adopt a manner or identity, sometimes falsely.

“When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or prove true, that is a word which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him” Deut. 1:22.

“The man who does presumptuously, and will not listen to the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God or to the Judge, that man shall die; so you shall purge the evil from Israel And all the people shall hear and reverently fear, and not act presumptuously again” Deut. 17:12,13.

“But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die” Deut. 18:20.

“And particularly those who walk after the flesh and indulge in the lust of polluting passion and scorn and despise authority. Presumptuous, daring and self-willed and self-loving creatures they scoff at and revile dignitaries (glorious ones) without trembling”2 Peter 2:10.

“But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country; however neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp” Numbers 14:44. After being told that they would not enter into the promised land, but would all perish in the wilderness because of their murmuring and grumbling against the Lord. They presumed to try and enter the promised land anyway, but were beaten back. (Presumed: be lifted up, to swell, to be bold, be heedless).

Presumption is part and parcel of our human nature. We are given a little information, and we presume the rest. We are all guilty of making snap-judgments, critical observations, under the assumption that we are right in doing so. How often do we even consider that in God’s eyes, our ‘presumption’ is a sin against Him?

How so? Our presumptions are a product of our flesh, and we all know that it is written that we are called to walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Walking after the Spirit is not something that ‘just comes naturally’ because we have been born-again.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” Romans 8:1.

“That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” Romans 8:4.

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh”Galatians 5:16.

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” Galatians 5:25. Paraphrased:to enjoy real life in the Spirit, (with the emphasis on His disposition and character), then let us proceed to direct our life in order, as a soldier marching in his appointed place, possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting. This takes growing up spiritually, and not by the power of our reasoning mind.

“But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:15, 16.

We have to grow up in the spirit, just as we grow up in the natural. And just as children, we presume that we know at each stage along life’s path, only to learn farther along that we only thought we knew, and we really knew nothing at all.

We attempt to achieve spiritual growth by acquiring knowledge about spiritual things. We presume that the more we learn about spiritual things, the more spiritual we will become, which is a totally natural and reasonable assumption. The danger we run of course, is that of following hard after our presumptions, all the while assuming that we are in the Spirit. Little realizing that we are taking for granted the progression of our spiritual growth being achieved in this way. It never occurs to us that our presumption could ever be considered as a great transgression. We can rightly say, “it’s the accepted practice, everyone does it.” What is great transgression, if not rebellion? It should be sobering to come to the realization of how easily we can convince ourselves that what we are presuming is correct and proper according to scripture, and tradition, and our personal opinion or feeling on the matter, yet we are hard pressed to find anywhere in scripture where we are encouraged to make presumptions. Quite the contrary. If we would truly follow Christ, then we will have to relinquish and lay down all of our presumptions.

The way of the cross is set forth here in Hebrews 12:1-15:

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”

“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;” Ephesians 4:23. We must become sensitive to the Spirit. The more sensitized we become, the more we will find that what seemed so right and good in our eyes was colored by our feelings, our limited understanding, and yes, our presumptions. Our flesh loves to ride its religious high-horse, and flex its muscles, little comprehending the damage we are inflicting upon the ‘lame along the way.’

Would that we all take to heart Paul’s admonition to believers: “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” 2 Corinthians 10:12.And “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” Ephesians 4:29.

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as (in proportion; to the degree that) also I amknown (to know accurately; become thoroughly acquainted with).” 1 Corinthians 13:12.

For me at least, the following quote from a message given by Art Katz in 1993, succinctly describes how we ignorantly give place to presumption…

“I’ll say it again. How many of us, in the hearing of the word on these very nights, have taken that word in through the prism of our own subjectivity and fitted it into the existing construct of our life, our categories, and found a way in which the Word would be amenable to our view of ourselves, of our spirituality, of our call? In a word, what are we doing, even unconsciously, is elevating ourselves above the Word, and ourselves determining how it is to be fitted comfortably into the categories that we approve. Instead of allowing the Word to devastate and demolish our categories, we stand or sit above it as arbiters, carefully moulding it so that it can neatly be taken in and even acknowledged and celebrated as the Word of God, applauding the speaker for having brought it, thinking we have done God’s service!

Can you see why we need to be converted? This egocentrism is unspeakably deep, and ironically, deepest in the religious and spiritual realm. What greater affront to God, what greater expression of putting our ‘thou’ before His ‘Me’ than the way in which we even hear and conditionally receive the Word? It is an entirely unconscious process, and we have been doing it for years, thereby missing the value and intent of the God who gave it!”

….Saul was the prized student of the Rabbi Gamaliel, and if there is any man who committed religious suicide by the raising of that question and forfeiting an entire career that would have won him a celebration to this day in Jewish orthodoxy, it was Saul. But he forfeited all that, and counted it as dung, as we know, by raising the only question, the right question, that any creature can raise before its Creator, “Lord, what would You have for me to do?” Whatever the consequences, whatever the loss, You are Lord, and if You are not the Lord of that question, then anything I would presume to speak in that name is a mockery and a travesty and a religious exercise that even at best falls short of the glory of God!

The irony is, and mark my words, if you continue in such an exercise, in the last days you’ll find yourself, not among the persecuted, but among the persecutors! Centrifugal force continues to work, ever bringing us into the one orbit or the other – into that which is apostolic or that which is finally apostate! “For the love of many shall grow cold,” and the last days shall be marked by the great apostasy and falling away of many who could not bring themselves to follow the Lord withersoever He would lead them, but who found themselves in a vortex of a kind less than that which is apostolic and themselves offended by those who are apostolic and ironically opposing and persecutingthem! This is the end of those whose ‘thou’ is yet before His ‘Me.’

We must now ask, with Saul, “Who art thou, Lord?” and receive the answer, “I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.”[end quote]

Is this not an accurate description of acting presumptuously? Are we not committing presumptuous sins when we move in; when we do, what seems good in our own eyes, according to our own understanding?

Our flesh likes to argue, to justify, to be ‘right,’ and have the pre-eminence. All of which are in opposition to the Holy Spirit. It is not enough for us to ‘presume’ that we are righteous. We must be willing to suffer. We must be a willing servant…“And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all” Mark 9:35. “And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.”Mark 10:44. Are we willing?

I encourage you to search this matter out for yourself. Presumption and Pride may comfortably walk hand in hand, but there is no place for either one in the Kingdom of God, or in the life of the true believer. If we ask Father to show us where we are being presumptuous, He will. “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then shall I be blameless and I shall be innocent and clear of great transgression.”

Amen & Amen

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