WINNING THE MIND GAME, 2 CORINTHIANS 10:4-6 HEADLINE:
"Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little ; For with stammering lips and another will he speak to this people. to whom He said, This is the REST wherewith ye may cause the weary to REST; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. But the WORD of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken", Isaiah 28:9-13.
The battle of the mind is a difficult task for human initiates waging spiritual warfare. And the problem is exacerbated because most human beings cannot discern the spirits. Men receive thought in-puts and they cannot tell if they come from God or an evil spirit pretending to be God, Christ, or the Holy Ghost, Revelation 13:11. Complicating matters is how the devil uses scriptures to manipulate and deceive the blind. Spirit must agree with written spirit or the WORD OF GOD, Psalm 40:7; John 6:63. An example of demonic "unction-giving" activity is Jesus and the devil on the mountain of temptation. There Satan quoted scriptures in an attempt to deceive Christ into obeying his will, I John 2:20. My point is that a little knowledge is dangerous as the saying goes. So... hearing voices quoting scriptures in your mind for your attention and seeing dreams and visions of a religious nature are not necessarily signs that YOU are born of the spirit of God, or that God is speaking to you. There is a very definite procedure which Jesus used that enables a wise person to "try the spirits" by the spirit to determine its source and credibility. The purpose of this paper is to point out a few scriptures devils have used to exploit the neonates' minds to "open" them and render them vulnerable to their insidious trickery and treachery through their superior knowledge of what is written. They have photographic memories and we sometimes have difficulty remembering what day of the week it is!
The weak newborn might have indeed repented of the sins he is aware of and might fully desire to lead a godly life. He has no command of the WORD OF GOD... no photographic mind... And even if he did, only God can "set the scriptures in order" for our learning, Psalm 50:16-21; Romans 15:4; Revelation 5:1-5. Therefore he starts his "wrestle" and christian walk (Ephesians 6:12; Revelation 12:4) at a distinct disadvantage, while the devils opposing him have the edge, Habakkuk 1:4. If he is one who must depend upon men to teach him, he will be limited to and exposed only to the extent of truth that the human teacher might have. The big problem here is that the minister may be a man-made "hireling" and not one of the "few" chosen and sent by God, Matthew 22:14; John 10:12. Oh yes!... human teachers' knowledge is "limited" as the parable of the talents teaches, Matthew 25:14-30. Some have one; some two; and some five per cent of available light. Trading talents is the means God has established for his "spiritual Levites" among men to gain more talents. This method requires an acute sense and respect for those God selected and called whom He feeds... His "Levites". These "few who find the way" may be separated by distance, church affiliation, or no church affiliation, Matthew 7:14. It is God's purpose here to prove us and to exercise us in the 2nd Great Commandment as the only means by which we may gain more light than He has previously given us. We must show Him that we understand "oneness" of the BODY, I Corinthians 12:19-27. The hand does not tell the eye, "I have no need of you" because you do not belong to my church! Respect for the brethren is a strict requirement and a mutual reading of one another's writings (talents) is a must! Anyone who reads only "what my church recommends" or "only what Brother "what's-his-name" writes will have his possibilities for gain severely restricted. God respects those who respect His presence evidenced in the variation of talents He gave to other BODY-members. He may take a talent from one not using it and reward it to someone who will use it. God is displeased when men do not put His light to "usery" (use it in their writings) to gain the "interest" and faith of their readers. HOWEVER ... READING MAN'S WORKS IS DANGEROUS. All preachers, teachers, and writers who say, "Lord, Lord" are not sent by God and have not entered the Kingdom to sup with God, Matthew 7:21, 22:11-14. Satan sends most of them, 2 CORINTHIANS 11:13-15. God chooses "few" as teachers and leaders. Usurpation and presumption of the priesthood is the rule and norm these days, not the exception, Numbers 16:1-11. Man makes his own "hireling" ministers, Psalm 75:4-7. Even so, God makes "use" of them, Matthew 21:1-3. Human dependency is at best "risky business"! But those not elected to be taught by God in this life have little or no alternative, Numbers 1:51-53, 18:22. Most men in every generation could not and cannot get close to God via understanding in this life. Only the "few" spiritual "Levites" HE SELECTS can draw near Him in understanding because He is the TABERNACLE REFERRED TO IN THE PATTERN OF MOSES, Revelation 21:22. Because God has "fixed" into His PLAN that the majority of mankind in this life will have "roles" as "vessels" for unclean use, the HUGE MAJORITY OF MEN on earth will suffer in darkness, Romans 9:15-26; 2 Timothy 2:20-21.
Satan takes advantage of certain scriptures which speak only to those "few" God chooses who attend the Heavenly feast via the spirit. These persons have gained all the talents human beings may give. Only God can give them the greater light of heaven beyond a spiritual baby's diet of "milk", which the unskillful use. "Non-elect" men cannot "sup" and will therefore refuse to eat (believe) the holy things. An example of a scripture directed by God only to His chosen "few" as His students is, "Ye need not that any MAN should teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things... ye shall abide in him", I John 2:27. Satan loves to use this text to get "babes" and neonates "huffed-up" and hardened against hearing "talented" men who may undo his deceptions. "He ("the Wicked") sits in the temple of God (man's body) showing himself that he is God", 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. He wants those men to HEAR HIM ONLY as he pretends to be the Holy Ghost. And he will quote scriptures as he did with Jesus. Only a well seasoned veteran having an angel of God (a true Holy Spirit) to "sWORD-fight" in his mind against the "pretenders" with countering scriptures can nullify this "demonic stealth" technic. Even then YOU must believe God's angel! Devils have been known to make men "grieve the Holy Spirit" by rejecting his counsel. And God's spirit will not always strive with human hard-heads, Genesis 6:3; Ephesians 4:30. Always as Jesus has shown victory comes by "it is written". "Scripture" must be used to lighten the path in this kind of spiritual warfare, Psalm 119:105. And only a true Holy Spirit can and will convince us of "whatsoever Jesus said". In short YOU NEED both the Old and NEW Testament writings. John wrote, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirit (speaking in your mind) by the spirit (in the written WORD) to see whether or not they are of God, I John 4:1. Isaiah also cautioned us, "To the law and the testimony (today a reference for all the WORDS of God), if they speak not according to this WORD, it is because there is no light in them", Isaiah 8:20. Hearing "two-ways" in our minds is unavoidable, but we must be careful of how and what we listen to. We must eat spiritual "butter and honey", I Samuel 14:27; Isaiah 7:15; Ezekiel 3:3-4. This wargame is known as the "unction" game of spiritual chess, and it is very dangerous.
Another scripture used to deceive men concerns spiritual gifts, specifically speaking in tongues. On the day of Pentecost God spoke to men of every nation, kindred, and tongue who were in earshot of His disciples. He did not speak "gibberish" which the people could not understand. The crowd was amazed that every man regardless of his language and nation both HEARD AND UNDERSTOOD the good news of the Kingdom in his native tongue from ignorant and uneducated men who knew only Hebrew, Acts 2:6-12. Notice how the "Pharaoh" of the spirit world has "mastered" the churches by competing against the Spirit just like his devils did using the magicians against Moses. First know and understand that God gave Satan power over the churches, and over every nation, kindred, TONGUE, and PEOPLE, Daniel 7:21-22; Revelation 13:4-7. Devils can speak through men directly imitating their voices better than the best ventriloquists, Matthew 16:22-23. When Jesus spoke to the devils they answered him through the mouths of those possessed, Realize that in Peter's case, one does not have to be an extreme case of possession in order for Satan to exercise his God-given power over man's body, tongue, and languages. Satan has given the churches an unholy gift of tongues which neither the speaker nor the hearers can understand. This "messy" imitation requiring a so-called "interpreter" is quite unlike the glory of God the crowd experienced at Pentecost where ALL HEARD AND UNDERSTOOD THE WORDS OF THE SPIRIT!! No "interpreter" was required!! Blind men in the churches are deceived because they are too sick to discriminate between the fake work of Pharaoh's magician spirits and the "unchanging" work of God as it was done at Pentecost! "Gibberish" not understood by ALL HEARERS, the so-called "tongues" in the churches, is a clear sign that people are possessed and being "used", Daniel 7:21-22. The sign of the Holy Spirit's "tongue" is light, knowledge, and understanding in which the hearers need no "other to interpret". And if YOU ARE DECEIVED on this issue and thought you were in the light, how much more of YOUR LIGHT is REALLY DARKNESS? Luke 11:34-36. Satan's evil eyes, the demonic watchers, cause darkness, Job 41:1,18-22; Daniel 7:21-22; Matthew 24:24.
Another text Satan uses against men is this: "If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision and will speak to him in dreams", Numbers 12:6. Demonic spirits also have power to give dreams and visions, Jeremiah 23:25-27. Their dreams are not always folly, nightmares, "wet-dreams", or wild fantasies. Some of their dream-visions are seemingly realistic experiences like "oobie", or "out of body" travel where the senses are deceived in genuine sleep. The awaking person actually thinks his spirit travelled somewhere apart from his body. Devils have no power to transport our spirits and if they let go of a man's body they will fall. Men move out of the body and upward on their last day on earth after God calls them! We all know what that means for bodies... burial! Then there are special deceptions reserved for those who want to get close to God, Jeremiah 23:32, 29:8-9; Ezekiel 13:1-9. The "dream-bag" was a great technic in warfare against Israel. All kinds of weird "prophets arose". That gave God's true prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Elijah a hard time convincing the people who really spoke for God. The people could not tell who was true unless the prophets words came to pass or God did something dramatic as He did with Elijah against the prophets of Baal, Deuteronomy 18:20-22. Otherwise if the prophets words did not come to pass or failed to come to pass when prophesied during the people's lifetime, then most of them remained deceived until they died. God has not stopped "manifesting Himself" to us in dreams and visions, John 14:21. Demonic magicians have not stopped imitating the Spirit in that area. And that is where the problem for men occurs! Dreams which seem to be revelations from God may very easily be deceptions by the powers of darkness just to get us to say they are God or Christ, 2 CORINTHIANS 11:13-15. It is very difficult to tell when and if God is speaking to us when it comes to dreams, because God allows Satan's magician spirits to do us like Pharaoh's magicians did with Moses. Thus we also have "two ways set before us", Deuteronomy 30:15; Matthew 7:13-14. God may send you a dream, but so will they. You cannot trust dreams by their appearance, because only the fulfillment proves beyond a doubt its source. And it may take a long time, too long, to determine its origin. Devils can also give visions during one's conscious wake-time deceiving the eyes and the mind. King Saul's experience with the witch of Endor is just one example, I Samuel 28:7-21. One also may hear voices that he alone can hear. Many have been sent on killing sprees because "a voice told them to do it". I do not trust in "voices" either because of devilish duplication and imitation. And I do hear them!! People who say they hear "voices" are not stupid or crazy, but most men are asleep and unaware of this power God gave devils to try us! God did not tell us to put confidence in "voices". We are cautioned to be wary of our own "receivings" and the receivings of others.... "because many false prophets are gone out into the world". The real "false prophet" is the INVISIBLE devils who imitate the true "spirit of prophecy", the Holy Ghost. THE MAN they use as a microphone and amplifier is a "victim". We are to avoid spreading and amplifying their lies by disregarding their "stuff" and to avoid mentioning it to others, 2 CORINTHIANS 10:4-6. Again victory comes not from "I have dreamed, I have dreamed", but from "it is written"!! In Ezekiel 8:5-16, God showed us how demons defile us (His temples) with their mental "pictures". " [5] Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. [6] He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. [7] And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. [8] Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. [9] And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. [10] So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. [11] And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloudof incense went up. [12] Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.[13] He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. [14] Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. [15] Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. [16] And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east", Ezekiel 8:5-16. Devils are the real "images" of Satan revealed here, just as MAN is the "image of God". The door to the temple symbolizes man's mouth, Psalm 141:3; Matthew 15:18-19. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONQUER ALL DECEIT?! THEN STICK WITH THE SCRIPTURES!! Have your loins girded with truth as part of your armor, Ephesians 6:14. And what is truth? "Sanctify them through thy truth. THY WORD IS TRUTH!", John 17:17. "And take the sWORD of the Spirit which is the WORD OF GOD, Ephesians 6:17. "For thou hast magnified thy WORD above all thy name, Psalm 138:2. Therefore THE GREATEST GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT ARE THE WORD OF WISDOM AND THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE to understand the scriptures, Psalm 119:97-104,127-135; I Corinthians 12:8. The Psalm text is sheer beauty in written form with which one may trim his lamp. NEVER RELY ON "UNCTION" ALONE TO DIRECT YOUR PATH. "Try the spirits" by whether or not they agree with the "written WORD of God".
This leads us to another problem. All that glitters is not gold even though it is written in the pages of the Bible. God has allowed Satan to provide a "badgerskin veil" of "scriptures IN THE SCRIPTURES to help hide the real truth so that HE ONLY has power over THE BOOK to discriminate its truth from the written errors and to distribute His light as "talents". God revealed this part of His work with Moses and the priesthood in the way ark and testimony were covered and carried, Numbers 4:5-6,20. Under the law a "badger" is an "unclean" fierce animal, a reference for evil spirits in the reality of the Heavenly priesthood. You are to notice that lesser priests and Levites could not see when the "covering" took place revealing that the Bible writers were not aware that God was allowing this. So Paul discovered "whether there be prophecies they shall fail... whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part", I Corinthians 13:8-9 .... all because of the presence of "badgerskin" SCRIPTURES! To determine which words are God's words and which are not begins and ends with Jesus! HE IS THE WORD OF GOD!! God taught me to compare all words to the written words of Jesus, John 3:31-35, to his works, and also to the glory written of him. All written words which agree with Jesus' words and his doctrine is the testimony of the Holy Spirit as he moved the other Bible writers, 2 Peter 1:21. Those words written as scriptures which contradict Jesus identify them as "badgerskin". BUT ... even if you had power to discriminate God's scriptures from the "badgerskin" scriptures ... ONLY GOD can "set it in order" and "open" its light. Power over the BOOK to teach from it and instruct rightly from it belongs to God and the "few" earthly students HE INSTRUCTS IN THE "HOLY THINGS" at His "supper". Those "many" not chosen to be His students in this life have a problem! They have NO CHOICE but to seek a human instructor who may or may not be one of God's "talented" FEW! Back to our point, "All scripture IS NOT given by inspiration from God". And 2 Timothy 3:16 is an example of Paul's own personal "knowing in part" and "badgerskin covering".
CONCLUSION
Finding God is a problem for those not chosen to be His "Levites" in this life. He picks those to whom He PLANS to "manifest Himself". We have learned that ancient Israel symbolized and "acted" the role and glory of ALL MANKIND. Therefore what is and was true concerning them refers to and applies to all humanity. In that regard only the tribe of Levi was selected to minister to God. And of them only a "few" were picked for the priesthood. The people of the other tribes "could not come near the tabernacle". The implication and application of these findings for today under the Heavenly priesthood is obvious. There is a "spiritual Levi" and God "elects" only a "few" of them from the masses of humanity to minister (come near by "understanding") unto Him. Everyone else is a spiritual member of the "other tribes" (ORDERS) and they cannot approach Him (the true "Tabernacle") no matter how hard they try in this life, or how hard we might try to "draw them" ourselves. ONLY GOD has power to "draw men to Him" (John 6:65) and to instruct them rightly regarding His glory, and "mysteries", and His "WORD-puzzle". In Moses' days this was called "eating the holy things" and it is "lawful only for God's priests". "There is a big DIFFERENCE" between "man-made hirelings" who presume to speak for God by usurping the ministry and those "spiritual Levites" whom God selects. God's instruction to His men on earth are "crossed" by the powers of darkness who attempt to imitate, subvert, and add to God's messages by pretending to be God. In fact they do this to any child of God even if he is being taught by a "hireling" of men. Nevertheless because of the conflict and friction arising from the opposition of both ministries, the common people are confused about who to believe. This is the same climate that existed in the days of the prophets! Anyone thinking to get close to God will be subjected to a severe, enchanting blitzkrieg from devils using all forms of deception such as "hireling ministers", dreams, visions, voices, and "unctions" to derail them and to imprison their minds, I Peter 4:12. Because of the fierceness of this "stealth" attack, Matthew 24:22,24, God saves a "few" from being overwhelmed by personally instructing them to preserve and reserve them as "carriers" of His light before Heaven, devils, and men. But the rest of mankind desiring to approach and serve Him are victims of the powers of darkness in their conquest of the rest of mankind and the churches, Daniel 7:21-22; Revelation 13:4-7. This constitutes "slavery" in spiritual Egypt. But total victory in the long-run belongs to ALL because of God. Devils have to be shown and man has to learn that the LOVE of God is greater than man's power to comprehend, Isaiah 52:15, Song of Solomon 8:6,7. Now read Romans 11:29-36. These conditions are allowed to remain in every generation while men remain on earth so He can show His mercy to ALL!!! And who will LOVE him the most in these things?? ... Those He forgave the most! Luke 7:41-43.