The first book that helped me get familiar with the Bible was The Satanic Rebellion by Dr. Robert D. Luginbill. It offers a big picture view of God’s plan that was helpful for me as a new believer, in spite of the fact that many of his beliefs (e.g. premillennialism, the Genesis gap, innate sinful nature) strongly conflict with what the Orthodox Church teaches. Nonetheless, this work played a role in my early catechism by reorienting me away from the secular world and onto the world of God.
God’s love for us
For the supreme love that God the Father has for us as demonstrated in the sacrifice on our behalf of His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, can also be seen in His determination to let us, to let all His creatures, choose whether or not we wish to follow Him of our own free will. Although God loves all His creatures with a perfect love, He does not force any of them to love Him back. When history finally comes to an end, the only creatures, men and angels, who will be with Him forever are those who have chosen it.
The fear of death
The fear and the terror we humans feel in regard to death is sign enough that, on some very basic level, we understand that through our own devices no good result waits on the other side. This fear is the devil’s ace trump. Through it he has entrapped uncounted millions, coaxing them into a variety of false religions that promise relief and solution, but without Christ. Jesus alone gives us the power to escape this fear through faith in Him and His resurrection.
I don’t believe it when people claim they are not afraid of death. Their lives are often filled with obsessions over health or distractions to take the mind off dying. Buried within the bravado that they are ready to die is a low-level hum of terror.
Jesus Christ is human history
Jesus Christ, in the most complete sense of God’s point of view, is history, because human history has no purpose without His saving work on the cross (which is the entire point of history). From the first, prehistoric Eden, to the garden of Eden, to the dark world in which we now find ourselves (wherein He is the only light: Jn.1:4-5; 1:9; 3:19; 8:12; 1Jn.2:8), to the coming Kingdom of God, Jesus Christ is and has always been the visible Person of God, the face of God (2Cor.4:6; Heb.1:3), and the ultimate issue for every human being who has ever lived. No one, therefore, can approach God the Father apart from embracing the Son and His saving work.
Without Jesus Christ, there is no point of this life. Any good you are able to create, such as children, will fade to dust just like you, their lives reduced to a mere series of moments, neurochemicals flowing this way and that in their brains. In our degenerate age, many will not even have children, and so what then will your life be about? Money-making and pleasure-seeking? Creating all manner of false idols? Letting a little part of you (your genitals) command your entire body? Without Christ, I might as well line up on the edge of a cliff and kindly ask you to push me over, to escape the utter bleakness that is the existence of a mere animal.
Either be a slave to sin or be a slave to God
Simply put, God is glorified by our obedience, by our response to His sovereign authority. Our will is not really “free” in the sense that we can choose the course of our lives without consequence. We really have only one choice: obey God. If we do, God is glorified by our obedience. If we do not, we suffer the consequences (and God still enjoys a measure of glory by dealing with us in justice, though He would have preferred to deal with us in love). No, we really do not have “free will” in the overarching sense of the phrase. Either we choose to do God’s will, or we end up choosing to follow the present “ruler of this world” by default (Gal.5:16-17). Either we accept His sovereign authority over our lives, an authority He possesses by nature of being God, an authority He has underlined to an unimaginable degree by the price He has paid for us through the death of His only Son, or we reject Him for the usurped authority of the devil’s world (1Jn.2:15-17). If we seek Him, if we follow Him, if we serve Him, if we obey Him, we will find that in our lives, in our spiritual gifts, in the production that flows from the ministries He assigns, we will be partakers in the delegated sovereign authority of God that was bestowed upon Adam so long ago.
We were thrust out into a world controlled by demons
As they walked out of the garden, Adam and Eve were not only entering a world characterized by pain, toil and ultimate physical death, but also a world where the devil’s influence would be great and pervasive. This was no Eden, but a world where only the unseen protection of God would prevent them from being annihilated by the satanic forces swirling around them, a world where only the diligent seeking of God (in response to the consciousness of sin they now possessed from their knowledge of good and evil) would lead them away from the otherwise inevitable path of death.
The useless pursuit of happiness
Between birth and death, we human beings have nothing but time, time which must be served on this earth under the Genesis curse. We fill the time with work, with relationships, and with various pleasures and pursuits. We fill the time, we waste the time, we strive desperately not to be at loose ends with our time, lest the realization of life’s vanity dawn and bear heavily down upon us. To the extent that the effort produced by our time-filling, time-wasting activities is directed at all, it is inevitably directed toward the impossible goal of making ourselves happy (whether directly or indirectly). Whether a man toils a lifetime in the depths of the earth searching for treasure, or spends his days at the corner pub, happiness is the ultimate objective, and who can say which man is the greater fool? In the latter case, happiness stops almost instantaneously with “last call”; in the former, great success will only bring an end to the diversion of toil and bring on the realization that riches do not produce happiness (dispelling the illusion that motivated the distracting toil in the first place).
I was able to pursue pleasure more intensely than most men, and when I snapped myself out of the spell, I was determined to cease all of it. I am still able to perceive pleasure by my body, so what does that say about the worthiness of my initial pursuit? It was false and led nowhere. Most men do not want to hear this warning because they already made up their minds to drench themselves with pleasure. They want to duplicate or exceed what I have done, but they will reach the exact same dead-end as I have.
How Satan attacks us
Unbelief always manages to find an excuse (as it did in Jesus’ day), and the devil always manages to exploit this lack of trust in God and His Word (as he did in the garden). The essence of Satan’s strategy in attacking Adam and Eve was the same then as it is now: drive a wedge of deception between the believer (or potential believer) and the truth.
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Typically, the devil’s attacks center around a distortion of God’s truth. [His] strategy as employed against Eve is thus critically important for us to understand today, for his tactics remain essentially the same: first, involve us in a “dialogue”, some form of subtle temptation, verbal and otherwise, which engages our egos and our arrogance; second, use this dalliance with him to throw the slightest shadow of doubt upon some aspect of God’s word, God’s commands, or God’s character; finally, as soon as a fracture of distrust, a fissure of failing belief, appears in our shield of faith, then slam home whatever wedge will fit the crack.
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He observes the chinks in our armor, our ignorance of the word of God, our disbelief, our doubts, our nonchalance about following in the footsteps of Christ (in general or on particular points), and then, armed with this critical “scouting report”, he attacks, providing false information, false assurances, and tempting us (or frightening us) right when and where we are at our weakest.
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Satanic opposition is, quite frankly, a normal and continual part of the Christian life. Certainly, these assaults will take a variety of forms; certainly, they will differ greatly from time to time, from place to place, and from individual to individual. But the fact of their occurrence is a given. As long as we march across this battlefield, we are going to be subject to enemy fire, of greater concentration and intensity to the degree we increase in the effectiveness of our Christian lives (growing spiritually and helping others to do likewise).
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The devil turns need to greed (the fears and pressures of life are at its root). The devil turns self-awareness into self-worship (subjective arrogance is at its root). The devil turns our desire for God into a desire for pseudo-good (objective arrogance and self-righteousness are at its root). The lie is the basis for Satan’s world system. He gained a following through the lie that seduced many of his fellow angels. He re-gained control of the earth through the lie that corrupted Adam and Eve. He exercises control over his cosmos through the lie that seeks to ensnare all of mankind. Our common human responses to the devil’s propaganda, namely greed, pride and self-righteousness, culminate in an integrated system of organized sin and evil that is better known as the chaos called “human history”. Human history (as opposed to the plan of salvation which God is carrying out in the course of history) is not really progressive at all from the divine point of view, but actually and inherently regressive.
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It is important to remember, however, that the devil is not omnipotent. And we have it from God that He will not allow Satan to bring more pressure to bear upon us in this regard than we are able to bear.
Demonic attacks will never stop. You can escape to the desert, like St. Anthony did, but the demons will simply follow you there. The goal shouldn’t be wanting the demons to leave you alone, but to learn how to wield the sword and armor of faith to defend against those attacks, for every temptation you are able to resist builds your virtue and moves you closer to God.
This world is the devil’s world
…this is the devil’s world. That Satan’s world of deep unhappiness is essentially corrupt is a truism evident at life’s every turn. Everything decays. Nothing good lasts. Sin and evil are ubiquitous. And not too far down the road in every individual life lies the grave, the reward and legacy awaiting us all, no matter how blissful or disappointing our lives have been in the interim. Only God is truly meaningful here on earth, if we would but search for Him. Only Jesus Christ offers a solution to the futility of life and the inevitability of death, if only we would believe in Him. Only on the other side of this life is there true meaning, true fulfilment, true and lasting happiness, when we are at last re-united with the God who loved us enough to sacrifice His Son on our behalf, if only we have chosen Him in this present life over the deceptive vanities of the devil’s world. Until that time, like our first parents Adam and Eve before us, we have been left in this strange and alien world where the blinding reality of God is largely obscured from view, revealed almost exclusively in His Word to those who seek Him out. Until that time, we wait for something better as homeless wanderers in a world which finds our perspective and our hope worthless, even idiotic. But by our faith and the actions that faith produces, we show the world that we are not of it, do not love it, and acknowledge that we have no true part in it – except for the God who is the focus and the object of our love all the days of our sojourning here in the devil’s inhospitable desert.
If there’s something you’ve become attached to that is not connected to God, the world has you. All Satan has to do is keep you engaged with pleasures long enough to make your heart so cold to God that it closes to Him completely.
Live in the world, but do not be of it
From the moment we turn away from the hollow manner of life handed down from generation to generation (1Pet.1:18), and turn instead to the living God through faith in His Son Jesus Christ, we are reconciled to Him, and at the same time alienated from the world. There can be no middle ground. Either we are friends of God, or friends of the world (Jas.4:4). Satan has done his best to structure the kingdom he tenuously controls and its mode of operation so as to invite compromise and involvement in the activities and values he sponsors. But God is holy. God is righteous. God is absolute, and the issues He puts before us (of accepting salvation first, and following Jesus Christ ever afterward) are equally absolute. To be sure, Christians sin, Christians stumble, Christians fail; but our imperfect obedience does not change the fact that God’s standards are unbending, unsullied and perfect in every way.
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For this world is not yet a place where God dwells manifestly and in person, but rather a wilderness through which we who believe in Christ are making our pilgrimage to God.
God is looking for sinners to reside with him in heaven for all eternity. Our time in this world is a test, a sort of prolonged interview. Can we still choose for God in spite of all the traps that lay before us?
Material success is vanity
It is sadly ironic that the madcap rush for wealth, fame, glory, pleasure and possessions often serves to distract the unbeliever from the central truth of life outside of the garden: all these things are vain, because we shall all return to dust in the blink of an eye. The godless pursuit of pseudo-happiness (and false security) can never take the sting out of death, but for all those who are manically involved in it, it does provide distraction from death’s approach. The unbeliever, after all, has every reason to fear death, more so than he may know. We should not be surprised, therefore, to find him engaged in a frantic cycle of activity, accepting any and all substitutes to blind his eyes to the reality of death’s grim approach. The unbeliever, in short, although mortal, behaves as if he were immortal, and that is the essence of his folly. He stores up wealth, as if he will be around to enjoy it forever; he seeks glory, fame and achievement, as if it will not fade with his impending demise; he indulges himself in all pleasures, as if the grave will not put his enjoyment of them to an end.
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The devil’s lie is that happiness can be achieved in this world apart from God, and that, with enough effort, security can be vouchsafed for such gains. Sufficient space has already been expended to establish the principle that death makes a complete mockery of this lie from the outset (for any and all who are willing to make a truthful appraisal of the essential calculus of human life in this world outside of Eden). This fact, however, has not prevented a majority of humanity from falling into the pseudo-happiness, pseudo-security trap. Having rejected the truth of God, most people in the history of the world have gladly embraced the myth of true happiness capable of enduring. The exact incarnation of this “myth-happiness” takes many forms, of course, and is sought in a multitude of ways, but, inevitably, it is never really achieved. It always remains vaguely future, no matter how wealthy, or famous, or successful, or powerful a person manages to become in this short life: “I’ll be happy if only I get/do/experience _________ .” Filling in this blank merely opens up the way for other blanks that need to be filled in for the elusive, never-actually-achieved myth-happiness to be attained.
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Indeed, mankind has made a science of discovering interesting amusements and diversions to try and take the sting out of life—in vain.
Security can never be achieved without God. Many people aim to be financially secure. They save for years yet security always eludes them. Their expenses have gone up, their lifestyle has elevated, their children need to attend Ivy League schools, a worldwide pandemic has arrived. They end up needing more money than they thought, and now there is a new fear—the fear of losing money. The rich don’t have to worry about the small things, such as how to pay their medical bills, but they still worry they don’t have enough. They worry that it will all be taken away from them or that their neighbor has much more. They worry than an angry mob will burn down their house, so it’s time to buy a compound in New Zealand, but how much is that going to cost? More money is needed.
I don’t make as much money as I used to. My savings is slowly being depleted. I live with my mother. I don’t know what will happen to me in the future, but I am more secure than ever because I am in God’s grace. Anything that happens to me, no more how uncomfortable, is part of God’s plan for me and therefore must be essential to my spiritual development, and so I will embrace it.
God-given pleasures
Beyond the simple, God-given pleasures of family, labor and food, the attainment of successive plateaus of wealth, fame, power or pleasure may entertain for a brief moment, but like a feast to a man with a full belly, they quickly lose their appeal, thus spurring the myth-happiness faithful on to the next level of dubious achievement as the cycle progresses on its never-ending way.
All parties come to an end, without exception. Some parties go on for a long while—you can travel the world for decades if you choose, but soon you will tire of it, and the joy of hopping on an airplane to see a new exotic destination will one day feel like torture. Any worldly thing that gives you joy will one day stop giving you joy. And then what will you do?
Nothing fails like success
On and on, in never-ending cycle, the more knowledge we amass, the more miserable we become (Eccl.1:18); the more doctors and medical technology, the more suffering; the more wealth in the world, the more poverty (cf. Eccl.5:11); the more information available, the more ignorance reigns. As material prosperity increases and technology advances, as peace and security expand, the more complacent we become and the more easily the essential pointlessness and vanity of life can be ignored.
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If we are slaves to material things, it is them that we shall serve (Rom.6:16-18), but if we follow in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior, the living Word, we will put what God has to say first (Ps.138:2 KJV), and in so doing will never need to fear any lack of provision on His part, for He is faithful (Deut.7:9; 1Cor.10:13; 1Thes.5:24; 2Thes.3:3; 2Tim.2:13; Heb.10:23; 13:5-6).
Look at all the time-saving technology and conveniences we have today. Are we better off than a few generations ago? We’re worse! We’re more depressed, medicated, angry, suicidal, and despondent. The more material comforts and pleasures you have, the more lost you will be.
The Christian life has purpose
From the Christian perspective, life is an entirely different matter, because it has purpose. Our time in this world is neither pointless nor futile, for we remain here in the devil’s world as servants of God, as followers of Christ. Having recognized our mortality and sinfulness, having acknowledged God and turned to Him through Jesus Christ our Lord, we know that for us immortality lies directly behind the mortality the world sees (or chooses to ignore); we know that for us rather than there being no ultimate point to anything we do, there is instead great significance to everything we do. For as believers in Jesus, we remain here as instruments of God, as members of the body of Christ, in order to do His will, that others may likewise turn to Him through Christ and likewise grow in spirit through His Word day by day.
The purpose of my life is to serve God through the world He created—my work, family, church, and neighbor. While I’m not a perfect Christian, and still succumb to worldly entertainments and politics, my aim is to bring God into everything I do, and if there is something I can’t bring God into, maybe I shouldn’t do it.
Trust in God’s plan
Only by allowing us to experience His grace in the midst of the devil’s world, can God bring us to the fullest understanding and appreciation of His love for us, while at the same time leading us to a full and genuine love for Him. Thanks be to God for His ineffable and unsearchable wisdom!
That wisdom can sometimes be hard to see from the nosebleed seats we may find ourselves in, but I regularly remind myself that my feeble human brain cannot even begin to comprehend God’s plan, and if I can just understand the morsel that concerns me, that’s all I need. Maybe one day God will show me how everything in human history fits together to achieve His end, but until then, it’s not important for me to know.
Good can only come from God
Sinful mankind will never be happy, never be satisfied, and certainly never achieve “victory” over poverty, crime, disease, or any other of the multitudinous manifestations of the sin nature within us all. And Man will beyond question never “conquer” death. Trying to make the world “a better place” apart from God and God’s will is an effort that is not only doomed to failure because of the nature of man and of the devil’s world, but buying into this satanic lie in this way and energetically embracing it is subtly yet completely anti-God.
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If we do accomplish anything outside of His will, that is in actuality to our great shame, and whatever we accomplish within His will is, in reality, because of His gracious provision, seen and unseen. All glory, therefore, belongs to God alone. When we attribute success, accomplishment, or natural endowments to ourselves, we are robbing God of the glory that is His by divine right. What makes us think we have any right to take credit for what God has done?
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Claiming to be able to do good apart from God, to be able to improve a world that God has long ago marked for complete destruction in order to burn the evil out of it entirely, is, in essence, to deny the need for a Savior, to deny the need for God’s help, to proclaim arrogantly instead that we are somehow able to “help God” by these paltry activities.
I remember when Zen guru Alan Watts taught that if there is a rising trend of do-gooding in the world, of people who want to make it a “better” place, grab your gun and lock your doors, because they are going to bring death and destruction in their wake. Communism tried to bring good in the form of material equality, and we know how many tens of millions of people had to die for that. Today we have good in the name of “social justice,” “refugees welcome,” “saving lives from coronavirus,” “racial equality,” and other do-gooder acts, yet we also know how many people are attacked, censored, deplatformed, impoverished, demoralized, and tyrannized as a result.
There is no peace in this world
It should come as no surprise, then, that all who become “light in the Lord” (Eph.5:8) have from the point of salvation forward little in common with the world in which they walk. As was stressed above, we believers in Christ are no longer “of the world” (Jn.17:14-16), but are sojourners and aliens in a strange and hostile environment. The corollary to this principle is equally true and equally compelling: just as we have chosen God over the world, so the world has little use for us who have rejected it (Jn.15:18-20). The fact that the present kosmos is under the devil’s influence makes this eventuality the more understandable (1Jn.5:19). As soon as we stop playing according to Satan’s rules, we are no longer his subjects, but only interlopers in his realm. Thus we lose all further consideration on the part of the world and its ruler. By choosing Christ, we gain our lives, but lose the world, thus incurring its undying hostility (Matt.16:26).
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There is perhaps no greater mistake a believer can make than to assume that he or she can ever have any true peace with this world and its diabolical sovereign (Jas.4:4; 1Jn.2:15-17). This is one reason why peace and prosperity are potentially harmful to the believer’s spiritual equilibrium. For the devil is at work in “good times” too. Indeed, he does some of his most effective work on such occasions. Followers of Christ need to remember that the world is not an essentially “friendly” place where bad things happen only from time to time. Rather, it is an entire cosmos of evil where darkness reigns, a mad beast that can never be tamed, only destroyed (as God shall eventually do: cf. 2Pet.3:10-12).
It’s not an accident that after receiving God’s grace I wanted to escape from the city and live in the mountains. It’s also not an accident that most monasteries are built in the middle of nowhere. While I can’t escape from the world entirely, it’s a natural progression for a believer to want to buffer themselves from evil. People who want to worship the world move from the countryside to the city, but since I don’t worship the world anymore, I hope to one day escape the city for good.
False spiritual roads
Despite the hyper-materialistic nature of the world in which we live, human beings have a spiritual side and a deep and abiding need to satisfy this essential part of their makeup. Only a true relationship with God through Jesus Christ can truly satisfy this need, but the devil, recognizing the drive for spirituality in mankind, has developed a kaleidoscopic variety of alternatives. These run the gamut from staid and traditional religions to outlandish, mystical or cabalistic activities. The devil is anxious to find something for everyone, anything to intrigue the spiritual side of man, anything but the truth of Jesus Christ. Any and all religious activities which do not put Christ in the undiluted center of things put Satan there by default. For by helping to still the innate desire to seek their Creator, such activities merely perpetuate separation from Him.
It seems to be a trend these days to declare yourself “spiritual,” a new word for “agnostic.” The so-called spiritual person believes we are all one with the universe and connected into a karmic hivemind of collective consciousness, and yet she can still fornicate and lie all she wants. She can hurt others, obsess over money, and masturbate with sex toys that are now available for purchase at the local pharmacy. If your spirituality does not come with morality or sacrifice then you may be worshipping the wrong spirit.
You have help in the battle against evil
We can also take comfort in the many scriptures that assure us that along with an unseen enemy, there are many unseen allies, angels of God (too numerous to count) to fight this battle for us (Gen.19:11; 1Ki.19:5; Ps.91:11; Dan.6:22; Matt.4:11; Matt.18:10; Lk.16:22; Acts 5:19; 12:10-15; Heb.1:14). Unable to perceive the ebb and flow of the spiritual conflict around us, we become like private soldiers on the battlefield, only conceptually aware of what is going on beyond our individual fox-holes. Under such circumstances, the correct procedure is to walk by faith, not by sight, and to learn to trust God unfailingly (Ps.23; 2Cor.4:18; 5:7; Heb.11:1). The closer we move to God, the more we grow spiritually, the safer we shall be in this conflict, and the more effective our prayers to influence what we can see will become.
God comes first
Whenever our thinking begins to be dominated by personal concerns to such a degree that we lose perspective about our place in God’s plan, our spiritual life is bound to suffer. We have of necessity many ties with the world (family, business, etc.). This is all the more reason to strive to keep God first in our thinking, our conversation, and the actual living of our lives, approaching the distractions of life (whether harassment or enticement) with the proper, professional Christian point of view.
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In doing God’s will, Jesus not only declined this offer of a crown, but, in the end, had to give up everything – even His life – in order to accomplish God’s will. In doing so, He made it abundantly clear that He came to worship, follow and do the will of God, not to glorify Himself (Jn.12:28; 13:32; 17:1).
Whenever I go through an especially busy period, I forget about God. I’m too distracted with tasks at hand, and at the end of the day, when all work is done, I remember Him again. Thankfully these busy periods do not last long, and my worship can return to normal, but many people structure their lives to be hectic on a daily basis, forever. They leave no room for God to come in, perhaps because they know he would not approve of the lives they’re living.
Life is a continual trial
Christians have to affirm their reality by faith in every skirmish of every day as we make our way across this battlefield we call the world. All this takes faith, and the building up of our faith requires in turn the diligent, daily intake of God’s Word consistently applied to life in order to grow. Only through the continuation of this irreplaceable process do the realities of heaven begin to become more real than the ephemeral “realities” our eyes behold.
Technology distances us from God
Faith in technology (instead of faith in God), hope in political solutions (instead of God’s solutions), and love for human cultural accomplishments (instead of for God and the sacrifice of His Son) are common variations on the devil’s theme of working to make heaven on earth. But cutting God out of the equation is not only impossible—it is foolhardy. For only God can satisfy the true needs of humanity: forgiveness, spiritual peace, and eternal life.
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The more we depend upon ourselves and our human abilities, the less we are interested in God and all that He does for us. Technological and scientific “progress” require no moral progress at all. Indeed, all our collective accomplishments on this score (minuscule from the standpoint of all that is in the universe, not to mention from the true point of comparison, the Creator of the universe) have helped to alienate mankind from God, creating a false sense of mastery over the material world (though death remains and suffering has, in some cases, intensified). If we are not careful to take the true spiritual realities of life into consideration (the forgiveness of our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ, first and foremost), it is all too easy to let this dependence upon our technology undermine our reliance upon God.
The smartphone has not been in existence for long, but most people cannot live without it. When I was fornicating, I recall how challenging it was to maintain the attention of a woman who had all sorts of notifications popping up on her smartphone and how much more of a “clown” I had to be to get her into bed. Even if you want to opt out of technology, how will you communicate with those who choose to opt in? People don’t like speaking on the phone as much as in the past, and now a large part of friendship comes in the form of text messages infused with images and emoticons. By refusing technology, you’re essentially refusing the world, and since most people are of the world, the result of your decision will be less human connection. This is the price you must pay to retain your connection with God.
Globalism is Satanic
A highly cooperative, highly homogenized, highly centralized society need only be shifted in a godless direction once. For once the worship of the only true God is deemed anti-social and made illegal, it becomes an easy matter to discourage it entirely under such circumstances—especially in the absence of any alternative society on the face of the earth where religious “dissidents” who had chosen for God might find refuge. One cannot therefore imagine a more ideal scenario for the devil’s squelching of faith than to bring about a single unified, top-down state in charge of all human affairs on earth. For from this beginning it would be but a short step to eradicating all faith on earth by taking away the freedom of those who might choose to exercise such faith.
What a coincidence that today’s society—with its gay pride marches, transsexual acceptance, and child sexualization—is highly centralized in a way that makes it easiest for Satan to spread evil most efficiently. The increasing centralization of the world that has come with globalism also aids in making it more evil.
Conclusion
Dr. Luginbill has created an excellent work that brings the Bible to life, and best of all, he offers it for free. My priest may have a heart attack at some of his doctrines, but in spite of those differences, I was aided by the book.
Read For Free: The Satanic Rebellion by Dr. Robert D. Luginbill
Great read. Thank you. God bless.
I’m not afraid of death. In many ways, death is a blessing. This world becomes less and less interesting the longer I live in it. Evil is everywhere, and evil is repulsive and wearisome. My own evil is a burden I carry, that I long to be free of.
If I were free of sin, I would not be concerned about death at all. The fear I have is of God’s judgement, which is the only thing to really be afraid of.
As for being a “slave” of God, this is not how Christians should think of obedience to God. We are not slaves. We are friends and servants of God, and of one another. We serve freely, out of love and kindness, not fear.
Obedience in Christian terms is always a facet of love. We do what God wants – seek to do what God wants of us – because it is good in itself.
It is good for us, a blessing for us, to obey God’s law, and do the good that he would have us do. We love one another, bless one another, tell the truth to one another, forgive and seek forgiveness from one another, and otherwise love and serve one another in the name of our God because it is good to do these things, because it increases our happiness.
He will never command us to do anything evil, anything that will make us unhappy. He will always tell us to do things that will make our beatitude greater, our holiness, sanity and joy more complete.
To serve the living God is to be free, to be blessed by way of blessing.
Peace be upon you. Â Be not afraid. Be joyful, our Lord is risen and comes to save us.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, our beloved friend and graceful master; our just, kind and merciful king.
“God will never command us to do anything evil…”
God orders Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac (the Akedah).
“…anything that makes us unhappy”: That statement sure doesn’t jibe with the works of the Elders ancient & modern, et al, I am familiar with, “at ease in Zion”, or much of anything else.
I have to challenge a statement that could lead especially a new Christian terribly astray. We are told the high road will be hard–because much of the time it is. America is awash in “prosperity gospel” dreck. Following God/Christ frequently leads to “hard testing”, that is why the Lord’s prayer makes supplication that we be delivered from it (but knowing full well one may not be & “Thy will be done”).
I actually am OK or agree with most of Charlie’s comment: just not a few lines towards the end that seem to say/imply the Christian life is an idyllic bowl of cherries (& which possibly wasn’t Charlie’s intent at all). New Christians especially must not be given such unrealistic expectations which are sooner or later going to be dashed.
If Charlie meant “God will only do good to us”, that’s fine, but (á là CS Lewis) it certainly may not look or feel good to us, either at the beginning, or even long after.
Thanks for your comment, Hammerheart. I’m going to clarify the point here, as I understand it, with the major caveat that in my sin I am far from properly embracing my cross in the way I need to, in the manner which I am about to preach.
The Cross means suffering. When we embrace the suffering in our life in love and faith, and offer it God, it becomes a source of grace, of joy. I was taught as a child to offer all my suffering to Christ. Every time you suffer, in any way, offer it to God. “Pick up your cross, and follow me.” This has always brought me happiness, and when I am in grace great peace and joy.
Any time anyone causes us to suffer, we must bless bless him or her, because we “have heard that it was said, ”˜Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.”™ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
They will treat us as they treated him, and when they do, we should be glad, for
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
As for Abraham offering up Issac, the point is that he acted in faith, and was prevented by God from performing the act. He offered his and Sarah’s first born and only son to God, in anticipation of the Father offering up his only son in propitiation for our sin and hatred. He is the true mimetic scapegoat, the Lamb of God who bears all the sins of the world. He offers himself up for us, just as Abraham was willing to offer his own son up, but was given the ram caught by the head by the thorns to offer in his place. We can offer ourselves up in the same way.
As for the “prosperity gospel” it is utter heretical nonsense. Poverty is the path of Christ. Pleasure, power, beauty, and wealth are earthly goods, but they are goods that too easily become idols, that consume our hearts and minds and distract us from Christ’s love.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” and “woe to you rich, for you have already received your consolation.” Just as Dives the rich man ignored Lazarus in his poverty and misery, so do we in our comfort and wealth only conceive of everything in terms of our own pleasure and power, and ignore the need and righteous claim of the poor and weak to justice and mercy.
Poverty and suffering freely embraced is a pure ascesis, in which we can turn completely to Christ in utter dependance upon him, and find our sustenance and joy in his love.
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. The first shall be last, the last shall be first.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
That’s why the Cross, the Sign of Jonah, is the sign of contradiction (the mystery, the paradox) that is the key to our salvation. The cross means suffering, as love means suffering for the beloved.. Love without suffering is impossible (you must suffer for the sake of you beloved, or else you don’t love them at all) just as the only solution to suffering is the grace of love.
In this self emptying, this embrace of suffering is the power of God.
I’m a sinner quoting scripture here. Forgive me my presumption in preaching the words of those I do not fully imitate. Blessings on everyone. Peace.
Paul identifies himself again and again as a “bondservant” of Christ. Yes we are sons, but God is eminently worthy of 100% of our obedience. He is the most worthy master, Lord, possible.
We’re like the prodigal son in the Father’s house. We squander his grace through sin, and in humility must approach him in repentance. We owe him everything, that is the bond.
Luke 12:
“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
I am an atheist, I will admit I’m slightly afraid of death, but honestly the fear comes from not seeing the ones I love ever again. I am more excited for death than fearful, because what if I am wrong? There is a whole range of possibilities from reincarnation to hellfire to heaven to eternal sleep… and I really feel good after a long nap.
very good read roosh
I know I don’t see I eye to on things, but I’m very glad to see we can agree on many fundamental truths.
i believe as we get older we fear death less and less (the reason i say this is because we lose most of the people who make life worthwhile-to the point in which there are very few left.. im 59 years old and already i miss several longtime friends (new people can never fill the richness of a lifelong bond.
Alabama ain’t the South. Y’all don’t knaw what you’re what talking about. Alabama and Florida are south of the South. Alabama ain’t notin’ but swampland full of mosquitoes. frogs, gators, drugs, and wild knee-grows roaming around streets like a pack o’ dogs rioting, pillaging, sagging their paints and causin’ mayhem like you ain’t seen. We use to put them to good use, shearing the crops and harvestin’ bushels of cottons. The be workin’ hard out in them field. You ain’t gonna find a Southern bell in Alabama cuz it ain’t the South.
Your site has become lot more interesting since you quit chasing women.
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It certainly makes sense why that is a good read.
The essence of the Satanic is to tear apart heaven from earth…make us all materialistic and end up bestial. The life in Christ is to unify heaven and earth…so that our lives become sanctified and the time God has given us has meaning.
We be chasing them knee-grows off our yawds. Al git my shotgun out if they eve’ com back and try steal my bicycle.
The Yew is our misfortune. The Yew brought slaves to America.
The Pope is a blasphemer. Have nothing to do with the abominable Roman Catholic Church.
Looks like somebody has been hanging out on the Pulpit and Pen and Steven Anderson “little popes” Protestant sites.
The greatest heresy in history, the Protestant Reformation, and the later Revivalist Movement!!
I have Catholic friends they are very good people. I don’t even want to argue with you.
Haha Steven Anderson is a bumbling oaf, better to listen to some drunkard then him. He reads a short Bible and then rambles on for an hour. He has bad understand of “repentance.” Also he’s like RooshV, knows a lot but doesn’t use logic, over reactive and very aggressive and is obsessed with the Yehudis.
E Michael Jones is vile emissary of the pernicious Roman Catholic Church. Beware of him; pay no heed to his deceitful words but scorn them.
The 6 faced man with the nose shaped like a 6, whose nation has a 6 pointed star.
Nope I’m not a Yehudi.
Nor Israeli
–
Left-wing
Right-wing
They both suck.
“Know that the interests of the Holy See, and those of your crown, make it a duty to exterminate the Hussites. Remember that these impious persons dare proclaim principles of equality; they maintain that all Christians are brethren, and that God has not given to privileged men the right of ruling the nations; they hold that Christ came on earth to abolish slavery; they call the people to liberty, that is to the annihilation of kings and priests.
While there is still time, then, turn your forces against Bohemia; burn, massacre, make deserts everywhere, for nothing could be more agreeable to God, or more useful to the cause of kings, than the extermination of the Hussites.”
Pope Martin V
What evidence is there for the authenticity of this qoute other than Ecclesiastical Empire, a book by Alonzo T Jones, an anti Catholic, 19th century Seventh Day Adventist fanatic? There was a lot of anti Catholic (anti-Papist), anti Irish and anti German political propaganda in 19th century America. If you’re born into a “new Church” it’s not as bad, but not just breaking with a Church with apostolic continuity, but attacking it and being directly opposed to it, (while any new community of believers should be part of the Church that through its great fathers traces its origin to Jesus and the Apostles), is not a sign of good will. Do you blame and avoid today’s doctors for the widespread use of mercury and blood letting (which actually helps men with iron overload) not that long ago, or the police and courts for torture’s being part of the protocol in the past. Keep doing the alien’s work to promote divisions among Christians.
It was a letter From Pope Martin V to the King of Poland in 1429 (can figure out which one). I originally found it in a book by Dave Hunt (who is not just a critic of the Catholic church but of a much of American Christianitiy . It’s reference in other anti-catholic books. The Hussite War was a historical event, as well as the burning of John Hus, his followers and the followers of John Wycliffe. They gave Jan Hus a lot of time to recant but the rest is history.
The perverted Roman Catholic Church is a safe haven for pedophiles.
Hollywood and the media types always projecting:
https://youtu.be/krLGDzFdbR4?t=1453
The Khazar is Turkic, let us not forget.
I have no idea what the video has to do with this. I guess they are who cares. Ozbeks, Turks, Kazakhs, Uighurs, Tajiks, Kygis, Azeris are Turkic people. I am scared of you guys. I can’t believe people like that comment. And you think I am a fan of the Holiwood crap? I love illegally watching movies so I don’t give a dime to them.
William the bastard was blessed by Pope Alexander who gave him authority to take the Kingdom of England form the lawful king Harold. Pope Innocent started a whole war against southern France for not being catholic. The Catholic Church sent armies against Bohemia and Moravia to the destroy the followers of John Hus. The bibles in English was burned and the Lollards where burned at the stake. The RCC robs and steals. It takes land form the poor. It sets itself above the kings and the law. It is a wicked corrupt church that burns heretics starts inquisitions not in only Spain but in Spain’s colonies and all of Europe. The current pope is a fool, whose words are empty and void; take no heed to that blasphemer. The sooner we get rid of the wicked, pernicious organization, the better.
Edgar II was the lawful heir. Harald was one of many pretenders, his own brother Tostig Godwinson opposed him siding with Harald III of Norway. While Edward the Confessor had promissed the throne to William, before changing his mind on the deathbed, possibly under pressure. William was ruthless and cruel to his opponents and did not spare bishops and abbots, their titles and landholdings would be given to his people, so much for his Catholic motives.
I should’ve responding earlier. There we go this is the stuff I like, I want to my ideas to be challenged. At the end of the day Harold Godwinson lost the Battle of Hastings. “so much for his Catholic faith” I have said the same about the “what about muh Crusades” argument. I lot of the Crusaders were not very good Christians and in the case of the Crusades, they were actually started by the Seljuk Turkish Muslim.
When Ferdinand and Isabella ordered Muslims and Judios to assimilate, to either convert or leave, the judio conversos turned particularily problematic, still secretly practicing and calling on the Moors to invade Spain (Judios held offices as administrators and tax collectors for the Caliphate before the Reconquista), the Inquisition rose up to the challenge. Judios seem to have always been enemies of Spain- “The conquered cities Cordova, Malaga, Granada, Seville, and Toledo were placed in charge of the Jewish inhabitants, who had been armed by the Arabs.”
Everybody is familiar with the Spanish Civil War, and the role the Judios played in it.
Judios keep working against Spain and her former colonies. “Israeli who headed Colombia child prostitution ring arrested in Portugal. His empire is also thought to have extended to Ecuador, Mexico and Brazil.”
Why did it say that link is not safe to click what are you doing? The Spanish Empire was very ruthless and brutalout in it’s conquest of the new world (especially the conquest of the Inca) although they at least banned slavery of American Indians. Natives were often converted by force after their land was taken away. The Yehudim were being forced to convert or die and many did. They were expelled from Spain in 1492 same year Colmbus (who was actually a very cruel, brutal person) landed in the Americas. Also while the Protestant Ref. was going on and the Pope wanted the Americas under the Catholic Church, and today this the case. The Spanish inquistion (burning “heretics”, Yehudim, and Mohammedans) continued in the New World. Think of this what you will. One more thing: that German guy of WWII, who was raised Catholic (even if he was not a good Catholic) was not the first to invent Yellow badges and special clothing. The Catholic church had been doing that for centuries.
The war against S. France that was the Albgensian Crusade. (There was also the Hughenots in
France in the 1500s which I forgot to mention.) Some interesting facts the war was ended by King Louis IX (really his mother was in charge at the time). Louis IX (him mother actually) gave a fair trail to the Yehdhim (There was a charge that the Talmud contained blasphemy) The authorities were surprised to learn that Yehdhim rely on text outside the Old Testament. All Talmuds where order to be burned in the hopes that they would read the Old Testament and eventually convert to Christianity. This the same Louis who participated in the 9th crusade and the same who is known as Saint Louis. Stupid Lefwing Protesters wanting destroy the mounment in Missouri don’t know jack about history or much of anything really.
The Master Race just so happens to be the race I was born in. It”™s so good to be born as me and have my handsome, beautiful appearance.
The reason I am humble is because I know Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.
Stupid shitposting. Embarrassed.
“In our degenerate age, many will not even have children, and so what then will your life be about?” —- good question. In my blue pill tradcon upbringing, that question is asked from a standpoint of near child-worship….children are the end-all and be-all of human existence. I didn’t buy into it, and the manipulations and societal rigging that are a part of it. I saw more misery than happiness in the families I grew up around and wanted none of it. If I had the right pre-nuptial agreement, massive money to pay for a nanny and a maid and the right partner, maybe just maybe it could work…but anything less than that? No way.
Agreed, children have become false idols.
Some material for next Roosh Hour:
“The Reality of Biology”
https://youtu.be/-ym42lV1ka8
You”™re 40 years old, live with your mom, drive a 2000 4Runner, balding, working a construction job, and asking for donations. How low you”™ve fallen.
I actually bought the books he wrote (and “burned”). They were a lot more interesting than this religion drivel. Roosh, man, I hate to break it to you, but Invisible God Almighty doesn’t really exist! Seek truth in science and knowledge and in the laws that actually govern this Universe! You actually were a good scientific-minded person when you sought to discover how to attract women.
BTW, you can be a good person and oppose the left-wingers and SJWs more effectively without believing in what isn’t there. Because what isn’t there can’t really help you win.
1) “Live with your mom” — It’s better to live with one’s mom then live with a contentious women — which happens to be an ridiculously large %. Based on his principles he de-published his books that earned him passive income. Only faith would propel a man to do something so opposite to the way the secular world sees things.
2) “2000 4Runner” — When your body turns to dust like Roosh will (like all of ours will) who will care how he got from point a to point b. Will people remember “karma” because he drove a BMW. You will be forgotten too!
3) “Balding” — Appearances fade as yours will to. No material good can stop aging. Nor can any sum of money.
4) “Working a construction job” — As a I said this man gave up his passive income based on a life of degeneracy because he wanted to please God Almighty. How is this an insult? Why is a construction job any worse than staring at a screen for 10 hours, pressing buttons, and talking to people. In fact, it arguably is more fulfilling because he is building something real.
5) “How low you’ve fallen” — This is only a perspective somebody obsessed on the material world, their lusts, and the here and now can say. I promise you that whatever lie you have bought into… if only I achieve “X” I will be happy, it will not fulfill you. You will be on a hamster wheel chasing after the next best thing until one day God says “Karma” your life is required of you. When that does happen you will be judged, condemned, and go into everlasting torment in the lake of fire because you did not turn to the Lord of life who died for your sin.
When Roosh is sitting in the New heavens and New earth in eternal bliss while you scream into the outer darkness I don’t think he will be thinking to himself “how low I have fallen”. Only when we are truly low in this world (in the world’s eyes) do we realize the truth. But in truth, when we are weak we are strong. I advise you to read Luke 16:19-31 because this article obviously affected you enough to write this insult.
Okay I agree with things: I don’t care what car he’s driving, and I don’t care that he’s working in construction. I don’t look down on those people. However, he said the job’s only 1 month long.
The doom and gloom of an inherently evil physical world filled with hardship, deceit and lures to misery, is defective. It is a world view adopted by those who lack gratitude. The entire post uses too many words to explain self-evident truth.
Fools are present where words are many! Satan tempts. When a person accepts, the sin brings with it counterfeits of reward, caused by spiking dopamine in the central nervous system. Without an academic, faith-based belief in truth, the sensations experienced during the birth of sin are rationally interpreted as indications of correct actions.
Dopamine spikes drop quickly, causing the sensation of guilt. The sin is repeated to allay the guilt. With each repetition the dopamine spike is lower, and the plunge is deeper. This is how the darkness unfolds.
The sins of the fathers will be visited upon the children in the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me. But I will show lovinglindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Sin is defined as that which hastens death. Virtue is that which preserves life. What was truth is truth now, and it always will be truth. There is one truth! Everything else is wrong!
The way back from sin is to resist temptation. The means provided to deal with the temptation is to yield if it becomes too much. But, before a person is overcome, acknowledge God’s presence, and invite him to witness your act.
Being honest with God opens ones self to inspire from God, and gain true understanding of ones self. Never excuse sin. God will grant an excuse for all sin one commits but for which others are to blame.
Until one commits a sin for which ‘he’ is to blame, he won’t receive divine forgiveness, because he has an excuse!
Sin is wrought of intentions for good twisted by limitations to understanding due to distance from God, resulting from original sin.
For instance, desire for vengeance is from then desire to turn those who perpetrate injustice from the path to hell, by providing corrective adversity. The limited understanding of men, coupled to pride and greatly magnified anger, causes the injured to deem the proper corrective action the maximum possible adversity he is able to cause.
This is because he pridefully deems seriousness of the injury done to himself as greatly increased because of his innate superiority to the offender. So, when Dinah was raped, Jacob’s sons killed every male of the offender’s people!
Sensual beauty is the unspoken language of God, understood only by masculinity. The male reaction is a response to God’s implicit promise that the virgin is the atonement sacrifice to atone for sin held as genetic mutation in the man’s reproductive chromosomes; the promise to create new life in the man’s image and God’s image!
The virgin’s pain of atonement and blood sacrifice of innocence are a biological atonement mechanism to transform the mans seed into the flawless genetic material of God The Father. The child conceived is a direct genetic descendant of Almighty God; a genetic sibling of Christ.
If the virgin knows only the woman’s natural share in the pain of atonement of God The Son, but not the man’s natural share in the ecstasy of creation of God The Father, she conceives without stain, because God imputes no guilt to the innocent in her suffering!
However, if the woman learns what is naturally forbidden to her, she then gains the knowledge of both pleasure and pain. She has eaten from the primordial tree of the knowledge of good and bad. She has violated nature by engaging the marital act when conception is impossible!
The genetic material of her unborn child is mutated by sin. He will eventually grow old and die. The blood and water released by the virgin, when she is pierced by her bridegroom, are the temporal reflections of which the blood and water released from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as he was pierced by the ‘Roman’ soldier, are the eternal realities.
The virgin belongs to her bridegroom, and Jesus belongs to ‘Rome’. This was once a great mystery.
I must comment that I have prayed for the author for years. From what I have observed in his prose, he is sincere, and specially chosen to deliver his message. I have not seen him make a complete error in truth. He is progressing more quickly than seems possible for mortal man.
But the past cannot be changed. God sees all things simultaneously, not in a timeline. Past sins need to be confessed and divine forgiveness must be requested. If possible, injuries done to others in the past should be corrected.
Aside from that, the sinful past needs no alteration. It can’t be made up for. My advice is: the strongest statement against misleading others in the past, is to shed all remnants of it. Dispose of all pertinent materials in a spiritually cleansing way, see “Ridding Your Home of Spiritual Darkness”, by Chuck Pierce.
Otherwise, you will be spiritually oppressed by it! This includes all material in control of the individual, that cause unhealthy attachmments and serve zeadehno legitimate purpose.
Mr. Valizadeh, exercise discipline in contemplative prayer, learn from books that have survived for at least 500 years. Never ask God for a teacher. Recall Israel’s request for a king. Be thankful in all events. Be noble in your search for a spouse, without carnal designs, but only to the sake of holiness and creating beauty.