2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
We have always needed to understand one of Satan’s favorite ways of confronting God. It is at the point of the human mind. Satan knows that God wants to see as many of His human creations saved from spiritual death as possible. To try to thwart God, Satan attacks people by creating doubt, anger, disappointment, and other kinds of misery in their minds. Kay Arthur writes about one such example that can be a lesson for us all. In 1878, a philosopher named Julius Wellhausen in Europe came up with what he thought was a better way to understand the Scriptures. He called this incredibly apostate idea the rationalist theory. Up until that time, the Bible was accepted as infallible truth inspired by God, just as true believers today do. Adherents to the rationalist theory held that human reason is trustworthy, and that the Bible couldn’t be taken seriously. The voracity of 2 TIM 3: 16-17 was being questioned in a particularly disrespectful (to God) way. “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.” To believers like me, that statement is especially precious. It is God’s foundation given to us upon which we can have discernment to see the truth, make decisions that are right with God, and take apostolic action. Belief in Wellhausen’s theory takes away that foundation and leaves one with a multitude of human opinions which disagree with one another, often reject God, and leave us in spiritual chaos.
It was Wellhausen’s opinion that Moses didn’t write the Torah [the first five books of the OT]. Instead, in his mind, several writers did. The story of Adam and Eve is, in Wellhausen’s opinion, is a myth to illustrate certain truths. Think about the implications in confusing people who are newly faithful, weakly faithful, or on the fence about having faith. I personally wish I could ask an apostate philosopher like this how he explains the consistency of the word of God. Frankly, I doubt he understood it well enough to address himself to that question, even though no other body of teaching has ever equaled it. Wellhausen taught that the OT was an evolution of human thinking and not divine inspiration. It is interesting to note that this is around the same period in time when Charles Darwin came up with his theory of biological evolution. During this period, Sigmund Freud came out with his approach that all human behavior has its roots in sexuality. It was the philosophical fad of the day to put human thinking first before that of God. This was surely a very dark period in world history. The net result of Wellhausen’s teaching was the spread of doubt all over Europe. By far, this is not the only example of a period in history where it became fashionable to put man’s ideas before God’s, but it shows how Satan works to spread evil and misery. Long ago, Solomon, inspired by God, wrote in PR 3: 5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. Remember the Lord in everything you do, and He will show you the right way.” Those are not empty words, and we should not waste one second in rejecting them. They are the real truth. Sadly, the seeds of doubt that people like Wellhausen, Darwin, and Freud planted still exist long after their deaths.
The apostle Peter was given insight by God regarding this danger of Satan attacking the mind, as were others who became writers of the Scriptures. 1 PET 1: 13, “So then, have your minds ready for action. Keep alert and set your hope completely on the blessing which will be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” He understood the need to stay grounded daily in the Scriptures, so as to ferret out the truth when Satan is on the attack. He warned us as to Satan’s real nature in 1 PET 5: 8-9, “Be alert, be on watch! Your enemy, the devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Be firm in your faith and resist him, because you know that your fellow believers in all the world are going through the same kind of sufferings.”
It is important that each of us ask himself: What do I believe about the Scriptures? The answer to that question is found in prayer between ourselves and God. We must understand that countless people have been martyred in the effort to get the word of God translated into many languages accurately and transmitted world-wide. Today, faithful worshippers in China and other repressed places are seeing their pastors persecuted and their Bibles destroyed by those who reject God. Missionaries, like Martin Burnham, recently have gone to places like the Philippines and South America and lost their lives for trying to get the truth to people who hitherto have had no access to it. In tomorrow’s message, we’ll look at some of the citations that will illuminate God’s position in these matters. We need to take time to ponder this crucial question as it applies to our individual lives.
PRAYER: O Lord, when Peter was writing about changed lives, he commented in 1 PET 4: 2, “From now on, then, you must live the rest of your earthly lives controlled by God’s will and not by human desires.” The implications of that are enormous. When we examine the theories of people like Wellhausen and Darwin, they can be seen to exactly the opposite of this divinely inspired advice from Peter. We are challenged to be good managers of the gifts You have given us. People who are led by Satan’s stronghold over them are there to cause confusion and doubt. Through Paul in RO 1: 18-25, You explained to us exactly how this confusion is spread. It first becomes a product of Satan’s attack on the mind and then is converted by those choosing a lifestyle of sin to evil actions taken. Praise to You, that You have given us the tools we need to fend off this kind of attack. It will not be done by mental, spiritual, emotional, or physical laziness on our part. While You provide us with the Scriptures, prayer, and the Holy Spirit to give us discernment, we must do our part too. That means for us to remain daily in Your word, to keep the channels of prayer open and active-always allowing You to speak to us first, and to have the courage of faith to be willing to refuse Satan’s lies even if it means it puts us in harm’s way. We acknowledge and accept the Great Commission of MT 28: 19-20, “Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them My disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.” By obeying You, Dearest Abba, we experience You. We can feel Your power and Your continual presence. We must listen carefully for Your commands, even when You whisper to us to force us to focus on You. We show the extent of our love for You by how willing we are to obey Your commands [JN 14: 21]. You are our Supreme and Sovereign Deity. No other so-called god has the righteousness, power, compassion, or wisdom that You do. We humbly come before You to confess our sins, to pledge You our trust, obedience, adoration, worship, diligence, loyalty, glory, honor, praise, and thanks eternally. In Christ’s holy name, we pray. Amen.
As mentioned above, we will look at what God has to say about Satan’s attacks on our minds in tomorrow’s message. When we take the time to look around us at the blessings God has bestowed on us, including the power to defeat Satan, we have to acknowledge His great love for us. Because of our human limitations, we are unable to fully perceive its depth, but we are able to see enough to know that such love is not paralleled anywhere. I truly believe that there will be a day, probably when we are in heaven with the Father, when we will have an even better understanding of the depth of His love than we can right now. That is a Day to which we should all look forward with great expectation and glee. I probably don’t say this often enough, but each of you is very precious to Peter and me. That’s why I can say with confidence that Peter and I send our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn