Every week I study one chapter of proverbs. This is the beginning of what I’m learning. I hope it brings much wisdom to you as it does to me. A lot of this information is already known, but it’s always good to meditate on the things of God (Psalms 1:2).

Verses 2-6 The Introduction

The book of Proverbs was written to give wisdom and help us understand wise sayings and deep meanings. If you’re wise, you’ll be wiser. If you’re smart, you’re begin to understand and gain wisdom. Proverbs will help anyone who follows its instructions. Proverbs is for the young and old, and every social class. Proverbs ultimately helps us understand the rest of God’s word.

Wise or Smart

The Proverbs (CEV) uses both the words “wise” and “smart” because there are differences between the two. A definition of being wise is: full of applied knowledge and understanding, sound judgment and common sense. A definition of smart is: mentally quick and resourceful; intelligent. A smart person can remember and quickly recall things; they can learn faster, and they possess skills that come from mental discipline and practice. Being smart has to do more with your mental ability and capacity of the physical brain. Being wise has more to do with the knowledge of morality, justice and common sense, and the application of that knowledge in our daily life. Being wise has to do more with godliness (Proverbs 2:6).

Example: Tiger Woods is a smart golfer. It takes skill and intelligence to choose the correct club, to account for the changing wind variations, to calculate the distance from the hole, and to hit that ball with just the right amount of force to land it near its target. But he wasn’t wise when he committed adultery with all those women. During his apology to his family, friends and fans (which was the humblest I’ve seen of late), he said he’d be going back to his religious roots: Buddhism. Unfortunately, that is another unwise move. Only Jesus restores, only Jesus can change a man. Come to Jesus Christ, Tiger!

Wisdom, Knowledge and Understanding

The Proverbs also uses three different words that may seem synonymous but all have slightly different meanings. Knowledge is simply data: information about someone or something. Knowledge by itself isn’t always good enough because if you don’t understand it it’s useless. Understanding is knowing what the information means (in a correct and practical sense) but not necessarily doing anything about it. Wisdom is applying and practicing what you know and understand to achieve some desired effect. Therefore knowledge is the beginning and wisdom is the end product.

Example: Knowledge says, “Sin is wrong.” Knowledge later says, “Sin is destroying your life.” I mention knowledge twice because knowledge has a tendency to grow. The more you know, the closer you are to an understanding. Understanding says, “Sin is leading your soul to hell. You should stop sinning and you need God’s help to do so.” Wisdom says, “I will do as the bible instructs: I will confess and repent of my sins and obey God through the power of his Spirit.”

The fool says, “I’m eternally secure. I can practice sin and the damnable consequences won’t apply to me because I’m a ‘Christian’.”

⁴ From these, an ordinary person can learn to be smart, and young people can gain knowledge and good sense. ⁵ If you are already wise, you will become even wiser. And if you are smart, you will learn to understand (verses 4-5 CEV).

In verse 4-5, Proverbs doesn’t continue to say, “If you’re a fool you will become smart, or wise.” This is because fools reject knowledge. They wouldn’t even be studying Proverbs or the Bible to begin with. So if you are, or have studied Proverbs, count yourself among those on the right track, for all those who study Proverbs and apply what they read will gain much wisdom. But what kind of wisdom? Godly wisdom. The wisdom that will lead to an abundant life and the salvation of our souls.

Verse 7 Respect and Obedience

Respect and obey the LORD! This is the beginning of knowledge. Only a fool rejects wisdom and good advice (verse 7 CEV).

This wisdom doesn’t come by simply reading Proverbs but by two things: 1) Respect for God which is: reverence, awe, high regard, esteem and honor for him. And 2) obedience to God: doing what he tells you to do. These two things are the beginning to knowledge. You cannot begin to know anything of real value until you begin to respect God and obey him.

Verses 8-9 Listen to Your Parents

How is it that a 15 year old thinks he knows more about life than a 45 year old? Children ought to listen and obey their parents because they have wisdom: knowledge that came from years of experience which led to understanding that they now apply in their daily lives. Wisdom protects and wisdom blesses. To disobey parents who give godly wisdom is plain foolish.

Verses 10-19 Enticed to Destruction

“My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent (vs 10).”

Entice means: to attract by arousing hope or desire; to lure. We mustn’t consent or even listen (CEV) to sinners. Notice that a sinner has to lure us in. If what they were offering or inviting us to partake in something that was righteous, they wouldn’t have to“lure or tempt us. Everyone knows right from wrong because God gave us a conscience. Therefore when something which goes against our conscience it presented to us, this is a clear sign that a sinner is in our midst (whether they call themselves a Christian or not) and this sinner seeks to lead us to disobey God as they do. We mustn’t consent. We shouldn’t even listen to them.

The Crips and the Bloods

¹⁰ Don’t be tempted by sinners or listen ¹¹ when they say, “Come on! Let’s gang up and kill somebody, just for the fun of it! ¹² They’re well and healthy now, but we’ll finish them off once and for all. ¹³ We’ll take their valuables and fill our homes with stolen goods. ¹⁴ If you join our gang, you’ll get your share.” (vs 10-14 CEV).

But how many black males are apart of violent gangs? These verses can easily be applied to them. To become initiated into a gang often requires the committing of some sin. Perhaps they have to beat up some innocent person walking down the street, vandalize a building, steal a car, or stick up a local corner store. Proverbs is also alluding to the fact that robbery will often lead to murder. In other words: small sins will turn into bigger sins, so don’t even think that you can involved with people like this and believe that you won’t find yourself in worse sin.

So why would anyone want to join a gang of thugs who steal, mistreat and murder others? Answer: the sinner aroused some hope and desire in that person to join them. After watching a documentary on Crips and Bloods (the largest two gangs in America), I understood this proverb. Gangs offer protection, family, belonging, and identity – four things that are absent from most inner city black males. Therefore the gang seemingly fulfills these hopes and desires. But of course, this all leads to the destruction of those who believe that anything positive will come out of the affiliation with a gang (1 Cor 6:10). The proverb concludes that even though they victimize others, they are ultimately the victims (vs 18 CEV).

Verse 20-30 She shouts but they don’t listen

Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city (vs 20-21).

Wisdom is called a woman because wisdom is as beautiful as a woman. In verse 9, we can wear wisdom like an ornament on our heads or a chain around our necks. Wisdom makes anyone spiritually beautiful.

When I think on wisdom shouting in the streets, I think of a street preacher of the gospel. One who frequents city fairs, plazas and malls proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom. But people often respond with mockery and contempt. Wisdom has this response:

How much longer will you enjoy being stupid fools? Won’t you ever stop sneering and laughing at knowledge? (vs 22 CEV)

In essence, anyone who doesn’t believe and obey the gospel is a fool. A person is stupid to turn away the wisdom that is able to safeguard their lives today and secure it in Christ Jesus for all eternity. A person has be a fool to continue in conscious, known sin and think that they have a place with God in heaven. But they not only reject wisdom, they have contempt for it and laugh at it.

Verses 23-26. Therefore, disaster and calamity is bound to come in the lives of fools. But because of their mockery, Wisdom’s response is to now laugh at them and mock them in their disastrous state. This is a fitting.

Verses 26-30. As destruction comes upon the fools, they “wise up” and look for those who once warned them, but they won’t find them. If they do find that gospel preacher, that wise parent or leader, and the God who created wisdom, they won’t help them. It’s too late. Fools will begin to pray diligently but God won’t even listen. And why does all this happen? Because they didn’t obey God and respect him when they had the chance, and on top of that, they mocked God and his servants. Now they get to eat the fruit of their foolishness. A sad ending for fools.

Conclusion: Don’t be foolish.

Let’s respect and obey God now, when we have the chance. Many (including professing Christians) have scorned and mocked the message of repentance and holiness, but a day will come (if they don’t repent) that all that smiling, laughter and contempt will be turned into sadness.

Jesus said, before the end of the world comes, it will be like the days of Noah and the days of Lot (Luke 17:26-30). Both times, the people laughed at the coming destruction. In Noah’s day, as he preached to the whole world (2 Peter 2:5), they didn’t believe God would wash them all away with water from heaven. In Lot’s day, the husbands of his daughters didn’t believe that God was going to destroy everyone in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:14). But God did. They aren’t laughing now.

Compare Noah’s and Lot’s days to our own: there’s eating, drinking, people getting married and business as usual, but sin abounds in our land (Gen 6:5). No one seems to understand how immoral a supposedly civilized society like America has become. Example: violent gang crime; corrupted government and business officials; increased teen pregnancy, child molestation, perverted and promiscuous people, pornography, abortion, teachers having sex with their students, and the acceptance of people who sodomize one another and call it love.

Homosexuality is becoming the norm and is even taught in schools. Soon everyone (apart from the righteous) will be “going both ways”. Sodomy has penetrated churches, leadership and entertainment. Our land is in the last days. This is what Jesus said was going to happen before ‘all hell breaks loose’. We need to obey God and repent while there’s still time. Religion doesn’t save us, works don’t save us, simply mental acknowledgment of Jesus won’t save us – only faith in Jesus Christ which leads to obedience saves us. Let’s respect and obey God through the power of his Spirit.

This article can best be understood if you start at part 1.

Speaking the truth with boldness can be equated to speaking the truth in love. To speak in love is to tell the entire truth – the negative and the positive which is the entire Word of God (Acts 20:27). But the Harlot Church says, “Your messages need to be more positive. Stop talking about godly character, morals, righteousness, sin, and the consequences. I wanna hear messages about love, grace, and how God is going to bless me.” In other words, they say, “Withhold part of the truth so that you don’t make me uncomfortable.”

That is not the love of God defined in the Bible (as outlined in 1 Cor 13:6). This keep-the-offensive-and negative-truth-hidden kind of love is the Harlot Church’s view which eventually damns a soul to hell. Therefore, all these preachers who preach this comfortable doctrine of Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS), or that imply that you can work-your-way-into-heaven, actually hate their congregants, and are cowards because they won’t stand up, be bold and tell the truth.

In response to speaking the truth, we as followers of Jesus Christ are usually hit with all kinds of insults and demeaning comments. This persecution comes from two groups of people. The first are the basic sinners – those who don’t attend church and care nothing for the things of God. The second group, just like in Jesus’ day, are the religious folks – the fake Christians – the sinners who pretend to love God but refuse to obey him. The Harlot Church is our greatest opposition. There are typically five different responses from both groups. I’ll start with the sinners:

5 Responses From sinners

Aside from completely cursing you out and screaming in your face, you’ll usually hear these kinds of responses:

1. “You’re narrow-minded”

This implies that narrow-mindedness is wrong. And the sinner is correct, according to their worldly view of it. In the world system, someone who doesn’t try and/or accept new things (usually sins) are considered narrow in their thinking. But God called us to be narrow-minded – to be singular in our focus which is only on him (Matthew 6:22 KJV). We are also to have the mind of Christ which is very narrow by the world’s stand point (1 Cor 2:16). Jesus also said to enter into the narrow gate – “narrow is the way, which leads to life” (Matthew 7:13-14).

Whatever Jesus says is a sin will never change, and the way to the Father, which is only through Christ, will never change (John 14:6). The gospel is a very narrow message to sinners who want to proclaim that all roads lead to God. My answer to them is: “You’re right, I am narrow-minded, there’s nothing wrong with that because my God is narrow-minded. If he says that sin leads to hell, and only by Jesus can anyone get to heaven, perhaps you should consider repentance so that you can be saved and go to heaven.”

2. “You’re judgmental”

You’ll usually hear this from sinners who think they know what the bible says in Matthew 7. Answer: “The judgment scripture in Matthew 7 actually talks about judging and condemning another person in hypocrisy. I’m not practicing the sins that you are committing. Nor do I condemn you to hell – only God can do that. Therefore my judgment is righteous. I can discern both good and evil according to the Bible. Now, if you continue in sin, you are in danger of death in hell, as the scriptures say, ‘the wages of sin is death’ (Romans 6:23).”

3. “You’re self-righteous”

What is self-righteousness? It is when a person creates their own level of righteousness and puts others down for not meeting their standard. As a Christian, we proclaim the righteousness of God, not our own standards. Therefore we cannot be self-righteous when all we do is repeat the commandments and dictates of God found in the Bible. This self-righteous comment can also come in the form of “you think you’re perfect and without sin”. Answer: “No one is without sin. As Christians, we may occasionally sin, but we don’t practice sin. We’re not perfect, but we can be perfect through God’s power. These are not our standards but God’s, and we seek to live up to these standards as we are commanded to tell others to do the same.”

4. “You’re reflecting your issues on to me. I hope you get well.”

You’ll hear this from people who claim to know you. Perhaps family members, friends of colleagues. They’re implying that you’re bitter, angry, wounded inside and something is wrong with you, and that you are now taking it out on them. This is their way of detouring from the truth of their sinful state while taking a stab at you. This is often used by controlling and manipulative people. Their goal is to lead you into introspective thought as you try to discover why you would say such an offensive and negative thing to them (the gospel truth) because of your own inner issues. Bull crap! It’s all one big lie. They’re simply offended by the truth.

5. “You’re not loving”

This is another lie you’ll hear from people who think that the gospel is an all-positive message. The gospel truth may hit them so hard that they’ll even call God’s message hatred or harassment. In some cases, they’ll even cry and pretend as if you really hurt them and don’t love them. But wait, this is just another trick. They’re trying to send you on a guilt trip. This response is often used together in response #4. Don’t buy it. They’re simply offended and don’t like the fact that you told them the truth. We’ve already established that love and truth go hand in hand.

5 Responses from religious folks

When you begin to expose false doctrines that religious people believe, you often hear these kinds of responses:

1. Vilifying by association of disassociation

They’ll say that things like, “You seem to be teaching the doctrines of the early false brethren in Paul’s day. Your beliefs and teachings are of the Roman Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Muslims” etc. This is to vilify you by associating your beliefs with evil cults and false religions. Or, they will vilify you by disassociation with the true God, saying things like: “You’re not hearing from God, but the devil. You don’t have the Holy Spirit. You’re not saved” etc.

2. Accusations of character flaws and name calling

Either directly or indirectly, I’ve heard stuff like: “You’re arrogant. Mean-spirited. You have no integrity. You’re trying to tear me down. You’re a hurtful person; stupid, fool” – but as you’ll discover, these are usually the exact characteristics they exhibit. They insult you to take the focus off the gospel so that you can begin to feel bad or get angry and do or say something you’ll regret. By their response, they choose hell. Hopefully the Lord will give them more time to repent.

3. Using God and the bible to scare you.

I recently told a Baptist pastor that he was damning souls to hell for teaching the doctrine of Eternal Security. I was calling him a false teacher. Among other insults and names he called me, he said, “You’ve brought a false accusation against the man of God…” then he implied that God was going to punish me. This was just plain stupid to me. There was nothing false about my accusation. He was trying to put fear in me so that I would back off of him. This God’s-not-going-to-bless-you, or God’s-going-to-get-you only works on those who don’t know God themselves. Religious leaders will use bible scriptures (out of context) to condemn you all day, if you let them. I simply disregard what this scare tactic. If you know that you were sent by God, and you’ve proven their doctrine to be false, what’s to be afraid of? Nothing (Ephesians 5:11).

4. Blessing and cursing

In one sentence they speak highly of your character and the next patronize and ridicule you. It is done to simply hurt you. These people are clearly scoffers. If you have any need to be accepted by them, you’ll accept what they say about you. By attempting to hurt you, they excuse the fact that they need to get right with God and bring even more judgment to themselves.

5. “You’re not qualified to speak on this, you ‘Layman’.”

According to some people, you must possess a degree or be anointed by men to even talk about the Word. To them, you’re not valid or smart enough because you didn’t graduate from bible college. But God doesn’t qualify his servants based off their worldly schooling, he qualifies them through obedience to his Word. Understanding the scriptures doesn’t come from a bunch of old, white dudes in the cemetery seminary, or multiple commentaries and christian books, but rather from the Holy Spirit (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Most of these guys have a bunch of data floating around in their heads – information they’ve got from other men who tried to decipher the scriptures apart from the Holy Spirit. Through that method, they’ll get the bible wrong, and everyone else who repeats what they teach will be in error. There’s nothing wrong with bible colleges, but God’s servants are qualified by God and not the world’s standards. Once again, this is just another deterrent from the gospel truth. Measuring a Christian by the world’s standards is a sure sign that these people need to renew their minds.

So how should we deal with it?

Understanding Their Anger

First of all, even though most will scoff and insult you, some will repent and come to the truth. It’s always great to see someone turn to God and away from religion or the world. But for the most part, you’ll get negative responses. This is because most don’t want God. They are on the broad road that leads to destruction. Deep down, these people hate Jesus and his messengers, and their pride prevents them from receiving the truth. Here’s the difference between humility and pride:

Humility’s response: Truth → Conviction → Pain → Repentance
Pride’s response: Truth → Conviction → Offense → Anger

Sinners know that they are committing sin. They love their sin but don’t want to be viewed as a evil person who’s against God. Therefore, the truth exposes their wickedness and crushes their own little fantasy world – a world that continues forever and where society considers them a good person.

Religious people believe in a works-based salvation, or OSAS because it’s easier to surrender to their flesh and obey their own works instead of the dictates of God in the bible. They don’t want to obey Jesus, deny themselves, pick up their cross and follow him (Matt 16:24-25). They don’t want to crucify their old man – it’s too painful. They’d rather live in comfort. So they hate to hear that their world is coming to an end, and that they’ll be in hell if they don’t repent and obey God through the power his Spirit.

Persecuting Jesus

When they verbally assault us, they verbally assault Jesus Christ, the Lord of Lords. Their verbal and physical attacks ram right into the King of Kings because his followers are inside him. Jesus said to Saul, “Why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4) We are his body and Jesus is our head. When people respond in rejection, name calling and so forth, they actually persecute the Lord of Lords.

People don’t really know what they’re doing. This is why Jesus and Stephen prayed the same thing: Father forgive them for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34, Acts 7:60). I used to wonder why both of them said that at death. To me, these people knew perfectly well what they were doing. But when people attack us, they don’t really look at it as hurting the children of thee Almighty God in heaven. There are hellish consequences for persecuting God’s children and especially his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, I pray the same prayer: “Lord, have mercy on them because they don’t know what they are doing.”

Getting personal

Often, it gets personal. There are three reason for this:

1. To append fault to the messenger.

They think by appending fault, they can vilify and discredit the messenger. Therefore, either justifying their sin or excusing the wrath of God. This is completely stupid. Even if the speaker of the gospel was a transvestite whore it still wouldn’t justify the sin and excuse the wrath of God to the hearer. No one is judged based off the sins of another. Everyone is judged individually and according to the standards of God.

2. “I’m too sinful to speak the gospel.”

As a person who’s often examines himself, I used to wonder if the characteristics my opponent would append to me were really true. I would think, “Am I doing this in pride, am I being too harsh?” I finally realized that it was a trick of the enemy. While we can become proud, we must examine ourselves and know that pride leads to a fall (2 Cor 13:5, Pro 16:18). As true followers of God, we mustn’t preach the gospel in the flesh. And when we are accused of pride, usually by some religious leader, we must be sure they aren’t telling the truth. Because then, we have no business telling people about God until this is resolved. On the other hand, we mustn’t allow the enemy to lie to us, leading to our self-examination and backing away from the preaching of the gospel because we feel we are unfit to preach.

3. To put you on the defensive.

This is the devil’s way of getting you to be offended, to stir up pride, so that a simple delivery of a message turns into a competition of who can out-talk the other. Winning an argument becomes the focus and not the simple delivery of the message. A mailman isn’t offended if he delivers a bill and the recipient hates him for it. The recipient is mad at the company who sent the bill, not the mailman. The mailman doesn’t take it personally. This is how you and I have to look at it. They may personally attack us, but it’s because they’re mad at Jesus Christ.

Don’t allow people to get you offended to the point that you start defending your entire character and lifestyle. I know of many times I was put on the defensive by people who simply who didn’t want to hear the gospel truth of God. We shouldn’t be led into personal defensiveness, but rather stay within the topic of the gospel. God is our defender. Whatever they say about us it irrelevant, it has nothing to do with the truth of God. However, we should seek to be blameless, so that there is no fault or pride that can be used against us (Philippians 2:15).

We need to learn to shut up

When I encounter scoffers, pigs and dogs, as the bible refers to them, I leave them alone and give them to God. There is no need to engage them any further. To do so would only bring shame, guilt and unnecessary, physical violence. It is not our jobs to save anyone. We don’t have to exert all this energy to get someone to see the truth or believe the bible. Some are simply blinded by demons (2 Corinthians 4:4) or delusions (2 Thess 2:11-12) and God hasn’t revealed the truth to them yet. Others are reprobate and God is through with them (Romans 1:28).

We mustn’t be one of these people who has to make people see it our way. This is a clear sign of pride. The pride in a Christian will make them think that the rejection of the gospel is a personal attack in which they take offense, when really, God is the only one who should be offended. Let’s be like the mailman, and not care about the recipient’s reaction to the bill. Let’s not take it personal. Drop the attitude. Forget those people. I’ve lost most of my energy trying to convince Baptists and Calvinists of the error in the doctrine of Eternal Security. If they want to believe it, let them. It’s their souls, not mine.

After the case has been made and the gospel as been preached, there is no need to continue to go back and forth with a person. Let them talk their talk and throw insults, but let’s not return evil for evil:

⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? ⁴⁸ Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:44-48).

I know it can seem unfair to listen to insults without returning the same, but God is our avenger (Romans 12:19). Our flesh wants to return evil for evil, but God wants us to be like him. People curse Jesus out everyday, but he doesn’t cause lightning to strike them down. Let’s be like Christ. Verbal persecution doesn’t compare to being beaten, burned alive, whipped, stabbed and some of the torture we will have to go through, but words still hurt. God is with us and I personally want to get to the place where I rejoice in persecution for Christ’s sake (Acts 5:41). I say “I want to get to the place”, because I’m not there yet.

The Holy Spirit

After many opportunities to speak-up and tell the gospel truth, I was dead silent. The Holy Spirit showed me just how much the old man was still alive in me, how weak I am, and how much I need the power of the Spirit. Writing the truth via a blog or email can be difficult. Speaking via telephone can be even more difficult. But the hardest is the face to face, especially if there’s more than one person.

I’ve learning that the more I fast, pray, and ask for his power, the more the old man dies, the more bold I become, and the more the new man flourishes in the power of the Spirit. In this state, I don’t care what others think or do because the flesh is dead, and the Spirit of God uses my body and tongue to speak the bold truth. I pray that I and all Christians become bold enough to stand with and for Christ Jesus in these last and evil days.

This article can best be understood if you start at part 1.

The last article talked briefly about Harlot Church programming and how it is used to promote cowardice instead of boldness in the Christian. I want to talk more about how the programing works because it was used on me at one point. For the record: I hate Satan. If I had the power to torture and kill him I would, but that right belongs to Jesus Christ alone and at the end of time when he comes back to destroy everything that is unrighteous. For the meantime, I’ll settle for exposing and casting out Satan’s underlings. I hate Satan because he had a part to play in the attempt to murder my precious boldness that was growing inside after my new birth.

The promotion of cowardice isn’t just to keep a person from boldly proclaiming the truth of God, but it also molds them into the perfect slave for the devil. The coward fears what the devil may do if they ever decide to resist. Therefore, the coward goes with the flow and shuts his mouth. Cowardice is dangerous because this fear can spread into all areas of the person’s life.

I’ve heard it said, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” And Jesus said, “If you don’t stand with me, you are against me” (Matt 12:30). As Christians, we would prefer not to stand against Jesus Christ. But this is what the devil is leading us to do when he gets us to shut our mouths and to not proclaim the truth. The devil says:

You may not be a homosexual or a fornicator, but don’t you dare say that it’s a sin against God – keep your mouth shut and accept their practices as normal. Don’t point out the evils of this person or that organization, this has nothing to do with you, just be quiet. As the former wrestle, The Rock, used to say, “Know your role and shut your mouth!”

My friends, the devil wants us to cower down and play along in his fantasy world. But we just can’t do that. By default, when we keep our lips zipped, we side with the devil and not with Christ. There are no gray areas. We must love what God loves, and hate what God hates (Proverbs 8:13). Jesus commanded us to teach people to observe all the things that he commanded (Matt 28:19-20), call people to repentance (Matt 4:17) and to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them (Eph 5:11).

New Life

When I first became a Christian I was bold – without apology. When someone sinned against me, or when I seen blatant sin being practiced, I would speak out about it. This is the norm for a true Christian. The true Christian knows instinctively what’s right and what’s wrong. A follower of Jesus has no problem speaking the truth, because truth is apart of who they are (John 14:6). Therefore, the devil’s first task is to duck tape the mouth of the new believer.

When I mention being “sinned against” I’m talking about the manipulation, by intimidation, for the sake of domination that goes on in the Harlot Church. In other words, spiritual abuse from the leadership and other so-called “brothers and sisters”. The real children of God are mistreated because their lives begin to make a stark contrast against the fake children. Because the sinners’ father is Satan, and the believers’ father is God Almighty, the devil’s children will go out of their way to steal, kill and destroy God’s offspring.

About the Harlot Church

Most of the true Christians today, at one point in time, were in the false church and are now coming out, or have already left. It wasn’t that they wanted to be there, it was that they were deceived because it looked like the real thing. The false church was setup by the devil to block people from getting to the true Jesus; and it was allowed by God to weed out those who really want to serve Jesus Christ.

If a person really wants righteousness and holiness, the Holy Spirit will show them that the Harlot Church has nothing to do with these. No real follower of Jesus will sit in the filth of the Harlot Church and remain there. They’ll study their bibles and discover the facade and leave. But for all those who want to continue in their sinful lifestyles, yet pretend to serve God, will defend it and remain in it.

I thank God for the Holy Spirit who led me out of Mystery Babylon, the Mother of Harlots. But even though I was physically free, her programming still had a hold on me. I can remember when it started to take effect. What you have to understand is that the programming comes with a spirit – a demon spirit of cowardice.

5 Signs of the spirit of cowardice

Bound, gagged and angry.

It feels as if something is binding your mouth every time you want to speak up. You get anger with yourself because the truth is held captive in your mouth and you can’t open it for some strange reason.

The sin of offense.

Saying anything to anyone that may offend them becomes a sin to you. If you are sinned against by a person, you will keep it to yourself and make excuses for that person’s bad behavior rather than confronting them.

Voices of fear.

You hear stuff like this in your mind: “If you say something about what they’re doing – they won’t like you and you’ll be put out.” Or, “Don’t you dare stand up for the truth, they will accuse you of being unloving and judgmental!”

Regret and Guilt.

If you do speak up, it’s often too late. Then there’s the feeling of regret that follows for not saying anything sooner. If you do say something, you will later feel “wrong” or “in sin”. Your inner soul won’t have peace because you have these ill feelings of regret and guilt.

Watered-down messages.

You’ll try to tell the truth, but in the delivery, the message becomes watered-down until it has no more flavor in it. It becomes no longer the truth, just something nice and encouraging – potentially damning the person to hell. A perfect example of this is the ministry of Joel Olsteen.

How the devil gains entry

Now I will explain how the devil puts one of these nasty spirits in you. When I first became a Christian there was this minister by the name of Jason Wilson who called himself “Maji” (which is a misspelled form of the word “Magi”).

Fresh to church life, I used to trust Maji because, in my naivety, I thought, “Why would he harm me? He led me to Jesus Christ and the church” – so I thought. But I later discovered his manipulative, controlling and condescending nature. And the fact that he hated when I confronted him about his character and what he was doing to me.

Therefore I judge, according to his fruit, that Maji was a sinner – someone who hadn’t been born again. The reason why I believe this is because a person can’t possibly be born again and not be convicted by such behavior. To freely flow in the Satanic gifts of manipulation and control is a clear absence of the Holy Spirit. God is a free spirit. He doesn’t control, condescend or manipulate anyone. But the devil, because he has no real authority, must rule through these methods. Therefore, a person exhibiting these characteristics has a demon spirit just as the person exhibiting cowardice. So the first demon spirit stalks the prey to find an opening into the victim’s soul, then it delivers the second spirit of cowardice.

Because I trusted Maji, the devil decided that he would use Maji (or Magi) to work his magic in an attempt to destroy (among other things) my flourishing boldness. There were two things the devil used: flattery and my own need to be accepted. If you can understand these two methods, you can avoid many tricks of the devil.

Flattery

These people grumble and complain and live by their own selfish desires. They brag about themselves and flatter others to get what they want (Jude 1:16 CEV).

Jude talked about people who use flattery. In this case, Maji was using it to swell my head up and lower my spiritual guard. As I later discovered, words of affirmation was something that I didn’t receive growing up. So, being a crafty devil, he filled a need of mine that I didn’t know I had. This is why you should be on guard when someone is always flattering you – it’s a set-up for selfish gain. In this case, it was used to open a door to my soul. As my soul was left opened and unguarded, Maji came in and begun to demean me.

Because the demon had an open door to my soul, his demeaning words struck with intense pain. When I spoke up against the sin that was being committed, and especially the sorcery that was being used on me, the controller began to turn up the belittling and patronizing to make me feel even worst. I often went away confused and depressed because of what was happening to me. If I wanted the verbal abuse to stop, I knew what I was programmed to do: stop telling the truth, stop standing up for myself, stop being bold, and maybe this tyrant would lay off of me – so I thought. But it would never stop because this was one of the ways he could control me. As I bowed to the commands of this magician, I became a coward and a demon was set-up in my soul to bind me.

Acceptance

Like others, flattery worked on me because of my lack of identity. If I had known who I was and what I was, I would have disregarded the flattery and discarded Maji just the same. My point is: it was a need in me that the devil used to exploit. Wanting to belong and to be accepted by people is another need that every human has and what the devil will exploit to gain entry.

Next, as I periodically attended Maji’s church, I was told to join, so I did. I was quickly accepted into the group of the Harlot Church members. Then Maji was insistent on me becoming a member of his hip-hop ministry as well. I became a member not knowing that I would become a slave to this task master as he further exploited me to work in building his earthly kingdom called “The Yuinon” (which is a misspelled form of the word “Union”).

I was accepted by many with little effort. It seemed like I was always getting invited to Christian parties. I enjoyed this part of it because I thought that God had given me a family and friends – something I lacked in my own household. But it was the devil that was filling my need of acceptance in order to use it against me later. So the devil began to threaten to dis-fellowship me whenever I spoke up and told the truth.

When I’d confront Maji about his behavior, or other leaders, I’d get this response, “Well if you’re going to be like that, then I don’t need you around – you can leave”, or “I won’t talk to you anymore.” The demon in me would say, “I need to belong and be accepted. If I leave, I’ll have no one else to go to. I’ll be all alone without a church. I need these people.” Notice how the unclean spirit speaks with an “I” as if it was me who was thinking those thoughts. And the spirit in me would also proclaim, “You’re causing divisions. You’re stirring up trouble.” All of this worked in my mind to get me to cower down, keep my mouth shut and compromise. Do you see how the devil uses acceptance as a entry point and a control base to enslave? The devil is dirty.

All of these techniques were successful in making me shut up and tell no one. I’d often still speak up but with extreme guilt afterward. I’d go back and forth. Sometimes I’d rise up against the spirit in me and speak anyway, and sometimes I’d shut up. This continued throughout my life in the Harlot Church. I hated the bondage that I was in and I wanted to be free.

Enforcing Cowardice

The following are a few things that the devil used to further enforce the spirit of cowardice.

Threats of physical violence.

Maji would occasionally talk about what he would do to me if he wasn’t saved. While this didn’t scare me, it was confusing because this guy was suppose to be my Christian brother, yet he was throwing around threats like some street thug. In other words, he was saying, “I might just revert back to my non-christian state and hurt you, if you keep exposing what I’m doing to you.” Face-to-face or phone confrontation would usually result in this way. This guy clearly didn’t want me confronting him. To constantly hear things like this is enough to throw your hands up and give up – and you should, as I’ll talk about soon.

Scoffing, yelling and accusation.

Maji and others like him would break into a dramatic performance commonly use scoffing, shaming, yelling, blaming shifting and accusation to get me to stop bringing up the evils they were doing. No one likes to being yelled at and accused of wrong doing. For this to keep happening every time you speak up, is enough to quit and give up – and you should, as I’ll talk about soon.

How to overcome

The internal voice that demeaned me and wouldn’t give me peace for speaking the truth was the demon. The anger I felt inside was God’s nature (my new man) who was angry with the demon and the sorcerer. But the voice that brought heavy regret and guilt was the same demon. That was crazy because it kept me from speaking up in the first place, now it condemned me for not saying what I wanted to say. What a nasty and torturous thing. Here’s how to get rid of it.

Learn to be accepted by God alone.

The lie is: You need to be accepted by people in order to be worth something. The truth is: You need to be accepted by God and only he matters. Next, you must believe that God loves and accepts you. And being accepted by him comes with standing for righteousness but against unrighteousness despite what others say and do. So it’s best not to attach yourself to people and groups. Don’t become a member of a church. You are already a member of the Body of Christ. When you attach yourself, you put yourself under their leadership and the dictates of that person who’s in charge whether evil or good.

Rebuke all flattery and know your identity.

You know what flattery sounds like: Over emphasis and/or insincere praise. It will seem like the person is faking and going out of their way to say really nice things about you. It will sound fake because it is. Have no part in flattery. Block it. Don’t allow it in. You must know your identity and have your esteem rooted in God rather than yourself. Study what God says about who you are and believe that – not the words of man. This will block the flattery which later turns into patronizing and demeaning comments. No one will be able to control you with their words because they no longer have an entry point. Remember: flattery is used to lower your guard to take from you or to put something in you. Real Christians, while they may encourage and speak well of you, will not go over-the-top and try to swell your head up. We are all on the same level in God’s kingdom and God is the only one to be glorified (1 Tim 1:17, Jude 1:25).

Offending someone with the truth is not a sin.

If someone is offended by the truth, this isn’t your problem – they chose to be offended. The truth hurts because the truth is a person (John 14:6). Jesus is the Word, and the Word is a sword. Therefore the truth is a sword that cuts deep (Hebrews 4:12). But Jesus says, “And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me” (Matt 11:6). You must recognize the lies of the enemy. The truth is: You didn’t sin against God for telling his truth and repeating his words in his Bible. You are not unloving. Actually, you show love when you tell the truth because love rejoices in the truth (1 Cor 13:6). Shake that programing off and change your mind.

Recognize the spirit and cast it out.

In the devil’s false church and world system, there can be no one who speaks the truth with boldness. Anyone who does is vilified. Only a chosen few can accept the truth and repent. Most people have been made into cowards and babied to the point that they’re too soft to take correction. So they get angry and through a sissy-fit. I often confronted my bullies, and because of that coward spirit in me, I often went away feeling like a bad Christian. This feeling was the demon inside scolding me for speaking out. Recognize that it is a demon. Don’t believe that it is you. Don’t entertain any of its dictates. Say to it, “I command you to depart in the name of Jesus!”

Even though the surrounding sinners and pseudo Christians will view you as an angry person “with issues”, or call you “unloving and abrasive”, stand firm in the power of Jesus Christ. Rebuke those feelings of regret and guilt. Pray the demon away and speak-up no matter what that feeling inside says to you. Soon it will go away because the demon of cowardice can’t abide for long in a vessel that won’t stop telling the truth.

After you proclaim the truth, leave it to God.

The Proverbs says:

He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, And he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you (Proverbs 9:7-8).

But Jesus says to confront your brother who offends you in Matthew 18:15-17. So what if your supposed brother is found to be a scoffer? Repeatedly, Maji and many others in the false church scoffed. The Proverbs says that it is vain to attempt to reprove such a person. We must correct in the spirit of love and if they they scoff, leave them to God. There’s no need to waist any more time on the matter – all you will get is shame and hatred. We are not here to change anyone, only to present the truth. Because Maji was not a brother, there was no need to even get other Christians involved to referee the situation, as Jesus talked about in Matthew. In the Harlot Church many are not born again and you can guarantee an unrighteous judgment by other harlot members who will side with the sinner rather than the Word of God. It is pointless to battle and debate (2 Tim 2:23).

The sooner you break ties with the false church, the better. It is not a place for a new Christian to be. God commands us to withdraw from such people (2 Thess 3:6). We came from the world, into religion, out from religion, and finally into a relationship with Jesus. As religion is the false church, God allows us to go through it to show us, just like the world, that religion has nothing to offer us but a stone and a serpent (Matt 7:9-10).

What happened with Maji? I broke ties with that guy along with his church (Rosedale Park Baptist Church). Afterward and over the years, he’d periodically call me to request website work for his hip-hop ministry. Each time acting as if everything he did, and everything the devil did through him, didn’t even happen. I would decline him each time. There was absolutely no repentance or acknowledgment of the sin against me or God, yet he still expected to use me as he did before. Perhaps he thought I would forget. Or maybe he figured, if his sorcery worked before, it could work again.

Finally he got the message as we had a long conversation through email as I detailed what he did and why he was not to contact me anymore. There was a great burden that lifted off my showers as I boldly spoke wrote the truth again, and later forgave him even though he never admitted any wrong doing. I later understood what the devil was doing through him and he was probably under more torment than I used to be under. So there was no need to hate him any longer.

I mention his name, ministry and church because, yet still a sinner, he has now moved into the ministry of mentoring young boys and I fear they too will be spiritually abused. I have already heard two reports of his neglect and demeaning of some of the boys. This ministry is called The Yuinon and is located in the Detroit Michigan area. There is a testimony written about Maji and I on the website, it is not entirely true. What is written here is the real deal. I won’t pursue this ministry because, like all systems within the Harlot Church, it has to be God who reveals to those within her that it is all a facade.

To this ministry’s members, I don’t have any particular problem with them, I just hope that their eyes are opened to the truth. I’m sure some will be offended by this article, but it is the truth and I have no reason to lie. My only positive word to Maji and his ministry: Jesus Saves. But only if you acknowledge and agree with God that you need a savior. To pretend to be a Christian and continue in sin will damn you to hell. Drop your pride, confess, repent and obey Jesus Christ (John 14:15).

I was silent for a long time but it is time to expose some of this stuff. All that occurred about 3 years ago. Since then, I have recovered. I am slowly being strengthened through the power of the Holy Spirit to stand bold against the demonic forces who use people as pawns. I rebuke the spirit of cowardice in the name of Jesus Christ and I ask God to give those people who are under its bondage the power and will to be free.

Continue to part 3.

My last article stated that I would be dealing with the old man within my soul – the evil part of me that wars against my spirit. Among a list of things, the Holy Spirit led me to deal with being bold for God rather than being a coward. There is a coward in me that I must overcome.

While there exist both cowardice and boldness in all of us, my goal is to complete eradicate any trace of cowardice. So this is a study of how to begin to overcome cowardice. I don’t expect to be changed overnight, but I do expect to grow in this area as I become more like God and less like the devil. I hope this article energizes you as much as it does me.

When I talk about being bold, I’m talking about boldly preaching the gospel, telling the truth, exposing lies, and not backing down from opposition and religious bullies who intimidate or attack you for doing so. I’m talking about speaking and writing the truth without apology.

This article assumes that you know not to speak the truth in pride, or in an attempt to put another person down. This article also assumes that you are led by the Spirit and can understand when you should keep your mouth shut as in the midst of people, as Jesus called, “pigs and dogs” (Matt 7:6).

Jesus commanded us to go and teach people to observe all the things that he commanded (Matt 28:19-20). Jesus commanded us to call people to repentance (Matt 4:17) and to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them (Eph 5:11). The gospel is preached so that people may be saved, and to remove any excuse from those who reject God to claim that they didn’t hear the truth to be saved. I believe everyone will hear the gospel at some point in their life.

Cowardice is defined as:

One who lacks courage in the face of danger, pain, or hardship. Other words: chickenhearted, gutless, unmanly. One who lacks resolute which is: firmness, determination and often loyalty.

Boldness is defined as:

Fearless, daring, courageous, exhibiting bravery. Unduly forward and brazen which is: a loud sound. Clear and distinct to the eye. Therefore, boldness stands out, moves forward and is clearly seen and heard.

Cowardice and its root

When the time comes to speak the truth, this is what we think: “I’m scared. I don’t want to be hated or hurt for going against those people or that person.” We all want to be accepted, therefore there is a people-pleaser in us and it cares more about what people think of us, rather than God. Something in us fears more about what people will say and do, rather than the God we represent.

World and Harlot Church programing. If you know anything about the False Church, you know that they’ll teach you that being “nice” and non-confrontational is considered “Christian”. But confronting sin, being bold and speaking the truth is considered disrespectful, judgmental and even unloving.

These lies are pounded into Christians every time they attend church, and if you have any kind of need to please the people in your church and be accepted by them, (like most of us do) you’ll cower down and fall in line and become a person who seldom speaks-up to rebuke error, or to tell the truth – claiming, “I don’t want to judge.” You’ll believe that offending people with the truth is somehow sinful – which it is not. And when given the microphone to preach, you’ll give heavy, sugar-coated, watered-down messages instead of the bitter truth.

You may think that cowardice is a little thing to God, but just know that he lists cowards among liars, murderers, fornicators, sorcerers and idolaters, all of which will be thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 21:8, Rev 21:8 KJV). Because boldness has no fear but cowardice does, cowardice shows our level of love (1 John 4:18). If we really love people enough, we would tell them the truth because love rejoices in the truth (1 Cor 13:6).

How to be bold

We must understand, if God commands us to boldly say something, he will give us the power to do so if we ask. Just like love, boldness is a characteristic of God (Acts 4:31). We should always pray for its growth in us. After telling the Christians in Ephesus to put on the whole armor of God, Paul asks the saints to pray for his boldness:

¹⁹ And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak (Ephesians 6:19-20).

Boldness is how we ought to speak – never with sugar-coated, soft, timid, watered-down speech. Boldness speaks loud and clearly as we move forward to proclaim the truth. We should never draw back from messages that will “get us into trouble” with this or that people group.

We should never cower down and preach doctrines like Universalism or The Gospel of Inclusion because we have a fear of drawing smaller crowds by telling the truth. We should never teach Eternal Security because we are scared that we will offend the practitioners of sin in our church. No teacher who preaches such doctrines has love. We must be bold and preach the truth, no matter how we feel about what someone will say, do or feel.

Stand up to bullies

Bullies can only operate because of the cowardice in people. Take a lesson from “Life” the comedy movie with Eddie Murphy & Martin Lawrence. In the movie, a bully in jail asks Eddie for his cornbread, he refuses because he knew that the bully would soon take everything else. Eddie fought the bully and got his butt kicked, but he said at the end, “but at least he didn’t get my cornbread.”

Our relationship with God is like that cornbread, and the devil is like that bully. If we cower down by not speaking boldly, the devil will dominate us. So it’s better to take a verbal and/or physical beating for speaking the truth, but at least we keep our relationship with God in tact. Persecution is to be expected (John 15:20) and it is better to fear God who can destroy the body and soul, rather than what the devil and his children can do (Matt 10:28).

Learn to be accepted by God and not people.

The need to be accepted and belong to people groups is ingrained into the very fabric of our being. Going against the grain and being the odd man out is extremely hard to do especially in the mist of two or more people. It seems like every bell and whistle goes off in our minds telling us to “shut-up”, “don’t say that”, “they’re not going to like you for that!”

But here is what I want you to consider, as I did: Why try to please people? People are insatiable. One of the biggest things to consider is: these people hate your God and everything he stands for. Why try to please them? So, its best, out of your love, to tell them the truth in order that their souls might be saved. If they don’t listen, then, at least you obeyed God. Often times the majority will hate you, but the minority is who you were sent to speak to. Finally, there’s no use in being silent because silence is deadly. Check out this profound poem from P4CM:

Boldly facing the opposition

So let’s go forth and be bold and proclaim the truth of the gospel. Let’s pray for power from above and let’s open our mouths loud and clear. When you begin to speak the truth in boldness, the devil will first attack you, the messenger, and if that doesn’t work, he’ll attack the way you delivered it. Remember, bold truth is a sin in the fantasy world of Satan.

Here are the following types of people who will bring the most, harsh and bold opposition: homosexuals, Jezebel spirits (controlling and manipulative women and men), religious leaders and arrogant people in general. Here are a few accusations you will hear:

“You’re offensive!”

Answer: “So. Jesus offended many with his message. It’s not my job to make you feel good. My job is to tell you the truth.”

“You’re angry. Anger is sin.”

Answer: “If I’m angry, I am angry at sin. Also, to be angry is not a sin. For the bible says to be angry and sin not (Eph 4:26).”

“You’re too loud, Jesus spoke in love, not all this hell talk.”

Answer: “Jesus spoke boldly and so does all of his followers (John 7:26, Acts 4:13). Jesus spoke of hell too (Matt 13:42, John 15:6).”

“This isn’t wise, you’re going to get hurt if you keep preaching this message.”

This is true, you are going to get hurt sooner or later. But what this person is trying to do is put fear into you now so that you can draw from obeying God in the future. Answer: “Get behind me Satan! (Matt 16:23) God has not given me a spirit of fear (2 Tim 1:7)!”

“That’s not professional. That’s awkward. This isn’t the place for that.”

Because the world doesn’t want to hear the bold truth, this is never a good place or a good time to speak the truth. Answer: “The gospel truth will be preached in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8).”

Let us not be afraid, God is with us, let us boldly go and speak the truth.

Continue to part 2.

I appreciate all the information on the web about the harlot church, all the sermons, articles and videos exposing her wolves and doctrines of demons. This information serves as a warning to Christians and sympathizes with those who’ve been persecuted by the harlot church. So by all means, if the Lord leads you to write more about the harlot church, continue to do so.

There is nothing wrong with exposing sin as long as it isn’t done in hypocrisy. We are commanded to expose darkness (Ephesians 5:11) and judge those within our church, and at least those who claim to be of the true Church (John 7:24, 1 Corinthians 5:12-13). But we still have a job to do within our own souls, something that we may overlook. This article is actually a ministry to me more than to anyone else. The original goal of this website hasn’t changed: to talk about and do what pleases God according to his commandments in the bible. But I believe I’ve been off track and now it’s time to get back on course.

My message to other bloggers is: I hope we focus more on the specific problems from within, just as much as we expose the errors of the harlot church. We can easily point the finger at an evil person, all the while ignoring and forgetting about the commanded changes that must happen within ourselves in order for us to be fully used by God, and receive our rewards in heaven. If we don’t “get better”, we are no better than her, and we’ll end up in the same place she’s going.

Our Job

As I learn more about God’s requirements and what pleases him, I know that the focus of Christianity is: Christ and his growth in me. I need to look more and more like him. Jesus died so that we may have fellowship with the Father, through him and by the Holy Spirit. Belief, confession, repentance and obedience allows this fellowship to take place. Through the Spirit, we are given the power to abstain from sin. But the Christian life is not just about abstaining from sin and telling others how to have fellowship with God.

After salvation, the first and foremost mission is to kill the very nature in us that wants to sin (Romans 8:8-12, 2 Corinthians 7:1). What’s the use of saying, “No” to sin (Titus 2:11-12 NIV) when the very nature of it still remains within. The Bible calls this nature: “the flesh” and the “old man”, and we must crucify it (Galatians 5:24). Therefore salvation isn’t a one time event, it’s a process of cleaning out the filthy old man within the soul that will prevent salvation in the end. Without holiness, no man can see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). Our soul must be clean and inhabitable to allow his Spirit to fill us, to the top, and begin to do mighty works through us. For this is why American churches today have no real signs and wonders, and no real power (Mark 16:17-18). We cannot be completely filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) because of the filth within.

So the mission is to be holy like God is holy (1 Peter 1:16). In order to do this, we must work with the Spirit to identify each root of the old man and begin to cut him out surgically. The word of God is the knife that fashions and renews our minds, and rids us of the old man (Romans 12:2).

The Holy Spirit has already given me a list of stuff that he and I work on currently. I may post some of this stuff on this blog. You’ll discover that your list, though it may be as long as mine, will shorten as you find, what seemed to be another problem, are simply stems from a root problem. Example: the fruit of porn is not the problem, but loneliness and lust may be the stem. And then you may discover that the root issue is really this or that. Maybe the root problem comes from a lie that has kept you in this bondage. Therefore, knowing the truth will make you free (John 8:31-32). Once you uproot the real problem, all the others that stem from it are not to far from being purged.

Defiled from within, not from outside

Once that part of the old man is uprooted, (and correct me if I’m wrong) you won’t have a weakness for that particular sin anymore – you won’t even struggle to abstain from it. For example: lust, if uprooted, no woman can cause you to lust without your willful rebellion. Certain women dress a certain way to stimulate the lust which is already in a man. When lust is no where to be found within, it cannot be stimulated and grown from the outside world. I base what I’m saying off of Jesus’ words:

¹⁴ And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: ¹⁵ There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. ¹⁶ If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

²⁰ And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. ²¹For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, ²² Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: ²³ All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. (Luke 7:14-16, 20-23)

We are defiled by what is already in our souls. The world is designed to stimulate that which is already housed in our souls which leads to sin (James 1:13-15). Therefore we must abstain from the sin of this evil world, and simultaneously cut out the very thing from within that can be stimulated to bring forth sin.

Working with the Spirit of God

You have to really ask the Spirit to show you why you act the way you act and do the things you do. You have to become a little introspective as you study the bible and compare yourself to Christ. When you don’t measure up, you have to ask the Spirit “why?” Example: why can’t I speak-up in public and preach the gospel? Or, why am I so proud?

This soul cleansing process only works with those who want to be made whole, holy and spotless, as the bride of Christ must be (Ephesians 5:27). This process only works for those who want to know the truth about themselves, and are willing to agree with God, and change through his power. If you don’t think that your soul is completely filthy, then Salvation isn’t for you. I’ve been a mess since I was born and the Spirit is gradually revealing more filth in my soul.

My list of issues within my dirty soul can be so overwhelming at times that I hate myself. It is then, at this point, that the old man replies, “Well, just don’t deal with me.” But I know this is just an excuse he uses to get me to procrastinate from putting him on the cutting board. This excuse has worked many times in the past, but his nature in me has gone far enough. The flesh has held me back from Jesus Christ. Time is running out for the saints, and I cannot manifest Christ in me while the old man is still alive and kicking. The world is about to end and the sons of God must manifest themselves for this end-time harvest.

Every time I fell for the old man’s tricks, I believed this lie: that I was so stinking, filthy inside, that I couldn’t do anything about it. Maybe you’ve felt the same way about yourself. And this is true, you and I can’t do anything about this old man, not without the Spirit. Or, here’s another lie: that God can’t do anything with this old man because he is so deeply rooted within our souls. Complete crap! God can do anything (Philippians 4:13). I refuse to be overwhelmed by the mess within my soul and submit to it. No. Through the power of the Spirit, it will be killed!

All of us are full of the things Jesus described in Luke 7:21-22, the only difference is: to what degree. As I expose some of my faults and victories on this blog, I know they will resonate with you, and hopefully, my discoveries and surgery can encourage your success in being cleansed from within as well. As we are made free, we can free others.

How to get started. We all know the basics: prayer, fasting and bible study. Prayer is for asking God what’s wrong. Fasting is for weakening the old man so that we can hear God clearer, through his word, which builds our spirit man. Usually, I use a concordance like www.BibleGateway.com and similar software  that helps me do deep research into the sins of the soul and the remedies found in the Bible. As we draw near to God, he will draw near to us, and the cleansing will begin (James 4:8). This will take time and we must be patient with ourselves. This stuff hurts too, but I’d rather go through short-term pain, rather than stay in pain for all eternity in the Lake of Fire.