Posted on 01/09/2016 5:00:43 PM PST by matt1234
If yes, what evidence can you cite, and what explanation can you offer? I was prompted to ask because I find myself facing much greater temptation in recent months, precisely when my personal circumstances suggest that I should be facing much less temptation. This makes no sense, so I seeking an explanation. My initial question suggests one possible answer: that God and His agents as well as Satan and his agents are increasing their efforts to control people's souls. I am sure FReepers can suggest other answers.
I will not elaborate on the temptation I'm facing other than to say this: I have not yielded to it.
I welcome all input from the dogmatic to the philosophical to the secular. I think the topic is a fascinating one.
Thank you in advance.
The war in Heaven is heating up on Earth. Fleshly death is a assured, whether you side with Christ or not. and you will likely be the target of corporeal destruction sooner rather than latter if you choose Christ, but eternal salvation of your soul is only ensured if you choose the right side in this war.
Take courage from the One who died for us.
OK...I will take your word for it.
I say that because most people are not tempted by any of the other six deadly sins. Lust is the only one that makes a man stop and ask before. The others are done without aforethought and it is only after when they have a reckoning.
If you are being tempted to one of the other six, which is a fairly complete list, then you must consider the outcome of non-participation as well as the outcome of engagement thereof. There are adverse possibilities either way. One has to identify and evaluate all of the potential outcomes.
I tend to look at life as like a game of 8-ball. You can play it shot by shot and evaluate your alternatives as you progress, or you can try to play it three or four shots down the line. The first can be successful but it depends to a degree on serendipity, the latter can leave you the winner based on a calculated plan to pocket what you can, and leave the cue for the next shooter with no shot to make or even force him to scratch.
Sometimes you must sin to prevent grievous injury to yourself from the sins of others. It depends to what degree you are willing to proceed.
It’s the “Last Days,” the devil and his followers are loosed in their last ditch effort to thwart God’s work. Look around you, lots of evil, yet a great deal of good! You must hedge yourself about with righteousness to withstand the temptation which will surely come. We will all face it and must find refuge in His Word! The Savior said of these times that if possible the very elect might be deceived we will find protection in treasuring His Word!
Thanks for the details. The vehemence of some atheists is truly astonishing. It goes way beyond a denial. It a compulsion to destroy and obliterate. One cannot help but wonder if there is a demonic force behind it.
No, it’s both.
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
II Tim. 3:13, but the entire chapter tells us what’s coming. And it looks like the birth pangs are getting closer and closer together. As we approach the end of the gentile age and God again starts to deal specifically with the nation of Israel, the Holy Spirit will decrease his restraining of evil. It will look more and more like the Devil is winning. Christ warned “be not deceived” for a reason.
And yet, I'm the first person to cite Isaiah 5:20-21. :-)
Woe unto those that call good evil, and evil good.
I think it is because the enemy knows his time is short.
I also think that there was an increase in spiritual activity when Jesus walked the earth.
When God moves, Satan does not sit idly by.
You’re not the only one facing increased spiritual activity.
I don't wonder.
IMO, there's only one force behind the *I will exalt myself* mentality.
The answer to your question here is found in verse 13 and 14.
Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
No you are not a bad person to be tempted. We all are. And there is no time when we are safe from temptation.
You just have a weak spot that is being worked on. You can either ask the Lord to give you strength to resist and grace to endure or you can give in.
But still, read James Two. In fact, read the whole book of James. It is one of the short ones.
The degree of intensity/frequency of the temptation will always be directly in proportion to 'what you stand to gain by resisting. I would then suggest there's something very good you stand to gain that will prove itself in time.
One of the emails that really set me off last year was from an atheist organization whining on behalf of a college student whose parochial school wouldn't recognize her atheist student group.
Add in the press releases from the gay lobby, ACLU,gun-control nuts, climate change communists, and every other left-wing freedom-hating group and it feels like an all-out assault on everything that's good.
You mentioned temptation in your original post. My temptation is toward bitterness, anger, and despair, even though Jesus has already secured victory.
I'll pray for you.
If your temptation is adultery the only question you have to ask yourself is how would you feel if your spouse cheated on you? If you can be tempted can’t your spouse/significant other also be tempted. I will pray for your temptation to leave you in peace.
Great advice. Thanks.
....”wonder if the Holy Spirit (The Restrainer)is slowly leaving this old planet”.....
I think there’s some truth to that and accounts for much of what we’re seeing today....that coupled with the fact man’s “free will” has certainly determined he will do what he wants regardless and according to what he determines himself as his own standards to live by....his own so called “truth”...which is deception.
Therefore I think the evil we see flourishing more is because people have left themselves wide open to being “deceived”.....they are not grounded....rather get tossed about with every new teaching, or old ones drawn from the gutters of the past dressed in different colors...that create a false sense of self security....again “deception”.
Further....We know it’s written it will eventually, if not already ...”Be as the days of Noah”...but society’s definition of what is “evil” has also changed. (Because they’re deceived)....so if they cannot define
evil, except by their own standards, then how do they compare it to history?..... How can one actually say there is evil without some standard of good to measure it by?
The real question we need to ask is what is evil and what is good?.... For the answer there must be an ultimate source to go to or we are left to our individual opinions.... If we reject good found ‘in Gods standards’ the source of all morality and ethics then there is only the opposite to be done.
BTW.... Those who enter eternity without having trusted in Christ for salvation will understand just how effectively God has dealt with the problem of evil because they may not be there.
God doesn’t lead us into temptation......Spiritual warfare is ‘a personal resistance’ for each of us ‘against our own sinful desires’.... which the enemy will use to his advantage.... He will try ‘to annul our effectiveness’ and tempt us to walk contrary to the standards of God’s word.
Much of what is tempting us is really man’s own fallen nature expressing itself through his flesh.... we can honestly blame ourselves for most of the activity we see today.
However...we do have the authority and the strength to resist temptations and lies by deferring to God, submitting to God, standing in Christ, and putting on His armor..... We are able to resist his temptations, because greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. (Ephesians 6:12; James 4:7)
Remember when Jesus was tempted by the devil he resisted him by quoting scripture that was ‘relevant to his situation.’.... He destroyed the lie propagated ‘by putting the truth next to it’.
Jesus stood to GAIN much ‘by resisting’...(All of mankind)....had he lost the temptations in the desert all men would be doomed.
I think of Paul's lament about doing that which he would not do and not doing that which he would do. Couple that with the line about the poor in spirit inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven - to me it means that we are human and cannot totally abstain from sinful thought/activities (else He wouldn't have had to die for us) but regretting it in our hearts and going to Him in prayer with a repenitent heart is what makes us "poor in spirit". In short - we realize our sinful natures and don't act proud by claiming that we are able to avoid all sinful activity (like some of the holier-than-thou folk who constantly judge others by comparing them to the standards they fantasize themselves to meet).
The up side is it gives us more reason/opportunity to go to Him in prayer and He loves to hear from us whether it be in joy or in despair - He stores our prayers in front of the altar at the foot of His throne and any time we go to Him, it eases the pangs of our souls because that's how He rolls.
God Bless - the battle is going to get even uglier and our hearts and souls will often ache with the Evil trying to take the glorious feeling of our Salvation from us - the Evil One can't steal our Salvation, but he can keep us from reveling in it as He wants us to.
Can't say; but the line between the two seems less blurry.
Such a position has already lost the battle.
We do have volitional responsibility, but we are ONLY victorious through faith in Christ. If we resist in our thinking, independently of thinking through faith in Christ, we have already fallen out of fellowship with Him.
The legalist seeks to obey the Law as a panacea for simply remaining in fellowship with God through faith in Christ in all things.
It is far better to place all things in His hands and rest in Him, than to try and perform good for Him independently of Him.
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