“I read the posts from many who post comments here and elsewhere and see that I’m not alone in this inner human struggle”
Amen! Guilty!
But GBA, God’s breathed-out Word—I know, THAT again—is brutally clear on what the occult is and what kingdom it emanates from: Satan’s. There is real power there, granted by God, yet forbidden by Him.
Those that do not heed the warning are given some measure of that power and are deluded by it. Like those Jesus rejects at the end, they make great claims of having done good with their power only to find out they didn’t get it from HIM!
“But Satan cannot drive out Satan!” True. But counterfeit signs and wonders ARE NOT DRIVING OUT SATAN, are they? They are furthering his kingdom.
Jesus had true miracle-working power from the Father. It was distinctive and clear, not operating in the shadows. Man born blind given sight. Lazarus dead, buried, then called BACK! Real demons driven OUT at a command. Irrefutable, and thus a hardening judgment against anyone who dared to refute them (and an unforgivable sin for those who attributed them to Satan).
What do you get with the contemporaries of Pharaoh’s magicians? Grand claims that are refutable, as they are only relayed not WITNESSED and VERIFIED. Souls are “read”, objects are moved, dead persons are relocated, memories are “healed”, etc. The stuff of deluded minds who prey on weak people in need. Doesn’t take much in their state to be TOLD they have been freed, only later to struggle with the same thing. Seer long gone, they look for another (and another...).
There is no eternal consequence for refuting these fakes because they ARE operating in Satan’s realm. Brazenly they try to hide behind Jesus but it just doesn’t work on those who know the Scriptures and the power of God!
Amen!
To me, life is like we are all watching the same game, but each from different seats all around the stadium.
We each can only see what we see from where we're sitting. Sometimes our view of the action is great, sometimes not so great.
In this, we are watching the same game, but having a different game experience, you know I mean?
From where you're sitting, that's the game and plays you see. That's your game experience. I'd have to be a fool to tell you that you don't see what you see, especially if I'm not sitting and seeing the game from there, too.
And, since you're not sitting where I'm sitting, you'd have to be a fool to tell me I'm not seeing what I'm seeing.
As it is, even the refs on the field get it wrong sometimes.
To have the total picture, the full, complete game experience, we would have to sit in every seat in the stadium. Only then, would we have seen it from all perspectives in the stadium.
Most of us never even think to see the game from another point of view. Most like the view they've always had and they like arguing about it at the bar after the game, online in forums and at work the next day. They can't shift their perspective and don't want to.
I was always jealous of families who passed their season tickets down generation after generation, so I didn't grow up thinking this way. But now I'm glad I didn't inherit the family's season tickets.
I like moving around the stadium and seeing the game from different perspectives.
As long as I'm respectful, people don't seem to mind me sitting with them and often they will show me things I couldn't see in the old family section and row.
I've learned a deeper understanding and appreciation for the game this way and now I better understand why some views are better than others, depending on the play and time on the clock.