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By the way, spiritual prostitution shouldn't seem like a strange term. This idea is littered all throughout the Bible. Israel was accused of playing the harlot with other gods. Yahweh even had one of his servants to fall in love and marry a prostitute, to be a visual for Israel to see how much He loves them. All of these things are written for our education.
What I'm really aiming for with this, is to encourage the brethren to go deeper in their relationship with God in Jesus. I believe we act as though the enemy is obvious with what belongs to him and what he does. No, he is subtle. If he sees something that belongs to him in a person, you think he's not going to use it? Yet even more than this, we should want to walk in God's power. We should want that living water flowing out of our innermost being. That's what Jesus did.
I want to come back to what Jesus spoke concerning the spiritual nature of things. Jesus said the words He spoke to His disciples were spirit. (John 6:63) In another couple of verses Jesus said He spoke nothing but what He hears from the Father. John 12:49-50 states.......
I have not spoken on My own, but the Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it. And I know that His command leads to eternal life. So I speak exactly what the Father has told Me to say.”.............
Hmmmmmm, Jesus states its the Father's words/command that leads to eternal life. This is in agreement with Jesus' statements in John 6:63 saying the words He spoke to the disciples, are spirit and life. Are there any more references to the importance of the words of God? Certainly! When Jesus was tempted by Satan with turning stones into bread, Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of Yahweh". In truth, the Bible is filled with the connection between God's words, and it being of a spirit nature. Jesus Himself is known as "The Word of God made flesh". We know God formed the world through Jesus, saying "Let there be light". And we know when the disciples were full of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the first thing they did was speak words, praising God in different languages.
What I'm getting at here is, the spirit world seems to be connected to the spoken word. This is the picture I'm getting from studying Scripture. And to be full of God's Spirit, is essentially like being full of His words. Now I'm not saying the Holy Spirit is words. But being full of the Spirit, means you would be speaking His words. (That's essentially what God's prophets did) That in mind, perhaps spiritual prostitution can be had by receiving the words of the enemy into our hearts. And to be full of his words, puts you in bed with him
By the way, spiritual prostitution shouldn't seem like a strange term. This idea is littered all throughout the Bible. Israel was accused of playing the harlot with other gods. Yahweh even had one of his servants to fall in love and marry a prostitute, to be a visual for Israel to see how much He loves them. All of these things are written for our education.
What I'm really aiming for with this, is to encourage the brethren to go deeper in their relationship with God in Jesus. I believe we act as though the enemy is obvious with what belongs to him and what he does. No, he is subtle. If he sees something that belongs to him in a person, you think he's not going to use it? Yet even more than this, we should want to walk in God's power. We should want that living water flowing out of our innermost being. That's what Jesus did.
I want to come back to what Jesus spoke concerning the spiritual nature of things. Jesus said the words He spoke to His disciples were spirit. (John 6:63) In another couple of verses Jesus said He spoke nothing but what He hears from the Father. John 12:49-50 states.......
I have not spoken on My own, but the Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it. And I know that His command leads to eternal life. So I speak exactly what the Father has told Me to say.”.............
Hmmmmmm, Jesus states its the Father's words/command that leads to eternal life. This is in agreement with Jesus' statements in John 6:63 saying the words He spoke to the disciples, are spirit and life. Are there any more references to the importance of the words of God? Certainly! When Jesus was tempted by Satan with turning stones into bread, Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of Yahweh". In truth, the Bible is filled with the connection between God's words, and it being of a spirit nature. Jesus Himself is known as "The Word of God made flesh". We know God formed the world through Jesus, saying "Let there be light". And we know when the disciples were full of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the first thing they did was speak words, praising God in different languages.
What I'm getting at here is, the spirit world seems to be connected to the spoken word. This is the picture I'm getting from studying Scripture. And to be full of God's Spirit, is essentially like being full of His words. Now I'm not saying the Holy Spirit is words. But being full of the Spirit, means you would be speaking His words. (That's essentially what God's prophets did) That in mind, perhaps spiritual prostitution can be had by receiving the words of the enemy into our hearts. And to be full of his words, puts you in bed with him
The identification of God with the "words" in the Bible has been the source of misunderstanding God from the beginning. It is why Jesus was needed. We had to SEE and HEAR God's mind and character (Logos) in action through Jesus. Logos aleays referred to Jesus the Word of God never to the words in the Bible. They were the words of men interpreted from inspiration, NOT dictation. Despite seeing Jesus and His reaction to THEIR wrath and vengeance, our ancestors' biases about their wrathful God STILL resulted in misinterpreting Jesus. I do not understand how a wrathful and vengeful God who needed to be appeased by blood sacrifices of innocents to forgive our sins could EVER have been reconciled with the deeds and "mind of Christ,"especially on the Cross!! It is an enigma.
Ignorant of the practices of karate I started to take a class, as I was being hired to be a security guard at a local bar.
What stopped me was the fact that they were practicing worship of the teachers of the craft.
I worship no man. only Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
During the performance of my duties I never once had an aggressive incident but however rescued a woman attempting to commit suicide by swimming drunk in the lake late at night. I raced out on the dock and got her to come back to me and I held her hands while calling other security to help and call 911 and we lifted her out of the water and helped her into the police car. 51/50. She told me she wanted to die being so depressed.
Working at a bar does not mean I support the activity; however, it does offer the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others.
I was thinking about your comment Arleigh. Similar to Yoga in a way but maybe not as explicit, the martial arts invite you to conform to a certain spirit and way of beliefs. You have to have a certain attitude. These are the disciplines one learns, and it takes years of training and repetition. At the end of the day, what you learn comes from the ways of the world. The most popular martial arts come from Asia, and a lot of them have some sort of background in animism. The key to being good at martial arts is to harness this inner power which some call chi,ki, but at the root is spirit. The thing is it has nothing to do with Yahweh's Spirit.
All that said, again as with Yoga, the martial arts don't have patent on fighting. God has empowered me with a gift to inspire others concerning their inheritance in Him. When we look at Scripture, throughout the OT we see God's people fighting in battles. Abraham and his men were able to take out 4 kingdoms through the power of Yahweh. Previously those 4 kings took out 5 kingdoms who fought against them, and took all their spoils and people. Yet through the power of Yahweh, Abraham and about 318 of his men were able to take on whole kingdoms with hundreds or possibly thousands of men each, and routed them! Genesis 14:14 states........
And when Abram heard that his relative had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men born in his household, and they set out in pursuit as far as Dan.........
The verse says these 318 men were "trained". So they were battle prepared and physically fit. The difference between them and martial arts, is Yahweh's Spirit was the One who empowered them to fight and to strategize. Take a look at Caleb in Scripture. How at the age of around 85, was able to take on a clan of giants, the sons of Anak. Of course we know of what God did with David. David and his men once took out 200 Philistine warriors, and took their foreskins as a bride dowry. The Bible calls Yahweh a Man of war. (Exodus 15:3) Psalm 24:8 states..............
Who is this King of Glory? Yahweh strong and mighty, Yahweh mighty in battle..........
Then there is Samson, who when he was rushed upon by the Spirit of Yahweh, was able to take out a young lion with his bear hands. And again when filled with the Spirit, was able to take out a thousand soldiers with just the jawbone of a donkey. How would that sort of skill come in use for being a security guard! Heaps upon heaps!!! Martial arts can't compare to the power of Yahweh. Nothing can.
All that said, our battle today isn't against flesh per say. God is still a Warrior today, and we fight now the ultimate battle. Its a spiritual warfare. And Scripture tells us the weapons of our warfare aren't carnal, that is of our own strength or something physical like swords and spears. They are of a spiritual nature, God's nature, and are mighty for the pulling down of strongholds. I would encourage us to become disciplined in the nature God has given us, and see what He does. When we are full of Him, He will empower us to defend ourselves like Samson, or He will empower us to attack the heart of people's issues. The enemies who are the powers of the air, and behind all wickedness going on in this earth. That's what Jesus did. Jesus was able to bring a demon possessed man to his knees, who had the strength to overpower those who tried to restrain him with chains. Jesus didn't physically fight the man, but saved the man. The demons that were inside of him pleaded with Jesus, because they were afraid of Him. All that goes beyond what martial arts can do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticPhD
The identification of God with the "words" in the Bible has been the source of misunderstanding God from the beginning. It is why Jesus was needed. We had to SEE and HEAR God's mind and character (Logos) in action through Jesus. Logos aleays referred to Jesus the Word of God never to the words in the Bible. They were the words of men interpreted from inspiration, NOT dictation. Despite seeing Jesus and His reaction to THEIR wrath and vengeance, our ancestors' biases about their wrathful God STILL resulted in misinterpreting Jesus. I do not understand how a wrathful and vengeful God who needed to be appeased by blood sacrifices of innocents to forgive our sins could EVER have been reconciled with the deeds and "mind of Christ,"especially on the Cross!! It is an enigma.
Its through the blood of Jesus that we need to be washed and made whole. If God is just, He must judge evil. Or else, the universe would be in chaos. God is not chaotic, or else nothing could exist. Everything God creates and forms, is orderly. If He gives His creation knowledge and free will, there is the potential that creation could come out of order, and that is what humanity has done. Jesus came to put things back into order for us. His suffering, His persecutions, and His death, was all for us. This is the faith of Yahweh.
If God is just, He must judge evil. Or else, the universe would be in chaos. God is not chaotic, or else nothing could exist. Everything God creates and forms, is orderly. If He gives His creation knowledge and free will, there is the potential that creation could come out of order, and that is what humanity has done.
This is exactly why science is so straight-forward. God is just and logical so therefore, God's creation - our universe is logical, thereby the study of our universe (science) is logical.
It's not to say that science and doctors aren't influenced by culture and political forces. During WWII, Nazi doctors did terrible, cruel experiments on people for the sake of scientific discoveries. Our NIH did terrible, cruel experiments with the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.” Our NIH still does terrible, cruel experiments on dogs and cats now for the sake of scientific discoveries. So science and doctors do go wrong.
However, physics, astronomy and geology have remained sane because our universe is a logical creation of a logical God.
So let me know your thoughts. What are some other ways we could possibly be committing spiritual prostitution?
I wouldn't use the term prostitution.
It's a failure to understand the seriousness of dabbling in the occult or pagan beliefs.
It's like Christians attending a seance or psychic party. Christians pay people who claim to read your aura's energy. Now, some Christians think nothing about fooling around with tarot cards. Although, the most bizarre is allowing children to have ouija boards.
I've done yoga, but it was always an exercise class without any spiritual content.
Quote:
Originally Posted by glenninindy
A monk did not call what I was doing prostituting myself in my fervent search for God, but he was rather concerned that I would come down with what he called , " A bad case of Spiritual Indigestion" lol.
I want to speak on a few more things concerning words and spirit. Genesis 15:6 states......
Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.........
That word "believed" in the Hebrew, is the word "Aman". "Aman" is of course related to the word "Amen" No doubt God saw Abraham's heart, and even though it isn't in the passage itself, by use of the word "Aman" we can concur Abraham made confession to God's promise to him. As Jesus told us out of the abundance of the heart, one speaks. Abraham's heart was filled with God's spoken promise to him, and he amen it. God accounted Abraham's belief in His word as righteousness.
So God's words are spirit and life. Sharper than any double edged sword. In Matthew 8:8, a centurion told Jesus He didn't have to come in person to heal his servant, but all Jesus had to do was speak the word....
The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.......
Jesus responded by turning to the crowd and saying He has found no greater faith in all of Israel, than the faith displayed by the Roman centurion. Jesus granted the petition of the centurion (Matthew 8:13) because of his "Aman". It was as Abraham's "Aman", which here in the greek is the word "πιστεύω (pisteuó)". And also, this shows Jesus' words are indeed spirit! That He spoke a word, and the centurion's servant was healed from that very moment. It's no different from God saying, "Let there be light" and there was light. All of this comes full circle, the words of God are spirit and life, just as Jesus said in John 6:63.
Isaiah 55:10-11 reads..........
For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it........
and Jeremiah 1:12 says...........
“You have observed correctly,” said the LORD, “for I am watching over My word to accomplish it.”.......
All of this shows God's words are spirit and life. If we receive His words in our heart and speak them, that is when God's power will truly flow in our lives. And when we are full of the Holy Spirit, God's words will flow from our mouths like a river. So we have to hide Jesus' words in our heart, and the the Holy Spirit will bring them out.
So finally, why am I emphasizing this? Well again, if God's words are spirit, then any words outside of God is of another spirit. For example, James and John once asked Jesus if they should call fire down from heaven to burn folks who rejected Him. Jesus rebuked them, and said they didn't know what spirit they were of. (Take note this is found in Luke 9:55-56, but it is a later textual variant) Then we have Peter, who once rebuked Jesus and said He would never die. Jesus responds in Mark 8:33 with this........
But Jesus, turning and looking at His disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”......
So when Peter rebuked Jesus concerning Him being killed and being resurrected, Jesus identified these words as coming directly from the rebel. This shows us why we must be careful concerning whose words we receive into our hearts. Whatever words we receive, we are receiving spirit. We should want to receive God's words. If we are speaking contrary to God's words, we will receive a rebuke from Him. If we are His of course. Yet if we are stubborn, that becomes very dangerous. Because then we will become like the people of Israel, and begin following after other spirits. Still giving consent with our lips to God, yet our hearts tell another story altogether. Isaiah 29:13 speaks............
And the Lord said, "Because these people draw near with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching instructions that are the commandments of humans..........
This is what I fear for most of us who are religious. Plenty of us know doctrines surrounding the faith, but its not actually mixed with genuine belief in the heart. I sense this when I hear this attitude of "this thing isn't that bad" or just a general acceptance of the things of the world as long as it is not "in your face" hatred towards God. Many might agree with me that a movie gorging itself on blood and X-rated content is something Christians shouldn't watch. Many might agree with me we shouldn't give ear to songs that glorify debauchery. However, the subtle ways of the world, many would try to justify. Its the little foxes that spoils the vines. Jesus said in John 15:5..........
I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing........
These little subtle words and ways of the world, the spirit of the enemy, will spoil our relationship with Jesus if we don't throw them out. Even if I'm a total idiot, I can clearly see the trepidation of letting some of these things of the world go. I'm finding out that because of this, we don't really see God's power throughout the world. Not like with what is said when Jesus was here on earth.
By endorsing a certain manifestly corrupt and repulsive man for President. It's amazing to me how convoluted the arguments get.
That reminds me of something I saw a couple of days ago. And not to make this political, but this clip I'm about to post does fall in the line of the topic of spiritual prostitution.
Horror movies in general are probably not good to watch, however some do have themes of redemption, and show good conquering evil.
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God has empowered me with a gift to inspire others concerning their inheritance in Him. When we look at Scripture, throughout the OT we see God's people fighting in battles. Abraham and his men were able to take out 4 kingdoms through the power of Yahweh. Previously those 4 kings took out 5 kingdoms who fought against them, and took all their spoils and people. Yet through the power of Yahweh, Abraham and about 318 of his men were able to take on whole kingdoms with hundreds or possibly thousands of men each, and routed them! Genesis 14:14 states........