How Can We Overcome Evil Influences?
"Be not deceived", Paul wrote to the elect,
"evil communications corrupt good manners"
(1Cor.15:33). By the same token, "He that walketh
with wise men shall be wise" (Prov.13:20). Just as
certainly as a plant is affected by the sun and rain, or the lack
thereof, our spirits are affected by the spirits which are around
us, either toward the good or toward the evil. There is no way to
avoid it. There is a way, however, to overcome the evil influence,
and use the good.
This is the way Jesus lived his life. "I am for
peace", was the prophecy, "but when I speak, they are
for war." As holy and loved by God as he was, "we
esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted"
(Isa.53:4). And so certain were we that he was under some
strange curse from God, we murdered him, thinking that we were
doing God service. His every move and word were interpreted
wrongly by those who "just knew" they were right. His was a lonely
life, the loneliest which can be imagined. Even his disciples
misinterpreted his work and his wisdom. "He is despised and
rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and
we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we
esteemed him not" (Isa.53:3). Jesus was constantly being
scrutinized by the opinions of men; his every word and action taken
as more proof that he was what they thought he was. Had it not
been for the hand of God upholding him, Jesus would have begun to
think of himself as others thought of him, and would have given up
on the noblest work ever given to a man by God: the redemption of
our race from sin.
The human spirit is not strong enough to withstand the
pressure of other human spirits. Without the power of God, you
will be influenced (wrongly) by the wrong spirits around you every
time. We shape one another's lives. And it being true, as the
Apostle John wrote, that "the whole world lieth in
wickedness", the pressure of the spirits around us is
always away from God, not toward him. That is human nature.
Without even trying, even the best of human loves, the love of a
mother, will lead the child into worldliness rather than godliness.
This is the very reason Jesus came and died: to make available to
us a Spirit that is not a part of this wicked world, and that will
enable us to resist and overcome the constant pressure in this
world to lie, to lust, and to doubt God's word. That Spirit is not
overcome by the spirits of this age, nor can it be, for it is the
Spirit of the Creator of all things. That holy Spirit never has
self-doubt, is never pressured into a wrong decision, is never
confused by the cacophony of voices on this mad planet, all of them
demanding attention and trust.
When we lived in the world, we lived according to the will of
men, every one of us - even the ones who boast themselves on always
having been their own person, having their own mind, not pushed and
pulled by the crowds - and maybe especially them. Without the power
of the holy Ghost we are all frightened little people, carried
about by lust and pride, whipped into submission by spirits of
sloth and foolishness. If you are not living in the power of the
holy Spirit, you are most certainly living under the influence of
an unholy spirit. If you think not, it is because you refuse to
see the evidence for what it really is. You have your darkened
mind made up, as I once did, and everything is interpreted only to
mean what you want it to mean. You are a fool. Even as you puff
yourself up in your own conceit.
The Spirit which Jesus followed kept him from believing the lies
which men told and believed concerning him. And Jesus warned those
who would follow him that men would no more understand them than
they understood him. "Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and
say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake....for so
persecuted they the prophets which were before you....If the world
hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were
of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not
of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hateth you....They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea,
the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth
God service." If we stay close to Jesus, we will never be
overcome by the unbelief that is in the world concerning us. But if
we are drawn away from his side, we are very likely to be confused
by the lies which the world believes concerning us, and behave
accordingly. Sadly, that is the condition of nearly every Spirit-
baptized believer today: they behave as the disobedient spirits in
Christianity expect them to - primarily to resist the persecution
which follows the obedient in every case.
It is because we are not yielding to the Spirit, that we will stay
in the midst of our "denominations" which quench the Spirit we love
through it's doctrines and ceremonies. It is because of the
"pressure" we feel to "do something religious", that we will not
forsake the evil and carnal ways of Christianity. It is the "fear
of men" and not God, that causes us NOT to reprove the evils of the
Catholics, the Assemblies of God, the Lutherans, the Pentecostal
Holiness, the Apostolics, and a myriad of other denominations whose
confusion and lies have divided the true body of Christ. It is the
influence of religion that "looks good" which is killing you! And
what will it take to get free from such influences? Only the power
of God can do it.
Dear friend, if we do not stay filled with the Spirit, we will be
unable to resist and overcome the opinions of men concerning us.
We will begin to behave in ways which help us avoid the persecution
and misunderstanding which Jesus said must come. The approval of
men will become our goal, when we take our eyes from the Guide
which Jesus sent (the holy Ghost). By his mercy, God has allowed
us to break free from these influences. He has called us "out" of
"Christianity". And that is his calling unto you, Spirit-baptized
child of God: Come out of every place where you are pressured to
accept anything less than God; anything less than the truth;
anything less than absolute perfection and holiness. If you are
attending a place where there is ANYTHING which is "not right" in
Spirit or in deed, the reason you are staying there is because you
have been "influenced" to accept something less than God.
We want to encourage you, sisters and brothers, not to be
discouraged, even if you stumble along the way. The world will use
your errors and mistakes against you, saying "if it was real, he
wouldn't have done that." But God will use your mistakes for you,
to teach you how better to please Him in the coming years. In other
words, if you will obey God now, he will graciously forgive you for
your past "religious" errors committed in ignorance. The world
(and the disobedient children of God) will always see in you only
what it wants to see. May God always give us the grace to see, to
believe, and to obey the truth, for that will set us free from such
"influences". And though it may mean our being "alone" or
suffering to have God's will done in our lives, freedom from evil
"influence" is certainly worth it.
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