Divine Disgust – Occult Practices
Divine Disgust – Occult Practices.
“Enough! How long will you defend the evil-doers? How long will show kindness to those who do wicked things? You’re here to defend the defenseless, to give justice to the weak and fatherless, to maintain the rights of the oppressed and needy. Your job is to rescue the powerless and stand up for them, to deliver them from all who exploit them!” (Psalm 82:2-4).
As we continue to grow in our relationship with God, we discover that we yearn to progress in loving what God loves and hating what God hates. If we are not growing in those two areas of God’s character, it’s doubtful we even have a relationship with God to begin with. Following the example of Jesus in the gospels, loving the sinner while hating the sin itself is crucial to our growing in the character of the Lord. If God finds certain behavior morally disgusting, but we find it acceptable, then we are not where we should be. It might be surprising to realize that God can have hate in His heart. We know that God is full of love, that He is in fact Love. But hate? That is a difficult concept to digest. But think about it more, and it starts to make sense. Like the Father He is, God loves us so much that He hates whatever might be destructive to us, whatever might come to harm us or our relationship to Him. God’s hatred for evil comes out of His eternal protective instinct. Another thing to think about… God is purely righteous, virtuous, filled with goodness through and through. Out of His goodness, He established a moral universe. Since the profoundly tragic fall of mankind, the overall moral universe remains, but immorality has to be dealt with and judged. Because of the way God created the world, there are rights and wrongs, the moral and immoral, the righteous and the unrighteous. God hates the wrongs. It’s no wonder the early Christians called them the ”deadly sins.” God wants to give us life, the evil one wants to give us death. God hates whatever might be deadly to us. God hates whatever in the world was not a part of His righteous plan for the world. Simply put, God’s hate comes out of His righteous love for us and His world. Yes, God hates. But He hates whatever is worth hating. God speaks plainly in His Word about what He loves and what He hates, about what God embraces and what He rejects. The category entitled “Divine Disgust” is intended to be a biblical catalogue of what God hates, what God finds abominable. Naturally, as we are becoming aware of what God hates, we will also learn what God loves. The truth is, if we are being transformed into the likeness of Jesus and thus the character of God, we show our fearful love of God by joining Him in hating what is evil. (Proverbs 8:13).
ABOMINATION: (Hebrew, “towebah”) = An activity that God considers morally disgusting; a detestable behavior; any action or attitude that is loathed with a passion by God; behavior that God has judged as spiritually abhorrent and unacceptable; something that God hates and finds deeply repugnant; something that is deeply offensive to God’s sensibilities; any action or attitude that God thinks is repulsive, revolting and utterly alien to God’s nature.
9 “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the [a]abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass[b] through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are [c]an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. (Deuteronomy 18:9-12).
An Important Thought. “There are two equal and opposite errors into which we can fall regarding the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. The devils themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.” (C. S. Lewis, the Preface to his book, The Screwtape Letters).
“Don’t Let the Devil Ride.” This classic gospel blues song pictures each of us going along on our life journey in a car. Suddenly we see a hitchhiker on the side of the road trying to flag us down to get a ride. Rev. Mays says that is what the devil is always trying to do… Getting us to let him into our life, where he will relentlessly try to take over our life till all we have are the flames of hell. The devil is never content to just sit in the passenger seat. So don’t even get started with the devil. Don’t even let him into your car by doing things you know you shouldn’t be doing. That’s the same as opening your car door and letting him in, whether we’re talking about the Ouija Board, an After-School Satan Club, or becoming infatuated with movies or television programs that have satanic themes. Here are the lyrics, and they are worth remembering, to say the least.
“Don’t let the devil ride, don’t let the devil ride. Oh if you let him ride, he’ll ask if he can drive; Don’t let him ride.
Don’t let him flag you down, don’t let him flag you down. If you let him flag you down, he’ll turn your soul around. Don’t let him ride.
Don’t let him in your car, don’t let him in your car. If you let him in your car, he’ll take you way too far. Don’t let him ride.
Don’t let him call your name, don’t let him call your name. If you let him call your name, he’ll throw you in the flame. Don’t let him ride.
Don’t let him be your boss, don’t let him be your boss. If you let him be your boss, your soul will be lost. Don’t let him ride.
Don’t let him talk to you, don’t let him talk to you. If you let him talk to you, he’ll tell you what to do. Don’t let him ride.”
Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it. Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it. Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it.
Neal Roberson – Don’t Let the Devil Ride (youtube.com)
Don’t Let the Devil Ride (youtube.com)
Character Description of the Devil. Does this look like the sort of person you would find trustworthy? Would you want to befriend or even become a casual acquaintance of this sort of person? Is this the sort of person you would ever invite into your life even to a minimum degree? The right answer is NO… He wants to assume the throne of the Most High God; he hates the truth; he wants to take life out of people and replace it with death; he accuses the innocent and slanders the godly; he tells nothing but lies; he loves to thwart the purposes of God and hinder the gospel; he loves to antagonize the followers of Jesus; he is poised to tempt those in their weak moments; he is always prowling for those who are vulnerable; he is a master of disguise; he counterfeits that which is good and perverts what is pure; he spawns evil through those who are fooled into following him; he would deceive the whole world if he could; he loves to mar and deface that which is beautiful; he loves to be smooth and alluring and convincing in his temptations; he overflows with ambition and pride; he wants to embrace all the glory due to God and desires for all to worship him alone; he will be accountable to no one but himself; he is the original trickster, sneaky, and plays dirty; he knows now that Jesus came into the world to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), and works extra hard to bring as many as he can down with him to his eternal doom.
Titles in Scripture for the Devil. One look at these titles and names given to the devil, and there can be no question about why he is slated for eternal damnation: the Father of Lies (John 8:44); the Adversary, Satan (1 Peter 5:8 and over 50 times in NT); the Ruler of Darkness (Eph 6:12); the Accuser of the Brethren (Rev. 12:10); the Enemy (Matt. 13:39, Luke 10:18-19); the Slanderer, the Devil (given 38 times in NT); Ruler of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2); the King of Death (Heb. 2:14); Prince of this world (John 12:31); the Lord of the Flies, Beelzebub (Matt. 12:24); the Great Dragon (Rev. 12:9); the Ancient Serpent (Rev. 12:9, 2 Cor. 11:3); the Angel of the Bottomless Pit (Rev. 9:11); the Tempter (Matt.4:3); the false Angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14); the Roaring Lion (1 Peter 5:8); the Ruler of Demons (Matt. 12:24); the Evil One (Matt. 6:13); the Murderer (John 8:44); the Daystar and Son of the Morning, Lucifer (Isaiah 14:2); the Shining One, Lucifer (Isaiah 14:2); the Worthless One, Belial (Deut. 13:14, 1 Sam. 2:12, Ps. 18:4, Ps. 41:8); the Deceiver of the whole world (Rev. 12:9); the Destroyer, Apollyon (Rev. 9:11, Ps. 17:4, 1 Cor. 10:10)).
Descriptions of the Devil in the Hebrew Bible: Please refer to Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:12-17. These passages are referring in the immediate context to a fallen king, but the words are so cosmic and so extravagant, that scholars have interpreted them to refer to the spiritual force behind those fallen kings. Christians have always seen those passages in two ways, as a condemnation of those fallen kings of Babylon and as a picture of the fall of Satan. The prideful ambition and evil designs of Satan are well-described in these passages.
The Enemy. In the parable of the weeds and the wheat (Mattthew 13), notice that the evil sower only plants his bad seed after the good seed has been planted. He wants to produce a counterfeit to wreak havoc during the growing season, and bring confusion to what is good and what is evil. “Falsehood comes in after truth; after the prophets came false prophets; after Christ will come the Anti-Christ. The devil fashions falsehood and heresy to resemble the true Faith.” (Orthodox Study Bible).
The Strong Man. In Luke 11:21, immediately after Jesus cast out the demons by the finger of God, the Enemy is described by Jesus as the “strong man.” In His mini-parable, Jesus tells us about this strong man who is guarding his house fully armed, and this strong man is at peace with his safety and protection. But then a stronger man shows up and overwhelms him, taking all the man’s armor in the process. So in this context, “we have a mere finger of God going against a full armed strong man, and the finger wins! God’s finger is more powerful than the devil! I’ll take my odds with Jesus!” (Carolyn Moore). We need to constantly remind ourselves when in spiritual warfare, that “He who is in you, the Holy Spirit, is far stronger than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4).
Leo Bud Welch – Don’t Let the Devil Ride [Official Video] (youtube.com)
“Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7).