The Spiritual War of Imagination
Your mind can easily become the devil’s playhouse. He and his world of dark spirits are masters at imposing their evil influence on top of you. That place at the top is your mental thought life. The human ability to think, dream, and plan is wonderful, even God-like. This is one of the powerful things about our creative abilities. Our great God made us a little like Himself and nothing about us is bigger than our mind, which includes our self-consciousness.
Satan long ago developed and mastered the ability to attack the human consciousness. It is very likely the same method Satan used to deceive the angels and lead them to rebel against the Father. Millions of New Agers brag about taking possession of man’s minds to create what they call mass-consciousness. They project the idea of using their mental powers to lead our world to another level of evolution. They call it the coming “Age of Aquarius.” It is scary even though it is Biblical because they are actually promoting the Antichrist Kingdom.
The Bible has much to say about our thought life. Solomon spoke with God-given wisdom when he said, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7a). Apostle Paul warns us of the desperate need for charity or love that “thinketh no evil” (I Corinthians 13:5b). He spoke of the pure virtues that must fill our thought life, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8). Repeat the last four words, “Think on these things.”
David cried out, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). In the first psalm, the Spirit of God gave us the formula of success, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalm 1:2-3). I have known a host of people that meditate on God’s promises and that is good; but, first, we must meditate on His laws if we are to prosper.
This dangerous hour is a repeat of the spirit of evil that plagued Noah’s generation right before judgment came. “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Jesus warned us of this, “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark” (St Matthew 24:38). Apostle Paul described that same period, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves” (Romans 1:21-24). Human imagination that forgets God is like a cesspool that spews vileness to destroy and pollute everything it touches.
God our Creator has not left us alone for this downward spiral of evil to consume us. He warned us that this is the conscious storm facing this last generation. The atmosphere is charged with dark and vile imaginations, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
Please look carefully at what is coming against us, everyone we know, and all those we meet every day. These principalities and powers are both evil and unclean spirits. Principalities are generals in Satan’s army of attacking spirits. He then named “rulers of the darkness of this world.” They cannot be less than great spirits of wickedness that inhabit the conscious world all around us and above us. He then named “spiritual wickedness in high places.” Wicked angels that fell with Satan inhabit the entire atmosphere. If the Holy Ghost opened our eyes, we could see these hellish entities constantly charging against anyone who rejects the evil world to follow Jesus Christ. They are also busy destroying unprotected souls and loved ones that have refused the saving blood of Jesus Christ. The armor described in this great passage must be worn in the power of His Holy Spirit. He completes this picture of our armour with his warning to protect our mind. “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesian 6:16-17). The “helmet of salvation” will keep protection around your thought life.
The Holy Spirit has also given us power to help others survive these horrendous attacks. This is the most important part of this Salty Saints inspiration. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:4-5). The words, “strong holds,” are a perfect description of how Satan wraps his dark imaginations around our minds and thinking until we cannot hear one word of warning. I have tried to warn multitudes in my years as a minister and, even, looked in their eyes as they shook their head in disbelief or rejection. A few of these dear souls finally woke-up and repented. Many are already eternally lost.
Prayer in the power of the Holy Ghost is the single hope for all of us. The apostle gave us hope by saying, “casting down imaginations.” This level of effective praying has become an absolute necessity. This kind of praying is only possible when the prayer warrior has become empowered by the Spirit. James, the Lord’s half brother, called it “effectual and fervent” praying. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 516b).
Your mind and thought patterns must be of paramount importance to your spiritual life. Do not allow anything negative or disruptive in your spirit to linger more than a few seconds. You can submit yourself to God, and then you can resist the devil and he has to flee. This has to be a lifestyle, not a one-time battle. Fill your mind with the Bible and the Spirit’s great revelations. Live a clean life so there are not any doors to your spirit by the world of evil. Baptize yourself daily in anointed praying.
Toby Eason
Fantastic sermon. For 4-5 weeks I have been studying for my next Sunday School lesson in two weeks. It is titled, “Thoughts – Imaginations – Strongholds”. I always asked the Lord to comfirm the message before each lesson. The Holy Ghost just did that when I read your article. PRAISE THE LORD!
patrick
Excellent message! Be good to read it every day. Don’t forget to protect the main gateways to the mind also, the eyes and ears. They can be bombarded by TV, music, negative or trash-mouth people, provocative dress styles and the other trappings of heathendom. Glad you included the mass-consciousness thing. Engaging in that can lead to universalism or other deceptions. (I know!) You can always count on the Word, Holy Spirit and His anointed servants to help in these tasks.
Elizabeth Pierce
As always, just what I need to hear, just when I need to hear it. Thank you, Father! Thank you, Brother Chambers!
Ed Wood
Hello Pastor Joseph.
This message should be preached from every Christian pulpit, TV show, or magazine right now. I believe that the biggest danger we have today is that unfortunately most of those who consider themselves Christians are totally clueless to the signs of these times and the forces of evil that are directing this world right into the Tribulation.
I place some of the blame for this ignorance on our modern, neo-Laodicean and, for the most part, apostasy-ridden organized churches. But I put most of it on Christians who really do know what’s going on but are too timid to stand up and be counted. (And, yes, I admit to being guilty of this myself sometimes.)
Think about it. Where were the Christians in 1963 when the Supreme Court tossed God out of our schools? Or in 1974 when it legalized infanticide of the unborn? Or on every election day when politicians openly hostile to God and his Biblical principles are elevated to public office?
Recommended reading: Luke 9:26!
Thanks for telling it like it is, Pastor.
Julie
I think this was one of my greatest battles in maturing as a Christian. I would just be sitting there and suddenly some deplorable thought would pop into my head. Some making me shudder. I would pray silently, Lord please cleanse my heart, mind and soul of all evil. The attacks happen very rarely now after a great battle and when it does I still pray the same prayer and guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
Judy Sosebee
You’re right on target, as I’ve prayed recently about thoughts of animosity toward people who wrong
me. When ridiculed as a believer or falsly accused ,, I remind myself “This Is Only A Test”
Bertha Gutierrez
Pastor Chambers,
Think not evil, I do not like to think evil. This evening my husband was so up sad and mad demanding me to write a rent-check to move out. “Be lucky, I do not Kill you”, he said. I tried to say something, and immediately he said be quite with a loud voice and again he scream “be lucky that I do not kill you”. This morning, he got up set because I asked him if he bought the tool he needed the night before with the $350 dollars he request from me. He said I did not have time to buy it. I asked where is the money. He said the check in on the office. I checked his office desk and was not there. I did not mentioning again, but he was mad all day at me. This evening he was worst that any other day at me. We are married for 24 years. I called the police asking for advise. They asked me to call them if my husband gets violent.
loc nguyen
When the wayward descendents of Patriach Noah, began building the Babel Tower for the
cult of Nimrod’s personality, GOD CAME DOWN TO SEE FOR HIMSELF what men wanted to do with it.
GOD’S SENTENCE WAS UNEQUIVOCAL : man had found a way to circumvent GOD’S LAW, to put into
work everything his wicked Satan-inspired imagination has devised (GENESIS x).
Some authors suggest the Tower had something to do with astrology, the Satanic astrology
that makes wishful thinking come true; in order to thwart GOD’S PLAN For man’s Salvation,
by granting mankind its cherished blasphemous motto :
“do what thou wilt, this is the whole of the law”
And thus precluding any possibility for man to accept JESUS-CHRIST’S GOSPEL.
We can see it today with the New Age Movement, and countless other cults of which
Scientology is not the least.
Whether these devoted authors are absolutely accurate as to the Babel Tower purpose is
not the point : the Babel Tower was evil IN GOD’S EYE because of man’s imagination,
AND HE STOPPED its construction. GOD’S EXECUTION OF HIS OWN VERDICT LEFT men babbling
incoherently among themselves. GOD PARTIALLY REVERSED THIS EFFECT ON The First CHRISTian
Pentecost Day To Allow men to hear THE GOSPEL each in his own language. AS HE BREAKS the
leg of any of his wayward sheep in order to save it, AND THEN HEALS it HIMSELF Afterwards,
As the Beloved Psalmist acknowledged out of personal experience.
Just one more opinion from Mr. Ben Adam, one of the above-mentioned authors, about astrology
in his 1937 book ” The Origin Of Heathendom ” : GOD HAD ORIGINALLY PURPOSED THE Stars AS
INDICATIONS FOR THE TIMES AND SEASONS, in a word Divine Astrology. Adam’s fall made This
GOD-GRANTED Knowledge Withdrawn from him. So after The Flood, Satan the sorry lord came to
Nimrod the wannabe anti-CHRIST, with the offer to (only bogusly, for even the fallen
Morning Star was not privvy TO GOD’S HIDDEN THINGS) restore this Knowledge for worldly
dictatorial power.
GOD BLESS you, Brother Chambers.
Paula Huffman
My body is the temple of the Lord which includes my mind of course. To keep my mind in subjection to the Spirit I feel the desperate need to exercise it daily, spiritually, whether it be by attending a spiritual church regularly and being involved in church spiritually, reading and studying the Word, and running reference, fervently praying, listening to God speak to me without being in a hurry, singing spiritual songs, listening to annointed singing and preaching, and talking about the Scriptures to others and willingly listen to others talk or teach to me. The minute I let down I am in danger of becoming insensitive to the Spirit and I sense a feeling of danger when I think about it. I am to worship Him in Spirit and in truth, and I must be in tune with the Spirit to do this. Jesus admonished us to be wise as serpents. Satan would love nothing better than to stop me from using my mind to further the Kingdom of God in those callings He’s placed me in. He would love nothing better than to attack my mind with vain imaginations. Reverend Ray Loftis preached “I can’t help it when a bird flies over my head, but I don’t have to let it make a nest there.” We need to take David’s advice to his son Solomon in I Chr.28:9 when he told him to serve the Lord “with a perfect heart and a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.” It is not a choice but a neccesity to continually seek the Lord for a fresh annointing of His Spirit to stay alert to the spiritual war of imagination. A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations is an abomination unto the Lord. For example, “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” I am an only child and I need the love of my brothers and sisters in the church. I want them to be able to love me with a pure heart fervently, but it’s sad to say you don’t know who to trust by today’s standard in some churches. As Paul said in II Cor. 10:3 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
Paula Huffman
This is one of my favorite songs which offers an antidote to the warfare of the imagination and brings perfect peace of mind:
IN THE PRESENCE OF JEHOVAH
In and out of situations that tug of war at me
All day long I struggle for the answers that I need
But then I come into His presence and all my answers become clear
And for that sacred moment no doubts can interfere
In the presence of Jehovah God Almighty Prince of Peace
Troubles vanish, hearts are mended
In the presence of the King
Through His love the Lord provided a place for us to rest
A place to find the answers in the hour of distress
Now’s there never any reason to give up in despair
Just slip away and breathe His name He will surely meet you there.
loc nguyen
I’ve always been puzzled by the reason for Lucifer falling into Satan :
why such a perfect being becomes such an unmitigated wicked being.
What could he want more than what he had already ?
Some Biblical Clues point to his own imagination as the most probable
cause : his five “I will”s. He was his own tempter ! And so does man to himself,
no “The Devil made me do it” will do for an excuse !
Author Dave Hunt goes further( in his “Peace, Prosperity, And The Coming Holocaust”
in suggesting that Lucifer, GOD’S Morning Star,looked inside himself and became so
enamored with his GOD-GIVEN perfection he was sucked into such a whirlwind of
self-deification by the power of imagination(“The Mystery Of Iniquity” ?)that he ended
up attempting The Putsch against GOD !..
This self-inside-looking is being practiced today under the name of “Transcendantal Meditation”
present under one guise or another in Scientology or Yoga, and even in The CHRISTian Churches.
In an attempt to mask his original fall the sorry Lord invented Manicheism,
to teach the Devil’s Doctrine of the Equality of Good And Evil, of Satan And GOD.
We are led to believe that although Evil is bad, we must show our respect by worshipping it
beside The GOOD (where else did the yin/yang concept come from ?) Failing to do that,
we will be punished sorely by its servants and GOD Won’t BE ABLE TO HELP.
Summing up this concept is one of the most blasphemous phrases I’ve read : “The Pillars Of
Heaven Have Their Roots Deep In Hell”(Roland Villeneuve in his “Dictionary Of The Devil And
Demonology”). And so Satan will be eternally in power alongside with GOD.
But Saint Augustine, inspired BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, teaches that there is no such thing as Evil
by itself, and that the bad is merely the absence of THE GOOD. In other words, the spiritual
bad is a crooking up of the spiritual good, like license is the perversion of freedom.
(Beloved James writes that Which Is Not Of Faith Is Sin.)
So, in simple terms Evil is just the parasite feeding on THE GOOD, and cannot exist by itself.
But at that, the sorry lord would complain that he had been set up BY GOD, right from
The Beginning as “The Fall Guy” !
No doubt another piece from his own imagination.
John Fortune
“loc nguyen says: But Saint Augustine, inspired BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, teaches….”
HAH! Saint Augustine was inspired by a spirit for sure, but not the HOLY ONE! He was responsible for both the Roman Catholic Church and Calvinism! It doesn’t get less holy than that.
Don Boys wrote: “Without Augustine there would be no Calvin, in my humble opinion. Charles Spurgeon plainly says that Calvin “got his Calvinism from Augustine.” Augustine was born in 354 in North Africa and was converted in 386 and was later baptized again by the bishop of Hippo. It is interesting that he did not become a priest in the quickly developing Roman Catholic Church until he was age 37. I have believed for many years that Augustine was responsible for the curse of the ages—The Roman Catholic Church. In fact, I have recently seen him called the “first real Roman Catholic.” Warfield said Augustine was “in a true sense the founder of Roman Catholicism.” Benjamin Warfield, Calvin and Augustine, p. 313. But then running a close second to Augustine was Constantine and he may have been more responsible since he preceded Augustine.
Augustine maintained, “Through a woman (Eve) we were sent to destruction; through a woman (Mary) salvation was restored to us.” Will Durant, The Story of Civilization, “The Age of Faith,” p. 69. He taught that the fall of Adam and Eve resulted from their having sex! Sex was always wrong unless the motive was to have children. He was the father of a-millennialism. He believed in Purgatory and taught that salvation came via the “sacraments.” He did not believe that God created the world in six days and got around Genesis by skulking, like Origin, into allegories. He was not sure that women would retain their sex in heaven, and was not sure how those eaten by others in time of famine would be restored in heaven.
Laurence Vance asks a penetrating question about Augustine: If he was wrong about so many other things, why would anyone think he would be right on election and predestination? The Other Side of Calvinism, p. 25.” (Calvinism: Not Tiptoeing Through the TULIPS!, http://www.findingthechurch.com/articles/calvinism.pdf, page 2)
Beware of a new heresy in the Emergent Church called “ancient-future” theology. They believe that we should throw out the Bible and study the ancient fathers (read heretics) for instruction in righteousness.
People, now is not the time to drift from Scripture! We are living in the greatest time of apostasy that will ever be and no one is immune! Every time the Apostles asked Jesus about the end times, the first thing he said was “Take heed that no one deceives you.”
So, take heed that no one deceives you!