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"For the love of money is the root of all evil." 1Timothy 6:10
This passage, although certainly true, is only one facet of the spiritual war. The cult of Satan is much bigger and more profound. To understand, we must go back to the beginning. First is God who has many natures- many of which mankind is incapable of understanding. To make this simple, there is God the Creator of Heaven and Earth and the Spirit of God- the spirit of what is good.
Genesis tells the story of Adam and Eve who, in the Garden of Eden lived perfectly in the spirit of God- free of sin to put ita life of perfect outer-directedness, to put it in psychological terms. When Satan, the god of this earth (remember he was cast down into the earth) and the spirit of man told Eve that she and Adam could be as gods themselves if they would embrace the spirit of man, the spirit of the earthly realm, or once again in psychological terms, become inner-directed (he didn't offer her money). To understand it's important to contextualize this in a couple of different perspectives- first, psychological, or psycho-spiritual. The spirit/nature of Satan is the spirit/nature of man and of this earthly realm. This contrasted to the spirit/nature of God which is universal. Satan, it's important to remember, is not a person, or corporeal entity- no horns, no pointy tail no pitchfork. People seem to need to put a face on things to help internalize them. To worship Satan is to worship the nature of Satan- to emulate inner-directed behavior. The other perspective is institutional, the reasons for which will become evident.
What is the nature of man- human nature, contrasted to the nature of God? No one perhaps understood human nature better than Machiavelli. When he wrote of it in The Prince he identified many of the key characteristics which I outlined in my post The Asshole Quotient, so there's no reason to revisit it here except to say that the same things apply to "princes" only more so- what Nietzsche described as Ubermensch. People are by nature inner-directed, self-centered, greedy, envious etc.. This comes as a direct result of the Fall from Grace precipitated by the spirit of Satan. God has imbued us all with free will- a choice to emulate the spirit of God, embodied by altruism, charity and outer-directedness; or the spirit of self- inner-directedness, the spirit of Satan and of this world. To encapsulate the message of Jesus into one sentence it would be: Be outer-directed.
When Satan "appeared" to Jesus during his time in the desert, it was not as a person but as the spirit of Christ's human nature telling him that the kingdoms of the world were his for the taking... all He had to do was to place his humanity before his divinity.It was an internal battle of his natures. Satan, as a separate entity, in this context, seems almost superfluous. To reiterate Satan is not an entity unto himself but the nature of men absent the spirit of God. This is why institutions are inevitably doomed to failure and human nature is the instrument of their destruction. Another aspect of Jesus message was a rejection of institutions... advocating charity on a personal basis rather than an institutional one. This is the only logical conclusion for Socialism's rejection of God- Socialism, a totalitarian regime- depends upon institutionalism. If you really think about it, Socialism which is supposed to be a testament to man's altruism, would almost certainly choose Jesus, the embodiment of altruism as a model... yet they deny Him. Why? Because Socialism is a political model predicated on tyranny, fueled by human nature- resentment, envy and inner-directedness... the embodiment of the spirit of Satan.
A church is a body of people with similarly held beliefs rather than a building or institution. When Jesus said "upon this rock I build my church" He was speaking of the continuation of his ministry. For the first 300 or so years the church was decentralized. Each church had a similar message, but there was no established centralized doctrine until 325 when Constantine convened the Council of Nicea. It was after Nicea that the church became an institution. Institutions by their nature are susceptible to human nature, therefore, the spirit of Satan, given that it is humans that inhabit and control them. This is what will define the spiritual war.
The Church, Jesus' ministry has evolved from a decentralized group into an institution. Gradually and incrementally the spirit of Satan/human nature has crept in. The Schism of 1054 split the Orthodox and Roman Catholic. In the 1500's the Protestant Reformation further split the ministry amplifying the institutional aspect... each schism becoming an institution unto itself. All of these institutions at odds with one another. If Satan was an entity, he couldn't have planned it better... there are now over 42,000 separate schisms. What began as Jesus' ministry has devolved into an institution controlled by the spirit of antichrist- the spirit of man. It's this spirit of man that is currently driving much of society.
The spiritual war will be fought between those who reject the humanist/institutional spirit and hold to the spirit of God. It will, in psychological terms be the inner-directedness of Socialism vs. the outer-directed individualism of the spirit of God's word. The spirit of antichrist is pervading American society... found in the self-esteem movement in schools- in advertising and the entertainment industry sells it wholesale. Information will be the ammunition in this war- the truth of God vs. the propaganda of Socialism. The adversary is powerful as will as cunning- make no mistake. The Bible tells us that in the end, even the elect will be fooled. But remember this also- the words of our Lord- after He said "upon this rock I build my church" He said: "and the gates of Hell shall NOT prevail against it."
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Famous quote; almost always misunderstood. It's not "money" that's evil, it's the LOVE of money that's evil. People find piety in taking vows of poverty but as much s anything that feels like a misdirection.
It's ironic how we are often asked "Do you have a close personal relationship with God," and then we get to ponder the strange reality the the centralized institutions of churches actually- in some ways- serve to separate us from God: We can no longer talk to god, we talk to the pastor, who talks to the bishop to talks to the Pope... and it now is a giant game of that old "telephone" game.
Bright Blessings!
The love of money is the love of self... we love the things it can do!
I think "For the love of money is the root of all evil" is one of the most misunderstood bible quotes. One reason is because clergy members often take a vow of poverty so the average person may believe that in order to be closer to God, that they too should be poor.
To me, this quote does not mean that having wealth or being rich is bad. The evil of money is when it become an object of worship and infatuation. The love of money for its own sake and shaping your life to obtain money at all costs is what creates evil.
Money is a merely tool, and if used properly, can be used to do tremendous good. Money can provide the basic necessities of life and security. It can be used to do good things for humanity.
That's the correct response... Money is just a means not an end. Rousseau wrote something like: You can't get rich with the intent of helping others, because the things you have to do to get rich preclude caring for others. Money becomes the end.
Well written and deep. What stood out to me was when you said ' To reiterate Satan is not an entity unto himself but the nature of men absent the spirit of God.' Indeed a way of looking at it I had never considered. Thanks so much my friend.
It's a lot of the basis for my book The Night Gods and the salient point of the next part (that I'm about halfway through). It's called the Triumph of Evil about the rise of the antichrist (who is a person in the book).
Thank God- He's the one that showed me the truth... The saying that Satan's greatest accomplishment was convincing the world he doesn't exist is all wrong. Satan's greatest accomplishment is turning people of faith against one another. If we all came together the spirit of antichrist would go down in flames! It's time to come together and stop turning the other cheek!
Wow: that's quite the meditation.
If you think about it... This is really the crux of all my posts!
Got it. To be honest, it was too much to chew over for a quick response.
And that's the shortest version I could come up with! I thought about a 2-3 parter. I could have drug it out for 30 pages... I have to keep reminding myself, This is Steemit- short attention span theater!
Well said! Even I'm slowly bending. While you were writing your serious mediation, I was fussing around with a hair dryer. :-)
I have a really hard time writing short posts (I am getting better). In college the profs used to yell at me when they'd give out a 5 page writing assignment: "5 pages Quitliano, not fucking War & Peace!"
Opposite of the norm! Notoriously in teaching circles, most kids pad their writing to get up to the word count.
Rich! Kudos. How eloquently written.
And indeed, whatever lies ahead, let's stand against the wiles of the devil! (Eph 6). Because:
Thank you brother!
Thank you my friend! It's that last part that gives me strength and hope. I know I'f fighting on the right side!!!
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It's not the money, it is the greedy people. We all work for something because we have to sustain ourselves and our families, but some people are obsessed.
That's the point... money as the end, not merely a means of getting by!
Thank you @richq11 for sharing this eye opening post! I enjoyed it immensely! So very true my Friend! Mark 8:36! This is all temporary here my Friend. Except our soul. We're going up! We're saved by the blood of Christ my Brother! God Bless You and Your Family! Your Friend @extraterrestrial :)
Amen my friend! What does the Bible call this life... "the twinkling of an eye?"
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Loved your post ! keep up the good work
in the life and story of Adam and hewa, we have a lot of lesson of real life, greed is curse