Underground Exiles

“Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Do not take a day off from this work; you must always be killing sin or it will be killing you.” — John Owen,The Mortification of Sin

The honest answer to Owens’ question is “No”.  Killing my sin is not something that even crosses my mind.

I’m so full of sin that I’m not even aware of my sin the majority of time.  Sure, I’m pretty good at confessing the small stuff - but what about anger?  Or pride?  Or lust?

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Giotto di Bondone - St. Francis Releases the Heretic

Throughout the Christian era, from the days of the Apostles themselves, new sects and isms have arisen to trouble the purity and peace of the Church.  As he prepared to leave the Ephesian elders at Miletus, Paul warned that “fierce wolves” would enter in among them, “not sparing the flock” and that even from their own select group would “arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.”¹  With prophetic sweep, the Apostle scanned the centuries and saw the rise of innumerable sects in Christendom, and particularly the great apostasy and the multitudinous cults of the latter days which, as we’ve seen, he brands as “doctrines of demons”².  Peter, in similar prophetic vision, beheld them as “destructive heresies.”³  Jude boldly inveighs against the wickedness of their human promulgators⁴.  John sketches a historical tableau of their progress and development, and the interminable confusion they cause in the professing Church⁵.

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1. Acts 20.29-30 [↩]
2. 1 Timothy 4.1 [↩]
3. 2 Peter 2.1 [↩]
4. Jude vs. 12-13 [↩]
5. Revelation 2.3 [↩]

Augustine Confronting Heresy

The Apostle Paul, in a pivotal prophetic passage, traces all doctrinal aberration to its deeper cause and its ultimate source in the invisible demonic agents behind visible human actors.  He presents the perversion of truth and godliness as the direct work of Satan’s minions, the demons.

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons”¹

The “deceitful spirits” are the deceiving “demons” who are ceaselessly diligent in perverting the truth and in leading God’s people away from sound doctrine.

As the Church is guided “into all truth” by the “Spirit of truth”², who is the foundation of all true inspiration, so He is opposed in His benevolent work by Satan, “the spirit of error”³, the arch-enemy of truth and the great deceiver, who, with his demonic helpers, is the source of all false inspiration.  But since Satan is a mere creature, and unlike the Holy Spirit, neither infinite nor omnipresent, he requires the aid of an innumerable host of wicked, deluding spirits to carry on effectively his vast program of doctrinal corruption and deception.  As the “Spirit of truth” inspires the genuine prophets and teachers of God⁴, so the “spirit of error” and his spiritual satellites, energize the “many false prophets” who “are gone out into the world”⁵.  Hence the Apostle John, like the Apostle Paul, traces error to its real source in satanic and demonic activity, rather than in the human agent.

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1. 1 Timothy 4.1 [↩]
2. John 16.13 [↩]
3. 1 John 4.6 [↩]
4. 1 Corinthians 12.3 [↩]
5. 1 John 4.1 [↩]

Augustine Refuting A Heretic

Since I’ve been on the subject of heresy in the last few days, I thought I’d dig a little deeper - to explain where heresy originates.  In order to do that, I’m going to have to cover some basics to start out.

The entire body of revealed truth, as contained in the Bible, which is inspired and God-given, is the great bulwark against all wicked power and evil supernaturalism.  Implicit faith in its teachings and approval of its precepts constitute the only, but all-sufficient, guarantee against Satanic subtlety and demonic cunning.  As long as Scriptural truth is accepted and followed, Satan and his minions are stripped of their power to harm or lead the child of God astray.  It is only when revealed truth is neglected or rejected, either in whole or in part, that the powers of darkness have opportunity to inflict damage and work havoc upon the Christian.

It’s not surprising, with that in mind, to find that Satanic and demonic assault is directed particularly and relentlessly against the Word of God, nor is it amazing to discover that attack against the veritable citadel of revealed truth is perhaps the most conspicuous and potent role played by demons.

There are two great mistakes that are made by the majority of Christians.  The first is to refuse to believe that there is any such thing as demons; for me, it brings to mind the great quote from The Usual Suspects “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”  Satan and demons are real, and that must be kept in mind.  The other great mistake is to go the route of the extreme charismatics, and blame everything on demons and the Devil.  Hence the reason I’ve put “biblical demonology” in the title; our goal is to be biblical in how we view the work of Satan and demons.  Which brings us back to our subject.

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Many of the regular readers of the blog know that I’m adopted; it’s a fact I’ve never hidden. As I’ve grown as a Christian, I’ve discovered that the area I need the most growth in, and the doctrine I have the hardest time grasping, is adoption.

I’m incredibly fortunate - the family that adopted me at the tender age of 3 weeks is incredible. They’ve been an amazing gift of God in my life and I’m more thankful for them than I can possibly express. Nevertheless, the idea of adoption is one that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

The reason for the horribly bitter aftertaste left by adoption isn’t easy to explain; as a matter of fact, even posting anything on the subject puts me at risk of becoming a caricature - the stereotypical angry adoptee, of which there are plenty, especially in the blogosphere. To be frank, there’s a part of me that completely identifies with them. I understand their anger, while I believe it in some cases to be misplaced. God knows I’ve gone through several years of my life in an absolute rage over the system of closed adoption, and the secrecy and lies that surround much of the closed adoption system in the United States (particularly my home state of South Carolina).

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