Pumpkin Ale, Fat Shaming, and Demons - Purity 869

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a stunning scene of a clear blue sky and early autumn colors reflected in the surface of what we suspect to be the 4th of the 8 Fulton Chain Lakes comes to us from a friend who captured the scene near their home in Inlet, New York, back on October 10th. They shared a few pictures that day on social media proclaiming that experiencing the autumn splendor was quote-unquote "food for their soul"— food for the soul. Well, it's Saturday before Halloween weekend, it's the Saturday before Halloween weekend, and while I encourage my friends to get out there this weekend and liberally take in all the flavors of the season, I have to recommend we use wisdom and moderation in our seasonal celebrations. As someone who, with the Lord's help, has won a victory over addictive tendencies and who now attempts to continuously live by walking in the Spirit, I know the dangers of how the flesh will use seasonal celebrations to fuel its fire and cause us to be in bondage. For instance, the alcohol industry knows how to encourage consumption during all the seasons of the year, as breweries and wineries will release and market various potent potables for the spring, summer, fall, and winter. This month will tempt people to try Oktoberfest-themed beers, pumpkin ales, and hard and not-so-hard apple cider beverages. In my limited research this morning, I even saw a link that told me that there were 20 scary beers from various micro and not-so-micro breweries, uh, that feature occult or horror themes that would be perfect for Halloween. And you might think that wine drinkers are too sophisticated for something like that, but you would be wrong. There are lots of scary-labeled wines available too. I find it positively frightening because I remember how I was a slave to the booze, and my addiction would use any pretense to keep the party going 24/7. So, for my friends who drink, be careful. A lifestyle of periodic or constant drunkenness is not only a risk to your physical and mental health, it also is indicated as something that can separate you from the Lord's kingdom. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 tells us, don't, don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people, None of these will inherit the kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that, but you were cleansed, you were made holy, you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Yeah, I know those two verses, you know, hit a whole lot of people below the belt, and they cause some, some to doubt their salvation. If that is you, I would encourage you to repent. Believe me, as— believe me, I was a big drunk after I was born again, and when I read all the verses on drunkenness, I was not happy. But as I knew the Lord had saved me and wanted— and I wanted to follow Him, I followed His leading into recovery and now rejoice over my freedom over drugs, alcohol, and sexual immorality. Yeah, I, I took that verse literally, and now I can say I was like that, but now I have been cleansed, made holy, made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. I thought it would be impossible to change from my drunken ways after living most of my, my adult life from 17 to 43 years old in the bonds of alcoholism. But God was with me and led me out of that darkness for good. I do not identify as an alcoholic or a person in long-term recovery or a brother who struggles with alcoholism. The struggle is over. The war has been won. The Lord gave me victory and freedom, and I identify as a child of God, an ambassador for God's Kingdom, and a disciple for— of Jesus Christ. I have been healed, I have been made new, and I ain't going back. But I am not perfect and still fall into temptation on occasion. What? Relax, I can claim, because of the Lord, continuous victory in the areas of drug, alcohol, and sexual morality still, but I have also been fighting a war with the flesh when it comes to junk food or sugar. I have come to realize that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and that Christians should be good stewards of their physical health. Obesity is not good for your physical, mental, or spiritual health, as the same characteristics of addiction— the cravings, seeking comfort, lack of control, and binging— are present in lifestyles that are food-focused. Just like we have to be wise stewards of our bodies by not filling them with alcohol and drugs, we have to be discerning in what we eat. Just like the alcohol industry releases and markets seasonal potent potables, the food industry is even worse in its creation of holiday and seasonal packaging and special limited-time items that cause us to try it while we can with all the gusto of a beer guzzling alcoholic. The world system, the flesh, and the devil are insidious in tempting us to feed the flesh rather than walk in the spirit. The world system, our fellow man, like a drug dealer, does it for profit. The enemy does it to keep us from seeking our peace and comfort from a spiritual connection with God. I have come to realize that my addictive tendencies were present in the way I ate. After reading The Daniel Plan, I learned that the food industry engineers food to make us want to crave it and in essence become addicted to it. So they recommend non— The Daniel Plan recommends non-processed foods that don't have the sugar and carbs that keep us going back for more and keeping us and keep us in the constant struggle of the Battle of the Bulge. I have made some significant gains, meaning losing some pounds, because of this realization and from my efforts to be more cognizant of what I eat. I have eliminated a lot of the sugar and carb-filled foods that I used to eat and now try to follow a keto-friendly lifestyle to reduce my weight and reduce the pains that come from being too heavy. My father was an athlete in his youth, but over time, due to liberal use of alcohol and unhealthy eating, his weight increased. And now that he is in his 70s, he is hobbled with chronic back pain and actually has another surgery scheduled in December to try to, quote unquote, fix the pain. While I can't claim to have learned from all my father's mistakes in life, I am trying to learn from this one. I see that it is unwise to carry too much weight as we age. If you have back or other pains because of your weight now, they will only be compounded as you grow older. We have to stop the madness, seek the truth of nutrition, and lean on the Lord to help us overcome this struggle. It is not easy. Most of the world is blind to this, and as we move forward in time, it looks like it is getting worse. In the campaign to stop bullying and stop the opposite extreme eating disorders of anorexia and bulimia, the term "fat shaming" has come on the scene. Rather than encouraging the obese to attempt to change their unhealthy lifestyles, society now demands that we leave people alone to suffer and die under the weight of their food addictions and the rise in their mortality rate because of their obesity. To encourage someone to repent of their unwise living or repent of their sin— see 1 Corinthians 6:10-11 or 9-11— is, is now unloving. Our society has taken the stand of the Antichrist by telling us to accept our neighbors and ourselves as we are in our broken states, rather than to do what God would encourage us to do, to repent and to do what is right. In Genesis 4:6-7, God said to Cain, 'Why are you so angry?' The Lord asked Cain, 'Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out. Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you, but you must subdue it and be its master.' God doesn't want us to be slaves to our flesh or our sin and any other sin, uh, that would control us. And there are plenty of Bible verses that address the obesity thing, including a link in the blog today if you want to see it. Gotta love Google, uh, to encourage a change in that area. Yeah, so I've been fighting the good fight and avoiding sugar-filled snacks But last night, as I was volunteering at a Halloween-themed event for Operation Adopt a Soldier in Saratoga, as the night drew to a close, I ate some cookies and candy bars that were made available to the volunteers. So I failed to be true to my health goal. I know it's not the end of the world and that there is certainly enough grace to cover this quote-unquote "transgression" and may have the liberty to treat ourselves from time to time. Our failure to be perfect in our behaviors is why we need Christ. Even when we try to live a life walking in the Spirit because the Word of God is true, we will have some sin in our lives. So, when we fail, we could condemn ourselves, but we shouldn't. That is why we need, we needed Jesus to save us by faith and grace. We could not do it on our own. So, if we stumble, we should not beat ourselves up but thank God that He has accepted us even though we are far from perfect. But at the same token, we should realize that staying in our broken states is not where God wants us either. While there is grace enough to cover all our sins, the Lord still calls us to be sanctified because he wants us to be more like him, and he knows that when we follow his wisdom and ways and walk in the spirit, we will experience all the peace, joy, love, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, patience, and self-control that he has for us. He knows his way is the best way for us. After all these, all these fruit of the Spirit are listed in Galatians, God's Word says in Galatians 5:24-25, those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to the cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. In listing the fruit, I have seldom heard, or maybe didn't listen to, pastors focus on verse 24, to crucify the flesh, our passions and desires. These are instructions to the church, so while we may not be perfect like Christ, we should endeavor to lean on the Lord and do what is right by obeying the word of God and to to follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives, rather than being pulled astray by the regular and seasonal pulls of the flesh. So, be wise and discerning of how you live, and be aware of the regular and seasonal temptations that will try to lead you astray. If you keep walking and talking with God, you can make progress, because when we live in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the desires of the flesh, And if you mess up like I did last night, just do not give up. Remind yourself just how much you need the Lord and just how good He is to love and accept us regardless of our performance. And then dust yourself off and start walking in the Spirit again. Instead of a New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men verse of the day today, Because we are in the season of Halloween, I am deciding to share an excerpt from the Freedom in Christ Ministries blog, which was authored by Dr. Jonathan Karl that I saw yesterday, that presents some frequently asked questions that we should consider during this rather macabre season. Dr. Karl writes, here are 4 frequently asked questions we should consider. One is demonic possession real? What can a demon do to me? Can the devil or a demon make me do something I don't want to? Uh, he answers, yes, demonic possession is real. Demons can tempt, attack, and live within humans. Satan already controls everyone who is not born again with Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. While not every unbeliever is possessed by a demon, demonically possessed humans sometimes evidence, manifest the presence of demons in supernaturally scary ways. 2 Corinthians— he quotes 2 Corinthians 4:4, and it says, the god of this world, Satan, has blinded the mind of unbelievers. The second question is, can a Christian be possessed by a demon? Demonized, have a demon. He answers, no, if someone truly repents from sin, treasures Jesus more than any, anyone or anything, and trusts in Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, then they are saved and indwelt by God's Holy Spirit. He references Romans 8:1-11 and 1 Corinthians 3:16. And he writes, a genuine believer cannot be possessed by or controlled by a demon since Jesus is in them through the Holy Spirit. Believers can be tempted and deceived by demonic spirits and influences. Christians have personal, personal responsibility for their actions, inactions, and beliefs, and are accordingly must take every thought captive to obey Christ. And he He lists 2 Corinthians 10:5, and he shares 2 Corinthians 13:5, which says, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves, or, or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fall, fail to meet the test. The third question he shares is, can a Christian be harassed by a demon? Oppressed or attacked? And he writes, yes, as one example, we know that the Apostle Paul was attacked and harassed by the, by a demon. We do not always know the specifics of why demons attack true believers. We do know that if we dependently seek God in these seasons of attack, he will strengthen and grow us. And he references 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 1 John 4:4. And then he shares 2 Corinthians 12:7: A thorn was given to me, given me in the flesh, a messenger angel of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. The fourth and final question that Dr. Carl shares is: Can someone be a Christian and their life not demonstrate real change? He answers, "No, true believers always evidence a changed life through the fruit of God's Holy Spirit." And he shares Matthew's— well, he references Matthew 13:19-23 and Galatians 5:16-24 and all of 1 John. And he writes, genuine Christians are not perfect but will manifest a deep decreasing pattern of sin and an increasing pattern of righteousness. May you be able to look backwards and see God's progressive work on your life and look forward to how he will continue to mature you. I just lost my place. Talk about transparency. Uh, mature you, and as you seek him, in spirit and truth. And he shares 1 Corinthians— 1 Peter 5:8 says, be sober-minded and be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Dr. Carl concludes the blog entry by writing, as you see scary or silly Halloween costumes, decorations, and advertisements, may you be reminded that this is not simply a pretend subject. Our spiritual state matters. Satan and his demons are on the prowl seeking to deceive and destroy us. If you are not yet a Christian, why would you wait another day to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If you are a Christian, have confidence that God is with you and in you. Do not fear, but, uh, put on the full armor of God daily and be like Paul, seeking to boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel everywhere you go. And he references Ephesians 6:10-20, and that is the spiritual warfare verses. And he also shares 1 John 4:4, which says, "Little children, you are not from God—" "You are from God," sorry. "Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." And the end of the blog says, "If you want a free resource about spiritual warfare in the early church," summaries of some of Neil Anderson's most important works, or a Bible reading plan for 2023, then visit spiritual— www.spiritualwarfare.blog/free-books for some of Dr. Carl's free ebooks and writings. And yeah, so if you want to go to that, uh, website, there's a link on the blog today at m.t. for christ.org. Firstspiritualwarfare.blog/freebooks. I went there and I downloaded some free PDFs. Surprise, surprise. My wife won't be surprised. I love free, uh, free resources, and I have so many. In fact, I have too many. Honestly, I'm not sure why I blog because I think I'd be perfectly content just reading the vast volumes of ebooks and physical books that I have that are Christian-based because I just love, I just love the Lord and I love biblical wisdom and its application and discipleship and spiritual warfare. And I just love being a Christian. And why? Because of that progressive sanctification that's happened in my life. You know, I, you know, talk about whoa, you know, that's a big question number 4 there that where Dr. Carl asked, can someone be a Christian in their life not demonstrate great real change? I love his one-word answer: no. Um, you know, true believers always evidence a changed life through the fruit of God's Holy Spirit. Now, it might take a while. Like I said, I was a big drunk for a while after being born again, but that conviction stayed on me as I started to read the word of God, serve in church. Um, you know, my, my desire to follow the Lord and, you know, to be who I was in Christ just, you know, wouldn't let it rest. I changed. I couldn't have drunkenness in my life when I read those Bible verses and realized that's not who I am anymore as a Christian. And, you know, and as I realized the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, I'm trying to take control of my physical health so I can live a long life. Why? To proclaim the gospel, to proclaim the truth, and to proclaim the goodness of a life of Christian discipleship and to resist the enemy and fight the spiritual forces of darkness by leading other people in discipleship. So yeah, that's why we're doing the blog today. Then, you know, today was supposed to be, quote unquote, you know, I was thinking of mailing it in, but, you know, I apparently it just doesn't mail in, um, because I was just going to share the questions and go, there, I'm done. But My spirit wouldn't let me. As I started to consider things, you know, suddenly all this stuff comes out, and this will probably be one of the longest blog posts and podcasts this week. So with that in mind, and it's Saturday, I don't want to keep anybody longer, but I do encourage you to go to today's post on mtforchrist.org. Go to that spiritual warfare blog site and and get Dr. Carl's free resources or PDFs, or if you want them on Amazon, they're 99 cents. So depends on you, you know, what platform would you want them. And also there's a— there is, if you want, for your research purposes, there's the link to the blog from which I got those questions from. And, you know, basically there's a link to openbible.info on on obesity if you really want to be convicted about obesity and how maybe that's not the best life for a Christian, you know, or anybody really. So we go against culture, you know, we share the Bible verses that, you know, punch people in the stomach. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, that's not, you know, that's not everyone's forgiven and there's no big deal versus, uh, it indicates that we could, we could have done all these things, uh, you know, as, as, as people. But, you know, the end, the indication from scripture is that is what we once were, and that, you know, we don't live in that sin. As Dr. Carl pointed out, you know, we decrease in our sins and grow in sanctification. That's what the discipleship path is supposed to do. We're not just to rest on the grace of God and live like the sinners that we always were. That's not— I mean, there's grace for that, but that's not the call on your life, is to be sanctified. There's a, you know, what is the will of God? Your sanctification, as I believe it's in 1 or 2 Thessalonians. Thessalonians. You know, that's God's will for your life. You know, what's God's will for my life? Your sanctification. The Word of God says it, and all of 1 John tells you to turn from sin, even though it admits that there will be sin in your life. You know, so we encourage you. You know, why? Because, you know, that's what God wants. That's all. It's not because I think it's a good idea. It's because God commands it. God indicates we should do this, and we should do this because we're gonna live with him forever. So we want to please him and live at peace with him by agreeing with his word and living it out. As always, I encourage people to check out the blog and podcast and the YouTube channel M.t. Clark 247, where we have teachings on Picture Over the Darkness Freedom in Christ and The Bondage Breaker to talk about those spiritual forces of darkness, you know, the thing— the lies we believe, and to gain our freedom in Christ. So if you want to check those out, go to the podcast and the YouTube channel. And we also share Bible study— Bible study with Arthur and Susanna Cinquatti that we'll be doing a new episode of tomorrow tomorrow. So we invite you to check out the archives. Every single one of them are on the podcast or the YouTube channel. Some are in video form, some are just audio, but all of them, uh, are, are there since we started in April of 2021. And, uh, there are latest series is, you know, the call, the call and the cost of discipleship, uh, you know, as discussed in our latest series that that examines Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship, or Discipleship, depending on the translation. It's actually Discipleship, but you know, they released the book as The Cost of Discipleship, and many people know it as that because it sure does discuss the cost of discipleship. It costs something. It costs Christ everything, and it costs us our obedience. So If you want to check that out and see my PowerPoint presentations as I present the book, there's 7 lessons now available on the YouTube channel and the podcast. So that's all the plugging I got. That's all the encouragement I got in this dark season of Halloween. We got to remember, on Halloween night, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg to declare the beginning of the Reformation, where the gospel of grace, grace alone, faith alone, you know, basically was proclaimed, and we came out of the darkness in the 1500s there. And now, you know, we got to continue as the times are dark and people are telling Christians to be quiet and to let people be dead in their trespasses and sins. And that's not what God calls us to do. He calls us to make disciples. So we try to answer that call and encourage people in their faith. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we love you so much for showing us the truth and pulling us out of the darkness, um, you know, and your patience in that process and your love in that process. Lord, we just pray for anyone listening today that they would be blessed by your grace and your mercy and your, your, your divine favor, uh, for whatever situations they're going through today. Lord, we're praying for the people who need healing. As you know our list, um, and you know the situations better than we do, um, we, we ask for your help, Lord, uh, for our listeners and for ourselves and for all our friends who are suffering, for my father who's suffering. Lord, we just, we just know that, uh, your ways are the best. And we just, you know, we're not going to get it right all the time, Lord, but we just, we just pray that you stay with us and keep encouraging us to follow you. Because we know that we might not be perfect, but things, uh, you know, all things lead together for those who love, love you and are called to your purpose. And, uh, who follow it. Um, Lord, so we just thank you for that. And as always on this Saturday, we pray for you to open our eyes to the things we need to see and lead us into the things you would have us do. Our will is to do your will, to be pleasing to you, and to represent your kingdom here on the earth. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.