Smile The Enemy Hiding in Plain Sight Purity 859

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 display of the fruits of the harvest of autumn comes to us from a friend who visited Longwood Gardens in Kenneth Square, Pennsylvania back on October 1st and shared this among many other photos of the garden grounds on social media. Well, we are 11 days deep in the 10th month of the year, and yesterday the stress of watching my beloved suffered from dental pain all weekend And the less-than-idyllic weather of the last day of our extended weekend sent me to Regal Cinemas yesterday afternoon to unwind by tensing up to the suspenseful macabre delights of a film called Smile. And although I heard some relieved laughter after a few jump scares in the theater, there was really nothing to smile or laugh about as this horror movie unwittingly portrayed some scenes and themes were logically consistent with the realities of demonic oppression and possession, and how our secular society is ill-equipped to resist and defeat the powers of darkness. While Smile was grotesquely over the top and schlocky with some of its special effects near the climax of the action, the movie was entertaining and informative if you have a knowledge of the scriptures in the Bible concerning spiritual forces of darkness and how Satan operates. The premise of the movie is that people are being tormented and being driven to insanity and compelled to suicide or murder by an enemy that no one can see, who uses visions and memories of the past to torment its victims. The phenomenon looks like mental illness or a curse, as the terror and carnage move from host to host, leaving a trail of trauma and blood in its wake. Without giving away too much of the film, the main character is a psychiatrist who has unresolved issues in her past that drives her to serve in her post at the psychiatric ER with religious devotion, working 80-hour weeks. She also is under family stress due to issues with her PTA— Picture Perfect Sister— and from being engaged to, uh, engaged to be married to a pic picture-perfect fiancé. All the perfect pictures in this woman's life are exposed to the light of truth when she is suddenly exposed to the spiritual forces of darkness, as one of her patients complains of an unseen evil entity tormenting her moments before she commits suicide in front of her with a silent and devilish grin. In the ensuing drama, we see that the unseen enemy torments this young doctor to see things that aren't there, to do horrific things she can't remember and to be confronted with the unresolved issues of her past. She pleads with doctors, family, and her fiancé to understand, uh, what is happening to her is caused by an evil spirit, and no one believes her and, and fears she has simply lost her mind. Because this entity requires a witness to be carried on to the next host, the main character makes the unwise decision to isolate and do battle with this— I'll say it— demon with her imagination. Really? On her own? Uh, again, no spoilers, but let's just say that there is more than ample room for a sequel, because although the demons of this doctor's past are resolved, the continuation of the dark entity may be another story. The things that popped out for me in Smile that make me endorse it as I endorse it for as a somewhat accurate portrayal of demonic oppression and this decent movie to give you a few chills, although the running time may be a little— may have been a little too long, are the way the film subtly laid out the things that can cause a demon to attach itself to someone and how a demon could flourish. In describing Satan, Christ says in John 10:10, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. The dark entity in Smile definitely came to steal and destroy the peace and sanity of its victims and actively sought to kill them. James 4:7 tells us, "Therefore submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Although the doctor in Smile was told by her patient and was herself later convinced that this situation was caused by a spiritual force of darkness, No one in this entire movie ever even mentioned a spiritual remedy to try to cast it out. No mention of the Bible, no mention of God, priests, or even voodoo or white magic or any spiritual means were considered to solve this problem. In our modern secular post-Christian society, this shouldn't be too surprising, but I knew that the only thing that can cast out darkness is the spiritual power and authority of the light of the world found in Christ alone. Instead, the doctor actually asked for medication to make the disturbing images go away at first, and then only seeks to play by the enemy's rules. In her desperation, in her desperation, and in her desperation, even considers murdering someone else to save her own life and pass on the demon to someone else. Instead of submitting to God, the doctor considers submitting to Satan. And you may ask yourself, why is this doctor selected by this dark spirit? How can she be tormented so badly by this unseen, uh, enemy? Well, Ephesians 4:26 and 27 say, be angry and do not sin. Um, do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. As I indicated, the doctor had no relationship with the Lord. She wasn't submitting to God, but by her lifestyle of casual sin also makes room for the enemy in her life. In the early going, we see the doctor self-medicates against stress with alcohol, against the Bible's clear instruction against drunkenness. The doctor lives with her fiancé, from which we can surmise that she has gone against the word of God, uh, by committing fornication. And finally, she has unresolved guilt from the past that the enemy delights in tormenting her with, that could have been removed by a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. In the thick of the action of when the doctor decides to fight the enemy, the dark spirit cackles, "Your mind is so inviting," which caused me to think that the enemy really is hiding in plain sight in this movie and seems to be cackling at the audience who disbelieves in the spiritual forces of darkness, who has no relationship with God, has no conviction of sin in their lives, and who finds entertainment in a movie that puts the enemy's dark arts on display. At the end of the film, some people actually applauded as there was room for more fun with his dark spirit, as a, as a sequel is all but certain. I know it's just a movie, right? Society is basically good and we only watch these things for entertainment, right? Well, let's just say I think it's dark out there. Things are getting darker as the more secular— as this more secular we become, the enemy is drawing people deeper into the sins that are now commonplace, where they were taboo in the not too distant past. Rather than resist the devil, people resist God. I wouldn't think that's true, but over the weekend I had a comment in one of my videos on YouTube that suggested that because Christians should pray for sinners, that we should pray for the biggest sinner of them all, Satan. Even in jest, the suggestion to pray for the evil one really shows the spirit of darkness, rebellion, and ignorance that is common in our world. Revelations 20:10 tells us the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. So as scary as the enemy can seem, he is a defeated foe. He causes evil to flourish in the hearts of men, and he is not worthy of our prayers or sympathy. So as we walk through the spooky month of October, let those around you know that God is in charge. And although the spiritual forces of darkness and the evil that they perpetrate in the hearts of men, uh, will be overcome by the Lord when Christ returns, and that if we submit to God and resist the devil in our lives, we can live in peace and safety in the Lord's protection. The enemy may be hiding in plain sight these days, but we should point him out, when we, we see him, and he will, uh, and cause him to flee by the power of the, of, and authority that Jesus gives to all the people who put their faith in him. Uh, today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Matthew 16:25, and it says, whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Today's Bible verse encourages us to put our faith in Jesus as he assures us that our life is found when we lose it for him. Uh, Christ encourages us to pick up our cross and to follow him in the previous verse, and this is the promise for those who do that. If we surrender our lives to the purposes of Christ, we will find life in him. But if we choose our own plan for saving our lives by our own efforts or reasoning, we will lose our life. So keep walking and talking with God and follow Christ, and you will be saved. Uh, as always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ for their walk. Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship, also known as The Cost of Discipleship, and we continue sharing from chapter 6, which is on the Beatitudes. And today We're sharing Blessed Are the Meek, for they will inherit the earth. And if you want to hear what Bonhoeffer has to say about that particular beatitude, go to mtforchrist.org and you'll see that, uh, that resource at the end of today's blog post. As always, it will— you'll also see links to our podcast and our YouTube channel and encouragement to, you know, check out our classes on, uh, discipleship that we did in 2021 that are on the podcast and YouTube channel for Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. And, um, we are also currently doing a series on Bonhoeffer's, uh, discipleship. And if you want to see that, that's on YouTube and the podcast as well. And as always, we encourage people to read the Bible daily. And, uh, as I think form of encouragement, we share our weekly Bible study that we do with Arthur and Susanna Sincotti called Bible Study with the Sincottis. We just did one on Sunday, um, called Complicated Relationship. So if you want to see, uh, what we had to say about that, that topic, uh, go to YouTube or, or the M.t. for Christ 247 podcast and check it out. Well, things are going late again. Uh, we have a day job and we have to get there. And so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we just thank you for the power that you give us over the spiritual forces of darkness, and that you instruct us through your word to see how he operates through his deceit, through his temptations, and through, um, his accusations and his condemnations. Lord, we can, we can, we can recognize those voices that are dark and those spirits that are dark, and we can rebuke them and cast them out by your power and authority. Lord, we thank you for, for your protection, uh, that you've given, you've given us through your, through, through, through your power and authority, um, and through your salvation. Um, Lord, we just pray for this world as it, uh, keeps— seems to keep getting dark out there, that they would, uh, You know, we pray for revival, that they— people would come back, uh, people would turn to You, accept You, and follow You. This is our, our big prayer. We also pray for our wife Tammy Lynn today as she's suffering from dental pain. Lord, we just pray for her pain to be eased, and, uh, if she should work, that she can be an encouragement to her students. But Lord, You, You direct that path and And we'll leave it up to you. Lord, we also pray for the people listening today to the podcast, wherever they may be, or whenever this podcast should find them. Lord, we pray for you to come alongside their prayer request and to encourage them and to bless them with your grace. And, uh, Lord, as always, we, we pray for you to go before us today, help us to do the best job we can with the things you have for us to do, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and guide us in the way we should go. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.