Under Spiritual Assault

This morning, I intended to write a post on the dangers associated with “Contemplative Prayer” and its association with the Enneagram. Contemplative spirituality and the enneagram lead to a drift from essential Christian doctrines. Those who engage in contemplative prayer tend to lose their desire to study the Bible and begin to accept pagan perennialism. Experiences during contemplative prayer appear to confirm other occult doctrines, such as monism, that all is one, and non duality, that God is separate from His creation. 

The idea that our true self has always been with God and is divine, is a subtle twist of the serpent’s lie in the Garden of Eden. Mystics promote the idea that our true self isn’t separated from God because of sin, which makes penal substitution unnecessary. The eastern belief that our personality is a false self that needs to be eliminated through eastern meditation and/or contemplative prayer is accepted. Mystics begin to believe everyone can get to heaven whether they believe in Jesus or not, so therefore, evangelism to the Christian faith is unnecessary.

I call these deviations, away from the truth that God reveals in His Holy Word, “Off Ramps“. And, as most of you know, there are a host of these “Off Ramps” that are currently attacking the Christian Church, the collective body of true believers in Jesus Christ. And then, one after another, of these “Off Ramps” started to cross my mind, and quite frankly, the magnitude and complexity of their number, seemed to be an onslaught designed to achieve but one purpose and that purpose is to detract our reliance or trust in God’s truth, as revealed in God’s Holy Word, and replace it with whatever substitute we choose to select.

Which one we pick really doesn’t matter, because they all, individually and collectively, serve one unified purpose and that purpose is to distort God’s truth and replace it with a lie.

I could easily list ten, twenty or thirty, current “off ramps” that subtly and sometimes, not so subtly, endeavour to change God’s truth. Some of the “off ramps” are huge (as in very prevalent) and some are of a lesser prevalence, yet they all, collectively, continue to chip away. I know this isn’t new, the same thing happened during the initial growth of the Christian Church and the Apostle Paul and others within the New Testament, address this reality. What is relatively new, however, is the huge collective effect of these various “off ramps”, on what remains of the visible Christian Church today.

I don’t personally think that anyone, who seriously studies the Bible, God’s Holy Word, can realistically come away from having earnestly studied God’s Word, without coming to realize the importance that God attributes to His Word. The summation of this reality flows through the entirety of the Bible, from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Book of Revelation. It is entirely consistent throughout. This is but a small sample. I’ve written previously about God’s Holy Word, here,  here, here, here and here, to point to but a few. 

An assault is a battle, a war, an attack, that has a purpose behind it and a defence against it. The Bible warns us about what will take place, a great falling away. Jesus warned us, Paul warned us, the Holy Spirit warns us. 

And just off of the top of your head, guess where we find our defence spelled out for us, against this siege that the Christian Church is under? Yes you are right, within God’s Holy Word. And that would be . . . ? Yes, right again, the Whole Armour of God (click on the link to the left) as provided in Ephesians 6:10-18 NASB.

It struck me this morning, that I am NOT able to know all of the in’s and out’s associated with all of the different “off ramps” laid before us. I have studied a few but even there, because of their complexity, there is always more to learn and deeper depths to go. BUT . . .  there is one tool, one weapon, one resource, that does address them all, and that tool, that weapon, that resource is God’s Holy Word.

And it is no coincidence that the vast majority of these “off ramps”, if not all of them, have one thing in common. Trying to convince you to move away from trusting in the promises, following the guidance and making use of the defences given to us in God’s Holy Word.  

Jesus told us that “these things MUST take place” (Matthew 24:3-14) (Emphasis is mine).
These things are NOT going away, MANY will be deceived, MANY will be mislead, MANY will fall away, MANY will betray one another, MANY will hate one another.

BUT . . .  “But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13)

I am just one little sheep but this is what our Shepherd has told us. 

Trusting in God’s Holy Word matters.
Following the leading of God’s Holy Spirit matters.
Enduring to the end matters. 

Worthy is the Lamb! Blessings!