The way of the snake, the devil

 The Bible says “I am sending you like sheep in the middle foxes. So, be kind like a dove and wise like a snake”. The most important issue here is who is the snake and what are the ways of the snake. I did observe some good people studying the animal snake, trying to learn from this beast. I do not think they are right, so I will explain the way of another snake, a devil.

 

Why is a devil presented as wise? The wisdom of the devil is its dedication to its cause. A devil observes love, he will join as a lover. Then slowly will start planting hate, here and there, until the love is gone and hate is dominant. He will play his cards well for a long time until the necessary fruit is seen. The devil will use every opportunity possible and will try to change every challenge into opportunity until sin is planted and good is destroyed. This is the way of the devil. They are very focused and highly dedicated to the cause. They always know they are in a cold war and they work day and night to win it. What they do is simple, they destroy good and they plant sin. That is the foundation of their strategy.

 

Imagine two devils are in husband and wife, one each. You will observe those devils cooperating to produce sin. This is not made possible because they have unknown communication, per se. This is made possible because the two devils are united in spirit. The one in the wife will move the wife in the wrong direction, and the other will move the husband in another wrong direction. What they do is produce a tango of sin which produces chaos in their home. For this, they have to understand the weakness and strength of their enemy, us, and will use it against us.

 

People may say daredevil or wise as the devil. My understanding is that the wisdom of the devil is overrated. Let me explain my point, which may seem paradoxical. Imagine you are the best football player in the world. Unfortunately, however, you are forced to play football with trees and animals only, who do not even know you are playing football with them, for the rest of your life. After 80 years of your football experience with unconscious things and beings, what kind of player will come out of you? This is what happened to the devil. They ate dirt all their life and they, as a result, became dirt in character.

 

The best strategy the wise Lord used against the devil is to let them play people. They did not spend thousands of years fighting the lord in heaven as they hoped when they rose against the good lord. They spent time after time, generation after generation, life after life recycling the same old tricks in life of unaware human beings. The devils can play human beings like a professional football player can play ball, yet they were playing with trees and animals. They were not given a real fight that could build character; they were given endless lame fights to make them lame. Their success with human beings, as a result, is purchased at the cost of their decaying intelligence. Those who say daredevil, I hope they don’t see their idol because they will be disappointed to their core.

 

How do devils work us? We have spirit and our spirit guides us. Yet our spirit is very dormant, we are spiritually dead. Our spirit is like computer software, which leads but is not conscious enough to protect itself. So the devils operate like computer viruses. They will send the wrong signal to the computer (our mind) and the computer will take it as its own command to execute it for its own dismal. What the devils do is superimpose themselves on us and our body will be confused between its own spirit and the devils. If the devil wants to make you angry, the devil gets angry. You feel like you are getting angry and your mind reacts negatively. If the devil wants to make you sexually immoral, what the devil does is think about erotic things and you think you are feeling sexual. All are acting, which is practiced over generations after generations of human beings. Devils are actors and all their history what they did is act. Now imagine a devil who has been acting like this all its life, what kind of intelligence would you expect beyond playing people?

 

Leaving many things that you cannot easily digest, let me focus on what is their wisdom’s implication for us and finally, I will explain how to fight them. The devil’s wisdom is their dedication to the cause. To make you sin, they will cry if they must cry, they will dance if they must dance, they will get angry if they must get angry, and they will be fully dedicated to the cause 200% all the time. They will do whatever possible, united in one spirit, to win you to darkness. Whatever they see, whatever they listen to, whatever they observe, and whatever happens is understood, interpreted, and worked to produce sin. They are 24/7 at work for their cause. If they cannot defeat you, they join you to kill you from inside. If they must make you happy for sin, they make you happy. If they must make you rich for death, they will make you rich. If they must burn you alive, they will burn you alive. They are united under one spirit for sin, 24/7. They practice and perfect it over generations of experience.

 

Are we like that? Do we evaluate every challenge and every opportunity to produce the work of God? Are we fully dedicated to the cause? Are we always working for the kingdom of God, thinking 24/7 how to make the kingdom of God expand? Politicians are better than us on this. I have seen political moments where millions of people work 24/7 for one cause united in one spirit and one goal. They do this for earth, yet we do not do this for heaven. We are disturbed and unfocused on the good cause. We don’t know our priority and we don’t know what is more important and what is less important. You go to church, they fight on matters of pride, self-evaluation, politics, social issues, and tribal things. The faithful are not focused but are extremely nave in their way. They fight over position, power, and very insignificant theological differences, and soon. They are not focused at all and the wolves are having stake for dinner every day for 365 days in a year every year. Churches cannot keep their army of faithful right let alone to fight the enemy in its own game. If we have not perished yet, it is because Jesus is keeping us safe for his own glory not because we choose so. We choose to perish, yet the Lord said no! It is not hard to understand why the lord wondered if he would find faith again when he returned.

 

Our fight is not with blood and flesh it is with devils. So the good question is: how do you defeat them? First, the most important tool is killing pride and being humble. Have no pride and be humble and you will stabilize your environment. Say the devil is making you angry because you don’t like the way they see you, pride will make you fight but humility will make you love them no matter what. Pride will make you aggressive but humility will make you forgiving. Pride is fuel to the devil, humility is the firefighter against the arson of the devil. I am not saying religious humility of snakes, who bow to you to measure how far they need to cut you from the bottom. Real humility is a weapon of God. It does not matter what they did, love them and respect them unconditionally. Be humble!

 

Second, is love. Love does not think for itself but it thinks about the better, in the lord, brother, and sister. Whatever ideas, anger, feelings, pain, hate, and aggression that the devil can create in your mind can be overruled by love. Have you seen new lovebirds fighting? They never fight at the start, only as the emotional love feeds away they will start to fight. In church, you must have unconditional love for your fellow brothers and sisters. This will make the devil powerless when it tries to destabilize you. Love is the perfect tool against the devil and the perfect way for you to live your life. This is the last order of the lord, love each other. Have unconditional love with your fellow faithful. They may be wrong in a million ways, they may be promoting politics that you think is sinful, or they may be evil, and whatever they are love them. Which one is more important? Your faith, or your ethnic and political identity? Have differences but with love, disagree but with love, take different political views but with love. This is because you are faithful first, then whatever you think you are. Don’t destroy what is more important for what is less important. Besides, you can help your brother or sister to know the truth with love and humility than you can do with hate and anger. Love them unconditionally. They sin, forgive them 70 times 70, and love them unconditionally.  

 

Third, have morality and ethics that guide you in your life. The devil will make you think that you are attracted to the wife of another man. Believe me, it is not you, 99% is the devil (I will come to this issue at last). But when you have a strong moral base, your mind will fight the temptation of such sin. Morality and ethics are mental restraints that disarm the devil. The power of the devil is built on your emotions and feelings. If you do what you feel and what you like all your life, you are a horse of the devil. If a devil starts acting like he likes to dance tonight, your mind will feel an urgent need to party tonight. You will be partying all night to regret it soon. You must have moral, ethical, and legal restraints in your life to disarm the devil. Real freedom is slavery to what is just, true, and from God.

 

Fourth, don’t lie and speak the truth. Be just, be merciful, be kind, and be holy. The good book says holiness will guide the holy out of darkness and good work will guide people to victory. Imagine how much mind power it needs to lie. You lie and to hide your lie, you have to cover one lie by another lie, one lie by another lie, and so on, until your mind cannot handle it. Then a lie comes out and you lose. The truth will come out because we are not built for deception. If you speak the truth, you lose for a while, but when the truth comes out, you will win big and loud. How much brainpower do you need to tell the truth? Not much, because the truth is consistent by its nature but a lie is not. The lie needs limitless work to make it work, truth works for you. The truth will make you suffer for a while but will build endless ways, in the long run, for you. Besides, the lord is working day and night to make sure good is winning and evil is defeated. If you trust God, be good. One way to fight the devil is with the belt of truth, love truth which will set you free.

 

Five, if possible live in peace with everyone. If you are peaceful with everyone, the devil will not find a way to raise people against you. Besides, the lord will find many tools that can be used to help you. If you love your enemy, the devil will be powerless as your enemy will be won by you. If you turn the other cheek, you minimize the progress of evil. If you help the poor, protect the weak, and visit the sick, you have a strong social standing that hunts the devil. If you contribute the most but demand a lower sit, you will build harmony and by killing the devil of power politics you will be raised up with respect. If you want to inherit the world be good and kind.

 

Finally, do not be idle, as idle hands are the devil's workshop. What you need is a structure that will limit your chance of floating on a fairytale that the devil is planting in your head. Hard work will build logic and common sense in your mind as it will make you a very practical person and it will make you very busy to kill the influence of the devil in you. When the lord allowed the devil to ride us, the lord condemned us for hard work. The devil is planted for a joy ride for its own destruction and we are given anti-virus in the form of hard labor. This is the way of the lord, it is not about buying you sweets and cars, as spoiled brats of our time think so. Besides, reduce gossip and unproductive chat, read more, and build your mind with the right books. Have good social relationships and good social standing. It helps a lot. 

 

Now if we combine it all, the way to fight the devil is by becoming like Jesus. A wise man builds his house on a foundation stone so it can stand the devil. A wise man will know the way of the lord and will live the way of the lord. That is it, there is no other way to defeat the devil. The question is how can sinful man become like Jesus? Simply, you have to be reborn in spirit, and the spirit of the lord will guide you toward Jesus to make you think and live like Jesus. Spiritual growth is not about knowing Jesus and praying only, you have to be like Jesus in behavior. This is the process of growth and every time your knowledge and life have to become more and more like Jesus. Besides, when you are born again you are like the wind. Nobody knows where you are going and from where you come. People cannot understand you and devils will not either. Who can understand the heart of Jesus? Because you will have the heart of Jesus.  You can analyze everything, but nobody can analyze you. What we need is Jesus and what we need to be is like Jesus. This simple! The world does not find us, the faithful, as a complex being but as a nave being. Why is that? Brothers and sisters, you are not growing toward Jesus.

 

Being like Jesus in every way will also disarm the devil. Have you ever seen people knowing Jesus saying to Jesus: “What a fool or a moron or a sinner?” But I am sure people call you all those things and they do call me that too. You are an ugly person that most sinners don’t want. Jesus is beautiful and can be purchased by everyone. When we see Jesus, we know the Father and Jesus is a witness that the Father is holy because Jesus is holy. You are a witness of Jesus and the Father, you should be like Jesus to witness for Jesus. People can buy Jesus not you. Yet, we sell ourselves and our ignorance, though we are ugly which nobody wants. The world is not hard to change for the lord. It is not hard to defeat the devil in its game. You the faithful are the one who is very hard to change. You are neither hot nor cold; you are neither in nor out; and you are neither against the lord nor always with the lord. You are not dead, yet Jesus is not fully reflected in you. As a result, when people see, they see ugly and sick that nobody can love and respect. That is you. Nobody wants you. People need Jesus not you.

 

2000 years ago, Jesus was ugly and a man of sickness, because their mind was not ready for it. They want Saul, the tall and handsome, king who will destroy their enemy. They love Saul at first sight because he is tall and handsome. Jesus told them to love their enemy and to obey the Romans when they expected a revolt leader. He, therefore, was ugly and sick in their eye. In this age, Jesus is the superstar and you unfortunately are not Paul, Peter, or John. Sadly you are you, ugly and sick. You need to die and Jesus needs to show himself up in you and that is the way to victory against the devil. The way is Jesus, the door is Jesus, the shepherd is Jesus, the truth is Jesus, life is Jesus, God’s wisdom is Jesus and the one who knows how to defeat the devil is the muscle of the lord, who is Jesus. Jesus did it before and it is a walk in the park for him if we obey. I am not telling you this like I look like Jesus, I am anything but Jesus; yet, I know the way and I am working on it, without the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit and you are marching the wrong way and I am saying, No! More is given to you and more is expected from you. So, Halt and change direction.

 

Finally, there is one thing that I think must be clear concerning the relative role of man and the devil in sin. It is expedient and also a lie to say “The devil made me do it” to avoid accountability and it is ignorance to say “You did it and don’t blame the devil”. Let us say you are raised to hate a lie and you hate a lie to its core. For you, the devil cannot make you lie. Your brain will reject it and the devil will not make you lie. Your spirit in this line is well developed and your brain is well made to resist the devil. But, say you are hot-tempered and cannot control your mouth when you are angry, once such character is built in your mind and spirit, and almost you will have no control in that matter. Almost, you are machine-operated by the devil in this issue. Sin does not happen when you make a big sin, it happens when you allow the seed of sin to grow in you. The sin of Jeddah did not happen when he sold Jesus, it happened when he stole from Jesus and even it could be before that. The rest is a chain reaction of the devil. When you start looking at other women’s hips, your sin is planted and the devil is in operation, then after. You are almost an ATM issuing sin, then after. You must have a strong spiritual foundation for your spirit, mind, and body to reject the influence of the devil. Better, you need the spirit of the Lord to lead you to heaven and you need to be reborn again in spirit for that. The way to salvation is Jesus through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

 

If Israel had a strong spiritual foundation, the law could work. Yet, they were wrong from the start and they became the playing ground of the devil. The snake was not only hanged to save them, the snake was hanged to save them because they were bitten by snakes. Since they had no strong foundation in holiness, they became playing ground for the devil and the only way to save them and the world is by killing Jesus on the cross. All sin has to be forgiven by the blood of Jesus and holiness must be by grace. The Devil is disarmed at this point. Yet you have to grow spiritually to become like Jesus then after. Otherwise, you are the new devil entering heaven with a heart of a devil. If you do not grow, be sure you will be spitted by the lord. You will spiritually die again. Truth is not like shallow marketers try to deceive you for an easy sell and comfortable life as nominal faithful. They are deceiving you to hell. The difference between law and grace is that law demands holiness but grace trains you to be holy at your speed with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. If you stop growing, you will die! The kingdom of God is like a fish net collecting all kinds of fish, good and bad. Do not forget what this means.  

 

To conclude, there is no anthropology, geography, ancestral knowledge, or other form of ignorance that you are using now to fight the devil which can work. What you are showing is your shame to the world. If you obey the bible, obey the bible and that is how you fight the devil by obeying Jesus. Paul said to use the word of God as a sword, belt of truth, gospel of peace as a shoe, faith as a shield, and salvation as a helmet to fight the spiritual welfare. Now you have people sitting all year round praying, you have geographical welfare, and you even have demonology, which is nothing but ignorance. You have spiritual fathers, you have prayer houses like a monastery, you are worshiping material things and you want economic and political power to complement your religious power. Then the good soldiers of the lord will demand a united front to fight you. Slowly what we will have is the Catholic Church and Orthodox Church in the making. This is the direction of the church and this did happen in the past and history is repeating itself. This is not the right way, we need a different way. The only way to defeat the devil, while marching to victory, is nothing but to know Jesus and to become like Jesus over time. Real spiritual growth, which is beyond knowing Jesus but also becoming like Jesus, is the only way. This is the truth and this truth will set you free. Everything else is a lie! Everyone who says “Jesus, Jesus” does not go to heaven but those who listen to the word and who obey it. Do not fool yourself; grow spiritually with knowledge of lord and holiness, one sin at a time.