Evil spirit's impose their authority through the mind

[Churchwork]

According to the Bible the mind of man is unusual in that it constitutes a battlefield where Satan and his evil spirits contend against the truth and hence against the believer. We may illustrate as follows. Man’s will and spirit are like a citadel which the evil spirits crave to capture. The open field where the battle is waged for the seizure of the citadel is man’s mind. Note how Paul the Apostle describes it: “though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10.3-5). He initially tells us of a battle—then where the battle is fought—and finally for what objective. This struggle pertains exclusively to man’s mind. The Apostle likens man’s arguments or reasonings to an enemy’s strongholds. He pictures the mind as held by the enemy; it must therefore be broken into by waging war. He concludes that many rebellious thoughts are housed in these strongholds and need to be taken captive to the obedience of Christ. All this plainly shows us that the mind of man is the scene of battle where the evil spirits clash with God.

Scripture explains that before regeneration “the god of this world (had) blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God” (2 Cor. 4.4). This verse concurs in what the other verse just quoted said by declaring here that Satan holds on to man’s mind by making it blind. Some people perhaps may consider themselves extremely wise in their ability to advance many arguments against the gospel; others may take for granted that unbelief is due to dullness of understanding; but the truth in both cases is that the eyes of man’s mind have been covered by Satan. When firmly held by Satan the mind of man becomes “hardened”; man “follows the desires of body and mind (as) children of wrath” and so “is estranged and hostile in mind” because “the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God” (2 Cor. 3.14; Eph. 2.3; Col. 1.21; Rom. 8.7).

Upon reading these various passages we can see clearly how the powers of darkness are especially related to man’s mind, how it is peculiarly susceptible to Satan’s assault. With respect to man’s will, emotion and body, the powers of evil are helpless to do anything directly unless they first have gained some ground therein. But with man’s mind they can work freely without initially persuading man or securing his invitation. The mind appears to be their possession already. The Apostle in comparing men’s minds to an enemy’s strongholds seems to imply that Satan and his wicked spirits already have established a deep relationship with the minds of men, that somehow they are using them as their bastions in which to imprison their captives. Through man’s mind they impose their authority and through the mind of their captives they transmit poisonous thoughts to others so that these too may rise up against God. It is difficult to estimate how much of the world’s philosophy, ethics, knowledge, research, and science flow from the powers of darkness. But of one point we are certain: all arguments and proud obstacles against the knowledge of God are the fortresses of the enemy.

[Stephen Levi]

If you are addicted to sin and evil. You are
possessed with evil spirits.

If you cannot resist doing
evil and sin, you are demon possessed.

If you are committing the same sins over
and over, you are demon possessed.

If you are thinking evil thoughts you are demon possessed.

If you are doing anything out of the will
of God you have an unclean spirit.

To be possessed by demons and evil spirits,
does not always mean, that they dwell in you.
It also means that they have gained the right through
the process of judgment, to rule over you.

In other words,
through spirit and truth they
have became your Lord.

They are Lord of your Life.

[Parture]

Speaking of that which is unclean, I would like to paraphrase Deuteronomy 23 and apply it to a personal experience I had with someone and break down strongholds of unclean spirits in the mind.

I know someone who went psycho on me (and this is not the first time, on other matters as well) in 2012 because I asked him to stop picking his nose so much that it was disgusting -- in a confined space -- and I had to touch the very objects he was touching for many hours. Stop being inconsiderate to others! This person claims to be a Christian and has a history of violent outbursts. I can think of at least a half a dozen incidents when his anger got the better of him. We should be slow to anger. The anger generated is usually due to his ambitions not being met or self-exaltation not being honored by others. How corrupt the flesh is! And vainglorious!

It's amazing how such sin can come between people -- others have suggested he is embarrassed by his behavior so this is the wall he puts up. This person rationalized himself by claiming there are no such cleaning laws in the Bible and even accused me of lack of grace and how unbecoming of a Christian it is to ask another Christian to not pick their nose so much. There really was no sign that he was boiling inside by the multiple times we talked about his nose picking obsession in good humor. He even managed in a concerted effort to stop doing so for 3 hours before resuming his bad habit. He often is quite coy and holds things inside then lets them gush out like a burst of steam out of his ears which ends up hurting everyone. His behavior is unconscionable to me and bizarre to say the least. This is a passive-aggressiveness that is unChristlike. Such an attitude or spirit is not that of one guided by the Holy Spirit. Repentance is certainly in order; alas, it is not forthcoming even now years later so I find that I have to be careful around this person because I know he holds a grudge and can blow up at any moment. This person is in his 60's.

Watchman Nee wrote on page 151, vol. 3 of The Spiritual Man (CFP white cover only), "Many moments of anger are triggered by physical discomforts. Oversensitive nerves may cause people to be brittle and harsh. Peculiar personalities often result from a peculiar physiological make-up. Many notorious sinners physically are constructed differently from normal persons. Even so, with all these manifestations, the Lord is still for the body. If we offer ours to Him, acknowledging Him as Lord of everything and claiming His promise by faith, we shall see how the Lord can deliver us from ourselves. Irrespective of how we physiologically are made, even possessing special weaknesses, we can overcome our sins through the Lord."

My response is where was Jesus seen to be a nose picker? And consider how you can justify any sin or selfish act simply by assuming it is not covered in the Scriptures. But Deuteronomy 23 comes to save the day.

I cam across Deut. 23 which is very applicable to this situation. Let me paraphrase. From verses 9 to 14: "Don't be offensive. Any among you who is unclear due to bodily emissions...you must have a tool (e.g. handkerchief) from your equipment to deal with it. Wash yourself. Don't come back to the camp until evening. And God said, You must not do anything improper or I will turn away from you."

This person said to me his mother was very abusive to him mentally and emotionally. I see his behavior carrying on the same abusiveness towards others when he is not highly exalted or when he is judged especially by Christians and the Holy Spirit for his improper conduct. The hurt he experienced by his mother seems to manifest itself in anger on many different levels and is deeply rooted, difficult to extract. He has not allowed his flesh to die on the cross with Christ and experience the love of Christ as if he is still a child reeling from his mother. In reality he has not really grown up as an adult if this is still bothering him. One thing I have noticed is he almost never reads the Bible. My suggestion would be to read the Bible 2 hours every morning before you get out of bed to start the day. This selfless act, denying oneself and to get know the Lord Jesus better is something he mostly avoids being swept up by the world. Such a person needs to get lost in Christ and be hidden in Christ! Put his mind on Christ and mind things of the spirit, that is, of his intuition, communion and conscience in his innerman. This can be protracted boring, but very effective in overcoming!

This is interesting to me because in Deuteronomy the camp of Israel was about to go to war and being clean was essential before going into battle. In the same way today, if you are about to go into a sport to do battle to compete (e.g. racquetball), likewise, you must be maintain a level of cleanliness well pleasing to the Lord so you can perform effectively.

[Parture]

I met a 3rd year college student at a Christian college and she agreed with me that a person can unrighteously justify any sin to themselves on the basis of saying that we are no longer under the law, but live by the grace of God. So for example, if you are a prolific nose picker and put your nose pickings everywhere despite others telling you this is inconsiderate and disgusting bodily emissions (Deut. 23), you can incorporate your theory that we are no longer under the law and that we live by the grace of nose picking, or any other sinful behavior for that matter. Was Jesus a nose picker? Let us be Christlike.

What grace is given to the person by the nose picker by having to put up with so much dirty nose pickings? So don't buy the nose picker's line that you are being ungraceful to them by mentioning their dirty behavior; rather, it is the nose picker who is being insensitive and selfish towards others, devoid of God's grace.

Remember what the Bible says: not one tittle of the law shall pass till all these things are finished. In other words, the law remains with us until the millennial kingdom ends. It hasn't even started yet. Of course, there is a NT sense of these OT law passages given to Israel alone which we should not forget because we are in the dispensation of grace right now during these 2000 years of the church age body of Christ.

The NT sense of Deut. 23 is we ought to still keep clean and try not to pass our germs onto others. Let no man among you be unclean due to bodily emissions. Take a tool from your equipment (handkerchief) and clean yourself. And wash yourself with water. Don't come back to the camp (Israelite camp about to go to war, or other battle you are to enter into such as going to a racquetball tournament) till that evening. When you link the underperformance to the nose picking (i.e. lack of discipline) and the nose-picker lashes out in a violent rage, realize the rage is due to nothing you said, but the nose-picker's ambition which is centered on self. Self is always the source of the problem.

May God not find you doing anything improper, otherwise He will turn away from you, e.g. you will underperform at the racquetball tournament if you pick your nose too much.

[Livingnow]

With respect to evil spirits imposing their authority through the mind, the mind of man plays a critical role in everything they are undertaking. It's obvious that man cannot do anything without planning it or thinking about first. When it comes down to dealing with temptation wisely, the mind is the first part that must be taken into serious consideration. The main reason is that it's where every temptation starts. The enemy knows that very well. If he can control people's minds through deception, he'll be able to run their lives by imprinting all kind of destructive beliefs contrary to the word of God.While making this post, those who are atheist just pop up into my thinking. Many of these people are quite good in advancing rational and logical argument against the gospel while failing to realize the very things they're holding unto have the potential to keep them in captivity definitely to the extent they may well end up dying without Christ. Sadly, when they don't have an answer for something, they'll tell you that they'll we wait for more evidence through scientific research on that matter. So their minds are clouded to the degree they'll risk their eternity by waiting for years and years for scientific evidences that will never change the fact that God actually exists. People who've allowed the enemy to build strongholds in their mind tend to believe that they are wise and smart while they are bunch of fools.

[Parture]

they'll we wait for more evidence through scientific research on that matter. So their minds are clouded to the degree they'll risk their eternity by waiting for years and years for scientific evidences that will never change the fact that God actually exists. People who've allowed the enemy to build strongholds in their mind tend to believe that they are wise and smart while they are bunch of fools.
I am not even sure an atheist knows what evidence scientifically he ought to look for that would prove God. It seems to me they are not being sincere, because they have no option for that inevitability.

[theodore]

No they do not and do not know God so how could they be sincere?

[Parture]

No they do not and do not know God so how could they be sincere?
You can sincerely give your life to Christ to be saved and thus enter into a relationship with Him to get to know Him. It is not as though God irresistibly makes you know Him so then you can be sincere. He gives us all sufficient grace to have the free choice. There is a certain sincerity in searching God out with all your heart and soul required to receive the gift of repentance and faith to then come to the cross as a helpless sinner to be regenerated.