Influenced by Wickedness”

Christian soldier, let us not for one moment remove our helmet, unsheathe our sword, or remove the belt that holds our weapons of warfare. The scriptures tell us, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” This combat is real, it is never ending, and it is a war that rages within the mind of the one who is being saved. Apollyon, also known as Satan, the one who deceived Adam, has sent all humanity spiraling into corruption by a great deception and he seeks to destroy you. Though He cannot remove the saving grace that has been granted to you by God Himself, he seeks to silence your message. He longs to render your testimony invalid to those whom you might influence to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ by causing you to stumble into the wicked temptations that you fight against daily.

So arm yourselves and be prepared, for Satan’s tactics are of that which is advanced warfare. He doesn’t come to you in a costume with horns and a tail, though we laugh at that during certain seasons, making light of the entertainment of wickedness. No, he comes to you as an angel of light, seducing the mind very cunningly to tolerate and entertain the things that God hates, the things that God sent His Son to die for. He methodically works his crafty lies into the lives of the next generation to accept what was tolerated in the previous generation. The Serpent of old, who is the Prince of the air, uses everything this world has to offer To reduce God’s holiness to you as if He doesn’t care what you entertain. So when the children of perdition rise up to play, there will be people of God numbered among them. Instead of being broken for the lives that will soon be cast into hell they will sing and dance to the world’s music, syncretizing themselves to the altars of corruption. Oh the deceitfulness of sin, how it paralyzes the understanding of God’s holiness to the human mind.

Lot was raised and influenced by Abram who was his uncle. He became wealthy under his mentorship and was taught the things of God. When it was time for them to separate he went towards the grassy plains of Jordan and pitched his tent towards Sodom. Unfortunately, after time Lot not only pitched his tent towards sodom, but found himself setting at the gates of Sodom. As immorality passed by his eyes daily, seducing his mind, his message of God’s faithfulness was drowned out to those around him. Though found righteous in the eyes of God because of God’s mercy upon him, his lifestyle exemplified the wickedness that surrounded him. So when God told Lot to warn his family that the city was going to be destroyed his future sons-in-law just laughed at him. God did judge Sodom and His anger was quenched, but Lot himself was drug out of the city by angels, his wife perished, and his daughters had become sexually perverted. Though Lot was saved by the power of God, his sin brought great pain upon His family and all of Israel.

Come now Christian, if I am merely projecting my own thoughts concerning the holiness of God then hurl me down to the ground and silence my voice forever. But if I am speaking of God’s holiness that is found in the scriptures, His incensed hatred of sin and how it has infected His very own children whom He died for, then let us pause and ask the questions. Do I look more like Lot or more like Christ in my everyday behavior and dealings with the world’s affairs? Do I presume upon God’s grace in the areas of remaining sin that I am undisciplined in putting to death? Do I think lightly about the things I entertain with my eyes? Do I listen to things that will affect my testimony to others?

These are things that we must contend with my brothers and sisters lest our testimony of God’s goodness become drowned out to those around us just as it did for Lot.