Choose Wisely

Lords of Darkness

Neil Girrard

Scriptures Referenced in This Chapter:
          (Follow the Scripture links if you want to study the Scriptures for yourself.)
Mt. 6:24 π Lk. 5:37-39 π Acts 2:13-15 π Acts 7:48 π 1 Cor. 5:10-11 π 1 Cor. 10:14 π 1 Cor. 10:20-22 π 2 Cor. 6:17-18 π Eph. 2:2 π Eph. 5:18 π 2 Tim. 2:19 π Jas. 1:27 π Jas. 3:16-17 π 1 Jn. 2:15-16 π 1 Jn. 5:18-21 π 1 Jn. 5:19

In many of the passages we’ve already seen ( Jas. 1:27 ; 3:16-17 , for example) there is purity and then there is worldliness. Worldliness is the state of existing under at least some level of control of the rulers of the darkness of this age. ( 1 Jn. 5:19 ; Eph. 2:2 ) Purity is living only by the power and direction of the Spirit of God. Worldliness is simply being like the world. Some see the word “worldly” and miss this, mistakenly thinking themselves as not really being worldly even though their lifestyles and practices are exactly the same as the world. This is effective deception! One might have only one small part of himself attached to the world but this makes him worldly and opens his life up to the control of the lords of darkness. (also see 1 Jn. 2:15-16; top )

Paul wrote,

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. ...the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? ( 1 Cor. 10:14 , 20-22; top )

Some have tried to say that this is a passage that proves that a Christian cannot be demon possessed but that is a complete misunderstanding of what Paul is saying. Jesus said, in a similar way,

You cannot serve God and mammon. ( Mt. 6:24; top )

We, as people claiming to follow Christ, can indeed serve mammon and we can indeed drink the cup of demons and we can indeed partake of the table of demons. But if we do so, the service of God and the cup and table of the Lord are not available to us - even if we practice things that appear godly and take “communion” or the “Eucharist” at the best “church.” The things of God are simply unavailable to us and we are failing, neglecting or refusing to depart from iniquity as well. ( 2 Tim. 2:19; top ) On the other hand, if we abide in Christ, being led by His Spirit, when the opportunity to serve mammon (which most often comes upon us quite stealthily), or a time to drink the cup or partake of the table of demons subtly presents itself to us, we will not be deceived and we will neither sin nor do the works of the devil.

Some people think that drinking the cup of demons and partaking of the table of demons refers only to overt acts of idolatry such as going to a pagan god’s temple and offering sacrifices to the false god. This is indeed one aspect of it - and this is precisely why the rulers of darkness have gone to such lengths to conceal themselves so well in the “church.” The “church” building, in spite of the customary label, is not God’s house (He does not live in temples made by human hands – Acts 7:48; top ) - then whose house is it?

It is a house of a lord, the ruler of false religion, but it is not the house of God.

The clergy are not the men of God but rather the priests of a false religion because, at the least, they lord over their congregation (assuming there are no other false practices - which often there are).

The pulpit and pews come, not from the pages of the New Testament, but from the pagan temples of Rome and are instruments of subjugating the people of Christ to bondages of darkness.

The token elements of “communion” routinely served at many “churches” (a thimble of grape juice and a button-sized piece of unleavened cracker) are often served up with a sermon filled with that sect’s common religious preconceptions and misconceptions about the taking of the bread and wine in the name of Christ.

Thus the average “church” goer has been deceived into practicing overt idolatry - going to a false god’s temple and offering sacrifices there! We are mistakenly but overtly partaking of the demonic’s cup and table whenever we sacrifice our time and resources to build the ruler of false religion’s temple (the “church”) and to attend its rituals.

But drinking the cup of demons and partaking of the table of demons can be done on even more subtle levels. For example, when someone claiming to be a brother in Christ is really trafficking in the realms of the demonic, if we receive gifts or instruction from that person, we are partaking of the demonic’s cup and table. We have fellowship - unity, commonality - with the demonic wherever and whenever we participate, either willfully or ignorantly, in any deception. May the Lord be gracious and merciful and reveal to us any and every other way in which we have and might partake of the demonic’s cup and table.

Jesus taught:

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, “The old is better.” ( Lk. 5:37-39; top )

The new wine is the Holy Spirit. (see Eph. 5:18 ; Acts 2:13-15; top ) Any time a purer, clearer understanding and expression of the way and nature of Christ among men is brought forth, those who have partaken of the old wine - whether that be the old wine of Catholicism in Luther’s day or the old and demonically-tainted wine of churchianity in this day - these will resist being brought forth into the new light. They will say, “The old is better.” Let he who has ears hear.

John wrote,

We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. ( 1 Jn. 5:18-21; top )

There is sin and then there is God, John is saying. There is the world and then there is God. There is the wicked one and then there is God. The Son of God is the truth and we are safe only in Him. Choose God and keep away from all the substitutes and distractions.

Idolatry, like the cup and table of the demonic, is not something that must be practiced overtly - it can be very subtle. Idolatry is to worship a false god - any false god. Idolatry is putting anything or any person or any practice before (in front of or more important than) our obedience to God. This is why modern “Christianity” (“churchianity”) is such a clever deception. The demonic has deceived many into practicing idolatry in the name of God and Christ! The lips and mouths speak the things of God but the heart is filled with deceptive religious darkness, the work of the lords of darkness.

We are commanded to remove from ourselves any idolater who claims to belong to Christ ( 1 Cor. 5:10-11 ) and to cleanse ourselves from all hints of idolatry. ( 2 Cor. 6:17-18; top ) Let he who has ears hear.


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Lords of Darkness

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