Think about this… ever wonder why we don’t read much (if anything at all) in the New Testament about believers being oppressed or harassed by demonic spirits? When does Paul, or Peter, or James, etc ever address this? Why did they not address it? I think I know why.

And, notice in the NT that whenever the Apostles encountered someone with a spirit (or harassed by a spirit) they always either cast the demon out… or just plainly told the person to repent and believe.

If our experience doesn’t match up with scripture… it’s not scripture that’s wrong.

Krispy

Paul did say that he was buffeted by a messenger of satan in the flesh and God used it so he was not lifted up.

Thats true... and what was the lesson that the Lord taught him?

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

He did not lament it... he rejoiced in it because thru it God was glorified!

Amen and amen!

Krispy

PS Most theologians have agreed for centuries that Paul's issue was a physical ailment, not demonic oppression. Possibly an issue with his eyes as a result of the blindness he suffered at his conversion experience, as a reminder to him of the grace given him by God. This is based upon the fact that he often dictated his letters to the churches to someone. Could have been inflicted by a spirit... but rather than do something to chase it off, he asked God to remove it 3 times. 3 times God said "No"... so Paul accepted it as his portion in life, and considered it glorious before the Lord. Far cry from what we see Christians doing today. The church is full of whiners.

Nevermind.

ok... :-)

Bible4life:

I would have to agree and disagree with Krispy. First if all I think he is right in one very important respect, that being the need to go to the word of God for the answer to the struggle. While other's experience can be helpful, they are after all other's experience.

It seemed there was a great struggle with your own sense of righteousness and a whole lot of condemnation. You have not, unless I have missed it, mentioned that you had turned from God or were entertaining sin, but rather that you have been struggling and feeling more and more estranged and wicked. I know at times we go through times when we feel one way or another but our feelings are fickle, fallen, corrupt, and are not usually any indication of the truth of the matter. They are also easily manipulated by the enemy. When we are focused on our feelings we are focused on the flesh or in other words we are walking after the flesh and not after the spirit. What does the Word of God say about you as a born again believer?

Rom 3:21-26 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; (22) Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: (23) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (24) Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (25) Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (26) To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Rom 4:4-9 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. (5) But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (6) Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, (7) Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. (8) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. (9) Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

Rom 14:17-18 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. (18) For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.

1Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

2Co 5:17-21 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (18) And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (19) To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (20) Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. (21) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Php 3:7-9 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. (8) Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, (9) And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

And on and on we can go. The point being that you have been made righteous by the blood of the Lamb of God. You did not do anything but repent and receive Christ to earn this righteousness and you are not going to arbitrarily lose it. (I am not talking about whether one can lose salvation at some point. That is not my point.) You are righteous whether you feel like it or not.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit is another thing. I gather that you are southern baptist. Names have long ceased to mean much to me but I am aware that there might be some doctrinal differences but I think this important enough to say anyway. There is a communion with God through the Holy Spirit through salvation and a seal until the day of redemption Eph. 4:30, and there is, I believe, a subsequent baptism in the Holy Spirit made plain in scripture. See Acts 2, Acts 19:1-6. The reason I mention this is that this subsequent baptism has been a source of invaluable strength, empowerment, and grace to me for the last 22 years. It is a source of inestimable joy and abiding Presence and peace.

However God desires to commune with you and to speak to you. I feel from your description that it sounds as if you are experiencing a time of great attack of the enemy. War with the word and with the Holy Spirit.

I have to disagree with Krispy in that the nature of the thorn Paul bore is plainly stated by Paul himself so that the opinion of theologians is not needed in my opinion. Paul says, "2Co 12:7-8 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. (8) For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me." Messenger is the Greek for angel. Paul plainly states it was a demon or demonic messenger who battled and buffeted him. He besought the Lord three times saying make it leave but God did not do this. Instead He allowed Paul to walk in His grace and have victory over this thing.
So lean in on God's grace. Accept His righteousness. Stand strong in the Word. God will give you victory over this enemy. His Grace is sufficient for you.

_________________
Travis

Endzone, What kind, or kinds, of music do you hear?

The sex stuff you felt may have been simply from your sex hormones, starting in adolescence. They are very powerful, and designed by God to lead us to a mate, and to make sex enjoyable.

One of the problems today (besides the mass media using sex to sell things, including songs and movies) is marriage was suppose to occur shortly after puberty.

In the 1800's, youth were reaching puberty between 15 to 18 years of age, and they usually married between 16 and 20. And most were good faithful marriages, marrying your childhood sweetheart with no previous experience. An unmarried female at age 23 was considered an old maid.

Today, our youth are reaching puberty as early as 11 and 12, and they are not expected to marry until they graduate college or serve in the army. Yet they are subject to an enormous amount of sex via the Mass Media, constantly stirring their hormones.

The sexual revolution occurred in the late 1960's when you were a mere young preteen. I'm guessing you turned 13 around 1970. 1966-67 was the turning point.

_________________
Arthur Biele

ArtB the music is all kinds, CCM, praise & worship, pop rock, and even sometimes 70s rock. But the enemy always twist the words to the songs an perverts them. It is a demonic spirit of mockery, and that is the ruler demon I've dealth with for so long in my life now.

Yes, the sexual temptatons in the early 70s when I was in high school were very strong. And I somehow endured all that temptation. I know this may sound arrogant, but I was a pretty good looking guy in high school, I had a strong body and I was a football stud. All of the very best looking girls at my high school wanted to go out with me. Other girls just wanted to have flings with me. I got all the teen stuff like, "I'm babysitting across the street tonight". Or, "Come on over, nobody is even home until 5".
To tell you the truth, I got sick of good looking girls hitting on me. Somehow by the grace of God I remained a virgin until I was 28. I never even kissed but one or two girls. Somehow this was an area of life that was sacred to me. I did not want to take advantage of any girl. I could never seperate sex from real love, and I wasn't even into casual kissing. But for some ridiculous reason when I was 28, I bought Satan's lie that I needed to make up for lost time. My first experience was with a prostitute at the age of 28, and I've never had sex with any woman except a prostitute. My life has been a mess in this area, and I have paid a very heavy price for this activity for so long.

Twayneb I deeply appreciate what you have said. I see all of those scriptures and i truly want to believe that is for me, but it seems at times i am just to terribly wicked. Like today their was the evil hatred towards some of the elderly at work and its been like this for a long time,i will have evil laughter within me over something bad happening to people, also i struggled strongly at work today with lust, i try not to talk to women that are attractive that much, but it seems even lust will come up towards women i am not even attracted to, i have no clue where it is coming from. It is like satan is messin with my feelings and emotions so much that i can barely control my feelings and thoughts. It is more than jst thoughts, it feels as if it is my whole being. It has even messed with my faith towards scripture, whenever i try to stand in faith in Jesus all of these doubts began to fill my mind and heart and i began to doubt and i have struggled with this even when reading scripture where a strong spirit has tormented me that what i read is not God's word. Their is like hatred filled inside of me towards others and i can't even begin to try t love anyone because of this, i am just being tormented constantly. I feel like i have grown harder to the truth, i use to know Jesus was the truth and that God's word was the absolute only truth, and i could sense if someone was saved or not and even could feel the difference of having my eyes opened up and everything. To make things worse when i sin now or get these wicked thoughts of laughter or hatred i get attacked in my back and my back begins to swell up and get really tight. I am definitely under demonic attack, i just hope God has nt fully given me over. I am 26 years old was not brought up in the church or anything, no one is saved in my family or my wifes or relatives that i know of and i really was the nly one who seemed to been saved, but now i am falling and falling and it seems to be rooted in the fact i lived in unrepentant sexual sin for 3 and a half years and married my wife Allyce who is not saved, the Holy Spirit slowly has departed from me it seems, i don't doubt the scriptures proclaim for God's great forgiveness, but his Spirit has just nt returned to me and am being it seems endlessly attacked by demonic spirits. Please pray for me.

Telling someone to go 4 days without water or liquids is very dangerous. I should know, cuz i did it once. That is not good advice. When i went that long without food and water/liquids i slightly damaged my heart, experienced muscle breakdown and ketones (seeing red spots is a sign of ketones in the blood), and a very dangerous all-encompassing headache that descended even into my neck. I also became quite sick when i broke the fast. I was not raised in a Christian home and i dont know if i was a Christian at the time but i didn't know anything much about spiritual matters so i either was not or else just had very little understanding.
To conduct such a fast without the direction of the Holy Ghost, which he already says he doesnt think he has with him, is not good. Such a fast should only be done under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Also, telling him/her to pray in tongues doesnt really make sense when he said his problem is that the Spirit is not with him to begin with (or so he feels), so how could he speak in tongues?