Waking Up

This post follows on from my previous posts which have detailed how I came to realise that I was in a state of spiritual bondage; and that I underwent deliverance ministry to be set free. I came into spiritual bondage through both the effects of generational curses because of involvement in the occult of family members in previous generations; together with my own involvement via meditation after reading esoteric books. This experience woke me up to the fact that we are involved in spiritual warfare; and have to actively fight for both our own freedom and that of others. We will look at this in more detail now.

In the third chapter of the Book of Genesis we see how the serpent tricked the woman into eating the forbidden fruit (and so did the man). This resulted in the fall from grace of Adam and Eve; and them become alienated from the Lord. They were also banished from the Garden of Eden.

Another consequence of this was that the serpent was cursed by God and destined to slither on the ground on his belly. The Lord also made a crucial statement:

“From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15).

In effect a perpetual state of war was declared by God between the descendents of Eve and the serpent and his offspring. That is the de facto reality of human existence regardless of what we read in history books. It is at the heart of the history of mankind; everything else pales in significance.

We are given a graphic description of the serpent and how he too was banished from the presence of the Lord and caste down from his place as the most wonderful created being of the Lord (Ezekiel 28:11-19).He is described as having had the perfection of beauty and wisdom. The Lord had ordained and anointed him as a mighty angelic guardian (cherub).He had lived with God on ‘his mountain’ (sharing in his power and authority). This passage gives two reasons why this mighty, beautiful and wise creature fell from grace:

“Your great wealth filled you with violence, and so you sinned. So I banished you from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty guardian, from your place among the stones of fire” (28:16).

“Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendour. So I threw you to the earth and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings” (28:17).

We see from this that he was corrupted by great wealth and wondrous beauty which bred violence and pride respectively. Despite his great wisdom he forgot that he was a created being and wanted to be like the Lord who had created him. He wanted to elevate himself onto the same level as the Lord of all creation. His name was Lucifer (which means ‘Light Bearer’). He thought that he was the light, rather than the ‘bearer of the light’. His was a reflected light; in the same way that the moon reflects the light of the sun. The true light came from God and was God. The true light was later revealed in Jesus, who ‘was’ the true light of the world.

Lucifer was appointed as the angelic guardian of the humans in the Garden of Eden. After his banishment from the presence and mountain of God he took revenge by conspiring with the humans to partake of the forbidden fruit. They too, like him, were banished from their previous state of peace and communion with the Lord. The humans also found themselves cut off from the original mandate that they were created for. This mandate was to care for and rule over the world in union with God. Just as Lucifer had shared in the power and authority of God in the heavenly realm (on his mountain); Adam had joint dominion over the earth with the Lord. After their fall from grace the situation of the humans changed. They lost the mandate to rule over the earth in union with God.

The Lord had given both Lucifer and the humans freedom of choice. The humans had chosen to listen to Lucifer and abide by what he told them to do. By doing this they freely chose to submit to him rather than to the Lord. They therefore came under his authority. Through this he usurped their authority and dominion over the earth. Lucifer became ruler of the world. The humans did not realise until it was too late what they had given up. In most cases humans still don’t realise that this is in fact the case, believing that they control and rule the world.

The actual ruler has lived in the shadows throughout human history; and has allowed the humans to believe that they are in control, whilst he pulls the strings of the puppets on the stage without their awareness. It has taken me over fifty years to fully grasp this reality. Whilst most people, like me, have been oblivious to this, there have always been those whose allegiance has been to the accursed snake. They have consciously and actively chosen to align themselves with him; hoping to gain advantage from this, for themselves and their families. Most people are duped into coming under his power and influence without realising the fact. I have come to see that this normally happens through abiding by cultural norms of thought and behaviour. Lucifer most often appears as an ‘Angel of Light’ who provides society with reason, knowledge and wisdom. There is always a subtle twist in the ‘truth’ that he presents.  People follow a trail of inviting cookies that lead them deeper and deeper into a forbidden forest; where they become ensnared and end up in bondage. Believe me, I’ve been there.

It has been said that today most people are sleep walkers who are subject to mass cultural hypnosis. They blindly, unconsciously, take on the attitudes and understanding of their society.  They are trapped in rationalism and are oblivious to spiritual reality, even if it poked them in their blinded eyes. We need to listen to what the Apostle Paul wrote:

“Awake, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Ephesians 5:14b).

We need not despair about the situation however because as we saw in the prophetic passage in Genesis 3:15, the offspring of the woman (Jesus) has already crushed the snake’s head and decisively defeated him. However, we as her other offspring still have to fight the battle even though the victory is already won. The paradox of the Kingdom of God is that it is already established by Jesus and what he accomplished, but at the same time is not yet fully here. We have to help fight to fully establish it against a fierce enemy.

Question for reflection:

·         Are you awake and fighting for your freedom and that of others?