By Stephen Phinney
True indwelt Christians live in two worlds at the same time – man’s reality and God’s reality. The world of the Antichrist is seeking to drag us into bondage, by how we individually choose to handle our money. He, Satan, is not able to control our lifestyles, unless he is able to enslave us through debt. His system of economics always pulls us down to earth, with the same force the earth calls our bodies to the grave each day. It is like gravity; it will have its way unless another force overrides the laws of gravity. This is where the realm of God comes in.
The world, the flesh, and Satan are always applying their pressures to conform the image of the Beast, which is Satan’s economic system. The Antichrist is gifted at denying and disregarding the Truths of the Holy Scriptures, which are foundational in God’s world of economy. As long as the enemy gets us caught up in his sensory world; we are not apt to be investing, by faith, in the unseen world in which God lives. In fact, this actually takes a “born-again” experience for mankind to partake in the unseen world.
Even though it is difficult to believe, the resources of the believer are NOT found in the seen world. For those who have “put all their eggs in this one basket,” they are in for a BIG surprise.
“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5, NASB).
People, who invest in the seen world, will form speculations (lies) and arrogant thoughts, which rise up against the mind of the Lord. There are 16 primary lies which arise against God in the visual world. Let’s review them:
LIE ONE - When I think, act, and look successful, I will become successful. This idealism is manifested when an individual chooses to believe that he, rather than God, is the source and abler of their wealth.
"Otherwise, you may say in your heart, 'My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.' "But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18, NASB).
My guess is there is nothing more that provokes God to prove He is a jealous God, than for a man to profess his financial area of life was, or is, attained through his own strength and power. Unless a “body member” is put in the position of depending on the full Body of Christ to live “hand to mouth,” I personally do not believe one can experientially accept this Truth.
LIE TWO – There is no excuse for a Christian to be poor. This statement is the most touted in the Emergent movement of prosperity doctrine. This group of “believers” uses God like He is some type of a slot machine. They grab and quote Scriptures to further their dementia of demise. God does not care if a man is rich or poor; no matter how much they “name it and claim it.” He desires to use the “widow’s mite” just as much as the rich man’s towers of grain. These emergent “Christians” don’t even take the time to realize that two-thirds of the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day, A little over 75% of the world’s population will never have the resources available to them, to even live out the prosperity doctrines. Western theology can really be ridiculously stupid at times. The Lord is into having his Bridal members for His Son: to gather often, to share what they have in common, and to depend on each other for all their basic elements of living.
“The rich and the poor have a common bond; The LORD is the maker of them all” (Proverbs 22:2, NASB).
LIE THREE – Every Christian determines his or her financial capacity. We need to discover and embrace the Source of our supply! The Father arranged a very miraculous system of provision, by mandating the Holy Spirit to come and live WITHIN the born-again believer. This system of function puts the new believer in the position of looking inward for their resources, instead of depending on an external world that has been temporarily yielded to the Antichrist. Jesus is the same in us, as He is in Heaven; right now, this very minute. He has brought into our mortal beings the total wealth of Heaven. With that comes the same rule of engagement of spending or stewardship that presently exists in Heaven. Wealth in Heaven is for the Divine purpose of glorifying God and expanding the radiant beauty of His vast domain. Remember when Paul said that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:3)? This is the kind of wealth the Lord is asking us to embrace; not the kind our mortal flesh can muster up, in order for our retirement years to be more predictable.
Do you believe in a Sovereign God? Do you believe Sovereignty means “a great, mighty authority that controls all?” Do you believe it is possible God would actually destine the level of wealth or poverty people are to steward? Or are you like the “prosperity doctrine” people and dare to tempt God with the thought that all Christians should be independently wealthy. If you are of the latter, you are in for some serious struggles and hardship which DO NOT further the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God does not want us “wheeling and dealing” for resources or security. When we decide to do this, He will multiply our sorrows!
"The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied; I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor will I take their names upon my lips" (Psalms 16:4, NASB).
LIE FOUR – A responsible Christian can achieve whatever he puts his mind to. This lie is the clearest satanic example of the stubbornness of the Antichrist. One of the most common questions asked by True indwelt Christians is: “Won’t Satan ever realize he is doomed and will lose in the end?” Satan lives by the popularized phrase; “If you first don’t succeed, try, try again.” Through his own morbid stupidity, the Antichrist believes in the false idea he can achieve success and happiness independent of God. Since this is the banner that flies in the face of God on a day to day basis, he (Satan) works to deceive mankind into thinking that he, too, can achieve financial independence and true happiness apart from God. If you think God will support this kind of “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality, you ARE under the full deception of the Antichrist and his clever system of bondage. God will never support anything that puts confidence in human ability, rather than giving proper recognition and dependence to Himself and His enabling power. Anytime a Christian sets his focus on fleshly endeavors, death is sure to follow. But, those who desire life and peace, passionately pursue setting their affections on looking inward at the Holy Spirit (Holy Store House).
“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Romans 8:6-7, NASB).
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