Severing Attachments to Evil
Carl H. Stevens Jr. was pastor of Greater Grace
Church located in Baltimore, Maryland. Pastor
Stevens was also chancellor of Maryland Bible
College & Seminary and host of the international
Christian radio program “The Grace Hour.” This
booklet was created from messages preached by
Pastor Stevens.
Pastor Stevens can be seen weekly on cable
television stations throughout the United States.
Call us for information regarding programming in
your area.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from
the King James Version. Italics for emphasis are ours.
GRACE PUBLICATIONS
P.O. BOX 18715
BALTIMORE, MD 21206
Printed in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
Copyright © 1997
Cover Photo: © 1996 SoftKey International Inc. and its licensors
Grace Publications is a ministry of
Greater Grace World Outreach, Inc.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chapter 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
Chapter 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
DEFINING THE PROCESS OF ATTACHMENT
Chapter 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FROM DENIAL TO DETACHMENT
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
INTRODUCTION
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any twoedged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
The Word of God is very quick and very
powerful. It demands our undivided attention.
We never know when we will experience supernatural
phenomena, as we have seen God work
so often. At those times, where hearts are open,
there is not only a supernatural manifestation of
the Word but also a supernatural operation of
the Holy Spirit.
Through this kind of operation, we can become
attached to the Lord, totally delivered and
detached from satanic deceptions, seductions,
and attachments. I am so thankful for those who
take a stand with the Word of God in their lives.
I don’t mean that we never fail. Certainly, we all
fall and need to rebound—that’s not the issue.
The issue is to draw near. Even though I have isolated
failures, I continue to draw near. And as
long as I am drawing near, I will have victory if I
really want it. This booklet will reveal how each
and every Christian can be free from the
bondage of satanic attachments—free, indeed,
through the Word.
Chapter One
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
Often, a woman who loves God with all her
heart finds herself in a relationship with someone
who is in a process of retrogression. That person
has gone beyond backsliding and is now
deceived and in an arrogant complex. She thinks
she will win him, but that isn’t going to happen.
My suggestion for dealing with that kind of
relationship is: don’t get involved in the first
place! But if you are married and in this kind of
relationship, stay in it. And, while you honor
your partner as much as you can, remember that
the other side of it is tough love.
In any case, people who are in the process of
retrogression are infected with evil. Because of
the insidious nature of infections, it is vital that
we understand the problem of evil to be able to
guard ourselves.
I will list several points as premises for this
discussion on the problem of evil:
First, the Lord Jesus Christ never paid for
Satan’s sins.
Next, the Lord never paid for the sins of the
demonic kingdom.
Jesus Christ has paid for the sins of the
whole world.
Only as many as truly receive Him, however,
become the sons of God.
Jesus Christ paid for all of our personal sins
(1 Peter 2:24; Isaiah 53:6), becoming sin for us
that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).
In order to be right with God, we need a
thorough understanding of rebound: We must
name our sins and let God turn us as we walk in
the light of repentance, having our faculties and
volition cooperate in submission to Him. Then
we isolate the sin and go on—cleansed and
purged.
On the other hand, evil has never been paid
for. It is important to understand that when
Christians enter into evil, God has not paid for
what they are doing. Evil is the continuation of
iniquity.
Let me reiterate that: When a person continues
in iniquity, he enters into evil. Iniquity is
when a person—either through deception or ig-
norance—consistently says “I will” against God,
perhaps without even knowing God’s name. It
is saying “I will” against the Cross; against our
cocrucifixion, coburial, coresurrection, and coascension
in Christ; and against categorical doctrine.
In iniquity, people develop complexes in
departments of related sin. When a person continues
in a sin such as pride, he develops an arrogant
complex. Arrogance is a department of
pride. In other words, pride is an attitude of the
heart toward a particular issue. When that attitude
spreads into the various rooms of the soul,
the complexes become related through arrogance.
He has established an arrogant department.
For example, some of the people who come
to our church have never submitted to the Cross.
They will make comments like, “I don’t know
who my pastor-teacher is.” They had better get
one quickly. It doesn’t have to be me—I’m
already pastoring thousands. (So believe me, I
am not soliciting!) It might be a pastor in another
place, another country. If it is me, I’ll do
the best I can. But if you say you don’t have a
pastor-teacher and you continue as though you
don’t need one, you are in an arrogant complex.
It’s either that, or you are ignorant of categories
of Bible doctrine that make you accountable to
have a pastor-teacher.
The next point to understand is that your
soul can be possessed with evil, which is the
government of Satan, without being demon possessed.
(A Christian can never be demon possessed.)
Ultimately, evil in a Christian will be judged
with the sin unto physical death, which means
the Christian is taken to heaven early because he
will not repent. It doesn’t mean he dies at a
young age. He may have been destined to live
to the age of eighty but, instead, dies at fiftyeight.
This is the sin unto physical death (1 John 5:16;
1 Corinthians 11:22-31; Psalm 118:7; Acts5:1-5;
1 Corinthians 5:1-6).
From Personal Sin to Evil
To summarize, we understand that evil is
Satan’s government. Personal sins are what I
commit by choice to bring myself pleasure. But
when I continue in personal sin and refuse to be
turned by God, I put myself under Satan’s government
of evil, which is not covered by Calvary.
If I continue to reject the authority of God’s
Word, complexes and departments will be established
in the rooms of my soul, which could
lead to physical death if I refuse to get right.
Let’s say that you and I are Christians. If I
were living in adultery and you knew it, you
could come to me alone about my sin. At that
point, if I refuse to obey sound doctrine and repent,
then I have gone from personal sin into evil.
If you were abusing drugs and your pastor
or another believer said, “Please, for your own
good, give them up. I love you—give them up!”
but you refuse, then you pass from personal sin
into evil and Satan’s government begins to control
you.
If a husband will not love his wife as Christ
loved the Church, even after his pastor has
loved him and equipped him with the truth, that
husband has gone from personal sin into evil. If
a wife will not honor her husband according to
what she has been taught in the Scriptures, and
she refuses over a long period of time, she goes
from personal sin into evil.
How to Get Out of Evil
I want you to see how to get out of evil. You
do not get out of evil by confessing your sins.
“But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you,
and keep you from evil” (2 Thessalonians 3:3). In
Matthew 6:13, the Lord taught his disciples how
to pray. He said to pray, “deliver us from evil.”
That means, “deliver us from Satan’s government,
keep us away from it.” But once you are
in evil, prayer won’t get you out of evil.
You and I can have differences but love each
other and never say a word about it. That isn’t
evil. We have a right to have differences. You can
come to me, state your difference, and still love
me. If I don’t agree with you or can’t satisfy you
with my viewpoint, then you can go away and
love me anyway. It’s not personal sin—we acknowledge
that we are both growing. If, however,
you go away from a disagreement and
cause a conspiracy against me, you have entered
into evil. It is normal to disagree; it’s okay to
have a difference. But if you sow discord, you
enter into evil (Proverbs 6:13-19). Your differing
with me is not evil, but you must keep the differences
to yourself and come to me alone. And I
must do the same with you. It’s reciprocal.
Putting Off the Former Conversation
How do we get rid of evil? Ephesians 4:20-24
tells us how: “But ye have not so learned
Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have
been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That
ye put off concerning the former conversation
the old man, which is corrupt according to the
deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of
your mind; And that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness.”
I rehearse this passage all the time because I
could get into evil more quickly than you could,
and this is how. As a pastor, I study more. Because
I’ve learned more, I know more, and I’m
responsible for more. Therefore, the kinds of
demons that would attack me are of the higher
echelon. Satan would put angel-of-light demons
on my case. I might think I’m doing a great job
for God yet slip right into a stage of evil. That’s
why it is vital for you to uphold your pastor in
prayer.
Being delivered from evil is a decision we
make every morning. How many of you put
your clothes on every morning? How many of
you take them off every night? That’s the analogy
in Ephesians 4:20-24 “Put off concerning the former
conversation the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed
in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the
new man, which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness.”
The Christian life can be reduced to this sim-
ple process: First, you take off the old man.
Then, you put on the new man, every morning,
just like you put on your clothes before you
leave your house to go out in public. You put on
the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for
the flesh (Romans 13:14). You put on the new
man every morning so that, spiritually, you can
enter into the angelic warfare in a public appearance.
It’s very simple.
Renewing Your Mind
“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind”
(Ephesians 4:23). Within the memory center
there is a divine staging process. The Word of
God enters into Channel A—the nous, or the
mind—and goes through a staging process.
Then the Holy Spirit operates and transfers the
Word to Channel B—the human spirit or God consciousness.
Next, it enters into Channel C—
the soul—where God-consciousness takes over
our self-consciousness, using it to reveal God’s
character.
Also in Ephesians 4:23, “be renewed” is an
iterative aorist in the Greek, which implies that I
am to enter into a continual daily process of receiving
the Word of God. Daily.
The question is: How do we get out of evil?
The answer is: I do not get out of it by rebound,
prayer, or confession, but by first acknowledging
that although I am a Christian, I am in
Satan’s government of evil through deception.
People who are deceived and are living
under Satan’s government of evil have so much
to say. Some of these people act so strange and
don’t come to church half the time. They say
they are sick—and they are. They are mentally
ill because they are into evil, yet they will
scream at you and swear they are not. Believe
me, my forty-four years of experience tells me
they are into evil.
You would not believe some of things I have
had to deal with—some men, in isolated cases,
who are involved with prostitutes. It is shocking
that they would risk their health, their marriages,
and their children by going downtown to
hire prostitutes. Imagine it—Christian men who
are happily married entering into self-indulgence
with the whore world. They could end up
with herpes, or AIDS. If they wanted to get
right, it would be a wonderful and precious
thing. We would lead them to Jesus and they
would be forgiven. (By the way, your sin—whatever
it is—will find you out according to Numbers 32:23.)
How do you get out of evil? It happens
through a repeated process of letting Jesus
Christ’s mind work on your soul through doctrine
and the Holy Spirit. You can’t get out of
evil in a day. You can get out of the practice of it
in a day, but it will take you from several days
to three weeks to come totally out of evil. You
have to be accountable to the pulpit, to the body
of Christ, and to someone (like the pastor) who
will keep the matter private until you are out of
it. There must be accountability, personal accountability.
Chapter Two
DEFINING THE PROCESS OF ATTACHMENT
I want you to see Matthew 12:30 carefully:
“He that is not with me is against me; and he
that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”
This verse is written to Christians. What does it
mean to be “with” Him? This is talking about
the relationship between the head (Christ) and
the body (His Church), in Ephesians 1:22-23. He
is the head of the body. Give Jesus Christ preeminence
(Colossians 1:18).
“He that is not with me is against me; and he
that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” A
person in any local assembly who isn’t gathering
is into evil.
“Well, Pastor, so-and-so did this,” people
come and tell me. They come with all the details
of what somebody did or didn’t do. These statements
are evil. Don’t waste my time with evil
unless you want to hear what I have to say to
you. Maybe I know more about the situation
than you do, and maybe I don’t. But if you are
into evil, I certainly do know more.
“Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin
and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but
the blasphemy against the Holy [Spirit] shall not
be forgiven unto men.
“And whosoever speaketh a word against
the Son of man…” (Matthew 12:31-32a).
Do you know that if you speak a word
against a Christian or a leader, you are speaking
a word against the Son of man? Let’s prove it
scripturally. Jesus said, “He that heareth you
heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth
me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that
sent me” (Luke 10:16). In other words, “If you
receive whomever I send, you receive Me. If you
reject whomsoever I send, you reject Me.” That’s
not only referring to the twelve apostles. This
principle was established way back in 1 Samuel 8:7.
In Luke 10:17-19, Jesus sent out seventy who
were not even apostles, but they were sent. If
people rejected them, they were rejecting Jesus.
People don’t want to hear that when you reject a
leader—if he’s God’s man—you’re rejecting
Jesus. When Jesus said, “If you reject the one I
sent, you reject Me,” He was talking about the
seventy, not the Apostles. A word against the
Son is a word against His mind and a word
against His representatives.
Christians are knit together through doctrine
and the Holy Spirit’s love in Christ (Colossians 2:2).
We are members of His body, His flesh, and
His bones (Ephesians 5:30). We have been joined
to the Lord as one spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). We
have been sent to resist and stand against the
devil (James 4:7). We have been sent to reveal
the nature of God, and we are not to know anyone
after the flesh.
Deception
What is Satan doing today? He is deceiving
born-again Christians who will enter into his
kingdom while they serve God.
Deception is, first, the act of misleading, or of
cheating, with deceit as a habit of the mind.
Through planao (the Greek word for error in 2 Peter 3:17)
the devil leads people away into
groups where they feel comfortable, where they
can become like the religious crowd in Jesus’
day who said, “Let’s kill Jesus and get Him out
of the way. We would be doing God a favor.”
(See John 16:1-2.)
Second, acts of deception are practiced with
a goal to injure someone.
Third, the strategy of deception is to achieve
an unlawful spiritual advantage.
Fourth, deception produces false impressions
through opinions, establishing emotional
reactions that cause the emotions to control the
volition without truth.
A deceived person doesn’t know there’s anything
wrong with him. You can go to him and
say, “May I see you alone? I love you, but I see a
consistent habit in your life. I’ll be your friend. I
won’t tell a soul, but you’re deceived in this
area.”
The deceived person will react in his emotions
and say, “I’m not, Pastor. I’m not!”
At this point, you’re done—don’t even try to
go further. That person has exalted himself
above the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
He will neither submit in obedience nor
bring into captivity what Christ says through
the pastor who is over him in spiritual authority
(as a representative only because of a delegated
position—not to manipulate or control, but to
impart, to love, to invest, to edify).
Be able to recognize those who handle the
Word of God deceitfully (2 Corinthians 4:2).
Satan is skilled in cleverness (Genesis 3:1). His
deception includes temptation that leads to sin
and destruction (1 Corinthians 10:9-10). Also, I
want you to see that deception originates through
projections—the representation of something in a
perspective, or a prospective plan. It is a system
representing a realm, a sphere of influence, or a
kingdom.
Satan uses projections to manipulate your volition,
making you honor feelings that were
caused by his impressions instead of truth. If you
are not hearing the Word of God daily, Satan uses
your ignorance of categorical doctrine. Next,
Satan causes you to forget what you have heard.
(All of us forget far more than we ever remember.)
Then, Satan deceives by using the influence
of powerful people or the influence of someone
you want to appreciate you, along with your desire
to be “accepted.” You forget that you are
accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6).
Another method of deception is demonic
telepathy—demons transferring their thoughts to
the soul of a Christian who thinks they are his
own thoughts (Isaiah 29:4; Matthew 16:22-23).
Telepathy is caused by a specific demon known
as eggastrimuthous in the Greek, which translates
“familiar spirit” in Isaiah 8:19. It is a spirit that
a person becomes acquainted with by close con-
tact, the human soul giving access through the
volition. While this person thinks he is expressing
his own convictions, demons control his
vocal cords (Matthew 16:22-23). He never gets
healed because he has refused to be accountable
to anyone but his own emotions.
All of these definitions came from hours of
study, exegeting the Word and pondering these
thoughts from God in the middle of the night. I
didn’t get them from some other book.
Seduction
After deception, we have seduction, which
means to lead apart, to draw aside, to entice
away from the path by temptation. Satan will
tempt you repeatedly in your area of weakness
in order to lead you into iniquity. He inveigles
you, meaning he blinds you, persuading you
with deceptive methods to do something evil.
He can cause people to surrender to an error by
overwhelming them so they will cooperate with
false needs.
Satan will seduce even the elect (Mark 13:22).
Manasseh seduced people to do more
evil (2 Kings 21:9). The way of the wicked seduces
them (Proverbs 12:26). In the last days, seducing
spirits will try to get us to depart from
the faith (1 Timothy 4:1). Seduction is taking a
drink from the cup of demons (1 Corinthians 10:21)
establishing a capacity to drink some
more, while a person swears to God that he is
still right on with Jesus.
Attachment
Seduction leads to attachment. In the study
of law, to attach means “to take by legal authority.”
Satan does this by misquoting the Scriptures
and using the Law (which we are not
legally subject to because of the Atonement),
judicially attaching us to himself in a system of
legalism. An attachment is something that is
connected to something else by force, affections,
interest, or influence.
People can be bound up with the spirit of attachments
until they become one with the attachment.
Someone who goes out and commits
a sexual act with a harlot becomes one with that
harlot (1 Corinthians 6:16). In his flesh, controlled
by his libido waves, this person must always
think of pornography—thinking evil
because he has become one with the harlot.
Now, supernaturally attached to the prostitute
or to the spirit of prostitution, his soul is destroyed.
He will not lose his salvation if, in fact,
he is truly saved, but his soul is destroyed
(Proverbs 6:32).
How can he get out of it? The only way to get
out from under any form of evil is by following
the divine blueprint of receiving the Word daily.
When there is a constant intake of the Word of
God, taking off the old man and putting on the
new man, then the transfer is finally made. Before
he knows it, this person is no longer interested
in the attachment. He now has God's
thoughts toward that act of iniquity, and he
doesn't do it anymore—he doesn't even have a
desire toward it.
Joined Hand in Hand
Ademonic attachment is a joining in affinity
to someone with whom God is angry. In Ezra 9:14,
“Join in affinity” uses the same Hebrew
word used for contract, such as a contract for
marriage. The wicked are described as being attached
hand in hand (Proverbs 16:5). That’s why
they are so powerful. They are closer than air because
of a supernatural work (Job 41:16).
Isaiah 5:8 describes people who “join house
to house.” Someone who smokes pot wants to
go to a house where someone else smokes pot.
There is a pot attachment, a drug attachment.
Someone who drinks feels more comfortable
around someone else who drinks. There is a
house-to-house attachment, a hand-to-hand attachment.
Someone who likes to go to bars, pick up
women, and have illicit sex—or at least try to—
is living in a satanic attachment. He even uses
grace as a license to sin—something God does
not give him (Titus 1:16; Jude 4).
Enemies are attached, joined together (Isaiah 9:11).
If you are a pastor, and you’ve never had a
conspiracy in your church, you would be
shocked at what can happen in three months.
Every enemy you’ve ever had will join forces. If
they had never met each other before, they will
exchange telephone numbers and start making
calls: “Aha, we’ve got him now!” they will say.
But if we attach ourselves to the Lord, we
can have total deliverance from satanic deceptions,
seductions, and attachments (Isaiah 56:6). I
am so thankful for those who take a stand for
the Lord with their lives. I don’t mean that we
never fall or use rebound—we will; but that’s
not the issue. The issue is drawing near. Even if
we do have isolated failures, we continue to
draw near. As long as we are drawing near, we
will have victory—if we really want it.
Chapter Three
FROM DENIAL TO DETACHMENT
After attachment, the next stage Satan tries
to get the Christian into is dependency. Dependency
means that one thing is connected with
and subordinate to something else, “subject to
the power of; not able to exist or be sustained
without assistance.”
“You’ve got to have help,” whispers Satan.
(He never identifies himself by announcing,
“I’m Satan.”)
“I know I need help,” the person replies.
“Do you know all the provisions that I have
to help you?” the devil asks.
“No.” The Christian thinks he is talking to
God.
“I suggest you relax, have a few drinks, just
a few. Go to a doctor. He has something that he
can do to help, and he’s very understanding.”
“I will.”
This person doesn’t pray. He’s not filled with
the Spirit. He doesn’t walk in the Light. But believe
me he is walking in another kind of light.
“Do you feel better after that person has
counseled you?” Satan asks.
“I do,” says the Christian. “He really understood
me”
Sure he understood you. He never said a
word to rebuke you. He really understood you.
Satan continues, “You’ve got to keep going
to him. You may even have to keep going to him
for three or four years. Oh, by the way, didn’t he
help you more than the pulpit helps you?”
“Yes, I’ve got to admit it,” the person says.
“Wasn’t he more understanding than your
closest friend in that church?”
“Oh, I know he was. God bless him, yes!”
“I am answering your prayer.”
The person might as well say, “Thank you,
Satan.”
This person is in a state of hanging from a
support system that is not based on the
promises, the love, or the character of God’s nature.
Satanic Support Systems
Often when one person is dissatisfied with a
program or department of a large, soul-winning
ministry such as ours, they will “mysteriously”
find someone else who agrees with their position.
When three or four of these people find
each other, the first thing they will do is get together
and have a “discussion.” It’s all demonic.
They should never get together, but they’re not
humble. They exalt themselves against categories.
They are deceived and they are into evil.
It’s not wrong to have disagreements. I’ve
said that before. It is wrong, however, to have a
support system against something that is God’s
provision for us. For every individual they can
get to speak out for their side, I can bring up
hundreds who would applaud and thank God
for the blessings they have received in that area.
When there are legitimate concerns, there is a
table of organization ordained for the purpose
of hearing the matter. We purpose to be humble,
gracious, willing to grow and open to change,
but the spirit must be right.
“Thou hast [depended] on the king of Syria,
and not [depended] on the LORD thy God”
(2 Chronicles 16:7). “Now, behold, thou trustest
upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon
Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his
hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt
unto all that trust on him” (2 Kings 18:21). In
other words, these people are trusting in
Pharaoh; they lean on their own understanding
(Proverbs 3:5). There are those who have a divided
heart and have not been restored by the
Word of God. They may profess God is with
them but Micah 3:11-12 reveals the truth. Yet, for
those who lean on the Lord, evil cannot come
upon them (1 John 5:18b).
Representation
Once a person becomes dependent upon
Satan, he becomes a representative of Satan’s
kingdom inside the Church. This person is inside
the Church, he’s been saved for years, but he
represents Satan in the local assembly.
Representation is when someone impersonates
another or represents another’s character by
action, by appearance, or as an ambassador. Impersonation
means to perform in the character
of another, to represent another’s character in a
planned strategy. Representation also means to
show or exhibit the image or likeness of another,
his kingdom, or his sphere of influence.
“A wicked messenger falleth into mischief:
but a faithful ambassador is health” (Proverbs 13:17).
The life of Jesus Christ was made manifest
in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16). In other words,
it was represented in mortal flesh. We were created
in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27). We have
represented the earthly, and we will also represent
the heavenly (1 Corinthians 15:49).
Peter was representing Satan in Matthew 16:22
when he said to Jesus, “You’re not going to
that cross, I’m telling you now!”
“You’re okay, honey, you don’t have to get
right. Those people at church just don’t understand
you.” When people say things like this,
they are representing Satan.
“You don’t need a local church or a pastor.”
Such a statement not only represents the kingdom
of darkness, but it violates thirty-four Bible
doctrines. If you want to challenge me on this,
why don’t you meet me alone instead of discussing
it with others.
After months and months of study, you have
to decide who your pastor-teacher is and where
your church is. It could be anywhere, but you
need to make a commitment to God in that local
assembly. Don’t try to get away without submitting
to bona fide spiritual authority that is delegated
for your sake and for your accountability.
Denial: The Final Stage
The last thing a person does when he is rep-
resenting Satan is to live in denial, declaring one
thing outwardly while trying to cover up the
truth and living in a lie. Denial means to reject
or disown the truth. A person living in denial
will not receive reproof but will disavow or
deny a fact regarding himself.
On the other hand, godly self-denial is not
denying but detaching. Self-love is not selfishness;
self-worth is not self-worship; self-affirmation
is not self-deceit; and self-awareness is not
self-absorption.
The person living in ungodly denial says,
“I’m not selfish. I’m not worshipping myself.
I’m not deceived. I’m not involved in selfabsorption.”
They say these things because they
deny the truth of God’s Word. For the Christian,
it’s the last stage before the sin unto physical
death. Retrogression to this point is a process, of
course. God is patient. He will do so much—He
warns people with the Word, repeatedly. Over
and over, God lets the truth be known. He uses
people to send forth His Word, in season and
out of season. He will be so patient! Do you understand
that? God’s long-suffering is salvation
for us (2 Peter 3:15). But if we refuse to be
turned, then He will move with something else.
Recently I had to tell someone, “You are de-
ceived.” As their pastor, I believe God wanted
me to say it, and I said it to the person privately.
The problem had nothing to do with me or my
church. It had to do with long-term attitudes.
Unfortunately, his response was to exalt himself
above my exhortation. Even in the midst of a revival,
where the Holy Spirit is so close to us,
there was no discernment on his part.
Jesus said, “Whosoever will come after me,
let him deny himself” (Mark 8:34; Matthew 16:25-26;
John 12:24-26). Let him deny himself
instead of living in denial. Agree quickly with
your adversary (Matthew 5:25). When you are
living against the truth, the Holy Spirit is your
adversary.
Let’s ask the Father to help us. We must
thank Him for those who are not in these
processes of retrogression into evil. But even for
those who are, we can ask that through conviction
they would understand how to be attached
to Jesus Christ, dependent upon Him and His
Word. Then they will break free from attachments
and truly reveal Christ.
CONCLUSION
The Lord Jesus Christ in all of His uniqueness
and beauty wants us to understand in divine
perspective that no Christian is ever to “get
in touch with himself” in order to be free from
satanic attachments. You don't have to search
yourself, as many psychiatrists teach. The Lord
Jesus, the God of all mercy, the God of all grace,
does the searching. If the Holy Spirit reveals that
something is wrong in my life, I agree with Him
and let Him turn me.
Following Christ becomes a matter of
putting on the new man every day. Put off your
old conversation and rid yourself of your old
way of living. Take it off just as you would take
off your dirty clothes. Then, simply put on the
new man and be renewed in the spirit of your
mind.