He Comes as an Angel of Light

The Prince of This World

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. NAV 1John 2:16

In the last article we talked about the enemy’s name and mostly how he accuses and lies. I will attempt to give examples of how he tempts in this article.

There will be some who read this, will realize that when you begin to renovate a house; one job invariably leads to another. For example when an old house needs new windows and the carpenter takes the windows out to be replaced there are times when they run across dry rot. Now, the workman has to take off other boards on the house to see how much dry rot has spread throughout the house. Dry rot would not hold new windows, but eventually fall to the ground. What once started out as a small job has lead to other things around the house, causing the owner to dig deep into his pockets.

The example of home renovation will be used to give an understanding how temptation works and where it can lead to in a life.

The above verse talks about ALL that is in the world, meaning the works of the world. Keep in mind the invisible forces that are in control of the world. The keys words are – invisible and control-. Jesus said, right before he was leaving to go back to His Father: “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” John 14:30.

Think about these three things:

1. Lust of the flesh

2. Lust of the eyes

3. Pride of life

All three come from the Prince of this world and his workers.

The enemy looks good to us when he comes to tempt us through lust. Lust for more power, more money, more sex, more food, more material possessions and more is never enough. Like the house that wanted those windows, dry rot was discovered. When lust is conceived, greed is birthed.

Lust is totally of the world. Lust beckons through one of the 5 gates in our fleshly body. Eye, ear, taste, touch and smell. For example: A simple thing like playing an old song can sometimes bring back memories.  What sort of memories? Good ones? No problem.  However, if the song stirred up a lust of yesterday, through our “ear gate.” We then, have a choice to turn it off or continue to bathe in the desire that the song was bringing. If we were to continue to listen to the song of yesterday that brings us such memories, would we be tempted to contact the one we are thinking about? If we are honest with ourselves we know, sometimes things happen as simple as that.   

We can see someone and immediately be attracted to them and that is alright and can be quite exciting. It is only when we go further and begin to use our imagination of “what if” that it turns into lust. That comes in through our eye gate. We see – then, want or lust.

The Pride of life is when a person refuses to hear correction or accept help. They put up their shield of pride and reject humility and like the dry rot will eventually fall. Pride always comes before a fall.

Like the house that needed renovation, one job always leads to another. The house had been let go and not kept up.

I will use adultery as an example. When we succumb to the lusts of the world, it is there; we unknowingly invite other spirits into our life. This could be compared to ignorantly sending out invitations to unwanted guests.  The spirit of adultery brings into a marriage a lying spirit and a spirit of jealousy. Jealousy wounds and can kill and brings in anger. Anger brings in depression. Depression brings in despair and hopelessness and many times unforgiveness and death of the marriage. They work to wound.

When we cross over the line and give into a lust, we invite other spirits to come into our life! These spirits work together, each accomplishing their goal “to steal, kill and destroy” everything that you have. When their goal is accomplished, they hand you over to a stronger spirit. When the stronger spirit is done with you, you will fall.  

Compared to the old house that was not cared for, the wood started to rot, the shingles started to peel on the roof and began to leak causing the floor to buckle,  mold grew, termites came and the house started to tilt and began to sink.

Think of your body as the house and what happens when we willingly say yes to a seducing spirit.

I have seen many marriages, no matter their ethnic group destroyed because of a spouse crossing over the line. They have lost their marriage, children, home, friends and job. They end up losing every single thing they have worked for all their lives, because of one fling or many flings. They believed the lie that they wouldn’t be found out, but the Bible says differently.

 “But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the LORD, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.” Numbers 32:23

Here is one more example. I will use the fictitious name of Mona. Mona was a middle aged single lady who worked at the office every day. She struggled during the recession because she had to pay the rent of 1400.0 per month, then there were the utilities, groceries, gas, car payment and other unexpected things that always came up. One day she discovered that if she could fix the books, she could skim some of the money for herself into her own account while working as an accountant. In this way she felt things would be easier for her. She told herself “I’ll only do it this one time.” She did and was a big success. No one found out. Then, a holiday came and she decided she wanted just a little bit more money to spend this year, so she did it again. Each time, she told herself it would be the last time. But it was so easy. Besides, she told herself “I am the one in charge of the books, no one ever questions what I do.” A couple of years went along this way and now Mona was very confident in fixing the books and skimming off what she wanted for herself. Then one day she went to work to find the office unexpectedly in audit. Long story short, her secret was discovered, she lost her job, and charges were filed for fraud and embezzlement.

Can you see how the tempter came and lied to her? The lying spirit said: “you won’t hurt anyone. You’ll never be found out. You need the money and they have more than they need, they would never miss it. You deserve this, you work hard.”

With everything in life there is a remedy. There is hope. With every pit that has been dug, there is a way of escape to overcome each obstacle in your life. There is a way to freedom, if you are ready to admit that your way has not been successful.

Stay tuned for the remedy.