Can Satan Deceive You?
“Just when I thought the streets of America might be settling down, another city burst into flames this week. Kenosha, Wisconsin has been experiencing riots and looting after the shooting of another black man by police. This summer of discontent seems to go on and on.
Here is the thought that went through my mind:
“Just a few days before the shooting, did people plan to pour into the streets at first opportunity? Were they waiting for an excuse to riot? People who were going about life, were they preparing for this?”
I don’t think it went down that way—although I understand human nature, at times, is just a step away from anarchy.
The Bible says there is a prince of the power of the air, a spirit that works in the children of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2). This describes the work of Satan the devil, the powerful spirit that works to thwart the purpose of God. It is this spirit presence—that most do not understand— that is behind all the evil in this world. Satan and his demonic forces must be understood as part of the story of violence that we see in the streets. How else can we explain the sudden eruption of such anger and its sustained spread night after night?
The blind hatred that you see among rioters is more than ideology. It is more than reaction against injustice. It is a spirit that works among the nations to incite violence. It must be understood.
My colleague Gary Petty did a Beyond Today program, Satan’s Four Great Deceptions. I encourage you to watch this entire program right till the end. And order the free study guide “Is There A Devil?” It is time to understand this missing spiritual dimension in world affairs. As Gary says, “You may believe that Satan exists. But if you believe that he can’t influence you, you’re already deceived.”
We are heading toward a new normal. Understanding how the world really works is essential intelligence.
Until next time, Beyond Today - Help for Today, Hope for Tomorrow”
From: Weekly Update -- Can Satan Deceive You?
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What's Behind Today's Gender Issues?
“A shocking story of a mother transitioning her boy into a girl brings us into God’s Word on this subject.
Transcript of YouTube: https://youtu.be/MJQOO3w3B4Q
[Darris McNeely] “I’ve been doing research for an upcoming “Beyond Today” television program on our spiritual identity in contrast to the gender identity issues that are roiling through society today. And I ran across an article that kind of illustrates what’s going on in the broader culture today. The headline out of “The Christian Post” says, “Mother intent on gender transitioning eight-year-old son into a girl wins a sole medical decision-making power.” This is out of “The Christian Post.”
It goes on to show that a mother who’s attempting to gender transition her eight-year-old son into a girl has been awarded decision-making power regarding her son’s health care and schooling. “In the ongoing case of eight-year-old, James Younger, Dallas judge Mary brown canceled a hearing scheduled for Tuesday and removed his father, Jeffrey Younger, from having any say in his son’s medical, psychological, and psychiatric care. Instead, the Judge gave all decision making power to Dr. Anne Georgulas, a pediatrician and non-biological mother of James and his twin brother, Jude,” according to the report. Younger, the father, has been ordered by the court to pay for trans-affirming counseling sessions.
Now, this has raised a great deal of attention, focus, and even outcry across the nation from groups that are focused on and watching this particular situation. But it speaks to what is happening in our broader culture today in the gender wars and especially the intent of a parent to take an under-aged child and make the decision to trans them, to change their gender based on the sole desire of the parents.
Georgulas says… And the article goes on, “Georgulas has forced James, the boy, to live as Luna, a new name, in a school surrounded by teachers and therapists who do not acknowledge that he has said multiple times to multiple people that he wants to be a boy, and hates being forced to be a girl. Georgulas, the mother is not the biological mother, as he and his twin brother were conceived through the use of a donor egg and IVF reproductive technology.
And so here we have a young eight-year-old boy, being transed, being changed into a girl at the whim of the mother. The courts are involved, and in this case, turning sole control over to a mother, another chapter, if you will. And the ongoing gender wars of the LGBTQ community and issues whether it’s politics, sexual identity, and otherwise, in our society today, having the net effect of actually hiding from us our true identity, as the Bible affirms it in God.
Now for those of us with a biblical worldview, an article and a situation like this is very important to understand and to watch as to what is taking place. And as we view what the Scripture tells us, regarding God’s view of male and female, human beings being created in the image of God, male and female, according to what Genesis tells us, what Christ Himself reaffirmed in Matthew 19, it is very clear from the Scripture as to what are the genders, what are the intended roles and purposes. And God is very clear in that teaching.
Thinking about this and looking at it, it reminded me of the Scripture in Romans 1:24, where Paul describes his first-century world, but it has an application for our 21st-century world with this issue. As Paul describes, “A time where God gave also them up to uncleanness in the lust of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.” Paul describes here activities going on then that speak to today, unclean, unnatural activities that human beings wanted to have, God allowed it to dishonor their bodies among themselves.
The Bible shows us there is a creative order to humanity, to humankind, according to God’s will and purpose. Male and female created He them for a divine spiritual purpose. And when that is changed, when that is denied, as Paul is showing, it was taking place in the first century, we are dealing with a time and a culture that is turning its back ever-increasingly upon God. He goes on in verse 25 to say, “They exchange the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped, and served the creature, rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever, Amen.”
What it means is they serve the creation. They worship the creation. And really at the heart of what we’re seeing, even in the gender identity, the gender wars that are roiling across the culture of America in the Western world is a denial of the created natural order that God placed there and a worship of the creation over what God has intended. For those of us with a biblical worldview, it’s important to have this understanding from what God says, as we face these issues, seek to understand them, and certainly uphold biblical truth.” From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-daily/whats-behind-todays-gender-issues
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Update.
Another week has scampered by, I just don’t know where it went. The older you are, the faster they go !!
Apart from a doctor visit in the next town not much went on here. The bus came, took me there and picked me up. The doctor now wants to do a barium x-ray on me.
After a lot of research, I am pretty sure that my suspicions are right, my little old cat Evie has diabetes. This is why the previous owner told me not to feed her “no-grain’ food, or she will throw it up. That is because it has more calories in it than grain food, and she can’t tolerate a lot of calories. They also said they hoped she wouldn’t disturb me in the night. Well, she gently touches my face about 2.00 am and now I know it is because she feels bad because of her blood sugar and needs to eat. Also her pee was so sticky that it wouldn’t clump the litter, but on her new lo-cal diet fed four times a day, that I have put her on, that seems to be a bit better.
If they had researched more they would have found out what was wrong with her and how to take care of her. And all this was caused by her being fed just dry food most of her life. She had been handed down through several homes because of this behavior but now she is where she is going to stay. I won’t throw her away like they did. You are what you eat, and our pets are completely dependent on us for their correct nutrition.
Evie sees the vet for tests next week, so I hope that I don’t have to give her insulin shots, but I am hoping that with her new diet of Wellness Core canned food, and real meat, that she will gradually get better. It is expensive, but you have to pay for quality just like for people. Pay for the right good food now, or pay the doctors and hospitals later.
Speaking of hospitals, my daughter is now home from the rehab after her accident, and will have therapists coming in to help her exercise and get better.
Sherry and I studied this week’s lesson in the church’s Bible study book on Friday morning as usual, but I went to the church on my own because her granddaughter came to pick her up on Saturday.
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