CHAPTER 14
Traps of the Christian
Maker of predictions and fortune-telling
We have already seen from various angles, the traps of the great door. We could summarize them by the one verse of Ephesians 6-12, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.//
If the kind of trap to fight against flesh and blood truly exists, there are others that are also of size, and yet in which many have fallen, and unfortunately still fall.
Among these are those announced in Revelation 2-8 and 3-7 to the Churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia: "The people of the synagogue of Satan who call themselves Jews and are not Jews because they lie ". It is indeed very difficult sometimes to discern among the Christians those who are sincere, and those who are not, so simulation can look like the truth when we add to it the spiritual perfidy of Satan. This is why we will return to this subject in the next chapter. We will continue to look at the pitfalls that do not call into question the integrity of each person, but those who seem seemingly insignificant; who we often make look at them as banalities, see derision. These are traps that should not be feared because they no longer have any power over us if we do not give them reason, but which it is good however to stay away. Pitfalls that could well become dynamite for us if we still practiced them in opposition to our faith in Christ!
Among these, there is every form of divination, of which cartomancy is part. I had the opportunity to tell you about it on page 87. Annette, my ex-wife, a Christian, by her teaching, although not very practicing, had gone to see a woman very "reputed" at that time on the town of 'Evreux. This one then given her this kind of statement that she had reported to me: "She told me that I had nothing to fear that I would live old and alone for a very long time, but despite all the torments that thou will make me live, I will never be divorced, for thou shall be" Death before. "
Many of those who have given free rein to this kind of talk will often be able to see that many circumstances have actually been realized for themselves. These are generally only broad outlines of life, in which we can often find the words given in many circumstances, but it is true that the fragile person may be attached to them.
Through this prediction, it is quite evident that the main purpose was to announce my death before my divorce. Given the rights of belonging that Satan had on me then, he was indeed entitled to ask to God, as we could see in the first two chapters of Job. My physical death did not occur at that time it seems to me, for according to my perception I am still alive. If we examine these words with a spiritual look, we can see that the basis of this augury has been came to pass, because when I was born again in Jesus Christ, Satan lost all right of access to me, and I became " death "to his world. My death was thus proclaimed through the goal that Satan was pursuing to physically claim it from God, but also in the hope that I would give him reason by my own self-destruction after my conversion. If the physical result was therefore only a lie, there is, however, a fundamental "truth" according to the Word of God in this statement. This "truth", moreover, clearly demonstrates that these "prophecies" of the fortune-teller are in reality only omens of Satan in relation to what he asks to God against us, but let us look at the thing.
About September 15, 1 989, more than a year after my conversion, to about a week of the hearing in which my divorce was to be officially pronounced, I had the opportunity to see the time, the place , and the way in which Satan had asked my death to God. I was going to live the accident of the road that everyone had always predicted me, and that I had sometimes premeditated to put an end to life in my moments of temporary depression, when I happened to reach too much page 91. .
On the Sunday before, Marie-Claude and I had been warned of the Holy Spirit, that we would have some difficulties to live on the following Wednesday, but certainly did not know what order these one would be. We had both attached only a relative attention, both of us trusting in God to guide us on our way.
I then worked on Amiens, and made the journey Evreux Amiens went back, every day by the road. I had only one year of conversion, and although I had become very wise at the wheel in my own eyes, I still did not respect the speed limitations. I had not yet experienced this action of God in relation to wisdom, which we looked at in chapter 10, page 184.
This Wednesday morning, a quarter of an hour before my leaving, a very violent thunderstorm had brought down on the area, but it was began to calm down when I started. I had already seen so many difficult situations on the road, that I did not attach any importance to it at this moment. Nothing peculiar to me therefore concerned me about that, not even the slightest apprehension, the routine. In the same attitude of heart that my-self, Marie-Claude, having been awakened by my departure, began to pray according to her habits.
So she began to let herself be led by the Holy Spirit to utter the righteous words before God, as we had always done since the beginning of our conversion, but this research was going to lead her that day, to an unusual language to her level. From the beginning of this prayer she began to ask, to ask again, and to ask again and again: "Lord, an anointing on Alain, an anointing on Alain, an anointing on Alain..." For almost a quarter of an hour, urged by the Holy Spirit to make this prayer, she remained as if stuck on these words "Lord, an anointing on Alain." On the instant, not understanding the why, she was very much concerned about it as you can imagine, but still continued to let herself be led in this way.
After a few minutes of traveling, my usual itinerary had led me to join a four-lane divided trunk road, limited therefore at hundred-ten kilometers an hour. I was generally no more than about thirty kilometers per hour, and that morning, although I was four to five minutes behind my usual schedule, I strolled somewhat. The four lanes on which I had just entered was still very wet after the thunderstorm, and while I went forward, I had a dialogue with the Holy Spirit as usual. The more minutes passed and the more I however began to feel an unusual anointing on me. From moment to moment this anointing grew so much that it became almost palpable. I almost thought I could touch God, so His presence became concrete. I was driving only one hundred and thirty, floating in an indescribable happiness, but still very conscious of the situation. After a few minutes of this happiness, a little as if I had would wanted have both feet on the ground, it came to "me" to mind: "considering the delay I have, it is almost a lack of faith to roll so slowly ". No doubt it was the bad adviser who encouraged me to drive faster, in the hope of losing myself, but it must be said that before my conversion I would undoubtedly have been to the maximum of the possibilities of my vehicle in the same circumstances. I did not accelerate too much, but most certainly to a good one hundred and forty though.
I was driving in a straight line, and caught up with two vehicles on the left-hand lane when we approached a large left curve and began to pass two other vehicles. Those in the left-hand lane, of which I belonged, were certainly far beyond regulation, but under conditions of conduct which were still quite usual, if the state of the pavement had remained what it was. What we did not know, especially for me who was in third place, was that the entire curve was covered by a large flow of water and mud along its entire length. I had just passed the first of the two vehicles of the right-hand lane, when unexpectedly for me, I tackled this difficulty, and left suddenly in aquaplaning. In a few meters, I found myself thrown in the right lane, without touching either of the two vehicles I was passing.
It is unnecessary to tell you what kind of emotion it is normal to experience in such a case, and the one who has already experienced this kind of situation knows it particularly. For myself, I knew all the better my sensations and my concentration very habitual in these circumstances that I had just stopped the competition on earth, which actually represents a constant skidding. I had also lived my twenty-five years of driving on the road, at the same pace as the competition, and so, on road as in race, I did not feel at the wheel of a new vehicle, only when I had discovered all its reactions to the slippage. It is unnecessary, then, to tell you how I knew my usual perceptions; and yet, on the contrary, of all that experience which I knew so well, contrary to all that I had been able to experience up to that moment, and of all human good sense; more calm in myself than I am before a simple film on TV, while passing in slipping between the two vehicles that I passed, I remember me saying to myself: "Really? I'm gone!"
I was there as though in an armchair, but not in unconsciousness, for I would go soon fall both feet on the ground with a small tenth of a second of fright. Masked by the vehicles that preceded me, I headed straight for a truck stopped on the right lane, at the front of which, half hidden by its size, a tangle of several vehicles climbed high on the embankment , and made for me a maneuver by the right almost impossible. It was the trap!
After this small tenth of a second, straight after I ended up spectator of the two vehicles I had previously passed. They were then on my left, and obviously had some difficulty getting into the lane that remained free without colliding the truck, but I returned for my part for my part towards the welfare of the anointing. It is then that I see me asking myself the question: "If I regain the grip: or I reinsert me in my lane between the two vehicles, but I will have to do a real feat of piloting; or I take at the right, but I will have to take a lot of reverse angle, to get to face the slope of the embankment and get over the obstacle of rugged cars."
I know that before my conversion, as in a game, I would have tried at all costs a feat of piloting, and will have chosen the first solution. Yet I had once again found this immense peace, and I was heading straight towards the aisle as well as the entanglement of vehicles.
I knew more than enough, the distance required for a crazy car starts in aquaplaning, with road tires worn two thirds, on a wet grass already slightly yellowed by the summer, at this speed, I had must to type a hundred times for one, at least the damaged vehicles. Of course I am the only one who can affirm it, but I know that then a second miracle occurred. I had only reached half the length of the truck, my front right wheel had not yet started to lean on the slope of the embankment when my vehicle came to a halt. I had not even covered about hundred meters. Always on my little cloud, I had not even stalled the motor.
I then found my usual senses, hung up the reverse, and went around the truck to provide assistance to the front. There were three or four more or less entangled cars, but there were no injuries. So I left immediately.
The attack of the enemy, annoyed at not being able to attain his ends, did not however stop there. Scarcely had I traveled an half of mile, as if to take his revenge from the rights which he had not been able to obtain from God, in despite of this possibility, I saw the little stroke of Satan's claws. On this four-lane, I noticed no vehicle, neither in my sense nor in the opposite direction, not even a bridge, but I nevertheless received a small pebble which split the windscreen of my vehicle over almost its entire width.
It then appeared so incredible and futile, in connection with my first sentence, that the thing led me to a great burst of laughter, so much it seemed ridiculous, but also concrete. I had just escaped the physical death, the place, the time and the manner in which Satan had claimed it to God several years earlier, and he had had only that little right on my windshield. What had been announced by one of his prophetesses, this fortune-teller, was far from being spiritually false.
The thing could not have happened physically, since I had already died in the world of the enemy, perfectly dead in Jesus Christ, even though carnal parts had left him some rights on my vehicle.
I had not yet been baptized by immersion, since my life was not yet regularized as to my divorce, but I was baptized from the Holy Spirit. So I was already dead to the world of Satan, for I had given my life to Jesus Christ to walk in novelty of life, as we have already seen in Romans 6-3 / 4. This fortuneteller had therefore not been "wrong," and in a sense, Satan had told the "truth", I was dead in his world, the world of darkness. I was belonging to Jesus, and my former "master" had no more rights over me, except the small carnal percentage in addition to or in minus from God's perfect will towards me at this precise moment. You can now understand why I told you on the page 130 that my body had of fifteen years grown old, but that we would talk about it again, because if my body have aged somewhat, my tomb has already receded as many. So I have nothing to regret! We no longer have anything to fear or search for, about words of cartomancy, horoscope, or anything of that sort, if we really gave our lives to Jesus Christ. Therefore, for him who reads these words and who now makes the heartfelt approach to give sincerely and unlimitedly his whole life to Jesus Christ, this one already belongs with certainty to Jesus. Jesus will take care of them against hell and high water, even if words of curse have already been pronounced against him.
If we have just looked in that, a circumstance managed at ninety-nine per cent by Jesus, we will now look at the opposite, so that each one, Christian or not, can make his choice.
Several years ago, Marie-Claude and I had the opportunity to know a young man who unfortunately made the opposite approach, perhaps in the same way as we did with friends before our conversion on page 103. After several years of very active Christian life, driven by his temptations to know more about his future couple, he went to consult this kind of clairvoyant. He admittedly did not die, but is remaining crippled for life. At twenty-four or twenty-five year, with all the knowledge of the word of God, his error had been to address himself to a fortune-teller.
As we have already read in (Deuteronomy 18-10/12): There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.//
Those nations that did not have the perfect knowledge of the Word of God, were dispossessed because of their practices, so how much greater reason, we who have knowledge, will we not be free of punishment if one day we proceed in the same way, and that of our own free will we return to put ourselves under the tutelage of Satan. He is there to taming us, so we are not surprised to receive blows. If we give him reason again, how can the Lord defend us?
The idolatry
In the same way as divination, idolatry is a sin that brings us to the abomination before the Lord, as it is said in (Hosea 9-10): I found Israel as grapes in the wilderness; as first-ripe fruit on the fig-tree, I saw your fathers at the beginning: they went to Baal-Peor, and separated themselves unto that shame, and became abominations like their lover.//
All the glory of God whose Israel had witnessed at the exit from Egypt, did not prevent them from turning to an occult god of the Moabites and making themselves abominable in the eyes of the LORD. Idolatry is not only found in what we consider to be from celestial nature, but also what fuels our superstitions (Leviticus 26-1) Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.//
If the human being were only turned towards these "lucky charms", they would probably remain numerous, but the Apostle Paul opens our eyes to the idolatrous things of our everyday life, in (Ephesians 5-5/6): For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.//
The idol is indeed any circumstance of life that takes the place of God in our hearts and sometimes leads us to reject the very existence of God, so as not to reject this idolatrous part of ourselves. If we can cite the most commonly denounced as the sexual lusts of all kinds, we must not forget the money, the power, the authority ... but where should we stop if we were to enumerate them all? Idolatrous behaviors are found in us in all forms of behavior, acts, things, animals, human beings or celestials that we can place before God in our lives.
Nothing can fill us if it is not the LORD, and yet for many, many things pass before him, even among those who often are convinced of being good Christians. The Lord does not tell us yet: (Psalm 37-4) Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart?
Let us also look at the first commandment which the LORD gave to Moses (Exodus 20-1/6): And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.//
We must worship the LORD our God, without even making representation of Himself, so that God, the LORD, should not be brought back to the dimension of a person, an animal or a thing. By contrast, he who raises to a priority stature for his life, or even indispensable, a person, the representation of a person, an animal, a thing, or even before an act such as impurity or greed, or so many other things; He makes this person, this animal, this thing, this act, his idol, his god, higher than God Himself.
Jesus, who is now heavenly, does not have to be represented as a man. The Apostle John describes Him to us as He saw Him in all His glory, that is, as He is today and for all eternity: (Revelation 1-12/17) And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last://
If so we represent Him as He existed on earth, in this body of man, in which He came to fulfill for us the law, we sin against the very first of the commandments, because we decrease Him at the level of a ordinary man and therefore an idol, of a Lucky charm. It is for this reason that we were addressing the subject previously and that it is so fundamental to recognize Him as our personal Savior and Lord and not only as that "man" who died for us on the Cross, even if that is true. That's true, but not enough! Then why can we bow down our hearts in front of Him? On the one hand, because no other was born of divine birth from the bosom of his mother like Jesus Christ, and on the other hand, but it goes hand in hand, none other could accomplish from him-self the whole law, then resuscitate from the dead. It's there indeed, the fundamental difference between men and God made man in the person of Jesus. Jesus was in God from all eternity, he is the part of God called the Son, since His soul was born only of the Holy Spirit and not of the flesh. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Since no other was able to fulfill all the law, all were therefore sinners, should it be only by their birth. If then, all have been sinners, who are we praying if we still pray to the saints? At least for this share which they committed, the part of their education, born of "flesh," and not of the Holy Spirit like Jesus Christ, who are we praying? We pray in the first place, their renewed spirituality through the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, God made man and we attribute it to the humans, but we also pray the remaining carnal part on the day of their death and which is left under the only tutelage of Satan.
The saints for whom we must pray are all those who have been made holy through the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and are alive today, that is, the church. If, by contrast, we venerate a saint through a deceased person, made holy by the Sacrifice of Jesus to the cross, we attribute to this person the part of Divine holiness that she received from Jesus, the winner of the high struggle to the Cross. We then return to Caesar what belongs to God, and this amounts to saying that we prostitute the work of Jesus to the Cross to men or women whom we thus raise to the rank of idols. They could had be the most respectful on Earth of the work of the cross, we so make them usurpers!
It is up to each one to stand in front of God, if he absolutely desires to give reason to the truth of God and that he had hitherto sincerely acted in the opposite direction. Sincerity is good and indispensable but can conceal many truths, so let us be attached to be enlightened by God whatever means He will use then to confirm His ways.
If our question is sincere before Him and devoid of any partiality, His answer will not be delayed, for he is alive, unlike the idols. It is certainly asked to us to pray for all the saints, but not to speak to God by the intermediate of the Saints. Jesus told us in (John 14-6) I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father UNLESS by me. If, therefore, we address ourselves to God through the saints, we make them the equals of Jesus, the Son of the Living God, and if we turn to them as dispensers of blessings, we make them the equals of God the Father. How could we be in such denial until as not to see idolatry?
None other than God may be worshipped, and of course Jesus being an integral part of God, can Himself be worshipped, since we worship God: Father, son and Holy Spirit.
When we therefore prostitute this part of God to whatever saint it may be, it is God Himself that we prostitute to this saint. Let us not therefore be surprised that this idol will some day take the place that belongs to God in our lives, that is to say: THE FIRST!
No one comes to the Father except through Jesus, because Jesus is an integral part of God. So what shall we say of the marvelous woman chosen by God to bring forth His own son into a man's body, and who for this reason is venerated by some? Let us read (Luke 1-26/38) But in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent of God to a city of Galilee, of which [the] name [was] Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name [was] Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name [was] Mary. And the angel came in to her, and said, Hail, [thou] favoured one! the Lord [is] with thee: [blessed art *thou* amongst women]. But she, [seeing] [the angel], was troubled at his word, and reasoned in her mind what this salutation might be. And the angel said to her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God; and behold, thou shalt conceive in the womb and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. *He* shall be great, and shall be called Son of [the] Highest; and [the] Lord God shall give him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for the ages, and of his kingdom there shall not be an end. But Mary said to the angel, How shall this be, since I know not a man? And the angel answering said to her, [The] Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and power of [the] Highest overshadow thee, wherefore the holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, thy kinswoman, she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month to her that was called barren: for nothing shall be impossible with God. And Mary said, Behold the bondmaid of [the] Lord; be it to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.//
In all this we see very clearly the divine nature of Jesus, but for Mary, this woman as marvelous in obedience to God as she could be, what about her? Is it not said to her by the angel Gabriel himself in verse 36: Behold, Elizabeth, thy kinswoman ... If Mary had a relative, and of course this is novelty to anyone, she was not as for her, from divine birth. As each of us therefore, she was a full fledged human being, even though among all human beings she had been chosen from God to give birth to His Son. She who was born like us, as well as John the Baptist, the greatest born from woman, why do we make of her, a path to God? In order to avoid this kind of future error, Jesus Himself had already replied "No one comes to the Father UNLESS by me."
Men themselves have made a "beautiful" error of it, a monumental error, but also an enormous idolatry! Like all idolatry, however, it has its setback for the one who wants to go further into the subject, because if the virgin Mary had herself been of divine birth, Jesus would have had no human part and all the work of accomplishment of the Law of Moses by a man born of God, would be abolished on the human plane and would prove that man cannot take part in the Glory of God. The whole work of the Cross would thus become vain and of a similar dimension to those religions which see Jesus as an ordinary prophet.
The appellation "the virgin Mary" is itself often a source of error for the layman.
There is nothing special to remember from this appellation, because it represents the very foundation of God's work in Jesus Christ, but it must be known, however, that if she were a virgin to the procreation of Jesus, she had other children with Joseph her husband (Mark 3-31/35) And his brethren and his mother come, and standing without sent to him calling him. And a crowd sat around him. And they said to him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren seek thee without. And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother or my brethren? And looking around in a circuit at those that were sitting around him, he says, Behold my mother and my brethren: for whosoever shall do the will of God, *he* is my brother, and sister, and mother.//
In this Jesus does not disown his mother his brothers and sisters of blood, but announces a dimension greater than the carnal fraternal dimension in that of spiritual brothers and sisters. It is clear that if the disciples got around among the crowd toward Jesus and called brothers, sisters, mothers those who came to Him, even before they had received instruction on spiritual brothers and sisters, it is quite because they acknowledged in them His family of blood. I will therefore not try to demonstrate what is known to everyone. Jesus was indeed the only Son of God, but not the only son of Mary.
The fact of placing Mary as a saint is to make her an affront to putting her in the place of her own son, as we have just seen in case we address her as a path to God and worse still if we turn to her as a giver of blessings. It is to grant to her the design of taking the place of his own son who gave His life for every sinner who repents, including those of His own mother: Mary. Do you believe that this woman, this mother, could prostitute her own son's work for her own profit, if it was really her? In the world, what mother would still be today capable of such an abomination? Is not that going to disrespect to her?
Satan is cunning, and even though the mistake may date from ancient times when people remained attached to ancestor cults as though out of sincere respect toward their ancestors, sincerity is however not called truth.
Why would not some miracles happen in the name of this person, as if to better support this misguidance, this separation from God that all idolatry produces? Is it not said to us that such miracles will happen in the times we live, and that all or almost recognize as the time of the end? Yet this kind of miracles will not be of God; (Revelation 13-1/4) And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?//
Let us not lend credibility to every supernatural event, for it is necessary to see the fruits which it bears, and the one whom it glorifies; but as to seduction: How is it easier to seduce men, if not by a woman? Have we not already met this scenario at the Garden of Eden?
Make each one idolatrous, thus judged by the second death, with the unrepentant murderers as we read in Revelation 21. A woman who is called "mother of God"! How can we not prefer the mother to the son, when, in the most fashionable festival, this son is presented to us in the cradle? If Jesus Christ came into the world in a stable, should that allow prostituting His work of humility and compassion of God toward the world, Him, who had been seated in the heavenly places since all eternity? If we use the term "Mary, mother of God", this is no longer the symbol of a specific moment in history, as we have just seen with the word "virgin", but a very a gross error and an enormous sacrilege for the one who lives it sincerely in the first degree. If it is true that Jesus was in God from all eternity, and in this we might be tempted to say yes to this name "mother of God", it is none the less true that He came to earth in our human nature; Reason why we can be victorious in Him. God therefore chooses Mary to give birth to this human nature, which makes Mary, the mother of Jesus as a man, but especially not Jesus as God. Jesus Himself emphasized this difference when Mary, at the wedding of Cana, tried to get Him to intervene before His time, (John 2-4) Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.// The one who makes Mary the mother of God, thus makes Mary, the mother of the God Three times Holy, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the eyes of the profane. This is the mistake, but also the abomination before God our Creator, for so many sincere people but whose biblical knowledge remains limited.
I would especially not to discredit any Christian denomination, knowing that on the one hand souls will be saved from each of the various Churches described in the Apocalypse in chapters 2 and 3, and on the other hand, sin of idolatry can be much more insidiously lived within local churches sometimes having a look very fine. It must be known, however, that it is up to each individual to come before God to be informed individually of our course of way to go, in case sin is proved, even if the Word of God is clear on this subject. (Revelation 17-1/6 and 18-1/8) And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration…/… And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
That each one therefore experiences the church, the assembly in which he finds himself; It is not for me to say now, it is this one or that one. Each one baptized of the Spirit can ask God to open his eyes to the confession where he finds himself nourished by the word of God. If he sees in anything whatsoever an error of teaching, a fundamental error, whereas this one does not delude himself! If he remains, feeling safe because of the crowd who may still want to believe in it at all costs, he, like many Pharisees in the time of Jesus, prefers the synagogue, that is to say the church, the assembly, to God Himself. I do not want to discredit anyone, quite the contrary, for God aspires that everyone is saved, God loves the sinner, but has the hatred of sin.
This does not mean, however, that we do not have to fight against certain actions that could infect us and infect many others. God can indeed ask us to persevere in a difficult, even rebellious context, for purposes that we do not always understand immediately, but for the good of others and not for ourselves. Those who will be saved will not all come from the same place because of the teaching they will have received, but because of their faith being put into practice. There are people of the people of God in various confessions, in various assemblies, in various churches, and attention to the religious segregationism. That no one so, believes to be able to tell the other, come here, He is there; (Matthew 24-23/26) Then if any one say to you, Behold, here is the Christ, or here, believe [it] not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall give great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand.
If therefore they say to you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth; behold, [he is] in the inner chambers, do not believe [it].//
God dwells in the hearts of his children, and his children are the Church, but He would have none to be lost. Therefore we must experience, with the help of the Holy Spirit, whether we are in the place where the Lord wants us. Let us not accept to lose ourselves by following false teachings, experiencing the word of God with the help of the Holy Spirit, do not content ourselves with a little smoke and mirrors or a few miracles. We recognize the tree by its fruit, let us never forget it. Miracles, for their part, are not mentioned as fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5-22 which we have already read.
However, I would like to give some warning not to rush into condemnation, for there is indeed in idolatry, as in any other sin, as many different dimensions as there are sinners. One will sin very occasionally; the other on the contrary will live only for this type of sin. His whole life will be devoted to it, and he sometimes goes so far as to deny God in Jesus Christ, to the benefit of "his idol", "his god". In two cases so opposite, although sin remains sin, and cuts us off from God if we do not repent, the result in the lives of the persons considered will obviously not be the same.
After the development of this theme, the most skeptical of what we had seen at first about idolatry and praying the carnal parts of spirituality bounded to a saint, as well as the prostitution of the work of Jesus accomplished in this saint, and which is attributed to the human as coming from himself, probably begin to perceive from whom the inspiration of their prayers result, when they pray to a saint. I think that everyone will have understood from himself, that at least for the carnal part remained carnal, so small this part is it, it is not God who will listen to us, but Satan. With regard to the prostitution of the part became holy, which is attributed to this saint and not to Jesus, it is of course in the same way, since no human can become holy by himself, no matter how great his knowledge of the law. To believe then, that good can emerge from such prayers, becomes therefore pure utopia, especially as for what was from the carnal part of this "Saint", it entered into the kingdom of the dead with which God forbids us to dialogue.
If we have seen the direct effect, we also have to look at the indirect effect, just as perverse. If the Saints are elevated to the upper level of Jesus, Jesus is lowered to the human level and confused with all the other saints of human nature, while He was in God since all eternity, given the divine seeding of Virgin Mary. The difference remains therefore fundamental, for if God was always motivated by the good of humanity and the rewriting of our human nature in the language of the Love of others, the carnal dimension remains constructed by the dressage of the selfish love and the ephemeral reign of Satan. It is thus that those who resort to these idolatrous prayers can obtain the blessings or "gifts" to which they aspire, for themselves or for others, but then it will be through a greater hold of the enemy on their soul and spirit. They actually receive poisoned "blessings or gifts". They believe they receive them from the saint himself, but in reality receive only powers of domination and constraint more or less important on the person to whom they wish to attribute their "blessings." For the good of this person, they think! For these are sincere, but their will overrides that of God! Given the difference between the two spiritual origins, it goes without saying that the efforts of questioning requested by God in Jesus Christ will always be much more important on the moment than those offered without spiritual effort by the enemy of our souls, who charges the invoice on credit, but for the rest of our lives and for eternity. It is thus that the one who begins to pray to the saints will be like the junkie addict who will have begun with soft drugs, to devote himself to those that lead to death, both physical and spiritual. It is the image of the occasional sin in spite of which God blesses however and that of ever greater sin, which can go up to the denial of God.
It was by writing these reflections that I became aware in 1995, of what had been brought as misdeeds in my life and in that of my parents, all this idolatry of the Virgin Mary, practiced on a large scale. As I told you at the beginning of this book, my maternal grandmother had fallen into this kind of "practice". Her suffering of losing her son was probably the cause, but it had been for her, the door open to much more serious thereafter, as for her quest to dominate others. What she had begun to no longer be able to obtain by domination with the help of one, she had finally obtained it with the spiritual bludgeoning of the other.
As soon as the marriage of my parents, although she likely was not already to have fallen into witchcraft practices, however, she dominated on them and especially on my father. She did not necessarily understand it, I suppose, but as I told you on page 17, my father, like my paternal grandparents, were looking for benefactions through idolatrous prayers to the Virgin Mary. Obviously my father did not know that his prayers were heard, but the consequences were none the less palpable for all that, and nevertheless remain physically visible to me with the retreat of the years. The protectionism that my grandmother sought for her own daughter, in fact, was translated into a stranglehold that she had over the life of the couple. It was logical, since she had somehow become the spiritual "protector" of my parents. My father, requesting the protection of the "virgin", therefore received it, even though this protectionism was not suitable for him. He did not know that this world from which he was expecting help, brought only additional dominions over his couple, which they both refused, as I told you on page 21. So they tried all these years to get rid themselves humanly from the grip my grandmother had on them, but just as if my father had to pray, he prayed to the Virgin and not Jesus, how could had they be liberate from it? This "protection", not coming from God, obviously could not bring them peace and serenity, but rules and obligations.
Let no one decoy himself, Satan is never divided against himself. To the contrary, he knows how to disguise himself in order to be accepted, as stated in (2 Corinthians 11-14/15): And [it is] not wonderful, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.//
In this passage, the apostle Paul speaks of course to us, of earthly servants who disguise themselves, but if he knows how to bring earthly servants to an appearance of light, it is evident that his celestial servants, the fallen angels, have different levels of disguise. Some are coarse, we generally call them demons, but between them and the angel of light, a whole panoply exists. All more or less perfidious! All more or less rude! Only one has defeated them all; his name is Jesus Christ, and no other, absolutely none; we must therefore be aware to stick to Him alone.
Now that we have seen the impact of this idolatry on my parents, we will look at my own life. I can all the more easily speak of mine, that I saw the result not only by the misdeeds that it brought me but also by the advantages of quality of life that I could see once these bonds of idolatry cut. We are nevertheless going to have to make a little detour by the way that the Lord made me take before reaching this point, but let us not lose sight of this bond of idolatry on which we will very quickly return.
After thus that I had been victorious in Jesus Christ of this bond of voyeurism which I quoted on page 217, I obviously felt a great sense of well-being in me, but I nevertheless still had a few attractions extravagant in relation to sexuality. Once again, from time to time, I would have preferred to bury this sin, this Camembert-shaped stone, by withdrawing this part of life from me, but on the other hand I prayed that the Lord would purify me, did not risk that He let me do it. Whatever I had to do or say, it was in vain, even if these too strong temptations were only occasional, unlike in the past, I was rarely the winner, for somewhere, even if I was sincere and true in my Christian approach, they nourished my "ego". One day we had a rather violent dispute, Marie-Claude and I, and I decided not to remain in her presence no longer. Our points of view were so different from one another that it was no longer possible to accept such a divergence of opinions while remaining together. So I left one winter evening on the roads, with hardly enough to keep myself warm, but still praying for the blessing of Marie-Claude, Sabine and Sebastian.
The Lord had must "fun" in Himself, if I may so express myself. He let me however tire myself, to be exhausted, for I made that night more than thirty kilometers on foot, while praying for the blessing of each one. I end however by coming back home, guided by the Lord I suppose. I thought that my prayers would be answered, and that I should find peace at home. This was the case or almost, but not at all in the sense in which I had imagined it. After a few hours of sleep, I felt all the possible difficulty of putting a single foot on the ground, having traveled these miles without much training and in city shoes, but I continued to grumble in myself, especially as Marie-Claude was serene. In my deep weariness I then addressed to God in these words: "Lord, for me it is enough, I can't take any more, you really have to tell me why!" Without making me wait any longer, the Holy Spirit replied to me very clearly: "It is YOUR selfishness!!!" Hum! Hum! Hum! Understand by that: it's funny how hard it was to swallow my saliva. The Lord had not told me, it is a spirit of selfishness, which would have still passed, but quite the contrary: Your egoism! Oh, my God! It was no longer the same thing, because in other words: Your flesh! Your refusal to follow me! Your refusal to submit to my will concerning your own lusts, and no longer the at fault enemy on this poor little boy that you are...
I admittedly had a few minutes of hesitation to admit it, but ended up capitulating before God, and after asking for forgiveness, everything returned naturally in order. Several days later, the Lord made me put my finger on a spirit of sacrifice. Hey! Yes ! Remember my wedding on page 53. I had never been so unhappy and to my despair I had agreed to sacrifice my life. How many heresies are we able to follow?
I know obviously that, but the more time passes, the more I become aware that we are all more or less built on a somewhat similar model. Watch out! I do not say in this that we have the same spirits in each of us, certainly not, but the type of construction remains the same.
My selfishness had therefore served me not to make me suffocate, but had been the weakness that the enemy had used to make me reprehensible in my behavior.
From weeks to weeks, the temptations became increasingly weak, but by remaining honest and true with myself, I realized though, that stones in the shape of camembert still remained on this subject. So I kept asking the revelation to the Lord, that I might do His will and glorify Him.
It is only now that we loop the loop of idolatry. As I finished writing about this subject, just after the last two revelations we have just seen, one morning in the first fortnight of April ninety-five, the Lord made me understand how the initial idolatry of the "virgin", had then been the driving force behind some of my idolatrous behaviors related to sexuality. I besides do not believe that I am the only one for whom this kind of behavior is due more or less to a similar origin. Each one will see individually in his heart, for God loves us all with the same Love, and wants to lead us to discover it ourselves, in order to better know Him by increasing our communion with Him, to bless us all.
My idolatry, born in the idolatry of the "virgin", had brought me to another idolatry, that of the body of the woman. This idolatry, at the time when I did not really know this body yet, had succeeded in persuading me to commit the sin of voyeurism to which I had given my consent. This second bond would therefore influence and poison most of my life, making me more and more enslaved by sin and placing myself more and more under the only cup of Satan.
Its purpose is indeed to make us responsible for our faults in order to cut ourselves from God and retain his right of dressage on us. That is why every sin is first committed against God. The more he can keep us away from Him, bringing to our souls a construction opposite to that of God, the more easily he controls us in his ways, and the more he keeps us in bondage and our misfortune. The purpose remains for him the longevity of his "reign" on humans, already condemned to end since two thousand years. It is thus that he frequently succeeds in making us build our couple, contrary to the rules instituted by God, in order to keep us away of Him a little more. The idolatry of man towards the woman, will generally be only for part of herself, very often her body, even if it can be "maternal authoritarianism" for example.
This is an obvious for everyone, the woman as well as the man besides, has the need to be loved and desired for herself, that is, body, soul and mind. The woman coveted to excess for only one of these three parts, and especially in the case of her body, will be perhaps glorified a time of this situation, but will soon perceive an imbalance, a void because loved as an object, and not as an individual. She will therefore begin more or less rapidly, to refuse herself sexually to the husband, but no doubt otherwise to no longer submit to him also. The attitude is understandable, but it can become a trap for the woman. Depending on the nature of the husband, he will feel guilty about his own behavior and allow himself to be led, to see dominated by his wife or as I have done by selfishness, will seek through endless quarrels and compromises, to convince the wife to follow him in the ways of deregulation. Still others will use violence against her to bring her to their ends. The woman will not easily live this situation, but we can understand that this is not either the objective of the enemy. In contrast to God, he does not seek our interest but his own. From the dominated position in which the woman feels she will be, she will probably pass to the dominant position, even if she has to take a victim position and have recourse to public opinion, family, friends, even to the courts.
Whatever the character of the husband, he will feel guilty, but will accuse the woman of not being as she should. This discord will lead the husband to degradation of the type of alcoholism in some, sexual deviations in others, and consequently to spend inconsiderately the incomes of the household, or even to no longer provide at all. This will undoubtedly lead to the woman having to participate herself in this source of income, to see again, that she is no longer the only source of income for the couple, and to dominate the husband even more with an authority which obviously will not come from God. Will she live it well? Will they live well? Always not ! But it is not the goal of the one who is pulling this kind of strings. We must certainly remain moderate as to the results of this approach, for even if there is a single aim sought by the enemy, the multitude of our differences gives him a multitude of possibilities, but the tendency will remain the same. He will seek to lead us toward the domination of the woman, even through her role as victim, hence the impossibility of a construction according to God. This will result in the degradation of the couple with all the inevitable heartbreaks for the concerned themselves, but unfortunately for the children also, who are to be victims of it. This goes without saying, because humanly understandable, these will very often fall into a bias for their mother, with the father's disrespect, contrary to what the Word of God teaches us.
This father will indeed have been reprehensible, but already in the Ten Commandments, the Lord tells us (Exodus 20-12): Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be prolonged upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.//
In this way children will sometimes fall from their earliest years into the traps of the enemy, guided in this way by a mother who is certainly very unhappy but who has led them to condemn their ignoble father. No doubt she will not have realized herself, that in this she made the misfortune of her own children, for having disregarded these few words of God: that thy days may be long...
Should we blame the man more than the woman? Of course not! The one we must fight is neither the woman nor the man, for they have fallen one and the other into the snare of the devil. We must see the misfortune of the human condition, enslaved by sin, and not deceive ourselves from the enemy. It is not the human being whom God rejects because he loves the sinner, but He hates sin, obviously recognizing it as the only source of our misfortune, by the rights he gives to the enemy of our souls and upon our own children.
I can assure you that there is INFINITELY more to gain by respecting the commandments of God. It is quite obvious that when there is a fault of the one, we do not have to put the responsibility on the other, for the soul that sins is the one who will die; but if we bring our own children into sin instead of guiding them to forgiveness, let us not be surprised either, that they themselves will one day see death in front of them, sooner than it seems to us just that they undergo it.
Forgiveness does not necessarily mean, as some understand it, the resumption of past life, on the same basis as previously. If this is possible, as is generally the case, be careful not to make a simple generality a rule, as we have already seen.
Forgiveness is the act of not keeping rancor against a sinner, not condemning him, always leaving him the door open to repentance, and if he repents, to no longer hold this sin against him. This does not necessarily mean resuming a life identical to the one we had before. When sin has led to rupture, divorce, death ... both are consumed, and God remains sovereign in the face of the new circumstances. Anyone who does not accept this will not accept God's sovereignty over him. If there is no return to the previous situation, which does not mean that there is no forgiveness on the part of the one who must forgive. Forgiveness will always allow the resumption of contacts, except in the case of death, but they will not necessarily be the same as before sin.
Take for example the case of a murderer, even the most despicable one, whose misdeeds would result in his sentencing to life imprisonment without remission of sentence. Should this mean that this human being would be called to rot at the depths of his cell, without ever receiving the visit from his owns? Jesus did not teach us so in (Matthew 25-31/42 and 46) When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink…/… And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.//
Whatever may have been the acts of a man, even those which public opinion would consider to be the last of the last, he nevertheless remains before God a being loved by Him, and a being whom one must respect and honor. A being that God loves exactly like you and me, without any distinction! God has the hatred of sin, but loves any sinner who repents, even if he must end his life on the electric chair or in prison according to the righteousness of men; He will never forsake him: NEVER! He therefore desires for the good of the children of this man, that they forgive him.
It will besides be a great protection that they will so accept from God, to preserve them from the mistakes of their father, and sometimes to do worse than him. It will certainly not always be very easy to live, but let's be open to it, because it would be if not a great trap. In that case, God will help us.
Let us return to the point that we are pursuing, namely, whether forgiveness systematically leads to a return to the initial situation. Do you believe that under such circumstances, if the children forgive, the whole family forgives, all their friends forgive, this prisoner can take back the past life as before? I do not believe! He will, however, retain his dignity as a man, as well as all those who have forgiven him. Yes, forgiveness, especially for parents, is FUNDAMENTAL, whether there is a divorce, murder or much less: Honor your father and mother, that thy days may be prolonged...
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