Ye are as gods...

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="129a11c3.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to the Heart4God Website!"><U><B><IMG SRC="4b55a500.png" border=0 width="90" height="80" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin"><U><B>Writings by Date</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id212.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin Organized "><U><B>Writings by Topic</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm"><U><B>Audio Files</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id690.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Videos"><U><B>Videos</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id323.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writings of Others"><U><B>Other Authors</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id324.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id339.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Questions and Answers"><U><B>Q&A</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id328.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Heart4God Email List"><U><B>Heart4God E-mail List</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com"><U><B>Parables Blog</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id306.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="File Downloads"><U><B><IMG SRC="2b264140.png" border=0 width="100" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <B>Ye are as gods...</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="c2827160.png" border=0 width="807" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Joseph Herrin (11-10-1999)</div> <bR> <bR> <div> What if? What if the majority of the western church has been living in deception? Would it surprise you? To all but the least discerning individual, it should be evident that there is much fleshliness and immaturity in the Body of Christ. Why then, should we not expect there to be deception in the Body, as well?</div> <bR> <div> Satan’s original encounter with mankind involved deception. Satan is appropriately called the Great Deceiver. His original dialogue with Adam and Eve involved deceit. Eve chose to embark on a path that was not of God due to deception which came from Satan.</div> <bR> <div> First appearances are significant in the Bible. Our first glimpse of Satan is as a deceiver. His character and also his greatest weapon against mankind is revealed in this first encounter. We often acknowledge the Devil’s influence in the church when sin is present, but how often do we consider that he is a deceiver and that there is a possibility that we are deceived in some area?</div> <bR> <div> Satan would have used his greatest weapon when he decided the time was right to approach Adam and Eve. It is reasonable to assume that he has continued to rely upon deception as his greatest tool against the church. Was he successful originally? The answer is undeniably, “Yes.” Has his success continued? Again, the answer is the same.</div> <bR> <div> In what area has Satan attempted to deceive the Church? To answer this we need only to look at where he has encountered the greatest defeat. Satan desires victory. He also desires to avoid pain and personal loss. It was in confronting the life of our Champion, Yahshua the Messiah, that Satan experienced pain, loss, and defeat of an overwhelming nature. As can be expected, he has an aversion to these things.</div> <bR> <div> In encountering the Son of God, Satan had his head crushed, his authority over mankind and the creation was destroyed. Yahshua the Messiah, the Son of God revealed as the Son of Man, was Satan’s worst nightmare. Satan threw everything in his arsenal at Christ, but to no avail. </div> <bR> <div> <B>And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.</B></div> <div> <B>Colossians 2:15 </B></div> <div> <B>(NIV)</B></div> <bR> <div> Satan is no different than other creatures. Having once encountered pain, he desires to avoid its recurrence. As a child that has put his hand to a hot stove will instinctively avoid the stove in the future, so Satan desires to avoid the pain encountered when Christ triumphed over him.</div> <bR> <div> Consider the following scriptures and the implications that they hold for Satan:</div> <bR> <div> <B>He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.</B></div> <div> <B>Matthew 10:1 </B></div> <div> <B>(NIV)</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.</B></div> <div> <B>Mark 6:7 </B></div> <div> <B>(NIV)</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.</B></div> <div> <B>Mark 6:13 </B></div> <div> <B>(NIV)</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>When [Yahshua] had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.</B></div> <div> <B>Luke 9:1-2 </B></div> <div> <B>(NIV)</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.</B></div> <div> <B>Luke 10:17-19 </B></div> <div> <B>(NIV)</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ [Yahshua]. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.</B></div> <div> <B>Galatians 3:26-27 </B></div> <div> <B>(NAS)</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.</B></div> <div> <B>What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?</B></div> <div> <B>Romans 8:29-31 </B></div> <div> <B>(NAS)</B></div> <bR> <div> What is the thing that brings shudders to the enemy? Is it not the thought that the world should be filled with replicas of the One who caused him so much pain? Is this not the very center of his attack against the church? He is bringing every trick, every deception, every lie to bear upon this point, in order that men and women should fall short of the knowledge of who they are in Christ and who Christ is in them.</div> <bR> <div> Satan has done such a thorough work in demeaning and belittling the Christian’s identity that most Christians, upon hearing a saint boldly declaring his rightful inheritance and calling, would consider it to ring of blasphemy. This is the work of deception. Satan has used his greatest weapon with powerful effect against the Body of Christ.</div> <bR> <div> When one is deceived, he does not know he is deceived. There is but one cure for deception and that is to be confronted with truth. The work of the Holy Spirit is of paramount importance in this.</div> <bR> <div> <B>And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--the Spirit of truth.</B></div> <div> <B>John 14:16-17 </B></div> <div> <B>(NIV)</B></div> <bR> <div> Can you with boldness make the following confession, or does it have the ring of blasphemy? Does it roll freely off of your tongue, or does it stick in your throat?</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>“I am as Christ in this world. I am a son of God. I am as God. I bear the stamp of divinity. I have the mind of Christ. I am an anointed one. I am a sent one of my Father. I wield divine authority in this world.”</B></I></div> <bR> <div> Can you look in the mirror and make this confession without flinching? Can you look another human being in the eye and speak these words, or has Satan drummed his message of lowliness and shame into your heart and soul so that these words seem audacious and even heretical?</div> <bR> <div> Listen to the words of Christ:</div> <bR> <div> <B>[Yahshua] said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?"</B></div> <div> <B>"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."</B></div> <div> <B>Yahshua answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came-- and the Scripture cannot be broken–what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'?</B></div> <div> <B>John 10:32-36 </B></div> <div> <B>(NIV)</B></div> <bR> <div> In speaking this, our Lord was quoting Psalm 82:6, <B>“I said, "You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High”</B> (NAS).</div> <bR> <div> The Jews failed to understand that the Father was desiring more than a people who adhered to certain religious forms, He was desiring sons and daughters, Yahshua Himself being the firstborn among many. From the very beginning of scripture we are told that God had a special plan for man.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness..."</B></div> <div> <B>And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.</B></div> <div> <B>Genesis 1:26-27 </B></div> <div> <B>(NAS)</B></div> <bR> <div> How tirelessly Satan has worked to cause man to forget whose image he was created in. By his deception he has lowered mankind’s estimation of himself and, owing to this debased image of self, man has fallen to depths of depravity.</div> <bR> <div> How many Christians find it difficult to even mouth the words of Genesis? <I><B>“I have been created in the image of God. In His image and likeness I was created.”</B></I> Are these words not true? Do we not read them in the pages of holy scripture? But Satan has a purpose in lowering man’s estimation of himself. He fears lest the children of God should wake up and truly begin to walk as those who are destined to be conformed to the image of Christ, the One who triumphed over Him.</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>