This is one very very good post.
If I try to summarize it, it has two elements (1) the works of religious abuse and (2)the works of Satan, both, very real and very devestating, but not to everyone.
The affects these two components have had upon people have always existed, and they will continue to exist.
So how should we deal these affects within our own domain of life? Firstly, recognize three things:
(1) God does exist.
(2) Satan does exist.
(3) There is a battle for our mind going between us and Satan.
With these in mind, we make choices and fight the good fight, with the backing of the God's Holy Spirit, as we become saved.
CELTIC, I, with all my heart, as I can, do understand your reasoning about the abuse of religion upon trusting naive people and children. I understand full-well how Satan goes to church and sits beside us; how he lives in our homes through abusive relatives and other ways.
I understand how Satan is presented as powerful and something to be feared. This is only ignorance, and Satan make full use of it. Satan is a defeated foe because of the freedom Christ has given to Christians.
Christians have power over the demons even. See Luke 10:19. People are helped all the time who are bothered and abused by unclean spirits.
So, I would seek to share one thing with you: defining the Body Of Christ, which exists not in churches or organizations, but within people who know the fruits of the spirits within their own hearts, they paramountly having a willingness to love above all things.
They know and can explain the workings of the Holy Spirit within them. They understand about the Suit-Of-Armor that they wear.
They also sit beside us in churches when we can find them, willing to nurture and share.
After I disfellowshipped the WT, I then partook to re-identify my vocabulary and my major expressions of faith, without either through the spectacles of the WT or the church at large. The battle for my mind was on, and I was going to keep my mind, this time. You see Celtic, I didn’t quit, as so many have.. On my team, I had me, the Bible, and God for whom I was searching, with a bit more wisdom than 31 years ago.
VIOLET ANAI, I know exactly what you are talking about. I know exactly the affects of direct encounters with demonic forces. I know their organizational structures. I know their intents, operations, and behaviors. I know that Satan is real and operates, just as I know that I breathe.
Violet, I also know that the JW’s are a cult, among many things, simply because they do not represent true Christianity, although they appear to be, as an angel of light so-to-speak.
To realize this one must know the Bible from a perspective provided by God’s grace and his Holy Spirit. People and Christians who don’t know their Christians position in Christ are the most susceptable to cult inculcating and mind control.
The JW’s have brought you to the WT, not to Christ. They become your mediator instead of Christ.I have one thing about who and what a Christians becomes in Christ, that if I could email it to you and you read and looked up the scriptures, and realized that these scriptures applied to you personally; you would realize that you have no compatibility with the WT.
The closer you apply who you are to Christ, the more you will realize that the WT is not from God, but rather from man.
It is not the talk of Satan that is wrong, but rather the way it is explained or used.
Satan is a defeated foe. "This" is the position from which a Christian operates.
If he/she is afraid, it is due to lack of knowledge and understanding.
