One cancer cell, if left untreated, will spread throughout the surrounding tissue, destroying its host as it increases in size and destructive power. If left alone, cancer will continue to grow until it eventually affects the host’s death. What is true in the physical realm is also true in the spiritual realm. In a previous series I brought out the fact that, in the biological realm, “we are what we eat.” It is a scientific fact that the human body reproduces itself every seven years. The intake of food allows this to happen. If one does not eat, one stops reproducing cells and dies. Like riding a bicycle requires motion, physical existence requires the reproduction of the stuff the physical body is made of, and on a continuous basis. If one does not eat well, the body that is reproduced will not be healthy. The body reflects what is taken into it. The key is to eat, eat plenty and well.

Not surprisingly, what is true on the physical level is also true on the spiritual level. We are what we consume spiritually. “As a man thinks in his heart (mind), so he is” (Prov. 23:7). We become mentally what we mentally consume. If we continually consume the Holy Bible we become the word of God in human form, as was Jesus of Nazareth–“the Word made flesh” (Jn. 1:1-4,14). Being a man like all other men, He did not become the Word of God in human form by fiat (as a gift at conception or birth). He became God’s Word in the flesh by consuming God’s Word in the mind. He reflected outwardly what He consumed inwardly. How do we know this? In Isaiah 7:14-17 the prophet warns Israel that before the child Who would be birthed by a virgin LEARNED to discern between good and evil, God’s chosen people would have defied Him, divided into two parts and one part–called Ephraim (the northern tribes living in Samaria)–would have been overrun, defeated, enslaved and scattered throughout the known world. Why? Because of what they allowed into their minds–rebellion against the Lord. Note that “the child” (Jesus) would have to LEARN right from wrong. If Jesus had to learn this, so do we. And as was the case with Jesus, we must learn to overcome Satan’s temptations to rebel against God. Note in Revelation 3:21 that in order to sit with Him on his throne in the eternal and earthly paradise known as the Kingdom of God, one must “… overcome even as I overcame, and (therefore earn the right to) sit down beside My Father (Who is) on His throne.” Jesus had to earn His way into God’s kingdom through obedience. This is brought out when He said: “IF you (disciples) keep My commandment you will abide in My love, EVEN AS I HAVE KEPT MY FATHER’S COMMANDMENTS AND (THEREFORE) ABIDE IN HS LOVE” (Jn. 15:10). If Jesus had sinned we would not have a Savior and God would have to spend eternity alone. If we expect to be with Him in the future we must “walk as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6). He can’t make it any more clear than that.

Let us not be deceived by Satan’s false prophets: JESUS DID NOT TAKE THE GUILT FOR OUR PAST SINS “ONCE FOR ALL,” ONLY TO HAVE TO DO SO TIME AND TIME AGAIN. This is the lie you hear every sun god worship day in his citadels of sin. Jesus died once so that we can receive the Holy Spirit which enables us to “OVERCOME (SATAN) EVEN AS I HAVE OVERCOME (HIM).” Still not convinced? In Hebrews 6:6 we are told that once we have been forgiven of all PAST sins (been justified–Rom. 3:25), with each following sin WE OURSELVES “crucify Christ afresh (again).” Note that it is each of us individually who spiritually nail Him to the cross with each subsequent sin.

Not so, says the “angel of light’s” “ministers of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:13-15) who contend that all one needs do is repent for each sin. A Catholic girlfriend of my daughter told her after coming out of mass: “Well, I’m good for another week,” meaning that after a week of sinning her priest would pray her fresh sins away. Then the process would be repeated. A college Protestant friend told me that he did not bother to repent after each sin, that he “saved them up” and repented of them en masse. He was a closet Catholic. A bastion of the church stated that “God doesn’t like sin, but He won’t do anything about it.” Now you know why I call the Institutional (Catholic/Protestant) Church Satan’s “citadel of sin.” And now you know why God commands that you “Come out of her; touch not that unclean thing.” Then (and only then), He tells us, He will be our God and we will be His people (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1).

Adam and Eve set the standard for God-rejection that continued to be embraced by billions of salvation seekers. Only a “few” of their descendants have resisted Satan’s siren call to rebel against their Creator. Only a “few” will “find” His strait gate, enter it and obey His “voice”–His spoken and recorded will which He presented to Israel in stone from atop Mount Sinai (Exo. 19:5). Israel wasted no time in rejecting those precious Words. Nothing has changed. Those whom God refers to as “My people who are called by My name” continue to rebel against Him by refusing to consume His Word and, as a result, fail to become “holy as He is holy” and become a “spiritual generation,” a holy priesthood,” a “holy nation,” a peculiar people” who “show forth the praises of Him Who called them out of darkness and into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 1:15,16; 2:5,9). Those, and only those who become such through obedience will sit with Christ on His throne in the Kingdom of God. So said Jesus in Revelation 3:21. Satan tries continually to lure us away from entering God’s strait (strict) gate and from walking His narrow (obedient) way. So far he has been incredibly successful.

Satan takes control of the minds of the masses through television, the internet, movies, books, magazines, etc. As noted earlier, the eye is the source of most of what we allow into our minds/hearts where it remains and does its work, whether for good or for evil. Viewing the sights and hearing the sounds of Satan’s offerings in the form of the above-mentioned external sources (t.v., internet, etc.) are consulted more than God’s Biblical offerings at a rate of thousands to one. On a daily basis, Satan’s offerings are consumed for four to six hours on average while God is fortunate to get 30 minutes, of churchman’s time, and I am being generous. I know religious zealots who do not spend 30 minutes a week in God’s Word. In comparison to the physical realm, this is like eating ten pounds of sugar and one ounce of lean beef each day while claiming to be healthy.

Sin, if not totally eliminated from the human mind/heart, will claim more and more territory until it saturates its host and becomes his/her master status. Like leaven, a little bit “punches above its weight.” So-called “sinners saved by grace” unwittingly admit to having attained “leavened and saved” status and proudly proclaimed that fact to the world. I had a preacher identify herself as such to my face, and did so with pride and a big smile. She “knew” that Jesus died so that she could sin and get away with it. Read The Message of the Cross. Key word–Message. Warning: Christ’s message is the exact opposite of what you have been told by His enemies.

In Isaiah 5:20 the Lord warns that His enemies, posing as His followers, would call good evil and evil good. This would be accomplished through the mental gymnastics of men who, rather than rely upon God’s unchanging Word, used their own powers of reason to determine the right path to take in each situation. Hundreds of men have done so and have developed large followings which today are known as denominations (aka cults). Each cult has its own set of reasonings, which are in reality corrections to what God caused to be recorded and preserved for thousands of years. The Edenic Serpent convinced Eve that man, not God, knows what is best. Relative to what we hear coming from his servants, a common expression should always be remembered: “BUYER BEWARE.” Satan is history’s most effective salesman. With that in mind, let us remember another expression: “WE GET WHAT WE PAY FOR.” To “belong to the church” costs nothing in terms of human relationships. But Jesus said that belonging to His church requires us to “count the cost” of discipleship and agree to pay it until the end of our lives (Mat. 10:22), and in some cases, with our lives. Only those who pay that cost will receive salvation upon His return. L.J.