I have a good friend that asked me how a person can tell if someone is perfect or not. I thought it was a good question and maybe some others might wonder about this also. So I am sending on my response to my friend to all that might be interested.
“How can you identify when someone is perfect?” Good question. Most would not ask this question, because either they think of this as judging someone, or they don’t believe anyone can do this except God, or they are really fearful of knowing the answer.
To think and act perfect before God, a person must live totally by unselfish love. When a person lives by the love of God, they will automatically be holy and righteous. But the terms “unselfish love, holy, and righteous” can be defined in many ways other than by their true godly meanings. So how does perfection really look in a true born-again believer?
The perfected (sanctified/saint/born-again) believer:
Being perfect is when a person loves God with all their heart, soul, mind, body, and strength: Mark 12:30 - Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. NIV Some might say “I do the second greatest commandment, which is: Mark 12:31 - The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.’ NIV If I do this second commandment, doesn’t that prove I love God by loving others?” The answer is NO. There are probably many people that think they love God by trying to please and love others the way they would want to be loved, but the way a selfish person wants to be loved is not the way God loves us or the way we need to love God. If anyone switches these two commandments around to be like: Love your neighbor with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love the Lord God as yourself. This is how some people might see how to love God, or what they might end up doing sub-conscientiously. People can easily have some form of a relationship with a real physical person, but how do they have a relationship with a God they can’t see or touch. So people resort to trying to love people instead of God. What does all this have to do with being perfect? Unless we FIRST love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; we cannot truly love others as God loves. If we try to love people without having God as our first love, then we will try to please others instead of giving them what they need. When we love others perfectly, we will help them with what they need and not necessarily with what they want. God’s perfect love doesn’t give people what they want, but instead gives them what they need. A perfect person will be willing to give the other person what they need, even when it might cost their relationship; whether the relationship be a spouse, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, or friend.
A perfect person loves God above everyone and anything else. He/she will please their Father in heaven first, even if that love for God causes problems with others being displeased with them. If anyone is more concerned about pleasing someone else more than God, then their love is not perfect. Anytime anyone loves anything of this world, including people, more than God, then that worldly love will make them desire to please what they love instead of God. God’s perfect love is not about pleasing people, but doing what is best for His glory and their eternity. So a perfect person will have God first in their life, then people second, and then things and money after that.
Jesus tells us how to be perfect:
Matt 19:21 - Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." NIV
To understand God’s priorities of how to be perfect, we must read the sections of the verse above in reverse order. Our first priority is to follow Jesus Christ – “come, follow me.” Our second priority is to take care of people – “give to the poor.” Our last priority in life is to acquire wealth – “sell your possessions.” For most of us, having wealth will get in the way of following Christ. Also for most of us, getting to attached to un-perfected people will get in the way of following Christ – when we end up loving other people more than God.
A perfect person will not sin against God’s will. If any person is knowingly sinning against the good and right will of God, then they are not perfect. For they love someone or something else more than God. Their love for themselves, others, or things are really their God. God commands: Ex 20:3 - You shall have no other gods before me. NIV
A perfect person will not worship anything or anyone else other than God. A lot of people put other people up on a pedestal and worship them as higher than other men. One man is no better than any other man or women. The only one good is God. Any man/women can only be considered good if God is perfectly controlling their life. It is not the man/women that has any good value of their own, but only the good of God living in them. To be perfect, a person must consider themselves worth nothing and God worth everything.
A perfect person will always love what God loves and hate what God hates. They will hate evil (selfishness) and always love what is good and perfect. They will hate the sin of a person, but love the sinful person.
A perfect person will have no damming anger for another, but will always return good for evil.
A perfect person will always value the person and not the sex of the other person. Their sexual tendencies will always be overridden by the value they place on the other person. The pure love that a perfect person has, will always value the other person over their own sexual desires.
A perfect person will value other people and the other person’s possessions and not envy what the other person has. If anyone envies other peoples possessions, then they still are selfish and not perfect. The only thing a perfect person needs or wants is God Himself.
A perfect person never steals. Anyone that steals, even for food to eat, is not depending on God for all their needs. God is all we need and He will supply all our needs.
A perfect person never lies. Not even a little white lie. Perfection has nothing to hide. Anyone that lies is still of the devil’s spirit.
A perfect person fears nothing, for he/she knows God is in control of all things. If anyone fears anything, then they have not been made perfect yet. 1 John 4:18 - There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. NIV We are called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, but after fully being made perfect by the fullness of God’s love, there is no longer any need to fear. A perfect person no longer has to fear God, because they have been made perfectly in Christ’s image (love) and have become one in Spirit with God. If a person is one in Spirit with God, then fear is gone. A person that is one with God cannot fear the perfect love that now fills every part of his/her heart and soul. There is no selfish left and Satan cannot touch him/her any longer because there is no selfishness left for the devil to tempt.
A perfect person always has the choice to return to sin, but since all selfishness has been defeated by God’s love, sin has no power over a perfected person.
A perfect person is a brother of Jesus Christ and is no longer under the priesthood of Christ. The priesthood of Christ is only for the sanctification process to enable a person to become perfect. During the perfection process, Christ is our High Priest, but after perfection Christ becomes our brother instead. A perfect person has the same Spirit of Christ and the spirit of the devil (selfishness) is gone.
Michael W Reid
Showing posts with label selflessness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label selflessness. Show all posts
Monday, April 18, 2011
Monday, February 15, 2010
How Stupid Have We Become
God’s Word says the world is blind to His truth. It has been made very clear to me that it is our selfishness that makes us blind (spiritually blind). There are so many people that have become very smart in worldly temporal things, but have in turn become so very dumb to the real eternal truths of God. It is our own selfishness that ends up making us stupid towards anything eternal and/or any things of real value. In essence, we don’t understand God’s truth, because our selfishness won’t let us accept His truth. God’s truth is really very simple to understand, but because we want to preserve our selfishness, we won’t accept it. If people were to accept and understand God’s truth for what it says, everyone would realize how devastating their current circumstances really are. We would realize who God is, and see for ourselves who we really are. By comparing God to ourselves, we would realize that we are nowhere close to being worthy of God and His kingdom, but rather equal to the dust of the earth. This is what His Word is supposed to do. If we humble ourselves to what His Word says when we realize we are without Him in us, then we will seek His righteousness instead of our own, but this is not what is happening. We have become proud and our selfishness will not allow us to understand God’s Word as truth anymore. We have changed His truth to suit our own evil desires. We have made truth a relative item so that we can change it when ever and to what ever we want so that we can feel good about ourselves.
So, how stupid has our selfishness made us? We have become so dumb down by the devil’s lies (the lies our selfishness gladly accepts as truth) that we don’t even have common sense anymore. What is going on in most of the churches of this world is mind boggling to any sane person. Even people that don’t go to church can see that there is something really wrong with the churches. And we wonder why people don’t come to church, or keep coming to church. They see the hypocrisy between what they already know about goodness and what the church people actually do.
Somehow the churches now believe that a Christian is a sinner and always will be a sinner. I hear this directly from most church goers and even most of the pastors. If this is the case, what makes the churched people any different then the un-churched people? If the un-churched (worldly) people are mostly sinners and the churched people are mostly sinners, what’s the difference and how does this glorify God. If we are to believe that once a sinner, then always a sinner, then what hope does a sinner ever have to be freed from their sins and to be freed from the consequences of those sins? Now many churched people will say they are forgiven for their sins and are going to heaven. Have we become so blind and lost all common sense to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross so that sinners can be comforted in their sins and that all forgiven sinners can now go to heaven even though they still have a sinful spirit. How ridiculous is this kind of thinking. This kind of thinking has resulted in most churches becoming a sinner’s support group instead of churches that are filled with saints. Also, heaven is where no sin is allowed, so how stupid can we be to think that God would let sinners that are still full of evil in their spirit to enter His perfect sinless domain. People seem to think that the selfish spirit of a person is only in the physical flesh, so they think that when they are separated from the flesh of the body that they will be pure, selfless, loving, righteous, and perfect like God. Again, they are only being fooled by the drinking in of the devil’s lies. It is true that the physical flesh tempts our souls (spirit), but it is our selfish spirit (selfish soul) that takes up on the temptations of the body. Our spirit is not contained within the flesh, but our spirit is made up of our spiritual heart and soul. It is our heart and soul (our spirit) that continues on into eternity. It is only the ones without any selfishness left in their heart and soul that will enter heaven. If a person is full of God’s selfless love, then they are of God’s Spirit, but if anyone still has selfishness in their soul, then they are still of the devil.
So what is the bottom line? Are we going to keep on thinking that Christ paid the cost for all our sins so that we can feel comforted while we keep on sinning, or does God have a bigger plan that most are not willing to accept? Anyone that has not yet been totally blinded and made totally stupid by the devil’s lies will come to the correct answer. Anyone with any common sense left will know that Christ would not have come and died on the cross just to comfort people in their sins and then allow those sinners into His pristine heaven.
Christ came to pay for the sins of the whole world so that anyone in the world could enter into a relationship with Him so that He could be their very own High Priest. Having our sins paid for by Christ does not give us a key to heaven, but having our sins paid for by Christ does allow us to have a relationship with Him. It is through this relationship with Christ as our High Priest that we can grow into a person like Christ. What Christ did on the cross for us allows Him to interact with our evil/selfish spirit to make us into a pure, blameless, and selfless loving spirit. This purification (sanctification) process can only be completed in this life while we are still living in the flesh, but this sanctification process cannot be completed in anyone that is unwilling to let their selfishness die. Sadly we already know by God’s Word, that most will not be able to let their selfishness die in order to let Christ’s life live in them, but God has given us all the same choice. For the ones that strive to have God’s goodness and righteousness in their life, those people will be rewarded with what they have strived for. But for the ones that want to hold on to their selfishness, it is those people that will receive the consequences of that evil they so dearly held so tight to.
By having Christ as our High Priest, we have been given all the power of God’s grace to overcome any and all sin, but most have rejected this power of God’s Spirit in order to keep their own evil selfishness. Most have decided to keep evil in their life even though Christ has made available to them the power to rid themselves of all unrighteousness. Out of the mouths of most church going people you will hear that they agree that God is an all powerful God, but in the same breath they will say that God cannot rid anyone of their selfishness. In a way they are right, God will not rid a person of their sinfulness as long as they want to hold on to it. In John 5:2-9 we see a man waiting for a chance to be healed and sitting by the pool of Bethesda and Jesus asks him "Do you want to get well?" Jesus asked this of the man because Jesus is unwilling to heal anyone that does not want to be healed of their iniquities. So, God has the power and wants to rid us of all our evil/selfish spirit, but it is because of our own selfishness that we will not let go of the evil. If anyone is willing and wanting to die to all their selfishness, then God will rid them of all unrighteousness (all evil) and fill us with His righteousness, which is His pure unselfish love.
It is because of the selfishness of people that people have changed God’s truth to a different truth, to the truths of human selfish reasoning. We have become so blinded to God’s real truth that we now think a sinner is a Christian. This is actually blasphemy to the true meaning of the Christian name and also degrades Christ down to being a sinner. A Christian is a person that has been made Christ like and lives by the Spirit of Christ that is inside him/her. To say a Christian is a sinner is the same as saying Christ is also a sinner, because a Christian is living by the Spirit of Christ alone. Some will say that a Christian has both the full Spirit of Christ and also the spirit of the devil (selfishness) inside them, but don’t believe them, this is a lie of the devil and a selfish person believes this because they want to believe it. If anyone has not killed their selfishness by the power of God’s grace that was made available though the cross, then they are still of the devil and cannot be called a Christ like person. A Christian does not live by selfishness any longer, but only by the love/Spirit of God that has been given to everyone that has truly been born of God.
Michael W Reid
So, how stupid has our selfishness made us? We have become so dumb down by the devil’s lies (the lies our selfishness gladly accepts as truth) that we don’t even have common sense anymore. What is going on in most of the churches of this world is mind boggling to any sane person. Even people that don’t go to church can see that there is something really wrong with the churches. And we wonder why people don’t come to church, or keep coming to church. They see the hypocrisy between what they already know about goodness and what the church people actually do.
Somehow the churches now believe that a Christian is a sinner and always will be a sinner. I hear this directly from most church goers and even most of the pastors. If this is the case, what makes the churched people any different then the un-churched people? If the un-churched (worldly) people are mostly sinners and the churched people are mostly sinners, what’s the difference and how does this glorify God. If we are to believe that once a sinner, then always a sinner, then what hope does a sinner ever have to be freed from their sins and to be freed from the consequences of those sins? Now many churched people will say they are forgiven for their sins and are going to heaven. Have we become so blind and lost all common sense to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross so that sinners can be comforted in their sins and that all forgiven sinners can now go to heaven even though they still have a sinful spirit. How ridiculous is this kind of thinking. This kind of thinking has resulted in most churches becoming a sinner’s support group instead of churches that are filled with saints. Also, heaven is where no sin is allowed, so how stupid can we be to think that God would let sinners that are still full of evil in their spirit to enter His perfect sinless domain. People seem to think that the selfish spirit of a person is only in the physical flesh, so they think that when they are separated from the flesh of the body that they will be pure, selfless, loving, righteous, and perfect like God. Again, they are only being fooled by the drinking in of the devil’s lies. It is true that the physical flesh tempts our souls (spirit), but it is our selfish spirit (selfish soul) that takes up on the temptations of the body. Our spirit is not contained within the flesh, but our spirit is made up of our spiritual heart and soul. It is our heart and soul (our spirit) that continues on into eternity. It is only the ones without any selfishness left in their heart and soul that will enter heaven. If a person is full of God’s selfless love, then they are of God’s Spirit, but if anyone still has selfishness in their soul, then they are still of the devil.
So what is the bottom line? Are we going to keep on thinking that Christ paid the cost for all our sins so that we can feel comforted while we keep on sinning, or does God have a bigger plan that most are not willing to accept? Anyone that has not yet been totally blinded and made totally stupid by the devil’s lies will come to the correct answer. Anyone with any common sense left will know that Christ would not have come and died on the cross just to comfort people in their sins and then allow those sinners into His pristine heaven.
Christ came to pay for the sins of the whole world so that anyone in the world could enter into a relationship with Him so that He could be their very own High Priest. Having our sins paid for by Christ does not give us a key to heaven, but having our sins paid for by Christ does allow us to have a relationship with Him. It is through this relationship with Christ as our High Priest that we can grow into a person like Christ. What Christ did on the cross for us allows Him to interact with our evil/selfish spirit to make us into a pure, blameless, and selfless loving spirit. This purification (sanctification) process can only be completed in this life while we are still living in the flesh, but this sanctification process cannot be completed in anyone that is unwilling to let their selfishness die. Sadly we already know by God’s Word, that most will not be able to let their selfishness die in order to let Christ’s life live in them, but God has given us all the same choice. For the ones that strive to have God’s goodness and righteousness in their life, those people will be rewarded with what they have strived for. But for the ones that want to hold on to their selfishness, it is those people that will receive the consequences of that evil they so dearly held so tight to.
By having Christ as our High Priest, we have been given all the power of God’s grace to overcome any and all sin, but most have rejected this power of God’s Spirit in order to keep their own evil selfishness. Most have decided to keep evil in their life even though Christ has made available to them the power to rid themselves of all unrighteousness. Out of the mouths of most church going people you will hear that they agree that God is an all powerful God, but in the same breath they will say that God cannot rid anyone of their selfishness. In a way they are right, God will not rid a person of their sinfulness as long as they want to hold on to it. In John 5:2-9 we see a man waiting for a chance to be healed and sitting by the pool of Bethesda and Jesus asks him "Do you want to get well?" Jesus asked this of the man because Jesus is unwilling to heal anyone that does not want to be healed of their iniquities. So, God has the power and wants to rid us of all our evil/selfish spirit, but it is because of our own selfishness that we will not let go of the evil. If anyone is willing and wanting to die to all their selfishness, then God will rid them of all unrighteousness (all evil) and fill us with His righteousness, which is His pure unselfish love.
It is because of the selfishness of people that people have changed God’s truth to a different truth, to the truths of human selfish reasoning. We have become so blinded to God’s real truth that we now think a sinner is a Christian. This is actually blasphemy to the true meaning of the Christian name and also degrades Christ down to being a sinner. A Christian is a person that has been made Christ like and lives by the Spirit of Christ that is inside him/her. To say a Christian is a sinner is the same as saying Christ is also a sinner, because a Christian is living by the Spirit of Christ alone. Some will say that a Christian has both the full Spirit of Christ and also the spirit of the devil (selfishness) inside them, but don’t believe them, this is a lie of the devil and a selfish person believes this because they want to believe it. If anyone has not killed their selfishness by the power of God’s grace that was made available though the cross, then they are still of the devil and cannot be called a Christ like person. A Christian does not live by selfishness any longer, but only by the love/Spirit of God that has been given to everyone that has truly been born of God.
Michael W Reid
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Fighting This War
As we see almost everything going in the wrong direction – the way of evil. As we see our country being taken over by socialist ideals. As we see millions of babies aborted each year. As we see a lot of our churches go the way of the world. As we see God, His Word and His morals being stripped from our nation. As we see everything being viewed as relative with no truth as a base. As they teach us that there are no consequences for sin – because they teach there is no sin. How do we fight this war?
The first thing we must understand is that this is a SPIRITUAL war. This is not republicans against democrats. This is not a political war. This is a spiritual war against Christianity (against Christ). This is a spiritual war against God. The big question is what part are we playing in this war? What side are we on? If everyone that called themselves a “Christian” was actually acting out true Christian beliefs, we would not be in this mess. The fact is “Christians” have stopped being Christians.
The best way to fight this war is realize that the church is very sick, “Christians” must repent and turn back to God’s ways. This is a war on what we believe. Are we going to go along with the lies that have infiltrated our lives or are we going to start believing again in God’s scriptures as the infallible truth that holds and preserves everything that is good. Without God’s truth and love in action nothing will get better, it will only get a lot worse.
Every person acts on what they believe. The ones spreading evil (selfishness and pride) are only acting on what they believe. The evil person really believes they are acting out what is right, for they are reasoning it out as good in their own mind. We cannot try to make an evil person do good when what they are currently doing what is right in their own mind. On the other side of the coin, a true Christian also acts on what they believe. An evil person cannot make a true Christian do evil when what they are currently doing is good and right in their own mind. A Christian knows what is good and protects that goodness for the sake of God and others.
So what do you believe? What part are you going to play in these war games? Are you going to be a person that is led by God’s Spirit and rely on God’s Word alone or are you walking the fence of good and evil? We are getting to a point in time when no one will be able to straddle the fence. Either you will want and choose evil or you will want only God’s goodness and love. This is what God’s intentions are. If you are a Christian, then you will need to live a Christ like life and be a bright shinning star to the world. If you want to hold on to your selfish ways then accept that you are not a Christian until you want to live by God’s love.
We have to stop being so politically correct. We cannot call a person a Christian if he/she is not striving to follow in Christ’s foot steps. We cannot call a person a Christian just to make them feel good or not hurt their feelings. If we do this we are only keeping the lies of the devil going and allowing that spiritual sick person to think they are not sick. A person has to realize they are sick before they want to get better.
One of the most damaging symptoms hurting the growth of the church is people that say they are Christians, but act like the world. No one wants to join a religion that is filled with hypocrites. People are looking for the real thing and we must be true Christians and show them that true light. This is how we fight this war. This is a spiritual war and it is time we fight in the Spirit (God’s Spirit). Are you ready to die to your spiritual selfishness and put on God’s Spirit? If yes, then you must repent and kill your selfishness so that God can fill you with His Spirit. There is no other way to become a true Christian. It is through our acting out our faith through our obedience that will bring God into our life. If we say we have faith, but are unwilling to act it out through our obedience, then we have no faith. If we cannot act on what we say we believe, then we really don’t believe what we say we believe. Let’s stop fooling ourselves and stop trying to fool everyone around us. Let us take a good look at our selves. Are we living and fighting this spiritual war for God’s glory or are we wimpy in our beliefs and still living for ourselves?
There is only one way to fight this war against evil, and that is showing and proclaiming God’s love and light to this sick world. It is not by making more laws to try to make evil people do good. It is by evil people turning good. This war is not fought with guns, ships, and planes, but by spiritual good overcoming spiritual evil. Our tools for war are prayer, faith, obedience, love, and then more love. We cannot afford to be hypocrites, for it is too costly to God, us, and the world.
There will be consequences for the evil the human race has already done, but through the ashes there will arise the faithful ones and the ones they bring along with them.
The first thing we must understand is that this is a SPIRITUAL war. This is not republicans against democrats. This is not a political war. This is a spiritual war against Christianity (against Christ). This is a spiritual war against God. The big question is what part are we playing in this war? What side are we on? If everyone that called themselves a “Christian” was actually acting out true Christian beliefs, we would not be in this mess. The fact is “Christians” have stopped being Christians.
The best way to fight this war is realize that the church is very sick, “Christians” must repent and turn back to God’s ways. This is a war on what we believe. Are we going to go along with the lies that have infiltrated our lives or are we going to start believing again in God’s scriptures as the infallible truth that holds and preserves everything that is good. Without God’s truth and love in action nothing will get better, it will only get a lot worse.
Every person acts on what they believe. The ones spreading evil (selfishness and pride) are only acting on what they believe. The evil person really believes they are acting out what is right, for they are reasoning it out as good in their own mind. We cannot try to make an evil person do good when what they are currently doing what is right in their own mind. On the other side of the coin, a true Christian also acts on what they believe. An evil person cannot make a true Christian do evil when what they are currently doing is good and right in their own mind. A Christian knows what is good and protects that goodness for the sake of God and others.
So what do you believe? What part are you going to play in these war games? Are you going to be a person that is led by God’s Spirit and rely on God’s Word alone or are you walking the fence of good and evil? We are getting to a point in time when no one will be able to straddle the fence. Either you will want and choose evil or you will want only God’s goodness and love. This is what God’s intentions are. If you are a Christian, then you will need to live a Christ like life and be a bright shinning star to the world. If you want to hold on to your selfish ways then accept that you are not a Christian until you want to live by God’s love.
We have to stop being so politically correct. We cannot call a person a Christian if he/she is not striving to follow in Christ’s foot steps. We cannot call a person a Christian just to make them feel good or not hurt their feelings. If we do this we are only keeping the lies of the devil going and allowing that spiritual sick person to think they are not sick. A person has to realize they are sick before they want to get better.
One of the most damaging symptoms hurting the growth of the church is people that say they are Christians, but act like the world. No one wants to join a religion that is filled with hypocrites. People are looking for the real thing and we must be true Christians and show them that true light. This is how we fight this war. This is a spiritual war and it is time we fight in the Spirit (God’s Spirit). Are you ready to die to your spiritual selfishness and put on God’s Spirit? If yes, then you must repent and kill your selfishness so that God can fill you with His Spirit. There is no other way to become a true Christian. It is through our acting out our faith through our obedience that will bring God into our life. If we say we have faith, but are unwilling to act it out through our obedience, then we have no faith. If we cannot act on what we say we believe, then we really don’t believe what we say we believe. Let’s stop fooling ourselves and stop trying to fool everyone around us. Let us take a good look at our selves. Are we living and fighting this spiritual war for God’s glory or are we wimpy in our beliefs and still living for ourselves?
There is only one way to fight this war against evil, and that is showing and proclaiming God’s love and light to this sick world. It is not by making more laws to try to make evil people do good. It is by evil people turning good. This war is not fought with guns, ships, and planes, but by spiritual good overcoming spiritual evil. Our tools for war are prayer, faith, obedience, love, and then more love. We cannot afford to be hypocrites, for it is too costly to God, us, and the world.
There will be consequences for the evil the human race has already done, but through the ashes there will arise the faithful ones and the ones they bring along with them.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
God Will Not Be Mocked - Message 3
Gal 6:7 - Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.
The mark of the beast revealed
As always I want to start out emphasizing how God wants His creation to see the full depth of His love for us, but since most people (including most believers) are so emerged in loving themselves, they can’t see or even understand God’s agape love that He has for us. These people are still filled and consumed by their own selfishness and that is the subject of this message.
God’s Word teaches us that there will be a time when most people will be deceived and will receive the mark of the beast, which is “666” on their hand and/or forehead. I want to inform you that we are and have been living in that time already. Most people have already received this mark of the beast and don’t even realize it.
In order to understand this mark of the beast and what it actually is, we must first come to a basic understanding of the “Things of God” and the “things of the devil”. These “Things of God” are in a specific order (ordered by God) and are numbered and always have to be used when we try to figure out all of the numbers in the symbolic scriptures of God’s Word. I would like to share more about the fuller meanings of God’s number system (the Things of God), but for now we are only going to concentrate on one “Thing of God” which is SELFLESSNESS and “one thing of the devil” which is SELFISHNESS. Below are the “Things of God” and the devils corresponding opposites which are the “things of the devil”.
Things of God
#1 – Longsuffering (patient)
#2 – Mercy (leniency or compassion)
#3 – Contentment (satisfied)
#4 – Humility (willing to be humbled)
#5 – Gentleness (kindness to others)
#6 - Selflessness (thinking of others first)
#7 – Peace (state of harmony)
#8 – Goodness (moral excellence)
#9 – Joy (great delight and rejoicing)
#10 – Forbearance (self control thru faith)
#11 – Hope (hope of winning thru grace)
#12 – Love (Perfection of all Things)
Things of the devil
#1 – Instant gratification
#2 – No leniency or compassion
#3 – Never satisfied
#4 – Prideful (unwilling to be humbled)
#5 – No kindness shown to others
#6 – Selfishness (thinking of self only)
#7 – No harmony with self or others
#8 – Totally unmoral values
#9 – Draining of any delight or rejoice
#10 – No faith or control over one’s self
#11 – No hope of winning or finishing
#12 – Hate of all good things
Notice above that #6 in the “Things of God” represents “Selflessness” and #6 in the “things of the devil” represents “Selfishness”. So when we talk about the beast’s mark, we are then talking in the realm of the “things of the devil”, since the beast represents the evil or the devils spiritual realm. We can now understand from this that the number “666” represents the forms (or realms) of selfishness since all the numbers in the number of the beast contain all 6’s. But how do these numbers go together or add up?
To understand how these three 6’s combine or go together we must now look at the makeup of the spiritual realm of God and the corresponding opposite spiritual realm of the devil. Below are the two spiritual realms.
God’s spiritual realm
Blood – Physical flesh realm
Water – Loving heart of man
Spirit - Heavenly spirit in man
Glory – Kingdom of God
The mark of the beast revealed
As always I want to start out emphasizing how God wants His creation to see the full depth of His love for us, but since most people (including most believers) are so emerged in loving themselves, they can’t see or even understand God’s agape love that He has for us. These people are still filled and consumed by their own selfishness and that is the subject of this message.
God’s Word teaches us that there will be a time when most people will be deceived and will receive the mark of the beast, which is “666” on their hand and/or forehead. I want to inform you that we are and have been living in that time already. Most people have already received this mark of the beast and don’t even realize it.
In order to understand this mark of the beast and what it actually is, we must first come to a basic understanding of the “Things of God” and the “things of the devil”. These “Things of God” are in a specific order (ordered by God) and are numbered and always have to be used when we try to figure out all of the numbers in the symbolic scriptures of God’s Word. I would like to share more about the fuller meanings of God’s number system (the Things of God), but for now we are only going to concentrate on one “Thing of God” which is SELFLESSNESS and “one thing of the devil” which is SELFISHNESS. Below are the “Things of God” and the devils corresponding opposites which are the “things of the devil”.
Things of God
#1 – Longsuffering (patient)
#2 – Mercy (leniency or compassion)
#3 – Contentment (satisfied)
#4 – Humility (willing to be humbled)
#5 – Gentleness (kindness to others)
#6 - Selflessness (thinking of others first)
#7 – Peace (state of harmony)
#8 – Goodness (moral excellence)
#9 – Joy (great delight and rejoicing)
#10 – Forbearance (self control thru faith)
#11 – Hope (hope of winning thru grace)
#12 – Love (Perfection of all Things)
Things of the devil
#1 – Instant gratification
#2 – No leniency or compassion
#3 – Never satisfied
#4 – Prideful (unwilling to be humbled)
#5 – No kindness shown to others
#6 – Selfishness (thinking of self only)
#7 – No harmony with self or others
#8 – Totally unmoral values
#9 – Draining of any delight or rejoice
#10 – No faith or control over one’s self
#11 – No hope of winning or finishing
#12 – Hate of all good things
Notice above that #6 in the “Things of God” represents “Selflessness” and #6 in the “things of the devil” represents “Selfishness”. So when we talk about the beast’s mark, we are then talking in the realm of the “things of the devil”, since the beast represents the evil or the devils spiritual realm. We can now understand from this that the number “666” represents the forms (or realms) of selfishness since all the numbers in the number of the beast contain all 6’s. But how do these numbers go together or add up?
To understand how these three 6’s combine or go together we must now look at the makeup of the spiritual realm of God and the corresponding opposite spiritual realm of the devil. Below are the two spiritual realms.
God’s spiritual realm
Blood – Physical flesh realm
Water – Loving heart of man
Spirit - Heavenly spirit in man
Glory – Kingdom of God
devil's spiritual realm
Blood – Physical flesh realm
Water – Evil heart of man
Spirit – Evil spirit in man
Babylon – devil’s kingdom
You will notice from the above listings that God’s spiritual kingdom and the devil’s spiritual kingdom both contain the “Blood – Physical flesh realm”. This is where these two spiritual realms meet. These two spiritual realms meet in the fleshly realm which is why the spiritual warfare is fought out beginning within the flesh realm. After or underneath the “Blood – Physical flesh realm”, you will notice that these other spiritual realms are opposites of each other when you compare God’s spiritual realms with the devil’s spiritual realms.
Number place holder
Blood – x1 (ones place)
Water – x10 (tens place)
Spirit – x100 (hundreds place)
Glory/Babylon – x1000 (thousands place)
Now I want you to take a close look at the number place holder column. Each one of these opposing spiritual realms has a corresponding number place holder for God’s spiritual numbering system. For example: the “Water” realm of both opposing spiritual realms share the number place holder of “x10 (the tens place holder)” and this number place holder represents a spiritual realm of either a spiritual realm of God or a spiritual realm of the devil. The spiritual realm to be used (God’s or the devil’s) is determined by the context of God’s Word from where the scripture is being taken from.
Anyone that understands what I have stated above can now interpret what the number “666” really means and in turn understand what the mark of the beast really is.
6 = x1 (ones place holder) = A selfish fleshly body
+60 = x10 (tens place holder) = A heart filled with selfishness
+600 = x100 (hundreds place holder) = A spirit filled with selfishness
------
666 = A person filled with selfishness in their body, heart, and spirit
The mark of the beast is a spiritual mark and not a physical mark. The mark of the beast represents any person controlled by total selfishness (sinful nature). These selfish souls belong to the devil. God’s Word says the mark of the beast “666” will be on the hand or forehead. Again this mark represents a person filled with total selfishness and isn’t a visible mark on the hand or forehead. God’s Word says it is on the forehead because this represents our brain and what we think. God’s Word also says it can be on our hand because this represents our works that we do with our hands. A person that has the mark of the beast will think selfishly and all his/her works with also be selfish.
I want to inform everybody that has ears to hear, that the devil’s evil beast has been given authority to deceive the nations, even the believers.
Rev 13:14 - Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth.
In the past and for many hundreds of years, the devil’s deceptions had been restricted by God to let His church grow without undo influence by the devil, but now the devil has been allowed to deceive all the people of all the nations. These deceptions of the devil have been going on already for many, many years. God is not surprised by the world being taken over by the devil and his evil forces. God is allowing it to happen. God has authorized all of this evil for the testing of souls and to bring His plan to completion. God is allowing the devil to deceive who ever will be deceived in order to weed the weeds out of His harvest.
Rev 22:11-13 - Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy." "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Gal 6:7-9 - Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
God’s judgment is coming soon to everyone. God is allowing this evil to go on for a time, but this time of evil will come to an end. But before this time of trial and testing ends, it will get much worse. Get ready and then stay ready until Christ’s return. Evaluate yourself and let God search your soul. Are you sealed with His mark of Love (#12 – Love – God’s perfection) or are you marked by the devil with his mark of “666”. Selfishness can be overcome, but only by God’s grace through His Son (Christ Jesus) by the power of God’s love.
Your servant in Christ – Michael Reid
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)