Christian Warrior Boot Camp- Part 1: Know your Enemy and Know your God

1 Peter 5:8

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

I feel a certain experience working with Satan for those who read my personal story, and there is something I’d like to spell out about the clear differences fro the true god of Abraham and things that come with satan. There is such a difference between the two, yet so much of Satan’s power has infiltrated even the church. Oh yes Satan has power to some degree but no where near as powerful as god’s. So to start this off I will make a comparison between the 2 to provide a kind of checklist to look for. This will be Part 1 of Christian Warrior Boot Camp Series, as a Warrior for Christ must have a rock solid foundation in understanding God vs Satan. Every warrior must go through Boot Camp a christian is no exception. Without further ado lets get into it:

Satan:

1.         Virtually everything Satan offers is useless. Truly, it serves no purpose but to entertain, deceive, or control. In the occult the key word ‘Manipulation’ is key, because every spell, divination, or other relies on ‘Manipulating universal forces’. More often then not when you see ‘magic’ being done you must ask yourself ‘Does this have a purpose, or am i looking at shock value?’ Asking yourself this question will help you discern Satan over god ATLEAST 90% of the time.
2.        Strings are attached. On the internet everything is a contract or user agreement- same thing here. In Wicca/Paganism there is the Law of 3  which illustrates this: “Beware the law of 3, for what ye do comes back to thee” is a common quote among all Wicca, new age, or pagan books. I believe the quote it self comes from Alaster Crowley, however the point is this. When ever you do a spell you are sending a ‘prayer’ to the ‘universe’ requesting something- however you must be careful what it is and be clear of your intentions because it will inevitable come back to you in a opposite but 3 fold outcome. Buddhist and Hindus play on this rule in much the same way with ‘Law of Karma’- the point is there is always a consequence no matter what you do. Indeed, I believe the bible explains this rule perfectly in Isaiah 48:22 and Isaiah 57:20. It seems god puts a curse on those who don’t serve him and many religions know it, they cant even pray without a consequence. On the same subject of strings attached there is also the aspect of Ritualism. Everything occultic is a ritual, Reading tarot cards, calling the moon, casting spells, meditation- everything has a song and dance you have to go through to get to the point. The reason for this is to focus your mind to make your intentions perfectly clear. Its a bit like someone telling you “Make sure you read the fine print”- in the sense before you do anything with/for satan you have to sign a spiritual contract. For common practitioners of the occult its similar to going through endless user agreements in the app store on your phone. Metaphorically speaking- Though everyday they see the endless user agreements, and know its a foundation they have to sign before using the app- they barely look at it anymore and skip ahead quickly.
3.           There is always a common thread with Satan’s power, it all looks alike. Different gods, different religion, no God at all- It doesnt matter.  Needless to say Satan is not very creative, he keeps using the same tricks over and over, because the same old tricks always work. One of the central themes of new age is all religions are the same. Sometimes they say this includes Christianity, but truth be told they themselves avoid Christianity at all cost- because they themselves, on many levels, know this is not true and their is an obvious difference. To them I would say there is a reason so many world religions are the same, they all come from Babylon. Common trends include: Symbolism, Unity, Self-Importance, Rebelliousness, Natural Elements, Legalism, Rituals, Mythology of Gods, Humanism/Transcendence, Sex, Politics, Magic, Idolatry, Money, Indulgence, Collectivism, Peace and Safety, Illusion, Unnecessary Drama, Propaganda, and so many others. The bible also spells out the type of person works for Satan in Proverbs 6:16-19.
4.         Secretes, lots and lots of secretes. The occult is big on keeping secretes, things like Hidden Mysteries, Hermetic Law, Kabbalah, Karmic Laws, Sacred Geomancy, Esotericism, Personal self discovery, the 4 Agreements, etc… All of these things have a central theme “not everyone should or can know these”. Hermetic Law or Kabbalah for example- I remember in my own occult days I was told These use to be known to people who underwent certain initiation rituals (see the word Ritual again?). The occult always carries a secrete knowledge only the higher ups can know about. Even in Wiccan Covens the principal runs the same in Coven organization. The Golden Dawn, Freemasonry, Ordo Templi Orientis, Theosophical Society, Buddhist Monasteries, Catholicism, Islam, Jewish Mysticism, Hindu, etc… One could argue Government Secret Science Labs or research like APL or Area 51 for Secularist- Its all the same, and every right of initiation is a convoluted process and climb to the top where only there you may reach some type of “Enlightenment” or another.
5.         Worship of creation not the creator. Satan uses gods creation against him with this deception, and indeed every heathen faith goes along with this. In Feng-Sui there is a constant reminder of Chinese elements and philosophy of nature, In Hinduism there is a constant need to make sacrifices to stone statues or pray to animals. In Buddhism there is a constant theme of “There is no god” rather just universal forces. Secularist indeed also play on many of the same themes as Buddhist, backing all their opinions on natural sciences, physics, and many more. The goal for Satan is simple, Distract from the creator and focus/worship the creation.
6.      Obscure and Convoluted Principals and Philosophy. Have you ever heard the saying “If the story doesn’t make sense they might be lying to you”? Virtually anyone new to reading the Bhagavad Gita can attest, it doesn’t make any sense at all right from the beginning. The strictest Buddhist will tell you because it requires meditation and study, but the truth is this can easily lead to Self Deception. In fact all new age and eastern faiths admit to the fact meditation can be a form of self deception. The very stated goal of meditation is to ‘help you reprogram your thoughts’, a kind of Self Induced Brainwashing to help you be at peace with the world. In another way, this obscurity is often used ritualistically in that the longer you stay with it the more it begins to make sense until you are spiritually grown up. Again a form of ‘path to enlightenment’. It’s like saying “Dont think about it for now just go along with it, you will understand someday”- to some degree there is an element of indoctrination woven into complexity.
7.        Self Deception. I touched on this a bit in the last one but there is so much more to it then just meditation. Jeremiah 13:10 takes the words out of my mouth: “This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.”    Jeremiah is absolutely dead on, so much of all Occult is self serving to ones own imagination. They are not the least bit interested in the truth, and in so doing they come up with these gods, myth’s, convoluted philosophies, all of which amount to nothing. What is worse then this is most occultist know this. I remember once a new age teacher (after a lecture on the 4 agreements) was telling a crowd of people; “Don’t worry, If what I says doesn’t make sense it doesn’t matter, In fact nothing is in control or makes sense anyway. Thats the whole point”. They even knew it in the 1st century when Peter told them “But they want to forget that God spoke and the heavens were made long ago. The earth was made out of water and water was all around it.” (2 peter 3:5 NLV). (In King james version this is where Peter calls them Willingly Ignorant, though I used NLV because it uses a clearer dialect). Look into new age, buddhist, Ancient Nordic faith, Greek, Wiccan, or any of these- almost everything is simply a story thats very entertaining and has no basis in fact at all. Part of the reason the philosophy is obscure and convoluted is because over time all these faiths had to elaborate their initial lie in order to make it make sense. Again I point to Secularism, Think about all the science you have to listen to being this or that, a lot of which none if it makes practical sense when you look into it with some depth.. Again it’s all self serving imaginations, Self Induced Brainwashing, and Shock value- Serving only the purpose to control, manipulate and deceive.
   

God:

1.       The gifts the holy spirit gives us is always useful. Dreams, Visions, Tongues, Healing, Discernment, Etc.. It always has a major purpose and often is very simple and direct. When Aaron turned the Red sea red for Moses he just took his rod to the water and that was it. Notice how Pharaohs priests had to go through a bit of a process to duplicate it in just a bowl of water? a kind of metaphor for exactly what this paper is about.
2.        No strings attached, what so ever. It comes from god and he wants us to use it freely.There is nothing secret about it, no complex method, no rules or restrictions. Gods gifts does not come with a ‘Karmic Law’ because it comes from the creator of the universe who himself is the law. The only thing god asks us to do in our user contract is Believe Jesus died for our sins, Exalt the father and holy ghost, pray to be saved… After that there is only one commandment Christians must follow that jesus tells us: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” (John 13:34) This is because Jesus fulfilled the laws of moses, which is a concept I dont have time to get into here but I can refer you to The Fuel Project “Stay Free” series for better understanding. I’m tempted to say that because we are with God we are not bound by karmic laws or this world. The only laws we are bound to is gods law. Thats not to say we are also free from consequences as much as we are free from the curse other religions place on themselves.
   
3.        God created the whole universe, How diverse do you think his power is over Satan? God is very creative, in fact the gifts of the Holy Spirit can come in ways that are completely unexpected and dont follow any particular set pattern.
4.        Nothing is too convoluted with god, nothing comes with elaborate philosophies that dont make any sense from the start, there is no path to enlightenment or hierarchy to climb, No user contract at every prayer, No games No BS. God is always very direct and tends to keep things simple. Why would the truth have to be a complicated thing anyway?
5.       Something should be obvious here about worship of the creator not the creation. No idols, no philosophy of natural elements, no ‘deeper’ understanding of natural forces, no science behind the higgs boson… God does’nt like to waste our time on frivolous pursuits.
6.      No Deception. Everything you want to know abut god Is printed in every language Black and White called The Bible. There are different translations out, sometimes they can be useful if a verse is confusing- But all people generally agree the KJV is the best one out there. At the same time god has a promise with us “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5 kvj). There is no such thing as secrete knowledge, God is willing to guide and tell us anything openly and freely. Additionally, things are always made clear from the start. ask yourself why did god give the Jews the prophet Jeremiah- simple to let them know he will give them over to Babylon unless they change their ways. Why did god give us the prophecy of Revelation? again Jesus ends his statement on the Abomination of Desolation when he tells us in Matthew 24:15-25 that hes telling us now, as if to say so there is no surprises later. This can go on and on so easily, sufficed to say Gods gifts are never for shock value or to serve imaginations- He is clear and direct.
7.      Freedom. I think it’s easy to say Hierarchy is pretty much in everything. With god the difference is He keeps everything important transparent and does not misuse what little information he keeps from us. A lot of noticeable things in the Satan section kind of allude to many types of slavery. particularly when you try to put it into practice. Slavery to hierarchical system, Slavery to serving imaginations, Slavery to dedicate a huge amount of time into practicing, Slavery to sin, money, and generally things to this world… God is so much simpler a master to serve then satan, and so It’s worth pointing out Christians are much freer then any faith on earth. If you took my advice watching the “Stay Free” Series, you might be surprised how much Satan wants you to think otherwise.

I think I just about summed up both sides, here is your checklist. I am going to be writing a series on this spelling out everything on these checklists to ensure my points are made perfectly clear to the reader. I think I covered alot of essentials for now, and as a personal exercise I encourage the reader to explore some things about this topic. I particularly like the fuel project, and Highly recommend watching their “Know your Enemy” Series. I think it’s clear to see Gods list is alot shorter then Satan’s, the reason is I just have less to explain with God. But making the differences between the two absolutely clear is none the less the best place to start. I realize I am grouping alot of religions into the same category of Paganism, the reason is simple- so many of them run together so fluidly. Satan has his agents in every corner of the globe, in every field of study, in every religion. My friend If you can not discern the difference between God and Satan you are setting yourself up for failure right from the start.

Next in this series “Christian Warrior Boot Camp- Part 2 : Gods Toolbox”