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"For the love of money is the root of all evil." 1Timothy 6:10
This passage, although certainly true, is only one facet of the spiritual war. The cult of Satan is much bigger and more profound. To understand, we must go back to the beginning. First is God who has many natures- many of which mankind is incapable of understanding. To make this simple, there is God the Creator of Heaven and Earth and the Spirit of God- the spirit of what is good.
Genesis tells the story of Adam and Eve who, in the Garden of Eden lived perfectly in the spirit of God- free of sin to put ita life of perfect outer-directedness, to put it in psychological terms. When Satan, the god of this earth (remember he was cast down into the earth) and the spirit of man told Eve that she and Adam could be as gods themselves if they would embrace the spirit of man, the spirit of the earthly realm, or once again in psychological terms, become inner-directed (he didn't offer her money). To understand it's important to contextualize this in a couple of different perspectives- first, psychological, or psycho-spiritual. The spirit/nature of Satan is the spirit/nature of man and of this earthly realm. This contrasted to the spirit/nature of God which is universal. Satan, it's important to remember, is not a person, or corporeal entity- no horns, no pointy tail no pitchfork. People seem to need to put a face on things to help internalize them. To worship Satan is to worship the nature of Satan- to emulate inner-directed behavior. The other perspective is institutional, the reasons for which will become evident.
What is the nature of man- human nature, contrasted to the nature of God? No one perhaps understood human nature better than Machiavelli. When he wrote of it in The Prince he identified many of the key characteristics which I outlined in my post The Asshole Quotient, so there's no reason to revisit it here except to say that the same things apply to "princes" only more so- what Nietzsche described as Ubermensch. People are by nature inner-directed, self-centered, greedy, envious etc.. This comes as a direct result of the Fall from Grace precipitated by the spirit of Satan. God has imbued us all with free will- a choice to emulate the spirit of God, embodied by altruism, charity and outer-directedness; or the spirit of self- inner-directedness, the spirit of Satan and of this world. To encapsulate the message of Jesus into one sentence it would be: Be outer-directed.
When Satan "appeared" to Jesus during his time in the desert, it was not as a person but as the spirit of Christ's human nature telling him that the kingdoms of the world were his for the taking... all He had to do was to place his humanity before his divinity.It was an internal battle of his natures. Satan, as a separate entity, in this context, seems almost superfluous. To reiterate Satan is not an entity unto himself but the nature of men absent the spirit of God. This is why institutions are inevitably doomed to failure and human nature is the instrument of their destruction. Another aspect of Jesus message was a rejection of institutions... advocating charity on a personal basis rather than an institutional one. This is the only logical conclusion for Socialism's rejection of God- Socialism, a totalitarian regime- depends upon institutionalism. If you really think about it, Socialism which is supposed to be a testament to man's altruism, would almost certainly choose Jesus, the embodiment of altruism as a model... yet they deny Him. Why? Because Socialism is a political model predicated on tyranny, fueled by human nature- resentment, envy and inner-directedness... the embodiment of the spirit of Satan.
A church is a body of people with similarly held beliefs rather than a building or institution. When Jesus said "upon this rock I build my church" He was speaking of the continuation of his ministry. For the first 300 or so years the church was decentralized. Each church had a similar message, but there was no established centralized doctrine until 325 when Constantine convened the Council of Nicea. It was after Nicea that the church became an institution. Institutions by their nature are susceptible to human nature, therefore, the spirit of Satan, given that it is humans that inhabit and control them. This is what will define the spiritual war.
The Church, Jesus' ministry has evolved from a decentralized group into an institution. Gradually and incrementally the spirit of Satan/human nature has crept in. The Schism of 1054 split the Orthodox and Roman Catholic. In the 1500's the Protestant Reformation further split the ministry amplifying the institutional aspect... each schism becoming an institution unto itself. All of these institutions at odds with one another. If Satan was an entity, he couldn't have planned it better... there are now over 42,000 separate schisms. What began as Jesus' ministry has devolved into an institution controlled by the spirit of antichrist- the spirit of man. It's this spirit of man that is currently driving much of society.
The spiritual war will be fought between those who reject the humanist/institutional spirit and hold to the spirit of God. It will, in psychological terms be the inner-directedness of Socialism vs. the outer-directed individualism of the spirit of God's word. The spirit of antichrist is pervading American society... found in the self-esteem movement in schools- in advertising and the entertainment industry sells it wholesale. Information will be the ammunition in this war- the truth of God vs. the propaganda of Socialism. The adversary is powerful as will as cunning- make no mistake. The Bible tells us that in the end, even the elect will be fooled. But remember this also- the words of our Lord- after He said "upon this rock I build my church" He said: "and the gates of Hell shall NOT prevail against it."
