We all know many things are currently very bad in this world. The optimist in me does not like this, but facts are facts.

         The world has largely become an accurate reflection of half a century’s worth of mind-altering films, television, and music. The deception is such that the concept of “monkey see-monkey do” programming is rejected outright by its victims, since part of the programming is deceiving people into believing there is no programming at all.

         This is why people are doing the most damnable things en masse, things prior generations never did, simply because the programming was not there—unless you belonged to some group, that is, and almost all major groups were in the religious sphere. And in America, almost all the groups were “Christian” of some form or another.

         This means there was certainly mass programming going on, but compared to today’s very sophisticated and hyper-effective methods, it was inferior, but remained highly effective at capturing minds and changing thought processes.

         It was so effective it became cultural. It was so cultural no one dare leave their religious culture without knowing they may be disowned by the group. People paid a high price to think freely, but most of all, they paid a high price in embracing the real teachings of the Lord Jesus. Breaking free from cultural religious programming most often meant turning away from family and friends forever.

         I used to think quite often that we must be supreme optimists and exhibit strong faith if only to keep bad things from happening, to keep things from getting worse, or believe that dire circumstances can somehow be reversed. The reality is that prayer and faith do change things. It is the power of God answering our prayers and honoring our faith. It is how we allow Him to be involved in our lives.

         But where there is no faith…

         We learn from reading the Word that bad circumstances can be reversed or eliminated. The Lord Jesus states clearly that with Him, all things are possible. So we believe in the impossible, especially as young impressionable saints of God with less life experience. Then, after a few years, we may think, well, maybe I cannot change a bad circumstance no matter how much I pray and believe, but I can comfort those who are going through something really rough and give them a lift. In one sense, this attitude stems from a capitulation to natural reality. In another it may be due to weariness or possibly even frustration. We do know that God doesn’t go around fixing every single lousy thing on the planet, so we may feel powerless regardless of what His Word states.

         Whatever the case may be, one thing is certain: If we desire the supernatural power of God to come to bear against a bad circumstance, it will demand our total involvement. The Lord does things in such a way that it will always demand our involvement, and this is only logical. But we cannot wait for the crisis to happen before we get involved with the Lord and attempt His method. In other words, there is a reason for discipleship. If we refuse to get with His program we are on our own, and can only use the assistance of that which humanity can bring without God. Sometimes this works. Sometimes it does not.

         To put things into immediate perspective, the original apostles were spiritually worthless at the beginning. It took time for the Lord to teach them. It took time for them to apply His teachings. And even after they graduated from His program, they still needed to receive His powerful Holy Spirit for the service He called them to. Without it, they would only possess mere head knowledge with no power, kind of like a car without gasoline or an electrical appliance without electricity.

         We should make this connection, but most Christians do not. That’s why most Christians are like all manner of appliances that may be structurally perfect but have no power source. Without electricity they are exactly the same as being broken beyond repair simply because they will not work. But it always works with the Lord if we submit to Him and do it His way, even if everyone else disbelieves. The original disciples did this, and they obeyed Him all the way to being filled with His Spirit, which gave them the spiritual power to do what He did.

         Now, think about something: If the Lord said all things are possible with Him, does it not mean that sometimes the impossible does not happen simply because we do not believe and do not obey Him? And what if the situation calls for 100% faith and spiritual dunamis for the impossible to happen, but we only give 50%? Or 95%? Obviously, these will not be good enough.

         We understand this in other areas of life. Try going to work Monday thru Thursday but refuse going on Friday. And try explaining that you did a great job and did all that was required on those four days, and that you should be credited with that regardless of whether you work on Friday. You might get away with it once, but otherwise you will likely lose your job. Is it not the same in serving the Lord? This is the picture of what most “Christianity” has become:

         Unreal Christianity is enamored with head knowledge and insists on powerless traditions, and castigates the idea of needing His power to do His work. If this is not the work of the devil nothing is.

         Try starting your lawnmower with an empty tank of gas all the while refusing to fill it with gas. That’s pretty dumb. But the Lord tells us we are the lawnmower and His Spirit is the gas. One Christian gets it and shouts, “No wonder!” and proceeds to do whatever the Lord requires to fill up his tank. Another Christian rejects it and says, “Then I’ll get a push mower you bunch of freaks!”

         How many times did the Lord teach that we must follow Him with all of our hearts and for the duration? That’s all He ever taught! He never taught anything closely resembling working for Him part time, or believing part time, or obeying Him part time, or working for Him halfheartedly, or giving half our heart (try that with your spouse), or picking and choosing those parts of His curriculum we feel comfortable with. With the Lord Jesus, it is all or nothing. PERIOD.

         It is exactly how He lived His life. He taught that this way to live is required for us also, in that our minds and hearts would be made up and we would never be double-minded or express doubt in Him or His methods. He taught that living by faith is a 100% proposition. Otherwise, the enemy will get in, and the enemy will seek to kill, steal, and destroy.

         Yet, though pure faith is the first step, it is an act of obedience. We receive salvation by grace through faith. It takes the gift of grace, which we have nothing to do with (God’s unmerited favor), and faith, something that must come from us. It must be followed with consequent acts of obedience, as is illustrated by the original disciples as recorded in the Book of Acts.

         They did what they had to do, whatever they had to do, to receive the very Spirit of the Lord into their beings. They remained who they were as individuals, but then walked in the closest of all possible relationships with the Lord. This was a pure covenant partnership, a Father-child relationship, and the demonstration of His Spirit in their lives was evident by the impossible tasks they achieved, as it was with the Lord during His ministry.

         Not having this relationship allows the enemy to fill the void. And thus, we have Unreal Christianity, a conglomerate of denominations and sects that refuse the Lord’s full curriculum and thus, its proponents do not possess the pure covenant relationship with the Lord Jesus as did the originals. They have instead substituted counterfeits and have deceived huge numbers who do not put forth the effort to figure it out on their own. This makes them all easy pickings by a very powerful spiritual enemy and his hordes—an enemy much more intelligent but primarily much more spiritually powerful than such false disciples will ever be, especially since they possess no spiritual power at all.

         Currently, the enemy is having a field day. Yes, things are bad. Really bad. But things are much worse than you think. Why? Because most people, including most Christians, are only getting part of the story. The closer we get to God, the more we see. Nevertheless, despite their insistence on mere head knowledge (a seminary degree does not empower one to raise the dead), Christians have become so spiritually unintelligent, uninformed, and deceived in this country that major demonic things are happening all around them, and they are not even aware.

         Churches and ministries have been taken over by the devil. Big churches. Major denominations. Major ministries. Major charitable ministries. It is really bad. It is so bad that the people running these organizations are not even Christians anymore.

         One organization made a deal with the devil a few days ago but just changed course after a backlash they did not anticipate. They found out how much money it would cost them in lost donations. This is a great sign! It shows that there are still some Christians with a backbone to help right the course of the wayward. But this particular wayward organization remains in league with the enemy because they lied about why they reversed course. They continue to prove they are primarily serving money and not serving God, like so many others.

         Would that such compromisers get it together. So many of these have been deceived and co-opted by the devil that when confronted by the clear facts, they either lash out or laugh. It is bad. Many supporters of these organizations don’t even know what’s really going on. They are being deceived. They are supporting the devil’s curriculum instead of the Lord’s. This is pure evidence of otherworldly programming upon the leaders who then pass it on to the followers.

         © 2014 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]

[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.