In my last update; I mentioned "decisional regeneration". My final statement on that subject is that we all must truly make the "decision" to verbally and in the heart confess Christ; but we must continue believing and test ourselves to see if we are in the faith after such a commitment. ( 2 Cor. 13:5). John 3:16 as I have said before is in a tense that means a CONTINUING faith; not just a one time experience where we can dwell with those of heaven and continue to live as before; therefore still on the wide road leading to destruction. If we have decieved ourselves; of course there is some crossover with the other points I have made in regard to not taking specific sins seriously; or being a tare. In the three cases examined under point one so far the Bible is used at face value; so to speak; and the poison basically comes from within ourself. Satan is by no means excluded from this process but doesn't have to do as much as in the other two cases I am about to discuss.
Case #2 Twisting scriptures
Ah; now we are getting into the enemy's camp. Most of us probably are familiar with Christ's dialogue with Satan when being tempted in the wilderness ( Matthew 4:1-11). Here there was no issue with the LITERAL interpretation of scripture but it's application. Satan wanted worship for Himself so he first used the temptation to satisfy hunger; then that of ending suffering through self destruction and finally worship for himself. In the first two cases he used scripture as his ammo. In the last case his true intentions came out; i.e. for him to be worshipped as God. Christ did the "knockout punch" there with the command to worship only God alone. Satan didn't have to use scripture to prove his point as later verses in the N.T. indicate that he has been given temporary power over the world system and Principalities in high places ( Eph. 6:12). He also knew that Jesus wouldn't be fooled by some other "religious" writings since He was the Son of God. ( James 2:19
Case #2 Twisting scriptures
Ah; now we are getting into the enemy's camp. Most of us probably are familiar with Christ's dialogue with Satan when being tempted in the wilderness ( Matthew 4:1-11). Here there was no issue with the LITERAL interpretation of scripture but it's application. Satan wanted worship for Himself so he first used the temptation to satisfy hunger; then that of ending suffering through self destruction and finally worship for himself. In the first two cases he used scripture as his ammo. In the last case his true intentions came out; i.e. for him to be worshipped as God. Christ did the "knockout punch" there with the command to worship only God alone. Satan didn't have to use scripture to prove his point as later verses in the N.T. indicate that he has been given temporary power over the world system and Principalities in high places ( Eph. 6:12). He also knew that Jesus wouldn't be fooled by some other "religious" writings since He was the Son of God. ( James 2:19
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