If the Gospel consisted of words accommodated to human reason, and/or philosophical slogans, we could say that the Great Commission was already concluded; the mass media are full of all this, even of words as declared by God, offering people prosperity and well-being.
But what does ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me‘ really mean?
Are we talking about the same Gospel?
Pastor Pedro Montoya
29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words everyone from his neighbour. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. 32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.
Jeremiah 23:29-32
The experience of prophets speaking in the name of God, sent to individuals and/or communities with false messages, is not new. Their practice is widely referenced in all biblical writings. Moses warned that people would arise with messages as from God and stipulated the way to know if their messages were from God, or if the prophet was speaking by his own inspiration.
Jeremiah rebuked the conduct of the people and the kings of his time because many prophets whom they heard and heeded were false, and their messages were not from God.
The gravity of following and heeding the message of a false prophet is weighed in the advice of Moses in the following text:
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 13:1-3
False prophets are a spiritual reality not a social evil, or a sociological phenomenon, and are aimed at diverting the attention of the people and directing them to the observance of false gods. The appearance of a false prophet demonstrates the existence of a spiritual force of darkness that sustains them. The apostle Paul clearly states that these men and women respond to doctrines of demons.
This reality is clearly observed in the discussion between the kings Jehoshaphat and Ahab as to whether Jehovah favored the idea of going to war against Syria at Ramoth-gilead. The scene highlights that Achâb seeks in Jehoshaphat an ally to enter into a war not endorsed by God. The intervention of spiritual beings who seek to influence Jehoshaphat to accede to Achab’s request is observed. In the end Achâb dies and Jehoshaphat receives a reprimand from God for having entered into an alliance with Achâb.
21 And he said, I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, Thou shalt entice him, and thou shalt also prevail: go out, and do even so. 22 Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil against thee.
2 Chronicles 18:21-22
A deep study of the Scriptures reveals that false prophets are the result of satanic spiritual activity that envelops the person in a unique, esoteric, religious mysticism that gives the person the courage to believe that their message is real and true.
False prophets are not a necessary evil, and they do not come because of satanic spiritual activity, isolated from the sovereignty of God. False prophets come because of man’s disobedience and his attitude of not allowing God to intervene in his daily life.
They are not the theoretical result of a basic religious doctrine to identify those who do not want to submit to the norms of the community that marks them as such. They are people, men, and women, who naively and devoutly believe that the message they transmit is real and true.
False prophets are found surviving within the same communities of faith. They arise basically because of a competition within faith communities to present themselves to others as the bearers of the ultimate revelation that God has delivered.
The experience of false prophets goes back to the very beginnings of humanity. The beginning of their foundation rises from the experience of the temptation of Adam and Eve. Although not a person but an animal creature of those that God Jehovah had created, the serpent presents himself with a false message that leads both Adam and Eve to disobey God’s commandment, eventually to be expelled from Eden and to suffer the consequences of their rebellion. The message came from Luzbel who, in his eagerness to introduce rebellion among God’s creation, hired the serpent to force Adam and Eve to do the opposite of what God had arranged in the garden. This is the basis for the existence of false prophets, to lead those who are sent to personal disgrace and spiritual alienation from God.
In order to understand the seriousness of the presence of a false prophet and the spiritual danger of his message, we must first understand the spiritual weight of a person in the spiritual position of prophet.
The weight of a false prophet is spiritual, it does not depend only on the message he carries, nor on his argument, nor even worse, on the ability to convince or manipulate the behavior of others, his true value is that his performance has the ability to establish an empire of darkness, oppression, slavery, blindness, spiritual numbness among the inhabitants of his region.
In the same way that a prophet of God establishes spiritual government and presence of the Almighty in the assigned places, a false prophet has the capacity to govern spiritually and regulate the life of those under his jurisdiction.
This is because the prophet is a person who has received spiritual authority and the ability to spiritually govern the regions where he is positioned. Of course, the government of a false prophet belongs to darkness and the agenda he sets is satanic.
This spiritual capacity and authority of a prophet is evident in the following texts:
7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine… 17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.
Genesis 20:7-17
It was not the spiritual capacity or divine support of Abraham alone; it was the capacity that a prophet has because of the position he occupies in the spiritual spheres. A prophet is not a prophet only by a human designation or ordination, he is a prophet by a spiritual designation and by the location within the spiritual ladder.
For that reason, when we read about Balaam’s person and performances, in the book of Numbers, it seems to us as if Balaam were a sorcerer proscribed to the margin of the Law of God. We will notice that Balaam knows who Jehovah God is, obeys him, enters dialogue with God’s angels, and even prophesied about what would happen in the future with Israel.
Balaam defined himself as a man with open eyes. His ability and performance are evident in the rest of his self-definition: He who saw the vision of the Almighty; Fallen, but eyes opened.
Balaam was a prophet, but as the apostle Peter assures us, he left the right way, and went astray, who loved the reward of wickedness. Balaam became a false prophet.
People do not become prophets, they are born prophets, although they themselves do not know it. This principle is observed in the statement Jeremiah receives from God about the purpose of his calling in Judah.
We have many warnings about the care we should observe over those who come to us with various doctrines. The Lord Jesus himself warned and recommended to take care of the doctrine of faith that we sustain, because in the end times they will seek to deceive and take them out of their positions of faith, we now understand that they are false prophets who seek to establish a government of darkness in our regions.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Matthew 24:11
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Matthew 24:24
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Matthew 7:15
The apostle Paul also left warnings in all the communities of faith he visited about the intrusion of false prophets and their spiritual rule of wickedness.
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
1 Timothy 4:1-3
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
At this point I must recognize that the vision we have had up to this moment regarding the false prophets is not only partial, but also deformed and has been used to feed the intrusion of false doctrines, atheistic and perverse, that take us away from the true God, and have brought us closer to a Baalic idolatry.
The vision that we have about the false prophets is careless, it has not awakened us to see the spiritual danger of the government of darkness that has been established over our communities of faith. We have seen the false prophets as preachers that come to our communities with doctrines without biblical support that we are able to identify, and we have said before such a vision, -I will know how to identify them when they appear.
The reality of the situation, as well established by the apostle Paul, the false prophets are already operating among us, it is a mystery of iniquity, and we have not identified them.
Even many true prophets have been affected, they have been subjected to them and are asleep, their discernment is disturbed, and they have not been able to properly exercise their ministries as the Almighty called them to perform.
Prophets have been established among us who have introduced doctrines such as fantasy, dreams, illusion, the magic of moments. Doctrines that have distorted the life of faith and contradict the value of the supernatural intervention of God. Doctrines that exalt sorcery, witchcraft, luck, and have even constituted them as resources of the believer to receive God’s blessing.
Doctrines that teach us to alienate ourselves from reality, believing and hoping that no matter how difficult what we are facing may be, what we need is a stroke of luck -a stroke of light- that will completely change our reality. Doctrines that inspire us to hope not in God but in the arrival of a “prince charming”, in the case of women, or in the opportunity to become the “hero”, in the case of men, who will allow us to make the opportune changes.
Unfortunately, we ourselves have exposed our children to such doctrines and allowed them to believe in them. We have acted naively and without spiritual responsibility about the seriousness of a satanic kingdom of darkness being established in our faith communities. We have consecrated our children to magic, to luck, to humanism, to atheism.
How can we preach of an Almighty God, who acts supernaturally, if on the other hand we have sponsored the doctrine that dreams come true?
How can we instill in our children the value of a life of faith, if we ourselves have exposed them to the world of Disney magic?
How can we teach about the supernatural ability of the Highest God, if we ourselves believe in the magic of the moment?
We have taken care to identify false prophets who come in the form of preachers, pastors, ministers in general terms, who come with deformed biblical doctrines, but we have not taken care of false prophets like Walter Elias Disney, Steven Spielberg, and J. K. Rowling who have introduced doctrines that oppose what is established in the Scriptures, and our children follow them, and “like” everything they publish and promote.
Disney, who taught us the value of illusion, who taught us to go after a dream. Who highlighted the value of magic, who taught us to dance to the sound of a hypnotic, alienating rhythm, waiting for things to change by themselves.
Spielberg led us to expose us to imaginary, imaginary realities, to atheistic, diabolical worlds, to believe that we can get ahead in the absence of God. Who distorted our faith as a way of life and instilled in us as a way of life that everything supernatural is fiction.
J. K. Rowling who led us to accept magic, sorcery, and witchcraft as good and tolerable. How can we preach about sorcery being outlawed in God’s Law if we ourselves sponsor that our children, and even we ourselves, watched the Harry Potter movie saga?
The serpent introduced a word of fantasy into the garden and continues to do so among us still. We do not want to hit him over the head because we have not seen the gravity of this established doctrine that although not preachers as we imagine, their doctrines are present in the communities of faith having deformed the spiritual discernment of those of us who profess faith in Jesus, Lord, and Savior. Many true prophets are bound by their exposure to these sites and by having participated in their delights.
The prophet Amos reveals to us our wrongdoing, and what we should repent of:
11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the Lord. 12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
Amos 2:11-12
The prophet Micah reproaches us for having accepted false prophets who preach vain doctrines out of the imagination of their hearts:
11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
Micah 2:11
The prophet Jeremiah exhorts us to repent and to abhor all this apostasy that has led us away from God:
25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; 27 which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
Jeremiah 23:25-27
To the question of the prophet Malachi, what shall we become, what would we be able to answer?
Forgive us our sin, O Lord, for we have walked according to the commandment of men, according to religious traditions mixed with idolatrous rituals of the nations that did not know you, and have brought them into the houses that we built for you….
Forgive us, because we have not lived according to your Word… because we have made your Covenant in vain, and built new doctrines based on atheistic philosophies… let us restore in our time as Hezekiah and Josiah did in ancient times… let us return to your Word and bring your kingdom to this earth.
5 I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out.
Joshua 24:5
All biblical quotations are taken from the King James Authorized Version.
Pastor Pedro Montoya
7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
Malachi 3:7
When we talk about turning to God, usually the first thing we think of is sin, and we conjure up the image of a perverted and depraved person, living in the light of a life of pleasures. The reason for thinking this way is due to the religious concepts that constitute the religious self of our existence and of our societies.
But, as we will evaluate in the development of this material, such a conception is quite far from the scriptural truth.
The exhortation of the prophet Malachi is addressed to a people who know God, who have knowledge of God’s laws, who invoke His name and who celebrate ceremonial rituals in worship of Him.
The introduction of the book reads:
1 The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. 2 I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, 3 and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
Malachi 1:1-3
How is it possible that such an exhortation is addressed to them then? In fact, it is precisely the question they ask Malachi: But you said, “What shall we return to?
Do these words have any relevance for us, should we study them, or are they simply references?
From the very moment that the apostle Paul wrote that if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you,[1] it means that Malachi’s exhortation is still valid for us, and we must answer the question. What shall we turn from?
In the first ten prescriptions that God gave to Moses on Mount Horeb was the one I read,
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Exodus 20:3-6
For the practitioners of the Word of God at that time, the terms image, likeness, and even other gods, had to do with forms, carved or cast, in general, tangible elements of portrayed figures.
However, since we have as a teaching antecedent the, you have heard that it was said, but I say to you, of the doctrine of Jesus, we must understand that image, likeness, and even other gods, have to do with concepts that we forge of something. And here is the relevance for us.
What concept do we have of God? Unfortunately, due to the philosophy of our societies, to the multiple mentalities that we forge daily, and that permeate even the church, and to the syncretic tendency of our religions, we have developed a concept of a fire-quenching, problem-solving God, who is obliged to answer us and to grant us EVERYTHING we ask of Him. That concept-image-is not biblical, and we must turn to what the Bible teaches us about Him.
In the heading of the instruction of the first prescriptions of God, we read: I am the LORD your God. God is NOT presenting Himself, although most English translations and revisions of the Bible present Him as the imperative of, I am your God, without leaving Him any choice; it should be read and understood as: I, JEHOVAH am your God.[2] The concept that we have of Him is important.
The concept that we have of Him is important, and in this text, it is observed that the action does not fall on the ten commandments, as religion has inculcated in us, but on knowing the one who is giving them, that is: I, JEHOVAH. To know Him, to understand Him, is important, to avoid incurring in the error of forging false concepts.
Is God obliged to answer me, to give me everything I ask for, to alter my living conditions and environment so that I do not suffer? The answer is no, God is not obligated, but that is the concept that many of us have, and we get angry with Him when we do not get what we ask for. The apostle Paul wrote in the following terms:
19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Romans 9:19-21
Job found wisdom through the pain of seeing that his righteousness did not free him from the suffering of having lost everything, and expressed: If I call upon Him, and He answers me, I will not yet believe that He has heard my voice.[3] Job understood that God is not obliged to answer us, nor to change things around us to spare us from suffering. Later, God reproved even his complaint, and confronted him: Is it wisdom to contend with the Almighty? He who contends with God, let him answer this.[4] What shall we turn from?
From what shall we turn? From the inadequate concepts that we have formed of God. The absence of faith, of subjection, even the manner of worshipping Him, and the worship of His name depend on the concept that we have of Him.
In many of our meetings, apostasy, rebellion, profanation of the holy, and even contamination, develop precisely because we work around a malformed and erroneous concept of God.
God is Almighty (El-Shaday), was the first thing Abraham learned: I am God Almighty; walk before me and be perfect. What it meant for Abraham was to stop directing his life according to the customs of his time, and to let the Almighty establish the path and the way of his walk. These words came as a confrontation for the decision to have accepted and walked according to the advice to have a son through Hagar, seeking fulfillment of God’s promise to make him like the sand of the sea.
Pastor Pedro Montoya
[1] Romanos 11.21
[2] The word “I am,” in Hebrew, does not exist. It is implicit in this phrase.
[3] Job 9:16
[4] Ídem 39:30
whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
Philippians 3:19
Man is a spiritual being; his physical presence is simply a shadow of the spiritual. When God determined to make man in His image and likeness,[1] He established, together with the declaration of His decision, that the spiritual is the foundation of man’s constitution, for what image and likeness would have been taken, if God is Spirit.[2]
The image and likeness of God in man is not because man possesses a “spirit” of God, for man was not made fragmented; fragmentation arose just after Adam and Eve validated with their act their decision to disobey God’s command.
Nor is it a question of man possessing divine attributes, which would be tantamount to establishing that God’s attributes are apart from God; God is not an attribute of Himself, but as the author of the epistle to the Hebrews states, is the brightness of his glory, and the express image of His person.[3] So, if man was made in the image and likeness of God, and since God is ONE,[4] man is also a spiritual being, otherwise, if the spiritual were not the bond, how is it that the apostle John ensures that from His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.[5]
If man were not a spiritual being, neither would Jesus have had the faculty to take the form of a servant, and made in the likeness of men,[6] for his humanization would have meant the loss of His divinity eternally. Nature cannot be disrupted; in doing so one is lost in the other.[7]
In addition, there are sufficient records in Scripture that man is a spiritual being; for example, both the Old and New Testaments recognize that man does not consist of the body he possesses (σῶμα, “body” or σαρξ “flesh”), but in a spiritual part that transcends physical death, which they call soul or breath (ψυχήν); in the Words of Jesus, man’s life (ψυχήν) is that which leads to hell.[8]
Man is a spiritual being but trapped within a physical constitution degraded by disobedience. Adam and Eve were degraded the day they validated their disobedience, their physical bodies became mortal bodies, and they lost all their spiritual faculties; their bodies took the form of one who had deceived them to death,[9] and they became subject to the dispositions of the kingdom which Satan had established after the rebellion;[10] this process is defined in the apostle Paul’s teaching as the process of subjection to vanity, i.e., the spiritual subject to the material.
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Romans 8:20
It is precisely because of this physical degradation that man is susceptible to being infected with the spiritual motivations of angelic beings who live in open rebellion against God.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1st. Corinthians 2:14
The apostle Paul emphasizes that in the air operates a power that attracts to itself men prone to the same nature.
wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Ephesians 2:2
Because of the disobedience to which Adam arranged to submit, man is susceptible to being infected by any spiritual presence that represents or suggests a change of state. Man is capable of capturing, adopting and/or harboring any spiritual presence that approaches him.
Being infected with every spiritual suggestion leads him to filth his spirit, and eventually, to defile it with demonic presences. In short, the process of uncleanness in the spirit of man develops from the acceptance of the suggestions that rebellious spirits, demonic spirits, suggest to him as life protocols.
The apostle Paul identifies that there are two types of filth with which man is infected: the flesh and the spirit. Our purpose is to highlight the danger of the spiritual filth by which man is constituted into an unclean being, which can lead him to be bound by demons, and even to be possessed by them.
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
2nd. Corinthians 7:1
The defilement of man’s spirit is nothing more than the presence of spiritual forms that he grasped and decided to adopt and/or harbor. To capture means “to perceive”, that is to say, the sensibility to perceive the presence of spiritual forms in his environment; to adopt, means “to apprehend” uses, customs, habits and personality of the spiritual forces without necessarily entering into communion with them; and finally, to harbor, is the “marriage” that the man forms with this type of forces, that in his nature are demonic forces. These spiritual “unions” transcend and become “bonds” and finally “possessions” that destroy the person’s life.
A defilement is the index of the presence of spiritual forces coexisting in community with man. The concept of defilement was taught even from the Old Testament through the regulation of laws that commanded taking care not to participate in the cult of the dead,[11] not to ingest unclean animals,[12] not to have intercourse with a woman while suffering from her menstrual period,[13] by the shedding of innocent blood,[14] and by idolatrous practices.[15] The New Testament explains through all its authors that the irruption of these laws leads the person to exposure to demonic forces that rule over them, in some cases without people noticing it.
The apostle Paul instructs the members of the Corinthian faith community that tolerance of idolatrous ritual practices can establish a diabolical presence even within a church, and they do not notice it.
20But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. 21Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.
1st. Corinthians 10:20-21
The apostle John for his part dictates that anyone who claims to live outside the doctrine is made to participate with satanic behaviors,
9Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
2nd. John 9-11
The apostle Peter also warns about the spiritual danger that those who do not take care to avoid falling into satanic filth,
For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2nd. Peter 2:20
In an effort to help the spiritual growth of the Gentile faith communities, the Jerusalem church arranged that they should be exhorted about the danger of continuing to practice the pagan customs to which they were accustomed,
but that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Acts 15:20
The degree of filth that the person possesses is measurable. In the book of Genesis before Adam’s explanation that he was naked and therefore hid from God,[16] his explanation determined that Adam had eaten from the tree of the science of good and evil.
And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Genesis 3:11
In the case of Simon, the former magician of Samaria, the apostle Peter determined by Simon’s words the degree of defilement under which he found himself,
19saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. 20But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. 21Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
Acts 8:19-21
Even the disciples themselves suffered the effects of satanic defilements. The case when Peter wanted to correct Jesus’ decision to go up to Jerusalem,
But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
Mark 8:33
The case of the brothers, James, and John,
53And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. 54And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? 55But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
Luke 9:53-55
These and many other cases show how through words, through intentions, and even through the actions of the people themselves, the degree of uncleanness that the person possesses can be measured.
The spiritual defilement that man captures and/or carries is housed in the belly. The apostle Paul writes to the Philippians and in his teaching about man’s depravity, he highlights the place where the defilement is housed that the person acquires and/or possesses.
Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things
Philippians 3:19
Paul is not referring to the stomach, the word that the apostle uses in this text is the word κοιλιά, while the word “stomach” is in turn the word στομαχον.[17] It is the “womb”, that is, the place where life is gestated in a woman,[18] although the Bible identifies the same place also for man as the place where the capacity to procreate is established.[19]
Regarding the text in question, it is a text badly translated in most modern versions, due to the lack of knowledge of revelation of the translators to understand what the apostle was referring to. The translators understood that Paul was giving life to the attribute of the person prone to gluttony, and so they used the copulative verb in its “is” form; in fact, there are versions that translate, “whose god is their appetite”. However, Paul is not identifying the attributes and/or activities of a gluttonous person, but identifying the location of the one who feeds his delirium, that is, identifying the seat of his defilement; therefore, the best translation is to use the verb to be in its stative form; the grammatical form in Greek allows it because Paul’s expression is written using two subjects: ο θεος η κοιλια; it reads literally, God the belly, there is no verb that unites them. Therefore, the text should be read as follows,
Whose end is destruction, whose god is (dwelleth in) their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
The contamination of the spirit of man is housed in the womb, and this because the womb is the seat of the spirit of man; Jesus taught on this subject in the following Words,
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
John 7:38
This is the reason the apostle Paul speaks of bowels in his epistles, what he is highlighting is the spirit with which people feel, and/or do things,
Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels (σπλαγχνοις).
2nd. Corinthians 6:12
In this text the apostle is referring to the fact that the thoughts, feelings, and actions of these believers toward them are scarce in manifestations.
And his inward affection (σπλαγχνοις) is more abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.
2nd. Corinthians 7:15
In this text the apostle emphasizes the overflowing passion of Titus for the believers of Corinth.
In the same way, an inward love, or simply to love with the bowels, is a spiritual love that transcends all human love, however sublime and self-sacrificing it may be,
For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:8
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
Philippians 2:1
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.
Colossians 3:12
When man’s spirit is polluted, what comes out of it establishes filth in everything he develops in his environment.
But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1st. John 3:17
The vehicle of all filth that enters the man is food, not that the food is defiled, for we already know that Jesus Himself established that not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man;[20] but the food is a vehicle that transports it, a clear example we have with Judas that while he was participating in the Pesach supper, a supper that according to the book of Exodus was instituted as a deliverance supper,[21] and yet Satan entered into it after the mouthful of food.[22]
Food has the ability to open the person’s spirit. This principle was established as an evil bond by the serpent in Eden:
for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil
Genesis 3:5
Another similar reference appears with Jonathan, King Saul’s son:
27But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath: wherefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened. 28 Then answered one of the people, and said, Thy father straitly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food this day. And the people were faint. 29 Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey. 30 How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely to day of the spoil of their enemies which they found? for had there not been now a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?
1 Samuel 14:27-30
Hence, from ancient had been stipulated by the Wisdom of the Spirit of God, the need to put a knife to the throat when facing the opportunity to eat in satiety.[23] In light of this, annual times are recommended to avoid eating yeast,[24] to share bread with the hungry,[25] to complete vows to dedicate oneself to the Lord,[26] and even to abstain from favorite delicacies during certain times.[27]
Is all food a vehicle for transporting the forces of darkness? No, not all food is a vehicle to carry the forces of darkness. The foods that carry the forces of darkness are subject to certain spiritual considerations that make them susceptible to carrying unclean spirits.
4As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one… 7Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.
1st. Corinthians 8:4-7
Apostasy is associated with food, even if it is unlikely to believe it, but it is part of satanic strategies to corrupt entire peoples. The Old Testament narrates the apostasy into which the people of Israel entered because of a festival to which they were invited as a ploy suggested by Balaam to make them fall into idolatry,[28]
And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. 2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.
Numbers 25:1-2
In the writings of the Gospels, it is proclaimed that in recent times apostate activity will multiply; it is not an ecclesiastical activity, but a regional activity based on socially and religiously accepted ritual practices that include food and drink.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Matthew 24:38-39
28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
Luke 17:28-30
Particular care should be taken by churches when they “accept” and celebrate regional festivals, allow the entry of apostate filth, and yield to the powers operating in those regions.
The case of Spain deserves a special mention, the churches and ministries established in Spain must know how to deal with the satanic powers of the region. The evangelization of Spain will not be possible until they see that the seat of apostate filth is found in the multitude of regional festivals that are held: bullfights and sacrifices of animal meat as part of the cuisine of the festivals, coupled with all the wine that is drunk is what gives strength to the satanic powers that operate in the country.
Mexico celebrates a cult of death, and its ritual is accompanied by food prepared for the dead. Mexico is one of the countries with elevated levels of witchcraft and sorcery and is based on the cult of the dead. Bread with allegorical figures to the “dead”, atoles and other celebrations that even the believing church has tolerated, are the strength of the satanic powers operating in the country. Mexico’s violence is only an expression of the satanic powers that operate and demand blood in the region.
When a person eats food under a crisis mood, the person “eats” his or her own emotional state and becomes filthy. It is any state of mind under crisis conditions: anguish, pain, resentment, suffering, depression. These crises cause the spirits that sustain this type of mood to be able to enter without any impediment through food.
15But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died… 20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
Romans 14:15-20
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Ephesians 4:26
Now we can understand David’s words when he wrote:
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Psalm 23:5
What David is simply stating is that he had placed his trust in the Lord, and that because of his trust in Him, his mood was not altered, mostly when he ate.
This case deserves special attention. It is about food prepared under the animosity of those who cook it; a person who cooks food and who has courage for something, or against someone, is food that is receiving all the “animosity” of those who cook, when ingested it carries a filth that can even affect the health of those who ate it.
When a person cooks must refrain from doing so under incorrect moods, and refrain from any perverted thinking directed towards someone, their mood is transmitted through the food they cook.
It is not convenient to eat food prepared by someone we do not know, so choosing where to eat when we are away from home is a spiritual task that demands spiritual sensitivity and not just a taste for food.
Under this principle all kinds of food carrying sorcery operate; many people have received spells through food they have ingested that has been cooked by others. It is not advisable to accept food on dates where pagan festivals are celebrated, such as Halloween, meals for funerals, even meals for birthday celebrations and weddings.
In short, spiritual strongholds tend to strengthen with age, with cyclic practices, and with the implementation of food and drink during exercise. The powers that promote them seek to introduce defilement into the spirit of man. The apostle Paul recognizes that many men and women of faith are spiritually asleep, and all because of the defilement that darkness introduced into their bosom,
29For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1st. Corinthians 11:29-31
The Spirit of God is visiting entire villages to awaken the army of God who, having fallen asleep, has neither seen nor prevented the satanic forces from sowing apostate tares in the regions.
25but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Matthew 13:25-28
All biblical quotations are taken from the King James Version.
Pastor Pedro Montoya
[1] Genesis 1:26
[2] John 4:24
[3] Hebrews 1:3
[4] Deuteronomy 6:4
[5] John 1:16
[6] Philippians 2:7
[7] Leviticus 20:15
[8] Mathew 10:28
[9] 1st. Corinthians 15:49
[10] Romans 6:16
[11] Leviticus 21:1; Numbers 9:7
[12] Leviticus 11
[13] Leviticus 20:18; Ezequiel 18:6
[14] Numbers 35:32-34
[15] Leviticus 18:27-29
[16] Genesis 3:10
[17] 1st. Timothy 5:23
[18] Deuteronomy 7:13; 28:4, 11 y 18
[19] Genesis 15:4
[20] Mathew 15:11
[21] Exodus 12:12—14
[22] John 13:27
[23] Proverbs 23:2
[24] Exodus 12:15
[25] Isaias 58:7
[26] Numbers 6:1-3
[27] Daniel 10:3
[28] Micah 6:5
Sin is not only a deviation or inclination towards evil, proper to human nature, it is a spiritual argument provoked by Satan to have the right of operation and intervention in Adam’s generation.
Sin is a spiritual argument provoked by Satan to have right of operation and intervention in Adam’s generation.
God did not design, nor did He create sin to cohabit with man. For two reasons we affirm this and corroborate it with the Scriptures themselves,
First, the expression, and God saw that it was good, of each of the first five days of the Creation of His work, together with the, and God saw that it was good exceedingly, of the sixth day, shows that in His design, God so harmoniously ordered all things, that something deviant like sin and wickedness would have no place in them.
Second, the Scriptures bear clear testimony that He sustains all things. If He sustains them, His Holiness does not allow anything erring such as sin and wickedness to originate. This is an inalienable foundation of the Kingdom of Heaven.
17 and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Colossians 1:17
10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Hebrews 2:10
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Acts 17:24
Sin is not God’s creation, but satanic. It was designed to establish and maintain man in captivity.
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Romans 5:12
Sin is not in the world, that is, it is not outside, it is coexisting within human nature.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Romans 8:20
This means that sin is not part of matter but an endemic evil of human nature. This leads us to understand that sin is a condition, not a state.
Speaking about the foundation of the state of sin as a condition of human nature, the apostle Paul wrote what seems to be his testimony in his struggle against his sinful condition,
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Romans 7:19-23
Sin is spiritual in nature. One of the greatest failures, in matters of religion, that has been recorded in the history of the church, is to believe that sin is in the flesh.
It was this medieval interpretation that led many monastic groups and hermits to punish the flesh, to isolate themselves from others, and to develop penances and pilgrimages, so that by such punishments sinful inclinations could be controlled.
Although the apostle Paul uses the term, flesh, to refer to man’s sinful tendency, he uses it to identify the Adamic inheritance that constituted us all sinners,
9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;… 23 for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 3:9-23
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
3 concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
Romans 1:3
14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Hebrews 2:14
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
22 who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
1 Peter 2:22
5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
1 John 3:5
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
John 10:18
50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
Matthew 27:50
Sin is the malformation of the Word of the Creator. It is a spiritual process by which Satan transgresses the Word into his power, in usurpation, and establishes it in wickedness.
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Romans 7:7
The clearest example is the case of the serpent who deceived Eve and induced her to eat of the fruit of which God forbade them to eat. The review of the dialogue and the words of the serpent to Eve, shows the process of usurpation and contamination of wickedness with which they seduce Eve to enter into the condition of sin.
–Ye shall not surely die, is the term that shows the usurpation of the Word,
–But God knows, it is the term that Satan carries with a high content of wickedness, and by Eve’s acceptance of it, soon causes both Adam and Eve to incur sin.
4 who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2 Thessalonians 2:4
4 in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
2 Corinthians 4:4
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Matthew 7:20
22 that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Ephesians 4:22
25 Wherefore (1)putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26 (2)Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 (3)neither give place to the devil. 28 Let him that stole (4)steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. 29 (5)Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30 (6)And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 (7)Let all bitterness, (8)and wrath, (9)and anger, and (10)clamour, and (11)evil speaking, be put away from you, with all (12)malice:
Ephesians 4:25-31
This text is useful for us to identify twelve examples of human actions under which Satan has kept the inhabitants of this region subjugated.
Sin is subjection to Satan. It is not about “mistakes”, conscious or unconscious, committed under the pressure of some particular situation, it is about an authority and subjection that Satan maintains over the person, the families, the communities, the regions, which have been transformed into the personality of each person.
4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1 John 3:4-9
The Scriptures point out that sin no longer has jurisdiction over one who has been born again of water and the Spirit, that the body of sin has been crucified with Jesus.
6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?… 6 knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Romans 6:1-7
pastor Pedro Montoya
Treasure in Earthen Vessels 
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