Dear....
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:12
A
"third eye, " the supposedly gift some are endowed with to see beyond
the natural
to the supernatural realm. A friend with that purported gift, once said
that a walk in the cemetery at night is quite an eye opener for her.
Not necessarily Orchard Rd but fairly robust crowd of specters. And come
to think about it, the stretch of Orchard Rd, where Ngee Ann
City sits on used to be a cemetery.
For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God:and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1 Thessalonians 4:16
If
my understanding is correct, upon death, our bodily shell return to
dust, but our spirit, at least for the faithful, lies in abeyance till
Christ returns. If this is true, there should be no wandering dead
contrary to popular misconception. For the non believing spirit, they
would be led to hell, to await judgement??
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Genesis 6:2
There
were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the
sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare
children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of
renown.
Genesis 6:4
Ghost of the
deceased there isn't but fallen angels there are aplenty, masquerading
in whatever form that will feed upon our fears or desires, with the
intent that you will lose your soul by following the evil one. Are they
nephilims, the offsprings of fallen angels?
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil:for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Psalms 23:4
Today's
newspaper had a testimony by a lady about her return from death. Brain
dead, saved for the life support machines,she came out of her coma after
36 hours. She in all probability, had the devil or its cohorts visited
her in her subconscious, wanting her to surrender her
soul.
But by the faithfulness of God, she was miraculously healed.
Coincidental
or not, this was the second testimony of resurrection I encountered in
the last one week. I make a new acquaintance last week who powerfully
testified about her hubby's coming out of being clinically diagnosed as
dead on the seventh day of his coma.
Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
Luke 24:34
Is
this the flavor of the month, given that we are fast approaching Good
Friday( the death of Christ on the cross) and Easter Sunday ( the
resurrected Christ)?
The natural man find it unfathomable such
resurrections can occur. Yet, what the Bible has documented is
increasingly being played out in our modern times of rationality.
Death is a finality that is inevitable where many do not want to think about.
I
remember the testimony of a friend whose father was in the
throes of a life threatening situation. When he came out of it, he told
my prayerful friend of sinister creatures of Hades wanting to bring him
to the darkness of hell. But thanks be to God, a figure in glorious
white appeared and saved him. And that was when he awaken. The friend's
father has since died but he accepted the saving grace of our Lord.
I
knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I
cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell:God knoweth;)
such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man,
(whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell:God knoweth;)
How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words,
which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
2 Corinthians 12:2-4
Juxtaposed next to our natural world is the spiritual realm. Most of us are not cognizant of the latter's existence
and continue to live in the delusion of the present world, whose authority God gave to man, but Adam surrendered to the devil.
Would
we only experience the truth of this battle for our souls between the
forces of good versus the dark elements, when our souls are at risk?
And
fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul:but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in
hell.
Matthew 10:28
A dear friend shared
about her encounter with the spirits of darkness in her hotel room last
week. But thanks be to God, prayers brought her into the presence of
God, Who shelters us from the evil one.
A coward I am. I am no fan of
the paranormal, but have had the "privilege" of experiencing the
ominous oppressive presence of the evil one. This was during my army
days, and for a period of 2-3 weeks, was pressed by an unseen but
oppressive presence upon my being every night at about 9pm in my bunk.
One literally could not move nor scream out. Some would say it is
probably one's constricted blood flow, but truth is, only in calling
upon Christ, much as I was not much of a Christian then, was I able to
break free from the unseen but very real evil presence.
Every
day, we are subjected to the pounding of spiritual forces of evil. But
we rarely think in that context. For emotions of anger, greed, lusts,
pride, envy, fear, impatience and the whole litany of non
Christlikeness, we look and deal with them from the context of the
carnal man, rather than the spirit man.
But as our hearts are
transformed, our minds renewed, the hold the devil has on us loosens,
and our frustrated Lucifer start to put aside the niceties and instead
manifest his true ugly self. It is not a non choice like the proverbial
devil and deep blue sea, but rest assured one will run very
quickly to our Sovereign God, when the devil manifests itself to you,
warts and all.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the
devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw
nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye
double minded.'
James 4:7-8
Turn to God, this
is the compelling theme of the Bible. Only in staying in the presence
of God, will we be imbued with this willingness to submit to Him. And
only then can we overcome the evil one. Only then can we truly be both
at peace and joyful, come what may, no matter the arrows that Satan
shoots in our direction. For we know The Lord is our shield and
strength, and we know He is Sovereign, and learn to look at all
situations from His perspective.
Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
Psalms 88:10
Not all will be privileged to know Christ so
deeply by coming back from the dead. But if we are willing to let go and
let God in our daily living, we are indeed living out the resurrection
in the spirit. And then can we understand that the day is indeed evil,
but the grace of our Great God is indeed suffice for the day. And
victory has been won on the resurrected cross, for which Christians not
just commemorate but celebrate this biblical truth, come this Easter.
God blesses
Eng Hieang
26th Mar 2013
An afternote
As
I was in the pool tonight as the solitary swimmer, as I pondered upon
the logic of this message, and if it is truly our Lord's will, I smelt a
distinct whiff of burning joss paper for a third of my last lap. Not
sure where it came from, but this was the same smell that filled my side
of the bed many years back in my previous abode. That was the time I
had this
persistent drone in my left ear, which left me as my small group
members sang the song "He healeths me." As I went to bed, exhilarated
with God's healing grace, I felt a slight giddiness, just as the
distinct incense of burning joss paper whiff past me.
Most of us gets
the chill when we sense an evil presence. Not too sure how many smell
joss paper burning where none was in sight. But matters not, God is with
us, and indeed He is our Sovereign God.
And what about "A Chinese
Ghost story?" Just a title I felt led to use. The main actor, Leslie
Cheung died a tragic death, but that is another story.
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