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HUMAIIIIATURE
(Continued from page 13)
words or direct communication, as
He talked with Moses and God's
prophets. God reached Cyrus
through Cyrus' spirit.
God stirred up
his spirit, causing him to want to do
it. God did cause King Cyrus to
know that in issuing this proclama–
tion he was doing it according to the
will ofGod.
Utilizing this same principie,
Satan, prince of THE POWER OF
THE
AIR, stirs the spirits of humans, in–
jecting into them attitudes, moods,
and impulses of selfishness, vanity,
Just, and greed, attitudes of resent–
ment against autbority, of jealousy
and envy, of competition and strife,
of resentment and bitterness, of vio–
Jence, murder, and war. People do
not recognize the source of these al–
titudes, feelings, motives, and im–
pulses. As
I
said, they do not SEE the
invisible Satan. Tbey hear no au–
dible voice. They do not know the
attitude carne from Satan (Rev.
12:9). But they come to FEEL such
attitudes, impulses, and desires.
That is how Satan DECEIVES THE
WHOLE WORLD.
People will feel depressed and
won't realize why. But those una–
ware of this phenomenon, with this
self-centered attitude being broad–
cast and injected into tbeir
unsuspecting minds from earliest
childhood, do, to a greater or lesser
degree, absorb it until it becomes
their normal attitude.
It
becomes
habitual. lt does not, of course, ex–
hibit the
same degree
of effect
in
all
minds - one person will become
more evil than another. But the nat–
ural tendency is there. They come to
have
it
natural/y.
It becomes their
very NATURE. And we call it
"human nature."
All this is an outstanding example
of just
how subtle
Satan is! The fin–
est and most brilliant human minds
have been deceived by it. Thus the
WHOLE WORLD has been swayed by
Satan into what
1
often term, sim–
ply, the
"GET''
way of life - the way
that has become HABITUAL and NAT–
URAL which we term
"HUMAN
NA–
TURE."
Few realize how many passages
in the Bible, especially in the New
24
Testament, warn us about Satan
and his subtlety. But first , before
1
take you to more of these, let us
follow on through this 2nd chapter
of Ephesians.
In
chapter 1 of this letter to tbe
church at Ephesus, the apostle Paul
gives thanks and praise to God who
has blessed " us" (the converts at
Ephesus
and
Paul - all Christians)
with every spiritual blessing witbin
the heavenly sphere. God had cho–
sen us befare we were born - befare
the foundation of the world - pre–
destinated to be called to spiritual
salvation. God has richly
lavished
on
us His grace. He shows that we
being called in this time - this New
Testament "church age" - are the
first
to be called to this glorious
grace (emphasizing that this is NOT
the time God is trying to save the
world, but only those predestined to
be called Now). Paul has heard of
their faith and never ceases to give
tbanks for it. He prays for their eyes
to be opened fully to the awesome
human potenti.al - the supreme
greatness of tbeir divine heritage.
I
urgently suggest the reader care–
fully read this first chapter in the
Moffatt translation. As translated by
Moffatt
1
think it is one of the most
beautiful, uplifting, and inspiring
pieces ofliterature
1
have ever read.
Now the highlights of cbapter 2:
You Christians at Ephesus were
spiritually dead, but Christ has
given you the irnpregnation of eter–
nal life. You are now spiritually
alive. In the past you lived accord–
ing to the way of this world (the
SELF-centered way), according to the
PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR.
In
ll
Corinthians
4:4
Satan is called
the god of this world, who has
blinded the minds of those who do
not believe in Christ and His truth.
NoT that they inberited this spiri–
tual blindness - but that
Satan
blinded those living in that genera–
tion
directly.
But here in Ephesians 2 Satan is
referred to as the PRINCE OF THE
POWER OF THE AIR! Notice the word
POWER -
the POWER of the air.
Then it caJls him the SPIRIT (being)
that NOW - the time when they
were living - actually was WORK–
ING IN those of the world who were
not obedient - tbat is, the world in
general. The Phillips translation in
modern English renders this: "You
[then] drifted along in tbe stream of
this world's ideas of living, and
obeyed its unseen ruler [who is still
operating in those who do not re–
spond to the truth of God]."
Emphatically this shows Satan is
the UNSEEN one who, uruealized by
the people, is actually swaying their
minds, leading them in wha t
I
term
the "GET" way.
The Phillips translation continues
(verse 3): "We all lived like that in
the past, and followed the impulses
and imaginations of our evil na–
ture ... like everyone else." This
"nature" has been
acquired
from
Satan.
lt
was not inherited from our
parents. Jt was not created in us by
God. That which has become
habit–
ual
and therefore
natural
becomes a
NATURE within
US.
Such nature IS NOT hereditary,
but an
acquired
characteristic. This
very passage shows the AUTHOR of
this "nature" to be Satan, NOT Goo.
The next words in the Phill ips trans–
lation are: "being under the wrath
of God by nature." It would make
no sense at all for God's wrath to be
on
US
BECAUSE OF WRAT Goo PUT
WITHIN us. Adam was NOT created
with this
"EVIL
nature." Adam ac–
quired it from Satan. Lucifer
(Satan) was created PERFECT. He ac–
quired
it
by false reasoning. These
Ephesians, in their generation, had
acquired it from Satan. But now, IN
CHRIST, through His grace, Christ
had given them LIFE, who
were
spiri–
tually dead because of this acquired
evil nature.
But how about the converted
Christian? His spirit, like all others,
is tuned on Satan's wavelength. The
same tendency, just as if this evil
nature were inberent in him from
birth, is present. Satan has been in–
jecting it since early childhood. But
the true Christian has repented of
that WAY. He has REJECTED it. He
has turned from it. He has accepted
and tumed
to
Goo's way - the way
of Goo's GOVERNMENT!
The passage in Ephesians 2 ex–
plains it. People generally, in the
world, are spiritually dead. They
have gone along with the rest of the
world in the self-centered way. As
the Phillips translation renders it,
they have "drifted along on the
stream of this world's way of living."
The
PLAIN TRUTH Aprii-May 1976