Explore every episode of the podcast Spiritual Warfare

That God created man male and female is the most important foundational thing to the divine order of Creation. This fact is repeated in the story of Creation and in the New Testament by Jesus himself. In order to destroy man Satan always begins by breaking down this pillar of the divine order and thereby destroying the image of God in which man was created. Both male and female have their strengths and weaknesses, and they have their roles in life precisely laid out in the Word of God. When confusion and disorder is introduced to the distinction and roles of men and women it leads to complete abandonment of God and a return to paganism. This is the spirit of Jezebel we read about in Revelation 2:20.

The slide into paganism, which is the total abandonment of the LORD God and the embracing of false gods, is much more than throwing out the moral law of God. The strategy of Satan is to change what we believe, and at the same time to change the very way we reason and think. The heart must be corrupted, and the mind must be corrupted, also. Good becomes evil and evil becomes good, but then rational thinking is abandoned and replaced with insanity on a national or even world-wide scale. All anyone has to do to know this is true is simply look around at what the world has become.

It seems our perception of the great falling away before Jesus comes has always been far too shallow. For whatever reason, most who should have had enough knowledge of history, Scripture, and human nature to have seen this "woke" generation coming, did not see it coming at all. We are farther into the darkness than we realize, and the hour is late. This message contains a lot of statistics and information that reveal in a pretty shocking way how fast this apostasy has progressed and where we really are now. God's people desperately need to be awakened to this matter and be informed about the situation as it really is in order to avoid the great deception that is coming very soon.

There is a delusion among many people that the world will soon be completely secular, and religion will be a thing of the past. The plan is to simply erase God from every aspect of life and then they think man will be free to do as he pleases without any condemnation or opposition. But they are in for a great disappointment because men simply cannot, and will not, continue to live as if there is no God and nothing greater than himself. Life is too full of pain and sorrow and hardship and grief for man to bear it all by himself, so he will seek some way to offload his burdens, and find help with his problems. He will seek God's help, but normally he does that without being reconciled to God by dealing with his sin, and God will not answer his prayer, and so he turns to idols. Secularism is only an interval between abandoning God and embracing the worship of devils. Secularism leads directly back to paganism.

How does the human race change its collective mind altogether? It happens very slowly as those who are called by God's name compromise little by little and give up ground to the devil. Evil gains control of the microphone and then it isn't long before the moral and intellectual changes begin to manifest themselves in the collapse of that civilization . It has happened in this country and our world in my lifetime. The danger to your soul and the souls of your children and grandchildren is that you will not be diligent to guard your heart, your mind, and your spirit in such an environment, and you will be sucked into the deception of this self-made religion, and this self-determined righteousness that is so prevalent in this pagan world now.

This modern generation that is wise in its own eyes would never admit it, but their views and ways of thinking are strikingly similar to the ancient pagans. Their eyes are on the skies as they look for their "gods" to come anytime now. They are not looking for Jesus, but for aliens from outer space. All humans of all ages that have rejected God and clung to their evil ways have done exactly the same thing. The "gods" they believed in were simply super-humans, or super-heros, who lived in the heavens somewhere. They did not concern themselves much with Creation and where everything began, but their "gods" and their religion was self-serving and about making their lives safer, more pleasurable, and successful in their endeavors. That should sound familiar as you look around at this modern world.

Man has invented machines to do most of his work for him, especially over the past 200 years. But now we have crossed a threshold where man is turning over his thinking to machines. First radio, then television, then the computers, smartphones, the Internet, social media have done to mankind what all the kings and conquerors of all the ages could not do, and that is to bring all of humanity under one authority and one entity. Now AI has been rolled out and is evolving into the dream of pagans through all the ages. It is the collective mind of all humanity, but it is already showing many signs of not being under the control of its designers. No wonder Jesus warned repeatedly about the last days, "Watch!" The great falling away is in full swing and the great deception is at hand.

What does paganism look like? It looks exactly like the marriage of religion, patriotism, and worldliness that we are seeing in our culture right now. Paganism is the worship of nature, the worship of animals, the empowerment of the feminine over the masculine, the removal of all moral absolutes, the extinguishing of all hope, and the eventual collapse of the civilization. It looks like darkness, because that is what it is, and it is taking over our world very quickly. If you do not understand, start watching.

Religion without holiness is the first step to paganism. ALL religions outside of true Bible-believing Christianity reject the moral law of God. When people turn their back on God and his church the issue is always practical righteousness, holiness, reverence, and separation from this ungodly world. Paganism is based upon the belief that nothing is absolute - nothing is absolutely wrong, nothing is absolutely right, and nothing is absolutely forbidden. You can have religion without holiness, but you cannot have God. You can call yourself a Christian, but if you live like the world you are deceiving yourself. There are only two choices and there will only be two groups standing before God at the judgment. Which one will you be in?

The descent into darkness described in the first chapter of Romans is primarily a description of mankind as a whole, or individual countries or cultures, because the slide into paganism happens corporately. Nations or peoples do it together, and that is a major reason that it has such power when it gains control. It starts with a knowledge of God. Man did not start out as pagan, he started out fellowshipping with God in the Garden of Eden. Then when Noah got off the ark, everyone who was alive on the earth was very familiar with God and his ways. Something happened since then, and this message is about the slide into paganism, and the fact that we are witnessing it in this generation.

The issue that drives everything on earth is the battle between good and evil. To fail to understand that there really only two sides engaged in this spiritual battle always leads to being deceived by the evil. The battle waged by evil is to confuse, compromise, mix the two up together, and eventually change places so that good is called evil, and evil is called good. All gods except Almighty God are devils, not just imaginations of men. All gods except the God who created all things are unholy, unclean, murderous, and destroyers. The Bible tells us clearly that they are all devils. So it is either love and serve God in truth, or you are submitting yourself to the devil.

There are really only two forms of religion in this world: the worship of the true and only God, or paganism. There is faith in Almighty God, who created the heavens and the earth and all that is therein, who has revealed himself to man through the written Word of God, and his only begotten Son, who came to earth and died for the sins of mankind and rose from the dead, and also by the Creation that we all can observe. The only other option for man is superstition based upon fear and the unknown. Satan is the master of that system, and it includes all other religions and philosophies of life. Not believing in any God or gods is not an option. Every man will be influenced by spiritual powers, and if he is not submitted to Almighty God he will be guided by evil spiritual beings, whether he is aware of it or not.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my savior. He is the theme of my life and my everything. When all is said and done, God is all there is. David gave God the honor, the glory, the credit for everything he ever accomplished, and every blessing he ever enjoyed. When we learn to live with God as the biggest thing in our life, our soul, our mind, and our heart, we will know what victory is like.

Sin divides a man against himself. He has violated his conscience and lost his innocence, and sees himself different than he ever did before. An inner conflict is set up from that moment on; there is an internal struggle with himself, good against evil. It is that enmity in Ephesians 2 that can only be abolished when we are born again and reconciled to God. The old man is crucified with Christ. The war between our members and the law of our mind is ended. The inner conflict is over and there is inner peace now in its place; the peace of God which passeth all understanding.

To be weary is to be exhausted physically, and/or mentally. It is when you think and say things like, "I am sick of this." "I have had it with this." "I'm tired of this." It can also be the result of being, or feeling defeated. It happens to all us, over and over through life; as long as we are living we will feel weary often, because life is a struggle. God does not tell us not to be weary, but not to be weary in well-doing; that is, doing what is right. Rest is the cure for physical and mental weariness, while faith and patience are the cure for weariness in well-doing.

Love is the diminishing of self. Love does not exist until we value someone else more than we do ourselves. Until we desire their good more than we desire our own. Until we count their life more important than our own. This is not just a higher type of love, this IS the Bible definition of what love is. This love is the very evidence of being born again, and the lack of it is the evidence of being unregenerate. 1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

I never envisioned a world like this, and I do not know anyone who did. We knew that "evil men and seducers would wax worse and worse" but we never imagined that it would be like this. We expected more of the same kind of sin we were seeing 40 years ago, and we expected it to be more and more widespread and common, but we did not expect the insanity and the madness that we are seeing now. We should have seen it coming, though. If we had been more knowledgeable of human history and the Word of God, we could have known this was coming. Moral degeneration and depravity always follow the same path and end up in the same place, and it is plain to see from all the examples that happened in times past that we are nearing the end. The hour is late, sin has become exceeding sinful, and a holy God will soon judge this wickedness, as He has always done before.

God views man and his history forward and backward by generations, not by the present only. We have a strong tendency to only look at the present; at our own generation, and our own experience. This makes our view, and therefore, our comprehension of everything that matters very small and narrow. Judging and discerning truth by our little life and our few short years of experience on this earth is certain to cause us to err from the truth. This generation of know-it-alls in the world and in the churches needs to hear this.

There are certainly times when people who leave a church have been done wrong. Offenses are a part of life in any kind of social setting, including church. There are an abundance of Scriptures that instruct us and command us concerning the issue of being offended, and how we are to deal with it Biblically and righteously before God. But it is also clear to me after over 40 years of preaching and being a part of churches, that most people who leave a church offended do it because of a manufactured offense, not a real one. Their number one charge against the church when they leave is that the church is a bunch of hypocrites. But there is a common pattern with all who leave a church with this attitude. They slowly switch sides and take the side of evil, and call it good, then proceed to call evil what they used to think of as good. They are the real hypocrites, not the people who remain faithful and continue in ways of God without redefining everything.

Hypocrisy is defined as simulation, or pretending to be what you are not, and also dissimulation, which is hiding what you really are by having multiple versions of yourself that you present to others. Both of these aspects of hypocrisy are based in dishonesty and lies. Hypocrisy is the leaven that has leavened the whole of humanity. It has become almost all that life is about for almost the whole of mankind. Almost everyone has very few thoughts and feelings toward other people that are not, in one way or another, centered around trying to figure them out. Hypocrisy is the greatest manifestation of sin. Every aspect of man's life on this earth is dominated by this matter of trying to see beyond the facade that others are putting on and trying to figure out who and what they really are. Loving sincerely is the only cure for hypocrisy. If you truly love people you will not deceive, lie, or hide from them. If you love others sincerely you will not be able to be dishonest with them.

Hypocrisy is the omission of truth, and/or the addition of lies. This must be done with words, which are the utterance of thought. So hypocrisy begins with the manipulation of thoughts through the use of words. Do not allow your mind to be deceived by distortions of truth through the shell games people play with words. Satan is a master wordsmith and this is his game. Remember that truth is fixed and eternal; it never changes. The Word of God is truth, and therefore our only protection from being deceived and becoming a hypocrite ourselves.

Hypocrisy is basically having multiple personalities. Dissimulation is part of the definition of hypocrisy. It is like "simulation" but with the "di" it means pretending to be two (or more) different people at the same time. The inner conflict and confusion affects the emotions and makes them hard to control. Thus, we have moods, which in fact are multiple spirits that we allow ourselves to be subject to, manifested by anger, melancholy, frustration, or foolishness. Moods are very similar to the way alcohol affects people. Hypocrisy is common among all people, with the exception of those who have been truly born of the Sprit of God. The only kind of person that is of any use to the kingdom of God, or to the good of others on this earth, is a person who is free from hypocrisy.

The traits of Jezebel all speak of pride, rebellion, and selfishness. These things are ugly, abominable, and sinful in anyone, man or woman. A simple study of the name and its meaning tells us that she is an impudent, daring, vitious woman. She is shameless; lacks modesty; is bold, with contempt of others; saucy. She is impure and immoral. She is defective; there is something wrong with her in her heart and mind. Every thing about her is a perfect description of todays modern, liberated, empowered woman. Her problem is not with men, but with God who made her a woman. Her rebellion is not against men, but against God because she is deceived by this wicked world into thinking that God has put her in some lower place and done her wrong. She is the very opposite of what God made a woman to be and should be called out for it instead of being praised and admired. Jesus pronounced judgement upon this kind of woman and those who "suffer" (put up with) her, especially in the churches. A woman is empowered by God with the traits and abilities and the station in life to change the world if she would only realize it and submit her life to God, and live according to his design.

Satan's spiritual attack against you will come in three ways. He will try to convince you to believe that you have done too much, and the mess you have made of your life is too much for God to fix. He will also tell you that you are not worth God's concern; you have nothing to offer, or your problem is too insignificant for God to be bothered with. He will also tell you that it is too late for you; that you have missed the opportunity and are hopelessly lost, because God has had it with you. All of these things are LIES straight from the devil himself. God is infinite in power, infinite in mercy, and infinite in his love. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. It is never too much, too little, or too late for Him. All things are possible to him that believeth.

Purity and pollution both affect the way we view the world around us. To the pure all things are pure. He looks for the good, finds it, and rejoices in it. Them that are unbelieving and defiled in their mind and conscience only look for the bad and find it in everything and everyone. Rotten fruit is sweet to a worm but noxious to normal people. These are the two kinds of people in this world. When we find ourselves thinking that there is nothing but evil and no good in this world we are under the influence of the devil, because that is a lie. No true Christian can live with such an attitude and disposition.

Throughout the Scriptures purity is more often than not connected with our interaction with other people. The matter of purity is not simply for our own sake, or so we can be right with God, it is necessary in order to be right with others. Every relationship between people is affected by purity or the lack thereof. More than that, we can say that it is one of the pillars of any relationship. If you want a good relationship, whether in marriage, with your children, or anyone else, keep it clean. Keep the profane and the corrupt talk and actions, and thoughts out of it.

The primary meaning of religion, by it's definition, refers to the true God and the Savior. The word has been misused and slandered so that now most people have the wrong perception when they hear the word. But it is in the Bible and it is our subject. There is only pure religion and vain religion. Pure religion has two identifying marks: more concern for others than for self, and not defiled by the world. Vain religion is marked by an unbridled tongue, which is connected to a heart that has been deceived by self.

We purify water, air, coffee, oil, fuel, and all kinds of other liquids by running them through a filter. We cannot hope to remain morally pure in a world like this unless we have a filter. We cannot hope for our children to remain pure unless they have a filter. We can be their filter while they are very young, but every day as they get older they will see and hear more from this world, and they will be exposed to all of its filth and corruption. To maintain purity we must have something between us and the world around us that stops the filth before it goes in our eyes and ears.

To be pure is to be clean; it is to be free of pollution and unadulterated. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." There is no such promise to those who are not pure in heart. This world is a very unclean place. We are swimming in filth up to our necks all the time. We are bombarded with pornography, profanity, blasphemy, and violence in everything we look at and listen to. There is no way to maintain a pure heart and mind unless we separate ourselves from the fountain of it all. If people who call themselves Christians do not start drawing some lines and backing away from all this social media and filth, this generation is going to be completely lost. "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord..." Flee from Sodom or you will die with them, and so will your children.

Jesus said that the world would be like it was in Noah's day just before He comes again. The earth was filled with violence then, and it is approaching that same condition now. While we are focusing on all the wars going on in the world, that "same spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience" is filling the children and young people of this generation with the spirit of violence. Video games, entertainment, and the lack of truly godly people in their lives are making them that "generation whose teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth as knives." When this generation takes the reins in the next decade we will see the world as it was in Noah's time. There is a great difference between those who are possessed with the spirit of violence, and those who resist them. It is the difference between good and evil.

A pure heart is a heart that has its affection set on God above everything and everyone else. The "perfect heart" that is mentioned many times in the Scripture is that heart that will not turn away from God. A pure heart cannot be wooed or drawn away, and is described in Solomon's Song this way: "I have found Him whom my soul loveth, I held him, and would not let him go."

This is one of those messages that I wish everyone would hear. The matter is so vitally important! If you are a child of God you are involved in a spiritual conflict , and we are living in the most dangerous times. The enemy that will do you in is most likely the one you will not see. You will not see him because part of his strategy is to keep you distracted while he deploys his spies, his snipers, his double-agents, his land mines, and his disinformation in your mind, and in the minds of your children and others around you. Social media and the Internet are rife with them, and until we can begin to recognize that Satan has his hand in all of it, and shut the doors against it, our ranks are going to get thinner and thinner.

There is no way to have peace with God without a pure heart, a pure mind, and a pure conscience. The pollution and corruption of this world makes it a very dangerous place for us to work and live in, physically and spiritually. Disease, germs, viruses, and poisons are a danger to our physical health, but the greater danger is the spiritual and moral corruption that we are exposed to everywhere we go. Our conscience is made pure when the blood of Christ is applied to our heart. We must learn how to apply the blood to our heart. Our mind is made pure by the washing of water by the word (of God).

The devil wants to kill you, and he has a plan to do so. What he plans to do with you is more than just kill you; he intends to take you to hell with him for eternity. His strategy has two stages. First get you to say "no" to God; to deny God, and turn away from Him. Then to lead you on down the road to destruction of your earthly life. He will use every means, every person, every situation, every device that is available. He will use your own desires, even holy desires, to draw you out into the world, which is his territory where he will have the advantage. There he can convince you to say "no" to God and "yes" to yourself. Then you are on the road to destruction and it is only a matter of time until your demise.

Purity means clean, not mixed with any other thing or substance. We can understand this truth in the physical realm. All sickness and disease is caused by something in our body that is not supposed to be there. Contaminates, pollution, infection by germs, viruses, or bacteria result in sickness and even death. In the spiritual realm it is much the same. Unclean spirits are mentioned more than any other in the Bible. Wickedness, sin, and evil are contagious and when we gaze upon it with our eyes and ears something filthy enters our mind and heart. Until the people who are called Christians separate themselves from the filth of this world and all its sources things are going to continue to get worse. The work of God is suffering greatly because of the sin and immorality that is commonly found in the churches.

Purity of mind, heart, conscience, and soul is a major part of being a child of God. The word means "clean" and we are very attentive to cleanliness when it comes to food or drink. We want what we take into our body to be pure, but it seems that we are very careless about what enters into our mind, our heart, and our soul. The devil is on the rampage right now like most of us have never seen. Sin, worldliness, and immorality are commonly reported among the churches. When sickness and disease start spreading we began an urgent search for the cause, and the cause is always pollution, contamination, something corrupt that has invaded our food, drink, or home. The people of God need to do the same immediately.

The "world" that God commands us to be separated from is not the created things of this earth, but rather all that is under the influence and control of Satan and unregenerate human beings. This world system and all its means of influence over mankind is under the control of the devil. The only way to be a child of God is to forsake this present, evil world and become a citizen of God's kingdom. We then live as a pilgrims and strangers here. If we are a friend of this world the Bible tells us we are an enemy of God. If we love this world then the love of the Father is not in us. But "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world." So how we "fit in" and deal with the world around us is very accurate evidence of whether we are truly born again or not.

Being alone and feeling alone are two different things. All of us feel alone and abandoned at times. It is part of life. It is a hard part of life for folks when they get older because they feel it a lot. The devil likes to push us into that corner because we are very vulnerable to his lies when we feel alone and abandoned. The thing that drives this kind of loneliness away is to simply realize that we are a part of the family of God in heaven and on earth. We must be like a tree and spread our roots far and deep, into the past, and the present, with a long look into eternity. We have a great cloud of witnesses and so we are not ever really alone, or abandoned. And the Lord said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee."

The devil never changes his strategy. An object is presented for our consideration. Then while we gaze upon it and consider it, a desire is born in our heart for it. Then a plan is formed to obtain it. Then we obtain it. This is the natural order of things for the good and for the evil. The problem we have is with the desire. We allow the desire to take control of our mind, and truth and reality are shut out while we figure out a way to get what we want. This is our Achille's heal and the devil knows it very well. This is what the Bible is talking about when it says in James 1: "When lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished bringeth forth death." We must learn that if we are a true child of God, His desires come before ours.

It is a marvel that the mind is so prone to forget the most important things and remember the most vain things; a mind that was designed by Almighty God to work and operate in his own image and likeness. Surely there is an influence at work that causes the mind to malfunction like this. Strive to not be a forgetful hearer of the Word of God. Strive to remember and hold dear that blessings of life that God gives you in other people and his loving care for you and yours.Resist the powers that would have you forget by occupying your mind with vanity and drama.

The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. To pray according to his Will is to ask for those things which He has said in his Word that He is willing to grant. Not my will, but thine be done. Prayer is not to bring God on board with our plans and desires. It is not to inform God of the problem and tell Him how to fix it. The less of self that is involved in our prayers, the more effectual our prayers will be. To pray according to his will is impossible unless we are walking with God in righteousness. If we regard iniquity in our heart, God will not hear our prayer. (Psalm 66:18)

A carnal mind is not identified by sins and vices, but by how we interact with other people. Envying, strife, and divisions are the evidence presented in this Scripture to convict these people of being carnally-minded. Having a checklist of bad habits, vices, and other things we abstain from does not certify us as spiritually-minded. Our attitudes toward others and the way we esteem them reveals whether we are carnal or spiritual. The carnal mind is enmity with God, and is not subject to God, so Webster was right when he defined "carnal" as "unregenerate." Such sobering facts demand an honest assessment of ourselves.

Why does the "way" people think change? Look at what has happened to our world over the past few decades, and how the insanity has snowballed in the past few years. The "way" people think and reason has been changed, and is being changed at a much faster pace now. The only way to have a sound mind and sound reasoning is to have a mind that is stayed on truth. Lies, fantasy, and misinformation corrupt the mind and the ability to think and reason properly is affected or done away with completely. The corruption in our minds comes mostly from influence of other people, with their corrupt minds and hearts and their insane opinions, especially about moral issues. This is why the Scripture tells us to "come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord."

The mind is such an important part of our being. It is the power to reason, conceive, and judge, and if it is feeble in these matters our life will be one disaster after another. Feeble means to be weak and powerless, and therefore easily deceived. There are a number of reasons for a feeble mind, but none of them are hopeless because of the promise of God that He will give us a spirit of a sound mind, and that we can have the mind of Christ. This is the comfort for feeble-minded folks.

Our mind is our own and we can control it. Our spirit is our own and we can rule over it, if we simply WILL. If we do not rule our spirit and control the thoughts of our mind, we are wide open to spiritual evil. They move in quickly and establish strongholds in the mind through that inner dialog that only you hear in your thoughts. All this knowledge will do no one any good unless it is applied and practiced in our life at all times.

Paul admonished Timothy to be "a good soldier of Jesus Christ." Also, to war a good warfare. The first business with any kind of soldier is training. He must learn to recognize the enemy and defeat him. He must learn how to stay alive keep from getting wounded by the enemy. Most people who profess to be Christians have no training at all and are absolutely impotent in the face of the enemy. We cannot be ignorant of his devices, how he works, and what his strategy is. Until we know how the difference between natural appetites, desire, and lust, and how the tempter uses them against us, we are doomed to fall into his snare again and again. We are to arm ourselves with the same mind that Christ had in this warfare. Too much is at stake and it we cannot afford to be careless in this matter.

The first time the devil tempted a human being he did it by convincing Eve that if it tasted good and looked good, then it was good for her. Temptation is always an appeal to the mind to set aside truth while under the influence of some desire that has been aroused in your heart by the sight of, or the thought of, some object. What kind of appetites do I have in my thought life? That secret place of mine where no one sees or knows what is going on? We are drawn to thoughts in our minds just like we are drawn to food when we are hungry, or to other fleshly desires. The devil and his helpers in this world are able to direct our thoughts by directing our attention to some object. Once we see an object the image of it is forever filed away in our memory, so from that point the devil does not have to put the actual object in front of our eyes anymore, he can just remind us of it and we see it again. This is the power of sin and the answer as to why it has so effectively destroyed the human race. That battle is in the mind, and our thought life has to be governed with the help of the Holy Spirit, or all will be lost.

Appetite and desire are two words we need to consider. Appetite speaks more of a desire of the flesh for gratification, either of the body or the mind. There are natural appetites and there are artificial appetites. Having an appetite for food and drink is a natural appetite. Having a desire for tobacco, alcohol, drugs, or anything that is not life-sustaining and beneficial to the body or mind is an artificial appetite. God gave us natural desires and they are not sinful in themselves, but temptation to sin always involves our natural desires. The first sin on earth happened when Eve developed an appetite for that which God said would bring sure and certain death. So our desires can manipulated and directed by outside influences. So knowing this fact and having this understanding, we should take up arms against whatever would affect our appetites and desires.

Many people who call themselves Christians have fallen for a trap that the devil has laid for them. Being a critical thinker has become a kind of badge of honor that many boast of now, but they have taken the same bait that Satan gave Eve in the garden. The Bible tells us that we are not to believe every spirit, but we are to try the spirits to see if they be of God. The modern concept of critical thinking makes each person the judge of all people and all things with no foundation of truth but their own prejudices, preferences, priorities, and opinions. By the world's own definition critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. Therefore, it is self-serving, as well. It is to doubt everything and not believe anything. It leads to absolute uncertainty about everything, and leaves people totally lost and without any moorings, or waypoints, or landmarks, or sense of direction at all. To search for truth in order to obey it is right and what God wants from us. But to search for a way to overturn truth is plainly of the devil himself. Be careful with that critical spirit and that doubtful heart. It is not pleasing to God and will take you away from Him, not closer to Him.

To "think no evil" means to put the best possible construction on the motives and the conduct of others. It is not about evil thoughts or temptations to sin in the mind. It is about our attitude toward other people. If we are under the influence of charity we will "think no evil." Love will be our first reaction and we will not think evil until it is impossible not to. The devil has a great advantage over us in this matter because we have been hurt by the evil in others all our lives. But the Holy Spirit of God who indwells the true believer will enable him to overcome in this matter. To think evil is ungodly. To think no evil, even when the evil is obvious, is to be like Christ. We overcome evil with good, and this is a matter that is vital to our testimony as a Christian. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.