STRONGHOLDS: My thoughts on the issue and what it is….

 Before Procedding Further, I’d like to give out some reference material on the issue that may be connected to the issue of STRONGHOLDS. It’s from previous posts dealing with various solid articles on the issues of DEMONIZATION and whether or not demons can plague BELIEVERS.

   In one of the postings, the question is asked “Can a Christian be Cursed?” It was done after witnessing a pretty intense conversation regarding what a brother in Christ said regarding Tony Evans statement that his actions were sin for believing in the concept. What follows are some of my personal thoughts on the issues……and though by no means is it conclusive (since I’m more than willing to learn), it shows a fairly good bit of where I’m trying to come from on the issue.

http://emissary7.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/still-facing-the-worst-though-the-curse-was-already-reversed-personal-thoughts-on-the-idea-good-and-bad-of-generational-curses-part-1/

    The second on is on the issue of “Can a Christian be demonized or not? Saved is one thing. Empowered to  overcome sin is too……but spiritual activity may be another. This is an article by Brother Sam Storms from “Enjoying God Ministries” (http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/search-results/?keywords=DEMONIZED&show_results=N%253B)        Here also are A MYRIAD of others on the same subject that others can investigate if they’re interested (on everything from the issues of “MYTHS BEHIND SPIRITUAL WARFARE” and DEMON POSSESSION/OPPRESSION): 

http://emissary7.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/reverse-the-curse-articles-on-spiritual-warefare/

     Again, I understand I don’t know it all and that others have said it MUCH better than I ever could. So for other websites you can research/study on your own before making any conclusions:

 http://www.inplainsite.org/html/demon_possession.html

http://www.inplainsite.org/html/spiritual_warfare.html

http://www.reachouttrust.org/articles/doctrine/gencur.htm

 http://www.net-burst.net/bible/curse.htm

Can Christians have Demons?      Concerning Curses             

Moving on, Some thoughts…Strongholds are QUITE BIBLICAL

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2 Corinthians 10:1-5 2 Corinthians 10Paul’s Defense of His Ministry 1By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” when away! 2I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

When it comes to the issue of STRONGHOLDS, I think that many people may be confused on the issue because they don’t understand the context that the word was used in and why it was used.Regarding the context, Paul had alot of opponents who were questioning his authority and that, though many of the people in the Corinthian Church sided with him, many still slandered Him and said his letters were bold but worthless (II Corinthians 7:8-16)However, unlike others who would’ve tried to combat the situation in their own ability, Paul realized he as well as others are merely simple humans who are weak in ourselves and thankfully don’t have to resort to using human methods/plans to win our battles…….According to my Macarther Study Bible, “Although a Man, Paul did not fight the spiritual battle for men’s souls using human ingenuity, worldly wisdom, or clever methodologies (I Corinthians 1:17-25, I Corinthians 2:1-4), for such impotent weapons are powerless to free souls from the forces of darkness and bring them to maturity in Christ. They cannot successfully oppose satanic assaults on the gospel, such as those made by the false apostles at Corinth.”Even regarding the phrase “Stongholds”, there was a practical reason Paul used this and that further illustrated the above point. Accoriding to my study Bible, “the metaphor would’ve been readily undestandable to the Corinthians since Corinth, like most ancient cities,, had a fortress on top of a hill of the city in which it’s residents could take refuge….”……..and the formidable spiritual strongholds manned by the forces of hell are the same, for how often do people try to deal with something but cannot because the demons behind the issue hide behind an idea/lie that either cannot be recognized or is so strong that no amount of human will power could break it.\

Examples could be wrong ideas we’re chosen to accept because of a particular situation, exposure to something or the action of another (i.e. being abused verbally/physically and thus believing that “YOU’RE NEVER BE ANYTHING!!!” or, especially concerning addictive destructive behaviors like Pornagraphy, drugs, sexual immorality, gluttony, gambling, and various others based in the idea of “I MUST HAVE THIS AND THIS IS NECESSARY BECAUSE……” and feeling like one cannot stop even if they wanted to…….)Or facing a situation and having many true statements on the situation but ending up at having a wrong conclusion, such as someone being in a close friendship with someone but later being betrayed by that individual and choosing to believe that “ALL CLOSE FRIENDSHIPS ARE DANGEROUS AND THERFORE I’LL NEVER SEEK ANY AGAIN”)…..OR it could be strongholds that are created as a result of a falsehood being preached by others in an attempt to discredit Christ/turn others from Him………..Regardless of what the stronghold may be,Again, as Paul realized, when dealing the pride keeping people from a relationship with Christ, our own methods won’t work……..but Thanfully, Paul realized that nothing will serve to break down these barriers like God’s Weapons Gods’ …..For HE has given us weapons mighty enough to fight against SATAN’S STRONGHOLDS—-I.e. THE PROUD HUMAN ARGUMENTS AGAINST GOD AND THE WALLS THAT SATAN BUILDS TO KEEP PEOPLE FROM FINDING GOD..…...And we can rejoice in the fact that “formidable spiritual strongholds manned by the forces fo hell can be demolished only by the spiritual weapons weilded by godly believers—-singularly the “Sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17), since only the truth of God’s Word can defeat satanic falsehoods” (Macarther STUDY BIBLE) …….and, moreover, only it can help to show a man his or her condition/expose wrong motives or beliefs that are hindering them but that may not be easily recognizable:

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Hebrews 4:12 12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart……

Moreover, God has given us weapons like things such as prayer, faith, hope, love, and the HOLY SPIRIT (Ephesians 6:13-18) to fight against the arguments (i.e. “the thoughts, ideas, speculations, reasonings, philosophies, abd false religions which are ideological forts in which men barricade themselves against the truth of God/His Gospel–I Corinthians 3:20)……and to RESCUE those trapped inside thoughts patterns/lies that are not submitted unto Christ.That all being said, the concept of STRONGHOLDS is QUITE a Biblical Concept….. yet sadly, in many Christian Circles, it doesn’t seem to be brought up enough!!!

Some More Thoughts….

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How do we tear down strongholds? http://www.greatbiblestudy.com/Spiri…trongholds.php Strongholds are build upon deception and lies that we’ve accepted into our minds. So how do you counter a lie? How do you counter deception? With the truth. Where do we find the truth? In the Word of God. As we can see in Ephesians, this weapon is known as the sword of the Spirit: Ephesians 6:17, “…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” In 2 Corinthians, we are told that our spiritual weaponry is designed to tear down strongholds:2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”This is a great verse that gives us a good idea of how we are to go about tearing down strongholds in our minds. First, since the sword of the Spirit is the offensive piece of our weaponry, it is a great tool for tearing down strongholds. You need to go on the offensive to tear down a stronghold, and the Word of God is the weapon you cannot afford not to use. So when the devil tries to tell us, “You really messed up, haven’t you?” You need to counter it with, “1 John 3:5 tells me that the reason Jesus went to the cross was to take away that sin! Hebrews 8:12 tells me that even God has chosen to forget my sin!”Boy does Satan hate that! It reminds him of the days when he tried tempting Jesus:Satan said to Jesus, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” (Matthew 4:3)But Jesus replied with, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) What did Satan do? After Jesus did that a few times, he had no choice but to hit the road… his efforts were useless against Jesus! Jesus knew the relevant scriptures to quote, and took away Satan’s ability to influence Him! Let’s go back to 2 Corinthians again and see what else it has to say: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” As we can see, we are told to cast down imaginations. What are imaginations? They are things that we imagine… the devil usually plants them in our minds when he asks us a question that starts out with “What if…” Don’t waste your time trying to reason things with the devil. Just throw it out and leave him hanging! Get your mind on God’s Word and off of what the devil is trying to tell you. What else are we told in this verse? We are to cast down every thought that comes into our minds that opposes the knowledge of God. What is the knowledge of God? Since God associates Himself with His Word (John 1:1), if anything comes into our minds that is contrary to God’s Word, throw it out! Do not waste your time thinking about it or trying to reason with it. If Satan is trying to tell you that God is not wanting to forgive you, then don’t listen to it. Why? Because His Word says otherwise: Isaiah 30:18, “Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.” (NASB) Not only does He want to forgive your sins, so that your relationship with Him can be restored, He longs (which means He deeply desires) to do so! One of the last things Satan wants us to know is God’s forgiving and loving nature towards us even after we have messed up

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Continued from previous excerpt…

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As you can see, strongholds are built on lies and deception. How do you counter such things? With truth! Where do you find truth? In the Word of God! Stop thinking about what Satan has been feeding you, and begin to meditate on God’s Word. Take verses in the Bible that run contrary to what the devil’s been feeding you, and repeat them to yourself over and over out loud. Think about them often, and meditate on them. The devil got his stronghold built by causing you to meditate on his lies and deception, so if you want to tear down that stronghold, you need to begin meditating on the exact opposite, which is God’s Word.Listening to and reasoning with the things the devil puts in your mind is exactly what he wants you to do. It feed his strongholds when you allow your mind to meditate on Satan’s word (opposite of God’s Word). Cut him off at the source and say NO to the garbage he’s been feeding you, and at the same time turn to God’s Word. Begin to feed, meditate upon, think about often and dwell upon on the truth. It will stop Satan dead in his tracks! http://www.greatbiblestudy.com/Spiri…trongholds.php

Hope any of the above info helps (and I pray that it’s not really that big of a COPY/PASTE, ).This is something that I’ve found to be too true when it comes to attacking the issue pulling down strongholds. Besides the fact that one must pray dillengently and be in synch with the HOLY SPIRIT, I’ve come to realize that many of the strongholds I have dealt with in my life were simply because I wasn’t understanding the Word properly.For example, when I used to be heavily involved in pornography, I used to constantly wonder why I kept falling into despite my best efforts to quit and to want to be pure for the Lord. I would be able to stop and then, after a couple of weeks/months, I’d return again………..and I came to realize that by the Grace of the Lord I was simply thinking about sexuality the wrong way. The way I had come to see things, I realized that the majority of the times I fell into were times when I was feeling lonely/depressed…..and I remembered how the very first time I fell into pornagraphy was at that specifice time.At that initial moment I checked out Pornagraphy, my body had associated that paticular feeling of lonliness with the desire to check out pornagraphy BECAUSE of how ponagraphy felt good/helped me escape……and consequently, I was unconscionsely unaware of how everytime I checked out Pornagraphy it was because of that. The initial feelings of lonliness/depression leading up to pornagraphy were lost in the act and condemnation that always followed, and I would keep on going thinking nothing of it………Moreover, I had a very negative image of God and felt that He couldn’t be trusted, which of course made it that much more easier to run back into the arms of some illicit lover online.But When I uncovered that lie of “I’m lonely, check out XXX” and saw what the Word said about my situation (i.e. the consequenxes of sexual sin, the fact that sin never satisfies, THE IMPORTANCE OF NOT SETTING MYSELF IN A POSITION TO SIN BY STAYING UP LATE AT NIGHT OR AROUND PLACES WHERE I’M PRONE TO FALL, and that God is the only one who can not only satisfiy me but that HE CAN BE TRUSTED), the stronghold was effectively pulled down!!!!Does that mean that it happened in an instance? By no means, for Stongholds are incorrect thinking patterns that have been programed into our minds and that are contrary to the truth, and just like it is with how building a stronghold can take a long time to build, so it can also take a LONG TIME TO TEAR DOWN. In my opinion, the longer one invest in a wrong thinking pattern, the longer it may take to reprogram it…….AND MY LONG TIME INVESTMENT IN PORNAGRAPHY TOOK A GOOD BIT OF TIME IDENTYFYING ALL THE LIES I’D BEEN BELIEVING REGARDING IT……..

And just as it is with some strongholds that LITERALLY MUST BE BLOWN UP/DEMOLISHED INSTANEOUSLY FROM THE FOUNDATION UP, so with some STRONGHOLDS I BELIEVE HAVE TO BE DEMOLISHED BY EXPLOSIVE TRUTHS THAT CAN ONLY BE SEEN WITH SEVERE CONSEQUENCES

For example, My almost FLUNKING out of Highschool during my SENIOR YEAR, because of my addiction to pornagraphy and realizing how it almost cost me my life, unlike the other times throughout SCHOOL where someone could’ve shown me the TRUTH and I would’ve not taken it seriously. Sure, there were things I acknowledged and parts of the TRUTH I applied, like confessing to God that I was wrong/asking forgiveness but never confessing it to others because I wanted to maintain my “CHRISTIAN” image, or my discontinuing watching Pornagraphy but never choosing to stop FANTASIZING or reading what the Word says on Women, etc)…….but I would’ve never chosen to take the WHOLE COUNCIL of the Word SERIOUSLY/APPLY WHAT IT SAYS if I hadn’t been allowed to “HIT THE WALL YET”.

For another practical example, consider the PRODIGAL SON (Luke 15:11-32), and notice that it wasn’t until there was famine/hunger and his being forced to eat out of a pig pen that he began to think reasonably/heed the TRUTH of the situation (Luke 15:14-19). Apart from that, the sin, it’s pleasures and/lies would’ve seemed less apparent and more easliy acceptable.Prior to that, how much would hearing the truth make a difference……and likewise, when it comes to STRONGHOLDS, how much difference can it make in one’s life to hear the truth UNLESS THE STRONGHOLD THEY’RE CONTENTDING WITH TAKES FULL EFFECT AND THEY’RE ALLOWED TO HIT ROCK BOTTOM AS A RESULT? Sometimes, tragedy and great sorrow are what it takes to expose hidden lies hindering people and that cause those with Strongholds to look to the ONLY ONE who Can help them!!!!But thank goodness that it’s never hopeless for the struggling individual who HAS HIT ROCK BOTTOM AND DECIDES TO BE ABOUT repemtance, seeking the Lord, studying the Word and making every effort resist what the Enemy is throwing at him by simply humbling themselves and walking in obediance to the Lord.Like the Word says,

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James 4:7-107Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.