Spiritual Detoxification

I am continuing with the message about money speaking and us hearing that instead of the voice of our shepherd.

But I want us to go farther than just money and get to the foundations that make this reality so pervasive in our lives. I want us to draw adequate conclusions that will help us to disconnect from those tendencies.

We fail not because we plan to fail but because we do not prepare adequately to succeed. And many times this occurs long before we get to the conflict itself. The arena of war is the culmination of the preparation we have had for winning, or losing. And there is no greater place for that than the spiritual realm as eternal destinations are determined in those battles.

This post is therefore offering a solution that may enable us to disconnect to Satan’s voice in our life. By now you may have realized that money, mammon and the devil are being used interchangeably. Though money is a tool as I said in the first post, it is its being wielded by the enemy that causes problems in our Christian lives. I am not now addressing money as the tool here, but the wielder of that tool who is the enemy of our souls. Like with David in my last post, there are a few people who use their money as a very potent weapon for God’s purposes even today. These have necessarily demoted money from the prominence the devil seeks to make us apportion it.

Why are some people more prone to some sins than others? That is where I want us to focus today. A structure might develop cracks in its construction. Those cracks become weak points (fault lines) as they expand ever so slowly. Should the structure be knocked, those cracks are the first points at which the structure will start breaking apart.

It is the same way with our spiritual structures and lives. We are prone to fall where we were either conditioned to fall by the spiritual cracks we obtained in our growth or where we first fell. In other words, our past sin many times determines our future falls.

Suppose I was a thief before I became a Christian. My whole system will tremble should I see something lying idle, however redeemed or worshipful I may feel. The greatest danger someone can place me in is entrusting me with church resources because they think I have learnt the lesson better than most due to my past. Lessons alone are not transformational. There must be adequate growth in righteousness before the thief can comfortably trust himself with someone else’s resources.

What I will need is a complete detoxification of my spirit from the corrupting influences of my past. It is after my system has been completely purged from that corroding influence that I should be trusted with someone’s pen. And the key reason is that stealing is of the flesh, meaning it is the natural response of a normal person. It is an offshoot of human nature. Someone does not struggle to steal. Many times it is the fear of consequences that is the restraining factor. But there is a spiritual dimension, and it is the one that causes the addiction to sin.

I grew up on the farms. Once a cat or dog started eating chicken, there was only one solution; kill it. By the way that is what is done to a lion or other wild animal that has tasted human flesh.

Why is that? Sin, like the taste of easily acquirable meat, is addictive. The craving for it grows. A denial of the same, whether by choice or force has no capacity to kill it quickly. And those who smoked or drank will confirm that. It requires more than will power to overcome such cravings.

Now to offend. What about someone who was in secular entertainment? What about the secular musician? What about the secular comedian? What about the secular actor? Does their conversion reverse their craving for the goodies the devil and world offered just because they have prayed the sinner’s prayer?

Who were they serving? They were living by the devil and for the devil (John 8: 44). They were getting their wages from that service. And the devil took good care of them, even if that reward sometimes involved abuse of their bodies. And the fact that they may have prospered means that they had really sunk into the spirit of that world. In other words they had gotten addicted to the demonic system.

The folly of our generation is in assuming music is just music, without spiritual implications. Many think that a secular musician should join the worship teams of the church since he is skilled and gifted. But the question we need to ask is where did he get those skills? Where did he get the gift?

And we even go farther and say that the devil stole music from heaven. Not only is that foolish but it is unscriptural. He was created with music in his makeup. When God threw him from heaven he was thrown the way he was created because sin was found in him. Had God taken music from him it would have been useless as the same gift could have been corrupted by his sin.

Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. (Ezekiel 28:13)

God threw him from heaven the way he was. It is therefore a delusion from the evil one himself that we think that he only corrupts music. Music was in his makeup from the time he was created. It is commonly agreed that he was the lead worshipper in heaven before he fell. Why do we think that he lost the gift of music when he left? Is that Biblical?

But I will insist that the lie is actually from hell. He only spiritualizes it so that he can lead God’s people into drinking from his polluted well. Of course we will drink as much as he offers once we have agreed with his lies. Then the other things he offers will not seem as evil as we have already developed a taste for his dainties.

Why does secular music, even entertainment always lead and result in immorality? Why is it that musicians are normally very immoral? The plain fact is that the devil knows the right nerve to touch when he is inspiring his servants the musicians. And we know certain songs draw out certain cravings. It is common knowledge that going with a girl or boy to a particular event will automatically result in both of you going to have sex after the event especially if the right musician or music was there. There are concerts where blood must be shed before it ends. Why is it that way? The devil has been in the business for a long time and knows the right kind of music, from chants in demonic worship to jingles in a political rally to draw out demons (and fleshly cravings) from men.

Some restaurants have used that to full advantage. They will play music, even instrumentals that will draw out a craving for food so that you will spend (eat) more than you had planned. I read a book sometime ago explaining the same thing with supermarkets. They do a thorough research on the human nature and especially weaknesses. They use the findings to make the supermarket irresistible once on gets in. They will arrange things in such a way that one is drawn to the things they do not need. Have you ever noticed that the things you must buy (flour, sugar, bread etc) are placed so far that one has to literally go out of the way to get them? Have you also noticed that the things that you don’t need are placed so enticingly that you will see them everywhere you look?

But it goes farther. Some big names go ahead and use music, and many times music the shopper can barely, if at all, hear, yet music that draws our systems to scream ‘buy, buy’. The music will touch the particular nerve responsible for a particular feeling that will result in a particular action. And sadly to say all that is fuelled by the devil and his intricate knowledge of the human response to particular types of music. There is a touch, just a touch that makes someone go weak at their knees, however strong they normally are. And there is music that weakens resistance to particular temptations, however spiritual we may be. And that is the reason I quote this verse very often.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1Corinthians 10:12)

And also

Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)

Someone does not fall because they are weak. There are things that can lead a person to a particular sin. And music is such a potent one.

But it gets even worse. It is not only audible music that moves us. We know that there is sound that our ears cannot sense, yet our bodies can and will respond to it. And those inaudible sounds are the ones mainly responsible to some of those temptations I have mentioned, from shopping to eating to fornication. And modern research has shown that relationship. But it is sad because it is funded by the devil and his system therefore will not point at the end of those cravings or the sin that they lead to or an effective way to counter them.

The subconscious is one other area that is affected by such sound waves. And by subconscious I do not mean unconscious. It simply means I do not have a conscious or logical awareness of that influence. Assuming the absence of something I cannot explain is the reason the devil has always had immense success with music. And playing music at subsonic levels is one such. The message will sink because I do not have conscious awareness of it so have no way of resisting or blocking it. Subliminal is the name of the kind of communication the devil uses to influence us subconsciously.

It is the same reason it is folly to take secular tunes and baptize them with Christian lyrics because the message of the instruments, which is the primary vehicle of the demonic message has not changed. And that is the reason such songs produce a similar dance whether it is in church or disco. The music (instruments) touches the same nerves irrespective of the lyrics. It is no wonder that the church leadership of the not so recent past resisted the playing of particular instruments in church, especially people God had rescued from the secular music scene.

 What do we do with a secular musician who gets saved? Is it wise to get him into singing in church? Are we helping him grow when we ask him to play our instruments because he is now redeemed? What do we expect him to play when he holds the church guitar or drums?

The place this person needs to be taken is farthest from music. He needs to be completely detoxified from its demonic influence in his life. He needs to grow in the knowledge of the Lord enough to be able to discriminate between Christian worship and the worship of mammon that he was exposed to in the secular arena. Exposing them to leading or playing music in church is similar to sending a recently converted alcoholic to the bar to share the Gospel or a smoker to the smoking dens to win smokers to Christ or prostitute to the brothels to win harlots. It is not only impractical, but it is very dangerous to their spiritual wellbeing. And no wonder many secular entertainers who get involved in singing in church will backslide or get back to secular music.

Let me illustrate with an experience. We had been in Marsabit for close to a year after our transfer yet we had never known that there was anywhere someone could buy fish. And as bachelors we had gone the length and breadth of the small town and were convinced there was no fish anywhere. Then comes someone from what Kenyans refer to as the lakeside and after he goes to town and back there is the smell of cooling fish from his house. Of course we thought he had ferried it from down -country. But he continued cooking fish and we realized that he had to have a different source. And were we shocked when he told us that he bought the fish in town – the first day he came!

Why could we not able to know whether there was fish anywhere in town? Our systems were not attuned to fish. We did not know fish apart from when it was cooking. But he had been around fish all his life. He did not just need to smell fish to know of its existence. His whole system could sense fish, living or dead. Was he trained to know where fish was? Of course not. He had just been exposed to fish since childhood.

It is the same with vices. A drug addict will be able to access drugs within two hours of getting to a place they have never been before and where they are complete strangers. And it is the same with whoremongers. You might be in a place and you think there is no prostitution until such a person comes around and they will find a harlot without any struggle and in a very short time.

Simply saying our systems are attuned to things that we expose them to long enough. And it is more spiritual than we may want to believe. A whiff of cigarette smoke releases a spiritual signal that releases a craving for the addiction. It is the same with alcohol and other drugs. And I dare say it is the same with secular music, however wholesome it might sound.

But I know there are people who on their conversion find those vices or substances they were involved in totally repulsive to their whole systems that they could literally throw up (vomit) when they get close to the sounds, smell, sights of their past lostness. But rather than being the grounds of sending them to minister to their former partners in sin, it is meant to give them space to grow enough to make mature decisions when faced with those signals that drew sin out.

But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:14)

And it is no wonder that the Bible instructs us on the kind of people we need to have as leaders.

Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. (1Timothy 3:6)

Though pride is mentioned, it is not the only reason a recent convert should not be given leadership. They need to have first grown in knowledge and experience of the Christian life. They must be purged from their past life lived outside God’s revelation. Then they can face a temptation that in their past brought them down without a struggle and help others succeed because like we have seen they have trained their senses to discern good and evil and handle the demonic undercurrents behind the enticement to sin. In other words they have learnt through experience to distinguish between the voice of God and any other voices, however similar they may be to His voice. They can distinguish between the worship of God and the very similar worship that is directed at self. And only growth in righteousness and the experiential growth of a relationship with God through time can do that. They have purged their lives from their past and all its connections to the world as to be able to notice the faintest shades of evil however righteous they may appear. This is because the devil is chief of camouflages and pretensions. He does not oppose God by being directly opposite but by offering a counterfeit so close to the original that it requires someone highly skilled to know the difference. And the skill required is a growth in the wisdom and knowledge of God over time.

The thrust of what I am saying is that after someone is born again, they should be sufficiently detoxified from their past life to become effectively useful in God’s kingdom. Failure to do that will result in them being unable to deal with the temptations their former cravings had opened them to. That will necessitate them being removed as far as possible from their former lifestyles, especially if their occupations had connections to sin tendencies or company.

We detoxify them not only by removing them from their past sinful lifestyles and occupations but by positively connecting them to new redeemed company and lifestyles that meets God’s approval. That we call discipleship as Matthew 28: 18 – 20 commands.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42)

Not only does lack of detoxification through discipleship limit the converts to a spiritually confused life without growth, it fails to prepare them to be fruitful in their lives. But it gets worse as they become unable to face the challenges that come from the danger autonomy brings. Let me give an example.

I lived in some remote places in Kenya due to poor infrastructure and development. As a result most people felt as if they had even left God behind when they boarded trucks to those places. Personal responsibility was sorely dependent on you as there was no way people who knew you could get there. I knew people who were elders, even pastors where they came from who became drunks, smokers and whoremongers in those places. In fact we discovered a colleague who was such when his wife hazarded her life to visit him. For the duration she was there the guy was as saved as salvation itself. No smoking, no drinking, no prostitutes, no foul language, vibrant and exciting testimonies. Yet that stopped the moment his wife left.

Discipleship not only purges our lives from our past. It connects us to the life giving flow of God’s life in us. It also raises our level of spiritual responsibility at a personal level so that we can then start bearing fruit for God. And that does not happen overnight when we say the sinner’s prayer. It is a process of growth.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: (2Peter 1: 5 – 10)

Let us grow the people God sends our way adequately before entrusting them with the treasure that is the Gospel. But let us also purpose to grow so that we will be able to distinguish the voice of our Shepherd from the voice of the imposter who is actually His enemy. But we can only be able to do so when we detox (purge) ourselves from our past life after we came to the Savior.