THE PATHFINDER

#364.24

WILL WORSHIP

We will share in this study some priceless truths that have been gleaned and embraced from on high as well, as other members of the body of Christ over the years concerning man's will worship, which is a "form of godliness." It can appear to be real; but it lacks the life, relationship, and power of God.

If it is mere soulish emotions that are stirred, there will be no life or power therein. For example, the repeated singing of choruses does not sing its way into your spirit or that of the our Lord's. It will not be until we become lost in adoration and worship to God. True worship do not stir out emotions to express soulish songs or dance which satisfies the flesh?

We do not criticize normal human manifestations, especially if they are used to point one into a deeper realm, but they must not be substituted for the pure moving of the holy Spirit. There is no good substitute for the anointing! An understanding heart is also vitally needed to discern between what is ‘will worship’ and that which is truly the outflow of the spirit within. Colossians 2:23 speaks of "a show of wisdom in will worship." Far too many of our religious expressions are only a form of TRUE WORSHIP. By that we mean, either someone else willed you to do it, or else you set your own mind in that direction as a means of obtaining favor with God, hoping to become more spiritual, or for some other reason.

Religions form rituals/ceremonies and will most often void of His life, and this is will worship. It is then that manipulative control by an ill spirit becomes the norm, and with rigid religious regulations being imposed. Thus, as one man stated so well, "Much of our worship time is nothing more than a happy hour in which the participants can enjoy a good time."

Contrived plans are then brought out to determine who will conduct the music, what songs will be sung, how the tempo will be increased, and we are on our way — programmed according to the will of man! We can sing all our favorite songs or choruses, clap our hands, dance, shout, and have an emotional experience that is orchestrated by the will of the leader. During this time there will be joy, laughter, as well as weeping, i.e. worshiping according to their psychological design. But where, in all of this will worship, have we really worshiped; that is, in Spirit and Truth? The will of man must be forsaken and become one with the will of God!

It has been well stated that you can praise the Lord from your memory circuits, as you recall His wonderful works, but you can only worship Him when you are conscious of His presence. Worship demands the person of the one being worshiped! And there is that recognizing that He is with us in every hour of our day, so that at any given moment there might rise from our spirit a flow of adoration and worship to Him. "In Him we live and move and have our being." Therefore, we can worship Him right where we are! It does not require a formal arrangement, cathedral, stained glass windows, padded pews, soft organ music so that we begin to create an atmosphere which we think lends itself to a form of worship.

To sit at His feet means to be a worshiper. It is much more than drawing nigh to God with our mouth and pouring forth beautiful expressions of praise or impassioned petitions. "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him" (John. 4:23).

The emphasis in this passage is not on worship, but on TRUE WORSHIPERS. I do not hesitate to tell you that much of the so-called spiritual worship in this hour is in fact idolatrous, for many have made an idol of worship, they worship the beauty and glory and thrill of worship, rather than worshiping the Father. But true worshipers are true because they do not worship the excitement that comes to them, but in spirit and in truth that it is all directed UNTO HIM ALONE. To worship in spirit and in truth means to worship in the reality of our spirit that is One with Him! What we do or say is not of prime importance. What we ARE is the thing that matters, for out of a state of being comes our doing.

The Holy Spirit declared by the mouth of the apostle Mark: "Well has Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit, in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Again, Colossians 2:23in the KJV: "Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in *will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh." (KJV).

Below are five translations that help us to understand that which is being addressed:

Bar none, God and religion, are one of the most loved and most hated things in the world. If a person belongs to a church organization, they generally love their religion with all their might, and sometimes with such love that it is greater than that for their wife/husband and children. This must be true, for we know people whose religion is foremost in their lives. It virtually towers over all things.

For others, hatred toward God and religion is very common, and considering religion's infamous history, this is understandable. Throughout the ages, wars have been fought over religion, and millions have been persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, slaughtered. and martyred by religion.

One such religious atrocity took place in 1209 A.D. in Béziers, France. Arnaud Amalric, later to become archbishop of Narbonne. was named a papal legate and inquisitor. He was sent by Pope Innocent the III with Peter of Castelnau to attempt the conversion of the Albigensians. Failing in this, he distinguished himself by the zeal with which he incited men by his preaching to the crusade against these heretics. He was in charge of the crusading army that sacked Béziers.

When it was discovered that there were Catholics mingled with the heretics, Arnaud Amalric, was asked: "Sir, what shall we do, for we cannot distinguish between the faithful and the heretics." The abbot is said to have replied "Kill them all and let God sort them out."

When religion is used in reference to a person; such as, Father Horacio is a very religious man, or there is no one more religious than Sister Percyprim, our normal impression is of someone who never misses a church service, their daily lives appear spotless, they are never seen in bars or the liquor section of stores, they are involved in church activities, and always faithful to their doctrine.

For most of the world, at least the church world, being religious stands out with honor. It is a prestigious goal for which many strive. One of the earmarks of religion for some churches is to be perpetually at war against Satan. This Satan is usually viewed by them as having to do with sins of the flesh, such as drunkenness, adultery, prostitution, homosexuality, rape, incest, murder, and the likes. He is accused of tempting men, women, and children to submit to mild sins such as telling little white lies to unspeakable things; but we surely remember something one of the apostles said:

"Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." James 1:12-14.

Now, let us ask, from where do the temptations of lust come? From the devil? From the serpent? No, not by any means! Our brother said it was from a man’s own lust, which is rooted in his own nature, his own carnal mind, and passions of the mind and body. Satan was not mentioned one time in this reference, but the source of the temptation was clearly identified. The apostle did, however, say something of the devil one time in his letter, but a man's lust was not the issue:

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:7. Who or what do we suppose was the devil he warned about in this verse? Surely it had nothing to do with lust; for James identified the cause of lust earlier as being that of man himself.

In conjunction with that which James said about temptation being that of man's own lust, Paul said much the same, but drew it out as a personal ongoing war. Throughout those dreadful battles he mentioned the devil, not one time!

Let us see as we read from his own testimony: "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me [evil, not the devil]. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members [sin, not the devil]. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." Romans 7:14-25.

Paul's discourse between serving the law of God and the law of sin has put many minds in a tailspin; and after reading it, most would take a deep breath of relief in knowing that the war would be won through Jesus Christ. Understanding that this victory will eventually come is great; but not knowing the dynamics of the war makes it very difficult.

It is not our purpose at this time to go into detail concerning these battles, only to say that there are two minds at war against the other: the spiritual mind that desires that which has its origin in Jesus, the heavens, and the carnal mind that desires that which has its origin in Adam, the earth.

Can it get any clearer than this? It is the natural, carnal man that is the culprit wherein lies the lie of sin. There was no devil lurking around every corner waiting for Paul to drop his guard so he could draw this righteous man of God into temptation that would perhaps land him into the arms of a harlot.

Jesus understood this by the Mind and Spirit of the Father! He never condemned the prostitute, the fornicator, the tax-gatherer, the thieves or murderers. He never demonstrated holy anger against the Romans, nor even against the Roman gods, the world, or the wicked. It was the religious leaders that He denounced with scathing invective! His anger was focused on the hypocrisy of the so-called carriers of His Father’s word! He condemned those who appeared clean on the outside, but inside were full of greed and spiritual wickedness!

Those who gave tithes and fasted and prayed and loved the best seats in the synagogue to be seen and esteemed of men, He rebuked! Those who distorted the word of God, who turned the truth of God into a lie, who misrepresented and maligned the nature of His Father, and loaded people down with religious burdens and obligations, creating a façade of self-righteousness, He called a generation of vipers — a brood of snakes!

Ah, we blame war, drunkenness, greed, crime, immorality, drugs, and a thousand other evils on Satan — yet the clear testimony of scripture is that these are all the "lusts of the flesh" and the "works of the flesh." They are — flesh! On the other hand, Satan’s activity throughout the whole of scripture is in a religious realm and in a spiritual dimension.

What a cunning deception has been foisted upon mankind as Satan has concealed his true identity underneath the dark shroud of religion! Oh, yes, Satan is religious! In the book of Job, the oldest book in the Bible, there was a day when the sons of God came and presented themselves before the Lord, and the record states that "Satan came also among them."

When we can lay aside the tradition of the preachers, theologians, and church creeds and listen instead to the word of God, we will clearly see that Satan didn’t come before God in company with drug lords, pornography peddlers, cruel dictators, psychopaths, atheists, prostitutes, or mafia leaders — instead he came with the sons of God! And this foe was very religious!

If by some remote, impossible, chance that Paul had done something like that, it would have been due to having been drawn away by his own lusts, not the luring temptations of Satan. Please know, brethren, the body of flesh coupled with the carnal mind needs no outside help from anyone, not even the devil. This pair does alright on their own.

If this is true, you might question, Just how does this enemy fit into the scheme of things? And if he is not tempting people to stomp on their own moral characters, and he is not influencing despots to slaughter millions, including babies, what is Satan’s role in the affairs of man?" I am glad the question is posed! The truth has been speaking to us from the scriptures for centuries; but religion has done a remarkable job of blinding their subjects from seeing what it is, and the façade is flooding the world.

When the scriptures speak of either Satan, the devil, or the serpent, each one always has to do with spiritual matters between man and God, and it is apparent that the primary objective is to sever the bond between God and man. When this is done, man becomes his own god and sole provider of his livelihood and destiny (unto death and destruction).

Before continuing, let us note that our English word, Satan, is the transliterated Hebrew word "satan." It is the same word and is pronounced saw-tawn, which means an adversary.

In the Hebrew language, as it is in English, proper names neither have a definite article (the) nor an indefinite article (a/an) associated with it. For example, Scruffy is the name of our cat, and no definite or indefinitie article is ever used in connection with his name. We never call him the Scruffy.

The Hebrew word, satan, of the Old Testament occurs 19 times, and the Greek, satanas, in the New Testament 37 times. Each instance is with a definite or indefinite article, never once as a proper name. Therefore, the satan, or a satan is not the Name of an adversary but indicates that a certain entity is an adversary. For example, God Himself was called a satan, not Satan as a proper name, but a satan, an adversary: "And he was an adversary [a satan] to Israel all the days of Solomon...." 1 Kings 11:25.

In both the Old and New Testaments, satan is a term that never refers to a named individual; therefore, for it to be correctly translated rather than transliterated as a proper noun is the proper way for it to be rendered.. By transliterating the word, a grave injustice to the truth has been done at the hands of religious men who were inspired by the serpent of religion. What a ruse! What a coverup it has been! But such is only one of the tactics of the liar that finds his home in the carnal lair of men’s minds.

People are in error when all the evil in the world is linked to Satan; for outside of religion and God using him as a chastening rod of judgment, worldly evil is generated by the carnal mind of man and never associated with the devil. Please search this out on your own; but I have found no place in the Bible where it states that Satan has anything to do with anything but religion and judgment. He is the master of man’s religion. He is the father of it. His primary role has always been in separating people from God.

He deceives them by transforming himself into an angel of light, so much so, that multitudes bow routinely to his doctrines, rituals, pompist regalia, teachers, preachers, pastors, bishops, and popes.

Satan’s ground work and inspiration is rooted in the carnal mind, while the Spirit of our Lord’s is in the Spiritual mind. But the heavenlies is where his greatest achievements are had, and religion is the root of his power. You see, rather than being a diabolic monster who is in charge of torturing billions in sulfuric flames of hell, as he has been portrayed, he is very religious, just like Father Horacio and Sister Percyprim we mentioned earlier. On the surface he is someone you would want to be living next door to you. Such would most likely increase the value of your property as well.

Oh, you thought Satan worked in dives of immorality and crack-houses, or he drew his servants into heinous rituals under the cloak of darkness, and he thirsts for the blood of babies that is poured upon crude altars with upside-down pentagrams carved in them as impish demons gleefully dance around midnight fires! Brethren, if that is your image of Satan and his followers, you have been grossly misled, and I challenge you to produce one scripture that remotely relates to such foolishness. You may draw my attention to the babies that were sacrificed to Molech; but that was a heathen practice of people who did not know God, and having been totally carnal, their world was in the pit of ignorance and fear. Israel was enticed to join them in their idol worship, which they often did. Even so, this was inspired by the spirit of religion, a satan. It was a religious practice, and it served its purpose very well by keeping the people very far from the living God, and there were no indications that immoral lusts of the flesh were litigating influences.

Simply put, the scriptures do not indicate to any degree that this adversary is the instrument that tempts people to immoral things of the flesh, nor do they suggest the devil is the root of famines, drug addiction, prostitution, and murder throughout the world. Frankly, he is much more sinister and covert than this. Even though religious men and regimes involve themselves in these things, it is the carnal mind that brings them into the arena, not the serpent..

For instance, do we see any of these characteristics in the beginning when he became the first liar, the father of the lie and of murder—not a murderer like we see of those in the streets in Juarez, Mexico by the drug cartels, but a murderer just the same? Not at all! He did not come to Eve with an AK-47 in a rage of violence, but in serenity, speaking soft words of logic that gave her cause to doubt God, thereby, believing that  He had lied.

Let us list a few times that Satan had a role to play and see it had nothing to do with tempting people to inordinate sex, murder, rape, adultery, incest, and the likes, but had everything to do with religion:

The first record of this adversary is in the third chapter of Genesis and is portrayed as a subtle serpent that persuades Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She then gave it to her husband to eat. This in turn resulted in being separated from God in the same manner that religious legalism will do. It was man’s way of being like God by his own hand, wit, and might. Self-righteousness!

It was not until 1st Chronicles that the word, satan, was first used. This instance caused David to trust in numbers rather than God:

David’s act was a religious one that may have been prompted by fear. When there are enemies at your backdoor that could potentially take your kingdom, the adversary of fear can be a strong motivating factor to trust in the arm of flesh, horses and chariots, with vast numbers watching your back. Or if not fear, the adversary could be pride, being lifted in oneself due to having such a mega church of 10,000 or more members. When kings or preachers count their members, it can lead to self-sufficiencies and the lack of need for God. This is religion, and it will surely sever men from their fellowship with God. In essence, it is telling Him that now that He has brought them this far, we don’t need You. We can do the rest on our own; for with such numbers, we cannot fail.

The third time Satan is mentioned makes it very clear that it is a religious event. It is in the first chapter of Job when the sons of God presented themselves before the LORD, and Satan came among them. What a Spirit-filled church conference that must have been! Imagine the sons of God coming together in one place, and, no doubt, in one mind and in one accord! Not only then, but to our present day, this is where you can count on the religious foe to show up in full regalia for the trial of the saints’. With the adversary’s hand upon Job, religion began its due process. The heavens became silent, all was lost, his boil-ridden body was a painful, loathsome mess; thus some of the temporary fruit of the whispering serpent that is sometimes provided to work the wonderful ever-living purpose of God, especially to bring forth His Sons!

Elwin R. Roach