1st Corinthians 2: 14 But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
The natural man refers to any person whose heart has not been renewed by God’s grace. In our natural state we are incapable of doing anything good, even if it may seem good on the surface. The natural man has a secular mind that is naturally averse to God, or anything of heavenly origin.
It is a man that is born with latent propensities that tend downwards to evil, and in and of himself can’t comprehend spiritual things of heavenly origin. The things that his mind feeds on, his modes of thought and action are all in rebellion against God. And thus, it is unreasonable to expect the natural man, in and of himself, to be believe spiritual things.
That’s one of the reasons why the Christian should pray first before embarking on evangelizing, so that The Holy Spirit will go before us and prepare the soil of the heart.
The secular mind brings with it a very strong spirit of unbelief, so that it is diametrically opposed to the word of God, and follows thought patterns, actions, and conclusions that do not take into consideration spiritual factors because according to secular modes of thought, there is no direct link between the two.
Without the renewing grace of God in the heart, his modes of thought and action would be aligned with that of the prince of darkness. Now, that’s not to say that there are no secular persons who do good.
There are, but any real good which comes from the natural man, is the result of the protracted working of grace in his heart, even though in most cases he’s not aware of the real source.
Thus, when the heart is renewed by God, different modes of thought and action, different purposes, and different ways and means of doing things, are adopted, and how we process situations, and reach conclusions, and solutions, are all very different to the secular mind.
Our first passage tells us the reason why this is the case, for spiritual things are spiritually discerned, and this can only take place with a spiritual mind. Therefore, The Christian’s perspective on life should never be the same as that of the secular mind.
Finite minds are shackled with limitations, whereas persons who believe in God incorporate additional factors which are spiritual in nature, and which are almost never recognized by science, and absolutely never acknowledged by evolution.
Science as we know it, and more so evolution, does not make allowance for either a God or a devil, and because of this the secular mind immediately shuts down the prospect of miracles or supernatural work by invisible beings. Basically, not happening in the secular mind.
From the secular perspective you would often hear statements like hope is not a strategy and that there are certain diseases which are incurable. Whenever statements like these are made, they must be taken with a pinch of salt, in the context of man’s limited knowledge of science.
The spiritual factors introduced in the Scriptures are actually more potent in producing results that defy logic, and they actually have jurisdiction over every single thing that takes place in the temporal. There is nothing in the temporal or secular realm that isn’t affected by spiritual factors, minus zero.
This is the reason why the Christian must at all times incorporate the God factor, whenever there is some difficulty, or seeming impossibility to surmount. It is even more the case now, than in former years, since there is a tremendous uptick in activity coming from the invisible world, that evolution and science deny.
And because of this the Christian has to make a very deliberate choice to subscribe to the seemingly impossible, in God and His word, so that our faith in Him could be exercised daily, without being tainted by the elements of unbelief with which the earth is being engulfed.
To be clear, the spiritual factors we are referring to include such things as believing in God, obedience, faith, trust, hope, discernment, and the fact that The Third person of The Godhead can live inside of you, just as He did in Christ. These factors, make all the difference in life for the Christian.
Indeed, they are to guide our perspectives, and if they do, they will open doors to mitigations and solutions to difficulties that are entirely foreign to secular minds.
Therefore, in our day, when secular perspectives, and thought patterns are being infused into many minds, we must be very careful, not to surrender the spiritual factors which God has given us to make all the difference.
Obedience as a spiritual factor, has toppled cities, choirs have been used in winning battles, faith has caused iron to float up from the bottom of a river to the surface, and thousands of individuals have been healed by The Lord without the use of conventional medicines.
Through faith, lions have refused to eat their lunch, even as they were starving for food, and lepers have been restored to health, the dead have been raised to life on several occasions, so that these were not isolated events.
Let none be deceived by vain philosophy, or wisdom that is strictly secular in nature, which excludes the spiritual factors, because of the very strong spirit of unbelief that is now pervading the earth.
Several examples of what we are referring to can be found in the Scriptures, so that we may know what is taking place currently. Whenever God declares a truth in His word, the secular begs to differ, so that there are always two opposing views on the menu.
For instance, when God declared that there would be a flood upon the earth, He outlined the reasons why, and through His ordained prophet, he warned the Antediluvians for 120 years, but secular minds put forth their own spin, and used logic, precedent and probability to utterly refute what God said.
In His declaration to the people in Noah’s day, God did not mention anything like global warming as we often do. The root causes were specified, but since the spiritual and secular are always at odds, people could not make a direct link between disobedience and flooding. Let’s read:
Genesis 6:3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
But here comes the secular modes of thought that we are referring to, and several seemingly logical reasons are put forth to show that what God said is not so, for to the secular mind, there can be no link between sin and flooding.
And therefore, based upon those secular lines of reasoning, the multitudes make their decision, for whatsoever world views you hold, those views will eventually affect your decision making. Let’s read:
[Patriarchs & Prophets pp 96>97] The world before the Flood reasoned that for centuries the laws of nature had been fixed. The recurring seasons had come in their order. Heretofore rain had never fallen; the earth had been watered by a mist or dew.
The rivers had never yet passed their boundaries, but had borne their waters safely to the sea. Fixed decrees had kept the waters from overflowing their banks. Reasoning that if the message of Noah were correct, nature would be turned out of her course. Overcome by the prevailing unbelief, they finally joined their former associates in rejecting the solemn message.
Whenever that strong spirit of unbelief pervades a person’s mind, it is only through surrender to God, by submitting to the truths He gives, that the person can be recovered. After the flood, the same spirit of unbelief again resurfaced, as they refused to believe that there was any link between sin and the flood.
And, even though God clearly stated that He would never again bring such a flood upon the earth, the secular mind would not believe. That is the strong spirit of unbelief that is being referred to, which is now being disseminated across the globe. Let’s read:
Genesis 9:8 And God spoke unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11 And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth.
12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
But the secular mind does not believe, and based on the perspectives they hold, commensurate action is sure to follow. Observe carefully the reasons given for building the tower of Babel because as we stated earlier, the secular and the spiritual are at odds. Let’s read:
Genesis 11: 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
[Patriarchs & Prophets pp 119] One object before them in the erection of the tower was to secure their own safety in case of another deluge.
By carrying the structure to a much greater height than was reached by the waters of the Flood, they thought to place themselves beyond all possibility of danger. And as they would be able to ascend to the region of the clouds, they hoped to ascertain the cause of the Flood.
Here it is again, the same strong spirit of unbelief by which the spiritual and the secular become opposed to each other. Jezebel blatantly refuses to believe that her sins and that of the nation is what brought on the devastating famine.
Like with the people in Noah’s day, the go to cause is mostly global warming. In fact, with all the various upheavals in nature, wars, pestilences, and national and international unrest taking place, you will never hear on CNN, or Fox News that it’s Biblical end time prophecies taking place.
You will never hear that. Some will blame Putin and other persons in the seat of power, some may credit it to global warming, others may complain that too much divisiveness is roiling the country, but there is no link being made, between what God says in His word, and what is happening globally.
To the secular mind, it’s anything but prophecy that is being fulfilled. And with that world view, solutions that are secular in nature will be sought after. Thus, if a certain man is giving trouble, the secular way of fixing the problem is to put in a different man in the driver’s seat.
God is trying His best to get our attention, but we’re not listening, and because of this, we would keep on jumping from man to man, until we learn the lesson that man cannot fix our problems, for we’ll just end up with a different set of man problems.
In the case of Jezebel, she believed the man was the problem, and because of her secular perspectives, she blames the man, and ultimately seeks to get rid of the man, because as far as she is concerned, and as far as her views of science go, there is absolutely no link between the drought and disobedience. Let’s read:
1st Kings 18:17 And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubles Israel?
18 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.
[Prophets And Kings pp 124>126] The earth is parched as if with fire. The scorching heat of the sun destroys what little vegetation has survived. Streams dry up, and lowing herds and bleating flocks wander hither and thither in distress. Once-flourishing fields have become like burning desert sands, a desolate waste. The air is dry and suffocating; dust storms blind the eyes and nearly stop the breath. Once-prosperous cities and villages have become places of mourning.
Hunger and thirst are telling upon man and beast with fearful mortality. Famine, with all its horror, comes closer and still closer. They began to cast about for some other cause to which to attribute their sufferings. Jezebel utterly refused to recognize the drought as a judgment from Jehovah.
The secular and the spiritual were also at odds in the days of Christ, when worldly perspectives were allowed to taint the prophecies concerning Christ as the Messiah. This one is different to the others, for they actually used the prophecies in the scripture to build secular perspectives concerning Christ.
How on earth they came up with the view that the coming Messiah would reign as king in Jerusalem is a mystery we cannot fathom, especially when in the book of Isaiah and the Psalms, it is clearly written of the Messiah, that He would die a violent death.
But the multitude back then, as is also the case now, were seeking a Messiah of their own choosing, and by clinging to their world view, they built out entire doctrines to support their misinterpretation of the prophecies, which clearly pointed out the Messiah’s work.
In fact, now that Christ has come and died and risen again, it is forbidden in many Jewish circles, to read Isaiah 53. That’s how far the spiritual and secular is going to put persons at odds, for God says one thing and the strong spirit of unbelief says another. Let’s read:
Isaiah 53: 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely, he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Psalms 69: 20 Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Daniel 9: 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
So, how is it that the overwhelming majority of Jews in Christ’s day, came to the conclusion that Messiah would reign as a temporal king in Jerusalem, when He came? It has to do with the spiritual and secular modes of thought being at odds.
And let no one think that just because a person is a sincere Christian, loaded with The Holy Ghost, that secular perspectives cannot imperceptibly taint your understanding, invade your modes of thought, and even your interpretation of end time prophecy.
Every single one of the disciples, who were baptized and who followed Jesus in spirit and in truth, were tainted by those secular views and perspectives that were cultivated over many years.
And even after Christ was risen again, in His glorified form, they still clung to the same secular view, that He would reign as king in Jerusalem. We are not too worried about Judas who continuously put forth the same secular perspective, because he had his own nefarious agenda.
We are concerned about John the Baptist, who was loaded with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb and who delivered the goods faithfully without ever turning to the right, or to the left. If John’s view can be tainted, what about me and you? Let’s read:
[The Desire of Ages pp 718] Notwithstanding the Savior’s own teaching, Judas was continually advancing the idea that Christ would reign as king in Jerusalem.
Acts 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
[The Desire of Ages pp 215] Like the Savior’s disciples, John the Baptist did not understand the nature of Christ’s kingdom. He expected Jesus to take the throne of David; and as time passed, and the Savior made no claim to kingly authority, John became perplexed and troubled.
To the desert prophet all this seemed a mystery beyond his fathoming. There were hours when the whisperings of demons tortured his spirit, and the shadow of a terrible fear crept over him.
Could it be that the long-hoped-for Deliverer had not yet appeared? Then what meant the message that he himself had been impelled to bear?
Matthew 11: 2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
The same thing is true in our day, because although God has plainly told us of our origins and beginnings and of our ends, the secular refuses to believe, and because views and perspectives inevitably guide our actions, secular minds are searching in deep space to discover what our origins are.
Billions upon billions are being spent, trying to find out what God has already plainly stated in His word, but just as it was with the antediluvians, with Ahab, with Jezebel, and with many otherwise God-fearing Christians, a very strong spirit of unbelief has taken hold, and in many cases, the perspectives and world views are being adversely affected and tainted. Let’s read:
[Christ’s Object Lessons pp 41] In turning from God’s word to feed on the writings of uninspired men, the mind becomes dwarfed and cheapened. It is not brought in contact with deep, broad principles of eternal truth.
The understanding adapts itself to a comprehension of the things with which it is familiar, and in this devotion to finite things it is weakened, its power is contracted, and after a time it becomes unable to expand. All of this is false education.
That’s how you end up with such statements, that A.I. can kill us all in the next ten years. It is the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard and the multitudes have started to panic, as a result. When the God factor is excluded from the human equation that’s what you will get.
God has repeatedly stated in His word, how and when this world will come to an end. He has stated that 4 holy angels stand on the four corners of the earth, holding back the winds of strife, and He has plainly stated that man cannot destroy this earth, because we did not make it.
Not even satan can destroy it, yet, there is a strong spirit of unbelief, pervading the atmosphere where the spiritual and the secular are again at odds. And, because perspectives and world views drive all the decisions and conclusions we make, commensurate action has already begun to take shape, leaving the God factor entirely out of the picture. Let’s read:
Matthew 10: 28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Revelation 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Matthew 24: 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
How then can A.I destroy us all in ten years? That sentiment proceeds from the secular, unbelieving mind, and all those who follow their lead would be led to do things that are diabolically opposed to the will of God.
A.I has its pros and cons, it can be used for good as well as for evil, like everything man touches, but it absolutely does not pose an existential threat to the entire human family.
That statement is entirely false, and it should be signally rejected by the believing Christians, who determine to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Your expectation from God is based upon what you believe He can do, and thus, if science is permitted to minimize God in your mind, your faith in Him will also be affected, so that it will become increasingly difficult to believe that God’s word will be fulfilled in due season.
And wherever this becomes the case logic becomes the diabolical enemy of faith and the impossible will seem to be more and more out of reach.
This is how the experiences of faith have come to be viewed as isolated incidents, not because they are for a select few, but because evolution, and science have minimized God in the minds of so many people that it seems farfetched to believe God can still do great things.
Thus, the Christian living today must be very careful lest the spirit of unbelief, and the secular modes of thought invade your thinking, and before you know it, you begin to ask questions which limit the power of God to do certain things and as a result your faith becomes shaky, and brittle.
I personally expect a miracle every day. It may not happen the way I think, or the timing might not be in line with my preferences, but the expectation is here. And just because I expected it, it will be more likely to occur than not.
Hope, trust, faith and obedience are elements that science very often does not incorporate into the equation as factors that can make any meaningful difference. And because faith in God is generally on the decline, there are thresholds, and boundaries which some people believe could ever be crossed.
With our limited knowledge of science you will find statements that directly conflict with what God says is possible, or what will come to pass in the future, and the two modes of thought, the spiritual and the secular, would often be at odds to the point where believers may be treated with disdain for their belief in the word of God.
Let us therefore determine by the grace of God, not to let secular minds sow unwarranted fear or panic, but let us rather cling to the promises, and word of God, because believing in Him will make all of the difference in our life experiences.
We therefore end with a passage of scripture that will help us to exercise an intelligent faith at such a time as this, for it is His will that our hearts and our minds be guided by His revealed will always.
Proverbs 3: 4 So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.
8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
God Bless!