The Solution’s Foundation Must be Laid Before We Address the Problems

I was a pretty damaged person in my early adulthood, (from some painful childhood experiences). As I became an adult, the damage I carried prevented me from wholeness and health. I knew it; I could feel it, but I couldn’t seem to get out of it. I didn’t know how. Damaged people damage people, and I knew that my reactions were damaging to those around me. I needed free, and it would take me many, many years to get there.

Along the course of seeking healing and wholeness, I had to learn (and unlearn) a lot of things. Primarily I sought God, because He was truly the only one I trusted, and I was certain He held every solution to every problem I had. I just rarely had the understanding I needed. So I took it one slow step at a time because it’s all I could handle at that point.

Once I had a direction to go, the Spirit led me to a book by Derek Prince called The Atonement, and God very plainly told me to start with that. (I had several other options at that time and God made plain I was not to move in any other direction until I had read it, contrary to what I actually wanted to do at that point.) Later I read the much more detailed book The Blood of Christ by Andrew Murray.

In a place of chaos, the way out is difficult to find. There are too many (chaotic) things flying around that make it difficult to discern up from down, left from right, in from out. You must have something solid to ground you, to give you a footing and help you gain a vision for how to move strategically forward out of the chaos.

This is why God started my healing and deliverance process with the foundation of the atonement of Christ. As I began to move through the chaotic traumas in my heart and mind, I could plant my feet on the foundation of the atonement to navigate the flying memories, emotions, and baggage that constantly accosted me, threw me off balance, and threatened to drag me into dangerously swirling emotions and pain. I began to learn to take everything back to the foundation of Christ, who He is, what He had accomplished, to gain my bearings on how to move in the midst of all that pain and chaos. Eventually I was able to make my way through it all and end the presence of chaos in my life.

This is how I know to help Christians find their way in today’s chaos. We’re inundated with evil all around us and a host of threats of which even just one could destroy us, not to mention the hundreds coming at us. Our food, water and air are polluted and poisonous. Our media and public mouthpieces are lying to us, manipulating us. Our government has betrayed us. There are physical threats, mental threats, and emotional threats on about a thousand fronts right now. Many of us have some sort of real trauma operating in our lives presently. All of this and much more swirls around us constantly.

If we try to move forward as victims, we will be defeated. If we try to find our way out by raging at the darkness, it will consume us. If we ignore it, we will become prey to it. There is but one way to navigate the chaos of the world in 2024 and come through victorious. There is only one way.

The Supremacy of Christ.

The Great Reversal

The sons of God “…did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode”. Jude 6 calls them angels. The Hebrew refers to them as sons of God, but the Greek as angels from the Greek word aggelos meaning “a messenger”, taken from the Greek ago which is a verb that means “to lead”.

If we discount that these created beings of the heavenly realm were referenced as “sons of God”, we’re going to miss some important details. Enoch tells us a more detailed history of Genesis 6, and Enoch 6:1 says it like this:

“And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of heaven, saw and lusted after them…”

Genesis 6:1 says it like this:

“Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.”

Those read startlingly similar. Enoch calls them “children of heaven” and Genesis calls them “sons of God”.

If I could summarize… created beings of heaven called “sons of God” and “children of heaven”, left their appropriate domain and abandoned their proper abode [in heaven] to interfere with the created realm of earth. Not only did they procreate (heavenly beings with earthly beings), but they began to teach these earthly beings all kinds of wickedness. In fact, Enoch tells that one of the watchers named Azazel was ascribed all the sin of the earth for the wickedness he taught. (10:8)

There’s a lot I’m not getting into (which is why I encourage reading Enoch), but the essence of these sons of God leading man into wickedness and then turning on man and destroying them (Enoch 7), and that these sons of God produced offspring with the daughters of men is what I want to focus on.

These sons of God who corrupted themselves and humanity, and produced offspring to further the corruption, continued to lead humanity astray by establishing religions to their names. They are the Babylonian gods of old, who were renamed by region to be Egyptian gods, Mesopotamian gods, Roman gods, Greek gods, and the list goes on and on and on.

Matthew meticulously records the fourteen generations from Abraham to David, the fourteen generations from David to the Babylonian deportation (diaspora), and the fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Christ. Then Matthew tells us that at this last fourteenth generation, the Messiah would be born of a woman and the Spirit of God and we know He would be known as the SON OF GOD.

Only unlike these other sons of God who cohabited with women and brought wickedness to the earth, this Son of God through the union of flesh and spirit would bring righteousness.

Unlike the sons of God who brought death and destruction to the earth, this Son of God would bring life and abundance.

Unlike the sons of God who taught violence, revenge, and selfish ambition, this Son of God would teach love and peace, forgiveness and reconciliation, and personal sacrifice for the good of others.

Unlike the sons of God who demanded blood sacrifices from humans to appease their wicked appetites, this Son of God would become the blood sacrifice to atone for the wickedness of humans.

Unlike the sons of God who had priests of sexual depravity and altars of death and destruction, this Son of God would be the final sacrifice, eliminating the lust for flesh-filled altars, and become the High Priest to God, doing away with earthly priests.

Unlike the sons of God who alienated us from God, the Son of God reconciled humanity back to God.

Unlike the sons of God who made humanity slaves to sin, the Son of God delivered us from the curse of sin.

Then the Son of God gave those who would believe on Him the power to become sons of God.

The sons of God left their heavenly abode for an earthly existence and have been condemned to judgment. How ironic that through the Son of God we who are earthly can attain a heavenly existence.

Everything about Jesus addresses everything that has stymied and sabotaged man. It’s important we understand this before we move forward to some very real, very complex, and very dangerous threats to humanity. There is no problem facing humanity today that is not resolved in the person of Christ. Absolutely all and every one of our needs are met in Him.

We are in a place of chaos (by design). The ancient gods have regrouped and found a lethargic, compromised society that is easily ensnared. The weaknesses of humanity have taken care of the rest. If we’re going to be victorious in this fight, we have to be solidly planted on a foundation that won’t shift as the chaos blows around us. In some ways we’ll learn as we go, but in all ways we have to be planted firmly on the Rock.

The gods the powers-that-be are worshiping today demand the same things they did then: homage, adulation, loyalty, obedience, and yes, blood sacrifice. In exchange, they gift their adherents with resources, power, and things that stoke the flesh, like fame and notoriety, and substances that feed lusts (sex, drugs, indulgences, etc).

I’m learning to look behind the circumstance before me to see what’s operating. It’s the most liberating thing in the world to declare, “That’s not my god.” Half-time show of rituals and feeding the flesh? That’s not my god. (I won’t participate.) Latest promoted fear (whether it be war, disease, economic, etc.)? That’s not my god. (I won’t participate.) Awards ceremonies for entertainers? That’s not my god. (I won’t participate.) Technology must-haves? That’s not my god. (I won’t participate.)

When you know who your God is, the counterfeit is easier to spot. You reject the counterfeit. You don’t use it. You don’t participate in its actions and schemes. There’s a place where Christ shows us to be shrewd with the things of this world in order to advance the Kingdom of God, and we have to learn how to do that without compromising our faith and convictions and without sullying the Name of Christ. The parable of the shrewd manager is an excellent example of this.

We are now the authentic sons and daughters of God. We have the authority given us by Christ. The unrighteous sons of God have been defeated. The only power they have now is the power someone gives them. Don’t give it to them.

A few articles back I encouraged you to listen to a Jamie Winship presentation at a conference. There were two prominent takeaways: hearing the voice of God and walking in your identity. Both of those things are key for how we move in the chaos around us. Jamie was in war zones for decades, but was himself at peace. He raised a family in hostile environments, and his family was safe. When you know your identity, the circumstances around you are not your prison. When you can hear the voice of God, you can navigate around the obstacles and landmines of the battle scene you’re in.

If you didn’t get a chance to listen, here it is. If you glean value in it, it has three more parts.

We must set our foundation solidly on Christ in order to be victorious in the chaotic days ahead. Knowing who He is, and how He has defeated the enemies of God and man is critical for laying that foundation. It gives us the position we both stand and rest in.