ANTI-SPIRITUALITY

I start many of my writings with the thought about the days in which we are living. This is because I have identified areas that show exactly the prevailing thoughts of our culture. No matter what word is used to describe the situation, the root is always the same. There is an ongoing war between who will be God. This is a war between God and Satan with man caught in between.

Actually, there is no war because God has defeated Satan at every turn. However, the war continues for us because God allows it. Just as Adam was tested to see if he was going to be an obedient son, we are tested by God to see if we are genuine or reprobate. The test comes by us choosing which side we will be on. Moses said in Exodus 32:26, "Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him." The sons of Levi were thus true sons who had passed the test. Being on the Lord’s side proves whether we are a true son or not.

When we reject one position, by definition, we choose its opposite. There is no other alternative. This makes things predictable. It is easy to see that if someone rejects God then, by definition, he will accept the position of Satan. As Paul said the devil uses wiles to try and deceive us into believing that his is the voice of God. Since the devil does not possess truth, he must use methods of trickery to make it seem as though what he is saying is truth. In other words, he must use deception. His deceptions are able to snare the unwary.

The Bible teaches that God is Spirit. This means that God is wholly spiritual. We are created in the image of God which is a spiritual image. To reject God is to reject spirituality. This rejection will result in the denying of man having a spiritual nature. The result will be those who reject the spiritual will accept the philosophy of materialism. To them the only world that exists is the world of the physical senses. These reprobates will automatically preach the gospel of evolution. They will deny God as Creator. They will teach that physical material is eternal.

Being anti-spiritual means being anti-law. Romans 7:14 reads in part, "For we know that the law is spiritual..." The law is spiritual and to reject God’s law is to become carnal. Carnality is characterized by sensuousness. Paul made this fact clear in Romans 8:7, "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." The Greek word for carnal is the body, as opposed to the soul or spirit. The body is physical. The inclinations or mind of the carnal are to fulfill bodily appetites. The carnally minded are opposed to any consideration for the spiritual. Thus, the carnal mind is anti-spiritual.

Being anti-law is finding yourself opposed to God and on the devil’s side. Rejection of God’s law has consequences. One consequence is thinking like an animal, in only being concerned with bodily appetites. Anti-spiritual thinking lacks a concern for the future. Anti-spiritual thinking is solely concerned with the immediate moment. The anti-spiritual mind is the mind of an animal. Man was never created to be an animal. Rejection of the spiritual has consequences.