Rom. 6:6 π Rom. 6:11 π 2 Cor. 4:10-12 π Gal. 2:20; 2nd; 3rd; 4th π Gal. 5:23 π Phlp. 3:10
This condition of passivity may come about by wrong interpretations of truth, even the truth of "death with Christ" as set forth in Romans 6 and Galatians 2:20 , when it is carried beyond the true balance of the Word of God. God calls upon true believers to "reckon" themselves "dead indeed unto sin," Rom. 6:11 ) and also to the evil self-life, even in a religious or "holiness" form; that is, the life which came from the first Adam, the old creation; but this does not mean a death to the human personality, for Paul said "Yet I live," although "Christ liveth in me!" ( Gal. 2:20 ) There is a retention of the personal being, the ego, the will, the personality, which is to be dominated by the Spirit of God, as He energizes the man's individuality, held by him in "self-control." ( Gal. 5:23 , m.; top)
In the light of the misconception of the truth of "death with Christ" as conceived to mean passivity, and suppression of the actions of the personality of the man, it is now easy to see why the apprehension of the truths connected with Romans 6:6 , and Galatians 2:20; top , have been the prelude, in some cases, to supernatural manifestations of the powers of darkness. The believer through the misconception of these truths, actually fulfilling the primary conditions for the working of evil spirits; the very conditions understood by spiritist mediums to be necessary for obtaining the manifestations they desire. In such cases it may be said that truth is the devil's fulcrum for launching his lies.
So far as Romans 6 is understood to be a momentary declaration of an attitude to sin; and Galatians 2:20 another declaration of an attitude to God; and 2 Cor. 4:10-12 and Phlp. 3:10 (top) the out-working of the Spirit of God in bringing the believer into actual conformity to the death of Christ as he maintains his declared attitude; the powers of darkness are defeated; for the momentary declared attitude demands active volition, and active co-operation with the Risen Lord, and active acceptance of the path of the Cross. But when these truths are interpreted to mean
1) a loss of personality;
2) an absence of volition and self-control, and
3) the passive letting go of the "I myself" into a condition of machine-like, mechanical, automatic "obedience," with "deadness" and heaviness which the believer thinks is "mortification" or "the working of death" in him;
it makes the truth of death with Christ a fulfilling of conditions for evil spirits to work, and an absence of conditions upon which God can alone work; so that "supernatural manifestations" taking place on the basis of passivity, can have no other source than the lying spirits, however beautiful and God-like they may be.
This counterfeit of spiritual "death" may take place in regard to spirit, soul or body. How the truth of death with Christ can be misconstrued, and made the occasion for evil spirits to obtain the ground of passivity, may be exampled in some of the following ways:
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