Relationships

Figure #1: Relationship Graphic

When one is alone, the person is not alone! When two people are together they are not by themselves. There is an unseen presence with us all the time. The Greater One is always with us and knows even the hairs on our head.  The lesser one is contained in a spiritual box where he must travel to and fro. For the purposes of this commentary, let's consider all the invisible world, called powers and principalities, "the Devil" because they all are subject to him. 

Of course God can use his angels as helpers. Angels are invisible beings who move from place to place, and appear and work behind the scenes. Lucifer, called "Satan" and "the Devil" is a fallen angel so that he is truly limited in space, time and power. His angels are the evil spirits who travel to and fro with him and have the same constraints as any other angel.

"Good" is truth, reverence, obedience, love, empathy, fairness, modesty, and such. "Evil" is the opposite of "good" and are things such as lies, belligerence, rebellion, hate, dishonesty, immodesty, and such. The universe of God is defined by "good", but the dark world of the flesh, representative of pleasure, is defined as "evil". Pleasure takes on many forms, but all those tantalize the five senses and/or empower the mind. 

In all actions we people, the self "S" and others "A", evaluate the promise of pleasure versus the rewards of good. The "promise" may or may not come to be. It's there to tempt. Sometimes the devil just waves the proverbial carrot, but at other times he lets the tempted eat of it! He must do that to entice. We are much like Pavlov's dog! Sometimes we have to get the reward when the bell is rang to make the saliva flow even when the food is not forthcoming. It seems that the devil knows psychology well, because he uses it on gullible people with success!

The Devil cannot be in the presence of God because God is holy. Satan can stand before God, but he has none of God's essence in him. Therefore, God and the Devil are shown totally separate in Figure #1 above. 

God and only God is "good". Jesus said that, implying that he IS God. Opposing "good" is evil. It's the flip-side of what is "good", but sometimes contains enough "good" to deceive people into accepting falsehoods. I show God as "G" and the Devil as "D". You can see that their circles don't touch. The use of circles represents the "worlds" of each entity.

From birth the Devil has infected each one of us with evil. We are born with that propensity because of the sin of Adam and Eve. All people, even cute babies, are decadent in that they are inclined to do evil. Just watch them lie about taking that cookie or saying "mine" with audacity when it's not theirs! Just look at their selfishness, crying and disobedience. It all comes natural. That is original sin, which  is the genetic propensity to aggrandize the "self".  After the rewards of sin are enjoyed, then it grows on it's own. The Devil is inclined to just let you do your thing, but one of his angels is always there to hold the carrot you enjoy so much in front of you! [Maybe it wasn't an apple, but a tree grown carrott! (sic)]. Therefore, DS represents you and your relationship to the Devil. He allows you to be a god. He just encourages your behavior to minimize God. 

Yes, we all have "evil' within us, represented by DS and DA, where A(Another) is anybody! We all have sinned! We all have that virus and it's because of DS and DA. We are inbred, influenced and infected with the virus of sin. That's our relationship with the Devil. With that relationship, if there is none with God, our destiny is eternal damnation because Satan doesn't give a damn about saving you from anything! You are his instrument for his plans and nothing more.

DA is the same situation for "another", or all others. We all have sinned and if anyone fails to be of God, they too are damned! The gate to hell is broad and the path wide to destruction. Most "others" will miss the mark because of the Devils' influence on them. He can't kill you, but he can harm you and trick you into doing evil. That's his job and he's does it well! However, all that he does is allowed by God. Why? God wants us to choose himself over Satan and "good" in preference to "bad". Bad is in the partial worlds of DS and DA. 

We can influence each other to do evil. That's DSA on the circles where we can overlap with the Devil and with another or others. We can steal together, be lascivious together, be pagans together and fornicate together. We can steal from each other and covert what the other has! It seems that we can break six of the Ten Commandments in DSA because that's what Satan tells us to do to and with each other! Sometimes we do it on our own, but the Devil is always there with his carrots. 

The Devil can't always be there. He visits on rare occasions. He knows that your desire is to do evil so that he "trusts" that you will do it on your own. And sin you do! Some sin wantonly. They have no guilt because guilt is of the Holy Spirit. It's the part of me that is of God shown as GS, my own "self's" relationship with God. Those who are not of God don't have that spiritual protection, but for those who do the spirit is willing, but the flesh is still weak. That flesh is my DS and your DA.

Let's take anger for instance. The devil does not make you do it, but if you fail when he sets up the occasion, one of his dark angels (evil spirits) stands by ready to insure that you get angry. There may not even be a reason to be angry, but the angels of darkness set up a facade to fool even the elect at times. Weak people are prone to take the bait and fly off in anger. Most often, the sinner becomes Pavlov's dog, so to speak. The principalities have acclimated the unsuspecting with a critical spirit and some do his bidding without the devil even making a bid! People are unrighteous, not because evil is with them, but the devil molds them and makes them. He is the old creatures "S's" father! He's a good mentor for his wiles, and people, even Christians, must be wary of his skills and purposes!

The "anger" emotion is representative of any other sin. It becomes an uncontrollable virus and others who sin do exactly the same thing. The devil did not make you do it! He merely tempts and makes the milieu. It's you who are the sinner and you who chooses the sin. The devil is limited in power, but you, as your own god, make your own power!  As such, any relationships with the "D" in it, is seldom because he is seldomly there. He's Prince of the Air and he has other places to be. However, the "D" is home for his dark angel's when they see that you are submitting to the things of God! In other words, DS and DS can get smaller as GS and GA get's larger. This contraction in one and expansion of the latter, is how big a sword you carry to ward off the devil. That sword is scripture. If we use it, there is other armor. God has much to offer, and he has a whole suit of armor to make DS and DA small and weak. 

If the word is not read, DA and DS grow. They become Goliath like! If you use the sword, or even a slingshot, as David did, Goliath can be killed and the devil taken out of DS and DA!

When you're born, God is with you, for he protects the innocent. Until a child knows right from wrong, that child is not to blame for those babyish sins which are inherited. The Devil nor evil spirits are not yet in a baby because the Devil is weak. There is merely space allotted to him if a child is not taught young. When born the baby has no DS nor DA, but only S and A with a propensity for D. Because it's in the spiritual makeup, babies will do wrong, but it's an instinct. The devil does not make the baby lie or get angry. The baby does that because he or she is of Adam and Eve's genes. They do wrong on their own!

As they mature they begin to understand. Society, schools, parents and churches teach them right and wrong. Because Adam and Eve learned that, they too learn it!  If they are isolated and fail to learn the things of God, they can see it in God's creation and are endowed with a curiosity instinct to learn "Who did this? Who made this?" As such they are without excuse if they don't know God because his Holy Spirit pulls them to find out! Wesley called that "prevenient grace" in that it's God's grace which prevents us from being destroyed by sin and is given to us by a merciful God!

When a child learns sufficiently, God is still another world, so to speak, and is at a great distance from self or another. There is no GS and GA, it's merely S and A alone in their world with D pulling at them to stay that way! We're all aware of gravitation pull. Well, it turns out that it's not "pull" at all, but there is a field up there which "pushes" everything down. To get up something must pull us to our feet because of the push down. That's gravitational force. 

Like the force of gravity, there are spiritual forces which push us down. Like the invisible lines of a force field, there are invisible lines of dark forces; Satan and his legions. Let's call this spiritual force field "evilty" as akin to "gravity". Like gravity, evilty is a constant and is always there pushing down on us. It too is constant since God, as with the gravity he created, set a limit on evilty. It can effect and affect, but it cannot kill. Death for us is when God allows it! When someone dies, it's not by Satan's power, but God's will. Death is when the S and A's are snuffed out. The devil can harm no more! Either his work is accomplished, but if G is in there, he failed miserably. Death in this case is a reward where D is defeated, the S is sacrificed and G is the victor!

There are no evil spirits in babies. There is nor need to exorcise babies by infant baptism because the devil nor his evil spirits are in there. Dark forces arrive gradually. As infants mature they are tempted by evil forces, evilty, to engage in unrighteous things. Children begin to be more prideful, more prone to anger, start to steal and so forth. This is evilty (called the flesh) which they inherited tempts them. Everyone chooses sin. No one, other than Jesus, remains pure. No one is without sin; no not even one!  God draws near because you need him or you will spiritually die.

G get's closer to S and A, by this time DS and DA are part of the equation. God doesn't use force. We have a choice. Within A and S is the knowledge of good and evil. They have reason and with logic comes a "will". God left the will free for mankind to make his own decisions. Most men use free will to make bad decisions because the rewards are fun, sexual, power, prestige and the like. Because God is merciful he pulls on S and A. There is a pull there of guilt, the force we call "guilty". Now we have gravity, evilty and guilty forces all around us. 

G is responsible for the guilt S and A feels and that field is "guilty". We all our guilty of sin, and G pulls at us, never pushes. We can resist that guilty field by pushing God away. We stick out our spiritual hand and hold God back. He allows us to shun him, but he cries for us. He's our Father, and his children can reject him. It hurts! I know. I've been there.

That arm S and A holds out is there because of evilty. Unlike the earth which pushes us up as gravity pushes us down, guilty pulls us up and evilty pushes us down. Evil when it manifests itself, because it's not seen, rears its head and is called "the flesh" because it's man in his mortality which enjoys evil. In death sin provides no joy. Sin is only effectual for the living and as such, it's temporal. On the other hand G and joy is forever and by God's calendar that's a long long time!

One day, and only God decides when, the person becomes ripe! Enough knowledge for a free choice is there and the will is mature. God pulls real hard with his forceful "You are guilty!" and let's you do something about it. It is thought that gravity is a field because it's a remnant of creation. We know that the feeling of guilt is there because of God's grace. When  God's grace, his Holy Spirit, pulls the hardest that's when the person  gets to choose. It may happen often, but it may be just one time. God tires at some point of wasting grace on those who fail to detect his pull. Guilt then subsides and the person becomes reprobate. That's when God is never allowed to overlap with you and GS and GA never ever happens. In psychology this is called psychopathic. To God it's merely "pathetic" and he morns for you!

When a person makes a decision for G to become part of them, it's called being "born-again". No longer is S and A alone with evilty and influenced only by D, but G enters their domain. Entry is a person's choice and the choice is called "salvation". As such S and A are washed clean by the blood of G and he enters them. Baptism is symbolic of the cleansing of the blood of Christ. It's the blood which saves, not the water!  The new creation is when D's space is emptied and space is created for G. God's Holy Spirit resides in a new temple built especially for him. It's GS and GA! At first his temple is small, but the devil's is empty. 

I had an epiphany when I was born again. I thought "I'm going to go to hell when I die!" G told me that I could save S, but S can't do it! It took response to guiltiness with repentance and only G could save me. We all have that pull to save our own god (little g) which always resides in S and A. What we must do of our own volition is to submit the "g" by making a living sacrifice: "I'm yours God. I am your temple. Come unto me because I'm heavy laden!" That I did, and A must do also to be saved. Since only the blood of God saves,  "J" is an aspect of God. In fact he is also "S". "G" is in totality, the Father "F" and the Son "J" who is Jesus by whom only salvation can be, and H, the Holy Ghost who is also Emmanuel!

Once we are a new creation, we have GS and GA. As we read the word, pray and worship him, GS and GA grows as DS and DA shrinks.. God is cleaning his temple and with the armor of God, D has little room in S and D.

However, the devil doesn't give up. He just gets more grave in his pushing. Evilty increases and temptation mounts. D must reduce the size of G in S and A, but he knows that he can never deplete that space. It's a choice and only S and A can push G out. If one does that, D grows in S and A and G leaves unwillingly because S and A makes a bad choice. God is left out. Only God knows at what point he's no longer there, but with the unwelcome mat out, he never comes back!

GS and GA is where the battle is fought. Inside there is a spiritual war going on between guilty and evilty; between light and darkness. G is Light and D is darkness. S and A are the battlefield where gravity is the weapon. Grave decisions are made effecting the eternal  life of  S and A. "D" visits more often with his dark angels as G grows in S and A. He doesn't give up easily, The war within is like a racecourse with obstacles. The devil's gravity is the obstacle and they are many: sex, drugs, power, and so forth. If S or A fraternizes with D, they fornicate with another god. When S fornicates with A, they demean God and commit adultery against their own love. 

It would appear that adultery is evilty with one another, but symbolically, it's fornication with another god, because just as we have a little god "g" in us, so do A's! That's why adultery is such an offense! When we are born again, the new creature, whether male or female, becomes the bride of Jesus When we turn our backs on him and do things of D, we commit adultery with D as well as A.  Sin robs us of communion with our true spouse! He's jealous and G in us subsides until the sin stops.

But because G is a faithful spouse, he is patient!  He never gives up until we divorce him in a spiritual court. That's grace! As such, it is that whole commitment that G gives us so that D can't deceive us into failing G. It's the whole armor of G!

After the battle is won, with the power of G, we die. Those who never allowed G into their space, their souls die a living death. They feel alive, but their life is torment forever. That's called isolation forever from G and that's horror! Not only that, but communion is lost with others as well. The areas that were once SA and even DSA are gone. You hate A and A hates you! In hell there exists only one relationship, it's S all alone and it's A all alone.

In hell there is a new field. G was filled with grace and the emotion of God is love. It's what radiates from G even as he is at a distance, When he comes into  person's life there is GS and GA; you are no longer alone! It's love you feel and if you're obedient you do a hard work. You love others. SA is in one accord! If it's a marriage, you are one. If it's a father and mother, it's honor, if it's God, it's love!

On the other hand in hell, love dissipates. Something must fill vacuums. "Hate" is that emission and even the devil hates you and you hate him. In hell the DS and the DA relationship is gone! You are all alone with no help. It's too late!  You're in torment... forever.

Since the Devil can't get you to intentionally follow him, he gets you to hate others! He pushes you toward loathing family, spouses, friends and mostly enemies. By making SA smaller DS and DA grows while GS and GA diminishes. If we love others GS grows. That's how we demonstrate to God that we love him. We show a G type of love for friends, family, souses and even our enemies. If we don't then the Devil smiles. We've done his work for him!

If you run the race, G is in you and by grace when you die, not only are you a new spiritual creation, but you become one with G in body as well. Your old flesh is replaced with new and you become immortal. The new flesh S' (S prime) and A' (A prime) will never die and you are filled entirely with the Spirit of G.  GS is totally you. GA is totally you others. The Devil and his space in S and A no longer exists. Since spiritual death is the realm of D, and D is not there, there will be no death! Death is defeated by grace and that is of God! In death G glorifies you! You and him become one and you resume the person who Adam was at the creation! That's a glorified S or glorified A's!

Why use all this symbolism. It's to make you add 2+2 and hopefully come up with G. He is the constant in the equation and never changes. All relationships will die unless G remains a part of the equation!  G is the most important of all and D will die his own death soon. In his death S" (S double prime) and A" (A double prime) will be isolated, They too will be new creatures, but just a shell of the old.

"Hope" is when DS, DA and DSA is gone and GS and GS becomes your all! That can be. You just let it become you! S is prime for S'. Go for it!