Can we do תפילות prayers for:
Ephraim & Rimona Frank?
So that through them The האור Light, רפואה The Healing and The ואהבה Love of ישועת יהוה Yeshuath YHWH may come back to הארץ The Land of Israel?Shalom Fellow Israelite Warrior,
Last week’s letter ended with… “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in Elohim for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of Elohim, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Messiah” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 emphasis added). Thus far we have been concentrating on our non-carnal weapons, that is, on our spiritual cache. This week we are going to start looking at the enemy’s camp. What are the above mentioned strongholds of the enemy, where are they and how did they get there?
In order to discover the strongholds of the enemy, we must start with our very conception in the womb of our mothers. Here are a few scriptures elaborating on this point. David makes a very revealing statement: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). In Psalm 51:5 it says that we “are estranged from the womb;” and “go astray as soon as we are born, speaking lies” (Psalm 58:3). Job states very categorically: "What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous? If Elohim puts no trust in His saints, and the heavens are not pure in His sight, how much less man, who is abominable and filthy, who drinks iniquity like water” (Job 15:14-16). “…Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). “…among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (Ephesians 2:3).
The above verses outline the origins of man’s ‘sin issue.’ Humanity’s progenitors, Adam and Eve, introduced mankind to the realm of spiritual darkness, a kingdom ruled over by Lucifer (Satan) and hordes of demonic entities doing his will. Man became a slave to sin, iniquity and unrighteousness. As such, every human being born of woman through the seed of natural man became subject to Satan and the strongholds that he built in their heart, mind and flesh. The nature of sin, that builds its strongholds in us, is recorded in the (biblical) history of our ancestors, in Yeshua’s teachings, and in the apostles’ commentaries, as well as in our own lives’ annals.
So what exactly are we looking for when describing “strongholds… arguments and every high thing that exalts itself [pride] against the knowledge of Elohim”? What are the building blocks of these fortresses, whose foundations are disobedience and unbelief, as we have seen in some of the past letters?
Let us begin tracking from the point when Adam and Eve became contaminated by Satan’s lies. There are three gateways that Satan used as entry points for the rest of his cronies to come and build their evil ‘structures.’ When Eve looked at the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, she was drawn to it, as described: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” (Genesis 3:6). The apostle John depicts it in this way “For all that is in the world -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life -- is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). These are the three doorways, mentioned above, through which the spiritual power of darkness and nature of “sin” entered humanity. From then on Man became an expression in thought, word and deed of “every evil thing.” He became a slave to the characteristics of Satan’s kingdom, even counterfeiting “good”.
The nature of sin began to manifest immediately through Adam and Eve, Cain, Abel and Seth and all humanity. “Then YHVH saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Did things change after the Flood? Paul claims that“all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of Elohim” (Romans 3:23 emphasis added). If man became sin incarnate and yet is not aware of that fact, thinking that his present expression is the sum total of his identity, how is he going to change?
Obviously only by divine intervention, and that is what YHVH did when He introduced, through Moses, the “ten words” (the ‘ten commandments’). These commandments, along with all the statutes, laws and ordinances in the Torah were given to Israel for life and death, good and evil.
" See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love YHVH your Elohim, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live…” (Deuteronomy 30:15-16). However, history reveals that these decrees did not bring life, but death. The apostle addresses this very issue in his own life: “But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died” (Romans 7:8-9). “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet’" (Romans 7:7).
It is essential for us to understand the dynamics of these statements, as the commandments given on Sinai are extremely important in identifying and recognizing the nature and power sin.
Shabbat Shalom,
Ephraim
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