BIRDS CAN BE MONITORING SPIRITS

Episode 316 of the Holy Note was pretty interesting. A man claims to prove that birds can be monitoring spirits by praying in tongues under a tree until the bird flew away.

Video 3 of proving people that birds can be monitoring spirits. See it?

It's going to leave right now as soon as I go up to the tree. It's going to leave. I'm going to go put my hand on it and pray.

Leave right now. Leave in the name of Jesus Christ. Leave in the name of Jesus Christ. Now there's a lot that can be said about the beliefs held by this creator, and he responded to being note, but that's not what

I want to focus on. Instead, this is an opportunity to edify. So I've actually seen some of your videos before.

I've never paid too much attention to them because I've noticed that they're all to destroy not to edify, right? Because the creator frequently cites

Ephesians 6 as if it supports his doctrine, but that's not only the case with this fellow. Probably the vast majority of evangelicals and especially those caught up in the charismatic movement and even more, especially those involved in deliverance ministry, cite

Ephesians 6 as a proof text for their unbiblical views. Let's break it down. Paul says in Ephesians, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, brother.

We wrestle against wicked things and evil in high places. Okay? Heavenly places. A bird is heavenly, but that's not even it.

It's in the spirit realm. In Ephesians 6, 10 through 12, Paul writes, finally be strong in the

Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

But we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Yes, Ephesians 6 is probably the primary go -to verse on spiritual warfare. The problem is that it is almost always cited outside of its context within the epistle.

Ephesians 6, verse 10 and onward, which begins with the word finally is Paul's conclusion to the letter.

The conclusion is an applicatory summary of what Paul has written in the first five chapters and nine verses of chapter six.

Therefore, in order to understand the section on the armor of God, we need to understand all that came before it.

And did anything come before it that has to do with praying in tongues against monitoring spirits or casting demons out of Christians or seeing in the spirit realm and engaging in combat with the devil?

I can see in the spirit realm. I can see which is astral projecting. The first three chapters of Ephesians are deeply theological, diving into the nature of our salvation.

And the last three chapters are intensely practical. Paul applies the theology of the first three chapters to the daily life of the believer in the last three chapters.

This shift to the practical is demonstrated in chapter four, verse one. Therefore, I, the prisoner of the

Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. Paul implores believers to walk in humility, to walk in unity, walk in newness of life, walk in light and walk in mutual submission.

And I wonder if people who cite Ephesians 6 as a proof text for their fantastical views of spiritual warfare, namely praying in gibberish, yelling at demons, seeing in the spirit realm, modern deliverance ministry,

I wonder if they ever wonder why Paul would suddenly talk about that at the end of an epistle that doesn't mention any of it beforehand.

That's not what Paul is talking about. Ephesians 6, 10 through 17 is a summary of all that came before it.

So Paul implores the church to engage in spiritual warfare by simply standing firm in the application of the theology of the first three chapters to daily life.

Stand firm. Resist. Stand firm. Stand firm. We must stand firm because we do have a real enemy, an enemy who is going to tempt us with the aid of our flesh to indulge in things that Paul addresses which are contrary to his exhortation to walk in humility, in unity, in newness of life, in the light and in mutual submission.

Obeying the word of God to walk in this manner worthy of our calling is how we stand firm. It is how we do spiritual battle.

And because there is no list of spiritual tools and weapons and gifts that you need to have in order to engage victoriously in spiritual warfare, the passage teaches us that every believer, even those who don't boast about having a number of spiritual gifts, already has all he needs in Christ to stand victorious against the onslaught of the devil.

Let's take a closer look at the passage now. In verse 10, Paul writes, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Does being strong in the Lord equate to being paranoid about birds spying on you from trees outside your house?

Does it mean that you must have a heavenly language in which to pray? Does it mean that you must receive words from the Lord or to hear the

Holy Spirit speaking as clearly as your inner monologue? No, none of that. In fact, the Greek word for be strong in Dunamah is a present passive verb, meaning that it is not a strength that we harness or build up ourselves.

It doesn't come from us. We are to be strong in the Lord. It means to be strengthened by everything already provided for you in Christ, which

Paul has been unfolding for the first five and a half chapters. The strength does not come from you and not even from your supposed spiritual giftedness.

And I hope that this is a comfort to those regular Christians out there like myself who don't fancy themselves prophets or seers or healers or demon slayers because if you have the truth, if you have the gospel, if you have

Christ, then you have all you need for spiritual warfare. You don't need to have conversations with demons and collect all kinds of anecdotal evidences outside of scripture in order to wage effective warfare.

What you need is to stand firm, resist, and having done everything, meaning obeying the application of chapter four, verse one through chapter five, verse nine, to stand firm.

Again, spiritual gifts are not addressed here and neither are they in first Peter chapter five, verse eight through nine, where you are told to resist the devil, the same word being used there.

Firm in your faith. Neither are they addressed in James four, seven, submit therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

There is nothing here about rebuking, binding or shouting at demons. We resist the devil or stand firm by believing the gospel and walking in daily obedience to it.

If we are doing that, then even in the mundane and the routine, we are engaged in spiritual warfare, whether I'm preaching on the street or doing dishes or leading my family in worship or gathering with the saints at church.

Now, as we move on to verse 12, Paul describes the enemy for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Many misguided individuals interpret this to be a description of the ranks of the enemy rulers being at the top and spiritual forces of wickedness being in the lowest rank.

But that is not what Paul is doing here. Rather, he is describing the nature and campaign of the enemy, what they are like and what they do.

They are wicked and they promote wickedness among men in the world. This does not mean that we should see demons everywhere.

It does not mean that there is a demon behind every corner or in every tree. Nevertheless, we combat the spiritual forces of wickedness by walking in obedience to the gospel, which includes the proclamation of the gospel, which is the means by which

God delivers men from sin and the power of Satan. The preoccupation with the demonic is neither healthy nor biblical.

Though our enemy is real, crafty and dangerous, we need not fear since the Lord has provided adequate strength and adequate defense.

This is why we are to clothe ourselves with all that God has provided in Christ for our protection. So let's talk about putting on the armor.

I was taught early on that this was something that needed to be done repeatedly, every morning at least ideally, as if going through the physical motions of putting on armor and quoting the passage like a formula was how

I was supposed to be protected from the attacks of the enemy. I was also taught that the pieces of Roman armor that are listed by Paul are meant to teach us about each attribute associated with it.

So if I'm putting on the belt of truth, I need to think about what the belt is teaching me about truth. If I needed to pray through it as I'm putting it on, what the breastplate teaches me about righteousness, etc.

I was taught incorrectly and I'm sure that many of you were also. So first we need to understand that to put on the armor is something that happens completely and one time.

The verb is in the aorist tense indicating that it is done and once it is done, it's done. It does not need to be repeated, meaning that this portion of scripture is not meant to be used as a ritual or a formula as if going through the motions of that is what is going to protect you.

Now, remembering that this is a summary conclusion of the epistle, we must approach the pieces of armor in light of the first five and a half chapters.

These armor pieces don't come out of nowhere. They are themes which Paul has been developing through the entire letter.

Let's take the belt of truth. What does a belt have to do with truth is the wrong question. What we should be asking is what does the rest of Ephesians teach us about truth?

Well, we have believed the message of truth, the gospel of our salvation. Having been saved through believing the truth, we are to speak the truth and love as we grow and mature.

The truth is centrally focused upon the person of Jesus. Our new self and the likeness of God has been created in truth.

We are to contrast our former darkness by walking in the truth to understand and put on the whole armor of God.

We should work through each piece of armor in this way. What has Paul told us about righteousness, about peace, about faith, about salvation, about the

Holy Spirit walking according to what Paul has laid out regarding these graces is how we stand firm in Christ against the enemy.

So I've actually seen some of your videos before. I've never paid too much attention to them because I've noticed that they're all to destroy not to edify.

I hope this brief exegesis of Ephesians 6 is edifying for you and I praise the Lord that so many of you have been helped by the

Holy Note. False teaching must be destroyed because the edification of the body is my goal and the first step of renovation is demolition.

By the way, my guy, why on earth, why on earth out of all of the places for there to be a cut in your video?

Is there a cut between the moment that you finish speaking in tongues and the bird flying away?

Why is there a cut right there? Leave right now.

Leave in the name of Jesus Christ. Leave in the name of Jesus Christ. Why would you do that? Because now we don't know if you were standing there for 10 seconds or 10 minutes.

Anyways, thanks for watching and it is my hope that looking at the text has made it clear that using