Strongholds Pt 2

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Monday, November eighteenth, twenty twenty four. It is currently ten forty six am Central Time, and I am coming to you live from windy, windy, very windy, West Texas. That's where I'm coming to you, li from. I'm coming to you lie from the Theology Central studio located right here in windy, windy, windy, very windy, West Texas. You may be able to hear the noise in the background.

0:43 I mean, the wind is like, I don't know, fifty miles per hour. I don't know what it is. It's crazy right now. I got ready to go live, and I was thinking, it's the microphone's going to pick up all of that noise in the background. But then I thought, you know what, it's either now or never. So it's it's wendy outside. Some may say, well, it's always windy when I listen to the Theology Central podcast, because that guy talking is full of hot air and it's just blah blah blah. Okay, all right, man, does that work? Does that a good illustration? I don't know, but it may be wendy outside. It maybe get a little windy here with you know, controversy, and I tend to say things that go against what everyone else thinks. But that's okay.

1:27 There's got to be room within Christiandom. There's got to be room within Christianity for someone to kind of raise their hand and go, well, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, what about this? What about this? What about this? What about this? What about this? I don't agree with that. I don't agree with that. Okay, I hear your hypotheses, but let me put forth mind. Let's challenge this, let's test this. There's gotta be someone well who questions everything, right, There's got to be at least a few voices out there that questions everything. And I think I've always been the one to question everything, So I think I that's Look, if I try to do anything else, I would be I'd be fake. I would be I wouldn't be real. I try to be as I try to be as real as I possibly can.

2:17 I mean, I don't know forever truly real? Right? Are we ever truly real? I mean, I think there's always a part of us that we always hide from everyone. Else. But I try to tell everyone, I'm just a sinner with a microphone trying to figure out Christianity, and I'm inviting you along for the journey. I'm inviting you along as I try to figure it out, and I do a lot of questioning and a lot of challenging. And one of those things we do, and we've been doing it all of twenty twenty four, and I challenged you to be a part of it was to download the sermon's two point oh app and then every single day, choose a random sermon, listen to it, write it down in a notebook, the name of the sermon, the name of the broadcaster, and then write a summary of what the sermon was about. And the goal was by the end of twenty twenty four, you would have one sermon for every single day of the year. And that journey has been full of twist turns, ups down and kind of led to some great amount of frustration, at least for me. But we're here in November. What did I say, November the eighteenth, I don't even remember the date anymore, November the eighteenth, meaning we're fast approaching the end of twenty twenty four. So I'm trying my best. I'm trying my best to land the plane, bring the train into the station, bring the boat to the harbor, whatever to port or however I want to use the illustration. I want to bring this to some kind of conclusion. That

3:47 is the goal here. So yesterday, I'm like, you know what, I've been frustrated. Let's take a step back. Let's reset. Let's go into this with the you know, the whole positive attitude. We're going to listen to sermons. It doesn't matter if we agree or disagree. They put forth their hypotheses. I will put forth mind. The people listening get a chance to hear two different perspectives. Let's be positive, let's be upbeat. Let's do this. So we hit play on a sermon, and in that sermon they read the following words. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God. To the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought, to the obedience of Christ, that tewod Corinthians, Chapter ten, verses three through five. That's what we heard read in the sermon, and then they began to teach on strongholds, and and what we discovered was to this. All the way up to this moment, I'm still just as perplexed and confused and like, what in the world did we hear because they claimed that basically it sounds like we build the stronghold. So it was very directed. Everything in the sermon was about you, you, you, me, me, me,

5:19 what we do, what we. Do we do. It was very law base, based off we do now what God does, based off what we do, we build strongholds. And once a stronghold is built, ladies and gentlemen, this is what we discovered. A stronghold hinders the presence of God, kills the power of God, and quenches the spirit. So basically, if you get a stronghold, God can't do anything about it. Now at the same time, he said, well, God can, but he won't. But at the same time he said that the stronghold kills the power of God, hinders the presence of God, and quenches the spirit, seemingly rendering God, I guess and capable of doing anything about the stronghold.

6:04 I have to remove the stronghold apart from the power of God if I want the power of God, which just is so confounding and confusing. So we went through it. There was so much. It was so frustrating by the end, so we worked our way through it. I think I brought it to somewhat of a decent conclusion. We went through the history of church history about how those throughout Church history have taught on strongholds what they are and what they aren't. In this particular case, and the sermon that we were reviewing, his view of a stronghold was more about behavior, behavior, behavior, behavior behavior. If you listen to the wrong music boom, you get a stronghold. It was about behavior, and that's I don't think that's what strongholds are actually about in any way, shape or form.

6:50 So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to quickly go back and review how strongholds have been taught throughout Church history. Then we're going to just finish up the last I don't know, ten minutes of this sermon, just to say we brought it to some kind of a conclusion, and then we're gonna look at kind of how the text define strongholds. We're gonna also look at the problem of connecting strongholds with satan. I think there's a possible problem with that, and then just try to bring this to some kind of conclusion. So if you didn't listen to the one yesterday, go back and listen to it, because that's where the majority of the sermon is was reviewed. You can definitely do that. But for now, let me just remind you of this, this idea, the concept of strongholds has been debated, discussed and talked and taught and discussed and talked about throughout Church history, with varying degrees of interpretations. Okay, just so that you know that.

7:51 I know it's a shock, but I know. Look, it doesn't matter. You open a Bible verse, you go look at church history. There's no agreement. Okay, there's no agreement. No one ever agrees on anything. It's a debate, debate, debate, debate, discussion, talk. You just that's what happens, all right. In the context of Second Corinthians Chapter ten, Paul seems to use the idea of a stronghold metaphorically to describe arguments. Ideas are patterns of thought that stand in opposition to the knowledge of God. So, if you look at the context of Second Corinthians, chapter ten, a stronghold seems to be thinking ideas, philosophies that stand in opposition to the knowledge of God.

8:48 Here's the knowledge of God, here's the truth of God, and here's these thoughts, these ideas, these ideologies, these philosophies that stand in conflict with the knowledge of God and the truth of God. It seems to be what a stronghold primarily is about. In its context, the immediate passage focuses on taking every thought captive and demolishing false arguments. This would seem to indicate that the apostle Paul is likely addressing intellectual or ideological barriers, rather than some type of demonic stronghold or psychological issues as later interpretations have suggested.

9:35 See these later when you start talking about demons and Satan and all of that type of thing. Maybe you know certain sins. All of that came later in church history. Early church was like, oh, this is about thinking, this is about ideology, this is about philosophy. Later on things started to change. So if we kind of go over the centuries and kind of Look, well, here's kind of what we find. We have the historical and philological interpretation. We have the historical and philological interpretation the early church fathers tended. Now, this doesn't mean every single church father was unanimous on this, so please don't think I'm saying they all thought the same way, but they tended to it seems like possibly the majority were. They interpreted strongholds more in line with Paul's message focusing on intellectual pride, false teachings. But this is very important. Some of the church fathers also included entrenched sins. So for the most part, they focused on intellectual pride, false teaching, ideal ideology, philosophy.

10:49 But some started to going, well, I think a stronghold could also be an entrenched sin, a prolonged sin. Now they tip saw strongholds as internal, mental or spiritual bearers, barriers within a person's mind. Primarily, this was a mind thing, a thinking thing. It was a spiritual barrier. It was a something internal, something mental. It wasn't that's that's kind of what it was about. It was about the way you were thinking, your thoughts, your way of understanding things.

11:30 That's what it was about. That's kind of the historical philological interpretation. And that's where I think when well, something changes in church history, what changes is we moved from really the early church to the mid evil church. And guess what shows up the mystical approach. We now have a mystical approach to what a stronghold is, and mid evil times, the idea of spiritual warfare grew to include more elaborate systems of thought around spiritual strongholds. Instead of saying mental strongholds, it becomes spiritual strongholds. So they sometimes what they would do in this mystical medieval approach, they would kind of begin to they would they would begin to kind of refer to strongholds, sometimes would connect them to demons or territorial spirits. Some mystics even began to describe strongholds as attachment to worldly things or patterns of sin that needed to be broken through by using aesthetic practices or spiritual disciplines. So all of a sudden, strongholds they begin to change the way people saw them. During the medieval period, this mystical approach came to the subject, and it's like oh oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, See you're attached to worldly thing. And even in the

13:01 sermon we reviewed, it's the music you listen to. You love that music, that's a stronghold. Oh, you love those kinds of movies, that's a stronghold. Oh. And so now it becomes what your attachment or your love for worldly things, that's the stronghold that didn't exist in the early churches. Understanding this is because of the medieval mystical approach, which then turned us into kind of a spiritual warfare Satan demons, territorial spirits, and so what did you need to do? You got to fight the stronghold. How do aesthetic practices? Fast, give up this, give up that, don't do this, don't do that, spiritual disciplines. So it became very focused on you, your efforts, what you do, and the whole concept began to change.

13:53 Now we go from kind of this mystical approach until we come to the modern interpretation. The modern interpretation doesn't go back to the early Church. The modern interpretation goes back to mysticism of the medieval period. If you look at recent decades, especially within the influence of certain strands of charismatic teaching, strongholds are sometimes interpreted as spiritual blockages created by demonic forces. Generational sins are psychological patterns. This has led to practices such as deliverance ministries that focus on identifying and breaking specific stronghold and a believer's life. Now, the person we're listening to, the sermon we're listening to, they would be as opposed to charismatic theology as they could be. I guarantee you they would be against it.

14:47 Yet much of what they say seems to contradict their claim of being against charismatic theology. One he says God told him to say this, he says God. Basically he seems to refer to God speaking to him outside of the Bible. That's very much in line with charismatic theology. And two he goes with this more like charismatic idea of what a stronghold is. It does not reflect the early Church's idea. So when you compare all of those interpretations to the actual text, much of what is taught today about strongholds is arguably more of reading into the text than a direct drawing from the text. When you come to strongholds, pastors read the text they preach it, you think they're pulling from the text. But what's actually happening.

15:45 They're reading into the text. They're reading these concepts, these ideas that can be traced back primarily to medieval mysticism. It's it's not Exegesus, it's is Jesus. And I know there's such a fine line there, because you sit in a church, you're like, well, the pastor read the scripture, he explained this scripture in this scripture, Clearly it's exegesis. Now just reading the scripture. Claiming you're pulling the point from the scripture doesn't necessarily mean the points coming from the scripture. Because if I put something in the scripture, then I can obviously tell you I'm pulling it out of the scripture. But it may be I'm pulling it out because I'm the one to put it in there. See, Isa Jesus is always and almost typically it's always camouflaged and it pretends to be Exejesus. They're like, no, we studied the text because someone put it there, then they pulled it out. It's like if I put a rabbit in the hat and then I reach in and pull the rabbit out. Did I really pulled the rabbit out?

16:51 While I did? But because I put the rabbit inside the hat. It didn't naturally come from the hat. It didn't naturally just supernaturally appear. It's a trick, well, much of Christianity, it's a trick. We open a Bible, read the Bible. They may even give a little bit of historical context. They may they say all the little right words and they're little like opening summary, and then immediately they start pulling things from the text that are not there. And I think a lot of the Stronghold things it's reading into the text. Paul's focus seems very practical and very direct. He identifies thoughts and ideas that contradict the Gospel and actively countering the He's trying to counter them.

17:36 He's trying to combat them with truth. And so I think that's the whole issue. I mean, I've got more notes here, but I'm not going to go through the rest. We covered it most of them yesterday, right, So that's kind of a historical look. Most of what you hear today on Strongholds is flowing from If you want to find the stream from which those thoughts are coming, it's not coming from Second Corinthians ten, even though they tell you they're preaching on Second Corinthians ten. It's coming from medieval mysticism from which they took the idea, read it into the text, they pull it out of the text, and then you hear it and you're like, oh, that's a stronghold. This is a stronghold. This is a stronghold, and it's like, Ah, what has happened. And to create an idea that basically the stronghold stops God. Now you on your own have to get rid of the stronghold so then you can get the power of God has to be one of the most convoluted, confusing things I've ever seen. If I can get rid of it without God, then why do I meet God's power in the first place?

18:40 I mean, that just raises all kinds of questions. So what we're going to do is just finish up the last few minutes of this sermon just so that we can do so. And then here's what we're gonna do. I think that the strongholds mentioned in verse four to the pulling down a stronghold, I think the strongholds are defined in verse five. I'm gonna put forth that argument. Then we're gonna look at how why because even in this sermon, he connected Tewod Corinthians ten with one Peter five eight. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, is like a lion roaming about, seeking whom he may devour.

19:22 He immediately attached this to Satan. I think that there's a there's a problem even attempting to do that. So we're gonna look at all of that. But let's kind of now we're jumping right back into this sermon. If you listen, you didn't listen to part one, or it wasn't even labeled part one, I'll have to go back and label it. Then you you kind of well, I think I've got you. I think I've gotten you caught up. But you're gonna kind of continue to hear him. Just he's belaboring the point that for him, a stronghold is behavior. It's behavior, it's activity, it's love for the world. He's very much taking it that way instead of doing what I think the text se to say. So are you ready to hear a little bit more of it? Here we go.

20:06 Now we live in a world that's more than just broke. Isn't that right? Especially when it comes to spiritual things? They not just broke, it's worse and broke, it's shattered. And that's why God says, love not the world. Amen. And we've been we have been swayed. Listen. Now, we've been swayed by this world all our life, have we not, especially before we got saved. And even after we got saved. You know what the world did, It didn't stop. It just kept on feeding and keeps on feeding. And the world today is feeding some of the most ungodly junk that's ever been fed.

20:53 And you know what's happening to the church. We've we've we've been into it. Please note he's almost giving you a classic mid evil mystical understanding of a stronghold. He's talking about attachment to the world, love not the world. Let me again read a definition of mid evil mystical approach to strongholds. Okay, I'm going to read this word for word. Are you ready? In mid evil times, the idea of spiritual warfare grew to include more elaborate systems of thought around spiritual strongholds, sometimes tied to demons or specific territorial spirits. Some mystics began to describe strongholds as attachment to worldly things are patterns of sin. What you're hearing there is classic mid evil mysticism. Now most of you probably agree with the medieval mystical approach, but it's not I believe what the text is actually saying. Now, let's see if he if he, if he continues down this path of this more medieval mystical that the strongholds are about behavior about worldliness. Let's see if he continues down that path, or if he deviates and goes maybe back to an early church view,

22:25 maybe maybe he maybe he moves to a more modern view. And remember I always say, if you want to understand charismatic theology, go look at Catholic mysticism. I think Catholic mysticism in many cases is the is the origin of what becomes charismatic, becomes a part of the charismatic theology. If you want to understand where charismatic theology basically comes from, go back to Catholic mysticism. I cannot dogmatically assert that, and it's not going to be a straight line, but sometimes when you study Catholic mysticism, you're like, that's that's the modern charismatic theology. Right. Hopefully I said that correctly, all right, So just consider that. Now, maybe he's going to move to a modern approach, which much more is influenced by charismatic theology. And charismatic theology it finds its origin and well Roman Catholicism very much, and it's mystical a tradition, all right, So let's see where he takes this.

23:23 Thank God, he's trying to wake us up from that. Amen. But I got to thinking about that all that garbage that we brought with us from the world when we got saved. Some of that we never got rid of. Some of that we just never changed. Please note his whole understanding here, when we brought all of this stuff with us from the world when we got saved. Make it very clear, we didn't have to bring anything with us when we got saved. All of all sin, all worldliness is inside of us. It's our sinful nature. Now, what's contradictory in this sermon? He said at one point in the sermon that God changes us completely on the inside. Yet later on in the sermon he said, we still have a sinful nature. Well, how can I have a sinful nature if God changed me on the inside? What did God change me on the inside?

24:22 But didn't left the old nature and not change. So does he have the idea that there's two different parts in me? Like it? Once again? Is that confound and confusing thing that Christians constantly do, that we constantly talk about on this podcast. It's so maddening the way they do. You've been completely changed, well not completely changed. Well then why did you just say it was completely changed? Well, you've been changed on the inside, but you still have sin. But yet, over and over and over he seems to refer to everything as being external. The problem is the world. The problem is the world. Well, no, the problem is inside of me. The world just appeals to what's inside of me. The issue is inside of me, it's my sin nature. But let's see if he's gonna if he's going to go from either a charismatic perspective, which again finds its origins and I believe in Roman Catholic mysticism or medieval mysticism.

25:12 All right, so let's see where this all goes. Some that we held on to amen. I used to stand. I used to stand in a little place in the parking lot and dip my tobacco just like everybody else. So when I got saved. I just carried that right on. No, wait a minute, Dipping tobacco is a sin that you carried over from the world. What scripture would you utilize to condemn the dipping of tobacco. Now, if you're going to use scripture about I guess health and your body is the temple, and so you don't do anything unhealthy, well, then you're gonna have to go beyond just dipping tobacco. Right.

26:13 Have you ever seen a church potluck? Have you ever seen a church fellowship? Is there anything healthy anywhere on the table? Look, so dipping tobacco is something from the world. So dipping tobacco is a stronghold. Let's see where he takes this. Broach. All's God had to deal with me, and he did. And that crowd that says, well, I don't feel convicted by it, ought to check up because God's not gonna say it's all right for you to dip, but it ain't all right for me to dip. If it's wrong for this Christian to dip, it's wrong for that Christian to dip. So what is it? It's a stronghold.

27:07 Dipping tobacco is a stronghold, and it's a. It's a he's he just made it a dogmatic assertion that it's wrong for everyone to dip tobacco. Now, I don't dip tobacco. We have no desire to do so. But if I saw someone doing so, I don't know if I would walk up and put my arm around him. You've got a stronghold in your life. Brother. God told me that it was wrong to dip tobacco, So it's wrong for you to dip tobacco. What in the world is going on? And it didn't come after we got saved. It was a stronghold before we got saved and we decide we was going to hold on to and granted we we develop a lot of strong holds after we get saved because we let the world venus. Is that right? Amen?

28:09 I hope y'all get in this. I'm telling you what the Lord told me to tell you. Amen. Okay, that's the second or third time he said he is telling you what God told him to tell you. God told him to tell you. Dipping tobacco is a stronghold, Like, how do you even process this? How do you even process that? Well, one that's not sola scriptora. If God is telling him and not only second that would make his sermon. I can't even criticize it because it came directly from God, meaning it's basically infallible. But dipping tobacco is a sin. Dipping tobacco is a stronghold. See this has nothing. Yeah, okay, let's let's just be calm. Let's see where this goes. All right, then we can get back to a more I try to just try to get back to what a stronghold actually is here in a minute.

29:17 And so, here's what God says about that presential bodies of living sacrifice. And then the very next, the very next phrase or the very next parator, renew your mind. Isn't that right? You gotta renew your mind? Why because He don't want you to be conformed to this world. So you gotta have the right thinking and you got to have the right activities. Otherwise we're setting ourselves up for a stronghold. You know what, present your bodies of living sacrifice and renewing your mind does conforms you to the image of God's Son. Amen. And so anything that we find in opposition to the knowledge of God, Amen, that is what God knows to be right, which is by the way everything he knows everything that's right. So when we oppose him, we're building strongholds. And so I want I want us to understand something that that there's two really two reasons why strongholds are still there. And it's because we've chosen to defend it or justify it.

30:39 And number two because we want it there. Amen. Amen. And so here's how you pull it down. Let me give you this quickly, and I'm done. I don't have my watch, Amen, I'm gonna get done early. If the Lord had help me. Right here what says pull it down? I don't give you this. I'm gonna give this review. First of all, you got to bring it the into captivity, that's what he says right here. And bringing into captivity ever thought to the obedience of Christ. Your thoughts all lined up with his thoughts. Okay, Now this is moving back to more of an early Church kind of understanding here. Now he's taking it back to thoughts, back to thinking, because that's where the text lead you. He has this major middle section which is very much medieval mysticism, but this here kind of goes back to more of the original concept. I don't know where dipping comes in. I don't know where he had.

31:36 One point he talk about women and their breeches. I don't know where that comes. And he talks about country music, I mean, like a lot of it. You're like, what in the world does this have to do with anything? All right, But again he's almost removed God completely from this entire process. It's you, you, you, you, you you, because he himself said that if you have a stronghold, it kills the power of God, it hinders the presence of God, and it quinches the spirit. Soasically, you've got to fix the stronghold so that you can then get God's presence, God's power, and you get the spirit working freely. So God basically can't do anything until you get rid of the stronghold. You do the strong, You get rid of the stronghold and your own power and your own effort, and then all of a sudden you get all of this other stuff from God. But then you don't need all the other stuff from God because you've already pulled down the stronghold. So it's kind of very confusing how this supposedly works. But at least I got no problem with this idea. We take every thought captive. We'll talk about that here in a second.

32:35 Did you read what that said, amen, It said bringing into captive they ever thought to the obedience of Christ. Everything you think, everything that's not in obedience to Christ gets kicked out. And if it's a thought that makes you a be obedient to Christ, then go ahead and think it. I had to kick it out. So you bring your thoughts into captivity. I call that the refreshment. It's like a computer boost your obedience to God. Look at verse six and having well, let's back up and get the latter part of it, bringing into captivity ever thought to the obedience of Christ, and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience. When your obedience is fulfilled, in other words, you're gonna that's replacement. You're gonna throw all the rebellion out.

33:37 Now again, I know this seems to be headed in this direction. He seems to be going in the idea that basically we can do all of this right. So let's just once again for review. I say this every single sermon I review because it seems like every single sermon contradicts this very basic concept that's Christianity one oh one. So let me state it again. If you take the law of God, which says be holy as He is holy, be he perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, you will never do that. You cannot do that. You are incapable of doing that. Even as a save person, you cannot. And if you meet someone who says there as holy as God as holy, you know that you need to probably run for your life because something is really really wrong with him to think that right. So, practically we're never going to do that, meaning we are in a perpetual state of disobedience. Here's God's law, we never meet it, so we are always in disobedient. You can't just say, well, just get rid of all the disobedience and be obedient.

34:37 It's never going to occur. You're always going to be in a perpetual state of disobedience. You cannot keep the law now, So then what's the solution. Well, and I see the law, I see my disobedience, I run to Christ, and I trust in an imputed righteousness, not infused imputed. So then positionally I'm declared to be obedient, even though practically I never will be. And if you cannot keep the and just go through all the scriptures, all the law. Even if you obey some of it externally, you're almost inevitably going to be violating it internally. Whether Christians like to believe this or not, you are in a perpetual state of disobedience. You are in sin. Every single day.

35:21 You are in sin. You are in sin. You are in sin. But yet Christians convince themselves that somehow we can get rid of this sin and then we can be I guess better than those people. Then we pick up our rocks to stone those people because we don't commit that sin. Yeah, but you don't commit that sin. But you're in a perpetual state of sin. So how can those in a perpetual state of sin think that they didn't can condemn and throw other people out who committed a certain sin. So then at this point it just becomes not a matter of sin. It becomes a matter of which sin and which list determines which sins are the bad ones and which sins are the acceptable ones. But Christians constantly forget we are in a perpetual state of disobedience.

36:07 You ready to revenge. In other words, you gonna you go cut it up, You're gonna crucify whatever it takes to get rid of the disobedience is what you're gonna do, so that you make room for obedience. That's how you that's how you kick a stronghold. You kick it out, and then if you take something and put it in its place, you have no room for it again. Now right, amen. And so if you're ever gonna stop some bad habit, you better find you a good one to take its place, otherwise your bad habit will be back in ten minutes.

36:49 This entire idea. So you just get rid of a bad habit and then you replace it with a good habit. This seems to completely ignore the fact that the bad habit is a result of your sinful nature, and you cannot kick out your sinful nature because your sinful nature will be there until glorification. So you don't just kick out your sinful nature, and the bad habit comes from the sinful life. This seems to completely it's almost a Pelagian view. It's almost it almost as full blown Pelagianism, as if you don't have a sinful nature and bad internally, you're basically neutral, and so you just got to fight over bad habits good habits. Do this, do that? And it's very man centered. You do you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, but it completely denies the reality of the sinful nature. Even though earlier in the sermon he acknowledged the sinful nature. He said, why do we keep doing this because we're dragging along the sinful nature. Well, if you know you're dragging along the sinful nature, then it's not about just getting rid of a bad habit, because even if you get rid of a bad habit, the sinful nature is right there. You say, well, replace the bad habit with a good habit, and then the bad habit won't return. The bad habit will return because the bad habit flows from your sinful nature, which is not removed because you replaced it with a good habit.

38:04 This is very much like a fleshly psychological way to try to This is no different than just going to I don't know, alcoholics, anonymous, narcotics anonymous. This is just going through the basic idea of like, oh, you're doing this, well, let's give us some basic tips to stop doing it. There's nothing spiritual about this, there's nothing Christian about this. This is just the way you help anyone who's dealing with an addiction or a struggle or a bad habit. It's just basic, basic rules. And the whole concept of this passage is for though we walk in the flesh, we do not do we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. This is just basic carnal psychological ideas to stop a bad habit.

38:51 Amen, it's kind of like that fellow that garnished his house. She remembers swept it real good, and the spirits left, and everything looked real good. You know what happened. He didn't replace it. If he had replaced it with the spirit of God, then there wouldn't have been any room when he come back for him in his Seven Bodies? Is he gonna take that story and connect it to bad habits? In the concept there that just removing a demon is of no value unless the person becomes saved and has dwelt by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, then they are now protected from demonic possession because they now have the Spirit of God. What is it you're gonna take that concept and apply it to habits? The habit flows from the internal nature. You can't just so now I replace a bad habit with the spirit of God. So then every Christian who has the Spirit of God never no longer has any bad habits. This whole thing is so confusing, are y'all hearing it?

40:04 Replacement? Don't forget, man, when you're quitting something, you better replace it with something else, Amen, because if you don't, it won't be long for it to be back. Amen. Just like the preacher that put the TV in the closet, and he should have found something else to do. Amen. Number three, build your character around Christ's image. That's reinforcement. This is all law. This is what you would be classified theologically as law. Law. La la la la la law.

40:46 You do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this. It's effort, effort, effort, effort, effort, effort, effort, but it's all effort fighting against really external things at ignoring that the real war is happening internally because of a sinful nature. All right, So that's kind of basically the end. Let me let me just try to I want to get this over and then we can we can look at some basic points and then try to bring this to some kind of a conclusion. All right, here we. Go, that's what is happening over in verse. But eater, see, these strongholds don't exist for christ like spirit loyales.

41:28 So strongholds don't exist where this christ Like spirit dwells. Well. Isn't every Chris Christian filled or every Christian has the Holy Spirit? Doesn't the Holy Spirit dwell in every Christian? Well? If the Holy Spirit dwells in every question Christian, then how can there be a stronghold? A stronghold can't exist where there's a christ Like spirit well within the Holy Spirit, a christ Like spirit. So then how can there be a stronghold? But he doesn't mean that. What he means is the stronghold can't exist. If you conform yourself to be like Christ, then there's no stronghold. Well wait a minute, So then the spirit of God can't keep away the stronghold, but you can by conforming yourself to the Do you see how confusing this is.

42:28 When we begin to conform ourselves to the image of Christ, what we do is we're not making we're not making room for strongholds. I close with this one Peter chapter five verse number eight and nine. Watched this, Peter, Peter. I read this, and I can't help but think Peter's wised up a little bit. You remember how Jesus looked at him and said, Satan has desired to sift you, he said, but I prayed for you. Amen. Old Peter's a little bit wiser now because the first thing I see is this, should this admonishment? He said, be sober, beil vigilant. Now, why what would you want to do that? Well, first of all, I look at that, and I think to myself, that's distinct thinking and determined actions, the two things that are pulled down a stronghold. So captive thoughts and complete obedience is what he's saying.

43:37 He said, be sober, if it requires complete obedience to pull down a stronghold. Ladies and gentlemen, I got bad news for you. You're never pulling down a stronghold because you're never completely obedient. How do I know that? Be holy as He is holy, You're never going to do that, So therefore you're never completely obedient. Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, You're never going to do that. Therefore you're never completely obedient. Love God, with all your heart, mind, body, and soul. You're never going to do that. Therefore you're never perfectly obedient. Love your neighbor as yourself. You're never going to perfectly do that, So therefore you're not perfectly obedient. Do all things without complaining, grumbling and murmuring. You're probably going to do that. Even if you don't externally grumble and complain, you probably are. In the insight, you're never going to do that. How many scriptures do I need to give you that you're never going to perfectly do this.

44:27 Therefore you're never perfectly obedient. Therefore you're never going to pull down a stronghold. And did you realize that what pulls down a stronghold is your actions you're doing. It's very tangible actions you take, seemingly that you're fighting it in a fleshly way, not a spiritual way. Don't let your mind get all mixed up. You ever seen somebody get drunk, Well, you talk about their mind messed up. They can't even find the car. Amen, thank god, they stumble everywhere. He said, be sober, and then he said, be vigilant. You're gonna be determined. Why because there's an ambush about to happen if you don't, said your adversary, the devil. Now listen to this as a roaring line.

45:23 You wouldn't think he come roaring, But he's mad. Walketh about now, watch seeking whom he may. He's looking for somebody that's got an open door. He's looking for somebody that has laid the foundation so that he can stick his foot in the door and begin to influence us. And remember, according to this sermon, how do you open the door by listening to country music? Now, I'm going to make it very clear. The door is already open because you have a sinful nature, not because of the music you listen to.

46:17 So Peter says, I learned this a long time ago, just a few years back. You know what the devil tried to do to me. Yeah, he said, so you better be sober and you better be vigil And then notice this, and I'm done. There's an antidote verse eight again, walk about seeking him? Or this verse nine, I'm sorry whom resist steadfast in the faith. You've heard how some preachers will get up and they'll say, don't ever challenge the devil. But I read in my Bible where I'm not supposed to run from him. I'm supposed to resist him.

47:08 You can't resist somebody running from him, isn't that what it said? James gives us the secret to being able to resist it. He says, submit thyself. Therefore under God resists the devil. And herefully submit yourself under God. Presential bodies of living sacrifice renew your mind. You see how all this works together in the conforming us to the image of Christ. Why it's so important to be conformed to the image of Christ. It is so that we tear down the strongholds and don't give the devil a place.

48:01 It's it's important whether it was a stronghold that we brought into this relationship with God or it's a stronghold that we have developed after. Either way, we need to pull it down. How you do that by being conformed to the image of God's Son. We got to learn to bring our thoughts into captivity. We got to learn to boost our obedience to God, and we got to build the character around Jesus christ image. That's how you conform to the image of God. Let's stand together, Father, thank you for the day.

48:44 All right, Well, there you have it. That's probably a pretty standard. I think most churches would handle strongholds basically similar to that. He may they may not go off on country music and dipping, tobacco, and women and pants. I whose where the three major? I think those were the three things. He kind of went after, music, dipping, and women in pants. Okay, but if you remove that his basic hypotheses, it's pretty similar to I think how most churches would handle strongholds. And I've told you that that tends to go Everything you heard there tends to go more back to medieval mysticism than it does the early Church or modern day charismatic theology, which I think finds its origin and Catholic mysticism, if that makes sense. Now, I believe that the stronghold mentioned in verse four, So let me read verse four for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God. To the pulling down of strongholds. I believe the strongholds there are defined in verse five. I believe the strongholds mentioned in ten four are effectively defined in verse five. Right Verse five reads, and I'm going to read it from a different translation. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. Verse five clarifies that the strongholds

50:16 Paul refers to our intellectual are ideological structures. Strongholds are intellectual and ideological structures. They're intellectual the ideological, and so we have to pull down these intellectual and ideological structures that oppose God, that are in opposition to God's truth. But this is to be done spiritually. Well, how it's to be done spiritually. It is the Word of God, right, which is spiritual because it's God breathed, it's spiritual. I take the word of God, and then this is used to say that way of thinking, that way of thinking is contrary to the Word of God. It doesn't mean if I pull down the stronghold, I'm now going to be obedient and I'm going to do everything right. It just means I'm going to be able to acknowledge that that's wrong and that's wrong, even though I still may struggle with thinking wrong, and I still may struggle with doing wrong because that flows from my sinful nature. At least I can pull down the stronghold in the sense that I'm not sitting there saying this way of thinking is right, or this think, Oh, this way of doing is right. I can at least acknowledge it's wrong biblically, even though I may do it, and even though I still may think it. These are not physical structures or even supernatural forces, but they are mental or philosophical constructs

51:50 that oppose God's truth. Paul is using military language to describe a kind of spiritual battle where those strongholds are attacked and demoleg through divine means. What does the divine mean to demolish the stronghold? It is the word of God. I am to take those thoughts, those philosophical ideas, those intellectual constructs, and in the Word of God is the thing that says those constructs, those philosophical ideas are wrong. And other words, now I'm quoting. The strongholds are patterns of thought, entrenched beliefs, not entrenched behavior, entrenched beliefs or arguments that resist God's revelation and truth. By defining strongholds in this way, Paul focuses on the need for spiritual discernment and the truth of the Gospel to confront and dismantle ideas and worldviews contrary to God's knowledge. This aligns with Paul's emphasis on taking every thought captive to obey Christ, showing that these are in eternal mental barriers, not external or demonic entities. This is not country music, This isn't dipping, this isn't women in pants, this isn't behavior. This is thinking.

53:15 And we refer to the Bible sometimes as the sword of the spirit. The Bible is spiritual. I take the idea, the philosophy, I take the scripture, and I say this philosophy is wrong, and in a sense, I'm taking it captive to the word of God. That's how we're fighting this. Not fleshly, you're spiritual. This is not about Hey, you need to get this bad behavior in place it with a good behavior, and you need to do this, and you need to do this. No, it means I take the word of God and fight these philosophical and ideological structures in a spiritual way. So textually it would be difficult to almost impossible, to define the strongholds as entrenched sins, behaviors are even psychological issues. The language Paul is using centers around intellectual and id ideological barriers rather than moral or behavioral struggles. The key elements would be this arguments and lofty opinions, and verse five Paul specifically refers to arguments and lofty opinions that are raised against the knowledge of God. This language points to ideas, philosophies, or worldviews that'll pay oppose God's truth rather than personal habits or

54:46 sinful behavior. It's not about sinful behavior or bad habits. If I go back to Second Corinthians, go back to Second Corinthians, chapter ten, look at it verse five casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself. Depending on your translation, arguments and lofty opinions, this is not about behavior. This is not about sinful habits. Has nothing to do with that that has been placed upon the text, and the origin of those ideas is medieval mysticism that taking every thought captive. Paul calls to take every thought captive to obey Christ, indicating a focus on reshaping one's thinking of beliefs. The context is about renewing the mind to align with God's truth, rather than addressing moral conduct or personal weakness. This is the idea, and how do we renew our minds with the word of God. The Word of God renews my mind it changes my thinking.

55:54 It says, Okay, I used to think this way. I used to think this way. I used to hold to this philosophical idea, ideology, I used to hold this intellectual construct. I used to think this about certain behaviors. I used to think this. I used to think this. I used to think this. But the more I take on the word of God, it changes my thinking so that at the very minimum, I can say that's wrong thinking. That's wrong thinking. Now listen, in that sense, I'm taking the thought captive, and I'm taking the thought in a sense, connecting it to Christ, saying this thought must be in obedience to Christ. In other words, my thinking must be in line with Christ, not in line with this contrary philosophical concept. That's what it's about. Now, this is very important.

56:39 Just because I change my thinking, just because I change my mind, doesn't mean I'm going to change my behavior. Because my behavior is influenced by a sinful nature. The right thinking does not remove the sinful nature. That's why we sometimes find ourselves in conflict as a Christian with how we think and what we do, which sounds very similar to the very person who wrote Second Corinthians. He also wrote these words. Are you ready? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with my mind, I myself sir the law of God. But with the flesh the law of sin. There is a conflict between the mind and the body and what we do now in our mind, even when our mind thinks that okay, and this is all the changing of the mind does, the mind just says that's a sin. I still may think about that sin, lust for that sin, long for that sin, but at least in my mind I will acknowledge it is a sin. This is what leads Christians to be very much sometimes overcome with guilt and shame because our minds we're trying to take the thoughts captive.

57:57 We're reading the Bible. It's shaping our thinking so that we can see that's wrong, that's wrong, that's wrong, that's wrong, And then we become really what as almost horrifying is the more we understand wrong, the more we see the wrong in us. Now, what that is to do is to drive me to Christ so that I hold on to the imputed righteousness because I realize I'm a mess. So the key elements and this is that this is about arguments and lofty opinions, and this is about taking every thought captive. None of this is talking about personal habits, sinful natures. It's not addressing moral conduct. It's not even talking about moral weakness. The passage itself does not mention specific sins, moral failures, or physical actions. Paul's focus is entirely on mental and spiritual obstacles that hinder understanding or accepting God's revelation. Many teachers and preachers have applied the concept of strongholds to habitual sins, or reoccurring behavior. This is an application rather than a direct interpretation of the text.

59:08 It can maybe some would argue it could be helpful, but I think it goes way beyond Paul's intended meaning. You could say, well, this is a good application. No, it's not a good application when it goes beyond the actual meaning of the text. That's not an application. That you're reading into the text. And when you read into the text and pull something out of the text that's not in the text, then that's a fraudulent application. The application should be based on what's in the text, not what you've read into the text. If we aim to stay close to the text, strongholds are best understood as intellectual and ideological barriers to God's truth, not entrenched sins or behaviors. It would allo so be absolute difficult textually to include things like lust and the definition of strongholds.

1:00:07 Paul's focus is in these verses is clearly on intellectual and ideological barriers, specifically arguments and lofty opinions that oppose the knowledge of God. Lust, as typically understood, is a sinful nature or a sinful desire inclination that comes from our sinful nature. It is serious, but it does not fit the context of what Paul is addressing. As Sewo Corinthians, chapter ten. This is why, and here's just some reasons why. Including things like lust as a stronghold in this passage would be a stretch. It would be It would be problem number one. It's the text is focusing on intellectual opposition.

1:00:51 Paul's language mentioning arguments, lofty opinions, and knowledge of God is about ideas or beliefs that stand in opposition. This does not align with lust, which is a desire or impulse rather than an intellectual argument or ideology. Lust is something different. This stronghold is not about lust. It's about thinking. Now, if you're thinking is that the lust is okay, then that would be a problem. Then you need to change your mind. Take every thought captive and say what does God think about this lust? He says it's sinful. Then at least admit that you still are going to have the lust, because the lust comes from the sinful nature, and right thinking does not eradicate the nature. Paul talks about taking every thought captive to obey Christ, which implies correcting beliefs or thought patterns rather than controlling personal desire or impulse. He emphasis is on shaping thinking to align with the Gospel, not on disciplining desires. The desires come from inside, It comes from your nature. Now that nature may impact your thinking, but at least so. What I'm trying to say is you may have the desire, you may have the lust. If you take every thought captive, you will at least admit that the desire and the lust is at least sinful, even though it's may not go away. And of course, as I've already stated, this is not about luss because unlike any other passage where

1:02:22 Paul addresses sinful behavior, such as Galatians five nineteen through twenty one. He actually lists the works of the fless, including lustful actions. He does not include any language, and Second Corinthians ten indicating moral conduct or personal failings. His passage is framed in terms of intellectual spiritual confrontation. Now here would be the question. We're at sixty two minutes and I'll leave this with you for you to do today. If Second Corinthians ten is about wrong ideas, false ideas, and wrong philosophies, then we would need to consider the broader context of Second Corinthians chapter ten and see that Paul is defending certain things, certain ways of thinking. So this is what when we say that this stronghold is wrong thinking, wrong ideology, wrong intellectual constructs, Then what is the wrong ideology? What is the wrong philosophy? What is the wrong intellectual constructs that Paul is fighting in Second Corinthians chapter ten. You would have to go through Second Corinthians chapter ten and go, here's the wrong way to think,

1:03:52 here's the wrong philosophy, here's the wrong intellectual construct And he's telling the people of the church to fight against these things because he's been mentioning these things throughout the letter. What are those wrong things? Well, one would be their opposition to Paul's apostolic authority. They're thinking about his authority. They're questioning and challenging his authority. Is wrong thinking, it's wrong ideology. If you look at Second Corinthians, chapter ten, verse ten, look look at look what he says here for look at verse eight sewod Corinthians ten eight. This is right after this entire discussion. For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed. He immediately after he has this discussion about strongholds, which are wrong ways of thinking, he immediately attacks one of the wrong ways of thinking, which they're they're questioning his authority. Look what happens in verse nine.

1:04:59 That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters. For this letter say they are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contempt contemptible. Right, he's going after this discussion about it the way Second Christians ten ten, and another translation reads, his letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is of no account. These arguments and opinions undermine Paul's teaching and, by extension, the gospel he preached. Such opposition reflects a worldview that elevated external appearance, rhetorical skill, and worldly measures of success over the truth of God's power and calling. They question his authority by he looks weak, his speech is not that great.

1:05:53 He doesn't have any authority. They were understanding spiritual authority on the basis of how the man looked, how the man sounded, and his ability to speak. Their way of thinking was wrong. That's the stronghold, he says, needs to be pulled down, because until they do that, then they're gonna reject his authority. That there's an example of the wrong idea that was he's talking about. So I have to see have one, two, three, four, five, six. I think there are six in a sense stronghold wrong thinking that is found well in the Corinthian Church. You probably could go if we go back to First Corinthians one, First Corinthians, First Corinthians chapter one, through the entire letter of First Corinthians, end at First Corinthians chapter or Second Corinthians chapter one, all the way through the end of Second Corinthians. If we take First and Second Corinthians together, I think you can see all of the wrong thinking, all of the wrong ideology that was present in the church.

1:06:58 This wrong thinking that is the stronghold. That's what needs to be brought down. Their thinking needs to be fixed. They need to take every thought captive and to the obedience of Christ so that they at least think right. Now, thinking right is no guaranteed to doing right. I know we will always believe if I think right, I will do right. But that's a misunderstanding of Christianity. Because Christianity, my problem is my nature. My thinking will not fix my nature. What my thinking does is acknowledge that I have a wrong nature, and that my wrong nature desires and does that which is wrong, so that I can at least acknowledge it's wrong. Doesn't mean I'm going to necessarily stop doing wrong. In fact, I know I will never stop doing wrong because I can never truly obey the law of God. Yeah, I read there at the end.

1:07:50 I kind of went through that really quick. But what I want you to do is just consider. Go to First Corinthians. Go all the way through First Corinthians, go through Second Corinthians. And if you would like to do so, just look and say, ooh, look for when Paul is going addressing their wrong way of thinking. They're wrong ideology, they're wrong, philosophy, their wrong perspective, how they're thinking, not they're doing. They do all kinds of things that are wrong. But look for the things that would impact their thinking, how they understand their understanding. They're wrong beliefs. Those are the strongholds in the count. If you want to really be a good Bible student, you would understand the strongholds and the context of First and Second Corinthians, or maybe just Second Corinthians. We could argue, maybe we do we connect it to First Corinthians. I mean, he's running to the same church, but it would make more sense to connect it to First and Second Corinthians than connecting it to country music, dipping women in pants, or whatever other nonsense that churches do with strongholds. What churches do with strongholds is obliterate the actual meaning of the tech read into the text, and then people walk around with all these weird concepts of what a stronghold is and isn't that has nothing to do with the actual text of scripture.

1:09:08 All right, there we go. Now I didn't even finish all my notes. We still didn't even get to why you don't connect this to Satan. I got notes and notes upon notes upon notes upon notes on this. There you go. Now you can also for the sermons two point zero app sermon challenge. You're supposed to be listening to sermons on Isaiah forty through fifty five. But now you can just do a lot of listening to sermons on strongholds or just Second Corinthians ten three through five. You can look up random sermons on Second Corinthians ten three through five, or random sermons on strongholds and listen to all the other perspectives. All the other perspectives are going to probably be one thousand percent opposite to mine.

1:09:53 That's okay, that's the beauty of it. Right. At least there can be one voice that says, I don't know at all I'm trying to do. I'm not here to argue with pastors or they put forth their hypotheses. Praise God, I'm glad they're there. I'm just saying I think there's a different way of looking at it, and I've tried to provide you history. I've tried to provide you text. I tried to provide you a historical argument, textual argument, logical argument. And then you get to listen to all the sermons and go, hmm, I think the guy in Theology Central is an idiot. He's an idiot. These people are right, and that's fine. You can go follow their perspective on strongholds. And my house is about to get blown over. I don't know if you can hear the wind outside. It's really it's crazy today. But I'll stop right there because we're at seventy minutes for crying out loud. Ah, so much more I wanted to get to, but all right, I'll stop there. Thanks for listening, all right, consider strongholds today, all right, God bless