Voids and obsessions deals with compulsive human behavior which is often caused by voids in the human heart which humans seek to fulfill in numerous ways other than finding fulfillment in God alone.

It is useless to attempt to use psychology to deal with voids and obsessions because psychology is a false science which seeks only to deal with the human brain. But the problem does not exist in the human brain therefore psychology is barking up the wrong tree! Therefore, psychology is unable to deal with the root issues that exists within the complex makeup of humans and is powerless to help anyone.

Complex Composition of Human Makeup

Human makeup has multiple facets of composition and they are more complex than an animal which has only a brain and a body and is controlled by instincts. Humans are tri-part beings and possess a body and a soul and a human spirit.

See the link "Three Parts of Man" for more details.

Human makeup can be compared to an egg which has three parts. The egg shell is like the outward human physical body that will grow old and die and be buried. The egg yolk and the egg white go together but are two distinct parts. In the same way the soul and the spirit of humans also go together like the egg yolk and the egg white. These parts of humans are eternal and will live forever either in heaven or in hell.

The soul of man possesses three more distinct parts and these are the mind and will and emotions. The soul of man gives life to the spirit of man much like putting a human hand into a glove (which gives the glove the expression of hand movement from within). In the same way the human soul imparts the qualities of a mind and will and emotions to the human spirit. If the human spirit possessed no soulical parts then it would be like a blank or expressionless zombie (like a glove without a hand inside) which just lays there and does nothing.

The mind is also spiritual entity and is more than just a natural physical brain. The natural brain is a physical organ which can age and lose memory and when the human body dies the mind will also decompose as a decaying physical organ together with the rest of the human body in the grave.

Therefore, the mind is a spiritual thing which is part of the soul of humans and it will go together with their human spirit eternally after death (to either heaven or hell).

This is why psychology is a vain thing because they ascribe to the human brain attributes that are confused with other parts of human makeup. For example, secular scientists invented the idea of "shock-therapy" supposing that if they shock the human brain with electrical current then they might be able to erase the memory of the patient in the same manner as a power-spike could erase the hard-drive of a computer.

The theory behind this idea is that if the patient forgets what is bothering them then they might be cured of their "mental" aliment which causes their compulsive behavior. But this does not work because the brain is only a memory storage devise and the human mind is a spiritual thing.

The human mind cannot be affected by electroshock any more than a bullet can affect a human spirit because a bullet can only kill a human body but has no effect on a human spirit. Again, secular scientists are under the false assumption that the problem exists in the brain because they are unaware of the complex spiritual makeup of humans. The human mind is a spiritual entity and lives forever even after the physical brain is dead and decayed within the skull of a dead corpse rotting in the grave.

Sin Nature Within Humans

Another factor that secular doctors do not comprehend is the fallen sin nature that exists within humans. A human baby does not have to be taught how to sin but as soon as they are able to express themselves (even before two-years old) they will display selfishness and greed and jealousy and all of the evil qualities of the sin nature within them.

This sin nature cannot be corrected by electroshock therapy or psychology which falsely presumes the problem exists within the human brain. The sin nature is a spiritual thing and cannot be dealt with by avenues directed toward the human brain (which is only a physical organ for memory and also controls body functions).

For example, a man who looks a pornography can have an erection so this is a physical response that is triggered by thoughts within his brain. His brain will cause the release of hormones and trigger other activity which prepares the human body to engage in sex. Cravings (such as sexual desires) can be triggered by thoughts and such thoughts can induce an erection which is a physical response related to mental or visual stimuli.

Therefore, humans have throughout the ages have had the erroneous idea that evil exists within the outward physical body and that the human body is somehow sinful. They arrived at this faulty conclusion because the human body can express cravings (not only hunger for food or thirst for water or desire for sex) but also illicit cravings for things that are detrimental for them as sin. Many false religions would engage in abuse of the human body supposing that sin exists in the human body so abusing the body was practiced trying to stop sin. But the human body is controlled by the brain and the thoughts of the human can trigger craving or evil desires within that human (which can be felt in their bodies) in the form of appetites or desires.

Colossians 2:23 (NIV)

²³ Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Apostle Paul made it clear that the harsh treatment of the human body (by the false religions) does not have any value in restraining sensual indulgence. The craving of human desire is not derived from the human body but comes from their sin nature which is a spiritual thing (not a physical thing).

The human body is only an earth suit that allows a spiritual being to live upon the earth and make contact with the physical realm. Once the human body dies the spiritual part of the human has no more contact with the physical earth any longer.

The sin nature of humans therefore resides within the spiritual parts of the human makeup and so secular psychology is trying to deal with physical parts like a physical brain when the problem does not even exist in the physical parts of humans.

Sin Nature Possesses Individual Will

The sin nature within humans can display its own "will" prompting the misinformed to assume that the sin nature is a manifestation of a demon. Some Pentecostal religions will ascribe their sin nature to that of a demon and try to cast it out but this has no effect on their compulsive behavior because this behavior is not the work of a demon. They come to this faulty conclusion because the sin nature within them seems to have a mind of its own and displays its own "will" which seeks to retain control over a human even after they are saved.

The sin nature will even display survival instincts trying to create smokescreens to mislead a psychiatrist by employing many tricks involving human self-deception. They will spew out anything and everything during a counseling session to mislead the counselor away from the root problem. This type of human behavior seeks to preserve an "idol" within their heart because they do not want to repent of or forsake this idol which they love. So the patent will typically attempt to misguide the one they are seeking help from but this deceptive behavior is as foolish as trying to mislead a medical doctor by describing to them false symptoms. This will only sidetrack them from being helped or cause the doctor to be treating the wrong thing.

A medical doctor can treat physical symptoms of the human body but a psychologist is unable to treat spiritual problems by seeking to deal with a physical brain. This is because humans are much more complex than animals (which possess only a body and a brain and instincts to control their behavior). Humans cannot be conditioned like a dog because they are much more complex in makeup than any animal.

Humans have a body and a soul and a spirit and their soul also had three parts made of the mind and the will and the emotions. All of this these parts are involved with the complex makeup of humans. It is difficult to identify were one part starts and another part ends because they are all blended together and comprise human makeup as a whole.

Humans Made in Image of God

Genesis 1:26-27 (NIV)

²⁶ Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Humans are created on a higher level than any animal life on earth. Humans are created in the image of God and are godlike in being and possess a spirit and soul and body and are created to exercise dominion on earth over all of God's creation.

This also means that humans are created with a void within them than can only be filled by God. This void causes humans to reach out for God and to worship God on a spiritual level. This is why humans have invented millions of false religions and worship millions of different idols. They are seeking to worship something and so they engage in the false worship of objects of nature or physical created images they made with their own hands (which is idolatry). This misplaced worship is a sin in the sight of God and brings a curse upon those who engage in this illicit activity.

This behavior shows that humans have a spiritual side within them that causes them to reach out for spiritual things. This is a result of the void God created within humans to cause them to seek God. But humans try to fill this void with all kinds of things and they seek possessions and wealth and hobbies and sports and sin and vices and human good works and idolatry and they are all trying to fill the "God-void" within them that can only be filled by walking with God and worshipping God alone.

When humans seek to fill their "God-void" within by anything other than God then it will result in compulsive behaviors of all kinds.

Struggle of Two Natures

Humans are born with the fallen sin nature of Adam and Eve which is inherited by all humans ever born since the time of the first two humans fell into sin. When a person is reborn spiritually the part of them that is recreated is their human spirit. Before they are saved their human spirit is unregenerate and dead to God. When they are saved or born again then their human spirit is made alive to God. It is the human spirit that is capable of communicating with and fellowshipping with God.

But the believer will soon discover that there exists the sin nature within them which desires to do that which is evil and is in conflict with their born-again human spirit which wants to do what is right and be pure and holy in the sight of God.

Romans 7:18-23 (NIV)

¹⁸ I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

¹⁹ For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.

²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

²² For in my inner being I delight in God's law;

²³ but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

The Apostle Paul spoke of the struggle of two natures within him with each nature seeking to gain control of the person. The sinful nature within wants to do that which is evil (the same as it did before the believer was born again). The new nature is part of the born-again human spirit which delights to do good and follow God's laws. So, there is a conflict that exists within the believer between to natures which both seek to have dominion or supremacy over the believer.

The unbeliever however has no such conflict because their spirit is unregenerate or dead and there is nothing that resists the sin nature within them. An unbeliever will typically flow together with their sin nature in unhindered manner for this reason.

But when an unbeliever becomes born-again then their human spirit becomes recreated and it desires to do what is good. This creates conflict with the sin nature which formerly controlled the person to do what is evil.

Sin Nature Defiles Good Things with Evil Motives

The sin nature within humans can pollute everything that they do with evil motives. Even something good like "giving to the poor" can be polluted by the human sin nature within them to cause them to desire to have human praise or attention for their giving.

Acts 5:1-11 (NIV)

¹ Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.

² With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.

³ Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?

⁴ Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."

⁵ When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.

⁶ Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

⁷ About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

⁸ Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?" "Yes," she said, "that is the price."

⁹ Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also."

¹⁰ At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

¹¹ Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

The account of Ananias and his wife Sapphira is an example of how even believers can have something good like "giving" polluted by evil motives that are derived from their fallen sin nature.

This married couple wanted to appear to be more sacrificial before the congregation than they actually were. So they lied and said that they gave everything to the church from the sale proceeds of their property. They did this to garner human praises but it resulted in judgment and they died instantly when their hidden sin was confronted by Apostle Peter. Both people were believers but they agreed together to lie and deceive and in fact this was a direct sin against God and they were judged for it. Why would these two "believers" do such a thing? They could give as much or as little as they wanted or they could even keep the whole thing for themselves! But they agreed to lie before the entire congregation and this resulted in their deaths!

The point to make here is that believers still have a sin nature within them and they have to willfully resist that sin nature or else they will yield to it. The sin nature within them polluted something good like giving to the church and it was their evil motives of lust for human praise and human acceptance that caused them to be judged by God!

Matthew 6:1-4 (NASB)

¹ "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

² "So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

³ "But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

⁴ so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Jesus pointed out that some men were sounding a trumpet to call attention to themselves as they placed money into the temple treasury or gave money to the poor. Jesus declared that these men had their reward in full because they would have no reward from God for their giving. The only reward they would receive was the praise and attention of humans for trying to appear to be righteous before men.

It is also the sin nature within a believer that can pollute even good deeds like "giving" because if giving is done with the wrong motives they will have no reward from God in heaven for that act of giving.

Food Cravings

I know of a woman who read a book that gave child raising advice but this book was written by a secular unbeliever and typically if people will do the exact opposite of what these unbelievers give as advice then they will be doing the right thing. This unbeliever gave out the bad advice that mothers should not show love to their children or hold them or show them affection. This insanity caused voids in the hearts of millions of children who were neglected by their mothers who followed such ignorant advice. The book was written by a guy with a doctor degree but it just illustrates that such "doctors" are generally good-for-nothing when it comes to giving advice. A woman who followed this ignorant advice neglected her children and one of her children as a baby would gobble her food down in ravenous manner and then vomit what she had just swallowed in such a big rush! This baby was just a toddler still in diapers but the child was trying to get love out of food because of the void in her heart caused by her mother's neglect in providing this child with love and comfort needed from a mother.

These types of compulsive behavior cannot be dealt with through psychology that only operates on an intellectual level.

The only way to deal with the human on a spiritual level is using the washing of God's word. The human mind does play a part in this process because the first step is to memorize scriptures related to their problem. From memorization they can move forward into meditation to repeat and think upon those scriptures until they release life and renewal into their human spirit.

Ephesians 5:26 (NASB)

²⁶ so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

This scripture speaks of washing of the water of the word of God. Only the word of God can wash away spiritual defilement within a believer and this is the only medicine they can take in order to affect change in their inner man.

Romans 7:22-23 (NIV)

²² For in my inner being I delight in God's law;

²³ but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

Apostle Paul speaks of the inner man or the newly created human spirit of a believer which delights in God's laws. But this newly recreated human spirit is in conflict or at odds with the law of sin (the sin nature) that dwells within them. The mind has to be renewed by meditation of God's word and then spiritual life can be released into their human spirits.

Romans 12:2 (NASB)

² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

This scripture says that the believer must renew their minds and this is done by scripture memory and meditation. Once their mind is renewed, they can cancel the bad effected of an "unrenewed" mind which is triggering compulsive behavior and perverse cravings within their human body.

The mind plays a part in the renewal process because the mind is the doorway to the spirit. It is with the human mind that a believer can memorize and then meditate the scriptures which work a cleansing effect within them.

When the voids of their hearts are filled by God alone then their compulsive behaviors will fade away. They will have to resist old behavior and not yield to the craving of the sin nature within them. Whenever they yield to the sin nature, they empower that sin nature and become slaves of that sin nature.

Romans 7:25 (NLT2)

²⁵ Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Conflict exists within the believer between their newly created born again spirit and their sin nature that dwells within their bodies and produces all kinds of evil craving. If they yield to the craving of the sin nature, they will empower the sin nature to be their master and they will become a slave of sin. Only when they deny expression to the sin nature will that sin nature become weakened so they can obey their newly recreated human spirit that is holy and pure like God.

God did not abolish the sin nature in believers but gave them a new human spirit so they can learn to rely on God's grace to overcome the sin nature that seeks to dominate them.

Yielding to the Sin Nature

Everything that can be labeled as a sin is a product of humans yielding to the sin nature within them. This can be applied to eating disorders or sexual immorality or any type of vice or sin that can control a person and ruin their lives.

But within the believer there can also be found other forms of the sin nature evident. It does not just include the debauchery seen in the behavior of unregenerate unbelievers who live for vices and self-indulgence in wayward manner!

Sin Nature in Believers

We have already seen that a believer like Ananias and Sapphire can even pollute something good like giving to the church with evil motives of seeking to garner human praise or attention for themselves. This type of behavior is a product of their sin nature and it cost them their lives when they yielded to that sin nature.

Another type of sin is that of debate which is also a product of the human sin nature.

Romans 1:29 (KJV)

²⁹ Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

The KJV lists "debate" as a work of the sin nature within humans. Those who debate want to prove their point and lord their opinion over others. This type of behavior is rife in theological seminaries where their libraries are filled with books filled with theological debating. Theologians will spar with each other mentally and quote scriptures at one another trying to prove their point. For any type of subject that can be imagined there are dozens of different points of view expressed in theological books and they all use the same scriptures while at the same time holding different opinions. This type of theological debate is a product of the sin nature and is rooted in pride. It is also the source of why many seminary students graduate as agnostics because they no longer believe the bible after hearing so many diverse human opinions given in the form of debating. Debating is not teaching but only trying to lord over others and flex their intellectual muscles! Many of these types of theologians have no desire for truth but only want to be flattered by humans who call them "Doctor" so and so!

There are many false doctrines that are a product of the sin nature and all of those that fall under the category of "theological debating" are of this nature! I know people who have taken scriptures out of context only to assemble these scriptures into a sequence to prove some point of reasoning that they have developed. This is called handing the word of God deceitfully!

2 Corinthians 4:2 (NKJV)

² But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

The NKJV speaks of handing the word of God in deceitful manner and this is typically accomplished by pulling scriptures out of context and assembling them so as to prove a preconceived idea or theological point of view. But this involves dishonesty as they are using the word of God in deceitful manner to prove their own human contrived ideas.

If a particular doctrine is "truth" then it can be seen in the overall "big-picture" principle found throughout the entire bible. For example, "Word Studies" produce more false doctrines than anything other type of bible study method. This is because the truth of God's word is not found in the meaning of a single word. Rather the truth is found the words that make up a sentence and the sentences that make up a paragraph and the paragraphs that make up a chapter and the chapters that up a book and the books that make up then entire bible! Taken as a whole from Genesis to Revelation the "big-picture" principles never go wrong. It is only when isolated words or verses are taken out of context and assembled into a manipulated sequence that they can be used deceitfully to support some erroneous doctrine!

For example these two scripture passages listed below could be used to assemble a false doctrine:

Matthew 27:5 (NIV2011)

⁵ So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

Luke 10:37 (NIV2011)

³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Taking a fragment of each scripture passage above someone could select the part that says, "Judas went out and hanged himself" and from the next scripture they can lift out the part that says "Go and do likewise!" Thus, they can create a suicide doctrine from two assembled fragments of scripture!

While this may sound like an absurd example this nevertheless illustrates the fact that taking fragments of scriptures and assembling them together in random manner can force the scriptures to say anything. This is how people can create false doctrines for just about anything that can be imagined!

False doctrines are in fact a product of the human sin nature. False doctrines are typically rooted in pride as someone wants to prove some point or push an obsession that they have off on others and so they quote scriptures out of context and assemble them in deceitful manner to prove just about anything that they desire to conjure up.

But on closer inspection these false doctrines will typically come into conflict with the large body of scriptures found in the bible as a whole. It will be the "big-picture" principles that will testify that false doctrines assembled from random scriptures are in error and are a product of the fallen sin nature of humans.

The sin nature within the believer can cause them to want to lord over others or control them using a false doctrine. This can give them a feeling of power when they can control the thoughts and the resulting behavior of others. This desire to control other humans is a product of the sin nature and it exactly like Satan who manipulated the woman Eve to transgress and to cause her husband to transgress and bring a curse to the whole earth! False doctrines affect the behavior of those deceived by them and can produce the negative fruit of ruined lives and disorder and confusion and every evil work.

James 3:16 (NKJV)

¹⁶ For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.

If there is envy and self-seeking then these are products of the fallen human sin nature. Even teaching people that God wants them poor or sick is a means that some use to keep others in the same misery as they themselves are in. They do not like people to be healed or blessed because they envy those who are doing better than themselves. They therefore will invent doctrines of demons that healing has passed away and it is God's will to keep the believer poor and sick! Such false doctrines are a product of the human sin nature and are inspired by the adversary Satan to rob believers of the health and prosperity provided for them by the atoning work of Christ.

Confusion and every evil work are a product of demonic doctrines that are contrary to the word of God that says:

1 Peter 2:24 (NKJV)

²⁴ who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.

Philippians 4:19 (NKJV)

¹⁹ And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

The scriptures above say that the believer is healed by the stripes of Jesus and that God will supply all of their needs according to God's riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Those who embrace doctrines of demons will fight and resist these truths and say that these truths are passed away so they can embrace the devil's goods of sickness and poverty. They do not like others receiving what they do not have so they are not content with their own misery but want to destroy the faith of others as well so they will fall into the same miserable mud-hole of doubt and unbelief where they themselves reside.

Gender Equality Doctrine

There was a WOF preacher in Tulsa Oklahoma who invented a doctrine that promoted the same gender-equality as is pushed by the unbelievers within the world's system. When Christian women read his book, they would typically know something is not right within their human spirits. But since they were being told what their sin nature wanted to hear most women brushed off their check-in-the-spirit and embraced this false doctrine wholeheartedly! This was because it gave them license to rebel against their male authority and live their own lives as they saw fit! But this so-called "women liberation" did not liberate them at all. Instead it produced a spirit of divorce that was three times higher than secular Europe and heathen Japan! The fruit of this false doctrine was divorce and it went against the clear teaching of the scripture which says that wives were to submit to their own husbands.

See the link "Divine Order for Women" for more details.

But the sin nature of Eve resides in all women and they will seek to control their husbands if their husband is weak and will allow himself to be manipulated by a woman.

Genesis 3:16 (NLT2)

¹⁶ Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”

The NLT got is right here that the sin nature of Eve (which is evident in all women) is seen when women seek to control or manipulate their own male authority in the home. This is part of the fallen sin nature of Eve inherited by women and only the godly women who refuse to submit to this sin nature will become submissive to their husbands. Carnal Christian women who do not want to submit to male authority will simply go out and purchase a book that tells them they are equal with men and therefore they do not have to submit to their male authority. But no matter how many false teaching books they can quote, this does not absolve them from the commandment of God that wives must submit to their own husbands.

Ephesians 5:22-24 (NIV)

²² Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.

²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.

²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Wives are to submit to their husbands in everything and honor their husbands by allowing them to be head of the household by submitting to them. But it is the sin nature of women that wants to hear about the "gender-equality" of the world's system and by this means they seek to absolve themselves from obeying God's word.

This gender-equality teaching for believing women is a doctrine of demons and is a product of the fallen sin nature of Eve inherited by all women who seek to control and manipulate their own husbands at home. The attitude of such women says that they will submit as soon as their husband submits to them first and tells them what they want to hear! But this is no submission at all and this again is a product of the fallen sin nature and Satan who inspires women to break God's commands for submission.

2 Timothy 4:3 (NIV)

³ For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

This scripture speaks of carnal minded believers who gather around them many teachers who tell them what they want to hear (like gender-equality) or any other type of doctrine that licenses them to do whatever they desire. The false teachers writing false doctrines typically have brisk book sales and can make a lot of money telling people what they want to hear (rather than speaking the truth).

In this case the false teacher and those who follow his advice will both end up in hell but it does not seem to concern them because the false teacher can make good money and have a comfortable life and his followers have license do to whatever they want! So it seems like a win/win situation and everyone is happy (at least until they die and face judgment) and end up in hell for living their entire lives in self-deception! No one will be happy anymore when the false teacher and all of his followers are in hell together eternally! Why play games with self-deception or support false teachers when it will not do either party any good in the life to come?

Remaining Faithful in Boredom

The sin nature does not want to remain faithful in one place but will seek to run off on an impulse. Therefore, following the sin nature can result in shipwreck!

An ordinary layman may go to school and train to become good at some occupation or trade or profession. Then he gets a job or has a business and then he becomes a master of his profession and does it so perfectly that he could operate it in his sleep! At this point all excitement of attaining new levels is gone and there is nothing left but to be faithful every day at his occupation or profession in life. But some men have trashed everything looking for something exciting (to escape their boredom) and came to complete ruination!

Worst Example of Shipwreck

I know of a man who was working a good job and owned a home and had a comfortable life and a good family. This man had mastered his job and was bored because he could do this job without thinking and could operate by reflex as a professional. This man however did a very foolish thing and for some reason he got the wild idea that he should be a missionary. Without taking any short-term trip to test out the idea first, he foolishly quit his job and sold his home and moved his family to a third-world nation. But after he did this, he immediately realized that he made a big mistake. He had no Fivefold Ministry Gift and no calling and no anointing and no grace to live in a third-world nation! He ended up having to move back home again and beg for his old job back again. But he had already lost everything and he was hired as a "new-hire" and lost all of his seniority and lost all of his retirement. Even if he lived to be a hundred years old, he would never be able to retire again!

This was the worst case of shipwreck that I have ever heard because this man was over age fifty and too old to start over again after he had lost everything. The term "shipwreck" means that he crashed his ship and it was destroyed and smashed into splinters and there was no recovering from such a disaster! He would work for the rest of his life and never gain back what he had lost from this terrible decision that caused him to become shipwrecked and it ruined his life and ruined his family!

If he would have listened to wise counsel someone could have told him to a least wait with selling off his home and quitting his job. He could have taken a few weeks’ vacation and went to the mission field on a short-term trip to test it out first. If he knew that was not for him then he could have returned to his job again (without losing any seniority or benefits) and he could have also returned to his home again (without selling it off).

What could make a man do something so foolish and ruin his life completely? This is an example of an impulse that was derived from his fallen sin nature. The sin nature within humans longs for something new and exciting or to have a challenge. The sin nature does not want to sit still or be faithful in one place and does not want so sit and do the same thing all of the time (even if someone has become a master at their job and could do that job with their eyes closed). It is boring to be a master of anything because a master has attained the highest level and the newness and challenge are all gone. A master has nothing left but to be faithful and remain where God has planted them.

There are numerous people who have left God's ordained place for their lives. If they are still young it is possible that they can still recover themselves and go back to their ordained place. But if they are over age fifty, they may get into big trouble because they are now too old to be starting over again! This can be disastrous for them and cause them to shipwreck so badly that there is no recovering from it for the rest of their lives!

I also know of a man who was an engineer working for a large company and had a good job and a good salary and good benefits. This man however got an impulse to start his own engineering firm so he quit his job and sold his home and moved to a city where he loved to be. But that city had no openings for engineering work like the mega-metropolis that he had just left. When his savings was all consumed and his newly formed engineering business had no clients, he found himself broke. He also had to return to his old job again as a "new-hire" but he was hopelessly ensnared in debt as a result of this move and he never recovered and is now growing old with snowballing debt that grows every year. He caused a great financial burden to his family because all of their income goes toward snowballing interest leaving them little to live on. Every time they have to replace a major appliance or have a car repair or other emergency need it only puts them deeper into debt.

Trying to go into business for himself was impulsive and it was a bad move that ruined his life financially and cost him his seniority and lost his savings and put him heavily into debt for which he has not been able to recover from. I know him personally and the fact of the matter is that there are many just like him and this problem is quite widespread. Any church pastor can tell of members who did the same sort of foolish thing and shipwrecked their lives and were never able to recover from the negative effects upon themselves and their families.

Again, why would anyone do such a foolish thing? It is because of following the sin nature within them that wanted to escape from the boredom of having a steady job and working a job they had mastered and for which they could do with their eyes closed! The routine was boring to them and their sin nature wanted a fling and to roll the dice and see what would happen and reach out for the stars!

While this might be fine for someone who is struck in the wrong job and who needs to reach out for something better, at the same time it is disastrous if someone is already in God's ordained place for their lives. If they jump ship when they are in God's ordained place (just out of boredom) they can ruin their lives irreparably!

He had a good and submissive wife and she submitted to her husband even when he was wrong in quitting his engineering job to go into his own business for himself. The end result was having to start over again and return to the job he had quit! Everything went bad for them when this happened!

Sometimes people will even get bitter at God and blame God for the disaster as if it was God's fault for their terrible situation! But in fact, it was not God who told him to quit their jobs and go into their own business or other adventure! This impulse was the product of their own sin nature which cries out to do something exciting or to reach for the stars or go somewhere else!

The sin nature will even imagine that the grass is greener someplace else and this can cause them to uproot and get out of God's will for their lives.

The sin nature can even destroy a good marriage if someone has a sinful impulse for an immoral fling which can ruin their lives forever!

The believer has to know and understand that their sin nature has a voice and this voice will cry out to be gratified! This voice will cry out for more when they already ate enough! This voice will cry out to buy something new that they do not need. This voice can cry out for them to quit their boring job and reach out for the starts only to result in them leaving God's ordained place for their lives!

A believer must realize that college is typically the high point of one's life as they prepare for their lifelong occupation. But once they are operating in that occupation and they master that trade or profession then it can become really boring. They have nothing left to do other than be faithful to remain where God planted them even if they just follow the same old routine day in and day out!

To leave that ordained place to look for excitement is to follow the voice of the sin nature that cries out to them to do something new or different. When that happens, they can end up on a junk-heap of ruined lives together with a multitude of others who were foolish enough to follow the voice of the sin nature within them.

This same thing can even happen to a Fivefold minister. If a man is a pastor of a good church for example and he gets an impulse to go and quits and leaves then he can also become shipwrecked (unless God has really sent him out). I know numerous pastors who got bored where God planted them so they lied and said, "God is calling me on to go to such and such a place!" But this is seldom the case and when they left, their congregation was devastated and many lives were ruined. Often when a pastor leaves his ordained place then the only replacement to be found is those worthless types who are drifters and have no ministry of their own. So, a fake pastor will often replace the man who left and such frauds cannot help the people in the least. Seldom does anything good come from this type of situation and both the pastor who left and the congregation that was abandoned all come to ruination.

If such an arrangement was really of God then both parties will be blessed and the pastor going will be blessed and the congregation he leaves behind will be blessed as well. But numerous men (called to the Fivefold Ministry) have grown bored where they were planted and falsely declared "Thus says the Lord" and then told everyone that God told them to leave. This type of thing is a classic example of using the Name of the Lord in vain because they declared that God told them to go when in fact it was only an impulse of their sin nature derived from being bored within their ordained place!

Often times God will send a man to a place where he might not prefer to be. I know of a guy who was sent to Missouri to pastor a church and he hated the climate and everything about the location. He had a good work and a Christian school and people were blessed but he pulled out and went back to California because he loved it there! But the pastor that took over was a cult leader and brought destruction to the congregation he left behind and closed down their Christian school and forced the children to go back to the defilement of the godless public education system. Nothing worked out well when he left and the congregation, he left behind came to complete ruination together with their families.

A man cannot always judge his situation by how pleasant it is because God often calls a man to a place he might not prefer to be.

Obsession of Apostle Paul

The apostle Paul is an example of this because he was called by God to be an apostle to the Gentiles but he held a lifelong obsession of reaching the Jewish people. In those days the Jews were the only clean and moral and decent people to be found. The Gentiles were generally immoral and vile and unclean and ate unclean food and were full of idolatry. That was generally the condition of the Gentiles on earth before Paul brought the gospel to them and cleaned them up with the word of God!

It is no wonder that Paul had great national pride in his own Jewish race because frankly they were the only good people left on earth in stark contrast to the heathen Gentiles and their godless culture of idolatry.

Romans 9:3-5 (NIV)

³ For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race,

⁴ the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.

⁵ Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

This is outrageous "nationalism" for Paul to say that he would be willing to be cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of his brethren the Jewish race. Paul was so obsessed about reaching the Jews that he would be willing to go to hell if that meant saving the Jews! That is an example of radical nationalism for someone to utter such a statement!

Acts 21:10-13 (NIV)

¹⁰ After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹ Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'"

¹² When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³ Then Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."

Paul was prophetically warned by Agabus the prophet that he would be bound by the Jews in Jerusalem and he would be handed over to power of the Roman government (the Gentiles). But this warning fell on deaf ears and Paul said that he was not only willing to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem! He had a death wish and would not be dissuaded from going to Jerusalem!

Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish nation and the location of the Jewish temple built by Solomon. But every time Paul tried to reach the Jews, they always sought to stone him to death as the worse enemy and traitor that ever lived! Paul had no grace for reaching the Jews and he got in trouble every time that he tried!

Romans 11:13 (NIV)

¹³ I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry

Paul was fully aware that his calling from God was as an Apostle to the Gentiles. Paul had great fruit among the Gentiles and many thousands of them become believers. Paul changed the heathen Gentiles into clean and respectable and moral people by the preaching of the gospel!

Galatians 2:7-8 (NIV)

⁷ On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews.

⁸ For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles.

Apostle Paul was called by God as an Apostle to the Gentiles while the Apostle Peter was called by God as an Apostle to the Jews. Peter did not have trouble with the Jews the way that Paul did because whenever the Jews saw Paul, they wanted to kill him on sight! That is an indication that Paul was not called to preach to the Jews and he therefore had no grace for reaching them!

Acts 21:27-33 (NIV)

²⁷ When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him,

²⁸ shouting, "Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place."

²⁹ (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple area.)

³⁰ The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut.

³¹ While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.

³² He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³ The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done.

This was the typical reaction of the Jews toward Paul whenever they laid eyes on him! They immediately sought to beat him to death and a riot ensued and the Roman commander and his soldiers ran down among the mob and Paul's life was spared when the Jews were restrained from beating Paul before they could kill him! Only because the Roman soldiers interrupted the Jews was the life of Paul spared before he could be beaten to death by the Jews!

That was the typical response of the Jews every time they laid eyes on Paul and Paul clearly stated that God had called him as an apostle to the Gentiles (not the Jews). So why is Paul trying to reach the Jews (for which he has no grace to minister to)?

The reason for Paul being obsessed to reach the Jews (in direct disobedience and in conflict to his calling for reaching only the Gentiles) was that nationalism was an obsession for Paul. Obsessions are derived from the sin nature which cries out to do this or that thing and will do so against all common sense and reason.

If a man like Paul gets beaten every time the Jews see him and they never fail to take advantage of an opportunity to kill him, then maybe Paul should have concluded he was not supposed to be trying to preach to Jews. Paul should have left them alone and reserved that job for Apostle Peter who was called to reach the Jews and who possessed a special grace for reaching the Jews. Peter had no problem with living in Jerusalem or having a ministry to Jews as Paul did.

Paul admitted with his own mouth that he was called to reach the Gentiles and Peter was called to reach the Jews. God had a specific plan for each Apostle and they should not leave their ordained place. If they each remained where God planted them then they would enjoy the grace of being fruitful.

Paul was massively fruitful with winning the Gentiles to Christ and he changed the entire Gentile world by his preaching. But despite all of this great success Paul was not content with his lot in life and he had envy for Apostles like Peter who were called to reach the Jews. Paul was obsessed with Jewish nationalism and was even willing to be accursed from Christ and go to hell if he could save the Jews! That is radical and fully obsessed but in fact that was not God's will for Paul.

God sent Agabus to warn Paul that if he proceeded to Jerusalem he would be attacked by the Jews and handed over to the Roman (Gentile) authorities. Paul ended up going to Rome in chains as a prisoner but in fact Paul could have turned around and went to Rome as a free man instead. Paul could have had all of the Gentiles in the nation of Italy converted to Christ if he had the same results as he had everywhere else when he preached to Gentiles. But as it stood Paul was under house arrest and in chains and only spoke with those few people who came to see him. But if he had gone to Rome as a free man instead, he could have had multiplied thousands of Gentiles saved (as was typical everywhere else he preached among the Gentiles).

Paul had a special grace to win Gentiles and signs and wonders followed his ministry and confirmed the word that he preached to them.

Acts 23:12-13 (NASB)

¹² When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

¹³ There were more than forty who formed this plot.

This was the typical of the response of Jews toward Paul and a bunch of them even formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath never to eat or drink until they had killed Paul! This was the typical response Paul invoked with Jews everywhere he went. They all wanted to kill him but in contrast to this the Gentiles received the ministry of Apostle Paul and loved him and supported him and submitted themselves to his teaching.

Paul was massively fruitful among the Gentiles turning entire nations to Christ with the gospel! Then why would Paul want to leave all of that fruitful ministry and go to the Jews who only wanted to kill him on sight! That does not make any common sense at all but that is because the sin nature is crazy and will cry out for things that result in the destruction of the one foolish enough to follow the voice of his sin nature!

Many men have left their ordained place simply because their sin nature cried out in boredom for a change. Laymen have left good jobs and became shipwrecked by following the voice of their sin nature. Fivefold Ministry Gifts (like Apostle Paul) and numerous others have also left their ordained place to meddle in the calling of someone else (for which they did not have any grace).

Paul was meddling in the calling and purpose of Apostle Peter by trying to reach the Jews. But Paul had no grace to reach Jews who only wanted to kill him on sight! Nationalism is a voice of the sin nature and it caused Paul to be obsessed with reaching the Jews and making the outrageous statement that he would be willing to be accursed from Christ and go to hell for the Jews! That is radical and shows that he was no longer logical or rational in his obsession of nationalism to reach the Jews.

Each man has an ordained place assigned to him by God (both laymen and Levites) and these men must remain where God planted them and be faithful. If God is really calling them to leave then they should move slowly and carefully and test the leading carefully. It is easy to mistake the voice of the sin nature for the voice of God and many have gone into the ditch assuming God was telling them this or that thing when in fact it was not the voice of God but the voice of their sin nature.

A woman who reads a false teaching book about gender-equality will typically have her sin nature of Eve cry out and cheer for the "imagined" freedom presented in such a book to live her own life out from under her male authority. But the fruit of this false doctrine is divorce and it can ruin her life forever.

The voice of the sin nature will cry out for a change and desire to escape boredom but it will always lead to shipwreck for both laymen and Levites who follow this evil voice!

Those who have experience following the voice of God will go slowly before making major decisions. They will meditate on the word of God and give some time to hear the voice of God and distinguish the voice of God from the voice of their sin nature which cries out for change and cries out for immediate action!

The voice of the sin nature can even invent false ministries just to feed the sin nature of carnal Christians who want praise for their labor in doing things God never called them to do. Many women have neglected their children and husbands only to pursue a self-invented ministry derived from their sin nature.

See the "Glossary" for the definition of the term "Barking-at-the-pigs-Ministry" for more details.

Those who follow the voice of the sin nature will typically use the Lord's Name in vain by saying that the Lord told them to do such and such! This is a trick of the sin nature to stop anyone from resisting them and telling them that they are in error! They use God's Name to justify themselves saying that they are obeying what God told them to do! But this can be disproved easily when the thing that they claim is from God leads them into shipwreck! It is not God when they are shipwrecked and it brings harm to their own families and their congregations and everyone related to them!

God Does Send Men Where they Do Not Want to Go

Exodus 4:13 (NLT2)

¹³ But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”

Moses pleaded with God to send someone else to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. This means that God was sending Moses to go somewhere he did not want to go and sent him to do something Moses did not want to do!

Numbers 11:12-14 (NIV)

¹² Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers?

¹³ Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, 'Give us meat to eat!'

¹⁴ I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.

Moses did not enjoy being a leader to a bunch of whiners and said, "Did I conceive all of these people that I have to carry them all like a bunch of babies?" Moses complained that these whiners were too much of a burden for him and he could not handle the job!

But despite the complaining of Moses about the job God called him to do, God had no one else who was qualified.

Numbers 26:10 (KJV)

¹⁰ And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign.

Korah and his men all lusted over the job of Moses and tried to usurp authority away from the man God had chosen to lead the nation out of Egypt. God was angry at this rebellion against his ordained authority and caused these rebels to be swallowed up alive into hell and the remaining bunch of laymen to be devoured by fire when they assumed to stand in the role of a priest to offer incense before God!

Moses was the only man God could use for the job and God destroyed anyone else who tried to seize the leadership away from Moses!

But did Moses love that job? No, he did not and often complained about it and even angered God by asking God to send someone else.

All of this indicates that God will often call a man to go to someplace he does not want to go and to work with people he does not want to work with. Paul was called to work with the Gentiles but Paul wanted to work with the Jews instead. Paul however had no fruit or blessing outside of his ministry to the Gentiles and had nothing but death threats from the Jews every time they saw him!

The man called to Missouri did not like anything about the place and longed to go back to California where he loved it. But he had fruit in Missouri and this is something he would never see in California even if he loved the weather and the culture in that place.

We cannot go where we want to go but rather if Jesus is our Lord we must only go where God sends us! When God has sent us to a certain place then we must remain in that place and be faithful there knowing that if we leave, there will be no anointing for us and we will be like a fish out of water!

In my own life I once left my ordained place in South Korea and returned again to Colorado USA where I loved it. But everything went bad for us when I did this and when we arrived there was large wildfires that swept the region which caused large numbers of evacuations and displaced people and every hotel was filled. We could not find a place to stay and had to sleep in our car! Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong and the end result was I discarded most of my possessions (except what I could carry in my suitcase). There was no doors of ministry open and if not for the kindness of my father (buying our return tickets) I would not have even been able to return to Korea again! Leaving Korea at that time made me realize that we had been in our ordained place in Korea. I was never so happy as when we were back on the plane again returning to Korea!

At that time I vowed never to leave my ordained place unless God was clearly sending us. At the time we were feeling bored and wanted a change and looked for some excitement and got into a ditch when I imagined starting a ministry in Colorado in the town we had previously lived in and had loved. But this time everything seemed cursed and there was no anointing for us to be there and it seemed everything worked against us in so many ways! It was then that I realized I had been following an impulse of my sin nature and a voice that was not from God at all! I will never follow an impulse in flippant manner like that again! I thank God that I had an opportunity to redeem myself and return again to the ordained place where I had left. My losses were small and I was able to replace my possessions easily. I did not have a complete shipwreck like those who lost homes and jobs and seniority and much worse!

Both Levites and Laymen are in danger of following the voice of their sin nature and they both must learn how to distinguish the voice of the sin nature from the voice of God's Spirit guiding them. They must test every "leading" they receive and go slowly and do not just dispose of everything and run off on an impulse! If they go slowly, they can still correct their course without any great loses.

I have since matured a lot and now I never run off in impulsive manner but give things time so I can discern the voice of God and identify if the voice of the sin nature is calling me toward a shipwreck!

I got off easy with my own mistake but others have lost much more and were never able to recover. I thank God my mistake was small and I could recover from it quickly and was able to return to the ordained place I had left. I have now determined to remain where God has sent me and never be moved from it.

It should be noted here that a believer can go as much by what God does not say as by what God does say! If God is not speaking then they should remain where they are at and do not move or change anything. They should follow the same course and direction and hold steady. If a time comes for God to lead them, they can test it and wait on God and confirm if it is God's will for them without doing anything rash or impulsive.

The sin nature has a voice and numerous believers (both Levite and laymen) have mistaken the voice of the sin nature for the voice of God's Spirit. It is easy to do and they must learn to wait on the Lord and meditate on the word of God until they have a clear impression from the Spirit of God. If it is not clear they should not do anything drastic but go slowly and test things and give it time and seek God's confirmation and then they will be safe from experiencing a devastating shipwreck.

All of these things are related to the sin nature within believers which has its own voice and its own "will" and seeks to sidetrack or put the believer into a ditch and ruin their lives and get them out of God's ordained place. Believers must recognize the sin nature and realize it is the source of everything evil within them. Once they distinguish the voice of the sin nature, they can learn to resist it and follow God's voice instead and overcome all sin in their lives and remain in God's ordained place of blessing for their lives.