What Is Spiritual Poison

Evil spirits can poison the spirit of a believer. This is what the enemy's scorching darts do. He has the ability to direct his missiles right into the spirit of a believer. He can infuse a believer's spirit with sorrow, anguish, suffering, grief, and heartbreak, resulting in a “sorrowful spirit” (1 Sam. 1:15). “However, who can sustain a wounded spirit?” (Proverbs 18:14) As a result, this has a significant impact on a person. When a believer is sad, he believes he is sad and considers his sadness to be entirely natural. He makes no attempt to discover its cause or to fight it in any way. He accepts everything that comes his way quietly and without comment. We must keep in mind that this is a very dangerous situation. We can never casually accept a thought or allow any feeling to enter us. If we desire to walk in the spirit, we must be vigilant in all we do; we must examine all of our ideas and feelings to see where they originate.

Satan may make our spirits harsh, stubborn, narrow, selfish, wild, and disobedient at times. As a result, the spirit is unable to work with the Holy Spirit and fulfill God's will. We shall lose all of our love for men, as well as all of our tenderness, sympathy, and empathy for others' flaws. When this happens, the Holy Spirit will be unable to use us to our full potential; we will have lost the Lord's broadness and established a personal barrier.

The enemy sometimes instills in believers an unforgiving mentality. This is the most common toxin consumed by believers. This is most likely to blame for the bulk of spiritual believers' failures. Fastidiousness and revenge, for example, are the most lethal poisons for the spiritual life. Even after a believer has been poisoned, he will most likely be confused about what happened or fail to recognize that the poison came from Satan. Instead, he believes that he despises others and that this is a trait that cannot be changed.

Satan can influence believers to become narrow-minded. He will cause believers to draw a line in the sand and isolate themselves from the rest of the world. It is an indication that a believer's spirit has decreased and become narrow if they do not see the church as the Body of Christ, preferring instead to focus on their own little group. A spiritual believer sees God's work as his own and the entire church as the object of his affection. The river of life will flow wherever if his spirit is open. However, if he grows narrow, he will stifle God's activity and diminish his own utility. It indicates that our spirit has been poisoned if it isn't big enough to accommodate all of God's children.

Satan can sometimes make Christians' spirits arrogant. They grow boastful, self-respecting, and self-esteeming in this way. Satan deceives believers into believing that they are not poor, that they are important, and that they have value in God's work. This kind of spirit is also a major contributor to the failures of believers. “Pride precedes ruin, and a proud attitude precedes a fall” (Prov. 16:18).

Such things, along with other poisons, are injected into the believers' spirits by evil spirits. If believers do not instantly reject these things, they will swiftly devolve into fleshly things. These things will just be Satan's poison at first if believers know how to live in the spirit; they will not have the opportunity to become a fleshly sin. If Christians do not challenge them, but instead subconsciously accept them, they will quickly turn into fleshly sins.

What is toxic spirituality?

The solution is far more straightforward than you might think. You are practicing toxic spirituality if you believe that you must always be positive and that anything negative is wrong.

What makes this notion so dangerous is that it prevents us from learning and growing by suppressing positive emotions.

Each of our feelings has information. This information is neither good nor bad; it is simply that.

Emotions Inform Us

When you have anxiety, for example, you are not a bad person or doing something wrong. Anxiety is trying to tell you something.

It could be a sign that you need to leave the house a few minutes earlier than usual since you dislike traffic. You escape traffic and, as a result, are less likely to develop road rage if you leave the house a few minutes early.

And no amount of meditation or prayer will alleviate the stress. It will almost certainly stay until you have learned the lesson and have left a few minutes early.

When you ignore or fail to gain information from your emotions because you've suppressed them for the sake of being “positive,” you'll either be stuck in your current circumstance or, worse, start self-medicating.

This belief that you must be positive at all times is harmful to your spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

Who drank poison in the Bible?

Snake-handling is a widespread practice among some branches of charismatic Christianity, and it is based on a literal interpretation of Mark 16:17-18, according to which those who handle snakes are rewarded with eternal life “pick up serpents” will not be hurt in any way.

But, as the terrible death of Pastor Coots demonstrates, things don't always go as planned. Mark Wolford, a third-generation snake handler, was also killed by a rattlesnake in May 2012. Even though Coots and Wolford were aware of the dangers, their years of experience and faith were not enough to protect them.

The good news is that this concept is not found in the Bible. The earliest manuscripts of Mark's Gospel end abruptly in 16:8 with the women seeing Jesus' tomb empty, being told to return to the disciples, and fleeing in terror. There is no resurrection story or opportunity to offer advice to the disciples. The extra verses, known as Mark's longer and shorter endings, were added around a century later, in the second century CE.

2. Consumption of Poison

In the same chapter from Mark's Gospel, Jesus informs his disciples that, “They will not be harmed if they drink something poisonous.” This is a later tradition, similar to snake handling, that was based on apocryphal accounts about the apostles that circulated long after Jesus' death. According to The Acts of John, a second-century Greek book, the apostle John drank from a poison cup in the presence of the emperor Domitian and survived.

The passage's fictional origins don't appear to matter all that much. The cynic will point out that fundamentalist charismatics have a self-preservation instinct. No one seems to be drinking poison anymore, regardless of what the Bible teaches. Unless aspartame is included.

3. Not properly preparing for court cases

Jesus predicts that his followers will be turned up to counsels, flogged, and dragged before kings and governors to testify against him in Matthew's Gospel. “Do not be concerned about how you will speak or what you will say when they hand you over,” Jesus adds, “because what you will say will be given to you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:19-20).

Mock trial, as I've always maintained, is for teens who don't believe in the Holy Spirit.

When confronted by angry crowds, certain followers of Jesus, such as Paul, appear composed and articulate, while others do not. Stephen's sermon about Jewish Temple rule and prophets' abuse culminates in his murder. And he's not alone; early Christian martyrs also refused to answer questions posed to them by judges.

Is the Holy Spirit attempting to kill people? It is said in the Bible “Deaths of his faithful ones are valuable in the eyes of the Lord” (Psalm 116:15), thus it's a possibility, however remote. In the meantime, it's a good idea to get ready for the deposition. A property disagreement might escalate into a lynching if you leave it to the Spirit.

4. Mistaking your Priest for your Physician

Priests are responsible for overseeing worship, animal and vegetable sacrifices, temple administration, marital counseling, king installation, and a variety of other responsibilities, including not just diagnosing ailments but also declaring people healed, according to the Bible.

If you are bitten by a snake or eat poison, the Bible advises that you visit your priest. Although, with so few priests going to medical school these days, your Last Rites are probably the finest treatment you'll get.

5. Doubtful Travel Advice

Many practical difficulties are left unaddressed in the Bible. For example, a person could get lost in a Biblical marriage guide. Then there are the rules you should probably ignore. As with the Biblical travel advice.

If the Boy Scouts teach you to always be prepared, the Bible nearly challenges you to go into the desert without your GPS or flare gun. Moses and the Israelites spend forty years in the wilderness, subsisting on manna from heaven and whatever quails God happened to blow in on the east wind, according to Numbers.

Try living in the desert for forty years entirely on whatever bread or quails fall from the sky. I'm guessing you'd only last eight or nine years at most.

It's not like Jesus tells people to do things a different way. He may have confined his desert vacation to 40 days and nights, but when he sends his Apostles out to evangelize, he instructs them to pack light. He claims that Luke is the author of the Gospel of Luke “Take nothing with you on your journey: no staff, bag, bread, money, or extra garment” (Luke 9:3). So, if you've ever praised God for the extra iPhone cord you brought on vacation, remember that Jesus would tell you not to.

The Bible may provide solace, consolation, and hope, but following it to the letter could leave you stuck in the desert, famished, poisoned, snake-bitten, and in desperate need of a lawyer and a doctor. Which sounds like the storyline of James Franco's upcoming film.

What does it mean to have a spiritual life?

Spirituality is defined as the awareness of a feeling, sense, or belief that there is something more to being human than sensory experience, and that the greater total of which we are a part is cosmic or divine in nature. True spirituality necessitates the opening of one's heart.

What does toxic spirituality sound like?

It is natural to feel angry when we are subjected to an injustice or a personal attack. Spiritual gaslighting is when you deny someone the right to be upset or say that they must look within themselves to remedy anything. It's frequently employed when confronting poisonous behaviors or concepts. Instead of responding to the challenge, the recipient will question your motives and urge you to reject your reality, all while using your fury as evidence.

Anger is not a negative emotion. We're not even talking about how we're feeling. It may make someone feel uneasy, but it does not mean it is incorrect. We should keep an open mind about our anger. Anger, especially in the face of injustice, allows us to empathize with others.

What does spiritual Gaslighting mean?

Spiritual gaslighting occurs when someone or a faith community uses spiritual tools like God-language or the Bible to make you doubt your own reality in order to maintain control over you. This is spiritual exploitation.

You express your dissatisfaction with a pastor's treatment of women to a church leader. You get the following response: “You have a problem with authority.” I'd recommend praying and asking God to change your heart.”

You tell your small group mates that you're having trouble coping with loneliness. “You aren't really lonely,” comes back the remark. You simply don't have enough faith in God.”

You tell your Christian counselor that you're terrified of your spouse's rage. “You must not be treating him with enough respect,” comes back the comment.

In each of these situations, you're revealing something personal, and you're informed that your experience isn't valid. You're left doubting yourself and wondering if you're the one with the issue.

The preceding examples are more overt. The truth is that spiritual gaslighting occurs on a regular basis in more subtle ways. We run the risk of gaslighting someone when our ego gets involved. It all starts when someone tells you white lies in order to hide their tracks—and to put you on the defensive. Some instances are as follows:

• Why are you continuously accusing me when I didn't borrow your phone? (You did, in fact, borrow the phone.)
• I'm not going to drink! You have a problem with trust. (In reality, you've resumed your drinking.)
• Those were not my words. You must have misunderstood what I said. (You did, in fact, say those things.)

As a sort of manipulation, it's awful enough. Consider adding spiritual language to it, such as this:

• I didn't take your phone—you need to deal with your nagging spirit! (You did, in fact, borrow the phone.)
• I'm not going to drink! Remove the speck from your own eye. (In reality, you've resumed your drinking.)
• Those were not my words. You should pray to God to help you improve your listening skills. (You did, in fact, say those things.)

Gaslighting is a type of deception that goes beyond lying. It usually begins with a lie, but it progresses from there. It turns the tables on you and puts you on the defensive. It's a strategy for gaining or maintaining power.

What does the Bible say about harming your body?

Ephesians 5:29-30 – No one hates his own body, but instead loves and takes care of it, just as Christ loves and takes care of his body, the Church, of which we are a member. 6:19-20 – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – Do you realize that your bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit, whom you have received from God and who is inside you? As a result, you should glorify God with your bodies.

What are the 3 elements of spirituality?

In their eternal wisdom, all shamans, healers, sages, and wisdom keepers of all centuries, continents, and peoples claim that human spirituality is made up of three aspects: connections, values, and life purpose. These three components are so strongly linked that it may be difficult to tell them apart. Take a minute to ponder on each facet of human spirituality to determine the state of your spiritual well-being if this is possible. This will be a three-part monthly series, starting with relationships.

Internal (your domestic policy)—how you deal with yourself, how you nurture the relationship with yourself and your higher self—and external (your foreign policy)—how you relate, support, and interact with those people (and all living entities) in your environment—are the two categories of relationships.

What criteria would you use to assess your internal relationship, and what steps could you take to improve it?

How would you assess your external relationships, shifting from the perspective of domestic policy to international policy?