Edana Irene Kitzmann , Minot

At a private function, someone said: “It is not sinful flesh we are dealing with. It is the unseen force we are dealing with.”

I say partial Bible verse: “principalities and authority, and the power of the devil.” The first entity is “principalities” joined with the “and” authority. Definition: noun, person, place or thing. “The power of the devil” is an unseen (not tangible) form.

Two different entities. A “person” in authority within a principality uses influence of their position or profession as a sign of “power” (influence) over someone to do, say or believe what the “authority” person wants. I say: Be careful of that “authority.”

“Power of the devil” is not a person. It is supernatural (unseen) and hard to explain. I say: “Jesus won the victory over the power of the devil. We are to watch out for those who influence the devil’s ways and try to not succumb to those ways, to those who use that influence. When authority pushes for us to bow to the “power of the devil” and not even acknowledge “sinful flesh,” we are to bow to God, the Triune God, and not to the “authority.” “Sinful flesh” does not pertain to sexual only. It pertains to lying, cheating, stealing, etc., etc. So when the “devil made you do it,” guess again.

“When your brother confesses and repents, then you should forgive.” The temptation to sin is always there and the “right” to say NO is always there. We don’t always answer correctly to God’s word (get it right), yet we are to always try to answer with thought, word, and deed (correct) according to God’s word. When an entire society, rich, poor, young, old, etc., give up trying to answer according to God’s word, that society causes a lot of troubles, heartaches, pain and untimely ends (check the history).

We should all keep trying to do according to God’s word, not to some “authority” person who has it mixed up and also says “everyone is wrong (sins) …. oh well.” I say: Forgiveness without repentance doesn’t work because “God loves a contrite heart.” I wonder if distress in people comes from saying all or part of this and “authority” persons disagreeing so they can have you do what they want without regard to “according to God’s word.” It’s a good thing for open discussion with politeness and respectfulness to others.

The partial quotes come from “The Holy Bible”: King James version and American Revised version and Good News for Modern Man version and New International Version and (oh boy! one more) the English Standard version. Words in context and punctuation are the same in each version. I digress and thank you for your time to read this. God bless your learning and further study (Bible study and also history study).