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From Darkness to Light: Part 1

Episode 130

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Hosted by
Carl Joseph

Carl is a biblical scholar, minister, husband, father and life coach. In his mid-twenties he had a powerful encounter with God and saw miraculous healings as a result. He passionately shares these stories and empowers others to fulfill their God-given potential.

Did you know everyone born into this world is a part of God’s creation, but not everyone is a child of God? To become a son and heir to God’s kingdom requires a commitment to Christ and His word. Humanity is born into spiritual slavery and only Jesus can set us free. In this, the first of three broadcasts, Carl describes our decrepit spiritual condition and how the whole world lies in wickedness. The good news is, you don’t have to stay in prison. Christ offers you a means of escape. Join Carl now, to find out how…

Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…

Friend, welcome to a new series here called From Darkness to Light. Now, you could contend that this message is a little bit heavy, albeit it contains some deeper truths that we must be cognizant of and live by as Christians every day. You know, when we’re born into this world, we’re not God’s children as many surmise. This is the movement, the ecumenical movement, the inclusive movement that I talked about recently that says that we’re all children of God. No, friend, we’re all a part of God’s creation, certainly, but there are requirements for becoming a child of God or son of God as Scripture reveals. In fact, we’re all born into spiritual slavery. It’s like that conversation off the movie Matrix with Morpheus and Neo. Which pill do I take, right? What is it, the red and the blue pill or the red and the green pill? I forget. But, friend, there’s some things that Jesus won for you on the cross. But if you don’t have knowledge of those things, you can’t apply them practically in your life. We are born into slavery, and by choice we enter into God’s kingdom. And that is something that God will honor because he honors free will. He’s not a respecter of persons, amen? But we have to choose Christ, and once we have chosen him, then we have to educate ourselves about what he won for us, right? The treasures, the spoils, the 39 things on our website called Your Bountiful Inheritance, which you can download.

The 39 things that Christ won for you, okay? He freed us from bondage, but if we don’t have knowledge of what he did for us, then how can we actually pragmatically apply it in our everyday lives? He did an all-encompassing work on the cross. It was a redeeming work, and we must be aware of what he did. Although we are children of light, we still have a choice to walk in that light. And that’s my message. We’ve been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son. Some people are still struggling with old habits, demonic oppression. Some people are struggling in their life. But do you know that you’ve been translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into something else? That’s the kingdom of God, okay? And we’re going to read different scriptures along those lines, alright? But if your focus is always negative, you’re going to be attracting negative things. If your focus is struggling all the time in certain mindsets, ungodly beliefs, these things are going to be made more manifest to you in your life because whatever you focus on is actually going to become real.

These are hidden scriptural truths that are in the Bible that the world uses, okay? The law of attraction, all these other things, etc. There are things that they have discovered by happenchance or whether they’ve read the word of God and have never submitted to the Savior. There are laws hidden in the universe that Christ revealed through his parables. And we’re going to study the parables individually in time on these broadcasts, friend. But it is our mandate to choose to walk in light on a daily basis. And this is achieved by being aware of God’s word and the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. We are the mirror that reflects the light that shines through us. The light is not in and of ourselves. It’s merely reflected through us. But the more our soul is hindered with things like bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, etc., the more we’re hindered, the more opaque we will become. And we will be able to reflect less light. So we need to be as transparent as we possibly can be. Amen? Okay, let’s get into it. We are born into slavery. The shock was on Neo’s face.

What are you talking about? Well, we’re all accustomed with that movie, or most of us, okay? But Galatians 4.3 says, “Even so we, when we were children, were born in bondage under the elements of the world.” Galatians 4:3 in the NIV says, “So also, when we were under age, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world.” The CJB says, So it is with us, “When we were children, we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe.” What are these elemental spirits of the universe? They are ever-present, friend. They rule over regions, cities, and even nations today.

Satan has blinded men to the gospel, friend, and these spirits of darkness work through nations, work through the powers of this world, because this world is not yet fully in the possession of Christ. There will come a day when the millennial reign will come, and for a thousand years Satan will be bound, and we will rule and reign with him as kings and priests. Sounds far-fetched. No, friend, it’s actually in the word of God. It comes at you as a surprise because you haven’t actually studied it. But there’s a blindness, there’s a veil over the hearts of men. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “In whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” There is a light that comes with the gospel. I remember when I got saved in June of 1999 down there in Houston.

A lightbulb came on. I saw the world differently. I could see the issues that I struggled with, and God led me in a path to be delivered from several things, several things that I would succumb to and were hurting myself because of it. Can you relate, friend? The besetting sin can be overcome, because the promised land is not a typology of heaven. The promised land is a typology of you conquering your giants, friend. When Israel were in Egypt, God brought Israel out of Egypt, which is a type of the world, and into the promised land, all right? But he had to train them to fight, didn’t he? He gave them weapons. He had to train them to fight. Some scholars believe that the Israelites took the weapons of the Egyptians when they were washed up in the Red Sea, because when the Egyptians drowned, I think it’s in the Book of Jubilees or it’s in the Book of Josephus. I shouldn’t just spout these things off on the radio without checking my facts, but the legend is that the weapons came to them, and then they had to fight, friend. But really, the weapon was God, okay? They just obeyed God, and then supernaturally, he enabled them to overcome their enemies, and it’s the same with us. People need the light of the gospel to shine within their hearts, and the truth you know will set you free from slavery, right? John 8:32. Knowledge of truth is key in the kingdom of God, friend.

We are citizens of the kingdom of God, and as you’ve noticed, this world is not in the hands of God fully yet, okay? There’s crime going to be committed tonight. There’s things that God does not believe in or sanction, okay? He allows, but he does not approve of it, because the lease has been given over to Satan for 6,000 years, the epoch of time we’re currently in, right? The Bible just said that Satan is the god of this world, little g. So he still has some ruling authority, but for those in Christ Jesus, they can usurp his authority by using the name of Jesus and commanding him to leave their lives, amen? But notice that it’s the truth you know will set you free. Many people misquote that verse. Oh, the truth will set you free. No, it won’t. It’s the truth you know will set you free. So these elemental or spiritual forces of this world were spoken of by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:12. Remember this famous verse? “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness, against the spiritually wicked in high places.” Friend, these nefarious forces seek to gain influence over leaders in particular.

If they can influence a leader of a city or even a nation, the masses will inevitably be subjugated to their evil agenda. This is a harsh truth, but it’s a fact. Hitler, Stalin, Kim Jong-il or Kim Jong-un, Pol Pot, Mao Zedong, King Herod, Idi Amin, take your pick of despots or oligarchs who were controlled by evil forces. Friend, in a study that the University of Hawaii performed, it was a study of democide, which is mass genocide in the 20th century. They came to the conclusion that governments killed in the 20th century 262 million people. If utilized for evil, governments are very, very dangerous. And friend, we need to pray for our government. Evil forces seek to take over the United States and use them for their desire. But friend, no, we are to pray for our leaders, OK? And since October of 2016, I believe it is, the Internet has been handed over to the United Nations. It went from America to the UN. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed recently, but the level of censorship on the Internet has risen through the roof. Conservative Christians, conservative talk show hosts, YouTube channels are struggling to get the truth out because the controlling regulatory body is no longer the United States, the bastion of freedom in the world, but no, it’s the United Nations.

And I’m going to do an entire broadcast on the United Nations at some point and the agenda that they follow. But pick your Looney Tune dictator or despot who had a weak mind and was influenced by malevolent forces down the years. They were influenced by the rulers of darkness, by powers, by principalities, by the spiritually wicked in high places. Remember Daniel chapter 10, the prince of Persia, one of these ruling entities, withstood and resisted Gabriel, the angel, as well. So beware of what influences your decisions, friend. Bind the fiery darts that comes from the wicked one that tries to put you off track. But there’s great news, friend. We, the body of Christ, are far above principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness because we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and we are no longer subject to these spirits. Amen? In Genesis 1:3, God said, “Let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light, and it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness.” You know, friend, darkness is incapable of overcoming the light. We overcome evil with good, right? It says that in Romans 12:21. We don’t fight evil necessarily as Christians.

We overcome evil with good. We must expose the works of darkness. Remember Ephesians 5:11 says, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” Friend, we should shine light on our friends around us, our family. We are the light to them. You may be the only light that they’re ever going to see, okay? You are underestimating your influence. People are watching you to see whether you’re really going to do what the Word says as a Christian. They’re going to see how you’re going to react in stressful situations. Are you going to be a light that reveals danger? Are you going to be a light that men are drawn to when others are in travail? Friend, it’s a personal word, all right? God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 1st John 1:5. And friend, there shouldn’t be any darkness in us either, because we’re part of the same light. You see, friend, it’s only apathy on the church’s part that will enable the enemy to get a foothold. Even in society, we must do our part in sharing the Gospel and exposing the works of darkness where applicable.

Remember, Jesus took a massive risk on the church. He died for us, and then He gave us this dunamis power spoken of in Acts 1-8. But if we don’t use it, what a waste, right? We are the body of Christ. We have to do the stuff. Jesus, the head, is interceding for us in heaven. He’s ever at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. And He’s also asking and pleading that we do the works that He’s leading us to do. Amen? I’m reminded of Edmund Burke at this point, a famous Irish statesman. He said, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Listen to those words, friend. It’s once again an apathetic warning that if we don’t do what we’re supposed to, evil forces can rise in any sphere, okay? In any sphere of life. Medical industry, government, teaching, the accounting profession. I mean, I could go on and on. But we need to do our part for shining this blessed light. Amen? So you are the light that walks on this earth, and there’s places that I’ll never visit that you will, and vice versa. So let me cut it off right there. Friend, this is an exciting topic, and we’re going to pick it up again tomorrow.

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