To begin at the point; What is spiritual discernment? How can we know the things of God? In first corinthians chapter 2, Paul talks about discerning spiritual things.
" 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
This is key to understanding the nature of the Gospel. The natural man simply cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God - they are counted as foolishness, and he will not even consider them. He is blinded by the tracts of the adversary, and is thus prevented from gaining spiritual knowledge.
Note that these people may be blinded by the devil and his angels, but they are not entirely devilish by nature. They do not understand spiritual knowledge and are thus led away from it. Those who are truly devilish, who are true adversaries of Christ, understand His doctrine perfectly, and do all in their power to tear it down.
Remember that when Christ cast out devils, every one of them knew who He was, and answered to His voice as the Son of God. They were spirits, their memories having not been lost by the veil of birth. They understood Christ and His role as messiah perfectly. But, as to their nature, this understanding led them to revile against Him, and play with the hearts of others to destroy Him. They knew truth, they could not deny it, but they could lie to others and convince them to deny it.
This is how Satan works. It is how he always has worked, and it is how he always will work. Upon hearing and knowing truth, the true nature of our souls comes out, which ultimately decides if we will be cast out of God's presence into Outer Darkness. Satan and his current angels already made that choice; they had truth, they fought against it, and they received their punishment. All the rest of us agreed with and accepted the truth, and thus we are on Earth to see if we will find and agree with it again.
Satan knows that the vast majority of us will, if given the chance, accept and embrace the absolute truth of God. That is why he uses deception and lies to blind us from the truth, to lead us away from it. He darkens our minds to it and convinces us away from it, so that when it finally is revealed to us we may doubt and consider alternate avenues. If we let him blind us in this way, he has won the battle for our soul, and thus we have lost our souls.
Lies and deceit will always fail. The Truth will always break them down, whether in this life or the hereafter. The "Great and Spacious Building" is truly a marvelous wonder, not because of its grandeur, not because of its patrons, but because it manages to stand, held aloft upon a foundation of lies and deceit. It may seem sturdy, it may stand for decades, generations, even millennia, but eventually it will fall, when the truth of God echoes forth. In that day, all who built upon its fragile foundation will see it for what it truly is, but it will be too late. They will be caught within the building when the proverbial earthquake of the Truth of God causes it to shake, tumble, and fall to the Earth. They will be trapped within their house of lies, and will finally see that they stood against the truth.
We must not fall for Satan's lies, and we must not allow the man-made influences of the "natural man" to deceive us. The truly natural things, the truth of God and his "Tree of Life," will stand the test of universes. The path is strait and narrow because that is the only way which will remain after the floods, the tempests and the great upheavals caused by the revealed truth. Stand with God, His truth, and His everlasting joy and life. No deceit or threat or attack will ever take that from you unless you let it.
This is my testimony of the Truth of God, and His wondrous plan for our souls.
Amen.
This document does not in any way represent the official views of the Church as a whole; it is merely the theories of my own study and personal revelation, written down in a manner suitable for presentation and future personal study.
