WE’RE SMARTER THAN WE THINK
Many years ago, I read a book by Zainab Salbi,
the daughter of Saddam Hussein's pilot. It's called BETWEEN TWO WORLDS: ESCAPE
FROM TYRANNY: GROWING UP IN THE SHADOW OF SADDAM.
Zainab described the terror Sadam inflicted on
those around him: “Fear of Saddam took over every Iraqi heart and mind. He was
everywhere and anywhere, and any stray negative thought about him made us watch
our backs. As a child, I grew up watching hours and hours of TV coverage of him
surprising families in the middle of the afternoon by entering their kitchens
and opening their refrigerators. I guess this was a dictator’s version of a
reality show; the entire country could peer into people’s cupboards and see
what they were having for lunch. I didn’t understand why he revealed the
intimate lives of people on national TV until the night my family and I had
dinner with Saddam."
“It wasn’t one dinner but years of lunches and
dinners, because my father was his private pilot. At times, my parents would be
in their bed falling asleep when suddenly they had to wake up and entertain
Saddam in the middle of the night, making sure that they looked bright and
excited."
“He was charismatic and engaging, but he also
spread fear. In the midst of one family lunch, he asked everyone what they
thought of Napoleon. At face value, you would think that’s just a lunch
conversation among friends. And that is indeed how one friend answered, saying:
'Napoleon is a man who rolled down from the hill of power as fast as he rose up
to it.' Saddam answered: 'Are you referring to Napoleon, or are you referring
to Napoleon [referring to himself]?' If there is such thing as air leaving the
room, then that was that moment. His switch from friendliness to anger was
common, and we all knew he killed friends and relatives; no one would be
spared.”
Zainab Salib’s book is fascinating, but it was
more insightful to me when I experienced being in the presence of someone who
exhibited characteristics similar to Hussein! This person knew very private
things about the people who worked under him, and he used the knowledge of
those things to intimidate and control. I believe evil spirits told him these
things because they were intimate things that no one spoke about, and certainly
not to him.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us: “The thing that
hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which
shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” At first, this looks
like it may be a contradiction to other verses in the Bible, like Isaiah 43:19,
where God says: “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth;
shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in
the desert.”
There are no contradictions in the Bible, just
verses, concepts, and phrases we may not yet understand. This is one of those.
E. W. Bullinger tells us in his notes on
Ecclesiastes 1:9 in the Companion Bible: “‘Under the sun’ is a phrase that is
particular to Ecclesiastes and is used 29 times. It is equivalent to “upon the
earth,” and it refers to all that is connected with earthly things as such, and
with man apart from God.”
So, we see that the phrase saying there is
nothing new refers only to basic human and demonic things, NOT the spiritually
wonderful things that born- again believers and our Lord God and His son Jesus
Christ are capable of.
Separated from God, there is and never will be
anything new. The devil can’t create anything. So, when we learn to recognize a
demon or a demonic mechanism, it will always operate in the same way as the
Bible describes it – there are variations, but the basics are always the same.
Demons exhibit the very same characteristics in leaders of countries as in
leaders of three or four people or even less. The same kind of evil people and
evil ways we read about in the Old Testament, exist today.
When we examine and recognize the evil we read
about in the Bible, we will understand and recognize the evils we see today.
Anything the devils do this world now has been done before.
The devil is not a creator. If we’ve seen him
operate in a certain evil way once, we recognize when we see it again—nothing
new. That’s why God reminds us in 2 Corinthians 2:11: “Lest Satan should get an
advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
We’re smart! We actually know more than we
think we know. We’re smarter spiritually than we give ourselves credit for! I
remember an incident where I was having a conversation with a 16-year-old young
man, and we happened to get on the subject of demons. He was not a born-again
believer, but his knowledge regarding devil spirits was remarkable!
I also had the privilege of meeting a young
lady at a movie once who was involved with her friends in a deliverance
ministry, and ever since that encounter, I pray for the younger believers who
are whole-heartedly now involved in doing the Lord’s work.
It’s astonishing to think about who we are and
our creative possibilities. God has not stopped creating! What God was in the
beginning, He is now. Yes, He uses the same elements that He originally
created, but nothing in the Bible says He can’t create more.
An example from the New Testament is in
Ephesians 2:10, where it says: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in
them.” Did you know that the word “Christ” means “the anointed one”? That same
anointing is in us. Think about that! It’s a spiritual anointing from God our
Father, different from anything else.
In Psalm 51:10, David asks God to “Create in
me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” He can do that.
In Isaiah 57:18, God says: “I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will
lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the
fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is
near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him.”
You see, God is still creating and even
creating what we say. So, let’s dare to say what God says: “I have peace, and I
am healed.”
With the devil, there is no new thing under
the sun. It’s all old and rotten. Use the Bible to get smart. You’re already
way smarter than you know, so believe what you see.
Contrary to the limitations of the devil, we
have a creative God! If He can create a new heart in us, the possibilities are
limitless. As we venture into this new year, let’s expect greater miracles,
greater successes, greater movements of God, and more wonderful life
experiences than ever before.
Happy New Year 2025!
Love, Carolyn
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