Strongholds, Distortions and The Loss of Innocence

Recently, as I washed the dishes, I began to consider some of the horror movies I had watched growing up, and then started to think about horror movies in general. As I wondered, a central question came to mind, "why do people watch horror movies?" and what are the consequences of watching them. As I pondered these things, that's when I realized God was speaking. He went beyond and spoke specifically about the loss of innocence and distortions, which are the basis of strongholds. The bible says,

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," II Corinthians 10:3-5 NKJV.

The passages above are often used to remind us that in the spiritual warfare that we as believers are involved, the enemies are not only demons, satan, or people sent by them, but also strongholds, arguments, high things that exalt themselves above the knowledge of Christ, thoughts, and other things of mental nature, all of them can and are often empowered by demonic forces, but at the very minimum, they are empowered by the world around us.

While these passage gives us this reminder and call us to fight not with carnal weapons but spiritual so we can pull down these strongholds, arguments, and thoughts that exalt themselves against the knowledge of Christ, what is seldom mention is the origin of these strongholds, arguments, and thoughts. These 3 enemies as I will call them, don't come in the vacuum, they have origins in what we hear, see, read, or listen, and this leads us back to the initially remarks, and for the sake of this article, I will focus only on movies initially, particularly horror movies.

Movies, Horror Movies

While I can't give you the totality of the answer on why people watch horror movies, I can assure you ahead of time that sin and conformity to the world is core of why people watch them. I do not find a single benefit to such movies, neither a biblical basis for them; on the contrary, I can see a lot of consequences even in adults, let alone on kids. Hence, these movies, and tv shows with which we are bombarded every day, are the gate ways for the formation of strongholds, distortions, and the cause for the loss of innocence in many people.

It's true that God made us with the capacity to imagine, idealize, and conceive things; human beings are creative, and it's a reflection of Our Creator, we have been made in His image. However, with the fall this capacity got distorted, hence we conceive some unrealistic things. But when Hollywood plays with our minds, it gets even worst; Our already damaged imagination, gets almost destroyed, our view of reality gets skewed and distorted, aligned with what we consume, and this is the major consequence of highly-wordily form of entertainment.

We begin to have mutated thoughts - very far away from the helm of the normal. The dictionary defines Distortion as the alteration of a thing's original, natural, or true form, appearance, sound, or meaning. This is what happen when are subject to certain types of entertainment. Yes, some movies are pure fiction, and some even allow us to have a good time in family, but for the most parts, movies and entertainment in general are specifically crafted or engineered with scenes meant to get the "best" out of our emotions or reactions.

Several researches show that although our brains use context clues to differentiate between reality and fiction, it has a very hard time sorting that out specially when we get lost in it, you can't tell the difference. I am sure you have gotten emotional after watching an emotional scene in a movie or had your heart pounding after watching an action movie, style Mission: Impossible. Movies, entertainment, arts have the capacity to touch us, the problem is when they are not edifying, which is the case of the types many people grew up consuming. Guard your innocence, and the innocence of your kids.

Going back to horror movies, many people, particularly children or teens have a hard time staying in the dark or sleeping after watching such movies; worst, many get dominated by the spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7) and experience non-stop nightmares. Be careful what you expose yourself and your children to. Be careful with the seeds you are sowing in your mind, your life, and your children's lives, these are the seeds that grow into strongholds, arguments, and thoughts that later on need to be fought.

There is not a single advantage in playing scary games with kids, let alone submitting them to horror movies, even more so these days. Movies have gone very far, all types of movies, with rare exception of faith based and family movies - but even with those watch out as well. With regards to horror movies, there is even reported episodes of people manifesting demons or getting demonically possessed in movie theaters while watching these type of movies. Beware! Why would you watch it them, or let your kids watch it?!

Beyond movies

Now, what was said above about loosing our innocence and developing distorted view of reality by consuming horror movies, can be said of almost any type of material we consume. Again, we cannot let Hollywood play with our minds. But Hollywood is just one venue. Any form of material or interactions if not good can be used to form strongholds, arguments, and high thoughts that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. What books do you read, is it consistent with the truth? What conversations you entertain, are they consistent with the truth? What songs you listen to, are they consistent with the truth of God's word?

Remember, the kid's song, "be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little ears what you hear and so on,..." Do you have the correct view on life, relationships, career, family, money, sex, and etc.,? Or you have lost your innocence and adopted distorted views? Are you holding strongly - strongholds - to false ideologies, concepts, and views. What has been running in your mind, are your thoughts consistent with God's words, or do you have arguments that seem to be stronger than God - exalting themselves above the knowledge of Him?

All of Us are Broken

All of us have in one way or another have strongholds, arguments, and thoughts that exalt or tend to exalt themselves above the knowledge of God, It takes careful examination to identify them, and God is able to help us! We ought to truly learn to discern our thoughts, enter a state of meditation in the midst of the day, and learn to fellowship with God, taking every single thought, not consistent with Him captive through prayer - you don't have to utter words, you can simply say in your mind: Lord I bring this thought to you, or thought I rebuke you, away from me.

At the same time, if there is recurring patterns seek God to reveal their origins so you can deal with them from the root. Like, I mentioned in the beginning, some of the horror movies I watched led me to have mutated thoughts about reality. As a kid I remember, having a hard time staying in the dark, but I was not born that way, so something happened along the way - movies, conversations, and etc. Similarly, many kids get fearful to be in the dark supposing that a monster will show up, but there is no such thing as monsters. Of course, demons exist, but it's not what kids typically fear because very few kids know about demons.

Usually, what they call monsters are mutated versions of something they saw or heard. But of course, satan takes advantages of such fears, and can be behind them; also, demons can masquerade themselves like monsters, crippling kids lives and empowering strongholds. Hence, we need to be careful how we walk, be vigilant, specially parents, and avoid opening doors to demonic spirits, by walking in obedience to God's Word. But again, something that was watch, heard, read or else, led to mutated thoughts, arguments, and eventually strongholds in the kid's minds.

This is the process by which many people begin to create strongholds, arguments, and thoughts that they will often carry their whole life. The most common way they come in, it's not even through watching but hearing. Hearing people say negative things to us, specially, when these individuals are in position of authority over us. Words like, "you are dumb, you will not be anyone in life, you are ugly, you are this, that, and else...." Thins inconsistent with God's word, but many people grew up hearing and believed.

These are the sayings that binds people when they begin to give in for not knowing better often or even how to fight back. These individuals then, somewhere along their lives, get saved, but are already bound, carrying lies, strongholds, arguments and thoughts for so long that the knowledge of God they receive becomes very little and impotent in comparison to the strongholds. But God is able, He is in the business of redeeming and restoring people, not throwing them away. It doesn't matter what you have been told or what you have been caring for life, it can be undone.

Fight Back, God is Able

God is able to restore you, restore your mind, cause you to have the proper view of things and be grounded in truth and alter your reality. The passages we began with says, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," II Corinthians 10:3-5 NKJV.

Fight back, if you are in Christ, know that now you have access to superior weapons to fight back. These strongholds can be pulled down, you can cast down whatever arguments and high thing exalt themselves against the knowledge of God; you can take every thought into captivity. Picture yourself grabbing a serpent, the devil, by the head, and putting it into prison. That's exactly what you can do with your thoughts, until all come to the obedience of Christ. Every single fiery dart of the wicked one can be quenched by faith.

The bible says, "above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.'" Ephesians 6:16. But we ought to be sober and vigilant to be able to discern what is going on in our minds. The bible says, "'Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.'" I Peter 5:8-9

Moreover, we ought to grow in the knowledge of God; get the knowledge of God bigger than these enemies. The bible says, "'For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.'" Hebrews 5:13-14. Maturity is the key to discern between good and evil, so we deal with the strongholds.

Feed on His word, go deep, eat solid food, grow to the point of understanding the deep aspects of the faith; shift your outlook of life by seeing everything through the lenses of God’s word. The bible says, "'And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.'" Romans 12:2. Don't fashion your life after the mold of this age, don't take the shape of the world, don't be conformed to it, rather allow your mind to be renewed, changed by God's word and you will be transformed. Don't entertain anything inconsistent with God's word.

Remember Adam and Eve, by entertaining the serpent, they have lost their innocence, developed a distorted view of reality and reaped death. Thus, watch out your entertainment, what are you entertain in your life? Learn to think about what you thinking, pay attention to it, don't just go through the motions. As you begin to swift your thoughts, God will even reveal how certain strongholds were formed in your mind, who sow such seeds, and etc. You can always ask God, and again He will reveal to you. Now, as you go about your day, fight the lies that try to cross your mind, like Jesus did to satan by saying, "it is written", (Luke 4:1-13). Hence, the importance of memorizing scriptures, and developing Christ affirming habits found in the spiritual disciplines (prayers, meditation, worship, fellowship, service, and etc.).

In short, as believers we are in a spiritual warfare, and some of the enemies are strongholds, arguments, and thoughts which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. Often these are backed up by demonic forces, visible by the fruit they bear in people's lives, but they originate from things we watch, hear, read, experience and etc., often at very early age and carried throughout our lives until we meet Christ. Hence, if you are a parent, you can protect your kids from future battles. Watch out what your kids watch, read, or hear, and be careful with the words you utter to them, and/or the things people say to them. Don't tolerate negative things. Guard their innocence.

God is in the business of saving and redeeming people, and through sanctification, He is able to restore and delivery us from every stronghold, argument, and thoughts that exalt themselves against the knowledge of Him. It will require a fight from us, but if we are in Christ, we have access to weapons that are strong in God, and through them, we can pull these enemies down, cast them down, and take them captive, following the example of Christ in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13). Watch out, don't give room to the formation of strongholds in your life anymore; rule out everything that is inconsistent with God's truth, specially the so-called entertainment these days.

Fight back, and may God set you apart.

Like - Comment - Share - Subscribe

---

Knowing-God.com

Love . Grace . Intimacy