Becoming christian mysticism demands changing the inner beast to the point of death. Some teach a magical Christianity that leaps to sudden and complete freedom from the nature of the inner beast. This is an illusion. Others teach a path of Christian compromise wherein the beast within lives an independent life from the man who is becoming Christian. This is deception. Would that becoming Christian were so easy as these false notions imply. Yet I know that so long as a Christian bears this heavenly treasure in a clay container, the beast within strives for release.
Perhaps you question my certainty on this matter. I speak as a practical man and as a soldier in the army of the Lord. I have and I do endure this battle. If you are not at war with the inner beast, I suggest that you examine yourself. Perhaps you are not in the spirit, if indeed the Holy Spirit abides within – unless you are a reprobate and have no true place in the family of God.
With over ten years on the Christian war front, I grasp some portion of how Christian sanctification operates. We speak of free salvation as though that means that everlasting life in the presence of the Lord has no cost. This is delusion. Although salvation is given by grace to an undeserving race, Jesus paid a price of no insignificant measure. Yet scripture also makes it clear that we too must pay a price, a cost that requires all that we can be through the power of the Spirit placed within this clay body. Although salvation cannot be earned, it is far from free.
Christians do daily battle with the inner beast, hanging the old man on the cross of sanctification, changing the inner beast not in the sense of making it new but rather in the sense of forcing it into submission to the power of God. Those who are becoming Christian in a practical life must live in the flesh the spiritual life.
Whom we chose to serve is he whom we take as our personal master. The choice remains a matter of liberty yet it is also a choice that was pre-determined before time began.
Only one can win, yet each seems to have some measure of victory. Sometimes the Lord parks us beside the still waters and lays out a table in the presence of our enemy. Sometimes the enemy seems strengthen by supernatural forces such that he never takes a break, ceases to attack nor lets down his demands. And thus sin may gain a fleeting victory.
In these times of defeat, he who is becoming Christian begins to feel defeated, overwhelmed and worthless before God. This gives the beast an additional foothold. Before long it has clawed itself into your mind, your hopes and your faith. A sense of hopelessness settles in. You almost want to surrender. Perhaps you even begin to blame God for the failure. Before long, you stop reading the Word, stop praying, stop gathering with other Christians and even begin to believe the words of a lost and sinful nation.
Accepting adultery, fortification and homosexual desires may seem easier than becoming Christian, but if the Spirit of God is real within you, you know that sin and wickedness is unacceptable before a holy Savior.To those who are becoming Christian, something real and of God is already alive on the inside. It is a supernatural power that keeps you even when you cannot keep yourself. It is the power of God, the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the invisible strength of a true Christian. He is ever present, always working, always changing the inner beast from within.
1 Cor. 15:54-55 “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
