The Principality of Tradition

The principality of tradition is the tenth principality of Satan. The objective of this principality of Satan is to cause mankind to trust in the traditions and wisdom of this world; and its attendant power is the spirit of tradition. This prince has at his disposal four captains—emulation, pornography, adultery, and lying—and all lower ranking principalities and powers like disobedience, judgment, hate, bitterness, etc. to use to fulfill his objective. "He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do" (Mark 7:6-8).

Who Do You Follow?

We believe this spirit to be something that has been propagated throughout our generations. We pass it down generation to generation and do not realize that it is an affront to God. How can this be? For the most part, tradition is so deceptive that we think it is supposed to be in our midst. We think that this spirit is aiding us by preserving our very being. Yet, we do not realize that it is this spirit that God is attempting to destroy in us because it prevents us from being able to actualize all that he has for us. We want you to see the insidious operations of this evil spirit, this devil, in this particular section.

Education?

As human beings, we believe it necessary to pass down ideas, virtues, axioms of all sorts for the continuation of human culture. Those considered the most learned of all human beings are those considered most knowledgeable of human centered data. In fact, "education" is considered a humanistic subject. In other words, those that know the most about human beings and human behavior, in a purely physical/temporal sense, are considered those that are educated among us. This system even prevails among our theological societies, societies that are supposed to be focused on studying God. Those that have Ph.D.'s in religious subjects are those who have had to master human subjects like Greek, Philosophy, and other humanistic disciplines. It is simply impossible to obtain an advanced degree from any theological institution by simply focusing on the Bible; people HAVE TO ground themselves in study of other texts. We are not stating that studying other books beside the Bible in seminaries is reprehensible. We are saying that making those other books the focus or the means by which one understands the Bible is dangerous and misleading at best. Scripture must be understood by the guidance of the Spirit not the philosophy of man. These among many other examples are evidence of what is going on contemporaneously. Tradition holds that humanity is the measure and center of all things. And when tradition gets a hold of Christianity it distorts the doctrine of Christ, making it a product of human construction. And this notion of Christianity, is most noticeable in historical treatises about Jesus, there is very little investigation into his super-natural qualities and vast amounts of investment in proving him to be the product of human culture.

In the Beginning ...

The spirit of tradition has man focusing on mankind. The problem with this fixation we have on making humanity the center of our understanding is that it is one of the main causes for damnation. "And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15). This fixation breeds emulation and lying. Emulation, because we follow what mankind stipulates over God, so much so that we blaspheme God and his Word: "And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? And many other things blasphemously spake they against him" (Luke 22:64-65). And lying, because we justify ourselves based on our own standards: "going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God" (Romans 10:3). God did not make man for man's sake; he made man for HIS sake (Genesis 1:26-27). God made man in his image meaning that God wanted man to be like him and to worship him. Man, while in sin, has chosen to worship himself. Our educational system is just one of the many means by which this worship occurs. Emulation of Jesus Christ is the way of life; however, emulation of man leads to death: "For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise" (2 Corinthians 10:12). Emulation leads us to set man as the standard for living, not Jesus Christ. Man, however, is sinful and emulation leads us to be a "partaker of other men's sins" (1 Timothy 5:22). But now God is calling us back to himself; but this does not happen when we focus on ourselves. Paul says something very interesting in Romans:

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Romans 8:1-13)

Notice the correlation here: Paul uses the word flesh to point to what happens when we focus on our bodies and the sin that resides in our bodies—pride and lust—instead of God. God says through his scripture that we are not able to receive life while focusing on ourselves: pride insists on pleasing self and lust insists on desiring the things that please self. If we depend on ourselves for life, we will ultimately die. God's calling for us is to crucify our bodies with Jesus so that we may experience new life through resurrection (Galatians 2:20). We will see throughout this book that resurrection involves forsaking the way things have been done (the old man) for the way Christ does them (the new man).

Tradition and the Law

The spirit of tradition causes us to reject resurrection for a law, specifically human law or even Old Testament-like law. We do this so that we may have control over our bodies. In the Old Testament, God wanted human beings to do good works by obeying his law. The problem was that doing good works in the flesh did not make one righteous because one was bound to break one of God's laws. Evil will ultimately encroach upon us. We cannot follow a law in our flesh so God has given us something better in his Son, Jesus. Therefore, making law outside of Christ creates tradition, which will only help us to live in the world and this world only. Jesus is the only way to the world to come. Subsequently, we are not preparing ourselves for the world to come. As such, the spirit of tradition can only help us in this life. This spirit takes the focus we should place on Christ and puts it in meaningless rules and regulations that we have created for being successful worldly people.

Who is Our Authority?

The reason we have this focus is because of what we consider our authority to be. What we consider our authority, we follow. If we think a police officer is the authority, when we see an officer, we slow down when we are speeding. If we believe a teacher is the authority, we complete our assignments when given them. If we believe the law is the authority, we make sure to not steal, or violate some other law. The list can go on and on but the point is the same. Whoever or whatever we consider our authority to be, we follow. The same holds true for God. Our problem is that we continue to hold to other authorities beside our God. Usually, that authority happens to be ourselves, evidenced by the fact that we simply do not want to obey God's Word. We see this spirit in operation in the scripture below:

Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Matthew 15:1-9)

Our disobedience to God's Word shows an outright love for our own words and practices, making us eligible to receive the judgment of God. The spirit of tradition (the religious spirit) simply causes us to conform to the world system: to be guilty of adultery against God. "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4). We know, however, that God is against the world system: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (1 John 2:15-16). The world system incorporates seven areas of influence; it includes ourselves; our family, friends, and associates; our religion and education; our community (neighborhood, job, organizations, affiliations, nationality, and information sources: books, magazines, newspapers, Internet, television, movies, etc.); our gender; our race and ethnicity; and our humanity (mankind). These all have routines, habits, customs—traditions—that we adhere to; often without thought. This adherence to the world system reaches back all the way to Adam. In Genesis 3, we learn that Satan offers Adam and Eve a choice; whether they would be gods—beings that know the difference between good and evil—like God himself or remain "merely" human. As we know, they chose the former after Satan explained, "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat" (Genesis 3:5-6). In truth, the choice was to know evil—Satan—and be entrapped in the kingdom of Satan: death. Whereas, God's will is that we know good—God—and thereby attain the kingdom of God: eternal life (Romans 12:9; Hebrews 5:12-14; 1 Peter 3:10-11; 3 John 1:11). "For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge" (Jeremiah 4:22).

The human enterprise since the introduction of sin has caused men to institute the tradition to make themselves gods, or to be their own sovereigns at the rejection of God's sovereignty. This is why Jesus addresses the Pharisees the way he does above—they were capable by their traditions to make God's commandments ineffective. In Mark's Gospel, there is an added point not mentioned here, that we "reject" God's commands to keep our own tradition (Mark 7:9). We know from scripture that nothing can make God's Word ineffective: "so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11). Therefore, tradition in this sense is a high form of treason; our loyalty to our own words makes God's Words ineffective and causes us to replace them with our own brand of commandments. Tradition adds to or diminishes from the Word of God: "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you" (Deuteronomy 4:2). Tradition seeks to misdirect Christians to worship God in the spirit of the world and in lies; that is, anything that diverts them from worshipping God "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). Tradition incorporates false beliefs and practices into the "Christian" way of life; therefore the way is no longer perfect (Psalm 18:30): it is no longer the way of truth (Psalm 119:30). Tradition corrupts righteousness. Thus, many Christians are not walking "in the way of good men, and keep[ing] the paths of the righteous" (Proverbs 2:20). Instead, many Christians "have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray" (2 Peter 2:15): they are no longer "in the way of righteousness" (Proverbs 12:28). They sometimes do the will of God, not always: "the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him" (John 8:29). This is why Jesus tell us that "strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:14). Few will persevere until Christ be formed in them (Galatians 4:19).

Jesus is saying that tradition, like any other principality of Satan, intertwines itself with that which seems good and then functions covertly. Tradition is concealed within our institutions of goodwill: schools, the government, and THE CHURCH; however, the strategy is the same. It is to get us to declare our independence from God and to have control. But remember it looks holy, it looks right. It sounds helpful. It seems to produce good; however, this spirit is rebellious and thus leads us to commit treason before God. The spirit of tradition thrives on the sense that our ways can be fused with God's ways. Isaiah tells us this is not true; God's ways are much higher and much better than our ways (Isaiah 55:8). Nevertheless, we proceed with our belief because we desire to have a "form of godliness" but "deny the power thereof." The form of godliness is absolutely essential to the enterprise of deception because people will believe the thing that looks like God. They will even worship the thing that looks like God. We buy into the thing that looks like God, instead of God himself through Christ. There are many reasons for the treason we commit before God. Here are a few. We want to replace God with something we can see; however, "we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). Walking by sight—believing only in what we see—is called pornography, and those that base their actions on what they see are considered wicked: "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign" (Matthew 16:4). "Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe" (John 4:48). Much like Elisha's servant, the spirit of pornography influences us to believe only in what we can see; and, in turn, the spirits of unbelief and anxiety get a foothold.

And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. (2 Kings 6:15-17)

This is what the argument of Romans 1 is describing. We want to give glory to the creation more than the creator, and it is in part to our desire to have power over something. The evidence we have described speaks to this issue that we have—on the one hand—people who attend theological institutions seeking to become knowledgeable of God by teaching themselves about the ways of mankind. On the other side of the spectrum, Christians are now promoting "Positive Thinking" and "Self-Empowerment" (idolatry) over preaching the cross. In fact, that is the new wave of Christian doctrine. It has become so popular that the likes of Donald Trump have gotten involved helping to teach people God's principles on wealth. This is despicable but it is the truth. Church practices and church doctrines that we are continuing to implement are destroying the life of God from among us (see "Church Practices"). They are destroying the saints, and on the Day of Judgment many pastors will have a terrible price to pay because they have deceived the people of God into believing a lie (Proverbs 28:10; Jeremiah 12:10; Jeremiah 23:1). We are teaching people old fashioned idol worship and not even flinching.

The entrenchment of the principality of tradition becomes a strong hold in the mind of the person to trust in the traditions and wisdom of this world. What's more, its associated powers, namely the spirits of emulation, pornography, adultery, and lying, work to cement their place in the person by building additional strong holds forged through false practices. They learn to adhere to doctrine that runs counter to God's truth, to emulate the ways of the world, to believe in what they see, to resist exclusive allegiance to God, and to cover up their unrighteousness. So we admonish: anything we do in church that does not have its impetus from, cannot be justified by, or is contrary to, scripture is tradition (see "Part Three: The Modern Church (Built on Quicksand): Synagogue of Satan" for more examples of tradition in the church). Tradition must be eradicated: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Moreover, as far as practices seemingly not addressed by scripture, we must pray and ask God whether or not we should discontinue the practice. God is watching us to see if we will hear his Word or not: "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward HIM" (2 Chronicles 16:9). Tradition, operating as an external source of influence, brings on idolatry.

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