Re: The devil has no hold on a righteous man.

Bfree,

Do you love God so much that you would disobey a command to fear Him?
DARE YOU LOVE HIM AT SUCH A COST AS TO DISOBEY "SCRIPTURE" or even Him?

I mean do you really, really love Him so very, very much that you simply don't know how you could possibly fear Him? Have you lost your senses???!! (then, this must be true love).

Maybe you would even value His discipline the way a child that feels neglected by the parent will seek out attention by acting up? (so why FEAR Him?).

The Lord will show you the error of your way (correction) if there is need to (because you insist on being unjust to people), or you want Him to show you a better way (a loving father doesn't follow His children around to forever pick on/haunt his children if they'd rather be democrat/republican, have bad table manners, paint their house blue, have their own harmless idiosyncracies/favorite colors/habits, etc.).

Love cannot be commanded. Love cannot be made a rule or law, love can ONLY be freely given (and that is what you INSIST on doing).

Mark 12:30 means that our love for The Lord must be ONLY love that is "freely given" (no other "love" is PLEASING, a COMMAND cannot yeild "PLEASING"..."strong delusion" is self-imposed) given to The Lord WITHOUT any fear of Him ("PERFECTED" love). Our love for Him MUST be COMPLETELY from every fiber our being (ALL of our heart, mind, soul, and strength). At this point you might think you have passed the supreme test of loving God (I think so too).

This world is full of evil, injustice, corruption, hatred, resentment, etc., but my heart is set on a "better country" (Hebrews 11:16), and therefore, even though I walk through these 'valleys of evil', I know that they show only the SHADOW of death and that I (my soul) need not [choose to] fear it's evil. I desire the "better country". The evil is still there and of course it is completely possible that my lifestyle on this earth can be effected by it, but it's God's reward that I look forward to (Psalm 23).

http://cf.blb.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=better+country&Versi...



http://cf.blb.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=my+law+WITHIN+them+a...


I am not familiar with Saint Anthony (I was Catholic 40 years ago, but too many saints to keep track of), but I believe that the real test is that of Job (the book of Job). Many people will say "I don't know if I'd have enough faith to do what Job did", but it's not about faith, it's about love. It was love that kept Job so strong as to persevere and remain steadfast (the book of Job is a love story, it's not about faith). "faith, hope, love,...abide [by] these three, but the greatest of these is..." what God is (1 Corinthians 13:13).

So, my "somewhat saddened" friend, cheer up, you have warmed the heart of My Lord.

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