Yahweh gives life. This is what I believe. That life originates from Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, and life is sustained in Him. I know that this is not the only point of view. Other religions have a different take, as do Greek and Roman Mythologies. We could add the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians and still just scratch the surface. The Eastern mystics have their faith, as do Native American traditions and all the tribes of South America and Africa. There are a plethora of faiths, past and present, that hold their own beliefs. I am not remotely qualified to speak to all of them, and many of the details of those I have studied have been lost in the dusty archives of my mind. So I do not come as an expert in religion or any type of scholar when it comes to all these nuances of faith. I can't even keep up with all the various flavors of Baptists in America today. However I have been around for over 62 years and have devoted about 44 of those to the study of the Hebrew Scriptures and writings preserved for my observation. I include Matthew though Revelation as part of the Hebrew Scriptures as they are profoundly Jewish, no offense intended to my Jewish brethren. I guess I should toss in some of the Apocryphal writings as well, as they have some interesting insights to the times of the Hebrew people.
I have come to be fully convinced that Yahweh is the giver of life. I have seen the miracle of life given and life restored on more occasions than I can list. I have also seen life taken, sometimes suddenly and sometimes painstakingly as a disease incrementally draws life from its victim. I have witnessed intangible forces intervene to rescue life. I have also witnessed the tragic process of life stolen by unseen powers. Yahweh, the One Creator of all life, determined to design the highly complex human body and the profoundly simple amoeba. He grows giant sequoias and yellowish green pond scum. The evidence of His life giving creative power surrounds us. It declares that He exists (See Psalm 19). We simply have to look to be aware of His handiwork. However, He also has created life that is harder to see. Life on, perhaps, a different plane of existence. Spirit beings of diverse powers that assist in protecting life and also are bent on taking life away. Scripture contains clues as to their existence with accounts of both of these spirit beings. They are found sprinkled throughout all of God's revelation to us. Visitations recorded from Geneses through Revelation.
I have come to know that life is frail and to be treasured and enjoyed. Life is often not lost all at once, but moment by moment while we are unaware. Carpe Diem is the admonition. Seize the day. But what does that mean in light of responsibilities and the potential unseen that can rob life when we are unaware? I do not intend for this to be a dissertation on demonology or an in depth look at the work of Satan. I honestly think we give him too much credit for the evil in the world and the struggles of life we often impose on ourselves. Satan is a real created being. So are his fallen angels or demons, or dark spirits. Paul is right in Ephesians 6:12; we do fight against principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this age. They do posses and oppress people. They are powerful, and Daniel 10 indicates they can even interfere with our receiving answers and direction from the Lord. They can also be used of God to keep us close to the Lord, as God did for Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:7. My focus today is on John 10:10. It is here that Yeshua gives us Satan's plan and the mission of darkness.
Speaking to His disciples Yeshua says, "The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy". This is one of the most revealing scriptures into the reality of darkness and its relationship to every living being on this planet. The place to begin is with the words Messiah uses to describe the darkness that afflicts or souls. "Thief" (κλέπτης) pronounced kleptes. The word means embezzler. The thief is not obvious. He doesn't take what we can readily see. He rarely comes to take our prized possession or the rare painting over the fireplace. No, he is too subtle for that. This embezzler comes to "rob" which is the same root word. The embezzler comes to embezzle. He seductively comes into a life and skims just a little so as not to be noticed. A good embezzler can be active for years before the owner is even aware that wealth has been taken. That is what the spirits of darkness do. They skim just a little of life off at a time. And they can make it look good. 2 Corinthians 11:14 tell us, "and do not marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light". The darkness hides well and takes a little at a time. Life given to greed or selfishness doesn't happen over night. A friendship that brings us to choose between our faith or their love. Compromise with morality begins with one stolen kiss or the brush of a hand. Adultery follows harmless flirtation. Even assault and murder are likely to begin with disappointment, and a little bit of life embezzled is where bitterness fills the void.
The Embezzler also "kills" (θύω) pronounced thuo with long vowels. The common use is to sacrifice. Death is brought through sacrifice. The normal use is of the quick and painless killing of an animal, but it can also be used in a more philosophic sense as the sacrifice of ideals or beliefs that lead away from truth. Individuals sacrifice time and family for the promotion or the little plaque to hang in their cubical. We sacrifice fellowship and Bible study for soccer and ballet and overtime. The embezzler skims a little more life off each day until family, friends, and relationships are gone and we are alone. He incrementally replaces faith with disillusionment as we observe people of faith fall and find that our "truth" is more about tradition than Biblical reality. Faith in the Giver of Life skimmed off the top, little by little, day by day. And the void is filled with whatever works. Drugs, sex, mysticism, a unending search of meaning where emptiness rules. Life embezzled through the sacrifice of self to the darkness that denies real life, while the Creator of Life awaits our return. The tragic reality is that sometimes the embezzler skims enough life so the victim of the unseen crime by the unseen darkness has nothing left but emptiness and despair. They may well surrender to the darkness and end the life Yahweh had blessed them with.
The embezzler also "destroys" (ἀπόλλυμι) pronounced apollumi, with long "u" and "i" vowels. The core of the word means to render useless. Life has been skimmed and leaves behind nothing. He has embezzled, sacrificed and now the overwhelming feeling of uselessness remains. Empty shells that once held life. It was hard to even see it coming, especially from the inside. Just a technical note all these words are aorist active subjunctive verbs. It means it is an ongoing activity that has happened with the consent and cooperation of the subject. The embezzler has been invited in and cooperated with. The life he embezzled has actually been given to him. Now the precious life given by the Creator of life has been slowly embezzled and the victim feels like they have been rendered useless. The sacrifices made have cost too much and what little life that is left is not worth holding onto. Either that or the embezzler is promoted and life is exchanged for the lust for power or possessions or just lust itself. "Let the world be damned, I am my own god, I make my own sacrifices, my value is in what I know, possess, or control. I am among the elite, the powerful, the walking dead."
The dark spirits are active every day plying their trade, embezzling life. Among those who believe in Yahweh and Messiah, as well as those who do not. This is the real danger of the dark spirits. This is the darkness that lingers on the corners of our lives. The victims seldom see it coming. That is why the embezzler usually gets caught through an outside auditor. Someone who can look with an unbiased eye and see what has been so craftily taken. As followers of Messiah we need each other to be accountable to so the dark embezzler does not gain a foothold in our lives. This is the darkness overcome by the Light of the world. We will speak of Him and the spirits of light next time. In the mean time just remember, the embezzlers of life are closer than you think.
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