"Though Seeing, They Do Not See."

Matthew 13:13 (New International Version)

"This is why I speak to them in parables:
'Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.'"

Today, Lisa and I met with a group of people who call their church "Church of God." (This is not to be confused with the Church of God that is in North Carolina.) Basically this church believes that you cannot have salvation until you accept two things: (1) that there is a God the Mother and (2) that you can only have eternal life if you take a rigidly detailed view of the Passover.

While I don't want to get too detailed about what their cult believes, I just wanted to explain something the Holy Spirit revealed to me today.

You know when you are approached by people of a cult and they begin to take you on a furiously flipping, head-spinning journey through the Bible and seem to disprove everything you say? Yes, well...this same thing happened today. In the past, I used to get really frustrated because either I didn't know how to argue them back, or...after having studied the Scriptures to where I know where I stand on certain issues, I would get frustrated because they wouldn't listen to anything I had to say. Today's frustration was the latter. The man explaining to us (Phil) would point to one verse out of context, and when I would try to explain the context, he'd move on to another point. No matter what I said, he wasn't having it. Then he showed us Matthew 13:13 and the Holy Spirit was like, "See, Jessica?"

Phil was using the verse to explain that Lisa and I were blinded because we don't believe in God the Mother. Ironically, I realized exactly why I couldn't voice any of the rebuttals in my head: If the man speaking to me was blind, he wasn't going to get the Truth anyway. If he is choosing to be blind, then I will be casting pearls before swine--the age-old tactic that Satan uses in order to waste a believer's time.

Let it suffice to say: If you are ever discouraged because a cult follower seems to have the upper hand in a theological debate, just remember that it's not about you winning the debate. If they are blind, they are blind. Maybe the Spirit didn't want you to waste words. You can't convince people just because you are willing to convince them. The Spirit has to be ready for that person. If the Spirit is not ready, nothing you say is going to change their mind. In other words, be encouraged that the Spirit is using you, even if it's not the way you expect.

This is why prayer is the only real way of getting anything done. Pray for cult followers. They are lead by very very clever--yet entirely defeatable--demons. Some people cannot be convinced by evidence. . .but they can be by the Holy Spirit's moving. Pray for them.