Break Up Your Fallow Ground: Uprooting the Deception of Sin

Break Up Your Fallow Ground

Uprooting the Deception of Sin

Jason Vincent Demarco

ISBN 979-8-88832-382-3 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88832-383-0 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Jason Vincent Demarco

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

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Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

Section 1: The Lust of the Flesh

Deception #1: Sexual Immorality

Chapter 1

Sugarcoated Cyanide

Chapter 2

The Deal Breaker

Chapter 3

Love Don't Love Me

Deception #2: Selfishness

Chapter 4

The Leech Has Two Daughters

Chapter 5

Double Whammy!

Chapter 6

No Harm, No Foul

Deception #3: Idolatry

Chapter 7

Pie in the Sky

Chapter 8

Red Herring

Chapter 9

The Golden Calf

Section 2: Lust of the Eyes

Deception #4: Temptation

Chapter 10

Hunger Pains

Chapter 11

Trust Fall

Chapter 12

Hook, Line, and Sinker

Deception #5: Covetousness

Chapter 13

The Green-Eyed Monster

Chapter 14

My Brother's Keeper

Chapter 15

Weak in the Knees

Deception #6: Greed

Chapter 16

Monkey Business

Chapter 17

The Selfish Disease

Chapter 18

Moonlight Flit

Section 3: The Pride of Life

Deception #7: Vanity

Chapter 19

The Belly of the Big Fish

Chapter 20

I Candy

Chapter 21

What You See Is What You Don't Get

Deception #8: Partiality

Chapter 22

Shepherding the Flock

Chapter 23

The Center Of Attention

Chapter 24

Top Seed

Deception #9: Pride

Chapter 25

Crème De La Crème

Chapter 26

Decked Out

Chapter 27

One Way Ticket to Sheol

Epilogue

Now that we have blown away the smoke off of the mirrors and revealed the sinister properties and sobering truth behind the deception of sin, I pray that you not only have taken notes or have highlighted sections of this book but also that you practice what you have learned in your daily lives. Most importantly, whether you choose to read this book again (praise and glory to God!) or not, I cannot stress enough the crucial life-giving power of the Word of God.

About the Author

Introduction

Sin—it has many different names but the same face. No matter which sin it is and the severity of it, sin is simply missing the mark, falling short of the glory of God. Whether it is stealing a couple of jelly beans from the dispensary at the supermarket (I did that a lot as a kid) or murdering someone in cold blood, though society views some crimes worse than others, sin is still sin (see James 2:10–11).

Sin has entered into existence through the pride of Satan. Lucifer was created the anointed cherubim, the most powerful angel to be put in charge over God's creation, to lead the angels in the worship of the Lord. He was adorned with the most decadent array of jewels, given access to the very throne room of the Lord, the most beautiful being of God's creation at that time, until the very moment he saw a reflection of himself. Iniquity filled him as pride welled up in his heart, and defiance consumed him. Pride disillusioned him into believing he was able to take the throne of God and exalt himself above the Lord, then you know the rest of the event. He was thrown out of heaven with the angels that took side with him in opposition to God (see Isaiah 14:12–21 and Ezekiel 28:12–25). Then we go to the garden of Eden (see Genesis 2:7). God created man and woman in His image and likeness, thus Adam and Eve were the beginning of mankind. They were given tasks in the garden to uphold and maintain it along with a set of instructions (see Genesis 2:15–17).

Seems fairly simple, right? They had everything they needed in a place of paradise—established, secure, blessed beyond measure! They were innocent, free from guilt and shame. Adam and Eve had no conception of what sin was. Their objective was made clear to them, and they had no inclinations of opposing their agenda, not to mention they had direct fellowship with the Lord Himself as He walked amongst them. All they had to do was not eat of that one tree! But then here arises the test (see Genesis 3:1–7). The failure of the test occurred because of the deception, and the deception took place through disobedience. The devil twisted the Word of God and made that deception into enticement, tantalizing the thought of becoming like God if Adam and Eve were to eat of the tree. Sound familiar? Satan wanted to be God too. He took what made him fall and dragged Adam and Eve down with him!

There is a method and a formula to sin, and in the book of James, it is beautifully illustrated (see James 1:13–16). Sin has a process, and the devil is strategic. The temptation comes. It may begin as a thought in your mind, bitterness in your heart, something may catch your attention. It is alluring to your weakness. It catches you off guard when you least expect it. Before you know it, you entertain the thought of sin, it takes residence into your heart, begins to build up into a stronghold, and as that fortress of deception is being reinforced with the lust of your heart, it subtly drags you away into the burrow of darkness and death, captivating you into the snare that began as just a thought!

How many marriages were tragically destroyed with the viewing of pornography, innocent lives taken through bitterness of envy, church leaders desecrating the house of God through shameful idolatry, betrayals of family, friends, and loved ones due to wanting what others have? This amongst many other examples of the destruction of sin occurs because of the lack of awareness we have of sin and because we were born with a sinful nature when Adam and Eve fell. The sin nature of our hearts are revealed by our actions and our words, our choices, and our intentions (see Mark 7:21–23).

This sin nature has corrupted God's creation, and the devil uses the sickness and corruption of our hearts to confuse, mislead, disrupt, malign, and deceive us. We have a spiritual enemy that has a mission to kill, steal, and destroy humanity that is created in the image of God. The devil has absolutely no chance of redemption and is actively pursuing us through the deception of sin. But we have an Advocate, the Son of God, our Savior, Jesus Christ, that has come down in the flesh and has taken the penalty of sin, which is death upon Himself, triumphant over Satan by the cross, stripping away the power and authority the devil had over us. Christ rose from the grave and brought us back to the Father through His sacrifice! We have the authority to trample snakes and scorpions underfoot so that none of the power of evil will harm us. The enemy only has the leeway to harm us if we or God give them the permission to.

That's right, I said the enemy needs permission to harm us! We give them that permission by inviting sin into our lives through disobedience, and God gives permission to the enemy to harm us when our faith is being tested. I'm sure many of you that have read the Bible front to back many times are familiar with what you have read thus far. So then what is the objective of this book, you might ask? It is my goal to break sin down, ax to the root, expose it for what it truly is, and equip you to engage in spiritual warfare to combat and overcome it! The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (see 1 John 2:16) are the three main facets of sin that we will focus on as we delve deeper into the details of each deception.

The nine deceptions we will target are as follows: sexual immorality, selfishness idolatry, temptation, covetousness, greed, vanity, partiality, and pride. As we expose each deception, we will discuss the chain reaction of consequences that occur for each sin. You may think all we need to do is go to church, pay our tithes, do good works in order to live the right way, but it goes beyond that. If we do not read the Bible daily and obey it, then we will be that much more vulnerable to the enticement of sin. This is not a remedy to be sin-free. The only sinless one is Jesus Christ. He has perfectly fulfilled the law and is our atonement for sin, but it is possible through Him and the power of the Holy Spirit to walk in victory every day.

This book is a guideline of how to initiate and activate the Word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit to defeat the enemy and put to death the deeds of the flesh. Jesus overcame the enemy with the Word of God (see Matthew 4:1–11). It is essential that we are well armed and equipped in the Scriptures in order for us to walk in victory.

What do I mean by breaking up your fallow ground? In order for the Word of God to be cultivated into your heart, the ground of your mind and heart must be tilled of weeds, thorns, rocks, grubs, and anything that would come up and choke the enrichment and nourishment of the Word of God. The enemy is always looking to sow weeds in the ground of your heart, and if we want to be good trees that bear good fruit, then we must recognize and confront every deception that pollutes our being.

My prayer is that this book will give you the tools you need to understand the nature of sin, open your minds and hearts to the Word of God, and bring you into a deeper and more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Fighting the good fight of faith against evil and growing in the Lord will be a lifelong battle, and walking the narrow path will never be easy, but as we train to be soldiers of the kingdom of God, we will be refined and aligned. Time to uproot the deception of sin, to receive the seed of the Word of God, and flourish into the awesome and unique being that God has created you to be: destined for greatness!

For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: Break up your fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns (Jeremiah 4:3 NKJV).

Section 1: The Lust of the Flesh

Deception #1: Sexual Immorality

Chapter 1

Sugarcoated Cyanide

In today's society, the liberation for sexual misconduct is running rampant. The moral compass of humanity has gone awry, liberality has misconstrued as sexuality, and political correctness has become a malignancy of dignity. It seems wherever you go and wherever you turn, the media has sexualized advertisements, endorses inappropriate conduct, and has single-handedly opposed procreation. If it feels good, then do it seems to be the motto of our society. Those who are secular nonchalantly speak about watching pornography as if it was just an innocent pastime, seemingly harmless to watch.

The viewing of pornography literally rewires your brain. It triggers dopamine neurons in your brain, that triggers the feeling of excitement and gives people a need for more viewing as it fixates your mind on an object. Just like a drug addiction, pornography causes a chemical dependency of dopamine which in turn leaves the viewer relentlessly unsatisfied. What may be seemingly innocent is actually like sugarcoated cyanide. It looks sweet at first sight, but then pornography poisons and pollutes your mind, and its victims are those who are seeking to fulfill an empty void in their hearts through covetousness and vanity. It literally reprograms your brain because erotic imagery triggers more dopamine than sex with a familiar partner, exposure to pornography leads to ‘arousal addiction' and teaches the brain to prefer the image and become less satisfied with real-life sexual partners, says William M. Struthers, associate professor of psychology at Wheaton College. Not to mention that the world of pornography also institutes human sex-trafficking and makes human beings sex slaves to fund it. How horrible of a thought it is to know that it is someone's daughter or son, niece or nephew, granddaughter or grandson is being subjected to abuse, disease, and defamation of character, violating the very soul of that individual.

People are created in the image of God and are to be respected as that. They are not pieces of meat that you hang on a tree to train snarling pit bulls with! How would it make you feel if your loved ones were subjugated to such a vicious and despicable atrocity? When you participate in such exploitation, it desecrates your entire being, spiritually and physically. Those who promote and encourage such an atrocious behavior have altogether become corrupt as they have exchanged the truth of God for a lie (see Romans 1:21–32). The viewing of pornography causes people to worship body parts which turns into a fetish, and then that fetish becomes bondage, then bondage turns into imprisonment. The devil actively disguises his vices as a false promise of happiness and fulfillment, when in reality, you will be left completely empty. It will sear your conscience, dull your inhibitions, and inevitably leave you spiritually deceased. It is similar to those who are addicted to heroin. If you don't get your fix in a certain amount of time, it will literally get you physically sick because you have made your body chemically dependent on that drug.

I am a former drug addict. My drug of choice amongst the many drugs I have done was marijuana. I was existing and getting through life by being high all the time every single day for nearly twenty years. I was always broke, lost many jobs, burned many bridges, and even got as desperate as stealing from loved ones and getting myself into $51,000 of credit card debt.

This is the vicious and cruel cycle of pornography. It leaves you high and dry, desperate for more, and destroys relationships with family and friends. As Gary Wilson explains, When dopamine receptors drop after too much stimulation, the brain doesn't respond as much, and we feel less reward from pleasure. That drives us to search even harder for feelings of satisfaction—for example, by seeking out more extreme sexual stimuli, longer porn sessions, or more frequent porn viewing—thus further numbing the brain.

Jesus said clearly that anyone who looks at a woman with lust in their heart has already committed adultery (see Matthew 5:28). Many marriages have been destroyed due to the viewing of pornography. It opens up demonic doorways and gives access to your mind to be dominated by a stronghold. Those who view porn are never satisfied, and they watch it because there is something missing in their marriages. Others watch it because of abuse incurred growing up, while others do it because they were rejected in life by many, and it gives them the feeling of acceptance and control.

Ironically and realistically, they are out-of-control if they have no self-control of their inhibitions. But you don't have to be a victim of pornography. You have been washed clean by the blood of Christ. If you have given your life to Him and accepted Him as your Lord and Savior, you have received His Holy Spirit, and your body is a temple of His Spirit. We were fashioned uniquely and intimately by the Lord, and our bodies belong to Him. We should not violate His temple as we were bought at a high price (see 1 Corinthians 6:14–20).

The world of pornography is a demonic institution that portrays itself as fun and harmless, but the reality is that it is incurring destruction of dignity, and is fundamentally disgracing many marriages as it reeks an insidious havoc amongst its victims. I watched porn long ago and was just looking into the eyes of those people who are in those films. You can see utter sorrow and emptiness exuding from their very souls, such a tragedy to see people created personally with their very own DNA code by a loving God, throwing away their lives for momentary pleasure.

Sexual immorality comes in various different forms and puts on a prideful facade as it seeks justification through its convoluted deception. The rise of acceptance of homosexuality is an intrusion of morality. As I address this issue, I know many will take offense to this, but it is my duty as a disciple of Jesus Christ to speak the truth about this deception. Jesus said that these last days would be like Sodom and Gomorrah (see Luke 17:26–30).

Many of you are familiar with the original account of what has occurred in Sodom and Gomorrah. Sexual immorality was running rampant through the land, and the Lord sent two destroying angels to the land to forewarn the people of their iniquity and how God was disgusted