Focus Scriptures: Ephesians 4:27 – “Neither give place
to the devil.”; Ephesians 5:7 – “Be not ye therefore partakers with
them.”; and Ephesians 5:11 – “And have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”
Definitions:
Aiding – The act or result of helping; assistance.
Abetting - To approve, encourage, and support (an action or a plan of action); urge and help on.
In law, there is a term that refers to when a person, who didn’t necessarily commit the crime, provides assistance, advice, or help to the one who did, or even approves of their actions, encourages them, and/or supports them. That term is Aiding and Abetting, and if you are found to have aided and abetted a person involved in illegal activity, you will go to jail for that crime. It is not something where the law says it’s not your fault they committed a crime. The secular law system recognizes that the person committing the crime probably felt comfortable committing that crime, because of your approval; the person was able to successfully commit the crime, because of your advice; the person was able to overcome fear, because of your encouragement; the person was able to avoid getting caught, because of your assistance in hiding that person. It doesn’t matter to the law sometimes if you are ignorant of what that person has done.
We must therefore be careful when dealing with people who exhibit changes in their behavior, discussing strange topics with you, and all of a sudden needing a place to stay, because all of that can come back to haunt you in court. Many times, it’s that person who committed the crime who will point the finger at you as being the true mastermind of what they did!
Likewise must we be careful in church. We must not be found in the position of aiding and abetting the devil and his ways. The goal of every Christian ought to be to be holy, to walk upright, to win souls to Jesus Christ, to be found blameless, and to make it into heaven. But just like a basketball team can’t win if the players are helping the other team to score, we can’t achieve those goals if we are helping the devil in his work.
What are some of the ways we aid and abet the devil?
1. Music – What we listen to has a direct effect on how we think and respond to life’s issues.
2. Music – (For musicians and singers) How can we allow secular music into our praise and worship? If God gave you your talents, why consult the devil on how to use them?
3. Being Judgmental – The judgmental spirit causes us to say things we shouldn’t say, and how does that affect a saint or sinner trying to get right?
4. Attitude – A bad attitude will cause us to say things out of the way to others that don’t need to be said.
5. Justification – True aiding and abetting comes when someone else does something wrong, and we speak trying to justify their actions.
6. Gossiping – Taking what someone says as truth without checking on its validity, and spreading it.
7. With our mouth – Trying to put others down and expose them.
8. Joking and Jestering – There’s nothing wrong with having fun, but there is a point where one can go too far, and that point varies according to the individual you are dealing with. Best to NOT joke and jest with others.
9. Discord – Important to not fall in that area. It’s so dangerous that the bible says woe unto them.
There are many more ways that we can aid and abet the enemy, but how do we get from serving God to the place of aiding and abetting the devil?
1. Stop praying, fasting, and reading – It’s like working out, we can’t work out for a season and then stop to admire the muscles. Soon those muscles turn to fat, and the strong becomes weak.
2. Pride – Walking right for a period of time and developing a reputation for living clean can cause us to develop pride that when we do fall, we’re too ashamed to do what it takes to clear it up.
3. Arrogance – This is the start of troubles caused by our mouth. We get high-minded and feel like we can fight the devil toe to toe and not get hurt.
4. Emotions – Our emotions lead us to sometimes go against the word of God.
5. Bitterness – Sometimes we have alts with people, and when they speak the right things concerning God, your contrariness leads you to speak against it.
6. Jealousy – Stop worrying about the money that comes into the church. If the Pastor mismanages it, let him/her deal with God. Our responsibility as outlined in Malachi 3:8-12 does not change according to what car the Pastor chooses to drive, or what house he/she chooses to live in.
When we see ourselves operating in these areas, I beg you to please make a change quickly. It is a fact that in a true church, God does not allow discord to stick around. There has always been a cleansing, whether it was one, two, or twenty. How can we get it right? Here’s a start…
1. Get back to prayer, fasting, and reading. (Matthew 17:19-21, Psalms 119:11, 2 Timothy 2:15)
2. Put on the whole armor of God. (Ephesians 6:13-18)
3. Once you have on the whole armor, USE IT! (Ephesians 6:12, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
4. Resist the enemy and his ways when they present themselves. (James 4:7)
5. Always acknowledge God in all you do. (Proverbs 3:5)
The penalty for aiding and abetting in criminal cases usually matches the penalty imposed on the one who actually committed the crimes, with the exception of the death penalty. However, for aiding and abetting the devil, IF one is willing to repent of that, and confess that sin, God is a just God that will forgive that sin or those sins. The price was paid on Calvary.