Witchcraft ran in her family for generations, and that was definitely one factor. In fact, I cast many demons out of her (and her mother) in Jesus' name while we were together. Real demons. Real manifestations. Real deliverances. Real results.
Another factor was that she had been sexually molested by her own father repeatedly between the ages of 5 and 6 years old, and that obviously caused a lot of psychological damage to her. I did everything in my power and beyond my power to help her.
The ultimate factor was simply her own free will. Again, God himself was showing her what the Christian life is really all about, and she simply saw the cost as being too high.
Well, I don't know if you see me as one of them or not, and, quite frankly, it doesn't matter to me either way.
I'm no dummy, and I'm well-informed/well-versed, by the grace of God, on a whole host of topics.
That I can tell you for sure.
Not in a boastful way, but, again, I'm no dummy.
If you don't believe me, then just ask Satan.
In a very real sense, I've lost respect for Satan as my adversary.
I mean, with all of our past battles behind us, you'd think that he'd know my actual weak spots by now.
Instead, he comes at me with pretentious people who literally are an insult to my intelligence.
I don't know.
Maybe he has dementia or something...
Generational witchcraft will always include an ancestral Jezebel spirit. My dad initially wanted to walk with God, but he also thought the cost was too high. (It's natural. Most people do.) He was called to a ministry that charismatics make much of: a calling full of signs and wonders, natural and effortless ministry, without pretension or a desire for admiration, prestige, and recognition. But it would have gotten him in trouble with different people, and he would've been thrown in jail often for it. The cost before and during the ministry were too high. He jumped ship.
I don't need to label people. Most people throw labels around because they're afraid of their own shadow. They want to be able to look at this person and say, "Good" and that person and say, "Bad"-- to look at an attractive girl and say, "Worthy" and look at an unattractive girl and say, "Condemned". Too bad it doesn't work that way. christians who don't want to grow up and believers who want to grow up know themselves. I don't need to label them for my sake as if I'm at war with or contending or competing with human beings. For what. For what.
Haha. I think I get what you mean that you've lost your respect for satan. I don't bother weak people (and everyone is weak, so I don't bother anyone). I look for strong people, strong challenges, confident women (not the average who can be taken advantage of easier than taking candy from a baby). satan has the same MO, and it can make you lose respect for him. For instance, satan knows human nature so well that he pridefully forgets that
sometimes humans choose to be different. This was his mistake with Job. He said Job was like everyone else. Yes, Job was like everyone else; but Job
chose to be different from everyone else. If not for his pride, satan would consider that sometimes people
choose to be different. But like all arrogant people, he insists that what he believes is the truth and that's it.
However.
You never want to lose respect for satan. satan
knows that the continual and unabated application of suffering will destroy any human being. God knew this first, and Jesus, speaking about the end of time, said,
"There will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened" (Matthew 24:21-22). With enough pain, all humans will abandon God. This is because we're weak, not strong. The only entity in the universes who has no weaknesses is God (Father, Son, Spirit). Everyone else-- from all the most powerful angels down to the most pitiful organism out there somewhere-- has weaknesses. satan knows this, and when he keeps at the same MO,
he does that with this knowledge in mind. God is the one who protects people from snapping and going to pieces. Especially when satan, the prince of pain, is the prosecutor, no one can keep it together without God's continual (but often hidden) interventions. We're just not aware He's constantly intervening. This was satan's argument against God when God told him to test Job; satan immediately said God was protecting Job. If God isn't protecting people (christians and non) every single day, satan won't waste time in getting a hold of them and dispatching most of them from the land of the living.
satan has the same MO with me too. His MO for each person will change as it needs to. When you beat him in or survive one area, his MO will change to match your next level (if you will). One thing about him is that he never gives up and never will until he's locked away in the Lake of Fire. I think that, if christians will live a full life, it's important to discover all the hindrances to that fullness of Life Jesus promised. The hindrances will run the gamut-- some human, some spiritual, some past, some present, some future. It's not easy, but when the cards are stacked against you from conception (ie. the Fall at work in Creation, in you, and in everyone, etc.), I think it's worth discovering those things that are sabotaging and will sabotage you because I'm pretty sure no one likes to be sabotaged.