Recently, as I reflected on the restored knowledge of God (which Jesus called truth), contrasting the liberty we gain in Christ to the bondage of iniquity, the Lord ministered a vision of handcuffs. This vision spoke of Satan’s temptation which always aims to detain, distract and destroy faith, so we are going to begin the teaching by having a closer look at these three words.

To detain is to hold someone back from continuing on (like the police might detain a suspect, using handcuffs). Satan seeks to hold you back from building God’s kingdom with the knowledge of truth and he does this by working at detaining you in your thoughts (with suggestions baiting anger, suspicion, doubt etc.) by taking the mind back to something someone said or did, to try and sort out these events in the mind in search of peace.

The temptation is for man to build with these things rather than weighing our thoughts to Christ by resourcing the knowledge of God for reason of faith.

There is a promise, as bait, at the end of Satan’s hook of false knowledge, suggesting that when you sort out events or circumstances in your mind or physically, or make new efforts to be a better you, that your soul will enter into rest and that you will experience completion. This suggestion contradicts the knowledge of God’s kingdom and is therefore a lie.

That is why Jesus called the devil a liar, and the father of it.

John 8:44
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

God never designed the soul to enter into rest by laboring with the tokens of the flesh. God designed the soul to enter into rest as we labor with the tokens He sprinkled with Jesus’ blood, whereby we serve Him, being joined to Him through the covenant of His Son.

You might have noticed at times how your mind can ponder and ponder about a specific situation that is troubling, or a need that is pressing. The end result of this pernicious pondering (damaging habits of thinking) is death in the soul, as it nurtures fruits of iniquity, defiling the conscience. God frees us from the shackles of pernicious pondering and the labor with false knowledge in the mind by providing His spiritual tools and holy knowledge by which to reason with the anointing to gain and maintain His pure perspective.

Pernicious pondering builds with the bricks of the flesh and not with the stones of Jesus Christ (the restored apostles’ doctrine).

To distract someone is to turn their attention away from something. The knowledge which Satan offers to the mind (which is contrary to the knowledge of God’s kingdom) distracts you from learning your true purpose in Jesus Christ as it turns the attention to the cares of this life instead of building for God. Grace brings singleness and soberness of mind and allows us to build God’s kingdom, assisting our focus to remain on Christ as we touch His holy tools.

Much of modern day Christianity has taken a wicked turn, in the sense that it has been watered down to merely serving the Lord for the resolve of circumstance or in pursuit of being a better you, setting man central in faith instead of God. The popular false doctrines of “God wants to turn things around for you” or “God is waiting to provide a breakthrough” seem to be a hot topic in the current Christian culture.

God sets the record straight, by teaching that salvation in Jesus Christ is about Him birthing the fruit of the Spirit in the soul as we go through our daily growth cycles (for faith to reflect Him), not about seeking Him for resolve or trying to be a better person.

John 15:8
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

As long as Satan can distract you with the themes and issues of life (keeping your focus on seeking after resolve, gaining victory over setbacks, being a better you etc.) he has achieved his goal of keeping you independent from God and far away from the covenant of Jesus Christ, which he knows is the environment God sanctified for your faith to be effectual, and your soul to be nurtured in His care.

Hebrews 10:16-17
¹⁶ This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
¹⁷ And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Let’s first look at the definition of the word destroy and then we will expound from there. Definition: “to put an end to the existence of (something) by damaging or attacking it”.

1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Many believers (not yet converted to covenant) erroneously think that the devil is out to get them (in the sense of their lives in this world) or their possessions. They think he is out to destroy their relationships, businesses, careers etc.

What is Satan really seeking to destroy? He is seeking to destroy hope and confidence in Jesus Christ and His covenant and thus seeking to destroy faith by the misdirection of one false doctrine or counterfeit gospel after the other – and thus we see believers like dogs chasing their own tails, ever in search of completion, peace and security but never finding it.

2 Timothy 3:7
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

By restoring apostolic stewardship to the church, revealing and instructing in the knowledge of His truth, God provides refuge to His people in the covenant of Jesus Christ. Inside the covenant is where we partake of God according to His design and purpose and not our own.

Every Christian has a desire to walk in the life and power of Jesus Christ. This desire is only truly fulfilled when you are joined to God through His new covenant where you learn what it means to use the tools of Jesus’ priesthood to co-labor with the Spirit for the work of spiritual transformation to take place, whereby He births His fruit in the soul. It is only inside this environment that you learn how to build God’s house with the stones of truth, offering refuge to the soul to discern and overcome the wiles of the devil. His priesthood is where we experience God’s communication of grace daily, and the washing of truth for the regeneration of the soul and the renewing of the mind.

God has restored His elect stewardship, the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the apostles’ doctrine and His 9 spiritual tools, that believers may know what it means to walk free from the shackles of sin.

The God of this world, Satan, influences those in his kingdom of darkness through a system of inspiration, which expresses iniquity. This system is called “sin” and the fruit of this system is called “the fruit of iniquity.”

God has given the key of knowledge to His elect steward, Apostle Eric vonAnderseck to deliver the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to believers, thereby breaking open the prison doors of false knowledge for those who have sat in darkness for so long, to now come into His marvelous light.

The restored gospel of Jesus Christ frees the hands from the shackles of sin to build for God, by equipping faith to be both cognitive and competent.

It’s not going to help much standing in front of the building site, having the bricks and mortar and tools ready for building, but still having your hands tied by the shackles of false knowledge. There has to be a turning away from false knowledge and the doctrines of men, to embrace the truth of Jesus Christ. That is what true repentance is all about – a turning away from what went before, and towards the new thing God is providing in Jesus Christ: His covenant terms and holy priesthood.

Acts 3:19
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

God’s instruction is clear; the mind can either by default work with false knowledge or by choice of faith, with the knowledge of His Kingdom. We cannot serve both kingdoms. Distinction has to be made between truth and error, and this distinction can only be made when the foundation of truth has been laid in the heart by living covenant apostles. The transitional knowledge training available freely in our online IDCCST Course is designed to do just that: setting the captives free to rejoice in the fullness of Christ’s promises for His end time church.