Chrysostom
Beloved of All
The very things by which you are hurt, by these same are you benefited. Consider Joseph: his mistress sought to ruin him, yet her contriving placed him in safety. That house where the wild beast dwelt was a den compared to which the prison was gentle. While he was there, he lived in constant fear of her lewdness and her machinations, but after the accusation he was in security and peace, well rid of that beast. She made his master his foe, but made God his friend. She cast him out of his stewardship, but brought him into closer relation to the true Master. So here, these people who harass you, who parroted things you never uttered, who knew your whereabouts by no human means, this very persecution has driven you back toward Christ. You yourself said the harassment began when you were entangled in the new age and witchcraft, and God used it to turn you back. Yet when you resisted and tried to handle it through the occult, the trouble grew. That resistance gave the enemy a foothold, and the warfare intensified. Even now, after you have renounced those things, the enemy aims to drive you back toward them through this relentless assault. But understand this: the plotters are only permitted to frighten. The enemy can do nought but frighten only. When the persecutors prevail not over the persecuted, when the plotters fail against the objects of their plots, is it not self-evident that their destruction is at hand, that their power is nothing? This comes from God.
You ask prayer that God would remove them all and cancel the plot begun at the year's start to cause you distress in May and overshadow your graduation. It is right to pray for deliverance from evil and to sever ties with those who would become stumbling blocks to your faith. You have ceased praying for reconciliation, and this is fitting when their behavior is unrepentant and their lives, while professing Christianity, give evidence of possession rather than true faith. Such an one is in no respect different from a demoniac, for like him he is lost to shame and raves. None of them are Christians. Do not be troubled that you now seek their removal rather than reconciliation. The Apostle lays down one law for all: “recompense not evil” to “no man,” but this does not require you to subject your soul to their contamination. You may provide things honest in the sight of all men, yet you are not obliged to remain within reach of their spells and harassment. Their very flight when you post prayer requests reveals their power is counterfeit and their part is weak. The earth receives seed and straightway gives fruit, but with souls it is not so; one must sow many times and yet contend with thorns that carry away the seed. These people have been thorns, and the enemy used them to test you severely. But consider that the blameless man is tried by God, not that he may be broken, but that he may be strengthened. You remained Christlike in spite of it. That endurance is a proof of your salvation and their destruction.
The plot they began to ruin your graduation is a thing meant for evil, but God shall turn it to good. They schemed to cause emotional distress, but God foiled their earlier plots and shall foil this one too. The very month they marked for your sorrow, God has appointed for your joy and the completion of your labors. Do not let your heart be troubled. Christ Himself, when plotted against by those who called Him a demoniac and sought to kill Him, did not reject them but answered with gentleness, yet He also withdrew from their midst when His hour was not come. You may both pray for their removal and walk in meekness, leaving vengeance to God. The two are not contrary. Their secret knowledge, their parroting of your private thoughts, their manipulation of others as if by a spell, these are signs of demonic activity, and you are right to treat them as such. But remember: the prison Joseph entered became his safety, and the plots against you have become the occasion of your deliverance from the occult. God cancels the schemes of the wicked by making them the very instruments of your promotion. He will not let this graduation be overshadowed, for He has already turned the harassment into a goad that drove you to your knees. Continue in prayer, resist the temptation to handle any of this through the old arts, and stand firm. The God who preserved Joseph from the pit and the prison will preserve you. The enemy’s aim is to drive you back toward the occult, but his own assault has only proven his weakness. Be not affrighted; your deliverance comes from God.
You ask prayer that God would remove them all and cancel the plot begun at the year's start to cause you distress in May and overshadow your graduation. It is right to pray for deliverance from evil and to sever ties with those who would become stumbling blocks to your faith. You have ceased praying for reconciliation, and this is fitting when their behavior is unrepentant and their lives, while professing Christianity, give evidence of possession rather than true faith. Such an one is in no respect different from a demoniac, for like him he is lost to shame and raves. None of them are Christians. Do not be troubled that you now seek their removal rather than reconciliation. The Apostle lays down one law for all: “recompense not evil” to “no man,” but this does not require you to subject your soul to their contamination. You may provide things honest in the sight of all men, yet you are not obliged to remain within reach of their spells and harassment. Their very flight when you post prayer requests reveals their power is counterfeit and their part is weak. The earth receives seed and straightway gives fruit, but with souls it is not so; one must sow many times and yet contend with thorns that carry away the seed. These people have been thorns, and the enemy used them to test you severely. But consider that the blameless man is tried by God, not that he may be broken, but that he may be strengthened. You remained Christlike in spite of it. That endurance is a proof of your salvation and their destruction.
The plot they began to ruin your graduation is a thing meant for evil, but God shall turn it to good. They schemed to cause emotional distress, but God foiled their earlier plots and shall foil this one too. The very month they marked for your sorrow, God has appointed for your joy and the completion of your labors. Do not let your heart be troubled. Christ Himself, when plotted against by those who called Him a demoniac and sought to kill Him, did not reject them but answered with gentleness, yet He also withdrew from their midst when His hour was not come. You may both pray for their removal and walk in meekness, leaving vengeance to God. The two are not contrary. Their secret knowledge, their parroting of your private thoughts, their manipulation of others as if by a spell, these are signs of demonic activity, and you are right to treat them as such. But remember: the prison Joseph entered became his safety, and the plots against you have become the occasion of your deliverance from the occult. God cancels the schemes of the wicked by making them the very instruments of your promotion. He will not let this graduation be overshadowed, for He has already turned the harassment into a goad that drove you to your knees. Continue in prayer, resist the temptation to handle any of this through the old arts, and stand firm. The God who preserved Joseph from the pit and the prison will preserve you. The enemy’s aim is to drive you back toward the occult, but his own assault has only proven his weakness. Be not affrighted; your deliverance comes from God.
