Chapter Three

STRANGE WOMAN IN SCRIPTURE

            Say unto wisdom, thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: that they may deliver thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.  Prov 7:4,5

            ...To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words:..For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.  None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.   

                                                        Prov 2:16,18,19

            For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil; but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.  Let them be only thine own, and not strangers with thee.  And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?  Prov 5:3,4,17,20

            The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: He that is abhorred of the lord shall fall therein.  Prov 22:14

            Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright...Thine eye shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.  Prov 23:31,33

            A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.  Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.  Prov. 27:12,13

    These are the only texts, with the exception of Proverbs 6:24, that specifically deal with THE STRANGE WOMAN or A STRANGE WOMAN or WOMEN.  In this text Solomon ties Strange Woman with THE EVIL WOMAN:

        ...To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

    In other texts this woman is repeatedly tied to harlotry or adultery.  Thus it is not hard to see the spiritual applications when the church is represented many times over as a woman, either chaste or a harlot. 

    Strange Woman is over and over depicted as the very essence of a sensuous, licentious, gaudy, promiscuous woman, filled with lust and passionate appetite, full of carnal or sinful knowledge.  Selfishness and lustful appetite are still her trademark today.  The epitome of the self-centered life, she is also the trademark of all Satan's cults and Babylonian organizations, in one form or another.

    In summary then, the Spirit of Evil-Strange Woman-Evil Spirit as identified by Solomon and inspiration is: an evil female spirit, a twin sister to Wisdom. She is depicted as an angel, and is that knowledge of bad, evil, and darkness. Her mantle has been seen covering the earth, depicting her influence felt throughout the world.  She also dwells within the inner man or Most Holy Place of man's spirit, the secret place within man's body temple and influences and controls man from there.  

    Wisdom and Strange Woman are twins in that they both are knowledge and understanding.  Both are angels, both inhabit man's spirit, and both speak and influence and control the person they possess.

    The great importance of understanding about this spirit will become most clear as we see how it relates to the Christian pathway and the segment where battles with self take place.  Those who are on this pathway have all had most graphic encounters with Strange Woman.  She is a real and actual spirit, having been seen, heard and felt.  The following experience is given as evidence of her reality:

            This writer, upon hearing about the Christian Pathway and the existence of Strange Woman, was seeking the Lord in the wee hours of the morning.  Having experienced some severe trials, he was contemplating just how far along he was on this pathway.  He was of the opinion he had gotten to a certain point, when all at once a voice, loud and clear (but not audible) spoke up and said "NO!"  This startled him, for this was all in thought with nothing verbal being spoken.  He persisted in his thought that he was probably at such and such a place in his walk along the Pathway.  Again the voice said, but this time more emphatically, "NO!"  Again the believer questioned and a third time the voice repeated the same thing.  Then she, for it was a female voice, went on and laughed and said, "you have all been deceived and I will not let you write out my secrets." 

             The writer was startled for three reasons. 1) This spirit could speak and be heard. 2) It could even read unspoken thoughts and 3) It could think ahead of the person, and suppose what the person would think to do before it ever happened.  The idea of writing about Strange Woman had not yet entered his mind.  Several weeks later Strange Woman made herself visible to the believer in a dream, and again in a picture flashed instantaneously across his mind.  In the dream, which came first, she was seen as a woman harlot of the world, very gaudy with thick makeup on, long black wavy hair, wearing a bright red dress, black nylons and high heeled pumps.  She was parading around, seeking to seduce someone, probably the believer.

            The picture, flashed at a much later time in the believer's walk, showed an entirely different person.  Now she appeared as a beautiful and chaste maiden, lying asleep.  Gone was the gaudy, licentious look of a woman on the prowl.  Her hair was beautifully combed and there was no makeup.  She was seen lying on her side, as if totally at rest.  What made the difference?  The believer's place on the Christian pathway.  The reasons for this will be discussed in the next monograph. 

            The believer heard her again just recently, as her story was being written.  She was not actually seen, but her presence was announced through a nightmare, which is not an uncommon occurrence for those contending with her.  She came twice within a two-week period, each time making herself felt by causing cold chills to play up and down his body, just as occurs when Satan attacks.  She spoke out as before, "YOU THINK YOU'RE PRETTY SMART WRITING OUT MY SECRETS.  BUT I TELL YOU AGAIN, I WILL NOT LET YOU.  YOU CANNOT DO THIS." This time the believer engaged her in conversation and made it clear that her twin spirit, who is the only creature who can subdue her, would see to it that the world would know about her.  She became angry and attacked with the chills again.  This went on for about 20 minutes or a half an hour.  

            The second attack came as a dream.  She was seen enticing the believer.  When she put her arms around him, she engulfed him and began clawing at his flesh and biting out huge chunks with her teeth.  She let it be known she was jealous of all the attention being given to Wisdom or the Holy Spirit, for much talk about love is a constant theme between the Holy Spirit and any believer.  Our Father loves to hear us tell Him of our love for Him.   

            During this same time period of about 3 weeks, the believer was being verbally attacked by other so-called believers.  Vicious rumors, lies, and accusations were being leveled that caused others to be turned away from the truths being presented in these volumes.  Out-and-out lies about doctrinal beliefs, specifically about what the believer thought about the nature of Christ, were being spread in several places, and people were believing them.  Letters from acquaintances were received expressing grave concerns and fears for the believer's soul.

            The believer was very saddened by all of this and also most discouraged.  But when Strange Woman came, he understood  what was happening, and why, and instantly recognized the source of attacks by other believers upon him.  When he mentioned this through thought to her, she just laughed and laughed.  It obviously made her very happy to be discovered as the cause of all the trouble and misunderstanding, for she knew she had been very successful. 

Since that time she has spoken again and again during the writing of  monographs 6,7, and 8, each time reiterating that she will not let her secret get out, and that she is not done with the writer.  She has caused the erasure of many hours of work on the word processor by turning off part of the processor.  This mysterious, unexplained shutdown erased many hours of memory.  She has employed numerous other delaying tactics to try to slow down this work.  The latest episode caused a loss of about 15 hours of time answering all the charges and accusations being leveled by non-believers.  This effectively put a temporary hold on writing this volume.

Other believers have also had real encounters with her.  She has appeared in various forms ever since they first found out about her.  So it has been with all who have heard about her, and so it will be with you too. 

She has displayed herself as a Hollywood-type sex symbol.  She has been heard and felt, and her peculiar brand of dreams have been experienced.  No one could convince those who have encountered her that she is not real.

EVIL SPIRIT "RUACH" AND "PNEUMA"

    In 1 Samuel 16, verses 14,15,16, and 23, we are specifically told that Saul received an "EVIL SPIRIT" from the Lord.  This is repeated twice more in 18:10 and 19:9.  Four of the six times it is mentioned it is referred to as "the evil spirit from the Lord."  Two times it is mentioned as "an" evil spirit.

    If we look up the words "evil spirit" in the original Hebrew, we find that evil is the word ra or "bad," as mentioned at the beginning of this monograph. The word "spirit" is ruach" and means "wind." Evil spirit then means "bad wind." 

    In Isaiah 63:10 the same word ruach is used in referring to "HIS HOLY SPIRIT," or God's Spirit.  Adam came to life when the Holy Ruach was breathed into his nostrils.  In the New Testament the word "spirit" in the Greek is pneuma which means "air" or "wind."

JESUS AND THE STRANGE WOMAN

    Jesus is described in Scripture as giving up His Spirit to His Father.  At that time the Holy Spirit with which He was born was taken away.  When Jesus died, he died the second death.  In context of what we are considering here, this means the Father actually withdrew His Heavenly Spirit from Jesus, which was part of His human spirit and with which He was born.  The implications of this are profound.

    The Father withdrew Jesus' Holy Spirit from Him just a little before He died, when He cried, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?" For that brief period of time Jesus hung upon the cross without the Father's indwelling Spirit, the spiritual void in His human spirit was filled with Strange Woman. For that brief time He became one with us in every respect.  His relationship with the Evil Spirit was exactly like ours.  The Holy Spirit with which He was born, and who cohabited with His human spirit all His life, who made Him both fully human and fully divine, was replaced by the Spirit of Evil.

    Thus He lost every touch with His Father and every spiritual advantage He ever had.  He was totally devoid of any spirituality during this time.  He was totally a lost human being.  For every sin ever committed since the beginning of time, and every sin that was to be committed in the future, was placed upon Him to bear as a total human man. 

    This is the only way that Jesus, born both fully human and fully divine, could pay the penalty of death required by sin.  Only by His losing or giving up His divine status could the requirements for sin be paid and the penalty of death be reversed for mankind. 

    This struggle faced by the "spirits" of Jesus began in Gethsemene and is described by Ellen.  "He felt Himself becoming separated from His Father by a gulf of sin, so broad, so black, so deep, that His SPIRITS shuddered before it." (RH October 9, 1888)

    These "spirits" that "shuddered" were His human spirit and His Holy Spirit, for He knew no sin.  The thought of taking upon Himself sin caused Him emotional (soul) agony beyond our comprehension.  "So horrible was this struggle that His soul agony...convulsed all heaven.  They saw their Lord inclosed by legions of satanic forces, His human nature weighed down with a shuddering, mysterious dread." (ST Dec. 9, 1897)

    We will never be able to comprehend what our Lord must have experienced when He had to give up His own Holy Spirit to satisfy the requirements of the law so we might be saved.  No wonder He cried out so agonizingly, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?"  For in fact it seemed to Jesus the Father had forsaken Him, had completely withdrawn His Spirit from Jesus.  He felt the loss was complete and eternal.  And to make it worse, some of the very people He came to save, whose sins He was bearing, were the ones crucifying Him. 

    Devoid of His Holy Spirit, He was bearing this entire load of sin as a common human being.  Being totally human, He could not see beyond the tomb.  If the penalty for sin had to be paid once for all men by the Son, the Father would not, could not, let Jesus be spared in any way.  He who knew no sin had to become total sin.  For this to happen He had to willingly give up His own Holy Spirit and DIE THE SECOND DEATH from which there is never any reprieve, EVER!

    When He died He truly gave His all.  To Jesus in His total human condition (His human spirit was joined with Evil Spirit for the first time), it was like losing everything FOR ETERNITY.  When He lost His Spirit, His humanity perceived He was losing every heavenly and spiritual attribute and privilege. Lost for eternity would be HIS SONSHIP WITH THE FATHER, HIS CREATIVE ABILITY, HIS STATUS AS GOD, CREATOR, REDEEMER and SAVIOUR.  Lost to Him in His human reasoning was LIFE ITSELF.  When He died, HE PERCEIVED ALL THESE LOSSES AS PERMANENT FOR ALL OF ETERNITY, FOREVER.  He felt the absolute enormity and pressure of sin crushing out his total human life, and he perceived his death was for eternity.  That is what the second death is all about.  It had to be that way.  In His humanness He could not see beyond the tomb.  It was absolutely mandatory that He face the second death as a total human being without the Heavenly Spirit to give Him ANY spiritual advantage or foreknowledge.

    If the Father would have given Him the slightest ray of hope, the slightest advantage over us, the enemy would have been there instantly crying unfair and foul, accusing Him of favoring Him over the rest of mankind by giving Him unfair advantage.  He had to "TREAD THE WINEPRESS ALONE," without help even from His Father.  This ordeal had to be faced totally as a human being, just as we would had we been in His place.

    Facing this ordeal with no hope of ever being resurrected, being lost for eternity with no possibility of redemption by the Father, what more could He have given?  Add to this the weight of every sin ever committed in the past, present, and future crushing out His life.  And add to this every screaming, fiendish, hellish demon, and evil angel, and Satan himself pressing upon Him with all the power at their disposal.  Is it any wonder He died so quickly?  Never in the ceaseless ages of eternity will we ever know or comprehend what He endured for us.  But if mankind was to be saved, Jesus had to pay this supreme price.

             Christ bore the sins of the whole world.  He endured our punishment - the wrath of God against transgression.  His trial involved the fierce temptation of thinking that he was forsaken by God.  His soul was tortured by the pressure of a horror of great darkness.... He could not have been tempted in all points like as man is tempted had there been no possibility of his failing.  He was a free agent, placed on probation, as was Adam and as is man.  Unless there is a possibility of yielding, temptation is no temptation.  Temptation comes and is resisted when man is powerfully influenced to do a wrong action, and knowing that he can do it, resist by faith, with a firm hold upon divine power.  UL 90

             His depth of agony was proportionate to the dignity and grandeur of His character.  Never shall we see and comprehend the intense anguish of the sufferings of the spotless Lamb of God until we feel how deep is the pit from which we have been delivered, how grievous the sin of which humanity is guilty, and by faith grasp the full and entire pardon.

             Evil had been accumulating for centuries, and could only be restrained and resisted by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power.  Another spirit must be met (Srange Woman) for the essence of evil was working in all ways, and the submission of man to this satanic captivity was amazing.  UL 219

             It was not bodily suffering which so quickly ended the life of Christ upon the cross.  It was...a sense of His Father's wrath that broke His heart.... Even doubts assailed the dying Son of God.... Faith and hope trembled in the expiring agonies.... The Redeemer....relied upon the evidences which had hitherto strengthened Him.... He had by faith alone to trust in Him.  Sufferings 35-38

    He who knew no sin, He to whom sin was so loathesome had to become the supreme sinner for all mankind, he had to die as we deserved without any hope for salvation, not knowing He would ever be raised from the tomb.  OH, WHAT LOVE! WHAT MATCHLESS LOVE!

    But Jesus did not suffer alone even though he felt forsaken by His father, for all heaven "shuddered" with revulsion.  "God's hatred of sin is intense and overwhelming." (RH Feb. 8, 1898.)  "The Lord of hosts suffered with His Son, but He did not abate one jot of the penalty." (ST July 12, 1899.) Every pang rent His great heart of love.  Indeed, "God Himself was Crucified with Christ." (5BC 1108.) "OH MY FATHER, IF IT BE POSSIBLE, LET THIS CUP PASS FROM ME" (Matt. 26:39). "NEVERTHELESS NOT MY WILL, BUT THINE, BE DONE" (Luke 22:42). "THE OMNIPOTENT GOD SUFFERED WITH HIS SON" (U L p. 51).

    ONLY BY CHRIST DYING AND LOSING HIS SPIRIT COULD WE EVER RECEIVE HIS SPIRIT.  That is the only way salvation could be accomplished.  He did this that "WE MIGHT HAVE LIFE AND HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTLY." 

            The interruption of the communion between God and His Son caused a condition of things in the heavenly courts which cannot be described by human language.... God...hid the Saviour...while He drank the last dregs of the cup of wrath.  5BC 1108

            For three hours Christ hung upon the cross, gazed upon by thousands.... 'And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.' Not only did the darkness enshroud the immediate vicinity of the cross, but 'there was darkness over the whole land.'

           God dwells in the thick darkness; He hides His glory from human eyes.  The Father with His heavenly angels, was inclosed in that thick darkness.  God was close beside His Son, though not manifesting Himself to Him or to any human being.  Had one ray of His glory and power penetrated the thick darkness that enveloped Him, every human spectator would have been destroyed.  And in that thick darkness God hid from prying eyes the last human agony of His Son.  He clothed nature with sackcloth, that she might not look upon her suffering, dying Author in His last humiliation.  3ST 521

    It is only His Spirit implanted in us that will make it possible for us to go through a time of suffering parallel to Jesus' suffering on the cross, termed the time of Jacob's trouble.  Contrary to what some believe, His Spirit, with which we will be filled, will not be taken from us.  It will only seem that way to us because the Father will withdraw the manifestations of His Spirit in our lives for that brief time.  Just as with His Son, He may be hid for a time by the darkness.  But He will be closer than He was to Jesus, for His Spirit will be within.  We will have to drink the cup for just a little time, as Jesus did on the cross.  But because He gave up His Spirit willingly, we will not have to suffer the loss of God's indwelling Spirit.  Why not?  Because He already paid the supreme price for sin at the cross by dying the second death, and that willingly, out of infinite love.

    "God (His Spirit) was CLOSE BESIDE His Son, though not manifesting Himself to Him or to any human being."  We do not know at what point, as Jesus hung on the cross that God withdrew His Spirit from within Jesus, nor how long before He died.  But it is likely this happened as darkness enveloped the land, which would have been for the space of 3 hours.  This plus the darkness created by all the forces of hell must have made these three hours for the Son of Man the longest in human history.  Truly it seemed to our Lord, He faced all the powers of evil alone.  "SURELY HE TREAD THE WINEPRESS ALONE."  

    The replacing of His Spirit with Evil Spirit points to the absolute reality of "Evil Spirit" or "bad ruach" in our lives.  For this ruach or Evil Spirit has been our breath and life from birth, that which we inherited from Adam and Eve, that which usurped the place of the Holy Spirit just as surely as it did with Jesus when He died.

    But there is even more that our Lord suffered.  When Jesus cried, "FATHER, INTO THY HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT," it was not His Heavenly Spirit He gave up, but rather his human spirit wedded with the Evil Spirit.  For by the time He cried out asking His Father why He had forsaken Him, the Holy Spirit had already been taken from Him by the Father.  He was totally at the mercy of the Father just like we are, but with one vast difference: HE HAD NO ONE TO INTERCEDE ON HIS BEHALF.  Thus when He breathed His last breath, it was the evil ruach that left him after her very brief union with His human spirit. 

            There was a shriek, shrill and agonizing, and the Son of God expired.  He died of a broken heart.  ST Apr 14, 1898

    When Jesus cried out that last agonizing wail, He conquered Evil Spirit on her own ground, without the aid of the Holy Spirit.  As a total human being Jesus did what no other could ever do.  But to have His human spirit, which had never had any communion with evil and sin, taken over by the Spirit of Evil was too much for His human heart to bear.  It was thus that the Spirit of Evil broke the human heart of the Son of Man.  

    When Jesus died He experienced exactly what Adam and Eve did when the Holy Spirit was withdrawn and was replaced by the Spirit of Evil.  To lose His own Holy Spirit was, in itself, a most terrible experience. 

    We can be sure the enemies gave their all to make Him drink the very last dregs of that cup of sin.  We can be sure the "accuser of the brethren," was there to crush out our Saviour's life with all THE GUILT that every sin ever committed would bring.  But by His death He shook the foundations of Satan's kingdom and sounded his death knell.  "The death of the Son of God made the death of Satan unavoidable." (RH Sept. 7, 1897)  No wonder Satan tried his utmost to gain the victory over Christ.  Literally ALL the forces of hell were focused upon this man who during that brief time was not God-man but totally human.  All the powers of Evil met at the cross to defeat our Lord, for they knew if He was victorious, their future annihilation was a certainty.  It was their lives or the Lord's that hung in the balance on the cross.

    For that short time while on the cross, before His death, He was like us in every respect, save one, HE KNEW NO SIN.  He truly walked through the valley of the shadow of death with the Spirit of Evil, both spiritually and physically. For her ways ARE the ways of sin, death, and hell.  Thank God He did, for without this incomprehensible gift, we would have no hope whatsoever.  Oh, lift up your voice and sing hosannas unto our Lord our God for His infinite, incomparable love.  With this one act He showed the universe and the world what absolute GRACE (LOVE IN ACTION) MEANS.  And praise the Lord, it was ONLY because of this expression of His unfathomable love, this  incomprehensible gift, that we can now receive His Holy Spirit.  Truly He became like us so we could become like Him.

END OF CHAPTER THREE