What is magnet fishing? – Part 1

At left, an MMS-C magnet screwed onto an MMS-D magnet, with the rope tied in between. At right, a single MMS-G magnet.

Magnet fishing (also called Magnetic Fishing), uses a strong neodymium magnet to try and grab ferrous metal objects that are hidden or lost underwater. If you want to try grabbing something lost on the bottom of a lake, pond, or river…a magnet on a rope might do the trick. Many people have reported success using strong Mounting Magnets. They are durable, and you can easily tie them onto the end of a rope. (https://www.kjmagnetics.com/blog.asp?p=magnet-fishing)

The magnets used are strong enough to remove large debris such as discarded bicycles, guns, safes, bombs, grenades, coins and car tire rims from bodies of water, but many who engage in the hobby are hoping to find rare and valuable items as well. {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet_fishing}
The Devil (the tempter) and his demons use what I will call spiritual magnet fishing. They love to bring before us anything that might attract (bring up from our inner souls…our minds, our wills, or our emotions) any secret lusts or impure and wrong desires or insincere motives that we have allowed to linger there and have not acknowledged or confessed or forsaken. James 1:13-15 explains this concept in vivid detail.

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death

James begins by making it very clear that temptation can never come from God. Tests and Trials can come from God, but not temptation. The reason that temptation can never come from God is that God Himself can never be tempted, nor does He have any secret lusts or wrong desires or impure motives or insincerities in Him to be tempted. One cannot be tempted by what is not there. God is holy purity and moral perfection and goodness through and through. There is nothing in His being to tempt Him or entice Him!
The three English words here where it says “God cannot be tempted” are from one Greek word called apeirastos, which means “incapable of being tempted”. There is nothing in the heart or mind of God that is ever inclined towards evil things…it is impossible! And the more we, as His children, are conformed to the image of Christ, the harder it is for us to be tempted and the less we will tempt others intentionally or accidently.

So…God never tempts any person. He never draws a person towards sinful or evil things. He never entices a person with evil. He never hopes a person will engage in evil things or sin. With that in mind, then James proceeds to explain where temptation comes from…spiritual magnet fishing.

James says we are tempted by our own lusts (wrong desires), when something draws one of these wrong desires up and out of our souls…so that we are then enticed to go for it. A wrong desire is any desire that is contrary to the will of God for your life or contrary to the nature of God. A secret, inward, evil, or wrong desire can be looking for an opportunity to express itself outwardly…to fulfill itself.

So we can be tempted by any wrong thoughts that we allowed into our minds, which can grow into desires. Once a thought has turned into a desire, this new desire can be enticed and looks for an opportunity to fulfill itself. Demonic forces fish for these hidden desires with their attraction magnets….an opportunity that will match and attract a wrong desire. We can be strongly attracted to an opportunity that might fulfill that desire.

Our eyes can take a picture (of what we choose to look at and don’t turn away from) and heart can begin developing it. Remember the old Polaroid instant pictures? The camera snaps the picture and the chemicals on the paper being to develop the image. Or it can be like our current digital cameras, where the camera takes the picture and stores it in the memory chip for later viewing. In either case, the image got stored, either on the paper or in the memory chip and our minds can capture and store far more complex images than any-made camera.

So – James sums it up by saying we can be tempted by our own lusts (desires) being drawn up and out…into an opportunity for fulfillment (satisfaction). The enticement comes from without, but the temptation comes from within. BUT…we have to remember that the enticements do no good if there are no lusts (wrong desires) to be enticed.

You can stand two people side by side and provide the same enticement for both and one can be tempted by it, but the other not be tempted by it. What makes the difference? One has a secret lust in his/her mind already and the other does not. A third person could be walking in front of both of them and accidently drop a few hundred dollars on the ground without realizing it.

One of the two people behind that person can have a secret desire to get more money anyway they can (honestly or dishonestly or without work) and picks up the money and keeps it, walking away saying what a lucky day for me. If the other person has no lusts to get money anyway they can, they pick it up and returns it to the poor soul who dropped it….saying, “I think you would miss this”!

The Greek word for enticement is deleázō from delear meaning "bait". Properly, it means to bait a hook or set a trap with bait. Figuratively, it means to entice a victim into a moral trap, luring them in through their own selfish impulses. This gets us back to magnet fishing and how demons spiritualize it. When you go fishing, it helps to go where the fish might be and to use the right kind of bait. It helps to use some kind of bait that the fish like or want or they might not be enticed (lured by your bait).

Under Satan’s management and/or direction, demons can watch us and study us…what we do, how we do it, where we go, what we say, how we interact with other people, what we tend to like or not like, what catches our attention or distracts us, and on and on. This close observation can give demons insight into possible secret lusts (wrong desires) in our minds. I do not think demons can read our minds, but they can sure learn a lot about us just by watching us and listening to us. Behavioral Scientists, Private Investigators, etc…with no demonic power, can do that.

Therefore, after enough study and observation, demons can look for that opportune time to drop a spiritual magnet (the bait) down before us and see if it attracts us and draws up any wrong desires that they think might be there. BUT…the bait always has sometime kind of hook in it, that will grab you and pull you over the edge of thought (thinking about it) into action…actually doing it…engaging in the wrong desire…fulfilling/satisfying that lust…feeling what you have been wanting to feel…seeing what you have been wanting to see…hearing what you have been wanting to hear…touching what you have been wanting to touch, and experiencing what you have been wanting to experience.

This is why James says that when the lust has been conceived (the desire has conceived), it gives birth to actual sin and actual sin, when it is full-grown, results in death (of some kind or form). The word conceived (sullambanó) is a medical term referring to a woman conceiving…when the egg and sperm get together.

From sun and lambano…to clasp, i.e. Seize (arrest, capture); specially, to conceive or become pregnant (literally or figuratively); by implication, to aid -- catch, conceive, help, take. (https://bibleapps.com/greek/4815.htm)

Just as hundreds of millions of male sperm vie for a single female egg cell, demons can drop many, many types of bait (moral or spiritual sperm or spiritual magnets) down before us to see if any of them reach a hidden desire or lust (the spiritual egg). When the inward lust and the outward enticement get together or when the lust (wrong desire) takes up the enticement, the conception takes place. NOW…IT IS SOMETHING REAL AND TANGLIBLE. Now - what was conceived will begin to grown and reach the point of bringing forth (bearing) sin and then the sin will bring forth some kind of death.

In 2 Kings 5, the prophet Elisha healed the Syrian General Naaman of leprosy. Naaman then tried to give Elisha gold and silver and precious clothing as an appreciation gift. He truly was grateful and so excited to be healed of leprosy. But…Elisha refused to take any of it, saying the healing came from God, not him and he could not take payment or credit for something God did. When Elisha’s servant and right hand man Gehazi heard that Elisha refused to take any of the gifts, he got upset and decided he would secretly run after Naaman and ask for some of those valuables for himself. Here are Gehazi’s own words in verse 20.

My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.

Then Gehazi lied to Naaman and told him that Elisha had changed his mind and could use some of the money and clothing for some of his associates. So, Naaman gladly gave Gehazi all he wanted and Gehazi took it all back and hid it for future use, while thinking Elisha knew nothing about it. But God immediately revealed it to Elisha and he confronted Gehazi about it and told him, because he had taken financial gain for something God had done, he would now inherit Naaman’s leprosy and so would all of Gehazi’s descendants forever.

Verse 27 says how Gehazi then went out from Elisha’s presence and his skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.

Gehazi made a terrible deal (trade) that affected his whole family from then on. Sadly, he is a perfect example of someone with a secret lust (a wrong desire hidden away in his mind) being enticed by the right opportunity to fulfill that lust, which resulted in sinning. What was his secret lust that was brought up to the visible surface of his life by Naaman’s financial offer?

• Did he want to get ahead financially?
• Did he want to do some things for his family, that he never thought he could do, just being a servant to a prophet?
• Did he want some financial security, maybe for the time when Elisha was no longer around to provide for him?
• Did he want to get something for nothing…without work or trusting God?

He got what he lusted for, but the process he used brought destruction into his whole family. Another poignant example of this is in Acts 5 with the Christian couple named Ananias and Sapphira (man & wife). Here is the actual text in Acts 5:1-11.

Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

The backdrop to this story is in the previous chapter – Acts 4. Many of the disciples, including a man named Barnabas, had sold as much as they could and gave it to the Apostles to use for the needs of the other Christians who were suffering. All Barnabas owned was a single field, but it had good value. So, he sold it and gave all the money to the apostles to help others in need. Now, he had nothing, but his faith in God to provide for him – but that prepared him and freed him to go travel with the Apostle Paul on a missionary journey. He became one of the most effective and respected Christians in the early church.

When Ananias and Sapphira saw how much the Christian community there respected and admired Barnabas for sacrificial spirit and faith, they decided they wanted to be respected and admired like that. So, they secretly concocted a plan to sell only some of the valuables they had (but claim they had sold it all and given it all just like Barnabas), and thus gain the same kind of respect and admiration Barnabas had received…and yet have that secret little nest egg hidden at home to depend on (and not really have to depend totally on God for their needs).

This was deplorable to the Holy Spirit, who revealed it to Peter, so he could deal with it…and not allow this kind of hypocrisy and fake faith to go on in the church. Peter told them they had lied to the Holy Spirit, which a real Christian can never get away with, and they died right there - in front of all of those other Christians - that they had so wanted respect and admiration from.

The point is how they allowed this idea from Satan to come into their minds and stay there. A secret lust (desire) had taken root in their minds and was stored there to be lured up and out of them by the right spiritual magnet (respect & admiration). Satan could watch them and listen to them and see how much they coveted the respect and admiration Barnabas had received.

They wanted to be seen as people of deep faith like Barnabas, but they did not want to sacrifice everything and depend only on God. So – they planned a subterfuge (deception by artifice or stratagem in order to conceal, escape, or evade), but they made a bad deal like Gehazi and it costs them their lives.

In the next devotion (part 2 of this study), we will see how James describes the consequences of a sin being conceived or when demonic spiritual magnet fishing has been successful. BUT more importantly, we will look at how we can stop this process before it gets started.

Thank you for your precious time!
Yours in Christ,
Gene