What is magnet fishing? – Part 2

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.

In Part 1, we looked at Magnet fishing (also called Magnetic Fishing), and how it uses a strong neodymium magnet to try and grab ferrous metal objects that are hidden or lost underwater….so you can try to grab something lost on the bottom of a lake, pond, or river. Pictured above is a magnet on a rope that might be used for this. (https://www.kjmagnetics.com/blog.asp?p=magnet-fishing)

We made an analogy to how the Devil (the tempter) and his demons use what I called 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, impure and wrong desires, or insincere motives that we have allowed to linger there and have not acknowledged, confessed, or forsaken. We saw how 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.

This time we want to look at 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.
Before we can be tempted by a wrong thought, we had to allow it into our minds, where it can grow into a desire. Once a thought has turned into a desire, this new desire can entice us and look for an opportunity to fulfill itself. Demonic forces will fish for these hidden desires with their attraction magnets….those opportunities that will match up with and attract a wrong desire already there. Therefore, we can be strongly attracted to an outward opportunity that might fulfill that desire.

So – James summed up this process 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…remember that the enticements do no good if there are no lusts (wrong desires) to be enticed.
Remember the hypothetical two people walking side by side, who were following a third person, who accidently dropped a few hundred dollars on the ground without realizing it. They both were provided the same enticement at the same time, but one was tempted by it and the other was not tempted by it. What made the difference?
One of the two people following that person had a secret desire to get more money anyway they could (honestly, dishonestly, or without work) and picked up the money and kept it, walking away saying what a lucky day for them. The other person had no lusts to get money anyway they could, so he or she picked up the money and returned it to the poor soul who dropped it.

Remember the Greek word for enticement is deleázō from delear meaning "bait", which literally 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, which gets us back to magnet fishing and how demons spiritualize it. After careful study and guidance from Satan (the master tempter), a demon can learn what catches our attention or distracts us, and then tempt us with something that matches a possible secret lust (wrong desire) in our minds.

So, that demon looks for that opportune time to drop a spiritual magnet (the bait) down before us and see if it attracts and draws up any wrong desires that could be there. Remember - that bait will always have some kind of hook in it, that will grab us and pull us over the edge of thought (thinking about it) into action.

Sadly, this is the point at which we actually doing something. We engage in a wrong desire to fulfill and satisfy that lust. We go for it and feel what we have been wanting to feel. We look at what we have been wanting to see. We listen to what we have been wanting to hear. We touch or handle what we have been wanting to touch and therefore experience what we have secretly been wanting to experience.

Think of King David (in 2nd Samuel 11) when he went up on the rooftop of his palace and looked around and saw Bathsheba unclothed and bathing. His experience then and there…is such a perfect example of the processes the Apostle James was (is) trying to warn us of in James 1:13-15.

James said that when a lust has been conceived (a 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). Remember how the word “conceived” (sullambanó) is a medical term referring to a woman conceiving…when the egg and sperm get together. Those hundreds of millions of male sperm vied for a single female egg cell, just like demons can drop 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 King David’s inward lust for more sex with someone new and the outward enticement got together, the conception took place. NOW…IT WAS SOMETHING REAL AND TANGLIBLE. Now - what was conceived began to grow and reached the point of bringing forth (bearing) sin and then the sin brought forth several types of death.

David sent for Bathsheba, had sex with her (adultery), and she got pregnant. Then he schemed to cover it up, but nothing worked. So, he planned how her righteous husband Uriah could be killed on the battle field (which was the same as murder to God), so David could legally take Bathsheba as his wife, before anyone knew she was pregnant.

God was very angry with David’s sin and cover up and rebuked him. Then God explained to him how death was coming, because of what he had done (as James said). His baby died shortly after it was born. His testimony was permanently harmed. And then, God told him the sword (violence) would never depart from his house (family). David saw what God meant by that during the last 20 years of his life, which I summarize here.

• David’s son Amnon raped David’s daughter Tamar who was Amnon’s half-sister. (2 Samuel 13:1-22)
• Then Tamar’s brother Absalom killed Amnon out of anger and revenge for disgracing his little sister Tamar. (2 Samuel 13:23-33)
• Then Absalom rebelled against his father the king and tried to take over the kingdom for himself and ended up trying to actually kill David. (2 Samuel 15:1-18:8)
• Then Joab the general killed Absalom for his rebellion. (2 Samuel 18:9-19:8)
• Then David’s son Adonijah tried to take over the kingdom for himself before Solomon could be officially anointed King by David, but he failed and Solomon eventually had Adonijah executed for treason. (2 Kings 1:1-53)

What a mess! What a price David paid for his one night stand with Bathsheba, especially when he already had 7 wives at home to meet his needs.

To grasp the incredible insight and detail the Holy Spirit gave James in the first century to illustrate the spiritual conception (fertilization) of a temptation, I copied and pasted in two separate sources showing or explaining how it happens biologically in a female and below that I tried to make the analogy (list of parallels connecting the physical conception to the conception of a spiritual temptation).

Fertilization and implantation

During fertilization, the sperm and egg unite in one of the fallopian tubes to form a zygote. Then the zygote travels down the fallopian tube, where it becomes a morula. Once it reaches the uterus, the morula becomes a blastocyst. The blastocyst then burrows into the uterine lining — a process called implantation. {https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/pregnancy-week-by-week/multimedia/fertilization-and-implantation/img-20008656}

Human fertilization is the fusion of a female egg and male sperm, occurring internally in the fallopian tube of the female. The female egg is located in the ovaries. Females are born with all of the eggs that they will have in their life, and will not produce any more. The male sperm is produced in the testicles (testes, for singular). In the testes, sperm cells are produced from the combination of testosterone and other hormones. Unlike females, males are constantly producing sperm throughout their life. The fusion of the egg and sperm leads to the production of a fertilized egg, or zygote, initiating embryonic development.{https://study.com/learn/lesson/human-fertilization-process.html}

1. A morula is a microscopic ball or cluster of cells formed through cell division very early in the embryonic development that occurs after fertilization but before the blastocyst stage.
2. About a week after the sperm has fertilized the egg, the zygote has traveled to the uterus and is a growing cluster of about 100 cells called a blastocyst.
3. Implantation is the highly organized process that involves an interaction between a receptive uterus and a competent blastocyst, when the blastocyst invades and attaches in the wall of the uterus.

Hatching human blastocyst

The Physical Process

• The sperm and egg unite (fuse) in one of the fallopian tubes to form a zygote. {A fertilized egg called an embryo}
• The zygote travels down the fallopian tube, where it becomes a morula (1).
• Once it reaches the uterus, the morula becomes a blastocyst (2).
• The blastocyst then burrows into the uterine lining—a process called implantation (3).
• Then everything grows until the birth takes place and a baby is born into the world and begins to grow up.

The Spiritual Process

• The inner lust (evil desire) unites (fuses) with the enticement from without to form the spiritual embryo.
• The spiritual zygote begins to form a spiritual morula that grows into a cluster of thoughts about how to get what you are secretly wanting.
• Once this cluster of thoughts matures in the mind, it engages the spiritual blastocyst or the will (our volition).
• The spiritual blastocyst (our will) burrows into our 5 senses - the spiritual uterus...the implantation.
• Everything grows until the sin takes place {a sin is world} and the process of death begins to mature (manifest itself) as the consequences of the sin materialize in one's life.

So, while understanding these processes, should make it easier to be more sensitive or conscious of wrong images, thoughts, concepts, or ideas trying to enter our minds, the real goal is to catch them and stop them before they get in and never let them get stored in our souls….to be a source of future temptation.

I wanted to dive into the preventive or proactive possibilities in this Part 2 now, but this piece has gotten too long to continue today. So, I will develop those thoughts in a Part 3 for next time.

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