We have learned from Ephesians 2 that those who are dead in trespasses and sins walk according to the course of this world.

The adversary of Christ, Satan, the devil, the prince of the power of the air has established the course of this world and his children walk accordingly.

His method in establishing this course was formed in the Garden of Eden when he questioned God’s word as valid and true.

He challenged Eve to think apart from what God had told her about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Sin entered the world and with it the sin nature passed upon all men.

The sin nature is displayed in lusts, which are longing desires, an eagerness to possess and enjoy.

But these desires are desires outside of what God has established as right and good.

Desires that God established as right and good are always for the benefit of his creation and are bounded by laws and statutes that provide hedges of safety.

But Satan has brought in the sin nature by convincing Eve first, and then Adam that those boundaries are not for their good.

So Satan operates within the sin nature of man and the sin nature of man lusts to be loosed from any boundaries that God has established, even the boundary of the knowledge of the very existence of God.

The Bible starts in the book of Genesis with the statement,  In the beginning God.

So in the very first verse God established a boundary to man’s thinking.

Man is not to think outside the boundary of the existence of God, which is manifested by His Word, for this truth is to be a "given" in all of man’s thinking.

But Adam chose to ignore this boundary when he sinned and this opened up to Satan the lust not only of the flesh but also of the mind and this is where Satan operates in establishing the course of this world.

Romans 1 calls the lust of the mind imaginations.

Romans 1:21-25,  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ²²Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, ²³And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. ²⁴Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: ²⁵Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.

"Vain in their imaginations" means they chose to think outside of the boundary of God’s word for their imaginations led to vain things.

Refusing to accept a God they could not see they came to picture their god like themselves, like birds, four footed beasts and creeping things.

Isn’t it interesting that we are returning to this very imagination when the theory of evolution tells us that our origin came from creeping things, birds and four footed beasts.

Yes, the theory of evolution is clothed in scientific language and appeals to the sophisticated mind, but that mind lusts with imaginations outside of the boundaries of the Word of God.

The lust of the mind is a mind which moves from the basic foundational truth of God’s existence to imaginations of our origins apart from God.

That lust is seen so easily in scientists who are almost religious in their desire to hear messages from space, messages from other evolved peoples or creatures which they so expect will verify their imaginations.

Go to Mars and find the beginnings of evolution in order to support our imaginations, they cry.

Finding the missing link in the evolution of man is a religious quest for it will show our origins apart from God.

You see the premise of those who exercise the lust of the mind is the conclusion of Psalm 14:1 that says: The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.

This is the conscious choice of fools, No God for me!

So with this choice lifetimes are spent trying to find evidence that backs up this premise.

It is a religious quest filled with bias toward this premise.

The lust of the mind of those who are dead in trespasses and sins has no boundary of the word of God and in every area of the course of this world Satan has his own system for man, apart from God.

If God has a principle Satan has an Anti-principle.

He has his own godless ethics, his own godless philosophy, his own godless politics, his own godless psychology, his own godless science, his own godless religion and his own godless education.

And all those without the light of the word of God will fall for these systems of thought for they are not bounded by the mind of Christ.

If you are a child of God you are hedged about by the mind of Christ.

Paul told this to the Philippians in Philippians 2:5,  Let (which means permit) this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Now this is the mind with which to oppose Satan for it is a mind that is captured to thought that is bounded by God through His word.

Paul wrote of this to the Corinthians in:

II Corinthians 10:5,  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Bringing into captivity means to bring one’s thinking into the bounds of God’s word.

So the child of God is armed to cast down imaginations.

Casting down portrays a violent act. Get rid of imaginations most hurriedly.

He is armed to think only within the box of God’s word.

He is armed to oppose these godless philosophies and project the light of the Word of God on these issues.

For it is only by the Word of God for anyone to be equipped to oppose godless doctrine.

Now Satan has a godless ethics system for his system of Humanism fits well his denial of God.

Humanism is the belief that man is the ultimate reality in the universe and therefore it is man who determines his destiny.

Humanism is the doctrine that humankind may become perfect without divine aid.

So Satan’s ethics are determined by Humanism.

Ethics of course is a system of moral principles.

Now moral principles from God change not for God’s word is fixed, for God being perfect is complete and therefore he changes not, while any system of human derived moral principles constantly change.

Picture a blind man trying to walk.

He is trying to find the way and tries to establish a system of ethics in his walking.

He searches for boundaries with his cane, he touches things to determine his surroundings.

These ethics may work while he is on the sidewalk but what does he do when he is on a dirt path.

He establishes another set of ethics to guide him.

Now picture a seeing man, a man walking in the light.

He has been given eyes to see.

He has a set of ethics and those ethics have been established in the light.

There is no change to those ethics for his way is perfect.

So the man without God goes about establishing his own set of moral principles.

It is an evolutionary set of principles which he hopes leads him toward perfection but he finds they do not yet accomplish that goal so he establishes another set of principles.

One obvious area where this is taking place in our time is in the age old area of marriage.

God’s principle of marriage is fixed, being the union of one man and one woman.

Humanism’s principle is fluid and permits and encourages evolutionary growth and now defines marriage as between man and a man, woman and a woman or if you cannot help yourself between a man and a woman.

Humanism may in time define marriage as between anyone or anything, for moral principles are fluid in humanism.

If moral principles are fluid soon you will be able to marry your cat!

That is why situational ethics are pressed today in all areas of life.

There are no principles for everything depends upon the situation.

God’s fixed moral principles are rejected in favor of principles which in reality are not principles.

Humanism’s principles, being fluid, sees man as guinea pigs.

White mice upon which to test new methods, new procedures, new schemes in man’s quest for perfection.

As usual God’s word warns us of these men, as Peter has written in:

II Peter 2:3,  And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you……." The "they" of this verse refers to the false prophets and false teachers of verse one "who privily shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord who bought them.

God, the God who is love, is concerned about the worth of each individual and his welfare.

His moral principles are in support of this concern but in contrast the so called fluid moral principles of the humanist are simply testing procedures on the way to what he defines as perfection.

God’s plan is perfection through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.

It is perfection by the works of God.

The humanist’s plan of perfection is through the works of man.

God’s plan is motivated by love but man’s plan is motivated by covetousness.

The humanist pretends a great concern for the well being of men but they are simply covetous and desirous of exploiting the people they pretend to be concerned about for they are simply test subjects.

Judas pretended to be concerned about the poor when he objected to the pouring out of the expensive ointment upon the feet of Jesus.

In reality he was only concerned about the decreased heaviness of the money bag.

He could not stand to see the money float away as he smelled the perfume of the ointment filling the room.

The humanist, like Judas, not having a proper view of God and eternity, cannot have the proper view of the worth of an individual for all individuals are expendable for the good of the many.

The humanist can accept the destruction of millions of the unborn for this is simply the product of the evolutionary ascent of man.

Why clutter the earth with unwanted children, or children who do not line up with the humanist’s idea of perfection?

Remember Satan’s servant who desired the master race and destroyed those who he thought did not pass his muster!

He thought he was doing the earth a favor and that his efforts headed toward the perfection of man.

The second academic area on your list is Philosophy, the contrast being between Materialism and self-denial.

Now let me say that materialism is not shopping at Wal-Mart several times in one week.

Materialism is not having closets that overflow with goods.

It is not having a big house or a big car however having these things may be the result of being a materialist.

But as with the other academic areas, the other Satan constructed courses for this world, materialism has no place for God in its dogma.

For the philosophy of materialism holds that the only thing that can be truly proven to exist is matter.

It is the philosophy where only that which can be seen, touched, tasted, smelled, heard or in some way measured is real.

If you ask a person whether he or she is a materialist they may say no.

However if their life is wrapped up in only that which is material they are in fact living out the belief that only that which is matter exists and is of any importance.

Any philosophy whose major thrust is materialistic rather than spiritual is in basic disagreement with God’s word.

For Satan’s devices always take the world in temporal directions instead of directions which are eternal for the things which are eternal are not seen, touched, tasted, smelled, or heard.

Paul told of this in 2 Corinthians 4:18,  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Satan’s gifts are only in that which can be seen.

Satan tells us to look on things that are temporal, things that are realized by the flesh, things that are realized only in this life.

But Paul tells us to not look at the things that are seen, meaning to have a dim vision of these things.

But he tells us instead to have a clear vision of those things that cannot be seen.

Those who belong to God are to look on the things which cannot be seen, things like love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.

Jesus said to look on things that were riches eternally and put things in priority as to their lasting quality.

He told us of this priority in Matthew 6:33,  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

He again gave us a priority of life when he told us to deny ourselves and lose our life for his sake and in losing this life you will find it for all eternity.

He said that the gaining of the whole material world was not equal to the value of one soul.

The whole material world is temporal but every soul is eternal.

The Devil’s devices are cried out to the world in this familiar calling.

I have only one life to live so I must live it to the fullest.

I intend to live life to the fullest.

This is the saving of one’s life that Jesus talked about which will only result in losing it.

If followed this is the ultimate sacrifice of the permanent on the altar of the immediate.

But the child of God is called upon to see the material of this world as that which passes away but for a short season is allowed by God to be invested in His kingdom.

The materialist has a mind to consume any material he has in satisfying his own lusts but the Christian is to have a mind of using any thing material that he has been given for the glory of God and the advancement of his work.

Of all the academic areas listed I think Materialism is the one where most Christians fall short.

We live in a culture where that which is material is revered.

A culture where the more one possesses the more status one has in this world.

God’s word resounds loudly against this culture of Satan when it tells us to take no thought for what you shall eat or drink or about your body or what you shall wear.

And then Jesus relates worry about such things to lack of faith.

Satan hates your faith in God and goes about using devices such as the philosophy of Materialism where matter is all in all and God is excluded.