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SCRIPTURE - 1John 3:8 OCTOBER, 2014 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. SUBJECT – THIS IS WAR!!! PLAY/DOWNLOAD [MP3] When you think of 'war', what comes to mind?? Usually, people equate war with massive destruction and loss of life usually orchestrated by a group of individuals, or even a nation, either to take something that their target has, or in retaliation to what the target perpetrated on them. In either case, the end result is there is usually a massive loss of innocent lives, as well as a massive financial cost, on both sides of the battle. War is not for the faint of heart. Most can not believe the absolute barbarity, and inhumanity that individuals will perpetrate on each other when in the throes of battle. War brings out the absolute worst in people. Back in the late 60's or early 70's, there was a song entitled 'War, What Is It Good For??' by Edwin Starr. As the song goes, the only ones that benefit from it, are the undertakers, and I guess you could say those that make the weapons. With this picture of all the negatives, that characterize 'war', it would seem that no sane person would want to have anything to do with it. Yet, there are times that, in order to protect oneself, and others, engaging in 'war' is the only way to go. To shirk away from the prospects of having to go to battle, can prove to be an exercise in futility because an enemy has no intentions of ceasing their aggression towards their target, no matter what. As a result, the only way to assure the safety of the innocent, is to completely obliterate the threat. When I hear the reaction of a lot of people in this nation, that say, we need to sit down with those that seek to do us harm, and reach some sort of compromise, I know I am listening to absolute ignorance. These people don't have a clue as to what they are setting themselves up for. If we look at what is happening in the middle east, with all those terrorist groups that are running amok killing any one that doesn't agree with their religious beliefs, and making threats to the US, and its allies, and the absolute lack of leadership by this president, based mostly on the ignorance of those that don't want to get involved in another war, they are setting us up for destruction. You think compromise with people that are hell bent on our destruction is the way to go?? You are living in fantasy land, to put it mildly. Why do I say this?? Because the main architect behind them, is the Devil. And, the Devil is not about compromise, he is about the destruction of all mankind. He, from the very beginning of mankind, has declared war on us. And every thing he does is designed to bring about that end. Well, what was, and is God's response to the Devil's plans?? He sent Christ, not only to deliver mankind from the bondage of sin, but, and this is the main point, to destroy the works of the Devil!! This means He came to wage war on the enemy. If you will notice the last part of the subject scripture, it says what Christ's purpose of coming down here in the flesh was for, and it was not to negotiate with the enemy, it was to render him completely impotent, to strip him of any and everything that he was using against us. Well, that is what Christ accomplished on the cross. He stripped the Devil of all his power over mankind Col 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. When He finished doing that, He turned around and gave the power to keep the devil where he was relegated to be, and that is under our feet, to His followers, the Church [Ge 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.] If you have ever seen some movies, or watched some wrestling matches, you may have seen the loser of a battle, laying on the ground, and the victor, standing over him, with his foot on his chest, signifying his total defeat. However, if you will notice, the one thing He [Christ], did not do, is eliminate [kill] him. This means he is still around, and he is not sitting still, biding his time. What he is doing is using the only things he has left to use, and that is lies and deception. In order to accomplish what he wants to do, he needs our cooperation to do it. He needs our lack of knowledge, and ignorance to get us to do to ourselves, what he no longer is able to do, unless we allow him to do it. You see, when Jesus left the earth and ascended back to glory, He gave His earthly representatives, the Church, the ability to 'hold the fort' so to speak, by empowering us with every thing we needed to do just that. Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Why did He do this??? Because He knew what the enemy was capable of doing, and He wanted us to be the ones to exercise our power and authority over him. So, what we have here, is an enemy that is totally defeated, and a Church that is armed with all the weapons needed to keep him in that position, and yet he is able to maneuver his way out from under our feet, and back to being a significant threat to us once again. And how did he do that?? By getting the Church to believe that we can 'love' our enemies in to not trying to destroy us. When the bible says we are to 'love our enemies' and that we are to seek to live in peace with them, it does not mean to compromise with them and their wickedness. To do that, we would be failing the mandate that Christ charged us with. Ask any person that is in the military what happens to people that are assigned a job to do, in times of conflict, that fail to follow orders. They could end up being court martialed, jailed, dishonorably discharged, or worse, executed. And why is this?? Because they are putting others lives at risk. During peace time, a lot of the things that people may do, would warrant a slap on the wrist, as compared to times of war. Well, as I mentioned earlier, we are at war today physically, but most of all spiritually. And, the Church, not all thank God, but most, are not only failing in doing their job, but, are actually aiding and abetting our enemy, to help him destroy us. How?? By using our own ignorance of the Word of God, much the same way he used on Eve, and tried to use on Christ. In both instances, he took what God said, and twisted it, to make it appear to be something that lined up with what God meant. The problem is, unless a person actually knows what God meant, they will fall in to the trap, the Devil has set for us. In his temptation of Christ, in the wilderness [Mat 4], each time he tried to get Him to do something, Christ responded with, 'It is written!!' Today, much of the Church doesn't have a clue about what is written, and that is because most of the leadership doesn't know either. Therefore, those that sit under them, are doomed to be lost in a fog of ignorance, that will end up with them being bound to the Devil. Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: …... Jesus said in one passage of scripture that the Church is supposed to prevail against the 'gates of hell' [Mat 16:18] If you consider what a gate is, it is a means by which people, animals, or other things can enter in, or exit from a confined place, like a walled compound, or city. What gates are not, is living breathing entities that wage a battle with us. It is not the gates that we are fighting against, but those that erected and stand guard to keep those that are behind them, in, and those that are outside, from coming in, to spoil their prisoners/goods. Jesus, has essentially torn those gates down, gone in, and made the way for those that want to, to come out. However, the Devil, is still trying to keep them in, by telling them that 'all is well, you don't have to leave because Jesus loves you no matter what your condition is. He won't let you down. You will still have a place in Heaven.' In other words, you don't need to leave. You don't need to change. You are alright, just the way you are. That is the biggest lie, going down the pike, and too many church folk, are eating it up. The biggest problem we have facing us is the lie that a person can live in a sinful condition, and still be acceptable in the sight of God!!! Notice, I called it what it is, a lie!! That is something that many see as being a little too harsh. Let me tell you something, call it what you want, it is the Truth!! People who deny the Truth, are akin to fools. Why am I talking like this??? Because this is war!!!! Either I obliterate the strongholds of the enemy, or get destroyed trying to do it. There is no middle [common] ground. You can try being friends with the enemy, and all he will do is use you up, then destroy you. I hear preachers like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton talking about we need to find 'common ground' so we can have peace, and Christians need not be against others that are not of our faith, because they may come to power one day, and pass laws to restrict our being able to practice our faith. What these preachers are saying is that we should all go along to get along!! This is exactly what the Devil wants. The Church backs off, lets the Devil keep doing his thing, then the next thing you know, he is on his feet, with his foot on our necks. All because of our ignorance of the purpose of the Church. I look at the majority of those that claim to be Christians, and, to put it quite frankly, they are a poor excuse of an example. They claim to be the mighty soldiers of the Cross, yet, the minute they get challenged to stand for what God says is right, they throw in the towel, tuck their tails between their legs, and surrender. The battle, like I mentioned earlier, is one that is in the spiritual realm, to set those that are bound in spiritual ignorance, free. You see, the Devil is able to do what he does because of the lies and deceptions he puts forth, that keeps us from being what we should be, and that is prevailing over him in every thing he wants to do. Now, just what are these lies and deceptions that the enemy is promoting that most of the Church has accepted?? The idea that babies in the womb of a woman, are not babies but 'fetuses', that gays are born to be that way by God, and therefore are not doing anything sinful, affirmative action is perfectly acceptable, even though no Christian should support it, that government, and the Church need to be separate, spanking children, is bullying, and abuse, capital punishment is immoral, just to name a few. The bible speaks expressly on all these issues, and because of the ignorance of its leaders, most of the Church is on the wrong side of all of them. And because of this, millions of souls are lost and ending up in hell. This means these Christians have become 'traitors' in the war by aiding and abetting the enemy. And, if you are doing that, you are a traitor, or transgressor to Christ. The bible says, Prv 13:15 Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard. You want to know why we are suffering so much in this nation??? It is because we are trangressing against Christ, and God is not having it. And who is leading the way??? The Church. Most of us, being led by our church leaders, have bought in to the lies of the Devil, and thereby are destroying not only our lives, but others as well. There is a little story I want to tell you in our remaining space. There was a man that was in prison, sitting on death row, waiting to be executed, when someone came to him, opened up his cell and told him he was free to leave, because someone had paid a ransom for him. The man, did not believe him. The stranger told him that if he stayed in the cell, when the executioner came by and saw him, he would be killed. The man decided to leave, but, when he got outside, he remembered some things he really wanted to take with him and went back to retrieve them. Just when he got inside the cell, the executioner came and got him, and took him out and killed him. The moral of the story is, 'sometimes it is best to leave every thing that is close to you behind, when your freedom, and maybe your life/eternal salvation is at stake. Because you may never know when your time is up. Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. This battle we are in, is not about us going out to physically injure and kill someone. However, we are out to spiritually obliterate the spiritual wickedness that is being perpetrated against all of us by the Devil. And, he will try to make it appear that we are trying to wage a physical battle with those that know no better, and they may respond with physical force. But, if you will remember, that is what happened to Christ, and all the saints before, and after Him, so it is to be expected. To try and get away from this aspect of our mission, puts you on the side of a deserter, in times of war, and you know what that means!!! So, how do we fight this battle??? First, get a knowledge of just what it is God wants us, as His Children to be doing. Find out what He likes, and do those things, and what He hates, and take no part in them, no matter what family, friends, and associates say. You need to look at what I said earlier about a few of the lies the Devil has perpetrated on mankind in this nation, and take steps to tear them down. And the best way to do that is to support those that seek to tear them down, and battle against those that seek to keep them going. The keepers of the gates. You can't say you are for Christ, while at the same time support those that are engaging in warfare against Him. Even if they happen to be members of your own family. Taking it even further, you aren't doing your job, if you vote for politicians that want to keep things as they are. You need to vote for those that are out to destroy them [lies and deceptions], no matter what. After all, this isn't a social gathering, 'this is war!!!' |