• Spiritual Warfare

    by Published on 05-09-2013 12:32 AM     Number of Views: 1578 
    1. Categories:
    2. Regeneration,
    3. Spiritual Christian Life,
    4. Universalism,
    5. Spiritual Warfare



    Have you come across people, and more potently family members, who claim to be Christians but are clearly not? They throw the word "Christian" around when tested as if somehow that automatically makes them a Christian. For example, a family member may think the atheist in the family or other members of the family are Christians even though they never want to discuss the gospel of salvation of Jesus Christ let alone hear about it. They get angry about it. So this "nominal Christian" (i.e. false Christian) essentially believes in universalism that they are all saved and is under strong delusion that they believe in Christ anyhow in some mysterious esoteric way. What a false Christ this would be!

    How does an atheist accept Christ when the atheist claims God does not exist? That is the most obvious case to put forward. But it is no less true to observe the contradiction in someone who may not vocally deny Christ, but certainly has not received Him for forgiveness of sins and resurrection life.

    This family member who is a false Christian may have accused you of being a fanatic for your faith as a Christian even though you were simply giving the gospel of salvation with love to another family member who is an atheist. You were saved so you ask this fake Christian family member when he or she was born-again? Never did he or she ever give you the gospel before you were saved (or even after). What love is that? But as the years go by this fake Christian says she or he was saved long before you were. What a surprise that is hearing it for the first time when just a few days ago she or he said she believed in reincarnation, universalism and never mentioned Jesus is God the Son. This is a perverted form of one-up-man-ship. This is how worldly people are. They don't care about the truth of the Scriptures or the Spirit of Truth.

    Not only have I experienced this demented game they play, but I know other Christians who have given me their testimony that they have undergone the same mind games from fake Christian family members. I would like to add as well, I have never met anyone over the age of 40 who ever gave their life to Christ so don't expect them to change. At some point you need to simply not discuss it with them anymore, kicking the dust under your feet even as Jesus and the Apostles did. Just be aware of this universalist deception. Obviously, the Scripture are clear that such antics and those who rely on such antics are headed straight for the Lake of Fire.

    What's even worse is they are responding to the Christian in such a way to tell the Christian what the Christian wants to hear that they believe in Christ, but what then of these false Christ? There are many false Christs. Presenting a false Christ is not Christ Jesus. They are really purporting to believe in a false Christ of universalism. That is to say, the atheist, deist, worldling and gnostic in the family are saved by this Calvinistic irresistibly imposed salvation from a false Christ. Apparently, nobody goes to Hell in this scheme except the really really bad people.

    I don't think this onslaught that Christians have to put up with is anything new, but when it touches close to your heart by those who are family members, you realize Satan is working overtime in the spirit of your family members.

    J
    esus said, "Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 10.32,33).

    If you are unwilling to confess Jesus to others especially to close family members, obviously you are violating this verse, and therefore, you will go to Hell. Family members who reject Christ, that is, they don’t accept that He is God, died on the cross for the sins of the world, resurrected the 3rd day or make Him universalist shall spend eternity in Hell according to the Bible.

    I asked this particular fake Christian family member what would be his or her response when before the Throne when God asks, Do you accept Me and My decision to send the rest of your family members to Hell because they have rejected my only begotten Son? Her answer to me was, "Then I am going to Hell." I have never gotten her to ever admit she is going to Hell, but today she admitted it. Christians need to approach such people who worship a false Christ in precise ways to expose their own hearts back to them. What she is willing to do with this revelation is up to her. But you can see clearly she rejects the God who sends people to Hell whom are close family members. Call it a family-centric faith. If you love your mother, father, brother, sister or children more than me, you have not put Me first in your life to save you.

    As she has not shared the gospel of salvation with said family members, leaving an empty Church on her watch, by not giving the gospel of salvation to them when they are perishing shows she or he is not a Christian.

    “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3.15). Eternal life is not given to the person who is antichrist. If you are not for Him whom He truly is, you are in your heart of hearts truly against Him.

    “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3.16).

    “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3.18).

    “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3.19).

    “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved” (John 3.20).

    How should we confess Him? "...confess Me before men..." (Matt. 10.32).

    Jesus says in Mark 8.38, "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."

    Question: Is it wrong to be a Christian secretly in order to preserve your own life?

    Jesus Himself gives us the answer: "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matt. 10.32-34).

    Christ made it clear to us that “if the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15.18-19). If you call yourself a Christian and don’t have this sense, it is because you are not a Christian.

    For a Christian, a secret faith is simply not an option.

    Another message that Jesus brought to the world: “They [the world] will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake” (Matt. 24.9).

    “But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them” (Mark 13.9).

    Christians have a mandate from Christ to “go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28.19).

    Paul echoes Christ’s directive with this query: “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’” (Rom. 10.14-15)
    by Published on 12-12-2012 10:16 PM     Number of Views: 1354 
    1. Categories:
    2. Spiritual Warfare

    The Recovery of Ground

    One common principle underlies the way all ground is relinquished to evil spirits: it is through passivity, the inactivity of the will. If lost ground is ever to be recovered it is mandatory that the volition be reactivated. The Christian “henceforth must learn (a) to obey God’s will, (b) to resist the devil’s will, and (c) to exercise his own will in collaboration with the will of the other saints. Responsibility for recovering ceded territory rests chiefly on the will. It is the volition which became passive, hence it must be the volition which dispels passivity.

    The first measure the will undertakes is to resolve, that is, to set itself towards a definite direction. Having suffered much at the Bands of evil spirits but now enlightened by the truth and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, the child of God is led naturally to a new position of abhorring those wicked spirits. He accordingly resolves against all their works. He is determined to regain his freedom, be his own master, and drive off his enemy. The Spirit of God so works in him that his fury against the evil spirits gathers momentum. The more he suffers the more he hates; the more he ponders his plight the more furious he becomes. He resolves to experience a complete emancipation from the powers of darkness. Such a resolve is the first step towards the recovery of lost ground. If this resolution is real he will press on towards the goal no matter how fierce a fight the enemy may put up. The entire man supports his resolve to henceforth oppose the adversary.

    The Christian also should engage his will to choose, that is to decide the future he desires. In days of spiritual battle this choice can be very effective. He should ever and anon declare: I choose freedom; I want liberty; I refuse to be passive; I will use my own talents; I insist on knowing the wiles of the evil spirits; I wish for their defeat; I will sever every relationship with the powers of darkness; I oppose all their lies and excuses. Such a declaration of the will is highly beneficial in warfare. It expresses his choice, not simply his resolve, on these particular matters. The powers of darkness pay no attention to one’s resolve, but should he choose with his will to oppose them through the power of God then they most certainly shall flee. All this is related to the principle of the freedom of man’s will. Just as in the beginning the believer permitted the evil spirits to enter, so now he chooses the very opposite, the undercutting of any footing of the enemy.

    During this period of conflict the Christian’s will must be engaged actively in various operations. Beyond resolving and choosing, he also ought to resist. That is to say, his will must exert its force to contend with the evil spirits. He moreover should refuse—shut the door against—the entry of the enemy. By resisting he prohibits the evil spirits from further working; ...
    by Published on 10-15-2011 03:08 PM     Number of Views: 1572 
    1. Categories:
    2. Spiritual Warfare

    Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. John 12.31.
    Even though at present Satan temporarily rules over the world, he is but a usurper who has occupied it by force. When the Lord Jesus died on the cross He already cast out the prince of this world. In His death He “despoiled the principalities and the powers . . . [and] made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Col. 2.15).

    Although the world still lies under the evil one, it is totally illegal. And God has appointed a day when the kingdom shall be retaken and His Son shall be king over this world for a thousand years, and onward, then, to eternity. Yet before that time arrives God only permits Satan to remain active, while He himself holds the reins of government of this world.

    Satan may rule over all that belongs to Satan himself, he may even persecute all that belongs to God; nonetheless all of this is but for awhile. And even in this short while, Satan is entirely restricted by God. He may harass the saints but only within certain limits. Aside from what God permits, the enemy has no authority whatsoever.
    by Published on 12-07-2010 06:51 AM     Number of Views: 6489 
    1. Categories:
    2. Spiritual Warfare

    A Mind under the Attack of the Evil Spirits

    One fact which we must always bear in mind is: man possesses free will. God’s intention is for man to control himself. Man has the authority to regulate his every natural endowment; hence his mental processes should be subject to the I power of his will. A Christian ought to inquire of himself: Are these my thoughts? Is it I who am thinking? If it is not I thinking, it must then be the evil spirit who is able to work in man’s mind. Since I will not to think (and my mind usually follows my will) then the thoughts which presently arise in my head cannot be mine but rather are those which emanate from another “person” who uses the ability of my mind against my own will. The person should know that in case he has not intended to think and yet there are thoughts arising in his head, he must conclude that these are not of him but of the evil spirit.

    To determine whether an idea is of himself or of the wicked spirit, a Christian should observe how it arose. If in the beginning his mental faculty is peaceful and composed and is functioning normally and naturally according to the circumstances he is in, but suddenly a thought or a complete idea (having no bearing on his present circumstances or the work in which he is engaged) flashes across his brain, such inordinate and lightning quick thought is most likely the action of evil spirits. They are attempting to inject their thoughts into the believer’s head and thus induce him to accept them as his own. It is unmistakable that the notion which the evil spirits introduce into man’s mind is a matter he has not thought about at the moment and which does not follow the trend of his thinking. It is entirely “new”—something he never thought of himself. It has arisen abruptly and all by itself. When one gains this kind of thought it is well for him to inquire: Do I really think in this manner? Is it really I who am thinking? Do I want to think that way? Or is this something which simply becomes activated in my mind all by itself? The child of God should determine whether or not it is he himself who does the thinking. If he has not originated the idea but on the contrary opposses it, and yet it abides in his head, he then can assume that that idea issues from the enemy. Each thought which man chooses not to think and each one which opposes man’s will come not from the man but from the outside.

    Oftentimes also one’s brain is abounding with sundry ideas which he is helpless to stop. His head is like a thought machine, operated by external force; it continues to think but is impotent to desist. The believer may shake his head repeatedly, yet he cannot shake off the thoughts in his mind. They come to him in waves, rolling unceasingly day and night. There is no way to terminate them. He is not aware that this is but the activity of the evil spirit. He ought to understand what a “thought” is. It is something ...
    by Published on 12-06-2010 03:36 AM     Number of Views: 1444 
    1. Categories:
    2. Spiritual Warfare

    The mind of man is his organ of thought. Through it he is equipped to know, think, imagine, remember, and understand. Man’s intellect, reasoning, wisdom and cleverness all pertain to the mind. Broadly speaking the mind is the brain. Mind is a psychological term whereas brain is a physiological term. The mind of psychology is the brain of physiology. Man’s mind occupies a large place in his life because his thought easily influences his action.

    Before Regeneration

    According to the Bible the mind of man is unusual in that it constitutes a battlefield where Satan and his evil spirits contend against the truth and hence against the believer. We may illustrate as follows. Man’s will and spirit are like a citadel which the evil spirits crave to capture. The open field where the battle is waged for the seizure of the citadel is man’s mind. Note how Paul the Apostle describes it: “though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10.3-5). He initially tells us of a battle—then where the battle is fought—and finally for what objective. This struggle pertains exclusively to man’s mind. The Apostle likens man’s arguments or reasonings to an enemy’s strongholds. He pictures the mind as held by the enemy; it must therefore be broken into by waging war. He concludes that many rebellious thoughts are housed in these strongholds and need to be taken captive to the obedience of Christ. All this plainly shows us that the mind of man is the scene of battle where the evil spirits clash with God.

    Scripture explains that before regeneration “the god of this world (had) blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God” (2 Cor. 4.4). This verse concurs in what the other verse just quoted said by declaring here that Satan holds on to man’s mind by making it blind. Some people perhaps may consider themselves extremely wise in their ability to advance many arguments against the gospel; others may take for granted that unbelief is due to dullness of understanding; but the truth in both cases is that the eyes of man’s mind have been covered by Satan. When firmly held by Satan the mind of man becomes “hardened”; man “follows the desires of body and mind (as) children of wrath” and so “is estranged and hostile in mind” because “the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God” (2 Cor. 3.14; Eph. 2.3; Col. 1.21; Rom. 8.7).

    Upon reading these various passages we can see clearly how the powers of darkness are especially related to man’s mind, how it is peculiarly susceptible to Satan’s assault. With respect to man’s will, emotion and body, the powers ...
    by Published on 12-03-2010 08:17 AM     Number of Views: 1793 
    1. Categories:
    2. Spiritual Warfare

    In Battling the Enemy

    Those who live by feeling are even more worthless in spiritual warfare, because to battle the enemy in prayer is truly a self-denying work. What incalculable suffering is involved! Nothing for satisfying one’s self can be found here; it is pouring out one’s all for the body of Christ and the kingdom of God. How unbearable must be this resisting and wrestling in the spirit! What pleasure is there for the spirit to be laden with indescribable burden for the sake of God? Is it interesting to attack the evil spirit with every ounce of strength one can summon? This is a prayer warfare. But for whom is the believer praying? Not for himself surely, but for the work of God. Such prayer is for warfare which is thoroughly lacking in interest one usually encounters during ordinary prayer. Is there anything in this that can make him feel comfortable when he must travail in his soul and pray to destroy and to build? No element in spiritual warfare can gladden the flesh—unless of course one is contending merely in his imagination.

    An emotional Christian is easily defeated in conflict with Satan. While he is praying to assault the enemy the latter by his evil spirit will attack his emotion. He will set the Christian to feeling that such contesting is painful and such prayer is lifeless. So as he becomes sorrowful, insipid, dark and dry, he immediately stops fighting. An emotional Christian is powerless to war against Satan, for as soon as his feeling comes under attack by Satan he quits the field of battle. If one’s emotion has not experienced death, he may provide opportunity to Satan to strike at any hour. Each time he rises to oppose the enemy he is defeated by a satanic touch upon his feeling. Can anyone expect victory over Satan unless he has first overcome his life of sensation?

    Spiritual warfare accordingly demands an attitude of total death to feeling and an absolute trust in God. Only a person with this attitude can bear up alone and not seek companions or man’s approval in fighting the enemy. Only this caliber of Christian can proceed under all sorts of anguished feelings. He cares not at all for his life nor about death but only cares for the leading of God. He indulges no personal interest, desire or longing. He has offered himself to death already and then lives exclusively for God. He neither blames nor misunderstands Him because he considers all His ways to be loving. This is the class of person who is able to fill the breach. Though he may appear to be deserted by God and forgotten by men, yet he mans his battle station. He is a prayer warrior. He overcomes Satan. ...
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