The Government Will Take Care of It!

That is the attitude of a large portion of Americans today.  The 2012 election will tell us exactly how many people believe this.  If you believe this, you also probably believe that the "check is in the mail".

Many Christians have this same attitude toward God.  I just give everything over to God and let Him take care of it.  It is true that that we are told to cast all our cares on Him; but, that does not mean that we have nothing to do.  We are not to be couch potatoes spiritually.  We are not to worry or fret; but we are to be engaged in "spiritual warfare".  What then is the proper role for us as Christians in this "spiritual warfare"?

Let’s just examine our actions.  Do you go to work each day to meet the needs of you and your family?  Yes.  Do you think that it is appropriate to go to the doctor when you are sick?  Yes.  Do you believe that, as a Christian, it is our duty to evangelize the unsaved?  Yes.  I could go on; but I think you get the point.

Some of you are now thinking about a Don Francisco song from the 70’s called “Jehoshaphat”, which is based on 2 Chronicles 20, where Jahaziel, a priest tells King Jehoshaphat, “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s”

I love the song. The lyrics are great:

Now Jehoshaphat was King in Jerusalem a long, long time ago
When the children of Judah all worshiped the Lord from the high on down to the low
Judah was a wealthy kingdom-- everybody's children were fed
Because Jehoshaphat studied the Word of the Lord and did everything He said

But out the east came an army one day after Jehoshaphat's gold
And they were marching right straight to Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat soon was told
So he called all the people together and everybody fasted and prayed
The Lord God answered the people and said, "There's no need for you to be afraid.

"Because the battle is mine tomorrow-- it's not yours and it's not the king's
And all you gotta do is just stand and watch to see the salvation I bring
Just believe that what I told you is exactly what I'm gonna do
And go out tomorrow against them because the Lord's gonna fight for you
Great jumpin' Jehoshaphat!

The army rose early next mornin', and they marched on out with the king
Jehoshaphat chose some singers, and he told those singers to sing
They praised the beauty of holiness, 'stead of shoutin' out a battle cry
And all the way down to the enemy's camp they sang to the Lord on high

They were singin'--
Praise ye the Lord for His mercy endures forever and ever
Praise ye the Lord for His mercy endures forever and ever
Praise ye the Lord for His mercy endures forever and ever
Praise ye the Lord our God His mercy will never end

The Lord God set up an ambush-- He got the enemy all turned around
And they started in killin' each other, you know, 'til they all lay dead on the ground
And the riches and the jewels that they left behind it took 'em three whole days to haul
The children of Judah all praised the Lord 'cause He saved them one and all

They were singin'
Praise ye the Lord for His mercy endures forever and ever
Praise ye the Lord for His mercy endures forever and ever
Praise ye the Lord for His mercy endures forever and ever
Praise ye the Lord our God His mercy will never end

If the parallel's not real obvious, now, I'll spell it right out for you
When you see trouble comin' to rip you off here's all that you need to do:
Pray to your heavenly Father, and believe that His Word is true
And then step out and shout the salvation of God 'cause He'll win that battle for you

(And) praise ye the Lord for His mercy endures forever and ever
Praise ye the Lord for His mercy endures forever and ever
Praise ye the Lord for His mercy endures forever and ever
Praise ye the Lord our God His mercy will never end-- it'll never end!

The truth is, the battle is the Lord’s and Christ has defeated Satan; BUT, even though the outcome has been decided, Satan is still fighting.

Christ assigned the task of binding Satan and his fallen angels, to His church:

“I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

If we were not intended to fight in the warfare, we would not need God’s armor.  We were not intended to sit around allowing Satan to run free. 

When we ask:  “Why did God allow that that horrible thing to happen?  

God is saying: “Why did my people allow Satan to do that horrible thing?”

Good Company

In my last couple of blogs, I have been talking about the spiritual warfare that is occurring around us and which is largely ignored by the average Christian.  I mentioned that the apostle Paul stressed this multiple times in his letters to the early churches.  After writing the last blog, I thought about why Paul chose to do this?  The simplistic obvious answer is that he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to do so.  Let’s consider this for a moment.  I don’t think that the Holy Spirit downloaded these letters into Paul’s consciousness nor do I think that the holy Spirit took control of Paul’s hand, like some puppet, moving his hand to pen those letters.  Although either is possible, I guess; I don’t find it to be consistent with how the Holy Spirit is shown to operate in scripture.  Based Matthew 28:20, I believe it is reasonable to conclude that the other apostles taught Paul this after his conversion:

“Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”

Paul was taught about the works of Jesus and he carried on Christ’s work.

I earlier entertained the thought that I was just being a “spiritual MONK, seeing a demon around every corner or behind every bush. I do not think so! To better understand and grasp the seriousness of this, I want to look at the gospels, observing Christ, since many of us call ourselves “Christian”, claiming to be one of His followers, striving to be “Christ-like” and having the hope of heaven before us.

In the four gospels the words: Satan, the devil, demon, demons, evil spirit or evil spirits, are mentioned 138 times in the New King James version of the Bible.

Compare this to the word “tithe”, which is mentioned twice.

It is not my intent to get into a theological discussion on tithing or giving in general; but I do want all of those reading this to consider what I just mentioned. 

We often bemoan the fact that God has been taken out of our government and schools.  I want propose that the devil has been taken out of our churches.  You say, “I didn’t think that he was supposed to there”.  The devil has been and is being largely ignored.  We “act like”, he is not there, is not real, he has no effect.  I think that he likes it that way: “Out of sight, out of mind”.

This is NOT how Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles operated.  Scripture tells to be aware, to resist, and to stand against him and his cohorts. 

Where do YOU stand? Are you in company with Jesus and Paul?

MONK

No not the kind that live in monasteries or on the top of a mountain somewhere in Tibet.  What other kind are there?  The guy on TV. MONK.  Most of you have watched him.  For the few that have not, he is a private investigator that is paranoid, germaphobe, obsessive and compulsive.  The theme song to the show is a catchy tune “It’s a jungle out there!”  The lyrics allude to his many fears and warn that some degree of cautiousness is necessary to stay alive, given life’s everyday dangers.

It's a jungle out there
Disorder and confusion everywhere
No one seems to care
Well I do
Hey, who's in charge here?
It's a jungle out there
Poison in the very air we breathe
Do you know what's in the water that you drink?
Well I do, and it's amazing
People think I'm crazy, 'cause I worry all the time
If you paid attention, you'd be worried too
You better pay attention
Or this world we love so much might just kill you
I could be wrong now, but I don't think so!
'Cause there's a jungle out there.
It's a jungle out there

In reality, IT IS A JUNGLE OUT THERE.  Many of you may think that I am a nut and seeing Satan around every corner or behind every bush.  I assure you that I am not a spiritual MONK!

Paul told the Romans:

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

³⁷Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Paul told the Corinthians:

^“3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”

Paul told the Colossians:

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.

If I am crazy, I’m in good company!  Was Paul the MONK of the New Testament!  I think not!

For all the armchair, Monday morning quarterbacks out there:

IT IS A JUNGLE OUT THERE!  A SPIRITUAL JUNGLE!

Being Picky

In my last blog, I talked about the NFL fine for wear orange shoes.  Since orange shoes are not inherently better or worse than black shoes, I assume that the reason that they are illegal in the NFL, is that the NFL is “being picky”.  Since football is a team sport, they want everybody to look alike with no individual player standing out or drawing attention to one’s self. 

Is that why God want us to wear His Armor.  Is He just picky?  Does He want us to all look alike?

I DON”T THINK SO!!!

You are free to use any armor you want.  You will not be fined.  You will not be punished.  You won’t go to hell! 

BUT

The devil will eat you up! 

God’s armor is the only armor that works against the devil.

WHY?

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

You are no match for the devil with any earthly armor.  You will fall every time.  He will run over you!  If you want to stand against Satan you must put on God’s armor.

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

$5000 Fine For Wearing Orange Shoes

Ephesians 6:11-12

¹¹Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¹²For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Paul used the example of the Roman soldier’s armor to describe the Armor of God.  To the people alive at that time, the Roman soldier was a common sight.  Everyone, reading the letter to the Ephesians, had a visual image in their mind as they read the letter Paul wrote to them about putting on the whole armor of God.  Today most of us have a hard time visualizing what Paul was talking about.  For the average American male, it would have been better if Paul had used the typical uniform worn by an NFL football or NHL hockey player.  The seriousness of the warfare would however be trivialized.  The Roman soldier was serious business; they had the power over life and death in their hands.

With this being the case, why am I stuck on football analogies?  I think the average male sitting in the average church in America, thinks more time thinking about football, hunting, fishing, golf or any hobby, than about “spiritual warfare”.  As to the average female in the average church in America, I do not feel qualified to make any comparison.  The females reading this blog will have to do that for themselves.

Getting back to the title of this blog, on Nov. 7 of this year, one of the Philadelphia Eagles wore orange shoes, violating the NFL Uniform Rules.  For this infraction he was fined $5000.  Why?  Do orange shoes give a player an unfair advantage? Nope!  It is just against the rules!

If the NFL has rules, do you think that maybe God does too?  YES!  Well, first and last, He IS GOD!  He makes the rules!  How many of us are wearing the wrong armor?  How many of us are wearing NO armor?  How many of us don’t even know that there is a battle going on?  How many of us could not care less?

AND

We wonder why the church today is an impotent church! 

Offense wins games, but defense wins championships

There is a football saying that “offense wins games, but defense wins championship”.  It is actually a miss-quote of something that Bear Bryant once said: "Offense sells tickets; Defense wins championships".  I want to ontinue on from the verse that I used to end my last blog:

Ephesians 6: 11-12  “So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. ¹²This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.”,

 I want to look at these weapons that we have been given, both on defense and offense.   In fact I want to look at the whole concept of “spiritual warfare”.  I hesitated to use the word “concept”; because it is not really a concept, it is a FACT!  However to the average Christian, it is foreign.  In 1991, only 35% of American adults believed that Satan is a living being; while 60% saw him as a symbol of evil. Among Evangelical Christians, 47% saw him as a symbol of evil and 49% as a living being.  69% of Roman Catholics saw him as a symbol and 26%, as a living being.  Mainline Protestants were not much different with 65% as a symbol and 27% as a living being.

This poll was repeated in 1997, and it suggested that the belief in Satan as a living being was possible slipping.

Another poll done in 2007, found only 24% of people polled, believed that Satan is a living being.

From this, I would conclude that most people, including most Christians, don’t believe in the reality of “spiritual warfare”.

With the majority of Christians viewing Satan as a symbol, is it any wonder why America is in the state it is.  Satan is viewed as a sort of “mascot” for evil.  Football teams have mascots, evil has a mascot, a little guy in a red suit with horns, pointy tail and a pitch fork. 

NOT!

The first thing we need to do is get our theology straight.  Peter tells us, “Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”.

Mark tells us”

“For forty wilderness days and nights he (Jesus) was tested by Satan. Wild animals were his companions, and angels took care of him.”

Jesus was not tempted by a symbol!  Jesus was not tempted by some mascot for evil!

Symbols don’t devour people!  Satan does!

How can we expect to fight Satan unless we believe that he is real?

He is as real as the chair you are sitting in and the monitor you are looking at.  The Internet is a symbol.  You can’t touch it.  You can’t feel it! 

Satan is 100 times more real than that thing we call the Internet!

IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP AND FACE REALITY!  IT IS TIME FOR THE CHURCH TO WAKE UP.  IF YOU CALL YOURSELF A CHRISTIAN, WAKE UP!!!

Press vs. Stall

This is the time of the year that the football season is reaching the end and the basketball season is starting.  Thanksgiving weekend often marks the championship high school football game and the opening game for the basketball team.  I have never played either but enjoyed watching both.  If you are old enough to remember University of North Carolina’s Dean Smith, you will remember his 4-corner delay offense.  He used it 107 times and won 105 of those games.  It was painfully boring to watch and very frustrating for the opposing team.  It was designed to preserve leads late in games, but a version is also used to draw teams out of a zone defense, forcing a man-to-man defense, opening up the middle. The “shot clock” was instituted to offset this offense, making it impossible use this offense for a long period.

One of Dean Smith’s arc-rivals was Duke University.  They are one of the best teams in the country, year after year.  They often play a pressing full court man-to-man press.  This can be very frustrating for the opponent and can wear them down, physically and mentally if they are not prepared for it.

What has this to do with my blog? 

I want you to think about this in light of Paul’s statement to the Philippians:

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Paul was in a man-to-man press offense; only it was not man-to- man.  It was: one man, having on the whole armor of God, to the devil and his fallen angels.  Game over!  Paul did not go into a stall.  He pressed on toward the goal.

When it comes to our spiritual lives, are we stalling, waiting for the game of life to end.  The problem is that life is not a game!  Life is “Life or Death”.  Lives are at stake!  We are in a spiritual battle with Satan and his demons, carrying on the work that Jesus started here on earth.  He gave His church the task of carrying on this battle until He returns.

Are we imitating Dean Smith hoping that the devil wear out and time will run out on the devil?

The devil is not going to wear down and we don’t know how much time is left on the clock.

We need to stand firm taking up “the whole armor of God”.

Ephesians 6:11-12, The Message:

“So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. ¹²This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.”