Know Thy Enemy

A beautiful and wise high ranking angelic being was once given a position of power and influence, but due to his pride he wanted to take over the position of God. For his rebellion he was cast down out of heaven along with a third of all the angels in heaven. Since then the enemy has been in a state of perpetual warfare against God. Through the old testament times his plan was to destroy the messianic line, and once the Messiah (Jesus) came the enemy's plan was to divert Him from fulfilling His mission: dying on the cross. Having failed that the enemy has fixed his focus firmly on us who were created in God's image to steal (our joy in God), destroy (our relationship and trust in God), and kill every single Christian on earth if possible.

This being of course is Satan and the fallen angels are his minions, the demons. One of the greatest things ever written about the enemy was written by CS Lewis in the Screwtape Letters;

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or magician with the same delight”

It's War!

It's been said by some Christians that if we participate in Spiritual Warfare we don't trust Jesus, that we are trying to usurp Him and to do His job. However I counter that argument by saying that by not engaging the enemy we are not doing our job. We enlisted in this fight the moment we placed our undying faith in Jesus and accepted him as our savior. We train for battle every time we read our bible, attend worship service and fellowship with our Christian brethren. We enter into combat every moment we can draw breath on this planet whether we want to or not, because we are under attack beloved. 

What is Spiritual Warfare? Spiritual Warfare is the constant battle between good versus evil; the battle between God and Satan, between the Christian Church and the secular world that would tear us down, and lastly the war within ourselves between the Holy Spirit and the lusts of the carnal flesh. Spiritual Warfare is not simply demonic possession or demonic oppression, it's so much more. In his book Angels Billy Graham said:

We live in a perpetual battlefield …The wars among the nations on earth are mere popgun affairs compared to the fierceness of battle in the spiritual unseen world. This invisible spiritual conflict is waged around us incessantly and unremittingly. Where the Lord works, Satan’s forces hinder; where angel beings carry out divine directives, the devils rage. All this comes about because the powers of darkness press their counterattack to recapture the ground held for the glory of God…

OT Tuesday: Tamar, Woman of Action

You're reading along in Genesis, and starting to delve into the story of Joseph in Chapter 37. You read of his brother's jealousy and how they leave Joseph in the pit to die, when Joseph's older brother Judah says "Hey - let's not kill him, let's just sell him into slavery where he'll have a miserable life and die in bondage." to which his brothers say "Cool!" and return to the pit only to find Joseph gone. Then suddenly the narrative in the bible veers so sharply to the side that you can hear the tires squealing.

In Chapter 38 the focus now shifts to highlight Judah, and Joseph is forgotten for a time. (Don't worry, Joseph is doing fine and living in Chapter 39) Judah starts chapter 38 by departing from his brothers having dispatched Joseph, and he settles down for a bit of family life. He married a Canaanite woman named Shua and with her he had three sons; Er, Onan, and Shelah. Judah found a wife for his oldest son Er who's name spelled backwards in Hebrew means "Evil". And evil he was, for is verse 7 the Lord gets rid of him:

 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord took his life.

Emergent Monday: Dumbing Down God

Open Theism is a new term (invented in 1980) for an old heresy  Open theists do not believe that God does not know the future; rather, that the future does not exist to be known by anyone. For the open theist, the future simply has not happened yet, not for anyone, and thus, is unknowable in the common sense.

In essence the Open Theist is saying that "If I can't see the future, how can someone as insignificant as God see the future?" That is kind of roughly put, but actually very accurate. These theological magicians are telling us that God is not omnipotent because he gave us free will so how could he possibly predict what we're going to do? They base their beliefs on Scriptures which describe God "changing his mind" One of the verses they use to back up their claims is Genesis 22:12

He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Are You Wheat or Are You Weed?

But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. (Matthew 13:25)

 So what's a tare? Since I first heard that verse I wondered what a tare was. I knew it was a weed because some bible versions come out and say weed, but a tare is a specific weed, we know it as darnel which is a weed that looks a lot like wheat. When I found that out I now see Matthew 13:25-30 in a whole new light.

But are you wheat or are you weeds? Are you a sheep or a goat? Are you saved??? The Apostle John can help, in fact he wrote a whole book on how to figure that out. 1 John 5:13 says  These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. So are we saved? John, Jesus' most beloved disciple, wrote for us a 10 point plan to see if we can actually have eternal life: