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Spiritual Warfare


Anyone who has followed me for a long time knows that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. However, because of what has been occurring during the Evangelical Christmas movement, I have been silent about where I stand in all of this. I have talked around it, but now I can no longer talk around that elephant in the room. I must deal with it.

The Enemy is Not People

According to Ephesians 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.”

The rulers of the darkness of this world are not people, but there are people who are controlled by this darkness, but it is not those people who are the problem. It is their ideology.

Conspiracy Theories are Agendas

Conspiracy theories fall into that category as much as anything else does. They are almost always lies and are used to control us with fear. The first time I realized the insidiousness of conspiracy theories had to do with a military installation in Crane, IN. Someone had taken pictures of the parking lot that was inside the Naval Surface Warfare Center made the parking spaces look much smaller than what a normal parking lot would look like. The commentator pointed out that FEMA was going to use the installation for keeping people rather than for cars and that the fence around was to keep people in.

I knew that wasn’t the truth, because I worked with several reservists who would go to the installation for training and used classified information. The reason that there was a fence was to keep people OUT not to keep people in. The parking lot in the photo didn’t have any cars in it so it was hard to distinguish the actual size of the parking spaces inside the lot. A good photographer could position his camera so that it appeared that the parking spaces were smaller. The conspiracy promoted fear that the government was out to get them and that they would be put into concentration camps if they didn’t stay on top of this.

This incident taught me to be weary of conspiracy theories because people often have agendas that they are trying to promote. Sensational conspiracy videos offer the most outlandish ideologies that people believe because they want to believe that the government is out to get them and that the enemy is on every corner and wants to destroy them.

People become convinced that what they are watching is true because of algorithms. Algorithms on the internet feed you more of what you are watching and don’t give you the alternative so you keep hearing the same ideology over and over again until you think that it all must be true because it appears everywhere.

No King but Jesus

Another aspect of the lie that we are being fed is the idea that some one person is going to save us from those powers. Again, it’s the fear of the darkness that makes us look for a savior to save us from that darkness. The sad thing is that any savior that we see except for THE Savior is a phony. It has happened throughout history. We often are just too lazy to see that any person other than Jesus Christ, no matter how benevolent he might seem in the beginning will succumb to the dark powers.

I saw this happen firsthand under a pastor that I sat under. He was a young man who wanted to do something great for God. He encountered a man who was on the radio who convinced him that God had chosen him to lead a church to greatness in the town where I lived. He then picked up and insisted that our church read a book that insisted that churchgoers were required to follow and not question their leaders.

This started him on a campaign to kick out anyone from the church who did not completely agree with him including the church board. I stayed long enough for the pastor to say that the church secretary and her husband (he was on the board) were holding seances and conducting witchcraft incantations on Saturday evenings at their house! I knew that wasn’t true! I attended the Bible studies that occurred there every Saturday night. There were no evil things happening there! I continued going even after that and sat right in the front of the church and then the pastor came after me and said that I had no business sitting there judging him. I told God there was no way that I could sit another service there and I got the impression that God was telling me that he wasn’t the one keeping me there. I left.

A few months later I heard that he had chased everyone out of the church and that he had convinced the last of the parishioners that since there were so few of them that they should sign the parsonage over to him as payment for his services. Shortly after that he chased those last ones away and then one Sunday, he and his family were the only ones left so he took the keys to the church and sent it to the denomination leaders saying that the people in the area were a backslidden wash that wanted nothing to do with the truth. He had murdered the church body one by one. He sold the parsonage and moved away.

Developing True Faith

How can we know what is true and what isn’t? Well, first, you must realize that fear is the opposite of faith. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17. “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

When it comes to spiritual things, we tend to be lazy and depend on another person to tell us what God wants to tell us. We try to depend on someone else’s faith rather than developing our own faith in God and therefore we are duped by conspiracies and teachers who have their own agendas.

Our faith is developed through heart-knowledge of the God who saves us and I leave you with this from his word. “For God so Loved the World, that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him will not perish but have everlasting life for God sent not his son into the world but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:16 & 17. I urge you to meditate on these words this week.


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I have heard a lot of people say that God put something bad on them to teach them something. The Bible doesn’t support the idea that God puts anything bad on believers..

With Whom Is Our Fight?

As we learned in Ephesians 6:12, it said that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood (people). The verse goes onto explain what we do wrestle against. principalities, against powers, against the rules of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. On the surface, we can take that to mean that we are to fight against evil in the world system whatever that may entail.

However, as we read this in context, it specifically speaks of the evil in the spiritual dimensions that are beyond the four dimensions of height, width, depth, and time. What exactly is the evil in this spiritual dimension?

The Father of Lies

In Genesis 3:15  we learn about the serpent who tricked Eve into eating of the fruit of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. In Revelation 12:9 the Bible tells us that the serpent is the Devil, Satan. In Ezekiel 28:13-19 we learn that this same being was in the Garden of Eden and that he had been a  beautiful and perfect cherub. that walked in the midst of the stones of fire. But when he deceived Adam and Eve, he lost his position as one of God’s angels. It was his pride in how beautiful he was that  separated him from God. Here it says that it was Satan who defiled the earth and that he is the ultimate terrorist.

Isaiah 14:11-20 tells us even more. It says that Satan’s angelic name was Lucifer. who fell from heaven and weakened the nations. Here it says that he had so much pride that he wanted to take God’s place. However, at some time he will be placed in the pit of hell and everyone will ask, Is this the man who made the earth to tremble and did shake kingdoms? That made the world like a wilderness and destroyed the cities and held prisoners captive. The people of the world may have mercy and grace, but Lucifer did not have that opportunity. He would never receive what he wanted which is to be greater than his creator.

The Enemy’s Tactics

In John 10:10, it says that this devil is come to kill steal and destroy, but (Christ) came that we could live and to live more abundantly. In other words, whenever something/one is killed, stolen or destroyed, it is not God that does it, it is the devil, Satan. Christ came to die on the cross to set us free so that we could have abundant life.

Our Lord’s Strategy

The truth is, we do not need to say “the devil made me do it”. We have been given tools to wage war against the devil. In addition,God gives us the battle plan for overcoming this enemy. First, we are recommended to protect ourselves defensively. In James 4:7 it says to submit to God and resist the devil and he will flew. Therefore our first strategy is to submit to God and resist the devil. According to Ephesians 6:13-15, we are to protect ourselves with truth, righteousness, prepare ourselves  with the gospel of peace,  take up the shield of faith, take up the helmet of salvation.

Verses 16-18 tell us how we can advance offensively we are to carry the sword of the Spirit which is The Word of God. In addition, we are to pray all forms of prayer and supplications in the Spirit  to put the enemy on the run.

 

 

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Donna Brown is an ordained minister. As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues. Her upcoming book A Coward’s Solace will be available soon. Click here for more information about Cygnet Brown and her books.

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