Category: spiritual warfare

Attend a Grace Bible Conference!

Friday, November 29, 2013

“Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:13 KJV).

Before attending a grace Bible conference today, I will briefly discuss what such gatherings are all about.

The Apostle Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus (modern-day western Turkey). According to chapter 1 (verses 3-11), he charged Timothy to address a major doctrinal issue—legalism. Today’s Scripture communicates some of Paul’s instructions to Timothy until he could come and personally assist Timothy in Ephesus.

Timothy was to pay attention to three specific areas of ministry, and today’s Scripture lists them: “reading,” “exhortation,” and “doctrine.” When we Pauline dispensationalists (or “grace believers”) assemble, we do so to read and study God’s Word God’s way, to encourage one another to study and believe God’s Word God’s way, and to uphold and proclaim the doctrine that we learn when we study God’s Word God’s way.

Stated another way, we fellowship around three basic ideas that guard us against the errors in Ephesus (the same threats to our Christian lives today):

  1. FINAL AUTHORITY: We believe in the inerrancy and authority of the King James Bible—God’s preserved Word for us as English-speaking people.
  2. SOUL SALVATION: We believe in the sufficiency of the Gospel of the Grace of God—that Jesus Christ died and shed His sinless blood to pay for our sins, He was buried, and He was raised again the third day for our justification (1 Corinthians 15:3,4).
  3. DAILY LIVING: We believe in the validity of the grace life—the doctrines of grace and their resultant manner of living that the ascended and glorified Jesus Christ first committed to the Apostle Paul (found in his epistles, Romans through Philemon).

We do not rely on the modern English “bible” versions for reading. We do not trust in works-religion for soul salvation from sins and hell. We do not believe in legalism (Mosaic law-keeping) as the operating system for the Christian life.

In short, we seek God’s approval, not a denomination’s approval.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 KJB

NOTE: I plan on video-recording the aforementioned grace Bible conference and uploading the footage to our YouTube channel. Updates will follow in the coming weeks.

The “Our Father” Prayer in HD #3

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 KJV).

Eliminating the static due to religious tradition, we present to you “the official prayer of Christendom” with unparalleled clarity….

“Thy kingdom come.” In this first petition of the “Our Father” Prayer, Israel’s believing remnant is acknowledging that their nation’s fall into sin postponed God’s earthly kingdom, but they are now ready to receive it. The New (heavenly) Jerusalem will “come down from God out of heaven” and be established on earth (Revelation 21:1-4). This “heaven on earth” kingdom was Israel’s hope throughout the Old Testament (Psalm 45:6,7; Isaiah 9:6,7; Daniel 2:35,44; Zechariah 9:9,10; et al.) and Israel’s believing remnant during Christ’s earthly ministry anticipated it (Luke 1:67-79; Luke 2:25-38; Luke 24:21; et al.). Jesus and His disciples preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 10:7; Mark 1:15; et al.). Israel’s believing remnant, in the future, will pray for God’s earthly kingdom to come, and her Messiah Jesus will be returning (His Second Coming) to establish it (Revelation 5:10; Revelation 11:15; Revelation 20:4; et al.). Father God said of Jesus Christ: “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion” (Psalm 2:6,7)

“Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Satan has polluted heaven and earth with sin (2 Corinthians 4:4; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 6:12). By the time Israel’s believing remnant is living during the (future) seven-year Tribulation, we the Church the Body of Christ will already be raptured into heaven, ruling and reigning for God’s glory there. Halfway through those seven years, Satan and his angels will be cast out of heaven (outer space) and confined to earth (Revelation 12:7-9); we will occupy their vacated offices of government in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6,7; Philippians 3:20,21). God will restore heaven to Himself first, He will glorify His Son Jesus in heaven first, and His purpose and plan will be accomplished in heaven first. Israel’s believing remnant, knowing this, will pray the second petition that God’s will on earth—His earthly kingdom—be accomplished AS His heavenly kingdom was established.

Let us continue dissecting the “Our Father” Prayer….

As We Tarry Here and Long for There #4

Friday, November 15, 2013

“For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you” (Philippians 1:23,24 KJV).

Before we go on to the next world, we must tarry in this one….

Paul demonstrated Jesus Christ’s selflessness (after all, Jesus Christ was operating in and through Paul). He knew firsthand that to be with his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was “far better” than sitting in a Roman prison awaiting execution. Nevertheless, Paul knew that it was in the best interest of his audience—the Gentile Christians in Philippi—that he remain in this evil world.

Beloved, we must learn as Paul did, that there is more to the Christian life than seeking our best interest. Paul could have died, gone to heaven to be with Christ, and been freed from the torture and capital punishment of the evil Roman government that had arrested him. Yet, Paul, or technically the Holy Ghost through Paul, knew that there was a more important matter than his physical comfort. Paul needed to stay on earth, so he could minister to the Philippian saints—a spiritual matter of eternal value.

Paul, imprisoned in Rome, could not physically go to Philippi over 600 miles (965 kilometers) to the east. Yet, he could write them an epistle, which he sent by one, Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:28,29)—Paul told them he hoped to come later (verse 24). We can benefit from that epistle today!

We must learn from Philippians that it is more needful for other Christians and the lost world that we remain here. Lost souls still need to be saved; Christian souls still need to be edified. For their sakes, our Dispensation of Grace must continue operating. We must tarry for the Lord as He tarries for lost people to trust Him alone for their soul salvation (2 Peter 3:9).

In the Lord’s own time, we will no longer tarry here and He will no longer tarry there. When His time has come, He will be here and we will be there, as we will be reunited to meet Him in the air! 🙂

The Greatest Veteran

Monday, November 11, 2013

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:14,15 KJV).

Today is Veterans’ Day in the United States, so let us especially thank the “Greatest Veteran of All Time.”

We thank veterans, living and departed, the often-forgotten men and women who risked their lives to secure our freedom. Just as we remember flesh-and-blood veterans who fought for our physical liberty, we reserve our worship and utmost respect for the least esteemed Veteran, He who secured our spiritual liberty.

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). Through Christ’s finished crosswork on Calvary, we have eternal victory over sin, death, hell, and Satan. Everything that God has planned for us is dependent upon Christ’s victory at Calvary.

Jesus Christ nailed the Mosaic Law to His cross (today’s Scripture). His sinless blood covered our failure to obey God’s laws; Jesus’ righteousness annulled our unrighteousness (sin). Christ not only liberated us from sin and its penalty (the everlasting lake of fire), but today’s Scripture affirms He also triumphed over Satan himself!

Christ has “spoiled [destroyed] principalities and powers [Satan’s power], he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it [His cross].” Jesus Christ destroyed Satan’s plans. Through Christ’s cross, God has “delivered us from the power of darkness” (Colossians 1:13), Satan’s evil system of Ephesians 2:1-3.

During a recent cemetery visit, I noticed American flags flying above deceased veterans’ headstones. These individuals can no longer hear or regard our thanks, but Jesus Christ’s body is not decaying in some tomb. If there ever was a Veteran most worthy of our gratitude, it is our Lord Jesus Christ. Though He died in battle, allowing Himself to be executed on a Roman cross of shame and scorn, He resurrected. He is alive and well today, alive forevermore!

Saints, eternity will ring with our thanks to the Veteran worth thanking, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Big Brother Versus Heavenly Father #7

Sunday, November 10, 2013

“…for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:5c,6 KJV).

Big Brother is watching; Heavenly Father is, too!

Earth’s governments did not become corrupt overnight. They have been growing progressively worse since Genesis chapter 3, when sin first entered creation through Adam’s disobedience, some 6,000 years ago. God is very much aware of the problem, and in His own time He will resolve it, but until then, He is operating our program.

The Apostle Paul, writing to members of the Church the Body of Christ living in the Dispensation of Grace (people like us): “Do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:14,15).

Why were they living in the midst of a nation with a corrupt government like we are? God’s program to restore earth’s governments—Israel’s program—was (and still is) temporarily suspended. Evil Roman emperor Nero allegedly decreed Paul’s beheading shortly after this epistle to Philippi was written. Satan is “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4); hence, the Bible calls it “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4).

Remember how our Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles behaved in the context of the wicked Roman Empire. They were all willing to die for the truth of the Holy Bible. Christianity was an illegal religion in the eyes of the Roman government, and yet the Apostle Paul preached the Gospel of Grace for over 30 years before being executed by that same corrupt government.

Beloved, let us not be afraid of man’s government. May we let the light of Jesus Christ shine brightly in and through us. Just as He will be with believing Israel during the antichrist’s tyrannical regime (today’s Scripture), He is with us and we are privileged to represent Him in this dark world.

Just remember, in the end, “Big Brother Versus Heavenly Father” will have a Victor — Heavenly Father! 🙂

Big Brother Versus Heavenly Father #5

Friday, November 8, 2013

“…for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:5c,6 KJV).

Big Brother is watching; Heavenly Father is, too!

In Daniel 9:24-27, the angel Gabriel informed the prophet that, in addition to Israel being out of her Promised Land for 70 years (the Babylonian captivity of 606-536 B.C.), so that her land could be cleansed of sin, there would be 70 weeks of years (or 490 years) for her people to be cleansed of sin. Verses 25 and 26 say that 483 years were fulfilled before Calvary. The last seven years—God’s wrath, the “Tribulation,” or “day of the LORD”—should have occurred in early Acts (Joel 2:28-32 cf. Acts 2:16-21).

However, rather than wrath, the ascended Jesus Christ poured out His grace and peace on Saul of Tarsus, his chief enemy on earth. In Acts chapter 9, Saul was saved, and was ordained of Christ as the Apostle Paul. The program that God had been operating—Israel’s prophetic kingdom program (Acts 3:19-21)—was interrupted. Jesus Christ’s earthly kingdom is still awaiting fulfillment.

From Paul’s salvation onward, God began to form a body of people, the Church the Body of Christ, who would govern the heavens for His glory like Israel would do on earth (Ephesians 1:20-23; Ephesians 2:6,7; Colossians 1:16-20). The Bible calls this the mystery program, which God had kept secret until He revealed it first to Paul (Romans 16:25,26). We, living in the Dispensation of the Grace of God, are actually living in an interim time period between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel’s prophecy.

The program that God is operating today has nothing to do with Israel’s prophetic program; our current dispensation, the mystery program, revealed first to the Apostle Paul (Ephesians 3:1,2), is totally isolated from Israel’s program. Hence, earth’s governments remain corrupt: God’s program to restore them is currently postponed so He can operate our program to restore the heavenly governments to Himself.

Howbeit, before we discuss God’s present-day dealings with mankind, let us see the resumption of Israel’s program….

Big Brother Versus Heavenly Father #2

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

“…for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:5c,6 KJV).

Big Brother is watching; Heavenly Father is, too!

Mankind was to have dominion over the earth for the glory of his Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ (Genesis 1:26-28). However, man willfully sided with the opposition, Satan, in Genesis chapter 3.

Approximately 2,000 years after Adam was created, God chose to create the nation Israel (beginning with Abram/Abraham in Genesis chapter 12), a nation that would do in the earth what man had failed to do for the last two millennia. It would be through this nation that God would regain His dominion and authority in earth; through Israel, God’s will for the earth would be accomplished.

Moses told Israel: “And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: and thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them” (Deuteronomy 28:13,14).

Israel was to be God’s chief nation in the earth, thereby dispossessing it from Satan, and exalting JEHOVAH above all the earth. However, Israel deliberately disregarded God’s Law and followed pagan idols. She fell into sin, and she broke the Old Covenant (Mosaic Law); that is, like Adam, Israel also sided with God’s adversary, Satan.

About 400 years after King David’s reign over Israel, Israel’s monarchy was lost to Gentile domination. At that time, the last of the Jews in Jerusalem were deported to Babylon (God’s response to Israel’s centuries-long wickedness, as recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:5-21). Israel lost her political strength, and this is one reason why earth’s governments are still corrupt.

Of course, God has not forsaken Israel forever, and government restoration of earth is still on His agenda….

Big Brother Versus Heavenly Father #1

Monday, November 4, 2013

“…for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:5c,6 KJV).

Big Brother is watching; Heavenly Father is, too!

In this world of increasing technology and communication, there is growing discussion about “government spying” and “government tracking.” Even some Christians fear making online purchases, owning “smart” cell phones, or even maintaining a Facebook account, lest “big brother’s eye” see.

Although prudent, this apprehension can—and often does—lead to extremes. Yea, such a mindset generates all sorts of peculiar behavior. Eventually, we will draw the curtains and huddle in dark corners of our homes, we will hide in underground bunkers, and we will relocate into the wilderness, jumping to safety just before the evil world system grabs us!

When the Christian is browbeaten by and swept into this paranoia (fueled by the “quality” news reports of the mainstream media), he or she is unwittingly playing into Satan’s deception. He or she becomes more focused on Satan’s world system, thereby failing to appreciate the deliverance that God has promised him or her in the Lord Jesus Christ! It seems like some Christians have more interest in their government coming to get them before their God comes to get them. This should not be, dear saints.

Have we forgotten about our security and victory in Jesus Christ that we so often proclaim? We are too busy thinking about this hopeless world to remember our hope in Jesus Christ, too depressed to have the joy of the Holy Ghost, and too disturbed to have the peace of God. Satan could not be happier; the Christian is helping further his policy of evil!

In today’s Scripture, the writer of the book of Hebrews reminds the believing Jews in the (future) seven-year Tribulation period that, although they are living in the worst period of human history, they should not fear the government of man. We would do well if we looked at this doctrine from Israel’s program, and notice the parallels in the program God is operating today….

Strength in Weakness

Saturday, November 2, 2013

“My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV).

When you realize God’s grace is all that you have, then you realize that God’s grace is all that you need!

Yesterday, I visited Brother “G.” for the first time since his wife of 55 years died Wednesday. He knows that she is present with the Lord, but understandably, he is lost without her. In his own words, “I know the verses, but they seem like ‘just words’ right now.” In his own strength, he cannot make it; but God’s grace is more than enough to get him through it.

Beloved, knowing the verses is easy, but applying them to life is hard. Our old sin nature rejects God’s Word, as the Apostle Paul delineated in Romans 7:22,23: “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”

Paul, as a saved individual, took pleasure in God’s Word in his spirit (spiritual body). However, he still lived in a physical body—“the body of sin” (Romans 6:6)—that was genetically related to Adam (the origin of man’s anti-God nature). You are strongly encouraged to read Romans chapter 7 in its entirety, but suffice it to say that Paul labored in vain to live the Christian life in his own strength. Sin would defeat him every time, and he lamented in verse 24: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

The solution to this “flesh-walking” is Romans chapter 8: “walking after the Spirit.” We study the Bible rightly divided for ourselves, and no matter what circumstance in life, we, by faith, allow the indwelling Holy Spirit to then work in us using the verses that apply to those specific circumstances. We are weak; Jesus Christ is strong. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). In Christ, we are equipped to handle every situation, good or bad, and He will live His life in us if we let Him.

Arrayed in Hypocrisy

Thursday, October 31, 2013

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matthew 23:27,28 KJV).

“Looks can be deceiving” is not only true during Halloweentime, but confirmed year-round within Christendom.

Today is Halloween, when children dress up and feign themselves to be creatures they are not. Likewise, many church leaders today wear “Christian” garbs, but their ministries do not bring the Lord Jesus Christ glory and honor. They promote their denomination, and seek to perpetuate it, rather than serve and exalt the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The Bible manifests these who appear to be good, as “wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

In today’s Scripture, Jesus Christ exposed Israel’s corrupt religious leaders who misled the nation in His day. In His Parable of the Tares, Matthew 13:24-30,37-43, Christ explained how just as He had sown good seed (wheat, believing Jews) in Israel, Satan had also sown tares/weeds (unbelieving Jews). Tares resemble wheat; unbelieving Jews resemble believing Jews. The unbelieving Pharisees and scribes, for instance, looked like God’s people (believing Israel). Judas Iscariot was another example of Satan’s tares—the apostles never realized who Judas really was until it was too late!

But Satan’s counterfeit believers are not confined to Israel’s program. Today, within local assemblies of the Body of Christ, there are people feigning themselves to be Christians: For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

Beloved, beware of the church leaders who are arrayed in hypocrisy, “and avoid them” (Romans 16:17b). If their teaching does not agree with the rightly divided King James Bible, you have no business as a child of God to be listening to them.

*This is excerpted from a larger Bible study with the same name. The Bible study can be read here or watched here.