What if you were God’s enemy?

What if you were put in the place of the devil for a period of time and really had to play the devil’s advocate? How would you defeat God’s people?

Here are a few ground rules.
1. You cannot win in the end. The outcome of the match has been decided.
2. Your opponent – God – is superior to you in every way. You lack the power to have any level of lasting victory.
3. You have two primary weapons – deceit and fear.
4. When a person fully surrenders to God they are set free from you and can overcome you. They are empowered by God to set others free. When they assemble together they work together as an even more effective weapon against you.

How would you fight this battle. It appears that God can wipe you out at anytime and He can never be defeated by you. The only result you can hope for is to take as many of His created beings with you to your defeat. What would you do?

Modern warfare suggests a few standard operations that are a part of any battle. First – you must take out command and control. This is done first through covert operatives that infiltrate the enemy to gather intelligence and make strategic strikes at key leadership and facilities. Next you take out communications. No army can fight effectively if they don’t communicate. Divide and conquer. Once you have done this you must pin down your enemy. They must retreat to their bunkers where their only hope is to defend themselves. With the enemy divided and secure in their bunker you cut them off from any reinforcements. If you can accomplish this you will eventually defeat your opponent.

So how has the devil been doing in His battle strategy?

Operatives - The enemy has infiltrated the church. The church doesn’t even try to keep them out at this point. It begs the enemies of God to show up every week. Some even bribe them with prizes to come. Infiltration became easy once the church became legal.

Leadership - Through a deception of how the church should operate the devil has convinced many in church leadership of a way the church should operate. This way is not found in Scripture. The leaders of the establishment persecute the leadership that points this out. Thus it has been for thousands of years – see Matthew 23.

Communications – Prayer is our method of communication in this battle and the devil is effectively cutting it off for many. Prayer is one of the most neglected things in the church today – even in prayer meetings!

Division – Just look at the number of denominations today. The church has been fractured with division for centuries.

Pin them down and cut them off – For so many people today their religious experience revolves around what happens at their church building or functions. Meanwhile the enemy has cut most off from the lost. Most cannot tell you the last time they shared their faith of preached the Gospel to someone. The church in America is in sharp numerical decline. The reinforcements are cut off.

With this picture of battle in mind it looks like the devil is fighting a pretty effective war for a defeated enemy. Why is he so effective? The truth is that so many love their bunkers that they are afraid to leave them. They fear the evil in the world. They have been deceived into believing that what they do on Sunday is how God designed the church to operate even though they cannot support most of it from Scripture. The devil has effectively used his two tools – deceit and fear.

Reinforcements are coming. In the end Jesus will come back with the hosts of heaven and they will cast the devil into the Lake of Fire. The real question is this. How many will he take with him because the bunkers are full of deceived and frightened people that should be walking fearlessly in the truth?

Guns, God, and Idolatry

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Is it acceptable to live in fear and claim faith in Christ? Many professing Christians claim they have faith in God yet live each day in constant fear of something. The Bible says those people are not yet perfected in love.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”

This passage speaks of losing our fear of judgement. What about our fear of other things? Does the Bible speak about fearing man or harm? Below I have listed a few passages that address this issue.

“And David spoke the words of this song to the LORD in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said, "The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; My savior, You save me from violence. "I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies.”

“Some [trust] in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.”

“In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.”

“The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted”

I see fear as a lack of faith in God. I see the Bible instruct us not to fear but rather to trust in God. So when I woke up this morning and saw an article on the news feed about a Guns & God ministry in a church in Wentzville, I was struck. The headline read “Grandmother brings guns & God together in church ministry”

Read the full story here - KSDK 5

Here is a small quote from the story

"I'm not afraid to live alone because I have my brothers - Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson - with me," she told a about a dozen other members in a church classroom Sunday.

McClelland said there's a kind of confidence she's found in them - the guns - and in Christ, and it's something she wants to share.”

How can a church call something a ministry when at the very core of its teaching is the idea of placing confidence in something other than God? I am not a gun control fanatic. This is not about guns. Many Christians place their trust in things above God. Some trust in guns to keep them safe, others in where they live. Some trust in their wealth to keep them safe and others in their education to keep them wealthy. When we place our confidence in something instead of in God that thing is an idol. When the church teaches people to place their confidence in something other than God it is teaching idolatry. Owning a gun and learning to use it properly is legal and acceptable in the U.S. The lady in the story clearly says she wants to share the confidence she has found in guns and that crosses a line of idolatry.

Perhaps someone should teach these Christians that they do not have to fear what man can do to them because they have the Spirit of the Living God dwelling within them.