God Given Honorable Mention
1 Chronicles 11 & 12 list the many mighty warriors who were leaders in David’s army, whom God used to defend Israel (example 1 Chronicles 11:14).
From the book of Exodus on, it is recorded how that God’s people had to fight in wars against many enemies. When Israel was serving God, God would give them victory on the battlefield. When they turned their back to God, God would use the enemy to punish them, and to affect their repentance.
When God anointed David to be king over Israel, he came to the forefront of Israel by way of defeating the Philistine giant in war.
There is no way Israel could have existed as a nation had they not fought the wars that defended their nation from enemy aggression.
It should also be noted that Israel obtained possession of Canaan by war, driving out the wicked inhabitants thereof.
When Christ comes back to set up His millennial kingdom, the first order of business will be war, at which time the beast and the false prophet are cast alive into the lake of fire, and Christ will then slay all their armies – Revelation 19:15-21.
Revelation 20 records how that when Satan is bound in the bottomless pit, that he should deceive the nations no more, there will be 1,000 years of no war on earth, with Christ as King over all the earth: “And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Micah 4:3
But when Satan is loosed out of the bottomless pit: “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, God and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” Revelation 20:7-9
The evidence is clear: as long as Satan is free to deceive mankind, there will be wars and rumors of war. To object to the fact of war won’t eliminate war, anymore than objecting to Satan will eliminate Satan. As long as Satan and sin exist, there will be wars fought.
THUS WE SALUTE our veterans and our armed forces. If it were not for them, our country would be overrun by enemy powers and oppression. May we be ever mindful and thoughtful of this reality as we live, raise our families, and serve God in this God given country.
SHARING
Doing Our Part
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” 1 Timothy 2:1-2
We must not abandon God on this mission of striving to keep our society open for Christian business!
As we pray for leaders to be favorable towards Christianity, we must then do our part in electing those who will be more favorable towards matters pertaining to Christianity.
Hundreds of thousands of patriots have bled and died so we could have the freedom to elect our officials.
Who the people elect also expresses where people stand on government policy. So an election is not just about leaders, it also is about what policies will be implemented, and how people grade what government is doing.
Before we say, “I’m just one vote, so what I vote for won’t really matter”, what if everyone took that position?
We must not surrender our rights to ignorance by saying we don’t really know how we should vote. There is plenty of deceit and false accusation in the political campaigns. But Christians should be used to this, as it is always out there against the truth. A reasonable amount of inquiry can discover enough to know enough. While ignorance may be bliss, it is not a valid excuse since knowledge is available, nor can anything right be obtained by choosing ignorance.
In a situation where every vote counts (and it does) whether one actually casts a vote or not at the ballot box, they are still voting. Here’s how it works: Let’s say you have one hundred people who can vote on an issue. There are 48 out of the one hundred who want it passed, while 52 are opposed. So on election day, all of the 48 for the issue vote for it, while only 47 out of the 52 opposed to it vote. SO, the issue passes, not just because of those who voted for it, but it was those who did not vote against it that caused it to pass as well.
So a failure to vote, is a vote given away to someone else. This may very well give the outcome into the wrong hands. Any no-show gives the opposition the win by default. Thus, we also incur responsibility by not voting, the same as we do by casting a ballot.
We are not responsible for the outcome where other people are concerned, but we are responsible to do our part.
In praying for our leaders, we should also pray for God to guide us in the choosing of our leaders.
In most cases, you must also look beyond the individual; you must also look to see who and what they identify and are partnered with. Who a person casts their lot with, is the all important matter.
ARISE, LET US GO HENCE!
SHARINGOvercoming Evil
“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21
It is quite obvious that the scripture is speaking directly about the evil that is in, and that is done by people. God tells us to address this as a sin problem that we are to overcome, rather than a matter of going to war with the person.
We have a tendency to personalize evil as being unique to the individual that has done evil and develop enmity towards them. This is like a doctor who takes offense to his patients because they are sick, rather than to fight their disease. It is Satan’s purpose to cause us to be overcome of the evil, rather than exercise our faith to overcome the evil with good.
God does not tell us to go to war with the person, but rather to do what is necessary to overcome the evil. And the first cautionary and self preserving step we must take is, “Be not overcome of evil.” When men were doing evil unto Christ, He could have called fire down from Heaven and devoured them. But instead, He prayed, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Next, our offense (which happens to be the proper defense also) is to overcome evil with good. “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.” Romans 12:20 We cannot defeat anything that is of the Devil, if we respond according to the ways of the Devil, instead of according to God’s Word. Disease can only be overcome with good medicine and by a healing process that overcomes the disease, that will not be corrupted itself by the disease.
There is no question that evil is deserving of judgment. We must teach this, fear it, believe it, but most importantly, we must commit the judgement of all evil into God’s hands, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Romans 12:19 And in light of the surety and severity of Divine judgment against evil, we should fear for them and seek rather to pray for their conversion from the evil of their way.
Only a righteous God is in the position to judge evil. Since we all are sinners, thus worthy of condemnation ourselves, we must not usurp the “right” to avenge ourselves, but rather fear our own sin condition to the extent that we strive not to be overcome with any more evil than we already have in our adamic self, but rather that we overcome evil with good.
SHARINGThe Mark Of The Beast
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.” Revelation 13:16
Had we been in John’s stead, we would have seen and heard exactly what he did. Rather than consent to other people’s speculation about what the mark of the beast is, such as an implanted computer chip, or something else yet to be invented, he would simply affirm, “God showed me, and told me it was a mark in their right hand, or in their forehead.”
A mark is: “a visible trace or impression on a surface.” So to qualify as the “mark” of the beast, it must be according to what a mark is. An implanted computer chip, in and of itself, is not a mark. An implant would take some other device to detect it and read it. Whereas a mark is visible to the naked eye, requiring no other means of detection, except what is self evident from the mark itself. Logically speaking, being on the forehead or hand is for the purpose of being visibly seen. So no matter where or under what circumstances, whether away from other devices, in the jungle or whatever, the mark remains a visible factor. The fear of the beast and the loyalty of deceived hearts and minds (Revelation 13:4) will be the enforcer of this universal law of the anti-Christ, that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, etc.
The Biblical “study guide rules” for the book of Revelation are, “read, hear, and keep” (Revelation 1:3). The word “keep” means: “to observe, and to maintain, or cause to stay or continue in a specified condition.” God also declares that the prophecy of His Word is of no private interpretation, 2 Peter 1:20, and God warns against the adding to or taking away from the words of His prophecy, Revelation 22:18-19.
Human pride loves to be looked up to as an authority on God’s Word. Man’s finite mind finds satisfaction in explaining everything in terms known to his own way of thinking. But in so doing where Bible prophecy is concerned, man limits his understanding and thus closes his heart to the things of God that have properties beyond the finite mind.
To be blessed of God, and leave the door open for spiritual growth and increased understanding by the leadership of the Holy Spirit, we need to follow the context of Bible teaching with child-like faith–“read, hear, and keep.” And remember, it was due to human speculation that the fall of man occurred in the Garden of Eden. Due to people respecting what others say over and above what the Bible actually says, is what has opened the gate wide for the admission of false teachings and spiritual error, in spite of what the Bible teaches.
SHARING
