The kingdom,

The power

& the glory:

 

-4-

 

The believer’s

objection  Subjection

objective

 

(based on conversations I have had with professing christians)

 

In an uncharacteristic effort to be fair, I have been asked by some to bring some dimension to the comments that have been made thus far. The thrust of my observations have concerned spiritual warfare, or to be more precise, the way in which part of The Church has been led into it. ‘Surely..’, it has been said, ‘..you cannot make the simplistic sweeping blanket statements that you have & maintain an objective perspective; it isn’t all that bad, is it?’ Well, I’m more interested in a biblical perspective, objective or not. We are in the midst of a resurgence of the things I wrote about in articles one, two & three in this series. These issues have made a carefully crafted & subtly layered comeback, dressed up in prophetic monologue. It has been said that revival is coming & that we, The Church, have to usher it, in using the tools that God has given to us. Oo la la, how could we resist?

Revival. Revival. Revival. I’m surprised that some of these folks haven’t tried to raise Jonothan Edwards, George Whitfield, the Wesley brothers, John Wycliffe, Evan Roberts & Charles Finney from the dead, prop them up & wheel them out when they convene their special meetings. Once they’d drawn a large enough crowd, they would no doubt start a church, slap a sign on the front of the building & call it a revival centre. With great hymns, strong preaching & some creative theatrics, great things could be accomplished. Until then, we have to be content with darkened rooms, spotlights & smoke machines. Gold dust & angel feathers are optional.

The aforementioned men represent some of the leadership of the first, second & third great awakenings. There is always talk of a fourth & now a fifth, but that is debatable in my opinion. IN MY OPINION. However, we don’t need to reach that far back in time or history to examine the phenomena under discussion. There is plenty of evidence in living memory that can be scrutinised. Do you remember the so called Toronto blessing? Do you remember the so called Brownsville outpouring? Do you remember those highly popularised recordings of meetings at Rhema Bible Training Centre? I was in a charismatic word of faith church in London when these things snaked their way across the Atlantic to England. There were things heard & seen in those meetings that make my skin crawl to think of them now.

Previously we looked at the spiritual warfare spectacle principally as a movement, but it also has to be examined as an activity. When boiled down to its basic elements, the teaching most prevalent within The Church appears to run along the lines of how to fight the devil & win. However, if you were to take several steps back & view the larger picture, you may see something that ought to disturb you. We will come to this.

I believe that spiritual warfare, as taught by those we have discussed in this series, is an oxymoron, with the emphasis on moron.

God’s Word is not central to proceedings in this movement. Experience is. Sensuality is. These things are more exciting than sitting still under sound biblical teaching. Then, to add insult to injury, when favourite warfare passages are taught in their proper context & accompanied by an appropriate interpretation, it takes the fun out of it. We have forsaken what The Lord Jesus said. We have forgotten what the Apostles taught. All in favour of a spiritual freak show. It is a circus populated by all of the appropriate actors. Where are The Scriptures? I saw people pretending to load guns & then take careful aim & shoot demons down. Where are The Scriptures? I saw a lady shake so violently in the balcony of the church that she would have fallen over the side & dropped fifteen feet. Thankfully someone sat her down. Where are The Scriptures?

But it’s revival. Oh no it isn’t. How do I know? How can I be so sure? Because I took a healthy step back, looked at the picture & asked a simple question; where are The Scriptures? I tell you, The Holy Spirit was blamed for a whole host of unsavoury things that have nothing to do with Him.

Even a cursory perusal of the Bible passages cited as this movement’s mythology, ought to generate reasonable questions. However, when believers are not diligent in God’s Word they will have little or no discernment.

There you are in a service, dizzy with emotion, blinded by bright lights & pumped with enthusiastic expectation. After wading through worship, enduring the announcements & sowing seed in the offering, up steps the speaker. When they tell you that you have to ‘bind the strongman’, ‘loose the anointing’ or ‘bind the devil’, you just go with it. No need for your Bible. The letter kills, but The Spirit gives life. No need for discernment. The natural mind doesn’t receive the things of The Spirit. All of these things were said.

You wouldn’t want to miss the moving of The Spirit, would you? You wouldn’t want to grieve The Spirit by asking questions, would you? You wouldn’t want to be in unbelief by doubting, would you? No, you wouldn’t.

The preacher, much like the host of a popular gameshow, has to whip participants up into a mild frenzy. What fabulous prizes were up for grabs? Breaking generational curses? Directing angels? Changing your fortunes by rebuking satan over your finances? Commanding healing? All successfully accomplished from your lofty position. All of these things were said. Believers were led into a very dangerous place. Suddenly they thought that they were super humans in possession of super powers.

⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, ⁵Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) ⁶And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:4-6).

At this point I would make so bold as to tell you that you ought to stop, look & listen, if you are caught up in this movement & these activities. They will not bring revival. Remember the words of The Lord Jesus; ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen’. (Matthew 28:19-20).

Ah, I hear some object, when Jesus ascended He delegated His authority to The Church. Did He indeed? That would mean that The Church has all power in heaven & in earth now. Look at the state of the world. If this objection were true, then we have failed miserably. The power is His. He said so & He gave them authority to preach The Gospel & make disciples. Do not forget that The Gospel is the power of God to salvation (Romans 1:14). Do not underestimate that power.

Paul tells us, ‘Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (Ephesians 4:7-12). The Lord Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead with His work undone. Neither did He ascend with the thought that it was now up to us to beat the enemy.

We have a Gospel to preach. Jesus said that He would build His Church & He ascended having defeated satan in achieving redemption! Who are you shouting at & what are you screaming for?

¹³Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: ¹⁴In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: ¹⁵Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: ¹⁶For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: ¹⁷And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. ¹⁹For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; ²⁰And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven (Colossians 1:13-20).

¹³And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; ¹⁴Blotting 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; ¹⁵And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2:13-15).

Traditionally, we would be dragged from Daniel 10 to these verses in Colossians 1 & 2. This is done in order to try & establish the hierarchy of the kingdom of darkness. However, look again. These verses are amplifying the glorious accomplishment of Jesus Christ in Redemption. Paul isn’t referencing satan, apart from his defeat via the cross. We died with Christ, were buried with Christ, raised with Christ & are now seated with Christ, in heavenly places. None of us were actually there, but Paul shows The Church God’s eternal perspective. Who then, is the objective? Is it the devil, or is it The Lord Jesus Christ?

Those entities that some attempt to engage, fight against, pull down & bind are all conquered. It perplexes me that although Scripture says very little concerning satan, The Church has amplified him beyond all reasonableness. Yet even when Jesus is seen, resplendent in undisputed & undefeated supremacy, magnified & glorified, some still think that it’s about the devil, because of what they have been taught. Small wonder folk fall into error. They have no idea who they ought to be in subjection to.

Believers need to have an accurate portrait of Christ from The Scriptures & abandon tall tales, error & fables. While they’re at it, they should stop paying so much attention to the enemy’s shameless self-promotion. His image is a lie. Equally & more importantly, reject the popular but unbiblical notion that Jesus was doing battle with satan & his cohorts in hell, where He was eventually born again & resurrected. That is codswallop. That being said, there remains the most prevalent among several bones of contention, but we will come to this in our conclusion.

 

 

 

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