Pretending we are not in all-out warfare helps no one:
When most Christians are enjoying the good life on a cruise ship instead of enduring the hardships of a battleship in the midst of blistering warfare, it is hard to get them to take seriously the times that we are in. Those in the thick of the battle and those biblically cluey know full well that warfare is all around us.
But the carnal Christian, the fleshly Christian, and the nominal Christian has no idea of what is transpiring all around them. And even if you can alert some of them to the many attacks and assaults that are taking place on the faith, on freedom, and on family, they still think you are being melodramatic and overstating the case.
Even if they do see some of the dangers and some of the threats, they offer a policy of appeasement. They eschew the need for conflict and battle and seek the easy way out. Those familiar with the Lord of the Rings will recall the scene – at least from the film version – from The Two Towers in which we have this bit of dialogue:
GANDALF: This is but a taste of the terror that Saruman will unleash. All the more potent for he is driven now by fear of Sauron. Ride out and meet him head on. Draw him away from your women and children. [Leans forward and puts a hand on Théoden’s chair. Théoden looks at his hand warily.] You must fight.
ARAGORN: You have two thousand good men riding north as we speak. Éomer is loyal to you. His men will return and fight for their king.
THÉODEN: They will be three hundred leagues from here by now. Éomer cannot help us. I know what it is that you want of me. But I will not bring further death to my people. I will not risk open war.
[Gimli takes a bite of his bread as he watches the exchange between Aragorn and Théoden.]
ARAGORN: Open war is upon you. Whether you would risk it or not.
That exchange fully and graphically makes my point. Some want nothing to do with battles, conflict and warfare. Others know that such things are everywhere to be found, and we do not have a choice in the matter. We either fight, or we perish.
Of course the Christian knows that this is ultimately spiritual warfare, and the battles must be fought with spiritual weaponry. If the problem is spiritual, the solution must be spiritual. So we pray and fast and intercede and do spiritual warfare. But the hostilities and conflict are being fought on so many levels.
The spiritual battles also are being manifest on political, social, ideological and cultural levels. So we must engage on all fronts, and on every level. The many things I have written about of late – be it the Great Reset, the battle for life, or the various “conversion therapy” bills that will fully hamstring Christian help and counsel to those who need it most – are all examples of the numerous battlefronts that surround us.
The sad thing is that so many believers are utterly clueless. Everything that so many have warned about over the centuries, including of course what is found in Scripture – seems to be coming about right before our very eyes. It is so obvious the way it is all unfolding. Yet most folks have no clue. I just want to grab people, shake them, and shout “Wake up!!”
Let me mention just a few more hair-raising battlefronts that are already upon us. We just recently had Qantas airlines telling us that it will not take passengers without a vaccine – at least on international flights. Regardless of what you think of vaccines, this is a big worry indeed. Why does Revelation 13:16-17 come to mind?
And in the US if Biden does indeed get into the White House, the crackdown on Christianity will be ramped up all that much more. For example, Al Mohler warns about this: “A Direct Threat to Christian Education—The Human Rights Campaign Demands that the Biden Administration Deny Accreditation to Christian Colleges and Schools”.
He says this:
The accreditation of Christian colleges and schools has just been directly targeted by the nation’s most influential LGBTQ organization. The Human Rights Campaign has recently issued a document directed at the incoming administration entitled Blueprint for Positive Change 2020. The Blueprint demands that President-elect Biden adopt a legislative agenda and enact specific executive orders that are in line with the LGBTQ movement—a movement that Biden pledged to champion.
Contained within its pages are perhaps some of the most alarming demands that threaten religious liberty, and the mainstream media has given little to no attention to this dimension of the report. The Blueprint is not ambiguous—it makes detailed policy positions and recommendations, department by department, for the Biden Administration to deploy once the president-elect assumes office. From the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Health and Human Services, the Human Rights Campaign demands the enactment of policies to prohibit what is identified as discrimination….
And then in Canada we have the secular left leader Trudeau pushing even further censorship of all opposing voices. As one headline puts it, “Trudeau government introduces bill to force online media companies to push liberal content”. The article includes this warning from one commentator:
Jay Cameron, a lawyer for the Canada-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms told LifeSiteNews that Bill C-10 is the “first part of the push” amongst the Trudeau Liberals to limit or regulate speech online that does not follow the party ideology.”
“It is clear from recent statements by the PM and the Heritage Minister that the federal government wants to increase control and penalties for speech and content that is not approved of by the ideologues in the Liberal Party. Unsurprisingly, the purpose of Bill C-10 is not to increase freedom of ‘thought, belief, opinion, and expression’ (section 2(b) of the Charter) but to further restrict it,” Cameron told LifeSiteNews. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/trudeau-government-introduces-bill-to-force-online-media-companies-to-push-liberal-content
The Two Humanities
All throughout the West there is a clear-cut war between good and evil taking place. There is an all-out battle between light and the darkness occurring. And at the end of the day, folks are on one side or the other. We either stand with God and his purposes or we stand with the devil and his purposes. In such cosmic warfare there is no neutral territory – there is no sitting on the fence,
And as these battles intensify, the one good effect of all this is that it separates the wheat from the tares. It demonstrates who really belong to God and who really do not. It shows us clearly, in other words, that there are two distinct humanities.
I listed a number of passages there, but since I have recently read through the epistles to the Corinthians, let me offer just a handful of verses that demonstrate this two-fold division of mankind:
1 Cor. 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Cor. 6:9-11 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
2 Cor. 4:3-4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2 Cor. 6:14-16 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?
Two distinct camps. In sharing such biblical texts I am not saying that every leftist or Democrat in the US or Labor supporter in Australia is a son of darkness, or is fighting against God and his Kingdom. But sadly there certainly is some sort of a connection here.
Those who promote and rejoice in the culture of death, the persecution of Christians, the full-frontal assault on marriage and family, and the rise of Big Brother government and the assault on personal freedoms are not exactly championing the cause of Christ.
So we must be aware that behind the various political and ideological battlegrounds lies an even more ominous spiritual battleground. And open warfare is indeed upon us, whether we like it or not. The only thing that remains is for Christians to decide what they will do, and where they will stand, in such dark times.
Or to return to Tolkien, and The Fellowship of the Ring:
‘I wish it need not happened in my time,’ said Frodo.
‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’
True Spiritual Warfare happens whether we engage or not
Thanks Bill.
Sadly change to the definition of marriage in Australia was promoted by the Federal Liberal Party, and the NSW Liberal Premier tragically ramped up horrific abortion laws, as soon as re-elected.
Last Monday, Liberal, National and Labor voted in support of government bail-in, while all other parliamentary representatives voted with Malcolm Roberts of One Nation’s amendment against giving the government authority to raid all of our bank accounts at whim.
The Liberal Party now is recognized as correlating closely with the atheistic Greens.
Yes Bill, we must be faithful stewards of the time that is given to us.
Thank you, Bill. I just read and posted to Facebook. Praying.
Great commentary, Bill! May God give us all the courage to stand up to what is ahead.
It’s an Orwellian irony that those who are confiscating long held freedoms, policing thought and instilling fear of huge fines or arrest by militarised police and imprisonment should be Liberals! It’s as if a new matrix has been configured so that people with low self esteem can now score high social points at the expense of those currently secure in their identity. Aleister Crowley, Occultist and New Age Religion proponent in the early 1900’s said that the time would come when “Do what thou wilt” will become the whole of the law. Inconsistencies have arisen whereby pre-pubescent children can request that their sexual identity can be re-assigned with possible irreversible consequences but Same-Sex attracted people are not allowed to have therapy to change their mind. We have seen the arbitiary imposition of the will by the Frowning Face in Victoria. When people think they are gods and wage war against God the Father Almighty, we see the current times unfolding as prophecied in the Book of Daniel’s 2nd century BCE biblical apocalypse / revelations.
Dear brother in Christ Jesus. Thank you so much for this article. Great example from the words of Aragorn. There’s another great speech by him where he compels his men…This day we fight, in other words there was no option. Comfort has indeed been the very effective hypodermic needle inserted into the veins to cause Christians to impersonate indoctrinated lemmings walking over the cliff. I think to the degree that the Western Church has assimilated the spirit of the age, to that degree it has been silent and cowardly. (Matt Walsh ‘Church of cowards’)
Oh for men like Hugh Latimer who while being burnt at the stake said to his friend next to him ‘play the man Ridlely’
2 Samuel 23v10…. Solo deo Gloria
To some you have to say we are at war your unwillingness to fight is irrelevant to it’s existence.
Sometimes you think of the Germans in WWII and want to cry “you were a witness! Whether it was a total stranger or your worst enemy YOU had and obligation to speak out!! And you said nothing!”
Some seem to think if we ignore it it’ll go away or isn’t happening. “It’s only a few churches that don’t see the problem” is one sides dilution and “it is no worse than at any other time” is the other sides dilution. How do you convince people who can’t see nor feel the heat of the oven their about to march into they are about to die.
We are soldiers of the Lord yet so many act like they are on R&R not on the battlefield.
Perhaps they misinterpret the Romans passage about as much depends on you and peace think if they refuse to fight they can live peaceably among the barbarians. You can’t negotiate with evil. You ignore evil you either fight or surrender. So many today talk about coexist yet satan only wants to coexist when his people are not in power. When they have the power it is obey or die. Those who are his, overtly or unknowingly, operate the same way “we just want all sides to be heard all voices allowed to speak” then it becomes “only our position is right and thus only it should be allowed to be expressed”. We don’t want to fight so we give in in the beginning then at the end we are worse off and have a worse fight on our hands.
It is like the body has a small cancer but we don’t want to go through chemo so we ignore it till it metastasizes over the whole body and we now have the fight of our lives. The old saying is true you have to nip it in the bud. Now everything is coming into full bloom!
Yeah but, I became a Christian so I could have my best life now!
Yes far too many Christians are into that George.
Bring it on! who are these uncircumcised philistines who dare to defy the living God!!
We have just finished our study/prayer meeting and it became clear that we must draw a line in the sand right here and now.
Now is the time to decide whether, and in what ways, this conversion law will violate my faith informed conscience.
Now is the time to resolve that I will not obey this law if it does.
Now is also the time to let my family, friends and others know of my resolution.
Now is the time to declare to the Victorian Government that I will not obey this law where it violates my conscience.
Now is the time to declare that I am ready to pay the penalty.
The Lord is with you, you valiant warriors.
Thanks Bruce.
Thanks for keeping me posted Bruce
The wonderful side to all this is hearalded by the prophets, who are all excitedly alerting us to what God is doing in this era. Yes, the dark is getting darker, so that His light shines all the brighter when His Glory pours out over the earth, as the waters cover the seas. He is allowing His enemies to become arrogant and over-confident. They are consistently over-reaching, as they have done in the American election.
Now we, His Church, Ecclesia or Body of Christ, whatever handle one prefers, are partnering with Him, through our prayers and fasting, and digging deeper into His Word to discover the patterns He has already set up for us to recognise how He will move.
These draconian bills drive us to more feverent prayer and to studying God’s Word. This brings us into a more intimate relationship with Him, which just happens to be His first priority. Then He says, ‘Now, stand firm and see ME work.’
A bit scary, but also quite exciting. I feel honoured to be alive in this era.
Agree totally Bill. But are we bereft of contemporary Christian leaders who except for a few are really prepared to venture above the proverbial parapet?
True Spiritual Warfare happens whether we engage or not
Thanks Bill.
Sadly change to the definition of marriage in Australia was promoted by the Federal Liberal Party, and the NSW Liberal Premier tragically ramped up horrific abortion laws, as soon as re-elected.
Last Monday, Liberal, National and Labor voted in support of government bail-in, while all other parliamentary representatives voted with Malcolm Roberts of One Nation’s amendment against giving the government authority to raid all of our bank accounts at whim.
The Liberal Party now is recognized as correlating closely with the atheistic Greens.
Yes Bill, we must be faithful stewards of the time that is given to us.
Thank you, Bill. I just read and posted to Facebook. Praying.
Great commentary, Bill! May God give us all the courage to stand up to what is ahead.
It’s an Orwellian irony that those who are confiscating long held freedoms, policing thought and instilling fear of huge fines or arrest by militarised police and imprisonment should be Liberals! It’s as if a new matrix has been configured so that people with low self esteem can now score high social points at the expense of those currently secure in their identity. Aleister Crowley, Occultist and New Age Religion proponent in the early 1900’s said that the time would come when “Do what thou wilt” will become the whole of the law. Inconsistencies have arisen whereby pre-pubescent children can request that their sexual identity can be re-assigned with possible irreversible consequences but Same-Sex attracted people are not allowed to have therapy to change their mind. We have seen the arbitiary imposition of the will by the Frowning Face in Victoria. When people think they are gods and wage war against God the Father Almighty, we see the current times unfolding as prophecied in the Book of Daniel’s 2nd century BCE biblical apocalypse / revelations.
Dear brother in Christ Jesus. Thank you so much for this article. Great example from the words of Aragorn. There’s another great speech by him where he compels his men…This day we fight, in other words there was no option. Comfort has indeed been the very effective hypodermic needle inserted into the veins to cause Christians to impersonate indoctrinated lemmings walking over the cliff. I think to the degree that the Western Church has assimilated the spirit of the age, to that degree it has been silent and cowardly. (Matt Walsh ‘Church of cowards’)
Oh for men like Hugh Latimer who while being burnt at the stake said to his friend next to him ‘play the man Ridlely’
2 Samuel 23v10…. Solo deo Gloria
To some you have to say we are at war your unwillingness to fight is irrelevant to it’s existence.
Sometimes you think of the Germans in WWII and want to cry “you were a witness! Whether it was a total stranger or your worst enemy YOU had and obligation to speak out!! And you said nothing!”
Some seem to think if we ignore it it’ll go away or isn’t happening. “It’s only a few churches that don’t see the problem” is one sides dilution and “it is no worse than at any other time” is the other sides dilution. How do you convince people who can’t see nor feel the heat of the oven their about to march into they are about to die.
We are soldiers of the Lord yet so many act like they are on R&R not on the battlefield.
Perhaps they misinterpret the Romans passage about as much depends on you and peace think if they refuse to fight they can live peaceably among the barbarians. You can’t negotiate with evil. You ignore evil you either fight or surrender. So many today talk about coexist yet satan only wants to coexist when his people are not in power. When they have the power it is obey or die. Those who are his, overtly or unknowingly, operate the same way “we just want all sides to be heard all voices allowed to speak” then it becomes “only our position is right and thus only it should be allowed to be expressed”. We don’t want to fight so we give in in the beginning then at the end we are worse off and have a worse fight on our hands.
It is like the body has a small cancer but we don’t want to go through chemo so we ignore it till it metastasizes over the whole body and we now have the fight of our lives. The old saying is true you have to nip it in the bud. Now everything is coming into full bloom!
Yeah but, I became a Christian so I could have my best life now!
Yes far too many Christians are into that George.
Bring it on! who are these uncircumcised philistines who dare to defy the living God!!
We have just finished our study/prayer meeting and it became clear that we must draw a line in the sand right here and now.
Now is the time to decide whether, and in what ways, this conversion law will violate my faith informed conscience.
Now is the time to resolve that I will not obey this law if it does.
Now is also the time to let my family, friends and others know of my resolution.
Now is the time to declare to the Victorian Government that I will not obey this law where it violates my conscience.
Now is the time to declare that I am ready to pay the penalty.
The Lord is with you, you valiant warriors.
Thanks Bruce.
Thanks for keeping me posted Bruce
The wonderful side to all this is hearalded by the prophets, who are all excitedly alerting us to what God is doing in this era. Yes, the dark is getting darker, so that His light shines all the brighter when His Glory pours out over the earth, as the waters cover the seas. He is allowing His enemies to become arrogant and over-confident. They are consistently over-reaching, as they have done in the American election.
Now we, His Church, Ecclesia or Body of Christ, whatever handle one prefers, are partnering with Him, through our prayers and fasting, and digging deeper into His Word to discover the patterns He has already set up for us to recognise how He will move.
These draconian bills drive us to more feverent prayer and to studying God’s Word. This brings us into a more intimate relationship with Him, which just happens to be His first priority. Then He says, ‘Now, stand firm and see ME work.’
A bit scary, but also quite exciting. I feel honoured to be alive in this era.
Agree totally Bill. But are we bereft of contemporary Christian leaders who except for a few are really prepared to venture above the proverbial parapet?