Who's Your Daddy? The Rest of the Story*

Paul wrote that even if God's people have unbelief regarding the truth of God's Word, that unbelief does not make the faith of God without effect: "God forbid: yea, let God be true and every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged." (Rom. 3:1-4). God has made Himself to be an unassailable Truth for our benefit. Man lies, but God does not. Jesus taught that His sheep hear His voice, and follow Him. They won't follow a stranger, but will flee from him, because they do not know the stranger's voice (Jn. 10:1-5). This is proven in life as we can find videos of sheep only answering their shepherd's call, and not others. Today though, there are wolves in sheep's clothing who are not the true Shepherd, but are trying to deceive and call the sheep. The truth spoken in love that is found only in God, and in His Son, Jesus, is necessary for the church to "...grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase in the body unto the edifying of itself in love." (Eph. 4:15-16). The church only grows and becomes effective through the truth that it receives. Paul therefore cautioned that we put off the conversation of the old man which is corrupted by deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of our mind. Put on the new man created by God after His own righteousness and true holiness: "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another." (v. 20-25). As Jesus taught about the truth that He brings, a truth that if we know it, will make us free. It is a truth that is testified by the fact that God has sent Him, Jesus. The testimony of Himself, and that of His Father, bear witness, according to the law, to Jesus, and that He speaks the truth. This makes Jesus the Light of the world, the Light of life. If we do not know Jesus in this manner, then we do not know the Father in heaven who sent Him (Jn. 8:12-19, 31-32). As He showed us through Jesus, the Father confirms His Word of truth with signs and wonders following. Jesus added to those who refused His Words: "...Whosoever committeth sin is a slave to sin...If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed...but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father...ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God...You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not." (v. 34-47). Who's your father -the Father of Truth, or the father of lies? Whose word do you believe? If something does not line up with The Book, it's a lie. Paul prophesied that the Wicked one who is coming shall come with "the working of Satan with all power, signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. 2:7-12). In the end, the love of the truth, and the Father of it, or the preference for the lie, and the father of it, will determine who is saved, and who is destroyed. On this Father's Day, we must decide who our Father is. Isaiah prophesied the Word of the LORD concerning His rebellious, lying children who don't take counsel from Him, but from others, that seek a covering, but not the covering of the Spirit of God. They do this so "that they may add sin to sin" (Isa. 30:1). God's Word of truth tells His children what sin is, and the suffering and death that it brings, but we live in a time when people do not want to hear it. Isaiah wrote: "...this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things (helqa - flattering, smooth, slippery places), prophesy deceits." (v. 9-10). The LORD warns His people that the path they are on is not one that He travels. Their iniquity will be like a wall that is ready to fall (v. 11-13). God warns His people of the danger of their sin, but when will His people listen? The prophet Ezekiel heard the Word of the LORD concerning false and lying prophets, and the damage they cause. Instead of fulfilling the calling that they have been ordained by God to perform, they are not prophesying the word that they hear from God, but a word that comes out of their own hearts. They are not standing in the spiritual gaps and making up the hedge for the house of Israel to do battle in that day of the LORD. They see vanity and speak a lying divination. They seduce the people, and give false assurances to them of peace, when there is no peace, and the LORD is against them as a result. (Ezek. 13:1-8). The LORD will destroy in His fury the weak and ineffective wall that they have built out of vanity and lies (v. 11-15). The LORD asks the lying prophets: "...Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you? Will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?" (v. 18-19). We can easily see the destruction and death caused by lies, and the LORD will act against it. God says that He hates a lying tongue (Prov. 6:16-19). Recently, history has revealed lies that have been told, and truths that have been withheld from the American people concerning racial and economic injustices and violence committed against black citizens including "Black Wall Street" in Tulsa. Oklahoma, the Rosewood Massacre in Florida, and Red Summer. during which white mobs rioted against and sometimes murdered black people in more than three dozen cities across the United States. It is not a black and white thing, it is a sin thing. The Book of Revelation gives yet another warning: "...the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Rev. 21:8). Of the city of God, the New Jerusalem, the Lord said: "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." (Rev. 21:27). The Lord does not wish that any should perish. He died for our sins, so that we could live. Do you know His voice? *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 6/19/2022 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, theshroudofturin.org, and endtimeschool.com.

Spiritual Warfare

 

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

 

The Devil has been portrayed as a cartoon character with red suit, horns, and pitchfork. Nothing could be further from the truth. If we do not understand who the enemy is, and the nature of the enemy, we will always be defeated by him. If we do not know ourselves honestly, understanding how this enemy works towards us, we will never have victory. If we do not have knowledge of the things of heaven and earth, we become easy prey.
There is nothing cartoonish about our first glimpse of Satan in scripture. In Genesis, he takes the form of a subtle creature, a serpent, deceiving Eve and Adam by questioning God's command to them: "Yea, hath God said...?" (Gen. 3:1-4). Satan challenged the truth of what God had said to Adam, and lied about the consequences. Jesus similarly explained Satan's character to us:

"...He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it."  Jn. 8:44

Satan murdered in the beginning by drawing man from eternal life in God to death in sin. He does not do it with truth, but with lies. Because of this, Jesus went on to say that those who rejected the truth of God, and Himself as the Bringer of that truth, were after the likeness of their father, Satan. Those who believed Christ, and the words He brought from the Father, were of their Father, God (v. 44-47). We can't have it both ways. We can't disregard God's Word as truth, or the Son Whom He sent, and still say, "God is my Father".

The Apostle Paul explained the difference between those who belong to God, Who brought us back to life through Christ, and those who belong to the world, and the spirit that influences the world:

"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world. according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ...."  Eph. 2:2-5

The mind and ways of the world and the flesh are ruled by the prince of the power of the air, and that's where the battle begins-in our own minds and flesh. He is a spirit who is not confined to hell, but who inhabited heaven, and now falsely claims the earth as his. We have been delivered out of his realm of sin and death by Christ.  We who have been so miraculously delivered, are no longer to be one of the children of disobedience, subject to Satan's deception.

His fall from heaven is described in Revelation. After great warfare, Satan and the angels that he deceived into rebellion with him, were cast out:

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him....Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil has come down unto you having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."  Rev. 12:7-12

Not only is Satan a murderer and a liar, but he is filled with great wrath. He viciously and unendingly accuses believers before God. The work of this vicious accuser is overcome by the brethren by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and the fact that they do not love their own lives even to death (v. 11). Natural weapons, and natural strength have nothing to do with victory over this spiritual enemy. Daniel warns that it will be those "who know their God" that shall be strong and do exploits in the face of this spiritually powerful enemy (Dan. 11:32). In the end times shown to Daniel, the worker of evil will lure the world, and even some of God's people with "flatteries" (smooth, slippery, deceitful promises, (promises) to plunder, divide, share, distribute or apportion). As these end times were described to Daniel as an age in which knowledge increases (Dan. 12:4), the time in which we live now definitely qualifies. Natural knowledge and advancement in just this past generation alone has surpassed that of any other age in history. Daniel also prophesied that those who serve God in the time of the end will teach others the knowledge of God with wisdom.

We have not been left defenseless in the face of this unmerciful enemy of God and His people. Paul describes the spiritual armor and weapons that God has provided for us through Christ, and he urges us to use them, to stand against the wiles (cunning arts, deceit, craft, trickery, method, settled plan, lie in wait) of the devil. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all of the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance for all saints."  Eph. 6:12-18

Paul gave this revelation having been in the midst of spiritual warfare himself, under arrest and in chains (v. 19-20). The spiritual armor and weapons of truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God (Who is Jesus Christ), are the tools given to us to stand against and overcome the spirit of murder, lies, accusation and hot anger that is Satan. As Paul taught, we cannot take this armor on and off, which happens when we carelessly desire to be of this world. Jesus also told us that while we are physically in the world, we are not to be of the world. Paul told us in another place that we were not to be conformed to this world, but transformed. We are in a spiritual battle that requires perseverance, praying always, not only for ourselves, but together with and for all the saints.

The enemy that all of God' s people face is not a cartoon. Because God has already prophesied his utter defeat, Satan knows his time is running out, and he seeks to destroy as many as he can in his seething anger, especially in these end times. However, Almighty God has given us the means to attain the victory in Christ.
If you want to know Jesus like this in these end times, if you want to know the truth concerning the things of heaven and earth, there is a prayer below which will start you on this journey. You will never be the same!

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Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior:Lord Jesus, I desire to know You, and to know Your salvation. I believe that You died for me, and that You were resurrected for me. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart, change me, fill me with Your righteousness. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn the truth of Your Word and ways, and be strengthened in my walk all the days of my life. You are the hope of my life, and You are my eternal life. I place my trust in You, Lord, for myself, and my whole household. Use me to do the will of the heavenly Father, Who sent You, in Whose name You came. In Your name, and in thanks and praise I pray, Amen.