THOUGHTS ON THE ETERNAL KINGDOM
VIOLENCE
AND THE KINGDOM
Seek
peace and pursue it; but understand that The Kingdom of God is forcefully advancing,
and violent people are attacking it. For
this reason you need to be prepared with funds, a “Go” bag and a weapon.
Do
not concern yourself with worldly needs, but seek to help people become part of
The Eternal Kingdom. As you go about your daily life help people see The
Kingdom by what you say and do. Work for justice. “Help the down-and-out. Stand
up for the homeless. Fight for the defenseless. You’re here to defend the
defenseless, to make sure that underdogs get a fair break.” “Rescue the poor
and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people. Your job is to stand up for the powerless,
and act against all those who exploit them." If you see a person being attacked by evil
people and do nothing to help them, does God’s love dwell in you?
Remember whatever you do in word and deed must
not be done for selfish reasons, but to bring glory to God. “Do your best, prepare for the worst—then
trust GOD to bring victory.” “The world
is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair.” God
teaches us how to fight the battles we face in life. As followers of Jesus “we don’t live or fight
our battles the world’s way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing
or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt
culture. We use our powerful God-tools
for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the
truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the
structure of life shaped by Christ.”
“Our
tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and
building lives of obedience into maturity.
That about wraps it up. God is strong, and He wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for
you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will
be able to stand up to everything the devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that
we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps,
a life-or-death fight to the finish against the devil and all his angels. Be
prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all
the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over
but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet.
Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words.
Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is
an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing
warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes
open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.”
Question: Are you doing your best and prepared for the
worst as you seek to be used of God to establish His Kingdom on earth?
Scriptures: The message above is
a personal paraphrase and quotes from
Psalms 34:14; Matthew 11:12; Luke 22:36; Matthew
6:25-34, 10:7-8; Isaiah 1:17;
Psalms 82:3-4; 1 John 3:17; Colossians 3:17; Psalms
144:1; Proverbs 21:31;
2 Corinthians 10:3-6, and Ephesians 6:10-18
The quotes are from the NKJV, The Message, and
the NLT.
NOTE: Some reading this message may be
concerned about Luke 22:36. It seems to stand in direct contradiction to
Matthew 26:52. From experience we should know when two scriptures seem to
contradict each other that there is a deeper truth somewhere. It can only
be found by searching out other scriptures. If Jesus literally meant that
everyone who used earthly weapons to fight would die by those weapons many good
men would die violent deaths. David, a man of war, died peacefully in His
bed. The traditional understanding of Matthew is better stated “Those who
live by the sword shall die by the sword.” A deeper study of the words used
there allow for this interpretation. As we understand it Jesus was
rebuking Peter for depending on the arm of flesh rather than allowing himself
to be guided by The Spirit. Being led of The Spirit does not mean we
can’t use things of this world when fighting our battles. It does mean we
must seek God in every earthly battle we fight. From scripture we see
that King David did this in his earthly battles with the Philistines.
We have tried to make it clear in “Violence
and The Kingdom;” that all we do must be done for God’s Glory and His
Kingdom. There can be no fear or self-motive in the way we react in the
battles we fight on earth. That being said, it is clear from scripture
that we have a God given responsibility to protect and fight for our families
and those God places in our sphere of influence, from the attacks of the enemy
of men’s souls. Not fighting in the flesh doesn’t mean we passively sit there
and do nothing expecting God to send a lightning bolt from heaven. We must seek
God’s wisdom, and do what we can do, trusting God to do the rest.
Having a weapon or not having a weapon won’t
keep us from reacting carnally when we’re attacked. Only learning to walk
in The Spirit instead of the flesh will do that. Peter seems to have
learned this lesson when he spoke death over Ananias and Sapphira; something
much more severe than cutting off an ear, but okay because it was done in The
Spirit. Walking across India carrying a large cross, we were confronted
on more than one occasion by the radical Hindus. On every occasion God
gave us victory. One time a large group rode up on motorcycles and
scooters. I could hear them coming up behind me and one of our coworkers
whispered, “the radical Hindus are here”. I prayed and God led me to wait
until they were almost upon me. When they were within a few feet I
stopped, and without thinking lifted the cross off the ground and into the air.
Then I stood it up in front of me. The crowd instantly stopped in their
tracks. I looked at the person who The Spirit told me was the leader, and
asked, “Sir what is your question?” He stood silent for a few seconds and
then said to me, “I just want to tell you how happy we are to have you here in
India.” The crowd turned around, got on their cycles and scooters and
left. God had delivered us one more time.
Jesus told us we need to have a weapon for a
reason. It doesn’t mean we must use it to harm people, although we cannot
say ahead of time what God’s Spirit might prompt us to do. Part of God’s
judgments is the release of wild beasts on the earth. In 2013 there were
50,000 abandoned dogs roaming the streets of Detroit in packs of 20. The
Post Office could not even deliver the mail in some places because of the
danger. Only an assault weapon, which many want banned, can handle that
kind of danger. As we see it, if Jesus said we need a weapon then it was
for a reason. All we can do is obey and trust God to give us the
understanding of how to use it.
We hope this message helps you understand about
violence and The Kingdom. God is loving,
merciful and gracious in all His ways, but He is not a pacifist. Psalms 24:8
tells us He is mighty in battle against all that resist His Kingdom. Even
Jesus became violent when He saw His Father’s house being desecrated. Let
us join Him in the battle to bring His Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.
Henry &
Rita
Please share this important
message
with as many people as you can. If you would like to know more about
Phone: (228) 255-9251
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Copyright 2016 Brothers & Sisters in Christ
Proverbs
24:11 Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die;
save them as they stagger to their death.
12 Don’t
excuse yourself by saying, “Look, we didn’t know.”
For God understands all hearts, and he sees you.
He who guards your soul knows
you knew.
He will repay all people as their actions deserve.
