End Times - The Battlegrounds

When WWI broke out, the War Ministry in London, sent a coded message to one of the British outposts in Africa, saying, "War declared, arrest all enemy aliens in your district." The prompt reply came back, "Have arrested 10 Germans, 6 Belgians, 4 Frenchmen, 2 Italians, 3 Austrians, and an American. Please advise immediately who we are at war with."

It’s important to know who you’re fighting against, because who you’re fighting determines how you fight and what resources you use. 

Eph 6:12-13 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 

Paul isn’t suggesting it’s the armor that wins the war. The armor only prepares us for the war. With the armor we are prepared. Without it we are not. We understand that.

You don’t send infantry in to battle tanks. You don’t fight an aerial war with hand grenades. You don’t arm a sniper with only a pistol. We must be prepared for what we face. Our battles are beyond flesh and blood. They are spiritual battles.

The Revolutionary war, though a flesh and blood conflict, had deeply spiritual overtones. The cry for freedom was first heard in the churches. The Churches had a strong influence on American determination to fight for our independence. It was from the pulpits that the call to arms came, and often with the pastors leading the way. 

Knowing the importance of the church and the struggles left behind in England, when Thomas Jefferson fashioned the wording of the First Amendment, he had something specific in mind – freedom of thought, expression and conviction. If we are not free in these areas we are ruled by tyrants.

He wrote: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Not long afterwards, the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut wanted to know what that Amendment meant and how it affected churches and Christians to follow their Biblical convictions.

He wrote back to them: “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God; that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship; that the legislative powers of government reach actions only and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.”

In Jefferson’s mind, the purpose of the First Amendment was to prevent the “establishment of a particular form of Christianity” by the Episcopalians, Congregationalists, or any other denomination. That was Danbury’s concern. They were familiar with most countries in Europe adopting a single denomination as the State religion. They wanted to know if that could happen in America. Could they someday be pushed out because they were not of the designated denomination? 

The Establishment clause was to protect churches/Christians from the government, not he other way. But…

In 1947, in the case Everson v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court declared, “The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.” That verdict declared a “separation of church and state” which created the non-biblical distinction of Secular and Spiritual. 

It has become common today that we divide our lives into Secular and Spiritual. Work is secular. Worship is spiritual. Education is secular. Prayer is spiritual. Government is secular. Church is spiritual. Places we can be secular. Places we must be spiritual.

We even get more compartmentalized. There are things we handle. Things God handles. Burdens we carry. Burdens only God can carry. Decisions we can make. Decisions we need God’s help to make.

Though we make that distinction, when it comes to the battles we fight, the enemy doesn’t follow any separation of secular and spiritual. He simply attacks. It may be our health – which compartment does health fall into? It may be our finances – which compartment does our finances fall into? It may be in our family – which compartment does our family fall into? 

When Jesus saved us, He didn’t just save some portion of our lives. He saved the whole person. Our whole life is under the banner of Child of God. So, when Satan attacks in any area, he is attacking who we are. He is attacking us, not just one aspect of our life. 

A German king was arranged to marry another king’s daughter. He a barbarian, she a Christian. To marry her, he must be baptized. In support of this action his men also wanted to be baptized. But the church forbid baptism to warriors. So they immersed them with the exception of an arm holding up their sword, leaving a part of them to fight.

Paul says, as believers, all our battles are spiritual, and we are to recognize them as such. Suit up. Put on the armor that tells Satan who he’s fighting. We’re Children of God – not secular sometimes and spiritual other times. Completely spiritual. Any area he touches of our lives, he is touching something that belongs to God.

The enemy isn’t the neighbor. He isn’t the illness. He isn’t the government. The enemy is Satan and his network of evil which includes the fallen angels and his militia of minions who have given themselves to his deception and then influence others. 

However he attacks, his goal remains the same: kill our desire for God, steal our truth and destroy our lives. He knows what’s at stake so any distress he can inflict that can cause doubt and create unfaithfulness gives him an advantage. All he needs to do is get us distracted, then he’ll move in for the kill.

There are two battlefields upon which our enemy rages: within our minds and in our world.

Our minds are our most vulnerable places for Satan to attack. We may be diseased, broken and hurting, but the battle ground is in our mind.

The old saying: sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me, is a lie. Words, imbedded in our minds, can hurt longer and deeper than any stick or stone. Accepting a lie can, over time, destroy layers of truth we once built our lives upon. 

The mind is driven by thoughts. Thoughts can overwhelm us, casting darkness on a bright day, draining away our hope, strangling courage, paralyzing us with fear. I may be physically strong but I can be brought down by thoughts running rampant in my mind.

Worry is a conversation with ourselves about things we cannot change. Prayer is a conversation with God about things only He can change.

That’s why Paul wrote: 2Cor 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 

If we don’t fight the battle within our minds, taking control over our thoughts, we will never stand against the enemy. 

Prov 4:23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Or by a more modern translation: Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

 

Our heart represents the place from which we decide how to live. Within the mind, we collect our thoughts and beliefs. In the heart we convert them into action.

If the fool has said in his heart, "There is no God,” he has given in to the thoughts that say there is no God.

When Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" he had given in to the thoughts that said having a child was impossible.

We protect our hearts and thereby our lives by refusing to accept false ideas. If Satan can plant suggestions in our minds that make us reject God’s goodness, our heart will begin expressing a lifestyle that has no room for God at all.

The second battlefield is in our world. It’s in our world we seem the most helpless. It’s the realm in which we recognize little to no control. Without control we easily feel helpless.

Jesus said: John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.

Tribulation is the disruption of our lives by forces we cannot stop. Jesus said, expect it but don’t lose courage. Why courage? Because without courage we lose hope. Without hope we can have no peace. Without peace we lose confidence in God. Whenever we lose confidence in God, we forget Jesus has already overcome.

Ps 27:13 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. 

2Tim 3:12-13 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 

In 1892, the Supreme Court ruled that "our civilization and our institutions were emphatically Christian". In recent years, the Supreme Court has gone so far in supporting actions contrary to Christianity that, in the opinion of former Chief Justice Rehnquist, it has become antireligious. In dissenting to a ruling years ago, he said, "the tone of the Court's opinion bristles with hostility to all things religious in public life".

That anti-religious mood has opened the door to organizations like the Freedom from Religion Foundation whose goal is to remove God or any expression of God from all public places. Their greatest targets are Christmas Nativity scenes in public squares, prayer in public schools and crosses where people can see them.

This mural in Effingham, Ill., was painted on an overpass near the local High School and shows a United States flag alongside a white cross. 

 

The cross on the mural comes from one of the city’s top tourist attractions, a large cross located on private land. But the Freedom from Religion Foundation sued the city, stating: “It is inappropriate and unconstitutional for a government-owned mural to prominently feature a religious display, such as a cross. It is especially inappropriate where the display is placed in a location where it will predominantly be viewed by public school children and staff moving from one part of their campus to another.” 

Wisconsin Schools recently established "The policy [that] enables children, of any age, to socially transition to a different gender identity at school without parental notice or consent, requires all teachers to enable this transition, and then prohibits teachers from communicating with parents about this potentially life-altering choice without the child's consent." A lawsuit is currently underway to fight this.

Finland has begun criminal investigations of Christians. In one case, a lady is under investigation for defaming or insulting homosexuals, after she shared a Bible verse on Twitter last year aimed at Finland's Lutheran church for promoting the homosexual lifestyle. She now faces a fine and/or imprisonment. A man commenting on that case said, "It raises the fear of saying anything in the public square, and in one way, I see that that's the purpose of this kind of attack: to put a high price tag on speaking your Christian mind out loud in the society."

The UK has closed all opportunities for Franklin Graham to conduct evangelistic crusades there because of his Biblical views.

Catholic Social Services has partnered with Philadelphia for over 50 years in placing foster children with families. Earlier this year, the city refused to allow the agency to place children because the city disagreed with the agency's biblical belief that marriage is between one man and one woman. 

New regulations went into effect in China this month requiring churches and other religious organizations to “support the leadership” of the Communist Party and “adhere to” the government’s teachings. Further, all churches and religious organizations must be “examined and approved” before they can legally worship.

That couldn’t happen here. Are you aware that one of the socialists running for president has stated that Christians should not be allowed to hold public office.

Do you remember just a few years ago that the former mayor of Houston sued to get copies of the sermons of area pastors to see if they were saying anything against the LBGT community?

The war has begun. The battles rage as we speak. Whether the battlefield is within our mind or in our world, we must put on the armor of God to be able to stand firm. Because there is no such distinction as to secular or spiritual, from here on out it’s all spiritual. 

TAKEAWAYS:

1.  Now, as much as at any other time in history, Christians must prepare for war.
2. That war will involve multiple battles attacking the most vulnerable areas of our lives. 
3. Whenever Satan can get us to divide our lives into spiritual and secular, he will pull us further away from our confidence that God is over all.
4. The whole armor of God covers all areas of our lives and only by suiting up can we stand firm against Satan’s assault.