We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone

For anyone who does not know, these are some of the lyrics from Another Brick in The Wall, Part 2, from The Wall by Pink Floyd.  Pink Floyd is my favorite band of all time.  I haven’t really listened to them since I came into the Kingdom but I still can’t deny that I think this. 

Roger Waters wrote this song as an attack against a specific type of learning. The lyrics rebuke those teachers who use “thought control” and “dark sarcasm” to mold the school children into mindless drones of society. While there seems to be no specific allusion to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, there are certainly parallels between Huxley’s vision of future “education” and the rote learning of Pink’s (Waters fictional character) teachers. Huxley’s novel presents children learning largely through hypnopedia, a process of repeating fundamental lessons to each child as he or she sleeps. Although the specific lessons depend upon the child’s social status, there are certain governing “truths” that are taught which all must abide by.

The outcome is a loss of individuality and the molding of each child into identical cells in the body of society. Though the educational system Waters is speaking out against is not as subliminal as Huxley’s vision, the effects are the same, producing social clones who know the definition of an acre yet who cannot produce an original, imaginative thought throughout the majority of their lives. This is a song about reclaiming stifled individuality; it’s a criticism regarding the types of teachers and systems that ridicule an imaginative child for writing poetry, as in Pink’s case.

So what does all of this have to do with what I am talking about in this thesis on spiritual warfare and how we are to be combat ready?

In this post, I wrote that I believe our adversary uses Academics and the pursuit of knowledge as a weapon against us.  One way that I believe the enemy has corrupted theological education and knowledge is by the division of doctrinal thought to a degree that keeps us from being willing to hear another side, leading to the current state of disunity in the body of Christ concerning a lot of doctrinal issues. 

I read a lot and I read all sides.  I am not afraid to read viewpoints from Pentecostals, Catholics, evangelicals, fundamentalists, Calvinists, Armenians, atheists and even devil worshippers.  I feel a need to know what other believers believe and what non believers are doing.  Without this knowledge, how can I possibly be prepared for an assault?  Can I even recognize an assault?

Shouldn’t all knowledge and the pursuit of it lead to a better understanding of God?  Instead, in most of what I read, I do not necessarily see a pursuit as much as a presentation of what I should believe.  Those who hold to a deterministic view of God’s sovereignty will quickly declare the open theist a heretic.  A lot of tongue talking Pentecostals will not give a cessationists book a second glance.  And just let someone declare misgivings or misunderstanding concerning the trinity. 

We are never going to agree on everything but shouldn’t we be teachable and open?  Shouldn’t we be able to listen with an open heart and mind and be willing to accept that maybe, just maybe, we might be wrong? 

On another site I was in a discussion about free will when someone commented that God’s purposes cannot be thwarted.  (Job 42:2) She meant it in the sense that whatever happens does so because God wants or causes it to happen. When I questioned her about evil, of course she went back to that statement taken from Job and that is where she made her stand.  I realized I was wasting my time after having that one verse thrown, like some kind of grenade, at me numerous times. It may sound harsh but I do not think she has an open mind and will probably never think on her own.  She has been “taught” a certain doctrine and is okay staying right there.  It brings her comfort but I doubt that someone who just lost a loved one from a long drawn out terminal illness, or a child to a disease, or a spouse cut down in a gangland shooting, would find her “grenade” any comfort at all.

The schools and seminary’s seem to be divided along denominational lines and it seems that almost all of those that go to reformed schools stay reformed, fundamentalists stay fundamental, and so on.  Which in any other type of learning would probably be okay. 

But if there is one Holy Spirit who is supposed to guide us into all truth and we all have that Spirit in us, then why are there so many different schools of thought, and why do we have to attach labels to everything?  If we all do not agree, then someone is wrong.  We must be willing to admit that it might just be me and hear someone else out.  And what about those educated, distinguished, esteemed teachers of the truth, (that never seem to bend or give.)?  They need to realize that in the training of the body of Christ there is no room for “thought control” and “dark sarcasm”.  We do not need any more mindless drones in the Kingdom of God.  We need thinkers.  People willing to possibly go outside the normal theological stances and see what exactly we have wrong. 

And we are wrong.  There is just too much evidence of it.  Not only the division of the body but there is the lack of empowerment and influence to even maintain current levels of Kingdom population.    

A final thought on all this takes us back to what I said in the post linked above.  In the Word of God  there are some warnings about knowledge and the pursuit of it.  (Luk 11:52, 1 Cor 8:1, 1 Cor 13:2)  If knowledge is not shared, if it brings about pride, or if it is presented with no love, it is not of God or of any good to Him.  God wants us to seek knowledge and wisdom.  But it is Godly knowledge not worldly that is to be sought.  Any other becomes a deadly weapon to be exploited by the enemy. 

Some of our most intelligent, intellectual theologians have reached a place where they are no longer teachable.  And in their arrogance they do a lot of harm to the body of Christ thru division and debate.  They have become prideful and unloving in their exposition of truth.  The more some learn about God the less they look like Him. 

Our Father asks us to “Come now, let us reason together… Isa 1:18.  I believe this reasoning with God and with each other is a necessary component of our combat readiness training.

Education and knowledge contribute to wisdom, but they are not wisdom.  You won’t get that from seminary.

So I can’t say “We don’t need no education” but I can definitely say “We don’t need no thought control”.

Love you all

Tags: AcademicsBody of Christ, Calvinism, Combat Readiness, Jesus Christ, Kingdom, SpiritualWarfare

I am driving down the road in the middle of an older subdivision.  I see the stop sign coming up but can see that there is nothing at all coming or even a sign of life in sight.  I drive on through the intersection without stopping.  I break the law, intentionally. 

Have you ever done this?  Do you drive 75 mph on the interstate highway instead of the posted 70 mph?  Do you speed up at yellow lights or slow down?

There are laws in our society.  They serve dual purposes.  They serve to keep us or someone else from harm or they serve to stave off the chaos that could result from a lack of laws.  I am sure most of the readers here have never murdered someone.  I am also sure that most of the same readers have broken a law of society. 

Sometimes there are consequences such as fines or incarceration.  Sometimes we get away with breaking the law.  In fact, we actually get away with breaking the law most of the time. 

How does all of this compare with the laws of God?  Do you believe there are any laws of God? 

We know that God gave us the Ten Commandments.  Some of us know that God gave an exhausting list of laws to the Israelites while they were in the desert.  There are 613 recognized laws to be observed in the Torah.  This is known as the Mosaic Law.  From the study and implementation of these laws, the priesthood, by the time Jesus came on the scene, had developed the practice of following these laws into what I am calling pharisaical legalism. 

Pharisaical legalism.  This is an old tactic that the enemy still uses in our day and time.  I define this as; the forming of a set of rules and laws that man decides are necessary for righteousness.  These laws come from interpreting the bible with the help of the wrong spirits. This tactic is losing its effectiveness, I believe, in most religious settings today but, it is far from gone.  It was not that many years ago, in my own denomination, where a bunch of manmade interpretative laws were followed to assess the state of one’s soul.  Laws such as the length of hair and what jewelry, if any, could be worn by a servant of Christ would signify whether you were right with God or not.

Some will argue that some of the Mosaic Law is for Christians to follow, some for all, and some for none.  How are we to know?

Jesus said the following in the gospel of Matthew:

Mat 5:17  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

What does that mean?  Are we to follow the laws or not? 

The word interpreted as fulfill is pleroo in the original language and according to Thayer means the following, in part; to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full, to render full, i.e. to complete, to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure, fill to the brim, to make complete in every particular, to render perfect,  to carry through to the end, to accomplish, carry out, (some undertaking), to carry into effect, bring to realization, realize, of sayings, promises, prophecies, to bring to pass, ratify, to fulfill, i.e. to cause God’s will (as made known in the law) to be obeyed as it should be, and God’s promises (given through the prophets) to receive fulfillment. 

Our modern dictionary has the additions of these two meanings; to satisfy and to bring to an end.   

Paul had the following to say;

Gal 5:18  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

So we do not have to follow the laws of God, right?

Wrong. 

God’s purpose for the law was twofold.  First it allowed all to realize certain things are required of us to experience a real relationship with Him.  But it was also given in an era, before the Holy Spirit, when man was incapable of following the law because we were slaves of sin.  This is the second reason He gave it.  It was to show us we could not keep the whole of the law.  If we could, there would have been no need for Calvary.  The intent of the law was over and done with when Jesus came

We have to follow the law of God but, it is not through the system of legalism that the enemy pushes so diligently, it is through holiness.  There is simply no place for legalism of any kind.  Grace is the order of the day.  When Paul says that if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law, he is saying that a true believer, one that has sold out to Jesus, listens to the Spirit inside himself, cannot break the law of God. 

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

We are slaves to sin and death no longer.  Paul says a whole lot more about the Law and Grace.  Read the book of Romans, especially through chapter eight.   I used the statement from Galatians because there is absolutely no way I can see that it can be misconstrued.  And Romans 8:1 affirms we cannot be condemned. 

Are there any rules or law for us to follow?  Yes, there certainly are.  But they are not to be understood in the enemy inspired legalistic form of keeping or memorizing a sin list.  They are not to be realized by coming up with acceptable dress or hairstyle.  There are many more ways that the enemy has corrupted these laws.  I won’t keep on here. 

The Holy Spirit is the spirit of grace and He is the only one that can tell us what God wants from us.  Listen to Him.  He is the only one that can change us.  Let Him.  He is the only one that can lead us down that narrow path.  Follow Him.    

We must stop trying to do His work, before and after, we let people in the door.  Jesus told us that the whole law was simply to love God and everybody else.  If we do this, we won’t keep breaking the law.

Love you all

Tags: Combat Readiness, Enemy, God, Grace, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Law, Legalism, Murder, Sin, Strategy and TacticsSpiritual WarfareSpirit, Ten Commandments

I served this nation for five years in the US Army.  Thankfully, it was during a time of peace.  The mission of a peacetime army was to be properly equipped, trained, and ready to defend this nation.  This is what combat readiness meant. 

As a soldier you got used to inspections.  They happened quite frequently in artillery units, which is what I was stationed in.  Inspections were sometimes announced, so we could prepare.  Most of the time they were not.  We really hated surprise inspections.  No matter how many there were, the hatred of them never dissipated. 

But these inspections were designed and executed, to teach discipline, and to determine our state of combat readiness.  If a soldier had a torn gas mask, worn out socks, and only one pair of boots; he was not combat ready.  A torn gas mask would not only allow you to get killed, but it could put a whole platoon at risk because everyone depended on each other. 

Another aspect of combat readiness was training.  This training consisted of the proper use and maintenance of our weaponry, our military tactics and strategy, and the tactics and strategy of our enemy.  As these things changed on the enemy’s side we had to respond with effective change ourselves. 

I have written about the spiritual warfare we are all in and the tactics of our enemy here and here.  In this post I want to take up the task of putting forth some ideas for change, in the area of our own tactical response.  As I have been discussing, our enemy is constantly changing tactics, and I have used as examples seven areas I believe he is currently working in.  Here is the first of them again, but with my thoughts as to how we may be able to defeat him.  

Acceptance.  As I said, we all want to be accepted.  Pentecostals were not accepted in the beginning but now we go out of our way to explain away some of our gifting to the world.  Just so we will not be looked at as too weird.  Other denominations attempt to be accepted in their own ways also.  Just look at what we sometimes call seeker sensitive churches.

These churches proclaim themselves to be beacons of light for the lost.  Safe havens where no one will ever be judged.  Cool, and in touch with the culture.  Jesus loved the sinner and we have to also.  And all of this would be fine, if it was about the sinner. 

Jesus did reach out and go out of His way to reach that lost soul.  And He did it for them.   So, while I sympathize with the thought behind these types of churches, I have to ask, is it about the lost being accepted into our Kingdom, or is it about the church wanting to be accepted into the ungodly kingdom of this earth.

Just ask yourself who we want to be accepted by.  The world would seem to be the answer.  When a nationally recognized pastor gets on a TV interview and says he does not preach about abortion because it is a “political issue”, I have to ask, when did that happen?  Since man is so divided on the issue, is God confused also.  It seems, according to His word, at one time He was against the murder of innocent children.   

Do we really want to do as God says, or man?

This brings me to a couple of questions I have about about this concept of acceptance. Do you think the Pentecostals are concerned with Baptists accepting them?  What about Methodists and Catholics? How many times have you heard a Calvinist call an Armenian a brother?  We want acceptance from the world but not our own family.   Within the family of God the names called are usually heretic, apostate, miscreant, unbeliever.

Where is the concern we have for what the other denominational brothers think of us?

Jesus said the world hates us because we are like Him (Joh 17:14) and for His names sake.  (Luk 21:17)  Yet He said that we owe each other, those other adopted family members we have, love.  (Rom 13:8)

The world will never really accept us.  They may pretend, but if we are who we are supposed to be, they have, I repeat, they have, to hate us. 

So our new strategy has to be, to do everything possible to become who we are supposed to be, to start accepting our adopted brothers and sisters of faith instead of the world, and to once again declare our allegiance to our King and His kingdom only.

So I ask…Who loves ya baby?  For Christ’s sake and our own, it better be Jesus and the other denomination down the street.

Who loves ya baby?  I do.

Love you all

Tags: Acceptance, Combat Readiness, Enemy, Love, Pentecost, Spiritual Warfare, Strategy and Tactics

Have you ever watched a movie about the revolutionary war?  Did you wonder why on earth the soldiers in those armies would just march right at each other, wide open, with no protection?  As if they were daring an enemy round to hit them. 

Look at a movie depicting warfare in a medieval setting and it is even crazier.  They just all dive in at each other, slashing and hacking away.  I wonder how they even know who they are killing. 

Somewhere along the line, as far as warfare tactics go, some smart soldier came up with the idea of cover.  Learn how to present as little a target as you can to the enemy.  That definitely seemed to make sense. 

Military institutions have underwent a lot of change since those first armies, with whatever they used for weapons, charged and started pummeling each other. The constant search for better equipment and weaponry is a never-ending necessity for those who engage in battle. If they intend to overcome their enemies, that is.  

When I joined the US Army in 1983, they were just finally wrapping up some of the equipment exchange programs they had initiated a few years prior to my enlistment.  Some of the new recruits were outfitted with the new battle dress uniforms, BDU’s, while others got a few articles in the old standard olive drab uniform.  For the first year of my enlistment I was issued the old “steel pot” helmet instead of the current Kevlar head protection.  The equipment is constantly being exchanged as the warfare strategy of the enemy changes. 

Weapons, tactics and strategy also constantly evolved while I was enlisted.  Mercifully I served my five years in peacetime.  But we still trained constantly.  Practicing and learning so we would be ready at all times.  A new weapon meant a lot of extra training.  Tactics and strategy was constantly revised and updated to counter any new threat.  The whole concept was known as combat readiness. 

Are we, the Church, combat ready?  I wonder.

We have been in a war against darkness of the most desperate kind, for the whole history of the Church, but not all seem to understand this.  I don’t think much of the Church even realizes they are at war.  This has to change.  We must do our duty to inform all of the body of the necessity of battle.  And even for those that are seasoned and battle hardened warriors, it looks to me like somewhere along the line, we failed to realize the enemy was changing his warfare strategy and we failed to see any need to update ours. 

We not only must teach all disciples the reality of spiritual warfare, but how to recognize the tactics of the enemy.  What is the goal of Satan?  Is it to rule in hell, so in essence, he can to take as many of us down as possible to rule over?  I don’t think so.  Satan as ruler of hell is a misconception.  He rules over this domain, because we gave him this rule. 

He is not dumb.  I believe he knows that he will suffer judgment and punishment.  Maybe he fights so hard to somehow try to change the inevitable outcome.  He has to know he cannot win.  But he can hurt God by making a whole lot of us follow his path to judgment. 

As far as tactics are concerned, do you think he is still employing the same methods he did one hundred years ago?  Or even fifty or ten.  I don’t.  I believe he adapts and adjusts every time we do. 

A little over one hundred years ago something happened that had been hidden for almost two millennium.  Some faithful followers of Christ realized something was missing.  They earnestly sought answers and were graciously answered.  The precious and powerful Holy Spirit of God came on the scene after being unwelcome for quite a while.  When He filled those early Pentecostals with a new power and a revived spirit, the Pentecostal movement was born.  And spiritual warfare was recognized once again as a reality. 

Through the gifts of the spirit, the enemy was pushed back and defeated in many areas and lives.  The movement has grown into the third largest group of confessing Christians.  And actually is believed by some to be the largest of those groups that actually try to live in a Christlike way.   

Those early Pentecostals were a force to be reckoned with because of their humility, their hunger, and their love. 

The enemy had to change tactics.  He had had many successes, mainly by manipulating the church into its concerns with the world, culture and government.  But these Pentecostals and their pursuit of holiness instead of the world set him back.  But he responded.  How?

He slowly seduced us.  Through acceptance by the rest of culture, though entertainment, through false manifestations and manipulations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, through pharisaical legalism, through a false gospel of the pursuit of happiness and wealth, through academics and the pursuit of knowledge, and finally through a misperception of relevance.

We have become in many ways the very thing our founders wanted liberation from.  A worldly religious system.  And worldly religious systems do no harm to the enemy and sometimes even advance his campaign against our King. 

My church, the Alabaster Church of God, is in a revival at the moment.  My pastor, Robert Barnes, and the evangelist, John Ritcheson, seem to be putting forth a message from God that we must go beyond a simple personal refreshing.  Instead we must come back to our roots, which are humility, hunger and love.   

(2 Ch 7:14 ) If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

We must change our tactics and strategies from what they have become.  Instead of the elevation of self, and a pursuit of pleasure, and an attitude of hatred and judgment, we simply must humble ourselves before God, hunger for His presence and instruction, and turn back to the love for God and the love of all that He loves. 

The things that the enemy has used to divert us that I listed above are not all inherently bad or bad for us.  It is sometimes just the misuse or improper esteem we place on things and ideas and movements.  If we are to be effective in defeating the tactics of the enemy at the moment we simply must come back to the proper place in Christ that we should be. 

And if you know anything about current events, you know we must not tarry.

Combat readiness.  In my peacetime army training that simply meant sweat, lack of sleep, weariness and monotony even. 

In this real war between the forces of heaven and hell, it means life or death

Love you all

Tags: Combat, Combat Readiness, Death, Enemy, Heaven, Hell, King, Kingdom, Life, Spiritual Warfare, Strategy and Tactics, US Army, War