Category Archives: Apologetics

Spiritual Warfare In The Old Testament

Apologetics, , ,

SPIRITUAL WARFARE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

The Galatian Church syndrome reworked

One of the areas where the “Galatian Church syndrome” seems to have re-emerged, i.e. that the cross needs our help to be effective, is in the modern world-wide prayer movement in which altars, strongholds and powers over localities and countries are being “identified” and intercessors raised up to deal with these powerful spirits who hold people and nations captive.

There is no denying that such powers exist and that people are held captive to their deception but I question the way that the problem is dealt with by this movement. Is it Biblical?

What is “spiritual warfare”?

Let’s first examine what is meant by “spiritual warfare” in the understanding of today’s church and the way in which it is currently being handled.

In some parts of the church it is assumed that it is the responsibility of believers, and in particular a special group of believers called “intercessors” firstly to identify the “altars”, the idols, the specific powers and strongholds over towns, cities, regions and countries and the spirits operating in those areas that keep people in bondage. It is then their task to pray these demonic powers down, to break their power over towns, regions etc., so that the gospel will be effective. This requires a great deal of effort, denouncing and declaring until they are satisfied that the spiritual warfare has been effective.

It requires time and effort by specialised people who not only have to identify the particular spirits they have to deal with and spend time interceding, but they also have to go around training “ordinary” believers in the art of “spiritual warfare”.

Another area of “spiritual warfare” relates to curses in general and to “generational” curses in particular.

There is a belief among some believers that many of the trials and hardships that we experience are attacks of the devil. People are vulnerable for various reasons, some of which are identified as “curses”. If your father, for example, was involved in witchcraft, ungodly practices or, heaven forbid, Free Masonry, then you are vulnerable and anything that goes wrong in your life means that you are under a curse. You are a victim and you need someone who has a deliverance ministry to rescue you.

You may have sinned and now God is punishing you by allowing you to suffer adversity. You need “powerful prayers” to break the curse and get the devil off your back.  “Spiritual warfare” is, therefore, the task of the intercessor or the person with a deliverance ministry to deal with demons or strongholds over people or groups of people by “powerful” prayers invoking the name of Jesus, or carrying out rituals like prayer walks, praying on site, or discerning and pulling down strongholds, principalities and powers or breaking curses over individuals or families.

Examples from the Old Testament

Now let’s examine this model against the backdrop of the Scriptures; first the Old Testament which seems to be the pattern from where some of these practices come, and then the New Testament.

Abraham

As a brand new believer in Elohim, Abraham moved to the land of Canaan at God’s command, a land riddled with idolatry and wickedness. How did he cope with the situation?

As he moved from place to place in the land, he established a network of altars and worshipped the Lord God who had appeared to him in Ur. The writer of Genesis made sure that every reader was aware that the Canaanites were in the land (Genesis 12:6-9; 13:7). What was the implication? In spite of the fact that the Canaanites were evil and in charge, Abraham worshipped God publicly wherever he went.

After he had parted from Lot, God appeared to him with this promise:

“Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever… Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you. So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great tree of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the Lord.” Genesis 13:14-18 (NIV).

How did Abram respond? He believed God’s promise and worshipped Him.

The children of Israel

How did the Israelites respond when they received the report of the ten spies regarding the strength of the Canaanites in the Promised Land? Instead of listening to Joshua and Caleb, believing God’s promise and obeying His instructions, they were afraid of the Canaanites, complained about their leaders and wanted to return to Egypt. Instead of worshipping God, they rebelled because they thought it was up to them to win the battle.

“That night all the people of community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and whole assembly said to them, ‘If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?’ And they said to each other, ‘We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.’” Numbers 14:1-4 (NIV).

They did not believe God’s promise, they grumbled and rebelled and eventually died in the desert. Their offspring were the ones who conquered the land through the power of God.

Elijah

Elijah was God’s prophet in Israel at a time when Ahab and Jezebel reigned in the northern kingdom. Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians. She brought with her the worship of Baal with its evil practices. God judged the nation with a severe famine. Elijah emerged from hiding from the murderous intention of King Ahab to challenge the prophets of Baal to a contest to determine who was God in Israel.

The story is well-known but what interests me is how Elijah handled his part in the contest. It was not his responsibility to deal with the power of Baal. He repaired the broken altar of the Lord, and created an impossible situation by dousing the sacrifice, the altar and the surrounding ground with water. Then he worshipped the Lord and prayed that God would reveal His power. The fire fell from heaven and consumed everything including the water. There was no contest because the power claimed by the prophets of Baal was a lie.

Conclusion

Even in the Old Testament the way in which spiritual warfare was conducted was to unmask the devil’s deception by believing God, obeying His word and worshipping Him.

This pattern is repeated over and over again in the Old Testament. Whenever Israel as a nation received God’s promise and worshipped Him, acting in obedience to His instruction, they were victorious. Three examples come to mind;

  1. The conquest of Jericho:

“Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See I have delivered Jericho into your hands along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men…Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams horns in front to the ark…On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse…’” Joshua 6: 1-5. (NIV).

They obeyed and Jericho fell.

  1. Victory of Judah and King Jehoshaphat over Moab and Ammon:

Jehoshaphat was faced with a coalition of fighting men from Moab and Ammon. He prayed to God in the presence of the people at the temple in Jerusalem. One of the Levites, Jahaziel, prophesied:

“You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions, stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid. Go out and face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.” 2 Chronicles 20:17.

Jehoshaphat and all the people bowed in worship before the Lord. The next day, as the people went out to meet the enemy, Jehoshaphat encouraged them:

“’Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in God and you will be upheld; have faith in His prophets and you will be successful.’ After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise Him for the splendour of His holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:

                        ‘Give thanks to the Lord,

                        For His love endures forever.’”

2 Chronicles 20:20b-21.

We know the end of the story very well. God defeated the enemy and all they did was to gather the spoils. The outcome was amazing.

“The fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of   the countries when they heard how the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for the Lord had given him rest on every side.” 2 Chronicles 20:29-30 (NIV).

  1. Hezekiah and the Assyrian threat

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, was on the march. His predecessor, Shalmaneser, had already overrun Samaria and carried the Israelites into captivity. Now it was Judah’s turn. Hezekiah paid the tribute Sennacherib demanded but Sennacherib was bent on capturing Jerusalem. He sent officials to intimidate the king and the people of Jerusalem. He sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah via his messengers which Hezekiah took into the temple and spread out before the Lord. He worshipped the Lord and laid his case before Him.

God spoke through the prophet Isaiah in response, promising His miraculous deliverance without an arrow being shot. That night the angel of death passed over the Assyrian army camp and wiped out the entire army of 186,000 soldiers. Sennacherib withdrew and returned to Assyria where he was murdered by his two sons.

The common denominator in these victories was twofold; obedience to God and worship, the essence of spiritual warfare! They did what God told them to do and there was no contest.

To be continued…

Did The Cross Work?

Apologetics, , , ,

DID THE CROSS WORK?

An insidious and disturbing error has crept into some streams of the modern church which I call “the Galatian Church syndrome.”

What is the Galatian Church syndrome?

The apostle Paul had to deal with a group of Christian teachers called the Judaizers. “That Gentile Christians should convert to Judaism and obey the Laws of Moses was the assumption of some in the Early Church, represented by Pharisees who had become believers in Acts 15 (Acts 15:5).” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaizers). (A fuller treatment of this subject can be found on the website referred to in this article).

The underlying issue was, “Is the death of Jesus sufficient for salvation or is it necessary for Gentile believers to “Judaize”. i.e., embrace the Jewish law found in the Torah before they can be accepted as followers of Christ?” There were members of the Galatian church who had fallen for this lie, which alarmed and angered Paul to the extent that he wrote an impassioned letter to the Galatians to expose this idea as a “false gospel” and one which he did not preach. So vehemently did he denounce such an idea that he called down a curse on anyone, even an angelic being sent from God, who preached “another gospel”.

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned.” Galatians 1:8 (NIV).

Although this issue is still alive today, it is not the debate over the place of the law in the believer’s life that concerns me as much as the same principle which rears its head in other ways from time to time. There are ways in which the efficacy of the cross is challenged by beliefs and practices which appear “spiritual” but are in actual fact additions to the work of Jesus that supposedly enhance the effectiveness of what He accomplished on the cross.

Before I explain, there are two questions which we must answer:

  1. What did Jesus mean when He declared, “It is finished!”?
  2. What did the cross accomplish?

The answers to these two questions are inextricably tied together.

“Literally translated the word tetelestai means, “It is finished.” The word occurs in John 19:28 and 19:30 and these are the only two places in the New Testament where it occurs. In 19:28 it is translated, “After this, when Jesus knew that all things were now completed, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, he said, ‘I thirst.’” Two verses later, he utters the word himself: “Then when he received the sour wine Jesus said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

“The word tetelestai was also written on business documents or receipts in New Testament times to show indicating that a bill had been paid in full. The Greek-English lexicon by Moulton and Milligan says this:

“Receipts are often introduced by the phrase [sic] tetelestai, usually written in an abbreviated manner…” (p. 630). The connection between receipts and what Christ accomplished would have been quite clear to John’s Greek-speaking readership; it would be unmistakable that Jesus Christ had died to pay for their sins.”

(https://bible.org/question/what-does-greek-word-tetelestai-mean).

“Tetelestai” doesn’t translate simply; we have to make a phrase out of it – “It is finished.” But still some of its power is lost in the translation. In the Greek it implies that something has come to an end, it has been completed, perfected, accomplished in full and that something has consequences that will endure on and on…

“Tetelestai.” The most powerful single word of all of Jesus’ ministry. It was also his last word. It was the word that turned this apparent tragedy into a scene of victory that shook the earth, split rocks, changed history, raised saints from the dead and tore away the temple curtain that kept people out of the Holy of Holies.

“Tetelestai” the most powerful word in history. Even more powerful than the words of creation in Genesis chapter 1 where God spoke and the universe came into existence. This word could not simply be spoken. The son of God had to die to speak it…

“Seven times our Lord spoke from the Cross, three before the darkness and four after…

“The sixth word is one of triumph, “It is finished!”

“In the Greek, it is the word tetelestai. It’s an artist’s word. It is the word an artist uses when she stands before one of her creations and says, “Tetelestai, it is finished; I cannot add anything more to it. It is complete.” It is a builder’s word. It is the word he uses when he hands over the keys to a new building and says, “Tetelestai, it is finished; I have done everything according to the plan. It is complete.”

http://www.opensourcetheology.net/node/1332

Jesus’ cry, “It is finished,” was an all-encompassing declaration that everything that went wrong when Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden was reversed at the cross; every lie the devil had spoken was exposed, every sin forgiven and the debt paid in full. Every obstacle between man and God was removed and God’s original plan for man and the universe put back on track – confirmed by the resurrection, and to be completed at His return.

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossian 2:13-15 (NIV).

The Galatian Church syndrome is that teaching, practice or movement that believes that what Jesus did on the cross and through His resurrection was not sufficient for salvation. There are different ways in which people have added to the efficacy of His death; baptism, the Mass, legalism, good works to mention just a few. It is my purpose to examine the ever-growing international prayer movement which engages is “spiritual” warfare to defeat and pull down strongholds over people and nations, against the backdrop of Scripture to see whether it fits into the category of “Galatian Church Syndrome.”

To be continued…

A Tragic Trade

Apologetics, , ,

A TRAGIC TRADE

“When Paul and Barnabas finally realised what was going on, they stopped them. Waving their arms, they interrupted the parade, calling out, ‘What do you think you’re doing? We’re not gods. We are men just like you, and we’re here to bring you the Message, to persuade you to abandon these silly god-superstitions and embrace God Himself, the living God. We don’t make God; He makes us, and all of this — sky, earth, sea, and everything in them.'” Acts 14:14-15 (The Message).

O, what a message the world needs to hear! We don’t make God; He makes us.

How can it be possible that millions of people have swallowed the lie that the universe came into being by sheer chance and that we can invent our own gods? Surely the wonder of creation itself should lead us to the Creator! Has anything that we use every day just happened — motor vehicles, aircraft, great ocean liners, buildings, computers, cell phones; you name it — it had to have a designer and a craftsman to fashion it.

Surely any rational and sane-thinking person must realise that there is no such thing as spontaneous change or interim stages in a creation of such complex and intricate function. If any component is missing in a machine, it will not work. Anything in a human body that malfunctions or is not there causes deformity and disease. A single extra chromosome is enough to produce Down’s syndrome.

And what about the unity of creation? How can the entire created order function in such perfect harmony, even galaxies of stars millions of miles apart affecting each other, so that the universe has never gone haywire? Without the laws of nature, humans cannot harness the natural world for their benefit. Scientists could never have put men on the moon without them. The universe functions as one to reflect the perfect oneness of the God who created it.

And what of the gods humans have so cleverly invented? Does a single one of them come anywhere near the nature of the God who had revealed Himself in His Son? Can anyone think that up! We can only imagine what we know. Every god humans have ever invented is a taker, demanding, unpredictable and without love or justice.

Only the God of the Bible, who has revealed Himself to us in Jesus, is a gracious and generous giver and a perfectly righteous and just God. We only need to look at the cross to see love and justice coming together in perfect harmony so that God is free to forgive and restore everything humans have messed up by their irrational and rebellious independence.

We cannot hide behind the excuse that we did not know. “But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate; as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of His divine being. So nobody has a good excuse.” Romans 1:18-20 (The Message).

Why is the world like it is? We brought it on ourselves.

“What happened was this. People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat Him like God, refusing to worship Him, they trivialised themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in His hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside store.” Romans 1:21-23 (The Message).

What a tragic trade! And what was the outcome?

“So God said, in effect, ‘If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.’ It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshipped the god they made instead of the God who made them — the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!” Romans 1:24-25 (The Message).

Is Jesus a Devil?

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IS JESUS A DEVIL?

“Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, ‘Any country in civil war for very long is wasted. A constantly squabbling family falls to pieces. If Satan cancels Satan, is there any Satan left? You accuse me of ganging up with the devil, the prince of demons, to cast out demons, but if you’re slinging devil-mud at me, calling me a devil that kicks out devils, doesn’t the same mud stick on your exorcists? But if it’s God’s finger I’m pointing that sends the demons on their way, then God’s kingdom is here for sure.'” Luke 11:17-20, (The Message)

Talk about twisted thinking! In their eagerness to discredit Jesus, these opponents forgot to think logically. In fact they were teetering close to being taken over by demons themselves. Who thinks up an accusation like that except Jesus’ arch-enemy? To be saying what they said without considering the implications of their accusation meant that their brains had been overtaken by the deceiver.

Jesus’ reply was masterfully simple and wise. One wonders whether they were dumbstruck by His reply or just plain obstinate in sticking to their opinion. How can a divided kingdom or even a divided household stand firm? Division is the opposite of unity. Since unity (ECHAD), which represents the very image of God, is what holds the universe together, then division will tear it apart.

Anyone with a little bit of understanding knows that division in the ranks, be it in an organization, or in any group, human or animal, will cause it to disintegrate. Division in the function of the body is called sickness and will bring about death if not treated. How then can Jesus be driving demons out using Satan’s power? The idea is ludicrous.

Just the opposite is true. What Jesus had just done and what He was doing across Israel was a witness to something very different. He was getting rid of the illegal occupants in people’s lives and restoring God’s rule in human bodies and human spirits. For too long Satan had had his way with people, deceiving them into believing that he was in charge. Jesus was setting the record straight by evicting him from the people who belonged to God, not to him.

The very fact that the demons gave way at His command was evidence of who was really in charge. This was building up to an even greater victory over Satan, already accomplished from eternity’s perspective but to be effected in time when His enemies, under the influence of His great enemy, would have Him killed, thinking that was the end of Him!

What a blessing that we are part of that living proof of who is actually in charge. Through the same ‘finger of God’, the Holy Spirit, all who believe in Jesus have been rescued from the kingdom that is causing the world to fall apart, and are now a part of the kingdom over which Jesus rules, and are being restores to perfect oneness with God.

What Does the Bible Say About the Rapture?

Apologetics, ,

What Does the Bible Say About the Rapture?

First of all, to understand the Biblical concept of the rapture, we must put it into its Jewish cultural context. How would the Bible’s readers have understood what it is saying? Many believers today have the tendency to dismiss the Old Testament as irrelevant, preferring to focus on Jesus as though He was not born into a family with a history and cultural background. That leaves us open to all sorts of misunderstandings and misinterpretations.

Would it surprise you to discover that the Bible is about a wedding? When God met the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, His intention was to invite them into a marriage relationship with Himself. He spoke marriage talk to them. His language followed the Hebrew courtship process exactly:
Step 1: Exodus 6:7 – “I will take you as my own (segula) people …”
Step 2: Exodus 19:5 – “…out of all the nations you will be my treasured (lachah) possession.”
Step 3: Exodus 19:10 – “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash (mikvah) their clothes…’”
Step 4: Exodus 20:1-17 – The marriage contract (ketubah).
Step 5: Exodus 19:18 – “Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace; the whole mountain trembled violently.” The wedding ceremony took place under the canopy (chuppa) provided in this case by fire and smoke.

In a Hebrew wedding ceremony, after the marriage has been contracted under the chuppa, the bride and groom are escorted to the bridal chamber, prepared by the bridegroom at his fathers’ house and approved by his father. The groom picks up (raptures) his bride and carries her over the threshold into the bridal chamber where the marriage is consummated. Then the bridal couple return to their waiting guests to enjoy their wedding feast.

At Mount Sinai, God invited His people into a marriage bond with Himself and treated them as His wife, even though they rejected Him and were unfaithful to Him. On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell on the believers, the same phenomena occurred as at Mount Sinai, noise and fire. This time the people responded to God, and the church – the bride of Christ – was born. The consummation of that marriage awaits Jesus’ return for His bride – “I am going there (to my Father’s house – understood) to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2b,3. NIV).

When Jesus returns He will pick up (rapture) His bride and consummate His eternal spiritual union with her, followed by the marriage supper of the Lamb – Revelation 19:7,9. – “Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and the bride has made herself ready…Then the angel said to me, ‘Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’”

In contrast to the theory that Jesus will come secretly to snatch His bride away, the Biblical picture is clearly that of a noisy affair. At Sinai there was the blowing of trumpets and the noise of shouting (thunder – which should be translated ‘voices’) – Exodus 19:16, which accompanied God’s proposal of marriage. At Pentecost there was the noise of a violent wind and tongues of fire when the believers responded to His proposal of marriage.

When Jesus returns, His coming will be announced by the blowing of trumpets and the shout of the archangel, hardly a quiet affair according to Scripture! “For the Lord Himself will come down with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up (raptured) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17.

Scripture is clear that everything will happen simultaneously on Jesus’ return. “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power on the day He comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed.” 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10a.

There is never a hint of a third return of Jesus in Scripture. Two comings, yes! The first time Jesus came, He introduced us to His Father and prepared the way for us to be reconnected to Himself by His death. He invited us into a marriage relationship with Himself and the engagement period began at Pentecost. In the interim the bride is being prepared for her wedding day and the bridegroom has returned to His Father’s house to prepare the bridal chamber.

When He returns to claim His bride, that’s it! Like the five foolish virgins who were not ready, all who have not been made righteous by His blood and have not lived out that righteousness as a reflection of Him, – “…fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints)” – Revelation 19:8 – will be shut out of the presence of the Lord and consigned to eternal separation from God.

Once again, if we understand Scripture correctly, we are never encouraged to be apathetic about living out our faith because there will be a second chance for those who miss it the first time. There is no second chance. When Jesus returns, all creation will know it and all humanity will be judged; the righteous reputed into the bridal chamber with Jesus and the unrighteous consigned to eternal fire – instantaneously. Too many people have been lulled by this false teaching into believing that they will have time to respond – a typical Satanic deception to lure people off course. Jesus had spoken – “Watch and pray. Do not be deceived.”