Spiritual Warfare

A Matter of Life or Death

 By Berit Kjos - January 2012

Part 2

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Emphasis added

In his 1967 book, Tortured for Christ, Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, wrote,

“...there are no nominal, halfhearted, lukewarm Christians in Russia or China. The price Christians pay is far too great. The next point to remember is that persecution has always produced a better Christian—a witnessing Christian, a soul-winning Christian. Communist persecution has backfired and produced serious, dedicated Christians such as are rarely seen in free lands. These people cannot understand how anyone can be a Christian and not want to win every soul they meet.” 

In the most anti-Christians countries in the world, God's people have shared the full truth of the gospel far more faithfully than in contemporary America. Perhaps we could learn a lesson or two from ten-year-old Linh Dao, who risked her life growing up in the hostile climate of North Vietnam. Ponder this story:

North Vietnam banned Bibles and had little tolerance for those who shared their Christian faith. But Linh's father was the pastor of an "underground church," where plenty of Bibles were hidden. The believers met in secret, knowing well that they might all be caught and killed for choosing to "obeying God rather than man." (Acts 5:39)

One scary day, four officers burst into Linh's home and began their search for illegal literature. Linh loved God's Word and couldn't let the officers confiscate all the Bibles. So, while the police questioned her parents, the brave girl hid Bibles in her school backpack. One of the officers noticed the little girl.

"What's in there," he asked, looking at her backpack. Not wanting to lie, she answered: "Books for children."

The officers found the rest of the Bibles and arrested her father. He was sentenced to hard labor and "re-education," i.e. brainwashing" -- forcing him to trust the government rather than God.

When Linh's neighbors heard about her father's arrest, they believed he was a criminal. She explained that as a follower of Jesus, he had to keep telling others about God's love ­ even when it meant persecution.

Do we, like Linh, love God enough to "share His suffering" rather than compromise with the world's values?

If so, what might be the cost?

There's little or no cost for those who simply blend their faith to today's spiritual syncretism and cultural values. The world would accept them as its own. They would fit right in. They wouldn't offend anyone with references to unwanted Truth or references to personal salvation. A social gospel might fit, but not the call of God through His Word!

In The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrick Bonhoeffer explains why:

"Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian 'conception' of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins.... In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.[45-46]

"Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. 'All for sin could not atone.' Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin....

"Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.[47]

"Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man’ will gladly go and self all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

"Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

"Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus. It comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Do we love God enough to treasure His costly grace? Are we willing to "share His suffering" rather than compromise with a world system that delights in cheap grace with its elastic adaptability  ?

In the context of earthly time, that cost has been spiraling the last century -- especially through the recent decades. We can look back to the sixties and see the mounting boundaries set by today's secular world system. Year after year, new bans were announced and freedom choked: No prayer in school,

As parents became Conc

Last week, a friend asked me to explain these verses:

"Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life." 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

Her main concern dealt with "the aroma of death leading to death." Who or what would face such death?

That's an important question. Let's look for clues in a few other verses. Notice that in each verse below there is a division between

• True believers and hostile unbelievers

• Those who belong to God's Kingdom versus those who are of the world

• Christians versus those who are part of a church but reject the true gospel

"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world." Jn 17:14-19

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” (1 Co 1:18-19)

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep." Ac 7:57-60

19"Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead." Ac 14:20

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."  Mt 24:9-14

“...and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” Mark 10:33-34

“...the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me."  Jn 16:2-3?

"...it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ... Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand...." Matthew 13:11-17

"But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him.... 'He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts..." John 12:37-40

"Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.

"But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

"Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

"But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” Matthew 13:18-23
 

Believe it or not, we are immersed in a spiritual war. If we truly belong to God -- the "mighty conqueror" -- we will never be defeated. Sharing the gospel is not as easy as in in former years. Many are offended and some show their rage. Our government has banned ... and 

Notice the VISIBLE foes in this North Korean drama. They were the blinded puppets of Communism -- indoctrinated in atheism and trained to hate God and His people.

Meanwhile, the INVISIBLE foes were the "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12). Dedicated to the destruction of Biblical faith, they are now generally ignored in our post-modern culture. But their deadly schemes were all too familiar to the persecuted Christians in Marxist and other anti-Christian nations. As Pastor Richard Wurmbrand wrote in Tortured For Christ (1967),

“...there are no nominal, halfhearted, lukewarm Christians in Russia or China. The price Christians pay is far too great.... Communist persecution has backfired and produced serious, dedicated Christians such as are rarely seen in free lands.” 

America's Compromised "Gospel"

There is little risk in simply stating that "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." No costs, no conditions, no confessions, no conversions.

Most people would be pleased to know that there is a God [however they perceive Him] who loves us and is there to help us. They may ignore His Word and follow their own inclinations, but they like the notion of some kind of powerful deity. That's why there are countless religions in the world.

For the most part, those gods are worshipped because of their supposed power to a victim and punish an enemy. The follower's main focus is not on God and His Word, but on themselves. They want comfort, inner peace and cheap love -- not God's lessons in endurance, strength to resist temptations, nor the watchful nearness of God and with His unpopular Biblical boundaries. Rather than separation from the world, they want acceptance and popularity in the world. 

Many of today's so-called Christians have found that acceptance by adapting the Bible to the world-system. That spiritual melting pot, welcomes today's popular version of Christianity. It's not surprising that Rick Warren has announced that fundamentalism, of all varieties, will be "one of the big enemies of the 21st century." 8

What, then, does Warren mean by Fundamentalism? In a May 2005 interview the Pew Forum on Religion, Rick Warren stated:

"Today there really aren't that many Fundamentalists left; I don't know if you know that or not, but they are such a minority; there aren't that many Fundamentalists left in America.... Now the word 'fundamentalist' actually comes from a document in the 1920s called the Five Fundamentals of the Faith. And it is a very legalistic, narrow view of Christianity." 9

I'm not surprised. Jesus told His disciples that, unlike the compromised church culture, His way would be narrow, difficult and unpopular:

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13-14

But for those who walk with Him, there's abundant strength in Christ for all the challenges ahead! This promise is for us today:

"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9

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 Emerging 'Christianity' - Part 2: From Gnostic Roots to Occult Revival

here's a celebrated couplet by the poet William Blake that sums up for me much that is disturbing about exclusionary versions of Christianity:

"That vision of Christ, which thou dost see

Is my vision's greatest enemy." 7

In light of this spiritual melting pot, it's not surprising that Rick Warren has announced that fundamentalism, of all varieties, will be "one of the big enemies of the 21st century." 8 What, then, does Warren mean by Fundamentalism? In a May 2005 interview the Pew Forum on Religion, Warren stated: "Today there really aren't that many Fundamentalists left; I don't know if you know that or not, but they are such a minority; there aren't that many Fundamentalists left in America.... Now the word 'fundamentalist' actually comes from a document in the 1920s called the Five Fundamentals of the Faith. And it is a very legalistic, narrow view of Christianity." 9 Actually, Jesus told His disciples that His way would be narrow and difficult. "There are few who find it," he said. But "wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it." [Matthew 7:13-14] But for those who walk with Him, there's abundant strength in Christ for all the challenges ahead! This promise is for us today: "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9 See also How mysticism& the occult are changing ...

Terms matched: 1  -  Score: 12  -  6 Sep 2012  -  URL: http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/006/emerging-2.htm

6. The Purpose-Driven Church

... )... through Transformational Leadership See also Transformation The Changing Church The Postmodern Church Comments Rockbridge University- A purpose-driven seminary for the 21st century church Home December 2008 Rick Warren: "Annoyed" with Critics Serving Two Masters Not Working: "Warren's distaste for fundamentalist Christianity was revealed in January 2006, when a Philadelphia reporter, attending a Saddleback service, stated: 'Warren predicts that fundamentalism, of all varieties, will be 'one of the big enemies of the 21st century.'... 'Muslim fundamentalism, Christian fundamentalism, Jewish fundamentalism, secular fundamentalism- they're all motivated by fear. Fear of each other." In 2005, at the Pew Forum of Religion, Warren told the mostly liberal audience: 'Today there really aren't that many Fundamentalists left.... Now the word 'fundamentalist' actually comes from a document in the 1920s called the Five Fundamentals of the Faith. And it is a very legalistic, narrow view of Christianity." See Fundamentalism and God's eternal, unchanging Word 3-Legged Stool Teetering in Rwanda: "Rwanda is the first 'purpose-driven nation' on Earth, an experiment in the 3-legged stool concept developed and promulgated by the late management guru Peter Drucker. Rick Warren's Global P.E.A.C.E. Plan has been using Rwanda as a template for Dominionism. Working hand-in-hand with NGOs, the United Nations, charitable foundations, multinational corporations, and churches, Warren has been trumpeting his 'transformation' of the nation of Rwanda.... [But] 'the evidence seems to be growing that Rwanda is meddling again in Congo's troubles." See Warren's P.E.A.C.E. Plan& UN ...

Terms matched: 1  -  Score: 7  -  3 Sep 2012  -  URL: http://www.crossroad.to/News/Church/archive/purpose-driven-2.html

7. Taking a Stand

... Or if wealth be not the trial, worldly care is quite as mischievous. If we cannot be torn in pieces by the roaring lion, we may be hugged to death by the bear. The devil little cares which it is, so long as he destroys our love to Christ, and our confidence in him. "I fear me that the Christian church is far more likely to lose her integrity in these soft and silken days [well, they are not quite so silken anymore] than in those rough awake now, for... we are most likely to fall asleep to our own undoing, unless our faith in Jesus be a reality, and our love to Jesus a vehement flame." See Watch A new religion masquerading as Christianity: "Liberal 'Christians' abhor 'fundamentalist' Christianity, so they cast it aside and adopt their own set of religious beliefs and values. Times have changed, after all, so they feel it's incumbent upon them to bring Christianity out of the Dark Ages into our postmodern world. Christianity must shed its traditional, orthodox beliefs to blend in with the popular culture.... "Before I came to know Christ in a saving way I was a liberal 'Christian.' (That was before the liberals coined the term 'progressive Christian.') As all liberals do, I molded Christianity into my worldview. Problem was I kept running into a road block — the Bible. I rarely read the Bible but when I did I'd invariably stumble on a passage that contradicted what, at the time, was 'true for me ...

Terms matched: 1  -  Score: 6  -  3 Sep 2012  -  URL: http://www.crossroad.to/News/archive/TakingAStand-1.html

11. The Changing Church

... , it suggests a concern for labels and public perception that is not attractive in Christians." Whose Evangelical Manifesto?" ...a group of evangelical leaders --including the Rev. Rick Warren... and Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals-- will publish a document to be called 'An Evangelical Manifesto: The Washington Declaration of Identity and Public Commitment.'... Os Guinness, one of the 'Manifesto's' primary authors, told me that a 'representative group' has been asked to sign it, and that 'scores of people have given input.'" April 2008 Liberal, Evangelical, or Fundamentalist?" ...whatever definition of the term 'evangelical' one uses, few would deny that it has historically identified a group unwilling to be labeled either 'liberal' or 'fundamentalist.' The pejorative use of these two terms from the poles of the Christian community spectrum necessitated the 'middle ground.'... the 'middle ground' is shifting, or more accurately, widening....We have attached the word 'legalism' to efforts mounted to stay the influence of the world on the church. It reminds me of the little old lady who prayed, 'Lord, forgive me. I do so many things I used to call sin.'..." ...we have chosen to pressure the church into accepting both doctrines and lifestyle practices as normative that were soundly rejected by the previous generation. In the interest of 'personal freedom' we have torn down fences before we learned exactly why they were built...." ...in the minds of ...

Terms matched: 1  -  Score: 6  -  3 Sep 2012  -  URL: http://www.crossroad.to/News/Church/contents.html

12. Warren: "Fundamentalism... one of the big enemies..."

... of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Rick Warren says Christian fundamentalism will be an enemy of the 21st century. Excerpt from article: "Warren predicts that fundamentalism, of all varieties, will be 'one of the big enemies of the 21st century.'... 'Muslim fundamentalism, Christian fundamentalism, Jewish fundamentalism, secular fundamentalism- they're all motivated by fear. Fear of each other.'" [" The purpose-driven pastor "] What does Rick Warren define Christian Fundamentalism to be? In a May 2005 interview between Rick Warren and the Pew Forum on Religion, Warren stated: "Today there really aren't that many Fundamentalists left; I don't know if you know that or not, but they are such a minority; there aren't that many Fundamentalists left in America... Now the word 'fundamentalist' actually comes from a document in the 1920s called the Five Fundamentals of the Faith. And it is a very legalistic, narrow view of Christianity." Quote by Rick Warren, May 2005 What are those Five Fundamentals of the Faith? [From www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/pewreligion.htm#fundamentals] 1. The Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:1; John 20:28; Hebrews 1:8-9). 2. The Virgin Birth (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:27). 3. The Blood Atonement (Acts 20:28; Romans 3:25, 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:12-14). 4. The Bodily Resurrection (Luke 24:36-46; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 ...

Terms matched: 1  -  Score: 6  -  6 Sep 2012  -  URL: http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/006/fundamentalism.htm