OR KINGDOM OBEDIENCE?”

By: J.Farrell Fisher, January, 2018

BY:J. FARRELL FISHER, RE-PRINTED, MAY 24-25,2019

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IS THAT SAYING ONE THING BUT DOING ANOTHER? IS THAT THE DEMONSTRATION OF DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE? IS THAT THE PICTURE VIVIDLY BEING PAINTED ON ONE’S LIFE-CANVAS OF ONE FOOT IN HEAVEN & THE OTHER FOOT TOUCHING THE OUTER LIMITS OF HELL ITSELF,IGNORING WHY I’M HERE ON EARTH FROM GOD’S POINT OF VIEW OR ETERNAL PURPOSE?

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IS THAT “YES, SIR”, TO THE GENERAL OR “DO AS I PLEASE” TO THE CORP? IS THAT PUBLIC DEDICATION TO BE HONORABLE & GODLY TO THE VOWS YOU MAKE TO YOUR WIFE TO BE & THEN FEEL YOU’RE AT LIBERTY TO PLAY THE FIELD OF AVAILABLE WOMEN? CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IS THAT A VOW OF DEDICATION TO BE HONEST IN YOUR SCHOOL OR UNIVERSITY EXAMS BUT YOU DETERMINE FOR YOURSELF THE ‘BEST WAY’ TO CHEAT ON YOUR EXAMS?

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IS THAT A PRESIDENT’S PUBLIC OATH TO DEFEND, UPHOLD HIS NATION’S CONSTITUTION BUT DAILY, VERBALLY, & IN ‘FLESHLY DEEDS’, HE SHREDS EVERY PAGE HE CAN?CONFLICTING LOYALTY? YOU’VE HEARD IT: “YES, I BELIEVE THE BIBLE IS DIVINELY INSPIRED, GOD-BREATHED, THE HOLY WORD, BUT I ALSO BELIEVE MY DEVOTION TO IT IS AN OPTION I HOLD FOR MYSELF!”

CONFLICTNG LOYALTY?HAVE YOU EVER WITNESSED AN ELECTED NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE OR SENATOR TALK ABOUT HIS/HER FIRM BELIEF IN LIBERTY & FREEDOM BUT CONTINUALLY VOTES FOR POLICIES THAT ENSLAVE, ENDANGER HIS CONSTITUTUENTS? “OH,YES! ONE MAN-ONE WOMAN FOR LIFE,” BUT THEN VOICES SUPPORT OF MEN WITH MEN & WOMEN WITH WOMEN IN GROSS VIOLATION OF GOD’S WORD – & THE SAD THING IS PUBLIC SUPPORT OF IMMORALITY INCREASES! CONFLICTING LOYALTY? “I’M A DEVOTED KIND OF GUY –GOD CAN COUNT ON ME,” BUT STUMBLES, FALLS, REBELS ON THE FIRST LAP WITH NO INTENTION OF GETTING UP, RUNNING GOD’S RACE!

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? YOU’VE SEEN HIM/HER SO CONSUMED BY WORLDLY AMBITION & ‘FLESH-INDULGENCE’ THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS SQUEEZED OUT BY AN UNDAUNTED INTENT OF “MAKING A NAME FOR MYSELF,” & GLORIFYING THE LORD JESUS TAKES A BACK SEAT! HAVE YOU HEARD IT? “THE HIGH COST OF FOLLOWING JESUS? I THOUGHT THAT IT WAS A FREE RIDE, BUT I’LL CONTINUE DOING WHAT I FEEL AT EASE TO DO,WHATEVER IT IS THAT PLEASES ME!”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? MANY PROFESSING DISCIPLES BECOME TOTALLY DISILLUSIONED, DISAPPOINTED, & EVEN DESPAIRING BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED THEY WERE CALLED TO GIVE THEIR BEST – THEY DO, THEN GET A FAILING GRADE BECAUSE DISCIPLESHIP HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR BEST BUT CHRIST’S BEST! DENYING ‘SELF’ FOR SOME IS ASKING WAY TOO MUCH!

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? “I WILL UPHOLD MY DEVOTION TO CHRIST & BE A STAUNCH WARRIOR DEFENDING THE FAITH,” BUT AFTER SEVERAL SKIRMISHES, PEER PRESSURE, OR PROCRASTINATION, IT TAKES A DAMAGING TOLL! DO YOU REMEMBER THE SON BORNED BLIND & HEALED BY JESUS? THE PHARISEES CAME TO HIS PARENTS: “WE DON’T KNOW HOW HE WAS HEALED – ASK HIM – HE’S OF AGE TO ANSWER FOR HIMSELF!” AND JOHN 9:22 SAYS, “HIS PARENTS SAID THESE THINGS BECAUSE THEY FEARED THE JEWS…”. THEY DIDN’T WANT TO BE PUT OUT OF THE SYNAGOGUE! HEAR ME! SYNAGOGUE PRESENCE WITHOUT CHRIST IS A CONTINUING ‘DEATH SENTENCE”! CONFLICTING LOYALTY? YOU’LL REMEMBER WHAT JESUS SAID WHEN YOU HEAR THIS: “WHOSOEVER DOES NOT BEAR HIS CROSS & COME AFTER ME, CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE.” THERE ARE THOSE “WHO WANT TO” BUT THE PRICE SEEMS EXTEMELY STEEP! SPURGEON ONCE SAID, “A LIFE IN WHICH WE HAVE SHUNNED THE CROSS OF CHRIST WILL LEAD TO A STATE IN WHICH WE SHALL MISS THE CROWN OF GLORY.”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IN RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MAN TO MAN, SOMETIMES COMPROMISE HAS BENEFITS, BUT TO SEEK TO “COMPROMISE” GOD’S REVEALED TRUTH BREEDS DISASTER! TO COMPROMISE OUR LORD’S COMMANDS IS TO ACKNOWLEDGE DISOBEDIENCE & TO STAND UNDER GOD’S JUDGENT! TO COMPROMISE IS TO DECAY OBEDIENCE & TO BRING ON A DETERIORATION OF MORALS. TO COMPROMISE IS TO VACATE PRIVILEGE. TO COMPROMISE IS TO WILLINGLY SLICE OFF THOSE PARTS OF “UNPLEASANT TRUTHS” THAT YOU SENSE “DON’T FIT MY PERSONALITY OR MAKE-UP OF WHOM I KNOW I AM”!

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? SPURGEON, IN HIS “SPURGEON’S SERMONS, “ [MEMORIAL LIBRARY, VOL.19,P.359],HAS A MESSAGE ENTITLED “NO COMPROMISE.” HE SAID: “THE NEW PLAN IS TO ASSIMILATE THE CHURCH TO THE WORLD, & SO INCLUDE A LARGER AREA WITHIN ITS BOUNDS. BY SEMI-DRAMATIC PERFORMANCES THEY MAKE HOUSES OF PRAYER TO APPROXIMATE THE THEATRE; THEY TURN THEIR SERVICES INTO MUSICAL DISPLAYS, & THEIR SERMONS INTO POLITICAL HARANGUES OR PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAYS – IN FACT, THEY EXCHANGE THE TEMPLE FOR THE THEATRE, & TURN THE MINISTERS OF GOD INTO ACTORS, WHOSE BUSINESS IT IS TO AMUSE MEN. IS IT NOT SO, THAT THE LORD’S DAY IS BECOMING MORE & MORE A DAY OF RECREATION OR OF IDLENESS, & THE LORD’S HOUSE EITHER A JOSS-HOUSE FULL OF IDOLS, OR A POLITICAL CLUB, WHERE THERE IS MORE ENTHUSIASM FOR A PARTY THAN ZEAL FOR GOD.” LORD, HELP US!!”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE CROSSED YOUR PATHS “IN CHURCH” WHO ARE MORE AT EASE WITH CHURCH AS A COMBAT ZONE THAN A CELEBRATION OF JESUS? DIVISIVENESS IS THEIR STRONG “SUIT”, OPPOSITION THEIR TRUE BONNET THEY WEAR REGULARLY, COMMITMENT TO THEIR WAY FIGHTING THE PASTOR & GOD’S TRUE PEOPLE TO DEATH IN ONE BITTER STRUGGLE AFTER ANOTHER! PROVERBS 21:2 SAYS, “ALL A MAN’S WAYS SEEM RIGHT TO HIM, BUT THE LORD WEIGHS THE HEART!”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? OH, THEY PLAY THE ‘RELIGIOUS GAME’ AS “ONE COOL DUDE”, CALLOUSED TO THE CORE, WITH WILLINGLY CLOSED EYES TO ANYTHING BUT THEIR WAY OR THE HIGHWAY! PROVERBS 23:7 SAYS, “FOR AS A MAN THINKS IN HIS HEART, SO IS HE…”! YOU’VE WITNESSED IT: INTELLECTUAL ATTAINMENTS IN ONE’S MIND OF THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF THE BIBLE, GOD’S HOLY WORD, OFTEN BECOMING NOTHING MORE THAN CRIPPLING BELIEFS FORMED IN A DIVIDED MIND THEY DEEM SPIRITUALLY ACCEPTABLE! “THUS SAYS THE LORD” IS TRANSLATED, “AS I SEE IT…!”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? EFFORT APART FROM TRANSFORMATION BY REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD & FAITH (FULL SURRENDER) TO THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST AT THE CROSS CREATES DESPAIR, NOT DELIVERANCE, HEALING, & SALVATION! A CHANGE IN OUTWARD BEHAVIOR IS NOT THE SPIRITUAL CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART! ROMANS 2:28-29 TELLS US: “FOR HE IS NOT A JEW, WHICH IS ONE OUTWARDLY; NEITHER IS THAT CIRCUMCISION, WHICH IS OUTWARD IN THE FLESH: BUT HE IS A JEW, WHICH IS ONE INWARDLY; & CIRCUMCISION IS THAT OF THE HEART, IN THE SPIRIT & NOT IN THE LETTER; WHOSE PRAISE IS NOT OF MEN, BUT OF GOD.”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? REACHING UP, REACHING HIGH, IS NOT THE SAME AS BEING RAISED FROM THE DEAD BY GOD’S POWER! EXAMINE 1 CORINTHIANS 15:14&17! VERSE 14, “AND IF CHRIST BE NOT RISEN, THEN IS OUR PREACHING VAIN, & YOUR FAITH IS ALSO VAIN.” VERSE 17 SAYS: “AND IF CHRIST BE NOT RAISED, YOUR FAITH IS VAIN, YOU ARE YET IN YOUR SINS.”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? SINFUL NATURES ARE NOT CLOAKED WITH RELIGIOUS GARMENTS, RELIGIOUS CONVERSATIONS, OR RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES, BUT “CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST”, INDWELT BY “HIS RESURRECTION PRESENCE”, DRESSES US IN ETERNAL RIGHTEOUSNESS!! GALATIANS 2:20 SAYS, “I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST:NEVERTHELESS I LIVE; YET NOT I, BUT CHRIST LIVES IN ME; & THE LIFE WHICH I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH I LIVE BY FAITH IN THE SON OF GOD, WHO LOVED ME, & GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME.I DO NOT FRUSTRATE THE GRACE OF GOD.”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? “I’M A MAN SO DEVOTED TO THE COSTLY BRICKS & MORTARS, THE LIGHTS & STAINED GLASS, OF OUR BEAUTIFUL CHURCH,” FAILING TO UNDERSTAND HIS BODY IS GOD’S HOLY TEMPLE BECAUSE OF HIS GRACE, MERCY, & LOVE! 1 CORINTHIANS 6:19 SAYS, “WHAT, KNOW YOU NOT THAT YOUR BODY IS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHICH IS IN YOU, WHICH TEMPLE YOU HAVE OF GOD, & YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN?” 1 CORINTHIANS 3:16 SAYS, “KNOW YOU NOT THAT YOU (“IN CHRIST!”) ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, & THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN YOU?” SOME SAY, “DISCIPLINE & SELF-DETERMINATION ARE THE MARKS OF AN AWARD-WINNING FOLLOWER OF CHRIST.” NO! THE MARK OF A TRUE DISCIPLE IS ONE “SET APART BY GOD HIMSELF, CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST ON HIS CROSS, RAISED UP IN JESUS, AS A “NEW CREATION”, WITH ONE’S BODY THE HOLY TEMPLE OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTED, GLORIFIED, REIGNING PRESENCE!!!

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? “FIG LEAVES,” FASHIONABLE SOPHISTICATION, PROPER OUTWARD ATTIRE, EDUCATED COMMON SENSE, ALL BAND-AIDS RATHER THAN HEART TRANSPLANTS, A MANLY TINKERING WITH MY SELF ON MY TERMS ALI’S STYLE: “SUPERMAN DON’T NEED NO SEAT-BELT”! REALLY? LOOK AT MATTHEW 13:15, “FOR THIS PEOPLE’S HEART IS WAXED GROSS, & THEIR EARS ARE DULL OF HEARING, & THEIR EYES THEY HAVE CLOSED; LEST AT ANY TIME THEY SHOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, & HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, & UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEARTS, & SHOULD BE CONVERTED, & I SHOULD HEAL THEM.” EYES FOCUSED INWARD ARE ONE’S RELIGIOUS ABILITY KEEPING THE MIND & HEART’S DOOR CLOSED TO GOD’S AMAZING GRACE & LOVE & POWER TO RESURRECT FROM THE DEAD EVERY REPENTANT, TRUSTING SOUL!!

I LOVE WHAT JOHN ELDRIDGE SAID IN HIS BOOK, “WAKING THE DEAD,” (P.161) – SO ON TARGET! “RELIGION & ITS DEFENDERS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THE MOST INSIDIOUS ENEMY OF THE TRUE FAITH PRECISLY BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT GLARING OPPONENTS; THEY ARE “IMPOSTERS”! ‘INSIDIDIOUS’? NOAH WEBSTER’S 1828 DICTIONARY DEFINES “INSIDIOUS” AS: “LYING IN WAIT; WATCHING FOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO ENSNARE OR ENTRAP; DECEITFUL, TREACHEROUS…”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IT’S NOT ‘FATE’, BUT FAITH, FELLOWSHIP, FOLLOWSHIP, FREEDOM…& A FIGHT, THE “GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH”! PERSONAL FATE IS OUT TO STEAL GOD’S GLORY! ANARCHY BECOMES A SUBSTITUTION FOR THE BLOOD ATONEMENT OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS! IT WAS T.S.ELIOT WHO SORROWFULLY LAMENTED: “ENDLESS INVENTION, ENDLESS EXPERIMENT, BRINGS KNOWLEDGE OF MOTION, BUT NOT OF STILLNESS; KNOWLEDGE OF SPEECH, BUT NOT OF SILENCE; KNOWLEDGE OF WORDS, & IGNORANCE OF THE WORD OF GOD. WHERE IS THE “LIFE” WE HAVE LOST IN LIVING, (TRYING OUR RELIGIOUS BEST), WHERE IS THE WISDOM WE HAVE LOST IN KNOWLEDGE?” (ELIOT’S WORDS ARE OUT OF HIS WRITING ENTITLED “CHORUSES FROM THE ROCK.”). CONFLICTING LOYALTY? “TEMPTATION IS NOT A TRAP – IT’S AN OPPORTUNITY OF DISCERNING WHAT I REALLY WANT OR NOT.” OH, REALLY?

JAMES 1:13-15 SAYS, “LET NO MAN SAY WHEN HE IS TEMPTED, ‘I AM TEMPTED OF GOD’; FOR GOD CANNOT BE TEMPTED WITH EVIL, NEITHER TEMPTS HE ANY MAN: BUT EVERY MAN IS TEMPTED, WHEN HE IS DRAWN AWAY OF HIS OWN LUST, & ENTICED. THEN WHEN LUST HAS CONCEIVED IT BRINGS FORTH SIN, & SIN, WHEN IT IS FINISHED, BRINGS FORTH DEATH.” CONFLICTING LOYALTY? “PRESSURE, PRESSURE, PRESSURE! THIS ‘JOB’ IS SO DEMANDING – I’M GOING TO HAVE TO ‘CUT CORNERS’ SOMEWHERE, SOMEHOW, EVEN IF IT’S WRONG!” HUDSON TAYLOR HAD DIFFICULT TRIALS HE HAD TO FACE UP TO-SO HE WROTE OF THAT HARD MOMENT, “IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW GREAT THE PRESSURE IS. WHAT REALLY MATTERS IS “WHERE THE PRESSURE LIES – WHETHER IT COMES BETWEEN YOU & GOD OR WHETHER IT PRESSES YOU NEARER HIS HEART.” NEVER LET PRESSURE TO CAUSE YOU TO PASS BY JESUS HIMSELF “TRYING YOUR BEST”!

CONFLICING LOYALTY? THAT’S WHEN COURAGE IS CALLED FOR BUT ONE ALLOWS COWARDICE TO CALL THE SHOTS! NO DOUBT THIS IS WHY THE FAMOUS ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN WROTE IN “EAST & WEST”, [NEW YORK, HARPER & ROW, 1980,P.45], “MUST ONE POINT OUT THAT FROM ANCIENT TIMES A DECLINE IN COURAGE HAS BEEN CONSIDERED THE BEGINNING OF THE END.”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IT WAS MARTIN LUTHER WHO SAID: “THE ULTIMATE PROOF OF THE SINNER IS THAT HE DOES NOT KNOW HIS OWN SIN.” LISTEN CAREFULLY TO JERRY FALWELL’S “25 OF THE GREATEST SERMONS EVER PREACHED,” [GRAND RAPIDS:BAKER BOOK HOUSE, 1983,P.18], A QUOTE OF GEORGE WHITFIELD FROM HIS FAMOUS MESSAGE, “THE METHOD OF GRACE,” BASED ON JEREMIAH 6:14! WHITFIELD SAID: “AS GOD CAN SEND A NATION OR A PEOPLE NO GREATER BLESSING THAN TO GIVE THEM FAITHFUL, SINCERE, & UPRIGHT MINISTERS, SO THE GREATEST CURSE THAT GOD CAN POSSIBLY SEND UPON A PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD IS TO GIVE THEM OVER TO BLIND, UNREGENERATE, CARNAL, LUKEWARM, & UNSKILLED GUIDES. AND YET, IN ALL AGES, WE FIND THAT THERE HAVE BEEN MANY WOLVES IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING…THAT PROPHESIED SMOOTHER THINGS THAN GOD DID ALLOW.”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IN NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI’S “THE PRINCE,” [NEW YORK; BANTAM,1966,P.63], HE WROTE: “MEN ARE SO SIMPLE & SO MUCH INCLINED TO OBEY IMMEDIATE NEEDS THAT A DECEIVER WILL NEVER LACK VICTIMS FOR HIS DECEPTIONS.” WOW!! I ALSO READ DR. JAMES KENNEDY’S & JERRY NEWCOMBE’S BOOK, “CROSS PURPOSES,” [MULTONOMAL PUBL.,2007, PPS.25-26], “WHEN I WAS IN SEMINARY, I WENT TO A JAIL TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THOSE WHO WERE LOCKED UP INSIDE. I HAD NEVER BEEN TO A PLACE LIKE THAT TO PREACH, & I MUST SAY I WAS A LITTLE UNNERVED BY IT. I WAS SENT INTO A BIG ROOM WHERE I WAS SEPARATED BY BARS FROM PROBABLY A DOZEN PRISONERS. AS THEY WERE MILLING AROUND, I STARTED TO TALK TO THEM. I PROBABLY HADN’T GOTTEN TWO MINUTES INTO MY TALK WHEN ONE OF THE LARGEST INMATES SUDDENLY CAME AT THE BARS (WHICH I WAS HAPPY WERE THERE AT THAT POINT) & SAID TO ME, “MISTER, YOU JUST GO TELL THAT GOD OF YOURS ALL I WANT FROM HIM IS WHAT I DESERVE!”…”SIR”, I REPLIED, “IF YOU GOT WHAT YOU DESERVED FROM GOD, THE FLOOR WOULD OPEN UPRIGHT WHERE YOU STAND & DROP YOU STRAIGHT INTO HELL, FOR THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT YOU DESERVE. I DON’T SAY THAT BECAUSE YOU’RE BEHIND THESE BARS WHILE I’M OUTSIDE THEM, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT WE ALL DESERVE. IF WE GOT OUR JUST DESSERTS, WE WOULD EACH & EVERY ONE BE CONDEMNED – BECAUSE YOU SEE, WE’RE ACTUALLY ALREADY CONDEMNED. CHRIST SAID OF THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE, “YOU ARE CONDEMNED ALREADY”, [JOHN 3:18].

BUT, LET ME “SHIFT GEARS”! I PRAY “CONFLICTING LOYALTY” NEVER BECOMES THE PATTERN IN YOUR LIFE BUT THAT “BY FAITH & TRUST” YOU APPROPRIATE OUR LORD’S “ALL-CONSUMING LOVE”!! THE SCRIPTURE I FEEL SO LED BY OUR LORD TO SHARE WITH YOU IN THIS MOMENT IS ROMANS 8:35-39! PAUL WROTE: “WHO SHALL SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST? SHALL TRIBULATION, OR DISTRESS, OR PERSECUTION, OR FAMINE, OR NAKEDNESS, OR PERIL, OR SWORD? AS IT IS WRITTEN: ‘FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE KILLED ALL DAY LONG; WE ARE ACCOUNTED AS SHEEP FOR THE SLAUGHTER.’ “YET IN ALL THESE THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US.” FOR I AM PERSUADED THAT NEITHER DEATH NOR LIFE, NOR ANGELS NOR PRINCIPALITIES NOR POWERS, NOR ANY OTHER CREATED THING, SHALL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.” I DON’T KNOW HOW ONE CAN LISTEN TO THAT PASSAGE & IGNORE IT, BUT THE ONE THING I’M SURE OF IS THE FACT THERE ARE THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO ‘SEPARATE’ US FROM CHRIST JESUS! “THE LOVE OF CHRIST” IS AN OFFENSE TO SATAN & THE POWERS OF DARKNESS; “THE LOVE OF CHRIST” IS A STUMBLING BLOCK TO THOSE WHO WOULD BE RECONCILED TO GOD ON THEIR OWN TERMS; “THE LOVE OF CHRIST” BECOMES CONTEMPTIBLE TO SOME BECAUSE THEY DON’T RECEIVE GOD IN CHRIST WHO FIRST LOVED US; “THE LOVE OF CHRIST” SEPARATES SOME BECAUSE RELATIONSHIP TO HOLY GOD ,TO THEM, IS MERITED, EARNED, REWARDED BY WHAT “WE DO” – NOT WHAT “CHRIST HAS DONE, HAD TO DO,ONCE FOR ALL AT THE CROSS!!” THE “LOVE OF CHRIST”, FOR SOME, INFURIATES THEM, BECAUSE THEY SAY, “MY BEHAVIOR SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED BY GOD REWARDING ME BECAUSE OF MY UNDAUNTED RADIANCE IN A “JOB WELL DONE” – I SHINE BRIGHTER THAN EVEN JESUS WHO WAS CALLED “THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD”, WHEN ‘MY’ BEST-EFFORT’ FAR EXCEEDED HIS CROSS!”

IT MUST BE UNDERSTOOD: “LOVE FOR GOD IS NOT MANUFACTURED IN A FALLEN MAN’S HEART OR MIND!” IT’S WHY JOHN WROTE IN 1 JOHN 4:19, “WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US.” THERE HAS NEVER BEEN MAN, WOMAN, BOY, OR GIRL, INCLINED TO LOVE GOD & BE HIS FOLLOWER & DEVOTED SERVANT. THE DARKNESS OF ONE’S BEING HAS NEVER PRODUCED ‘NEW LIFE’ BUT ONLY HIS AMAZING LOVE TRANSFORMS OUR DARKNESS INTO HIS LIFE & LIGHT & LIBERTY & LOVE! IT IS SO VERY CLEAR THROUGHOUT ALL THE WORD OF GOD THAT ANY MAN WHO DOES NOT PASSIONATELY LOVE GOD HAS NEVER ‘TRULY’ KNOWN HIM NOR BEEN ‘BIRTHED’ INTO THE FAMILY OF FAITH RELATIONSHIP! BUT, IF WE HAVE BEEN ‘BIRTHED’ INTO A FAMILY OF FAITH RELATIONSHIP, DOES THAT MEAN OUR ‘LIFE-STYLE’ IS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF OTHERS? IN 1 JOHN 4:10-11 WE READ, HEREIN IS LOVE, NOT THAT WE LOVED GOD,BUT THAT HE LOVED US, &,SENT HIS SON TO BE THE PROPITIATION FOR OUR SINS. BELOVED, IF GOD SO LOVED US, WE ALSO OUGHT TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.”

SPURGEON WAS A VERY BOLD, BRILLIANT PREACHER & STUDENT OF GOD’S WORD. IN HIS NINTH VOLUME OF “SPURGEON’S SERMONS”, (PPS.307-308), HE WROTE: “NOW NO MAN IS A CHRISTIAN WHO DOES NOT LOVE CHRISTIANS. HE,WHO,BEING IN THE CHURCH,IS YET NOT OF IT HEART & SOUL, IS BUT AN INTRUDER IN THE FAMILY. BUT SINCE LOVE TO OUR BRETHREN SPRINGS OUT OF LOVE TO OUR ONE COMMON FATHER, IT IS PLAIN THAT WE MUST HAVE LOVE TO THAT FATHER, OR ELSE WE SHALL FAIL IN ONE OF THE INDISPENSIBLE MARKS OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD: ‘WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE PASSED FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE BECAUSE WE LOVE THE BRETHREN;” BUT WE CANNOT LOVE THE BRETHREN UNLESS WE LOVE THE FATHER; THEREFORE, LACKING LOVE TO GOD, WE LACK LOVE TO THE CHURCH, WHICH IS AN ESSENTIAL MARK OF GRACE.”

THERE ARE TWO VERSES IN JOHN 1 THAT WE NEED TO PUT TOGETHER!! JOHN 1:14 SAYS, “AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH & LIVED AMONG US, & WE HAVE SEEN HIS GLORY, THE GLORY OF A FATHER’S ONLY SON, FULL OF GRACE & TRUTH.” THEN LOOK AT VERSE 18! “NO ONE HAS EVER SEEN GOD. IT IS GOD THE ONLY SON, WHO IS CLOSE TO THE FATHER’S HEART, WHO HAS MADE HIM KNOWN.” DO YOU SEE IT? THE WORD [IMMANUEL, ‘GOD IN FLESH’] BECAME FLESH! AND THE GOD WE’D NEVER KNOWN BECAME CLEARLY VISIBLE! ALL OF A SUDDEN, FLASHING BEFORE US LIKE 10,000 RAYS OF THE SUN IS JESUS: “GOD IS LIGHT!” GOD IS LOVE! GOD IS LIBERTY! GOD LIFTS US OUT OF DESPAIR TO HIS THRONE OF GRACE, MERCY, & LOVE!

DIDN’T PAUL TELL US THROUGH HIS COLOSSIANS LETTER: “HE [JESUS] IS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD.” [COLOSSIANS 1:15], & THEN IN COLOSSIANS 1:22 HE SAID, “FOR IN HIM ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD WAS PLEASED TO DWELL.” I WROTE: “WONDROUS LOVE SO FULL OF LIFE, WONDROUS LOVE SUBSIDING STRIFE, WONDROUS LOVE TO US IS GIVEN WONDROUS LOVE TRANSPORTS TO HEAVEN. WONDROUS LOVE, JESUS CAME, TO SHOW GOD, JESUS, THE SPIRIT IS THE SAME. WONDROUS LOVE TO SET US FREE, NO LONGER A CAPTIVE OF SATAN TO BE. WONDROUS LOVE, GOD’S SON WAS GROANING, BECAUSE OF HIS LOVE FROM SIN ATONING .”

PAUL SAID IN ROMANS 5:8, “BUT GOD DEMONSTRATES HIS OWN LOVE TOWARD US, IN THAT WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS, CHRIST “DIED FOR US”.” WHAT AN AWESOME REVELATION! THE WORD ‘DEMONSTRATES’ IS FROM A GREEK WORD MEANING “TO COMMAND, ESTABLISH, STAND NEAR, CONSISTS” – OR “HOLDS TOGETHER”! IN EPHESIANS 4 PAUL HAD BEEN TALKING ABOUT “THE EQUIPPING OF THE SAINTS FOR THE WORK OF MINISTRY, FOR THE EDIFYING OF THE BODY OF CHRIST,” VERSE 12, & THEN HE SAID IN VERSE 15, “BUT SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE, MAY GROW UP IN ALL THINGS INTO HIM WHO IS THE HEAD –CHRIST- VERSE 16, FROM WHOM THE WHOLE BODY, JOINED & KNIT TOGETHER BY WHAT EVERY JOINT SUPPLIES, ACCORDING TO THE EFFECTIVE WORKING BY WHICH EVERY PART DOES ITS SHARE, CAUSES GROWTH OF THE BODY FOR THE EDIFYING OF ITSELF IN LOVE.”

HOW DO WE RATIONALLY, FAITHFULLY, PRACTICALLY, PUT ALL THIS TOGETHER TO HONOR GOD’S FAITHFULNESS TO US? 1) “REST IN” THE FACT THAT GOD HIMSELF “PROVED, COMMENDED, DEMONSTRATED” HIS LOVE TOWARD ALL MEN!” WHAT DOES JOHN 3:16 TELL US? “FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM(TRUSTS IN, RELIES UPON, ADHERES TO) SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAS EVERLASTING LIFE.”

2) GOD KNEW, UNDERSTOOD, GRASPED THE SORROWFUL TRUTH THAT MEN’S SIN BROUGHT SEPARATION FROM HIM! I DON’T KNOW WHO WROTE IT, BUT THEY SURE UNDERSTOOD SIN’S CONSEQUENCE –“SIN IS MAN’S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FROM GOD!” IT WAS JOHN BUNYAN IN “THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS” WHO WROTE: “ONE LEAK WILL SINK A SHIP; & ONE SIN WILL DESTROY A SINNER,” AND GOD’S INTENT IS TO RESURRECT A ‘SINKING SHIP’, TO RESURRECT SPIRITUALLY DEAD, DESTROYED SINNERS WHO HAVE BEEN SEPARATED FROM HIS ETERNAL LOVE!

3) GOD SOVEREIGNLY DETERMINED ONLY A SINLESS SACRIFICE WAS SUFFICIENT, SUPREMELY EFFECTIVE, TO SAVE SINFUL MAN FROM HIS SIN & RECONCILE HIM TO HOLY GOD! ROMANS 6:23 SAYS, “FOR THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH, BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.” PAUL HAD TOLD THE CHURCH AT ROME, & US, ROMANS 5:21, “SO THAT AS SIN REIGNED IN DEATH, EVEN SO GRACE MIGHT REIGN THROUGH RIGHTEOUSNESS TO ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.”

OH, THEN PAUL REALLY DISSPELLED THE PHONINESS OF SOME MODERN-DAY TEACHINGS THAT CHRISTIANS CAN’T DO ANYTHING BUT SIN UNTIL THEY GET TO HEAVEN? YES! ROMANS 6:1-3 & VERSE 10 TELLS US: “WHAT SHALL WE SAY THEN? SHALL WE CONTINUE IN SIN, THAT GRACE MAY ABOUND? GOD FORBID! HOW SHALL WE, THAT ARE DEAD IN SIN,LIVE ANY LONGER THEREIN? KNOW YOU NOT, THAT SO MANY AS WERE BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST JESUS WERE BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH? VERSE 10 THEN SAYS, FOR IN THAT HE DIED, HE DIED UNTO SIN ONCE; BUT THAT HE LIVES, HE LIVES UNTO GOD.” CHAMBERS THEN COMMENTED:

“THE SALVATION OF GOD DOES NOT STAND ON HUMAN LOGIC, IT STANDS ON THE SACRIFICIAL DEATH OF JESUS. WE CAN BE BORN AGAIN BECAUSE OF THE ATONEMENT OF OUR LORD. SINFUL MEN & SINFUL WOMEN CAN BE CHANGED INTO ‘NEW CREATIONS’, NOT BY THEIR REPENTANCE OR BELIEF, BUT BY THE MARVELOUS WORK OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS WHICH IS PRIOR TO ALL EXPERIENCE. THE IMPREGNABLE SAFETY OF JUSTIFICATION & SANCTIFICATION IS GOD HIMSELF! WE HAVE NOT TO WORK OUT THESE THINGS FOR OURSELVES; THEY HAVE BEEN WORKED OUT BY THE ATONEMENT. THE SUPERNATURAL BECOMES NATURAL BY THE MIRACLE OF GOD; THERE IS THE REALIZATION OF WHAT JESUS CHRIST HAS ALREADY DONE – “IT IS FINISHED!”

GOD’S HEAVENLY LOVE MADE PRACTICAL FOR US? 2 CORINTHIANS 5:21, “FOR HE [GOD] MADE HIM [JESUS] WHO KNEW NO SIN TO BE SIN FOR US, THAT WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST!”

4) AMAZING LOVE? IF YOU WERE THE ONLY PERSON WHO HAD EVER LIVED –PAST,PRESENT,OR FUTURE- ON THE CROSS,JESUS WOULD HAVE DIED THERE “JUST FOR YOU”!! “GOD COMMENDED HIS LOVE FOR US, IN THAT WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US.” CAN “YOU” SAY, “CHRIST DIED FOR ME?” I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU RESPOND TO THAT, BUT IN JOB 42:5-6 WE READ: “I HAVE HEARD OF YOU BY THE HEARING OF THE EAR: BUT NOW MY EYES HAVE SEEN YOU. WHEREFORE I ABHOR MYSELF, & REPENT IN DUST & ASHES.” TO SEE JESUS DYING ON THE CROSS FOR YOU, IS TO SEE YOURSELF AS GOD SEES YOU WITHOUT HIM,YET HE LOVES YOU ANYWAY – AND PROVES HIS LOVE!

DR.JAMES KENNEDY, IN HIS BOOK “THE PRESENCE OF A HIDDEN GOD”,[P.141],WROTE: “JUST IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT THAT GOD WERE “NOT” LOVE. SUPPOSE, INSTEAD, THAT GOD WERE A COSMIC OGRE, PLAYING WITH PEOPLE LIKE GRASSHOPPERS IN A BOTTLE –SUPPOSE GOD WERE A DEMON, FILLED WITH MALEVOLENT HATRED, OR SUPPOSE GOD WERE AN IMPERSONAL FORCE, LIKE FATE OR SOME MACHINE THAT HAD NO FEELING, NO SYMPATHY WHATSOEVER TOWARD MANKIND.”

BUT THAT’S NOT OUR GOD OF CALVARY’S CROSS! OH, THERE ARE THOSE WHO TRULY WISH GOD WERE DEAD, BUT EVEN TO THEM THE CROSS & EMPTY TOMB STILL STAND AS EXPRESSIONS OF ETERNAL LOVE FOR ETERNAL FOOLS! “THE FOOL HAS SAID IN HIS HEART, ‘THERE IS NO GOD’!” BUT, HISTORY STANDS: OUR GOD IS THE GOD WHO WILL NOT DIE – WE SERVE A RISEN SAVIOR!!

YOU NEED TO KNOW IT IF YOU’VE NEVER HEARD IT: “WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US!” AN OLD HYMN SAYS IT LIKE THIS: “SEE FROM HIS HEAD, HIS HANDS, HIS FEET, SORROW & LOVE FLOW MINGLING DOWN; DID E’ER SUCH LOVE & SORROW MEET, OR THORNS COMPOSE SO RICH A CROWN?” DO “YOU” UNDERSTAND? IT’S ONLY IN SEEING JESUS SUFFER, BLEED, & DIE FOR OUR SINS THAT ONE TRULY DISCERNS, DISCOVERS, & DEPENDS ON THE LOVE OF GOD? HERE’S HOW SPURGEON PUT IT LONG AGO: [SPURGEON’S SERMONS, VOL.9,P.311], “AGAIN, OUR LOVE TO GOD DOES NOT SPRING FROM THE SELF-DETERMINING POWER OF THE WILL. I GREATLY QUESTION WHERE ANY THING DOES IN THE WORLD, GOOD OR BAD. THERE ARE SOME WHO SET UP THE WILL AS A KIND OF DEITY, – IT DOES AS IT WILLS WITH EARTH & HEAVEN; BUT IN TRUTH THE WILL IS NOT A MASTER BUT A SERVANT. TO THE SINNER HIS WILL IS A SLAVE; & IN THE SAINT, ALTHOUGH THE WILL IS SET FREE, IT IS STILL BLESSEDLY UNDER BONDS TO GOD. MEN DO NOT WILL A THING BECAUSE THEY WILL IT, BUT BECAUSE THEIR AFFECTIONS, THEIR PASSIONS, OR THEIR JUDGEMENTS INFLUENCE THEIR WILLS IN THAT DIRECTION. NO MAN CAN STAND UP & SAY, “I,UNBIASEZED & UNAIDED, WILL TO LOVE GOD & I WILL NOT LOVE SATAN.” SUCH PROUD, SELF-ASSURING LANGUAGE WOULD PROVE HIM A LIAR; THE MAN WOULD BE CLEARLY A WORSHIPPER OF HIMSELF. A MAN CAN ONLY LOVE GOD WHEN HE HAS PERCEIVED SOME REASONS FOR SO DOING; & THE FIRST ARGUMENT FOR LOVING GOD, WHICH INFLUENCES THE INTELLECT SO AS TO TURN THE AFFECTIONS, IS THE REASON MENTIONED IN THE TEXT, “WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US.” HEAR ME!

GOD HIMSELF ESTABLISHED FOREVER HIS LOVE FOR “YOU” AS JESUS SUFFERED, BLED, & DIED ON THE CROSS! GOD DEMONSTRATED! GOD PROVED HIS LOVE FOR YOU AT CALVARY! NOW, HOW IS THAT AWESOME UNDERSTANDING MAINTAINED PRODUCTIVELY & EFFICIENTLY DAY BY DAY? LOOK AT ROMANS 5:5! “AND HOPE MAKES NOT ASHAMED; BECAUSE THE LOVE OF GOD IS SHED ABROAD IN OUR HEARTS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHICH IS GIVEN TO US.”

HISTORY! HISTORIC PRESENCE & POWER! ROMANS 5:6 SAYS, “FOR WHEN WE WERE YET WITHOUT STRENGTH, IN DUE TIME CHRIST DIED FOR THE UNGODLY.” WE WERE “ENEMIES” BUT RECONCILED TO GOD THROUGH THE DEATH OF HIS SON, ROMANS 5:10, “FOR IF, WHEN WE WERE ENEMIES, WE WERE RECONCILED TO GOD BY THE DEATH OF HIS SON, MUCH MORE THEN, BEING RECONCILED, WE SHALL BE (BEING) SAVED BY HIS LIFE.”

HISTORY? JOHN PIPER, IN HIS BOOK “THE PLEASURES OF GOD”, [P.165], WROTE: “JESUS WANTS US TO SEE THAT HIS WILLINGNESS TO LOSE HIS LIFE IS BECAUSE OF HIS LOVE FOR THE GLORY OF THE FATHER.” HE THEN QUOTED JOHN 17:4, “I HAVE GLORIFIED YOU ON THE EARTH; I HAVE FINISHED THE WORK WHICH YOU GAVE ME TO DO.” THEN PIPER SAID: “ALL OF JESUS’ WORK WAS DESIGNED TO HONOR THE WORTH OF HIS FATHER’S GLORY. EVERYTHING JESUS SUFFERED, HE SUFFERED FOR THE SAKE OF GOD’S GLORY. THEREFORE, ALL HIS PAIN & SHAME & HUMILIATION & DISHONOR SERVED TO MAGNIFY THE FATHER’S GLORY, BECAUSE THEY SHOWED HOW INFINITELY VALUABLE GOD’S GLORY IS, THAT SUCH A LOSS SHOULD BE SUFFERED TO DEMONSTRATE ITS WORTH.”

AND WHAT ABOUT YOUR LIFE, YOUR WALK, YOUR CALLING, YOUR PURPOSE? IS IT TO HONOR THE WORTH OF THE FATHER’S GLORY? HOW DID PAUL PUT IT? 1 CORINTHIANS 10:31, “WHEREFORE THEREFORE YOU EAT OR DRINK, OR WHATSOEVER YOU DO, DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD.” IN HIS WRITING “MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST”, (P.238),OSWALD CHAMBERS WROTE: “THE TENDENCY IS TO LOOK FOR THE MARVELOUS IN OUR EXPERIENCE; WE MISTAKE THE SENSE OF THE HEROES FOR BEING HEROES. IT IS ONE THING TO GO THROUGH A CRISIS GRANDLY, BUT ANOTHER THING TO GO THROUGH EVERY DAY GLORIFYING GOD WHEN THERE IS NO WITNESS, NO LIMELIGHT, NO ONE PAYING THE REMOTEST ATTENTION TO US. IF WE DO NOT WANT MEDIAVAL HALOES, WE WANT SOMETHING THAT WILL MAKE PEOPLE SAY, ‘WHAT A WONDERFUL MAN OF PRAYER HE IS! WHAT A PIOUS DEVOTED WOMAN SHE IS!’ IF THEN YOU ARE RIGHTLY DEVOTED TO THE LORD JESUS, YOU HAVE REACHED THE SUBLIME HEIGHT WHERE NO ONE EVER THINKS OF NOTICING YOU, ALL THAT IS NOTICED IS THAT THE POWER OF GOD COMES THROUGH YOU ALL THE TIME.”

CHARLES WESLEY WROTE THE FOLLOWING HYMN: “O FOR A THOUSAND TONGUES.” IT SAYS: “O FOR A 1000 TONGUES TO SING MY GREAT REDEEMER’S PRAISE, THE GLORIES OF MY GOD & KING, THE TRIUMPHS OF HIS GRACE. MY GRACIOUS MASTER & MY GOD, ASSIST ME TO PROCLAIM, TO SPREAD THROUGH ALL THE EARTH ABROAD, THE HONORS OF YOUR NAME.

JESUS! THE NAME THAT CHARMS OUR FEARS, THAT BIDS OUR SORROWS CEASE; IT’S MUSIC IN THE SINNER’S EARS, IT’S LIFE, & HEALTH, & PEACE.

HE BREAKS THE POWER OF CANCELED SIN, HE SETS THE PRISONERS FREE; HIS BLOOD CAN MAKE THE FOULEST CLEAN; HIS BLOOD AVAILED FOR ME.”

IN REVELATION 1:4-5 JOHN WROTE: “GRACE TO YOU & PEACE F ROM HIM WHO IS & WHO WAS & WHO IS TO COME, & FROM THE SEVEN SPIRITS WHO ARE BEFORE HIS THRONE, & FROM JESUS CHRIST, THE FAITHFUL WITNESS, THE FIRTSTBORN FROM THE DEAD, & THE RULER OVER THE KINGS OF THE EARTH. TO HIM WHO LOVED US & WASHED US FROM OUR SINS IN HIS OWN BLOOD…” AMEN?

By: J.Farrell Fisher, July 25-28, 2018

In late July, 2018, on television, I heard Jeff Sessions speak about America’s ‘liberals’, addressing them as “supercilious snowflakes”; in other words, ‘temporary voices in crucial times’! And when I heard that I had to think, consider, resolve, for myself, whether many ‘church folk’ today are the same in their divided allegiances as “supercilious snowflakes” professing allegiance in God’s Kingdom as they ‘try to serve both Spirit and ‘flesh’!’

In the ‘world-wide’ Christian communities, without a doubt, one will find the “supercilious snowflakes” or the “set-apart saints of God’s birthing”, ‘supercilious snowflakes” or “sons and daughters of the Eternal Father”; pretenders with divided allegiances know nothing about ‘forsaking all and following Christ’! But there are “solid-rock citizens of God’s Kingdom”! There are “foundation-stones in God’s Holy Temple”! There are “redeemed witnesses of the Lord’s Saving Grace”!

In the modern-day religious world of ‘professing Christianity’ one will be able to discern the differences between ‘presumptuous estimations’ or “Prince of Peace Declarations, revelations, and manifestations”, “partial compromise and commitment or Sold-Out Allegiance”!

Some ‘religious folk’ are good at ‘self-imposed allegiance’ but choose it rather than “Christ in you the hope of glory” willingly yielded daily to His Sovereign Will”! Jeweled flesh is NOT Eternal Presence and Anointing and Empowering of the Holy Spirit!!!

In Luke 16:14-15 Jesus said to the Pharisees, Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard these things, and they despised Jesus. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but GOD KNOWS YOUR HEARTS. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” And Holy God knows all, sees all, and is able to discern in religious men true devotion or ‘flesh pretence’!

THE REIGN OF LIGHT?”

By J. Farrell Fisher, June 22-23, 2017

You do realize that multitudes of people today, even like the ‘play-actors’ in Jesus’ day – the ‘religious’ Pharisees, rulers over Israel – ‘professed’ the reign of Light, yet crucified Him, as they devoted themselves to “the rule of darkness”! And in Matthew 24:31-36 we read, Christ Jesus speaking, “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

Therefore, indeed, I (CHRIST JESUS) send you prophets, wise men, and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.”

And, Jesus said, “I say to you – judgment is coming upon this generation.” Which it did! And in 70 AD the world witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple they so desecrated!

My only concern? As a result of God’s faithful judgment upon Israel because of, yes, their submission to the rule of darkness even though they ‘professed’ loyalty to the light they had, is the same judgment on the rule of darkness occurring even if one “pretends” allegiance to the reign of light? Has the rule of darkness so blinded some that they naturally devote their ‘religious hours’ to creating “fetishes” of their assumed faith that has nothing to do with being “born again”, supposedly becoming disciples of Christ when their heart-allegiance is, yes, to the “rule of darkness” under Satan’s manipulating strategies?

Here’s how Oswald Chambers saw it in his day: “My Utmost For His Highest”, (p.237), “It is easier to be a fanatic than a faithful soul, because there is something amazingly humbling, particularly to our religious conceit, in being loyal to God.” Have you ever witnessed “warped loyalty” as one professes Christ but his/her fruit is more of Satan’s manifestation through his trees in his vineyard?

“The Rule of Darkness Or The Reign of Light?” How clear and revealing do you find the words of Paul, when inspired by the Holy Spirit, he wrote in Galatians 5:24-25, “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh (old sin nature!) with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” A ‘flesh-walk’ unveils an allegiance to the world, the flesh, and to Satan, But a “Spirit-walk” IS “Christ in you the hope of glory” led by the Indwelling and anointing of the Holy Spirit!

In Galatians 5:22 Paul unveiled the evidence of a Spirit-anointed, Christ-honoring life! “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” But in Galatians 5:16-21 he unveiled “the works of the flesh” which have Hell’s inspiration and Satan’s “rule of darkness”! Paul said: I say then: “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (inspired by Satan!). For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Dare I say “under the law of sin and death?”).

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: (Dare I say “Satan’s portrait unveiled by the Holy Spirit?”), adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, AND THE LIKE; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in times past, THAT THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”

The “Rule of Darkness” IS the devil’s domain – and the citizens of his ‘kingdom’ feed eternally on the bad fruit of death in Satan’s rule! But, at the same time, I must ask: “Have YOU rested in the immutability of God’s Word, God’s promises, and God’s grace, mercy, and love?” Or, are you out to ‘prove’ your best, your strategy, and your self-dependence? Does ‘your best’ change? Has your ‘self-dependence’ ushered in “the kingdom of God on earth”, or is it “improved flesh” camouflaged by Satan? Christ’s presence in you is unchangeable, but Satan’s image is like an impish, mischievous, fleshly desires-rebel doing as he pleases!

The “Rule of Darkness” is every man’s ‘right’ to choose for himself what he/she determines to have their time and effort – and “If it satisfies my sin-nature, let it be!” And Satan certainly considered, and still does, “The hope of self-righteousness, as I determine what self-righteousness is, is my ‘religion’ even if it produces only a ‘death-state; because for me, Satan, that’s better than being under the Sovereign Rule of your Holy God’!”

Yes, there is a huge difference between Satan’s “Rule of Darkness” and God’s “Reign of Light”! Have you bathed yourself recently in Psalm 91? Follow with me!!

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. [ Satan’s snares? Satan’s ‘perilous pestilence’?].

He (Holy God) shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings YOU shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. (Examine someday what “the high wages” really are that Satan uses to subsidize his deception on the “free-swingers away from God’s oversight”!).

Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. (Yes! Hallelujah! ANGELIC OVERSIGHT!!).

In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. (In my early days as a child and a teen-ager, on a Saturday morning usually around our Courthouse, I would watch the ‘snake handlers’ as they professed their stupidity not having a clue about metaphorical language that “lions and cobras” were Satan’s soldiers who promoted demon’s “sharp teeth” and demons ‘poisonous venom’ – yes, even a child of faith knows Truth and Christ or Falsehood and demons!).

In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and cobra (the demons are under your feet of faith!), the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”

Godless lives live not only with the absence of ‘divine life’ but they live under the curse of the sin nature, corralled by a ‘flesh-centered’ world, and corrupted by Satan with ‘solemn groans, and hollow moans, and shrieks of tortured ghosts’! And Satan wants to seal in you, in your state of unbelief or even ‘half-hearted allegiance to Christ’, his “curse” of death, not life, his “purpose” of poisoned pleasure, not eternal blessing, his “award” for a reputable performance, not a Spirit-transformed new creation! Without Christ as Lord and Savior every man lives under the domination of the devil’s darkness – and to him and them, “The Light of the world” makes no sense since he takes pleasure in the darkness of men’s souls!

In the ‘mortal nature’ of all men there is ingrained the kingdom of darkness, the dominion of evil, the sway of Satan, the lure of demonic activity, the marks of fleshly imperfections, the ‘floating phantoms’ of the defiled sin-nature that is not of God but from the heart, mind, soul, spirit of “born in sin”! The ‘old self’ is enough to open Hell’s doors for us, but Satan wants to insure he takes advantage of any crack in your life that will allow him in to reside and re-assign you from God’s purpose and plan to his perverseness and Hell’s ‘peasant’ status!

It’s so encouraging and powerful and, yes, redemptive to read John in 1 John 3:7-8, and then Verses 10-12: “Little children, (in the Faith, not age), let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness (Biblical righteousness, not one’s fleshly or demonic interpretation!) is righteous, just as He (Jesus) is righteous. He who sins (present tense, continuous action) is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.” Then…

Verses 10-12, In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? BECAUSE his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.”

Cain was “of the wicked one”? And you’re not sure that was Satan? Do you remember Jesus talking to His disciples in Matthew 13:36-43? The disciples had asked Jesus to “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”

Jesus answered and said to them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.[Do you think there is someone else other than Satan who is the wicked one?]. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels (or messengers of God!), (the end of the age is the end of the Old Covenant, the Judaisation system). Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. (70AD & the end of the Judaistic system!). The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

In 2 Timothy 2:19-26 Paul, again, is instructing his spiritual son, Timothy, and us – and I believe here he’s nailing down understanding for all believers about Satan’s snares! He said: Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity,” (unless you’ve been ingrained by “false professors” that ‘YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING BUT SIN UNTIL YOU GET TO HEAVEN’!!).

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work (not the works of Satan!). Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue (press into) righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape THE SNARE OF THE DEVIL, having been TAKEN CAPTIVE BY HIM TO DO HIS WILL!”

Are there in God’s awesome, created world men of honor and men of dishonor? Are there ‘clay vessels’ that are invaded by Satan, and through his demonic agents take up ‘residence’? It’s interesting to read in Amos 4:11 where the prophet illumined the danger Israel was in as a nation BECAUSE, hearing God, he wrote: “I overthrew some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and YOU WERE LIKE A FIREBRAND PLUCKED FROM BURNING; yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord.

Again, why did Jesus teach His disciple to pray, “Deliver us from evil” or “Deliver us from the evil one”? Do you receive the biblical truth of Hebrews 2:14-18? “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham (sons of redeeming faith!). Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”

Have you come to the understanding, by the grace of God, of the need of “The Reign of Light IN and Through Christ ALONE”, because you’ve been made aware through ‘life experiences’ of “The Rule of Darkness” in your life apart from Christ? Yes, are YOU assured, that Christ Jesus, in YOUR behalf, “that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil (or Satan), and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”? Have YOU prayed to Jesus: “Lord Jesus, free me from the law of sin and death, AND destroy Satan, in my behalf, because I know he still wants me all of my lifetime subject to his bondage and seeking to blot out of my life Christ Jesus’ “rescue story” for me!”

I pray for you right now: “Lord Jesus, enlighten every reader to the blessings of the Master’s blood redemption, and open every believing eye to His ransom purchase of their freedom from the bondage of the old sin nature and the bondage and blasts from my Satanic enemy and demonic forces, in honor of Christ alone! Amen!!”