THE WAR BETWEEN THE
KINGDOMS
MIKE CUNNINGHAM
MARCH 8, 2009
If it even
enters our mind, most of us probably don’t often think about the fact that back
in eternity past our Creator planned, ordained, and then by speaking His world
into existence, predestined you and I to find ourselves living during an era in
which, figuratively speaking, we would each shine like tiny specks of light
sprinkled throughout the Green Mountains of Vermont; the least churched state
in the nation, a state which is almost engulfed in spiritual darkness. If we
take the time to think about it we will probably conclude that among the small
number of folks who do regularly attend a church, there doesn’t appear to be very
many genuine Christians. This shouldn’t be surprising when you consider the
preponderance of unorthodox biblical teaching and the phony versions of Christianity
being spewed out of pulpits and gobbled up by all too many of the folks in the
pews. The inescapable conclusion is that the actual number of true Christian churches
and followers of Christ in them are relatively few in number. Please don’t
misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting there aren’t some clusters of light here
and there within our state, but there doesn’t seem to be very many of them.
Pure
unadulterated evil lurks throughout our dark sin- infested world including
within the beautiful state of Vermont. It’s manifested whenever its secret
activates come to light. For instance, a prime example is the fact our State legislators
are currently considering making a law which, if it’s enacted, will be a contemptuous
slap across our Creators face. Murderers, rapists, drug dealers, kidnappers,
child pornographers, and sexual predators are just some of the evils that
surround us. Whenever these people are caught, tried and convicted in a court
of law, and depending on the nature and severity of the crime; they are given
sentences ranging from lifetime imprisonment without the possibility of parole,
down to probation and/or a fine to protect society and hopefully deter future
evils. On a global basis horrible acts committed by terrorists, dictators and
the selling of young women and girls as sex slaves to name just a few, are
clear-evidence that we human beings live in a world that’s a real mess. So much
so, that since the “fall,” it could accurately be described as being in a continual
state of chaos.
Regardless of
how many of these evil people are in one way or another removed from living in
society; evil in our world doesn’t appear as though it’s becoming eradicated as
has diseases such as Polio and Small Pox. Another fact we must remember is that
in our Creator’s eyes all sin without exception is evil. As we
Christians mature in our faith and gradually become increasingly transformed
into the image and likeness of Christ (Romans 8:29) we will start seeing every sin
as He does and we will hate it passionately for the evil it truly is. That’s quite
a contrast from the way you and I have all too often viewed sin, especially our
own, isn’t it? Depending on the extent of God’s restraining providence; (Genesis
20:1-7; 35:5; Exodus 34: 23-24) the spiritual condition of those who are still
enslaved by their sins will also mature. So much so, that they will manifest an
increased resemblance to their spiritual father Satan. Unless these poor lost
human beings acknowledge their guilt and accept the gift of forgiveness and
deliverance from their sins through Christ’s atoning sacrifice; when they
finally die and leave this world they will enter into their new home, a place
called Hell which God has prepared for Satan and the demons (Matthew 25:41).
Once there they will no longer be hindered by God’s restraining influence and
will deliberately cause themselves to suffer torment as they experience the
eternal frustration of never being able to satisfy their craving to sin (Romans
1:24;26). We will also come to love our fellow human beings so much that our principle
desire for them will be that none of them will eternally perish (John 3:16)and
we will be inclined to do everything we possibly can to lead them into God’s
kingdom at every divinely ordained opportunity.
Most thinking
people will acknowledge the fact that as far as evil is concerned, our world
has been in a continual state of chaos throughout recorded history. And most will
probably agree that it is man and his behavior that is the primary cause of all
the world’s problems. For example, pop psychology claims we have to help him
feel good about himself and then he will develop a positive self-image. After
all, how can we expect someone to love and be nice to other people if they
don’t even love themselves? Concerned people will advocate for programs to
alleviate poverty which they see as being the root cause of crime, drug
addiction, alcoholism and such. Millions of dollars are expended on programs
created for the prevention and/or treatment of drug addiction and alcoholism. Attempts
are made to bring warring factions together to try and negotiate a cease fire
and eventual peace. And giant pharmaceutical companies invest millions of
dollars annually in research in hopes of developing new drugs for a variety of
health issues including the mental illness termed schizophrenia in order to
improve the quality of life of the afflicted, and to reduce their drain on
society.
Now I am not
suggesting that peace conferences, social programs and mind stabilizing
medicine don’t often do a lot of good because they most certainly do. Nor am I
being critical of the often selfless dedication of folks in the helping
professions. These women and men work hard to assist needy people and to improve
our society. I have a deep appreciation and respect for them. Please don’t
misunderstand the next point I’m about to make either. Man’s sinfulness
certainly plays a significant role in all the misery and suffering in the world
and man is completely responsible for his behavior. However, man himself is not
the ultimate problem. He is not the root cause of our world being in a constant
state of chaos. That’s an erroneous assessment of the situation. For example,
over the counter pain killers won’t get rid of a really bad tooth ache and will
eventually force the sufferer to seek help from a dentist. After an examination
the doctor knows the cause of the pain and how best to treat it. No sane
dentist will continue prescribing stronger pain killers when the tooth must be
extracted, will they?
A so called
cure to rid our world of certain evil’s has always been and always will remain
an effort in futility because non-Christians are not able to correctly evaluate
the problem. They are clueless as to what they are actually dealing with. The
only ones who are aware of the real cause of the chaotic condition of our world
are Bible believing Christians. They know what human beings are contending with
and are competent to offer council as to how to combat this monumental problem.
A failure to heed sound biblical advice guarantees the continuance of global
evil’s such as what we are experiencing with the current financial meltdown.
Gross evil will continue just as it has been for thousands of years. The only
difference is that as the years roll by there will be a different cast of extremely
evil characters on the scene, and more sophisticated forms of evil. A Christian
sharing the truth of the matter will all too often be dismissed as a
self-deluded, unenlightened relic from the Dark Ages. To suggest that human
beings are involved in a fierce unrelenting invisible war between two
conflicting spiritual kingdoms; the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of
light, the kingdom of Satan verses a kingdom of God, is to acknowledge the
existence of the supernatural; a reality most of the scientific and mental
health community refuse to even consider. Be that as it may; the fact remains that
the problem extends back in time to an event which occurred before time began
and prior to the creation of Adam and the world as we know it today. The Bible
tells us that everything started with God; “In the beginning God. In the
beginning it pleased the Triune God to create our world and everyone and
everything in it and do so in the space of six days. And all that He created He
declared as being very good. In this act of creation God glorified His eternal
power, together with His inscrutable wisdom and perfect goodness, (Genesis
1:31; Job 26:13; John 1:2-3; Romans 1:20; Col. 1:16; Hebrews 1:2). But as I mentioned
a moment ago, there was an event which occurred before He spoke our world as we
know it today and Adam into existence. That event was His first creation and it
was that of angelic beings, those heavenly hosts whom He created to serve Himself.
God created them as perfect beings and thoroughly equipped them with everything
necessary to accomplish all that He had planned for them to do. It’s with this first
act of creation that we must start with if we want to understand the problem of
evil or as the Bible describes it; sin. Among those angelic beings was one the
Bible refers to as the devil.
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken
the nations! 13 For
thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of
the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to
hell, to the sides of the pit. 16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and
consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble,
that did shake kingdoms; 17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed
the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? Isaiah 14:12-17 (KJV)
Another
example is found in the first nineteen verses of the twenty eight chapter of Ezekiel, and also in the Book of Job where we learn that “there was a day when the
sons (the angels) of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan (the adversary and accuser)
also came among them. Job
1:6 (AMP) Lloyd-Jones explains: “the phrase, ‘the sons of God,’
in the Old Testament generally stands for the angels, and here we are told that
a day came when the angels presented themselves before God and amongst these
sons of God, was Satan, the devil. In the same way Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14
compel us to come to the same conclusion. ‘Lucifer,
son of the morning!’ These descriptions, though primarily, perhaps,
meant to apply to Tyre and to Babylon, are generally agreed to have a much
wider meaning. That is something which is quiet customary in prophecy. You
start with the immediate, but it is also a foreshadowing of something bigger to
come. This happens with regard to good as well as evil. There are many prophecies
in the Psalms which appear to relate to King David alone, but obviously they go
beyond David and point to the Messiah. They are prophecies made to the Children
of Israel which primarily refer clearly to their coming back from the captivity
of Babylon; but they are too big for that alone, they are at the same time
pictures of the Christian salvation and the salvation of the soul. That is why
they are quoted so frequently in the New Testament, to show the fulfillment of
prophecy.” (1)And that’s why I said earlier that only Bible believing
Christians know the real cause of the world’s problem and ought to be able to
give advice on the only way our fellow human beings can adequately deal with it.
If people don’t know the problem they are up against and how to combat it, then
despite our best efforts; our world will remain as it has been for thousands of
years.
Allow me to
explain. I’ve been referring to the devil and the fall of some angels before
God created Adam and Eve and the world as we know it today. Satan and his
cohorts are the ultimate cause of the world’s problems. Sinful man is the result
of their incredible influence in our world. Lloyd-Jones offers a very
interesting theory concerning an awful thing that happened before the beginning
of human history which I would like to share. “There are those who believe that
this great cataclysmic event which took place in that pre cosmic fall, involved
also an original material creation. This, they argue, is the key to the
understanding of the second verse in the Bible. The first two verses of Genesis
read: “In
the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and
darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was
hovering over the face of the waters, Genesis 1:1-2 (ESV). The word ‘deep’ there really
means ‘the chaos.’ It is a description of a state of chaos. The
idea, the speculation is that before this cosmos that you and I are aware of,
there was an original creation. That first verse in Genesis, it claims is
really a reference to the great original creation. It is a general statement
that God made everything. But it may include the idea that God made a world, a
cosmos, in which these angelic principalities and powers lived and functioned
and dwelt. But when some of them fell in their rebellion and pride and
disobedience, God punished their universe also, and it was reduced to a state
of chaos. So that what is described in Genesis 1, verse 2 onwards, is the
restoration, the re-creation of this original creation which had got into a state
of chaos and of darkness.”
“This is a
matter about which we cannot be certain; it is more or less a speculation; but
there is something to be said for it. I cannot imagine God’s act of creation
passing through a chaotic stage at any point at all. I cannot believe that
creation as a work carried out by God was at any stage an abyss, a void, a
chaos. That does not fit in with God’s work. Everything in creation, in nature,
everywhere, at every step and stage, is characterized by the same perfection
and form. Inchoate perhaps, under-developed, not yet perfect, but right at its
particular stage. It is never chaotic. The most rudimentary form, the most
embryonic form is never chaotic; there is never this sense of void. But we are
told that the Spirit ‘brooded’ upon [hovered over] this chaos, this deep. So
that theory may well be true. And if it is true, it provides an answer to those
who say they do not believe the account of creation in Genesis because of the
findings of the geologists who, looking at nature and the material universe,
say that there is evidence there that rocks or various formations have existed
for long ages. “...granting that they
are right, the answer may be that all they are discovering is the result of a
great original catastrophe which happened when, with the fall of the angels and
of the devil, punishment was meted out upon the whole universe, leading up to
the creation that resulted. I do not emphasize this; I put it forward for
consideration. However, what we must
be clear about is that before the cosmos as we know it now, there was a tremendous
event, the fall of the devil and certain angels, and that the powers and forces
of evil result from that fall.” (2)
The great
Apostle Paul reminded the early Christians and you and I through his letter to them
of an invisible spiritual war; a war that has been raging for thousands of
years between the kingdoms of Satan and of God,”...we are not wrestling with flesh and blood
[contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms,
against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of
this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly
(supernatural) sphere, Ephesians
6:12 (AMP).In his first letter, the Apostle Peter cautions Christians to ”Be
well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at
all times; for that enemy of yours,
the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone
to seize upon and devour, 1 Peter 5:8 (AMP).
Elsewhere
the Apostle Paul reminds all followers of the Risen Savior about the devils
primary target in this war. ”But even if our Gospel (the glad tidings)
also be hidden (obscured and covered up with a veil that hinders the knowledge
of God), it is hidden [only] to those who are perishing and obscured
[only] to those who are spiritually dying and veiled [only] to those who
are lost. 4 For
the god of this world has blinded the
unbelievers’ minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing
them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the
Messiah), Who is the Image and
Likeness of God, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (AMP. Among the things he tells us we should do to
repulse this attack is to:” In all circumstances take
up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of
the evil one; Ephesians 6:16
(ESV). And, as I have been emphasizing for quite some time; unless we take up
our shield of faith and extinguish them, regardless if they are aimed at our
mind from the demons themselves or indirectly spewed out of the mouth of a
fellow human being whom they have powerfully inclined to hurl them at us; those
flaming darts will materialize in our mind as all sorts of distractions and/or
temptations; especially if they are fired at us out of the mouth of a
cunningly manipulative person and are accompanied by the most calculating
gestures the person has been able to come up with. It’s so sad that as highly educated
and well meaning as many non-Christians no doubt are, they are clueless that
this demonic activity is happening behind the scenes in the lives of all human
beings including their own.
In my opinion, a good example of how this often
plays out is in the mental health profession. Here dedicated women and men,
most of whom are completely oblivious to the fact that they are actually blind people
attempting to lead other blind inhabitants of the kingdom of darkness out of
the doldrums of a mental illness such as what has been diagnosed as Schizophrenia.
Back in the eighties I spent
five and a half years serving the homeless population in the Greater Burlington
area. Approximately one third of them had been recently deinstitutionalized
mentally ill people. I was able to develop a close rapport with some of them
who were labeled Schizophrenics. The closer they allowed me to get to know
them, the more convinced I became that their often bizarre behavior was
something they learned and, quite frankly had perfected. In other words, it was
sin. I shared my observation one day when I testified before the Mental Health
Study Committee of state legislators. Obviously I used the word behavior
instead of the word sin. The following day I received a phone call from a man
who was in attendance that day. He explained he was an advocate for the
mentally ill and would like to meet with me. Quite frankly, I was expecting to
be chastised because of my view point but, when we met I was pleasantly
surprised. The man agreed with everything I had said. Allow me to explain by
sharing the following quotes I came across very recently. They jogged my memory
as to my own personal observations and experience back in the 80’s with
Schizophrenics.
The diagnosis of Schizophrenia according to
the American Psychiatric Association is based on the
patient's self-reported experiences and observed behavior. No laboratory test
for schizophrenia currently exists. (3)
“The
claim that some people have a disease called schizophrenia (and that some,
presumably do not) was based not on medical discovery but on medical authority,
that it was in other words, the result not of empirical or scientific work, but
of ethical and political decision making.” (4)
“We had a
[schizophrenic] patient with whom it was impossible to carry on a sane
conversation; he produced only a crazy mixture of delusional ideas and queer
words. This man once went down with a serious physical illness, and I expected
it would be very difficult to treat him. But not at all. He was entirely
changed; he became friendly and obliging, and carried out all the doctor’s
orders with patience and gratitude. His eyes lost their evil darting looks, and
shone quietly and with understanding. One morning I came to his room with the
usual greeting: “Good morning, how are you? But the patient forestalled me with
his well known refrain: “Here comes another of the dog and monkey troop wanting
to play the Savior.” Then I knew his physical trouble was over. From that
moment the whole of his reason was as if blown away again.” (5)
“Schizophrenic
symptoms are virtually whatever makes the family unbearably anxious about the
independent behavior of one of its offspring.” (6)
“The symbol
that most specifically characterizes psychiatrists as members of a distinct
group of doctors is the concept schizophrenia; and the ritual that does so most
clearly is their diagnosing this disease in persons who do not want to be their
patients.” (7)
“Schizophrenia
is a term psychiatrists hang on people who won’t knuckle under their authority.”
(8)
These were some of the reasons the advocate
for the mentally ill was so upset about. It was because of the prevailing course
of treatment. It wasn’t only because he objected to the drugging of these
people in an attempt to control their undesirable behavior, but rather that
they were spinning their wheels and actually hurting these pitiful folks. Allow
me to elaborate. In so many words the man firmly believed the mental health
professionals were dehumanizing these people poor in their attempt to drug them
into societal conformity rather than allowing them to experience the painful
consequences of their behavior; such as homelessness, loneliness, depression, brawling,
bitterness, self pity, accidents and incarceration
Hopefully
this kind of self induced suffering might just bring them to their senses and
they will knock off that asinine behavior JUST
AS IT DID WITH THAT MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCATE SEVERAL YEARS PREVIOUSLY, and
I might add, just as the person with the toothache got rid of the pain and
stopped doing their own thing by finally going to a dentist.
”...the
god of this world has blinded the
unbelievers’ minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them
from seeing the illuminating
light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and
Likeness of God. 2 Corinthians 4:4
(AMP)
“...we
are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical
opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master
spirits who are] the world rulers of
this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly
(supernatural) sphere. Ephesians
6:12 (AMP)
We must never forget to remember that in one
way or another; until we draw our last breath, we will continue to be deeply
involved in the war between the kingdoms, the kingdom of darkness and the
kingdom of light, the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God. May it please
the Lord to constantly remind us where we are coming from, and powerfully
incline and then give each of us the strength to consistently walk in the light
with heart’s full of gratitude to the Risen Savior. And may it also please Him
to make this message a blessing to those of you who just heard it preached and
to all who may read it later.
Lord
willing, next week ...
1 Pages
70-71, An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10 to 13, © 1976 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones,
Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
2. Ibid, 74-75.
3. American Psychiatric Association (2000), "Schizophrenia". Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders:
DSM-IV. Washington, DC:
American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. ISBN 0-89042-024-6, Cited in Wikipedia.
The following quotes are from: Random House Webster’s Quotationary, © 2001,
1999 by Leonard Roy Frank.
4. Thomas S. Szasz (1920-). Schizophrenia: The
Sacred Symbol of Psychiatry, 1, 1976
5. Carl G. Jung (1875-1961). “The Content of the
Psychoses,” 1908, The Psychogenesis of Mental Disease, tr. R. F. C.
6. David Cooper (1931-?). Psychiatry and
Anti-Psychiatry, I, 1967
7. Thomas S. Szasz (1920-). Preface to
Schizophrenia: The Sacred Symbol of Psychiatry, 1, 1976
8. Anonymous
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