by David Brenneman
It used to be taught in schools of the history of the United States in such a way that garnered patriotism towards a unified people. In not so many decades this has been eroding considerably, much of it within my own lifetime.
People are being made to not just take sides but are being required to not keep that decision to themselves.
Those who aren't for the majority, are often ostracized, set apart, vilified, sometimes punished. Punished socially, economically, even to the effects of creative discrimination that the world refuses to call discrimination.
Coincidence? Hardly. The battlefield of the human mind has been going on since the first volley within Adam and Eve. It's as old, technically, as time itself. It began with what the Bible describes as one of the most beautiful angels ever created by the Lord Jesus Christ. His name was Lucifer, also known as Satan.
Satan's behind the fall of mankind. As the Bible says, he usurped the leadership of this world to himself.
He's after the Throne of God. Somehow, in his demented mind, he thinks he has the capacity to win against his creator. Strange, maybe, to some to say that that way but truth is the truth. Satan aka Lucifer is a created being. Pride was found in him and he wanted the glory and praise belonging to God alone for himself. When God created man, and Satan saw that man was highly valued in God's sight, he went after Adam and Eve. Throughout the centuries, in any place, that God put value, Satan wants for himself. If he can't have it, he will seek permission to destroy it. Permission? Yes. Permission. Regardless of his views on it, he is still subject to the will of God. He cannot go beyond what limits that God puts on him.
What's this got to do with you? It has everything to do with you and I and all humanity.
We are the battlefield.
What's going on in this world today is a growing deception. A grand deception. The groundwork for the final prophecies of God and much is found in the book of Revelation. As I write this, and compelled to write is more appropriate, I just came through another battle over identity.
Identity is what Satan wants to attack the most. It's what he thinks garners the most ire with God.
God cannot be provoked. Cannot be manipulated into acting rashly. Cannot be pushed into a rush choice or decision. He cannot be made to do a pre-emptive strike. God is still in control of all things in this universe. He IS the Creator afterall.
Attacks on my identity go back decades. I'm in my 50's now and I can tell you that it began at a very very young age. It's probable that it began even before I came to Christ. While Satan lost when I did come to Christ to be saved, he's not given up. His will is to hamper, in any and all ways possible, my growth in Christ. The more he halts, slows down, or stops it, the more ground he can get with other people.
You need to know the treasure in Heaven for those who believe, are those who've come to Christ. We are the most valuable thing to the God of this Universe. God the Father sent His only son to die for humanity. All humanity, not just those who have rejected Jesus as the only way to be saved. People, at the final judgement, will see and know who Jesus is. They will look upon Jesus and know who it is they rejected. Nobody will have any problems understanding truth when standing before Jesus.
In our world today they want people to believe it's subjective. That's no coincidence. That's one of Satan's tactics. The voices of Satan's followers are not more, they are just louder. The louder they get the more intimidating they sound. They are certainly not more powerful. Jesus told Peter that the gates of Hell would not be able to handle the onslaught of the Church. That's the proper translation. The power of the resurrected Christ is in each Believer. That same power that brought Jesus back from the dead is found within each who've given their lives to Christ.
Our world edits out the truth by way of ease of access. What people see as technological growth is actually only a tool to keep people from the real truth of everything from spirituality to history and health. We live in a world where most schools do not use physical text books anymore. With good reason. It's NOT what you think it's for. It's NOT to 'save the trees'. That's a comical excuse at best. Most current paper books use recycled paper in them. With the world of digital comes the ability to en-masse delete truth. To subtly erase history. To keep the real truth from being seen. Twist it enough and you gain angered people because "they read it on the internet" as truth. Facts are subjective in a digital world. An entire school year curriculum can be tweaked with a few keystrokes. What comes next is what's gaining popularity in this world...destroy physical books. In reality: get rid of the evidence.
I would implore you, to keep a PHYSICAL copy of a known good translation of the Bible with you.
Satan will still try to edit that particular book in any way he can. It's certainly the job of the Holy Spirit to protect the Word of God, but you can still bet Satan will attack it, ban it, prohibit it's use.
The battlefield, as suggested, is for your mind.
It's about keeping your eyes not on the present tasks that God has for you to do as a follower of Christ, but to get you to be anxious about the future, and too concerned about the past to function.
Within your mind you must take every thought captive to the glory of God. Why would the Bible tell us so? Because it's THAT critical!
Satan loves to distract with butterflies and with flowers that look all innocent.
We read that the false teachers and false prophets will come from WITHIN the Church. Not from the world. Satan will influence the leadership within churches to turn them into vestiges of the world rather than the house of God.
If indeed you are in Christ or if you haven't come to Christ yet...know this for all certainty...Satan is after your mind. If you haven't come to Christ, you are certainly in grave danger. For those in Christ, who have given their lives to Christ, you're a primary target. What he's after with you is to discredit you, and to get you to shut up. He's after your silence. Laughingly he often suggest that if you keep quiet, he'll leave you alone. Remember what Paul wrote: he prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Paul wrote of NO distinction between believer and unbeliever in writing that.
Living breathing human beings are his target.
Right now the world is awash with the brilliance of AI. Is it any wonder? It's not of God. It thrives because it's NOT from God. It thrives in this world because it's currently run by Satan. Satan is behind AI. Artificial Intelligence. It's astounding how quickly AI driven websites and personal apps are taking the world by storm. It's the cause behind the current writer's strike in Hollywood. Physical people are afraid AI will be writing television shows and movies and they will be without a job.
The military, not just the US military, EVERY military with the financial backing is behind AI driven attack drones and their creation. Not surprising, there's a hint of this in the book of Revelation. John describes things that are flying that have the sting of scorpions in their tails. Swarms of them. What did I just read this week? That all these financially well off militaries are developing swarm technology.
We might indeed think this AI stuff can ONLY be good for humanity! But it's not. Even AI is not something outside the plan of God. The Great Tribulation is still coming. 7 years of the worst humanity and this Earth have ever seen. The wrath of God poured out upon mankind.
I took it upon myself, in my curiosity, to look something up and wasn't surprised that someone else hadn't already had the same question. Just what would a 100 lb hail look like. It's approximately 29 inches in diameter. For it to traverse from the sky to the ground, having come from the way upper atmosphere, it would hit the ground at 284 miles per hour. That's also in the book of Revelation.
Not much, if anything would survive on this world getting hit at 284 miles per hour. It's coming.
Satan even has coerced developers into writing a human behavior examination AI...aptly named after himself. It's called L.U.C.I.F.E.R. That too, is NOT of God, not by any stretch of the imagination.
Our identity in this world has never been more under attack. I suspected decades ago that the obsession with Supercomputers had nothing to do with cures for cancer. It was how to digest the accumulated human knowledge of humanity essentially against humanity. Our smartphones, even as much as we are dependent upon them, are being used to collect personal information. I have also watched interviews with former DARPA employees who state that even removal of a battery from a smart phone will not stop it from being accessible to those who want to know something about people.
Our identity in Christ is a cherished thing. It defines who we are.
We who are in Christ are children of God.
Heirs to the Throne of God.
We are beloved of God the Father.
We are the body of Christ here on Earth.
While it's the will of God as per 2 Thessalonians 4:3a, that is, our sanctification, our being made more like Jesus Christ, it's the will of Satan to stop that from occurring.
You'd be wise to understand that there are only specific, certain types, of demons in Hell. Demons are fallen holy Angel who used to be with God in Heaven.
Demonic activity is all around us. Satan tries to utilize his demons, his followers, in every way possible for his how means. They can only possess those who have not been sealed by the Spirit of God through salvation in Christ alone. Demon possession is very very much active and all around us.
Regardless of what you also might think, Satan is NOT some red guy with horns sitting on a throne in Hell. Satan's never been to Hell. Hell was indeed originally created for Satan and his minions. Certain of the worst are there. But they cannot get out. Satan, the Bible says roams the Earth. He no more wants to be in Hell than anyone who IS there. It surprised me to really understand that those demons that were cast out during the ministry of Jesus? They are still in this world today. They were indeed cast out of whomever they possessed but they weren't sentenced to Hell, at least not yet.
Hell is a very very real place, no matter how it's depicted by Hollywood or any production company.
Hell has currently over and beyond 9 billion people in it. The number is probably closer to 18-20 or more billion people. Considering if the whole world were populated at the time of the Global Flood, much as it is today, that's about 8 billion people who died and went there. Taking into account the centuries since...and the population growth....it's not impossible to get to at least double that if not more.
And the truth is: Satan does not care if that's where you end up. He will just move on to someone else who isn't saved. We read in the book of Job of what Satan goes through daily. We read of how he must seek permission to go after those who are Believers. Jesus said all Believers are in His hand and no one is strong enough to take them out of it. He's in the Father's hand and certainly no one is more powerful than the Father, if that weren't enough. We read of the request of Satan to sift Peter like wheat. More proof of the book of Job's truth.
We read in the letters of Paul of the characteristics of a Believer. We also read of what describes an unbeliever. We read of how people will be before Jesus returns. The top of that list is 'lovers of self'.
We also see just what Jesus meant of how people would be just as it was in the days of Noah. Lovers of self. Doing what was right in their own eyes. See that around you anywhere?
All nations are working towards a global government, the only possible exception might be Israel. I have to include the United States in this because so much has been done even as far back as the 1950's to subvert our Constitution it's making it possible.
The United Nations hates our Constitution because it's in the way of a new world order. The United Nations are doing the will of the ruler of this world: Satan. Yes it comes back to him.
If Satan wins at any level of his attacks on your mind, he's getting a foothold for future ways to alter your thinking and behavior. He most certainly does not want what God wants in your mind and in your life.
He wants you to be dejected. To be run down. One of my friends has a constant reminder for us:
HALT
Hungry
Angry
Lonely
Tired
If we're in the midst of any of those...we are in danger and are essentially on the battlefield alone.
We need our support group of established, growing, Believers. We need what Paul told those in Ephesians and after they had read it they sent that letter to all the other Churches. Put on the whole armor of God. Each piece is meant for mental and Spiritual warfare that happens within the minds of men and women.
I've been honestly seeing more of a coloration lately of the whole armor of God and that armor and weaponry of the Roman soldier. There's not just wearing the equipment for the sake of wearing it.
If we're to bring up the shield of faith it should follow with a swing of the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Paul wrote of it being akin to a soldier's life. He trains to be the best he can be for the service with which he or she's serving.
Satan's out to twist the minds of this world to get what he's after. He's getting adults to comply and in such ways that they do his bidding to twist the minds of children even as young as kindergarten. They are in roles to do what he's after. It's not what you might think, he's preparing for what even HE knows is coming: the return of Christ. He knows not what day, month, year or hour even that it might be so he's got to be ready at all times.
Sadly HE believes more of the Bible than most who go to most churches today! We read of his blinding the minds of people. Searing their minds as with a branding iron.
The battlefield continues for each of us until either Jesus returns or He calls us home, or in the case of the unbelieving who still yet refuse the free gift of salvation only through Jesus Christ...calls them to go to Hell.
Our world is NOT getting 'better'. Our world is at an every increasing rate, getting ready for the return of Jesus Christ to take His Church from this world, beginning with those who died in Christ already and then all those who are alive and remain.
The choices and decisions of world leaders only points to the silencing of the true Church.
My Friend, you need to realize that your life is precious in the sight of God to the point that even if it were only for you, Jesus would have still left Heaven to die on a cross, suffer and die, for you.
Your life means that much to the Creator of this Universe.
We read of many RIGHT descriptions of Christian's in the Bible.
- Child of God
- Beloved of God
- Citizen of Heaven
- Bride of Christ
- God's Elect
- Brothers and Sisters
- Soldier of Jesus Christ
- Apple of His Eye
- Followers of Christ
- Good Seed
- Chosen Ones
- His Own Sheep
- Household of God
There's literally hundreds that can be found in the Word of God.
A Lauren Daigle Song "You Say" has these words in it...
I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I'm not enough
Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up
Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low
Remind me once again just who I am because I need to know
Ooh-oh
You say I am loved when I can't feel a thing
You say I am strong when I think I am weak
And you say I am held when I am falling short
And when I don't belong, oh You say I am Yours
And I believe (I)
Oh, I believe (I)
What You say of me
What's really also interesting is that demons use what we hear today of personal pronouns. When you read the Gospels and you see how they described themselves it's the very same as is heard today. Coincidence? I think not.
Our identity, if indeed we are saved, is wholly wrapped up in the seal of the Holy Spirit upon each of us. We are not defined by our circumstances. We are not defined by our status in this world. Who defines us is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Another good reminder song is by Hillsong Worship called "Who You Say I am"
Who am I that the highest King
Would welcome me?
I was lost but He brought me in
Oh His love for me
Oh His love for me
Who the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
I'm a child of God
Yes I am
Free at last
He has ransomed me
His grace runs deep
While I was a slave to sin
Jesus died for me
Yes, He died for me
Who the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
I'm a child of God
Yes I am
In my Father's house
There's a place for me
I'm a child of God
Yes I am
I am chosen not forsaken
I am who You say I am
You are for me not against me
I am who You say I am
While our world tries to condemn those who believe the Word of God....
While our world runs head-long into the Great Tribulation without any concerns at all...
We need to be alert. Jesus said to be alert. His greatest teachings were around prayer. We see it continued in Paul's writings to the Churches. Prayer is our lifeline to truth. Truth of who we are and what we are. Not what our thoughts, feelings, and emotions try to tell us we are. In Proverbs it says to trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Right there we read that our own understanding leads to trouble.
Prayer is our lifeline to the truth. Most all the battles we will fight will be on our knees.
Raising the shield of faith, wielding the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. We need to be constantly in trained readiness to face what gets thrown our direction. It's not going to be easy.
As I've often referred to in another song...the road to Heaven has lots of off ramps. All with flashy billboards promising all kinds of things. Saying no to the off ramps is often a battle in and of itself.
It sure is for me. While indeed the battle belongs to the Lord, we're in the fight, and the fight is about us.
For the Believer, there's going to be a time of giving an account before Jesus for what we did in our bodies for Him. Will yours show one that fought the good fight, kept the faith, or will it show not a whole lot? The things is Jesus already knows your thoughts, He knows your heart. He knows your struggles, your battles. He knows every "what if" and "what might have been" that we cannot understand or fathom.
This is yet another that's too 'hot' to post on Facebook so it will only show up here.
Protect what has been entrusted to you...which is the Word of God...which is able to save you...it's the Sword of the Spirit. Learn to use it. Make it an extension of you. Don't let your guard down and don't let up on being alert. Satan doesn't grow tired, he just adjusts tactics to try something else that he's seeking permission to use against us.
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