He Church Its Turmoil, Conflict, Struggle And Endurance – Part 3. (Part 11 In The Series) Series

THE CHURCH ITS TURMOIL, CONFLICT, STRUGGLE AND ENDURANCE – PART 3. (PART 11 IN THE SERIES)

We continue to look at some of the matters that are of concern for the Church, and its problems and its conflict in the world.

[8]. EIGHTH CONSIDERATION. SATAN RAISES UP ENEMIES INSIDE AND OUT

If you are engaged in a work for the Lord, Satan will raise up his enemies and he has plenty. These may come from governments, from your own family or even from your regular church. Right at the very beginning, before any churches were formed the Lord taught the parable of the Sower, then of the tares. The Sower in essence was the Lord Himself and the good seed is the gospel. No sooner had the field been sown than the enemy sneaked in and sowed tares, or darnel or wild wheat. Satan works like blowflies do. Once they detect food they are there laying maggots to spoil the produce and cause rot and decay. Little wonder when one of Satan’s names is Beelzeboul, the Lord of the flies, or lord of the dung heap.

No sooner had Paul established the churches in Galatia than the legalists got in teaching that you have to keep and obey the Law of Moses and mixed it with faith, which you can not really do because what is of Law is not of faith. Romans and Galatians both teach that. Make no mistake, once a work of God is in place the devil moves his troops in.

I see this in the Melanesian and Polynesian churches of the South Pacific islands. I love the Pacific islands, and just to take one example, on my first visit to American Samoa (Pago Pago) I was thrilled with the strong Christian ethos of the island but several years later I found springing up all over, churches belonging to the cults – Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses. It was so disheartening. The cults wait until a pioneering work had been done and then they move in to steal the Christians and churches. Nearly all of the cults are heavily financed with American money.

When Paul was writing to the Galatians he wrote {{Galatians 2:4 “It was because of the false brethren who HAD SNEAKED IN TO SPY OUT OUR LIBERTY which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage,”}} Yes, he established the churches in Galatia, and just like the Polynesian and Melanesian islands, the false brethren sneaked in to destroy the pure gospel of grace. However, Paul, being a wonderful shepherd of the sheep, realised it straight away and then wrote – {{Galatians 2:5 “but WE DID NOT YIELD IN SUBJECTION TO THEM for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.”}}

Most churches have an oversight, whether it is called elders, or a presbytery or administrative board or whatever. How diligent are these men to protect the faith? How eager are they to stop what is false from entering the church? An even better question is, “How skilled are they, and how established are they in the bible to be able to distinguish truth from error?” When I look around these days in many places I despair because the oversight, board, elders or whatever they term themselves, are not spiritual men of faith, so what hope does that church to keep itself free from error?

One of the terms for Christians is soldiers – {{Philippians 2:25 “I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker AND FELLOW SOLDIER, who is also your messenger and minister to my need.” 2Timothy 2:3-4 “Suffer hardship with me as A GOOD SOLDIER of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”}} The teaching there is that soldiers must be diligent to their calling. At times it might involve hardship but we must remain loyal to the cause. A man appointed to guard the church and sleeps on duty is a worthless soldier. It ought not to be, and is the reason why churches these days are weak and spineless. How many ministers are speaking out about the atrocities of our socialist, anti-Christian governments destroying the lives of children and introducing abominable agendas? Are they afraid of making waves? The only ships that make waves are those that are moving forward. Most ships in churches are docked with the lights out.

My fellow Christians, rise up and speak out for the Lord. Stand your ground against forceful men and women who want to introduce some new thing into church fellowships and want to water down the pure gospel. These are the weeds, the tares, false brethren and sometimes wolves in sheep clothing.