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Summary: Many misidentify who our real enemy is, and thus fall into spiritual traps.

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MISIDENTIFYING THE ENEMY?

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.

Kyfingers@aol.com

TEXT:

Job 42:10 And the Lord turned the captivity of Job,

when he prayed for his friends:

also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Romans 12: 14 Bless them that persecute you, BLESS, and curse not.

15. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

16. Be of the same mind one to another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

17. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

19. Dearly beloved, AVENGE NOT YOURSELVES, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, VENGEANCE IS MINE; I WILL REPAY, saith the Lord.

20. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, FEED HIM; if he thirst, GIVE HIM drink: for in doing so thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

21. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

One of the terrible problems in Viet Nam was identifying who the enemy really was?

The Viet Cong would strap a bomb on a little kid, and as he asked for a candy bar,

they would blow up and kill our troops.

A beautiful lady would be a front that would lead some of our soldiers to their death.

To fight and not to be able to identify who the real enemy is, will always hurt one in battle.

Many people identify JOB’S FRIENDS as his enemy. This is far from the truth.

They may have said hurtful things, but they sat three days and nights along side of the suffering man.

If they had intended on hurting Job, they would have attacked immediately.

JOB’S FRIENDS had good intentions, they saw him suffering. They saw his family suffer.

They wanted better.

Their approach lacked wisdom, but there was love there.

Job 42:10 And the Lord turned the captivity of Job,

when he prayed for his friends:

also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

We value the gift, God values the giver.

Job had to realize that his friends were less than perfect, but they loved the Lord and they loved Job.

Job’s friends were not his enemies, the enemy would have love to distort this in Job’s eyes and had him hate them for ever.

Your friend that needs your love the most deserves it the least.

Hell will be full of people that were moral, they just misidentified who the enemy was.

Today many see the preacher as the enemy. The preacher sees many of his people as the enemy.

We don’t even have FRIENDLY FIRE, we have shooting at friends on purpose.

WE HAVE NO FIRE.

This poem was written in the 1920’s by James Patrick Kinney.

Thought provoking...!

The Cold Within

Six humans trapped by happenstance in black and bitter cold.

Each one possessed a stick of wood (or so the story’s told).

Their dying fire, in need of logs, the first woman held hers back,

For on the faces around the fire, she noticed one was black.

The second, looking across the way, saw one not of his church,

And couldn’t bring himself to give the fire his stick of birch.

The poor man sat in tattered clothes, he gave his coat a hitch.

Why should his log be put to use to warm the idle rich?

The rich man just sat back and thought of the wealth he had in store,

And how to keep what he had earned from the lazy, shiftless poor.

The black man’s face bespoke revenge as the fire passed from his sight,

For all he saw in his stick of wood was a chance to spite the white.

And the last of this forlorn group did not accept for gain:

Giving only to those who gave was how he played the game.

The logs held tight in deaths’ still hands was proof of human sin.

They didn’t die from the cold without, They died from the cold within.

Can you clearly identify God’s enemies?

It can be hard to fight an elusive enemy.

Many think that Lucifer is some red, ugly, smelly bad guy with a pitch fork.

This is probably not the way he really looks.

Our enemy can appear as an angel of light.

He knows to wear masks and hide his purpose and identity.

Our enemy does not show his true colors. He is deceptive and a liar.

The pictures he paints are terrible distortions and lies. He uses 1/2 truths,

but his motive is to steal, kill, and destroy.

YOUR SPOUSE IS NOT THE ENEMY?

YOUR CHILDREN ARE NOT THE ENEMY?

The pastor and church is not your enemy?

Your employer is not your enemy?

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