God’s Protection System
By
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING: - My wife and I have a little puppy he is 8 months old; he doesn’t really bark too much but he will whine. He has a bad habit of being underfoot and he is so quite that you never know where he is at and from time to time he gets stepped on, his tail or his paw and when he does that little 5lb puppy screams and hollers like crazy, making all kinds of noise. I said all of that to prove the old proverb “a hit dog will holler”. That proverb is a 19th century proverb that implies that a person who protest too loudly or too much about an accusation is actually providing evidence of their guilt and wrongdoing. Over the past few weeks there has been a lot of conversations about – to put it bluntly- foolishness that has been going on in Christian-dom. We have so-called Bishop’s telling people to shut their mouths because you don’t know my assignment with foolishness and ungodly acts, then other pathetic preachers, not prophetic, so-called preachers supposedly coming to their rescue and chastising the body of Christ only proving the fact that birds of a feather flock together.
Now I know someone will say well Bishop the Bible says, “Judge not lest ye be Judged” and that is true Matthew 7:1; however, John 7:24 says, “Judge righteous judgment”. This means not operating in the spirit of judgmentalism but maintaining moral discernment and a standard of holiness. I am not going to deal with the defense or the accusations because that is not my assignment, but I will warn the body of Christ of what Isaiah 56:10 calls “Dumb Dogs” because Ezekiel 33:6 says, “But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned, if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand”. So as a watchman I must warn you for Ephesians 4:12-13 says, “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”.
Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”. It doesn’t need any help, it doesn’t need to use trick, gimmicks, or assimilation with the world to be effective, the Word of God will do what it do all by itself and when we live righteously and let our light shine before men and they see Christ in us and will glorify God.
PRAYER: -
SCRIPTURES: - Ephesians 6:10-18.
INTRO: - I like to watch the History channel, the Discovery channel, and National Geographic a lot, to the point that I have my DVR set to record several shows from these channels. One show that I like is called “Bermuda Triangle into cursed waters”. The Bermuda Triangle is the most notorious stretch of ocean in history, invoking fear as well as fascination. The Triangle is made up of the boarders of Bermuda, Florida, and Puerto Rico and it has mysteriously swallowed countless ships and planes as well as their crew which have just vanished without a trace. In 1945, 5 U.S. Navy planes known as flight 19 just disappeared, later that night a rescue plane that was sent to look for flight 19 also disappeared and to this day in January 2024 no wreckage has ever been found of flight 19 and the rescue plane, although there has been discoveries of ships dating all the way back to the time of Columbus.
The premise of the show is these 2 divers one named Mike and the other David dive the Bermuda triangle in search of shipwrecks or missing planes trying to explain what may have caused it to go down. On one episode they came across something that wasn’t a ship, and it didn’t appear to be an airplane either. They filmed what they found and showed it to the other members of their team. One of the team members named Jason is a retired Air Force Pilot and he looked at the film and noticed the tiles on this piece of debris and said it looks like what is on the space shuttle. So, they contacted NASA who confirmed that what they had discovered was a piece of the Space Shuttle Challenger which exploded on January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds into its flight. They asked the scientist at NASA about the tiles that are on the piece they discovered, and he stated that those are the Thermal Protection System, and he went on to explain that the space shuttle upon re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere experiences tremendous stress and pressure. As the shuttle gets closer to the earth it is traveling at about 17,000 miles per hour. At that speed the air ahead of the shuttle becomes compressed and produces extreme friction against the shuttle, which causes the molecules around the shuttle to produce a plasma field around the shuttle, although this plasma field is considered a gas it doesn’t operate like gases normally do and it causes the temperature around the shuttle to reach temperatures of 3000 degrees Fahrenheit, normally that temperature will melt almost any material from the rock of a meteor to the metal skin of the space shuttle thus the shuttle needs a layer of insulation that will absorb the massive temperature protecting the shuttle and the astronauts inside.
When I heard this, I said to myself that’s a sermon in itself right there and I began to think about God’s Protection System and my mind went immediately to the Armour of God and how it protects us. I thought about how we wrestle in a spiritual battle and how we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness and principalities, and powers and began to think how as we move closer to God how the stress and friction of this spiritual warfare acts against us. I began to think about our loins must be girt about with truth for that is what holds everything together. I began to think on the breastplate of righteousness and how that protects our heart like the tiles of the space shuttle protect the under belly of the shuttle. How our feet need to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace so that we are able to walk through every trial and tribulation in the assurity that everything is going to be alright in Jesus’ name. I thought about the shield of faith which will quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and the helmet of salvation and how it protects our minds from the tricks of the enemy keeping our minds stayed on Him and most of all the Sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, which is the only weapon that will destroy the enemy then how we are to pray and watch and persevere.
However, as I was looking at this, I realized that the promise of God’s protection is not guaranteeing us that we will never know pain or loss for all we have to do is look at Job and realize that sometimes there are things that are going to come against. Jesus said in James 1:2-3 “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers’ temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience”. So, some things come against us and us going through it will cause us to grow spiritually and are for the perfecting of us or the maturing of our spiritual walk. Then I realized 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”. But Jesus says in John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”.
Regardless of what comes against us God is always in control and the trials and persecutions that we go through have a limit and can only do what God allows 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able to; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” Jeremiah 5:22 says, “Fear ye not me? Saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have place the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it”.
So, the promise of physical protection for the most part is not so much ours in the church age but rather the focus of our protection is God’s spiritual protection against the enemy of our soul. This is the purpose of the Armour of God, God’s Protection System. The indwelling of the Holy Ghost is the essences of God’s protection Philippians 4:7 says, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. This is what 2 Timothy 4:18 is stating when it says, “And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen”. We can be assured like Paul regardless of what attacks us, whatever trial, tribulations, persecutions, come against us even if we were to lose our lives, we have the confidence of 2 Corinthians 5:8 “to be absent from the body and be present with the Lord”. We are sealed for glorification, having been justified by faith, working out our own souls salvation we are sealed for glorification Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory”. There are going to be some things that we are going to go through, we can’t avoid that, we can’t tithe our way out of that, we can’t even pray that we don’t experience that because Jesus said in this world, we will have troubles. So troubles will come but if we put on the armour of God He will protect our hearts and our minds.
Now there are some things we need to understand about God’s Protection System.
Verse #10 says, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might”. This literally means strengthen yourself in the Lord. You must be strong in your faith because a weak person who is barely able to stand can put on the best armor and will be ineffective as a soldier, easily defeated so the principle of be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might is letting us know that we must build up our spiritual man, our faith in order to be truly effective. WATCH THIS: - One of my all-time favorite movies is titled 300 about the Spartans. In the move there is a deformed hunchback named Ehfeealteez, whose father was a Spartan warrior that had died. He trained his son and taught his son to be strong and have no fear. Ehfeealteez wanted to join the Spartans and fight against the enemies of Greece. Spartacus, the commander of the Spartan Warriors had him lift the shield as high as he could and because of his deformity he was too weak to lift the shield but so high causing him to be ineffective as a soldier. Although he had a shield, a spear, and a helmet and no fear it wasn’t enough WHY – because he was weak. Spiritually walking around and saying I saved, I am a child of God, I have a title of Bishop, prophet, or whatever is not enough. You must be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
Might is inherent power or force while power is the exercise of might. Not only do you say that you are a certain thing, but you effectively use what you say you are. EXAMPLE: - a body builder has might when you look at them because of the muscles, but until they exercise that might and begin to actually lift that 700lbs you don’t understand the power they have. So, we must be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. However; so often our spiritual strength is compromised by the things we do. Because of the close association and assimilation with the world our spiritual strength is compromised, to much debating over stuff instead of just being holy compromises strength, too much foolishness is compromising strength, the love of money, striving for popularity, being unequally yoked, and ungodly activities causes spiritual strength to be compromised and when it is compromised we become like Ehfeealteez ineffective. We must remain watchful, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might and do what verse 11 says.
Verse 11says, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil”. Notice it says the whole armour of God – that is the protective covering. You can’t put some of it on you can’t say I will put on the helmet, but I am not taking the breastplate because the requirement is to put on the whole armour of God on – it’s God’s Protection System.
WHY - that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Wiles are tricks or manipulations designed to deceive someone. Wiles of the devil are those clever schemes used to ensnare you through temptation, threats, or intimidations. They are the things that don’t seem to be that bad, they are the isms and the scisms that cause your strength to be compromised. Some of the tactics that the devil uses to challenge God’s word is – is that what he really said, is that what he really means, I am just trying to make the gospel fit the culture that we are living in. Then he will try to twist the word of God and say he really didn’t mean it that way, and that causes a challenge to your identity, and you make stupid remarks like if I would have been there, I would have asked God what about a maybe or can we just say it this way instead of standing on the unadulterated word of God.
Then there is now what is the most corrupt wile of the devil and that is causing the weakened, not fully armored person, so-called Bishop, Pastor, Apostle, Prophet to offer religiously tainted compromise in their worship or what God calls strange fire because they are not putting on the whole armour of God.
When the whole armour is not applied you fall victim to the wiles of the devil. That’s why I said in the beginning that they are dumb dogs calling themselves Bishops and pastors and apostles that are compromising the word of God, that are lowering the standard of holiness talking about well we are trying something new because this is a new season and what was good from grandma and grandpa isn’t going to work for us today when the Bible tells us there is nothing new under the sun.
Verse 12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”. WATCH THIS: - we are in a warfare, but this warfare is different then the warfare that we my think of, it is different than what is happening with Israel and Hamas, it is different than Ukraine and Russia these are human warfares, this warfare is spiritual and although the concept and the make up is the same it is different. Remember I said when the Space Shuttle re-enters the earth’s atmosphere the speed and the pressure and the friction causes a plasma field surrounding the shuttle. Plasma is a gas that doesn’t operate like gases normally do and it causes the temperature around the shuttle to reach 3000 degrees Fahrenheit, normally that temperature will melt almost any material from the rock of a meteor to the metal skin of the space shuttle thus the shuttle needs a layer of insulation that will absorb the massive temperature protecting the shuttle and the astronauts inside. However, the tiles called the Thermal Protection System absorb the heat, the friction, and the stress allowing the space shuttle to return to earth safely. However, if some of the tiles are missing look at what happens.
On Saturday February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the earth atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven of the astronauts on board. During the launch of the Columbia a piece of the insulating foam broke off from the Space Shuttles external tank and struck the thermal protection system tiles on the orbiter’s left wing knocking off some of the tiles and exposing a section of the shuttles wing about 27 inches long by 18 inches wide.
When the shuttle Columbia re-entered the atmosphere of Earth, the damage, the missing tiles, allowed hot atmospheric gases to penetrate the heat shield and begin melting the aluminum structure of the shuttle with much greater than normal amounts of strain on the wing. It was reported that the shuttle was traveling at Mach 23 which is 17, 647.19 miles an hour or 23 times the speed of sound and at an altitude of 231, 600 feet the temperature of its wings was estimated to be 2800 degrees F. As soon as it entered California’s airspace it began to shed pieces of debris and a brightness increases around the shuttle that was the plasma and friction and stress and temperature glowing. Soon Mission control stopped receiving communication from the shuttle and the shuttle began a catastrophic breakup. It is said that the astronauts likely suffered from significant thermal trauma as hot gases entered the crew module, burning the crew members violently exposing them to the atmosphere and the force of the wind literally ripped their suits off of them. The crews’ bodies entered an environment with almost no oxygen, low atmospheric pressure and extremely high temperatures and their bodies hit the ground with a lethal force.
This happened because some of the Thermal Protection System was missing. When someone fails to put on the whole armour of God, when so-called preachers compromise the word of God and deliver sugar coated sermons that don’t have the keep power of the Holy Ghost’s anointing, when the standard of holiness is forgotten, when truth is compromised it allows access from the enemy to enter and to destroy those that are inside.
We must make our calling an election sure, we must make sure we are properly aligned, we must make sure that we put on the whole armour of God, we must make sure we have the strength to be able to use the armor properly and that is done only by understanding and being taught the truth.
We can’t compromise the armour of God by not applying the whole armour to every aspect of our Christian walk.
We can’t compromise the standard of holiness for the assimilation of the world.
The effects are too deadly.
We must make sure we have God’s Protective System, which is the armour of God and make sure that it is properly worn.
We can’t compromise any part of the armour Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” That’s the breastplate of righteousness don’t compromise your heart, don’t lose your love for Christ and everything Holy make sure your breastplate is secure and not damaged by things and people that are trying to say you can love the world and still love God because the end result is death.
We can’t compromise the Helmet of Salvation Isaiah 26:3 says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee”. Keep your mind stayed on Jesus, don’t let dumb dogs try to convince you that its o.k. to do this or that when it doesn’t line up with the word of God.
We can’t remove having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace but must as Psalm 119:133 says, “Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me”. When your steps are ordered by the Lord you won’t go around talking about “Now walk it out – now walk it out” like some are doing in the church but will say guide me Oh thou great Jehovah.
We must make sure that our loins are girt about with truth John 17:17 says, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth”. We can’t compromise His truth for lies breathed in the pits of Hell talking about we are dropping it like it’s hot in the church because it is safer than being out at the club. 1 Peter 1:15-16 says, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy”. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord”.
CLOSING: - Make sure you have God’s Protective System in place, and it is properly worn.
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
