SPIRITUAL WARFARE IS REAL

The Bible tells us that we have an enemy and one that’s more dangerous because he is invisible.

The Christian needs the armor of God more today than ever because “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). 

“My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart” (Psalm 7:10)

God offers Himself as a shield to those who trust in Him. It is up to us to “take up” and “put on” the whole armor of God, but once we have, we can say with confidence: 

“My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart” (Psalm 7:10).

“Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him” Proverbs 30:5

Prayer is a key to the armor of God as we take up the helmet of salvation, which guards our minds and thoughts and keep it from being taken captive. The sword of the Spirit helps us fight off the enemy the way Jesus did during His temptation, and that’s with the Word of God. Three times Jesus rebuked the Devil by using the Word of God, and there’s more. We need to “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness” (Ephesians 6:14). What we need is the truth of God’s Word that secures us in our stand against the enemy, and then the breastplate of righteousness which we attain once we trust in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), but we’re not quite done yet since we need “shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15). Once equipped, we can now be ready for spiritual warfare.

Are you ready to face the coming end-times tribulation that Jesus told us Christians will endure prior to His return to put things right? You will not be unless you understand who your enemy really is and put on the full armour of God.

Extracts from the article Shielded by God by Jack Wellman May 8th, 2019

DEMONIC OPPRESSION IS REAL

Demonic oppression is a spiritual attack from a demonic spirit that seeks to influence a person’s thoughts, emotions, and actions. Since a demon cannot possess a Christian to control them, then oppression is the next best option. Because of the way we are created as humans, these attacks will often begin in our minds because this is the central hub that dictates what we think about, how we feel, and ultimately what we do. The goal of demonic oppression is to keep a person trapped and bound. The desire is to paralyze the Christian believer so they become ineffective.

From Job, we know that God allows demonic spirits to attack the body so the following story is possible.

Actress Joey King, who played a little girl afflicted by the supernatural in the demonic-themed horror film, “The Conjuring,” recently shared strange details from her time making the movie that still makes her “shudder.”

King, 22, said earlier this month in an appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show” that she developed a strange blood disorder while playing Christine, one of the Perron children in “The Conjuring.”

“It was pretty intense. Some weird stuff happened on the set, along with the movie being scary,” she told fellow actress Drew Barrymore. “It’s true, I developed this bizarre, rare, out-of-nowhere blood disorder, and basically, my body, like all the red platelets from my body were like drained out.

“In the [movie], when the mother gets possessed, she gets all these bruises on her,” King said. “And so during the filming of those particular scenes, I started having a lot of bruises show up on my body.”

The bruises in strange places like her chest and stomach were so pervasive that makeup artists thought she stole their supplies to create fake bruising. They only realized this wasn’t the case when they tried to remove the bruising to no avail.

“It was so dramatic,” she said. “So I had to, every day before work and after work, go to the hospital, get my blood taken.”

But something truly bizarre happened once King finished filming “The Conjuring.” “Then, all of a sudden, I got home, and I’ve never had a problem with my blood since,” she said, sparking a shocked reaction from Barrymore. “Every time I think about it, I just shudder a little bit.”

It’s a truly bizarre story, but regardless of the veracity of the claims, scripture does tell us that evil is very real. Satan cannot possess Christians but he can oppress them. Scripture reveals that in the end times this will escalate.

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 2:9-10

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.James 4:7-8

IMPACTING YOUR CITY FOR JESUS

Anne Harley is passionate about seeing the church adapt to the needs of the community. Hear what has been accomplished in Townsville, Queensland Australia. It is only a six-minute video and well worth your time to hear what this veteran has done over twenty years in her city. Unless you connect with people nothing will change. Church buildings are a trap, we must move out into the community to see change.

We need males with the same passion and drive as Anne to step up and take the leadership role that God designed them to have. Of course, if they do not God will raise up the Deborah’s. The following story of Deborah addressing Barak the leader of the army demonstrates who God was using and why. Deborah had a relationship with God. She knew what He wanted to do and trusted Him to do it.

Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?” Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Judges 4:6-9

BE PREPARED: “LAST DAYS” SPIRITUAL WARFARE IS INTENSE

Jesus tells us that in the “last days” before He returns to rule and reign there will be false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. They are under the power of Satan and we know he disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise that his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.” 2 Corinthians 11-15

“I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4::11-13

We need to recognise that the true battle is in the heavenly places and it is against the spiritual forces of evil which is why we are told to put on the full armour of God daily. Are you being obedient to your Lord and Saviour?

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.Ephesians 6:12

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,Ephesians 6:14-18

Our job with the lost is to preach the Good News as directed by the Holy Spirit knowing they cannot understand the word of God without the Spirit of God.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.Romans 8:5-8

We are also called to love them, pray for them, and return good for evil but also to be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit may be doing in their lives. The Holy Spirit may prompt you to use one of the nine Holy Spirit gifts that He expects us to operate in. He distributes them according to His will.

Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.Luke 6:35-36

God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. Hebrews 2:4

SATAN’S POWER DEFEATED IN TENNESSEE

May be an image of one or more people, people standing and grass
Baker and Stone players lead in prayer on their knees.

Satan’s power was defeated in Tennessee, as the threat of legal action by administrators with Putnam County Schools to forbid prayer after the game was overwhelmed by player lead prayer supported by parents and fans in solidarity on Overall Field.

Last week, administrators told staffers they would be barred from leading students in prayer in the future, a decision that came as a result of a letter from the group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, according to WZTV-TV.

After the school board in Tennessee told teachers and coaches they could no longer lead students in prayer, members of the football team and their parents took matters into their own hands.

School administrators were told by their attorney to make sure all policies and laws concerning prayer at school-sponsored activities are followed. They said, “case law not allowing prayer or proselytizing is clear. Courts have consistently ruled that prayer and proselytizing can not be sponsored by schools or school personnel.

The district, for its part, acknowledged “the importance of prayer in the lives of our students, faculty, and staff members,” saying in a statement to the press that administrators “support the right of students to participate in and lead spontaneous prayers.”

“That right is and will continue to be protected,” the district added. “We also understand that faculty and staff members cannot lead or participate in the spontaneous student-led prayers.”

God bless the Baxter and Stone players for their faith and courage. Pray that we will see more Christians standing up for their faith in public places as a witness to the truth of God’s Word.

HOW SATAN WORKS

John Cooper of the successful band Skillet described the man, who was an agent of Satan, as well as a music agent, a promoter and a businessman who was a “mover and shaker.” 

“And he said, ‘It’s your time, John, but you have got to disassociate from Christianity. You’ve got to stop talking about Jesus so much. … Don’t do Christian interviews. Don’t do Christian music festivals. If people ask you what your songs are about, I’m not telling you to lie. Just don’t offer up the information about Jesus,’” he continued.

Then he said something else. And this is what got me, and this is what I think is interesting,” Cooper continued, he said, ‘But John, think about the good you could do for your faith. If you got rich and famous, think about what you could do for Jesus, if you stop talking about Jesus.’

Cooper said that phrase was the “turning point” of his career.

“I went to the bus. I told my wife about the conversation. We prayed about it. And it was … almost instantaneous. I knew that that is not the Lord. It was from the enemy, Satan. He was trying … to get me to be quiet, and it had the opposite effect.”

A decade later, Skillet is now a Grammy Award-nominated, multi-platinum band. Cooper has a popular YouTube series in which he is very outspoken about his faith and shares his thoughts about current events.

In an episode of Abby Johnson’s podcast “Politely Rude” released in August, Cooper revealed the motivation behind his boldness. He said he was shocked to find that many people no longer believe in absolute truth and called the changes unfolding in culture “scary.” 

“We need to be extremely vigilant about the Word of God,” he emphasized. “We need to be extremely vigilant about what the Bible says because if we are not, then we will begin to read the Bible with that same sort of relativism. And when you do that, you’re not starting from a premise that the Word of God is absolute, that God’s Word is supreme.

“What happens in relativism is you say, ‘No, I am supreme. My feelings are supreme. My experience is the brain. I can find truth in my heart,’” Cooper added. “Then I look through that filter at the Word of God, and then I shape the Word of God to meet my needs. So we need to be extremely vigilant about this because it is wrecking Christianity.

FUTILITY OF THEIR MINDS

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.Ephesians 4:17

It is a modern futility of the mind that sexual identity is now a matter of personal preference and is disconnected from the body God has given us as demonstrated by our sexual organs, chromosomes and DNA.

The problem is not just mental or cultural but spiritual. They believe the lies, the falsehoods of the evil one, having no knowledge of the spiritual battle that is taking place. They are literally under the control of Satan and his demons. Satan hates us because we are the image bearers of God. and he will do his utmost to destroy us.

They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.Ephesians 4:18-19

These are harsh words: because of the ignorance in them, they are darkened in their understanding, have hardened hearts, and are alienated from God. Thereby they become callous and given up to every kind of impurity.

What is to be our reaction? This scripture makes it clear our response is to be twofold.

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Ephesians 5:11

Christ must be our model of how we expose and address gender and sex issues. Invariably they will call us bigots and haters but others who know us will say, “No, they disagree with us, but I think they love me and want what is best for me.”

Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.Ephesians 6:10-12

Jesus healing the sick. Jesus must be our model for how we treat others

OUR JOB AND KNOWING IT IS SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Jesus tells us that in the “last days” before He returns to rule and reign there will be false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. They are under the power of Satan and we know he disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise that his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.” 2 Corinthians 11-15

“I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4::11-13

We need to recognise that the true battle is in the heavenly places and it is against the spiritual forces of evil which is why we are told to put on the full armour of God daily.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.Ephesians 6:12

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,Ephesians 6:14-18

Our job with the lost is preach the Good News as directed by the Holy Spirit knowing they cannot understand the word of God without the Spirit of God

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.Romans 8:5-8

We are also called to love them, pray for them and return good for evil but also to be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit may be doing in their lives. The Holy Spirit may prompt you to use one of the nine Holy Spirit gifts that He expects us to operate in. He distributes them according to His will.

Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.Luke 6:35-36

God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. Hebrews 2:4

SATAN’S SCHEME TO DESTROY THE IMAGE OF GOD IN MEN AND WOMEN

Filmmaker Jennifer Lahl of the Center for Bioethics & Culture Network details:

1. what is fuelling the rapid push to set children, teens, and young adults on a pathway of experimental transgender medicalization such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and body-disfiguring gender surgeries, and

2. the journey of making her latest documentary called “Trans Mission: What’s the Rush to Reassign Gender?”

This is much needed alert to the unknown dangers inherent in giving children puberty blockers and hormone therapy which essentially makes them sterile and interrupts and interferes with all aspects of normal body development.

Dr. David Kyle Foster is the producer/director of Pure Passion TV and many documentaries on Transgender issues. The following is taken from his article in Charisma News The Spiritual Reality Behind the Transgender Movement

There is a war of the worlds going on in the shadows of our everyday awareness—an unseen battle between the Creator God  with His army of heavenly beings and Satan with his fallen angels and demonic hosts.

Though already lost, Satan continues to battle in order to enlarge his dark kingdom before its inevitable implosion.

Nowhere is this battle more pronounced today than in the rise of the transgender movement. It is the front lines in Satan’s scheme to deface and destroy the image of God that is stamped into our personhood, sexuality, marriages, children and families.

The problem is, most transgender people are unaware of the unseen forces that drive them in unhealthy directions.

Spiritual Forces of Confusion

There exists today a convergence of six entities that collude with one another to promote dangerous and damaging lifestyles and identities—such as homosexual and transgendered—as being natural and healthy alternatives to what they dismissively refer to as an antiquated “male-female binary,” or the idea that there are only two genders.

  1. the Wealthy and powerful LGBT movement—which for most of its history distanced itself from transgender people—but who now see it as a cause that can be harnessed to increase their wealth, power and influence. The Human Rights Campaign alone—sometimes referred to as “Big Gay”—brings in approximately $40 million each year, pays out more than $11 million in salaries and spends more than a quarter of a million dollars every year on lobbying Congress. This is the same movement that once embraced pedophile and pederast groups like NAMBLA, allowing them to march in their “Gay Pride Parades” until several decades ago when it became politically inconvenient to do so. They have since focused on reducing the age of consent for sex acts with minors and changing the language of “child abuse” to “man-boy love”, as more publicly acceptable ways for achieving the same goal.
  2. Wealthy and powerful professional guilds, such as the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association, who ceased using science as the foundation for their mental health diagnoses when they began caving to pressure from homosexual activists 45 years ago. It began in 1973, when gay activists began attacking the meetings of the APA committee that decides what disorders appear in their official Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The attacks continued until committee members, three of whom were secretly homosexual, relented and removed homosexuality from the list of mental disorders. The decision was not based on any science or new studies. It was based on fear and intimidation. In a poll several years later, 1979, the vast majority of APA members disagreed with the decision but were ignored. Today you can lose your license if you disagree with the decision—a threat that forces therapists to keep their mouths shut.
    For example, when Pure Passion Media attempted to interview therapists for its new documentary, TranZformed: Finding Peace with Your God-Given Gender, only one could be found (the late Dr. Joseph Nicolosi) to go on camera to talk about the dangers of promoting transgenderism.
  3. The media. Ephesians 2:2 tells us that Satan is the “prince of the power of the air”. Almost all of TV, film and theatre, much of radio as well as most newspapers and magazines have thrown themselves wholesale into promoting this great deception. This is partly because the media is riddled with LGBT people who pull strings from within but is also a result of the agenda laid out by Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen in their book, After the Ball, which was a manifesto for how to manipulate the culture so that it becomes pro-gay and pro-trans. Their scheme has worked so well that any reporter who dares to report on the actual science related to such issues will be vilified and almost certainly fired for daring to be politically incorrect.
  4. Public organizations like government, education, the AMA, public schools, colleges and libraries and so on, which have likewise been pressured and deceived into promoting sexually immoral agendas. Today, you have gay and trans activists welcomed into elementary schools to teach children how to perform the most perverted of sexual acts, how to transition to the opposite sex, and worse. One recent trans activist actually encouraged a group of very young children to become drag queens while he danced around the room in his makeup, wig and glittery dress.
  5. The false church, a conglomeration of mainline denominations that have been taken over by non-believing liberals and gay/trans activists in order to provide religious cover for the doctrines of demons that they promulgate. Although they do not themselves believe in the authority of Scripture, they invent twisted versions of it in order to sow theological confusion among those who turn to them for divine guidance.
  6. Sew Confusion: as Kirk and Madsen proposed in their gay manifesto: “Use talk to muddy the moral waters, raise theological objections about conservative interpretations of biblical teachings, undermine the moral authority of [conservative churches] by portraying them as antiquated backwaters, badly out of step with the times. Set science and public opinion against institutional religion”.

But take heed, as the Apostle Paul warned in Acts 20:29-30: “For I know that after my departure, dreadful wolves will enter among you, not sparing the flock. Even from among you men will arise speaking perverse things, to draw the disciples away after them.”

Deceived public will continue to vote the deceivers into office, whether in government, on school boards, professional associations or elsewhere. As a result, those parents who have children who present as homosexual or transgender and who naturally turn to the world’s experts for guidance are deceived into accepting and encouraging the world’s fallen agenda. They want to do the right thing for their child and naively assume that cultural experts know what they are talking about, but it turns into the blind leading the blind.

Paedophilia and pederasty are the next frontier on the activist agenda. Already they have succeeded in having the wording in the APAs DSM changed so that paedophilia is now considered a disorder only if it causes distress to the perpetrator.

For Christians that understand the Bible is God’s Word know:

  1. The truth about the spiritual battle that is being waged in the heavenlies.
  2. The truth about our fallen nature and therefore sin.
  3. The true history of this world from a) Creation of a perfect world, b) mankind’s rebellion as a result of deception by a demonic spiritual being resulting in God’s judgement of suffering and death, c) God’s second judgement of rebellion with a worldwide flood leaving only eight human survivors, d) God created the nations by confusing language, e) God created the nation of Israel to reveal His commandments (law) for living on His planet and to introduce the sacrificial system to show that only the shedding of blood can atone for our sin of rebellion against God. f) This was a necessary precursor to God sending His Son, Jesus, to shed His blood to atone for the sins of mankind, g) Jesus birthed the church and made it possible for God, the Father to send the Holy Spirit to indwell and renew every person who repented of their rebellion against God and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, They had effectively died to self and raised to life in Jesus, h) God provided us with the Bible which reveals the truth of this world from its beginning to its prophesied end. Fulfilled prophecies are proof of its inerrancy and that the many prophecies of the future events prior to Jesus second coming to earth will happen exactly as God prophesied. We know the end of the story and God and His people are the victors.

REALITY OF ANGELS AND DEMONS

Angels are part of cosmic reality. They are spiritual beings but also have the ability to take on physical bodies that appear and function as human bodies. God has given them free will just as he has given us free will. We know this because there are evil angels (demons) and there is a hierarchy of angels, good and evil.

An evil archangel, Lucifer (Satan, Devil) was instrumental in bringing sin into this world by deceiving Adam and Eve. We also know that before the creation of the Cosmos, Lucifer led a rebellion of one third of all angels against those angels loyal to God. The rebellious angels were of course defeated and are now called demons but God has allowed the warfare to continue on earth. Under Lucifer’s control, demons are enemies of God intent on deceiving and destroying mankind. The following scripture reveals that archangel Michael understood God had given Satan authority (within God’s boundaries – Job) to stage warfare on earth.

But when the archangel Michael, contending with the Devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.Jude 1:9

The reason is given for Lucifer’s rebellion; he wanted to be God. Is this not mankind’s major problem, we want to be God, at least of our own lives.

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven, above the stars of God: I will set my throne on high: I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the most High.” Isaiah 14:12-14

Sadly, most of mankind is oblivious to the existence of angels and demons and therefore of the spiritual warfare taking place and yet God’s Word makes it crystal clear that without the whole armour of God we are unable to stand against the schemes of the Devil.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:11-12

Most of mankind is following the Prince of this World (Satan) dead in their trespasses and sins.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the Prince of the Power of the Air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.Ephesians 2:1-3

How foolish it is that most people are unwilling to repent and accept their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17

“Jesus said to him (Thomas), “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” John 14:6-7

Why has God allowed Satan and his demons to exist and wage warfare against us, His creatures, made in His image?

God has revealed in many Scriptures that He knew the outcome of all that would happen in His world before He even created it. The following Scriptures make this point clear.

He (Jesus) was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.1 Peter 1:20-21

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.John 17:24

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” Ephesians 1:3-4

Also it (the Antichrist in the last days before Jesus returns) was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it (Antichrist) over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it (Antichrist)), everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. Revelation 13:7-8

Think on it; God planned for Jesus to come to earth at the appointed time to pay the price for the sins of mankind for all who repent and acknowledge Him as their Saviour and Lord. Surely this demonstrates the extent of God’s love for His creation as well as His grace and His mercy. Perhaps in no other way could God reveal to us His full character but in the history that has and is still playing out in His world. Through the stories of the Bible we get to know God, what He did and what is important to Him. We get to know; He is trustworthy, He is holy, righteousness, He disciplines individuals and nations, His judgement (Noah’s Flood), His mercy, grace and love (Jesus). God’s Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin and His Holy Spirit makes it possible for all believers to live the Christian life. All has been revealed to us. God wants a people who will see His character and choose Him above all else regardless of the cost. Will you be one of His children that will live eternally on the new earth and heaven? The choice is yours.