11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Division is a tool that the devil will use to contribute to his goal of destruction of the work of God. We have to make sure that we are exercising Biblical instruction and not allowing anger, bitterness, hatred, and even vengeance to have a foothold in our hearts. We are called to be unified with one another, so that God's Kingdom purposes may be accomplished. And, we can continue to recognize that there are spiritual forces with different allegiances opposed to each other that work to undermine the will of the Lord.
Today, we continue our journey in the annual Christmas Advent-ure at Faith Radio, entitled, Around the World in 25 Days! The guide is contained in our most recent Ministry Magazine, and you can download it free from our website at FaithRadio.org. Hopefully, this can help you consider how God is at work around the world by identifying various Christmas traditions in a number of countries.
Today, we consider Novenas, in the nation of Colombia, where families visit each other in their homes for singing, praying, and dessert, according to the website, SeeColombia.travel. A corresponding Scripture passage is found in Acts chapter 2:
42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,
45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
Metaxas responded firmly on Twitter: “No one called the people opposing Trump ‘demonic’. There can be spiritual forces involved w/o the people themselves being ‘demonic’!”
The question becomes: is there spiritual warfare that is involved surrounding the President of the United States? I would say, absolutely. The enemy is committed to chaos and division and to thwart the work of God's Kingdom - and sometimes earthly kingdoms intersect with the work of the Heavenly Kingdom. You could contend that a strong economy helps families, which is the building block of an orderly, well-established society; certainly, the President has supported principles of life and religious liberty. Is he perfect? No, and neither are any of us. Does he always reflect Christian morality? No. Can he be used of God? Absolutely.
I think also that there are people who have dedicated themselves to making sure that this President is ineffective to the extent that they are motivated by animus and bitterness - these are not spiritual qualities that can glorify God, and we have to make sure that political disagreements do not become all-consuming.
But, President Trump has been placed in the office by Almighty God. So was Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. The Bible clearly teaches in the book of Daniel that He raises up leaders, or "kings," and deposes them. The Christian Post article also mentions an instance in which a Cabinet member called attention to the hand of God on the President; it stated:
God's hand on the President was also addressed by former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. The Epoch Times reported on an interview with David Brody of CBN:
No matter what your political bent, you have to be disappointed and concerned about the political rhetoric that is going on in Washington these days. And, it seems to transcend politics as usual. There is not only a dislike for the man in the Oval Office, but you see a number of political candidates whose positions contradict Scripture in profound ways. I believe there are spiritual forces at work concerning the next election.
For us, we have to look beyond the surface: what is going on spiritually? Consider the words of Paul, as he describes in Ephesians 6 the types of forces that are at work in our world today.
We can also evaluate the degree to which we pray for our leaders - because of their positions, there is a high degree of vulnerability to spiritual forces. The Bible teaches that our governmental authorities are placed there by God, and with that recognition comes our responsibility to uphold them and to obey them. That doesn't mean there isn't a place for respectful disagreement on political positions, but we have to make sure we don't cross the line into anger and bitterness.
For believers, for the Church: we have to guard against division, a tool of Satan. It's been said that his strategy is to divide and conquer. When we turn our energies on each other rather than channel our spiritual resources to serve Christ and to defeat evil, we are not advancing the Kingdom of God and we are harming the Church, as well as our own souls. Returning to our Advent Scripture today, the early Church grew and thrived because of their unity and devotion to God's common purpose; it's a tremendous model for us today.
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Today, we continue our journey in the annual Christmas Advent-ure at Faith Radio, entitled, Around the World in 25 Days! The guide is contained in our most recent Ministry Magazine, and you can download it free from our website at FaithRadio.org. Hopefully, this can help you consider how God is at work around the world by identifying various Christmas traditions in a number of countries.
Today, we consider Novenas, in the nation of Colombia, where families visit each other in their homes for singing, praying, and dessert, according to the website, SeeColombia.travel. A corresponding Scripture passage is found in Acts chapter 2:
42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,
45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
There was extraordinary unity that existed there in the days of the early Church, and through that unity, God did amazing things. Notice in verse 42 that we are told that the members of that early body of Christ were steadfast in the "apostles' doctrine and fellowship." We have to make sure that we are pursuing unity, but that it is based on God's truth.
The enemy will use division to try to short-circuit the work of the Church - he will try to put us in opposition to one another, to magnify our disagreements, and to keep us from communicating properly with each other.
We see this so often in the political realm. And, if we're not careful, bitterness, anger, and even revenge can consume even stalwart believers.
Franklin Graham and Eric Metaxas were discussing the spiritual warfare element in American politics recently. The Christian Post published an article about the exchange:
In an interview with Metaxas posted to YouTube last Thursday, Metaxas asked Graham his opinion on the current political climate, especially those opposed to President Trump.
“What do you think of what is happening now? I mean it is a very bizarre situation, to be living in a country where some people seem to exist to undermine the president of the United States,” asked Metaxas.
Graham described what Metaxas was talking about as “almost a demonic power,” which led the radio host to interject and say that he did not believe the term “almost” should be included.
“It is a spiritual battle,” agreed Graham, who then touted the Trump administration’s handling of the economy, saying that the nation has “an economy that is just screaming forward.”This prompted former Bush White House speechwriter and senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center Peter Wehner, who has notably been critical about evangelicals who support the President, to write in The Atlantic that the comments were "theologically distorted and confused.” He stated, “There is no biblical or theological case to support the claim that critics of Donald Trump are under the spell of Satan. It is invented out of thin air, a shallow, wild, and reckless charge meant to be a conversation stopper..." Wehner is an example of someone who seems to be so consumed by his dislike for Trump that he is constantly throwing his fellow evangelicals under the bus.
Metaxas responded firmly on Twitter: “No one called the people opposing Trump ‘demonic’. There can be spiritual forces involved w/o the people themselves being ‘demonic’!”
The question becomes: is there spiritual warfare that is involved surrounding the President of the United States? I would say, absolutely. The enemy is committed to chaos and division and to thwart the work of God's Kingdom - and sometimes earthly kingdoms intersect with the work of the Heavenly Kingdom. You could contend that a strong economy helps families, which is the building block of an orderly, well-established society; certainly, the President has supported principles of life and religious liberty. Is he perfect? No, and neither are any of us. Does he always reflect Christian morality? No. Can he be used of God? Absolutely.
I think also that there are people who have dedicated themselves to making sure that this President is ineffective to the extent that they are motivated by animus and bitterness - these are not spiritual qualities that can glorify God, and we have to make sure that political disagreements do not become all-consuming.
But, President Trump has been placed in the office by Almighty God. So was Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. The Bible clearly teaches in the book of Daniel that He raises up leaders, or "kings," and deposes them. The Christian Post article also mentions an instance in which a Cabinet member called attention to the hand of God on the President; it stated:
The Metaxas program controversy comes as Energy Secretary Rick Perry labeled Trump “the chosen one” in a recent interview on the Fox News program “Fox & Friends.”
“God's used imperfect people all through history. King David wasn't perfect. Saul wasn't perfect. Solomon wasn't perfect,” explained Perry to “Fox & Friends,” noting that he also considered President Barack Obama to have been the chosen one for his time.
Perry added that he shared his interpretation of how the kings in the Old Testament should be applied to today's presidency with Trump in a "one-pager."You may remember that Trump jokingly referred to himself as "the chosen one," regarding relations with China back in August, which, of course, ignited critics who seem to be waiting to pounce on every single comment that they disagree with.
God's hand on the President was also addressed by former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. The Epoch Times reported on an interview with David Brody of CBN:
Brody asked: “What is your view kind of spiritually on the sovereignty of God and what he is doing exactly by putting Donald Trump as president of the United States?”
“Well, I think that it goes to show that everything happens for a reason, and the way I see it is look at the results of Donald Trump as president,” Haley replied.Haley also said, “I think that God sometimes places people for lessons and sometimes places people for change. And you can look at everything that has happened, and I think we are seeing a lot of change, and I think we are gaining a lot of lessons from it as well.”
No matter what your political bent, you have to be disappointed and concerned about the political rhetoric that is going on in Washington these days. And, it seems to transcend politics as usual. There is not only a dislike for the man in the Oval Office, but you see a number of political candidates whose positions contradict Scripture in profound ways. I believe there are spiritual forces at work concerning the next election.
For us, we have to look beyond the surface: what is going on spiritually? Consider the words of Paul, as he describes in Ephesians 6 the types of forces that are at work in our world today.
We can also evaluate the degree to which we pray for our leaders - because of their positions, there is a high degree of vulnerability to spiritual forces. The Bible teaches that our governmental authorities are placed there by God, and with that recognition comes our responsibility to uphold them and to obey them. That doesn't mean there isn't a place for respectful disagreement on political positions, but we have to make sure we don't cross the line into anger and bitterness.
For believers, for the Church: we have to guard against division, a tool of Satan. It's been said that his strategy is to divide and conquer. When we turn our energies on each other rather than channel our spiritual resources to serve Christ and to defeat evil, we are not advancing the Kingdom of God and we are harming the Church, as well as our own souls. Returning to our Advent Scripture today, the early Church grew and thrived because of their unity and devotion to God's common purpose; it's a tremendous model for us today.
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