Revelation 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
A few years ago, I was in a debate with an atheist who had a legal background, and the Lord gave me a revelation about the tactics of the enemy. At Yeshua’s first coming, his tactic was to destroy the infant before He could grow up; [Revelation 12:4-5]. After the Lord’s death and resurrection, Satan continued his direct assault by attacking the church through persecution, which lasted through the first three centuries. The tactics of the enemy were to destroy any “eyewitnesses” of God’s goodness.
However, the faith continued to spread all the more in spite of the bloodshed of the saints, and when the devil realized he could not destroy the move of God physically, he switched his tactics to — “If you can’t beat them, join them!” His hatred achieved less success by direct murderous violence, so he adopted the tactics of a lawyer to win his objective.
Now, when a lawyer is confronted with damning evidence against his case, he seeks to get that evidence cast out in a pretrial procedure called “discovery.” The enemy applied this principle during the dark ages. Having placed his servants into the highest offices in the church, Satan substantially removed the best evidence for the truth by suppressing the Word of God, not allowing it to be read or translated into a common language which the people could understand for themselves.
Finally, in the late 14th century the Bible was translated into a common language, by John Wycliffe, and through a handful of Christian pioneers and the invention of the printing press over the next 100 years, the Scriptures became available in the vernacular of the common people during the Reformation. Then the enemy reverted to his original tactics, destroying the saints in the “Inquisition,” where anyone found with the Word of God was deemed a heretic and killed.
But in legal proceedings there is yet another tactic: when a lawyer realizes the evidence against his case cannot be suppressed in “discovery,” he seeks to introduce a mountain of new information in an attempt to overwhelm the juridical process and obscure the truth by hiding it in thousands of documents. Doesn’t this seem like exactly what has happened in our “Information Age”? We need to understand how Satan is working in our own time, and especially in our own culture.
There’s a saying I heard repeatedly growing up, with the acronym “KISS” — “Keep It Simple, Sweetheart!” As we enter into the climax of the ages, the world is being flooded with exponentially more information, let’s stay focused on the simple truth of the Gospel. Let’s not allow our lives to be overwhelmed with too much information, but rather, “KISS” the message of the gospel to the world in need of His love!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Yesterday, actor Robert Clary of Hogan's Heroes fame passed away at the age of 96. Upon reading his autobiography, Mr. Clary was the youngest of 14 children. However, 10 of his siblings were tragically killed during the Holocaust. He survived his captivity in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in 1942. Upon reading his story, and with thanksgiving coming this week in the United States reminded me of another story by Corrie Ten Boom, a Christian survivor of the Holocaust because of her willingness to protect Jews during World War 2.
The parable of the Prodigal son might also serve as an illustration of the relationship between Israel and the Church.
The first thirty years of my life were spent in Baltimore, Maryland, and I have many fond memories there. One of these is a trail in the woods by the Patapsco River. I used to go fishing there with my dad and spent many a weekend hanging out with my friends, wading in the water.
Scottish minister Alexander Whyte was known for his uplifting prayers in the pulpit. He always found something for which to be grateful. One Sunday morning the weather was so gloomy that one church member thought to himself, "Certainly the preacher won't think of anything for which to thank the Lord on a wretched day like this." Much to his surprise, however, Whyte began by praying, "We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this."
As we continue in our study of the parable of the Prodigal son, let's focus on the central figure in the story -- the father. The father is much like the helpless parent whose unending love is neither understood nor appreciated by either son. He allows his sons to make their own decisions, despite how bad those choices may be. No matter what terrible wrong they may commit, he loves them -- a perfect picture of the love of our Heavenly Father has for his children.
Most people overlook a very significant part of the parable of the prodigal son, which is – the elder son received his inheritance as well! (Luke 15:12b) According to the custom of the times, the older son's inheritance would have been twice that of the younger son. In that light, his response to his younger brother's initiative, a response of silence...speaks volumes.
I'm sure we all have heard the parable of the Prodigal Son [Luke 15:11-32], but I want to spend some time this week really dissecting this particular parable so we can gain deeper insight into this message of Jesus (Yeshua).