CHAPLAIN’S PAGE: ‘SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS IN HIGH PLACES’
UK
The headlines for the British Church newspaper on 10th May 2019 read: “Christian Churches ‘twinning’ with Mosques and Temples”. My heart was sickened and my thoughts turned to a verse in I Peter 4:
“For the time is come that judgement must begin with the house of God”.
What form that will take I have no idea, but this I do know, it will be swift and thorough. Those pastors who do preach the word of God faithfully will be spared.
Many Christians today find it difficult to accept that God is anything but an all-loving all-forgiving God who turns a blind eye to all manner of evil. The prophet Malachi was commanded to write:
“For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6).
Note especially that statement was prefixed by stating His name ‘I Am’. It would not be possible to be more precise in His intent.
Not all churches will come under judgement, only those who have gone astray in doctrine. The church as witness of God’s justice is a heavy responsibility. Who else but the church is there as God’s envoy in these last days? The era of the Prophets has ceased. Even if they were still proclaiming the truth, their reception by the nations would be as in former times.
Those who love the Lord today have been given a heavy task. Determination and fortitude must be our strength. Just as the enemy never gives up, neither should we. Paul’s great challenge to Christians is clearly set forth in Ephesians chapter six. Here we are shown not only the spiritual dangers that we face, but are given the antidote and the means of attack.
Every Christian should have a permanent bookmark in their Bibles at that chapter, for what greater warning could we have than verse twenty,
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”?
Thank God we are given the antidote in the following verses:
“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that we may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand”.
The word of God is complete. Should we expect the mighty God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to present us with a half finished set of instructions? Of course not! We must never underestimate the loving care He has taken to furnish us with all that is necessary for life’s journey.
Very soon the scene will change and man will move on to his next stage of development. This could have come about generations ago but God’s timing is always perfect. That next stage will bring us a step closer to that relationship which was lost so soon after Sinai. Not all will be there, only those who have taken hold of the Book of Life. Whatever Satan may throw at us on this journey, we are protected by the shed blood of Jesus. We may lose friends, but our greatest friend will stick by us when the going gets tough.
Our inheritance is an eternity of service for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Amen.
