What does this passage tell us? At the consummation of time, certain things are going to happen — “They will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” Oh, that’s beautiful. That’s exactly what we’ve got today: Everyone hearing what they want to hear. Soft lights, soft music, and even softer sermons characterize our age. “They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

One of the reigning schools of Protestant theology is Rudolph Bultman’s “School of Demytholization.” What did Dr. Bultman do? He took all the myths out of the Old Testament and all the myths out of the New Testament. When he finished, he didn’t have much of either left. So he remythologized the whole thing, and it was worse when he finished than it was before he started. We now have a world with a remythologized New Testament.

The Scripture says, “Lookout!” for one of the doctrines of the demons is to equate the truth with mythology. And that’s what we have, the equaton of the truth with mythology on every side. Where does it originate? From the freethinkers? From the athiests? From the agnostics? From the skeptics?

Oh, no, we’re getting it from the theologians — from the seminaries! All the places that should be telling us the truth, are giving us the lie that the Bible is mythology, filled with fables and legends that must be reconstructed to meet the needs of our age. The truth is equated with mythology.

Paul intended not on y that the Church be edified by this Scripture (2Tim 4:3-4) but that the Church communicate it, pass it on, and prayerfully mediate on it.

Do all of the above – then review th first four steps in the doctrine of the demons:

1. Jesus is a way, not the way
2. Get people absorbed with the future
3. Get people to play with what they have no power over
4. Equate the truth with mythology

Encamped along the hills of light,
Ye Christian soldiers, rise,
And press the battle ere the night
Shall veil the glowing skies.
Against the foe in vales below
Let all our strength be hurled;
Faith is the victory, we know
That overcomes the world.

Faith is the victrory!
Faith is the victory!
O glorious victory
That over comes the world.

- “Faith is the Victory”

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God is trying to tell you, “I want to give you peace in your intellect. I want to give you peace in your soul. I want to give you the capacity to endure.” No test will come upon us that God will not make it possible for us to endure. He won’t permit us to be tested beyond our capacity to resist.

I can say “Hallelujah!” to that one. So many times I’ve gotten to the place in my life where I’ve said, “I can’t stand it! I can’t take anymore!” How many times have you said, “I can’t handle this, Lord”?

“Not to worry,” God answers us. “Talk to me about it.” We need to remember who made us and who knows us best. We didn’t create the little chromosomes, we didn’t structure the genes, and we had nothing to do with DNA. Sometimes we think we know so much, but in the essence of it all, we know so very little. God wants to give us peace.

John 14:27 promises, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”

We have the gift of peace from God — and it cannot be counterfeited. But Jesus did reveal something quite interesting. He said, “My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” So it is possible for the world to give peace. It can give peace in terms of money or in terms of being stoned out of your mind on drugs or alcohol. It can give you peace with a sense of security. The world gives all types of peace — they are not in any way comparable to the peace which surpasses all understanding, which Christ gives (Phil 4:7)

The peace the world gives is temporal – because the world is temporal and everyting changes. But the peace that Christ gives never changes. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and the person who is born again in the twentieth century may have the same peace as the person in the first century. Why? Because Christ is the Prince of Peace.

Satan may have things that appear to give peace – you may call them counterfeits – but he cannot really duplicate the peace of God. He only has some pretty poor imitations running around the landscape.

When you are in the midst of a test that brings you to your knees, don’t be fooled by the enemy. Ask God for his perfect peace in Jesus Christ. When you believe you cannot take anymore — call on Him. We are God’s people and His sheep. He cares. God wants us to come to Him, to trust Him, so he may give us rest.

Every Joy or trial
Falleth from above
Traced upon our dial
By the Sun of Love;
We may trust Him fully
All for us to do;
They who trust Him wholly
Find Him wholly true.

Stayed upon Jehovah,
Hearts are fully blessed;
Finding, as He promised,
Perfect peace and rest.

-”Like a River Glorious”

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The Bible says we must stand against such foes as Christian soldiers (2 Tim. 2:4). When God calls you into the church of Jesus Christ, you have enlisted in the army of God. You can truthfully sing, “Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war,” because you are at war.

The moment you enlist in the army of God, you personally become a target. You need to remember that if you’re living for and walking with Jesus Christ, the powers of darkness are aligned against you. You are on Satan’s hit list! The following four principles will help you be victorious in spiritual warfare as a Christian soldier.

Learn to Endure Hardship. 2 Timothy 2:3 tells us: “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” If you want to be a soldier, you need to get in shape. You can’t go out and fight hand-to-hand combat when you’re loaded with flab. If you’re sitting on your surpluses, the enemy is going to have you for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

You need to strengthen your spiritual muscles and gear up your spiritual reflexes. You need to be able to respond. If you can’t respond in physical combat, you die. It’s as simple as that. Likewise, you must learn to respond in spiritual combat, or you become spiritually wounded.

A key to strengthening spiritual muscles and enduring hardship is finding strength in the Word of God. Never forget this: ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And ignorance of Christ is ignorance of your own defense. You can’t defend yourself unless you are walking in the light with Him.

Be Self-Controlled and Alert. You must learn to “be self-controlled and alert” for “your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). There’s no such thing as a sleepy, successful soldier. Sleepy soldiers — soldiers who are not alert — have one thing in common. They’re all dead. God says if you want to succeed in spiritual war, you must be self-controlled and alert. Only then will you be able to spiritually discern and resist the enemy’s subtle attacks.

Maintain Faith in Christ. Faith is absolutely critical to victory in spiritual conflict. Scripture tells us: “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:4-5). Our faith is in Jesus Christ — the divine Conqueror — who admonishes His followers: “Take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Christ imparts the capacity of conquest to our lives every single day that we are willing to believe Him. You need to get up in the morning and say, “Lord Jesus, I believe you have conquered the world. Conquer today through me. I believe in you. Give me victory. Take away my doubts. Give to me the measure of faith that is necessary for me to survive today.”

Put On Spiritual Armor. Ephesians 6:11 tells us: “Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Are you catching this? You can stand against Satan. You can be victorious.

Ephesians 6:10-20 speaks of the various pieces of spiritual armor God has provided us. Nobody goes out to war in their underwear. You go out with 30 or 40 pounds of equipment.

There are Christians running around today in their spiritual underwear, trying to conduct spiritual warfare against our powerful enemy. And they don’t understand why the flaming arrows of the wicked one are sticking out of their spiritual derrieres.

You must put on the whole armor of God — the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the readiness to preach the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:10-20). These are God’s gifts for spiritual conquest.

Note that every piece of armor in Ephesians 6 is for the front of the body. There isn’t a single piece for your rear end. Do you know why? Because soldiers do not turn around in the middle of combat, they go forward. And the reason some Christians become ineffective and weak and drained is that in the midst of conflict and combat, they fail to believe in Jesus Christ and they turn around and run away. And the flaming arrows of the wicked one have lodged in their spiritual rumps.

There is only one way to get your strength back: get down on your knees and confess your sins, ask Jesus Christ to pull out the arrows, and then apply what we’ve learned: endure hardship as a soldier of Christ, be self-controlled and alert, maintain faith in Christ, and put on the armor of God. God will give you the victory. You can count on it!

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