The Church Hierarchy

The Church Hierarchy: Why the Salvation Army means Salvation!         Kelly Durant   9-23-09

Matthew 16:18 

 ¹⁸And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Leadership is like a rope, if the leader pulls the people with him, they come, but if the leader pushes the people with the rope, then no one goes anywhere!

There is emphasis within the SA to do things with the Servant Leadership style. There are many ways to lead according to our own personality, or our own idea of how we interpret things, but our idea often gets in God’s way.

The verse today focuses on Peter who had to learn some extremely hard lessons with Jesus to not be so proud and God humbled and humiliated him because of his and over confidence. But in Acts 10:34 ³⁴Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:  God had to get Peter and his boasting personality out of the way so Jesus could live and work in him!

The correct Christian way to lead is with the attributes of Christ and that is leadership with the kingdom mission in mind, self disinterested, with righteousness, true concern and love for others, humility, and evidence of good works.

Last week we discovered some faults with churches that promote prophesy and false doctrines which cause many to stumble and live under a curse instead of a blessing. Today we will examine the hierarchal system of government in the churches. Ask yourself, what system works best to win souls to Jesus Christ?

What I love about William Booth, the founder of The Salvation Army was that he was firm in not accepting the Calvinist predestination doctrine which gave many pastors in his day and even today the luxury of not needing to go out to win the lost because salvation was already predetermined by God so preaching Salvation to the world was no longer needed?!,

Imagine the comfort some preachers assume, they think, I will just minister to my people in my comfortable world and ignore following Christ’s, the disciples, and Paul’s example of reaching out to the sinners in the community.

Founder William Booth believed what the Word says that “whosoever will can be saved” and he said to “go for souls and to go for the worst”. This message and special mission implies that everyone in his church must share the gospel with everyone out in the world reaching them with their spiritual and physical needs: and no matter how much of a sinner a person is, they can be saved by Jesus’ grace!

Due to this correct application of the scripture, The Salvation Army movement became one of the most active churches  ever to exist in history in the community with street preachers on the corners everywhere taking the gospel to others they way Jesus did. It didn’t take long for the establishment of thousands of homeless shelters, rehab centers, and worship and community centers to appear everywhere all around the world.

Jesus made it clear to go to the people in the world in Matthew 16:18 

 ¹⁸And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
There are several different interpretations, some say Peter was the rock who started the church, others interpret Jesus reflecting that He is the rock, either way both were strong as a rock, but the main point is God’s church is invading hell with the beautiful saving liberating gospel of Jesus Christ! Hell cannot stop us!
Peter was the disciple that went into the community after Jesus ascension and preached and won 3,000 souls one day, and 5,000 on another! The image is hell’s gates are shaking because the church is out in the community on the Satan’s turf freeing souls from hell!.Satan loves power and hierarchies, remember how Hitler had his!  Jesus did not promote the image that the church is shaking behind their own gates, worrying about how terrible Satan’s works are, hiding their selves from the world.  
Some people when they see the Salvation Army, they think “Army” like in the world and they get mind images of and an unforgiving hierarchy set of leaders existing ready to punish you by making you run 20 miles at midnight if you do something wrong. That is very far from the truth! Hierarchy in the SA serves not for power abuse as in the world, but just for order, as established by Jesus for the business of preaching of the gospel.    
Most everyone in The SA are loving and caring leaders and despite the hierarchy established as a checks and balances system, there is a lot of freedom for Captains to work and reach the people in the community the way each Captain chooses, whether it be to reach the young, old, imprisoned, city fathers, or street people.
What concerns me though is the resurgence of the old type of tyrannical hierarchy being dug up and reapplied within many churches today by many church denominations around us bringing in an archaic type of rule oppressing church member’s freedom, making the church be confined to the bottleneck of the will of the pastor and consequently dividing us as Christians from each other by mismanagement.
I will elaborate why pastors with this system are hurting us all with a little church history so my point of how we have the best becomes evident. You are aware it was Constantine in 333AD that established the Catholic Church and the church and state then were one and the same with a centralized feudal power. This Theocracy power played the role in society as the accuser, judge, and executioner all on one!
The church was a hierarchy governing in a feudal system of surfs and Lords. All people were expected to fall into place by economic status by serving the King or governor and his abusive under Lords.  Respect by serving the King was synonymous to serving God himself since they concluded God was allowing that person to reign no matter how much of a tyrant they were! Remember the church at that time controlled people totally because they told them what truth was and what the Bible said, the people lived as victims to their impositions.
Most people are familiar with the quote, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”, this is what the Christian world lived under for well over a millennia until finally a liberator was born in 1483 named Martin Luther. We are familiar that Martin Luther started the protestant movement which protested against this cruel heretical oppressive system that had survived by oppressing and hiding the truth and governing others without any internal checks and balances for too long. Common people were prohibited the Bible and if you questioned authority you fell out of favor, you were tortured and probably killed!

But Jesus said John 8:32  ³²And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!

Luther discovered the real truth God by reading the Bible in seminary and started dangerously teaching, “Fide Solo” , by “faith alone”,. How did 2 words change history with a change of world view? Because the church in the 1500’s was getting unimaginably powerful and rich from the common people claiming that money given to them could free their souls from hell and even free a dead relative from hell who lived a sinful life. The gospel was a big business!
It was liberating the exposure by Luther that anyone could be saved by faith alone in Christ and not by costly deceptive church cons and burdens. Imagine the church teaching that money would buy salvation! Luther was a scourge on their shameful heresies and abuses and God protected him to accomplish his mission of liberating others and translating and printing the Bible in German for all to read!
The protestant church free from the hierarchy immediately flourished in Europe despite hundreds of thousands of people dying as martyrs opposing the established theocracy. By the late 1600’s, freedom to worship as one chose took on various forms by different groups of people, such as the Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, and later the Pentecostals movements as we know them today. This desire for freedom to worship without the control of the abusive hierarchy provoked the spread of the gospel with new converts, the building of new churches everywhere, and immigration to the United States for freedom to worship freely and throughout the world.
You know what they say about history, “That those who do not know history are bound to repeat it.” Many churches today are sadly repeating the error of allowing pastors to become too powerful by misapplying the Word and manipulating people and this is reestablishing again an archaic oppression by feudal Lords!
What we see in the church today, and recall we are in the endtme observing the church in apostasy, is a reversal back to this old system of the establishment of a hierarchy where the church pastor as a hired boss who dominates his flock under systems permitting him to become rich from the poor sheep under him in the name of the gospel.
One clear example is the Iglesia Universal in Brazil. In the 70’s & 80s they, and the other protestant churches, would preach sermon after sermon against the abuse Catholic church with their old hierarchy and idolatry establishing their church as the saviors who could free you, their victim and captive.
Now it is reported by many news sources from many countries that this church and others have apply an abusive hierarchy and  they oppress members for money and then “lauder money” so it arrives to the leaders who live in luxury. They sell their own version of “Holy water” and very expensive special Bible courses. They are now being persecuted in Brazil, Mexico, and many places because their pastors are getting too rich from the members from their exploitation and abusive misapplication of the Bible. Is this new type of church that helping the poor in the community as the Salvation Army? To the contrary, these lazy wealthy pastors believe their only mission is to preach on Sundays since they are so anointed and better than anyone else. They lay heavy burdens on their people and they have infected other denominations that pastors should be made rich from their people, and do as they please all week like the Pharisees!
Matthew 23:4
For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
What shocks me, and I am sure you too, is that more and more everyone observes that pastors from other churches take the attitude that they are the total authority in charge of everything in the church, just like a king with full power, and they make everyone under them do their job just as they say. They want to live with all the benefits of a luxury as a TV evangelist’s lifestyle without carrying out any civil or ministerial responsibilities. They ignore the fact that the pastor’s life according to Jesus requires the giving up everything as He taught, to “forsake all that we have to preach the gospel!” These are like the rich young ruler who refused to follow Jesus in reverse, these are people who claim to follow but do it for riches!  
One Soldier one time told me, you know why so many people envy you here and want to usurp you and get your position for their selves, don’t you? They perceive you are a king! Because in their (my) country, the pastor has the same power as a company boss, and the role of a boss is different from the one in USA. There being a boss implies you handle the money as you please, you only have to work if you want to, and then you just command everyone else to do your work!
I can tell you I do not get the luxury of having any of those 3 things! Yeah, what a great life, money, no work, and power! Who wouldn’t want that? How do people imagine that is possible and that anyone can get all this power for their selves just by taking it and just moving their tongues in the ears of others to gain position and wealth?
How did we as a culture get to the point of accepting abusers? It is in this country abuse goes from Wall Street down to the pulpits!
Some pastors do have sin, laziness and pride which God will judge them. This is happening due to the result of a degenerated culture that is living less in tune with how God wants them to lay their lives for others, and more in tune with what they can benefit from the church!
Let me confirm with a real life experience I had with someone bringing in the old hierarchy into the Salvation Army. The Hispanic Corps I attended in Atlanta had a change of Officers and got taken over in 1999 by a newly arrived pastor form another church, an newly appointed Aux, Captain from another denomination. Things immediately were different with him. He first wanted to show off his spirituality by long prayers and one hour sermons and 2 and 3 hour services which became his custom. Former Aux. Capt. Parra would explain in private how the SA has their system was messed up; that the job of a pastor is not to do social work because other churches don’t do that, helping the poor, so he decided he would not even give help to anyone. He did not go into the community making friends and he even disliked the uniform. He radically changed the music in the Corps to his liking, and he would preach against the divorced woman or anyone who would question his ways. He was an unthankful tyrant bringing in the old hierarchy. He was benefiting from the Salvation Army church and disrespecting it and using the people doing nothing but criticize and disregard the internal rules and regulations opposing the church he should have been loving and leading with servant leadership. He soon left with all of the members and started his own church in 2001. That’s when my wife and I were asked to take over as sergeants of the Corps with 0 members.
These postures and misguided attitudes of pastors of these church influences is causing lot of people to be very disillusioned with the church because it leaves no church system free of totalitarian control, neither the established Catholic, nor the Protestant.

In Atlanta, Ted Turner, the owner of CNN has a plaque on his desk and it says, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way!” Leadership involves a person leading a group of people but HOW he leads makes all the difference in the world!

I am personally pleased with The Salvation Army’s leadership and I think this blessed organization is becoming one of the last few amongst the churches to be free from corruption due to their doctrine of holiness, free from abuse from the hierarchy. Since we are capable of freeing others with Jesus and our system of service with love, we need to get started winning souls!  The SA means real Salvation from the abusive churches!

Who Offends You? Who Are You Offending?

Who Offends You? Who Are You Offending?                                              By Kelly Durant

Matthew 11:5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me

2. How many of you have ever watched the TV shows of real life recordings that are supposed to be the funniest home videos of people falling down, crashing, getting hurt, and just doing stupid things that make you wonder how can people be so stupid? I know I have laughed when I have seen some kid skate board off the roof of his house but later there is that second thought, did he have to go to the hospital over several broken bones? How many of you have ever thought that? At first it is funny, but later you realize that person might have become crippled for life!

You can tell a lot about the character of a person by what incites their laughter! And what about their disgust, when they are offended? Seeing someone’s dumb mistakes may cause you to laugh but it may also cause you to feel serious pity for them knowing that they live with no common sense! Have you even internally evaluated what you consider to be funny and why? Is it really that funny if someone is getting seriously hurt? Did you know some comedians are being cancelled in various places because people are coming out protesting more and more with the “I am offended by this” complaint.  

Wanting life to always be fun and funny is not a reality but many try to live it that way. There are real pains in life. Today too many people want everything in life to be a cyberspace otherworldly drama so they do not face their own pains or the broken-ness of their world. Some want to be the life of the party always funny (in their mind), adding something spicy, rude, or offensive. Some people as well get pleasure always creating a controversy or problem out of something that should not be a big deal and the pity is… we are the dumb ones allowing ourselves to be entertained by people ranting over what offended them nonsense.

3.  How do you describe a person who gets pleasure and laughter from seeing your pain? Are they not a psycho, an arrogant fool, or even a demon? Do we not see a lot of mockers out there in the world? Aren’t there too many people around who with words mock, criticize, and stab you and me making cruel fun? (And mockers run their mouths not knowing anything about the situation either) I find no laughter or pleasure from those who undeservingly belittle another.

We need to analyze ourselves, have we been preconditioned to always think we need to be funny or controversial to be social and accepted? Even worse by observing Facebook, twitter, Instagram, and all the general social media, I find that it is appalling how many people have nothing else to do but spend all their time mocking, condemning, hating, and openly  offending others over anything.  Faith, flags, politics, people and anything is open for attack! Aggression, anger, mockery, hate, and persecution are increasing in the world because the wimp bullies have the ability to hide behind a false cyber name, never having a serious debate with the ones they are offending! They attack and do damage and then hide! Our media world is broken; there is no justice or debate and slander, insults, offenses, and foolish babble constitutes the new climate in which we live in.

 Jude 1:18 “How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.”  Those that mock, that make fun of others, that laugh at others discomfort and pain, that disrespect a person of God, ones that do not control their tongues, are not just offending people, they are offending God! They are sewing discord, dividing us, and they will reap what they sew one day.  

4. How many proverbs are there about mockers and fools? Proverbs 15:2 “The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.” Psalm 12:3 “The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things.”

Psalm 32:9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.

This is just a list of 3 amongst hundreds of verses on the matter of people getting out of hand with what they speak and express. How many times have we wanted to tell some people, “Shut up!” But as Christians we don’t because we do not want to appear rude or let people get undeserving attention in their hate and rudeness. The irony though is they are being rude and getting away with it! We should call people out when they are being offensive, it is wrong!

5. The problem with offenses is it comes from all angles day after day. Most of the offensive speech happening today is from the outside (from those who are of the world, not people who are authentically Christian). It stems from the evil hearts of the wicked who love stirring up controversy and hate dividing others up by race, gender, social status, economic class, religion or by any means possible. These people have destructive agendas in mind and as Christians we are not to get caught in their net of deceits because we have the discernment of the Holy Spirit!

Psalm 5:9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue. Proverbs 17:4 A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.

I always hate it when I see how some people get all excited and anxious when they hear news about who offended who, when they get word of a controversy or a drama. People who love hearing bad news are basically caught up in the point I started off with, that some people get inordinate pleasure from learning about someone else’s pain! Is it really pleasurable to see another humiliated, mocked, and stepped on with offenses?   

6. What ever happened to the “La cucaracha” song? Who remembers how to sing it? ‘Ya no puede caminar, porque le falta, porque le falta una pata pra’ andar.’ That song makes me laugh as I always envision myself leaping out of bed with flip flop smashing a cockroach! How many times in your life have you killed one?  Hundreds, right?  Why do I bring this up? Because an identifiable enemy, one that will contaminate and dirty everything and make life miserable gets no sympathy, it gets smashed with no compassion! Am I not right? This is how we should deal with offenses! We may not smash a person literally, but we must pray, throw the flip flop, and spray away the plague of mockers! What we really want is to convert them, but there is a limit to how much we should tolerate. In some cases we can’t win them because Jesus said Matthew 7:6 “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”

The problem with our society, and some people here might even be affected, is that we have had our common sense perverted by new non-Christian teachers with new political correct doctrines. New rules define how you can’t speak against this or that or those people, how you must be quite about this other, and now the people live miserable! Even some Christians, have had their judgment tainted. Some people are like the Hindu man doing meditation that will not kill the flies crawling all over him while he meditates. All his energy is not focused on goodness and God anymore but rather on how to put up with all the flies that are tickling all his body!

7. Here we have addressed the offenses coming from the world. Jesus did nothing but good. “The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them” and what happened? The demonic reprobate people back then, and today as well, rejected Him and claimed to be offended by Him! So offended that they killed Him! Can an offense ever justify a murder?  Matthew 11:6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me

Well, here is my opinion and I hope it is yours as well, whoever gets offended by Jesus is one who is offending me! What has Jesus ever done to offend? He did nothing but forgive, love, and do good! He also proved that He has power over death! He is the Son of God! The problem is the people of the world look at good as evil and evil as good and they do not even perceive His goodness and mercy which He extends to their evil souls.

I know, many in the world argue, oh those church people are all hypocrites, they all are haters so I am offended by these Christians. Sadly, it is true, some Christians are hypocrites and have offended others with arrogance and judgment. Pray you never offend anyone! But these offenders are just a few and not the majority of Christians in the authentic churches I know about. But these people who hide behind the excuse of being offended are exposing how close minded they actually are! Ask them, what are you afraid of that makes you react so emotionally? How easy it is for a person to be a hypocrite and a hater claiming others are the haters. People often don’t even know what they are hating or why they are offended, they are just imitating the ignorant confused supposedly trendy hip rebellious crowd!

8. So in conclusion everything comes back to holiness as a holy person will not offend another in word or in deed. A loving, forgiving, full of the spirit Christian will not be offending others in the world nor those within his or her own Christian family. But it is impossible to have any kind of group of people together without someone offending someone sometime or another. But amongst ourselves, what is the remedy? Love, humility, and forgiveness! A person with true humility will hardly even notice when someone is being cruel in their offenses towards them!

But Paul states in 2 Corinthians 11:29 “Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?” When someone is hurt by someone’s thoughtless words it is a matter we should correct as soon as possible because it affects us all, especially me as I want everyone living happy in Jesus loving one another, here, and out there!

Have you asked yourself lately, have I offended anyone here? Have I offended someone and I am not aware of it? Ask God to bring to your mind who that is and what you said. Now is the time to ask forgiveness and to come clean. Go to that person and tell them you are sorry before the day is over.          

9. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now is the time to see that we must grow in faith and be more careful to not offend those whom we are commanded to love.

Even the offensive people of the world that offend us with their insults and accusations ( being no saint their selves having a heart full of sin), we are commanded by Jesus to just turn the other check and let it pass. Matthew 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses (offenses), your heavenly Father will also forgive you 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

In this climate of increasing hostility we must grow thicker skin, we must forgive, we must also identify our own sin and offenses, and then we must just let them rest with God and not let them mentally torment us! Do you want to live blessed? Jesus said,” And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” The closer you are to Jesus, the more you love, obey, live holy, and serve as He did, the more Jesus becomes less offended by you and your sinful evil character. So live offensive free and blessed! Live in Jesus in such a way that you do not offend anyone by your actions, a foolish slip of the tongue, or by a stroke of the keyboard. Proverbs 16:7 When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Psalm 119:165 Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

Prayer…

Be A Tough Soldier!

Be A Tough Soldier!                                     Capt. Kelly Durant  10-28-12

II Tim 2: 1Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

2. In Bolivia, in LaPaz, I had a few friends in the military and sometimes I would visit the base. On the base everyone would always be jogging. It seemed no matter where you looked the Soldiers were jogging and I asked my friend why are they in such a hurry. He explained that the rule is that if you are a new Soldier, you are required to run all the time while on the base! Only the 4^th year Soldiers were allowed to walk. Interesting training, don’t you think? Soldiers need training!

New Soldiers need preparation to learn to be tough! Spiritual warfare is a different war from what most of us know of war. Each Soldier must do his or her own training to make their selves tough, or strong in the Lord’s grace as mentioned in verse 1.

How do you get strong in grace? Personal prayer time, Bible study time, and obedience to Jesus! But are you really sacrificing and suffering as much as you should? Ask God that question and he will show you! As General Linda Bond says, God does not want mediocre servants!

3. How many of you here have served in the military or know people in the military? Our son Enmanuel, which all of you got to know, served in the Air Force and we saw the difficult training he went through. One of our own Soldiers, Wendy Pantoja, has just gone through a tough training. Isn’t that right?

Being a Soldier for any nation of the world implies doing a great sacrifice, the laying down of your life to die if need be and even people as young as age 18 must die if necessary. In the military your life is no longer yours, you are the property of the state for them to use, and abuse as they wish. A Soldier of Christ must recall that they also are giving up their life to follow Jesus as he states Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.  

Being a Soldier in the world requires hard labor, getting extremely tired, withstanding extreme temperatures, working stressfully long hours, getting blisters, bruises, and cuts, putting up with punishments, humiliations, and yelling, and learning how to dominate an enemy when he is attacking you trying to kill you!

4. I have met quite a few military vets in TSA & they usually say, “Thank God, we are not in the “killing army” anymore but in the “saving army” now! Soldiers of Jesus have hardships, and this includes mental, spiritual, and physical ones. But how do we make war, when our mission is peace and God’s love?

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall see God.”  That simple statement was a like a double edged sword cutting down all the aggressiveness and authority of the Roman warmongers who took pleasure in mass carnage! Jesus says be a peacemaker, love your enemies? There is no pride in that!

As Christian Soldiers we need to distinguish what our war is all about, it is about living a new life of living in grace. Grace is a clean slate for our sins, and when your sins are gone and you obtain holiness and you are inspired to never sin again, to never want to feel the dirtiness of a guilty conscience. And you are so happy for discovering Jesus that you never stop sharing about Him!

It also means learning the scriptures and then teaching others to teach others about Jesus, which is discipline. Our war is not one in which we desire destruction on those that attack us as those in the world, ours is a war in which we desire the salvation of all those in the world as Jesus gave the example of.

5. Our war is a war on Satan and all the world’s evils destroying people’s bodies and souls.  We seek to save anyone living in ignorance, sin, and suffering. Christian Soldiers must be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause! What a contradiction, how ironic, from the world, we seek to save our enemy and do good to those that abuse us!

What does the salvation we offer imply? Obviously it includes forgiveness, grace, eternal life, and heaven for the soul. But ours is a salvation that helps people out of poverty, hunger, clothing, and education needs as well. We provide for this in part, but the world’s governments claim that they provide for their people, and they do cover some things, but their help is never enough to really help as needed. The military and government’s role in the world does not eliminate the greater destructive evils of mass deaths in wars, crime, addictions, and violence.

6. A Soldier of Christ will store up their reward in heaven, but to serve the world means you will never get anything without you be charged Cesar’s pound of flesh! If you borrowed from Cesar in Rome, and you could not pay it back in money, you would pay it back in a body part in the amount of pounds you owed!

Contrasting serving Christ with the world; no government prepares the people of the world to answer to God and answer for the consequences of their sin which leads to eternal death.

Governments are sterile institutions and necessary evils set up to put the brakes on man’s abuses or the violence would be absolute as in the days of Noah with anarchy, chaos, and murder non-stop. It is the governments that need soldiers in the end for their self-preservation. Thank God for them. We do want to preserve our nation; we believe that God has Blessed America!

But no government by their programs or military might can save the soul; that mission is up to you the Christian Soldier! Consider this quote from the Salvation Army’s first street Soldier that preached a few dozens of thousands of sermons on the filthy London streets streets…Gen. William Booth   

7. “To get a man soundly saved it is not enough to put on him a pair of new breeches, to give him regular work, or even to give him a University education. These things are all outside a man, and if the inside remains unchanged you have wasted your labor. You must in some way or other graft upon the man's nature a new nature, which has in it the element of the Divine.”  (8. Sp)

In other words Soldiers, you must preach Jesus and serve others in need, but if Jesus does not change a person’s heart, it is not on your conscience. This person who got help with an unrepentant heart may just keep on going down the wrong path in life and the generosity and compassion did nothing. It basically means this person still remains on the wrong side of this war, the one of destruction by living for selfishness, and animalistic passions. Proverbs 10:16The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.

9. But with Jesus it is black or it is white, you are on His side teaching others to save others, or you are by default dividing against Him. The world is in a spiritual war against the rulers of darkness in high places.  Matthew 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. You are either fighting for Jesus as a Soldier, or by default, you will be fighting against Him by living out life in your own prideful stubborn will!

The founder of this worldwide Salvation Army had such a vision for souls, such an aggression and passion to fight for the Lord and save souls, that he started this massive movement that has kept the momentum and the fire burning ever since! I personally have seen dozens of churches start up and then after just a few years fade away but not so with TSA! The SA is still growing strong! In the past 4 years in Miami, between all Corps, we have grown by 200 new Soldiers! There are over one million around the world!

10. We should learn more from the original founding father, the General, of this worldwide dedicated army who by battling the enemy won many victories through people just like yourselves, the priceless Soldiers for Jesus Christ! God’s royal priesthood! He said:

“While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight; while little children go hungry, as they do now, I'll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight-I'll fight to the very end”! This is our war! Our mission is to fight until the end of the world! (11. SP)

12. All of us as Soldiers have the challenge to fight in all places to teach others of Jesus and the true doctrines. We recognize evil and what to battle! We must bring more Holy Ghost power in the Corps and in our own personal life, and preach a Jesus that does expect us to repent and be so sorry for our past sins being willing to do anything to live and fight for the right! Are you willing to take a bullet and be made fun of for standing up for Jesus? Don’t get so involved with the affairs of this world that you are compromised. Our fight is to save souls into heaven!

Will you suffer for Jesus? Paul did. 2 Corinthians 11:24-26 24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

You are now, as Soldiers of Jesus, going out to start serving Jesus in this Corps with passion and dedication! You are expected to tell others of Jesus, to pray and grow from the study of God’s word, sort through rotten vegetables to serve those in need, visit the elderly in the homes, and do anything in the kitchen or in the community that the Lord needs! There are dozens of ministry opportunities with us. Which one will you choose? How will you show to God and all you are a good Soldier winning some victories in this war against the evils in the world?

Translation of Quotes

"Para que un hombre sea salvo, no es suficiente  poner en él un par de pantalones nuevo, darle trabajo regular, o incluso darle una educación universitaria. Estas cosas son externas, y si el interior permanece inalterado han perdido su trabajo, no vale de nada. Usted debe de alguna manera injertar sobre la naturaleza del hombre una nueva naturaleza, que tiene en ella el elemento Divino." Gen. William Booth

"Mientras las mujeres lloran, como lo hacen ahora, lucharé; mientras los niños pasan hambre, como lo hacen ahora, lucharé; mientras los hombres van a la cárcel,  adentro y afuera,  adentro y  afuera, como lo hacen ahora, lucharé; mientras hay un borracho en la esquina, mientras que hay una pobre chica perdida en las calle, mientras que sigue habiendo un alma oscura sin la luz de Dios, lucharé-lucharé hasta el final "! Esta es nuestra guerra! Nuestra misión es luchar hasta el final del mundo”!  Gen. William Booth

Abraham: Biblical Geographical History

Abraham: Biblical Geographical History    by Kelly Durant  2-24-13

Hebrews 11:9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

2. What results do you get when you have 4 Jews counseling together? You get 5 opinions! Ha! When we visited the Holy Land we were privileged to see dozens of ruins that were uncovered, some just a few feet below the dirt, while others were under multiple layers of rock laid one culture on top the other over the past 4 millennia! It has taken multiple thousands of volunteers many decades to unearth all the hundreds of places to see that are in Israel.

When you are in Israel all you can think about is rocks, they cover every mountain, and they shape all the buildings and walls, they cover every sidewalk and every field. No wonder David proclaimed, Psalm 18:2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

3. How many of you can lift 50 pounds? That was our luggage limit; most of us can lift that much, right? But how would you move a rock that is as heavy as your car: Or even as heavy as 3.000 cars (600 tons)? We often think of the ancients as developing from the caveman stage, but this is not true as ancient man was very intelligent for building and they had many complex ways to quarry and transport massive rocks. The Bible confirms that the sons of Adam started building right away after leaving the Garden of Eden.

Gen 4: 16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. 17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch.

4. Our history with God’s chosen begins at around 2,000 BC with Abraham. You may not be aware of this but there were people before the 1930’s that disputed that Abraham had never lived because they never uncovered the city hi was from. These doubters claimed that no City named Ur had ever been discovered and so the bible and all the people in it must be a myth. They were wrong! The City of Ur was uncovered in 1930 and it proved that Abraham had migrated a long way up and up and over to Israel. This is a lesson we must learn: Geography proves history which proves the Word of God as true!

5. Ancient man was created intelligent by God. The arch design, for example, was thought to have been developed by the Greeks a few hundred years before Christ but not far from Abraham’s arrival point in Israel they unearthed a gate with an arch and this city was more than 4,000 years old! Since it was one of the first cities in that area, Abraham himself may have passed through here.  How amazing is that? Geography confirms history and God’s word is always true! God created man intelligent.

6. Geography and archeology are revealing to us more and more how the ancients lived, how intelligent they were, how hard working they were, and how they worshipped God, either in truth by the knowledge of Abraham and Moses, or totally misguided by Satan doing human sacrifice and horrors. The art and written history records of the past prove that people were similar to you and me today. They needed to be near a water supply, have food, and shelter. But one thing is disturbingly evident, each culture that existed wanted to dominate totally over the other ones and wipe out all traces of the existence of the one they conquered.

7. Reflecting on Abraham in our land of rocks, there was a place of altar rock on which he was going to sacrifice his son, Isaac, but God stopped him and provided a ram instead and it is here on Mt. Moriah where the Mosque of Omar stands today. The other son of Abraham, Ishmael, being the half-brother of Isaac is today to father of the Arab nations and these two descendants have had family feuds over the land of Israel and the rights to the ownership of that rock alter ever since.  I thought it was funny how they each referred to each other as their cousin, but what is not funny is the serious dislike they have had for each other for almost 4,000 years!

8-12. We visited many enormous art decorated churches placed over the holy places where Jesus lived. There is a Catholic Church over the place where Jesus was born Church of the Nativity, one over the Mount of Olives, one where he preached the Sermon on the Mount and more. You might recall that Peter had the name rock and the Catholics confused what Jesus said that he would build his church upon the rock. Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Jesus spoke this of himself, the cornerstone.

13. All of these rock structures are very impressive, yet they leave you with the feeling that you did not get to appreciate the land how it was when Jesus was here. For example, here is the church on the Mount of Olives. I imagined the olive garden to be several miles square but as you can see here today, it is only the size of a parking lot! They did have a 2,000 year old olive there!

14. In Jerusalem there is fierce competition of religious powers, each one considering that they own where the prophets or where Jesus lived and taught. There are the Jews, the Catholics, The Muslims, The Armenians, and the Greek Orthodox ones.  It is almost like they don’t ever like to look at each other. People do not say hi and be friendly as in other places. Yet it is wonderful to contemplate that at least some devoted men from each group of the past wanted to honor where Jesus was by building a structure out of rocks to be a nice place to worship. With all the tourists in and out it is hard to concentrate and worship here though.

15. My opinion is that sometimes the magnificence of buildings can distract a person away from the focus of worshipping a humble Lord that had no place to lay his head. The word even warns us that we do not need a luxurious place to worship and history has proven other cultures just tear them down. Solomon built the temple but as you know it was totally destroyed. Acts 7: 47 But Solomon built Him a house. 48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: 49 ‘Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord, Or what is the place of My rest?

16. One thing we must take into account; the land of Israel started having Holy significance not with temples but with God speaking to Abraham 4,000 years ago and it was his faith that started this land. The land was not started with God commanding a man to build a stone house.  God made him the father of the Jews, Arabs, and of Christians.  Gen 22: 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

17. The land of Israel as well contains many prophecies of things that happened, and of things happening, like the desert become fertile, Isaiah 35:1[ The Future Glory of Zion ] The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. The Jews of today have made a watering system that has made the country green, how amazing!

18. Israel is the land of things that will happen as well, like the final battle of Armageddon so it all history of God’s people begins in Israel and it all will end there as well. Rev 16:16  And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon. You can see this is a lush valley, and it is the breadbasket of Israel producing many fruits and vegetables for exporting.

19. This controversy of who is the son of the promise and who is not is the reason for all the fighting. The Jews believe they have the Torah law to make them Holy, the Arabs believe that the worship of one God, Allah, and their Koran law to make them holy as well. The racial, religious, animosity and discrimination is witnessed very heavily in Israel. It is almost like you can foresee how this heavy clash of worldviews and faith beliefs can culminate into a final battle as the hatred is fierce. The climate amongst the people is usually serious and unfriendly and I pray we as Christians never allow ourselves to become guilty of hatred for the Jews or Arabs as there is hatred today over all the bombs and deaths from the past decades. Historically we have learned that hatred will not prevail only God’s love does. The Canaanites were conquered by the Israelites who were conquered by the Romans who were conquered by the barbarians who were conquered by the Byzantines who were conquered by Arabs who were conquered by the Crusades who were conquered by the Ottomans who got conquered by the British who were overrun by the Palestinians and later in 1948 Israel was established.  Empires come and go but only God’s kingdom will last forever!  We are commanded to love our enemies just as Jesus did!

20. Each group proclaims their own righteous ness but we have the truth in Jesus and let’s review what Paul says about beliefs, in particular faith and the law.  Romans 9: 30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.[n] 32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law.[o] For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. 33 As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”[p]

21. I began telling you about the rocks of Israel and Abraham and his son on a rock and now I finish with the most important rock of Israel, the Cornerstone Jesus Christ! Salvation comes not by the law but by faith in obedience to the rock of Jesus Christ. Both of the cousins in Israel today, and for millennia, have observed with a severe strict discipline their religious statutes, but for 2,000 years all of these observances have been sadly been done in vain and are meaningless without Jesus Christ. All the slavery of the observances of laws and strict diet codes, strict dress codes, prayer codes, and scripture memorization do not bring salvation, only obedience to Jesus does!

Coming back here I feel like I am in a true house of worship where your faith in Jesus is all that matters to God and to you and me! There I was a quest, and as a quest often you do not feel the freedom to worship as you please your mind’s concentration gets drowned out by Catholic chants that echo for 8 seconds.

Today I want to challenge you, do you trust in the old law which began with Moses, with all the religious codes, or are you going to be as the original father of faith, Abraham, which points to us having faith in God’s son? 

22. I will leave you with this thought. Cut out of a stone in the side of a mountain was a tomb, dated 2,000 years old that is beside a garden. It is believed to be the very tomb of rich Joseph. When I touched that stone wall on the inside, I had a flash of a vision of Jesus wrapped body there on the stone floor, then I blinked and it was empty again. It was such an unexpected vision that I became emotional and walked out crying.

I cannot explain how seeing a stone tomb can affect a person as it affected me, and I cannot fully explain God’s ways, but one thing I know, the stones cry out in glory to His name! If you want to know that glory, just close your eyes in faith and talk to Him. Let’s pray…

Persecution Then and Now: Are you ready to fight for the faith?

Persecution Then and Now: Are you ready to fight for the faith?    By Kelly Durant  7-12-15

Acts 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

2. How many of you have ever been in a fight over your faith? Has someone every attacked you, insulted you, hit you, or tried to get you fired over your faith in Jesus Christ? If you have a real faith, it will happen! It has happened to me and it will happen to anyone who opens their mouth to proclaim Jesus as the Lord of Lords! I have even been arrested and put in jail a few hours a few times over passing out salvation tracts! I remember one time in Brazil the policeman detaining me was very upset because I was giving out evangelical tracts and not Catholic ones! He called me a blasphemer and that I should rot in jail but I was freed with no charges! There were no laws restricting evangelizing then there but today too many laws are in place everywhere! According to Jesus there will be a final great persecution. (Matthew 24)

When I was a young Christian and got to know my Bible there are verses that seemed disturbing such as, 2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Another one is what Jesus said, John 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. Mark 13:11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. 12 Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. 13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

My first reaction was, what have I gotten into, what now? You and I certainly will be hated by a few over professing Jesus and there is nothing we can do about! And I still am disturbed that even family may betray you to death! Historically people have proven to be loyal to Hitler, Stalin and to any Satanist murderer rather than to the loving harmless Christians! God sees all and each will reap what they sew!

3. Why am I bringing this subject of persecution up? Because as Christians we need strength and unity! Because all the news outlets are bringing it up! They point out that the new current laws in this land are clashing with the Biblical values, and already in the works is a plan to go on to the next steps of persecuting those of faith. Remember in the Salvation Army there have been martyrs and we should be proud of those who go in the streets to bring lost ones Jesus!

Certain activists already have announced they plan on suing churches in order to eliminate religious freedom altogether for those who oppose their worldviews. Suing Christians, or exuberantly fining them, is already a lucrative endeavor where corrupt judges prevail perverting the laws. In the works also are proposals to change the current laws to impose taxes on churches (currently exempt) in order to bankrupt them. Another thing some activists declare is they want the Bible categorized as a ‘hate speech’, a book that needs to be expunged from all the public sectors! Already certain U.S. schools children are taught to recite prayers to Alla and learn about the Satanists religion!? The separation of church and state is obviously being violated! This is an imposition by wicked people in high places that need to hear God’s view.

Certain people rapidly brought about the expunging the confederate flag from the conservative southerners with rapid execution! Many contest that it is not a racist symbol but rather a historical reminder to not repeat the past. I observe that this flag was just a pretext to see how far the experiment would go, to see how much resistance or not a cultural symbol would endure attack. We must accept it, things will get uglier as the Bible is being targeted! Rev. Graham Jr., and a few like him expose this, but it is not a popular message. Sadly the bulk of Christianity has compromised into a complacent state as the Laodiceans in Revelation 4.

4. Haters seem to persuade the masses easily with half-truths and distorted information. We must recall that the majority of the people in the world do not have the love of Jesus, nor the discernment of the Holy Spirit! Sadly, when awakened, the evil side of human nature is passionate and aggressive to satisfy an appetite for destruction! The ones who hate something seem to live obsessed, dedicating 24/7 until they accomplish their dominion. But our hope is Jesus who gave us power to cast out demons and defend the kingdom of God. They can lie about us, defame us, make us illegal, imprison us, charge us huge fines, harass us, use psych ops on us, even torture and kill us but one thing I know is that they will not get rid of us as Jesus and Christians remain strong! Despite all current persecutions and despite all barbaric attacks in world history, His truth keeps marching on! Glory, glory, hallelujah!

It is so evidently hypocritical in society that those that abide by certain religions, or fringe groups, endorsing hateful destructive acts, calling upon their members to attack with violence God’s true followers, are not reprimanded as haters and perpetrators by the bulk of society. People are already preconditioned by the media and government to fear so they do not oppose evil! But people with values and guts who hint a little they will go against the current trends of the world are instantly demonized as haters and are defamed by the powerful evil systems!

Who are those that persecute God’s children today? The same class of opulent, hedonistic despots as those that were ruling in the Romans times when the persecution began with the Early Church! Deceived people today are described well in these verses, 2 Timothy 3 :1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

5. Getting back to our verse of today in Acts, what was the situation? Peter and the apostles were filling the city with the gospel of Jesus, preaching daily in the temple and in every house and thousands were being converted until the murderous city fathers found out. People in power always seem to live tormented with paranoia, jealousy, and insecurity and are overcome with passionate convictions to crush anyone opposing their deceitful authority. In this case it was the Jews imprisoning them, as they only wanted control over the people by their ways and traditions not realizing that God had moved on abandoning them for their rejection of his Son, Jesus. They even stoned Steven to death, do you recall?

To encourage you as a Christian, recall that no one will ever do anything to anyone of us without a divine retribution punishing the offenders. Jesus forgave his crucifiers, but Christ rejecters still have to pay with eternal torment! Notice this fact, mockers and persecutors identifying with a group, tribe, people, religion, or geographical region cause them to be included when severe divine retribution comes down. This is why you and I must be very careful who we identify with and accept! Today you can identify with whoever you like but the consequences of supporting, endorsing, or being complacent to an evil group activity that is against God’s will… will provoke the Most High to anger!

Look in Acts 5. This is a persecution of the believers of Jesus in Jerusalem and what happened? God made his people to get out!  Acts 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.

6. This persecution from Saul and zealots actually provoked God’s people to leave Jerusalem for two motives. One was to get the new Christians out into the rest of the world preaching the gospel! It fulfilled the prophecy in Acts 1: 8 ‘But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth”.

And the second motive I see was to save the Christians from a dying a horrible death that was soon to come from the Romans invading Jerusalem in 70 AD. Jesus prophesied in Mark 13:2 And Jesus answering said unto him, “Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” And this is exactly what happened, the city, and Herod’s glorious massively huge temple built for the Jews was totally torn down!

The Roman invasion of Jerusalem in 70 AD was horrific! You can read about it in the writings of Josephus, a Roman historian who recorded the event.  The city was surrounded for 2 years and when almost dead from starvation the Romans went in burning the city and crucifying almost every living thing. An entire forest was used to make the crosses and the stench was for miles! This was the way the Romans dealt with rebellion as they would not allow the Jews or anyone to defy them with independence. The Romans were experts in iron rule and to not submit to their authority was to invoke relentless rage. What a horrible fate for these Jews who rejected Jesus! That event provoked the great dispersion, ‘diaspora’ of the Jews causing them to have to hide their identity for a few thousand years in different countries all around the world. Only in 1947 were they able to reunite as a people again in Israel.

7. But the Early Church, despite persecution, thrived meeting secretly and prospered in many cities and lands despite the general persecution over the next several hundred years. We are familiar that in Rome the Christians were tortured and killed for sport but we may forget to notice that many other Christians reached many people in faraway places for Christ anyway. During the persecutions under certain Cesars their numbers still increased and not everyone was taken with imprisonment and death. We need not fear persecution so much really because, ‘the body they may kill, but God’s truth abideth still’.

And in secular and church history we know that the ruler Constantine got converted to Christ and the persecution ended, at least government persecution ended for a while. But what happened to the church after a few more hundred years? The church became too big and powerful, corrupted, self-serving, rich and abusive, disobedient and indifferent to the poor and it was then the scourge of Islamic invasions ravaged Europe and Africa.  The cycle of the church seems to follow this pattern: 1. Persecution: destruction & suffering 2. Repentance, evangelism growth 3. Prosperity & righteousness 4. Pride and wickedness (complacency & apostasy)

Even Spain, being so Catholic today, was governed by the Moors from 711 to 1472, which is more than 760 years of Islam! Persecution has always been around and it is not going away! The final endtime persecution will be horrific but we know many will survive it because of 1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

8. So how do we get ready for the persecution? Here are 3 suggestions of mine. For one, as Christians we must be exemplary and live holy, pure, honest, and loving lives so we will be filled with passion to stand up for the right when needed! When evil people want to accuse us of evil, let us be like Jesus, innocent of any crime, so they will not be able to pinpoint any evil on us! In Acts it says Steven had the face of an angel while they were stoning him to death!

We all know that people of low intelligence tend to generalize, stereotype, and pick and choose the arguments that they select in order to justify their evil aggression against another. As Christians we must denounce the false representatives of the faith, the mainline churches that accept sin, the prosperous doctrine ones as on TV, so others know we are not in this same category to be judged according to their excessively rich lifestyle full of hypocrisy. Satan’s most damaging method is that of getting wolves in sheep’s clothing to subvert and embarrass the faith. Lately he has been too successful! Stay pure, expose evil within false Christianity!  

Second, we must be prepared with the scriptures (memorize!) in our hearts to answer people who attack us. Psalm 119:42 So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word. 2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.  We cannot deny what the scriptures say, and sadly people often want to kill us, the messagers just for telling them the truth of God’s word!  But it is not our message, it is God’s! The word of God has undeniable power!

9. And the third suggestion, we must be active in society exposing evil for what it is or in our apathy we will shame our Lord! How often do you criticize Satan’s governing systems that are fomenting poverty, slavery, sex trafficking, drug addictions, and destructions? Forget being PC, (politically correct) being conformed to this world and rise up with the power of the Holy Spirit!  

One example of a man who with convictions that brought about an impacting change to this world by exposing falsehoods and evil is Justin Martyr (St. Justin). Justin was born to a pagan family and lived from 100 to 165 AD. He studied world philosophy but accepted Christ with an elderly Syrian Christian. He became an apologist for the faith and was known in many cities to challenge pagan priests, Christians following errant doctrines, and the pagan magistrates. His ‘First Apology’ (many more apologies and writings followed) was addressed to Antoninus Pius, his sons, and the Roman Senate. His dare was to attain an appeal to express, ‘It is unjust to condemn a Christian without first hearing his cause’. He fought for morality (or as we define it: holiness) challenging Romans, Jews, and false sects. Before martyrdom, he was ordered to sacrifice to the Roman gods but he replied, “No person in his right thinking mind moves from piety to impiety’. He convinced many that Christians were not atheists and flesh eaters.

Here is one quote of his: Philosophy is the full knowledge of reality and the clear perception of truth. Happiness is the reward of such knowledge and wisdom. He was foundational in establishing correct doctrinal interpretations of the Holy Scriptures. He was scourged and then beheaded. His death provoked an unexpected interest and respect for his writings which were conserved and studied by Christian scholars for 18 centuries. (Look up his works and read!) Haters and persecutors never take into account that their murderous victories are shallow and short lived. Where’s the pride and gods of Rome today? Gone!

10. Up until this point of history in this country we have been given the right to worship as we choose, but now there are growing groups of Islamists, Atheists, Communists, and bitter haters of all kinds that are getting corrupted judges and politicians to eradicate this freedom! They actually want to kill us, the Christians, just as the demon possessed jealous religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus in his day! We never accept evil and must make waves and be heard so that we will do as the apostles did in Acts, and quote, “We ought to obey God rather than men!”

For victory, be reminded, we must fight first! Ephesians 6: 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

If any of you, my brothers or sisters, were to get harmed in the near future it would really break my heart! I feel my blood pressure rise daily as I read articles, or see on TV something concerning the persecution killing or enslavement of men, women, and children who are Christians! But these murderers will reap the hell they are causing! Our hope is in the promise of eternal life in Jesus! His Kingdom is forever and it is coming soon! Obey God above men! You are an overcomer if you stay close to Jesus! John 16:33These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Bondage or Liberty? People and Nations Decide: But Christians Are Free People!

Bondage or Liberty? People and Nations Decide: But Christians Are Free People! 

Re: 4th of July   by Captain Kelly Durant  7-5- 2015

John 8:36 36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

2. How many of you here celebrate the 4th of July? And when is the independence day of your country of birth?  It is good for people to remember the day your nation was liberated from their oppressors! If we forget history we are doomed to repeat it!

The 4th of July is celebrated by people with fireworks and bar-b-ques! Did you know it is Biblical to remember when you as a people were liberated from oppressors? In the O.T. we see the clear example of the Jews remembering the Passover. The Passover highlighted the day that pharaoh decided to let the people go with Moses to the Promised Land and be free from Egypt. We should always reflect on the O.T. because it teaches us parallels to the life of Christ. (and of nations)

Easter for us, as Christians, is our day of independence: our liberation from our own sinful selves and death!  The Jews at that time when Jesus was resurrecting were remembering their freedom from the death angel in Egypt! And now over 3,000 years later for Jews and 2,000 for the Christians still celebrate these liberations! Easter is a big celebration of victory!

3. It is okay to be patriotic and share in the roots of the people you live with and grew up with!  We must learn history! All of us can be very glad that Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean Islands did not remain under the domination of the Spanish and oppression of the slave trading countries!  

But being Patriotic does have its limits. In American history a famous saying is, “God and country!” and the supposition is that you reverence God first then your country! Imagine if every man reverenced the hierarchy in that order, our world’s nations would be more like God’s Kingdom! What is evil is to make a god of the country, or of a despotic leader.

The problem today is the celebration of nations is under attack by those applying a guilt trip, that our nation because of its past sins is not worthy. More and more the displaying of the American flag is protested and prohibited! The anti-Christ media and corrupted government officials are trying to prepare the world for a one world government and they cannot do that if each person demands respect for their own flag and nation. The world could still have peace with individual nation if more effort were applied! Satan’s plan is to divide and conquer every nation internally so in their weak moment of turmoil, he can subdue them with an evil power, which may be outside enemy, not even one of the ones creating the fighting.

4. There is a well-known image of the cycle of nations. This cycle has repeated itself with ancient Israel, with most every country, and it can be applied to the lives of certain individuals as well. At first a nation starts out in bondage, then they grow and gain strength with spiritual faith, with faith they gain courage; they then fight to gain liberty. Then they progress with abundance and blessings but that leads to selfishness, complacency, apathy, and finally dependence, which is the stage where a majority people see the U.S.A. currently! The next step is bondage again. But bondage usually comes not from the same original oppressor as was the case of Israel who were first under Egypt, Assyria, then under Babylon. Rome also subdued them horrifically causing the great dispersion, or ‘diaspora’ so they lived without a country.

Today we have witnessed a dozen nations that have fallen under bondage within the past 10 years! The oppressors are Islamic and Communist and these cruel heartless systems that murder with no discretion are a plague that has murdered over a 100 million lives over the past 100 years!

We keep hearing about how the world is over populated. How the U.N. has a depopulation plan, and even the Catholic Church spokespersons says climate change is due to overpopulation! http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/12/vatican-speaker-on-climate-thinks-there-are-6-billion-too-many-of-us/      Not all Catholics and evangelicals agree.        

We are being propagandized to hate our world, country, and ourselves! We should just accept our fate of doom and destruction! (I quote in irony, God creates life, and technology has allowed us to feed 2/3rds of the world and if nations put forth effort, the other 1/3 in poverty could acquire enough food within the next decades) Greedy governments are the main problem.

5. Today’s liars and deceivers conveying bondage always speak of the need for a big-government to control everything. They have much in common being are pro-abortion, and pro everything immoral. They wish to shift billions of dollars to select groups under new laws so in the guise of liberation, are bringing their bondage and control over the masses (for others, not their selves). Only a degenerated populous can be controlled! Don’t be deceived these agenda pushers are extreme haters of humanity being Satanically inspired and they use fear, drugs, strange sex, and anything to weaken and win people away from God’s blessings! These haters have a death wish for some horrific plague to reduce the population of useless eaters on the earth. They see armies and religions that kill entire populations as useful and needed since these ‘necessary evils’ eliminate those who resist them from gaining absolute power!

The mass populous ignoramus is being crushed by progressive lawlessness, lying media outlets, with anti-Christ schools and colleges indoctrinating young minds as putty to mold into their impending doom and destruction schemes. Don’t live in ignorance, expose evil agendas!  According to Daniel the anti-Christ will show up as a hero to offer peace and safety to solve all these man-provoked social status racial religious conflicts but it will be a false peace. Soon the new despot (Satan incarnated) will be demanding worship and bondage to him! Satan creates the problems through his minions, then he wants to show up as the savior of the problems he created! 1 Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

6. The yoke of bondage the entire world experienced just 70 years ago was horrifyingly frightening! The Japanese soldiers controlled one half of the globe and the Germans soldiers controlled the other half. Thank God for our forefathers that fought for liberty!  In the Salvation Army there are quite a few good men that after they got out of the service in WWII joined the Salvation Army to be a saving soldier for God.  Many people have served country and then God!  We are God’s Army, and there must be a loyalty to country everywhere, but God must be first! The evils of mass slaughter, rape, slavery, and pillaging was semi conquered then, but today once again it is furiously on the attack spreading rapidly to dozens of countries!

The Salvation Army’s day of inception is recognized as starting on July 2nd, 1865, and it is important to keep this celebration alive today! Our fight is to free souls doing all the work we can to liberate the spiritual captives, those who are slaves to sin and darkness, slaves to bondage, to mental problems and demons, to drugs, sex, fear, and anything not of God. Let’s look up a part in the scripture where Jesus gives His very first message in his mission: to give people freedom! Jesus came to liberate!

Isaiah. Isa 61:1

61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

7. Jesus is very interested in the liberty and spiritual freedom of each of us! He wants you and me to have an Independence Day celebration!  When you first repented and received Jesus that was your Independence Day of sin and death and your rebirth into the family of God with eternal life!

Apart from everyone knowing the date from which your country was liberated from the oppressors, do you recall the date you personally were liberated from the oppression of the devil who would have destroyed your soul and body as well?

My date is the same as my birthday 3-24, because it was coincidently then when I was 21 that I began a training to go abroad with the Christian mission, and I left 6 months later to serve the Lord in Brazil, and then in other countries for 14 years!  I thank God I chose that instead of staying bound in the world of sin I was in! When you are in the University smoking marijuana, acting proud and ugly people praise you, but when you free yourself from sin and seek God and purity people, run from you like you have the plague! Oppression and bondage is comfortable for the unsaved majority but the consequence is eternal bondage (hell) if one is not freed!

 

8. Just like the 13 Colonies of the US had to choose that they would no longer submit to the oppression of the King of England, we too must value independence and liberty as a thing of high value and price! It requires a heavy battle and you will lose some friends, family members, personal things and you will suffer, but the end liberating result is worth it! As in the US history books, Patrick Henry said, ”Give me liberty, or give me death!” We must fight the world & its sin or the result will be our spiritual bondage and death!

What’s your story of independence from sin? When were you saved? Let me hear you, when was your independence day when you were freed from the bondage of sin? (Others speak out loud their dates)

How many of you have watched the news and seen the happiness of someone who was captive but then liberated from their guerrilla captors? Liberation and independence is a gift from God that only God can provide for in His time! More than half of the world is under the oppression of a cruel governments or religions! Women and children in particular suffer! We must fight! Many live with no hope of escape, this is why sharing your faith about Jesus is urgent!

9. How many people do you know who could be free, but instead they choose to remain captive in abusive homes? Pray for the oppressed people you know to be liberated!

Why does oppression keep happening all around the world? Why can’t we just live out the freedom we read in the Bible verses in the beginning? How is it that if the “Son makes us free, then we are really free indeed”?

Sometime we will do an in depth study into Galatians but what was happening here in 5:1 was that the common people who were being converted to being a Christians were being told by the Jewish Christians in control that they had to now submit to all the Jewish laws and customs but this was taking them back into bondage and oppression. 

In other words, Jesus came to free each of us from sin and the fulfilling of law and traditions, and we are to obey His commands to love God and our neighbor and preach the gospel and serve others, but we will never be made perfect by being captive to legalism, be it Jewish or be it from any person, or religion (such as Islam); no organization with strange mandates, presuppositions, and traditions can free anyone!

In vain the church in Galatians was trying to obtain perfection by giving up their freedom in submission to the laws of the Jewish customs! Paul rebukes them of being deceived as by witchcraft! Only God’s word frees us! Some people are too weak to stand up and proclaim what is right for their selves and others! We must fight for them! That takes boldness and a fight! Jesus fought to free us and we must fight to remain free and free others! 

10. Here is a sad reality; many people live years under the fear and oppression of Satan (even in free countries) and when they accept Christ they experience a new strange feeling, freedom! Freedom is a true authentic independence!

If you feel freedom from fear, a clean conscious, and a warm strength from God within keep claiming it and living it! Live free!  Do not let the Enemy come back to tell you, this is too good to be true, this is uncomfortable, this is not normal! Don’t listen when Satan says, ‘Go back to the old way!’ Rebuke Satan in Jesus name! Christians are free indeed!

Since the devil cannot persuade you or I to stop believing in Christ, he tries to persuade us to stop being free!  People without the independence God wants to give them fall back into bondage, under fear, oppression, or legalism! We need God’s word daily! So if you feel uncomfortable that there is freedom in Christ that is a good thing! Get use to feeling uncomfortably good! That is why Jesus came and died to do for you, to liberate you!

Look at it like this, Jesus has set in motion the real New World Order which is soon will be the victory government or Kingdom (of God). Soon after an independence war against the anti-Christ and his armies, Jesus will be the victor. You owe to Him everything! Your owe to Jesus every bit of your loyalty, love, soul, worship, service, and everything because He is the one in eternally in power! John 8:36 36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

11. Many countries have been liberated in the past, but many have also fallen back into oppression by abusive governments and ambitious rulers. In other words, freedom from Spain or England’s oppression did not guarantee freedom forever or from local oppression! Do you see the point? Even here today our freedoms are in great danger of being eroded into bondage! On earth there is no real liberation or independence except through Jesus! Only Jesus frees each individual, never can man’s systems give what they promise! And we see many broken promises by man’s failed stems, do we not?

Examine your own life right now... Are you being oppressed by someone or by your own guilt for not obeying Jesus as you should? Do you really have freedom and independence and celebrate it?

There could be a dark spiritual force oppressing you: a coworker, a family member, or even your own mind could be making you miserable because it is not fully transformed under the liberty of Christ! It will always be bondage when you submit to anything other than Christ!

Don’t misinterpret freedom to be an excuse to do whatever you want though.  We need organization and certain rules, in order to function, but those are for our own protection and good. But the rules or laws of a nation or a church is not our purpose or message, our main message, it is Jesus Christ’s liberating and soul saving love! Amen? Let’s pray now for you personally to be free in Christ! Free from oppression & fear! Remember Christ will make you free indeed!