In
the book of Ephesians chapter 6. We have so many with questions
because of what they have heard, many from their Sunday school teachers, who
teach from their denominations printed literature. Like the stuff my
wife and I used back in the day we assisted the adult Sunday school
teachers. We would spend the week going over the printed materials
and our Bibles trying to put them together and make sense of the
printed materials. They just did not agree with each other and that
was the problem, the Bible said and pointed to one thing and the
school materials another which caused confusion and disharmony which
they should NOT have. When people ask, most of these questions, we
usually asked them a question in reply. "Can you find it in your
Bible?" And most of the time the answer is no, this is why we
are saying."Well if you cannot find it in your Bible in the
Age of Grace teachings, and especially with Paul teachings, then run
from it, because it is a deception. It is part and parcel of the
end time scenario where people are believing men, and what they read
in books instead of coming to the Bible!
We
are not going to condemn good authors or good books, but we are
living in a day now where good Christian books are hard to find. Even the Bible based Commentaries often mislead because the author allowed his particular denominations standard of ordinances to get in the way. It
is like one lady e-mailed, from one of our major cities where they
have the largest Christian book stores in the country. And she said,
"until about 5 or 6 years ago the whole front of that store
was Bibles, but today, they are all gone, they are at the back of the
store, and nothing but New Age materials are up in front, and
people are buying it by the case load." Well what is that?
It is that wave of deception, and they can make it sound so good. The
problem is they are putting the Bibles at the back of the store, and
they are putting these other books up front, and that is exactly what
we have told everyone to be aware of.
Back
to Ephesians and the shield of faith, we know that all these false
statements can come at us and how are we going to deflect them? What
does the Bible say? What does this book say? If it does not, agree
then deflect it as a false teaching, and that is the only thing we
can tell people. The next step is in verse 16.
Ephesians
6:16b
"...wherewith
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."
Here
again it is in defense. We do not attack him or those that he uses,
but rather we defend against the onslaught of verbal slanders brought
against God and us, and we do it with the Word of God and His faith
and faithfulness. We trust not yourselves because the flesh man of
sin is still active within us, until we lay it aside and leave this
place of hostility toward God. We are to know and use the things revealed in 2Timothy 4:2 and as
Jesus did in the wilderness and throughout His ministry to Israel.
Where His greatest opposition was from the religious leaders, not the
nationalist's of His day though they wanted Him to lead a national up
rising, He would not and indeed could not side with them either. He resisted evil just as John the Baptist did when he saw the establishment approach him. (Matthew 3:7, 12:34, 23:33, Luke 3:7)
Ephesians
6:17
"And
take the helmet of salvation,..."
What
does the helmet protect? The head and ears, and what is in the head? The
brain, and what is in the brain? The house of our intellect and reasoning powers, powers of perception and to
look at the mind, turn ahead to Philippians chapter 2, and then we
will go back to Romans chapter 12.
Philippians
2:5-8
"Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but
made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in
fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death,
even the death of the cross."
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