The Word of God is Living and Powerful

How about this for a warning from a well-known, highly respected Melbourne journalist: “CHRISTIANS, prepare for persecution. Open your eyes and choose stronger leaders for the dark days.” That’s the language of a Christian man with a prophetic ministry. But in this case it’s not so, for he says, “I am not a Christian, but I am amazed that your bishops and ministers are not warning you of what is already breaking over your heads.” Perhaps there are some bishops and ministers who are warning their people around Australia, but not according to his knowledge, or mine, for that matter.

Two of a few reasons he brings this to our attention is because of the open attacks on Christianity coming from our National ABC Television and Radio broadcaster and the Education Department of Queensland. The ABC recently ran a program claiming that the men most likely to abuse their wives are Evangelical Christians who attend church sporadically. When the journalist proved this claim to be untrue they simply replaced it with another untrue claim. That’s what unscrupulous, immoral liars do; they throw dirt, then retract, then throw more dirt; that’s how the waters get muddied. The seeds have been planted, somebody later comes to water them and in a few weeks the job is done, the public have bought the lie.

The journalist’s comment on the second reason for the warning: “How mad that Queensland’s Education Department can now warn schools against letting students praise Jesus in the playground. The department has put out reports telling state schools “to take appropriate action if aware that students participating in (religious instruction) are evangelizing to students who do not participate.” More: “It gives examples of what students must not say in the playground — such as “knowing about Jesus is a very important thing”, or “God, please help us to use our knowledge to help others”.” The government Minister is reported as saying nobody was telling a child what they could and could not say in the playground. The journalist is more believable than the Minister.

The Journalist’s newspaper headline regarding this warning reads: “New war on Christians is only the beginning.” How remarkable that a non-believer sees what most believers in this country don’t see. Here we are, we have a Bible in our hands and see little or nothing of what’s coming, he has a computer keyboard in his hands and he sees it clearly. Most certainly this doesn’t apply to all Christians but it does apply to far too many and if they allow it to continue this crowd is going to spiritually neutralize them. It has already happened to bishops and ministers, so unless we get real and personally make Jesus Christ our Bishop and Minister number ONE, these people will walk all over us. That’s the intention of their father, Satan the devil.

I notice Christian women on social media from time to time asking for prayer that they would become stronger in the Lord. What great honesty! Can we Christian men do the same? Now I don’t know how God answers the prayer of the women but I believe He would always point them back to the Scriptures. I see verses given to them that would bless me abundantly so I can only assume it does the same for them. Provided they’re given under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures are the key always to our strength; spiritual strength, mental strength, moral strength and physical strength. For the word of God is living and powerful Hebrews 4:12. Let those first 9 words sink down deep within and other words from God will follow in time.

“I wish I knew more Scripture,” is often the confession of Christian women too, many of them discouraged because they don’t know more. My encouragement: Know what you know and don’t worry about what you don’t know. If the hunger and thirst is there, God will fill it. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled Matthew 5:6. Whatever Scriptures you do know, know that they are living and powerful. The church is full of people who know more Scripture than you or I will ever know but they’re dead on their feet, spiritually speaking. It’s all head knowledge, driven by pride and smug self-satisfaction and they witness to nobody but their own proud, self-satisfied kind of people; a bad witness, in other words.

Not long after becoming a Christian I was persecuted and ostracized by Christians and non-Christians alike. I didn’t know many Scriptures at the time but the ones God gave me became living and powerful on the spot! You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called you from its farthest regions, and said to you, “You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away: fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God, I will strengthen you, yes I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing…… Isaiah 41:9-11. God gave me that word 32 years ago and it still applies in exactly the same way today.

Here’s some more: In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake Isaiah 54:14-15. They have, they do, they will. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me, says the LORD Isaiah 54:17. God has given similar Scriptures over the years, but these few have become living and powerful in my experience many times and will continue doing so.

Given that God has no favorites means He will give those Scriptures or similar to any Christian under persecution and ostracism, but they must be embraced as living and powerful. He can do little for us if we don’t embrace them as such, which explains why the devil and his crowd are walking all over many Christians and churches throughout the world. Take the militant Leftist/Marxist LGBT crowd for example; had God’s people read them and their true agenda correctly years ago and began to humbly proclaim the above Scriptures under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, some of them would have walked into the church to repent and get delivered from the demon spirits controlling them, but the bulk of them would have kept well clear of it.

Why are bishops and ministers not warning us of what is already breaking over our heads? I can think of three reasonable explanations: 1). they are not Holy Spirit-led people. 2). they don’t believe the word of God is living and powerful. 3). they want to be known and thought of by everyone as loving, tolerant, non-judgmental people. Evidence of this is seen in their associations with the Leftist/Marxist LGBT crowd, the Muslim and Roman Catholic hierarchy, all of who deny and reject the biblical Lord Jesus Christ. As Jesus said in John 12:43 regarding the Pharisees of His day, they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. The apostle Paul spoke of them as men-pleasers Ephesians 6:6; Colossians 3:22.

“Open your eyes and choose stronger leaders for the dark days.” What a remarkable call to Christians from a journalist who’s not a Christian! Will we act on the call? I would not hold my breath. Christians don’t like strong leaders generally, not that they can be greatly blamed for it, given the non-Scriptural high-handedness of far too many them. Nevertheless, my prayer will be that God would raise up true shepherds and get rid of the hirelings, for it’s the latter who are high-handed. True shepherds know the word of God is living and powerful and they let it speak as such. Not so, the hirelings; if you say what they don’t want said they’ll persecute and ostracize you. Take another look at the paragraph above; there are hirelings galore among that lot.

However, whether stronger leaders are chosen or not we as individual Christians must make it our priority to become stronger in the Lord. And we must do so not solely for ourselves but also for others. Personally I believe God will allow persecution to come to the Australian church; it’ll be God’s way of sorting out who’s the real deal and who’s not. Remember the parable of the wheat and the tares Matthew 13:24-30. The wheat represents Christians who know the word of God is living and powerful and they live it as such from day to day, not simply on dark days. The tares represent religious phonies and play-actors, obstructionists, persecutors and all kinds of unwise and ungodly people. Jesus will deal with them at the last. I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life John 8:12.