Shoulder To Shoulder #1341 -- 5/24/23 ---- "Is Another Spiritual Awakening Eminent? (Part 13) -- Fighting Until Revival Comes"
Quote from Forum Archives on May 25, 2023, 7:46 pm"Standing Together, Shoulder To Shoulder, As We Fight the Good Fight of Faith"
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER is a weekly letter of encouragement Bob has written since 1997, covering many topics selected to
motivate people to be strong students of the Word and courageous witnesses of Jesus Christ. It is a personal letter of
encouragement to you, written solely to help "lift up hands that hang down"."The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." -- Albert Einstein
“There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have -- a cheap Christianity which offends nobody,
and requires no sacrifice, which costs nothing, -- and is worth nothing.” – J. C. RyleShoulder To Shoulder #1341 -- 5/24/23
Title: "Is Another Spiritual Awakening Eminent? (Part 13) -- Fighting Until Revival Comes"
My Dear Friend and Fellow Kingdom Builder:
Greeting on another warm day in the high 90's in Yuma, AZ. ("It's a dry heat," of course!) This has been an exceptionally busy time as Jo Ann and I focus on getting more work done on the Arizona room and prepare for our journey next week to Greer, AZ, up in the White Mountains for another season pastoring Greer Chapel. This will be our eighth year to fellowship with these dear people. At 8,500 feet elevation, you might say it is one of the high points of each year for us.
So, today's letter will be the final one to be written in Yuma (unless I happen to write during one of our monthly jaunts back for medical or project reasons). Next Tuesday we will drive to Phoenix, pick up a keyboard for the chapel, spend the night, and then head the rest of the way next Wednesday.
There is still much to be done between now and Tuesday, so I'll forego small talk and get right to the point. When we pray for revival, we will discover we will face some of the most severe resistance and attacks of our Christian lives. There are seven specific ways in which Satan tries to keep revival and spiritual awakening from happening. I want to address that, and explain why in today's letter. But, first, consider . . .
THIS 'N' THAT:
+ Ukrainian Churches Exploding in Growth: It should come as no surprise that evangelical and Pentecostal churches in Ukraine are growing by massive numbers. While growth is also seen in some sectors of the Orthodox churches, the churches seeing the most growth are those that are prone to focus on the authority of Scripture, prayer, and meeting practical needs. Here is one report from the offices of the Assemblies of God denomination: https://www.charismanews.com/world/92332-pentecostal-and-evangelical-churches-surge-in-warzone?utm_source=Charisma%20News%20Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:5198635&utm_campaign=CNO%20daily%20-%202023-05-23
+ A Nation Born In A Day: About 25 years ago I wrote a series entitled, "The Ten Wonders of Israel", ten things that have happened to the Jewish people that have not happened to any other people group in all of human history. One of them was the birth of Israel as a nation on May 14, 1948. Here is an excellent thumbnail sketch of the history of that nation from ancient days and how the founders of our own country repeatedly turned to Israel's historical record for the model by which the United States would be founded and constituted. Reading it will make you want to read more. Go to https://americanminute.com/blogs/todays-american-minute/the-state-of-israel-the-ancient-hebrew-republic-american-minute-with-bill-federer
+ My Sermon on Revival -- "Revival's Pathway: Seek the Lord": Several have expressed gratitude for my periodically posting links to some of my sermons. I consider that a compliment and encouragement to this old preacher -- especially since the polish has worn off, the glitter is gone, and stumbling words sometimes get in the way. On March 19th I preached the fifth of eight sermons on the topic. Finally this week we had time to edit and publish the video, based on Jeremiah 29. If you happen to have an interest in viewing it, you can find it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZhPWUJJuLk . It's not all that polished, but it's the best an old guy can do. It's my prayer you'll seek the Lord -- Exclusively, Earnestly, and Expectantly. If you do, He will see to it that He "will be found by you."
QUOTES FOR THE WEEK:
> "What is happening to America? . . . We are in the midst of a spiritual and moral battle for the soul of this nation. We are in a war of good vs. evil. We are in a war of God's way vs. man's way." -- Dr. Eddie Hyatt
> "Prayer begets Revival, which begets more prayer." -- Jim Cymbala
> "It is as much the duty of the church to awake, as it is for the firemen to awake when a fire breaks out in the night in a great city." -- Charles Finney
> "Any Christian who desires and prays for revival, and does not experience every imaginable distraction and hindrance to his desire is blind to one of Satan's greatest ambitions -- to stop revival before it comes, hinder revival while it's here, and nullify revival in its results. Revival among God's people is Satan's greatest fear. So, dear Christian, pray for revival, be prepared to do battle, and fight on!" -- T. Allen Robburts
> "When God takes the field He does a thorough work, but in this connection we do well to remember that it takes the supernatural to burst the bands of the natural." -- Duncan Campbell
> "There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer." -- A.T. Pierson
> "When Holy God draws near in true revival, people come under terrible conviction of sin. The outstanding feature of spiritual awakening has been the profound consciousness of the Presence and holiness of God." -- Henry Blackaby
> "Present-day wickedness, apostasy and modern civilization cannot prevent revival." -- John R. Rice
> "A true revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness and selfishness, and making God and His love triumph in the heart and life." -- Andrew Murray
> "You have to expect spiritual warfare whenever you stand up for righteousness or call attention to basic values. It's just a matter of light battling the darkness. But the light wins every time. You can't throw enough darkness on light to put it out." -- Thomas Kincaid
REVIVAL -- A BATTLE OF, A BATTLE FOR:For some inexplicable reason, it seems the Lord wants me to address an area of revival and spiritual awakening that I have never written about -- at least as it relates to revival. It is the matter of how deathly afraid and viciously destructive Satan and his hordes are in their attempts to first prohibit and then -- if it can't be prevented -- pervert or side-track it in some way. I've been wrestling with this matter for about a month, and finally a couple of weeks ago decided to address the issue.
Since then, no less than a dozen different articles, periodicals, and videos have crossed my desk, all of them dealing with that very topic. That has to be more than just coincidental. Is it possible that this is one of those "where-two-or-more-agree" moments? Perhaps. Just this morning the Charisma News Daily -- one of two dozen different online news sources I receive -- devoted almost its entire issue to spiritual warfare with half of its eight special featured articles dealing in some way with the battle against Satan.
Just this morning I received the newsletter of the ACLJ (American Center of Law and Justice) in which its founder, attorney Jay Sekulow, reviewed some of the things happening in our nation, stating . . .
"[The] FBI has planted spies in churches to monitor 'radical traditionalist"'Christians and 'their ideology.' The Deep State is treating you like criminals and terrorists. [The] FBI, IRS, DOJ, and the whole alphabet soup of corrupt federal agencies are surreptitiously threatening your religious liberty. Need more proof? Christian kids are kicked out of federal museums. Children are searched and have their Bibles confiscated at school as if the Word of God is contraband, with the Department of Education now undercutting religious liberty. The IRS is targeting Christian groups. Realtors are banned from including John 3:16 and 'Jesus Loves You' in their emails. [The] Secret Service even threatened to arrest a pastor for praying outside the Chinese Embassy. Nearly every Deep State rule change has some nefarious attack on your faith buried in it."
This past Monday, in his address to the National Religious Broadcasters Association, Franklin Graham reminded the attendees of what they obviously already knew: . . .
"There's a storm coming, and we've all got to be prepared. . . . Every demon from hell has been turned loose . . . The world has deteriorated so quickly, we cannot be deceived and we can't be fooled. We need to get ready and be prepared. . . . If you're going to try to proclaim the Gospel, they're going to try to shut you up."
These and other reports over the past few months almost certainly indicate that there is something in another world of another nature going on behind the scenes. There can be no other explanation to the obvious exponential rise of evil on the one hand and the vicious attacks on Christians and Christianity on the other. We both know this -- but sometimes don't want to acknowledge it. However, the volume of it, the scope of it, the enormity of it, the depth of it, and the severity of it: -- they all point directly at an "other world" origin. Too much of what is happening delves far deeper than man's mere fallen depraved base nature.
Now, if we choose, we can contribute such attacks against our Judeo-Christian culture to "white supremacists", "Marxists", "the far left", or "extremists", China, the drug cartel, the mainstream media, or a particular political party all we want, -- but the fact remains that such efforts to silence the message of the Gospel ultimately rest at the feet of the Prince of this world, Satan himself (Jn 12:31; 16:11; Eph 2:2). His agenda to ". . . steal and kill and destroy . . ." (Jn 10:10) has never changed from the moment it was initiated in the heavenlies (Isa 14:12-15) long before he enacted it in the Garden thousands of years ago (Gen 3:1-8).
If we, as followers of Christ, refuse to have a world view that sees through the lens of Scripture and what God has to say about things, we will never understand the contemporary world conditions as being the magnification of what the Serpent initiated with Adam and Eve. When we choose to see life through God's eyes, we seen an entirely different scenario than what current political and media pundits try to make us believe. We understand that, behind every human thought, intent, and act, there is a spiritual influence that stems from either God's plan of redemption or Satan's plan of ruin. It's that simple.
The sad condition of spiritual and moral anemia from which the Church at large suffers (yes, there are wonderful exceptions!), has left most believers impervious to the true world conditions around them. While the Church simply picks at the scabs and applies new band aids, the boil continues to grow and its fatal infection spreads. Tragically, it is a destructive case of "the blind leading the blind" -- and the ditch into which they are falling is dangerously deep.
What, then, does this have to do with revival and spiritual awakening?
Everything.
Dr. Eddie Hyatt, author of America's Revival Heritage, Five Pillars of the American Republic, The Pilgrims, Abolitionist Founding Fathers, Pilgrims and Patriots, Three Keys to Answered Prayer, and more than a dozen other books worth reading, wrote a month or so ago, . . .
"What is happening to America? Another tragic mass shooting occurred this weekend at a shopping mall in Allen, Texas, just a few miles from where Sue and I live in Grapevine. How many more tragedies must be suffered before we wake up to what is really happening? We are in the midst of a spiritual and moral battle for the soul of this nation. We are in a war of good vs. evil. We are in a war of God's way vs. man's way."
Revivals in both the Old Testament and subsequent history almost always took place in proximity to the expansion or intensification of evil. When Christians "give place to the Devil" (Eph 4:27) -- in direct contradiction to what the Bible repeatedly tells us NOT to do -- Satan and his triumvirate of dominion take full advantage of that "place" and begin the slow and steady process of, first, diminishing the believer's attentiveness; then they start trying to drain the believer's resources. Once those resources (prayer, God's Word, praise, fasting, etc.) have been drained either from neglect or stealth, they then begin to ramp up their attacks until they reach an overwhelming avalanche to which the believer loses heart, loses hope, -- and then loses the battle.
The word for "place" in Ephesians 4:27 is τόπος, (spelled and pronounced "topos" in English. The NASEC defines it as "a place", an "occasion", or a "locality". It is clearly a specific defined territory of some kind that has in some way been given over to the Devil's persuasiveness and control. Strong agrees, but adds the idea of specifically, a "room", a "place", "occupancy", "quarters", and figuratively "opportunity".
Thayer's Greek Dictionary provides even more clarity. It not only defines it the same as NASEC and Strong, but also adds, a "portion or space marked off, as it were from surrounding space", and "an inhabited place, as a city, village, district".
So, when a believer, either through ignorance, neglect, or attack, buckle under Satan's triumvirate (the world, the flesh, the Devil and/or his demonic hordes), he is providing the arch enemy of our faith both Location and Occasion. There is no possible way a believer, depleted in his spiritual assets, can withstand the constant onslaught of the enemy under such conditions.
When we "give place to the Devil", we are providing him a handhold by which he can swing aboard, establish a foothold, build a stronghold, and ultimately defeat us. Even the slightest compromise in the life of the Christian leaves him totally vulnerable to Satan's stealth attacks. All he is looking for is an opportunity. When you give him a "place", he'll take full advantage of it.
A CONTEMPORARY EXAMPLE:
I cannot help but think of Putin's invasion of Ukraine as I write. If you take time to study both the strategy and the tactics of the Ukrainian military, you will see in their plans the very thing that Satan does with us. While Ukraine is "the good guy" doing the right thing, Satan is the "deceiver" and "destroyer". But, Ukraine is still an appropriate illustration. Their military is made up of two major efforts -- one is Defense, and the other is Offense. Russia is constantly attempting to defeat Ukraine by destroying its infrastructure, primarily from the air.
As of yesterday, in the past six months of areal bombardment, Ukraine has defended itself by knocking 99% of the missiles, rockets, and bombs before they hit the ground. Ukraine learned in the visible world how to "extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one" (Eph 6:16) through their defensive "shield of faith" in the resources available to them.
At the same time, their offense is not one of overwhelming the enemy at first, but instead, diminishing Russia's military assets of both manpower and equipment. Before advancing on the ground, Ukrainian forces are destroying fuel depots, arsenals, munition stockpiles, bridges, equipment, and troops. The time will come when their counteroffensive will begin, but not until the time is right and Russia's strength has been seriously weakened.
As of today -- I see daily reports from several official sources in Ukraine itself -- Russia has lost over 11,000 pieces of military equipment (over 70 yesterday alone), over 2,000 commissioned officer, at least 11 top generals, and 205,260 troops, including over 500 yesterday.
While Ukraine fights nobly for survival, peace, and freedom against an enemy that has dominated her land in one way or another for centuries -- at least since the Czarist era, -- Satan and his allies use the same type of strategy, both visible and invisible, to destroy, create conflict, and put believers in bondage and ultimate defeat. The world's temptations, the flesh's carnal appetites, and the Devil's attacks all link together to do exactly what Jesus told us -- "steal and kill and destroy". That's his plan.
THE ENEMY'S STRATEGY:
I don't know if you have considered this or not, but Satan is exceptionally selective in how he carries out his three-fold strategy -- and who he selects to attack.
Think about this for a moment -- Satan never puts undue pressure on unbelievers. Why should he? If he makes life hard on those who are lost, they might actually turn around and come to faith in Christ, the very Person Who crushed his head just outside Jerusalem's city walls on Calvary. So he keeps them blinded to the truth (II Cor 4:4), spiritually dead and psychologically dying in sin (Eph 2:1,5,13; Rom 6:23), ensnared by the world (I Jn 2:15-17), and separated and condemned to eternal death and suffering ()
Similarly, Satan's attacks on Christians will logically focus less on the carnal and superficial believers for the same reason. If his attacks on them are too intense, they might awaken out of their slumber, begin praying and crying out to God for revival and power. There is no greater tool in Satan's quiver than a Christian who is living so much like the world that you can hardly tell the difference. They don't pray, they have no interest in reading the Bible, gathering with other believers sounds unnecessary and boring to them, and the idea of telling someone else about Jesus is far away from their "to do" list as a Christian.
The sad thing is that it doesn't bother them that they don't pray or read the Bible. Church attendance happens when they feel like it or there's nothing else to do. They aren't sure if Jesus will actually return, or if He does, it probably won't be in their lifetime. Sharing the Gospel is for preachers and "super saints", but not them. They know they ought to, but it seldom means they will. It's the uncaring, carnal, calloused Christian that sends more people to hell than anything the world can offer.
Consequently, to a large extent Satan targets people who are actually potential threats to his agenda of world domination. That's the hungry, passionate, brokenhearted believer who sees and understands "the handwriting on the wall" and knows the harvest is now, and nightfall is near. So, when we begin praying for and seeking revival, Satan will do everything in His power to keep it from happening.
J. C. Ryle, in speaking of revival and spiritual warfare, stated, . . .
"The saddest symptom about many so-called Christians is the utter absence of anything like conflict and fight against spiritual apathy in their Christianity. They eat, they drink, they dress, they work, they amuse themselves, they get money, they spend money, they go through a brief round of formal religious services once or twice every week. But of the great spiritual warfare - its watchings and strugglings, its agonies and anxieties, its battles and contests - of all things they appear to know nothing at all. Let us take care that this case is not our own."
Since my letter is already too long (again), let me just point out the following:
1. He will Deceive you about revival and what it is. He will lie about what revival is, and he will try to convince you that something else is revival when it is not. He'll try to convince you that revival is just an event or an experience rather than a life-changing encounter with Christ.2. He will Divert revival from you. He will conjure up circumstances, hindrances, crises, events and barriers that will shift revival away from your attention and your awareness that revival is both needed and is coming -- or even present and already taking place.
3. He will Dissuade revival in your thinking. He will get you to conclude that revival doesn't really need to take place -- at least not yet. He will have you put such thoughts in the back of your mind -- or in the world of total forgetfulness -- so that you seldom see the evidences around you as being reminders that you need to pray for revival and seek God's presence.
4. He will Distract you from revival to other things. He will fill your agenda with so many other things -- some of them even good -- that you don't have time to consider revival, the need for it, and the conditions of the culture around you. He will even busy you with church activities and worthy projects.
5. He will Distort revival when it happens. If Satan cannot keep you from entering into revival or seeing it come to your church, town, or region, he will try his best to distort it, and in doing so, discredit it in the minds of others. Such efforts can be seen in virtually every revival we know anything about. He will raise up naysayers, just like Sanballat, Tobiah, and Gesham in Nehemiah's day, or Haman -- or even the Devil -- in Daniel's day. If he cannot stop revival, he'll try to distort it.
6. He will Discredit times of revival when they happen. This is another of Satan's efforts to keep Christians powerless, lethargic, discouraged, and fruitless. He specializes, for example, in raising up human leaders prone to take control, in causing other leaders to fall, in creating extremism and excesses, and in generating scandals. Nothing is off limits as he tries to discredit genuine revival. Then, of course, you always have those religious leaders who outright oppose revival because it doesn't fit their own particular theology or denominational preferences.
7. He will Destroy revival movements and the fruit of their results. If none of the above are successful in blocking or sidetracking revival, then Satan's final effort will be to destroy revival movements and the results they bring. One of the first things he uses is time and familiarity. Very few revivals endure as long as they should. Familiarity among the people, rather than being a blessing, can be a bane because the spirit of revival becomes so common that they begin to neglect those things that perpetuate longevity in revival movements.
THE REALITY OF WARFARE FOR REVIVAL:
While Jo Ann and I have personally experienced seasons of both personal, local, and territorial revival over the past 50+ years, I cannot remember a time when I have been more aware of the importance of spiritual warfare and the need for revival. But, it makes total sense that Satan would oppose such a movement among God's people. It would cause inevitable failure and doom to his agenda.
This battle is more intense and widespread than anytime in history. It is a battle both for the souls of men, and also for the soul of a nation. I certainly don't want to overemphasize the role America plays in world affairs, but in spite of our many failures and flaws, we are still the best thing going when it comes to individualism, freedom, safety, and prosperity.
But all of that is on extremely shaky ground today. Frankly, whenever I try to catalog all the things that have gone wrong over the past sixty years -- and especially the past 15 years -- I get bogged down and my brain seems to go numb. I cannot get my mind around it all; it is too overwhelming. I keep thinking, . . . "How many more times can we possibly be in danger??? How many more times can we get off track??? How many more times can we thumb our nose at God and get away with it???"
Sadly, our plight is both political, cultural, economic, and spiritual. Because of that, there are times when it is almost impossible to deal with the spiritual without implying one or more of the others. That's too bad, because in our efforts to avoid being political, for example, we fail to point out things that need to be exposed. One thing that gives me the greatest grief is trying to understand the enormous and ever-expanding moral gap between our political parties. It is mystifying -- until I remember . . . it is spiritual at its root.
If we remember some of the numerous biblical predictions about such things, perhaps we won't be so frustrated -- and we'll be more knowledgeable, insightful, and wise. Perhaps more courageous and outspoken, too.
This morning, for example, I ran across another piece by Victor Davis Hanson entitled, "The Left Has Pushed The Envelope". In it he enumerates a number of things the far left has done during the past six or seven years that have all but dismembered our system of equal and fair justice, as well as our trust our national leaders and our constitutional freedoms. We find ourselves with no guarantees that our nation as our Constitution intends will survive much longer. This is what Hanson tried to articulate in his article. If you decide you'd like to read his commentary, here is the link: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/05/25/the_left_has_pushed_the_envelope_149277.html?mc_cid=e5362b6ecf&mc_eid=88602e31ae .
But, you and I both know, as I noted earlier, that the battle in the heavenlies is what impacts the battles we face in the physical world. Mankind is above all a spiritual being, and we must never forget that. Satan tries to get us to forget; but we must not. We cannot allow ourselves to get caught in the trap of trying to solve physical, material, and emotional issues without addressing the spiritual. We have an option of dealing merely with the fruit but not the root, or we can solve the fruit by dealing with the root.
PRAYING FOR AND FIGHTING FOR REVIVAL:
That being the case, then what will it take on our part to persevere into and fight for revival? A few days ago, I received this commentary from Francis Frangipane, a well known pastor and author from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I have followed his ministry since the early 1990's and have probably a half dozen of his books. One of the better books is his book on spiritual warfare, The Three Battlegrounds, written in 2006. You would think it had been written last week. I commend it to you.
In it he addressed three areas of warfare -- the mind, the Church, and the spirit world. Using the story of King Ahab in the Old Testament, he introduced the idea that not only was Jezebel a real person, but if you study her personal genealogy, you soon conclude there she represented an evil spirit as well. In revisiting his book in his recent article, Frangipane stated, . . .
"Perhaps at no other time in history has the spirit of Jezebel had such access to a culture. This immoral spirit has set its goal to corrupt entire generations. Jesus Himself warned about tolerating the influence of this spirit. . . .
"The spirit of Jezebel hates repentance. Her worst fear is that a congregation will begin to mourn over their sins. Though this spirit may intellectually espouse true doctrines, the person's heart will reject the embrace of true repentance.
"Jezebel hates humility. Jesus taught that greatness in the kingdom was measured in childlike honesty of heart, not in what we appear to be to others. A true servant-minded ministry is eager to be submitted to other ministries, for spirituality is measured in meekness, not control.
"Jezebel hates prayer. Intercessory prayer pries her fingers off the hearts and souls of men. It sets people free in the spirit. When you pray, it binds her. When you pray against immorality, it cripples her. When you pray for a submissive heart, it is like the trampling of Jehu's horse upon her body.
"Jezebel hates the prophets, for the prophets speak out against her. The prophets are her worst enemies. When she wars, it is to stir people against the message of the prophetic church. Yet more than her hatred for the prophet ministry, she hates the word they speak. Her real enemy is the spoken Word of God.
"Jezebel's ultimate hatred is against God Himself. She hates the grace God lavishes upon His bond-servants, even after they sin. She hates the fact that God will take the weakest and lowliest and use them to bring her down. She hates the holiness and purity of heart that comes from God and surrounds those who serve in His courts.
"Any time the Spirit of God's kingdom is truly manifested in the earth, it will ultimately confront the strongholds of hell. Indeed, wherever evil spirits have either a foothold or a stronghold, you can expect that the overcoming church will be engaged in warfare, and expect also that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church that Jesus builds."
Notice the things Frangipane pointed out that evil spirits, including what he calls "the spirit of Jezebel", hate; and then compare it to what God tells us we must do if revival is to come. Compare them to what God told Solomon at the building of the temple:
"Humble themselves" -- "Jezebel hates humility. "
"Pray" -- "Jezebel hates prayer.
"Seek My Face" -- "Jezebel's ultimate hatred is against God Himself."
"Turn from their wicked ways" -- "The spirit of Jezebel hates repentance."
How interesting! Is that just coincidence, or is there some valuable insight to be grasped?
Jonathan Cahn takes a similar approach in his recent book, The return of the Gods in that he contends that what is happening to us today that is turning our world upside down, is that the ancient pagan gods of Old Testament days have returned. Scripture indeed tells us that in the last days before Christ's return, evil will become so dominant that Satan's demons will be unleashed on the world order to create confusion, chaos, destruction, and death -- exactly what Jesus described as his agenda -- "steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10).
Just as Frangipane identified the spirit of Jezebel, Cahn also identified specific pagan gods that dominated the ancient world and that he believes are now dominating the will and actions of today's culture. While I'm still in the process of reading the book, I could not agree more. Since the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden, humanity has battled the issue of which god to worship -- for, you see, we were created to worship and live in intimate communion with the Lord God of creation. When that relationship was broken by mankind succumbing to "the god of this world", mankind has been searching for a god -- any god -- to worship and follow. It took less than one generation for worshiping the wrong god to enter the human race. It was Cain who chose to worship the work of his own hands.
Cahn makes this introductory statement:
"They haunted the ancient world. The fact that in the past two thousand years they have not been everywhere is an exception to the rule. For most of recorded history the gods were in every land and enthroned on the pinnacle of every major culture and civilization, . . .
"Wherever there were people, there were gods. They reigned over nations, over cities, over cultures, over nature, over the underworld, and over the heavenlies. Their presence permeated the lives of their subjects. The people were bound to them.
"That the gods could appear in every land, transcending the many differences, distinctions, and barriers of culture, to become a near universal part of human life is a strange and peculiar phenomenon. To modern sensibilities, the phenomenon of the gods is the product of man’s imagination, his projections, his fears, desires, and fantasies. That is certainly part of the story.
"But what if there was more to it? What if there was another dynamic in the mix, another realm?"
Cahn posed an intriguing question -- "What if there was more to it?"
You and I know the answer, of course; and the answer is, "There Is!"
God pointed this out to the Children of Israel while still in the wilderness. They had just left an entire culture in Egypt where everything centered around gods and the Pharaoh who represented them to the people. In His instruction to Israel before the enter the Promised Land, Moses sang a song about what God had taught them along the way, and how they had so often disobeyed Him, thus causing great harm and hardship upon themselves. In Deuteronomy, as he was about to turn his leadership over to his successor, Joshua, Moses sang, . . .
"They sacrificed to demons who were not God, To gods whom they have not known, New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread." (Deut 32:`7).
>From the earliest days of man, pagan gods are directly linked to demonic entities. In the Old Testament they were called, "Shedim". In translating the Old Testament into the Greek Septuagint, the word, "diamonion" was used -- the word for demons. Cahn explained it like this: . . .
"In turning away from God, they worship other gods. Those other gods are identified as the shedim. In all the Hebrew Scriptures the word appears only once more, in the Book of Psalms: They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to shedim.2 The word shedim again stands for the gods and idols of the nations that the people of Israel turned to when they turned away from God. What does it mean?
"Shedim comes from the Hebrew root word shud, which means to act violently, to lay waste, to devastate, that which brings destruction. In ancient Babylonian writings the word shedim or shedu speaks of spirits, protective or malevolent. The latter case would match the root word from which the word shedim derives. A malevolent spirit would lay waste and devastate and bring destruction."
WHAT MUST BE DONE:
This brings us, then, to our current predicament. In that we know our world is under the increasing influence of the powers of darkness set on destroying us all, in that we are an incompetent people who nevertheless have a message that must be shared, in that everything that is coming against us is more powerful than we are, and in that we are in desperate need of a sweeping revival that will shift the spiritual balance of power, what must we do?
My encouragement to you would be to focus on three things: -- II Chronicles 7:14, constantly plead for revival, and take action on Paul's admonition to the Christians in Corinth, a hotbed of pagan worship and demonic concentration.
1. II Chronicles 7:14: -- humbly acknowledge your helplessness to change anything, and your hopelessness to do so, pray, seek God's face, and turn away from all sin and carnality.
2. Cry out to God in desperation for sweeping revival -- first in your own life, then in others around you, and then in your church, city, and country.
3. Follow the instruction Paul gave to the Corinthian church as stated in II Corinthians 10. If we don't do that, our chances of true revival are greatly reduced. A longtime acquaintance, Bill Elliff, wrote about this element just a few days ago in his "Graceful Truth Blog Post" on May 19th. What he wrote is well worth sharing with you. Here are excerpts:
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OUR DIVINELY POWERFUL WEAPONS IN THIS CURRENT BATTLE
By Bill Elliff on May 19, 2023 09:09 am"The world is a place of constant warfare for those who follow Christ. God loves people. This love drives Him to 'seek and save those who are lost.' He longs to bring people into the glorious Kingdom that He created for us. And His true followers are His boots on the ground.
"Our Enemy is 100% evil and incessantly seeking to block the advancement of God’s kingdom. He 'blinds the minds of the unbelieving' and tempts them with every false idea imaginable to keep them from God. Their beliefs can become like strong fortresses raised up against the knowledge of God. He has the use of culture at his disposal.
"False ideas can become the prevailing mindset of society, affecting children as well as adults. He fills the world with overwhelming philosophies and ideas. And our battlefield is also complicated by the inherent weakness of mankind’s flesh that leads to sins of every kind. Our task occurs in a dark, dark place.
"Our great calling as believers in Christ is to consistently share the liberating news of Christ with those around us to help them into the Kingdom of God. But in this task, there are weapons available to us that evil does not possess. We have a vastly superior tactical advantage. Sadly, most Christians are unaware of this and deceived (by the Enemy, of course) into believing that victory in this worldly mission is impossible.
"OUR WEAPONS IN THIS BATTLE
"As Paul defended his work as an apostle before some criticizing Corinthians, he speaks of the power of the tools we have available. He uses military terms.
'''For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.' (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
"The weapons for the believer in this battle are not evil or sinfully coercive. Love, prayer, grace, Biblical truth, and the almighty power of the good news of Jesus Christ fill our arsenal. But these tools, infused with the drawing, saving power of God’s Spirit, are more powerful than imaginable.
"Take one simple tool for example: PRAYER. Every believer can walk into the Throne Room of God and get their orders directly from the Commander who Sits-Above-All. He is sovereign in His authority and omnipotent in His might. Through prayer, God can lead us to make the exact right moves at the exact right moments for spiritual advantage in the battle. . . .
". . . through prayer, we can literally bring God into the equation. The strongest, most powerful One stands right with us on the battlefield. We can ask the Holy Spirit to work in the recesses of others’ minds, convicting them of their need for Christ. We simply share the truth, but through prayer, the Spirit does His saving work.
"God never intended for us to do this work alone. But, if we do not use the tools available, we are on level ground with the Enemy, and he has the advantage. We are powerless against him in the mere energy of our flesh.
"THE BATTLEFIELD RESULTS
"When we humbly and confidently seek to help others come into Christ's Kingdom, using the “divinely powerful” resources available, we can be assured we are in the most victorious position. When faithfully used, the gospel can have supernatural effects on those we love. His work through us can …
Pull down fortresses of the mind.
Destroy speculations.
Destroy every lofty thing raised up against a true, experiential knowledge of Christ.
Take the unbeliever’s thoughts captive to Christ, which can lead to a surrendered and obedient life for all eternity.". . . . enlist the aid of heaven’s resources. Cry out for Divine utterance. Pray for the Spirit to take your words and supernaturally destroy the Enemy’s strongholds in their minds. . . ."
FINALLY:
So, here are my questions: Are you praying for revival? Are you pleading with God to change our nation? Are you interceding that God will bring conviction, repentance, and obedience back to the Church? Are you standing in the gap in behalf of flawed and often weak and hypocritical politicians that claim to be leading us well?
If you are doing even one of these in a mere moderate way, you know that it is a battle. I am more convinced than ever that one of the greatest battles ever fought by believers will take place in their pleas to God for revival. It is even more intense than praying for healing or the salvation of the lost -- because when you pray for the lost people you know, maybe a few will come to Christ.
But -- if you cry out to God for revival and He sends it, you will see hundreds -- even thousands -- come to Christ. Satan is content to lose a few in order to keep millions.
So, let me encourage you. When you pray for revival, be ready for a battle. You'll have a real fight on your hands as you face one or more of those seven tactics of Satan that I mentioned. However, your greatest weapon will remain the authority and power of God made available to you through the mighty work of the Holy Spirit.
A couple of days ago Jay Johnson, the National Prayer Coordinator for the Family Research Council wrote, . . .
"The message given to Zerubbabel from Zechariah is as timely today as it was centuries ago. You see, God did not create us to be apart from Him. He desires to have a relationship with us and work in and through us. We see this clearly in Zechariah 4:6: 'So he answered and said to me: "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Says the LORD of hosts'." The challenge to Zerubbabel from the Prophet Zechariah was to trust God and let Him fight the battle."
So it is with you and me.
Don't fail now. Don't quit in the middle of the fight. Pray for revival! Pray for a revolutionary change in our national leadership in all three branches of government. They have lost their way, and too many of them are fighting for the enemy while others are fighting only in the visible political world, either ignorant of or ignoring the subterranean and devious efforts to destroy us from within.
Pray for churches to come to desperation, brokenness, repentance, and obedience. Pray for pastors to again take up the mantel and speak the anointed truth of God's Word without hesitation or fear.
"O LORD, You showed favor to Your land; You restored the captivity of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. You withdrew all Your fury; You turned away from Your burning anger.
"Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your indignation toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?
"Will You not Yourself revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your lovingkindness, O LORD, And grant us Your salvation."
-- Psalm 85:1-7
In His Bond, By His Grace, and for His Kingdom,
Bob Tolliver -- Romans 1:11
"Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness,
examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so." -- Dr. Luke (Acts 17:11)"A fire kept burning on the hearthstone of my heart, and I took up the burden of the day with fresh courage and hope." -- Charles F. McKoy
Life Unlimited Ministries
LUMglobal
lifeunlimited@pobox.comCopyright May, 2023
"If Jesus had preached the same message that many ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified." -- Leonard Ravenhill
"The time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the Church will have clowns entertaining the goats." -- Charles H. Spurgeon
If this letter has blessed you, feel free to forward it or copy from it, with proper credits, to any and all you wish.
"Standing Together, Shoulder To Shoulder, As We Fight the Good Fight of Faith"
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER is a weekly letter of encouragement Bob has written since 1997, covering many topics selected to
motivate people to be strong students of the Word and courageous witnesses of Jesus Christ. It is a personal letter of
encouragement to you, written solely to help "lift up hands that hang down".
"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." -- Albert Einstein
“There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have -- a cheap Christianity which offends nobody,
and requires no sacrifice, which costs nothing, -- and is worth nothing.” – J. C. Ryle
Shoulder To Shoulder #1341 -- 5/24/23
Title: "Is Another Spiritual Awakening Eminent? (Part 13) -- Fighting Until Revival Comes"
My Dear Friend and Fellow Kingdom Builder:
Greeting on another warm day in the high 90's in Yuma, AZ. ("It's a dry heat," of course!) This has been an exceptionally busy time as Jo Ann and I focus on getting more work done on the Arizona room and prepare for our journey next week to Greer, AZ, up in the White Mountains for another season pastoring Greer Chapel. This will be our eighth year to fellowship with these dear people. At 8,500 feet elevation, you might say it is one of the high points of each year for us.
So, today's letter will be the final one to be written in Yuma (unless I happen to write during one of our monthly jaunts back for medical or project reasons). Next Tuesday we will drive to Phoenix, pick up a keyboard for the chapel, spend the night, and then head the rest of the way next Wednesday.
There is still much to be done between now and Tuesday, so I'll forego small talk and get right to the point. When we pray for revival, we will discover we will face some of the most severe resistance and attacks of our Christian lives. There are seven specific ways in which Satan tries to keep revival and spiritual awakening from happening. I want to address that, and explain why in today's letter. But, first, consider . . .
THIS 'N' THAT:
+ Ukrainian Churches Exploding in Growth: It should come as no surprise that evangelical and Pentecostal churches in Ukraine are growing by massive numbers. While growth is also seen in some sectors of the Orthodox churches, the churches seeing the most growth are those that are prone to focus on the authority of Scripture, prayer, and meeting practical needs. Here is one report from the offices of the Assemblies of God denomination: https://www.charismanews.com/world/92332-pentecostal-and-evangelical-churches-surge-in-warzone?utm_source=Charisma%20News%20Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:5198635&utm_campaign=CNO%20daily%20-%202023-05-23
+ A Nation Born In A Day: About 25 years ago I wrote a series entitled, "The Ten Wonders of Israel", ten things that have happened to the Jewish people that have not happened to any other people group in all of human history. One of them was the birth of Israel as a nation on May 14, 1948. Here is an excellent thumbnail sketch of the history of that nation from ancient days and how the founders of our own country repeatedly turned to Israel's historical record for the model by which the United States would be founded and constituted. Reading it will make you want to read more. Go to https://americanminute.com/blogs/todays-american-minute/the-state-of-israel-the-ancient-hebrew-republic-american-minute-with-bill-federer
+ My Sermon on Revival -- "Revival's Pathway: Seek the Lord": Several have expressed gratitude for my periodically posting links to some of my sermons. I consider that a compliment and encouragement to this old preacher -- especially since the polish has worn off, the glitter is gone, and stumbling words sometimes get in the way. On March 19th I preached the fifth of eight sermons on the topic. Finally this week we had time to edit and publish the video, based on Jeremiah 29. If you happen to have an interest in viewing it, you can find it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZhPWUJJuLk . It's not all that polished, but it's the best an old guy can do. It's my prayer you'll seek the Lord -- Exclusively, Earnestly, and Expectantly. If you do, He will see to it that He "will be found by you."
QUOTES FOR THE WEEK:
> "What is happening to America? . . . We are in the midst of a spiritual and moral battle for the soul of this nation. We are in a war of good vs. evil. We are in a war of God's way vs. man's way." -- Dr. Eddie Hyatt
> "Prayer begets Revival, which begets more prayer." -- Jim Cymbala
> "It is as much the duty of the church to awake, as it is for the firemen to awake when a fire breaks out in the night in a great city." -- Charles Finney
> "Any Christian who desires and prays for revival, and does not experience every imaginable distraction and hindrance to his desire is blind to one of Satan's greatest ambitions -- to stop revival before it comes, hinder revival while it's here, and nullify revival in its results. Revival among God's people is Satan's greatest fear. So, dear Christian, pray for revival, be prepared to do battle, and fight on!" -- T. Allen Robburts
> "When God takes the field He does a thorough work, but in this connection we do well to remember that it takes the supernatural to burst the bands of the natural." -- Duncan Campbell
> "There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer." -- A.T. Pierson
> "When Holy God draws near in true revival, people come under terrible conviction of sin. The outstanding feature of spiritual awakening has been the profound consciousness of the Presence and holiness of God." -- Henry Blackaby
> "Present-day wickedness, apostasy and modern civilization cannot prevent revival." -- John R. Rice
> "A true revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness and selfishness, and making God and His love triumph in the heart and life." -- Andrew Murray
> "You have to expect spiritual warfare whenever you stand up for righteousness or call attention to basic values. It's just a matter of light battling the darkness. But the light wins every time. You can't throw enough darkness on light to put it out." -- Thomas Kincaid
REVIVAL -- A BATTLE OF, A BATTLE FOR:
For some inexplicable reason, it seems the Lord wants me to address an area of revival and spiritual awakening that I have never written about -- at least as it relates to revival. It is the matter of how deathly afraid and viciously destructive Satan and his hordes are in their attempts to first prohibit and then -- if it can't be prevented -- pervert or side-track it in some way. I've been wrestling with this matter for about a month, and finally a couple of weeks ago decided to address the issue.
Since then, no less than a dozen different articles, periodicals, and videos have crossed my desk, all of them dealing with that very topic. That has to be more than just coincidental. Is it possible that this is one of those "where-two-or-more-agree" moments? Perhaps. Just this morning the Charisma News Daily -- one of two dozen different online news sources I receive -- devoted almost its entire issue to spiritual warfare with half of its eight special featured articles dealing in some way with the battle against Satan.
Just this morning I received the newsletter of the ACLJ (American Center of Law and Justice) in which its founder, attorney Jay Sekulow, reviewed some of the things happening in our nation, stating . . .
"[The] FBI has planted spies in churches to monitor 'radical traditionalist"'Christians and 'their ideology.' The Deep State is treating you like criminals and terrorists. [The] FBI, IRS, DOJ, and the whole alphabet soup of corrupt federal agencies are surreptitiously threatening your religious liberty. Need more proof? Christian kids are kicked out of federal museums. Children are searched and have their Bibles confiscated at school as if the Word of God is contraband, with the Department of Education now undercutting religious liberty. The IRS is targeting Christian groups. Realtors are banned from including John 3:16 and 'Jesus Loves You' in their emails. [The] Secret Service even threatened to arrest a pastor for praying outside the Chinese Embassy. Nearly every Deep State rule change has some nefarious attack on your faith buried in it."
This past Monday, in his address to the National Religious Broadcasters Association, Franklin Graham reminded the attendees of what they obviously already knew: . . .
"There's a storm coming, and we've all got to be prepared. . . . Every demon from hell has been turned loose . . . The world has deteriorated so quickly, we cannot be deceived and we can't be fooled. We need to get ready and be prepared. . . . If you're going to try to proclaim the Gospel, they're going to try to shut you up."
These and other reports over the past few months almost certainly indicate that there is something in another world of another nature going on behind the scenes. There can be no other explanation to the obvious exponential rise of evil on the one hand and the vicious attacks on Christians and Christianity on the other. We both know this -- but sometimes don't want to acknowledge it. However, the volume of it, the scope of it, the enormity of it, the depth of it, and the severity of it: -- they all point directly at an "other world" origin. Too much of what is happening delves far deeper than man's mere fallen depraved base nature.
Now, if we choose, we can contribute such attacks against our Judeo-Christian culture to "white supremacists", "Marxists", "the far left", or "extremists", China, the drug cartel, the mainstream media, or a particular political party all we want, -- but the fact remains that such efforts to silence the message of the Gospel ultimately rest at the feet of the Prince of this world, Satan himself (Jn 12:31; 16:11; Eph 2:2). His agenda to ". . . steal and kill and destroy . . ." (Jn 10:10) has never changed from the moment it was initiated in the heavenlies (Isa 14:12-15) long before he enacted it in the Garden thousands of years ago (Gen 3:1-8).
If we, as followers of Christ, refuse to have a world view that sees through the lens of Scripture and what God has to say about things, we will never understand the contemporary world conditions as being the magnification of what the Serpent initiated with Adam and Eve. When we choose to see life through God's eyes, we seen an entirely different scenario than what current political and media pundits try to make us believe. We understand that, behind every human thought, intent, and act, there is a spiritual influence that stems from either God's plan of redemption or Satan's plan of ruin. It's that simple.
The sad condition of spiritual and moral anemia from which the Church at large suffers (yes, there are wonderful exceptions!), has left most believers impervious to the true world conditions around them. While the Church simply picks at the scabs and applies new band aids, the boil continues to grow and its fatal infection spreads. Tragically, it is a destructive case of "the blind leading the blind" -- and the ditch into which they are falling is dangerously deep.
What, then, does this have to do with revival and spiritual awakening?
Everything.
Dr. Eddie Hyatt, author of America's Revival Heritage, Five Pillars of the American Republic, The Pilgrims, Abolitionist Founding Fathers, Pilgrims and Patriots, Three Keys to Answered Prayer, and more than a dozen other books worth reading, wrote a month or so ago, . . .
"What is happening to America? Another tragic mass shooting occurred this weekend at a shopping mall in Allen, Texas, just a few miles from where Sue and I live in Grapevine. How many more tragedies must be suffered before we wake up to what is really happening? We are in the midst of a spiritual and moral battle for the soul of this nation. We are in a war of good vs. evil. We are in a war of God's way vs. man's way."
Revivals in both the Old Testament and subsequent history almost always took place in proximity to the expansion or intensification of evil. When Christians "give place to the Devil" (Eph 4:27) -- in direct contradiction to what the Bible repeatedly tells us NOT to do -- Satan and his triumvirate of dominion take full advantage of that "place" and begin the slow and steady process of, first, diminishing the believer's attentiveness; then they start trying to drain the believer's resources. Once those resources (prayer, God's Word, praise, fasting, etc.) have been drained either from neglect or stealth, they then begin to ramp up their attacks until they reach an overwhelming avalanche to which the believer loses heart, loses hope, -- and then loses the battle.
The word for "place" in Ephesians 4:27 is τόπος, (spelled and pronounced "topos" in English. The NASEC defines it as "a place", an "occasion", or a "locality". It is clearly a specific defined territory of some kind that has in some way been given over to the Devil's persuasiveness and control. Strong agrees, but adds the idea of specifically, a "room", a "place", "occupancy", "quarters", and figuratively "opportunity".
Thayer's Greek Dictionary provides even more clarity. It not only defines it the same as NASEC and Strong, but also adds, a "portion or space marked off, as it were from surrounding space", and "an inhabited place, as a city, village, district".
So, when a believer, either through ignorance, neglect, or attack, buckle under Satan's triumvirate (the world, the flesh, the Devil and/or his demonic hordes), he is providing the arch enemy of our faith both Location and Occasion. There is no possible way a believer, depleted in his spiritual assets, can withstand the constant onslaught of the enemy under such conditions.
When we "give place to the Devil", we are providing him a handhold by which he can swing aboard, establish a foothold, build a stronghold, and ultimately defeat us. Even the slightest compromise in the life of the Christian leaves him totally vulnerable to Satan's stealth attacks. All he is looking for is an opportunity. When you give him a "place", he'll take full advantage of it.
A CONTEMPORARY EXAMPLE:
I cannot help but think of Putin's invasion of Ukraine as I write. If you take time to study both the strategy and the tactics of the Ukrainian military, you will see in their plans the very thing that Satan does with us. While Ukraine is "the good guy" doing the right thing, Satan is the "deceiver" and "destroyer". But, Ukraine is still an appropriate illustration. Their military is made up of two major efforts -- one is Defense, and the other is Offense. Russia is constantly attempting to defeat Ukraine by destroying its infrastructure, primarily from the air.
As of yesterday, in the past six months of areal bombardment, Ukraine has defended itself by knocking 99% of the missiles, rockets, and bombs before they hit the ground. Ukraine learned in the visible world how to "extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one" (Eph 6:16) through their defensive "shield of faith" in the resources available to them.
At the same time, their offense is not one of overwhelming the enemy at first, but instead, diminishing Russia's military assets of both manpower and equipment. Before advancing on the ground, Ukrainian forces are destroying fuel depots, arsenals, munition stockpiles, bridges, equipment, and troops. The time will come when their counteroffensive will begin, but not until the time is right and Russia's strength has been seriously weakened.
As of today -- I see daily reports from several official sources in Ukraine itself -- Russia has lost over 11,000 pieces of military equipment (over 70 yesterday alone), over 2,000 commissioned officer, at least 11 top generals, and 205,260 troops, including over 500 yesterday.
While Ukraine fights nobly for survival, peace, and freedom against an enemy that has dominated her land in one way or another for centuries -- at least since the Czarist era, -- Satan and his allies use the same type of strategy, both visible and invisible, to destroy, create conflict, and put believers in bondage and ultimate defeat. The world's temptations, the flesh's carnal appetites, and the Devil's attacks all link together to do exactly what Jesus told us -- "steal and kill and destroy". That's his plan.
THE ENEMY'S STRATEGY:
I don't know if you have considered this or not, but Satan is exceptionally selective in how he carries out his three-fold strategy -- and who he selects to attack.
Think about this for a moment -- Satan never puts undue pressure on unbelievers. Why should he? If he makes life hard on those who are lost, they might actually turn around and come to faith in Christ, the very Person Who crushed his head just outside Jerusalem's city walls on Calvary. So he keeps them blinded to the truth (II Cor 4:4), spiritually dead and psychologically dying in sin (Eph 2:1,5,13; Rom 6:23), ensnared by the world (I Jn 2:15-17), and separated and condemned to eternal death and suffering ()
Similarly, Satan's attacks on Christians will logically focus less on the carnal and superficial believers for the same reason. If his attacks on them are too intense, they might awaken out of their slumber, begin praying and crying out to God for revival and power. There is no greater tool in Satan's quiver than a Christian who is living so much like the world that you can hardly tell the difference. They don't pray, they have no interest in reading the Bible, gathering with other believers sounds unnecessary and boring to them, and the idea of telling someone else about Jesus is far away from their "to do" list as a Christian.
The sad thing is that it doesn't bother them that they don't pray or read the Bible. Church attendance happens when they feel like it or there's nothing else to do. They aren't sure if Jesus will actually return, or if He does, it probably won't be in their lifetime. Sharing the Gospel is for preachers and "super saints", but not them. They know they ought to, but it seldom means they will. It's the uncaring, carnal, calloused Christian that sends more people to hell than anything the world can offer.
Consequently, to a large extent Satan targets people who are actually potential threats to his agenda of world domination. That's the hungry, passionate, brokenhearted believer who sees and understands "the handwriting on the wall" and knows the harvest is now, and nightfall is near. So, when we begin praying for and seeking revival, Satan will do everything in His power to keep it from happening.
J. C. Ryle, in speaking of revival and spiritual warfare, stated, . . .
"The saddest symptom about many so-called Christians is the utter absence of anything like conflict and fight against spiritual apathy in their Christianity. They eat, they drink, they dress, they work, they amuse themselves, they get money, they spend money, they go through a brief round of formal religious services once or twice every week. But of the great spiritual warfare - its watchings and strugglings, its agonies and anxieties, its battles and contests - of all things they appear to know nothing at all. Let us take care that this case is not our own."
Since my letter is already too long (again), let me just point out the following:
1. He will Deceive you about revival and what it is. He will lie about what revival is, and he will try to convince you that something else is revival when it is not. He'll try to convince you that revival is just an event or an experience rather than a life-changing encounter with Christ.
2. He will Divert revival from you. He will conjure up circumstances, hindrances, crises, events and barriers that will shift revival away from your attention and your awareness that revival is both needed and is coming -- or even present and already taking place.
3. He will Dissuade revival in your thinking. He will get you to conclude that revival doesn't really need to take place -- at least not yet. He will have you put such thoughts in the back of your mind -- or in the world of total forgetfulness -- so that you seldom see the evidences around you as being reminders that you need to pray for revival and seek God's presence.
4. He will Distract you from revival to other things. He will fill your agenda with so many other things -- some of them even good -- that you don't have time to consider revival, the need for it, and the conditions of the culture around you. He will even busy you with church activities and worthy projects.
5. He will Distort revival when it happens. If Satan cannot keep you from entering into revival or seeing it come to your church, town, or region, he will try his best to distort it, and in doing so, discredit it in the minds of others. Such efforts can be seen in virtually every revival we know anything about. He will raise up naysayers, just like Sanballat, Tobiah, and Gesham in Nehemiah's day, or Haman -- or even the Devil -- in Daniel's day. If he cannot stop revival, he'll try to distort it.
6. He will Discredit times of revival when they happen. This is another of Satan's efforts to keep Christians powerless, lethargic, discouraged, and fruitless. He specializes, for example, in raising up human leaders prone to take control, in causing other leaders to fall, in creating extremism and excesses, and in generating scandals. Nothing is off limits as he tries to discredit genuine revival. Then, of course, you always have those religious leaders who outright oppose revival because it doesn't fit their own particular theology or denominational preferences.
7. He will Destroy revival movements and the fruit of their results. If none of the above are successful in blocking or sidetracking revival, then Satan's final effort will be to destroy revival movements and the results they bring. One of the first things he uses is time and familiarity. Very few revivals endure as long as they should. Familiarity among the people, rather than being a blessing, can be a bane because the spirit of revival becomes so common that they begin to neglect those things that perpetuate longevity in revival movements.
THE REALITY OF WARFARE FOR REVIVAL:
While Jo Ann and I have personally experienced seasons of both personal, local, and territorial revival over the past 50+ years, I cannot remember a time when I have been more aware of the importance of spiritual warfare and the need for revival. But, it makes total sense that Satan would oppose such a movement among God's people. It would cause inevitable failure and doom to his agenda.
This battle is more intense and widespread than anytime in history. It is a battle both for the souls of men, and also for the soul of a nation. I certainly don't want to overemphasize the role America plays in world affairs, but in spite of our many failures and flaws, we are still the best thing going when it comes to individualism, freedom, safety, and prosperity.
But all of that is on extremely shaky ground today. Frankly, whenever I try to catalog all the things that have gone wrong over the past sixty years -- and especially the past 15 years -- I get bogged down and my brain seems to go numb. I cannot get my mind around it all; it is too overwhelming. I keep thinking, . . . "How many more times can we possibly be in danger??? How many more times can we get off track??? How many more times can we thumb our nose at God and get away with it???"
Sadly, our plight is both political, cultural, economic, and spiritual. Because of that, there are times when it is almost impossible to deal with the spiritual without implying one or more of the others. That's too bad, because in our efforts to avoid being political, for example, we fail to point out things that need to be exposed. One thing that gives me the greatest grief is trying to understand the enormous and ever-expanding moral gap between our political parties. It is mystifying -- until I remember . . . it is spiritual at its root.
If we remember some of the numerous biblical predictions about such things, perhaps we won't be so frustrated -- and we'll be more knowledgeable, insightful, and wise. Perhaps more courageous and outspoken, too.
This morning, for example, I ran across another piece by Victor Davis Hanson entitled, "The Left Has Pushed The Envelope". In it he enumerates a number of things the far left has done during the past six or seven years that have all but dismembered our system of equal and fair justice, as well as our trust our national leaders and our constitutional freedoms. We find ourselves with no guarantees that our nation as our Constitution intends will survive much longer. This is what Hanson tried to articulate in his article. If you decide you'd like to read his commentary, here is the link: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/05/25/the_left_has_pushed_the_envelope_149277.html?mc_cid=e5362b6ecf&mc_eid=88602e31ae .
But, you and I both know, as I noted earlier, that the battle in the heavenlies is what impacts the battles we face in the physical world. Mankind is above all a spiritual being, and we must never forget that. Satan tries to get us to forget; but we must not. We cannot allow ourselves to get caught in the trap of trying to solve physical, material, and emotional issues without addressing the spiritual. We have an option of dealing merely with the fruit but not the root, or we can solve the fruit by dealing with the root.
PRAYING FOR AND FIGHTING FOR REVIVAL:
That being the case, then what will it take on our part to persevere into and fight for revival? A few days ago, I received this commentary from Francis Frangipane, a well known pastor and author from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I have followed his ministry since the early 1990's and have probably a half dozen of his books. One of the better books is his book on spiritual warfare, The Three Battlegrounds, written in 2006. You would think it had been written last week. I commend it to you.
In it he addressed three areas of warfare -- the mind, the Church, and the spirit world. Using the story of King Ahab in the Old Testament, he introduced the idea that not only was Jezebel a real person, but if you study her personal genealogy, you soon conclude there she represented an evil spirit as well. In revisiting his book in his recent article, Frangipane stated, . . .
"Perhaps at no other time in history has the spirit of Jezebel had such access to a culture. This immoral spirit has set its goal to corrupt entire generations. Jesus Himself warned about tolerating the influence of this spirit. . . .
"The spirit of Jezebel hates repentance. Her worst fear is that a congregation will begin to mourn over their sins. Though this spirit may intellectually espouse true doctrines, the person's heart will reject the embrace of true repentance.
"Jezebel hates humility. Jesus taught that greatness in the kingdom was measured in childlike honesty of heart, not in what we appear to be to others. A true servant-minded ministry is eager to be submitted to other ministries, for spirituality is measured in meekness, not control.
"Jezebel hates prayer. Intercessory prayer pries her fingers off the hearts and souls of men. It sets people free in the spirit. When you pray, it binds her. When you pray against immorality, it cripples her. When you pray for a submissive heart, it is like the trampling of Jehu's horse upon her body.
"Jezebel hates the prophets, for the prophets speak out against her. The prophets are her worst enemies. When she wars, it is to stir people against the message of the prophetic church. Yet more than her hatred for the prophet ministry, she hates the word they speak. Her real enemy is the spoken Word of God.
"Jezebel's ultimate hatred is against God Himself. She hates the grace God lavishes upon His bond-servants, even after they sin. She hates the fact that God will take the weakest and lowliest and use them to bring her down. She hates the holiness and purity of heart that comes from God and surrounds those who serve in His courts.
"Any time the Spirit of God's kingdom is truly manifested in the earth, it will ultimately confront the strongholds of hell. Indeed, wherever evil spirits have either a foothold or a stronghold, you can expect that the overcoming church will be engaged in warfare, and expect also that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church that Jesus builds."
Notice the things Frangipane pointed out that evil spirits, including what he calls "the spirit of Jezebel", hate; and then compare it to what God tells us we must do if revival is to come. Compare them to what God told Solomon at the building of the temple:
"Humble themselves" -- "Jezebel hates humility. "
"Pray" -- "Jezebel hates prayer.
"Seek My Face" -- "Jezebel's ultimate hatred is against God Himself."
"Turn from their wicked ways" -- "The spirit of Jezebel hates repentance."
How interesting! Is that just coincidence, or is there some valuable insight to be grasped?
Jonathan Cahn takes a similar approach in his recent book, The return of the Gods in that he contends that what is happening to us today that is turning our world upside down, is that the ancient pagan gods of Old Testament days have returned. Scripture indeed tells us that in the last days before Christ's return, evil will become so dominant that Satan's demons will be unleashed on the world order to create confusion, chaos, destruction, and death -- exactly what Jesus described as his agenda -- "steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10).
Just as Frangipane identified the spirit of Jezebel, Cahn also identified specific pagan gods that dominated the ancient world and that he believes are now dominating the will and actions of today's culture. While I'm still in the process of reading the book, I could not agree more. Since the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden, humanity has battled the issue of which god to worship -- for, you see, we were created to worship and live in intimate communion with the Lord God of creation. When that relationship was broken by mankind succumbing to "the god of this world", mankind has been searching for a god -- any god -- to worship and follow. It took less than one generation for worshiping the wrong god to enter the human race. It was Cain who chose to worship the work of his own hands.
Cahn makes this introductory statement:
"They haunted the ancient world. The fact that in the past two thousand years they have not been everywhere is an exception to the rule. For most of recorded history the gods were in every land and enthroned on the pinnacle of every major culture and civilization, . . .
"Wherever there were people, there were gods. They reigned over nations, over cities, over cultures, over nature, over the underworld, and over the heavenlies. Their presence permeated the lives of their subjects. The people were bound to them.
"That the gods could appear in every land, transcending the many differences, distinctions, and barriers of culture, to become a near universal part of human life is a strange and peculiar phenomenon. To modern sensibilities, the phenomenon of the gods is the product of man’s imagination, his projections, his fears, desires, and fantasies. That is certainly part of the story.
"But what if there was more to it? What if there was another dynamic in the mix, another realm?"
Cahn posed an intriguing question -- "What if there was more to it?"
You and I know the answer, of course; and the answer is, "There Is!"
God pointed this out to the Children of Israel while still in the wilderness. They had just left an entire culture in Egypt where everything centered around gods and the Pharaoh who represented them to the people. In His instruction to Israel before the enter the Promised Land, Moses sang a song about what God had taught them along the way, and how they had so often disobeyed Him, thus causing great harm and hardship upon themselves. In Deuteronomy, as he was about to turn his leadership over to his successor, Joshua, Moses sang, . . .
"They sacrificed to demons who were not God, To gods whom they have not known, New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread." (Deut 32:`7).
>From the earliest days of man, pagan gods are directly linked to demonic entities. In the Old Testament they were called, "Shedim". In translating the Old Testament into the Greek Septuagint, the word, "diamonion" was used -- the word for demons. Cahn explained it like this: . . .
"In turning away from God, they worship other gods. Those other gods are identified as the shedim. In all the Hebrew Scriptures the word appears only once more, in the Book of Psalms: They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to shedim.2 The word shedim again stands for the gods and idols of the nations that the people of Israel turned to when they turned away from God. What does it mean?
"Shedim comes from the Hebrew root word shud, which means to act violently, to lay waste, to devastate, that which brings destruction. In ancient Babylonian writings the word shedim or shedu speaks of spirits, protective or malevolent. The latter case would match the root word from which the word shedim derives. A malevolent spirit would lay waste and devastate and bring destruction."
WHAT MUST BE DONE:
This brings us, then, to our current predicament. In that we know our world is under the increasing influence of the powers of darkness set on destroying us all, in that we are an incompetent people who nevertheless have a message that must be shared, in that everything that is coming against us is more powerful than we are, and in that we are in desperate need of a sweeping revival that will shift the spiritual balance of power, what must we do?
My encouragement to you would be to focus on three things: -- II Chronicles 7:14, constantly plead for revival, and take action on Paul's admonition to the Christians in Corinth, a hotbed of pagan worship and demonic concentration.
1. II Chronicles 7:14: -- humbly acknowledge your helplessness to change anything, and your hopelessness to do so, pray, seek God's face, and turn away from all sin and carnality.
2. Cry out to God in desperation for sweeping revival -- first in your own life, then in others around you, and then in your church, city, and country.
3. Follow the instruction Paul gave to the Corinthian church as stated in II Corinthians 10. If we don't do that, our chances of true revival are greatly reduced. A longtime acquaintance, Bill Elliff, wrote about this element just a few days ago in his "Graceful Truth Blog Post" on May 19th. What he wrote is well worth sharing with you. Here are excerpts:
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OUR DIVINELY POWERFUL WEAPONS IN THIS CURRENT BATTLE
By Bill Elliff on May 19, 2023 09:09 am
"The world is a place of constant warfare for those who follow Christ. God loves people. This love drives Him to 'seek and save those who are lost.' He longs to bring people into the glorious Kingdom that He created for us. And His true followers are His boots on the ground.
"Our Enemy is 100% evil and incessantly seeking to block the advancement of God’s kingdom. He 'blinds the minds of the unbelieving' and tempts them with every false idea imaginable to keep them from God. Their beliefs can become like strong fortresses raised up against the knowledge of God. He has the use of culture at his disposal.
"False ideas can become the prevailing mindset of society, affecting children as well as adults. He fills the world with overwhelming philosophies and ideas. And our battlefield is also complicated by the inherent weakness of mankind’s flesh that leads to sins of every kind. Our task occurs in a dark, dark place.
"Our great calling as believers in Christ is to consistently share the liberating news of Christ with those around us to help them into the Kingdom of God. But in this task, there are weapons available to us that evil does not possess. We have a vastly superior tactical advantage. Sadly, most Christians are unaware of this and deceived (by the Enemy, of course) into believing that victory in this worldly mission is impossible.
"OUR WEAPONS IN THIS BATTLE
"As Paul defended his work as an apostle before some criticizing Corinthians, he speaks of the power of the tools we have available. He uses military terms.
'''For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.' (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
"The weapons for the believer in this battle are not evil or sinfully coercive. Love, prayer, grace, Biblical truth, and the almighty power of the good news of Jesus Christ fill our arsenal. But these tools, infused with the drawing, saving power of God’s Spirit, are more powerful than imaginable.
"Take one simple tool for example: PRAYER. Every believer can walk into the Throne Room of God and get their orders directly from the Commander who Sits-Above-All. He is sovereign in His authority and omnipotent in His might. Through prayer, God can lead us to make the exact right moves at the exact right moments for spiritual advantage in the battle. . . .
". . . through prayer, we can literally bring God into the equation. The strongest, most powerful One stands right with us on the battlefield. We can ask the Holy Spirit to work in the recesses of others’ minds, convicting them of their need for Christ. We simply share the truth, but through prayer, the Spirit does His saving work.
"God never intended for us to do this work alone. But, if we do not use the tools available, we are on level ground with the Enemy, and he has the advantage. We are powerless against him in the mere energy of our flesh.
"THE BATTLEFIELD RESULTS
"When we humbly and confidently seek to help others come into Christ's Kingdom, using the “divinely powerful” resources available, we can be assured we are in the most victorious position. When faithfully used, the gospel can have supernatural effects on those we love. His work through us can …
Pull down fortresses of the mind.
Destroy speculations.
Destroy every lofty thing raised up against a true, experiential knowledge of Christ.
Take the unbeliever’s thoughts captive to Christ, which can lead to a surrendered and obedient life for all eternity.
". . . . enlist the aid of heaven’s resources. Cry out for Divine utterance. Pray for the Spirit to take your words and supernaturally destroy the Enemy’s strongholds in their minds. . . ."
FINALLY:
So, here are my questions: Are you praying for revival? Are you pleading with God to change our nation? Are you interceding that God will bring conviction, repentance, and obedience back to the Church? Are you standing in the gap in behalf of flawed and often weak and hypocritical politicians that claim to be leading us well?
If you are doing even one of these in a mere moderate way, you know that it is a battle. I am more convinced than ever that one of the greatest battles ever fought by believers will take place in their pleas to God for revival. It is even more intense than praying for healing or the salvation of the lost -- because when you pray for the lost people you know, maybe a few will come to Christ.
But -- if you cry out to God for revival and He sends it, you will see hundreds -- even thousands -- come to Christ. Satan is content to lose a few in order to keep millions.
So, let me encourage you. When you pray for revival, be ready for a battle. You'll have a real fight on your hands as you face one or more of those seven tactics of Satan that I mentioned. However, your greatest weapon will remain the authority and power of God made available to you through the mighty work of the Holy Spirit.
A couple of days ago Jay Johnson, the National Prayer Coordinator for the Family Research Council wrote, . . .
"The message given to Zerubbabel from Zechariah is as timely today as it was centuries ago. You see, God did not create us to be apart from Him. He desires to have a relationship with us and work in and through us. We see this clearly in Zechariah 4:6: 'So he answered and said to me: "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Says the LORD of hosts'." The challenge to Zerubbabel from the Prophet Zechariah was to trust God and let Him fight the battle."
So it is with you and me.
Don't fail now. Don't quit in the middle of the fight. Pray for revival! Pray for a revolutionary change in our national leadership in all three branches of government. They have lost their way, and too many of them are fighting for the enemy while others are fighting only in the visible political world, either ignorant of or ignoring the subterranean and devious efforts to destroy us from within.
Pray for churches to come to desperation, brokenness, repentance, and obedience. Pray for pastors to again take up the mantel and speak the anointed truth of God's Word without hesitation or fear.
"O LORD, You showed favor to Your land; You restored the captivity of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. You withdrew all Your fury; You turned away from Your burning anger.
"Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your indignation toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?
"Will You not Yourself revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your lovingkindness, O LORD, And grant us Your salvation."
-- Psalm 85:1-7
In His Bond, By His Grace, and for His Kingdom,
Bob Tolliver -- Romans 1:11
"Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness,
examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so." -- Dr. Luke (Acts 17:11)
"A fire kept burning on the hearthstone of my heart, and I took up the burden of the day with fresh courage and hope." -- Charles F. McKoy
Life Unlimited Ministries
LUMglobal
lifeunlimited@pobox.com
Copyright May, 2023
"If Jesus had preached the same message that many ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified." -- Leonard Ravenhill
"The time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the Church will have clowns entertaining the goats." -- Charles H. Spurgeon
If this letter has blessed you, feel free to forward it or copy from it, with proper credits, to any and all you wish.