Wickedness in high places
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Eph. 6:12).
I was amazed at the power and control of the publishing industry as I read the account of an investigative journalist who spent 18 years uncovering the DuPont family’s involvement in global exploitation for the New World Order.
“The powers that be” effectively prevented him from getting three books published, either by setting an heard-of pre-required customer base and then raising the amount several times as each minimum was obtained; to lawsuits where lawyers and judges were bought off or complicit with the DuPonts; to having shipments of the badly needed books “accidentally” not arrive at a large book-signing; to showing up at book signings with large rented box trucks to purchase the whole lot in order to keep the public from buying the books’ exposing reports; to finally publishing the book with the most expositional part mysteriously missing from the book’s content.
“Privishing” is the term used to describe this act of quietly killing a book before it can get to the public. This is what this journalist had firsthand experience in. At the end, all he had gotten from his 18 years of work was a short story about what he had gone through.
Though America looks like a free society, all of its freedoms are eroding in an accelerating fashion. Recently, the U.S. Senate passed a law that enforces the natural extension of the USA Patriot Act; it empowers the justice system to abduct anyone they brand a terrorist and place them in detention centers without any legal protection or due process of law. The CIA is behind it all and very secretive, so that no one knows of the tortures and death that have gone on inside the walls of those high security prisons. The cries and pain go unheard by human ears; but God hears.
Right now, and increasingly so in the near future, we are going to be needing God’s protection and His Holy Spirit. He promised this two-fold blessing to His beloved servant, Abram, who had obeyed the second great commandment to love his neighbor as himself. Abram had risked his life rescuing the people of Sodom, and now there could be repercussions, which scared him. “After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” (Gen. 15:1).
Our Creator knows that we need His friendship and redeeming power, but He also knows that we need physical protection as well.
Abraham gladly returned to his tents and his flocks, but his mind was disturbed by harassing thoughts. He had been a man of peace, so far as possible shunning enmity and strife; and with horror he recalled the scene of carnage he had witnessed. But the nations whose forces he had defeated would doubtless renew the invasion of Canaan, and make him the special object of their vengeance. Becoming thus involved in national quarrels, the peaceful quiet of his life would be broken. Furthermore, he had not entered upon the possession of Canaan, nor could he now hope for an heir, to whom the promise might be fulfilled.
In a vision of the night the divine Voice was again heard. “Fear not, Abram,” were the words of the Prince of princes; “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 136.
We need both God’s protective shield and His Holy Spirit as our exceeding great reward. “For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” (Matt. 6:32). “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” (Matt. 7:11). “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” (Lk. 11:13). “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33).
We need the Latter Rain to prepare us for the great trouble ahead. Physical protection is not enough; we need communion with God. It was the early raining of the Spirit that spread the gospel when persecution made the early Christians flee in all directions. The persecution was providentially administered because the people were congregating amongst themselves and the world needed the good news. But the Christians were also benefited by being scattered because keeping the truth of the Messiah’s redemption to themselves risked the coagulation of truth in the church and then corruption would ensue.
We need by experience to have a firm grasp on faith in God’s redemption. We need to know His power to “[deliver] us from the power of darkness,” and to “[translate] us into the kingdom of His dear Son.” (Col. 1:13). We need Him to “revive us” and “raise us up,” “and we shall live in His sight.” (Hos. 6:2).
Here was where so many failed and lost their eternal life. When Israel was approaching the borders of Canaan, they demonstrated their forty year effort to forget God. They grumbled and complained again at their dismal living conditions. So the Lord let the snakes come out and bite the miserable people. If they only wanted to cry in self-pity and blame God for everything, then He would give them something to really cry about.
Then He sent a remedy—all this to develop in them the habit of spirituality. His antidote for the burning venom was to have Moses make a brazen serpent and then put it on a pole. The people must look at it in order to live.
But many died anyway. They were so fixated on the snakes or paralyzed emotionally by the bite that they had no time or will to look to the divinely offered remedy. Besides, they had no faith in the troublemaker, Moses, the Lord’s divinely appointed servant. So they perished. And they deserved to perish, after having given this very same grief to Moses and God for forty years. God didn’t kill them or execute them; He gave them the opportunity to come inline with heaven’s holy, eternal government. But they refused.
Let us not refuse God’s great offer of redemption from sin. “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven: whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.” (Heb. 12:25,26). “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.” (Jude 1:5).
“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” (1Cor. 10:11,12).
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (Jn. 3:14,15). Today we must get acquainted with Jesus and let trust grow. Faith does not happen overnight; it takes time. Looking at the cross of Christ, and gaining appreciation for His sacrifice and love for a rebel planet will get us through the great time of trouble. We need to know about the details of the approaching tribulation, but without the heart’s searching for God and its appropriation of the gospel, we will not be able to endure the sight of the coming trouble, much less the actual experience.
Jesus is both our shield and our exceeding great reward. United with Him, we will overcome.
I was amazed at the power and control of the publishing industry as I read the account of an investigative journalist who spent 18 years uncovering the DuPont family’s involvement in global exploitation for the New World Order.
“The powers that be” effectively prevented him from getting three books published, either by setting an heard-of pre-required customer base and then raising the amount several times as each minimum was obtained; to lawsuits where lawyers and judges were bought off or complicit with the DuPonts; to having shipments of the badly needed books “accidentally” not arrive at a large book-signing; to showing up at book signings with large rented box trucks to purchase the whole lot in order to keep the public from buying the books’ exposing reports; to finally publishing the book with the most expositional part mysteriously missing from the book’s content.
“Privishing” is the term used to describe this act of quietly killing a book before it can get to the public. This is what this journalist had firsthand experience in. At the end, all he had gotten from his 18 years of work was a short story about what he had gone through.
Though America looks like a free society, all of its freedoms are eroding in an accelerating fashion. Recently, the U.S. Senate passed a law that enforces the natural extension of the USA Patriot Act; it empowers the justice system to abduct anyone they brand a terrorist and place them in detention centers without any legal protection or due process of law. The CIA is behind it all and very secretive, so that no one knows of the tortures and death that have gone on inside the walls of those high security prisons. The cries and pain go unheard by human ears; but God hears.
Right now, and increasingly so in the near future, we are going to be needing God’s protection and His Holy Spirit. He promised this two-fold blessing to His beloved servant, Abram, who had obeyed the second great commandment to love his neighbor as himself. Abram had risked his life rescuing the people of Sodom, and now there could be repercussions, which scared him. “After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” (Gen. 15:1).
Our Creator knows that we need His friendship and redeeming power, but He also knows that we need physical protection as well.
Abraham gladly returned to his tents and his flocks, but his mind was disturbed by harassing thoughts. He had been a man of peace, so far as possible shunning enmity and strife; and with horror he recalled the scene of carnage he had witnessed. But the nations whose forces he had defeated would doubtless renew the invasion of Canaan, and make him the special object of their vengeance. Becoming thus involved in national quarrels, the peaceful quiet of his life would be broken. Furthermore, he had not entered upon the possession of Canaan, nor could he now hope for an heir, to whom the promise might be fulfilled.
In a vision of the night the divine Voice was again heard. “Fear not, Abram,” were the words of the Prince of princes; “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 136.
We need both God’s protective shield and His Holy Spirit as our exceeding great reward. “For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” (Matt. 6:32). “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” (Matt. 7:11). “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” (Lk. 11:13). “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33).
We need the Latter Rain to prepare us for the great trouble ahead. Physical protection is not enough; we need communion with God. It was the early raining of the Spirit that spread the gospel when persecution made the early Christians flee in all directions. The persecution was providentially administered because the people were congregating amongst themselves and the world needed the good news. But the Christians were also benefited by being scattered because keeping the truth of the Messiah’s redemption to themselves risked the coagulation of truth in the church and then corruption would ensue.
We need by experience to have a firm grasp on faith in God’s redemption. We need to know His power to “[deliver] us from the power of darkness,” and to “[translate] us into the kingdom of His dear Son.” (Col. 1:13). We need Him to “revive us” and “raise us up,” “and we shall live in His sight.” (Hos. 6:2).
Here was where so many failed and lost their eternal life. When Israel was approaching the borders of Canaan, they demonstrated their forty year effort to forget God. They grumbled and complained again at their dismal living conditions. So the Lord let the snakes come out and bite the miserable people. If they only wanted to cry in self-pity and blame God for everything, then He would give them something to really cry about.
Then He sent a remedy—all this to develop in them the habit of spirituality. His antidote for the burning venom was to have Moses make a brazen serpent and then put it on a pole. The people must look at it in order to live.
But many died anyway. They were so fixated on the snakes or paralyzed emotionally by the bite that they had no time or will to look to the divinely offered remedy. Besides, they had no faith in the troublemaker, Moses, the Lord’s divinely appointed servant. So they perished. And they deserved to perish, after having given this very same grief to Moses and God for forty years. God didn’t kill them or execute them; He gave them the opportunity to come inline with heaven’s holy, eternal government. But they refused.
Let us not refuse God’s great offer of redemption from sin. “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven: whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.” (Heb. 12:25,26). “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.” (Jude 1:5).
“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” (1Cor. 10:11,12).
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (Jn. 3:14,15). Today we must get acquainted with Jesus and let trust grow. Faith does not happen overnight; it takes time. Looking at the cross of Christ, and gaining appreciation for His sacrifice and love for a rebel planet will get us through the great time of trouble. We need to know about the details of the approaching tribulation, but without the heart’s searching for God and its appropriation of the gospel, we will not be able to endure the sight of the coming trouble, much less the actual experience.
Jesus is both our shield and our exceeding great reward. United with Him, we will overcome.
posted by David | 12:50 PM
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