No. 83 - THE LAST SWORD FIGHT By: John Blanchard Thursday, April 13, 2006 First Day of Unleavened Bread Good morning, brethren. This is the First Day of Unleavened Bread. I have titled this sermon the “Last Sword Fight”. It is a little different from the typical Unleavened Bread sermon, but I want to get into this subject because of the time that we live in. To the outside observer the Church appears to be a Babylon of confusion. We can describe it in many ways. They all apply, but there are a lot of different explanations and descriptions of the Church in the scriptures that are not very flattering. We could say that the Church is divided and scattered. We could say that it is accusatory, opinionated, self-righteous, argumentative and also very skeptical and jaded. What caused this sorry state of the Church of God today? If we had to sum it up in a very simple succinct manner, we could say words. Words have done it. They were words that were often spoken in the name of God. They were words to expound doctrines and words used to divide brother from brother and sister from sister, congregation from congregation. They were words to deceive and words to lead astray. They were words used in flattery and used to deliberately confuse and obfuscate. They were words used to slander one another and oppress. They were words used to spread fear and distrust among the flock of God. Truly it has been a battle of words, usually spoken by people appearing to uphold the word of God. This is the situation we live in today. The Church has come to the point where people with a righteous attitude are often victims and have become the prey. It is a war in which the commandments of men are used to smite and divide, oppress and mislead. The Church has indeed come to a very strange place in time. It is a time that is very bizarre. It is a time full of strange rulings, twisted logic and harsh judgmental edicts. Perhaps you have experienced this first hand. Perhaps you have witnessed it occurring to other people. But it is sad to note that the Church that we used to love and are now confused by and often hurt by has come to a place where people who want to heal breaches are often persecuted. It is a place where people who want to fellowship with scattered brethren risk being disfellowshipped themselves. It has become a place where people who question the leadership are often beaten with the rod of government and where there is little tolerance for any questions, let alone dissent. We have come to a place where secret councils in various groups strategize on how to buy, sell and trade in sheep (being God’s people). Brethren are the merchandise. People are measured by their tithes and offering ability, and ministers are measured by what they bring to the table in their deals. It is a sad state of affairs. I do not like to say these things, but it is the truth. We have come to a place where back room deals are common place among the leadership of various groups. Dirty politics are played, bribes are paid and jobs are dispensed. We see this in the nations at large, and we say this nepotism, bribery and dispensing of jobs is terrible, but it goes on in the Church of God. We have had twenty years of secret deceptions, subtle heresies sneaked into the Church of God and mind games. These have all taken a huge toll on the people of God. The temple indeed has once again become a den of thieves! There are scriptures that explain, define and describe the time that we live in, and they apply to the Church. I want to start with Isaiah chapter 59. You are going to see a very apt description of the Church that you and I are a part of in the last days. We are going to begin in Isaiah 59:1 and read to verse 15. HARSH LIKE JONAH This is a description of the Church today, brethren. It is a very harsh Church that is full of bloodshed on innocent people because we condemn a world that does not know its right hand from its left. We condemn them to a horrible fate, while we often preach that we ourselves will be in some sort of place of safety. We condemn one another with harsh words, not being fair but slandering and accusing. God says when we do these things amongst one another, it is hatred for the body of Christ. It is hatred for the Church that Jesus Christ built and founded on His apostles nearly two thousand years ago. We have come to a very strange and bizarre place where we make war on ourselves! It is usually what we tell one another and what we preach. Humpty Dumpty has been busted into a million pieces, and no human being can put him back together again. This is going to take a miracle from God, and God knew this would happen. We need to have confidence because a long time ago God penned these words through Isaiah the prophet, so that we could take heart when we are in the end time and notice the situation we are in. Do not despair for the Great God’s arm is not short. He is going to fix this somehow. Continuing in Isaiah 59, God tells us beginning in the last half of verse 15: “Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him, that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor…” There is nobody out there interceding for the world like Jesus Christ did when He came. When Jesus Christ walked on this earth, the sinners, the sick, the blind and the lame came to Him for mercy and for healing, and they received it. The adulterous woman was told your sins are forgiven. Just go, and do it no more. The sinful woman who washed Christ’s feet with her hair was told your faith and love for Me has made it possible for Me to forgive your sins. Just go, and do it no more. People who were sick and blind from birth or who had ailments for years were healed. Jesus Christ wept for them openly, knowing that those poor people were blind to who He was and what the truth really was. We have a world in the same situation. It is a blind world. It is a world confused with a multiplicity of religions, confusing doctrines, philosophies, concepts and ideologies. They do not know their right hand from their left. They were born into the situation they are in. You and I could have been born anywhere on this earth. We are fortunate to have been born where we are. We live in a free country with a good educational system. There is a decent amount of wealth, and there is freedom to go ahead and pursue the truth of God. Billions of people on earth do not have that advantage, yet we condemn. If we condemn them who know not the truth of God, what does that say for us? That means we are covered with blood because we want to shed innocent blood. Many different groups in the Church of God get excited every time there is another disaster on the planet earth. They should be saying we need to get our job done so Jesus Christ can return and put an end to this suffering. Continue reading Isaiah 59:16-20. I hope we can wake up before Jesus Christ returns and the resurrection occurs. Continue reading in the last half of verse 19: “When the enemy comes in like a flood…” He has done so in the Church. “…the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.” Once Satan has overcome the Church, Jesus Christ’s anger will be full. We are nearly to that point! Jesus Christ is going to rescue those of us holding on to a merciful and compassionate spirit and those of us trying to turn back the enemy at the gate. Verse 20: “‘The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,’ says the Lord.” And we must turn from transgression in the Church. God is speaking end time prophecies here. But often times when we want to rectify the situation in the Church, we are persecuted. The righteous become a prey, and God knew that would happen. Continue in Isaiah 59:21. “‘As for Me,’ says the Lord, ‘This is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,’ says the Lord, ‘from this time and forevermore.’” The Church lost the true voice for a while. We are going to get it back, and this will never happen again, for Jesus Christ our Redeemer does not have a short arm. If you were to continue reading in chapter 60, you would read starting in verse 1: “Arise and shine; for your light has come!” Jesus Christ is going to come and all naysayers’ mouths will be shut. Every religion on earth will know where the Church of God truly is. But we could find ourselves among the group of brethren (half of the brethren alive today) who will be shocked at Jesus Christ’s return and will be totally unprepared! That does not need to happen if we gain a compassionate and loving spirit. We need to learn to not be like Jonah but give the earth a chance. We need to realize that God wrote these words in the Bible to the Church so the Church would clean up and get rid of its spots and blemishes and make itself right before God. That is what we are picturing here in the Days of Unleavened Bread. We are putting sins out of our Church (and our lives). We are helping make the bride ready for Jesus Christ’s imminent return. When Christ returns, we are going to have a lot of explaining to do. It would be wonderful if we could say I goofed up for a time, God. I was harsh on my brothers and my sisters. I was harsh on the world. I was a lousy example of your merciful love and compassion, but I changed. I woke up and I changed in the nick of time. I preached the truth, and I gave an example to others that there is a better way. I did try to clean up my feet, so they would be beautiful upon the mountains and bring this glorious good news of the kingdom to the world and to my brethren. That is what we want to use the last days for that we have left before Christ returns, brethren. When He does come and He separates the sheep from the goats and He says what did you do for the least of My brethren, we won’t stand there with our mouths dropped open and only say I slandered and I accused. I took them to court. I divided the body. It will be too late, brethren. We need to get with the program now. God is giving us time. He is very merciful. SHEPHERDS OPPRESS THE FLOCK Turn to Ezekiel chapter 34 and read verses 1-4. It is just the opposite picture that we think of when we think of Jesus Christ going after the one lost sheep and gently picking it up and putting it on His shoulders. He brings it back into the fold and cleans up its wounds. Here Jesus Christ is saying the shepherds I have in charge of my flock have not taken care of those battered, beaten, lame and sick sheep. Continue reading Ezekiel 34:5-10. This is a description of God’s Church. It is high time we stop pointing the finger at other religions and claim that it is they doing this to God’s people. We can now see by the state that the Church is in today that we did it to ourselves! This is something we brought about. God says I will demand My flock at their hand, which means we have a lot of explaining to do (the ministers) for all the death, destruction and suffering in the Church. God’s flock is very precious to Him, but I am not picking on the ministry. I am putting us all in the same boat, brethren. If we would drop down to verse 17, God essentially makes the same declaration against the sheep. Read verses 17-22. Within the Church of God many have set themselves up to be teachers and thereby incurring a harsher judgment on themselves. James 3:1-2 (you do not have to turn there) says let few become teachers, for then we are under a stricter judgment. Yet people toss caution to the wind. They take the pure waters that we had from God’s word (and had received in the past), and they foul them. They pass those on to other people. A FOG OF WORDS The words are what comes out of our mouth. Jesus Christ said I am a fountain of living waters. Those who believe on me will also become fountains of living water. When we take the truth of God and trample it, we mix it with manure, we mix it with mud and make it foul, then we give it to others, we are just as bad as any minister that has done the same. We need to be very careful when preaching in God’s name. How we use words is a very, very important job. We are in the midst of the fog of battle and sometimes in the fog of battle we cannot see what is taking place. We are in the fog of words, brethren. There is a torrent of words that come from every side. There are doctrines that are being blown through the Church back and forth and up and down. We have to stop it! We have to stop harming each other while we can rectify our personal situation and try to rectify the situation we have put others into. He who wounds and breaches between sheep and sheep, between ministry and flock, between us and the world needs to try to rectify the situation. People in the world in their right mind would not want to come to the Church the way it is today! We are so harsh and judgmental. They are supposed to know us by our love for each other, brethren. WORDS HAVE CONSEQUENCES We need to listen to the concept that words have consequences. Why? Because when strung together, words express thoughts and ideas. Ideas have consequences. Ideas have led whole nations astray: fascism, communism, Darwinism. To think we can just teach by stringing words together, just saying them and that there is no harm is a fallacy. “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me” is a total fabrication and a lie. It is with words that Satan led Eve astray. It is with words (through people) that he is leading the Church astray today. Turn to Matthew chapter 12:31. “‘Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.’” Brethren, ideas have consequences. Words have consequences. If we want to argue with Jesus Christ that is one thing. But when Jesus Christ sends the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ and that Spirit is what leads the body of Christ into truth, we can easily take an argument (discussion or accusation) against a brother or sister and find ourselves in a very dangerous place. It is dangerous to be twisting the spirit of truth where we are making Jesus Christ into something He is not and representing Him as something He is not (a total fabrication). It is very easily done if we are not careful. These words do have consequences. We have been given enough rope in the last twenty years to hang ourselves. All of us! The words that we have spoken have been recorded, not just on earth but in heaven. The sermons that we have done around the world are on tapes and CD’s. The magazines we have published are on people’s bookshelves. The Internet has been downloaded. Many people see what the Church of God is saying today. It is hard to take back falsehood, but it is high time we stand up to the fact that we have to eat a lot of crow! We better get busy and try to make amends for what we have done as a Church to one another and to Jesus Christ (and to the body of Christ) while there is yet time. Satan is the one who got us involved in this situation from the start. Jesus Christ does know that, and He is very merciful. A DUEL OF WORDS It is a duel that we are involved in. It is a duel of words. You may have seen a fencing match. It is based on the old fashioned duel with a sword. Satan has selected the weapon of last resort here at the end. He wanted to kill the Church (every believer). He tried that for a couple of thousand years, and that did not work. In fact, every time he killed someone who remained faithful to the end of their life, he just put another nail in the coffin of his government! He got smart at the very end, and he took a big gamble. When he sat in the temple of God, showing himself that he was God and spewed out false doctrines, he knew he had touched something that really should have been untouchable. God left us on our own for just a little while. Satan went for broke. He selected the weapon of last resort: a duel with doctrine and truth. This is not a battle with guns, bombs and bullets. This is a duel with the truth, brethren. The crucible of war has now become the end time sword fight. Let’s corroborate that in scripture by first turning to Revelation chapter 13. Read verses 1-5. This is what I want you to notice. Satan tried with the Romans and later the Germans in World War II (a misled nation). He has used the nations and the powers of the earth to try to wipe out the Church and the truth. There was ancient Greece. You could go on down the line. But it did not work. In the last days, as we see here in verse 5 of Revelation 13: “And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God…” There were false doctrines starting from the time of the apostles. That forty-two month period is the time from Jesus Christ on that first Pentecost up until the end of our last Church era (the Philadelphia era). That can be verified. We have sermons on the subject. At the very end, these doctrines really did not conquer the Church from the outside. So Satan did something different. Read verses 5-7. He was granted authority to beat the saints. Overcome means “to gain the victory over”. He did not gain victory over the apostles. He did not gain victory over Polycarp or Polycrates. We see today that the leadership of the Church has indeed been divided and conquered. Paul, Peter and Barnabas had little squabbles which they quickly healed. The Church did not witness the twelve apostles shredding the truth of God and tearing each other apart for a flock. That is what we have today. The remnant of the Church has come to this strange place where we devour one another by words! Continuing on, read Revelation 13:8-10. Those vipers that we read about in Isaiah 59 and the wolves in sheep’s clothing (and the tares that have been among us) have led a huge chunk of the Church back into captivity (into pagan beliefs). But the rest are out there still fighting away with one another with the sword of God. They are killing one another and killing the flock of God with the sword of God (God’s word). They must be killed by God’s word if they keep it up! We have to repent of this situation. In all the noise and the fog and the confusion we need to have an ear to hear the shepherd’s voice. He is speaking to His Church one more time. He says you are poor, blind, wretched, naked and miserable, and you do not know it! I am on the outside of a spiritual door to your mind and your heart, and I am knocking. Let Me back in, and I will give you good food. I will give you clean pasture and clean water. We will clean up those garments of yours and give you riches that are true riches. This is what we are hearing now from Jesus Christ if we are listening carefully. LOOKING AT THE WRONG SIGNS The knocking is getting louder because Jesus Christ knows the day and the hour when He will be forced to take us as a thief in the night. When the Father says go, He will go! He will surprise us! We will be shocked, for we will have been looking at all the wrong physical signs and wonders instead of spiritual signs in the Church. One of the spiritual signs is the scattering and the shattering of the flock of God (Daniel 12). When you see this run its course, know that it is finished and Jesus Christ is at the door. In Matthew 24:32-33 He says when the fig tree begins to bud once again, know that I am at the door. The fig tree is the Church of God. When we start speaking the truth, each of us is a bud on that tree. You are not going to find a physical fig tree to go and observe. Luke chapter 17 says the kingdom of God comes without observation which means without ocular evidence. You have to look for signs and wonders within the Church of God. This is what will keep us abreast of where we are in time. SATAN DECEIVES MY OWN PEOPLE BY SIGNS Continue in chapter 13 of Revelation starting in verse 11, because now we see what this overcoming in the Church was like. The description is here when the beast gets into the Church. He sits in the temple of God. Verse 11: “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.” This is not another religion. This is within the Church of God. Continue reading in verse 12: “And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.” We have to examine this a little bit to understand what is happening here. We look at the world, and we blame the world for all of this. We know right at the outset in the Book of Revelation John said I received these words from Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, to tell the Church what shortly must come to pass. This is a message to the seven Church eras. This is not a message to pagan religion. This is to the Church. We have to examine this because this beast came up like a lamb. Yes, there is a forerunner and a physical type in false religion, but they never did succeed in destroying the Church of God. Satan has entered the temple of God showing himself that he is God. The temple of God is the Church (the body of Christ). I want to look at verse 14 briefly. That term “those” (and in the King James Version I believe it says “them”) you will find in the New King James it will have a little number next to it. It will have the number 1, which points you to the margin. In the margin it will tell you that the word “those” (or “them” in the King James) should have been correctly translated “my own people”. And who are God’s own people? It is the Church. Revelation is written to the Church. When you read this in that way, it changes everything. “…he deceives my own people who dwell on the earth…” with the signs and wonders. Many ministers who were faithful at one time called fire down from heaven. We have discussed that before. It is the fire that Jesus Christ sent at Pentecost. It is the fire of the Holy Spirit that should dwell in our hearts and our minds and give us the light. It is the light that makes us the lamp of the world (the light of the world). When someone is baptized, has hands laid on them and receives the Holy Spirit, they receive that fire. There have been men who have brought fire down from heaven and then gone back! You probably know some. This is not talking about volcanic fire (sulfur, fire and brimstone). It is talking about the truth of God and the Holy Spirit. Where it says “…those who dwell on the earth…” it tells you here in the margin they have an “M” next to “my own people”. If you go to the front of your Bible where these designations are explained, you will see that “M” stands for the Majority Text, which is the text taken from the original Greek. Let me read it for you. I have highlighted mine. I am just going to read this briefly, and you check your own Bible. “Those readings in the Textus Receptus which have weak support are indicated in the center reference column as being opposed by both critical and Majority Text.” For those translations that are weak (they have no support) when the translators are honest, they will make a note. They put an “M” there. It is saying really we want to write this, but we do not have a good basis for doing so. Dropping down in this front preface here it says, “The Majority Text is similar to the Textus Receptus, but it corrects those readings which have little or no support in the Greek manuscript tradition.” In other words, the Majority Text corrected those things, but it is not what is recorded in your King James or my New King James, so they have to make a note of that. Continuing to read here it says, “Finally a small but growing number of scholars prefer the Majority Text which is close to the traditional text except in the Book of Revelation. In light of these facts (and also because the New King James Version is the fifth revision of an historic document translated from specific Greek text) the editors decided to retain the traditional text in the body of the New Testament and to indicate major critical and Majority Text variant readings in the center reference columns, although these variations are duly indicated in the center column notes in the present addition.” In other words, the scholars here are being honest and dishonest at the same time. They are saying we know this is an error, but we do not understand why you would write it the other way. So we are going to write it the way we think, but we are going to tell you about it. You can go look it up if you care to do so. Continuing at the end of the explanation about “M” text it states: “This symbol indicates points of variation in the Majority Text from the traditional text as also previously discussed in the New Testament text. It should be noted that M stands for whatever reading is printed in the published Greek New Testament according to the Majority Text whether supported by overwhelming, strong or divided Majority Textual tradition. The textual notes reflect the scholarship of the past 150 years and will assist the reader to observe the variations between the different manuscript traditions of the New Testament.” They are being honest here in saying if you want to be a scholar, we have been writing this as “them” and “those” for 150 years, but in an original text it says “my own people”. So they have at least been straight forward enough to put that in there. But I read my New Kings James many times and never noticed that before. Recently I noticed this. That changes everything! We see that the beast got into the Church through his words. He moved people by his inspirational thoughts, to preach untruth and to bring about this battle (or this duel) with the sword at the end of the age. THE MORTAL WOUND You will notice also that the beast received a mortal wound when you read verse 3. The beast had received a mortal wound in one of his heads. Let’s take a look at this. Where was the mortal wound? When you have a mortal wound, that means you die from it. So the system that Satan is the head of is supposed to die and be over with, but the system went on a little longer. He made war with the Church through six Church eras and was not allowed to conquer the Church until the seventh Church era. When he did conquer the Church, he still had the mortal wound. His system is still going to fail because Jesus Christ said I will not be beaten. When did he receive this mortal wound? We can turn back to Matthew chapter 4 where Jesus Christ is wielding the sword masterfully. Read Matthew chapter 4, verses 1-11. This was a battle with the sword of God. Satan was quoting scripture to Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ noticed, of course, that Satan was twisting scripture to his own purposes very craftily and very cunningly. Jesus Christ defeated him in that sword fight. DUELING WITH THE SWORD OF GOD If you would look at a fencing match you will notice that you have your thrust, your parry and then your riposte. Your thrust is when the opposition tries to stab you with the sword, and your parry is how you brush that sword aside. Then your riposte is your return thrust. That means also figuratively a battle of words in which you have the answer quickly at your disposal. It is like a debate in which the two parties are arguing back and forth and quickly trying to defeat one another with words. Jesus Christ parried so fast and responded so correctly He stopped Satan at every turn! He defeated Satan in this fencing match (in this duel with the sword of God). We at the end of the age find ourselves in a similar duel. It is the last sword fight before the Millennium. Let’s examine this sword a little bit so we can get better at wielding it. Turn to Hebrews chapter 4. Beginning in verse 12: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” The sword of God is the word of God (the Bible). It is so sharp, brethren, it can discern between the spirit and the body (between the mind). That is the sword of God. When properly wielded, the sword is a very effective weapon to defeat Satan. We need to properly learn how to handle that sword, so that we can discern the hearts of the enemy and so we can see where they are wrong and come back with not only a parry but a riposte. “No! That is an improper use of scripture. No! You are lying about God. No! You are making Him appear cruel when He is not. You have twisted our Savior from a loving merciful God to a very cruel, vindictive, harsh God, but we are not going to allow it. Here are the reasons why.” Then list this scripture, this scripture and this scripture. That is fighting with the sword of God in a proper manner and an effective manner. The Church is learning how to do this once again. Unfortunately, we are fighting our own brethren just like Jesus Christ did. Whom did Jesus Christ argue with? Did He argue with the Romans? No, he argued with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He argued with His own people! That is the same today. It seems as if nothing changes. Turn to Revelation chapter 1 where we will examine the sword a little bit more. John wrote this in Revelation 1, verse 12: “Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands…” Those are the seven Church eras. Verse 13: “…and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword…” Out of His mouth comes the truth, and nothing can stand before the truth of God. We are to be the body of Christ, and out of our mouths should come the truth. Nothing can stand before the truth of God. Ephesians chapter 6 talks about us putting on the proper equipment to fight Satan because our ultimate enemy, of course, is Satan. Read Ephesians 6:10-17. We need faith. We need the sword of God. We are going to defend ourselves against a spiritual enemy we cannot see. We only see the fruits of his work in others, and we can feel it in our own lives if we are not careful. We defeat Satan with the truth and with the proper use of the sword of God and faith that we will ultimately prevail if we persevere. This sword fight has been a bloody fight that has gone on for a long time. We can help bring about an end by cleaning up the bride of Christ and by allowing Jesus Christ to work in His body. Jesus Christ allowed what happened to the Church. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 49. Jesus Christ allowed Satan to be used to smite the Church and to smite individuals to get us to wake up and clean up. You can look this up in many places. Remember Peter walking next to Christ and Christ saying get behind Me Satan. Satan has asked to thresh you like wheat, but I have prayed for you to survive it. Satan is God’s tool in a twist against Satan. Satan wants to accuse and destroy. God says to you if I can work it right, the accusations will strike you in your heart. They will convict you of something you do wrong. If you handle it properly with a good riposte from the sword of God and repent in your life, you will gain victory over Satan. That is why we are to gain victory as He gained victory over Satan. It is a very sophisticated battle. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 49:1-2. “Listen, O coastlands, to Me, and take heed, you peoples from afar! The Lord has called Me from the womb; from the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name. And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me, and made Me a polished shaft; in His quiver He has hidden Me.” Jesus Christ in His mouth possesses that sword, and the Father sent Him here with the word of God (with the truth). We need to learn how to use that sword without hurting one another. You have heard of the concept of friendly fire in this day and age. I think there has been some unfriendly use of the sword in the body of Christ, but often in the name of Jesus Christ. Skillful use of the sword requires an effective soldier (someone trained in these things). That is why we have to allow God to work in our minds and to be trained in how to use the word of God correctly. We are fighting effectively (if we are doing this properly) against lies and heresies. Heresies are twisted doctrine and twisted scripture just like Satan tried to do to Jesus Christ. We are fighting against blasphemy against God where His name is being slandered and His character maligned. We are fighting slanderous talk and accusations. These are what we fight against, and these are what Christ fought against. Let’s look at some lessons in sword fighting. They are lessons from the Master. We just read Matthew 4. We saw how Jesus Christ defeated Satan. I want to show you how He often sparred with (or fenced with) the Pharisees. Turn to John chapter 8:13. “The Pharisees therefore said to Him, ‘You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.’” Notice He is battling some people here who thought they were pretty learned in the scriptures. They thought they knew how to handle the word of God. Read Jesus Christ’s answer in verses 14-18. He said I do not need to worry about your witness against Me. I have Myself, the word, and My Father. Can you outdo my Father and Me? This is a fencing match. It is a duel with the sword of God. Read John 8:17-23. You are made of the dust of the earth. My body is of the dust but I came from My throne, the throne of God. Continue reading John 8:24-47. That was a duel with the word of God with people who should have understood the scriptures, but they were twisting things and trying to make Jesus Christ look wrong. They tried to make Him look like the liar. He said no, you are the liar. I speak of the truth. I do not have sin. You have sin. You do not admit you have sin. You do not believe what I came here for and that I bring the truth of God. Because you twist the truth of God, you are a liar. I know where lies come from. They come from Satan, so he is your father! It did not sit very well with them, but it was the truth of God. We could continue reading about when Jesus called Himself I Am. They wanted to kill Him, and He was quoting scripture. That is from verses 48-59. They took up stones in verse 59 to kill Him. Yet they knew this man had no sin, and they had seen the miracles He had done. Yet they were willing to kill Him, following the father of lies. We fight with the word of God by using scripture properly and by defending against those who try to twist it to others’ harm. We are helping Jesus Christ in the name of Christ in that way. If you were to read verse 48 they said you have a demon. They said You cast things out by a demon. He said no. AN ENEMY TORE THE CHURCH APART Go to Matthew chapter 12 because we fight blasphemy as well. Read Matthew 12:22-30. Brethren, Jesus Christ cast out Satan and the demons by the power of God. He was correct. Any house divided against itself cannot stand. We tell ourselves we are the Church of God (the body of Christ and the temple of Jesus Christ) yet we are divided and torn asunder. Did Jesus Christ divide His Church this way? Did Jesus Christ tear His house apart? An enemy has done this. Jesus Christ must have stepped out of the house as He said in Revelation chapter 3. I vomit you out of My mouth. I am temporarily away from you, so that you will be threshed by Satan and wake up if you hear My voice. We need to have the courage to realize an enemy has torn the Church apart. He has used us to do it. It is a given that Satan must move people to do his will and speak his thoughts to follow his inspiration. He cannot launch a war himself on this planet. He cannot drop a bomb. He cannot pull a trigger. It is the same with Jesus Christ’s Church. He cannot just run it. He has to get people to follow his inspiration and direction. That is what we saw in Revelation chapter 13 when he gained victory over the Church. BATTLING HERESY We have to learn, brethren, to identify the truth and the falsehoods when others speak, so that we can properly get the errors out of our lives. We must clear God’s name in our own lives. We have to stop misrepresenting Jesus Christ as some harsh and cruel God who is about to destroy this earth He created. He created the world (the earth), and He said it was good. It is a beautiful place. We are going to have the Millennium here. He did not create the system that Satan has (the aeon, the age, the world) that will get destroyed, which is Satan’s inspired governmental system. That is what is going to get destroyed, thereby freeing mankind. We also battle heresies. Turn to John chapter 14. Read verses 1-6. We have to know the way and the truth and use it properly to have life. We cannot give polluted pasture and polluted water to others and think we are going to escape! We are supposed to be benevolent towards others. We are supposed to be wise as a serpent, yet harmless as a dove. We know how to use the sword without hurting people. We should defend those who are honest and innocent and those who are led astray. We should help them and not hurt the Church. Drop down and read John 14:15-18. The Spirit is Jesus Christ’s mind, which is how His Spirit dwells in our minds. Remember words spoken against that mind in defiance of that mind (by twisting that mind’s thoughts and His character within us) puts that individual in grave danger. That is a horribly dangerous place to put ourselves. God allowed what happened in the last days, brethren, in some ways to speed things up because we were never going to get the job done unless we were thrashed for a while by Satan. Those of us who took our calling seriously and who want to get cleaned up will get the job done, and Jesus Christ will return. The Father will know when the number is full. It is up to us to be a part of that number. Turn, if you would, to I Timothy chapter 4. Jesus Christ knew exactly what it was going to be like in the last days. He knew it would be a mess. Read I Timothy 4:1-5. One could look at this and say we are just talking about physical food. But if you read this whole chapter, he is talking about the truth. Doctrines of demons is not physical food. The doctrines of demons do prevent the Church from being ready to marry Jesus Christ. Physical unclean food is just a type of false doctrines. We need to imbibe of good food. The pasture has been trampled and fouled with manure. The water has been polluted. We need to make sure that we try to find the truth and take in good water and good food. By doing so we will get ready for Christ’s return, and we will be able to wield the sword properly to defend God’s holy and righteous name. We also then defend our brethren and, of course, ourselves from Satan as we were shown in Ephesians chapter 6. Skip over to II Timothy chapter 3 where there is a description of the Church in the last days. Read II Timothy 3:1-3. It is brutal to say six and a half billion people deserve to die because they will not repent, when they do not know which end is up! They do not know their left hand from their right hand! We have the “Jonah” complex within the Church. I think we would be disappointed if the world did repent. Some of us want to see the horrible conditions come about to the nth degree, as I have been told personally. That is not going to happen because Jesus Christ’s arm is not short. Continuing in verse 4: “…traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” God is powerful enough to bring about a Millennium on this earth. It is a lie to say He cannot do it without destroying the earth and everybody on it, so that He cannot even fulfill His promise to have an innumerable multitude! II Timothy 3, verse 6: “For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women…” Write in ten virgins here. “…loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts…” Continue reading verses 7-17. If we can properly use the word of God, we are equipped to deal with blasphemy, heresy, harsh judgments and the blood-thirsty thinking that so many seem to revel in. THE END-TIME ELIJAH Turn to II Peter chapter 1. Read verses 16-21. Prophecy has been recorded in the Bible for thousands of years, and there are no new prophecies. It is actually a revealing of what has been written. Yet you have people in the Church of God predicting things constantly. They predict dates. They come and they go. The brethren do not question it. We have to start questioning these things. We have to start questioning the leadership and ask why, why are things turning around in the world? Why is physical Israel doing better? It is because of where we are in the work of God and what was accomplished by Elijah. Elijah (Herbert Armstrong in the flesh) was doing an Elijah work in his lifetime. The earth was under a curse until he accomplished the Elijah work. Read Malachi 4. God promised before the horrible things would happen, He would send an Elijah to stop it and lift the curse from the earth. That has happened! We deny what God has accomplished through His Church when we condemn the earth to a horrible fate. RIGHTLY DIVIDE THE WORD We need to learn to follow the example that another Church era set. Turn to Revelation 2:12. “‘And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, “These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.”’” Satan dwelt in that Church, brethren. He did not conquer it, though. But he had a place. There have always been tares in the Church. Jesus Christ says that He will come with a two-edged sword. Continue in Revelation 2:14. “‘But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel…’” He cursed Israel to die. That is what the doctrine of Balaam is. “‘…to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.’” These are the thoughts of Satan that get into the Church that cause the sexual immorality in the Church. Verse 15: “‘Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.’” This means “victory over the people”. That doctrine was trying to come into the Church. Verse 16: “‘Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.’” There was a sword fight in that Church era to get the blasphemies and false doctrines back out. The doctrine of the Nicolaitans was meant to gain victory over God’s Church. Jesus Christ won, and He moved the candlestick when He had to before that Church era was overcome by Satan. He moved the candlestick ahead to the next Church era (Thyatira). We need to look at that example from that era and realize Satan can be in amongst the brethren. He always has been. Go to the Philadelphia era description in Revelation 3. Everybody wants to be a Philadelphia remnant. Revelation 3, verse 9: “‘Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie, indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.’” You often hear people who want to claim to be the Philadelphia remnant, but they never read verse 9. The synagogue of Satan was right there in the midst of Philadelphia, but he could not conquer them! God moved the candlestick ahead. But in the Laodicean era, there is no place to run! Jesus Christ said to hasten the work I will vomit you out of My mouth and let Satan thrash you for a while. Those of you who wake up and let Me back in to receive good pasture (the manna from heaven), will be strengthened and get back up to fight with the sword. This was the same thing that Pergamos was given (the good food). This way they can thrust Satan back out and cleanse the body of every spot and blemish. It is our responsibility, as the scripture says, to learn to rightly divide the word of God (to rightly divide the truth). We need to use it to cut where we have to. If we do not willingly cut out of our lives (and help other people cut out of their lives) heresies and false doctrines, Jesus Christ will let His own body waste away, cutting out those bad parts. He will do this until He gets down to a smaller but healthier body. James chapter 3 says the word of God is peaceable. Go to James 3:13. “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.” Using the word of God to divide and to mislead is demonic. Verse 16: “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” Let’s conclude in Matthew 5. We want to sow peace, brethren. We want to implement Matthew 5 so that we are gentle in nature like Jesus Christ was. We want to be forgiving and compassionate. Read Matthew 5:1-12. Brethren, if we are persecuted for standing up for Jesus Christ’s glorious and wonderful name and His plan, we will be blessed. It is a good thing to be a prey for the right reason in this day and age. Go forth from here, clean up, putting the leaven out of our lives and stand up for the truth, wielding the sword of God with power and authority!