Hosea 9-10

God's judgment for the Northern Kingdom:


1. No more joy (Hosea 9:1)


2. The people of the Northern Kingdom would not remain in God's land but return to bondage; not to Egypt this time, but to Assyria (Hosea 9:3)


3. The people of the Northern Kingdom would no longer bear fruit


4. The people of the Northern Kingdom would be wanderers: no home, no vision


And in deed, in 722 BC, the Northern Kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians. The people of the Northern Kingdom have been wanderers ever since. [But remember, God is not done with Israel. Upon the return of Jesus, the Israelites will be restored.]

Hosea 4-8

Hosea lists the sins of the Northern Kingdom:


1. There is no recognition of Truth (Hosea 4:1). All have rejected knowledge (Hosea 4:6).


2. The priests no longer teach the Truth but take joy in the iniquity of the people (Hosea 4:8). Back then, Israelites still brought animal sacrifices for their sins even though they bowed to man-made idols. The priests, no longer preaching the Truth, would take those animal sacrifices as feasts.


3. There was no relationship with God (Hosea 5:4).


4. There was no true repentance. The Israelites knew things were not right because they would cry out at night. However, they did not cry out for God (Hosea 7:14). Instead of turning to God for help, they turned to Assyria (Hosea 5:13).


5. When the Northern Kingdom split, they appointed their own priests and holy places for worship, abandoning their roots set by the Mosaic law (Hosea 8:4-6). The Mosaic law required worship to be done in THE temple of Jerusalem.


6. Israel had forgotten their maker, God (Hosea 8:14). They had turned their face away from God, choosing to run toward their enemies.


In Hosea 4-8, we see that EVERYONE in the Northern Kingdom is guilty: the king, the priest, and the house (the general population).

Hosea 1-3

Bible study with Pastor Terry Gray

The life of Hosea is to illustrate the great love of God as a husband for His people, the Israelites. Despite God's great love, the Israelites always stray away from God. Instead of recognizing God as their source of comfort and success, they turn instead to meaningless man-made objects, committing spiritual adultery. However, God's love is great, and He will one day restore all relationships with Him, though not without severe discipline.

Hosea

- Served kings of Israel and Judah (Hosea 1:1)

- Was the last prophet to the Northern Kingdom to tell the Israelites to repent before it was going to be judged

931 BC

A civil war broke out in Israel, separating it into the Northern (10 Israelite nation) and the Southern (2 Israelite nations, with their base still in Jerusalem) Kingdoms. Judah was a part of the Southern Kingdom.

722 BC

The Northern Kingdom was judged. God handed them over to the Assyrians. The Northern Kingdom afterwards was scattered (as the name Jazereel suggests).

586 BC

The Southern Kingdom was judged. God handed them to the Babylonians. The primary function of Old Testament prophets was proclamation. They would get a message from God, and they would convey that message to whom the audience was intended. Sometimes, God has His prophets carry out symbolic gestures that appropriately represented His message to the people. Hosea was asked to accomplish one of these very difficult tasks: to marry a woman of harlotry (Hosea 1:2).

The name of their first son, Jazereel, was prophetic of the judgment the Northern Kingdom would face.

The name of their daughter, Lo-Ruhamah, means no mercy. God will show no mercy for the Northern Kingdom but will save Judah.

The name of their second son, Lo-Ammi, means not my people, suggesting God would disown the Northern Kingdom.

Hosea loved Gomer but Gomer broke his heart. This mirrors how the Northern Kingdom broke God's heart. God was a great husband to them, but they committed spiritual adultery against God by abandoning their trust in God. Instead of standing strong against paganistic practices, they co-mingled with non-Israelites and adopted their paganistic worship of Baal and other man-made idols.

When Gomer started her adultery path, Hosea fought to keep her. Similarly, God would not give up the Northern Kingdom without a fight (Hosea 2:6-8). And throughout history, we see God fighting to keep His people safe. Unfortunately, THEY ALWAYS FORGET God's grace and go back to idolatry when times are good.

Each time Israel went astray, God sent His messengers to urge them to repent before it was too late. As time progressed, God needed to send harsher messages. God's grace does not last forever. And when the Northern Kingdom exhausted their grace period, God removed all provisions, because that was the only thing that would wake them from their stupor, believing that those worthless gods could actually offer any kind of provision!

Despite Gomer's sinful adulterous ways, Hosea still fought for her, for the restoration of their marriage. Similarly, that's what God wants: restoration with His bride, the Israelites (Hosea 1:10-11; 2:14-13).

Here, we note that God has not given up on Israel! All nations of Israel will be restored in the second coming of Christ, under the rule of one King, Christ. In Hosea 2:16, we learn that God will be their husband, not their master. I find this inspirational because people, even many Christians, view the Bible as a Book of God's "rules" as opposed to acts of great love. However, we see here that in the end of days, when Jesus reigns as King, all will love God as a bride dotes on her husband, as opposed to viewing our relationship as master and slave.

Hosea 3 is about redemption.

Gomer had gone so far off the path that she landed herself on the slave market. She was bought for 15 shekels (Hosea 3:2), essentially "on sale for half-price" since 30 shekels was the going rate for slaves at the time. She indeed proved herself a harlot, who had adulterous relationships with many men and bore numerous children. Her behavior tore Hosea's heart out, and yet, we see that Hosea still redeemed her (Redemption: bought with a price). Despite her infidelity, Hosea still sheltered and protected her.

From Hosea 1-3, we thus learn the following:

1. God desires a deep and intimate relationship with us. He has sacrificed His only Son to solidify our eternal redemption. Jesus has done all the work for us to build a relationship with God. All we have to do is turn our face toward God.

2. When we forsake God, we are committing spiritual adultery. When we commit adultery, we hurt God. No one likes being cheated on. If we can sympathize with the pain, how can we not understand God's pain?

3. We are redeemed in Christ. We were bought with a price: Christ's blood. Jesus freed us from the salve market. Without Jesus, we could easily become slaves of Satan and any one of his deceptions: money, power, status, etc. In fact, many of us are, even with Jesus's open hand offer of redemption! Some of us would choose to be slaves rather than be freed with Jesus!

4. God wants us to have His heart. God wants us to know and love Him so much, we can understand His sufferings. For example, the testing of Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, allowed Abraham to understand God's heart. God did not allow Abraham to follow through with the sacrifice, but He had to sacrifice His own Son.

Sex & Christian Marriage

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/24/my-take-why-christians-are-criticizing-my-christian-marriage-and-sex-book/

   

Posted on CNN on Jan. 24, 2012

My take: Why Christians are criticizing my Christian marriage and sex book

Editor’s note: Mark Driscoll is founding pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington.

By Mark Driscoll, Special to CNN

You try to write a book on marriage and sex with your wife and next thing you know there are a lot of ants crashing your picnic.

My wife, Grace, and I recently published "Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together," which quickly became a No. 1 New York Times best-seller.

In it, we’re brutally honest about our past struggles, share the lessons we learned along the way and talk frankly about sex. Criticism has ensued.

If you wish to find that criticism, just do a Google search. You’ll find plenty. My intent here is not to name names and pick a fight with my critics, but to provide context on why there is criticism.

We knew before we wrote the book that we’d catch a lot of flak, especially on the chapters dealing with sex.

We also knew the criticism would come from every direction, as some people would think we went too far and others would think we didn’t go far enough.

But we wrote it anyway. Why? Simply put, we want to help marriages — and single people aspiring to marry — and we wanted to do so in a way that is practical, biblical and applicable to the reality of today’s culture.

If the book accomplishes that, we’ll take the criticism in exchange for helping people. We don’t think our book is perfect and we tell folks upfront (literally in the preface) to take what is helpful and leave the rest.

The book identifies three ways people tend to view sex: as gross, as a god and as a gift.

Sex as gross

Some people are very uncomfortable talking about sex, even with their spouses.

Many Christians, because of upbringing and past church experiences, view sex as gross and something that should not be talked about in public.

Unfortunately, this view is pervasive in the church. Many couples have honest questions about sex and various sexual acts but struggle to find a pastor willing to teach on these topics.

With nowhere else to turn, these couples find wrong and damaging answers in magazines, television, movies, porn and more.

The practical result is that couples divorce their sex from their spirituality, talking to their pastors about “spiritual” issues and ordering their love life around advice from “secular” sources.

Next time you’re in line at the grocery store, read the headlines on the women’s magazines that are shouting

at little kids standing in line with their parents. Our culture has made the wrong answers about sex far easier to find than the church has made the right answers to find.

Those who view sex as gross criticize our book because we speak too openly and frankly about sex for their taste. The accusation is that the private counsel that pastors give to people in the church isn’t suitable to give in a public context.

But many critics tend to want to debate nuances of theology rather than engage head-on the practical realities that many people are facing.

I’ve written systematic theology books with hundreds of footnotes. "Real Marriage" is not that kind of book. It’s a practical book rooted in the Bible.

We call everything a sin that the Bible does and we give directives for married couples to use wisdom and conscience in discussing what they do and do not want to do sexually on matters to which the Bible doesn’t speak.

Because we believe the Bible is God’s perfect and sufficient word, we don’t want to add to it what we want or the archconservative Christian culture wants.

Conversely, we don’t want to remove anything from it just because some people find it uncomfortable.

People in our churches are dealing with the issues discussed in "Real Marriage," and to pretend these aren’t real issues and to avoid talking about them is akin to closing your eyes and declaring that you don’t see the need we are serving.

If ministry leaders don’t address these issues in some way, we’re religious cowards who do a disservice to our church.

Before we get to the trickiest sexual questions, based upon what many people are already doing, our book deals with marriage in the context of friendship, men’s and women’s roles and responsibilities and how to deal with sin so that marriage gets better rather than bitter.

When we do get around to evaluating sex acts, we ask three simple questions, based upon 1 Corinthians 6:12 in the Bible:

1. Is it lawful?

2. Is it helpful?

3. Is it enslaving?

Each of these questions leaves room for couples to be grownups and to determine what works for them sexually by allowing them to examine their hearts and the scriptures – and to act according to their consciences on whether they wish to participate in sexual activities that the Bible neither forbids nor condones.

While it may be fun for bloggers and critics to discuss these things, our hope was that couples would instead be the ones having these conversations to build their marriages in ways that don’t pressure, abuse or use one another.

Sex as a god

There are some who think about almost nothing else but sex, treating it as a kind of god. This can happen in the form of addiction to sex or porn, severe promiscuity, adultery or participating in various sexual acts that the Bible speaks against, making personal preference and desire more important than what God says about sex.

This view of sex is pervasive, as many go to extraordinary lengths to fulfill their sexual desires, even when it’s not good for them physically, spiritually, mentally or emotionally.

Even worse, this view causes some to do unspeakable acts against others in the form of rape, assault, marital sexual assault, pedophilia, sex trafficking and more – making literal human sacrifices to their god of sex.

Those who view sex as a god criticize our book because it doesn’t go far enough for them. Because we teach that the Bible does call some sex acts sin, such as pornography, premarital sex, homosexuality, adultery and more, we are criticized for being judgmental, prudish, antiquated and fundamentalist.

We understand that not everyone will believe what we believe, but as Christians who view the Bible as our

highest authority in life, we don’t write the mail, we simply deliver it.

In the end, for conservatives we’re too liberal, and for liberals we’re too conservative. We can’t win.

Thankfully, we’re not concerned with winning. We’re concerned with helping others build healthy, happy and

holy, God-glorifying marriages.

Sex as a gift

What Grace and I have found in nearly 20 years of marriage and more than 15 years of ministry is that both the church and culture often get sex wrong.

So we went back to the scriptures to see what they have to say.

The Bible gives us a different way to think of sex. Instead of seeing it as gross or slavishly worshiping it as a god, the Bible teaches that sex is a powerful and exhilarating gift that God gives to married couples.

It is also a deeply spiritual act, bringing together a husband and a wife to be one flesh (Genesis 2:24), binding them together on a spiritual, mental, emotional, physical and neurological level.

As a deeply spiritual act, it’s important for people to understand what the Bible teaches (and doesn’t teach) about sex, to be able to speak openly and honestly with their ministry leaders regarding sex, and to find solid, biblical teaching on sex.

God has a plan for sex: that it is to be enjoyed between one man and one woman in the context of marriage. This means that there are certain types of sex acts that abuse and misuse the good gift of sex that God gave, and that we are to honor God with our bodies by living our sexual lives in a way that glorifies him and honors the scriptures.

In our book, we blow up some common misconceptions about sex (like that the Bible prohibits stripteases or oral sex). We help people understand that it’s God’s intent that we steward and enjoy the gift of sex, like every gift he gives, in such a way that is glorious to him, good for our marriages and a lot of fun.

It is our prayer that you and your spouse would move past any misconceptions of how you’ve seen sex and understand it to be a gift from God. A gift to be stewarded. A gift to be guarded. A gift to be enjoyed. And a gift to be shared together for God’s glory and your good as friends.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Mark Driscoll.

* * * * * * * *

Ruth Bell Graham (wife of Pastor Billy Graham) also previously wrote a short article on marriage. Below is the link to her article:

http://www.billygraham.org/articlepage.asp?articleid=1159&BA=2555&QR=116

Marriage = Love + Friendship

Below is an article written by Pastor Mark Driscoll about the marriage between Martin Luther and his wife Katherine von Bora.


Pastor Mark is the lead pastor at Mars Hill Ballard, a church that I regularly attend. He is currently leading us through a series of teachings on Christian Marriage, and during his second session, he used the marriage between Martin and Katherine to illustrate the importance of FRIENDSHIP in a healthy Christian marriage.


The sermon that goes along with the article below is here:
http://marshill.com/media/real-marriage/friend-with-benefits




Scandal! Ex-Nun Marries Former Priest!
by Pastor Mark Driscoll

In the early morning hours one Easter, 12 young runaway nuns climbed into empty fish barrels and were smuggled out of their convent. Their unlikely hero was a renegade monk they had written to, imploring him to rescue them so they could leave the convent, marry, and one day become mothers. The escape was a daring and successful adventure, and it led to a most unusual friendship and marriage. The hero monk? Martin Luther.

Luther is widely known as one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Among the most important people to walk the earth, he lived from 1483 to 1546 as a contemporary of Johannes Gutenberg, Copernicus, Henry VIII, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Christopher Columbus, and John Calvin. A copper miner’s son, he was born in Germany some 120 miles outside Berlin.

After a powerful encounter with God in which he was nearly struck by lightning, Luther became a priest and a monk. This included taking vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience for the rest of his life. Examining his own sin with a brutal honesty and brilliant legal mind, he nearly drove himself mad seeking to make himself righteous in God’s sight out of a terrifying fear of God. This included endless prayer, severe fasting that gave him significant intestinal problems, sleepless nights, freezing cold, and even beating his own body in an effort to atone for his sin.

But by the grace of God, Luther had an epiphany that changed not only his life but also the lives of countless others. While studying the Bible, he learned thatrighteousness is a gift God gives by grace from and faith in Jesus Christ and not something earned or merited through human religious and moral performance.

Because of the prominence of Martin Luther the theologian, very little attention is given to Martin Luther the husband; however, constantly looming in the background of his works is the ever- present influence of his wife, Katherine von Bora Luther.

Katherine was born on January 29, 1499. She was only six years old when her mother died, and she was sent to a Benedictine cloister to be educated. Around the age of nine or ten she moved to a convent, and by 16 she was a nun. At this same time, miles away, Luther was beginning to disagree with the Catholic Church’s teaching on the preferability of singleness and celibacy in honoring God above marriage. Though himself still a virgin, Luther began teaching and writing on marriage from the Bible, culminating in his booklet On Monastic Vows, which condemned much of the monastic lifestyle.

Among the readers of Luther’s booklet were Katherine and the other nuns in her convent. They longed to escape, marry, and become mothers. So they wrote to Luther, asking the renegade monk to help them escape. To do so was an offense punishable by death. Nonetheless, after their rescue, three of the nuns returned to their families immediately, and the remaining nine were taken to Luther’s Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg. Luther helped six of the nuns find a home, husband, or job. Eventually every one of the nuns was married with the exception of Katherine—whose devoutly Catholic family did not want her back.

Luther tried repeatedly to find a husband for Katherine, with no success. Being a very bold woman, she went so far as to tell Luther that if he could not find her a husband, she expected him to step up and become her husband. But Luther did not marry for many reasons, including the following: “Because I daily expect the death decreed to a heretic.” And he simply did not want to marry, saying, “Good God ... they will never thrust a wife on me!”

Much to everyone’s surprise, eight years after leaving the priesthood, the ex-monk Martin married the ex-nun Katherine in the backwoods of rural Germany on June 13, 1525. One of the reasons Martin gave for his marriage was to spite the devil, which is perhaps the least romantic statement ever uttered. Their marriage was a public scandal and arguably the most significant marriage outside the Bible in the history of the world. They set in motion a model for Christian faith and maturity through marriage, sex, and children, rather than through singleness and celibacy.

What is perhaps most curious is that their marriage did not start with love or attraction, but rather with a commitment to the principles of the Bible and service to God. William Henry Lazareth in his biography on Luther wrote, “Martin and Katie did not get along very well because of their clashing temperaments and personalities.”

Certainly they were not romantically in love, and there is no evidence that any kind of courtship preceded their marriage. Martin even confessed to his friends afterward that of all the fugitive nuns, the proud and haughty Katie alienated him. As Lazareth records, Luther wrote, “I never loved Katie then for I suspected her of being proud (as she is), but God willed me to take pity on the poor abandoned girl.”

Making matters worse, the Luthers’ critics were relentless. A folktale in that day said the Antichrist would be born from sex between a priest and a nun, which led to wild speculation about what their children would be like. And Martin’s nemesis, Erasmus of Rotterdam, spread a vicious rumor that they married only because Martin impregnated her out of wedlock. This was a lie he repudiated three months later, but the damage to the Luthers’ reputation was done. Another powerful critic said, “You have truly sinned ... nightly wanton and chamber with a nun ... Obstinate and defiant wretch ... captured by the net of eternal damnation; be merry until you descend into hell, as you surely will, where, infernal brand! you will burn forever, and be eaten alive by the never dying worm” (Lazareth, 25). Even Martin’s friends were not fond of the hasty married, and he reported that many cried with grief upon hearing of it.

On top of all this, the couple lived in great poverty yet with great responsibility. They had three boys and three girls during their first nine years of marriage. Tragically, one daughter died at the age of 13 months and another at 13 years in the arms of her devastated father. By all accounts, Katherine was a wonderful mother and Martin a loving and fun father who spent his evenings playing music for his children and teaching them the Bible, which was a welcome and joyous diversion from his busy and stressful life.

Martin’s old 40-room monastery became their home, and Katie quickly went to work cleaning the bachelor pad, including throwing out the straw bed Luther had not changed in more than a year, decorating the home, planting a garden for fresh food, changing Martin’s diet to nurse him to health and help overcome his legendary flatulence problem, and growing herbs.

Their home was bustling with activity. Martin was constantly studying and publishing to fuel the Protestant Reformation, preaching and teaching, working on translating the entire Bible into German, traveling, and keeping up a vast correspondence with ministers across many nations. Apparently Katherine often sat with Martin as he wrote letters, for they frequently included sections about what Katherine was doing at the time and the greetings she sent. Their home was constantly filled, and as many as 25 people lived with them at any one time, not to mention the 11 orphans they sheltered. Dinners there often fed more than 100 people.

The couple’s early years were reportedly awkward, likely because neither had spent much time in the company of the opposite sex during their monasticism. Martin reported, “Katie used to sit down next to me while I was studying and, not knowing what to say, would begin to ask questions like: ‘Dear doctor, is the prime minister of Prussia the duke’s brother?’”

Something that helped them learn to live together in love was their willingness to dish out and take a joke. They were known for being brutally honest with each other, poking fun at each other, and doing so as friends. For example, when he would start to bristle against her, she would commonly retort that perhaps a little prayer should occur before “preaching a sermon.” His letters often teased her, but Katherine certainly could hold her own. Martin often struggled with severe depression, and it was very difficult to pull him out of his funk. But Katherine found creative ways to do so. John Piper and Justin Taylor share in their book that on one occasion she dressed up like a grieving widow in black mourning attire and met Martin at their door upon his return home. “Are you going to a funeral?” he asked. “No,” she replied, “but since you act as though God is dead, I wanted to join you in the mourning.” Luther quickly recovered!

Through their years together, the Luthers built a genuine friendship. This is easily noticed in the letters we have from Martin to his wife. His favorite title for her was “Lord Katie.” He also called her his “dear rib,” “Sir Katie,” “the empress,” “my true love,” “my sweetheart,” and “a gift of God.” In a romantic statement that perhaps only a theologian’s wife could truly appreciate, Martin referred to his favorite book of the Bible, Galatians, as “my Katerine von Bora [sic].”

When he suffered from catarrh, kidney stones, constipation, insomnia, dizziness, and a buzzing— “not a buzzing but a roll of thunder”—in his head, she nursed him back to health. When he would fall into his frequent bouts with severe depression, she would hold him, pray for him, comfort him, and read Scripture to him. She drove the wagon, looked after their fields and gardens, purchased and pastured cattle, brewed beer, rented horses, sold linen, helped edit his writings, prepared meals, kept house, raised kids, entertained guests, and was often awake by 4 a.m. and working until 9 p.m. She was such an incredibly hard worker that Martin had to frequently urge her to relax and even offered to pay her to sit down and read her Bible. She reportedly had a keen theological mind and often sat with Martin and visiting theologians to discuss and debate theology, something unusual for a woman in that day.

The tenderness with which Martin spoke of his wife increased throughout their marriage. He wrote, “I am a happy husband and may God continue to send me happiness, from that most gracious woman, my best of wives.”

Luther’s earlier teaching on marriage essentially portrayed marriage as a sort of necessary evil to stave off sexual temptation. But, as his loving marital friendship with Katherine grew, his perspective matured as suggested by statements such as, “The greatest gift of grace a man can have is a pious, God-fearing, home-loving wife, whom he can trust with all his goods, body, and life itself, as well as having her as the mother of his children.”

After preaching what would be his final sermon, Martin died at the age of 62, while away from his beloved Katie. In his will he said, “My Katherine has always been a gentle, pious, and faithful wife to me, has loved me dearly.”

The above is a story of one great marriage friendship between Martin and Katherine Luther that Grace and I share in our book and I in my sermon this week, “Friend with Benefits.” The Luthers' story shows that, though marriage isn’t always based on friendship, by God’ s grace, a great friendship can happen in even the most unlikely scenarios. Friendship is an important and unfortunately overlooked aspect of marriage and big reason why Grace and I wrote Real Marriage. It’ s our prayer that as you look at your marriage, you would evaluate whether you are a good friend and share a good friendship with your spouse. If so, continue to cultivate that friendship. If not, begin working on your friendship now so that you can exit this life holding hands, enjoying each other's company and memories, and giving glory to God.

Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God

Notes from Pastor Perry Stone's recent teachings on Manna Fest


As I have continually stressed in my notes, the big picture in this world is that we are in a spiritual warfare. That is, Satan declared war on God when he took a third of the angels with him, believing he can be greater than God and deserves the worship of all beings.


In Ephesians 6:10-20, Paul describes the Armor of God by correlating it with the armor of Roman soldiers. Just like the armor protected Roman soldiers from enemy attacks, the Armor of God protects Christians from Satanic attacks.


Many people associate "Satanic attacks" with demon possession. And while that is indeed one of the many ways Satan can attack us, it is not the only way. Temptations and deceptions of all kinds are a part of Satan's bag of tricks, so it is important for us to realize that anything that pulls us away from God derives from our inherent sin or Satan. Those are the only two factors why we turn our backs on God.


Below, Pastor Perry discusses 1) weapons Satan uses to attack us, 2) the Armor of God against ALL attacks, and 3) ways we can stand strong despite the harshest of Satan's attacks.




Weapons of Satan



1. “Snares are seasonal; darts are daily.”


Snares are seasonal because they’re set typically when we are the weakest. For example, when Satan tempted Jesus, it was AFTER Jesus had fasted 40 days and nights (Matthew 4:1-11).


Darts, on the other hand, are daily. Paul said, “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31) because in order to serve the Lord, we must battle the darts (temptations, personal weaknesses, etc.) every day. We must discipline ourselves against sinning every day.


As I have said above, the two factors that pull us away from God are either ourselves or Satan. How do we discern which is which, and why is it important?


It's important to discern between the two types of temptations because if we don't recognize the correct root of the problem, we will never be able to fix it. Simply put, if we're the problem, blame-shifting it on Satan really wouldn't be the effective solution. And this is true conversely as well: If Satan's the problem, blaming ourselves won't resolve the issue either! (Forget not that Satan has no problem pitting us against ourselves!)


Essentially, wrong thinking leads to wrong solutions. Worse, wrong thinking opens the door to snares set by the enemy. Ignorant is not bliss. Ignorance will get us killed (Hosea 4:6)!


Satanic attacks can be further divided into the following:


1. Attacks that Satan brings without us knowing it or seeing it coming


2. Attacks that we can see but don’t know how to get around


3. Attacks that we march towards, knowing it’s going to be an attack


4. Attacks that once we’re in, we’re not sure what to do next


The key is to discern first who is the problem: Us or Satan or both? Deep prayer and fellowship are two very powerful tools.


2. Arrows of Satan


Roman soldiers used 3 types of arrows, which are also representative of Satanic attacks:


1. Normal arrows
This represents "common testing" (1 Corinthians 10:13), trials that many people go through (such as, "Should I cheat on this test?" Or, "should I take advantage of this person?" etc.)


2. Arrows lit at the tip (normal arrows where their metal tips are dipped into oil and set on fire)
This represents "seasonal testing" (Luke 4:13), trials that tempt a person to fall into a sin that he/she has resolved to break. Examples include turning away from deep sins like pornography, abusive relationships, drugs, etc. People previously involved in heavy sins but have determined to break them would often go through a good period where they can hold themselves in check but then get hit with the deep desire to re-commit those sins again. This would be Satan hitting us when we are at our weakest. But, hold on to Jesus and don't give in.


3. Combustible arrows
This represents "the hour of testing" (Revelation 3:10). Situations like what happened to Job (Job 1 & 2) is an hour of testing. This could be watching a child going through turmoil that you wish they didn't, or losing a loved one, etc. There is no undoing the damage, and these situations can be very difficult to deal with. But, let us be inspired by Job. Despite losing his family and everything else, Job did not curse or blame God. Job knew not what was happening, but he continued to stay strong in God, who guided Job through his hour of testing. Job never lost sight of God, and neither should we. We should know by now that when everything is failing or has failed, there is only one person we can turn to who can guarantee us success: Jesus. Don't run away when things turn sour. Run toward God.


3. Spear of Satan
1 Samuel 17:4
2 Samuel 21:15-22
1 Chronicles 20:5
Genesis 3:15
Genesis 6:4


Goliath is a perfect picture of Satan.
- He had 6 weapons (1 Samuel 17:4-7)
- The weight of his armor suggests him to be bigger than the average Jew (who averaged 5’6” at the time), to be about 9’ tall
- The spear he used was tied to his wrist, so that when he throws his spear out at a prey and successfully hits and wounds it, he can slowly reel in his prey. That is, once his spear hits the prey, that prey is not getting away.




Satan against Jesus
Matthew 12:43-45
Matthew 4:1-11
Luke 4:1-16
Matthew 27:40-42
Mark 15:30


Satan has attacked Jesus many times during Jesus' lifetime on Earth. Examples include Satan tempting Jesus with all the kingdoms of the world and, through the hard-hearted Pharisees and people, mocking Jesus and tempting Him to get off the cross.


Several realizations from this fact:


Satan KNOWS who Jesus is. Satan and his demons KNOW Jesus is the Truth, that Jesus is God. Satan knows this because SATAN READS THE BIBLE.
This is made evident by the fact that he quoted Psalms 91 when he tempted Jesus in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11).


And because Satan knows who Jesus is and Jesus's mission on Earth, Satan has been trying to either kill off Jesus and/or all Israelites or stymie Jesus's mission.
If Satan can force God to break his promises, then Satan would prove he is better than God, for what is the point in placing our faith and trust in God if God cannot guarantee His Word?


Take a moment to really think through the above two points.


If you are still doubting the person of Jesus Christ, the God of Jesus Christ, open your eyes. Jesus's greatest enemy shows no such doubt. In fact, he even knows and quotes Biblical Scriptures.


Attacks from Satan doesn't have to be demonic possessions. It can come in the form of non-believers.
As we have learned from past teachings from Dr. Chuck Missler, Satan cannot be in two places at once. He therefore cannot personally attack everyone at the same time. But, let's not forget that he does have 1/3 of all angels on his team. That's definitely enough to do some major damage. Furthermore, the people he has blinded and turned away from God, they now bear the heart of Satan. Satan certainly makes very efficient use of these people and pits them against Christians.


When Satan throws his spear at his prey and misses, he will reel it in and throw it again. He will keep doing this until he succeeds. And when he does, he will not let his prey get away.
Some sub-points from this realization:
1) The longer we are Christians, the more attacks we will bear.
2) The attacks get harder and harder (see The Counter Attack below).
3) It is therefore very easy for us to become battle-worn and give up. And if we do, then Satan's tactic worked. He would have succeeded in tiring us up and finally piercing his spear right through us. Therefore, just as our enemy is persistent in his chase, we need to be even more persistent in our vigilance.




The Counter Attack
"When at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Satan definitely embraces this idea.


As mentioned above, when Satan throws out his spear and fails to penetrate, he will try again. That is, in response to our success in blocking his spear, Satan's future attacks will only become greater.


In 1 Samuel 17, David kills Goliath all by himself. However, in 2 Samuel 21:15-17: Ishbi-Benob (another giant; brother of Goliath) almost kills David.


In Exodus 2:11-12, Moses whipped and killed an Egyptian by himself. However, in Exodus 17:12, Moses needed help to face those who opposed him.


These two examples show that Satan will just keep coming at us. The attacks will be easy in the beginning because we're young (in Spirit) and are eager to fight. However, as the attacks get harder, we also get more tired. Both of these elements therefore make us vulnerable to further attacks.


2 Samuel 21:15-17
Exodus 17:12
Luke 10:1
Deuteronomy 32:30
In these Scriptures, we see that God's people don't fight alone. When we are weak in the Spirit and know we're on the verge of giving up, we need to surround ourselves with God's people, for together, we can strengthen each other.


We need to understand that the war is not over until it is over.


How heartbreaking would it be to have stood so tall for so long only to lose it all because we could not see ourselves to the end? We already know God and His people win the war. With the certainty of such a victorious end, how could we fail in standing strong until the end? Satan's attacks will get harder, but we have the Armor of God, and we have fellowship with other Christians, and most importantly, with Christ. These are very powerful defenses against Satanic attacks -- but they are powerful ONLY when they are vigilantly maintained.


Before I go on to talk about the Armor of God, here's an interesting blip from Pastor Perry:


David was instructed by God to select smooth stones to defeat Goliath (1 Samuel 17:40). Rough edges of stones in a stream are smoothed out by the constant flow of water running over them. Just like the stones are made smooth by the running water, our souls are smoothed by the constant anointing of the Holy Spirit.


Lastly, David picked up five stones because he knew Goliath had 4 other brothers. That is, David picked up five stones not because he wanted extras in case he missed Goliath the first time and needed more "ammo". David picked up 4 extra stones because should Goliath's 4 brothers come after him, he could take each of them out with exactly one stone per giant. David had such confidence in his future victory because he knew he was doing God's will and under the protection of God. When we are on God's mission, success is a given; there is no need to doubt.




The Armor of God

Ephesians 6:10-20


Paul likened the Armor of God to the armor of Roman soldiers: 


Loin girt (belt) of Truth
Breastplate of Righteousness
Feet shod (Roman version of cleats) with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace
Shield of Faith
Helmet of Salvation
Sword of the Spirit/Word of God




Sword of the Word
The sword often represents the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12).


The Hebrew word for "sword" in this Scripture means "a double-edged dagger that is meant to destroy" (Ephesians 6:17).


The sword is double-edged because the first edge was created when God spoke His Word into the Bible, and the second edge was created when we speak the Word.


Luke 4:1-11
Matthew 4:1-13
Deuteronomy 6:13, 16; 83
When Jesus spoke the Word, the Word became a weapon.




Shield of Faith
Roman soldiers carried with them two kinds of shields:


1. Victory Shield: This is a decorative shield, symbolic of the soldier's past victories. It is therefore also symbolic of our faith in witnessing (e.g., God helped me win this and this battle in the past.)


2. Battle Shield: This is the shield the soldier would use in the battle field. IF MAINTAINED WELL, it can quench all the fiery arrows of the enemy, preventing them from penetrating the shield. It represents our faith. That is, our faith is our shield against the fiery arrows of Satan.


Ephesians 1:10; 2:5, 6, 22
There are times where a group of Roman soldiers need to link their shields together to form a large platform of shield to block bigger attacks. An individual shield can only block so much. But when linked together with tens of shields, the ability to block multiplies. In order to effectively block out all arrows, there can be no crack between the shields.


Individually, if the shield is not well-maintained, the shield will not be effective. A Roman soldier's shield was covered with cowhide. In order for it to be effective, the cowhide needs to be oiled (anointed!) so that it does not dry out. If it dries out, then it catches on fire when it gets struck by one of the enemy's flaming arrows, rendering the shield useless. Worse, a shield on fire distracts the soldier from the battle. Instead of focusing on his enemies, he now has to tend to himself.


Similarly, we need to tend to our individual shields of faith. We need to make sure it never dries out by anointing it with the Holy Spirit. As long as we make sure there are no "cracks" in our shield, we are guaranteed that it can "extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one" (Ephesians 6:16)! And when we fail to keep our shield of faith in top shape, the shield would fail during an enemy attack, leaving us vulnerable on the battlefield. We not only have to deal with the attacking enemies but also problems within.


And of course, when we group together to fight against bigger attacks, we can only stand strong and united when each one of us bring forward our optimally kept faith to ensure 1) no crack in individual shields faith and 2) no crack between the shields of faith.

As a side note, Pastor Perry stresses that faith belongs only to God. We do not place faith in people. We can have confidence in people, but we should never place our faith in them. If we placed faith in people, our faith shakes when they shake!




Keep the Shield of Faith from Cracking
Isaiah 21:5
1 John 2:20, 27
1 Corinthians 12:7-10


Anoint the shield with oil (which represents the Holy Spirit). Roman soldiers rub the oil into the cowhide on their shields, so that the cowhide can absorb the oil and not become dry. Once the shield has been oiled, it is then dipped into water and rubbed down again with oil to fix any dry spots that are prone to cracks. This process is repeated as many times necessary to ensure there is no cracking of the shield.


Water: Washing with the Word of God; washing the mind; renewing the mind -- We should thus be in a place where the Word is preached! (How else would we be able to be washed with the Word?!)


Oil: Anointing of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is the one who builds our faith


Jude 1:20
Build up in the Holy Spirit so that the Spirit may work in us.


Ephesians 5:26
Be in the Holy Spirit so that when our shield is dry, God can easily restore our shield of Faith.


Hence, when we constantly anoint ourselves with the Holy Spirit, we "rub" God's essence into our mind, body, and soul. This anointing isn't just a one time deal. It has to be constantly checked for possible cracks or vulnerable spots so that they can be fixed BEFORE the next battle!


A Roman soldier would never march onto a battlefield unprepared. He would never march onto a battlefield without making sure there was no crack in his shield, because he knows that shield guards his life.


We therefore need to be vigilant about keeping our faith strong. It is the only thing that protects our eternal life in God. We cannot afford to have any cracks in it and make it easy for the enemy to win us over!


Don't ever put ourselves in a situation where we are forced to fix our shields in the middle of a battlefield. Fix the shield BEFORE the battle.


The Shield of Faith will quench ALL fiery darts. ALL.




The Mystery Weapon in Ephesians 6
Roman soldiers also carried a spear, so where's the spear in the Armor of God?


Ephesians 6:18
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit"


The Spirit is the spear.


Before a Roman soldier would use the sword (Word of God), he’d use the spear (praise and prayer in the Spirit).




4 Ways to Fight against Satan


1. Fight your battles with the knowledge of God’s will and you will always win
Peter was able to sleep before his execution (Acts 12:5-11). How could he sleep? Because he knew he wasn’t going to die!


John 21:18
Jesus told Peter he was going to live to an old man!


Similarly, there were 3 instances in the Bible where Jesus specifically stated that his time had "not yet come" (John 2:4, 7:30, 8:20).


Based on the Scriptures, Jesus knew when certain things were going to occur and knew they would not occur until God's designated time. For example, Jesus knew He wouldn't die until it was His time to die. Thus, despite all the dangers he faced on His way to Jerusalem, He knew none of His enemies would be able to harm Him. And when His hour of testing came (John 18 & 19), He was arrested, beaten, and sent to the Cross.


The idea here is KNOW THE WORD. God communicates with us through the Word, and God communicates with us individually through prayers. When we know the Word, we know God's plans. And when we know God's plans, we may not know how God would get us out of dire predicaments, but we can rest easy knowing God would get us out.


2.  Learn to pray without ceasing
That is, we should continually have our mind and heart set toward God


In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22, Paul listed the following things every Christian should do:
- Rejoice evermore
- Pray without ceasing
- In everything give thanks
- Quench not the Spirit
- Despise not prophesying
- Prove all things
- Hold fast that which is good
- Abstain from all appearance of evil


When the Church heard about Peter’s execution within 24 h, they never stopped praying for him (Acts 5) until Peter was safe.


Matthew 26:40
Luke 22:44
There are times when intercessions (praying without ceasing) are necessary to help us through the tough times, especially during demonic attack. Sometimes, praying along with fasting are necessary (Mark 9:29) to break the attack.


3. Break the soul ties that are keeping us bound
People can be chained to the wrong people or to the world.


Acts 12:7
The chains that tied Peter down came off of hands; Peter recovered his sandals and his garments.


We do work with our hands. Therefore, by tying down our hands, our enemies prevent us from doing God's work (Psalms 18:34). Sandals represent walk. When Peter got his sandals back, his walk was restored. Similarly, when Peter got his garments back, his Spirit of praise was restored (Isaiah 61:3)


4. Be delivered from the expectations of people
Jesus told us to love God and love others as ourselves. That's it. We are here to do God's work and be judged by God only. We are not here to live up to other people's expectations of us, and we should not imprison ourselves with such expectations!

* * * * * * * *

For me, the take home message is 1) always wear the FULL Armor of God, and 2) keep that Armor in tip-top shape. If every component is diligently anointed, there is no way Satan's attacks can penetrate. We have God's Word on it.

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand" (Ephesians 6:10-14).