GOD IS A MAN OF WAR

 

SCRIPTURES
Ex. 15:3 - The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.

Nu. 23:8 - How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed?

De. 29:20 - All the curses that are written in this book shall be upon him.

Jos. 11:20 - That he might destroy them utterly.

I Sa. 19:5 - And the Lord wrought a great salvation for all Israel.

I Sa. 25:28 - Because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord.

II Sa. 23:12 - And the Lord wrought a great victory.

I Ch. 29:11 - Is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory.

II Ch. 34:24 - Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place.

Ps. 24:8 - The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

Ps. 68:18 - Thou hast led captivity captive.

Ps. 89:8 - O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee?

Is. 3:1 - For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts.

Is. 10:16 - The Lord of hosts, sent among his fat ones leanness.

Is. 11:4 - And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth.

Is. 13:5 - Even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy.

Is. 42:13 - He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war.

Je. 35:17 - Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel.

Je. 50:25 - Opened his armory, brought forth weapons of his indignation.

Je. 51:19 - Israel is the rod of his inheritance; Lord of hosts is his name.

Je. 51:20 - Thou art my battle ax and weapons of war.

La. 3:1 - I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

Mt. 12:20 - Till he send forth judgment unto victory.

Mt. 24:29 - And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.

Lu. 1:68 - Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.

Ro. 16:20 - And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.

I Co. 15:57 - Which giveth us the victory through our Lord JESUS CHRIST.

II Co. 10:4 - Weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God.

Col. 2:15 - And having spoiled principalities and powers.

I Jo. 3:8 - That he might destroy the works of the devil.

I Jo. 5:4 - And this is the victory that overcometh the world.

PREFACE
Before we taught this lesson at Lake Hamilton Bible Camp, there was a prophecy about God being a Man of War with His related activities. Glen Miller then defined the phrase, God of Hosts, as God of Armies. We are soldiers in the Army of God.

Earline and I have been going through a personal battle since she had kidney failure. We have been in the valley of the shadow of death. Someday Earline will write a lesson about what she has learned in this experience. Earline taught a lesson, Curses for Shedding Innocent Blood, just before we found out about her kidneys. She may have been attacked for teaching this important lesson. Innocent blood of aborted babies is probably what will bring down the United States of America through God's punishment of our nation.

We want to thank everyone for their prayers, letters, phone calls and visits. We especially needed them in this time of crisis and we need them in the future. We are believing for a supernatural healing and miracle of restoration for Earline's kidneys. Please keep praying and agreeing for God to work that in miracle in our lives.

We work together as a DELIVERANCE team. I don't feel that God called me to go forth around the world without Earline. We are wondering what will become of the ministry. I wasn't sure that I would be back to teach at camp.

YOUNG'S ANALYTICAL CONCORDANCE TO THE BIBLE
Young's defines the key words in the above verses as: fighting, war, battle, arms, victory, pierce, execrate, oath, imprecation, destroy, cut off, waste, loose, strip off, unclothe, rub together, shake ability, warfare, service, conflict, eating up, badness, pre-imminence, security, safety, and hammer.

DESCRIPTIONS OF GOD
The Lord is described by different phrases: man of war, strong and mighty, mighty in battle, God of hosts, God of Israel, God of peace, Lord JESUS CHRIST and Lord God. It is clear that He is God and Lord, even The Lord God. He is God over all and He delegates authority to whom He will.

The verses above list characteristics of God: God curses people, sends all the curses, destroy them utterly, wrought a great salvation, wrought a great victory, victory of God, I will bring evil, smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, the weapons of his indignation, opened his armory, the rod of his wrath, he sent forth judgment unto victory, powers of the heavens shall be shaken, God of peace shall bruise Satan, giveth us the victory through our Lord JESUS CHRIST, spoiled principalities and powers, destroy the works of the devil, and the victory that overcometh the world.

DOES GOD CURSE PEOPLE?
It is probably worthwhile to comment about where curses come from. All of the curses were written in the Holy Bible by God. These are curses that God put into effect to penalize us for not following the Word of God. Satan did not invent these curses.

People do not like to say that God cursed them or others. However, the Bible says that we can not curse whom God hath not cursed. If a people is blessed by God, then the curse will not land. They are blessed because they follow God and obey Him. If a people is cursed by God, then we can not bless them and reverse the curse unless the people repent and change their ways.

THE NATION OF ISRAEL
Simply, we are blessed when we obey and cursed when we disobey the commandments in the Bible. A good example to study is the Nation of Israel and their rise and fall through the years. You can see the Law of Blessing and Cursing in operation in God's chosen people. There are a lot of good lessons to be learned by studying Israel's rise and fall in the Bible as well as in the history books.

Balak, King of Moab, hired Balaam, a Midianite prophet, to curse Israel when they were journeying in his territory. The story is found in Numbers 22-31. Moab was afraid of Israel because God was with them and they were destroying their enemies. He called Balaam to curse Israel to destroy that nation. God told Balaam not to go but he apparently wanted the reward. God let Balaam go but he cursed himself in going. Balaam could not curse Israel because they were following God. He actually blessed Israel and cursed Moab. Balaam counseled Balak to get the people of Israel to sin.

Israel then committed whoredom and idolatry with the women of Moab. They cursed themselves by disobeying God. The wrath of God descended on Israel. Finally, the Midianites are spoiled and Balaam is slain.

Law of Blessing and Cursing - Israel is blessed because of obedience. Balaam can not curse them. Israel curses themselves by idolatry. God is angry with them and a plague starts.

Moab is cursed because of incest, etc. Balak wants to curse Israel but cannot. He probably encourages the women to commit whoredom with the Israelites. The Moabites are later destroyed.

Balaam is a soothsayer. He disobeys God and greedily seeks a reward. In so doing, he curses himself and is later killed.

WARRIORS FOR CHRIST
We taught a lesson at Camp called, Warriors for CHRIST. In that lesson are many scriptures describing our roles as warriors. It lists our weapons and how we are to use them. Please refer to that lesson for material not covered herein.

The verses above list phrases that apply to us showing the God is our Commander-in-Chief: we fight in the battles of the Lord, we are his battle axes and weapons of war, and our weapons are not carnal but spiritual.

WHY DID JESUS COME TO EARTH?
I John 3:8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the Devil. Most adults can not answer this question correctly! Most people think that He came to save them. Salvation is just part of what JESUS CHRIST accomplished on earth. As you can see from the scripture above, He bruised Satan's head, led captivity captive, divided the spoil, cast out Satan, judged prince of world, spoiled principalities and powers, abolished death, put all things in subjection, etc.

As you study the Bible, it is clear that JESUS CHRIST, The Son of God, completely defeated Satan and his army of fallen angels and demons. It is also clear that God Almighty made provisions that we can be totally victorious in Him according to His Ways. Wouldn't it be ridiculous if God setup a plan for children of God to lose to the forces of evil?

If Satan has been completely defeated, then why do we still have to war with the enemy? It is simple; Satan is free to roam the earth until he is bound up for a thousand years. Until then, he can do everything we will let him do to destroy us. Satan has no power over us but we let him trick us due to our ignorance of the Bible and because of sin in our lives.

DOES GOD WORK THROUGH US?
Jer. 51:20 Thou art my battle ax and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms. Why doesn't God do everything Himself? He certainly could! God has chosen to work through His children. The condition of the world is the responsibility of the Christian body and especially the leaders. It is clear that the five-fold ministry has failed to properly teach and show the world how to live. The world will never be won for CHRIST with the ignorance, cowardliness and greed of the present day ministry.

THE WAR OF THE AGES
God is our leader in the war and we clearly are in a series of battles. The warfare is against Satan and his multitude of evil forces. It is all out spiritual warfare until the end of the world as we know it. It is a life and death battle for our spiritual and physical lives.

We are warriors for CHRIST, have weapons and are taught how to use the weapons in the Bible. We are cursed, even bitterly, if we won't fight in the battles of the Lord. We have to be willing to shed blood in the spiritual battle. Judges 5:23 Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Jer. 48:10 Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood. Other verses are Ge. 3:17 - those who hearken unto their wives rather than God, I Ki. 20:35-42 - him who keeps back his sword from blood, and Ez. 3:18-21 -those who refuse to warn them that sin.

DELIVERANCE is at the front lines in the hottest part of the spiritual battle. God parachutes you into the pits of peoples' personal hell to help them.

DELIVERANCE is controversial and not popular. You have to be willing to sacrifice certain parts of your life style if necessary to help people in spite of the church opposition to DELIVERANCE and demon forces working against you.

JESUS was sent to destroy the works of the enemy. He accomplished that feat and gave us the keys to victory. However, it is up to us to use the keys of victory in our personal battle of our lifetime. If we don't fully use the keys as listed in the Bible, we will be partially or fully defeated by the forces of evil.

God chooses to work through us as well as sovereignty on His own. We can't dictate to God or put Him in a box. He doesn't have to obey our commandments or orders; we have to obey His. Just because we say it, God doesn't have to do it especially when it is unscriptural. A lot of what is said in the Christian world is man's thoughts and not God's thoughts. This is frequently the case when we are praying warfare or fighting in the heavenlies. If what we say doesn't line up with the Word of God, then God will not answer but Satan will answer every demonic prayer. Watch and see what happens when you pray. How are your sayings coming to pass?

PASSIVE JUDGEMENT
There are those who can't make clear judgements on issues and misuse the verse to judge not. Many do not realize they are to judge every prophecy, the fruit in our lives and in the lives of others, and on and on. You need to judge everything you see, hear or read. If not, you will be submitted to every wind of evil doctrine and fall into many hurtful traps. I once heard a pastor tell his people they should not criticize him even when he is wrong, neither should they talk about him. I have seen strange things in that church: an unusually large number of divorces, illegitimate children, crimes of theft and forced entry, idolatry, etc. People should be taught to properly make scriptural judgement.

WHAT IS WITCHCRAFT PRACTICED BY CHRISTIANS?
Witchcraft is defined as the power or practices of witches; sorcery; black magic; bewitching attraction or charm; enchantment; irresistible influence; fascination. Enchantment is defined as the act of casting a spell over; the use of magic to charm; the state of being under the influence of a magic spell or charm; a magic spell or charm; something the charms or delights greatly; great delight or pleasure. Also consider the words fascination, charm, captivation, allurement. Witchcraft is simply trying to control others for your own benefit no matter how worthy the cause may be.

God anoints and provides for his ministers to do his work here on earth. The people look to the ministers to help them live according to the Bible. This gives them a power over the people that can be used for good or evil. Silly women look up to the pastors as someone on a pedestal and frequently end up having sex with the weak pastors. Silly men want the admiration of the pastors and try to please the prideful pastors to gain favor. In the positions of the fivefold ministry, it is easy to fleece the flock.

PLAYING GOD IN PEOPLE'S LIVES
When we got into DELIVERANCE, people would come to us for help of many different types. They wanted us to go to God and find out what they were supposed to do. They wanted us to be their parents, show them parental love and tell them how to conduct their lives. They wanted to pay us for our help, give us gifts of love, and give us tithes and offerings.

Why would the people come to us for help? The Christian body is hurting and can not find the needed help in the church. The churches refuse to practice DELIVERANCE, healing, etc. and teach the whole truth of the Bible. If the people have problems, the church sends them to the world for help. They are sent to the medical profession to be physically healed in the body, to the psychiatric profession to be mentally healed in the soul, to the social profession to be financially healed in the material realm, and in certain ways to the world in general to be spiritually healed such as receiving peace.

The people did not feel that they could hear from God or had a good relationship with Him. They thought that we did since we could help them and that God would speak to us for them. They may have been lazy, ignorant or have some other reason why they wanted to place us as intermediaries between them and God. They may have had a Catholic or other religious background which caused them to look to man rather than directly to God for guidance.

Their parents did not provide the proper role models pointing them towards God, The Father. It is so important how the parents raise their children. Parents actually are in a position of being like God in the lives of the children. The way a child relates to their parents, especially to the father, is the way the child will relate to God in later life.

Many times when the children do not have good parents, they go through life seeking someone to fill that void in their lives. The parents may not have shown love for them. So, they seek love from others to fulfill that need. The parents may have been absentee parents and not given them guidance. So, they will seek others to guide them. They are still acting like a child even though they are adults.

People are so grateful for what you have done to help them that they are willing to pay you for your services or give you their tithe money. We sought the Lord about receiving money. We felt that He told us not to take money, explain to others that we didn't need money, that God was providing very well for us and to give their money to the church or some Christian work. If after a strong talk to them and they still felt that God wanted them to give us some money for the ministry, we would accept so that they could be blessed. The money given us was then placed in our tithe money to give to others or in the ministry of DELIVERANCE to buy publications for others.

Mat. 10:7-8 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. This is one of our favorite passages and we love to sing it or read it to the forces of evil. It could also be thought of as a great commission to us as well as other Christians. Notice that it said to freely give because that God has freely given to us. Therefore, we do not need the money of others because God is supplying our needs bountifully.

In our early ministry, God told us not to play God in the lives of his people. He was God and God would direct His church. We have tried to do that ever since. We do our best to help people, they do not owe us anything, and they are free to go and never return. This has worked out very well; God has rewarded us for obeying His Instructions.

It is easy to take advantage of the Christian body. God places the five-fold ministry and other spiritual leaders in a position where the people trust them and respect them. The leaders then take advantage of God's people for their own selfish reasons: build a building, an empire, a ministry, an individual, etc. to satisfy and glorify the individuals in charge of the work. You especially see the leaders taking advantage of the money supplied for the use of themselves, their families and their friends. They take advantage of the women in the church, and sometimes sexually especially in the black churches.

In summary, parents are like God in the lives of their children. They should raise the children to have the proper relationship with Father God. The ministry should not act like God in the lives of their congregation. The leaders should train the people to go directly to God for their guidance.

EXAMPLES OF MINISTERS PLAYING GOD
We have seen this pattern through the years as we have ministered to people who have come out of churches and religious organizations, or came out from under the control of a pastor or other leader of that organization. It is amazing to watch the leader work witchcraft on his flock either ignorantly or deliberately to control them.

We have also seen this pattern as we sat in the congregation and had the leaders try to exercise witchcraft over us. We recognized the practice and did not receive it. Most people do not recognize the practice and receive demons. The people open themselves up to demon attack by their blind allegiance to the leaders and organization, and by accepting, not resisting, the damnable doctrine that was preached. Mat. 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

What happens is that the leader opens the flock up to demon attack through his actions. The evil spirits assigned over the organization will be there because of the actions of the leader. Soul ties will be formed between the leader and the congregation. The leader will place curses on the followers. The leader will loose certain demons on the congregation due to what he says.

Let's talk in generalities. If the leader is sexually immoral, then the ruler will be a sexual demon; controls the congregation - witchcraft; steals money from the treasury - covetousness; drinks alcoholic beverages - addictions; glorifies himself - spiritual pride; and on and on. Then the ruler demons will try to cause the congregation to be like the leaders. If the leader is sexually loose, then the people will tend to be sexually loose. The religious organization will go the way of its leaders. A church we went to had three leaders fall into sexual sin; there were many illegitimate children in the church.

What is amazing is to watch these practices in Christians who move in DELIVERANCE. A Christian who walks in DELIVERANCE should be among the best educated of all Christians and have a better balance about what the Bible says. This is especially true of the DELIVERANCE ministers or lay workers. For instance, a pastor will cast out demons of witchcraft that came into the people in his congregation from practices outside of the church on the one hand, and then put demons of witchcraft into people in his congregation through his practices on the other hand.

In one example, the following happened. The pastor instilled fear in his people. He warned them about outside organizations, leaving the church, not submitting to his authority, criticizing him, etc. In the church, they had to obey and not question his authority. Outside the church, they couldn't leave his church and go to another church. They were paralyzed and were slaves to him. They were fearful of criticizing him and having him attack them from the pulpit. They were afraid to leave the church and lose their salvation. They were afraid of other organizations and people. If the people left, the people that remained could not associate with their dear friends that had left.

The church cursed and prayed against the people that left the church, and against any other group of people that the pastor may have had trouble with. Their actions sent demons to attack these people and organizations.

What were the results of the actions of the leaders? The leaders loosed demons on the people in the congregation and sent demons after the people that had left or had problems with the church. They cursed the people and spoke failure in their lives. The people had soul ties with the leaders.

When the people left the church, they felt that God did not love them, they may be loosing their salvation, they were fearful of many things, they could not function normally in life, they were hurt and rejected by the way they were treated, had pains and illnesses associated with fears, had spiritual pride about being in the only church, had problems forgiving the pastor and congregation about the way they were treated, were deceived about things of God, blamed the Lord for what had happened, and were confused and weakened by the experiences.

When an outside church renounced the practices of this church, the church was attacked by demons sent from the other church. The pastor and congregation had many problems in the church. You had one church praying against the other church. Actually, you had one church cursing the other church and loosing demons to attack the people in the church.

How can these curses fall on leaders, followers and other churches? Pr. 26:2 As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. The curses fall on the leaders because they ignorantly or deliberately practice witchcraft which is clearly contrary to the Bible. The curses fall on the followers because they ignorantly follow the leaders who are sinning. The curses fall on other churches because they ignorantly practice the Word of God and leave themselves open to curses. The main reason is ignorance or lack of knowledge of the Bible. There are many other reasons such as the leader's selfishness, follower's weaknesses and a church's partial following of the Bible. We all probably have cracks in our armor which allow demons to attack us under certain circumstances.

You must completely break free spiritually and physically from the organization and its leaders. You must renounce the organization and its practices spiritually to God. You must ask God to help you in all of these things, and to have faith and trust in God. To do this requires forgiveness for the leaders and followers, asking God to forgive you for your sins of bitterness, etc., asking God to forgive and bless them, breaking soul ties and curses on your family, casting out demons that came in through soul ties, curses and association with the organization, praying for physical healing, and disciplining your mind not to yield to the programmed thinking of the leaders and demons.

In summary, no person should try to act like God in the lives of others and violate their freewill. Let God direct the actions of His Children. No person should submit their freewill to the leaders and become passive. A passive person is easily demonized because they yield. Both the leaders and the congregation will become demonized.

SEQUENCE OF DEMONIZATION
When people are subjected to these control practices, they become hurt and are influenced by the families of Rejection, Bitterness and Rebellion respectively in that order. They are attacked by the Charismatic Witchcraft demons sent from the leaders to the congregation. They personally submit to the Passive Mind demons by their actions. If people outside of the church have controlled them, then they are attacked by the Witchcraft demons of occult and demonic associations. If they personally have submitted to substances of abuse, then they are attacked by the Witchcraft demons of sorcery, drugs, alcohol, etc. which control the mind.

PRAYER
My dear heavenly and gracious Father, help me to recognize you as a Man of War and to be a Warrior for CHRIST. Help me to understand The Law of Blessing and Cursing. Give me Your Wisdom of why you came to earth and how you work through me to win The War of the Ages.

Forgive me for playing God in people's lives. Forgive me for not raising my children to have the proper relationship to God. I forgive the fivefold ministry for playing God in my life and violating my freewill. Forgive me for submitting to those who would try to control my will. Forgive me for my wrong thoughts and actions against those who have wronged me by their witchcraft. I pray that you would bless them with all spiritual blessings. Please help me Lord to have faith and trust in you and not in man.

I take authority over Satin according to the whole Word of God. I completely break free from any organization or leader that has dominated me. I renounce the organization and any practices that are ungodly. I now break all soul ties with those who have controlled me. I break the curses that have been placed upon me and my family.

I pray that you would deliver me from the demons that came in through these associations. I pray that you would heal me emotionally and physically from these experiences. Help me to cleanse my mind from the brain washing of the leaders. Help me to discipline my mind to look to The Father, Son and Holy Spirit as The Savior, Baptizer, Healer, Deliverer and Prosperer. I ask this prayer in the Name of JESUS CHRIST, my Lord, my Master and my Savior.

REFERENCES
Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary Unabridged