Christians should not be like a football fans, But be battle ready Warriors.

Christians should not be like a football fans, But be battle ready Warriors. By Darren Morrison

Someone once compared me to a football fan. This lady had said that Christians are like football fans rooting for the winning team, thinking that there are those on the side of GOD Almighty and those on the side of Satan; the queers, Muslims, abortionists etc. are the other teams and we should root for GOD’s team. Well there are Christians who think that but I do not and neither should anyone who proclaims to be a born again believer in the lord Jesus Christ. I will try to explain here why that is not true.

Football is a game what we Christian have to face is no game at all. This is serious business. “EPHESIANS 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].” You see we are at war this is real and war in not a game. You may not like the idea of being at war but like it or not you are in it and if you are a saved Christian you are right in the middle of it. This war is spiritual and it has been waging for a long time. A game is for fun but this war is not for fun. It is serious business and we have a very crafty enemy. What we face here is spiritual warfare. We may not see it with our eyes but there is a war waging all around us. Our minds are one of the battlegrounds. “ROMANS 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” You see the Devil wants our minds and emotions away from the things of GOD.

Yes we have a uniform for every one at war has a uniform, but that is not a uniform like those who play sports. This is not a sport. We have and should use the uniforms of spiritual warfare. “EPHESIANS 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:.” We need to be ever ready because as I said before this is serious business. We have to be on guard. Satan is always on the attack and his demons never sleep. We must be ready to defend the gospel at all times.

Our Bible is the word of GOD. The sword of the spirit is the word of GOD. “HEBREWS 4:12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The word of GOD is powerful and we have our word of GOD it is the holy bible. I believe that in English it happens to be the KJV. As with any weapon we must familiarize ourselves with it. We must read it daily we must memorizes verse in it. “PSALMS 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” You see our bible will keep us from sin and sin will keep us from our bible. To a marine in combat his weapon is his best friend. We are in spiritual combat the word of GOD should be likewise. As important as the weapon is to a marine in combat so should our bible be as we are in combat. Sports fans have no need of a weapon.

In football you have a whole league of teams and you fight them one at a time for some seasonal victory. In spiritual warfare we have only one enemy and he is very clever and powerful. “I PETER 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”. He wants to devour you. The devil is at war with us. Jesus was Mary’s seed and if we follow his word them we are his remnant here on earth. “REVELATION 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” That means us, if we are the ones who follow Christ. You see the enemy is not the homosexuals, abortionists, or cultists. Those are people we must try to rescue from the enemy. The more souls we help, save for Jesus the more we hurt Satan.

In sports your games are scheduled for certain days and times. We are in battle 24/7. Yes from the day you prayed to Jesus to come into your heart and he did, you became an enemy of Satan. Though Satan already hated you and wanted to murder you because you are GOD’s creation. “HEBREWS 10:32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;” Satan wants to destroy your effectiveness as a Christian. He wants you to not be able to help win the lost to Christ. In a Battle the object is to take ground from your enemy in this case it would be to help win the lost to the lord. Everyone who sins is headed to HELL but those who repent of their sins and turns toward Christ and believe in their heart that Jesus died on the cross for our sins will be saved.

Yes we fight on the side of true justice, God’s justice. “I TIMOTHY 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” This is a good fight that we battle in. Satan is unjust in all his ways. We must be just in our warfare. “PROVERBS 29:27 An unjust man [is] an abomination to the just: and [he that is] upright in the way [is] abomination to the wicked.” Those of us who fight in this war are fighting a just war. Beware of the engagements

This is not a fight to glorify ourselves or to puff us up. We fight for the good because GOD is good. We fight for his glory not ours. “II TIMOTHY 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of [this] life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” Don’t let the cares of the world entangle you for they are snares of the devil. “MARK 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful“. We must remember how important a fight this is and how the cares of the world will hinder us in being an effective warrior in the corps of the lord.

Every time we take back ground the Devil has claimed we have conquered in this battle. “ROMANS 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Every time we help, win a lost soul to the lord, every time we tear down a strong hold in our life we have won a battle. “II CORINTHIANS 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;.” Pulling down strongholds in our lives is conquering lost ground for Jesus. It will also make us a more effective witness.

We usually think about battlegrounds with soldiers running across and tanks blasting and explosion and rockets. But that is how war is being fought in the flesh. “II CORINTHIANS 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:.” in our flesh we are weak and we must not let our weakness affect us in this war we are engaged in. “I JOHN 2:16 For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” This war is not against flesh and blood but principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Homosexuality is a lie from the devil to get people away from God, which is why Homosexuals hate fundamental independent Baptists like myself. But I will still warn them because without Jesus homosexuals will burn in Hell forever, we must tell them to repent and not let the world tell us to be tolerant. When a Jehovah’s Witness rings your doorbell you must tell them “JOHN 8:24” otherwise they will go to Hell thinking they are saved. As Satan continues his infanticides at Planned Parenthood, telling young woman that killing their own children is the best thing for them. We must tell the baby killers it is wrong, But we must also tell them that they can get forgiveness for their sins. It is not a choice it is bloody murder.

Our enemy the Devil is too powerful for us to take on alone. “LUKE 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Satan is powerful and he is not dumb in fact he is smarter than any of us. He knows every word of the bible and he knows all our weaknesses. You see every one of us who are saved have Christ in us. “I JOHN 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” Satan may be powerful and great But Christ that is in us is greater that Satan. Don’t go it alone, you cannot fight Satan on your own. He will trip you up that is why it is so important to pray.

In sports the coach might yell from the sidelines but in warfare it is important the orders and requests travel back and forth from the battlefront to HQ. We must always be in contact with our leader. A Solider or Marine cannot complete the task unless he follows orders from the commander. Jesus is our commander and he will give us our marching orders and will send in support (Angels fight this war as well). So prayer is our radio to headquarters “EPHESIANS 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”. Pray to God ask him to help us daily even more, pray for others in the fight as well. Sometimes our brothers and sister are really going though difficult battles and we must lift them up in prayer. For the lost, the ones Satan has his grip on, pray for them. Even pray for those who do you wrong. How much should we pray? We read this verse and there is no doubt how much we should pray. “I THESSALONIANS 5:17 Pray without ceasing.”

In football they have plays and a playbook. In combat they have orders send down from the commander because he has the overview of all operations. Our General is Jesus Christ and here is one of his very important orders. “MATTHEW 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.” Our bible is our greatest weapon and it is also where we find what we must do, for every thing we need to know about this war is written in there. “JOHN 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.” We must not only love our brother and sisters in the lord but also we must love everyone on the face of the earth. Love them enough to at least try to give them the gospel.

In sports as well as conventional warfare the outcome is never sure. But in our war we know who will win and who will lose yet the battle still wages. Satan knows his fate in the lake of fire. “I JOHN 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, [even] our faith.” Those who have repented and believed have become sons of GOD “JOHN 1:12”. We shall indeed have victory. PSALMS 44:5 Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.

To those who think I am like a football fan sitting in a lazy boy chair with a remote in one hand and a soda in the other yelling at the boob tube: No, I consider myself like the marine crawling up the beach with his rifle in one hand and a hand-grenade in the other, with blood and mud and sand all over him. That would be a better picture. Of course this war is not on the conventional battlefield. There is no age limits for enlistment. Both man and woman will fight in this war young, old, handicapped, Olympic athlete, rich, poor. Police officer, Prison inmate, Ex-gay, preacher‘s kid, house wife, truck driver, Marine, Sailor, Soldier, Airman anyone who believes in the lord Jesus Christ and repented of there sins are in the Lord’s Army or at my Church home the Corps of the Lord. Our VFW and American Legion will be with father GOD where there are many mansions waiting for us.

To those who think I am like a football fan sitting in a lazy boy chair with a remote in one hand and a soda in the other yelling at the boob tube

That is not how I see you.

No, I consider myself like the marine crawling up the beach with his rifle in one hand and a hand-grenade in the other, with blood and mud and sand all over him.

That is really, really not how I see you.

"To those who think I am like a football fan sitting in a lazy boy chair with a remote in one hand and a soda in the other yelling at the boob tube: No, I consider myself like the marine crawling up the beach with his rifle in one hand and a hand-grenade in the other, with blood and mud and sand all over him. That would be a better picture. Of course this war is not on the conventional battlefield. There is no age limits for enlistment. Both man and woman will fight in this war young, old, handicapped, Olympic athlete, rich, poor. Police officer, Prison inmate, Ex-gay, preacher‘s kid, house wife, truck driver, Marine, Sailor, Soldier, Airman anyone who believes in the lord Jesus Christ and repented of there sins are in the Lord’s Army or at my Church home the Corps of the Lord. Our VFW and American Legion will be with father GOD where there are many mansions waiting for us."
Amen!

I believe General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, had the right idea when he included martial trappings in his evangelical efforts. We Christians are an Army of beleivers and there is no room for loafers.

There are many very good solid Christians who use other translations. I believe that the KJV will stand up to scrutiny. I have been challenged on several occasions as to which KJV is the correct one. I purchased a copy of the original version 1 and have been comparing scripture with scripture and have found no differences yet. The original is very difficult reading because the English language characters and the spelling of some words have changed. If you are trying to get me to say that everyone that does not use the KJV is a fool, I will not. The problem that they have is that what they study does not contain all of the word. In addition, many passages have changed. The NIV refers to the one who was thrown out of heaven as the morning star. The CEV even has a reference from this passage to Revelation where Jesus states that he is the Bright and morning star. In your NIV you would have no way of knowing that Jesus came “to seek and to save that which was lost” – the passage is not there. There are many others missing also and most have to do with the deity of Christ, who is and why he came.

I am not familiar with Ruckman, so I can’t address your post as to him being new age or not. I am aware that many who use other translations staunchly defend their version. Again, I’ll take the KJV anytime for making the gospel clear, concise, and uncluttered.

To answer you question, yes I do believe that they have been deceived. Deception is Satan’s forte. He is a master liar and if he weren’t good at it then we wouldn’t be warned to look out for his lies.

We are not far apart. However, there are a number of KJVOnlyists on FR who say that the AV1611 is a perfect translation and since we do not have the original manuscripts the perfect Bible is the AV1611 and all other translations are inferior and not the Bible. Some even go as far as argue that comparing the KJV to the greek and hebrew (even of the majority text) is unnecessary since God inspired the translation.

I believe the KJV is an excellent translation. I believe the NIV has many weak passages and prefer the NASB over the NIV for accuracy and fidelity to the original languages.

Peter Ruckman is a hero to those mentioned in the first paragraph. His name calling and bombasts against any who don't toe his "perfect translaion" line is militancy directed amiss IMO.

However, I think you and I would not be too far apart from each other on this issue. Certainly I respect your views.

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