The war against Christianity.
Here we go. Psalm chapter 2 and verse 1 through
6. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder and
cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them
in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have
I set my king upon my holy hill Zion. In spite of all of that
opposition, I have sent my king upon my holy hill of Zion. And then in Acts chapter 4, and
beginning in verse 23, they have been let out of prison after
being arrested for preaching, and verse 23 through 30, and
being let go, they went to their own company and reported all
that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. When they
had heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord
and said, Lord, thou art God, which hath made heaven and earth
and the sea and all that in them is. who by the mouth of thy servant
David hath said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people
imagine a vain thing?" In other words, they had seen the psalm
fulfilled. The kings of the earth stood
up, the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, Pontius Pilate, with
the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together. For to do whatsoever thy hand,
thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold
their threatening, and grant unto thy servants that with all
boldness they may speak thy word by stretching forth thine hand
to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy
holy child, even Jesus. Now, right up front this morning,
let me state our premise and our attention. And that is, I
will seek to show that there is a violent and a perpetual
war that is being waged against biblical Christianity in this
day and in this age, and that it is against all things Christian
and all things biblical. It is against the Christ as he
is preached and as he is set forth in the scripture. It is
against Christianity as a system of worship and belief and practice
and set of morals. It is against the Bible as it
is declared to be the inspired, inerrant word of our God. It is against the churches that
try the spirits and find them that say that they are apostles
and are not. I want you to notice something.
I use the word or the description biblical Christianity because
as it is true in politics, there is also in Christendom a left
and a right. There is a liberal or progressive
and there is a conservative. There is a progressive view and
there is a traditional view of the Bible and of Christianity. And as in the secular realm,
the leftist and the liberal and the progressive have control
of most of the government, of most of the education system,
of most of the media, and most of Hollywood and other things
like that. While in the realm of what is
called Christian or Christianity, it is now true mostly that the
liberals and the apostates have control of so many of the seminary,
the Bible school, and the denominational position, and are entrenched
firmly in some of the largest churches in all of the country,
proving that a man's enemies may be those of his very own
house, and that a familiar friend may lift up his heel against
us." Now, this is not to say that the war against God and
against Christianity and the Bible is of recent origin. It did not just come into being
recently. It did not begin in our generation. It did not begin in our lifetime,
though it has been escalating very rapidly in our lifetime
because of some factors that we might be able to have time
to mention later in our study. But to get to our study, let's
begin with a passage that we did not read, and that would
be Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. While I point out that these
words there, Genesis 3 and verse 15, were, number one, spoken
after the sin and the fall of Adam and of Eve, a part of the
sentence pronounced against the guilty pair. And then secondly,
they were spoken to Satan by or through the serpent. They were spoken to the serpent,
but intended for Satan who had used him. And then thirdly, they
have great prophetical significance for us as we see this principle
laid down in the Bible. The speaker is God. Genesis 3.15
says this, And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and
between your seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel. There is a prophecy. Now, let's
look at that word enmity in that passage, but also the whole phrase. I will put enmity between one
and another. Now the word enmity means to
hate or to be hateful. It means to oppose. It means
to be hostile. It means to be opposite. And
in short, to be an enemy. And such an enemy as will manifest
itself, it will not lie forever dormant, but this enmity will
boil to the surface and be manifested And it will time and time again
roar like a mighty lion against the people of God. Now, I want
you to consider with that all of the enmity that there is in
the world today. God certainly said true when
he said, I will put enmity between this and that. all of the enmities
that we might name that are present and evident in the world and
the foundation for it being laid in the sin and the fall of our
first parent and the entrance of sin into the world. And may I call it a holy war. The holy war began between the
serpent seed and the woman seed. But the enmity that took its
rise in the fall has multiplied itself, in that there is enmity
in the unregenerate mind against God. Romans 8 and verse 7, for
there is enmity in the carnal mind against God. Romans 1 and
21, Colossians 1 and 21, enemies in your mind by wicked works. Romans 5 and verse 10, when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. So there is enmity in the natural
unregenerate heart against the things of God. They don't think
so. They won't admit it. But when
the truth is brought to bear, it manifests that enmity. And then there came that great,
long-lasting enmity between the Jew and the Gentile, as described
in Ephesians 2, 4 through 16, John 4 and 9. The Jews have no
dealing with the Samaritan. Then there came enmity between
races, and religion. Between nations and nationality,
there is enmity. Between liberals and conservatives,
and even in some cases, between genders, male and female. And in Genesis 3 and 15, the
enmity had its beginning, as the old Puritan Thomas Goodwin
wrote, quote, God himself proclaimed it at the beginning," unquote. Later, Goodwin repeats, God,
I say, proclaimed the war and the quarrel hath continued from
the beginning of the world unto this day, unquote. And yes, this
enmity was set in motion by God, and what began between the serpent
and the woman is played out between Christ and the wicked one, Satan
himself. And the enmity then manifested
itself between the subjects of the two kingdoms, the kingdom
of God or light and the kingdom of darkness. And as I read from
one, not a person is born in this world, but first and foremost
is subject under the kingdom of darkness. But thank God every
day Christ is spoiling that kingdom. and taking away some of their
subject. So let's start our direct focus
now to Genesis chapter 4, moving from chapter 3 to chapter 4 and
what we read. And that is that this enmity
that was in the world, which is also between the righteous
and the wicked, this enmity manifest itself in two sons in Genesis
chapter 4, when Cain killed Abel, his very own brother, his very
own flesh and blood, and this became one of the first volleys
in the Holy War. And it was probably over religion. It was probably over the manifestation
of their offerings as they made them. You'll find that in 1 John
chapter 3 verse 12, Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 4. Then, coming
to our second psalm that we read, and another example of the holy
war, the war against, quote, thy holy child Jesus. Some of the verses that we read
is, The determinate intention of God is to establish his son
as king upon Mount Zion. And we read it in verse 6. Yet
have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. And I know that
there are some, and justifiably so, who apply some of these things
unto King David. But it is best to apply them
principally as a prophetical messianic psalm to the spiritual
David, because that's what the apostles did in Acts chapter
4 that we read. But the psalm sets forth the
prophecy of the attempt of heathens and kings and rulers to throw
down the purpose of God to exalt his son as king over a kingdom
and to throw off his ruling upon Mount Zion. Now these enmity
or these enemies rage and they take counsel together against
the Lord and against his anointed, that's Christ, saying, let us
break their bands asunder and cast their cords from us. Now note, though some things
here are applicable to David, we have to admit that many more
are applicable Only under Christ for example in verse 7 thou art
my son This day have I begotten thee verse 12 of the second psalm
kiss the son Lest he be angry and you perish from the way when
his wrath is kindled But a little now let's go to the New Testament
where we read from Acts chapter 4 and and find a partial fulfillment
of the prophecy from the second Psalm. And as we set up camp
here in Acts chapter 4, let's consider something about the
first half of the book of Acts, which is this. At this point,
I mean in chapter 4 where we are, There have been some six
or seven and some say eight Old Testament prophecy and scriptures
that have been referred to. This is either the seventh or
the eighth one that have been recognized as being fulfilled
and having something to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this
is intended to impress upon the Jews of that time that all those
prophecies are met in the crucified one, the Lord Jesus Christ. For the testimony of Jesus is
the spirit of prophecy as we read in Revelation 19 and 10.
Now, in the larger context here, in Acts chapter 4, it follows
the arrest of Peter and John, who were kept in tow overnight
because of the outflow of the healing of the lame man at the
temple gate in Acts chapter 3. They were brought before the
Jewish potentates, or putentates, and they were threatened. that
they cease and desist from preaching or teaching using the name of
Jesus. Not to preach anymore in the
name of Jesus. Do not try to bring this name
upon us. Acts 4, verse 17, and verse 18. They would, that is the council,
by an arbitrary decree, banish the preaching of the Christian
gospel. And therefore the only means
of salvation would be banished from the hearing of the people.
This in spite of the fact they could not deny that a miracle
had been done in the name of Jesus. That's in the 16th verse. Now this is a comprehensive verse
from the Sanhedrin. F.F. Bruce, in his book on Acts,
described it this way, quote, a complete ban was imposed against
any further public mention of the name of Jesus, unquote. That's exactly what we read here
from the council and from the leader. And those that are wise
in the Greek show how comprehensive this command was. In verse 18,
in the words, at all, don't at all preach anymore in the name
of Jesus. Not at all to utter anything
concerning this man named Jesus. Not at all to speak or to teach
or to preach. in that name. Alexander understood
the prohibition to mean, holy altogether, holy altogether. Cease all mention of this name,
not by any mean, in no manner, and no way, and a single hazard,
in no wise, Are you to speak in this name anymore here in
Jerusalem and among the Jew? And in verse 19 and 20, Peter
and John answer, We cannot but speak what we have seen and heard. We are not able to not speak. In other words, we must declare
what we know to be true what we have seen and what we have
heard. We will not be quiet. We will
not be hushed. We will preach that which we
have seen and received of our Lord. And in verse 23 of Acts
4 is where we picked up. They returned to the saints'
assembly again, and they gave an account of those threats from
the high muckety-mucks of Israel and Jerusalem. They recognized
they had seen the fulfillment of what David wrote in the second
Psalm. They recognized in what had been
done to Jesus what David had prophesied in the second Psalm. And while David spake of kings
and of rulers and of heathen people in Psalm 2, 1 and 2, they
applied it in Acts 4 to Herod and to Pilate and the Gentile
and the people of Israel, all of those who had a hand in the
anointed one of God being put to death and crucified. Thus
there was an evil confederate among them against the Holy One
of God. There was Pilate, there was Herod,
there was the Sanhedrin, there were the Gentiles, the Romans,
and there, of course, were the Jews. When we think of the war
against our Lord Jesus Christ, we must begin with and investigate
the behavior and the attitude of the Jew when he appeared among
them preaching and working wonders undeniable in their midst and
claiming to have been one who had come down from the Father
in heaven. Now, let's look at this war that
the Jews began on Christ, even while he were yet in the flesh. They, by they, I mean their leaders,
the priests, the Pharisee, not a few of the people waged a constant
war against the Lord and against his person, against his teaching
and against his claim. And a few times, They sought
to put him to death during the course of his ministry. They sought to kill him, John
7 and 1. They sought to slay him, John
5, 16. They sought to kill him because
he healed on the Sabbath and said God was his father, John
5, 18. See also John 8, 59. 1031 they tried to stone him and once
they tried to throw our Lord off of a hill or a cliff In order
that he might be killed Luke chapter 4 and verse 29 finally
the Sanhedrin court condemned him as a blasphemer against the
things of God and Israel and condemned him to death and enlisted
Romans to put the Lord to death upon that Roman cross and the
Apostle Peter you need to read his sermons carefully in the
early part of the book of Acts Simon Peter is preaching and
he is constantly laying the murder or the crucifixion of Christ
squarely at the feet of the Jew. I'm going to give you some places
but not read them. Acts 2 33 and 2 36. Acts 3 14 and 15. Acts 5 and
verse 30. In all of those places Peter
charges the Jews with putting the Lord Jesus Christ to death. In Luke 24 and verse 20, our
Lord told his disciple that this would be. He must be delivered
into the hands of the Gentile, be crucified, and the third day
rise again. Nor was their enmity satisfied
except temporarily when the Lord was dead, placed in a tomb, and
a seal was upon it, and the apostles began to preach Him as resurrected
from the dead and exalted to glory. Then their fury kindled
again, this time against the servants, disciples, and apostles
of the Lord, casting some into prison and killing some. And the foremost enemy of Christianity
at that time became Saul of Tarshish in Acts chapter 8, Acts 9, 1
and 2, Galatians 1, 13 and 14, 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse
13. I before wasted the church was
an enemy and a blasphemer. So terrible was Saul's enmity
against the church that when he was called by Christ When
he was arrested and converted, we read a wonderful thing. It's
said in Acts 9 and verse 31, then had the churches rest. When this enemy was taken off
of the street and made a servant of Christ. You remember Paul
calls the Jews enemies for your sake in Romans chapter 11 and
verse 28. And in a large measure are yet
enemies because of their view of Christ and of Christianity. I hope, I think, maybe you know
that Jews have filed many lawsuits against Christianity in America,
to not have prayer in school or before athletic events or
political events, not to mention or have prayer in the name of
Jesus. And I think if you checked with
the ACLU, you'll find that most of their lawyers are indeed Jew. And you check with the ADL, the
Anti-Defamation League, have both filed suits against Christianity
and the principles of the Christian religion. I have heard, on credible
evidence, that their fingerprints are all over the hate crime laws
that have been enforced in Canada and in America. It's something
I've read more than one or two times. They would forbid the
use of the name of Jesus at public events or public prayers or anything
of that sort or like, and also coming in the school classroom. They would have it not to use
the name of Jesus, our blessed Lord, at all in their presence. And by the way, here's another
point. I hope you understand it and
have heard it. They have made an issue. They
have made a big issue of the Christian teaching that the Jews
were the ones who put the Lord Jesus Christ unto death. They
call it antisemitism. And some have claimed that such
teaching as that could spark violence against them at the
hand of some Christian zealot, that some fanatic might take
revenge against them for putting the Lord Jesus Christ to death. Now, let's think. If we followed
that flawed logic, what in the world would we be left to preach
but the maps in the back of our Bible? If we follow that kind
of logic, what could we preach? Would Christians start killing
sinners? We say that all are sinners.
All have sinned. Will they begin to murder sinners? Can we preach against drunkenness?
The Bible does and condemns it. Or would some zealot Christian
go out and start killing and persecuting drunks? What about
abortion? May they do that? Same thing
with thieves. blasphemers, idolaters, adulterers,
hypocrites, and apostates. This would essentially leave
us nothing to preach, no kind of message what at all. There is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Acts 4 verse
12. It is the name of Jesus Christ
and Jesus Christ only for there is no salvation in any other. In 1 Corinthians 8, verse 6,
To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things,
we in him, one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we
by him. Unquote. We recognize no other
God. We recognize no other Savior
that can save. And Jews cannot be saved apart
from the Lord and Savior and Messiah Jesus Christ. None can be saved apart from
that holy name. And they have made war against
Christ and against Christianity, and their eyes are blinded and
their hearts are blinded. until the fullness be come in,
as Paul said. But now let's move along to another
fight and another war against Christianity. For I think this
one is far more insidious and far more violent enemy of Christianity
that is waging war and is teaching that Christians are infidels
and that they must either convert or they be killed. Just recently,
if the news reports are correct, they marched some Christians
out and cut their heads off and videotaped it to send around
the world in their country. And I speak, of course, of Islam. Muslims called ISIS. Some call them radical extremists. And something is unsettling to
me. That is that our government is settling them in this country
and in many places. They're beginning to want to
and are practicing Sharia law in the United States of America. That's the teaching of the Koran
and of their so-called prophet Mohammed. They promote a theocratic
state. that they run the state, and
that the religion is the law of the state. Now I want you
to get the irony in this. They promote a theocratic state,
and that cannot be denied. And many in America are ignoring
it, who personally loathe the thought of a Christian theocracy. They think it would be dangerous,
dangerous for Christians to have control of anything, but are
ignoring the position of those who believe in a theocratic state. I read something the other day.
I read that in the state of Minnesota, one of the United States of America.
There is a resettlement, a large resettlement of Somali Muslims. And I read a couple of things.
For example, the cab drivers who are Muslim refuse to carry
a passenger in their taxi cab who has any liquor or a dog with
them in that taxi cab. Target checkers, the people who
check you out at Target who are Muslim, refused to take your
bacon and check it out through the counter. Women workers who
are Muslims wore long dresses. One got caught in a machine and
almost injured the woman. The company said, you can't do
that anymore. You can't wear those things anymore.
They all walked off of the job and went out on the sidewalk. Now, why hire these people? Let
them go back where they came from if they don't like it here. Imagine the uproar if an American
or a Christian refused to serve a Muslim. What do you think would
be the lead story on the news tonight? I'm telling you, They
have no intention, most of them, of assimilating in this country. And remember, they regard Christian
and Christianity as infidelic and as infidel. Surely you have
heard or read of two recent events that occurred in the state of
Texas involving Muslims lately. Number one, There is a man on
trial now, unless it's over. A Muslim man from Montgomery
County is on trial. He killed his son-in-law and
he killed his daughter's best friend because they were Christian. and he killed the son-in-law
because he was a Christian, and he killed a friend because she's
a Christian, and introduced them. Not one word have I read or heard
about this being a hate crime. But imagine if a Christian killed
people because they were Muslim of another religion. It would
be a hate crime, I guarantee you for sure. I wrote the Chronicle
about it. They did not print my letter,
but I wrote them. It would be considered a hate
crime. And secondly, surely you heard
of the two Muslims who drove 1,000 miles to shoot some people
who were holding a free speech conference in Garland, Texas,
and who are critical of Islam. A cop with good gun control dispatched
them to their virgins before they could kill anyone. Folks,
the barbarians are not at the gate. The barbarians are in the
gate. This may shock you. You may do
a back, but listen. Our very own government is at
war now with Christianity, especially since a two-term Muslim-friendly
presidential government. And the government is now criminalizing
certain Christian beliefs and doctrines. For example, marriage
has been totally perverted from what the Bible teaches under
the fiat of the government. Millions have been murdered in
abortion under the guise of pro-choice or women-productive health. The
Supreme Court may rule in June on the issue of homosexual marriage. And don't be surprised, my friends,
if the deceitful Obamacare denies certain procedures and surgeries
after a certain age. is reached. Government no longer
favors Christianity. I guess there was a time when
maybe it did. But government no longer favors
Christianity and has diluted it in filling the country with
many mongrel religions that are fighting against Christianity. One man said, I wrote, One man
wrote that I read, quote, The way to destroy a religion is
to delude it. While Christianity still has
its name that it lives, and it has many churches, and it has
a forum, it has all but lost its spirit, unquote. Today, it's
all about making Christianity fun and exciting. You listen
to the big preachers today. Oh, it's fun. It's exciting. This is such an exciting church. Oh, it's so exciting to be here,
to hear and to see these things. It's not about preaching the
gospel and the word of God. It's about fun and excitement. Add to that the fact, in closing,
that there are many traitors and many deserters who have gone
from the Christian side, supposedly, over to the enemy side and are
now warring against biblical Christianity. I'll name you some. The Episcopals. Many are most
Methodist. Some Presbyterian are stabbing
Christianity in the side and betraying Christ exactly like
Judas and erecting a modern Babel in the religious world in our
country. Now, some short summarization
and then we're done. The liberal media is at war with
Christianity. They will take the Muslim side
or other side against us or against Christianity. Hollywood is at
war with Christianity and are some of the most immoral people
on the face of the earth, a modern Sodom and Gomorrah. Now granted, you're saying, oh,
oh, wait a minute. Granted, we don't expect the
unregenerate to love or practice Christianity. That's not what
we're saying. We don't expect, we can expect
the unregenerate to have a due confidence in Christianity and
of its precept. But once they had a little fear
of God that restrained them, once they were held back more
than they are in our day. Add to that the fact, look at
the young people today. College age, for example, and
down. Or at war with Christianity. They don't go to church. They
don't practice Christianity. They have nothing to do with
it. And here's a sad opinion that I close with. I fear America
as we know it can be kissed goodbye. That's my fear. That's my conviction. I hope I'm wrong. She may not
come back. Our politicians have given the
country away. We're becoming a police state
where the government controls every aspect of our life. And being an old codger like
I am, This is a sad, sad thing for me to see, the old paths
forsaken and the old ways all grown up. I want to cry to tell
you the truth when I think what is gone and what is coming in
this blessed land of ours. I want to cry at what we have
lost and what is coming. So put it in your mind, yes.
There is a war, a full-fledged war against Christianity, a scorched
earth policy, as they might say in the military, against Christianity. And I fear, except God, raise
up a standard. except God be merciful, except
God raise up those who will preach the truth of God. I fear that
our future is a bleak one. We've had it good, thank God.
We've had an easy Christian life in this nation. Oh, that it might
continue would be our prayer. But if not, hard times may come. Well, thank God for that, and
you take it to heart for what it's worth. Think about it. Keep
up with things. Watch them. Listen. Hear. Keep
an eye. Keep an ear to the ground.