Participants: C.A. Murray
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000041
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00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth live from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 Winds Of War with C.A. Murray. 00:21 Hello friends and welcome to the 3ABN Worship Center 00:24 for another very exciting series of meetings, 00:27 another one in our Anchors Of Truth series. 00:30 Now I'm particularly excited about this series because 00:33 my pastor as I was being raised, and now my colleague in 00:37 ministry, pastor C.A. Murray, will be our presenter 00:40 for the next five meetings. 00:42 And the overriding theme is the Winds Of War. 00:46 You know, Jesus did say in Matthew chapter 24, 00:49 "You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars." 00:52 If you think about it, wars have outlined the path of 00:55 human history ever since the entrance of sin. 00:58 And war will continue in the final battle that is yet 01:01 ahead of us, the battle of Armageddon. 01:03 Pastor C.A. Murray is going to be talking about wars in 01:06 various aspects from night to night. 01:08 Prepare your hearts and your minds because I know that 01:12 when he steps to this desk, one thing you would not do is, 01:14 you will not fall asleep. 01:16 Invite your friends and your family members to join you. 01:19 And tonight is 7 o'clock, but tomorrow evening 01:21 the meetings will begin at 8 pm. 01:24 And tonight's topic is going to be, What War When. 01:28 Very unique topics talking about the wars that have begun, 01:33 the wars that continue, and the wars that will end all wars. 01:37 And so tonight, before we go to our speaker, we invite you 01:42 to bow your heads with us as we seek the Lord in prayer. 01:47 Our Father in heaven, we thank You so much 01:49 for the opportunity that has been granted and for the 01:53 servant that has been chosen. 01:55 Lord, we know that every time our ears are open, we also 01:59 pray that our hearts are opened. 02:01 And so tonight, Lord, anoint Your manservant. 02:04 Give him strength, give him wisdom, and give him divine 02:08 insight to carry forth this task. 02:12 So Lord, cause us also to be keen listeners to that which 02:17 You will have each of us to receive. 02:19 And Father, in the end, we give You the praise 02:22 and the honor and the glory. 02:23 In Jesus' name we pray, amen. 02:26 Now let's make welcome with a warm hearty amen, 02:29 Pastor C.A. Murray. 02:39 Good evening. 02:41 We are so very very pleased and happy to be with you 02:45 and to have you here tonight. 02:49 I want to say a very special "hello" and "good evening" to 02:53 two friends that have traveled all the way from Australia. 02:56 You know, when people come from Australia to hear you preach, 02:58 you're doing pretty good. 02:59 But they didn't come to hear me. 03:01 They came to spend some time in the United States. 03:04 Mr. Ernst and Marsha William. 03:07 Good to have you, Pastor Ernst and Dr. Marsha, 03:09 sitting right down in front, so it's good to have you here. 03:12 We have a journey to take these next several nights. 03:15 Chuck, good to see you. 03:18 Talking about war and the things of war. 03:21 When I was studying and trying to determine what to 03:28 do my doctoral work in, I didn't want to go and get a 03:31 doctor in ministry. 03:34 I went into Mass Communications. 03:35 And it was during those days that I happened to fall into 03:41 a group of young men who were academy students at West Point, 03:44 the US Military Academy at West Point. 03:46 We began to talk about some things and some of the 03:50 ethical considerations of war. 03:52 And my conscience and mind were tweaked. 03:56 And then when I was in New York, we adopted several 03:59 police precincts and I had a chance to discuss with several 04:04 police officers the ethic of carrying a gun. 04:09 And we discussed what it's like to shoot a person 04:14 and how does a Christian justify that. 04:17 And looking at some historical things. 04:20 So I began to look in the Word of God. 04:21 And from those times of looking in the Word of God 04:24 came this particular series, the Winds of War. 04:29 Tonight is, What War When. Tomorrow, When War Why. 04:34 The next night, Why War Who. Then, When War How. 04:39 And then, War No More. 04:43 So we want you to stay by because we've got a lot of 04:45 things to talk to you about. 04:46 Now, I want to throw a very technical term at you 04:51 at the very outset. 04:53 The term is, icky. 04:56 Do you know that term, icky? 04:58 Some of the things we're going to talk about tonight will 05:00 fall into the category of icky. 05:02 Because we want to set a firm foundation 05:05 for what we want to talk about the next several nights, 05:08 particularly When War How. 05:11 So some of the things are going to be icky. 05:14 But I want you to sort of stay with me because we've got a 05:16 lot to say, and the Word of God has a lot to say. 05:20 Our subject again, What War When. 05:24 Shall we pray. 05:25 Father God, we come to You now because we need You. 05:32 Whenever we open Your Word, we stand in need 05:35 of spiritual eyesight. 05:39 So as we look at this subject, dear Lord, a tough subject, 05:44 but there are lessons to be learned from the conflicts 05:47 of life, and we ask dear Father, that You would 05:52 be with us and help us to understand. 05:58 In Jesus' name, amen. 06:01 I want you to turn with me, if you will, to James chapter 4. 06:04 Just turn there, we're not going to read it just yet. 06:06 But prepare yourself turning to James chapter 4. 06:09 The book is James and the chapter is 4. 06:14 James, in the New Testament, chapter 4. 06:17 I have with me tonight the New King James. 06:19 But we will be referring to the NIV, and the New Kings James, 06:23 and the King James, and the Clear Word. 06:26 But we're in James just now, and chapter 4. 06:30 When I was 11 or 12, I remember being beat up 06:39 by Francine Craig. 06:43 I got beat up by a girl. 06:46 I don't remember what caused the altercation or the fight. 06:52 I just remember that it had been brewing for a long while. 06:58 I remember not wanting to fight Francine. 07:01 Now, not necessarily because I disliked her or as a girl. 07:07 I didn't like fighting girls. 07:09 My father always told me you don't hit girls. 07:12 But I really didn't think of Francine as a girl. 07:16 She was a tomboy. 07:19 In fact, she was bigger than I was. 07:22 Outweighed me by several pounds. 07:25 Taller than I was. 07:28 And frankly, she hit harder than me. 07:32 Francine Craig could punch. 07:35 I remember thinking, as my blows glanced off of her 07:38 like cotton on concrete and her blows were landing on me 07:44 like concrete on cotton, I recall thinking as she was 07:49 pummeling me, I had this one logical very lucid, 07:54 very clear thought as I was being beaten to a pulp, 07:58 "Why does she hate me so?" 08:02 What is it about my life, my existence, that she is 08:07 getting such pleasure beating me up? 08:14 Did I provoke this? Did I do something wrong? 08:19 Or was she just evil? 08:23 You see, this was my first experience in public school. 08:25 I had gone to blind school for the first five years of school. 08:30 And in blind school, we always helped each other. 08:32 Blind people help blind people. 08:34 There was no animosity or antagonism. 08:38 And so my sight miraculously returned and so for the 08:41 first time I'm in public school and I'm getting 08:44 beaten to a pulp. 08:48 Later that year, I remember getting a first sense of joy 08:55 when she slugged Donald Mullins. 08:58 And I realized it wasn't just me. 09:02 She just hates guys. 09:06 James gives us the quintessential definition 09:11 for what war is. 09:14 War, to James, is the external manifestation 09:21 of an internal torment. 09:24 James takes the psychology of conflict, be it personal or 09:28 communal or societal or national or global, 09:31 and he strips off the chaff down to the kernel 09:35 and deduces the pathology of sin, under the guidance of 09:39 the Holy Spirit, to this simple yet profound statement; 09:43 people fight because of conflict within. 09:49 Where do wars come from? 09:51 And I like the Clear Word translation. 09:54 It's going to be up on the screen for you. 10:24 Sinfulness results in selfishness, 10:28 which creates conflict. 10:32 Now here's a fact. 10:34 When you're at peace within, you will have peace without 10:43 regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in. 10:48 Peace within results in peace without. 10:51 When your soul is calm, your world is calm. 10:57 Isaiah 26:3, you know the text. 11:10 Two key words; one, "perfect." 11:12 The word, "shalem." 11:20 God is saying, "You'll have full peace, 11:23 you'll have complete peace, you'll have whole peace, 11:27 when your mind is stayed..." 11:30 The word "stayed" is, "sawmack" or "camak." 11:44 So God is saying, "You're going to have peace, regardless 11:48 of what life throws at you, when your post is 11:52 anchored in Christ, when you lean on Jesus." 11:56 Because Christ is not going to move. 11:57 So perfect peace is promised to those who stay in Jesus. 12:05 It's God's promise. 12:07 God promises peace to those whose minds are fixed on Him, 12:13 set in Him, dug in, as it were, in Jesus. 12:18 Now that's important in light of my thesis for the evening. 12:23 Because my thesis is that war is a weapon used by the enemy, 12:32 used and employed by Satan. 12:36 That is clearly indicated in the Bible 12:40 and the spirit of prophecy. 12:43 But my second thesis is; God also uses war. 12:51 Not only do God and Satan use war, but I contend 12:57 they will use the same war at the same time, 13:02 but for different ends. 13:06 So when there's a conflict in your life, one of the things 13:10 you need to know immediately; is it initiated by God 13:14 or is it something that Satan is bringing to you. 13:17 Because God uses war and Satan uses war. 13:23 And when you're in war, one of the first things you've 13:26 got to know is, where is this coming from. 13:29 Amen? 13:30 What war when? 13:34 The Great Controversy, page 589, Ellen White says: 13:59 Satan likes war because of its ability to turn men 14:08 into animals. 14:11 He delights in death. 14:14 And because people do things in war... 14:17 Listen to me now. 14:19 ...an excitement, an agitation that war brings, that they 14:23 wouldn't do or dream of doing in ordinary life. 14:28 Satan loves war because of its ability to turn men and women 14:33 into animals, and because of the kinds of things we do 14:38 in the excitement of war. 14:40 Genocide, ethnic cleansing. 14:42 This satanic idea that our life would be better 14:46 without them, whoever they are. 14:51 And so the Nazi's killed six million Jews, and deny it. 14:58 And the Armenian genocide sweeps away 1.5 million human beings, 15:04 and that's denied. 15:06 And the Rwandan genocide kills 800,000 people in 100 days, 15:12 and that's denied. 15:14 And Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge slaughter 1.7 million Cambodians 15:20 and that's denied. 15:23 It is said that in the last 100 years, this has been 15:26 the most deadly 100 years in the history of the world. 15:31 And nobody has ever killed anybody, 15:34 and yet people still die. 15:39 In China in the 50's and 60's; 7.8 million deaths. 15:46 In Russia in the 1930's; 23 million deaths. 15:51 In Germany in the 30's and 40's; 12 million deaths. 15:56 In Japan, World War II; 5 million deaths. 16:01 Biafra in the 60's and 70's; 1 million deaths. 16:06 In Iraq in the 80's and 90's; 600,000 deaths. 16:11 In eastern Europe from the 40's to the 80's; 570,000 deaths. 16:17 Indonesia; 500,000 deaths. 16:21 Idi Amin's Uganda; 250,000 deaths. 16:26 Staggering numbers, incredible loss of life. 16:30 Many accompanied by rape, torture, robbery, beatings, 16:34 sexual abuse, psychological abuse, 16:36 abuse and starvation. 16:39 In what historians call, the Nanking massacre... 16:42 I just stumbled across this. 16:43 ...1937, a Japanese newspaper actually kept and published 16:50 each day a running account of two Japanese soldiers 16:55 who participated in a decapitation contest. 17:01 They tried to see how many Chinese civilians they could 17:06 decapitate each day. 17:07 And those numbers were recorded nightly in the newspaper. 17:14 They took a city, Nanking, of 1.95 million. 17:20 And when the massacre was over, there were just 17:23 300,000 people left. 17:27 Ellen White says Satan loves war. 17:34 And in John chapter 8 verse 44, the Bibles says, 17:38 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the desires of 17:42 your father you want do. 17:46 He was a murderer from the beginning." 17:50 And so he was not contented with just the death of the creatures, 17:55 he couldn't wait to get his hands on Jesus. 17:59 And even that was not enough. 18:02 Let me show you something. 18:03 The Desire Of Ages, page 733. 18:08 The Desire Of Ages, page 733. 18:31 And you know, it's interesting how demonic activity 18:34 tends to surface in times of war and stress. 18:37 And we'll see that again and again. 18:50 From the mouths of people and demons. 18:55 Over the next four centuries, an estimated 12 million Christians 19:02 were killed until Constantine decriminalized Sabbath keeping 19:08 and Christianity in the 4th century. 19:11 Add to that the staggering figure of somewhere between 19:15 20 and 40 million lives taken by the church in the Middle Ages, 19:24 coupled with the extermination of the Albigenses, the near 19:29 extermination of the Waldenses, Huguenots, Cathari, and others, 19:33 and we see the outline of a malevolent, malignant 19:39 power that delights in human destruction. 19:46 Ladies and gentlemen, as much as the prince of the power 19:50 of the air delights and foments natural disasters, 19:54 and we see that nowadays; hurricanes, floods, 19:57 earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, 20:00 as much as Satan likes that, 20:05 he takes particular delight in getting human beings 20:10 to destroy other human beings. 20:16 World War I; 19 million. 20:20 World War II; 59 million. 20:24 The Korean War; 474,000. 20:29 Now these are just numbers. 20:30 But each one of those numbers represents a soul 20:36 for whom Christ has died. 20:39 I've given you the death of nearly a billion people 20:43 just in the last few moments. 20:44 And Jesus shed His blood for every one of them. 20:47 How many of those went to their graves without Jesus? 20:54 God only knows. 20:56 Patriarchs and Prophets, page 737, Ellen White says: 21:10 It turns your heart. 21:11 I've talked with New York City cops who shot individuals. 21:16 Putting a bullet into somebody does something to you. 21:20 I've talked with West Point cadets who have gone on. 21:24 I've talked with soldiers who have come back from Vietnam. 21:27 Shooting people changes you. 21:31 You want to see the life of a hard soldier, 21:33 read the life of Joab. 21:37 You talk about a hard cold brutal mean evil man, 21:42 read in the Bible what he did to Abner. 21:45 Read in the Bible what he did to Absalom. 21:50 David said, "Deal kindly with the young man." 21:54 Joab came back and said, "Hey, I put three darts in his chest. 21:58 Yea, I killed him and you better not cry." 22:03 He told his father that. 22:04 Joab told David, "I better not see a tear." 22:08 "Yea, I killed him." 22:11 Ellen White says, war hardens and demoralizes individuals. 22:20 Just last month, it was month or September, 22:24 a man walked into a beauty parlor in California. 22:27 He took nine lives. 22:30 They say he was an ex-marine. 22:33 War hardens you. 22:37 Make no mistake about it, Satan is the author and originator 22:41 of war and conflict. 22:44 Revelation chapter 12 verse 7, I'll be reading from the NIV. 22:47 Revelation 12 verse 7, the Bible says: 23:08 Revelation chapter 12, just ten verses later, verse 17. 23:11 Again from the NIV. 23:17 The woman is us. That's you and me. 23:19 Ladies and gentlemen, let me announce to you 23:22 in case you don't know it, we're in a war. 23:37 Satan incites war. 23:43 He gets people in the world to destroy each other with 23:46 guns, bullets, bombs, and airplanes. 23:50 But he's got an entirely separate set of weapons 23:54 for the church. 23:57 He's got a much more eclectic and sophisticated arsenal 24:01 for you and me. 24:03 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4 from the Clear Word. 24:23 Don't you like that? 24:24 Our weapons come from God and they are irresistible. 24:28 War is a weapon of the enemy. 24:30 It is a weapon that Satan uses. 24:33 But I say, God also uses war, but for an 24:39 entirely different purpose. 24:41 So if you're in a battle, how can you know? 24:44 How can you know if it's Satan working for your destruction 24:49 or God working for your good? 24:52 Well, you've got to ask yourself some hard questions. 24:55 You may want to take out a pen because you've got to 24:57 ask yourself some hard hard question. 24:59 And don't get all visceral and upset. 25:02 Ask yourself some hard questions in the 25:04 cool reasoning of the day. 25:06 Number one: 25:10 You're in a battle. 25:11 Before you begin to fight or ball up your fist, 25:13 ask yourself this question. 25:15 The question I asked when Francise Craig was 25:17 beating my brains out, "Why am I in this?" 25:21 "What's going on?" Ask yourself that question. 25:25 Then ask: 25:31 Is this a pointless fight or does it have a point? 25:35 In other words, when I get through with this, 25:39 how is my life going to change? 25:42 How is it going to be on the other side? 25:44 You've got to ask yourself that question. 25:47 Number three, you've got to ask yourself: 25:53 Because if God has allowed you to be in a battle, 25:56 or has caused you to be in a battle, and we'll get to that 25:59 in just a moment, there's going to be a redemptive aspect to it. 26:03 God will not excuse you from pain all the time. 26:08 But He will make sure that your pain is redemptive. 26:12 God doesn't make you suffer just because 26:13 He wants to see you suffer. 26:15 If you're suffering, God's got a point to it. 26:19 And it's going to end. Amen? 26:22 Last year, just about a month from now, I had to put 26:25 my wife on a plane because her dad was dying. 26:29 We knew, at 91 years of age. 26:31 He had lived a strong life. 26:32 Never really been sick, never really been in the hospital. 26:35 And it was a painful time. 26:37 We didn't have the money for two tickets. 26:38 I put her on the plane, she flew down to Panama. 26:41 We were worried because her dad had never really professed 26:45 Jesus, didn't want to hear about Jesus. 26:47 And my wife, Irma, when it comes to salvation stuff, 26:50 is a bit of a tiger. 26:52 She's got claws. 26:53 And she would attack him, you know. 26:55 She would talk about the love of Christ. 26:57 She would tell him he was going to burn in hell. 26:58 And she just did everything that she could and he wasn't budging. 27:01 He began to crack just a little so she wanted to get home 27:04 to make her last pitch, you know, before he 27:07 closed his eyes in death. 27:08 Painful time. 27:11 Multiple organ failure, he began to go. 27:16 But about two weeks before, the pastor came in. 27:21 He gave his heart to the Lord. 27:24 And then one Sunday morning, my wife was trying to move him. 27:27 And she said, "Just put your arms around my neck 27:30 and I'll move your from the wheelchair onto the bed." 27:33 He got onto the bed and as he laid down, his arms dropped 27:37 and he was gone. 27:39 And she called me. 27:41 And we were sad. 27:44 But we saw the redemption of Jesus. 27:47 One, after 90 years, he got in. 27:52 Amen? 27:54 And the Bible says whether you get in at morning, 27:57 or noon, or three, or just before the store closes, 28:02 you get the same heaven. 28:04 Amen? 28:06 And that death became a seed. 28:09 Because we've got a brother-in-law 28:15 who ridiculed the Lord. 28:18 His mom, if I'm getting this right, was so mean 28:23 that her husband, who joined the church, had to lock himself 28:26 in the room when he came home from church on Sabbath 28:29 to keep her from assaulting him because he served the Lord. 28:36 She gave her heart to the Lord. 28:39 And then one day, we called and we heard a voice 28:45 praying in the background. 28:47 And my wife said, "Who's that praying?" 28:52 And her sister said, that's... 28:54 I better not mention his name. 28:57 She said, that's... I'll say John. 29:01 My wife almost dropped the phone. 29:04 John never cared about the Lord. 29:07 Ridiculed the Lord. 29:08 He's now in... Is he baptized? 29:12 Baptized in the church. 29:14 So, her dad's death became a seed. 29:19 And that death had an affect that is still far reaching. 29:22 And now we've got a sister-in-law, who didn't care 29:26 anything about the Lord, taking Bible studies. 29:28 Brother-in-law in the church, sister in the church, 29:31 mother in the church, mother-in-law in the church, 29:33 everybody in the church. 29:35 So if God allows trouble in your life, my point is, 29:39 there's going to be some redemption, there's going to 29:41 be a plan, and there's going to be an end to it. 29:44 God doesn't let trouble come just for trouble's sake. 29:48 If you're in a war and God allows it, there's point. 29:51 And there's going to be an end. 29:57 Next question: 30:02 Fighting the good fight of faith always makes you better. 30:04 Always makes you better. 30:07 Then you need to ask yourself this; is it: 30:21 And you will see an end. 30:23 You see, when God gets you through what you're 30:27 going through, He ends it. 30:30 Amen? 30:32 Yeah, when He gets you through what you're going through, 30:35 it's over. 30:37 God will let it end. 30:39 Because He's got you where He wants you. 30:42 Satan loves war, God does not. 30:47 And so He uses war surgically and redemptively 30:52 for your good and for your growing. 30:56 Now God will allow just enough turmoil in your life 31:01 to either get you started... 31:04 If you're standing still, He wants to get you moving. 31:07 He'll allow some turmoil in your life to get you moving. 31:10 ...keep you going... 31:12 If you've gotten started and are beginning to slow down 31:15 or stop, He'll allow some turmoil to keep you going. 31:20 ...or to clear some impediment from your life. 31:24 Did you hear me? 31:25 Those are the three reasons any trouble in your life, 31:29 anytime you're in a war, it will fall under one of 31:31 those three categories. 31:33 If you're standing still and God wants you to move, 31:35 He'll trouble the waters. 31:36 So one, He's going to allow turmoil to get you started. 31:39 Two, to keep you going. 31:42 Three, to clear some impediment from your progress. 31:46 All God ordained trials will fall under 31:51 one of those three categories. 31:52 And the severity of the conflict has much to do 31:57 with your ability to hear what God is saying. 32:01 If you're hard of hearing, God has got to speak real loud... 32:08 Amen? 32:09 ...until He gets your attention. 32:15 So the severity of the conflict deals with your ability to hear. 32:18 And all God ordained conflict, I say again, is not eternal. 32:24 As soon as God gets you on point, 32:30 as we say in Brooklyn, He'll cut you some slack. 32:35 James chapter 4 verse 7, it starts out by saying, 32:38 "Submit yourselves then unto God. 32:41 Resist the devil and he will flee." 32:42 But the point I want is, James 4:7. 32:51 Amen? 32:55 Don't make God yell. 32:57 My mother use to say that, "Don't make me come after you. 33:00 Don't make me come get you. 33:02 And don't make me yell." 33:08 Draw close to God and He will draw close to you. 33:12 So if you're in a war, your first job is to ask, "What?" 33:19 Is it God or is it Satan. 33:21 What's the lesson that I can learn? 33:25 What does God want me to know? 33:27 What does God want me to do? 33:30 What does God want me to say? 33:32 What lesson does God want me to learn? 33:37 When war what? 33:39 What war when? 33:40 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 28, the Bible says: 33:50 So when you're in conflict, the first thing you do 33:52 is look at you. 33:54 You know how easy it is, oft times, as soon as we have a 33:57 disagreement with somebody, the first thing we begin to do, 33:59 "Okay, it's your fault. Yours and yours and yours." 34:04 It may be. 34:06 But it also may be mine. 34:08 So when you're in conflict, your first job... 34:13 ...examine yourself. 34:15 Amen? 34:16 The Bible says, let a man examine himself. 34:19 And I like this text, Galatians 6:4, 34:21 "Let each one examine his own work." 34:25 Don't examine mine. 34:27 Examine yours. 34:32 Everybody in the world may be wrong 34:36 and you alone right. 34:38 It may be that way. 34:40 I doubt it. 34:45 So examine, Galatians 6:4 says, examine your own work. 34:51 And we're going to talk about this again on Sabbath. 34:53 I'm going to give you a little test 34:54 to see how your quotion is doing on Sabbath morning. 34:59 Any conflict, in fact, every conflict is an opportunity 35:03 for self examination. 35:06 In fact, it is a mandate, a demand for self examination. 35:10 When you disagree with someone, God is saying, 35:13 that's the time to examine yourself. 35:16 And why do you do it in conflict? 35:18 It's because we never think to do it in peace time. 35:23 So you must do it in conflict. 35:25 You have to do it in conflict. 35:27 You see, the quicker you assess it, address it, 35:31 diagnose it, and redress it, the quicker you get through it. 35:37 You're not going to get through it blaming 35:39 everybody else but you. 35:42 Amen. Amen. 35:45 Blaming folk never solved anything. 35:48 I know people, "Everybody is wrong. 35:50 I'm the only one right." 35:54 You may be. 35:57 I doubt it. 36:00 But you may be. 36:03 But you'll never know unless you examine yourself. 36:06 So every time you're in conflict with anybody, 36:08 that's a call from God for self examination. 36:13 And if you spend all your time blaming folk, 36:16 you miss a God appointed opportunity. 36:19 Are you listening to me? 36:20 This is very important. 36:21 Because it is so natural for us to just blame, blame, blame, 36:25 blame, blame, blame, blame, blame, blame. 36:27 What about you? 36:29 And if you never have anything good to say about 36:31 anybody else, what does that say about you? 36:37 You got a problem with a neighbor, you're at odds? 36:40 Look at yourself first. 36:42 You got a co-worker who gets on your last nerve? 36:49 Before you point fingers, examine yourself. 36:53 And make sure that it's not you. 36:56 That person may be full of the devil. 37:01 Or... 37:04 mm-hmm. 37:07 Or the Lord may be trying to keep the devil 37:09 out of the situation. 37:11 Or the Lord may have put you in that situation to 37:14 sand off your rough edges. 37:20 Because the Lord and Satan both use war. 37:25 And we'll see this over and over again the next few nights. 37:28 But I want to give you an example from our recent history. 37:31 Time is slipping away so we've got to move kind of fast. 37:34 I want to look at the American Civil War. 37:37 I talked about this with some cadets from West Point 37:39 and that's what got me started. 37:40 Almost 700,000 deaths in the American Civil War. 37:45 Didn't have smart bombs, didn't have assault rifles. 37:48 These are single shot rifles or six shooters. 37:51 Small arms, canons. 37:54 700,000 deaths in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, and ends 1865. 38:03 That's an awful lot of killing in 5 years. 38:06 And that's what got me started. 38:10 The war, most historians tell us, and this is what I was 38:13 taught in school, was fought to hold the Union together. 38:19 But the reason heaven got involved was moral, not civil. 38:26 Heaven's issue was slavery. 38:29 And when you read and understand Revelation chapter 13 38:32 beginning at verse 11, United States in prophecy, 38:34 you realize this country was never going to be divided. 38:37 Heaven didn't get involved in the Civil War to 38:40 keep the country together. 38:41 Heaven's issue was slavery. 38:43 By the time the Civil War, the American Civil War, 38:46 commenced, American slavery was approaching 200 years. 38:51 And heaven was not pleased. 38:54 I want you to stick with me. 38:58 What I want you to see is the confluence 39:02 of satanic interposition and divine initiative. 39:07 I want you to see how Satan and God used the same war 39:13 at the same time for two radically different purposes. 39:18 Now let me establish my thesis. 39:20 My first is, first volume of Testimonies, page 264. 39:24 I've got to move kind of fast. 39:25 First volume of Testimonies, page 264. 39:28 Here's what Ellen White said. 39:57 So God was punishing North and South. 40:01 Now get this. 40:02 August 3, 1861 in Roosevelt New York, Ellen White 40:06 goes into vision. 40:08 The words of her vision are found in the first volume 40:11 of Testimonies, page 264. 40:13 She says: 40:35 So she was shown by God that they wanted to hold onto it, 40:39 and hold onto it at all cost. 40:43 Now going on, the same book, page 266. 41:22 So we know from these quotes that God was intimately 41:27 concerned with and involved in the Civil War. 41:31 Amen. You're following me? 41:32 Are we together on that? 41:34 So God was involved. 41:36 Now get this. 41:38 Same war, same time. 41:43 I'm reading. 42:16 Who is the author of that? 42:18 That's Satan. 42:19 Same war, same time. 42:23 Let me go on. 42:52 This is the Civil War. 43:17 Can you understand what's going on? 43:19 God is using the Civil War to punish slavery. 43:25 Satan is using the Civil War because he likes to see 43:30 men kill men. 43:33 At the same time in the same place. 43:36 Testimonies volume 1, I'm on page 364. 43:56 Now what's the majority? 43:57 That's most of them, isn't it? 44:08 I'm in first Testimonies, page 366. 44:44 Can you imagine, there is a being so full of hatred 44:49 for the human family that he gets his kicks 44:55 watching humans slaughter other humans. 45:00 And so Satan and the Lord, in the same war at the same time, 45:06 with two entirely different purposes. 45:25 The rebels are the South. 45:41 See, he's prolonging the war. 45:42 He's increasing death because he delights in death. 45:46 "Correct information..." 45:49 Get this, "Correct information has been given 45:53 to Northern officers in regard to the movements 45:56 and approach of the rebel, which has been disregarded 46:01 and despised because the informer was black." 46:06 This is coming from Ellen White. 46:07 See, Satan will play the race card or the sex card 46:10 or the rich/poor card. 46:12 Anything to divide people. 46:15 The result, "The Union forces have been nearly cut to pieces." 46:22 And who is laughing? 46:26 Satan. 46:28 "Or what is as bad, taken to prison to suffer 46:32 worse than death." 46:36 The Civil War did not begin as a war to end slavery, 46:41 but to hold the Union together. 46:44 But God had other plans. 46:47 It could have ended with just one battle. 46:51 But look how the Lord does things. 46:55 The very first battle was called the 46:57 Battle of Manassas Junction. 46:59 Also called, Bull Run. 47:01 It took place just south of the Washington DC line 47:04 in northern Virginia. 47:06 The North was actually winning the battle 47:09 and the war could have ended that day with that battle. 47:14 The Union would have been preserved, 47:17 but slavery would have continued. 47:20 So look at what Ellen White says. 47:22 First volume of Testimonies, page 267. 47:24 North is winning, South is being pushed back. 48:13 American began to have national days of fasting and prayer 48:18 for the Civil War. 48:20 And on January 4, 1862 Ellen White went into vision 48:25 and she wrote this: 48:40 She quoted from Isaiah 58:6 that says, 48:43 the fast that God wants is to let the oppressed go free. 48:47 That's what God wants. 48:49 J.N. Loughborough, Adventist pioneer, in his book, 48:52 The Great Second Advent Movement, talks about this war. 48:57 He says, and I quote: 49:59 In other words, once the slaves were free, 50:05 America was where God wanted it to be. 50:09 And He moved to close the war. 50:13 So I did a little research. 50:14 I took the top 20 major battles in the Civil War. 50:19 Those were battles where the death rate was 19,000 or more. 50:26 After the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, 50:29 the North never lost another battle. 50:33 Do you think that was coincidence? 50:35 No. 50:37 It was because we had moved onto God's side. 50:41 God had gotten our attention. 50:43 He had to speak loudly, but somebody finally listened. 50:49 Then He ended the war. 50:52 Sometime later, in June 1891, Loughborough was in the audience 51:00 and heard a speech given by John P. St John, 51:05 former governor of Kansas, which was a swing state. 51:08 This is what he said. 51:09 "I was never so disappointed as I was when the Confederates 51:14 whipped us at Bull run." 51:16 That's the one where the angel waved his hand, 51:18 the first battle of the war. 51:19 "'But it was all part of God's plan. 51:23 Had we whipped the Confederates, the politicians would have 51:27 hatched up a peace and the Union would have continued 51:31 with slavery, and we would have had it until today. 51:36 For two years, the Confederates had the advantage. 51:39 But after Lincoln issued the famous 51:42 Emancipation Proclamation, we swung around 51:45 to God's side and we could not lose. 51:48 We were doing what God wanted us to do.' 51:53 Now though President Abraham Lincoln 51:54 was really preoccupied with saving the Union, 51:56 his ideas about the war came remarkably in line with 52:01 those of Ellen White. 52:02 But saw the North and South as sharing the guilt of slavery. 52:07 Both saw the war as ramifications 52:09 and visitations from God. 52:12 Lincoln and White both plainly saw that the hand of God 52:18 moved after January 1, 1863. 52:25 And that God was now pleased with what we were doing 52:30 and moved to end the war." 52:32 Here's a text that we will come to over and over again 52:35 in these meetings. 52:37 Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12. I think you know it well. 52:39 The Bible says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. 52:45 We're wrestling against Satan himself. 52:49 Let me close in the last few minutes with just a few 52:53 quotes from Ellen White. 53:19 Every time Satan comes at you with something, 53:21 every time you say "no" and turn your back 53:23 and fight the good fight of faith, you make advancement 53:27 in the kingdom of God. 53:58 God gives us something special when you're fighting for Him. 54:00 You're not fighting alone. 54:16 Like it or not, you're in a war. 54:37 Amen? 54:38 Very quickly, the sixth volume of Testimonies, page 41. 54:56 And you are the objects, ladies and gentlemen, of that envy. 55:20 Amen? 55:35 You can shake Satan to his knees. 55:40 Not in your own strength, not in your own power, 55:44 but in the power of Jesus. 55:47 Christ is ready, willing, and able to fight with you, 55:54 through you, by you, but not for you. 56:01 mm-hmm. 56:03 You've got to fight with Him. 56:05 He's not going to do battle for you, 56:06 you've got to fight. 56:08 One of the toughest battles you will ever fight 56:10 is the battle against self. 56:11 We're going to talk about that in a couple of nights when 56:12 we talk about When War Who. 56:15 Who? You. That's who. 56:18 Amen? 56:20 And if not you, who? 56:23 One of the toughest battles you'll ever fight 56:26 is the battle against self. 56:29 But victory has already been guaranteed. 56:35 Isn't that nice to know? 56:37 The battle has been won. 56:41 All you've got to do is make sure you're wearing 56:44 the right uniform. 56:46 Amen? 56:47 Make sure you're on the right side. 56:50 And examine yourself in the Lord. 56:55 What war when? 56:59 When war comes, what do you do? 57:03 Examine yourself, make sure you're under the right banner, 57:07 carrying the right flag, and on the right side. 57:10 Amen? 57:11 Shall we pray? 57:12 Father God, we thank You now for the power 57:19 that You've given us to win. 57:22 We thank You, Lord, that even in the battles of life 57:26 we can be victorious in Jesus Christ. 57:28 A battle is waging for our souls. |
Revised 2014-12-17