Enemy of the faith

Ezr.4:1-3 "Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel;

then they came to Zerubbabel and the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God,  as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him ..." It is very interesting to note here that the enemies of Judah are those who worship the same God as Judah.

A man of God receives a divine mission with divine clear and precise instructions - we are in IKg.13: "Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor return again to go by the way that thou camest" v.17. An old prophet takes him to his house and offers him food. And to reason him, he brandishes his title of prophet by preaching a so-called word of God: "I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. "V.18. The man of God is beguiled, and while he is at table, the word of God comes unto the prophet that has brought him back and he cries out to the man of God: "Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee; ..." v.21 and next course. And the sentence of death follows.

This is exactly what the enemies of our faith do. First, they are believers like us; they worship the same God as we do, and proclaim the same faith. But they worship contrary to the scriptures, without the Spirit and the Truth (Jn.4:2-24). And while proclaiming the same faith, they tell their dreams instead of faithfully speaking the Word of God; they take their word and give it for God's Word (Je.23:28-31). As the old prophet, they brandish titles: Prophet, Apostle, Doctor, Bishop, Archbishop, Cardinal, Pope, Evangelist, Pastor, etc., to array their deception with authority, by which they kill the people of God. "But he lied unto him."  is the conclusion of verse 21 (IKg.13). Whoever does not announce the Word of God faithfully lies to the people. He claims that God can recant, withdraw his Word, modify or adapt it to circumstances.

And yet, the Word of our God is pure, purified seven times (Ps.12:7). Every Word of God is like an oath, irrevocable, and God does not go back on it. In the first case (Ezra chapter 4), the men of God did not succumb to the guile of these so-called believers and servants of God, and did thus save their souls. But in the second case, the man of God was complacent with the Word of God and he died. It is unfortunately the case today. God's children, the target of the enemy, easily succumb when the enemy introduces himself as "Pope so", "Apostle so", "Pastor so", "Prophet so," especially when he uses miracles. The child of God forgets the Word that God has spoken, he also forgets that he cannot go back to, or modify, or adapt it to circumstances.

However, instead of focusing his attention on these titles, child of God should look into the content of the preaching of these "men of God" and check with the Word God has spoken once and for all through the Bible. When one does not do this, one dies without excuse, as this man of God.

So I say, the powerful enemy of the Christian faith is not to be found in Islam, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Mahicari, Ecancar, Grail Message, Rosicrucian, etc. They are enemies from afar, and thus barely effective. But the effective enemy of the Christian faith, is the Christian faith corrupted or distorted: 2Co.2:17 "For we are not as many, which corrupt the Word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ ", Ga.1, 7 "Which is not another; but there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ": these people, whom the Bible says to be several, have the strategy and the ability to present the gospel of Christ while corrupting and, finally, perverting/overthrowing it.

A shower of biblical examples supports this, but let us pick up just a few:

The enemy of Abel was Cain who was born of the same womb and was known as one of the sons of Adam, though the Bible never mentions him among the sons of Adam. Wherever the Bible states Adam's seed, Cain is never mentioned (GE.5, 1Ch.1:1-4). Unlike, in Chapter 4 of Genesis, his seed is given in parallel to that of Adam. So Cain was born in the house of Adam to kill the son of Adam Ge.4:25 "For God, said she, hath appointed me another son instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." The enemies of our Christian faith appeared in Christendom to destroy the faith that God did give us.

The enemy of Israel is Ishmael who is also son of Abraham, born, not according to the Word of God, but as interpreted by Sarah. He was regarded by the whole society and himself as the eldest son of Abraham, but to God, Abraham had only one son, namely Isaac: Gen.22:2,16 "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest... because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son..." So, Ishmael was born of the loins of Abraham through interpretation of the Word of God to be a perpetual enemy of Israel, son of Isaac, son of Abraham. Similarly, these men have been considered by the whole society as lead servants of God, while they are sooth to say perpetual enemies of the Truth.

The enemy of Jesus was Judah who shared bread with him: Ps.41:10 "Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." He was his disciple fed with his Word, and enjoying his confidence, so he was better placed to betray him. And why did he betray him? - Because his heart was not acquired to all the words of the Lord that he heard all the time he spent with the Lord. Many Judas, there are, who spend years studying the whole Bible in their theology, and they become sufficiently equipped to corrupt or distort the scriptures.

The enemy of Christ is antichrist who was in the body of Christ without being part of it: IJn.2:18-19"Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us." Ac.20:30 "Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." Antichrists arise from amid the church of Christ to lead astray Christ's sheep by teaching perverse things, i.e. taking their word and giving it for God's Word.

My dear Christian brother, my dear Christian sister, your more powerful and effective enemy is the one who calls himself a Christian like you, but does not strictly keep the Word of God. When he speaks, he brings his thoughts (the doctrine of his church) instead of faithfully proclaiming the Word of God. But as for you, hold strictly on the ‘thus saith the Lord’. 2Co.13,8"For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the Truth.”

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