Warfare spiritual- christiansquoting.org.uk

For the Christian, this world is an arena, not an armchair.

If you come forward to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for temptation.... Accept whatever is brought upon you, and in changes that humble you be patient.- Sirach 2:1,4

It is right noble to fight with wickedness and wrong; the mistake is in supposing that spiritual evil can be overcome by physical means. -Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) _Letters From New York_, Volume 1 [1843]

In heaven we shall appear, not in armour, but in robes of glory. But here these are to be worn night and day; we must walk, work, and sleep in them, or else we are not true soldiers of Christ.- William Gurnall

Take heart therefore, O ye saints, and be strong; your cause is good, God himself espouseth your quarrel, who hath appointed you his own Son, General of the field, called 'the Captain of our salvation,' Heb 2:10. - WILLIAM GURNALL

When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin; you must, at the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy, with all the fire of your faith.- Abraham Kuyper

One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe - a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the power behind death and disease and sin. The difference is that Christianity thinks this Dark Power was created by God, and was good when he was created, and went wrong..it is a war between independent powers. It thinks it is a civil war, a rebellion and we are living in part of the universe occupied by the rebel. Enemy occupied territory - that is what the world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed, you might say in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in His great campaign of sabotage.- C. S. LEWIS, Mere Christianity

Servant of God, well done; well hast thou fought
The better fight.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book vi. Line 29.

Alas! Elisha's servant cried,
When he the Syrian army spied,
But he was soon released from care,
In answer to the prophet's prayer.

Straitway he saw, with other eyes,
A greater army from the skies;
A fiery guard around the hill,
Thus are the saints preserved still.

When Satan and his host appear,
Like him of old, I faint and fear;
Like him, by faith, with joy I see,
A greater host engaged for me.

The saints espouse my cause by prayer,
The angels make my soul their care;
Mine is the promise sealed with blood,
And Jesus lives to make it good.
John Newton, More with us than with them , Olney Hymn 40

To relinquish any of the Psalms on the excuse that its sentiments are too violent for a Christian is a clear sign that a person has also given up the very battle that a Christian is summoned to fight. The Psalms are prayers for those who are engaged in an ongoing, spiritual conflict. No one else need bother even opening the book. - Patrick Henry Reardon, Christ in the Psalms [2000]

[Christ] tells us plainly, and without any qualifications, that we are involved in a war in which there is no room for neutrals. Yet people attempt to evade His statement. Generally speaking, these are the very people who are the quickest in laying the blame upon God for all the sorrow and sin in the world. They argue that He could prevent it. They excuse their own do-nothing attitude by making of evil's apparent predominance a ground for doubt of His loving kindness. It never seems to occur to them to look for the cause in mankind.- Hugh Redwood, Live Coals

Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follower of the Lamb,
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His Name?

Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face*?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight, if I would reign;
Increase my courage, Lord.
I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by Thy Word.

Thy saints in all this glorious war
Shall conquer, though they die;
They see the triumph from afar,
By faith they bring it nigh.

When that illustrious day shall rise,
And all Thy armies shine
In robes of victory through skies,
The glory shall be Thine.
Isaac Watts, Am I a Soldier of the Cross? 1721.

The whole charismatic idea of true spirituality and of the normal Christian life is painfully close to the idea of a life touched by magic: perfect marriages, obedient children, no sickness, no divorce, no poverty, no tragedies, no defeats, no death. 'No dice,' saith God." - Monte Wilson

Britain’s War on Christianity: America’s Future Fight?

At her coronation, Queen Elizabeth, like British monarchs before her, promised to “maintain the laws of God and the true profession of the gospel.” But today, Britain is at war with the gospel, and with itself.
British Christians who take their faith into the workplace risk being demoted or fired. The government continues to push an aggressive gay rights agenda, while threatening to criminalize Christian speech and practice.
Politician and head of the Christian party, George Hargreaves told CBN News he received a complaint for his billboard advertisement.
“Yesterday I got a letter from the advertising standards authority over complaints saying that my billboard that says Britain is a Christian country. That it is offensive to atheists and other religions and it incites hatred against them. What nonsense,” he said.
Hargreaves said Britain is constituted as a Christian country.
“Daily prayers are said in parliament whether atheists like it or not,” he added. “The queen is head of the Church of England and therefore has to acknowledge God for her sovereignty over the nation. These things are written, not just into our culture and our heritage, but into our constitution.”
At one time, Britain was the missionary base for the entire world, even sending missionaries to the new American colonies. But today, the cases of anti-Christian bigotry and discrimination have risen sharply.
In response, Christian legal centers like Christian Concern for Our Nation have mobilized.
Director Andrea Minichiello-Williams warns that if British Christians don’t step up now, the nation is on a path to eventually criminalize the practice of Christianity in public.
“There’s been a massive move by the secularist lobby to privatize religion,” she said. “You can have faith so long as it doesn’t affect you in the work place. So long as you don’t bring it into the workplace. ‘Just make it private. It can’t be public. It can’t affect what you do in the public square.’”
Christian Kwabena Peat was forced to attend homosexual sensitivity training at work, administered by a lesbian.
“One of things that she said was, she asked the question, ‘What makes you think that to be heterosexual is natural?’ At which point, I walked out,” Peat said.
Then Peat wrote a letter to the sensitivity trainer, explaining the Bible’s position on homosexuality, and that God loved her and Peat loved her. He was suspended.
“They said that by me telling them about the Word of God, it constituted harassment and intimidation,” Peat said.
Peat was just recently reinstated. But cases like his are repeated over and over. Doctors, Nurses, adoptive parents, deemed unfit because of their Christian beliefs. Christians are told not to speak about God in the workplace or they could be punished for offending homosexuals or Muslims.
And now the British government wants to pass a new equality bill that would force churches to hire practicing homosexuals or transsexuals.
Christian lawyer Paul Diamond has been very successful in defending discrimination cases against Christians in the courts.
“In the United Kingdom the homosexual agenda is militant,” he said. “The power shift began in about 2000, and they’ve been arresting Christians, jailing Christians for hate crimes, shutting off grants, constant litigation with the government, constant aggression.
Diamond said there is no “live and let live.”
“Your Christian values are wicked and evil, and that’s what they want everybody to believe,” he added.
A BBC program called Bone Kickers, showed a violent Christian beheading a Muslim. Britain’s government TV has also put a Muslim in charge of all of its religious programming.
Islam continues to advance in the UK in large part because the government and media give it almost a protected status, while essentially persecuting its own state religion, Christianity.
Many believe the architect of Britain’s new anti-Christian culture was former Prime Minister Tony Blair, a professed Christian who championed gay rights.
Both Minichiello-Williams and Diamond offered the same warning to American Christians: that any anti-life or hate crimes legislation that emerges under the Obama administration will erode America’s Christian base.
“This is all coming to America,” Minichiello-Williams said. “If you liberalize the laws as President Obama has done.”
“Do you know who Obama reminds every British person of? Tony Blair,” Diamond said. “Charming, persuasive, convincing, the appearance of moderation, and then he shoved all the Judeo-Christian values down while saying he was a Christian.”
Diamond said the British know what is going to happen in America.
“We know what’s going to happen to your 40 percent church attendance,” he added. “It’s not going to 40 percent. It’s going to be 20 percent, when the Federal and state government start saying that if you criticize homosexuality, the hate crimes laws will apply to you Christians.”
By some estimates it only took about 10 years for the state to almost completely undermine Britain’s Christian heritage. Barring a sudden move of God, it is likely to take far longer to restore it.
- From Prophecy News Watch

The lack of posts.

Sorry about the dearth of posts. I have in the past month at various times been extra busy at work in the holiday season, depressed, and also away on a week's vacation in Ireland. See Facebook for the pics but you need to be my friend there.
We have also had a party to celebrate our Ruby wedding. Again, pics on f/b.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. I believe the clouds have lifted. Thanks be to God.