Hello, and welcome back to our series on Spiritual Warfare and Missions (SWAM). If you missed the previous posts in this series, you really should click here to read them first. And be reminded that this series is based on the book by Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer called Spiritual Warfare and Missions.
Last time we learned that part of Satan’s Strategy is to destroy the spiritual vitality of the Church. It is that spiritual vitality that is the distinct witness of a dynamic, spiritually transformed people of God.
 
In this final post of this Spiritual Warfare and Missions series we will look at the final victory and ask whether we will be found faithful.
 
To begin this final chapter, the authors relate the story of Esther. Please take a few minutes to read the story if you aren’t familiar with it.
 
In chapter 8, Esther had become the queen of Persia and, at risk of her own life, had intervened for her people. The conspiracy of Haman was revealed, and he was hung on the gallows prepared for Mordecai. However, the decree had already been issued, due to Haman’s devious influence that all Jews were to be destroyed. And the law of the Medes and Persians could not be changed.
 
So the king issued another decree. In this edict he warned the Jews of the pending threat and gave them permission to arm and defend themselves. It was a message of salvation for a people doomed to be destroyed. The Bible tells us that they sent couriers with the message translated into every language to the most remote regions of the empire. There was a sense of urgency. They chose the fastest horses from the royal stables as the couriers “rode out in haste, at the king’s urgent command” (Esther 8:14).
 
Several things could have gone wrong with this attempt to get this good news out. What if they had forgotten about one of the minority people groups in a faraway province in the remote regions of the empire? Or what if they had not been able to find someone in the capital city to translate the decree into the language of some of the people? What if the courier had stopped along the way, or been diverted, and the people to whom he had been sent never got the message? The people would have perished, not because a decree of salvation and deliverance had not been given but because they never got the message!
 
That is exactly what has happened in our world today. Jesus Christ came and died for the sins of the world so that whoever calls on the name of the Lord can be saved. But many of the peoples of the world have not heard that good news, and they continue to perish in their sins. Multitudes continue to die and enter an eternity in hell, not because salvation is not available but because they have never heard the news. Of the sixty-five hundred languages in the world, fewer than a thousand have the entire Bible in their own language.
 
We are the couriers sent to proclaim deliverance to all peoples, but we have stopped short. Instead of reaching the most regions, we have been diverted to caring for our own people and investing more in our own church programs than getting the gospel to all peoples.
 
But, God’s mission will be fulfilled. God is moving in providence and power to bring the nations into the kingdom. Mordecai has this sense of God’s providence when he challenged Esther to recognize that God had uniquely positioned her within the palace to be the one to intercede before the king. We often miss the implications of the rest of that often quoted verse. Mordecai goes on to say in Esther 4:14, “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
 
Mordecai remembered God’s covenant with Abraham, the patriarchs and the affirmation of His promise to the prophets of God who foresaw the fulfillment of that coming kingdom. He knew that God would be true to his covenant promise. He would make a way to deliver His people that the Messiah would come and bring redemption.
 
He said to Esther, “If you do not step up to be the one that God chooses to use, you are the loser. You and your household will perish along with others, but God’s purpose will be carried out through some other means and instrument.” God’s mission will be fulfilled. That day will come when those from every people, tongue, tribe, and nation will be gathered together around the throne of God singing praises to the Lamb.
 
The tragedy is the fact that many of God’s people have forfeited the privilege of being the one used by God. Many have been unwilling to take the risk, holding on to their own security and comfort instead of recognizing that we have been called into the kingdom for such a time as this.
 
We are called to be the faithful ones that have the privilege of extending the kingdom of God on the earth. “The Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful” (Revelation 17:14). God is sovereign over the nations, and His kingdom will prevail. We need to recapture the vision that was so prominent among the Old Testament prophets.
 
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.
And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising (Isaiah 60:1-3).
 
The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, (Isaiah 62:2).
 
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD
shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may   teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem, (Isaiah 2:2-3).
 
For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts, (Malachi:1:11).
 
It is going to happen. The question is, will we be found faithful to our calling? Will we go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that Jesus commanded?

​If you want to know how to do this better, let us know in the comments below and we can help you.

Hello, and welcome back to our series on Spiritual Warfare and Missions (SWAM). If you missed the previous posts in this series, you really should click here to read them first. And be reminded that this series is based on the book by Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer called Spiritual Warfare and Missions.
Last time we learned that part of Satan’s Strategy is to erode the faith of God’s people. In the same way that the children of Israel believed the negative report of the 10 spies rather than the faith-filled report of Joshua and Caleb, the enemy has eroded the faith of God’s people in our day. Collectively, we have become fearful of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Tribalists and the unreligious, believing that the message of the Gospel is not powerful enough to save or not worth the risk to ourselves and others. May God forgive us for our lack of faith.

This week we will see Satan’s strategy to destroy the spiritual vitality or energy of the church.
​
If Satan cannot get us to neglect our mission to the nations due to lack of faith, he successfully debilitates our witness by eroding the distinct witness of a dynamic, spiritually transformed people of God. Even in Canada, churches seem to have little energy for engaging their culture in an attractive, positive witness that would draw people to Jesus. Unbelievers may even attend our worship services and see a shallow, meaningless ritual that does not speak to their life needs and even discourages them in their search for God. The lost see Christian neighbours loading the family into their SUV for the Sunday morning pilgrimage to church but observe their squabbles, conflicts, and indulgence in a self-serving lifestyle that hides any reality of a vigorous faith.
 
Unfortunately, many Christians compromise their walk with the Lord by adopting the carnal values of the world. They give in to the temptation for fleshly gratification that comes from a materialistic and hedonistic lifestyle. The Holy Spirit is grieved and God is deprived of His glory when people become in bondage to internet porn, allowing infidelity to destroy a sacred marriage covenant, or engage in fraudulent business practices. Sexual innuendoes and vulgar language become such a normal part of television entertainment and the workplace environment that we dismiss it as meaningless and even participate lest we be perceived as prudish.
 
What we are failing to see is how the enemy of our souls is devastating the spiritual vitality of a life that has been redeemed to reflect the glory of our Lord.
 
Satan knows that most Christians are repulsed by the blatant disregard for God’s Word and the unrighteous values expressed by society, or at least they should be. So he subtly leads us astray in other devious ways to destroy or nullify our witness. Most churches faithfully proclaim the Word of Truth and try to nurture members in the faith, but they are unwittingly distracted from recognizing its calling to a global mission and diverted from its task of exalting God among the nations.
 
Israel continually fell into sin along the way to fulfilling God’s mission. Their half hearted devotion to the task, while longing for the comforts of Egypt, is reflective of the attitude of many today. Their complaints about the sacrifice required to be the people of God discouraged even Moses. Even after they got possession of the promised land, their continual attraction to the high places of pagan altars and inclination to worship the Baals compromised any hope of being the people that would exalt God among the nations and proclaim His glory to the ends of the earth. They even engaged in carnal revelry and turned from God to worship the golden calf along the way.
 
Here’s how the apostle Paul reflected on this incident:
 
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea… and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” (1 Corinthians10:1,4-7)
 
What an indictment and powerful warning for us. The people of God were anointed for a special mission that came from none other than the pre-incarnate Christ. They were led under a covering of God’s Spirit, benefactors of the miracle-working power of Almighty God. But they were rejected and struck down because they were more interested in enjoying life, feasting, and playing, than pressing forward in obedience to fulfilling God’s mission.
 
Think about it; in God’s providence, what that was all about was an example and a warning to the New Testament church and God’s people today. You do not mess around with a sovereign God who has called you to a mission of glorifying Him among the nations. Our time-consuming church fellowships and expensive activity centers, built for our own enjoyment, reflect something of the values that brought judgement on Israel in the wilderness.
 
So Satan opposes the mission of God by opposing local churches. He has a vested interest in what is going on at your church. Satan would love to keep churches self-absorbed, blind, and inward-focused. If he can only stop us in the parking lot, then the lost in our communities will never see or hear the gospel. He would love to stop us before we get started. So he will attack the health of the local church and its members. He will attack relationships; he will draw people into sexual immorality and create a false sense of wellness, all to keep the mission of God stalled.
 
Healthy churches are populated by healthy believers. How can you tell when believers are healthy? You can tell they are healthy through their relationship with Jesus Christ. Healthy believers are passionate about what Jesus is passionate about. Healthy churches, in turn, are always involved in the mission of God, everywhere. They are doers of the Word, not simply hearers. They are obedient disciples of Jesus.
 
So, how are you doing? Are you comfortable with your little routine of going to church, hearing the Word preached and believing that’s all that’s required? Do you have the feeling that there is more to this Christian life? Or are you one of those obedient disciples who is impacting your community and your world with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Let us know in the comments below.
 
And if you want to know more about how you can become that kind of follower and that kind of church, we have some practical steps you can take to move toward that kind of obedience. Get in touch to learn more.

Hello, and welcome back to our series on Spiritual Warfare and Missions (SWAM). If you missed the first couple of posts you really should click here to read them first. And be reminded that this series is based on the book by Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer called Spiritual Warfare and Missions.
Last time we learned that part of Satan’s Strategy is to distort the call of God. He has convinced many of us in North America that it takes some sort of a mystical experience with God, like a burning bush, to call someone to serve as a missionary. Instead, we are all responsible to be on God’s team, to glorify God among the nations for the rest of our lives.

This week we will see Satan’s strategy to erode the faith of God’s people.

The nation of Israel is an example of how the people of God can so easily be led astray from the mission of God. His calling and purpose for His chosen people were clear. In His providence, He had brought them to Egypt where, for four hundred years, they were protected and prospered and grew to be a mighty nation. He led them out of Egypt, delivered them from bondage, and set before them a mission to possess the promised land and become a witness to all the peoples of the world.

As Moses reviews their history in Deuteronomy, he reminds them of God’s commissioning, “See, I have set the land before you. Enter and take possession of the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants after them” (Deuteronomy 1:8).

When they finally reached the borders of the land of Canaan, twelve spies were sent in for reconnaissance. They came back affirming that it was a land flowing with milk and honey and even brought back fruit and produce as evidence of its prosperity. But they went on to report, “However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified. We also saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amelekites are living in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country, and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan” (Numbers 13:28-29).

They concluded the report with a dismal assessment, “We can’t go up against the people because they are stronger than we are. . .The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size” (Numbers 13:31-32). In spite of the contrary opinion of Caleb and Joshua, in faithlessness, the people succumbed to fear and turned their back on the mission of God.

It takes faith to engage the nations.

Many churches today are like the children of Israel in that they clearly understand the Great Commission task, but they don’t have the faith to move out and give priority to personal involvement in fulfilling God’s mission. In fact, they cower in the security of their church building, enjoying the nurturing fellowship of believers, insulated from even impacting the cross-cultural secularism in their own community. Like Israel seeing the pagan tribes to be confronted in the land, we are made aware of the number of unreached people groups around the world. Media and our own travels may expose us to the massive cities of Istanbul, Cairo, Shanghai, and Sao Paulo, fortified by religious history and traditions that appear to make them impregnable to a Christian witness. We are overwhelmed, feeling we are like grasshoppers among giants. We figuratively throw up our hands in dismay, concluding that we can do nothing. We are too small; we don’t have the resources or know what to do. We will just try to be good witnesses where we live.

Such lack of faith to trust God and His promised empowerment (Acts 1:8) to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth is an obvious and devious tactic of Satan. It keeps the majority of God’s churches from unleashing the resources to storm his strongholds around the world and claim them for our Lord. The contrast was the minority report from Joshua and Caleb who believed God and said, “We must go up and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it” (Numbers 13:30).

We know that God was angry with the people for their faithlessness. The consequence was their meaningless wandering in the wilderness for forty years as He replaced a faithless generation. Many churches are wandering in the wilderness, trying to find their way, in futility searching for relevance and direction, because they have rejected the priority of their mission. God commended Caleb, saying, “But since My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me completely, I will bring him into the land” (Numbers 14:24).

All a church has to do is to pray for the peoples and nations of the world, and God has promised to claim them as His possession. “Ask of Me and I will make the nations Your inheritance and the ends of the earth Your possession” (Psalm 2:8). God is sovereign over the nations and will deliver them to the lordship of Jesus Christ, for either judgement or salvation; should we not intercede and pray for them that God would open their culture to a channel of witness and their hearts to His saving grace?

Such prayer is born out of compassionate hearts that are burdened for a lost world, stirred in response to the Great Commandment of our Lord.
​
Satan is clever. He knows if we prayed for the Baluchi of Pakistan, the Pamir in Tajikistan, the Kurds in Turkey and Iraq that enemy strongholds would crumble and these people would be penetrated with the gospel. Satan is a fallen angel, a messenger, who has access to our minds to distort our perceptions and values. So, if we are going to be a people of prayer, he influences us to concentrate our praying on our own interests, focusing on personal concerns - our needs, our family, our church, our community. How much time do we spend lifting up to the Father our pleas for the salvation of the Hazara in Afghanistan or the Bejas in Sudan? Not only does God work in response to our intercessory prayers; those prayers move us to be involved and do something about reaching a lost world.

It is not how big your church is or how many resources it has at its disposal but whether or not a congregation has the heart to follow God and His heart for the nations. Paul expressed concern for the believers in Corinth, “But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted from a complete and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3). Where is evidence of faith and devotion to Christ when we excuse ourselves as being too small and fail to trust Christ to guide, empower, and use us in whatever one’s place may be in fulfilling God’s mission?
​
So let me challenge you to consider adopting an unreached people group. Go to www.joshuaproject.net and find one to adopt. Learn about your people group. Find out all you can about them. And pray. Pray that strongholds would be broken, that workers would be sent into that harvest field and that the gospel would do its transformative work.
 
Let us know if you do adopt a people group. We would love to pray with you. Drop us a comment below.

​Hello, and welcome back to our series on Spiritual Warfare and Missions (SWAM). If you missed the first couple of posts you really should click here to read them first. And be reminded that this series is based on the book by Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer called Spiritual Warfare and Missions.
 
Last time we talked about Satan’s strategy to erode the authority of God’s Word. From the Bible Engagement Study, we saw that the practice of reading God’s Word is in serious decline among Christians in Canada. So it seems that the enemy may be doing an effective job of sidetracking Christians from God’s Word.
 
Those who reject the authority of God’s Word quickly lose any impetus for evangelism and missions. Once the Bible is accepted as erroneous, it becomes subject to every whim of interpretation, and any portion or teaching becomes optional.
 
This week we will see that Satan also attempts to distort the call of God.
 
Jerry Rankin led the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptists for many years. Each year hundreds respond to a personal sense of God’s call to plant their lives in foreign countries while others take leave from their vocational commitment to serve for two or three years in short-term assignments. It is commendable that some are willing to lay down their personal aspirations, leave the comfort and security of their home country, face the challenge of cross-cultural adjustment and a potentially deprived lifestyle to make Jesus Christ known among the nations.
 
However, the perception of that special call of God has been twisted by Satan to convince most Christians that they have no responsibility toward fulfilling the mission, the Great Commission, of God. Rankin states that it is not unusual after a mission’s conference or convention in a church or on a seminary campus for someone to say to him, “Dr. Rankin, I would be willing to go as a missionary, but God has not called me.”
 
Rankin says that he has difficulty responding to that kind of statement in a tactful or gracious way. There is a lost world that God wants to save, and here is a dedicated Christian who is convinced that he would be willing to go and share the gospel with a lost world except for the fact that God has chosen not to call him. We forget that the task of missions, the task of making His name known and declaring His marvelous deeds among the nations, belongs to the church - the people of God.
A false dichotomy has been set up between those who are chosen to go and those who are permitted to stay. The real matter is finding one’s place in God’s mission. There certainly may be a specific and personal call and leading of God, but many believe that if they haven’t seen a burning bush or been blinded by a bright light on the Damascus Road, then they are exempt from declaring God’s salvation among the nations. They feel free to pursue their own plans, essentially blaming God for their not going to the mission field.

​But we cannot blame God for our personal neglect of His mission to reach the nations.
 
The Bible speaks of many heroes of faith being called of God to a specific task. Abraham was called by God to leave his home and follow, even though he did not know where God was leading. Moses was called to lead Israel out of bondage in Egypt and to the promised land. Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ‘I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations,’” (Jeremiah 1:4-5).
 
Examine the call of Isaiah. He had acknowledged that God had a plan and purpose for his life even before he was born. In Isaiah 6:8 he recounts this encounter with God: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying; ‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?’ I said: ‘Here I am. Send me.’” This wasn't a personal call. God did not tap Isaiah on the shoulder and say, “Okay, you're the one. I am calling you to go to a people in darkness.” No, it was a generic call. Isaiah heard the heart of God crying for someone to send, for someone who would be willing to go to a people who were lost and in darkness. Isaiah did not wait to be selected and excuse himself if that mystical experience of the specific call never occurred. He took the initiative and invited God to send him.
 
Why do people today not respond to the knowledge of a lost world as Isaiah did -- knowing people need to know Jesus Christ, knowing someone needs to go to tell them?
 
And we know that the world is lost. All we have to do is turn on the news or read a few of the posts in our social media to see the sinfulness, lostness, despair, and spiritual darkness throughout the world.
 
It grieves the heart of God that most of the world does not know of his love while most in our churches sit idly by. Do we comprehend how the heart of God yearns for the peoples of the world to know and worship him? Why do we not bow and surrender, saying like Isaiah, “Here I am. I am available Lord. Let me be the one to go and tell them the good news of salvation.” Could it be that Satan has twisted our thinking to believe that only a select few are called to go, and the rest of God's people are free to follow their own plans with no responsibility for reaching the lost world? We are deceived to believe that we have a right to our own life and what we want to do.
 
Jesus told his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into a harvest,” (Matthew 9:37-38). This is kind of an odd instruction from God. If God is the Lord of the harvest and the one who calls, then He is capable of calling of the labours to bring in the harvest. After all, he is sovereign over the nations and should be Lord over our lives.
 
In an effort to provide an explanation, Rankin has often said that we are instructed to pray for the labourers because God wants us to be those labourers. If a Believer is truly burdened for a lost world, intercedes for the nations, and pleads with God for missionaries to go into the field, it is not unlikely that God will move upon the heart of the one praying to sense that he should be the one to go.
 
However, there might be another perspective on why we are encouraged to beseech God to thrust out the labourers into the harvest. Perhaps it is because there truly is an enemy that is blocking the flow of labourers into the harvest, stifling the conviction of God's call, and causing potential missionaries to rationalize away the personal responsibility to go. These ones are not responding to the call because of a closed mind, a calloused heart, or a reluctant will.
 
Where do these kinds of barriers come from? Certainly not from God! We may rationalize that it is just a natural tendency to hold on to one's own plans out of concern for one's welfare, but isn’t that just the nature of the self-centered flesh rather than one dying to self and yielding to the Lordship of God's Spirit? God is not glorified when we call the shots and determine the context in which we are willing to serve him. Are we reluctant to trust God and follow His leadership because He might make us go to Pakistan or Libya? Are we afraid we will have to give up our beautiful home or be separated from family and loved ones? When these kinds of attitudes dominate our thinking, we can be assured there is an influence other than Holy Spirit speaking into our life. When we get so caught up in our comfortable lifestyle that we become indifferent to those who are lost, we have lost touch with the Lord of the harvest!
 
It is not uncommon for dedicated Christians to be conscientious about serving God and seeking his will. However, even the dedicated Christian’s prayers often reflect a selfish perspective as they pray, “Lord, what is your will for my life?” We should be praying, “Lord what is your will?” - period! And once we come to understand God's will, then we can begin to get an understanding of what His will for us personally will be. God's will for each of His children is always in the context of His mission, that universal plan and purpose to be known and worshipped among every people, tongue, tribe, and nation.
 
For some, it will mean to go. For others, it is to be senders, mobilizers, and supporters. For all, it is to witness to those from the nations that God is bringing into our cities and communities. But no one is exempt!
 
To say, “I will serve God where I live and ignore the need of the nations to know Jesus,” is a deceptive scheme of Satan two divert believers from God's mission. To reason that I have no responsibility for the salvation of remote tribes and peoples because God has not called me to go is to express a demonic lie born in hell for the very purpose of locking the nations of the world into the kingdom of darkness!
 
So let’s all be clear that God’s purpose is to be known and worshipped among every people, tongue, tribe, and nation. And it is my responsibility, your responsibility, to find ways to maximize our usefulness to that end.
 
We would love to hear from you. Where do you see yourself in this post? Are you one who doesn’t feel God has called you? Or are you looking for where to be involved in God’s plan? Have you already found your place? Let us know in the comments below.
 
And if you aren’t sure where you might be able to be used, give me a call at 289-812-0661 and I will walk the path of discovery with you.

Hello, and welcome back to our series on Spiritual Warfare and Missions (SWAM). If you missed the first couple of posts you really should click here to read them first. And be reminded that this series is based on the book by Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer called Spiritual Warfare and Missions.
 
Last time we talked about Satan’s strategy to convince Christians that missions is optional. When he is able to get us as individuals and as fellowships to focus on ourselves, our needs, our neighbours, then the almost three billion people outside of the reach of the gospel right now are ignored (or avoided) by us. If we have no concern for the nations who stumble in the darkness, then we become like Jonah, who fled from the command of God.
 
This week we will see that Satan also attempts to erode the authority of God’s Word.
 
Mr. Rankin begins this chapter by referencing the CS Lewis book “The Screwtape Letters”. The book is a series of fictitious letters, as Dr. Lewis imagined them, written by one demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, Wormwood, who had been assigned to a new Christian. The letters are advice concerning strategies and tactics by which this Christian could be rendered powerless and his life ineffective in the service of the enemy, in this case, Jesus Christ.
 
One of the letters told him to influence this Christian to neglect his devotional time each day. If he did not spend time in prayer and reading the Word of God, reasoned Screwtape, he would be powerless in spite of all resolve to live for God. Another letter advises Wormwood to use contemporary philosophies and influences to cause him to doubt the truth and authority of God’s Word. This would erode any foundation for building a dedicated life of service for the kingdom of God.
 
The Screwtape Letters gave Rankin some valuable insight into the reality of Satan’s subtle ways of using worldly thinking and influences to undercut the victory we have been given as Christians. Of course, the victory that overcomes the world is our faith, not only faith in Jesus Christ but faith to believe the truth of God’s Word. If faith is the victory, then all Satan needs to do is erode our faith through doubts, rationalizing away through vain interpretations of the reality of God’s truth.
 
Satan’s first appearance in his designs against the truth of God’s Word was to confront Eve with doubt. “Did God really say…?” (Genesis 3:1). Yes, God had said they were not to eat the forbidden fruit, but Satan proceeded to malign God’s motives. He is a liar and deceiver, “No, you will not surely die. . . In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5). He made her believe that God wanted to deprive her of something desirable. In listening to Satan’s deception, we witness one of his primary tactics: twisting what God had said. Giving in, Eve forfeited the glory for which she had been created. And Satan has been trying to rob God of His glory among the people ever since.

There are numerous studies and surveys that have shown that Canadians identifying as Christians do not read the word of God. Take for example theCanadian Bible Engagement Study. This data was collected in 2013 and released in May 2014. A short video summary can be viewed on YouTube.
 
The study found that,
 
●     Just 14% of Canadians read the Bible at least once a month in 2013 (down from 28% in 1996).
 
●     64% of Canadians think the scriptures of all major world religions teach essentially the same things.
 
●     69% of Canadians think the Bible has irreconcilable contradictions
 
●     Only 18% of Canadians strongly agree that the Bible is the Word of God
 
●The Bible engagement of self-identified Christians as a whole is not much different from the Bible engagement of Canadians generally

So it seems that the enemy may be doing an effective job of sidetracking Christians from God’s Word.
 
Those who reject the authority of God’s Word quickly lose any impetus for evangelism and missions. Once the Bible is accepted as erroneous, it becomes subject to every whim of interpretation, and any portion or teaching becomes optional.

​And thus Jesus’ warning in Matthew 7.
 
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:24-27).
 
John 14:15 says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Love God, do what He says. That’s the answer. Simple. Simple is in, right? Do you want to solve all the world’s problems? Do you want to solve all your problems? Love God and do what He says. When this happens you are reshaped.
 
What is success to you as a Christian? People on mission are focused on obedience. As people on mission begin to create and populate local churches, the churches as a whole will live by the same value of obedience. Love God, do what He says.
 
And that is really the definition of a disciple.
 
What do you think of the Bible? Does it make clear the mission of the church? Or is it unclear to you? Leave us a comment below. We would love to talk about this with you.
 

​Hello, and welcome back to our series on Spiritual Warfare and Missions (SWAM). If you missed the first couple of posts you really should click here to read them first. And be reminded that this series is based on the book by Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer called Spiritual Warfare and Missions.
 
Last week we talked about Satan’s strategy to persecute believers and the church. The Bible makes it clear that persecution and suffering will accompany the proclamation of the gospel in a world hostile to a Christian witness and also that the suffering will be used by God to advance His kingdom.
 
This week we will see that Satan also uses the idea that missions is somehow optional to rob God of the glory that He is due.
 
Satan continues to work through godless world leaders and totalitarian governments to keep countries closed to missionaries and restrict a Christian witness, but in this era of modern communication and global commerce, he is unsuccessful in barricading countries against the life-transforming message of Jesus Christ.
 
His strategy to obscure remote people groups from our awareness is failing as sociologists and researchers have identified the ethnic language groups of the world. Their location and worldviews are known and are systematically being penetrated with gospel witness.
 
Even persecution and suffering is feeding the growth of the church and expanding access to the Christian message. Satan does not understand the power of love that motivates the sacrificial commitment and the power of the convictions of believers willing to suffer for their faith.
 
One of the authors says that he will say to one of his daughters something like Sweetheart, will you help me with the dishes? At face value, it seems as if there is an option built into my request. In reality, he is making a gracious dictate to his little girl. The asking is actually directing.
 
God works similarly with us. He invites us to participate in His mission. But we never find the Scriptures to list is as optional. Because He desires to operate relationally with us, God allows us to make a decision. Rest assured that Satan will seize upon this dynamic at every turn to convince us that missional activity is an option that can and should be denied.
 
God’s Word calls Satan the god of this age (2 Cor. 4:4). He leverages a tremendous asset when he works outside the church in the world to hinder the gospel. In the world, he is on his home court. However he is much too cunning to depend solely on closed countries, undiscovered people groups, persecution of believers, and cultures hostile to the gospel. He uses other strategies inside the Christian community to deter the advancement of God’s kingdom and to hinder believers and churches from ever deploying to vast pockets of lostness around the world.
 
In trying to convince Christians that missions is optional, he diverts churches to focus on their own programs and to see their mission as reaching people for their own church. If he can persuade Christians that reaching the nations has little or no relevancy or urgency to their own life, he has raised a barrier that makes other barriers obsolete. Who, then, will be willing to leave their own comfort and security to take the gospel and declare God’s salvation to the peoples of the world?
 
This isn’t simply semantics. The church needs to hear a different descriptor than “missions volunteer.” The volunteer is given high regard in our culture. Why? Because volunteers do something that is not required of them. They work although they are not obligated. Volunteers contribute selflessly to a cause greater than themselves. What heroes!
 
If the devil can convince us that engaging friends, communities, and nations with the gospel is something we really do not have to do, he wins. If he makes the smallest step of Christian service seem heroic, he creates barriers to moving outside our comfort zones. We will serve the Lord and the church on an intuitive, feel-good level only.
 
Paul would never have considered himself a volunteer. His burden for men, women, and children drove him far beyond volunteering for Christ. Missions was not a voluntary act for Paul. It was compulsory. He describes it this way: “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome” (Romans 1:14-15).
 
The language of volunteerism would be unfamiliar with the deeply burdened missionary apostle. Paul felt obligated to do something about the lostness around him. He owed them an opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus. Also, you see that the obligation and debt that he felt produced urgency and courage. In the same passage he said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).
 
In every organization, there are a myriad of forces at work, but two stand out. They can be illustrated by a yo-yo. If you swing a yo-yo around in a circle, two forces are at work (in a non-technical sense). The first is the centrifugal force that pulls the yo-yo away from your hand and pushes it outward. This force represents the missionary nature of our work. The second force is centripetal, the force that draws things inward, the force exerted by the string. This force is necessary to care for the core, and the temptation is to make that the focus. One force spreads, the other centralizes.
 
For churches today, the choice is to keep pushing toward missionary work as it radiates in a larger circle or to meet the needs of the tether by pulling it inward. The moment a church decides that missions is an optional activity, the tether becomes the focus and the radius of the work begins a rapid decline.

​People on mission have made an important discovery. People on mission do not go to church. People on mission are the church. Being on mission for Jesus is a way of life that frees us from the busyness of doing “Christian” activities. It is a choice to be mission-shaped and Jesus-centred disciples living for the gospel in their communities and the world. Mission-shaped means God is bending me to have His heart for the world. Jesus-centred means Hs is the focal point of my life. “For in him we live and move and have our being” is how Paul describes it in a sermon preached in Athens (Acts 17:28). Like the original twelve disciples, we do life with Jesus daily.
 
Mission-shaped and Jesus-centred people change the world. What does that look like? John gives us a clue. “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4). The question is: Will we conquer the world? Or will the world conquer us?
 
So let’s become more mission-shaped and Jesus-centred and take the gospel to our neighbours and the world.

Hello, and welcome back to our series on Spiritual Warfare and Missions (SWAM). If you missed the first couple of posts you really should click here to read them first. And be reminded that this series is based on the book by Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer called Spiritual Warfare and Missions.
 
Last week we talked about Satan’s strategy to keep people groups hidden. When we focus on geopolitical nations (Canada, Cameroon, Colombia, Cambodia) we miss the fact that there are many distinct ethnolinguistic people groups that probably won’t be reached by an evangelistic crusade. Keeping these people groups hidden is a strategy used by Satan to prevent God from receiving the glory He is due.
 
This week we will see that Satan also uses persecution of believers and the church to diminish the glory God receives.
 
The chapter begins with the telling of a movement among South Asian Muslims. Reports indicated that some five hundred thousand Muslim background believers had been baptized. A research project was begun to try to verify the numbers. They found that entire villages and extended clans had become Christ-followers. They met with house church leaders and found these multiplying groups were functioning as authentic New Testament churches in gathering for worship, practising the ordinances, and witnessing and ministering in their communities. They traced the reproduction of these simple gatherings of believers and the process of discipling new converts. As the research was compiled, the data reflected about four hundred thousand Muslims who had actually expressed their commitment to follow Christ through baptism. But the numbers were continuing to grow as their witness was spreading through three people groups.
 
A distinguishing mark of this movement, though, was the persecution against these believers and their steadfast refusal to recant. Many of the leaders of this movement have been martyred, yet the movement continues to grow. When someone’s religious worldview is empty ritual and following the cultural traditions of society, the hope of salvation provided by the God of love is irresistible. A life transformed by Jesus is a powerful testimony that cannot be restrained. But when people see that the Christian faith is not just a religious choice worth living for, but a conviction worth dying for, suffering and death become a powerful witness of the truth.
 
It is apparent that Satan doesn’t understand the power of suffering as a testimony that powerfully authenticates a Christian witness. It goes back to his being deluded by the cross. Conspiring to influence Judas to betray Christ and working through the envious hearts of Jewish religious leaders to have Him crucified, Satan thought he had won. Instead, the suffering and death of Jesus empowered the kingdom and assured Satan’s ultimate defeat. The Bible makes it clear that persecution will accompany proclamation of the gospel in a world hostile to a Christian witness and will be used by God to advance His kingdom.

​“Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life,” (Mark 10:29-30). Jesus prepared His disciples and followers for this certain response to their witness because their witness stood in stark contrast to the sinful ways of the world. “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name because they do not know him who sent me,” (John 15:19-21).
 
Just as the suffering of Jesus resulted in God being glorified through redemption being provided for a lost world, God is glorified through the faithfulness of those who suffer persecution for their faith. But also His divine providence uses it as a powerful testimony to advance His kingdom. Paul saw the reality of this paradox in his ministry in Ephesus. Receptivity to the gospel and an open harvest will inevitably be accompanied by adversaries and opposition (1 Corinthians 16:9).
 
Jesus told us that we should not be surprised by opposition and the fact that they would be rejected, reviled, hated, and persecuted for standing up in identification with Him. Peter reminds us that we cannot hope to stand firm in our faith as a follower of Christ without it involving suffering. “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. . .so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God,” (1 Peter 4:1-2). Peter had just put this in perspective earlier. “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps,” (1 Peter 2:21).
 
Believers who are persecuted have a choice - to live for their own safety, comfort, and protection in denying the faith, which would be sin, or to deny themselves for the sake of Christ with the consequence of suffering.
 
We need to debunk the prominent myth that the safest place to be is in the centre of God’s will. Certainly, obedience to God’s will is the only place for a Christian, but that does not assure us of physical comfort, safety, and security. God has not guaranteed the believer exemption from suffering and opposition. He does promise to bless us, empower us, and protect us, but His primary concern is not our safety and avoidance of suffering and inconvenience but His glory in and through our lives. The Bible clearly teaches us that God is glorified through our faithfulness and obedience even in times of suffering for our faith.
 
Christian history is full of examples of Christian martyrs, those who died violently and prematurely because of their faithful witness. Many of these are notably recorded by John Foxe in his book Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Some include in their identification of martyrs the massive numbers of Christians who have been killed in communal or ethnic violence. They died because they were Christians, but far fewer have been killed because of persistence in an open witness for the faith that could have been avoided. The Bible identifies them as having been worthy of participating in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings.
 
Susan Bergman, in her book Martyrs, makes the distinction: “Martyrdom occurs when a person is required to deny Christ and live, or confess Him and die. Under such duress, the martyr freely chooses death over life - a death that seals a life’s belief - in order to act as a witness to the truth of Christ’s claims and to his or her own faith.”
 
So Satan approaches it in two ways. Not only does he perpetrate persecution on believers but he convinces Christians that their highest priority is to avoid suffering and danger. Our safety and security is more important than the world knowing Jesus, so we avoid going to dangerous places where we might get arrested or even killed, and God is again deprived of His praise and glory among people who do not have the opportunity to know Him.
 
Remember, God’s primary purpose is to be glorified in our lives and exalted among the nations. Risking danger and suffering is sometimes necessary for that to happen. Certainly, it will not happen without a willingness to suffer for the sake of God’s glory among the nations.
 
We forfeit God’s blessing as well as an opportunity to glorify Him when we try to avoid opposition or offending anyone by our witness in a way that would bring repercussions. In the Beatitudes, Jesus reminded us, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” (Matthew 5:10).
 
That persecution and martyrdom are predicted and necessary evils that are allowed in God’s plan to establish His church and inaugurate His kingdom on earth is certain. God is using the persecution perpetrated by Satan and his minions to serve His sovereign purpose to expand, purify, strengthen, and multiply His kingdom.
 
“For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured,” Hebrews 13:11-13.
 
So let’s go!

Hello, and welcome back to our series on Spiritual Warfare and Missions (SWAM). If you missed the first couple of posts you really should click here to read them first. And be reminded that this series is based on the book by Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer called Spiritual Warfare and Missions.
 
Last week we talked about how Satan is trying to keep nations closed to the gospel and how God is bypassing those geo-political barriers to the good news and redeeming people. God is also using the situations caused by these barriers to create a hunger in lost people for the kind of peace that only the Prince of Peace can provide.
 
This week we are going to look at how Satan tries to keep the unreached people groups from our view. The old saying, “out of sight, out of mind” is true and the enemy is working hard to keep these people groups out of sight.
 
Some background...
 
Missiologist Donald McGavran, with the School of World Missions at Fuller Theological Seminary in California, began to draw attention to the nature of the Great Commission in the context of sociological groups of ethnic peoples. In his landmark book, Bridges of God (1955), he highlighted the fact that evangelistic movements in India followed ethnicity. The gospel spread, often to the fringes of people of similar language and caste but did not bridge into other peoples, even though they might be intertwined geographically in the same area.
 
Ethnicity is what makes a distinction between “us” and “them”. If you are part of a homogeneous people who have the same language, culture, and ethnic origin, you would relate as “we” in contrast to others who have a different language and culture. Ethnicity often determines unspoken norms of marriage and communal relationship; it is also a factor in discrimination and strained relationships with other races and cultures. People groups tend to reside in common geographic areas, but even if they are widespread, their ethnicity represents stronger ties than relationships with other near neighbours. Even in large cities, which become a mashup of multiple people groups, those with similar backgrounds and kinship tend to live in ghettos and communities with their own kind of people.
 
Not surprisingly, the gospel tends to follow the lines of these relationships as well. In fact, the gospel may find a receptivity and permeate an entire people group and not even touch another ethnic or linguistic group living and interacting in the same vicinity. Though tens of thousands of people in India were coming to Christ, McGavran pointed out that it was exclusively among the Telugu. This is what has happened in other historic mission fields like Nigeria as the gospel spread among the Yoruba and in Indonesia as it spread among the Javanese. Missions strategists have simplified the definition in reference to our task of global evangelism by saying, “People groups are those of common ethnic identity and relationships through which the gospel can spread without encountering a barrier.” If a Christian witness must bridge to another language or cross from “us” to “them”, it normally distinguishes separate people groups.
 
The instruction of Jesus to His followers in Matthew 28:19 was to make disciples - to win to faith, bring into the kingdom, and teach to become obedient followers of Jesus - the panta ta ethne -  of all the “ethnos” or peoples of distinct ethnic languages and cultures in the entire world. It is the same terminology used by Jesus in Matthew 24:14 when he spoke of the future reality of the gospel being proclaimed to all nations, literally “panta ta ethne” (all peoples). And it is the same terminology used to portray the ultimate fulfillment when “a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number” (Revelation 7:9) would be represented around the throne worshipping the Lamb of God.
 
Given this ‘people group’ thinking, it helps to think of the world as a waffle, and not a pancake. When you pour syrup onto a pancake it is reasonable to expect the syrup to flow all over the smooth round surface. Not so with the waffle. A waffle has a multitude of small squares separated by ridges. If you want your syrup to cover the whole waffle, you must be deliberate in the pouring of syrup into each square. The world is not made up of homogenous people who are alike and all speak the same language. The world is a vast matrix of more than eleven thousand distinct languages and cultures, separated by ethnic identity. If each one is to hear the gospel, mission efforts must be deliberate to pour the syrup of the gospel into each one in a culturally appropriate way and in a language people can understand.
 
Rankin reports it once was thought that sending a missionary to Yugoslavia was evangelizing the country of Yugoslavia. But with the fall of Communist control of eastern Europe and the splintering of the Soviet Union, it was discovered that there really wasn’t a Yugoslavia. That country, like so many others, was an artificial alignment of political borders.  It had been made up of Serbs, Bosnians, Slovenian, Macedonian, Croats, and Kosovars, and it was evident all those peoples - some Catholic, some Orthodox, and others Muslim - did not like one another. There was ancestral enmity between them that went back for centuries. Evangelizing one of them did not facilitate the gospel spreading to other peoples with a different language and culture and antagonistic attitudes toward each other. Bosnians had no respect for Serbs and would not listen to them. Kosovars would have been unresponsive to efforts of Croats to influence them to consider the Gospel.
 
It is this blindness to people groups and the Biblical definition of nations that resulted in Ralph Winter characterizing the malady as people-blindness, blindness to the existence of separate peoples within countries. This prevents us from noticing the sub-groups within a country which are significant to the development of an effective evangelistic Strategy. Until we recover from this kind of blindness we may confuse the legitimate desire for church or national unity with the illegitimate goal of uniformity.
 
Did this just happen, or did the deceiver of the nations distort the thinking and perception of well-intended mission strategists? Could it be possible that the one who has the capacity to blind the hearts of the unbelieving lest they be saved could also blind our eyes to the nature of the task?

​The authors state that a major aspect of Satan’s strategy is to convince us that the task of missions is to win as many souls to Christ as possible. Certainly God is not willing that any should perish but desires that all men come to repentance and the knowledge of the truth.

​God has called us to the task of evangelism - proclaiming the gospel through any and every means; we are to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. And He is pleased and rejoices over every soul that repents and receives the salvation He provided on the cross. But populating heaven with as many believers as possible and snatching them from an eternity of torment in hell is not fulfilling God’s mission to reach the nations.
 
So, evangelism and missions are not the same tasks. Stetzer states that he fears what often drives churches to a singular focus on evangelism is an unawareness of God’s greater mission that reaches beyond our local community.
 
The knowledge of people group thinking and unreached people groups is available. Don’t let the enemy keep you blind. Let me encourage you to adopt an unreached people group, intercede on their behalf, and pray that the Lord of the harvest would send labourers to engage them with the gospel. For a listing of people groups and the levels of reachedness, go to www.joshuaproject.com and discover the truth.

Hello, and welcome back to our series on Spiritual Warfare and Missions (SWAM). If you missed the first couple of posts you really should click here to read them first. And be reminded that this series is based on the book by Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer called Spiritual Warfare and Missions.
 
In this chapter, the authors reference those nations which are ‘closed’ to the gospel as a strategy of Satan to rob God of His glory. They state, “It doesn’t matter who presumes to be in charge of nations and states or how restrictive government structures are; God is the ultimate authority, and His purpose will be fulfilled in His timing.”
 
This is very hard for us to grasp from a human perspective, especially when we know of all the people groups being held captive and without access to the gospel. So many places officially prohibit expressions of Christian witness. At the time this book was written (2010), researchers stated that in the first ten years of the twenty-first century, an average of three countries per year close their doors to missionary presence.
 
Satan is using the adversarial inclination of communist and totalitarian governments or those dominated by Islamic or Hindu worldviews to prohibit an open Christian witness. Paul’s accusation of the sorcerer, Elymas, on Cyprus, is descriptive of these nations historically. He described him as, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?”  But in the next chapter, Paul puts the opposition and resistance of nations in the perspective of God’s providence: “we bring you good news...a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave Himself without a witness” (Acts 14:15-17).
 
We need to be settled in our confidence in the providence of God. This word comes from two latin words, video meaning “to see,” and pro meaning “beforehand.” God is able to see beforehand all that happens in our lives and in the world, and He is able to establish a plan of how it can be used for his purpose and His glory. We are assured, “All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name,”(Psalm 86:9). We are also told, “I will shake all nations...I am about to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations,” (Haggai 2:7,22). God is fulfilling that word of prophecy as He is shaking the nations and overthrowing powers of governments that have long stood in the way of His kingdom.
 
Can you picture Satan’s reaction to Jesus’ confident affirmation of victory for His coming kingdom and the fact that the gospel would be proclaimed in the whole world as a testimony to all nations? He is absolutely resolved to do everything in his power to inhibit such a worldwide witness from becoming a reality. That confident declaration in Matthew 24:14 continues to incite Satan to do all he can to keep nations closed to a Christian witness, to delay the inevitable final judgement and the potential of people from every nation and people being represented around the throne of God.

​Globalization and technology are making it increasingly difficult for Satan to keep people groups hidden. Although there are massive population segments that have yet to be touched with the gospel and significant numbers of unreached people groups, there is no country that has not been penetrated with a Christian witness. The artificial boundaries of geographic, political entities cannot be fortified against emerging technology producing diverse and accessible tools of communication.
 
The Jesus Film is an example that was developed by Bill Bright, founder and past president of Campus Crusade for Christ. With a script based on the actual text of the Gospel of Luke, the film portrays the life of Christ in a dramatic and universally cultural presentation. Using technology, the film has been translated into more than 1,600 languages and is being spread throughout the world using each new technological advancement that is developed.
 
Satan can poison the minds of men and influence power-hungry, self-serving rulers, but his strategies to keep nations closed to the good news of the kingdom seems to be vulnerable to modern technology.
 
Globalization has also opened previously isolated peoples in closed nations to new ideas and concepts beyond their protected local worldviews. Travel and immigration have exposed the world to Western cultures and with it a Christian message. It would be difficult to find any people group not represented by a diaspora community in Canadian cities or on Canadian university campuses. Those who hear and respond to the gospel - and whose lives are changed by discovering a personal redemptive relationship with Christ - invariably carry the good news back to the network of family and friends in their place of cultural origin. In spite of government restrictions, legal barriers, and the lack of a missionary presence, God’s Word is reaching the nations in this globalized world.
 
Suffering and human need also open the door to the gospel witness. In so many of the nations where missionary work is not permitted, the people live under such oppression and social suppression. And when people, impoverished economically without anything to hope for in this life, hear about the hope and assurance that can be found in Jesus Christ, it readily overcomes religious and cultural barriers in which Satan has held the people in bondage for generations.
 
Satan’s strategy to use totalitarian governments and ideologies to keep countries closed to the gospel is not working. Government restrictions and persecution cannot prevent the advance of the gospel when, in God’s providence and timing, He determines to advance His kingdom among the nations.
 
Even natural disasters are being used to plant the gospel in countries and areas traditionally closed and hostile to the gospel. Many will remember in December 2005, one of the most destructive natural disasters in modern times occurred. An earthquake-spawned tsunami devastated the coastlines of eight Asian nations. The tidal wave was generated off the Indonesian island of Sumatra and killed up to 230 thousand people. Many of these were in the province of Aceh, a fanatical Islamic region of the country, relatively autonomous and restricted to foreigners. Historical efforts to penetrate this area with the gospel had proven futile.
 
However, in the aftermath of the tsunami, it was not Muslim communities from abroad that responded to provide relief and development but Christian organizations and churches. They did not sweep into the area in a desire to capitalize on this tragedy, take advantage of traumatized people, and proselytize them to the Christian faith.
 
No, compelled by the love of Christ, they reached out to comfort and minister to those in need. But, those selfless acts of sacrifice stirred the hearts of people. They wanted to know why they would come, freely disperse millions of dollars in relief supplies, and help them rebuild their homes and their lives. It opened the door to explain the love of God and the way to have a relationship with Him.
 
Sure, Satan tries to keep people groups hidden by closing borders to the gospel. But he also tries to do so by distracting churches from their Great Commission responsibilities for the nations. Many churches are so caught up in their neighbourhoods that they fail to see the nations, whether abroad or in their own cities. This is what we’ll look at next time.
 
Let’s not fall into the trap of the enemy and fail to see the nations, the unreached people groups that still have no access to the gospel. Jesus said in Matthew 24:14 that the gospel would be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. What is your part in fulfilling this promise?
 
Can you think of other creative ways to get the gospel to the nations that are closed to the message of Christ? Do you know of anyone who is working in such a place? How can you support the work they are doing?
 
Leave your comments below. We love to hear from you.
 
 

​Hello, and welcome back to our series on Spiritual Warfare and Missions (SWAM). If you missed the first couple of posts you really should click here to read them first. And be reminded that this series is based on the book by Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer called Spiritual Warfare and Missions.
 
The authors begin this chapter of their book by stating that Satan is described in Scripture as a thief, ruler of the world, god of this world, beast, prince of the power of the air, spirit of disobedience, and evil one, but he exists as an adversary of God and His purposes. The word devil comes from the Greek diabolos, which means to oppose. Devil is one of the twenty-two different names used to describe Satan in the Bible and is used thirty-five times in the New Testament. The devil is opposed to the extension of God’s kingdom on the earth and is actively seeking to deprive God of being glorified among the nations through the proclamation of the gospel as well as in one’s life personally. No doubt his mission is clear: to keep lost people lost.
 
Among the sequence of events that characterize the end-times and the return of Christ is the fact that Satan will be thrown into the abyss, “so that he would no longer deceive the nations” (Revelation 20:3). Meanwhile, he appears to have free reign in the world today, continuing to deceive the nations.
 
1 John 5:19 says, “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” God has claimed for Himself a people to serve Him. We are His possession and called to proclaim “the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). But where Christ is not known - where the gospel has not yet penetrated and transformed society to acknowledge the lordship of God - the nations, cultures, and peoples of the world are still in darkness under the dominion of Satan.
 
Rankin describes his experience going to Indonesia as a new missionary after years of preparation and anticipation. He was convinced that the gospel was the power of God for salvation to draw people to Christ. He was confident that he would arrive in Indonesia to join other missionaries and, as in the book of Acts, multitudes would come to faith and be saved each day.
 
However, instead of the massive response, he encountered indifference and antagonism, despite open opportunities to witness. He realized that to expect a Muslim to respond to the gospel was not unlike expecting a blind man to read a newspaper, and the Bible explains: “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4). There is nothing deficient about the power of the gospel message. The Holy Spirit still actively convicts of sin, truth, and righteousness. But we need to recognize that we have an enemy, the god of this age, who can blind the eyes of the unbelieving to the truth of the gospel. He works his deception with apparent impunity to lead the nations astray from knowing God.

​Even when the gospel can be freely shared, the enemy is actively distorting the message and filtering it through contrary traditions and worldviews to keep the seed from taking root in the human heart.

​The parable of the sower in Luke 8 tells us the reality of the world we are responsible for evangelizing. The analogy of the various kinds of soil represents various responses to the gospel. Some will welcome the good news but it will not profit them because they continue to be consumed by the cares of the world. The message does not take root in the lives of others because of barriers to understanding and belief represented by the rocky soil. Occasionally one’s witness will encounter fertile soil in which it is received, grows, and multiplies. But some of the seed falls on the hardened pathway as reflected in many cultures. Jesus explained that, rather than taking root, the seed remains exposed on the surface where birds come, take it away and devour it.
 
In explaining the parable, Jesus says that the birds are the devil - “...then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved (Luke 8:12). Remember, Satan is identified as a deceiver and a liar. When Paul expressed concern that the believers in Corinth were being led astray from purity of doctrine and the simplicity of faith in Christ, he concluded, “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds” (2 Cor. 11:14-15).
 
Let’s not forget that Satan’s purpose is to deprive God of the praise and glory that are due to Him. When Satan tempts a Christian to sin, it is to deprive God of His praise and glory in that person’s life. When he leads us to embrace the carnal and self-serving values of the world, he is merely thumbing his nose at God. When we indulge in lustful gratification rather than walking in holiness and obedience to God, it gives Satan the glory instead of God.
 
Throughout Scripture, we are told that faith is the victory. “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4). “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16).
 
Because believing God and accepting the truth of what He has said as reality is the victory, one of Satan’s favourite tools is doubt. Just as he implanted doubt in the mind of Eve when he said, “Did God really say…?” (Genesis 3:1), he continues to plant doubts in our minds to reject the truth of God’s Word and the victory over sin that we have been given in Christ.
 
The result is living for self instead of a cross-centred, Spirit-filled life. Abandoning His promises of peace, joy, power, holiness, and blessing, we strike out on our own and forfeit the power available for our witness that would bring glory to God. Satan robs us of peace and leaves us with anxiety and worry; he destroys our joy, leaving us struggling with despair and depression. We often attribute personal discomfort or pain to satanic intent. But our downfall and failure is not all about us! Satan has a much greater purpose in orchestrating our defeat. He deprives God of the glory He desires and has provided in our life in order that the world will not see a living example of the gospel. Satan’s strategy is to replace glory to God with what brings glory to us.
 
We have been given victory over all the schemes and strategies of Satan. With the death of Christ on the cross, the power of sin was conquered not just theoretically but as a daily practical reality for those who choose to walk in the Spirit that indwells every believer. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Paul explains what happened in the atoning sacrifice of Christ in which He took on His sinless body the sins of the world: “He cancelled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:14-15).
 
Satan and his minions are defeated. A Christian is a partaker in the divine nature of Christ. When we are in Christ, a continual carnal lifestyle is antithetical to our true nature. But it is Satan’s only hope of stemming the tide of God’s work on the earth. The enemy’s deception and lies rob God of His glory in our life. But because of the victory secured in Christ, the ultimate triumph belongs to God, and He will be exalted among the nations and to the ends of the earth.
 
So what about you? What worldviews are dominant in your community? What are the unique ways that Satan is keeping lost people lost?
 
What issues in your life are depriving God of His glory? How might you address them now?
 
What issues in your local church might be depriving God of His glory? How can you join with church leaders to address them now?
 
Let us know what you think in the comments below and share this post with your friends.

Hello, and welcome back to our series on Spiritual Warfare and Missions (SWAM). If you missed the first couple of posts you really should click here to read them first. And be reminded that this series is based on the book by Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer called Spiritual Warfare and Missions.
 
In this chapter, Rankin and Stetzer begin by making the point that at the end of all that God does is His purpose to be glorified. Everything that He does is for this purpose. They point to Isaiah 45:22-23, which was quoted by Paul in Philippians 2:10-11.
 
“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: To me, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.”
 
And this is accomplished through the work of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Followers of Jesus are commissioned to make disciples in every people, tongue, tribe, and nation. These disciples see and savour the glory of God. They are captivated by it and are committed to making that glory known in their neighbourhoods and to the ends of the earth.
 
But the enemy of God has deceived and led multitudes astray with false religions and pagan worldviews. These are tribal religions, Hindus, the unreligious, Muslims, and Buddhists (read this post about the THUMB people). Rankin states that his experience of working with Muslims in Indonesia, Buddhists in Thailand, and Hindus in India leaves no doubt that an adversary of the kingdom of God is leading the world astray as they put their hope in futile traditions. He has seen the empty ritual of cultural Catholics in the Philippines and Latin America and the multitudes in Africa still in bondage to the superstitions of their ancestors. Without question, God is not the source of any form of worship that does not exalt and lift up the name of Jesus. At His name, every knee will bow in submission and every tongue will proclaim His Lordship, all to the worship and glory of God the Father.

​Satan has free reign in the hearts and cultures that have rejected or never heard of the hope that can be found only in Jesus Christ. He uses godless rulers, government authorities, legal restrictions, and social pressures to maintain his dominion and deprive God of being glorified among the peoples of the world. “We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one” (1 John 5:19).
 
If his strategies prove to be vulnerable, his backup plan is to work among God’s people to create indifference and laziness. Instead of pressing the battle with conscientious urgency, Satan has readily convinced Christians that missions is optional or that it is the responsibility of only an elite few who have a special mystical call to serve as missionaries. Regardless, it appears the strategies of our enemy have been successful as we see the realities of a lost world and the daunting barriers to proclaiming the gospel today.
 
Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it in abundance” (John 10:10). We know this applies to those who have come to faith in acknowledging Him as Saviour and Lord. But we must not subtly be led to embrace an egocentric faith that is just for us. God’s purpose is that the whole world would find and experience that abundant life in Christ which would be to the praise of His glory. Jesus preceded that statement by alerting us to the thief who comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy (John 10:10). Not only does Satan try to keep the individual from coming to faith in Christ, but he also tempts the Christian to forfeit the abundant life. He works to rob our understanding of the peace and joy we have been given, destroy our assurance of blessings, and cause us to doubt Christ’s power in us through inflicting carnal behaviour and filling our minds with doubts and worry. Satan does all of this for one purpose - to deny God of the praise and glory from our lives. Likewise, the thief is intent on robbing God of His glory among the nations by destroying our witness and barricading the cultures against the light of the world.
 
The reality is that there is an enemy of the kingdom of God who is intent on depriving God of His praise and glory among the nations. He works subtly in darkness and anonymity to defeat the individual Christian, distort the mission of the church, and divert God’s people from their calling to proclaim His salvation and declare His glory among the nations. God’s Word alerts us to this enemy and admonishes us to be alert to his devious schemes; we are told to stand firm against his deception, resist temptation, and claim the victory that has already been assured. It is a victory rooted in God’s character, won for us by Christ’s resurrection, and manifested by the Spirit’s indwelling presence in the church. God’s praise and glory is our supreme priority and proclaiming and displaying it is our greatest privilege.
 
Paul was convinced that God wanted him to go to Thessalonica to minister and share the gospel, but he said, “So we wanted to come to you - even I, Paul, time and again - but Satan hindered us” (1 Thess. 2:18). There are sins of commission - what we do that is wrong and should not do - but there are also sins of omission. These are the things we should do but fail to carry out. Satan often opposes the will of God being done by simply dissuading us from doing what we ought to do. We are going to see that this tactic may be his most effective strategy to delay God’s kingdom reaching the nations and His being glorified to the ends of the earth - simply hindering us from being obedient to what God has called us to do as His people.
 
Reflect on what is receiving worship in your life other than Jesus. What receives the greatest intentional focus of your time, energy, and resources? What are you willing to make time for when time is very tight?
 
What is Satan’s greatest tactic in your life? Pride? Fear? Busyness? Indifference? Ask God to reveal Satan’s strongholds in your life and ask Him to break them so you will be more active in His mission.
 
How might God want to adjust your perspective about worship? How could a renewed sense of worship change your activity in the mission of God?

Hello, and welcome back to our series on Spiritual Warfare and Missions (SWAM). If you missed the introductory blog post you really should click here to read it first. And be reminded that this series is based on the book by Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer called Spiritual Warfare and Missions.
 
In this post, we will see what is God’s ultimate purpose in all He does. We have seen this in God’s Heart for the Nations blog posts but it will be helpful to see it again, especially as a foundation for the reality and presence of spiritual warfare.
 
In this first chapter of the book, Jerry Rankin recounts a trip he took in response to an invitation to speak at a Baptist leaders conference in the Khond Hills of the State of Orissa in India. It was a monumental trip that left Mr. Rankin thinking he had reached beyond the fringes of the Great Commission and was at the ends of the earth.
 
Topping a ridge, they suddenly caught sight of a massive crowd milling around an intersection ahead. This was their destination and the crowd was there to welcome them. More than three thousand people had gathered from every village in the Khond Hills. When everyone was seated, the man who seemed to be in charge shouted something, and all the people responded with a shout. Mr. Rankin didn’t understand the words but presumed that this was simply a customary way of beginning a public gathering or perhaps a way of greeting us as the honoured guests.
 
His interpreter asked him if he knew what they were saying. He said, “The leader is shouting, ‘Who is Lord?’ And all the people are responding, ‘Jesus is Lord!’ As this was repeated several times, goosebumps appeared on Rankin’s arms and a chill went up his spine. Here were a people that were not a people, a people who had lived in darkness but had now become the people of God. This is what Paul referred to as he quoted Hosea in Romans 9:6.
 
As he heard these people declaring that Jesus is Lord, Rankin immediately thought of Philippians 2:9-11 and the implications of what he was seeing. “Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
 
Just as these people of the Khond Hills, geographically isolated and separated from God, living in spiritual darkness, had now become the people of God, one day all people will recognize Jesus as Lord. God will be glorified by the confession of praise being declared from every tongue, “Jesus is Lord” to the glory of God the Father.
 
God’s ultimate purpose and desire is clear: to be glorified through the redemption of the nations. He alone is worthy of all praise and honour. His purpose is to be known and worshipped and exalted by the nations and peoples of the earth. The culmination of His divine activity in the world is expressed in the book of Revelation. “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created.” (Rev 4:11). 

​​Everything created in the world should be seen in the context of existing for God’s glory. Every activity and endeavour should be to glorify Him, not only in our lives and community but among all peoples, even to the ends of the earth.
 
Then the authors pick up on what is called the ‘linguistic thread’ of Scripture. The movement and mission from God can be traced through a linguistic thread woven throughout Scripture. The thread began under the rebellious circumstances in Babel and became the platform for God’s mission through Pentecost and His glory in Revelation. Following this linguistic thread allows us to better understand our mission with God and for God. The thread throughout the Bible also traces God’s relentless pursuit of a people for His glory.
 
As people gather at the end of the age, we read in Revelation 7:9-10, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” What will that sound like? Will everybody praise in a different language? We don’t know, but we do know that it will be one voice. In unity brought about by God’s presence and kingdom, from distinct people groups, His people will worship in the many languages they spoke during their earthly lives, giving praise to the Lord and glory to the Father.
 
When the Holy Spirit arrived to indwell believers in Acts we see a picture of the “beginning of the end” in God’s plan. In God’s plan, the church was given the supernatural ability to speak in languages (tongues) and they were understood by the crowds in Jerusalem as the gospel was proclaimed at Pentecost. Through the person of the Holy Spirit, God’s purposes were accomplished like no other time in history. When God’s power is manifested, no arguments of man or principality can stand against it.
 
The linguistic thread began in Genesis 11. The scene is the Tower of Babel and the birth of heathenism (self-glory) as the result of one tongue among men. Satan is alive and well and his desire for fame and glory is passed on to man.
 
Remember God’s instructions to Noah after the flood? His family members were to scatter and populate the earth (Genesis 9:1). Yet the nature of man was seen in his desire to create another plan. ‘Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth”’ (Genesis 11:4). In only two chapters after the flood, mankind began not only to sin alone but to sin in groups. God, as before the Flood and in the garden, found Himself set aside by mankind. God was distant from the minds and hearts of self-absorbed men. But He remained relentless in His pursuit of them.
 
What was the issue? “Let us make a name for ourselves.” The very thing rightfully belonging to God, man immediately claimed for himself - a famous name. Man wanted the glory that belonged to God alone. Since the garden, man has gone east, away from God, setting his own course. But God’s fame is seen as every tongue, tribe, and nation returns to His name, His glory, and His worship. It was lost at Babel but returns via Pentecost and is completed at the end of the age in the book of Revelation.
 
God scattered people at Babel, changing one language to many languages. Man’s desire to make a name for himself had terrible consequences. Was God intimidated by the potential of man to accomplish things with one tongue? God is omnipotent, which means never intimidated. God knew Babel would become a civilization of frustrated, godless people if He didn’t intervene. Never for a moment did He fear their potential to overthrow and actually supplant His glory.
 
Language is God’s gift to man. Different languages are a demonstration of God’s relentless love of man. Every time you hear a conversation in another language that you do not understand, thank God for His love. God saw that man would destroy himself and attempt to live life apart from Him. He lovingly gifted us with diverse tongues to slow us down. He gave us tongues to go deeper into relationships with fewer people. Tongues reveal our limitations and helplessness. What a creative and loving way to discipline a self-absorbed, self-promoting, sinful man.
 
And so, as we look ahead again to Revelation 7:9-10, we see the conclusion of God’s purposes in the earth, to be surrounded by every tongue, tribe and nation, receiving the praise and the glory that are His alone.
 
Have you gotten any new insight from this overview of God’s glory and His heart for the nations?
 
What kind of people and things do you regularly pray for from day-to-day? Does your prayer life reflect God’s ultimate desire and purpose to be worshipped among the nations?
 
Is there anything that you could adjust your time and/or friends so that you can go on mission trips to help reach the nations or give more so that others can reach the nations with the gospel?

There is a topic about which there is generally little spoken of in Canadian evangelical circles. It is something that I remember hearing much more about when I was a youngster, about a hundred years ago. And, my role in the world of cross-cultural missions assures me that this topic remains a reality for evangelical Christianity in the Global South. I am not sure why this topic has largely fallen off the teaching and practical agenda for the western church but it has. Can you guess what it is?
 
I am talking about spiritual warfare. 

He has an army that he employs to accomplish this mission.
 
I bought a book at a mission’s conference a few years ago called ‘Spiritual Warfare and Missions; The battle for God’s glory among the nations’. It is co-written by Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer. Rankin was a missionary to Indonesia for many years and then served in various leadership positions in Asia and eventually as the President of the International Mission Board for the Southern Baptists. Stetzer is an author, speaker, researcher, pastor, church planter, and Christian missiologist. Stetzer is Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College and Executive Director of the Billy Graham Centre at Wheaton College. He is the North American Regional Director for Lausanne International and serves as interim Teaching Pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in New York City. He is a contributor to the North American discussion on missional church, church planting, church revitalization, and Christian cultural engagement.
 
Rankin and Stetzer have come from different backgrounds and experiences but all that they have done reflects the shared focus on the great commission. They believe God is moving in providence and power toward that coming day when representatives from every people, tongue, tribe, and nation will be gathered around the throne of God. Praise for the Lamb that was slain and the ushering in of the kingdom of God will result in the worship and praise of the One to whom all glory is due.
 
Their conviction is always that the task of discipling the nations is
not the responsibility of an elite group of missionaries sent out on
behalf of the church but this is a mandate given to all the people of
God. No one is exempt from the task of bearing witness to the ends
of the earth of the salvation that can be found in Jesus Christ alone.
They have each sought to mobilize and channel the potential of local churches toward fulfillment of the Great Commission. In recent years their roles have merged at times as opportunities for coordinated collaboration in meeting this challenge have surfaced.
 
They make the point that God is moving in unprecedented ways to penetrate nations and peoples long deprived of the message of the gospel and as we move further into the 21st century this sovereign God is using global events to open doors of opportunity in response to the pervasive spiritual hunger of a sinful and fallen world. Yet, an enemy exists who is jealous of God's glory and is doing everything he possibly can using his devious and evil schemes to barricade the spread of the gospel and hinder the proclamation of God's glory.
 
Satan is identified as the deceiver of the nations. His subtle tactics as an angel of light are powerful as he tries to weaken and distort the witness of God's people. The powers of darkness create distorted religious worldviews, cause totalitarian governments to restrict Christian witness, and seek to squelch the advance of the kingdom through the persecution of believers. However, proving to be even more successful is Satan's ability to use our own self-centred, fleshly nature and inclination to compromise with worldly carnal influences that continue to divert God's people from the priority of God's mission.
 
The message of this book has grown out of seeing many churches begin to catch the vision and be shaped by a passion for involvement in global missions. What could happen if every church and every Christian became obedient to what our God has called us to do? The potential of the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdom of our Lord is evident. But Satan doesn't want that to happen. They pray this book will expose the enemy's tactics and challenge the people of God to become focused on declaring His glory among the nations.
 
So, what we intend to do in this blog series is to give a brief summary of each chapter in this book and hopefully learn how the enemy is trying to deter us from our Great Commission work and spark some discussion about how we can overcome the enemy’s efforts and see the truth in God’s word.
 
I know that there are many of you who have liked our blog posts and we are grateful for this. But I would like to ask you to take this engagement to the next level. Would you also share these posts on your social media platforms? When you like a post, we are the only ones that know and see your engagement. But if you share these posts, your friends see the link to the blog posts and the message spreads far beyond OMS Canada’s network. So let’s make this go as far as we can and engage as many of God’s people as possible.