THE UNHOLY TRINITY

 

“So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?’ 

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 

And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.”  (‭‭Revelation‬ ‭13:4, 11, 14‬ ‭NKJV)‬‬

Satan is a counterfeit. He cannot duplicate the unequaled God, but he seeks to imitate Him. Our God is Triune—Father, Son, and Spirit.  In the end times, a diabolical trinity of evil will arise: the dragon, who is the devil; the beast, who is the antichrist; and the second beast, who is the false prophet (Revelation 13). In this unholy trinity, the dragon is set over against the Father, the antichrist against the Son, and the false prophet against the Holy Spirit.

Although the final manifestation of the unholy trinity will occur, as I believe, after the Bride of Christ has been caught up, there will be those who have never heard the Gospel who will come to faith even in those darkest of days, and the unholy trinity will “make war with the saints…to overcome them,” (Rev.13:7a).

Yet, in every age, and increasingly so as we speed toward the consummation of human history, Satan, government, and religion has warred against the people of God. It was true of John’s day as he was facing these same foes.

The pastor is strategically set to prepare the saints to stand in this spiritual war. Let us dress in the armor of God and rally our troops.

We anticipate TEMPTATION, from the Dragon, as the world is said to have, “worshiped the dragon,” (13:4a). Moral compromise is ever enticing. Many of God’s men have been brought down by it. The sensuality of this age is pervasive in our culture and the church members are assaulted by temptation daily. May God help us to stand!

We expect PERSECUTION, from the spirit of the Antichrist, even now a spirit at “war with the saints,” (13:7a).  Legal compromise that leads people to bow to government idolatry is coming. While the church in the West has had an unrivaled period of freedom from government tyranny, we cannot expect it to last. Even now, the government is ramping up its plans to eradicate those who oppose their despotic agenda. How long before a “soft,” persecution becomes a “hard” reality?  Pastor, are you prepared to pay the price, and are you equipping your flock?

We fight DECEPTION, from the false teachers, whose zenith will be the False Prophet of the last days. Doctrinal compromise has been a battlefield for the church throughout the ages, and remains so. The antidote to the poison of false teaching is proclamation of the Scriptures. We must make a clear clarion call with the trumpet of truth!

I realize there may be some who disagree with my interpretation of end times events. Yet, there should be agreement with the underlining spiritual principles. Even those, who like myself, expect Christ to remove His bride before He pours out His wrath on a godless world, dare not think that the church will be sailing along on a calm ocean and suddenly be in the harbor of heaven. Rather, the storm that is brewing will intensify. We face ever stronger headwinds. The waves of wickedness will mount higher. Ominous clouds will be darker and descend about us.

Are you ready for what is coming, and in many ways already is?

DRESSED FOR BATTLE

“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (Rom.13:14 ESV)

I heard the late Warren Wiersbe say, “This world is not a playground, but a battleground.”  Every moment of every day, Satan is out to destroy the credibility of the preacher’s message by undermining the purity of the preacher’s morals.  Since the Devil has no power to assault our King, he attacks his soldiers. Those who command the army in the field are particularly targeted. The Dragon knows that if he can bring down the preacher, then he will have great success in routing the other troops under his leadership. 

There are two things Paul tells us we must do in order to begin the day, in order to end the day unscathed. We must put on Christ as our armor and put away access points for the enemy’s entry.

“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” is the positive command. Where Paul details the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6, it must be noted that this is nothing other than the fullness of Christ Himself. He is our salvation, our righteousness, the truth, our peace, our shield in whom we trust and the living Word. We are no match for the Devil. He is a supernatural foe. But, he is no match for Jesus!  As the song says, “In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus!”  In your daily quiet time with God in His Word and in your prayers, consciously “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”He is all we need.  He is Sovereign—“Lord,” and we must bow to Him.  He is Savior—“Jesus,” and we must trust in Him. He is Sufficient—“Christ” and we must lean on Him. 

Further, “make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”  We are in a hostile world, with a spiritual foe, and living in sinful flesh. Now, it is not that the body itself is necessarily evil. We can employ our body for great good. When we receive Christ, we are given a new nature. Yet, the old way of living, sinful experiences woven into the fabric of our flesh, tendencies toward particular temptations passed down from generation to generation and thereby reinforced, patterns of thinking that have programmed our minds—all that—is an enemy who is ever present. While you cannot get away from this until the resurrection and in glorified humanity we will be made perfect like unto the Son of God, now you have these fallen impulses, salivating in hunger to be gratified. Even though these temptations will find you, you are foolish to place yourself in situations where you know you are weak.  There are places we must not go, things we must not watch, people we must not company with, and so forth. To pray, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” and then to run into its presence is to deliver yourself to evil!

Man of God, stand your ground!  If you fall today, the enemy will use it to give occasion for others to blaspheme God and destroy the morale of those you lead.  Be dressed for battle!

FREE FROM FEAR

Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith.  But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.  (2 Thessalonians 3:1-3)

Satan is a roaring lion, seeking to devour us (1 Pet.5:8).  Can you imagine what it would be like to walk some wilderness path and hear the bone-chilling roar of a lion?  If you are in ministry, you have been confronted with this terror.  It may have been the snarl of a powerbroker in the church!  Lions sometimes masquerade as lambs.  The Devil does not always have to show up himself.  He is not omnipresent, but he has many assistants to aid his nefarious schemes.  Fright can lead to flight—and if I back down from the Word of God and compromise out of cowardice, then Satan has accomplished his purpose.  What army will remain in the fight if their general runs away?

The writer of Proverbs says that, “The fear of man brings a snare.”  (Prov.29:25a)  Are we imprisoned by the fetters of fear?  Each iron link is forged on the threat of what might be: we could lose our job; we could lose the financial support of some large contributor; we could have slander spread through the community—and on and on. 

Even such a stalwart servant as Paul knew the power of this temptation.  He had heard the lion’s roar, and had the wounds of his claws on his body.  The Apostle knew that he would not stand if he depended on his own strength.  He entreats the people of God to pray for him.  Let us humbly admit our frailty and beg the church to cry out to God on our behalf.  They expect us to pray for them—shall we not expect them to pray for us? 

He does not want the Word of God to be halted, or even hindered.  He wants the sheer freedom to proclaim the truth without fear or favor.  It is not about the glory of the preacher, but for the glory of the message that he desires this.  Paul has seen what happens when truth is unleashed—the Thessalonians were examples of this transforming power—and now he longs to see it in others.  We say we believe in the authority of God’s Word, but do we believe in the sufficiency of it?

There are unreasonable and unrighteous men.  The truth of the message is rejected because they have given themselves over to error—and are unreasonable—and they have surrendered to evil—and are unrighteous.  Their mind does not want to hear the truth because their thinking is warped, and their hearts do not want to heed the truth because their desires are wicked.  The world is full of them—and increasingly hostile toward truth.  Alas, some of these lions have joined our churches!  They may be Sunday School teachers, deacons, mission group ladies—they have many faces—but the same roar!

Never forget man of God, that God is faithful!  Men will fail us.  They may seek to frighten us.  We can be faithful and fearless because God is faithful to ground us and guard us.  May the Word of God be unfettered and unleashed from our pulpits!