SECRET
PLACE OF
THE MOST HIGHBy
Steve Van NattanWhat
does it mean to be hidden away in God? When
Christians seek refuge from Satanic attacks or from the terror of wicked men,
some other Christians will judge them and assume they are cowards. This
comes from assuming that every issue in the Christian life is solved by going
to war. Appropriate Bible texts are quoted, and off they go to thrash the devil.
Often, that is the last you hear about it because these alleged wise ones get
themselves injured instead of coming home shouting about the victory. This
study is meant to help you decide when to attack and when to take shelter in the
Lord who provides a way of escape. You will also learn that it is not a shame
to take cover in some of the Christian life's hard times. WORD
STUDY Psalms
91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the
shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress:
my God; in him will I trust. "secret
place" rto
cether say'-ther or (feminine) cithrah- A cover (in a good or a bad,
a literal or a figurative sense):-- covering, covert, disguise, hiding place,
privily, protection, secret place. A
primitive root; to hide (by covering), literally or figuratively:-- be absent,
keep close, conceal, hide (self), (keep) secret.
Cross
References Psalms
32:7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble ;
thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. Psalms
18:11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion
round about him were dark waters and thick clouds
of the skies. Psalms
101:5 Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will
I cut off : him that hath an high look and a proud
heart will not I suffer.
Example
of a "Secret Place," a "refuge," and a "fortress" I
live right next door to my son-in-law and daughter here in Texas. This part of
America is famous for tornados, and we get phone warnings if a tornado is seen
on the ground nearby. This is a fearful thing of course, though the odds of actually
being on the bull's eye of a tornado are slim. But, my son-in-law wanted to give
us all peace of mind, so he purchased a steel storm shelter and mounted it to
the floor of the garage. Any time a tornado warning is issued for our area, we
go and sit in the storm shelter and eat snacks and tell each other not to worry.
Being brave and staying out in the possible path of the tornado is a stupid choice
since the storm shelter is always there to use. This
is the sense of the two verses above. God is always there waiting in the secret
place of shelter. The storms of Satan and his wicked servants may come our way,
but we can always find shelter in our Lord. To take the hate and fierce attacks
of Satan without God's protection is a very dumb idea and does not prove we have
special faith or heroic strength. There
was a preacher in the Deep South of the USA who heard about a person who was possesed
of devils and was very fierce. This preacher decided that the devils needed to
be confronted to show that God was more powerful than the devil. He went to the
person's home, and he was let in. He then confronted the devils and began to try
to cast them out of the victim. In the end, the devils attacked him, and he was
found running through the woods nacked as a jay bird howeling and wailing in terror.
There
is a time to go to the "Secret Place" and be safe and protected by God
through Jesus Christ. When you are not clearly lead into spiritual warfare by
the Holy Spirit, the events of the hour, or the call for help from some believer
under attack, seek shelter. Stay in the "Secret Place." You are NOT
called to go prove how mighty your faith is every time a devil or wicked person
is making trouble.
"Dwelleth"
Word Study bvy
yashab yaw-shab'- a primitive root; properly, to sit down (specifically as
judge. in ambush, in quiet); by implication, to dwell, to remain; to settle, abide,
continue, endure, establish, habitation, haunt, (make to) inhabit, remain, return,
seat, set, take, tarry. Do
not miss the fact that "dwelling," in Hebrew, was applied to those who
hid in ambush. The "Secret Place" of this text is the ideal place from
which to launch at attack on Satan or the wicked. Satan has no access to the "Secret
Place" because he is not one of God's own. In
other words, get in a place and stay put. The idea of dwelling implies that this
should be home to the Bible believer. If you don't feel at home in the "Secret
Place" with God, you are not born again. Or, at least, you are terribly backslidden
if you really are born again. God should NEVER be a stranger or bother to you. I
have heard people say that they feel more comfortable with unsaved sinners than
with Bible believers. They then tell stories about how badly some Christian or
preacher treated them. Well, on the authority of this Bible text above, I can
tell you that, if you feel more at home with the wicked than with the saints,
you are not born again. Either that, or you are letting some backslidden Christian
be your "Secret Place" rather than seeking the place of God and his
people. Maybe you are sitting in a church dominated by a fake preacher who has
never been born again and is possessed of devils. That is NOT the "Secret
Place" of the Most High God. Why are you still "dwelling" there? I
think of two places where I have lived, Tennessee and Texas. If you move to Tennessee
from some other state in the USA, you will be "the new people" for up
to ten years. Our experience was the exception. Our neighbors were very friendly
to us from the get go, but that was because they had all spent periods of time
outside of Tennessee during their lives. People who have always lived in Tennessee
do not eagerly welcome new comers.  The
opposite is Texas. Texans have always, since the 1500s, welcomed new people. Many
new people came from Tennessee and Kentucky hoping to find a place that was not
crowded by so many people. Others came from Europe, and some of them were strange
birds indeed. There was Mr. Maverick. He came from South Carolina and purchased
huge cattle land acreage, and he refused to brand his cattle. Thus, his name,
Maverick, was applied to any calf that had left its mother and was old enough
to brand but was still unbranded. Mr. Maverick never complained when other ranchers
found his unbranded calves and branded them as their own. Texas has always welcomed
eccentrics and odd people right along with ordinary folks. As soon as you feel
at home in Texas, which can take as little as 48 hours, you will be welcomed by
your neighbors warmly.
The
classic question Texans will ask you when you are new, is, "What took you
so long to get here?" The answer you need to give that Texans love to hear,
is, "I got here as fast as I could." The
classic example is the Bush family. Their home area was New England, Maine in
particular. They moved to Texas in 1948, and though George H. looked like the
classic carpet bagger to some, Texans accepted him at once, and his success in
politics and oil money witness that he is considered a real Texan. George H. Bush
knew where he would be welcomed and picked the right secret place humanly speaking.
Do you know where the spiritual "Secret Place" is? I
would not be so trite as to claim that God is a Texan, but I do believe sometimes,
when his children finally come running to him, he is asking them the Texas question,
"What took you so long to get here?"
There is the implication of an ambush in the word "Dwelleth," and of
sitting or settling. Thus, I am told to settle in the ambush of the Lord which
is his and my secret. An ambush is a place that the enemy does not know, and it
is the ideal place from which to launch an attack on the enemy. This fits extremely
well in the context of the rest of Psalm 91, in which the Lord tells us all the
ways he is protecting us from the adversary Satan. There is, in the ambush meaning,
a sense here that we may also want to be ready to do Satan great harm to destroy
his works. 2
Corinthians 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through
God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Modern
Evangelicals and Liberals in Christendom have a motto, "Do Satan no harm."
Anything preached, taught, or acted upon which might cause Satan to tremble is
avoided in modern Christianity. The Pope is classic in his piddling pansy advice
to the world to be tender hearted to pagans and demonic religions, sodomites,
and dirty priests. From our ambush, hiding place, we must be ready to venture
into spiritual warfare when the enemy least expects it. This is why how-to books
on witnessing, casting out devils, and dealing with social issues are a lot of
rubbish. The best attack is the unexpected attack, which we also refer to as asymmetrical
warfare. The best how-to book on this warfare is the King James Bible, not some
trendy book by Tom Horn or Paula White. We
are not called to be tactful. The word "tact" is totally missing from
the 66 books of the Bible. We are not called to be nice. We are called to be righteous,
to be like Christ, and to be victorious. Jesus never cut a deal to be nice to
the Pharisees. In fact, he occasionally attacked them first. There is no armistice
in our battle. There is only victory and destruction of Satan's strongholds. We
are destroyers. When
God had had enough of Sodom, he did not send a prophet, and his two angels did
not hold revival meetings in a big tent on Sodom's main street. God rained fire
down on the city and killed all the Sodomites. So,
the hiding place, the ambush, is not a place to retire and spend our days only
at rest. It is a place to get away from the battle, the murderous enemy of our
soul, and prepare to do battle again refreshed by fellowship with our Lord and
our godly friends.
 STORY
ABOUT A SECRET PLACE
My
wife Elizabeth and I were missionaries in Kenya during the 1970s. This was the
era when Idi Amin was President of Uganda. Amin was one of the most treacherous
murderous leaders Africa has ever seen. His young son went to a missionary school
for children. One day, a teacher from the school was helping Amin's young son
load his books into the cheuffeured car that picked him up every day. The young
son, out of the blue, turned to the teacher and said, "My Daddy killed my
Mum." This was already on the grape vine, but the teacher was horrified that
the poor kid had to deal with such a world. Idi
Amin was a raw animal at times. He was known to have people he did not care for
killed, and the body was brought to the Presidential palace and layed out in a
room. Amin would go into the room, stab a knife into the dead body, and lick the
blood off of the knife. Now you believe me, right? Idi
Amin claimed that Uganda had been robbed of much of its historic territory in
the early days of British colonial activity in Africa. This would have been around
1895, and his claim was probably true. Amin claimed that the eastern border of
Uganda should be where the Kenya city of Nakuru is today. Nakuru was 250 miles
from Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, and the city of Eldoret, Kenya was halfway
between. We lived in Eldoret. We were also about 200 feet off of the main highway
between Uganda and Kenya. Idi Amin made it very clear that he was going to invade
Kenya and take the area back that the British cheated away from Uganda. Amin
did have tanks and jet fighter bombers, when they were working, that is. African
leaders have been historically famous for threatening to do harm to one another,
but it very seldom happened. But, Amin was so mad that everyone in Kenya assumed
he might try to invade Kenya one day. One
morning, the African pastor I worked with told me that a missile was parked on
the highway in front of the mission station. I walked out to have a look, and
it was a Russian missile, extenely huge, loaded on a monster specially made truck,
and it was headed for Uganda. I estimated it was fifteen feet in diameter and
about sixty feet long. I ignored the nervous Russian soldiers worrying me, and
I looked the thing over. All the instructions on the outside were in Russian.
At that time, there were probably no Africans on Amin's military staff who could
read Russian. I also realized that, for the missile to have reached our point
in its journey, it had travelled about 500 miles from the coast where it would
have been delivered. If the Kenyan President, Jomo Kenyatta, had thought the missile
was dangerous, he had a well known history of slapping down any suspect stealth
activity by Russia and China. So, the missile must have been a throw away that
was disarmed and harmless. But, it would make Idi Amin feel proud when it rolled
through Kampala in the Independence Day Parade. If he ever pushed the button,
assuming he could find it, a light would probably come on with the word "Nyet"
lit up. But,
Idi Amin could invade Kenya. So, I contemplated my options. There was NO way I
intended to be sitting in my living room when the Uganda troops bashed our door
in. Kenya is not Texas, so I could not legally have guns and ammo ready. So, there
were two options. First,
I could head for the "Secret Place," or, Second, I could launch an asymmetric
attack. First
option: There was a stone quarry right behind our mission station, and the Asian
Indian who owned it had a block house full of dynamite. The road to Uganda, which
Amin's tanks would have to use to invade Kenya, crossed the railway to Uganda
at several points. I figured I could ask the Indian owner of the stone quarry
to help me use some dynamite to blow a bridge over the railway at a point where
Amin's tanks would have no other way to procede. This would give the Kenya Air
Force more time to attack the tanks. It would have worked. The plan assumed that
we would get word via the world news from the BBC and Kenya radio stations that
an invation had started. The
second option was to store up gasoline in jerry cans, and we would drive into
the Northern Frontier of Kenya which is desert country and was of no interest
to Idi Amin. We would have to invite ourselves to be guests of some missionaries
up there, or we could hunker down at some Kenya Military post. This too would
work well. I
bought the jerry cans, and they were ready to load into the car in short notice
and flee. Idi
Amin never invaded. Sorry about that. The story would be a lot more exciting reading
if we had at least had to drive off into the desert and find refuge wherever we
could. Dangerous lions in the night, elephants charging the car, and local natives
threatening us..... all possible, but not this time. The
key to both going on the offensive AND fleeing to the "Secret Place"
is to have your plan of action well thought out, and go over and over it many
times when you have an idle moment. This way, when the word comes that the attack
or peril is at hand, you will not have any planning to do. The gasoline and go
bags can be loaded in two minutes, and off you go. You will react out of your
long term memory based on your premeditated planning. The key to preparing to
attack or flee is to ask this question many times: "What would I do if......?"
There are times when thirty seconds of uncertainty is all the time Satan needs
to murder you and your family.
WHEN
TO DWELL IN THE SECRET PLACE
AND WHEN TO ATTACK THE ENEMY The
Bible believer has two choices, to attack or to "Dwell" (Sit down) in
the "Secret Place." Here is the Bible text about option of going to
war with Satan and his servants: Ephesians
6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand
in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having
your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance
and supplication for all saints; There
is no doubt about the message to the believer. We are told that God has given
us all the armor and offensive weapons we need to go on the attack against the
devil. And, the devil is limited to be in one place at a time because he is not
omnipresent as God is. So, we are told we will do warfare with his servants "the
wicked" in vs. 16. Plsalm
91 tells us above that we can take "refuge" in God himself. This is
clearly the context of hiding and staying away from the attack of the enemy. How
do we determine when to go on the offensive and when to take refuge? The
following account is from Kenya. It is related by the 4th Earl of Lytton from
the time between WW I and WW II when he served with the British Colonial government
in the arid region of northern Kenya. His duty was to keep the peace between the
tribes living in the semi-desert region of Kenya near Lake Rudolph.  Some
background information is in order. The British, for many years, used mail runners
to communicate between colonial posts and officials. These runners were given
a special stick which was split at one end. A letter was inserted in the split
and the end of the stick tied. The letter was usually wrapped with blue string
in both directions, and red sealing wax was dripped on the knot where the strings
crossed. A seal was heated and pressed into the red wax. This was to be guarded
by the runner so that the letter arrived with the seal unbroken to prove that
the letter was not opened. Runners were chosen based on their honor, physical
endurance, and dedication to deliver the mail without becoming distracted.
This
parable will illustrate how to determine when to attack and when to hide in the
"Secret Place." DELIVERING
THE ROYAL MAIL The
Earl if Lytton was in the arid northern territory of Kenya shortly after WW I
serving the colonial British Government. One day, his mail runner came trotting
in with the usual mail attached to his mail carrying stick. The carrier was asked
when he left the distant post to make his run, and it worked out that he had run
the distance between in well under record time. He did this so he could have an
extra day off with his wife. The
Earl told him next time to just ask for the extra day off because he did not want
to be known as a cruel ruler. Then, the runner told the Earl that, along the way,
he had killed an antalope to get meat to eat. He hung the meat in a tree where
animals could not reach it so that he could sleep for a whilte, and a lion came
around while he was sleeping and made trouble for the runner. So, he killed the
lion with his machette. The Earl then recalled that on another run the mail runner
told him he had to climb a tree to escape from a lion. The Earl asked him why
he fled from the first lion but killed the second lion. The
runner told the Earl. "You must learn to understand lions very well. Some
lions are brave and eager to kill you, while other lions are cowardly and easy
to kill." The question is, do you know how to tell the difference between
your enemies? Having grown up in Africa, I have heard stories of very brave vicious
lions and cowardly timid lions. Like people, dangerous animals come with difference
personalities. So,
do you know your enemy well enough to tell when you can attack and engage the
battle, and when you need to go hide in the "Secret Place?" Reading
your enemy wrong could be deadly, like the naked preacher in the Deep South whom
we talked about above. HERE
IS A WHOLE ARTICLE ABOUT SATAN AND WHAT HE CAN AND CANNOT DO
This article
is by me and is on this journal you are now reading.
BIBLE
EXAMPLES OF HIDING IN THE SECRET PLACE David
and Saul- When to hide and when not to attack 1
Samuel 24:1 And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines,
that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.
2
Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David
and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
3 And he came to the sheepcotes
by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and
his men remained in the sides of the cave.
4 And the men of David said unto
him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine
enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee.
Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily.
5 And it came
to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's
skirt.
6 And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing
unto my master, the LORD'S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing
he is the anointed of the LORD.
7 So David stayed his servants with these
words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the
cave, and went on his way.
8 David also arose afterward, and went out of the
cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind
him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself.
9 And David
said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh
thy hurt?
10 Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered
thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye
spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he
is the LORD'S anointed.
11 Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of
thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee
not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand,
and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it. David
knew when to hide and where to hide. Do you? David
also knew that he was not called of God to kill the man God had raised up to be
King of Israel. Have you set your hand against a pastor you do not approve of?
You will find nowhere in the Bible where you are told by God to launch spiritual
warfare against a pastor. Your arrogance in declaring war on a pastor, or a local
church, is demonic, and you are damned to Hell. You cannot be a born again Christian
and be a destroyer of pastors and churches. A
man in Alabama decided to destroy a church and its pastor in Florida. This man
had been a member of that church and served in it. But, something came up that
triggered rage and hate in the man, and he went to amazing lengths to seek the
destruction of the church and pastor. Before long, the man's wife died of cancer.
God gave the final verdict, and he will do the same with you if you enlist for
Satan to destroy churches.
Paul
going over the wall in a basket Acts
9:23 And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him:
24 But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day
and night to kill him.
25 Then the disciples took him by night, and let him
down by the wall in a basket. Paul
was not a timid man ordinarily. He waded right into the battle in several Bible
accounts. But, this was a time when he accepted the offer of a "Secret Place"
arrangement. He would have been killed if he decided to be brave and combative
with his enemies. 1
Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring
lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
 Two
Hebrew spies in Jericho
Joshua
2:1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying,
Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house,
named Rahab, and lodged there.
2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying,
Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search
out the country.
3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring
forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they
be come to search out all the country.
4 And the woman took the two men, and
hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were:
5 And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was
dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them
quickly; for ye shall overtake them.
6 But she had brought them up to the
roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in
order upon the roof.
7 And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto
the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut
the gate.
8 And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the
roof;
9 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the
land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of
the land faint because of you.
10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up
the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto
the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og,
whom ye utterly destroyed.
11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our
hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because
of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed
you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father's house, and give
me a true token:
Rahab,
a former prostitute, is a part of the lineage of Jesus. Her decision to act in
faith despite fear led to the birth of Jesus. That not only tells me that her
story matters, it tells me that yours and mine does as well. The story of Rahab
shows me that we can use our strengths as women for the glory of God. She shows
me that small decisions make a difference. And most of all, Rahab shows us that
faith in the God of our salvation is enough to change the course of an entire
family tree. Kayla
Elder |
13
And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my
sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.
14 And
the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And
it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and
truly with thee. Is
it possible that a whore could be an ally in the battle of God against the wicked? Answer:
Yes. Some
of you sillies do not know whom you are looking at sometimes. Not only did God
provide a "Secret Place" of hiding in a whore's home for his men, God
also saw to it that Rahab was one of the mothers in the line of the Messiah, Jesus
Christ. Rahab married Salmon. Here are their names in the geneology of Christ: Matthew
1:4 And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat
Jesse; Photo
by Kelsey Christine & Burrow & Thistle
Jesus
being taken to Egypt by Joseph and Mary Matthew
2:13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph
in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into
Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young
child to destroy him.
14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother
by night, and departed into Egypt:
15 And was there until the death of Herod:
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Out of Egypt have I called my son. Joseph
had to close the carpentry shop he owned and leave town to be in the "Secret
Place" of God. The day may come when the Church in America comes under vicious
attack and persecution. Fifty percent of America is Leftist and nearly Communist
in their politics. This means they hate Christians, and they now show it regularly.
The Liberal media love to attack Christians. If God told you to pack up and go
find his "Secret Place" in Guatamala or Uganda, would you obey?
Jesus
passing through crowd who wanted to kill him Luke
4:24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias,
when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was
throughout all the land;
26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto
Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
27 And many lepers
were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed,
saving Naaman the Syrian.
28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard
these things, were filled with wrath,
29 And rose up, and thrust him out of
the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built,
that they might cast him down headlong.
30 But he passing through the midst
of them went his way, If
it is not God's time to have a show down, God wants you to walk away and hide
in the "Secret Place." Jesus would die on the Cross soon enough. This
event was not the time. This
does not mean that you will never be wounded by Satan. There are thousands of
stories of missionaries being wounded or even killed by the heathen. This can
happen if God wishes to be glorified by your death. What is taught here is that
there is a time to walk off. If God provides a "Secret Place" for you,
and you do not walk into it, you could be killed or destroyed spiritually.
THE
OFFENSE OF JUDGING A SAINT FOR HIDING There
are times when Christians judge harshly any other saint who retires to the "Secret
Place." This is wicked. Preachers are the most guilty of this. They will
exalt saints who go into warfare with the wicked, and they will mock at any saint
who hides from the wicked. The texts above make it abundantly clear that hiding
is sometimes an option. Indeed, we can get ourselves wounded and even killed for
being aggressive when the Holy Spirit sends us signals to retire from the battle. My
own experience tells me that both options, retire from the battle and attack,
have been in order. HERE
IS A STORY, WITH SOME COMIC RELIEF ADDED, TELLING OF MY FLIGHT FROM A WOMAN WHO
WAS DEMONIC
Please do not pass up this tale right here in this journal. On
the other hand, there have been times when the offensive attack was my only option
I could see. One
such time when the offensive was needed happened when I was pastoring in the High
Desert in California. A man from a city nearby contacted me and wanted counsel.
We will call him Bob. We had many phone conversations. Bob was a whipped saint,
and he had little or no victory in his life. We talked long into the night at
times, and friends told me I should shuck him off because he would do almost nothing
I suggested he do to get victory in his life. Bob
was attending a church in the city nearby, and I encouraged him to keep going
there. It was a very sound Bible teaching Baptist church, and the pastor was a
wise man and a good friend of mine. The reason I told him to stay at that church
is because I have a fierce hatred for the art of sheep stealing precticed by many
pastors. Bob started attending more faithfully, and I coordinated with the pastor.
We agreed I should keep counseling Bob. The
pastor of the Baptist church finally called Bob into a church board meeting, and
asked him, "Bob, why should we believe you are a born again Christian. We
see no works or actions in your life that indicate your faith is genuine."
This question is based on the Bible text spoken by Jesus, Matthew
7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring
forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn
down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. This
jolted Bob. He realized that the pastor was asking a valid and reasonable question.
He went out determined to show he was truly born again by his spiritual fruit.
The first thing he did was rent a trailer and live on the church property as a
guard. The church was building a new meeting building, and building supplies were
being stolen because the church location was isolated and unguarded. Then Bob
began to witness to fellow workers at a missile site where he worked. Bob was
still limping along spiritually, so he invited them to go to church at his church
with him. He would tell them, "Don't look at me. I am not a good example
of what a Christian should be. But, if you come to church with me, you will learn
what the Christian life is supposed to be like." This
worked, and as a result there were one of two people who confessed faith in Christ
because of Bob's efforts. Bob's
wife was going to another church in the area. She would go every Wednesday to
prayer meeting and ask the people to pray that her husband Bob would get right
with the Lord. The people prayed, and when Bob got fired up for the Lord, he started
going to church with his wife at her church. You would think this would be seen
as an exciting victory. But, Bob's wife became furious. She wanted to be the poor
down trodden wife of a backslidden man because this role got her a lot of attention,
especially by the pastor. She felt very superior to Bob. When he got his zeal
up and started witnessing, his wife became the wife of a man seriously trying
to walk with the Lord. Bob's
wife began to rant and rage to other women about all of Bob's remaining faults.
She eventually caused one of her friends to panic when she said, "I hate
Bob." Satan was launching warfare to destroy Bob and his marriage. Soon Bob's
wife started meeting an older casa nova type man for lunch. The man older than
Bob's wife and came from some distance, and they met half way. Bob heard about
it, and he asked me what to do. I felt that the Holy Spirit was telling me to
attack, and that is what I did. It was NOT the right time to head for the "Secret
Place." I did not pause to consider issues..... I attacked suddenly. If you
put off warfare, the enemy has time to dodge and weave and avoid the battle. I
called the man Bob's wife was meeting, and it turned out he was the head of the
Boy Scouts in the Southern California area. He claimed to be very religious. I
told him that he was trying to take another man's wife away from him, and I virtually
ordered him to meet me and Bob at the restaurant where he met the wife. When we
got there, I told Bob to say nothing, and let me do the talking. We had a brief
greeting, and I launched the attack. I told him what he was doing and that it
was clear he was trying to take Bob's wife away from him. He assured me he was
happily married and that he was very religious and a great Boy Scout leader. The
religious claims were to try to put me off because I had told him I was a pastor.
I figured
the casa nova thought he could do a snow job on me because I was a pansy pastor
like the kind he dealt with in the city. So, I put the knife in and twisted it.
I asked him how the Boy Scouts organization would react if I told them their great
leader was hustling another man's wife. He totally panicked, and he then assured
me he would at once break off all contact with the wife. I asked him to call her
and tell her that himself so that she would not try to keep the relationship going.
The man
did exactly as I ordered him to do. We learned that when she told Bob in fury
about it. Bob's wife went into white hot rage, and I had to counsel Bob to watch
his back. I feared she might try to kill him somehow. Soon, Bob's wife divorced
him. That was not what I wanted to see of course. I tried to make a time to talk
to both Bob and his wife. Bob did have things in his life that needed to be changed,
and he did need to be more affectionate and loving. The battle did not end the
ideal way, but everyone in the Christian community watched and learned important
lessons. The pastor of Bob's wife learned that he was a wimp and probably getting
some sort of Platonic rush out of giving the wife personal attention. Could
the attack have backfired? Most certainly it could have. My threat to the intruder
could have ended up in court. But, he had a career he loved, with all the fame
involved, so he reacted exactly as I hoped he would. He was essentially a wimp
of a whormonger, and he ran for cover. But, it was the Lord's battle, and the
war had to go on. I had to take the risk. No
battle is worth fighting if it is safe. If you are a pastor who will not step
out and go to war for Christ, and to protect the sheep because you refuse to take
risks, you are a worthless lush. Back in Oklahoma we used to say men like you
are worthless as tits on a boar hog. That
was a long story to illustrate that there is a time to attack at once and not
give the adversary a minute to prepare. This is when the saint comes out of the
Secret Place, or out of the ambush, and the harder and more sudden the attack,
the better. To pause in such attacks could mean defeat. The
point is this..... Stop judging other Christians for hiding, and stop assuming
all of the issues of life call for warfare and aggressive choices. Sometimes the
Holy Spirit tells us to hide, and that is what we better do if we want his protection. But,
when all the signals, and the voice of the Holy Spirit tells you an attack is
needed at once, lock and load, sir. And,
for the record, NEVER SEND A WOMAN OR A CHILD INTO SPIRITUAL WARFARE. In old Israel
God never told the leaders to make warriors of women or children. It is against
a woman's nature to do battle and make the kill. God made women with an instinct
to nurture and preserve life. Destroying evil people is an emotional event to
anyone. God made us men to be able to handle it best. I had to think long and
hard about destroying Southern California's premier Boy Scout Leader before I
went in for the kill. A woman would have found that too much to ask. Indeed, a
Christian woman who relishes spiritual warfare is a woman you better keep an eye
on. She will one day turn on YOU and attack. She is an emotional freak and probably
a feminazi. Before
the battle, if you want the help of a woman, read the story of Rahab again which
is posted above. She acted with empathy, loyalty to God, and wisdom. Her contribution
was priceless, and in her service God transformed her life completely. Another
woman who used what she had from God was found in Judges 9:50-55. Abimelech, a
creep who killed all his brothers to take the throne of Israel, attacked the city
of Thebez, and a woman took her grinding stone, and she dropped it from the top
of the wall on Abimelech's head and killed him. Neither she nor Rahab were sent
into battle on purpose, but both women were used of God to do what they could
to eventually win the battle. I am also reminded of Jael with her tent peg and
mallet, but we must leave that one for another time.  One
example of attacking when we are told to hide is to rebel against an official
order not to have church gatherings during an epidemic. This happened during the
2020 coronavirus epidemic. One preacher in a Florida mega church, Rodney Howard
Browne, went right ahead and challenged his people to rebel and meet anyway. He
was arrested and charged, and the last word was that he wanted to take his right
to assemble issue to the Supreme Court. This pastor could have made the "Secret
Place" choice and broken up his church into small lawful groups and meet
in the homes of the members. But, of course, being a Charsimatic ego maniac, he
wanted the whole crowd right there in front of him. His choice to go head to head
with local officials got him nothing but trouble, and the whole nation stood back
and mocked at him and at Christians.
SEE
BROWNE PERFORMING AS GOD'S BARTENDER The
above preacher went on and on about the US Constitution and what a blessing he
was to America by forcing the issue of the right to assemble.That is a mongel
battle. The US Constitution is not the document a Christian should go to war for.
We have only the Bible as our document. The US Constitution is at best a defective
document because it is man made. The founders of America were, with only a couple
of exceptions, deists and not born again Christians. For a Christian to go to
war defending this document, and trying to force freedoms and liberties to be
defended, is not the calling of a saint. Jesus Christ said, "Matthew
16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
If the US Constitution is totally replaced by some other documents, and if we
allegedly lose all our freedoms humanly speaking, the Church of Jesus Christ will
go right on being built. So, help Christ build his Church. Leave the civil rights
and patriotic obsessions to the mob who have no other cause to fight for. Preach
the Word, not the First Amendment. The
same applies to the Second Amendment. That is no battle for the Bible believer.
There is one text in the whole New Testament that implies that a weapon can be
useful. That is where Jesus told the disciples to get a sword. Luke
22:36 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it,
and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and
buy one. If
you have the right to own a gun, and to carry it, do so if you feel the need for
it. But, if the nation comes to the point where guns are made illegal, it is not
your calling to go to war to keep your gun. All over the world the Church is thriving
in nations where the saints cannot own guns. If you really have an issue to defend
yourself, get more creative, and see what ways you can defend yourself with some
other item of self-defense. A squit bottle with ammonia in it works. Get a dog.
Build a fence around your property. If it is really a bad situation, MOVE or immigrate.
Again, the defense of the US Constitution is not your battle, saint. If your preacher
is full of bial and caustic comments about the attack on "our rights,"
find another church. For the record, any man, according to the Bible, has only
two rights..... To repent of his sin and confess Christ as Lord, or to go to Hell.
Everything else is human invention that God can get along without as he does his
mighty acts. Another
time you MUST seek refuge is when there is an issue in the church your attend.
There is NO instruction in the Bible on how to fight and force the cessation of
bad things that happen in a local church. Any Christian who decides to launch
a war against a church board of leaders, or against a pastor, is out of God's
will. When something wicked happens in the church you attend, and your GRACIOUS
comments and suggestions have been rebuffed, go find the "Secret Place."
This will likely be another church in the area. Never launch warfare with the
saints. God will NEVER tell you to do that. When I hear some seemingly sincere
and well meaning saint tell me he is going to attack a pastor or church leaders,
I know, without any doubt, that this saint is a rebel at heart and totally backslidden.
I rebuke them soundly. Leave it alone. God knows what to do to deal with wickedness
in the Church. He does not need you stirring up terror and mayhem. Often these
church house wars end up in the church splitting, and the whole community around
mocks and laughs at, "These fighting Christians."
WE
END WITH OUR TEXT: Psalms
91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the
shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress:
my God; in him will I trust. The
"Secret
Place" is there for a reason. When you hear the voice of God in you telling
you to retire to the "Secret Place," that is exactly what you should
do. There will be plenty of opportunities later to go to war with your adversary,
the devil. And when they come along, God has promised you the victory. Be very
sure you are listening to the Holy Spirit and not running on your punisimous ego.
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