Anchors of Truth

What War When?

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: C.A. Murray

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Series Code: AOT

Program Code: AOT000041


00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth live from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 Winds Of War with C.A. Murray.
00:21 Hello friends and welcome to the 3ABN Worship Center
00:24 for another very exciting series of meetings,
00:27 another one in our Anchors Of Truth series.
00:30 Now I'm particularly excited about this series because
00:33 my pastor as I was being raised, and now my colleague in
00:37 ministry, pastor C.A. Murray, will be our presenter
00:40 for the next five meetings.
00:42 And the overriding theme is the Winds Of War.
00:46 You know, Jesus did say in Matthew chapter 24,
00:49 "You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars."
00:52 If you think about it, wars have outlined the path of
00:55 human history ever since the entrance of sin.
00:58 And war will continue in the final battle that is yet
01:01 ahead of us, the battle of Armageddon.
01:03 Pastor C.A. Murray is going to be talking about wars in
01:06 various aspects from night to night.
01:08 Prepare your hearts and your minds because I know that
01:12 when he steps to this desk, one thing you would not do is,
01:14 you will not fall asleep.
01:16 Invite your friends and your family members to join you.
01:19 And tonight is 7 o'clock, but tomorrow evening
01:21 the meetings will begin at 8 pm.
01:24 And tonight's topic is going to be, What War When.
01:28 Very unique topics talking about the wars that have begun,
01:33 the wars that continue, and the wars that will end all wars.
01:37 And so tonight, before we go to our speaker, we invite you
01:42 to bow your heads with us as we seek the Lord in prayer.
01:47 Our Father in heaven, we thank You so much
01:49 for the opportunity that has been granted and for the
01:53 servant that has been chosen.
01:55 Lord, we know that every time our ears are open, we also
01:59 pray that our hearts are opened.
02:01 And so tonight, Lord, anoint Your manservant.
02:04 Give him strength, give him wisdom, and give him divine
02:08 insight to carry forth this task.
02:12 So Lord, cause us also to be keen listeners to that which
02:17 You will have each of us to receive.
02:19 And Father, in the end, we give You the praise
02:22 and the honor and the glory.
02:23 In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
02:26 Now let's make welcome with a warm hearty amen,
02:29 Pastor C.A. Murray.
02:39 Good evening.
02:41 We are so very very pleased and happy to be with you
02:45 and to have you here tonight.
02:49 I want to say a very special "hello" and "good evening" to
02:53 two friends that have traveled all the way from Australia.
02:56 You know, when people come from Australia to hear you preach,
02:58 you're doing pretty good.
02:59 But they didn't come to hear me.
03:01 They came to spend some time in the United States.
03:04 Mr. Ernst and Marsha William.
03:07 Good to have you, Pastor Ernst and Dr. Marsha,
03:09 sitting right down in front, so it's good to have you here.
03:12 We have a journey to take these next several nights.
03:15 Chuck, good to see you.
03:18 Talking about war and the things of war.
03:21 When I was studying and trying to determine what to
03:28 do my doctoral work in, I didn't want to go and get a
03:31 doctor in ministry.
03:34 I went into Mass Communications.
03:35 And it was during those days that I happened to fall into
03:41 a group of young men who were academy students at West Point,
03:44 the US Military Academy at West Point.
03:46 We began to talk about some things and some of the
03:50 ethical considerations of war.
03:52 And my conscience and mind were tweaked.
03:56 And then when I was in New York, we adopted several
03:59 police precincts and I had a chance to discuss with several
04:04 police officers the ethic of carrying a gun.
04:09 And we discussed what it's like to shoot a person
04:14 and how does a Christian justify that.
04:17 And looking at some historical things.
04:20 So I began to look in the Word of God.
04:21 And from those times of looking in the Word of God
04:24 came this particular series, the Winds of War.
04:29 Tonight is, What War When. Tomorrow, When War Why.
04:34 The next night, Why War Who. Then, When War How.
04:39 And then, War No More.
04:43 So we want you to stay by because we've got a lot of
04:45 things to talk to you about.
04:46 Now, I want to throw a very technical term at you
04:51 at the very outset.
04:53 The term is, icky.
04:56 Do you know that term, icky?
04:58 Some of the things we're going to talk about tonight will
05:00 fall into the category of icky.
05:02 Because we want to set a firm foundation
05:05 for what we want to talk about the next several nights,
05:08 particularly When War How.
05:11 So some of the things are going to be icky.
05:14 But I want you to sort of stay with me because we've got a
05:16 lot to say, and the Word of God has a lot to say.
05:20 Our subject again, What War When.
05:24 Shall we pray.
05:25 Father God, we come to You now because we need You.
05:32 Whenever we open Your Word, we stand in need
05:35 of spiritual eyesight.
05:39 So as we look at this subject, dear Lord, a tough subject,
05:44 but there are lessons to be learned from the conflicts
05:47 of life, and we ask dear Father, that You would
05:52 be with us and help us to understand.
05:58 In Jesus' name, amen.
06:01 I want you to turn with me, if you will, to James chapter 4.
06:04 Just turn there, we're not going to read it just yet.
06:06 But prepare yourself turning to James chapter 4.
06:09 The book is James and the chapter is 4.
06:14 James, in the New Testament, chapter 4.
06:17 I have with me tonight the New King James.
06:19 But we will be referring to the NIV, and the New Kings James,
06:23 and the King James, and the Clear Word.
06:26 But we're in James just now, and chapter 4.
06:30 When I was 11 or 12, I remember being beat up
06:39 by Francine Craig.
06:43 I got beat up by a girl.
06:46 I don't remember what caused the altercation or the fight.
06:52 I just remember that it had been brewing for a long while.
06:58 I remember not wanting to fight Francine.
07:01 Now, not necessarily because I disliked her or as a girl.
07:07 I didn't like fighting girls.
07:09 My father always told me you don't hit girls.
07:12 But I really didn't think of Francine as a girl.
07:16 She was a tomboy.
07:19 In fact, she was bigger than I was.
07:22 Outweighed me by several pounds.
07:25 Taller than I was.
07:28 And frankly, she hit harder than me.
07:32 Francine Craig could punch.
07:35 I remember thinking, as my blows glanced off of her
07:38 like cotton on concrete and her blows were landing on me
07:44 like concrete on cotton, I recall thinking as she was
07:49 pummeling me, I had this one logical very lucid,
07:54 very clear thought as I was being beaten to a pulp,
07:58 "Why does she hate me so?"
08:02 What is it about my life, my existence, that she is
08:07 getting such pleasure beating me up?
08:14 Did I provoke this? Did I do something wrong?
08:19 Or was she just evil?
08:23 You see, this was my first experience in public school.
08:25 I had gone to blind school for the first five years of school.
08:30 And in blind school, we always helped each other.
08:32 Blind people help blind people.
08:34 There was no animosity or antagonism.
08:38 And so my sight miraculously returned and so for the
08:41 first time I'm in public school and I'm getting
08:44 beaten to a pulp.
08:48 Later that year, I remember getting a first sense of joy
08:55 when she slugged Donald Mullins.
08:58 And I realized it wasn't just me.
09:02 She just hates guys.
09:06 James gives us the quintessential definition
09:11 for what war is.
09:14 War, to James, is the external manifestation
09:21 of an internal torment.
09:24 James takes the psychology of conflict, be it personal or
09:28 communal or societal or national or global,
09:31 and he strips off the chaff down to the kernel
09:35 and deduces the pathology of sin, under the guidance of
09:39 the Holy Spirit, to this simple yet profound statement;
09:43 people fight because of conflict within.
09:49 Where do wars come from?
09:51 And I like the Clear Word translation.
09:54 It's going to be up on the screen for you.
10:24 Sinfulness results in selfishness,
10:28 which creates conflict.
10:32 Now here's a fact.
10:34 When you're at peace within, you will have peace without
10:43 regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in.
10:48 Peace within results in peace without.
10:51 When your soul is calm, your world is calm.
10:57 Isaiah 26:3, you know the text.
11:10 Two key words; one, "perfect."
11:12 The word, "shalem."
11:20 God is saying, "You'll have full peace,
11:23 you'll have complete peace, you'll have whole peace,
11:27 when your mind is stayed..."
11:30 The word "stayed" is, "sawmack" or "camak."
11:44 So God is saying, "You're going to have peace, regardless
11:48 of what life throws at you, when your post is
11:52 anchored in Christ, when you lean on Jesus."
11:56 Because Christ is not going to move.
11:57 So perfect peace is promised to those who stay in Jesus.
12:05 It's God's promise.
12:07 God promises peace to those whose minds are fixed on Him,
12:13 set in Him, dug in, as it were, in Jesus.
12:18 Now that's important in light of my thesis for the evening.
12:23 Because my thesis is that war is a weapon used by the enemy,
12:32 used and employed by Satan.
12:36 That is clearly indicated in the Bible
12:40 and the spirit of prophecy.
12:43 But my second thesis is; God also uses war.
12:51 Not only do God and Satan use war, but I contend
12:57 they will use the same war at the same time,
13:02 but for different ends.
13:06 So when there's a conflict in your life, one of the things
13:10 you need to know immediately; is it initiated by God
13:14 or is it something that Satan is bringing to you.
13:17 Because God uses war and Satan uses war.
13:23 And when you're in war, one of the first things you've
13:26 got to know is, where is this coming from.
13:29 Amen?
13:30 What war when?
13:34 The Great Controversy, page 589, Ellen White says:
13:59 Satan likes war because of its ability to turn men
14:08 into animals.
14:11 He delights in death.
14:14 And because people do things in war...
14:17 Listen to me now.
14:19 ...an excitement, an agitation that war brings, that they
14:23 wouldn't do or dream of doing in ordinary life.
14:28 Satan loves war because of its ability to turn men and women
14:33 into animals, and because of the kinds of things we do
14:38 in the excitement of war.
14:40 Genocide, ethnic cleansing.
14:42 This satanic idea that our life would be better
14:46 without them, whoever they are.
14:51 And so the Nazi's killed six million Jews, and deny it.
14:58 And the Armenian genocide sweeps away 1.5 million human beings,
15:04 and that's denied.
15:06 And the Rwandan genocide kills 800,000 people in 100 days,
15:12 and that's denied.
15:14 And Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge slaughter 1.7 million Cambodians
15:20 and that's denied.
15:23 It is said that in the last 100 years, this has been
15:26 the most deadly 100 years in the history of the world.
15:31 And nobody has ever killed anybody,
15:34 and yet people still die.
15:39 In China in the 50's and 60's; 7.8 million deaths.
15:46 In Russia in the 1930's; 23 million deaths.
15:51 In Germany in the 30's and 40's; 12 million deaths.
15:56 In Japan, World War II; 5 million deaths.
16:01 Biafra in the 60's and 70's; 1 million deaths.
16:06 In Iraq in the 80's and 90's; 600,000 deaths.
16:11 In eastern Europe from the 40's to the 80's; 570,000 deaths.
16:17 Indonesia; 500,000 deaths.
16:21 Idi Amin's Uganda; 250,000 deaths.
16:26 Staggering numbers, incredible loss of life.
16:30 Many accompanied by rape, torture, robbery, beatings,
16:34 sexual abuse, psychological abuse,
16:36 abuse and starvation.
16:39 In what historians call, the Nanking massacre...
16:42 I just stumbled across this.
16:43 ...1937, a Japanese newspaper actually kept and published
16:50 each day a running account of two Japanese soldiers
16:55 who participated in a decapitation contest.
17:01 They tried to see how many Chinese civilians they could
17:06 decapitate each day.
17:07 And those numbers were recorded nightly in the newspaper.
17:14 They took a city, Nanking, of 1.95 million.
17:20 And when the massacre was over, there were just
17:23 300,000 people left.
17:27 Ellen White says Satan loves war.
17:34 And in John chapter 8 verse 44, the Bibles says,
17:38 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the desires of
17:42 your father you want do.
17:46 He was a murderer from the beginning."
17:50 And so he was not contented with just the death of the creatures,
17:55 he couldn't wait to get his hands on Jesus.
17:59 And even that was not enough.
18:02 Let me show you something.
18:03 The Desire Of Ages, page 733.
18:08 The Desire Of Ages, page 733.
18:31 And you know, it's interesting how demonic activity
18:34 tends to surface in times of war and stress.
18:37 And we'll see that again and again.
18:50 From the mouths of people and demons.
18:55 Over the next four centuries, an estimated 12 million Christians
19:02 were killed until Constantine decriminalized Sabbath keeping
19:08 and Christianity in the 4th century.
19:11 Add to that the staggering figure of somewhere between
19:15 20 and 40 million lives taken by the church in the Middle Ages,
19:24 coupled with the extermination of the Albigenses, the near
19:29 extermination of the Waldenses, Huguenots, Cathari, and others,
19:33 and we see the outline of a malevolent, malignant
19:39 power that delights in human destruction.
19:46 Ladies and gentlemen, as much as the prince of the power
19:50 of the air delights and foments natural disasters,
19:54 and we see that nowadays; hurricanes, floods,
19:57 earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis,
20:00 as much as Satan likes that,
20:05 he takes particular delight in getting human beings
20:10 to destroy other human beings.
20:16 World War I; 19 million.
20:20 World War II; 59 million.
20:24 The Korean War; 474,000.
20:29 Now these are just numbers.
20:30 But each one of those numbers represents a soul
20:36 for whom Christ has died.
20:39 I've given you the death of nearly a billion people
20:43 just in the last few moments.
20:44 And Jesus shed His blood for every one of them.
20:47 How many of those went to their graves without Jesus?
20:54 God only knows.
20:56 Patriarchs and Prophets, page 737, Ellen White says:
21:10 It turns your heart.
21:11 I've talked with New York City cops who shot individuals.
21:16 Putting a bullet into somebody does something to you.
21:20 I've talked with West Point cadets who have gone on.
21:24 I've talked with soldiers who have come back from Vietnam.
21:27 Shooting people changes you.
21:31 You want to see the life of a hard soldier,
21:33 read the life of Joab.
21:37 You talk about a hard cold brutal mean evil man,
21:42 read in the Bible what he did to Abner.
21:45 Read in the Bible what he did to Absalom.
21:50 David said, "Deal kindly with the young man."
21:54 Joab came back and said, "Hey, I put three darts in his chest.
21:58 Yea, I killed him and you better not cry."
22:03 He told his father that.
22:04 Joab told David, "I better not see a tear."
22:08 "Yea, I killed him."
22:11 Ellen White says, war hardens and demoralizes individuals.
22:20 Just last month, it was month or September,
22:24 a man walked into a beauty parlor in California.
22:27 He took nine lives.
22:30 They say he was an ex-marine.
22:33 War hardens you.
22:37 Make no mistake about it, Satan is the author and originator
22:41 of war and conflict.
22:44 Revelation chapter 12 verse 7, I'll be reading from the NIV.
22:47 Revelation 12 verse 7, the Bible says:
23:08 Revelation chapter 12, just ten verses later, verse 17.
23:11 Again from the NIV.
23:17 The woman is us. That's you and me.
23:19 Ladies and gentlemen, let me announce to you
23:22 in case you don't know it, we're in a war.
23:37 Satan incites war.
23:43 He gets people in the world to destroy each other with
23:46 guns, bullets, bombs, and airplanes.
23:50 But he's got an entirely separate set of weapons
23:54 for the church.
23:57 He's got a much more eclectic and sophisticated arsenal
24:01 for you and me.
24:03 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4 from the Clear Word.
24:23 Don't you like that?
24:24 Our weapons come from God and they are irresistible.
24:28 War is a weapon of the enemy.
24:30 It is a weapon that Satan uses.
24:33 But I say, God also uses war, but for an
24:39 entirely different purpose.
24:41 So if you're in a battle, how can you know?
24:44 How can you know if it's Satan working for your destruction
24:49 or God working for your good?
24:52 Well, you've got to ask yourself some hard questions.
24:55 You may want to take out a pen because you've got to
24:57 ask yourself some hard hard question.
24:59 And don't get all visceral and upset.
25:02 Ask yourself some hard questions in the
25:04 cool reasoning of the day.
25:06 Number one:
25:10 You're in a battle.
25:11 Before you begin to fight or ball up your fist,
25:13 ask yourself this question.
25:15 The question I asked when Francise Craig was
25:17 beating my brains out, "Why am I in this?"
25:21 "What's going on?" Ask yourself that question.
25:25 Then ask:
25:31 Is this a pointless fight or does it have a point?
25:35 In other words, when I get through with this,
25:39 how is my life going to change?
25:42 How is it going to be on the other side?
25:44 You've got to ask yourself that question.
25:47 Number three, you've got to ask yourself:
25:53 Because if God has allowed you to be in a battle,
25:56 or has caused you to be in a battle, and we'll get to that
25:59 in just a moment, there's going to be a redemptive aspect to it.
26:03 God will not excuse you from pain all the time.
26:08 But He will make sure that your pain is redemptive.
26:12 God doesn't make you suffer just because
26:13 He wants to see you suffer.
26:15 If you're suffering, God's got a point to it.
26:19 And it's going to end. Amen?
26:22 Last year, just about a month from now, I had to put
26:25 my wife on a plane because her dad was dying.
26:29 We knew, at 91 years of age.
26:31 He had lived a strong life.
26:32 Never really been sick, never really been in the hospital.
26:35 And it was a painful time.
26:37 We didn't have the money for two tickets.
26:38 I put her on the plane, she flew down to Panama.
26:41 We were worried because her dad had never really professed
26:45 Jesus, didn't want to hear about Jesus.
26:47 And my wife, Irma, when it comes to salvation stuff,
26:50 is a bit of a tiger.
26:52 She's got claws.
26:53 And she would attack him, you know.
26:55 She would talk about the love of Christ.
26:57 She would tell him he was going to burn in hell.
26:58 And she just did everything that she could and he wasn't budging.
27:01 He began to crack just a little so she wanted to get home
27:04 to make her last pitch, you know, before he
27:07 closed his eyes in death.
27:08 Painful time.
27:11 Multiple organ failure, he began to go.
27:16 But about two weeks before, the pastor came in.
27:21 He gave his heart to the Lord.
27:24 And then one Sunday morning, my wife was trying to move him.
27:27 And she said, "Just put your arms around my neck
27:30 and I'll move your from the wheelchair onto the bed."
27:33 He got onto the bed and as he laid down, his arms dropped
27:37 and he was gone.
27:39 And she called me.
27:41 And we were sad.
27:44 But we saw the redemption of Jesus.
27:47 One, after 90 years, he got in.
27:52 Amen?
27:54 And the Bible says whether you get in at morning,
27:57 or noon, or three, or just before the store closes,
28:02 you get the same heaven.
28:04 Amen?
28:06 And that death became a seed.
28:09 Because we've got a brother-in-law
28:15 who ridiculed the Lord.
28:18 His mom, if I'm getting this right, was so mean
28:23 that her husband, who joined the church, had to lock himself
28:26 in the room when he came home from church on Sabbath
28:29 to keep her from assaulting him because he served the Lord.
28:36 She gave her heart to the Lord.
28:39 And then one day, we called and we heard a voice
28:45 praying in the background.
28:47 And my wife said, "Who's that praying?"
28:52 And her sister said, that's...
28:54 I better not mention his name.
28:57 She said, that's... I'll say John.
29:01 My wife almost dropped the phone.
29:04 John never cared about the Lord.
29:07 Ridiculed the Lord.
29:08 He's now in... Is he baptized?
29:12 Baptized in the church.
29:14 So, her dad's death became a seed.
29:19 And that death had an affect that is still far reaching.
29:22 And now we've got a sister-in-law, who didn't care
29:26 anything about the Lord, taking Bible studies.
29:28 Brother-in-law in the church, sister in the church,
29:31 mother in the church, mother-in-law in the church,
29:33 everybody in the church.
29:35 So if God allows trouble in your life, my point is,
29:39 there's going to be some redemption, there's going to
29:41 be a plan, and there's going to be an end to it.
29:44 God doesn't let trouble come just for trouble's sake.
29:48 If you're in a war and God allows it, there's point.
29:51 And there's going to be an end.
29:57 Next question:
30:02 Fighting the good fight of faith always makes you better.
30:04 Always makes you better.
30:07 Then you need to ask yourself this; is it:
30:21 And you will see an end.
30:23 You see, when God gets you through what you're
30:27 going through, He ends it.
30:30 Amen?
30:32 Yeah, when He gets you through what you're going through,
30:35 it's over.
30:37 God will let it end.
30:39 Because He's got you where He wants you.
30:42 Satan loves war, God does not.
30:47 And so He uses war surgically and redemptively
30:52 for your good and for your growing.
30:56 Now God will allow just enough turmoil in your life
31:01 to either get you started...
31:04 If you're standing still, He wants to get you moving.
31:07 He'll allow some turmoil in your life to get you moving.
31:10 ...keep you going...
31:12 If you've gotten started and are beginning to slow down
31:15 or stop, He'll allow some turmoil to keep you going.
31:20 ...or to clear some impediment from your life.
31:24 Did you hear me?
31:25 Those are the three reasons any trouble in your life,
31:29 anytime you're in a war, it will fall under one of
31:31 those three categories.
31:33 If you're standing still and God wants you to move,
31:35 He'll trouble the waters.
31:36 So one, He's going to allow turmoil to get you started.
31:39 Two, to keep you going.
31:42 Three, to clear some impediment from your progress.
31:46 All God ordained trials will fall under
31:51 one of those three categories.
31:52 And the severity of the conflict has much to do
31:57 with your ability to hear what God is saying.
32:01 If you're hard of hearing, God has got to speak real loud...
32:08 Amen?
32:09 ...until He gets your attention.
32:15 So the severity of the conflict deals with your ability to hear.
32:18 And all God ordained conflict, I say again, is not eternal.
32:24 As soon as God gets you on point,
32:30 as we say in Brooklyn, He'll cut you some slack.
32:35 James chapter 4 verse 7, it starts out by saying,
32:38 "Submit yourselves then unto God.
32:41 Resist the devil and he will flee."
32:42 But the point I want is, James 4:7.
32:51 Amen?
32:55 Don't make God yell.
32:57 My mother use to say that, "Don't make me come after you.
33:00 Don't make me come get you.
33:02 And don't make me yell."
33:08 Draw close to God and He will draw close to you.
33:12 So if you're in a war, your first job is to ask, "What?"
33:19 Is it God or is it Satan.
33:21 What's the lesson that I can learn?
33:25 What does God want me to know?
33:27 What does God want me to do?
33:30 What does God want me to say?
33:32 What lesson does God want me to learn?
33:37 When war what?
33:39 What war when?
33:40 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 28, the Bible says:
33:50 So when you're in conflict, the first thing you do
33:52 is look at you.
33:54 You know how easy it is, oft times, as soon as we have a
33:57 disagreement with somebody, the first thing we begin to do,
33:59 "Okay, it's your fault. Yours and yours and yours."
34:04 It may be.
34:06 But it also may be mine.
34:08 So when you're in conflict, your first job...
34:13 ...examine yourself.
34:15 Amen?
34:16 The Bible says, let a man examine himself.
34:19 And I like this text, Galatians 6:4,
34:21 "Let each one examine his own work."
34:25 Don't examine mine.
34:27 Examine yours.
34:32 Everybody in the world may be wrong
34:36 and you alone right.
34:38 It may be that way.
34:40 I doubt it.
34:45 So examine, Galatians 6:4 says, examine your own work.
34:51 And we're going to talk about this again on Sabbath.
34:53 I'm going to give you a little test
34:54 to see how your quotion is doing on Sabbath morning.
34:59 Any conflict, in fact, every conflict is an opportunity
35:03 for self examination.
35:06 In fact, it is a mandate, a demand for self examination.
35:10 When you disagree with someone, God is saying,
35:13 that's the time to examine yourself.
35:16 And why do you do it in conflict?
35:18 It's because we never think to do it in peace time.
35:23 So you must do it in conflict.
35:25 You have to do it in conflict.
35:27 You see, the quicker you assess it, address it,
35:31 diagnose it, and redress it, the quicker you get through it.
35:37 You're not going to get through it blaming
35:39 everybody else but you.
35:42 Amen. Amen.
35:45 Blaming folk never solved anything.
35:48 I know people, "Everybody is wrong.
35:50 I'm the only one right."
35:54 You may be.
35:57 I doubt it.
36:00 But you may be.
36:03 But you'll never know unless you examine yourself.
36:06 So every time you're in conflict with anybody,
36:08 that's a call from God for self examination.
36:13 And if you spend all your time blaming folk,
36:16 you miss a God appointed opportunity.
36:19 Are you listening to me?
36:20 This is very important.
36:21 Because it is so natural for us to just blame, blame, blame,
36:25 blame, blame, blame, blame, blame, blame.
36:27 What about you?
36:29 And if you never have anything good to say about
36:31 anybody else, what does that say about you?
36:37 You got a problem with a neighbor, you're at odds?
36:40 Look at yourself first.
36:42 You got a co-worker who gets on your last nerve?
36:49 Before you point fingers, examine yourself.
36:53 And make sure that it's not you.
36:56 That person may be full of the devil.
37:01 Or...
37:04 mm-hmm.
37:07 Or the Lord may be trying to keep the devil
37:09 out of the situation.
37:11 Or the Lord may have put you in that situation to
37:14 sand off your rough edges.
37:20 Because the Lord and Satan both use war.
37:25 And we'll see this over and over again the next few nights.
37:28 But I want to give you an example from our recent history.
37:31 Time is slipping away so we've got to move kind of fast.
37:34 I want to look at the American Civil War.
37:37 I talked about this with some cadets from West Point
37:39 and that's what got me started.
37:40 Almost 700,000 deaths in the American Civil War.
37:45 Didn't have smart bombs, didn't have assault rifles.
37:48 These are single shot rifles or six shooters.
37:51 Small arms, canons.
37:54 700,000 deaths in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, and ends 1865.
38:03 That's an awful lot of killing in 5 years.
38:06 And that's what got me started.
38:10 The war, most historians tell us, and this is what I was
38:13 taught in school, was fought to hold the Union together.
38:19 But the reason heaven got involved was moral, not civil.
38:26 Heaven's issue was slavery.
38:29 And when you read and understand Revelation chapter 13
38:32 beginning at verse 11, United States in prophecy,
38:34 you realize this country was never going to be divided.
38:37 Heaven didn't get involved in the Civil War to
38:40 keep the country together.
38:41 Heaven's issue was slavery.
38:43 By the time the Civil War, the American Civil War,
38:46 commenced, American slavery was approaching 200 years.
38:51 And heaven was not pleased.
38:54 I want you to stick with me.
38:58 What I want you to see is the confluence
39:02 of satanic interposition and divine initiative.
39:07 I want you to see how Satan and God used the same war
39:13 at the same time for two radically different purposes.
39:18 Now let me establish my thesis.
39:20 My first is, first volume of Testimonies, page 264.
39:24 I've got to move kind of fast.
39:25 First volume of Testimonies, page 264.
39:28 Here's what Ellen White said.
39:57 So God was punishing North and South.
40:01 Now get this.
40:02 August 3, 1861 in Roosevelt New York, Ellen White
40:06 goes into vision.
40:08 The words of her vision are found in the first volume
40:11 of Testimonies, page 264.
40:13 She says:
40:35 So she was shown by God that they wanted to hold onto it,
40:39 and hold onto it at all cost.
40:43 Now going on, the same book, page 266.
41:22 So we know from these quotes that God was intimately
41:27 concerned with and involved in the Civil War.
41:31 Amen. You're following me?
41:32 Are we together on that?
41:34 So God was involved.
41:36 Now get this.
41:38 Same war, same time.
41:43 I'm reading.
42:16 Who is the author of that?
42:18 That's Satan.
42:19 Same war, same time.
42:23 Let me go on.
42:52 This is the Civil War.
43:17 Can you understand what's going on?
43:19 God is using the Civil War to punish slavery.
43:25 Satan is using the Civil War because he likes to see
43:30 men kill men.
43:33 At the same time in the same place.
43:36 Testimonies volume 1, I'm on page 364.
43:56 Now what's the majority?
43:57 That's most of them, isn't it?
44:08 I'm in first Testimonies, page 366.
44:44 Can you imagine, there is a being so full of hatred
44:49 for the human family that he gets his kicks
44:55 watching humans slaughter other humans.
45:00 And so Satan and the Lord, in the same war at the same time,
45:06 with two entirely different purposes.
45:25 The rebels are the South.
45:41 See, he's prolonging the war.
45:42 He's increasing death because he delights in death.
45:46 "Correct information..."
45:49 Get this, "Correct information has been given
45:53 to Northern officers in regard to the movements
45:56 and approach of the rebel, which has been disregarded
46:01 and despised because the informer was black."
46:06 This is coming from Ellen White.
46:07 See, Satan will play the race card or the sex card
46:10 or the rich/poor card.
46:12 Anything to divide people.
46:15 The result, "The Union forces have been nearly cut to pieces."
46:22 And who is laughing?
46:26 Satan.
46:28 "Or what is as bad, taken to prison to suffer
46:32 worse than death."
46:36 The Civil War did not begin as a war to end slavery,
46:41 but to hold the Union together.
46:44 But God had other plans.
46:47 It could have ended with just one battle.
46:51 But look how the Lord does things.
46:55 The very first battle was called the
46:57 Battle of Manassas Junction.
46:59 Also called, Bull Run.
47:01 It took place just south of the Washington DC line
47:04 in northern Virginia.
47:06 The North was actually winning the battle
47:09 and the war could have ended that day with that battle.
47:14 The Union would have been preserved,
47:17 but slavery would have continued.
47:20 So look at what Ellen White says.
47:22 First volume of Testimonies, page 267.
47:24 North is winning, South is being pushed back.
48:13 American began to have national days of fasting and prayer
48:18 for the Civil War.
48:20 And on January 4, 1862 Ellen White went into vision
48:25 and she wrote this:
48:40 She quoted from Isaiah 58:6 that says,
48:43 the fast that God wants is to let the oppressed go free.
48:47 That's what God wants.
48:49 J.N. Loughborough, Adventist pioneer, in his book,
48:52 The Great Second Advent Movement, talks about this war.
48:57 He says, and I quote:
49:59 In other words, once the slaves were free,
50:05 America was where God wanted it to be.
50:09 And He moved to close the war.
50:13 So I did a little research.
50:14 I took the top 20 major battles in the Civil War.
50:19 Those were battles where the death rate was 19,000 or more.
50:26 After the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation,
50:29 the North never lost another battle.
50:33 Do you think that was coincidence?
50:35 No.
50:37 It was because we had moved onto God's side.
50:41 God had gotten our attention.
50:43 He had to speak loudly, but somebody finally listened.
50:49 Then He ended the war.
50:52 Sometime later, in June 1891, Loughborough was in the audience
51:00 and heard a speech given by John P. St John,
51:05 former governor of Kansas, which was a swing state.
51:08 This is what he said.
51:09 "I was never so disappointed as I was when the Confederates
51:14 whipped us at Bull run."
51:16 That's the one where the angel waved his hand,
51:18 the first battle of the war.
51:19 "'But it was all part of God's plan.
51:23 Had we whipped the Confederates, the politicians would have
51:27 hatched up a peace and the Union would have continued
51:31 with slavery, and we would have had it until today.
51:36 For two years, the Confederates had the advantage.
51:39 But after Lincoln issued the famous
51:42 Emancipation Proclamation, we swung around
51:45 to God's side and we could not lose.
51:48 We were doing what God wanted us to do.'
51:53 Now though President Abraham Lincoln
51:54 was really preoccupied with saving the Union,
51:56 his ideas about the war came remarkably in line with
52:01 those of Ellen White.
52:02 But saw the North and South as sharing the guilt of slavery.
52:07 Both saw the war as ramifications
52:09 and visitations from God.
52:12 Lincoln and White both plainly saw that the hand of God
52:18 moved after January 1, 1863.
52:25 And that God was now pleased with what we were doing
52:30 and moved to end the war."
52:32 Here's a text that we will come to over and over again
52:35 in these meetings.
52:37 Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12. I think you know it well.
52:39 The Bible says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood.
52:45 We're wrestling against Satan himself.
52:49 Let me close in the last few minutes with just a few
52:53 quotes from Ellen White.
53:19 Every time Satan comes at you with something,
53:21 every time you say "no" and turn your back
53:23 and fight the good fight of faith, you make advancement
53:27 in the kingdom of God.
53:58 God gives us something special when you're fighting for Him.
54:00 You're not fighting alone.
54:16 Like it or not, you're in a war.
54:37 Amen?
54:38 Very quickly, the sixth volume of Testimonies, page 41.
54:56 And you are the objects, ladies and gentlemen, of that envy.
55:20 Amen?
55:35 You can shake Satan to his knees.
55:40 Not in your own strength, not in your own power,
55:44 but in the power of Jesus.
55:47 Christ is ready, willing, and able to fight with you,
55:54 through you, by you, but not for you.
56:01 mm-hmm.
56:03 You've got to fight with Him.
56:05 He's not going to do battle for you,
56:06 you've got to fight.
56:08 One of the toughest battles you will ever fight
56:10 is the battle against self.
56:11 We're going to talk about that in a couple of nights when
56:12 we talk about When War Who.
56:15 Who? You. That's who.
56:18 Amen?
56:20 And if not you, who?
56:23 One of the toughest battles you'll ever fight
56:26 is the battle against self.
56:29 But victory has already been guaranteed.
56:35 Isn't that nice to know?
56:37 The battle has been won.
56:41 All you've got to do is make sure you're wearing
56:44 the right uniform.
56:46 Amen?
56:47 Make sure you're on the right side.
56:50 And examine yourself in the Lord.
56:55 What war when?
56:59 When war comes, what do you do?
57:03 Examine yourself, make sure you're under the right banner,
57:07 carrying the right flag, and on the right side.
57:10 Amen?
57:11 Shall we pray?
57:12 Father God, we thank You now for the power
57:19 that You've given us to win.
57:22 We thank You, Lord, that even in the battles of life
57:26 we can be victorious in Jesus Christ.
57:28 A battle is waging for our souls.


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Revised 2014-12-17