Dear Champion of the Lord and the Preborn,
Here is the third installment of the KLI Blog teaching. It is called Christianity in Conflict. If you find any merit, please pass it on to others. Thanks!
How to use the KLI: Online Worldview Training:
When you study the Holy Scriptures, how do you do it? First, you research. You compare
scripture to scripture, consult a concordance, dictionary, and a Bible commentary, like
Matthew Henry's. Then you reason from the biblical truths and identify spiritual principles.
Finally, you relate these truths and spiritual principles to your own life. Many people record
their Bible studies. To help you develop a biblical worldview you will use the research,
reason, relate, and record teaching method, popularly called the Principle Approach. To learn
more about the Principle Approach for teaching and learning, visit the Foundation for
American Christian Education.
Select and print the lesson below. There are 10 lessons, each one containing scriptures and
words to define using the online Noah Webster 1828 Dictionary. The study questions are
designed to help you develop a biblical worldview and the principles of godly leadership.
The training is based on the book, The Kingdom Leadership Institute Manual: Raising Up
Leaders a Time Like This Demands, by Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas.
Lesson 3: Christianity in Conflict
The early church was accustomed to risk and danger. They were familiar with conflict. There
were heresies from within and great persecutions from without. These early Christians were
"birthed in battle."
The idea of the church militant, of a conquering battling church advancing the cause of Christ,
has become a faded memory for most American Christians. Our foreign brothers and sisters
often experience this type of baptism, but not us. As a result, we have grown complacent. Too
often we compromise, concede, cater, and coddle instead of confront. In America's present backslidden condition it would be prudent to remember the necessity of conflict.
German church historian, Dr. Augustus Neander (1789-1850), in Memorials of a Christian
Life, wrote:
As the whole of the life of the Christian, from the beginning to the end, is a conflict with the
world and the powers of darkness, a conflict within and without, the kingdom of God in this
world must appear as militant, and must make its way by conflict; so that often, in Holy Writ,
the calling of the Christian is compared to that of the military life, and the Christian is
represented as the soldier of his LORD.
This image was very clear and familiar to the first Christians. Though Christians, in later
ages, may have been led to forget the nature of their calling as one of conflict, amidst external
tranquility and prosperity, yet in primitive times their entire outward condition served to
remind them of the spiritual warfare; for the church found itself on all sides in conflict with
the heathen world, and the public profession made by Christians compelled them to take a
share in this conflict.
Christians rejoiced to consider themselves as the soldiers of God and Christ (milites Dei et
Christi), against the hostile powers of darkness, against everything which appeared to them as
belonging to the kingdom of Satan, against the service of sin and of false gods.
Look up the definition of the word "conflict" in the online Noah Webster's 1828 American
Dictionary. Write out the four definitions below.
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Read Jeremiah 9:3-5, Micah 7:6, Matthew 10:32-38, Luke 12:51. As the kingdom of heaven
advances, does truth create conflict or peace?
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Continue your word study. Look the definition for "violence." Record definitions one and two
below.
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Read Matthew 11:12 and Luke 16:16. Record the words of Jesus below.
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Matthew Henry was a Bible scholar and preacher from England. Written in 1706, his epic
commentary on the Bible is perhaps the best and most widely used. Visit
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/
and compare Matthew Henry's classic commentary to the words of our Lord. An abridged
version follows.
This violence denotes a strength, and vigour, and earnestness of desire and endeavour... It
shows us also, what fervency and zeal are required of all those who design to make heaven
of their religion. Note, They who would enter into the kingdom of heaven must strive to enter;
that kingdom suffers a holy violence; self must be denied, the bent and bias, the frame and
temper, of the mind must be altered; there are hard sufferings to be undergone, a force to be
put upon the corrupt nature; we must run, and wrestle, and fight, and be in an agony, and all
little enough to win such a prize, and to get over such opposition from without and from
within. The violent take it by force.
Reason from the scriptures and your word study. Definition number two of "violence" speaks
of "moral violence." Matthew Henry refers to a "holy violence." In Matthew 11:12 is Jesus
speaking of physical violence or spiritual and "moral violence?"
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Reason from the scriptures and the lessons of history. Is conflict a necessary component of
biblical Christianity?
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Finally, relate what you have learned to your own life. Are you willing to do violence to your
corrupt nature? Are you advancing the kingdom of God and conflicting with the forces of
darkness in the culture? Are you engaged in the spiritual battle for the souls of men? For
America's Christian heritage? Is your Christianity passive or active? What cultural battles are
you involved in? In what areas can you become involved?
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Any place the enemy savages the souls of men and our country, there the good soldier of
Jesus Christ proves his loyalty to Christ. There are demonic strongholds in our land that
are invoking the wrath of God upon our heads. Just like the notable Christians from history,
we must engage the enemy, culture, and our communities with the truth of God's Word.
We must go to the gates of hell (abortion clinics, pornography establishments,
homosexual events, and the stately halls of civil government) and wage spiritual "war"
with the Word of God.
Our continual silence and inaction enables the powers of darkness to wreck havoc in
our beleaguered land. Christian patriots are needed to stand in the gap and make up the
hedge of protection once again. We cannot accomplish this within the four walls of
our church. Our call is to be "salt and light;" soldiers of Christ "against the hostile powers
of darkness" in our culture, in our land, and in our self.
The Great Reformer, Martin Luther (1483-1546), stated it best:
If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of
God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that
moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ.
Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all
the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.
For a fuller treatise of the subject, read The Kingdom Leadership Institute Manual: Raising Up Leaders a Time Like This Demands.
http://www.elijahmin.com/KLI%20Book%20Form.html
IN KING JESUS' SERVICE,
Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas
Elijah Ministries is dedicated to impart a Biblical Worldview to the Church of Jesus Christ that will provide the theological impetus to fulfill the Great Commission.
Elijah Ministries is devoted to challenging Christians everywhere to pray, believe, and work for repentance, reformation and revival to sweep America.
Reform the Church to restore America is our battle cry! No king, but King Jesus and may God be pleased to save America!
Elijah Ministries
P.O. Box 3126
Waco, TX 76707
Email: rusty@elijahmin.com
Website: http://www.elijahmin.com