Battle of Spiritual Realm

John Cooper, lead singer for the rock band Skillet, responded to the litany of recent apostasies among young Christian leaders. In a  Facebook post  titled ‘What in God’s Name is Happening in Christianity?’ put up on Tuesday, August 13, Cooper directly addressed the reasons given by Hillsong songwriter Marty Sampson for renouncing his Christian faith, before highlighting the need for Christians to stay grounded in a truth-driven faith over an emotion-driven one. Here is the text of the post in its entirety (not corrected for spelling or punctuation): “Ok I’m saying it. Because it’s too important not to. What is happening in Christianity? More and more of our outspoken leaders or influencers who were once “faces” of the faith are falling away. And at the same time they are being very vocal and bold about it. Shockingly they still want to influence others (for what purpose?)as they announce that they are leaving the faith. I’ll state my conclusion, then I’ll state some rebu...

Alicia Purdy   Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer In case you haven’t already noticed or experienced it for yourself, here's a bit of wisdom I’ve gathered along my journey of faith in the Lord: The life of a Christian is not an easy one!   It’s not like we weren’t warned, however. Jesus said in John 15:18-19 “But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, the world therefore hates you.  He also said in John 16:33 , “…in this world you will have tribulation.” Jesus knew trouble would be part of the Christian experience from beginning to end. And how much more true on some days than others!   Compound human troubles with those created from the spiritual turmoil in darkness trying to influence, manipulate, convince, prompt, and lie to all of humanity and, well, time for an altar call! Jesus, anyone?   The spiritual powers at work are directly tied to the sin and darkness of humanity, so while it’s easy to loo...

Tony Evans In the book of Mark, chapter six, we read that the disciples got into a boat, at night, and took out across the sea. In their obedience to Jesus, the disciples ran directly into a storm. Their obedience literally took them into the nucleus of a disaster. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Their obedience literally took them into the nucleus of a disaster ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I wish I could tell you that following Jesus means you will never have to face any storms. I wish I could tell you that following Jesus means that the waters of life will always be calm. I wish I could tell you that following Jesus means life will be rosy and all of your days sweet. But I can’t. These disciples were following Jesus, and they ran right into rough seas. The disciples discovered, as many of us have also discovered, tha...

By Randy Alcorn Someone asked me, I am confused about what role Satan and demons can have in the life of a believer. Can they influence us? If so, how much? Can they oppress us? Can they possess us?   These are important questions to consider. Theologian G. C. Berkouwer said, “There can be no sound theology without a sound demonology.” Some deny the existence of demons, regarding them as mere symbols of man’s inhumanity to man. But even those who believe the Bible tend to develop sloppy demonology. Often our understanding of fallen angels is based more on superstition, tradition, and assumptions than on the Scriptures. (For that reason, when I wrote my book Lord Foulgrin’s Letters , I tried to carefully study what  Scripture teaches—and doesn’t teach—about Satan and his angels.)   Masters at Deceit, Waging War Against Us Demons are fallen angels, a high order of God’s creation. They are spirits, and therefore not subject t...

At the end of The Hobbit , Bilbo remarks amazedly that the old songs and prophecies have come true after all. To which Gandalf replies, "And why not? Surely you don’t disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself?" Dr. Ralph Wood of Baylor University helps us ascertain whether passages such as this give us any insight into how prophecy works with biblical characters. •WATCH THIS VIDEO •  

Meg Bucher   Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer There are many levels of fear in our daily lives. News alerts keep us in tune to the world’s pain and injustice on the hour, and rising statistics of child trafficking put parents on edge. Fear “has a wonderful, protective benefit for us when it functions as God designed it,” said Jon Bloom in this article . Some fears are easy to calm and others linger longer than we can control. Fear, terror, fright, alarm, worry, and panic threaten to derail our faith. On the contrary, the Bible tells us to take captive every thought, and trust God. “We live in a broken world where really bad things really do happen, even (and sometimes especially) to people who really love Jesus,” explains Kristin Tabb. How do we live with godly confidence in a society that has us running scared? What does it mean to be scared? John Piper says that “fear is a manifestation of pride,” is his article for Desiring G...

Intro] This is the kingdom, kingdom This is the kingdom, kingdom [Verse 1] Everybody's building empires Building walls high in the name of glory Everybody's hanging high wires It's a fine line, it's an age-old story [Pre-Chorus] The first will be last And the last will be kings The small will be great And the great will be weak Everybody's building empires But it's our time [Chorus] This is the kingdom Heaven coming down to the corners of the Earth This is the kingdom Come alive in us, gonna light up this whole world This is for freedom, freedom To break off every chain This is the kingdom

Matt Brown | thinke.org I'm not sure when the term "spiritual warfare" was coined, but in my research I've discovered it mentioned as early as the 1600's. Spiritual warfare is depicted (without using the term) back to the writing of the New Testament as Paul stated: "Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6:11-12) For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every though...