We Fight Not Against Flesh and Blood

Jeremy Walker (00:21):

And welcome back to The Last Kingdom. I'm your host, Jeremy Walker. This is episode number five, March 1st, 2024, and this podcast episode is entitled, We Fight Not Flesh and Blood.

(00:39):

Today on this episode we are going to be discussing one of the things that is very important about who are we fighting, and not only who are we fighting, but how do we win. We're going to be having some media today talking about the movie The Island and how that compares to modern-day abortion and man's goals to be godlike.

(00:59):

We have some other subjects to discuss. Family Pride Parades in Serbia, Bible reading through the year, Joe Rogan calls for Jesus to return. Imagine, of course, if white people were as racist and dangerous as they're accused of being, testicles in the fridge, Swedish girls killing immigrants and the Japanese birth rate hits a record low, all today on this episode of The Last Kingdom.

(01:28):

So thank you, friends, for joining me. We are now on episode five and once again it is entitled, We Fight Not Flesh and Blood.

(01:38):

I want to begin this episode with the scripture reading coming from Ephesians 6:10 through 17, quote, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand an evil day and having done all to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God," unquote.

(02:48):

On this podcast we like to talk about three basic things, faith, family and the future and to give Christians a proper perspective about themselves, their part in this world and their goals and how not only can they achieve them, but they will most certainly be successful.

(03:10):

So for us to know that we are in a war, which people like to talk about, we have to understand that we are not in a physical war. In other words, it's not about me having strong muscles or somebody being stronger than me because it's not simply with men. It's not about numbers. It's not about getting the biggest vote or getting the most people together in order to win. If we just have the most people on our side, then, all of a sudden, we can win.

(03:43):

None of these things are true because our war is a religious war, a spiritual war and is with evil spiritual forces that are in this world. Removing one man, who might be an evil man, who has evil purposes or even a large group of evil people collectively, who have evil purposes, will in no way win the war because it's not with those people, specifically. It's with their goals and their goals don't come from them, just the same way that Christians, our goals don't come from us, they come from God and no one can defeat us because we are acting in accordance with the will of God.

(04:26):

The war that's going on in this world does not die with evil people and neither does it die with the righteous. It continues going on. It is God versus Satan, the people of God versus the people of Satan. And we have to kind of understand this because if we don't, we don't properly see the problem.

(04:48):

See, even if you did go into the house as one of the biblical type of instances or examples that is given and you clean the house of the demon that's there, seven more will just take its place.

(05:02):

And the same thing happens with the real world. If you put down one despot, one evil man, seven more just spring up in his place because it's not the physical man or the government that's the problem.

(05:17):

See, our war is not going to be won through politics, nor through legislation. So everybody who is so concerned about jumping in there and let's change the laws of the land and let's get control of congress and let's get control of this, it's not going to solve the problem because the problem is not a political problem.

(05:41):

Our war is not going to be won through education because it is not an intellectual problem. You can't take Christianity and go teach people and, all of a sudden, the world's going to change because you, through your educational system, have changed the world now. That's also not the answer, either.

(06:06):

Our war will not be won through environmentalism. If we just get ourselves out of this and out of that, we'll protect our kids, we'll help other people. If we can just get rid of pornography, if we can just get rid of the internet, if we can just get rid of TikTok, well, maybe TikTok, but it is not an environmental problem.

(06:26):

See, you pollute the environment. The environment does not pollute you. You are the one who goes out there and does these things.

(06:35):

I was talking with my wife recently and God is allowing the wheat and the tares to grow beside each other and the prevalence of pornography, the prevalence of evil in this world just allows the tares to grow up and really show themselves for what they are, which is really what's happening right now. And it allows the wheat, the saints of God, it allows us to prosper. Even in a world surrounded by filth and by evil, you get to shine. And so by the end, it's going to be very obvious who are the wheat and who are the tares.

(07:10):

So don't bemoan evil in the world per se. Don't think by wiping it all out that's necessarily going to be the solution because it's there for a good reason. God is allowing it for a good reason. It's allowing evil people to show themselves and it's allowing you, the saints of God, to show yours as well.

(07:32):

So we have to make sure we understand how the war is won and the war is won very simple, through our faith in the power and the authority of Christ and doing what He has called to us to do.

(07:47):

So in other words, God has all power and authority so the world is spinning along exactly as He wants. Every event is taking place exactly as He wants. So it's never about making sure the world is under control, making sure that evil is kept in check. That's already taken care of.

(08:05):

That's not your job, Christian. Your job is to go out there and, one, live a godly life in this world, to be the salt, to be the light of the world, to be God's emissaries here in this evil place full of evil people, to be the light to scatter the darkness. That is your job. Number one is personal righteousness and personal righteous living. Two, your family life and then, three, evangelism.

(08:38):

If we go back real quick, just to pay attention to what these things were, the armor of God, the breastplate of righteousness is justice. You seeking justice in your spheres, every sphere, you are ensuring that God's justice is met.

(08:59):

The gospel of peace. Well, it doesn't mean peace with evil men per se. We do try to live at peace, but we're trying to live at peace with God and we're trying to teach men to do that as well. That is the preparation of the gospel of peace. We cannot have peace if we don't have peace with God and that's something that we have to do and teach others.

(09:23):

We have to have the shield of faith, and this is something really big a long time ago when people were into the apologetics movement and they were saying that we need apologetics, we need to go to intellectual arguments and no.

(09:36):

No. The shield of faith is your trust in the work of Christ over the world. You trust that God has it all under control. You trust that the Word of God can be trusted and that the way of prosperity and salvation is exactly what He said. If you have the proper faith, you'll be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. It keeps you safe, your faith does.

(10:09):

The helmet of salvation is your trust in Christ for yourself, for our children because we cannot live a righteous life, we cannot earn salvation. Our trust that God has earned salvation on our behalf, we are not trying to earn it.

(10:28):

When we go to confession of our sins, we're doing two things. Not only are you, one, confessing the sins that you are currently maybe guilty of, but you're primarily concerned about your confession of faith, how you live on a daily basis.

(10:45):

This is the most important thing. It keeps you safe living a godly life and trusting that Christ ultimately has your well-being and the well-being of all of His saints in check.

(11:00):

And lastly, what is our sword? The sword of the spirit is the Word of God, our primary offensive weapon. Those are all defensive weapons, primarily, armors, but our offensive weapon is the Word of God. The Words of God can be both healing and they can also be deadly.

(11:22):

So when people want a solution to the war, when they want to point out who they're fighting against, we have to listen to exactly what God tells us and not what we think. You need to primarily be focused on yourself and warring with sin in your own self so that you can properly be salt and light to the world. And then building a godly family and then building a godly business, building a godly community around you, those people and, yes, being the light that shows the Word of God to everyone around you.

(11:58):

This is how the war is won. Now, it might sound silly to people who are politically-minded or think that power comes out of the barrel of a gun. But no. Power comes from the Word of God, the very Word of God that said, "Let there be light and then there was light." There is no power higher than the Words of God.

(12:21):

And so if you want the most powerful tool on the planet, learn this concept. Learn to trust that what God is telling you is true and that you have to live a godly life, be a godly example to the world, to disciple the nations, teach other people to obey God's commandments. And you not only will be safe from evil, but you will also overcome this world through your faith and through your works.

(12:50):

This is something Christian parents need to learn, in particular. All of us need to learn this. It will give you hope, it will give you a proper mindset to trust the future, to trust that your children are going to be okay in the future and that all of your work is not in vain. Everything you do counts. Everything you do in obedience to God earns reward. You are working towards not salvation, but a reward for proper service.

(13:24):

So Christians, fellow saints, this is what we should be understanding. We do not fight against flesh and blood and the war is not a physical war. The answer is not politics. The answer is not education or environmentalism. The answer is righteous living, a proper example and the discipling of the nations and we will win because it is our Lord who wins.

(13:54):

Let's move on now. I think I want to talk about a few subjects and I want to briefly touch on as many as I can here before we get to our Island conversation. And first one I want to touch on is there was a Family Pride Parade in Serbia, where parents showed up with all their children walking the streets, little kiddos in the carts pushing them in the seats and they were showing pride in their families.

(14:22):

Now that is a wonderful example of exactly what I was just talking about. We get so caught up on all the evil people and how they celebrate their evil. We should be celebrating the good. We should be celebrating God's righteousness in us.

(14:40):

This is a positive focus. And remember, this hurts people far more than somebody trying to get a sign to go down to one of their Pride parades. They were celebrating debauchery and telling them that God hates them. This does no good.

(14:58):

But if you want to do something that will be very damaging, you celebrate godly living, you celebrate righteousness, you shine the light into the darkness and watch it flee.

(15:11):

See, they want the focus on themselves. You take the focus off of them, stop focusing on them. Focus on the good, the godly in your life and in the lives of others, promoting it, pushing it, talking about it constantly.

(15:28):

Think about it for a second. How often and how much time do you spend talking about godly things, positive things, working on productivity? Or do you spend most of your time talking about all the terrible evil that's in the world? I would venture to say, I would venture to say, that you don't focus on the positive, you don't focus on productivity even one-tenth of what you focus on, on all the evil.

(15:58):

And because of that, you focus on the darkness and you don't do anything to promote the light. You need to be a person, a Christian, a saint of God who focuses on the positive. There's so many more good things than there are evil in the world. The darkness is being pushed out. The light is the one that's going to take place in the vacuum. Why aren't you the one doing it?

(16:22):

Moving on to people who are promoting the concept of reading the Bible once through a year. Well, for me this is a good intentioned concept, but a silly one, and I'll tell you why it's silly. It's silly and ridiculous because it's not about how much you read, but it's about how much you obey what you've read and there's a giant difference there.

(16:47):

And the churches are full of people who have these little things. They put them on their calendars and they read through the Bible once a year and yet their lives are not affected by it at all. It's like the person who has got a Braille Bible and they run their fingers along the Braille, every page until [inaudible 00:17:06] and the Bible through one whole year. And because they haven't retained anything that they put their fingers on, it hasn't taken root in their heart, it has done them no good at all.

(17:18):

And this is the problem with people that the vast majority of them have the concept of reading through the Bible once a year. You don't need to have a system where you're just doing it as some kind of activity till you can put a little pin on your shoulder and say, "I've read through the Bible once a year for the last 25 years." Yes, but has that affected your life? And each 25 years, every year, has it gotten better? Have you grown in sanctification? Have you grown in obedience? Have you grown in the ability to teach other people to obey God? Or are you just going for a merit badge like you're in the Boy Scouts?

(17:54):

Christians don't go for merit badges. They go for real rewards and those real rewards come not by little rites that we do or our little customs that we do, but by righteous living, dying to the old and embracing our new life in Christ.

(18:13):

So it's not a problem to read the Bible through, but most people also have the same concept through memory verses. Don't have your children memorize Bible verses just so they can say they memorized the Bible verses. If it doesn't take root and change their life, it has done them no good.

(18:34):

Moving on to Joe Rogan. He recently just this week called for Jesus to return and he kind of pointed out in his little podcast that he was doing, of course, that the world in his summation was getting worse and worse and terrible stuff is going everywhere. So Jesus, if you're returning, now would be a good time.

(18:54):

Well, the problem is, is that Jesus is already here. He has already come and then He gave his people His saints a job, to go through and to seek the lost sheep, to disciple the nations, to live godly lives in a evil-influenced world. Once again, the end will not come. The angels do not come and take the reaping until the time comes where the tares have fully grown, the wheat has fully grown, and then the angels will come and separate the tares from the wheat.

(19:30):

The world is operating exactly the way it should. It is on time and it is cooking exactly the way Christ wants it to. It's not out of control and Christ does not need to return until the cake is done. But right now, your job is to get out there and get busy, living a godly life and teaching people the Gospel, to repent of their sins and to obey God.

(19:59):

I want to jump now into the media concept that I wanted to touch on, a movie called The Island, which I had never watched. When I did, went to became one of my favorite movies of all time, and there is a scene at the end of the movie.

(20:14):

To set the stage, the whole movie is about a organization, a company that grows people. So basically they grow people outside of a womb. They have a kind of artificial womb. They still have to use egg and seed from people, and they genetically modify those to kind of create a personal clone of a client.

(20:35):

These clones can be then grown and then utilized for anything they want. So if their client, another person purchases this type of thing, they can then harvest it if they need a lung, a kidney or anything else that they have their own source of duplicate body parts, you could say.

(20:51):

Well, all the clients think that these investments, you could say, are basically a bag of jelly, but they're not. They actually grow up and they're people, full-fledged people. But, of course, they don't call them people. They call them agnates. And, of course, because they've now relabeled them, they are now no longer human and killing these people, chopping them up for their parts is no longer bad.

(21:16):

Now, the movie does a wonderful job of drawing the comparison to what we have done in the United States and around the world in the abortion movement and push. If we don't call it a child, then it's not real. We're going to call it a fetus so it's not a person. They were doing it and this person was fully grown and they just reclassified it as not person. Therefore, it made it okay. It justified murder.

(21:43):

The show goes on during this one interview at the end where one of the characters is confronting a scientist, and he said, "I, myself, and my brother during wartimes were branded and people were supposed to now know that we were non-persons." And then he had also been in war. And then he asked the man, he says, "War, however, once you understand it, it's kind of a business," and asks him, "When did killing become a business for you?"

(22:10):

This is also very important to understand the abortion movement because it is a business, killing. But that's not the rub. The rub is what they hope to do by doing all this. The scientist was taking these bodies and they were researching. They're trying to do stuff with it. What was the goal? To overcome death. Their goal was to find a way to reverse the curse, or at least to find an escape door, be able to cure leukemia, to be able to outlive the normal lifetime or maybe even to live forever, God-like powers. The scientist saw himself as the giver of life.

(22:53):

And these right here are the main problems with man. We want to reclassify human life and can call one person human and not human. We also do it politically as well. They view these things like killing other people as a business, profitable. Also, they can try to be masters of life and overcomers of death.

(23:17):

See, man's dream of escaping God's curse and living on his own terms is a stillborn ambition that can never be achieved. And man's dream of escaping his limitations as a creature created by God equally is a dream that will forever remain out of reach.

(23:37):

We are God's creatures and, as saints, one of our jobs is to proclaim that concept. Fallen man will forever be at war with God, and he can only live in terms of his rebellion against God. It is our job to make sure that we live in terms of our obedience to God versus the disobedience to God.

(24:03):

It's a very important concept, something that we must proclaim to others, but mostly to live in terms of it ourselves. If we don't do that, then there's no hope for us to affect the future, to disciple anybody else. Because if we don't believe it ourselves, how is it that we can help anyone else?

(24:27):

Well, thank you for joining me for this episode of The Last Kingdom, We Fight Not Against Flesh and Blood. Please remember your faith, your family and the future. This is Jeremy Walker signing off.