Article: The Age of Christian Offense -- The Scheme of the Devil Reinforced by the NAR

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And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. -- Acts 19: 8-10 (ESV)

The Bible warns us to not be ignorant of the schemes of the devil and he has many that he employs against the church. One of the more powerful and successful schemes he uses is that of Christian offense. Let's take a step back for a moment and realize the grand plan God has for His Gospel. We know that the Gospel is the only thing that has the power of God unto the salvation of man, which means without it being preached no one gets saved. When Paul says goodbye to the Ephesian elders he declare himself innocent of their blood because he did not hesitate to proclaim to them the entire Gospel. You cannot water it down, sugar it up, make it purpose driven or seeker friendly without changing it. This is why the Bible teaches us that there are other gospels and other christs and that we can believe in vain. The result can be found in Matthew 7 when people stand before Jesus and exclaim -- Lord Lord -- only to hear Him say He never knew them.

So the devil has schemes to undermine the Gospel. From the world, he orchestrates the movement of science against biblical truths. If he can poke one hole into Scripture then the entire canon falls to wayside. This is why it often seems that the world is enamored with proving the Bible false. The literal six day creation is impossible. The earth cannot be 6000 years old. Evolution is the gospel truth of mankind. These are all designed to undermine the credibility of the Bible and thus corrupt the message of the Gospel. The second scheme in this realm is to have the church itself destroy the Gospel. The biggest satanic affront to the real Gospel is the purpose driven church movement. This combined with the seeker friendly theories of church growth alter the true Gospel and replace it with a forgery that cannot save anyone. Preaching devoid of sin and repentance is not the Gospel. God wants you rich is not the Gospel. Speaking things into existence is not the Gospel. False signs and lying wonders are not the Gospel. Only the true Gospel can save someone. While these two flanks of the devil's schemes seem to work in concert together, he mixes another one in brilliantly. What if the devil could get the church to loathe the very people that we are supposed to deliver the Gospel to? Jesus warned us against this:

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. -- Matthew 5: 43-48 (ESV)

The truth is we barely like the people who sit next to us in church let alone the "heathen" world we despise so quickly. Remember that the Bible teaches us that they are blind, sheep without a shepherd and think the things of God are foolishness! In response we mock them for their blindness, think they should find their own way, and curse them for their foolishness. And the devil laughs for he has found no more eager a partner in discrediting the Gospel than the very church charged with delivering it to the lost. The vehicle the devil uses against the church in this country is known as Christian offense. Before we get into some examples, let us first turn to the verity of Scripture to guide our discussion:

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. -- 1Peter 3: 14-17 (ESV)

We already know we are to love the unlovable but these verses delve right into the sticky question of Christian offense. We are called to suffer for righteousness sake. We provide our reason for hope with gentleness and respect. We must have a clear conscience for when the world attacks us for doing right, they will be shamed for it and no harm will come to the cause of Christ. For it is better to suffer for doing good. Yet our human nature is the opposite and the Bible tells a great story for illustrating this very point:

Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?"But He turned and rebuked them,and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them." And they went to another village. -- Luke 9: 51-56 (NKJV)

The church has become like the Sons of Thunder on that day in Samaria. When the world does not receive the things of God, we want to call down fire from heaven to consume them. The reality is that we do not know what manner of Spirit we are. We are not react as the world does with the spirit of offense but rather as the Holy Spirit would want. Jesus did not come to destroy lives but to save them. It is hard to remember the manner of Spirit we are when our churches are corrupted not only by the purpose driven industrial complex but by the teachings of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). The NAR believes in the seven mountains mandate, which teaches that the church must conquer the seven mountains of culture in order to facilitate the second coming of Christ. So they believe we must fight against the world and the culture of the world to turn it into a Christian utopia or theocracy. For example, they fight for the infiltration of education, entertainment and government by Christian operatives. This is also known as dominionism and the NAR loves it.

We must understand the reason why beloved. NAR dominionism is rooted in a love of this world. The cult of personality preachers and leaders revel in their position and wealth they make off of the body of Christ. They do not want this world to end or to be judged because they like the sin and excess. It is very similar to the Pharisee system in that they had all of the power and control of the religious world. People venerated them. So when this upstart from Galilee started preaching against the system and for the Word of God they wanted to kill Him. Similarly, the NAR seeks to kill any dissent against their status quo. They rile up the Christian base against any perceived offense from the world. The result is that Christians often loathe the very people they are supposed to preach the Gospel to. Case in point is the example of Joy Behar. Before we get to Ms. Behar however consider these four quotes:

"We have failed to realize that Jesus founded the Women's Liberation Movement"

"The parables of the minas, talents and lost coin. Jesus talked more about money than any other single thing in the parables"

"Wealth is light in the darkness, healing in sickness, prosperity in poverty, wholeness in brokenness, favor in obscurity, love for the unlovely, beauty for ashes, and victors among victims."

"How would you like to have a relationship with God where prayer is an interchange with Him, and the outcomes are a homogenization of His will with your will?"

These are four horrifically heretical quotes from the same false teacher, given in four different teachings, in the past month alone. Kris Vallotton operates out of Bethel Church, one of the most egregious cesspools of false teaching infecting the body today. If you have not heard about these teachings perhaps it is because the body spent the last month railing against Joy Behar. The host of the talk show "The View"; Behar was speaking about the reports that Mike Pence not only prays to God but hears from Him as well, audibly. Now as believers, we know that God can speak audibly and also recognize that Pence may have been referring to hearing from Him through Scripture. To the world, and thus Behar, hearing voices is akin to mental illness. She was not incorrect in that summation as it is known as auditory hallucinations. We certainly do not expect someone without the Holy Spirit to discern spiritual matters:

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