An audio pondering by James Dale Coldiron ( FireStorm on the Warriors of God forums )

Click here to listen to the RealPlayer audio teaching.

The email story that has been passed around in one fashion or another:
I was walking across a bridge recently. I spied this fellow who looked like he was ready to jump off. So, I thought I’d try to stall him until the authorities showed up. “Don’t jump!” I said. “Why not?” he said. “Nobody loves me.”

“God loves you,” I said. “You believe in God, don’t you?”   “Yes, I believe in God,” he said.
“Good,” I said. “Are you Christian or Jewish?”   “Christian,” he said.
“Me, too!” I said. “Protestant or Catholic?”   “Neither,” he said.
“What then?” I said.   “Baptist,” he said.
“Me, too!” I said. “Independent Baptist or Southern Baptist?”   “Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Me, too!” I said. “New Evangelical/Moderate Independent Baptist or Conservative Independent Baptist?”   “Conservative Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Me, too!” I said. “Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist or Lose-Your-Salvation Armenian Conservative Independent Baptist?”    “Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Me, too!” I said. “Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist or Historical Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist?”   “Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Me, too!” I said. “Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist or For Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist?”   “Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Me, too!” I said. “Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist or Strict Separation of Church and State Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist?”   “Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Me, too!” I said. “Pro-Disney Boycott Pro-Life Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist or Anti-Disney Boycott Pro-Choice Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist?”   “Pro-Disney Boycott Pro-Life Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Me, too!” I said. “KJV Only Pro-Disney Boycott Pro-Life Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist or Modern Versions Pro-Disney Boycott Pro-Life Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist?”   “MODERN VERSIONS Pro-Disney Boycott Pro-Life Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist” he said.

“Auugghh!!! You heretic!” I said. And I pushed him over.

- author unknown, but they were on the money -
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The first temptation is to laugh at this little story, until you start thinking about the very sharp truth in it.  Though most people would not be willing to push you off of a bridge for a little thing like reading the NIV or NAS instead of the KJV, you certainly get a some feeling from some that they might think about it sometimes.  See, there are things that divide the true family of God and get us into fighting our brothers and sisters in the Lord instead of resisting the devil.  There is a warfare that we are as the body of Christ to be involved in, but fighting our own side's army is not the right warfare.  Fighting another company of the Warriors of God just because they have a different flag... or denomination is not of God.  In fact, its kind of insane when you think about it.  There are people all around us dying without Jesus and going to a Hell that is very real, and many times the church is not reaching out to them... and not resisting the Devil... but instead are resisting ourselves.  For when you attack one part of the body, you hurt the entire body.
 

But there is a "right warfare" according to the Bible.  What does the Bible say that our warfare is with, and how are we to fight it?

Ephesians 6:10-12 " 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 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]. "

We are given powerful weapons, the armor of God. We are told to stand for the Lord in the evil day. We are given a warfare to fight, but who is it against, and who is it specifically not against?

It is against the fallen angelic powers and the demonic forces that are aligned against us and God. We are given spiritual weapons to fight against a spiritual enemy.

Who are we not to fight? FLESH AND BLOOD!

What kind of fight are we fighting? A spiritual one... in fact, it is a fight of faith... 1 Timothy 6:11-12 " 11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. "

It is a fight of faith. Now, we are called into a spiritual warfare when we are born again... we have been called out of darkness into the light of Jesus Christ, and we are called to resist the devil.

1 Peter 5:5-9 " 5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all [of you] be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world."

We are to resist stedfastly in the faith (that fight of faith again) the devil... he and his forces (principalities and powers and rulers and hosts of wicked spirits in the air) are to be resisted by the spiritual weapons that God has given us. We are to stedfastly resist... fight the good fight of faith.

BUT I PUT IT TO YOU THAT MANY IN THE BODY OF CHRIST ARE NOT FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH BECAUSE THEY ARE BUSY FIGHTING ONE ANOTHER!

Notice that in 1 Peter, we are told to humble ourselves to one another, and especially humble ourselves to God... that God will give grace to the humble, but resist the proud. We are not to be fighting and bickering amongst ourselves, but instead loving and preferring one another in the Lord in humility. That goes along with resisting the Devil.

I believe with all of my heart that demons and fallen angels have a good time at our expense when we try to "demonize" our brothers and sisters in the Lord because they go to a church with a different name or believe a little differently about this or that. When we as the family of God are fighting one another and rejecting one another in PRIDE, then the enemy is not resisted at all. In fact, we are playing the devil's game ourselves when we do that.

Lets understand something very quickly. Denominations and the labels that we like to stamp on people are 'MAN-MADE'. They are only good for separating the people of God.

I won't be able to touch on everything that I need to this first go around, but I will finish this in parts so please have patience with me. But there are many times that people are born again by the same Spirit... through faith in the same Lord Jesus Christ... but they "think" that their enemies are the Baptists or the Pentecostals or the Nazarenes or the Methodists down the road. Satan has so polluted their minds with devisive tradition, that they think that their own little group is the only one that is really saved. And many times, preachers will preach false doctrine fighting the church down the road, when the truth is that both churches have people in it that are saved and on their way to Heaven.

How embarrassing it will be for some when they find themselves in Heaven with others that they looked down upon... there by the same grace that they arrived by. Then again, if you stand in too much judgment, it might be debatable if you are really born again yourself. Because, if you go too far with that... then you are operating outside of the love of God... and judging others... and then that verse Jesus gave us becomes applicable about us being judged by the same judgment that we judged others. OUCH!

1 John 2:9-11 " 9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. "

Hmmmm... when we let denominational prejudices take hold of us to where we hate those in such and such a church... then we are in darkness still. We basically need to be really born again, because we are not walking in the love of God that is the hallmark of really being saved. It is ironic that some who judge so severely others in other churches for their differences to the point of hating them... they might find themselves in Hell with all of their religiosity, while those that they judged were truly born again. Hatred is darkness, and it tends to blind people from seeing the truth.

See...
Ephesians 4:1-6 " 1I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 [There is] one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who [is] above all, and through all, and in you all. "

The truth is that there is one Spirit... one Lord... one faith...
as long as we get the fundamentals of salvation right and we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ... we will be saved. And if you and I are saved, then what difference is the label that is stuck on us? We are family brought by the same faith into the same body of Christ. There is no division in the true body of Christ. There is one body... joined by the same Holy Spirit and the same love of God. It is one of Satan's most powerful tools to get our eyes off of this simple truth and onto people's differences to bring discord and division. See, we are to endeavor to win the lost to the same faith... and we could do so much more of there was "real" fellowship among those who are Christians no matter what label we have stamped on us. If we sought God and repented and reached out in love to one another... then worked together under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, then God would use us to turn this world upside down for Jesus Christ... it would tear Satan's kindgom of darkness into shreds. But it will never happen as long as we walk in discord among ourselves.

There are differences sometimes in the understanding level of believers, which many times will lead us into this church or the other. But, its like the illustration that Pastor Arnold Martin gave ( you can find it at www.wordtoyou.org ) one time a number of years ago in one of his "From a Pastor's Heart" newspaper articles.

He said that if you go to buy a car, and the car has wheels and a battery and oil and an engine and a steering wheel and brakes and an electrical system and seats, then it is a car. Some cars might have a stereo and others a cd player and others air conditioning and this other one manual steering, etc. Those are differences, but if it has the fundamentals... the body and engine and wheels and gas, etc., then it is a car and will run like a car and is useful. In the same way, some of us are blue and others red... some have A/C, and others roll the window down in the heat. In our walk with God... there are differences in this or that belief sometimes because we aren't all on the same level of understanding. But if we get the fundamentals... grace, the blood of Jesus Christ... faith.. repentance... then we are born again Christians no matter what label is stuck on us.

Those who have the fundamentals... those who believe the Bible and have come into the same faith of Jesus Christ are Christians just like you and me. They might believe differently about last days issues or spiritual gifts, etc. But they are saved the same way, and we don't need to fight them... but love them... and try to reach the lost for Jesus with them.

We will talk next time about those who do not have the fundamentals, and the difference that is there... and also, the unity of the Holy Spirit.

Until then, may God bless you in your journey in Jesus Christ's name.

Jim Coldiron