Heavy, Deep & Real ministries

Yesterday I was blessed to preach at my church which I always love to do when the pastor takes a break. The week before his message was about the ABCs of having an exceptional 2024. His points were as follows:

A – Accept Responsibility for Yourself

B – Believe You Can Change 

C – Clarify Your Priorities

D – Don’t Wait; Begin Now

Very solid sermon that challenged the congregation to approach the coming year with being responsible for yourself, transforming your life into the likeness of Christ, ensuring your priorities of Godly and Biblical, and not waiting until everything is perfectly lined up to start in that you give up the good for the perfect. 

As I sat listening, I thought to myself that is all well and good but it’s not as easy as it sounds! You see, the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak and given that truth we know that Satan will attack us to keep us from having an exceptional 2024. If you assume that things will go swimmingly for you just because you are Godly and striving to be Christ-like you may be in for a very big surprise! 

A couple days after that sermon I was reading an article I think on a site called the Irregular Warfare Network or something like this and they had an excerpt from a book by Sean McFate called The New Rules of War – How America Can Win Against Russia, China, and Other Threats. 

McFate’s premise was right on target: America is always preparing to fight the last war and has low strategic IQ while our enemies are preparing for the next war and using the weapons of the information age against us! As I was reading this – and no kidding this happened – the Holy Spirit said, “Replace America with Christian and Russia/China with Satan.” I did and was stunned! Doing so laid bare Satan’s battle plan against the Christians to a T. 

Like America, Christians are still fighting the last war believing we are the dominant culture and shaking our collective finger at the world of sinners warning them they better get on board the Christian train or be run over! 

Our enemy, however, is fighting with tools for the next war. As McFate puts it, these tools include:

• Hyper-Information and the Reframing of Truth
• Rupturing Society from the Inside Out
• Waging War that is Disguised as Peace
• Lawfare – using the law against the opponent

I shared with my congregation that Satan is not only going to oppose you in your quest to have an exceptional 2024, he is going to war against you to try to kill you. He’s going to use asymmetrical and irregular warfare against you and right now you are not aware of his tactics so as he prowls around like a lion looking for someone to devour, you are an easy target. 

Yeah, I know – I’m just a ray of sunshine! 

But there is a reason! If you turn to Ezekial 33 and read verses 6-8 you will see that God calls some of us to the explicit job of Watchman. God tells us that we are to warn the people of impending danger. The scripture reads as follows: 

6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’

7 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for[a] their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.

Do you see that? If the watchman doesn’t warn the people their sin is on their head but their blood is on the watchman’s hand. 

Friends, I am a watchman. God has given me the gift of exhortation and I do everything I can to warn people in truth and grace and as lovingly as I am capable. I take this responsibility so seriously because I am going to have a meeting with Jesus down the road and I don’t want Him to rebuke me for not warning people when He has given me the information! So, this blog is a warning about how Satan is going to attack you in the coming year! 

A guy by the name of John Ritenbaugh completely nailed it when he explained who Satan is and what he is doing to us:

“We have been the unwitting slaves of an invisible, perversely intelligent, deceitful, powerful, and heartless master who is the god of this world (II Corinthians 4:4). He has created cultures with ways of life appealing to our self-centered natures. He stimulates our spirit through corrupt music, literature, art, and religion. He diverts our attention from more important concerns of life by means of entertainment with erotic visual and auditory impact. He has enslaved our minds by appealing to the desires of the flesh and of the eyes and the pride of life (I John 2:16) almost from the time we were born. He confuses us by hiding or shading the truth, denying absolutes, distorting reality, emphasizing vanity, and making available such a spectrum of opinions that disagreement is the standard operational feature of life. He pits us in competition against each other and makes us feel defensive, insecure, and untrusting.”

With that as our backdrop, let me share with you Satan’s Asymmetrical Battle Plan.

Hyper-Information and Epistemology 

There are four areas where Satan is using the information age and the twisting of truth to corrupt our thinking and make us question God’s word. 

1. Woke Ideology in the Mass Media
2. Misinformation and Disinformation
3. Redefining Truth as a Relative Construct
4. Information Overload

Woke Ideology in the Mass Media

Satan is using companies such as Disney, the various social media platforms, and pretty much everyone in Hollywood to normalize sin. Now here’s the thing: We the created beings don’t get to define what sin is or isn’t. Only God can do that. However, in his rebellion against God, Satan perverts God’s absolute moral laws and works to convince us that God is wrong and that you’re personal choice is right. Just like with Eve in the Garden of Eden when Satan asks Eve, “Did God really say…?” Satan asks us, “Did God really say…?” making us question God’s moral authority, His goodness, and His love for us. 

You see it everywhere from TV shows, to commercials, to blockbuster movies. Sin is glorified no matter where you turn! And I’m not talking just about the LGBTQ-LMNOP stuff. I’m talking about violence and hate and dissention and racism and misogyny, and sexualization, and cussing, and even witchcraft and demonology are applauded by our audiences. And those of us who object are called various names meant to marginalize us from “civilized” society. 

You will see more and more of this coming in the new year – you won’t be able to escape Satan’s grip on the culture and the new heights it will reach in depravity. 

Misinformation/Disinformation

In today’s AI and social media world, how in the world do we know what is true? I have to read like five different news sites plus social media to figure out if one given story has any fact to it at all. You can’t take anything at face value because it is either misinformation (spin toward a particular slant) or outright disinformation (fake news – lies). 

Satan is the prince of confusion and he is using the media to warp our minds. They did a study about Twitter and found that people’s Twitter feeds only contain people with whom they agree. Nobody is being influenced by anything because everyone lives in an echo chamber that most likely is full of spin and fake news. 

It’s clear how Satan uses this – by putting out false information about the church, Jesus, the Trinity, creation, et al, Satan molds minds in such a way as to get people to not just walk away from God but to openly rebel against Him.

A study by the Barna Group showed that the latest generation (Gen Z) has only 4 percent of their group attending church. FOUR PERCENT!!! With the advent of the Internet and social media, Satan has captured an entire generation! 

Redefining Truth as a Relative Construct

There’s a new phrase out there that drives me absolutely bananas! It’s this: “Tell your truth!” Tell your truth??? You don’t have a truth! There is only one truth and that is Jesus! The Bible is the only truth. Yet, Satan has convinced people that truth is relative; the Bible is A truth not The truth. If someone has a different truth we must be tolerant of that truth and accept it even when it contradicts scripture. 

It’s actually a brilliant ploy by Satan. 

If there is no truth than there is no God. All is permissible and the ideas of good and evil, heaven and hell, holy and unholy, sin, redemption, salvation, and the rest no longer apply. Why? Because my truth is valid no matter what that truth is! So, Christians look like ogres when we tell people there is an absolute truth and someone else’s truth is actually rebellion against God! 

What Satan hopes to accomplish is to bully weak Christians into equivocating and it’s worked as we’ve seen watching churches go apostate, Christian embrace the culture, and younger generations reject the faith. 

Information Overload

I had a mentor when I first got into politics that taught me that to get someone of your tail blind them with paperwork. Just bury them! It works because they either don’t have time to go through it all or they get lost in all the details and can’t find the substantive information! 

Well, Satan is no dummy – he uses the same tactic. There is so much information out there right now that most don’t even know where to start! 

I teach at a small Christian university and I am completely amazed at how incompetent the students are at research. The entire world is at their fingertips via Google yet they seemingly only use Google to find out the latest on Taylor Swift! It’s just too much information out there for them and they can’t discern what is useful and what is not even for a term paper!

My wife thinks the Internet is of the Devil! Personally, I think it is like everything else: depends who is using it and how they are using it. There is plenty of evil on it no doubt. But there are good thing about it as well – mostly being able to keep up with family and friends who are miles and even continents away. Plus, I evangelize like crazy on it!! But I have to agree that it is information overload.

I know a lot of people who have just checked out – they don’t do social media, read the papers, or anything – it’s just too negative and too much. Satan LOVES that! You are in the dark where he wants you! 

Others are so highly engaged that they are addicted to their phones and Satan LOVES that because you are too busy staring at your screen to do anything for the Lord! 

It’s a win-win for him!

Rupture Society from the Inside Out

The second tactic Satan is using as we speak is to rupture society from the inside out – particular Christian society!

Did you see that Pope Francis decreed that the Catholic Church can now perform same-sex unions? That is going to blow the church wide open!! 

You see, the Pope has quietly been defrocking priests who have disagreed with his progressive social-gospel agenda. Apparently, he believes that he has the support to change 2,000 years of Catholic doctrine not to mention Biblical commands by God! There is going to be a huge schism in the church over this and Satan is just sitting back laughing! 

McFate tells us in his book that to rupture society from the inside out you simply find an existing divide in a culture and exploit it with misinformation/disinformation and then grab the popcorn and watch the sides destroy each other! Well, Satan does this extremely well with the Christian church!

1 Timothy 4:12 warned us: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”

Satan ruptures the church in other ways, one of which is the nominal Christian movement! 

There are about 2.3 billion Christians in the world but I would venture to say that only 20 percent (and I’m being incredibly generous) are sold out for the Lord. The rest are nominals. What is a nominal Christian? I’m glad you asked!

A nominal Christian is one who at some point – probably while a child – went to church, accepted Jesus as their personal savior, was baptized, and even went to bible camps. However, as they aged they stopped going to church, they stopped reading the Bible, they stopped praying regularly, and pretty much run their lives like everyone else. Their lives are not transformed; they look nothing like Jesus. They don’t do ministry, they don’t evangelize, and they all think they’re going to heaven because they are “Christian” and are good people. 

Satan LOVES the nominals! You know why? They don’t do anything for the Kingdom of God! He doesn’t have to worry about them because they are of no threat to him whatsoever. In fact, he loves them so much he works to make more of them! 

His tactic is twofold: First, make the church look as if it is full of nuts who you would never want to be like more or less hangout with. Second, he convinces the nominals that they don’t need church, the Bible, prayer, fellowship, accountability, or any of that stuff to be “spiritual.” Just be spiritual on your own and you’ll be fine! Both, of course, are lies from the father of lies but they are good lies! Sometimes the church is full of crazies that make us look silly to the outside. And you can believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior outside of the church. But that is only a half-truth. The whole truth is we are called to be together, worship together, share together, encourage one another, hold each other accountable, grow together, and transform together. All things Satan hates. 

Denominations

Yeah, I’m going to say it: Denominations are a device of the Devil! 

Think about it: There are more than 45,000 Christian denominations worldwide and more than 200 in America alone! Yet, there is one Jesus, one Bible, One Trinity, One Creator, One God. How in the world can you screw that up? 

Satan got involved and started whispering that the laws of man outweigh the truth of God! Some now believe that if you were sprinkled as a child in baptism you truly weren’t baptized and aren’t going to heaven. Others believe if a woman wears pants to church she is Beelzabub! Still others believe that dancing is okay while others believe dancing leads to sex so it’s not okay. Where did all this crap come from? Not the Bible I’ll tell you that! 

No, Satan got his hooks into people to use the BIble to control other people. And where he has been most successful is in the dichotomy of truth versus grace.

We have our “truth” churches – legalistic, fundamental, controlling, which use scripture to keep people from acting out in ways the leaders see as unbiblical. So, you can’t dance, women can’t preach or wear pants, women must be submissive to men, children must obey everything their parents say. Teachings are about obedience and punishment. 

The “grace” churches, on the other hand, preach love, tolerance, acceptance, social gospel concepts of care and service, and basically a doctrine of live and let live. 

Both are wrong. Jesus taught us truth AND grace not truth or grace. Both these churches deviate from scripture by preaching a partial gospel either righteousness without love, or grace without holiness. And Satan laughs because both use their doctrines to lord it over people exactly like Jesus told His disciples not to do. 

When seekers see this nonsense they are turned off from that faith and who can blame them! 

War Disguised as Peace

This is the one that Satan uses the most today! And he’s VERY good at it. The reality is this: Christians don’t even know they are in a war with Satan so not only don’t they fight back, they just go about their lives glibly without any concern whatsoever not even recognizing the spiritual battle they’re in. Satan wins these battles regularly. Let me show you how. 

All Paths Lead to God

This is a particularly sexy lie Satan uses to lure people away from the one true God.

Wouldn’t it be nice if this were true! All paths lead to our God so everyone has a chance to know God! But it’s not true. In fact, Jesus tells us plainly that the only way to the Father is through the Son – very intolerant of Him wouldn’t you say! 

The truth is this: All other faiths are of Satan and only those who follow Jesus are correct. 

The comedian Ricky Gervais addressed this in a really snarky way I appreciated. He said, “There have been nearly 3,000 gods so far but only your actually exists. The others are silly made up nonsense. But yours, yours is real.” 

Yes, mine is and here’s is why!

All other religions require salvation by your own hand while Christianity recognizes that there is no way for us to get to a GOD so God comes for us reconciling us through His Son. 

Think about it! All other religions require you to have special knowledge, work your way to god, to appease the gods, have enlightenment of some sort, serve the gods the right way, wear special underwear, be part of a special group, or have a unique spiritual awakening based on your own actions. 

Do you see the connection? It’s the word YOU. Our faith is focused on God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Without the Trinity I am nothing. All other religions are focused on you and what you have to do. That’s what makes them a religion and not a relationship which Christianity is! Jesus is our friend who died for His friends out of love. 

So, yeah, Ricky Gervais, my faith is the only true one because it is uniquely true and all the other gods are of Satan. 

Now you may be thinking, “Tom, does that even mean Judaism? (You all already know Islam is of Satan and why, right?)” Yes, today’s rabbinical Judaism is from Satan I’m afraid to say. 

Let me go down that rabbit trail for a moment.

As Christians we know that we are grafted into Biblical Judaism – Scripture is clear on that! (Romans 11:17). I don’t think Jesus meant for followers of Him as the true Messiah of His people create an entire new religion! We are people of the Book! We abide by the absolute laws of Moses as given to Him by God Himself. As Gentiles we are accepted into the faith through Christ who came for “His people” not the gentiles. 

But, as you know, His people – the Jews – rejected Him and do so to this day. We know that there will be a remnant of His people who are saved in the end times who recognize Him as the true messiah as some through the history of the church have. But today we don’t have Judaism of the BIble we have something else.

When the temple fell in 70 AD as Jesus prophesied, temple worship ended. And rightfully so because Jesus was the perfect and final sacrifice for sin. In the temple’s place, Jewish rabbis asked the Romans if they could open rabbinical schools. The Romans agreed and thus began the era of Rabbinical Judaism – Judaism not necessarily based on Torah but on Rabbinical thought – the Talmuds (Babylonian and Jerusalem), Midrash (commentary), and other man-made documents. Rabbinical Judaism is what is practiced today and while based on Torah it is not Torah – it is not the inspired word of God; it is man’s interpretation of God’s word. 

A guy by the name of Telushkin explained that because the Law was given to the Jews the Jews are the ones with the right to interpret it and thus their interpretation is a valid. 

Wow – right? How could that ever go sideways! 

This is why Jews don’t really quote scripture they instead quote their sages. And Satan LOVES when men worship at the foot of men instead of God. Jesus called this out in His day (see Mark 7:1-9) and we have to call it what it is in our day. Satan has convinced the Jews to follow the traditions of men not God. 

Okay, so back to the topic – all paths don’t lead to God; only Jesus leads us to God the Father and now you know why.

All Good People Go to Heaven

This is another sexy lie by Satan. Again, we so want to believe this! We all know good people – really good people – who we believe should be in heaven based on how good they are. They are caring, empathic, giving, humble folks. You can always count on them and they seem more Christian than the Christians you know. Certainly they go to heaven, right?

Here’s the problem: Good people don’t go to heaven, saved people go to heaven.

And to be saved you have to recognize that you are a sinner – there are no good people only sinners – and as a sinner you need a savior because you cannot save yourself in front of a Holy God. 

Scripture is clear that all fall short of the glory of God and there is not one righteous not one!! Every single one of us is born in sin and has a sin nature making our default destination hell. God doesn’t send us to hell – we sin and cast ourselves there through our rebellion. Jesus died to save us from that giving us the free gift of grace through faith. 

Yet, Satan wants you to believe you get to heaven by rejecting the gift of grace and believing you’re good enough on your own. It’s a HUGE LIE!!! 

Why do so many people believe it? That’s easy: You don’t have to see the ugliness in yourself, your rebellion against God, and your need for help if you can buy the lie that you’re good enough. Thus, Satan convinces you that you don’t need Jesus to get to heaven because you’re all that and a bag of chips when in fact you’re going to be joining him in Hell for eternity which is what he wants all along. 

These two tactics of war disguised as peace are really good and are blinding millions of people to the horrible fate they are embracing. And if you happen to be someone who tries to warn them you are berated as an intolerant religious nut and they’ll try to cancel you or at least marginalize you. 

Lawfare

The last tactic Satan is using is called Lawfare – using the law to rebel against God. 

I know you saw where the LGBTQ-LMNOP folks sued a baker in Colorado for not baking them a a wedding cake. He won but is still being sued as they try to shut down his business.

How about the football coach who was fired for praying with those who wanted to after practice and games. He won too but lost everything during the fight. 

Perhaps you saw the lady in the UK (not Canada as I said on a video sermon) that was arrested for praying in her head in a buffer zone area by an abortion clinic. The Brits declared a “Public Space Protection Order” near the clinic to prevent antisocial behavior that “Includes but is not limited to graphic, verbal, or written mean, prayer, or counseling.” PRAYER is considered antisocial in England! 

Satan loves to use the law to stop God’s people. He did it to Daniel, he did it to the disciples, heck, he did it to Jesus in a fake trial. And Satan will do it to you. 

Already, laws are passed to normalize sin. Religious liberties are in danger because they now conflict with the legalization of sin causing a battle between 1st Amendment religious rights and 14th Amendment civil liberties. Watch for Satan to work to legalize more sin and to attack the church via legislation and court action. 

As I’ve laid this out it is really the perfect battle plan.

First you marginalize the message

Second you marginalize the messenger

Third you invalidate the message

Fourth you replace the message

I joked to my congregation that having worked in politics that I could neither confirm no deny I’ve ever used this plan. Truth be told I have and it works! 

The obvious question is what do we do about this battle? 

Unfortunately, most will sit on their hands and do nothing. Others will equivocate and try to appease the masses rather than be seen as intolerant and unloving. A handful will stand up and then sit right back down when they are attacked. A few will stand their ground and fight back. 

For those who want to fight back here is the battle plan we should use to counter Satan. The best defense is a good offense! 

1. Preach! God’s word never comes back empty! Throw that seed boldly – yeah, some will land on rocky soil, some will be eaten by the birds, some will wither once they sprout. But the seeds that take hold will produce a massive crop!! Never be shouted down. Preach no matter the cost!!
2. Suffer for Christ. We are no longer the dominant culture so we need to stop acting like we are. The church’s greatest growth happened when it was persecuted! We have to consider it pure joy to suffer many trials for Christ. We have to stop whining and acting like it’s something strange to be the minority voice. They will know you by your fruit so shine your light in these ever darkening times but stop whining! 
3. Believe. There are times when it is very tough to believe you’re making a difference for the kingdom. But we have to have faith that even the little things we do matter. You were purposely born in this generation to do the work God set before you. Don’t get discouraged, don’t get tired, don’t wimp out – keep going in faith that God is using you powerfully in this battle even if you don’t see it. 
4. Stand Firm. Don’t give an inch. No compromise, no equivocation, no backing down. God’s truth is TRUTH and it is better to stand before Jesus and explain why you held to it than to stand before Him and try to explain why you folded. We stand firm regardless of the cost. 

There you go – the battle plan is drawn up. Satan has already begun the fight and for many of you, you may just now be ready to engage in it. Others have been fighting the fight but have been feeling victimized due to being too passive in the battle. For some of you there is nothing new to be gained by this blog whatsoever! But no matter where you are, let’s Go!! Let’s get our battle rattle on and get into the fight because this spiritual war has eternal consequences!