Hot Topic 2
LESSON UNLOCKED “IN THE SPIRIT” BY THE SPIRIT
Read 1 Corinthians 2:10-16
As was already stated, this that I am preparing to share is not discernable by a carnal mind, because it is taught by the Holy Spirit.
In the written Word of God, we are given the mind of Christ. We already looked at New Testament scriptures to see what God’s Word says about our fighting one another. Now we are going to look at what God’s Word reveals to us about how God feels about our fighting one another by considering TWO WITNESSES from the Old Testament scriptures.
WITNESS ONE
In Judges 19-20, there is found a story that sheds light on how God feels about the attitude/motives of those who bear arms as it relates to administering justice for a criminal act. Here is the study I did several years ago that lets us know that God examines our motives, and how He feels about our motives towards one another.
Hint: Remember that God will correct HIS House first before He corrects the world, so this lesson is not about the wrongs that others do that God will judge. Instead, what is being addressed is our hearts and motives.
Click this link to view the video:
Judges 19-20
The 11 tribes of Israel were ready to serve justice for the criminal behavior that caused the death of the woman. But something curious happens. Though the 11 tribes of Israel asked God first who should go up against the tribe of Benjamin, and even though God said that the tribe of Judah was to go up first, God still allowed no one from the tribe of Benjamin to be disciplined and thousands from the 11 tribes to be slaughtered. Why?
When I tell you I studied this a lot and sat before the Lord about it until I was shown that it was the attitude of the Israelites that was wrong. The attitude of the Israelites is the same attitude of those who today desire to bear arms against flesh and blood.
WITNESS TWO:
God’s Word says that at the mouth of two or three witnesses, every matter is to be firmly established. So here is a second witness to how God feels about taking up arms against one another.
In 2 Chronicles chapters 15-16, we learn of Asa, King of Judah. He pretty much started off as a good king, until…
Click the link to hear about the faulty alliance he made with another nation to go up against his brothers the Israelites and how God felt about that.
King ASA’s Judgment 2 Chronicles 16
As many go back and forth in trying to justify the right to bear arms and as you notice I spent a lot of time dealing with the Sword of the Spirit, what tends to be missed is the attitude and motives that fuel one’s desire to bear arms. That attitude, one’s passionate emotions behind their “why”, is the very zeal that Jesus was saying to sell, to get rid of.
One of the things that we all forget, is that we are all related. We are all brothers and sisters in that we are all the children of ADAM, the first man. In addition to that, as we begin to learn about King Jesus and believe in him, regardless of how strong we are in faith at that moment, when we choose Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we all become related, in Christ.
So in the first video, you saw two siblings in Christ, fighting in the church. In the second video, you saw blood relatives ready to kill their own brother and God dealing with that incorrect attitude. In the third video, you saw a king hire a stranger to come against his brother.
The attitude behind wanting to take up arms as a defense is wrong for two reasons. First, because God said vengeance is HIS and we are to yield place to the wrath. Second, because God tells us that our warfare is not against flesh and blood, so the minute we go to fight against one another we have already lost the battle. Here is a third reason why it is wrong. That desire to murder is not of God.
Who does the Bible tell us comes to kill?
Please proceed to Module 9, Lecture 6 Hot Topic 3
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