The Church Is Born in Battle

“Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.” Josh. 1:3. This is how it has always been, right from the beginning of the church. We have no tradition of subjecting ourselves under people. Much has been written about the church recently. Many people say we are strong, and most of the things written have had only a positive effect, even though not everything the journalists write is correct. They are amazed by our enthusiastic young people, and they see that we finish what we start. We must stand with the young people and strengthen them and give them God’s Word so that they have power in their spirit. We have to have meetings so that they can be guided into their calling. Otherwise, they forget it. As time goes on, it gets into their blood, and then they become self-motivated.

Those who overcome gain respect. This is a law in the world of the Spirit. Not everyone likes our style, and that’s just fine. Nevertheless, we will stand firm and complete the task God has given us. Those who are used to fighting for the kingdom of God don’t start trembling in the bushes every time an embarrassing media wind starts blowing. Either we are the city on a hill or we are not. Those who belong to the city on the hill will never bow their knees to ungodly people. That brings respect! If you want to be a doormat, there are plenty of people who will wipe their feet on you, and if you want to be a donkey, there are many people who will ride on you. That was how Johan O. Smith experienced it and ex­pressed it.

All of us must be in that Spirit that causes us to do some­thing with our life—that Spirit is infectious, and soon every­one is motivated to work. God loves the Son, and the church is God’s gift of love to the Son. The world has a dark future, but the future of the church is extremely glorious. It is brighter than it has ever been. The church will live in glory right until the end. God will hide us in His tabernacle on the evil day, and then we will enter into eternal summer and an eternal life. If you believe this, you won’t have many dark days here on earth.

Johan O. Smith was not interested in the multitudes. He was only interested in those who were willing to become dis­ciples. He was a very good speaker, and he had great revela­tions, but he was not looking for great crowds. For the church to progress, our meetings must be driven inward to the Spirit, the water and the blood. Without this preaching, problems will quickly arise. We don’t have meetings to edify our feel­ings or our emotions. We have meetings for spiritual edifica­tion. We must personally live this life, so that the calling is living for us in our daily lives. Then we will also become en­thusiastic. This is the secret of all spiritual progress.

Naive, silly goodness shows that a person has not been trained to wage war. People want to be like that “nice, sweet” Jesus and bring all kinds of people into the church. Many times, you just have to speak very directly to people and help them fear God. Sometimes people will cross your path whom you should not waste time on. “Then His disciples came and said to Him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?’ But He answered and said, ‘Ev­ery plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall in a ditch.’” Matt. 15:12-14.

Obviously, blind leaders can only lead the blind. Those with sight see the way. If people are not willing to listen, you cannot do anything about that. If they desire something other than what we desire, we should not take care of them any­more. Let them go! If you want to be along, then hang on. If you don’t, just let go. A little rough treatment is quite appro­priate if we want to save young people and help others. Some people are extremists by nature and can develop into funda­mentalists with no love. They believe they are fighting for Jesus’ name’s sake. The truth is that they understand nothing of the gospel, even though they would gladly give their bodies to be burned for their faith. We must keep an eye on such unwholesomeness. Through all these years, the church has suffered because of people like this. Usually they come from the religious world but were discontent there, and they have not become content among us either.

Right from the beginning, because of the doctrine of Christ manifested in the flesh, we were very misjudged. It is reli­gious people who hate us. They are not interested in entering into a godly life. Therefore they hold firmly to their doctrine about being under the blood and that the promises will all be theirs when they die. By and large the entire religious world is in agreement with this understanding. The thing that was great about Jesus was that His spirit was never defiled by sin in the flesh. His spirit remained pure, and it gained all the life of the Father. Salvation is as high and complete as the fall is deep and total.

God constantly worked with Jesus. He was always obedi­ent, and He never complained or was bitter about the way God dealt with Him. Is. 53. He is the Master above every mas­ter! Paul’s goal was to attain to the resurrection from the dead. He ran as hard as he could and had faith that he could attain to it. He was extremely zealous when he got light. A tremendous work of salvation must have taken place in Paul. When we think of how he started out as a Pharisee, and when we read about the life that he came to and the revelations that God gave him, we must say that the fruit of his life is stagger­ing!

The church has never been a democracy. God places whomever He wants in the church, and all of us must submit to that. He is the one who gives gifts and ministries. The Mas­ter knows the disciple best; He sees his gifts and knows what he is able to do. The prophets know God best, and know what He likes. If we are in contact with God, everything will be good and secure. It will go well for those who obey their lead­ers, but anyone who despises and mocks those who are obedi­ent will not come to a good end. It goes badly for those who hold onto their own ideas and opinions and despise others. Often such people are taken captive by the world, and they disappear into earthly things. Be humble and thank God for what you have received grace for in life. Be careful what you say. There is One in heaven who is following along.

Our forerunners have stayed on the path of the laws of the Spirit of life—especially the laws of humility—their entire life­time. They have praised God that they have been disciples and have loved the brotherhood. As a result, they have remained in the race. If you hope to be reunited with these spiri­tual warriors and to see Jesus as He is, purify yourself even as He is pure! For the hope of the rapture to be living in our hearts, all arrogance, high-mindedness, pride and everything that has a taste of seeking our own must find its judgment and death. Some of those who served with Paul didn’t receive the honor they thought they deserved as servants of the Lord. It made them uneasy when their name was not mentioned or they were left out. This unrest comes from seeking your own. You must repent from such things if you want to become a useful servant of the Lord.

Godliness has tremendous consequences for you and for your family through many generations. God blesses through­out a thousand generations. Consider that a curse can come over you and your children for three or four generations if you sin. Therefore everyone must take sin extremely seri­ously, especially the sexual lusts. Because of these things, the wrath of God comes over the children of unbelief. So now and then, people need to be warned powerfully against these sins. This is very important. You can enjoy a relationship in your thought life, even though it doesn’t go any further than that. You can, for example, fall in love with somebody other than your spouse. That, of course, is unfaithfulness to your spouse. Then there is a lust in your heart that you have not put to death in faithfulness. Cut off such thoughts and fantasies, and love your spouse. Every man should be unspeakably thankful that he has received a good wife who has a good attitude of mind and who is willing to receive children.