By Tom Stephens

The Coming War

From Tom Stephens

The historic humiliation of the church was allowed so that we can identify with the Lord in His humiliation. Like Him, the church is also destined for a great exaltation, but we must never forget that it is by His grace.

“Thus He will sprinkle many nations, kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand” (Isaiah 52:15).

The Lord Jesus is about to touch all nations with the power of His blood. The coming exaltation of Jesus will be so great that even those who have not heard the gospel presented clearly before will understand it.

“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20).

And during this coming time of great darkness, the glory of the Lord will shine brighter than ever. The retreat of the church has reached its limit. Now the advance will begin. It will gain momentum until the whole world takes notice. She will march resolutely to the field of battle. The ultimate conflict between light and darkness is now upon us. It’s time to put on our strength. True holiness as the arm (power) of the Lord is about to be revealed. Even nature will quake and shudder as a witness that the foundations of heaven and earth are moving in opposite directions. Our God has prevailed and our victory is assured. This is the time to be bolder than we have ever been (Acts 4:24-30). There is no turning back! Don’t believe? Church, where is our faith?

Satan’s ultimate goal is to populate hell: His strategy is to bring every human conflict to a violent confrontation, which results in as much death and destruction as possible. Just as Jesus was sent to destroy the works of the devil, we, the church, have been sent into the world with this same commission. As one of Satan’s ultimate goals is to spread death by war, believers are sent forth as peacemakers to thwart his strategy. The ultimate battle between life and death is about to enter its last and greatest battle.

It will rage from one end of the earth to the other, in every city and town, on every social, philosophical, and political front. A time is coming when every debate, every political campaign, every social movement will be seen as a battle line between these ultimate spiritual forces. There will be no neutral ground, no truces, and no peace in this war. This will be both the most dangerous and the most opportune time for Christianity as peacemaker since the beginning. Our battles are fought in love and the power and might of the Most High God. Many will come to Him.

The ultimate goal of the church is to populate heaven: Our weapon─the gospel of salvation, the words of everlasting life. The church is now ready to arise. It will be sudden. One day still sleeping...the next alert and full of the power of the Lord. She is about to be given the words of life with greatly increased power. These words will be spiritual bombs and hand grenades with the power to destroy even the most effective strongholds of the enemy. Individual statements spoken by Christians will be able to unravel the intricate webs of deception that the enemy has taken years to weave. Single public statements made by Christians will invalidate the enemy’s propaganda built upon multiplied thousands of books, articles and statements over many years of time.

This power is not gained cheaply. Those who are given this authority will be those who have learned to be bondservants of Christ. Giving all, they have faithfully waged their own war against their own tongues, bringing them into submission to the Holy Spirit. They will have spent years waging war against their own wayward thoughts, bringing them all under subjection to Christ. Pure waters must come from pure wells. The purity of our own lives will dictate whether or not the waters of life can flow through us, as is written:

“Watch over your heart with all diligence,

for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

Blessings from: