Hi everyone! The concept, if not the experience, is familiar to many of us in one form or another. For example, in the movie “War Of The Worlds”, a Sci-fi movie about aliens invading the earth where the survival of the human race is at stake because the aliens are malicious, what’s the underlying emotion being tapped into? Fear. In the history of armed conflict which has invaded every culture of every era, what is the typical force that drives it? Fear. Kill or be killed. In arguments that infiltrate the peace whether between spouses, siblings, neighbors, or families (one famous example, the Hatfields and the McCoys), the war of words sends arrows through souls creating holes and broken bones alike, usually in the atmosphere of tension, anger and fear. Jesus says,
“the words I speak to you are spirit and are life”
(John 6:63)
and the apostle Paul reminds us to
“let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom”
(Col 3:16).
So, the words that Jesus speaks will give us life and wisdom, which means the opposite is true: to be without His words is to be dead and foolish. Jesus said to one of His disciples who wanted to first go and bury his father before following Him,
“Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead”
(Matt 8:22).
The Apostle Paul understood this so intimately because, as a rabbi in the religious denomination of the Pharisees, Paul finally understood that all that he had learned, including the memorization of the Torah, was all “dead letter” (meaning just natural, surface value reading or literal understanding of the Scriptures) which Paul says, “kills” the soul (2 Cor 3:6). It is Christ, the living WORD who engrafts Himself into our souls, that brings us salvation (James 1:21).
What does it look like in our present world of “cancel culture”, “critical race theory”, “woke mentality”, “fake news”, “re-imagining” policing, or sexuality, “human infrastructure”, “trans-humanism”, “contact tracing”, “mis-information”? There are so many other triggers, words that an algorithm is searching for that can now spark a war: a war for the mind, soul and body. The only solution is to have the mind of Christ by learning His ways driven by a love for divine truth (Phil 2:5-7). The present information war is global, and it is a war of worlds. It is the most ancient of conflicts; between Truth and lies, the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of satan. In the Early Church, before 325 AD, one Early Church father, Irenaeus, wrote “against heresies” so we would not be invaded by the mind, soul and body snatchers. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) VAERS (Vaccine Averse Event Reporting System), there are 18,000 dead, over 800,000 injuries and permanent disabilities. Many experts suggest the numbers are grossly underreported by as much as a factor of five. What we believe affects how we behave, some of which can have grave consequences. The Apostle Paul shows us how not to be “conformed to this world”, but to be “transformed by the renewing of our mind” (Rom 12:2).
The war of the worlds is now and here at the Voice of Healing, Apostle Michael Petro has been preparing us through the prophetic scriptures as instructed by Christ and the Early Church fathers. Jesus in the book that’s revealing Himself, Revelation, commends the Church of Ephesus for testing so called “apostles” and being able to tell the true from the false (Rev 2:2). He is calling the remnant church back to repentance (Rev 2:5). In this war of words, which word is in your mind?
Until next time, I’m pastor Roni, be in health.
Shalom.
Reference:
All scripture references: New King James Version of the Bible.