the armor of god
The Spiritual Warfare of the Church - Proclaiming the Light that Shields the Flaming Arrows of the Evil One

By Luis B. Vega
vegapost@hotmail.com

PDF chart online at: www.sonoma.edu/users/v/vegalu/eschatology_files/Shield.pdf
PNG graphic at: www.sonoma.edu/users/v/vegalu/eschatology_files/Shield.png

The following is a short word of encouragement to the Church, the Bride to be that has been crowned with honor and glory by Christ. A poster will accompany this word to illustrate from a rendition of an old World War I poster what standing fast against all foes looks like. There are several Biblical parallels that correlate to the present Church’s spiritual war, from out and from within.

Christ, the King has instructed His Queen that until He summons for her to His eternal side, she is to contend for the Faith on Earth as a witness of the finished work of Christ Jesus on the Cross. Although the tendency is to fall asleep because the ‘body is weak’ but the spirit is willing’, the Church needs to have extra oil in these coming dark days, enough so when the Groom, the King calls, the Queen is prepared spiritually. This spiritual conditioning should be the daily preparation, done by anchoring in the Faith.

This is done through the Spiritual Amour given by Christ that has to be put on every day if not moment by moment, spiritually. This implies an application of the study in the Word, Prayer, Fellowship and Worship, which are indispensable because the Church is in a constant state of spiritual war against the Evil One. This exercise has to be consistently applied to fortify the Church for the constant Spiritual Warfare, or else the Church succumbs to error, sin and compromise.

Jesus Christ has a message to the World, communicated through this Church of Love, Light and Immortality. It was a gift of redemption but was the costliest price ever paid possible by the Creator Himself. The Church, should not grow weary in well-doing and in watching for the LORD’s return and standing for what is righteous. This Christian stance, in a midst of ever-increasing social and political opposition to it testimony to Jesus Christ will be directly challenged in the prophetic days to come.

The Church, the anointed Queen of the King should not be disheartened or dismayed when it seems that it seems that only the wicked prosper and do well or get ahead. Remember the legitimate complaint of King David in Psalm 10 and how his perspective about the wicked was made right. It was only when he encountered the LORD in His dwelling place. Psalm 37 states in summary:

‘Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. 

…All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!’

As the days keep getting spiritually darker and it appears or seems that GOD’s people are having no or little effect in this world, the Church’s Light as a Menorah candlestick of Revelation must all the more burn purer so it can burn brighter; the Church cannot let it go out in this 11th hour. The Church’s candlestick should not get clogged with soot or worldliness, reputation, prosperity, etc. for lack of the anointing oil. The Church needs to remove/clean sin out of the way to not have it impede the river of living Light from the LORD that transforms the world and quenches the flaming darts of Satan.

‘Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. - Ephesians 6:10-18

The Shield of the Faith in the Risen LORD Jesus is paramount to shield against all the assaults of the Evil One that come against the Church of Christ in many forms. The Evil One’s fiery arrows come in many forms, from deceptive ‘light’ to full-on doctrine of demons. False religions purporting to replace Jesus’ preeminence abounds severely persecute Christ’s Followers around the world. Daily, Christians are martyred for this Faith in Jesus Christ.

There are also those that are of the false Synagogues of Satan that come against Jesus Christ’s testimony. The LORD warned His Church that they claim to worship ‘GOD’ but their father is Lucifer. There are many other foes that seek to harm the Church, the Body of Christ that the SON of GOD took on flesh and blood to die and redeem Adam’s Race for. It cost Jesus a Crown of Thorns upon His head to bestow Crowns on the Bride’s head. Christ’s heal was bruised in the process but Lucifer’s head has been crushed. 

Soon the Church’s Commission of testifying to the Love and Light of Christ to this current age will be coming to a close. Though the Church is weary putting on the full armor of the LORD, it is by the power of the indwelling and the enabling of the Holy Spirit that the Church, both personally and corporately can and has extinguished the flaming arrows of Lucifer. It is through the Light of the Word that this Fire as like the Menorah in the Temple of Old, illuminates and dispels the darkness of the Evil One in this world.

As the days ahead seem to be getting more ominous with signs of perdition, lawlessness, immorality and complacency, the Church must hold on like the Church of Philadelphia, that although it had little strength, that Menorah or ‘light’ was faithful to keep the Faith entirely without compromise. This was despite the immense pressures from the world, as it is now and with the constant barrages of Satanic flaming arrows in an attempt to get the Church to give and to compromise.

Jesus, the Captain of our Salvation like Joshua of old, leads His Church, His Queen, crowned and finding favor yet weak and meek in the flesh presently but one day will be summonsed to the side of the Warrior of the LORD, the Lamb, and the Lion to rule the Age to come in holiness and righteousness. Christ is standing before His Church, shielding her, leading her as Joshua did with the Israelites right into the Promised Land. To the Church in Philadelphia:

 

‘And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. ’I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you. Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.’ – Revelation 4

 

The Church possesses the Keys to the Kingdom that is set upon the Hill of the LORD and is the reward of those faithful witnesses. The Word of Jesus’ testimony is the Sword of the Spirit that dispels Satanism’s ploys and the occult’s opposition. Jesus Christ defended and is defending His Church. Although the mystery of suffering and persecution allowed to occur against the Church persists to this day on Earth, the Church will one day be vindicated. Until that Blessed Day of Hope, the Church must be faithful to uphold the Scripture, the Love and Light of the Gospel, to fight the ‘good fight’ against the ‘dark light’ with the Light of Word, Jesus Christ.