Win Life’s Battles

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field
which the LORD God had made.
And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said,
‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent,
“From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden,
God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it or you will die.’”

The serpent said to the woman,
“You surely will not die!
“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened
and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
and that it was a delight to the eyes,
and that the tree was desirable to make one wise,
she took from its fruit and ate;
and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Genesis 3:1-6


The problem is: man has never recovered from his fall into sin. Jesus has the only plan that wins this battle.



The Proverb: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” Proverbs 22:6 is not always true or a spiritual law; but rather a wise principle that we can usually depend upon … sort of like “you can’t teach an old dog, new tricks.” It is also true that this principle works both positively and negatively.

If we discussed Genesis 3:1-6 a hundred times, it would never be enough. This is a key passage in all of scripture; the fall of man and man’s sinful nature is clarified, and the introduction to our enemy, the evil one, and his lines of attack against us are made clear. The devil followed the same formula when attempting to deceive Christ. Matthew 4:1-11. We are each in a lifelong war with the forces of evil, and yet the world would have us believe there is no such thing. To follow that false conclusion would be like General Patraeus going to war in Afghanistan without coming to grips with who our enemy is, and what the enemy’s goals, plans, and tactics are. In our battle with the evil one; there are three lines of attack: men’s lust, riches, and pride. This scheme is always the same and therefore predictable, but there are many different tactics on each battle line. Our proper defense is always the same also and our defense when applied always wins. It was clearly illustrated by Jesus in the wilderness. He used the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. And when Jesus rebuked Satan, the devil fled; Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’” 11Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him. ”Matthew 4:10-11. We can always have the same victory. This is our guideline for victory over our adversary the Devil and his demons.

Adam and Eve, although not children, were the first humans that the devil worked his word magic on. Having never before sinned, they were much like newborns; the big difference being newborns are born with a sin nature. So why is all of this so important to us? Because the enemy understands what works and that is to control the minds of those who do not know any better. If the evil one can establish his lies and false beliefs in untrained minds, these false beliefs become embedded and are difficult to correct with the Truth. Whether taught in the first grade or at the university … the false beliefs become ingrained, and only the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word can overcome. The scripture is quite clear:

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:7-9

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2

Contrary to what the devil would have us believe, Jesus has a good, and pleasing, and perfect will for you and for me. He wants us to be faithful to Him, to stand firm on His promises, strong and courageous in our battle, to not be discouraged or afraid because Jesus our Lord and Savior will be with us wherever we go. Think about that for a minute; would you handle things differently if you could actually see Jesus standing next to you, at all times? I’ve got a feeling the daily activities of our entire world would play out much differently. Well, He is with you and me, whether we can see Him or not!

So what is the problem? Like I said earlier; “training up a child works both positively and negatively” We have an entire generation of adults that have been trained in the secular atheistic mindset. The line comes in many different packages: false religions, false science, humanistic philosophies, amoral views on values and the key issues of life, tolerance and political correctness, to name a few. And now many are professing Christians training up their children in these politically correct doctrines of demons, and then children are passed along to the public schools to reinforce these false and often atheistic beliefs. And then we wonder why America is on the brink?

The mandate in our public schools against Christianity demands that we can’t even discuss values unless they are anti-values; otherwise they raise the government religion argument. Government taught religion has great potential for evil. We only need to look to the Islamic nations for evidence as to where government religion could lead, if left unchecked. And for sure, a blended religious view would surely breed heresy. But in the world of our warped legalese, everything is carried to its end. The result is a system that rejects Truth; and projects values neutral, amoral ideas, and atheistic beliefs in its quest to be tolerant and politically correct.

What do Christians need to do to stand up for the beliefs and freedoms that we have come to love; and are called by Christ to defend? First we must not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We cannot allow the world to shape our beliefs and world view. And then we need to train up our children. The child could be your first grader, your high school student, or a college professor like the one in my “Keep the Faith” post. It could be a friend, a co-worker, neighbor, a church leader, or a total stranger. This is our calling as Ambassadors for Christ with a ministry of reconciliation. We need to allow the Love of Christ to control us. We cannot do that effectively unless our mind has been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word.

Negative brainwashing comes at us in a multitude of ways. TV, Movies, the internet, books, and of course public education is the most obvious danger because it comes from a position of authority and is assumed to be correct by the unsuspecting students. In California, the message has now become government mandated transgender, transsexual, bisexual, and homosexual training in grades K-12. Can we even imagine the depths of where this amorality will end? Of course we can ... murder of unborn babies has been ruled legal, and is taught as a valid option in our public schools. Is there no end to their quest to force their beliefs upon the rest of us? When everyone’s views and values are equally valid, there is no limit to the depths of depravity. And when there is no purpose to life, everything is relative, including EVIL. Of course there is one line of attack that would make anyone that speaks out against this “tolerance babble” as guilty of hate speech.

So I want to go on record here challenge politically correctness run amok: I believe abortion is murder. I believe lying, cheating, stealing, trans-genders, transsexuals, bisexuals, homosexual, and any form of promiscuous sex outside of marriage is sin, and that these facts must be explained to our children accordingly. Any move to force amoral evil teachings on our children are doctrines of demons with the intent of destroying the American way of life. I believe that evolution, and man-made global warming as taught in our public schools are false science, and to a large degree a lie and are leading our children away from the truth. I believe that teaching the values our country was founded upon is the basis of our free society and critical to raising up an honest, moral, patriotic, responsible, and free society. To teach otherwise is evil.

I believe that radical Islam is a political system hiding within a religion and that its goals and plans are a direct threat to the community of freedom loving citizens throughout the world. I love the people but I hate all false religions. The only loving thing to do ... that really matters eternally is helping others to see salvation through Jesus Christ. I believe that the progressive, socialist, Marxist, Maoist, communist and false religious ideologies are a great danger to America and if left unchecked will lead to America’s downfall from within. The teaching that America was not founded primarily by Christians and basically upon the principles found in God’s Word the Bible is a lie promoted by the forces of evil; and those who have been deceived by these false teachings.

These are many of the false doctrines that have infected America like a cancer. Americans have been brainwashed with these lies. Anyone who challenges the political correctness is attacked as foolish. These heresies are firmly planted in hearts and minds over the past hundreds of years, one person at a time. We can only reverse this process one person at a time … starting with you and I, and then with our circle of influence. Test those things that you believe carefully. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind with the Truth of God’s Word. Reject and challenge those teachings that are contrary to the Truth. Be strong and courageous!

This war! We can and will win because we have Jesus standing with us and walking along side of us. There are those who believe that during the past hundred years the church has entered the period of apostasy described in the letter to Laodicea. As a result, many denominations have denigrated to seminary training that is teaching pastors false doctrine who then pass this foolishness to the church. There is to some degree, an entire generation of believers infected by this heresy. All the more reason for us to consider the teachings of our church leaders carefully; so as not to been deceived by pastors who may also have been misled. Every teaching and teacher must be tested by the Word of God.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
God Bless you my friends, Bob
Copyright: Robert West 2011