Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The Right Attitude Towards Our Enemies

By Zac Poonan

Even if people scheme against you to harm you, you don't have to worry. God will take care of you and He will deal with your enemies as well. "He Who keeps you will neither slumber nor sleep." (Psa.121:3,4) And since God is constantly awake, we can afford to go to sleep.

In the book of Esther, we read of Haman and his wife staying awake a whole night, scheming and plotting against Mordecai and preparing a 75-foot gallows to hang Mordecai on. (A 10-foot gallows is actually sufficient to hang a man. But they made a 75-foot one, so that everyone in the city would be able to see the hanging, so that Mordecai would be humiliated even further). But Mordecai was fast asleep, and God took care of him. The gallows that Haman prepared for Mordecai finally became the very gallows on which Haman himself was hung (Esth.5:14; 7:10). God is an expert at turning the tables on Satan.

Your enemies may go from house to house, speaking evil against you, scheming your harm, and even seeking to "hang" you. But you need not fear. They themselves will hang on the gallows they prepare for you. We have seen time and again, that those who have secretly schemed against us in the church have had the tables turned against them always. We haven't found any delight in seeing such brothers hang on the gallows that they prepared for us. We have always forgiven them and blessed them, and hoped that they would repent and find their way back into the church. But God's laws cannot be changed:

"The man who sets a trap for others will get caught in it himself. If you roll a boulder down on someone, it will roll back and crush you. God catches the wise in their own craftiness" (Prov.26:27 - Living; 1 Cor.3:19).

No-one can avoid reaping what he has sown. So what should we do, when people plan to hang us? SLEEP!! For "God gives His beloved sleep" (Psa.127:2). In Acts 12, we read of Herod imprisoning Peter, planning to kill him the next morning. But God gave Peter sound sleep that night (v.6). The angel of the Lord then went down, woke Peter up, released him and sent him home (v.7). But that is not the end of the story. The angel of the Lord paid a second visit to earth, and this time he smote Herod and killed him (v.23)!! God turns the tables on Satan again and again.

Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. But what happened to Judas? He died even before Jesus died (Matt.27:5). If you fear God, you need not fear the Hamans or the Herods - or even the Judas Iscariots - who plot your harm. No-one can fight against God - or against God's church - and succeed. Many have tried to do that in past years - but they have all failed, without a single exception. We are on the victory side.

Read the entire article "Warnings to the Church for the Last Days".
http://www.apostasywatch.com/special/poonanwarning.htm

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