TRAINING UP A CHILD

KEY VERSES: ¹⁶ Because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. (Ephes 5:16-17)

This is the same key verse as yesterday, but today’s “stoked the fire” even more with,  “The days are evil” in Paul’s time. Now, “the days are evil” but since then Satan has increased his power. Satan has “wised-up” but people are more lacking in wisdom.  Then, they understood evil and its sources. If not, Paul pointed it out to them: 

¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³ 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. (Ephes 6:11-13; NKJV) 

  Generally, the theologian spends time discussing the whole armor of God. I did last year and compared it to David killing Goliath. He refused Saul’s armor because it did not fit and put on the armor of God which fit just right; right enough to kill Goliath.

(See https://kentuckyherrin.blogspot.com/2016/08/five-smooth-stones.html)

  We have a different “Goliath” today. He is not a huge man with a five-foot sword, but the entertainment industry with the voice of a giant — a demonic giant. Christians need armor against the Devil. Paul mentioned the “wiles of the Devil.” God told Moses, “the Serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field” (Gen 3:1). With sin, Adam and Eve were demoted from “very good” with the Spirit of God in their souls, to mere “beasts” with original sin. Since, Satan is more wily and cunning than any man!

  David defeated Goliath, but Goliath, unlike the Serpent, was not possessed by Satan, but was a provocateur. (1 Sam 17:16). He fought for Satan, but Goliath was not wily or cunning. David was! He understood that to defeat Goliath, he must trust the Lord. It was God who provided the stones, provided the man, and provided the courage for a small physical man to face a giant. Then God guided the missile to the forehead of Goliath. All David did to kill his Goliath was trust God, and God did all the rest. That was the whole armor of God and He provided it all!

  Today, the “Goliath” has demons in “him;” to wit: “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

  Little you and me are provoked by stronger “Goliaths” and many more of them: principalities, rulers of darkness, and spiritual hosts. “Hosts” are armies. “Heavenly hosts” are angels of God, and “spiritual hosts” are demon angels. Angels are messengers from another realm; hence, “spiritual hosts” are demons who provoke humans through propaganda, lies, temptation, and such things.

  Goliath, “stood and cried out to the armies” (1 Sam 17:8). His voice resounded in the valley and raised fear in the armies of Saul. His voice was a giant “megaphone” that made most of the Hebrews cower. They would have submitted to him if not for David. The same goes for Christians and the “Son of David,” Jesus by Name. The Voice of God was silent but encouraging!

  The most powerful weapon in the arsenal of Christian soldiers is, “understanding what the will of the Lord is,” from the key verse. The Will of the Lord is that sin be defeated, and Jesus died for that purpose. As such, Jesus is the “whole armor” because with His sacrifice, Satan hung in another tree at the same time in Judas. Jesus removed His armor and put it on all who would wear it. Most enter the battle with no armor at all or the wrong armor!

  The battle is not against flesh and blood, but principalities (those who fulfill higher orders and administer them in the world), powers (warrior angels), rulers of darkness (those who issue orders), in addition to the demon armies themselves. You cannot fight them alone unless God is with you, in you, and over you.

  Those demonic forces, we have learned from Job’s encounter, cannot kill your body, but they can kill your soul. They need not use the sword as Goliath did, but provoke by different means. Goliath bullied the Hebrews and they cowered. The Powers of today, bully more cunningly!

  A 50,000 watt AM radio station can be heard for hundreds of miles. Satellite television can be heard all over the world. Cable television can as well. Movie theaters are all over the world. Face it, Goliath megamedia provokes Christians all day and night long. Mature people can escape it by turning off the source of power, but juveniles are plugged-in through ear buds most of the day and into the night. Young people and immature adults are plugged into the world much of the time!

  What are people plugged into?

¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. (1 John 2:15-17)

  Entertainment is you plugged into the world to which lust and pride are transmitted. Just what is it you hear and see from the world? “The works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like” (Gal 5:19-21).

  From whom do those evil things come? The world — those outside the Christian community, and now with Satan’s cunning, from within modern church buildings. All week long the youth are plugged into the world and are molded into worldly creatures, then, on Sunday morning, musicians feed the youth “Jesus” to the tune of the world!

  Sound waves and television transmissions are not evil. They are only the Power. The “spiritual hosts” are the problem. They provide the entertainment and such that bombards the world. Face it, most rock musicians, rappers, and even some contemporary artists are not Christians. Music and entertainment are persuasive. The youth get their world view from Satan and his dark angels. They use nefarious people to provoke people to sin. Not only the youth, but adults are provoked by tempters and temptresses. Pornography is widespread and millions are tuned-in!

  Paul wrote, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephes 6:4). We think of fathers provoking their children by bullying them. That is too obvious. Parents provoke their children to wrath against God. They get angry because they have the things of the world are taken away. That should be obvious, because the alternative thing that Paul wrote was to train and teach your children the Word of the Lord. The wiseman wrote, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov 22:6).

  Fathers and mothers provoke their children to sin by relegating them to demon messengers. Permissive parents essentially let demon angels raise their children. With that laxity, evil becomes engrained in innocent children to the extent that their innocence is lost. Rather than train them as they should go forthwith, parents let the entertainment industry, friends, and even teachers trian them up in the way they should not go.

  “Friends” is used loosely. Rather, the term should be, “fellow provocateurs.” Christians are to be set apart. The culture of Christians should be sanctification, meaning that a Christian household should be set apart from the world. When sinners were born again in apostolic times, they and their households were safe because the parents headed the household: “The Lord said, ‘Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household’” (Luke 12:42).

  The problem with contemporary families is that parents are not head of the households. Children, from a young age, rule the parents. They become pre-pubescent “Goliaths” who provoke their parents day after day. They are so successful, that parents raise loud-mouth, demanding little Philistines, who are symbolic of Satan.

  It should be obvious, but the entertainment industry is the “voice” of modern Goliaths. Music, movies, and such all provide messages. That is why writers write them and producers produce them. Like it or not, the world is molding your children, and may be transmitting the same messages to parents. Little “Goliaths” copy big Goliaths. They look at provoking parents and provoke others. Again, a reminder to not think of provocation only to anger, but to evil doings. Teaching by doing evil demonstrates to children that, I am okay; you are okay, and the world is okay!

  Christians are not to be of the world, but overcome the world, as is written, “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:5)? How can a young man or woman overcome the world when they are imbued with the things of the world? Rather than filled with the Holy Spirit, they are filled with Satan’s messages transmitted by the world.

  I have provoked my own children by stealing their childhood. I let them follow themselves as their own masters. When I came to that realization, it was too late for me to bring them up in the way they should go, and now it is their responsibility. If they choose wrongly, then I have provoked my children to evil. I would not need to prod, but they would, like obedient sheep, have taken the easy path to perdition. The point is that demanding words are not the only way to provoke, but leading children the wrong way is provocation in itself!

  Overcoming the world is hard work, but a good start is tuning-out the world. That means putting you and your children away from temptation. Friends should be those who are friendly to the rules and culture of your Christian household. Foreign wives always destroyed righteous men, according to scripture. That also means that “foreign” (unchristian) friends can also spoil a Christian household.

  “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John5:5)? To overcome the world requires tuning out the world and tuning in God. Parents have responsibility to fine-tune their households. Even churches cannot do that for you.

  If I had read this when my own household was in turmoil, I could have either rejected this commentary or considered it. Today’s reader can do likewise. This was not geared to anyone specifically, but to everyone generally. It is not a family but a global problem! It so happened when I came to study my Bible this day chronologically, this message was up next. Do with it as you wish, but perhaps it was meant for you.

(picture credit: Deposit Photos; "Co-parenting Children")