Vow of the Voortrekkers, Battle of Blood River

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"My brothers and fellow citizens, here we stand in the presence of the Holy God, creator of heaven and earth, to make a vow unto Him, that if His protection shall be with us and He give our enemy into our hand so that we might be victorious over him, that this day and date every year shall be spent as a memorial and a day of thanksgiving, just as a Sabbath is spent and that we shall erect a temple to His honor wherever it will be pleasing to Him and that we shall also instruct our children that they must also share in it, as well as for our generations yet to come. Because the Honor of His name shall thereby be glorified and the glory and honor of the victory shall be given Him." 

Vow of the Voortrekkers
December 9, 1838
Battle of Blood River

A Time To Kill

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ATimetoKill.mp3

By Pastor Mark Downey

The reason I selected Ezekiel 3:17-24 for today’s Scripture reading for this subject is to warn the wicked, those who have misappropriated the Word of God for the justification of ungodly acts that result in the loss of life.  It is never a time to kill if there is no divine sanction.  We call that murder and we’ve been discussing murderers for the last couple of weeks.  God’s resolution for homicide is not a life sentence in prison, not plea bargaining, not extradition, not counseling and therapy.  It is death.  It is the only principle of law of ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth’, or to boil it down to the law of like for like, that without it, would utterly destroy the peace of society, sowing the seeds of discord, hatred and revenge.  It is the law of retaliation as prescribed by God.  In other words, we must convincingly establish the axiom that crime does not pay.  Sin is the transgression of the Law and the wages of sin is death

The Church Militant Part 2

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Christian-Military-2.mp3

by Pastor Mark Downey

Jesus Christ is described as a Lamb and a Lion. This simply means there's a time for peace and a time for war (Eccl. 3:8). There's a balance between love and hate, depending on circumstances. One of the biblical rules of warfare before any shots are fired, is to proclaim peace to your enemy. Deut. 20:10 says "when thou come near a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it." The olive branch of peace that Christ offered to His adversaries was to tell them to repent and be baptized, change their simple ways and cleanse their thinking with the Word; very peaceful, no shots fired.

The Church Militant Part 1

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by Pastor Mark Downey

People usually don't associate Jesus as a soldier or even as a military commander, or having anything to do with a warrior class. The reason for this is because of the feminization of Christ from establishment religions representing Baal and, as such, Christ becomes their model for a pious pacifist. The historical Jesus, changed into a long haired wimp then, no longer is a threat to Babylonian-style politics. Most Christians don't regard Christianity as the form and substance of what we generally recognize a military to be. And yet, so many wars have been fought in the name of Christ and so much death because of Christ. The problem is, sometimes men die for another Christ, for false teachings that are interposed upon gullible believers and become the cannon fodder of nefarious ambitions which have nothing to do with the Word.

The Christian Military

Debra

by Pastor Mark Downey

A grossly overlooked aspect of Christianity is a call to arms as God commands us to be His battle axe.

Part 1:  The context of Christian militancy; establishing the Kingdom of God is Law enforcement; meeting the challenge to Christian authority; battle plans.

Part 2: Rules of warfare; our commander-in-chief, Jesus Christ; identification of enemy forces; resolve for victory.