Paul writes the Thessalonians, [2] That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
"They're not thinking properly; they were troubled, shaken in their mind, unable to function properly," explains Jordan. "They're in a panic, they're manic, they're frantic. They've had their minds taken away from them.
"He says, 'Oh, foolish Galatians.' You remember Jesus told His apostles in Luke 24, [25] Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
"To be foolish is to have a lazy mind; you're not using your head. You're slow in your thinking.
"There's a seduction of a person, drawing them away from what's right. When John the Baptist said, 'Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,' that meant it's within your grasp. It's out there, it's coming.
"The term 'at hand' can mean immediately; it's on us already. In II Thessalonians, when it says the thing that's troubling them is 'that the day of Christ is at hand,' it isn't that it's off in the future, because it's okay if it's off in the future. The thing that's troubling you is that it's already here--you're in it right now!
"The thing that's bothering the Thessalonians is they think that this thing that they're afraid of; this thing that they're fearing, this day of sudden destruction, this thing that's going to be like verses 6-9, this time when the wicked is going to be revealed . . . that they're in that!
"Paul writes in II Corinthians 11:23, [23] Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
[24] Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
[25] Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
[26] In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
[27] In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
[28] Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
"See, these are real problems. You get over stumping your toe in the dark as a persecution when you read this. You'll get over somebody saying something nasty about you when you read this kind of stuff. This is REAL persecution.
"Heavenly days, when you think you're having a bad time, read this passage and say, 'There's REAL trouble!' You're problems will seem so easy you'll start thanking God you don't have those problems.
"Our conflict is against the spiritual forces that animate all those things Paul was fighting against-- the spiritual force, the rulers of the darkness that were producing that. Our war is more than simply our personal struggles, our personal, sinful propensities; it's warfare on a larger scale with the entire kingdom of darkness.
"We wrestle personally wherever we come in contact with the evil of the world, whether it's in our own hearts or whether it's elsewhere. There is where the war is and it's personal and it's an up-close kind of conflict with the wiles, schemes, strategies of the devil."
(new article tomorrow)
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