22. Many Battles and One

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The title is deliberate. We are engaged in fighting many battles, against false word and false spirit, against lying and dishonesty, against the dragon and the beast and the false prophet, and against death itself. Yet in all of these many fronts of war, we are, in fact, fighting only one battle, the same one battle Jesus fought.

Before we launch into our topic, however, let me set out a most important lesson we must grasp. – Let us not be found fighting the wrong battle. Here is our battle. – In the midst of all calamity, we give thanks, we speak Christ, and we carry our brethren in our hearts.

The Passage of the Trumpets. This lesson is the first of two on the sounding of the Trumpets, and of necessity, we must lay out the entire passage of the Trumpets here so that we might focus on the most important part in the next lesson. The sounding of the trumpets as a metaphor is found in Revelation Chapters 8, 9, 10, and 11. There are other things in 10 and 11 found in-between the sixth trumpet and the seventh, but these two lessons are the seven trumpets only.

On our Jesus Secret page, the first box will be “The Great Reset,” and the second will be “The Battle.” After laying out the whole picture, we will focus this lesson on the setting and nature of our fight.

A False Connection. The first angel sounded his trumpet; and hail and fire mixed with blood were cast into the earth; and a third of the earth was consumed, a third of the trees were consumed, and all green grass was consumed.

A significant breakdown in logic happens when correlation is called causation. This is also a technique of propaganda inside what is dubbed “yellow journalism.” Two things happen at the same time – “therefore one must have caused the other.” The angel sounds his trumpet at the same time that the hail and fire are cast into the earth, ergo, the first “causes” the second. – This is false “evidence.”

A Description of the Setting. The trumpet is a call to war. A call to whom? A call to the sons of God – whosoever will. The “hail and fire,” then, are a description of the setting into which this battle is fought. This lesson is devoted to an explanation of that setting and of the specific nature of our fight. In all, our fight continues for the sake of the Church.

Now, the first half of our study of John’s vision will be finished at the end of Chapter 11 with Resurrection Life at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. I will begin part two, then, with an explanation of all the main issues of God through every part of Revelation, now coming into focus.

Two Issues. Actually, there are two primary issues in John’s vision and every particulate of the entirety of Revelation is concerned with one and/or the other of these two issues. The first issue is the fulfillment of the Gospel inside the Church, and the second issue is the revelation of that Gospel out from the Church into the world.

When I first created a list of all the sevens in Revelation, the seven overcomings, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven vials, and the seven principles of completion, I thought that the trumpets and vials had nothing to do with the others. I was wrong, because I was still thinking falsely, that the Trumpets cause the violence of the setting.

Seven Arenas of Kingdom Power. In laboring over these things, then, I have decided to replace the “seven principles of completion” with the “seven principles or arenas of power in the Kingdom.” This means only that the principles of completion are a different topic, but our focus in the sounding of the Trumpets will be the seven arenas of Kingdom power.

Jesus made it clear that it does no good just to get rid of the seven anti-Christ demons that have deceived the Christian Church. Rather, every place of influence and power vacated by those demons must now be filled with the acknowledgement of Christ Jesus as Salvation Revealed, the outward expression of the Kingdom.

The Four Sevens. The purpose of the Trumpet Call and of the battle we fight is to bring forth the acknowledgement of Christ inside every arena of Kingdom power through the Church – IN THE FACE OF all opposition.

The seven overcomings are the abilities of Jesus made perfect inside our human inabilities. The removal of the seven seals is the casting of anti-Christ demons from off the knowing of our fellow Christians. The seven trumpets are the call to war, that we might fill the arenas of Kingdom power with the acknowledgement of Christ as ALL, and the seven vials are the final removal of all that is false.

Great and Unjust Wrong. Finally we are ready to look at the setting of the battle.
I saw another angel coming up from the rising sun, holding the seal of the living God. He cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom had been given to do wrong, to act unjustly against the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not do wrong against the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

The setting of the battle into which each trumpet calls is the great and unjust WRONG that is being committed against the earth, against the sea, and against the trees, taking place in our present day.

Literal and Figurative. Here is a word coming at the completion of the Trumpets. “Destroy those who are destroying the earth.”

In considering the “earth,” the “sea,” and the “trees,” we view these as literal, and we view them as figurative. Yes, humans are destroying the earth, but they are also destroying Christians. They are destroying the sea, but they are also destroying the lives of all who remain unregenerate. They are destroying all living things, but they are also seeking to destroy the fruitfulness of the sons of God. As we look across the span of the setting of battle in each trumpet call, we see three great arenas of unjust hurt.

Three Arenas of Wrong. God does not do wrong to humans. All wrong is humans doing wrong to one another. Here is the absolute testimony concerning God. – God was inside of Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them. – He is the propitiation all around our sins, and not ours only, but all around the sins of the entire cosmos. The false accusation against God, that He is “doing all this wrong against humans,” is part of the setting of our battle.

The three larger arenas of wrong are cosmic electrical distortion, the poisoning of the earth and the human body, and the crimes committed in human war and violence.

We Have Not Known. Let me set out a distinct PROBLEM that is common to most Christians alive today. We live in a bubble. We know nothing about the reality of human history, of what the “norm” has been through the centuries. Normal human history has been simply awful. The settings described in each trumpet call are what have been the experience of most humans. Yet we have not known it; we have known lives primarily of peace and wealth.

Nonetheless, we are now in the fulness of times, and so everything becomes outwardly what it has always been. When hard things hit, we know that we are back to normal.

Seven Trumpets. The seven trumpets are divided into three groups, with four trumpets in the first, two in the second, and then the seventh trumpet. The first four contain what seems to be cosmic electrical disturbance. Then five and six seem to contain a mix of war and outright demonism. In the seventh, everything is shaken to the core.

We have no need to know right now what these things will actually be in the days ahead. Rather, we need two things. First, we need to understand our world within a godly balance. And second, we need to know the meaning of our response, regardless of what actually happens.

Cosmic Disturbance. Cosmic electrical disturbance both in the heavens within sight of humans and that which actually struck the earth, was common from 2319 BC until the early Roman period, even up to the time of Christ. Isaiah described one such occurrence in this way, “The earth staggers to and fro, the earth is knocked out of her place.” And yes, this is literal; it actually happened. The testimony of those who lived through these centuries, including Hebrew Scripture, is filled with a description of these cosmic events and their impact on the earth. The strongest clue for me that we will know such things again is that the sun dims and then it burns too brightly.

Effects of Electricity. In short, human iniquity may well have unleashed, once again, a disturbance in the flow of electrical power down the arm of the Milky Way that powers our sun. One of the effects of such a disturbance can be entire new planets blown out from the sun and hurled towards the other planets. Another effect can be a large increase in the flow of electrical currents to the present planets and out from them, a flow that would be massively visible to us on earth. If such a disturbance does happen in the next few years, then the events of the first four trumpets would become normal on the earth once again, and a whole lot more.

Two Things Restrained. Then, it is evident to me that the settings described for the calling of the fifth and sixth trumpets contain the release of powerfully evil demons back into the human experience. In other words, what we see here is that the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that is, the first great reset, the reset of substance, affected both the material heavens and the spiritual heavens through the In-part Church Age.

Cosmic electrical phenomena was reduced to being invisible to the eye and no longer struck the earth regularly. And specific powerful and dark demons, who had ruled freely among humans before, were held in chains, unable to do anything during the last two thousand years.

A Release. The events of March 15, 2020, when almost every church on earth closed its doors against God’s people, happened ONLY out from the release of the first part of these very wicked demons. Yet I do not count the time of the great travail of the Church, the final dispensation of human folly, to have begun until April of 2022.

The outpouring we are witnessing today, of in-your-face lying, of mindless screaming of accusation, of grotesque filthiness such that wicked men are placed to prance before little children, this is clearly a demonization of society. Yet much worse is yet to come.

Frenzy of Madness. I suspect that if we do see visible electrical disturbance in the heavens and striking the earth, then humans will most certainly freak out, because scientism has lied to them about normal reality. And the release of cosmic electrical discharge will be accompanied by humans reaching for all the demons not yet released and will result in an absolute frenzy of madness among the unregenerate.

For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and those dwelling in them. But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down towards you filled with great fury, knowing that he has only a brief time (Revelation 12:12).

Will Not Change Their Minds. Here is the condition of the unregenerate as a result of the settings into which the first six trumpets are sounded. This is the mind that is given to the final death throes of the beast.

But the rest of the men who were not killed by these blows, did not even change their minds out from the works of their hands, to stop worshipping the demons or their gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood idols which have no ability to see or hear, nor to walk around. They did not change their minds out of their killings nor out of their drugs nor out of their pornography nor out of their thefts.

These are desperate things, yes, but they are NOT our battle. We do not engage in the wrong fight.

Against Spiritual Evil. Put on and enclothe yourself with the full armor of God in order to be able to stand against the methods and schemes of the devil [the one who accuses]. Because we are not wrestling or contesting against blood and flesh, but against the rulers and sources, against the authorities and influences, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against the spiritual evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:11-12).

This lesson is titled “Many Battles and One.” The fight against spiritual evil in the heavenly realms is found inside of “many battles,” but it is not the most important one. Then, “against humans” is the battle we do NOT fight.

Many Battles. “Many battles” are found inside the six categories of our warfare. That war is against the death story inside each human bubble of self, the spirits of anti-Christ inside the Church, the use of violence by humans to control others, the dark river of cursing flowing out from each human to bring psychological control upon others, the accusation of the evil one against each, and finally, death itself, bringing an end to the divorce of heaven and earth.

Notice that we are at war with what comes out from humans against others, not with humans themselves. This distinction is very important, between a lost human soul whom Jesus loves and the flow of death out from each.

Thinking Strategically. Now, each of these arenas of warfare comes into clear view in various parts of the vision yet ahead. I do think I need to insert a lesson on spiritual warfare at some point. Part of why I had you read “The Battle” in Through Eyes of Fire was to point to the practice of thinking strategically concerning every foe, of whatever type, we hit up against.

As I pointed out, Tolkien, in The Lord of the Rings, showed us the strategic thinking in the minds of Gandalf and Aragorn, both in the immediate battles they faced, and in the larger and more important battle. But the REAL battle, the only one that counted, was two little hobbits trudging through the darkness into Mordor.

What Jesus Did. It is that REAL battle, the one battle that counts, that I want to focus on now. Consider Jesus. His actions altered the substance of all things. But how? What did He actually do? The firstfruits are those who “follow the Lamb,” that is, those who are as Jesus is, now upon the earth (1 John 4:17).

It was in writing “Setting Forth Our Souls” in The River of Life that God first showed me what Jesus did that altered the substance of all things and that redeemed us to God. What Jesus did was entirely and only inside His relationship with the Father. Our “battle” is the same.

God Visible. Jesus pointed out, in John 9 and in Luke 13, that when bad things happen to other people, we do NOT think, “Oh, they must have been sinful.” In John 9 Jesus said, “Neither this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made visible inside of him.”

The point of everything is not judgment against, but rather, that God should be made visible in the midst of all. Terrible things have always happened to people; in the fulness of times, the norm will become total. The point is not what happens when, but rather, our stance in all.

Our Response in All. We cannot concern ourselves with the meaning of bad things happening to other people, for that is entirely in the hands of our God. Our concern is with our own circumstances, whatever they might be. For that reason, what happens when is not important to us, but rather our response in all.

This is the trumpet call. This is the point of the Trumpets in John’s vision, that regardless of what happens to us personally, we will give thanks inside of and for the sake of all, we will call our every next step as the Kingdom coming out from Father and us together, and we will synergeo with God turning even this awfulness into goodness for others.

I Will Answer Him. I would urge you to read the entirety of Psalm 91 several times. This Psalm is reckoned to be written by Moses. – He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. And when we get to the end of the Psalm, we discover the whole point I want to convey in the Trumpets, the whole point of our victory, WHAT JESUS DID that changed all.

Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.

The Victory. Only one thing in Moses’ line will we modify for our present knowledge of God. Instead of “with long life I will satisfy him” we say, “with a shared life with Me, I will satisfy him.” To share life with God, through every step regardless, is our Love and our Victory. Life is God-known.

The Victory is our faith inside of God (1 John 5). That means specifically that we keep ourselves, in the midst of the very worst possibilities, entirely with our Father, that He might have entrance through us into our world. This is what Jesus did. And it was inside this action of Jesus, that God was reconciling the world to Himself.

Giving God Entrance. We set our love upon the Father. We know His name, that is, we share every moment of life with Him. We call upon God every moment, that is, we synergeo with Him to turn all things good. But most of all, our testimony, always, in every moment, against every wailing cry, in the pain, in the darkness and loneliness, in all our confusion.

GOD – You have answered me!

It is this ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of God that means everything to God, that gives Him entrance, and that alters the fabric of the universe.

Together for Others. There are two qualities inside our acknowledgement in every moment that God answers us that are essential for God that He might freely enter. The first quality is that this is something we do together. Isolated individuals cannot ever be God’s entrance. This is why we gather together, regardless of the cost of humbling ourselves one to the other. The second quality is that we never think that we are acknowledging God with us for our own sake, as if we are not REDEEMED. Rather, in every moment, in every step, we acknowledge God with us for the sake of our brothers and sisters, regardless.

The Last Trumpet. What do the trumpets mean? It is the seventh and last trumpet that is found in Paul’s gospel. For that reason, we can safely use the meaning of the seventh trumpet to understand all the others.

I tell you a mystery. We will not all die; we all, however, will be changed – in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised unable to decay, and we will be changed. – Then the word… will become, “Death has been swallowed up into and eliminated by victory” – To God be thanks, however, the One giving us that victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:51-57).

Our Bold Proclamation. The last enemy is the defeat of death; the defeat of death is the resurrection of our bodies, swallowed up by life. Life is knowing God. Life is God-now-known. The resurrection of our bodies is the ultimate moment of KNOWING God. It is the moment when “You have loved me with an everlasting love” becomes the only reality that can ever exist in our knowing.

Then, here is the trumpet in our mouths. – We possess a bold proclamation of entrance (Hebrews 10:19). The blowing of the trumpets is our bold proclamation that the Salvation of God is complete.

The Gift of God. One final thought. At the beginning of “The Great Reset,” I wrote that “John’s vision is a confused mess.” I have labored with some thought over this layout of lessons since, starting several, moving things around, and adding more. At this point, my statement is a bit different. – John’s vision is not confusing at all, but I understand all of it with clarity and power. – This is the gift of God. This is what I have longed for with travail since I was nineteen.

For instance, it is now clear that the blowing of the trumpets proclaiming the entrance of God and the two witnesses prophesying Christ are the same thing.
 
Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is titled “We Are the Trumpet Sound.” For that lesson read Revelation 8 & 9 at least once. The things we will discuss are not visible in the text, although they will certainly fit God’s meaning. It is the first verses of Chapter 8 that have taken on a new meaning, a depth of reality we could not have known before. Also, read Psalm 91.

And the smoke of the incense went up in the presence of God with the prayers of the devoted ones, out of the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it out from the fire of the altar and cast it into the earth.

I am trusting God that we will see something exciting in this picture.

Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, we have set our love upon You. We know that You carry us inside of Victory through all. Father, we know Your Name. We know You arising inside of us as Fountains of LIFE. We know that You share every moment of our lives with us and we with Yours. We know that every next step comes out from life shared with You.

“God, our Father, we call upon You inside of every circumstance of our lives, that You and us together would turn that circumstance into deliverance for Your people, that goodness would be the result of all things. Oh Lord, our God, You are with us; You have answered us.

“In the midst of our weakness and inability and failure, we give You thanks in all, that we are Your appearance, and the sinfulness of Adam is defeated upon the earth. In the midst of terrible circumstances happening all around us, we assert that You have answered us, that whatever happens to us is turned by our shared faith into triumph inside Your Church, and anti-Christ is no more.

“In the midst of injustice and hurt, of humans treating humans badly within and without, we speak always that God is good and God is true, and the river of death flows no more into creation. And in the midst of death all around us, Oh God, we speak a shared LIFE with You, and death is swallowed up in Victory. You are WITH us, oh God, and You ANSWER us.”