OUR GREAT SPIRITUAL WARRIOR [Part 1]
He represented by far their greatest threat. They perceived early on it would be an intense winner take all battle. It is why they threw everything they had at Him.
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TOWARD REAL SPIRITUAL MINISTRY
As in everything else, the Lord showed His people how to fight. He was the perfect archetype of warrior. He modeled what it means to engage in spiritual warfare, how to outsmart and overcome the enemy, and how to gain spiritual victories. He made Himself a flawless example of warriorship and was willing to subject Himself to the worst of wickedness on our behalf.
His followers had to see Him in action. They had to see how it was to be done. They must experience how their Master faced off against powerful sinister forces and not only defeat them but make them look foolish. And perhaps most of all, they had to know that they could also—somehow, some way—do as He did, as absolutely impossible as that appeared to be.
Now, regarding this, one may think the Lord would start small with relatively easy doable tasks so His men could gain confidence. To this end, we see that just after His very careful choosing of the twelve apostles after much prayer throughout the previous night, that prior to any actual field work in the spiritual realm there first must be much instruction by example. In Luke’s gospel, this occurs in Chapter 6 in which appears a condensed version of such advanced spiritual teaching. Then in Chapters 7 and 8 we see the Lord modeling highly advanced spiritual ministry with much parabolic teaching, the doing of many miracles, and actual hands-on attacks against demonic forces. His apostles experienced it all, gained loads of empirical evidence, saw that all was possible, and understood the full ramifications of spiritual ministry and its highly beneficial impact on people’s lives. At that point they graduated from instruction and example to becoming doers of the Word:
And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing. And He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics apiece. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city. And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” Departing, they began going throughout the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. [Luke 9:1-6]
As men very well prepared and instructed properly and fully, the record is clear that the twelve apostles had great success right from the start. One wonders why all Christian ministry is not like this. Most of it, of course, is not and never has been. Why? How did Christian ministry become transformed into what can only be referred to as something else entirely? Why is it that most Christians worldwide going back many centuries have never experienced anything close to what appears matter-of-factly in the Lord’s ministry? And why have the vast majority of all Christian “leaders”/ministers/pastors/priests/etc. never been used of God for a single miracle or healing as we see in Luke’s gospel? Why do we not see them attacking the gates of hell?
Could it be because they were never taught by the Lord Jesus or instructed properly in real spiritual ministry? Could it be because no minister ever modeled for them what the Lord Jesus modeled? Could it be because they were not instructed in His Gospel—the real one—at all but in a false gospel altogether different and wholly powerless? Could it be because no one ever taught them how to engage in spiritual warfare? It is obvious therefore, that they were instead taught from a different playbook.
Check out what the apostle Paul said in this regard:
But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things. [2Corinthians 11:3-6]
I have become foolish; you yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have been commended by you, for in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles. [2Corinthians 12:11-12]
This was spoken by a man who had the exact miracle witness in his ministry as did the Lord. In fact, one of the signs of the ministry of a true original apostle was having the exact miracle power and authority over the demonic as did the Lord, in addition to a purity of in-depth teaching that changed hearts and destinies for the better in line with the Lord’s will. This means that Paul must have been taught by the Lord Himself as were the original twelve though there is no record of Paul ever meeting or knowing the Lord Jesus during His ministry or prior to Paul’s conversion. This is indeed what happened:
For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. [Galatians 1:11-12][1]
What does this tell you about the vast majority of churches and Bible schools? The so-called ministers being turned out by these have apparently never been instructed by the Lord Jesus. The apostle Paul had a great lifetime ministry but says he never had any principle teacher of the Gospel in his life except the Lord. Such a statement is exceptionally profound. It also speaks very clearly to a preponderance of counterfeit gospels and masquerading ministers and explains why none of those guys could ever fight their way out of spiritual paper bag.
© 2025 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued…]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Posted on October 17, 2025, in Teaching and tagged Counterfeit Religious Traditions, Discipleship, Gospel Truth, Lord Jesus, Luke, Miracles and Healing, Paul, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, The LORD is a Warrior, The Perfect Teachings of Jesus, Twelve Apostles, Unreal Christianity, Victory in Jesus. Bookmark the permalink. 7 Comments.
Real Christianity 
So good, RJ. One of the reasons some people hated Charlie Kirk is because he spoke absolute, biblical truth. He never watered down the scriptures, nor did he apologize for the truths he taught. And he was martyred.
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Thanks. It is very interesting that the man’s last name is the Scottish word for “church.” He was a great talent and communicator with much knowledge including Biblical knowledge. It is also true, however, that the man and his organization benefitted primarily from his alignment with Zionism and very wealthy Zionist donors from the very beginning. Charlie Kirk was always a committed Zionist and unapologetic supporter of the state of Israel and his platform included that perspective. It is apparent, though, that he started to recently waver in his support for both Zionism and Israel with the ongoing mass genocide in Gaza and began questioning the wanton murder of so many innocent women and children. Many people have questioned this, of course, but apparently not as many Christians as should be. I saw it right from the beginning two years ago and wrote the following post which you kindly read and commented on at the time:
HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF? POTENTIAL OUTCOMES OF THE ESCALATING ISRAELI-HAMAS WAR.
Even at the time of my post, a month after October 7, 2023, the official death count was high but extremely underreported and included many innocent women and children. Incidentally, the official death count remains vastly underreported in the major media. It is actually well over 500,000. This was and remains an international travesty that should be condemned unilaterally especially by Christians.
However, after two full years this has yet to happen from all major Christian platforms, television networks, and pretty much every major well-known television and megachurch leader. In fact, it reveals that the vast majority of these people and their followers are still supporting the Gaza genocide unequivocally which is an absolute violation of the teachings of the Lord Jesus and the entire New Testament. This reveals their true loyalties. The Lord Jesus made it very clear that one cannot serve both God and mammon and is shining a great light on the truth of the matter.
It is otherwise obvious that Kirk started having major pushback from major donors against his changing views as reflected in several recent interviews and forums before his death. Because he was so talented and had such a great cultural voice and reach he had to be stopped and he was. I disagree therefore, that he was primarily a Christian martyr though I am certainly not questioning his Christianity. They have since made him out to be a Zionist martyr and have used his death to rally their cause.
Thank you again my friend. Blessings
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I don’t suppose we’ll know the whole truth until we all get to heaven.
It concerns me that so many believers see Zionism as a religious movement. It is not. It is strictly political, built on maintaining the statehood of Israel and the return of the Jews to their homeland.
Of course, so much of this is clear in prophecy. Satan’s primary target is Israel. He failed in his attempt to kill Jesus, but he can still work on killing Jews. Not that it will, ultimately, do him any good.
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Of course, the New Testament is very clear that after the Lord’s ministry, His great Sacrifice on the cross for our Salvation, and His glorious Resurrection, that there was no longer any distinction between the Israelites and Gentiles. It is why His entire spiritual Community which began at Pentecost with the original 120 in the Upper Room in Acts 2 was composed only of believing Israelites, which eventually grew to the multiple thousands from 32AD until approximately 41AD. This was when the Lord first began adding Gentiles starting with Cornelius and those assembled with Him on a special day in Caesarea when the Lord sent the apostle Peter to them with the Good News (See Acts 10). This group of Gentiles had an exact Pentecost experience which fully confirmed the inclusion of Gentiles into the Lord’s one Community. By this the Lord showed that there is only one plan of salvation for all and that there is no distinction as the following passages state:
The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.” [Acts 15:6-11]
But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. [Romans 3:21-30]
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. [Romans 10:12-17]
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. [1Corinthians 12:12-13]
But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. [Galatians 3:23-29]
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. [Colossians 3:9-11]
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I’ve wondered about that too. When I read about the disciples being sent out to teach and heal, it amazes me how closely God walked with them in those moments. But I also remind myself that God moves in ways we don’t always recognize as ‘miraculous’ today. I know small miracles happen every day, things we don’t always see in the moment. Sometimes I feel that deep longing for everything to finally be made right, for the hurting to find relief, and for all the confusion of this world to end. Just some thoughts that came to mind as I was reading your post.
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Thank you Sandra. I appreciate your thoughts here. One of the things we know about the Lord Jesus, who is so loving and kind and understanding, is that He makes the Good News personal. He understands our pain and heartache. No one suffered as much heartache as He did. I know He wants to make His ministry to each of us very personal. He has done everything to meet us wherever we are through whatever opportunity we give Him. And it certainly is true that He does miracles every day though some or maybe most may not appear as dramatic as those in the Gospels but each is a life-changing miracle for the better in some way.
Also, though the hurting may not always find forever relief in this life, in that reminders or the fight may always return, it does receive relief that only He can give that allows us to overcome and not be stuck or held down. Yet, there are also miracles in which ALL the hurting is taken away just as it was when the people He touched received total healing or total miracles. The greatest miracle, though, is that we can be reconciled to God, and actually walk with the Lord and have a great Father-child relationship with Him in which all good things are possible. I know He loves loving His children and taking care of them and strengthening them and sending them back out again to live their life and do their work, which is actually His work (the best work!)
Thanks again for reading. Hope y’all are having much fun on your travels.
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Thank you very much Rj. 🙂
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