In today's multicultural atmosphere, Christians struggle to hold steadfast to the Word of God. Doubt, sin, and false teachers beckon at every turn and do their best to derail our faith. Therefore, Christians need to don the armor of God and yield His sword. Rich in theological history and filled with hope, The Sword and Shield reveals how Christians must embrace God's word and stand firm in the belief of His eternal promise. Using his extensive theological knowledge, John W. Edwards III shares his personal journey of faith and demonstrates how today's Christian crusaders must remain diligent against Satan's relentless attacks. Edwards examines the lives of several biblical leaders, including Moses, Daniel, David, and Paul, to show how they anchored believers to God's holy message. He then discusses ways in which Christians can wield the sword of truth by knowing God's message, living within the character of Christ, and preparing to be tested each day. In this way, Christians can apply their knowledge and discern between God's truth and Satan's lies. We are not measured to man, but measured to God's word. Find your truth within God's word and prepare to draw your sword!

The Sword and Shield

Today's Christian CrusaderBy John W. Edwards III

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 John W. Edwards III
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-4465-8

Contents

About the Sword.........................................1The Skilled and Unskilled Swordsman.....................27The History of the Sword................................40The Sword of Moses......................................40The Sword of Elijah.....................................44The Sword of Solomon....................................46The Sword of David......................................47The Sword of Daniel.....................................52The Sword of Paul.......................................54Divine Swordsmanship....................................59Sword Training..........................................90Continued Sword Development.............................103Skilled Swordsmanship...................................121The Sword of Discipleship...............................140The Courage of Discipleship.............................171The History of the Crusades.............................184Today's CrusadesAndSword of Freedom.....................227Living by the Sword.....................................243Life & Death............................................272Deadly Deceptions.......................................286Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk!...........................300Know What You Know......................................306Acknowledgements........................................317

Chapter One

About the Sword

"Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." Ephesians 6:17-20

The Bible; God's Holy Word, Testaments of His chosen Prophets, the Apostles of Jesus Christ, the Epistles, the Canon and my Sword. They include a collection of letters that are assembled to organize, inform, educate, govern, provide comfort, provide accountability, instill discipline, and honor the Lord our God. The Holy Bible provides a collection of evidence for all to follow the instructions of God to the people of the Old Testament and introduces His Son as the New Testament from His birth through forever where His Grace covers The Law ... It is an unquestionable gift of God loves desire for His people to love Him as their Father and know Him through His word and His Son's saving grace. GOD!

The first thing man must do is decide what god they intend to worship and where they will place their complete faith, trust and love. It means everything to do this first and understand who is the creator of all things as well as who is in control of the universe. There are many gods to choose from and man creates more and more idols each and every day. If anything is placed between you and God, it then becomes your idol ...

Today's Christian Crusader must know how to define the differences in worship. Worship must have a figure of divine trust and hope. Let's walk through a few of the better-known gods of today's religions or "polytheism", which is the belief in multiple deities.

• Allah: The god of Islam as written in the Qur'an (kor-an) and is the fundamental pillar of faith for Muslims. Allah never took human form and Muslims refuse the thought of Jesus as the Christ as well as deny the Trinity as holy. Muhammad ibn Abdullah founded Islam and Allah in 632AD, wrote the Qur'an and he died then stayed dead. This religion does not recognize heaven as an eternal destination because they do not recognize the path through Jesus Christ as THE Way to get there. It is written in the Qur'an to anyone who leaves Allah and worships the Almighty Living God through Jesus Christ must die a physical death. Christians recognize that if you ignore Christ you will die a spiritual death, forever.

• Baha'i: The Bahaullah was originally a follower of the babi religion founded by the Babi and he is dead. Shoi Effendi Rabbani was the leader in succession to Abdul Baha and he is now dead as well. They both have remained among the dead. Those who died believing in bahai are spiritually dead forever.

• Brahma: In Hindu Brahma is the creator and senior member of the triad of Hinud gods. Braham is their creator of the universe. He was man made and has never shown visible signs of true life. So, it is difficult for something to die that has never lived. This "man-made" thing is part of this world and has no value into the next.

• Buddha: Its founder Siddhartha Gautama, prince in northern India around 483BC, created the statue that has covered the globe in popularity. He created Buddhism as a form of atheism, which found it difficult to entrust anyone with his or her eternal soul. He is dead now and the statue has taken on many forms and many different materials used since this era. Most people of today think that Buddha is a god but he was mortal man and never wandered more than 200 miles from his home therefore he never knew of Jewish worship or world creation. His sole being was to become one as the earth. Buddha is looked up to and thought well of as a teacher, much like a prophet and he found his own perfection in nirvana. This meant he found himself to be perfectly moral, perfectly ethical, and found to be perfect. A sort of legend in his own mind but he is now perfectly dead. I also find it interesting that the lead rocker of the band Nirvana, earlier named "fecal matter", with years of a drug and drunken life, committed suicide in 1994 with a shotgun to his chin and a departure note. So, the meaning of nirvana is one who has attained ultimate wisdom? Both were famous in their own right, in their own world and both remain dead in this world. But he was right about one thing; he became part of this earth when they buried his earthly physical body but his spirit is very much alive. The difference is in his eternal destination. Like the Buddha symbols, a rabbit's foot is about as lucky.

• Vishnu: In Hindu Vishnu is the preserver of the universe and there are ten avatars of Vishnu: Matsya the fish, Kurma the turtle, Varaha the boar, Narasimha the man-lion, Vamana the dwarf, Parashurama a sage with an axe, Rama the king of ayodhya, Krishna, brother to Balarama, Buddha the thinker, and Kalki the destroyer. George Lucas could not have asked for a better star line-up of aliens or new world orders. All of these characters were man made, man created, therefore one who never lived cannot create. They are simply dead creations. I thought these guys were at the bar in the first Stars Wars movie but I could be mistaken.

• Cheng-huang: These are Chinese protective gods who provide them with rain, harvests and are guides to souls into the heavens. The communistic People's Republic of China needs this with there 70 million plus people. Men imagined these gods, created by man and are as dead as the men who created them. China is ghastly again becoming a world dominating power. I wonder who is behind communist power ...

• Sky gods or deities include: ouranos, shu, indra, tyr ullr, cabaguil, torngasoak, anu, nyame, denka, altjira, shanga, gamab, tengri, ukka and a several Lithuanian sky deities like; dievas, ausrine, dalia, gabija, laima, menuo, perkunas, saule, zemyna, asvieniai, and zvaigzdes. All of these gods have no appearance of life and were created by man therefore they died when man's imagination died.

• There are many mother figures that are worshiped and prayed to for blessings, safe keeping and nurturing love: potnia theron, Aphrodite, Mary, brigid, cybele, Demeter, devi, durga, freyja, frigg, gaia, hathor, hecate, ishtar, isis, jord, kamakhya, kali, laxmi, mut, nerthus, ops, pachamama, rhea, tawaret, triple goddess and yashoda. None of these gods represent an appearance of life today. The Mother Mary, mother of Jesus is a figure of respect but she is not a god to be worshiped or prayed through or to. Many Catholics will cringe at this statement but if you kneel before Mary then you are kneeling before the wrong one. If this statement offends you then you are really going to be livid later on! Refer to Matthew 2:11 where they came to worship HIM ...

• Christadephians: This was a religious sect founded by Dr. John Thomas in 1832 as his ship encountered many storms and he swore oath to God if He would spare his life he would honor Him forever. God did His part and Thomas studied with the Cambellites for some time until he decided to split the group and start the "Brethren of Christ". Then in the 1800s church leaders split off from this group to form Mormonism, Jehovah's Witness, Christian Science, Seventh Day Adventism and Spiritualism. These groups began calling out the end of time beginning with the Civil War. As with most groups they concentrate and dwell on the end of time. Many of these groups wrote different books of doctrine claiming the sole right to biblical occurrences and beings. All the creators of these different religions are dead. The spirit of Christ is in everlasting life, not death. Don't preach or teach the end, focus on NEWness of life in Christ.

• Scientology: Scientologists look at god as being "infinity" and the "allness of all" where god is simply a vague concept. They believe that man is of three dimensions: soul, mind and body. This cult was the revolutionary invention of L. Ron Hubbard in 1954 based on his own theories. (Remember, the Holy Bible is not theory.) Ron later wrote science fiction books and claimed to be an art of the world he wrote about. Ron then crawled in a cave somewhere and died in 1986. His legacy lives on through famous folks like; Kirstie Alley, Tom Cruise, Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie Presley, Kelly Preston, John Travolta, Greta Van Susteren, Edgar Winter and many more. Scientologists who are now dead are now in infinity and in their all-ness of Hades. Ron Hubbard never survived his experience with death but has most definitely experienced the full measure of his religious practice. He is dead in body and in spirit. This practice of faith will grow into the new age religion and has already found a good foothold in America as well as Great Britain. I believe this new age thinking will be the path of the anti-Christ and move to one world church religion.

• New god: Yes, you can invent your own god because all the others have and the men who created these gods feel it served them well on this earth. There is a great story in the Old Testament about a golden calf that was "man made" and many people donated their gold to the creation of this idol. You should read it sometime. The problem is that you are only here for a little while then your god dies with you. And nowhere has any other god ever promised eternal life in paradise with him or she except God, Yahweh, Jehovah King of Kings, Lord of Lords and the only way to heavenly paradise is through Jesus Christ who died as sacrifice for our sin. The only God, undisputed in any language, rose from death and lives today. The only God ever to have defeated death. Exodus 20

• Almighty God: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is the Trinity being of one God as written in Isaiah. The living God and Creator of heaven and earth as well as the first man and his wife, Adam and Eve in Genesis. The God of the living Bible and the Word of God spoken through Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Abraham, David, Daniel, Solomon, Job, Isaiah, and Amos. The God who came to us as Jesus, God in flesh, to offer Himself as a living sacrifice for our sin and provide the gift of eternal life through Him and fill our lives with the Holy Spirit as He did Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James and Jude. He is the All Mighty, glorious, in majesty, with dominion and authority for now and forever. The New Testament created by God through Jesus: Also known as Christ, born of the Virgin Mary. His genealogy is recorded in Matthew 1:1-17 through Joseph and Luke 3:23-28 through Mary. Born as a Nazarene then moved to Egypt for His protection from king Herod who feared the newborn King. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, tempted by Satan, performed many healings, brought Lazarus out of his tomb after fours days of death, and fed five-thousand plus people from a child's lunch basket. He was seen transfigured with Moses and Elijah, prophesized His own death, was arrested, held in trial, crucified and died with no legal statement made of any crime. Then He arose ... The Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, He is the just and deserving King of Kings. These are the Gospels of Jesus Christ in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I began this composition with Him and I will close with Him, just as I have done here above all man made idols of past, present and future. To live forever in His Kingdom, these things must fill your heart and your mind. If He lives within you then He will live in you beyond today into His eternal way!

No other god has ever raised himself or herself from death except Jesus Christ. So why would anyone serve a dead god or a spiritualistic being with no past experience or future existence? If you are worshiping any other variation than the Almighty God Jehovah according to His world scribed in His Holy Bible then you are worshiping an idealistic view of our Creator and outside His knowing you. Any variation to His Holy Bible, additions or deletions of God's word is against God's word (Revelation 22:18-19). The Holy Bible is The Living Word of God and by faith alone will you receive the gifts His word has in store for you but it begins with a complete unconditional trust in Him. You will see this again and again through this literature as a validation of His greatness. Understand today that no matter what scientific statement is made, someone had faith in his or her belief that it is truth. Every word that an atheist or agnostic speaks is based on their faith in what they believe to be truth. Even though they cannot answer one question: how do you get something from nothing? At some point in history, there was nothing then something was formed. It is the difference between Creator and evolution. But how could we evolve from nothing?

Understand also that someone, because of his or her faith, believes every word of the Qur'an. Every person that believes they are one with the earth has faith that this is true. Every person that asks Buddha for help is asking it based on faith that he will deliver. Everyone who rubs a rabbit's foot, or knocks on wood, or saves a lucky charm; must have faith that this belief is truth. If a person says they do not believe in any spiritual being and when you die, you die, that person has faith that their belief is true. Every person in this globe has faith in something. The difference is that no other belief system in the universe has a living Father that has documented His creation, has documented the birth and life of His Son, has absolutely no argument of the death of His Son Jesus Christ, hundreds of witnesses of His resurrection and inspired the most read and longest living literature ever recorded in the history of the universe. Ever! It is trust in this evidence and it is faith that will comfort you in every word and every step you take in this life. Faith through Jesus Christ is the only thing that gets you into an eternal life with Him. Read, learn, listen, know, understand, ask questions, work at it, research it, pray about it, and He will speak to you as well as deliver you from any doubt. Place your faith in the word that is God and know you will be saved by His grace through Jesus Christ. This will become evident through your studies. Your study and understanding will help you when you are face to face with a demon. Know now that you will face many demonic deceptions! Being skeptic is understandable but being unprepared is foolish. Wisdom comes from being prepared. Proverbs 1:7

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