Besieged
By Jason Lovelace
Keys for Today:
“The Lord is good, a strong hold in
the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.”
– Nahum 1.7
“Thou art my hiding place; thou
shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about
with songs of deliverance.”
– Psalm 32.7
“Rejoice not against me, O mine
enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness,
the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the
indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him,
until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me:
he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his
righteousness.”
– Micah 7.8~9
“I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep
them from evil. They are not of the world, even as I
am not of the world.’”
– John 16.15 ~16
“If the world hate you, ye know
that it hated me before it hated you.”
– John 15.18
“Marvel not if the world hate you.”
– 1st John 3.13
“These things have I spoken unto
you, that ye might have peace. In the world ye shall
have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world.”
– John 16.331
What is a siege? What does
it mean to be besieged? What weapons are used in a
siege, and what do those who are besieged do to fight back?
In today’s world, how are we besieged? How are people
of this world besieged, and what are we besieged by?
Are Christians besieged? If so, how so? When you
see a castle, what do you think? What thoughts, words,
and/or ideas come to mind? Why were castles built?
Why did the U.S. Army build forts in the Old West back in
the history of the USA? Why were the great
castles of Japan, China,
and Korea
built so long ago? Is there a spiritual, eternal
connection to a castle or fortress when we see them in this
day and age?
In The World But Not Of The World
As believers in Jesus Christ, the
Lord Himself gives Christians today a singular fact:
“…I have chosen you out of the
world…”2
Friends, the simple fact of being
a Christian is that we have been called out of the world.
In essence, we are inhabitants of the world, but we are no
longer citizens of this world. In fact, John chapters
15 through 17 spell this out rather clearly. Jesus
states time and time again that we – those of us who have
chosen to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour – are not
of this world, but now citizens of heaven. When we
come to Christ and confess our sins, repenting of them, and
asking Christ to enter our hearts and lives, we are
redeemed. What does that word redeemed mean?
Here are a few definitions of the word to redeem:
·
To buy back: repurchase; to
liberate3
·
To get or buy back; recover; to
set free; rescue; to deliver form sin and its penalties; to
fulfill as a promise.4
·
To ransom; release; buy up; to
free by paying a ransom; deliverance5
Essentially, when we come to
Christ in repentance and forgiveness we are bought back from
sin, eternal death, and the control and world of the Devil,
Satan. We then “change citizenship” of heaven as it
were. It is no different than what we see in history.
When the slave trade was at its height in
Africa, often certain slaves were – in a way –
bought back from those who’d captured them. The slaves
would be lined up and directed towards a slave trader and
his ship. In the course of the procession of slaves
heading to the ship, if the chief of an African tribe or a
wealthy merchant saw slave that he wished to free, he would
throw a rope noose around him or her. The redeemer
would then pay the purchase price of the slave to the
trader, and the freed slave would be able to simply walk
away, but often they would serve the person who freed them.
This noose signified that the slave was free. It’s no
different with us as sinners: the devil has us lined
up, and we’re heading to the slave ship. When we call
on Jesus, he throws his noose around our necks, and through
the blood of the cross, paid our ransom. We are then
free to follow him. To put it a better way, this is
what happens to us when we come to Christ:
“For ye are bought with a
price…”6
“Ye are bought with a price…”7
We become citizens of heaven when
we accept Christ and, in essence, we are merely passing
through this world on our way to heaven.
Citizens of Heaven, Hated By the
World
There’s just one small problem to
being a citizen of Heaven in this world: we are
“public enemy #1”. Jesus again promised this would be
the case, as we read from our keys above:
“If the world hate you, ye know
that it hated me before it hated you.”8
The Apostle John also states the
case quite succinctly:
“Marvel not if the world hate
you.”9
You see? When we choose
Christ as Saviour, and make the decision to follow him, we
become the enemies of the world. The reason is because
when Adam and Eve sinned (See Genesis 3), control of this
world was given over by man to the devil, Satan:
“Of judgment, because the
prince of this world is judged.”10
“Wherein in time past ye
walked according to the course of this world, according to
the prince and power of the air, the spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience…”11
“For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places.”12
It’s because the devil has been
given power over this world that we become enemies upon
receiving Christ as Saviour, and the devil will use every
tool in his repertoire to assault, attack, and cause his
followers to hate us.
The Siege Weapons of the Devil
Has anyone seen the movie, The
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers? How about
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King?
Have you read the Books? How about the Classic Movie,
El Cid: Has anyone seen this one? How about
Gladiator? If you’ve seen these movies (or any
similar to them) or read books concerning warfare in time
from late Ancient times to the early Renaissance, what kind
of weapons do we see? What kind of tools do kings or
armies use to batter down and/or take a castle or
fortification? Have you studied the US War Between the
States (also popularly known as the US Civil War)?
What kinds of weapons were used in the siege of
Vicksburg? If you have studied
or watched movies concerning sieges, whether they are from
ancient times to the 20th Century, you may see
different and various vehicles and structures used to bring
a walled city, Castle, or fortification to its knees.
You may see siege towers – huge, moving towers made of wood
and covered with leather, having a gangplank so that
soldiers may rush across and attack the walls of a castle or
city. You may see catapults that send rocks, fiery
bombs, or disease–ridden trash into a castle. You may
see trebuchets, large instruments that can send rocks
hurtling hundreds of feet into the air for a mile.
You may see battering rams which pound at the doors or weak
points of a fortification so that warriors may enter in and
capture. In similar fashion, the devil has siege
weapons as well.
The Devil’s
Siege Tower – Sex Apart from Marriage: One of
his greatest weapons of this day and age is sex. Turn
on a television, go to a movie, read a magazine, even drive
down the road and look at a billboard, and it won’t be long
before we see something being advertised with sex.
Television shows, movies, and magazines make light of sex,
and teach people to engage in sex in any form except for how
God created it – in the bonds of marriage. Friends,
illicit sex is like a siege tower for the devil: by it
he can enter in and destroy your life! There is
countless information, which proves that sex apart from
marriage carries consequences of disastrous nature, yet it
is this information that we never hear form the media.
This is what makes sex apart from marriage like a siege
tower:. Paul speaks directly to this danger:
“Know ye not that your bodies
are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the
members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot?
God forbid. What? Know ye not that he which is joined
unto an harlot is one body? ‘For two,’ saith he,
‘shall be one flesh.’ But he that is joined unto the
Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin
that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth
fornication sinneth against his own body. What?
Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost
which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your
own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are
God’s.” 13
Sex apart from God’s plan is
disastrous, and if we let immoral sex into our lives it will
be the ruin of us.
The Devil’s Battering Ram –
Violence: Can anyone name a good action movie?
Do you know who’s a great action movie star? When we
watch action movies these days, how much violence do we see?
Who’s seen Saving Private Ryan? Has anyone seen
any of the Saw Series of movies? When we watch
a good action flick, how does it make us feel? What
about the violence? Here is a famous quote:
Violence begetteth violence14
Here are some other quotes
concerning violence:
“…he that killeth with the
sword must be killed with the sword.”15
“Whoso sheddeth men’s blood,
by man shall his blood be shed…”16
“Put up again thy sword into
his place: for all they that take the sword shall
perish with the sword.”17
What all this means is that
violence, when it is portrayed, causes more violence, and
those that take up the sword (or any other weapon for that
matter) to shed blood will him/herself have their blood shed
in a violent way. A short perusal of history
serves to confirm this truth. Ernesto “che” Guevara ,
revered by the masses today as some sort of rebel hero,
whose face emblazons t-shirts all over the world, was in
reality one of the worst and most violent killers of all
time. He met a violent end trying to stir up
revolution in Bolivia
after Fidel Castro kicked him out of Cuba. Adolf Hitler, who
ordered the deaths of more than 12 million untermenschen,
ended his own life by swallowing cyanide and shooting
himself with a pistol. The serial killer Jeffrey
Dahmer – sentenced to life in prison for the brutal slayings
of more than a dozen people – was himself brutally murdered
in prison. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the shooters
at Columbine, turned their guns on one another after killing
fifteen of their classmates. This is the result of
violence. Even worse, those who watch and take in a
regular “diet” of violence soon become desensitized to it.
Part of the reason for the collapse of Ancient Rome was
simply because the Roman masses couldn’t get enough
bloodshed in the arena, and it’s happening in the USA today, too. We are seeing more
and more movies plumbing the depths of depraved violence,
and it is creating a generation described as the following:
“There is a generation, whose
teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to
devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among
men.”18
Take a look at our inner cities,
and what do we see? Take a walk inside any of our
schools in this post-modern age, and what do we find?
People are becoming more and more violent, less and less
caring of others, and less and less compassionate at younger
and younger ages. Why? Because we have been
taught here in the USA that
violence is okay. We are being taught day in and day
out that abortion on demand is an acceptable form of birth
control despite the violence incurred by the baby. We
are being led to believe that mercy killing and assisted
suicide are acceptable forms of terminating life when a
doctor or family member decides that quality of life is no
longer present. Case in point is the Terry Schiavo
case. Ms. Schiavo was – for some as yet undetermined
reason – rendered to a physical state of dependence on her
husband. When her husband decided that she was no
longer living a quality life, he decided to end her life by
removing her feeding tube via court order. This was
done in spite of efforts by her parents and brother (not to
mention then Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the Florida State
Legislature, and a host of others) to save Ms. Schiavo’s
life and have her move in with her parents so that they
could care for her. It is interesting to note that
when this decision was made and Ms. Schiavo was allowed to
starve to death, her husband had already “moved on” by
shacking up with a girlfriend he’d had for over nine years,
fathering two sons by her. His actions were less about
his wife’s needs and more about his own. Friends, this
is where violence takes us, and this is why violence is such
a danger. It is a devilish battering ram that will
render us insensitive if we allow it into our lives.
The Devil’s Trebuchet – Drugs and
Alcohol: Possibly the greatest and most destructive
weapon that the devil has in his arsenal is drug use and
abuse. Today, Alcohol is big money. Beer
commercials are usually the most entertaining, and the best
ones come out during the Super Bowl, where companies may
spend multimillions for a single 30-second spot.
Do you know of any catchy phrases or jingles from Beer
Commercials? One that comes to this writer’s mind is
“Less Filling, Tastes Great!” from the Miller Brewing
company. It was aired throughout the 1980s and early
`90s, and starred a host of former athletes of all stripes.
Yet the problem with alcohol is that it is the number one
reason that families break up. It is also reported
that 72% of all criminals got their start by first drinking
themselves drunk. It’s really no different than other
drugs. Marijuana is said to be a gateway drug to other
forms of drug abuse. Today, there is no bigger drug
problem than the use of Ecstasy and Crystal Methamphetimines
(Crystal Meth for short) aside from alcohol abuse.
While the Bible has no direct mention of drugs, it does
speak out against drunkenness19, 20
and also of being addicted to the Gospel21.
And though there are those who state that the Bible allows
alcohol consumption as a normal and acceptable, the fact of
the matter is the Bible speaks out against drinking in many
places22.
Alcohol and drugs are destructive weapons of the devil.
The Devil’s Sappers –
Disobedience to Parents (and God): How many of us
think that Mom’s and Dad’s rules are just too tough?
How many of us think that our parents’ rules are just too
impossible to follow? Are there certain rules that you
don’t like? What are they? Did you know that
disobedience to parents is one of the warnings God gives us
in his Ten Commandments? Did you know that there is no
easier way for the devil to disrupt and destroy a household
than through the disobedience of children? Did you
also know that disobedience to parents is disobedience to
God? Here is what Moses wrote concerning habitually
disobedient children:
“If a man have a stubborn and
rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father,
or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have
chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall
his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out
unto the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place:
And they shall say unto the elders of the city, ‘This our
son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice;
he is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his
city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so thou
shalt put evil away from among you; and all
Israel
shall hear, and fear.”23
This may seem harsh, but friends,
when we read the Ten Commandments as found in Exodus 20 and
Deuteronomy 5, we see that God considers disobedience to
parents to be a capital offence, and one that will shorten
the physical lives of those who are living in disobedience
to their parents24.
And ultimately, disobedience to parents is disobedience to
God. We have a prime example of how disobedience can
disrupt a family in the story of Isaac, his wife, and his
two sons, Esau and Jacob. Because Esau and Jacob were
both disobedient, it nearly brought to ruin the life of one
of the Patriarchs, forcing the brothers to separate for
twenty years25.
The reason the United states of America – yea, the
technologically advanced nations of the world, as well – is
precisely because we are raising a generation of spoiled
brats, who are taught by the mainstream media and
psychiatrists an psychologists that children should be
allowed to do as they please. Though sex and violence
are likely the top spots for lyrics in modern music,
disobedience to parents has been a part of popular music
since the 1960s. Friends, this weapon of the devil –
disobedience to parents – is one that is wrecking our
society form its very fabric. The more we allow and
wallow in this form of Godless selfishness, the more our
society will become depraved, debauched, and distant from
God.
A Christian’s Siege Defense
Weapon
There is only one, but it has
many, many facets – trust in God. The best way to
defeat the siege towers of immoral sex from the devil is to
keep our minds on things above 26, 27.
Turn off the television when sexual immorality is being
portrayed, or simply leave the TV room. If a movie is
playing and sexual immorality is being shown, fast forward
past the sex scenes (if it’s a video cassette or DVD), go
get a coke and/or some popcorn (if you are at the theater),
or simply walk out of the movie (better yet, if there is a
hint of sexual immorality in the movie, don’t even watch
it). Ditto that to movies and TV programs which show
violence (especially the graphic kind – though, in the case
of Saving Private Ryan, it is necessary for adults to
see and know the price our Grandfathers and
great-grandfathers paid on the Normandy beaches. As
Steven Spielberg stated, Saving Private Ryan is not a
movie for anyone under the age of 18). If a song comes
on the radio that speaks of sex, violence, drugs, and/or
disobedience to parents, turn it off, or switch stations.
Same for magazines and books and internet websites that
promote any of the things mentioned above as weapons of the
Devil. Most importantly, ask God for help. We
can do nothing without God (see John chapter 15), and if we
try to fight the devil his weapons, and temptations alone,
we will fail and fall miserably.
Bombarded On All Sides
When we take a look at the
situation for Believers in Jesus in this day and age, things
don’t look good. Media outlets – especially
Television, movies, Newspapers, the Internet, and Magazines
– constantly decry Christian and Biblical values, all the
while bombarding the senses with every kind of debased and
debauched form of entertainment: Movies continue to plumb
the depths of the depravity of society; television has
become a cesspool of violence, drug abuse and addiction, and
sexual innuendo; Magazines push the envelope, blurring the
lines between what is artistic and newsworthy, and what is
pornographic and decrepit; the internet is now home to
grisly photographs, graphic sex and violence, and
pedophiliac predators of every stripe. Radio and music
produce and fill the airwaves with songs with lyrics that
fifty years ago would have been criminal to even think.
Day after day, hour after hour, the sights, sounds, and
smells of the enemy bombard those of us who follow Jesus
Christ. Most of what we see, hear, and understand form
the enemy seems harmless enough, but when we take a closer
look, we see the telltale signs of the devil. The
Apostle Paul states it best:
“We are troubled on every
side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in
despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not
destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the
Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made
manifest in our own body. For we which live are always
delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of
Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So
death worketh in us, but life in you” 28
Here, Paul is telling us that we
are literally bombarded by the enemy…but things don’t look
so bleak.
The Legend is Here
During the Texas War of
Independence form Santa Anna’s
Mexico, the Alamo
was one battle in which the Mexican Army had to literally
deal with a few legendary heroes: James Bowie was
famous for his fighting and toughness on the Early US
Western Frontier, carrying his large and soon-to-be
legendary knife, later called the Bowie Knife. James
Bonham had been a fierce Indian fighter, frontiersman, and
trapper. Probably the most legendary was a gentleman
by the name of David “Davy” Crockett. If anyone had
led an adventurous and legendary life even before the Alamo
Battle it was Crockett. He had served alongside Andrew
Jackson in the US Indian Wars of the early 1800s, had fought
and killed bears, was a skilled marksman with a Kentucky
Long Rifle, and had served two terms in the United States
House of Representatives. It is said that when
Crockett came to the Alamo
with 30 to 50 Kentuckians and Tennesseeans, those in the
fort cheered wildly, with one stating that having Davy
Crockett was as good as having thirty more men.
Further, following the end of the Battle of the Alamo, two
of the survivors, upon identifying Crockett, stated that
more than a dozen fallen Mexican soldiers surrounded his
body. Friends, in the same way, we are besieged by
this world. As Paul states above, we are pressed in,
persecuted, and hemmed in by the world. That’s the bad
news; but the good news is that Jesus Christ has promised to
be with us. Look at what the Lord says here to Joshua:
“There shall not any man be
able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as
I was with Moses, so will I be with thee: I will not
fail thee nor forsake thee…Have not I commanded thee?
Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid neither be
thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee
whithersoever thou goest.” 29
We can overcome the bombardment,
the siege, and the assaults by Satan if we will stay close
to the Lord, because he is with us! Listen to what he
says to Moses:
“‘Certainly I will be with
thee…’” 30
And just as God was with Moses,
so will he be with us! The Alamo
had legends like Bowie, Bonham, Crockett, and Travis; don’t
we have a greater with us? The men of the Alamo and of
battles similar to them, such as Thermopylae and King
Leonidas and his 300 guardsmen, were battles where the siege
was lost; aren’t we in a battle and a war that is already
won? And if Christ has already won the battle, can we
not hold out against the besieging assaults of the devil?
After all, he has promised to be there in the fight with us.
31, 32, 33.
The Bottom Line – Remember our
Weapons and We Can Withstand This Siege
Friends, if we keep in mind the
things that the Lord has spoken to us through his written
word, we can withstand this siege form the devil and form
the world. Daily, we must take up the armor of God34
and stand to fight against the devil. So long as we
remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is standing with us, we
will win, and we can withstand this siege. For with
God, nothing is impossible35.
If we stand with him at our side, victory will be ours, and
is ours already.
Conclusion – Are You Holding Out?
How’s it going with you?
Are you holding strong to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and
withstanding the siege of the Devil? Are you rising
day and night and spending time with the Lord? Have
you asked Jesus to come into your heart, and now things look
particularly hopeless? Have you asked the Lord to
sanctify you and fill you with his Spirit, only to run into
a plateau and a rut? Have you given heed to the call
of God on your life, but are things seemingly going haywire
in front of your eyes? Have you given in to the
devil’s lies, allowing his siege weapons to do in your
defenses, and giving him free sway in your life? There
is great news for you today! You can have the Lord as
your hope and stay! All you need do is ask him to come
in, set things right, and he will. Ask him to clear up
the doubts, to clean away the confusion, and to straighten
out the worries, and he will do it36.
Trust in him, and come to him today.
Invitation
Have you given in to the devil?
Have the walls of your heart and life been broken down, and
the enemy allowed to rush in? You can, right now,
where you are, ask the Lord to come into your heart and
life. All you need to do is ask, and he will come in.
He awaits at the door of your heart37
for you to answer and allow him in. If you come unto
him, he will not turn you away38.
Come to Christ today, and accept him into your life.
He will forgive you and give you a new and better life, and
set you on the road to eternity and prepare a place for you
in heaven39.
Prayer
Father in heaven, people face
things in the world today that, just a few years ago, didn’t
even exist. We are seeing things played out before our
very eyes that cause the mind to wonder, and the heart to
break. Lord, we who follow you are bombarded day and
night with the assaults and besiegement of the Devil.
We pray for strength, today, O Lord, and ask, In Jesus Name:
Will you help us? Will you walk by our sides?
Father, there is probably someone reading this today who has
a life that is next to hell on earth. There are
probably those right now who are in the fight of their lives
with the devil, and they are losing, not sure where help
will come from. Will you remind us, Lord, that you are
never more than a cry away? Will you help us and
strengthen us for the tasks we must do in thy name?
Help us all, Lord, we pray, and we ask, in Jesus’ Precious
Name, Amen.
Verse to Remember:
“I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh
from the Lord, which made Heaven and earth. He will
not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee
will not slumber.”
– Psalm 121.1~3
“Unto thee lift I up mine
eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.”
– Psalm 124.1
Endnotes
1. All Scripture is
taken from The Authorized King James Version of the Bible,
London, The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland: Published 1611
2. The Gospel According
to St. John: Chapter 15, Verse 19
3. Webster’s Third
New International Dictionary of the English Language
Unabridged, ©1968 Merriam-Webster, Springfield, MA;
Philip Babcock Gove, Ph. D., Editor-in-Chief: p.1902
4. The Everyday
Encyclopedic Edition of Webster’s New World Dictionary of
the American Language, ©1966 The World Publishing
Company, Nashville, TN, USA: p. 622
5. Strong, James, LL.D.,
S.T.D. - The New Strong’s Dictionary of Bible Words,
©1999, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN,
USA: p.
210
6. The First Epistle of
Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians: Chapter 6, verse
20
7. The First Epistle of
Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians: Chapter 7, verse
23
8. The Gospel According
to St. John: chapter 15, Verse 18
9. The First Epistle of
John: Chapter 3, Verse 13
10. The Gospel According to
St. John: Chapter 16, Verse 11
11. The Epistle of Paul the
Apostle Paul to the Ephesians: Chapter 2, Verse 2
12. The Epistle of Paul the
Apostle Paul to the Ephesians: Chapter 6, Verse 12
13. The First Epistle of Paul
the Apostle to the Corinthians: Chapter 6, Verses 15 ~
20
14. Martin Luther King, Jr. –
Speech, 1958
15. The Revelation of
St. John the Divine: Chapter 13, Verse 10
16. The First Book of Moses,
Called Genesis: Chapter 9, Verse 6
17. The Gospel According to
St. Matthew: Chapter 26, Verse 52
18. The Book of the Proverbs:
Chapter 26, Verse 14
19. “And
be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled
with the Spirit…” – The Epistle of Paul
the Apostle to the Ephesians: Chapter 5, Verse 18
20.
“Therefore let us not sleep as do others; but let us watch
and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night;
and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.”
– The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the
Thessalonians: Chapter 5, verse 7
21. “I
beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that
it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted
themselves to the ministry of the saints,)…”
– The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians:
Chapter 16, Verse 15
22. See for reference:
Genesis 9.20~27; Proverbs 20.1; 21.17, 31; 31.4~7; Song of
Solomon 1.2; Isaiah 5.1; 28,7; Hosea 3.1; 4.1; Habakkuk 2.5;
1st Timothy 3.3. It must be noted that
Psalm 104.5 and 1st Timothy 5.23, and Isaiah 55.1
refer to wine as a medicinal (medicine in ancient times
isn’t like what it is today).
23. The Fifth Book of Moses
Called Deuteronomy: Chapter 21, Verses 18~21
24. See for reference Exodus
20.12; Deuteronomy 5.16; Leviticus 19.3; Ephesians 6.1~3
25. See for reference Genesis
25.19~35.29
26. “Thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
thee: because he trusteth in thee.”
– The Book of the Prophet Isaiah: Chapter 26,
Verse 3
27. “If ye
then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are
above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affections on things above, not on things on the
earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with
Christ in God.” – The Epistle of Paul
the Apostle to the Ephesians: Chapter 3, Verses 1~3
28. The Second Epistle of Paul
the Apostle to the Corinthians: Chapter 4, Verses 8
~12
29. The Book of Joshua: Chapter 1, Verses 5
and 9
30. The Second Book of Moses,
Called Exodus: Chapter 3, Verse 12
31. “And,
behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places
whither thou goest, and will bring thee again unto this
land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that
which I have spoken to thee of.” –
The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis:
Chapter 28, Verse 15
32. “For
where two or three are gathered together in my name, there
am I in the midst of them.”
– The Gospel According to St. Matthew:
Chapter 18, Verse 20
33. “I
will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”
– The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews:
Chapter 13, Verse 5
34. See for reference
Ephesians 6.10~18
35. See for reference Luke
1.37
36.
“Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”
– The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the
Thessalonians: Chapter 5, Verse 24
37.
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man
hear my voice, and open the door, I will come unto him, and
will sup with him, and he with me.” –
The Revelation of St.
John the Divine: Chapter 3, Verse 20
38. “All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
– The Gospel According to
St. John: Chapter 6, Verse 37
39. “Let
not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe
also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again and receive you unto
myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
– The Gospel According to St. John: Chapter
14, verses 1 through 3.