The world has never been faced with so many monumental decisions from presidential elections to propping up the world’s economy, one wonders how to pray. Never has the world been so plagued with one natural disaster after another causing a great strain on the world’s economy and the survivability of its citizens, one wonders how to pray. As the war drums beat louder from madmen of the East promising death and destruction to Israel and America, one wonders how to pray. Finally, as all manner of wickedness seems to go unabated and the streets are filled anarchists, one wonders how to pray. Now take a half an hour and get your thoughts together and after you get them together… toss them out because they will be of no use to you. Start by getting in the Spirit, the Muslim can’t do it, the Hindu can’t do it, the unbeliever can’t do it, but you can, because without it you are wasting your time. And to be truly in the Spirit means to reject your independence and learn total dependence upon God. God is not interested in your ideals, your solutions, or your agenda to bring change to a besieged world. On the other hand, He is interested in your total submission to His will.

Now that you are in the Spirit, you can close the door to your closet. You will be conducting business between you and God alone. “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10). The veil has been lifted and you see the world the way God sees it. All the nationalistic boundaries are erased, all cultures eradicated, all political and social barriers are removed, and all racial differences eliminated. So what else does God see when He looks in the earth? He sees His faithful remnant in every part of the world and sees the pagan hordes encamped against them.  In shock, we have a new way of thinking! We no longer support one country against another. We no longer support one politician against another. We no longer highly esteem one culture or race over another. Conversely we support every Christian in prayer over the pagan encamped against him. We acknowledge that Satan is leading the pagan around by the nose to do his will and our prayers finally begin to take shape.

We pray, Holy Father remove the blind fold from the pagan hordes so that they see your magnificent love flowing though us to our brethren in every part of the world. We pray let us boldly proclaim to the pagan hordes that your judgment is raining down from heaven with hopes that they might see their pitiful condition and repent. Let us also pray for our brothers and sisters around the world that they will die to self and walk in the Spirit at all times and in every situation. Let them not be overcome by the many trials and tribulations in the world, but allow it to awaken the spirit within them to come and walk closer to You, Oh, Lord. As Christians join hands from around the world and allow God’s Holy Spirit to lead them in prayer it will have a profound effect upon the world in which we live. As we fast approach the end of days, use this time in effectual prayer to bring about real change in a beleaguered world, augmenting the polarization between the only two groups that exists. Amen

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood” was the cardinal cry of the great Apostle Paul and spiritual leader of the early Church. Here was a man who was whipped five times, beaten with rods, and stoned for his faith, but he still wrote through the Holy Spirit that we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Here was a man who was rejected by many of his own people and the religious establishment of his day, but he still wrote through the Holy Spirit that we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Through all this pain and suffering we never see him once relax the teachings of his blessed savior Jesus Christ. Tolerance for other world religions and cultic beliefs of his day was not given. He stood on the solid ground of a higher teaching from heaven and still wrote that we wrestle not against flesh and blood. The Apostle Paul saw the real enemy standing behind all the evil forces of his day. He saw the manipulation of people and institutions by a force stronger than anyone realized. A veil was opened to observe the real enemy and he understood that our fight is against “principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12).

Today Christians have three choices: they can accept the mandated tolerance by accepting every man’s religion on a level ground with ours; or he can wage a physical war against all those who would impugn our God and destroy our faith; or he can wage a spiritual war against the real enemy that stands behind every world religion and cultic belief upon the planet. If he takes this latter position then he will join with the millions that have gone on before him in their struggle against evil. This is not a small choice because it will have eternal consequences and if the later choice is made it will throw you into the front lines of a spiritual battle that is raging in this world for the hearts and minds of every person. The wars and rumors of wars in our world today pale in comparison to the spiritual war taking place here and in the heavenly places.

So what can we do if we have made the later choice to join the spiritual battle? The first thing is to ensure that we are true believers in Christ and have laid a firm foundation in Him. Secondly, we must realize that the battle belongs to the Lord believing that our strength is in Him alone. Then we must put on the full armor of God prior to engaging the real enemy. I have dedicated my upcoming book: “Stand Firm” to these three essential points for taking our stand against the real enemy. For the time being let me encourage you to develop small groups for prayer, mutual encouragement, and learning how to engage the enemy and stand firm as we fast approach the end of days. As a retired pastor I cannot over emphasize the importance of the local church and its spiritual leadership to help you stand firm.

But let’s go a little deeper. How could this ever happen in our world? Many in our world today are convinced that religion is the problem and more specifically the difference in one’s religious or theological views. Hollywood has been making this point for years with nearly every movie to hit the box office. Take a closer look and you will see films portraying people from different religions working together for a common goal. You will see them demonstrating mutual respect and acceptance of one another’s religious views. The United States has seen their own President read from both the Koran and the Bible in a speech to the Muslim world. We have also seen the Roman Catholic Church create a dialogue with other world religions to garner mutual respect. But this is just the beginning because it only lays the ground work for removing the divisive force between religions and paves the way to a universal peace.

Before proceeding we must ask the question: “Why does it appear that Christianity in this country is so vehemently attacked while other religions seem to go relatively unscathed?”  I will answer that question with one word: “exclusiveness.” For two thousand years now the world has had a very big problem with the exclusiveness of Christianity. We must return to Ancient Rome to see how this all started. Rome was an empire that had embraced every known religion. Every time Rome conquered a country she would allow its gods to be brought into an equal footing with the rest. But Christianity arrived claiming to be the only true religion above all the rest and spoke of Jesus Christ as their only King which caused them a great deal of difficulty ensuing the great persecutions.

To this day many still believe that Christianity has tormented the world with its prophets of doom proclaiming Christ as the only way and its refusal as a certain path to the burning pits of hell. To preach the exclusiveness of Christianity is seen as divisive working against the possibility of world peace. As the world grows more tolerant of other world religions it has become less tolerant to Christians bent on winning the world for Christ. It is the belief of this author that the coming Antichrist or the one claiming to be the true prince of peace will outlaw any and all religions to proselyte. That is, to preach Christ to someone of another religious group would be punishable by death because it would be seen as an act of terrorism. This would be the first step in silencing the voice of Christianity and it would cause the entire world to rejoice and send gifts to one another (see Revelation 11:10). Many believe to silence Christianity would usher in a time of universal peace with mutual respect and acceptance of all world religions.

Clearly Antichrist will come claiming to be the true prince of peace and no doubt will win the noble peace prize. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

The election process was of no concern to Jesus Christ, because His method for bringing in the Kingdom would be radically different. Many of His fights with the religious leaders were over this very point. They simply could not understand why He would not take His place upon the throne of Israel, throw off the yoke of the Roman Empire, and institute His laws for all mankind to follow. They wanted to forcefully bring in the Kingdom and require everyone to be subject to its laws. But what did Christ say, “render unto Caesar the things of Caesar and render unto God the things of God.” So apparently Christ had a different way to bring in His Kingdom. It would not be done by force like the Muslim religion or other man made governments to rule the people. It would be done radically different. It is to these principles we must return even in the face of violent opposition.

Let’s be clear, this is a spiritual battle that must be waged if we are to stand firm in the last days. At this point God is still calling people into His Kingdom and away from the kingdom of this world.  Our Job has not changed in over two thousand years. We must proclaim the whole gospel whenever and wherever we go. We must proclaim a Gospel that teaches people how to die to self (deny self), pick up their cross, and follow the King by obeying His laws and serving His interest. Friends, when we follow His ways we will let our light shine as brilliant as the noon day sun that will attract others to Christ and bring glory to our risen Lord. When we follow His unchangeable laws then our righteousness will become our breastplate in our struggle against worldliness, materialism, and the antichrist forces arrayed against us.

Friends, the Kingdom of God is within us and only manifested in the assembly of God’s Holy people the true Church of God. Any attempt to manifest this Church in the governance of man will only lead to legalism, corruption, and bloodshed. On the other hand, following God’s commandments placed upon the heart of every Christian in the Kingdom of God would have a profound effect upon the world as we know it.  To reject excessive materialism would impact our economy more than any elected official. To reject the use and proliferation of drugs would impact the physical and mental health of this nation more than any health care plan pushed by an elected official. To reject the culture of immorality will impact the world more than any of the empty promises of an elected official. To overthrow what is wrong in our world can only be accomplished by doing what is right – one person at a time – obeying our King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.

From a biblical perspective God deals with the entire world and that includes the Muslims.