And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. (Mark 4:15 KJV)

And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. (Luke 16:26 KJV)

And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. (Luke 16:20-21 KJV)

And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. (Numbers 16:31 KJV)

Numbers 16 is the only Scriptural reference where God sent His disobedience people to the Hell without facing their death physically. This passage is telling us that the Hell is not far from the earth, but it is underneath of the earth. There are some scientific evidences why does the volcano would interrupt at some islands relate to the under world. If you would like to study further about the existence of the Hell under the earth surface, please go to www.av1611.org/hell.html.

God didn’t make Hell for us, but for demonic angels and Satan (see Matthew 25:41). But He would let us to go there freely if we would decide to follow Satan. We must understand that Korah and his people choose the road to Hell, not God.

Jesus predicted there would be more people to go to Hell than to Heaven. We see this process is becoming more reality today. MTV, BET, VH1, and other music channel stations teach our young generations to become more violence characters upon themselves and in their community. Even some today’s Contemporary Christian and Gospel Music are trying to be equal to the secular world. This is why some churches are becoming multimillionaire and spirituality poor.

Although God could perish the humanity during the worldwide flood (Genesis 6-9), He wanted to give us the second chance to repent our sins and become His children forever. Most churches maybe silenced on this hot subject, but it is the most important lesson that we need to educate ourselves. If your church doesn’t carry the Hell teaching, then you may need to look for another church that teaches the full council of the Word of God, including the most difficult subjects, such as Hell.

Let me ask this question: Which road will you be taking to eternity? You can follow the MTV ways and would end yourself a place that you don’t like to be. Or you can accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and end yourself to be with Him in His kingdom forever.

But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. (Matthew 6:27-28 KJV)

Before we’d close this Battle Cry for Believers series, I’d like to discuss the last topic on blessing challenge. We like to bless other people who do great things for us, such as family, friends, neighbors, or coworkers. But when we’d face our enemies, we may seem to be hard to give blessing them.

The word “bless” or “blessing” means “he act of declaring, or wishing, favor and goodness upon others. The blessing is not only the good effect of words; it also has the power to bring them to pass. In the Bible, important persons blessed those with less power or influence. The patriarchs pronounced benefits upon their children, often near their own deaths (Gen. 49:1–28). Even if spoken by mistake, once a blessing was given it could not be taken back (Gen. 27:33).” (Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary.)

If we look at Stephen’s death (Acts 7), he didn’t defend himself back to those who wanted to stone him to death. Instead, “…he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” (Acts 7:60.) Wow! What a testimony of Stephen’s life. Even Stephen was about to die, he didn’t say anything or defend himself back to the radical Jews—just as what Jesus did when He faced the crucifixion.

Although this seems to be hard for us to grab on, we cannot do this with empty heart. We need to focus our mindsets to the way of Jesus. We cannot pass this challenge unless we’d maintain on God.

Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. (Matthew 4:5-6 KJV)

To understand the method that Satan tried to us to tempt Jesus can be found in 1 John 2:15-16. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

Not only Satan wanted Jesus to serve him as His lord, he also wanted to separate His loving relationship with His Father. To do that, Satan tried to use the three methods on Jesus.

First method that Satan used to tempt Jesus was the lust of flesh. In Matthew 4, we read that Jesus didn’t eat anything for forty days—that’s 940 hours. When we’d go to the desert, we’d probably begin to seek some water as soon as possible. But here, Jesus didn’t eat and drink anything for whole 940 hours and certainly, Satan came to Him to trick His empty belly. However, Satan failed miserably on the first round.

Then Satan visited Jesus again and tried to trick on Him by using the lust of the eyes method. He took Jesus to the holy city and settled Him on the pinnacle of the temple. Satan said to Him that this holy city is his and wanted to give it to Him if He’d decide to worship him. However, Jesus knew that God created the holy city and belong to Him only. As a result, Satan failed miserably again on the second method.

However, there was third method that Satan tried to use to make Jesus to fail on his feet. It was the pride of life method. Satan tried to give everything in the world to Jesus, so He could be the #1 of the world leader and satisfy everything, which He gains, if He’d worship Satan. Again, Jesus knew that this world belongs to God and there was nothing that this devil own from which God created. As a final result, Jesus rebuked Satan and he failed miserably again.

Notice, three times that Satan tried to tempt Jesus to worship him; three times, Jesus used the Mosaic Scriptures to fight against the devil’s words; and three times, Satan failed miserably. He cannot stand against us if we have God’s Words in our hearts and use them at the right time. We must understand that Satan will be defeated at the last battle. In the meantime, we must be trained ourselves with God’s Holy Words.

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. (Matthhew 4:1-3 KJV)

Have you been to desert? If you went to desert, such as Africa or Egypt, how did you deal with heat? Eventually, most northern equator of people wouldn’t decide to go down there due to heat. According to the National Weather Center, about over the last decades, some parts of the United States faced some extreme heat waves that went up to almost to 120 degree and many citizens have died. Although some of us may believe this tragedy could relate to the Bible Prophecy, what if we decide to go down to the desert place and live there for 40 nights and days.

Before Jesus entered to His ministry, He faced the most difficult life challenge in His life. He went out to the desert for 40 nights and days without food and drink. In addition, Satan visited Him to try to test Jesus’ ability to worship him (Matthew 4:9). “And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread (Matthew 4:3).”

One of Satan want from us is to worship him. There are many other religions in the world that people created to worship Satan, such as Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah Witness, Free Manson, Satanism, and many other world religions. Epistle James 1:26-27 says, “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” There are many Christians, who believe that catholic is our sister of Christian church. This theology is the myth and it hinders us from worshipping God. The Bible says clear that there is only one true God between Him and men, the man Christ Jesus (I Timothy 2:5). Virgin Mary is not the Mother of the Church, but the servant of God. She didn’t receive the divine power that could domain over the Kingdom of Heaven, but she did receive the highest calling from God to raise His Son, Jesus, up to gather His people.

While Jesus was in the hot desert, the only Satan gave Him was the power to defeat him. Every time Jesus quoted the Old Testament or Mosaic Scriptures when Satan tried to attempt Him. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Also, Jesus trusted His Father to walk with Him through hot desert without food and drink.

We are not alone to deal with our own problems. Most people may give up their problems if they’d only trust upon themselves. Jesus told His disciples that He will bring the Holy Ghost upon them when He’d ascend Himself to the Heaven. The job description of the Holy Ghost can be found in John 14:26: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? (Job 1:6-8 KJV)

Have you wondered why your life seems to be difficult? Or you can hardly find solution to your own problem. As I mentioned in previous weekly messages, we all have to face many obstacles in our daily lives. There are some reasons why we have many problems as we are living in this planet—both physically and spiritually.

As we studied, we have many problems in our lives because of our sins. Paul says in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God…" Again in Romans 3:10-11, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." There is no one, who came to this world as righteousness before God, except Jesus Christ. The Bible says that before we came to Jesus Christ, we were His enemies.

We also must understand that when we’d decide to come to acknowledge Jesus Christ as our own personal Savior, there is a war going on within our hearts and minds—between God and Satan. We must understand that Satan wants to destroy our lives (see John 10:10a). Job didn’t begin to have life crisis until Satan showed up and argued with God. It was not God’s false to bring life tragedy into Job’s life, but Satan.

Some Christian televangelists now proclaim that it was God’s false to create the humanity with problems. This is none sense, however. If He create us, then why the Bible says that everything He created is good?

There is no reason why we should blame at God for our problems. Although God can avoid Satan to attack on Job’s life, He let him go to see how foolish he was. Throughout 42 chapters of the Book of Job, Job didn’t curse to God or didn’t give his life to Satan. Even though, we may feel that our problems are winning over us, we must not give our hopes down. In Hebrews 12:1-2 say, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever. (I Samuel 3:11-14 KJV)

In the First Book of Samuel, we see how God used Samuel’s life to restore His people from their enemies. The book begins with the brief history of Eli the priest and his two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah gave birth some children to Eli, but Hannah didn’t until much later of Eli’s days. We do not know how long that Hannah waited for her firstborn child, but we do understand that she was a prayer warrior and had an intimate relationship with God.

After Hannah gave Eli a son, Samuel, she continually raised him in the way of the Lord and brought him back to her husband for further training as the priest. Here, we see that the first mistake which Eli made. That is, Eli didn’t take Samuel to raise him as the leader. We see that Eli didn’t take his duty seriously for God and His people. As we continue reading in Samuel 3, God called Samuel and told what He would plan to do to the house of Eli. In the next chapter, we see that Eli’s two sons died in the battle and himself as Samuel prophesied to him (Chapter 3).

We also need to be obedience and lead our people to God. The title of position doesn’t mean that we can relax and give the people some duties. We can’t do that. The reason why Eli dead is that he didn’t raise his sons right and didn’t correct their mistakes. If you read further in 1 Samuel, Samuel did the same thing as Eli.

If we look in today’s Christianity, we see that some churches may decide to be lazy to lead the people into God. Some preachers have decided to reject to teach the congregations on sins, judgment, hell and false teachers. Instead, they tickle their people’s ears by proclaiming only the smooth and good messages. It is deadly sin against God. We need the full council of the Word of God and not half of it.

This is the same thing on the presidential election. We cannot have our national leaders with 50 percent is considered as true and another is false statement. We need a president who is 100 percent honest and true to the nation and God. We can be sure this if the president would realize that our national capital has an idol and decide to knock the idol down; and he would bring our nation back to God.

Are you ready to be a leader for God’s people? If not, take a moment to evaluate yourselves. Jesus just didn’t come to die for our sins, but He also came to the earth to train God’s people to build up some leaders to fight against the principalities of darkness.

And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? (Exodus 3:11 KJV)

Have you ask yourself with this question: Who am I? Most people may ask themselves this question when they’d face difficulties. Even Moses asks God with this question: Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh?

In Exodus 3, we see that God wanted to use Moses to take His people out from the land of Egypt. They were in bondage by the Egyptians, which the new king who didn’t know about Joseph and the tribes of Israel. This King Pharaoh gave the people of Israel several hard labors to build his kingdom. Even though Moses was with King Pharaoh throughout his childhood, he recognized that he didn’t born naturally from Egypt, and he realized that his people were in trouble. Then, as he ran away from Egypt and wandering around in the wilderness, God called him to set His people free from the Egyptians.

But Moses was trying to get out of God plan by asking Him some questions. “And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? …Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?” (Exodus 3:11, 13.) Even though Moses was trying to escape from the assignment, God wanted to use him as His prophet and trying to comfort him, as he’d do this difficult assignment.

How many times when we would try to escape from difficulty assignments? We sometimes like to do this. We sometime don’t feel like to face our battles as Moses did. But if we’d decide to face our battles, then we’d not get the victory. We would decide to give our tasks with based on our emotions rather than trusting on God.

When God called Moses out to the battlefield, He pushed him out without empty hands. Instead, He provided some resources to accomplish this difficult assignment. “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.” (Exodus 3:14-18 KJV.) God gave him the confidence that he needs to face the battle, and promise that He will bring His people out.

God is a God who provides you some resources before you’d face the today’s problem.

And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. (Genesis 25:23 KJV)

Starting war doesn’t begin by itself, but it begins in the family’s household. As God told Isaac that there will be twins who would represent two nations, there are several family members who are breaking from the unity. Just as Cain hated his brother, Able, people would become more breaking apart from the unity and decide to fight against each other.

We see that Satan is trying to use the Islamic nations (such as Iraq ) to destroy the land of Israel (Jacob), where God set it as center of the world. If Israel is in trouble, then the rest of the world is involved with war.

Fight begins with jealous from each other. If we study Genesis 4 and 25, we can find common dominator of why today’s world is in tragedy situation. In Genesis 4, when Cain and Abel offered the sacrifice offering to God, God accepted only Abel’s gift. If we close to study Genesis 25, Isaac blessed Jacob, instead of Esau. Cain and Esau became jealous because their brothers had been accepted and not on theirs. This is the greatest sin, which the world hasn’t wakened from.

Nowadays, we see that many family members would decide to go onto television to try to resolve their issues while the billion of people are watching it on the TV. Even though it is embarrassed situation, God hates their way to escape from the problem. God didn’t told Isaac that there will be twin and one of them would become a greater leader, not because he has to favor Esau, but as a warning. As a result, both Isaac and Rebekah failed to teach their sons to be harmony each other; and it affected to their next generation and generations to come.

To avoid competition each other, we should:

• listen to each other
• obey God’s voice
• take a risk to follow the other people’s options
• love and care for each other

Lastly, God will begin to judge people who are in His churches first when He will return to the world to establish His government with us.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5 KJV)