OVERCOMING the Wicked One

In The Book of Revelations there is a phrase repeated 7 times. This phrase is repeated 4 times in chapter 2 and 3 more times in chapter Three. One might do well to consider that anything worthy of repeating that many times by Jesus may well be important enough for more than a casual 'reading over'. This phrase referred to is either 'to him that OVERCOMETH', or 'him that OVERCOMETH, or 'he that OVERCOMETH'. The exact meaning of this word 'OVERCOMETH' is - to subdue, to conquer, to overcome, to prevail, or to get the victory. You would be well served to consider also that there is an opposite side to 'OVERCOMING' and that being,TO BE OVERCOME, to be defeated, or to fail to gain the victory.

Revelations 3:5 plainly states that one of God's promises made to 'those who do overcome' is that their name will NOT BE BLOTTED OUT of the BOOK OF LIFE. If this 'BEING BLOTTED OUT sounds like something to be avoided at all cost, then Congratulations. You have just rightly discerned the Word of God 'as written'. When Jesus plainly says something is possible and 'men' teach or preach something quite to the contrary that would be an excellent time to HEED the warning given by Jesus in Matthew 24:4 - "Take heed that no man deceive YOU." Who should you believe? Who indeed? The one who gave his life for yours? The one whom you call Lord?

In 2nd Peter 2:20-21 we find a description of some who do NOT OVERCOME, but rather WERE OVERCOME. Please notice the words in verse 20 - 'the latter end is WORSE with them than at the beginning'. If you will be honest and realize that BEFORE they came to 'the knowledge of THE TRUTH (Jesus is THE TRUTH), they were lost and on their way to Hell, and if they ARE OVERCOME by turning FROM the holy commandment that their name will be BLOTTED OUT of the BOOK OF LIFE, ONLY THEN, can their end be worse than at the beginning. Before you go scrambling to find some other scripture that some have taught and preached that seemingly disproves what you have just read - I'll save you the trouble - you will NOT find it. You may think you can - you may even think you have - but the best you will come up with is some cleverly twisted and changed verse AS TAUGHT by the very ones who Jesus warned you of in Matthew 24:4.

In Ezekiel 3:17-21 you will find words that to some may at first seem a little strange. In verse 18 God commands Ezekiel to 'warn THE WICKED' and that sounds very understandable. The strange part comes in verse 20 when God also commands Ezekiel to 'warn the RIGHTEOUS. Should you find yourself asking 'why would the righteous need to be WARNED - WHY INDEED? God's warning written of here is a 'DO NOT', not a 'DO'. That warning to the RIGHTEOUS is DO NOT turn FROM RIGHTEOUSNESS. Please go back to 2nd Peter verse 21 and note the phrase 'to turn FROM'. To turn 'from Jesus is to TURN FROM RIGHTEOUSNESS and to turn from RIGHTEOUSNESS is to turn from Jesus. Should some deceiver attempt to convince you that God has for some unknown reason changed what he said to Ezekiel do NOT fall for it. Many, and I do mean MANY, have been deceived into believing that once they have received Jesus, they can 'turn away' from RIGHTEOUSNESS and go right back to their old way of life and still inherit the Kingdom of God. Wrong!!! This LIE is the basis for the devil's doctrine called 'ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED'. This is Satan's number ONE on his hit-parade. The TRUTH of this matter is that entering 'into God's kingdom was by your choice, not God's, because you should already know what His will is. In case someone doesn't - His will IS that ALL MEN (mankind) BE SAVED. God won't kick you out, but He will never take that choice away from you either. Every time you choose to obey sin rather than God it would be un-necessary for him to ask you to depart. By making that choice you have departed already. Turned and going the other way.

It never ceases to amaze me that so many ministers of God's Word today refuse to speak the TRUTH on this subject. Jesus never considered THE TRUTH as something he should apologize for, or candy coat, because he always spoke only the words his Father commanded him to speak. If fact, this is the very reason he was murdered. Deceivers will hate anyone who speaks THE TRUTH as spoken by God because they have CHOSEN rather to believe LIES.

It may be interesting to notice that Jesus did exactly as God commanded Ezekiel to do. So much for the 'God changed' theory. Jesus warned the wicked and he also warned THE RIGHTEOUS. Wouldn't you suppose that God's ministers of our day should follow the example set by the very one who they call their LORD?

Now that we have gone to considerable lengths to show from God's Word exactly what we are warned NOT to do, one more statement will bring us back full-circle. God has commanded 'believers TO OVERCOME - Not to be OVERCOME. The MANY deceivers Jesus warned us of would prefer having you believe that no-one can possibly OVERCOME in their lifetime on earth. That provokes an interesting question - What would there be to OVERCOME after one reaches heaven? This next statement might come as a shock to ones' senses but here goes anyway. The only way any believer has of NOT being OVERCOME is TO OVERCOME. The question then becomes ' now just how would we go about OVERCOMING'? In the last of the 7 times Jesus used those words in Revelations, in 3:21 He gives a clue as to how this OVERCOMING might be accomplished. I include here ONLY the part you must not miss. "To 'him' (whosoever) who overcometh - 'EVEN AS' I also OVERCAME." Don't miss those two little words 'EVEN AS'. Jesus is telling 'THE CHURCH' - THE BODY OF CHRIST - that the only way TO OVERCOME is to do it the exact same way he himself did. Right about now some deceiver will quote the verse which says , "and this is the victory that overcometh, even our faith". That's an excellent example of a deceivers attempting to make null and void one scripture by using another. What their version really means is that if you say you believe in Jesus, it's fine to turn away from 'the way of righteousness' and live like the rest of the world. Is that how they think Jesus overcame? By living like the rest of the world? I don''t think so Tim! So as it turns out, what we are really searching for is to find out how Jesus did it, and then do it in EXACTLY THE SAME WAY he did. There is no other way. God made that rule - not me. Jesus would have never made a promise to anyone for doing a certain thing - anything - were it impossible for that person to do so. As they say in Texas - "that's pretty plain".

Should you be of the mind that Jesus was able to OVERCOME only because he was the Son of God or was even God himself - now is the perfect time for the re-newing of your mind. In James 1:13 God's Word tells us plainly that God 'canNOT be tempted with evil'. How is it then, if Jesus was God walking on the earth, that he was tempted by Satan. So much for that theory. Hebrews 4:15 says just as plainly that Jesus "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." In Matthew 4:1 we read that "Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." So much for the deceivers saying that Jesus was just God walking around on the earth. Jesus hungered, Jesus thirsted, Jesus grew tired and he grew weary. Jesus died on the cross - Hey - you can't kill God! They killed Jesus. This deception is just one more way of convincing a believer that THEY can't overcome while still in a physical mortal body. Jesus did it. He had no free pass. He used no magic wand. I did not say it was an easy thing to do. I did say it's an impossible thing to do 'unless' you do it the same way Jesus did it. That's THE TRUTH - that's what God Word teaches. The results, for the millions who have believed the lie that you can say "I'm a believer" - while living like the devil, are that they're DECEIVED already and turned and are headed back toward perdition. A believer is someone who BELIEVES what 'God' said - NOT what some deceiver said God said. Believing any LIE is a sure and certain way of being OVERCOME and a positive guarantee of NOT doing what Jesus said you must do. One more time I'll repeat myself - You can only OVERCOME even as he (Jesus) overcame by doing it in exactly the same way He did. All those who choose rather to believe a LIE instead of THE TRUTH have already BEEN OVERCOME. They have been overcome by the very LIE they have received.

Now the last cited scripture references prove that Jesus did NOT overcome because of WHO or WHAT he was, but ONLY because he was a believer and DOER of THE WORD and he did that by hearing and obeying that WORD by the power of the Holy Spirit. Try as hard as you may there is NO OTHER WAY. Jesus overcame the world, the evil in the world, and everything else by FAITH. Please don't neglect to remember that FAITH without works is dead. Saying you 'believe it ALL' is worthless. Believing the story of the three little pigs has just as much life changing power as the Word of God would have for one who is NOT a DOER of the Word that he claims to believe. If you REALLY believe what God said - you WILL do what he said DO. He has commanded all believers to OVERCOME 'even as' Jesus overcame. If God commands anyone to do something, anything, He always has and always will provide all things necessary to obey his commandment. Recall now the opposite side of the coin. He also said what NOT to do. That big NOT is NOT to 'turn away from being a doer of RIGHTEOUSNESS' .

In Gal. 5:16 ALL believers are told how to 'sin not'- "Walk in the Spirit, and you will NOT fulfill the lust of the flesh." Would one suppose that maybe that's how Jesus managed to live for 33 and 1/2 years without sin? Is it possible that IF you or I were to 'walk in the Spirit' for one day that day could end without us sinning? What if we could do that for 2 days, for a week, or a month, or a year? Suppose that we were convinced by a certain someone that this would be impossible for a mortal to do? How likely would it be that we would even try? Not very, I'm thinking. Now perhaps you can see the purpose of Satan's lie. If Jesus 'NEVER' sinned ( and he didn't) it must be that he ALWAYS walked in the Spirit. If you are beginning to see that if this was necessary for JESUS, then maybe you can understand how and why it would be necessary for us also. After knowing this, how could anyone think that perhaps they could come up with a better way? Better than the way Jesus did it? Again, I don't think so.

Please understand that THE TRUTH as written here is not intended to say or imply that there will ever be another man who is born into this earth who will live 33 and 1/2 years without ever sinning. That can NOT be the case because God has already said that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. Thank God, that in His Mercy & Grace, He has made us a way. When we do miss the mark, He has provided us a way back. The Way back is Jesus. That way back, does NOT include turning back to becoming a doer of UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. Had it been possible for us to live and die without ever sinning, God would NEVER have sent Jesus. All past sins are forgiven and forgotten when we receive Jesus. If we fail, and do sin afterwards, we still have Jesus. He is our mediator and high priest. Should we sin today it is STILL necessary to ask forgiveness. He will forgive. Does that mean that we are to continue to live daily in sin and believe another devil's lie that repentance has no further application in the life of a Christian? Not hardly! Believing that, is the entire purpose of the lie that sin no longer matters after you've received Jesus. Start believing that one and you've already turned back to the world. Jesus has bought and paid for us to have a brand new birthright. Salvation is that birthright and just as it was in the case of a man named Esau - we can reach the point of forfeiting that birthright by choosing anything MORE than God's free gift. Anything includes everything and also includes SIN. If you choose to love any sin more than God, then you need to know that God said in his word that 'the servant of SIN will not abide in the house (his house) forever'.

This writing is NOT intended for unbelievers but for those claiming to be 'christians'. This article is aimed directly at 'believers' who have been deceived by ungodly men (or women). The deceivers are only interested in profiting from you and the only way they can is to make you disciples like unto themselves. They do that in spite of THE TRUTH which commands all who call themselves by Jesus' name to walk 'EVEN AS' Jesus walked as written in 1st John 2:6 .

You can be absolutely certain that any so-called minister of God who teaches that a believer can NEVER overcome until they die and arrive in heaven was NOT sent by God. God has NEVER sent ANYONE, ANYWHERE, to teach ANYBODY, that His Word doesn't mean exactly what it says.

In Revelations 21:7 we find several promises of God to those who overcome. "He (whosoever) overcometh shall inherit ALL things; and I will be His God, and he (whosoever) shall be my son ( or daughter)." In verse 8 we find just the exact opposite - To those who 'ARE OVERCOME' - He list the things they were overcome BY and then tells the rewards for ALL who ARE OVERCOME. The reward for being overcome rather that overcoming seems pretty bleak to say the least. Any Christian can only be overcome by SOMETHING that he loves MORE than he loves God and it matters NOT what that something is.

In Revelations 12:11 we can learn 3 things necessary to overcome the WICKED ONE. "And they overcame him (Satan) by the 'blood of the Lamb' ( what Jesus did for us) and by the word of their testimony ( our confessing him before men), AND they loved not their lives even unto DEATH." That last part is a little hard to understand but suffice to say, 'is that not exactly what Jesus did'? Both the second and third thing involves 'what the OVERCOMERS did about WHAT JESUS DID FOR THEM. It is impossible for anyone who loves SIN more than they love God to ever love God to the point of laying down their own life. I said IMPOSSIBLE. Sin is totally SELFISH. God's Love on the other hand is totally SELFLESS.

In God's Word you'll find MANY, even among Jesus' disciples, who tried to talk Jesus out of obeying God, or of perhaps doing it some OTHER way. Even those He loved He rebuked, and even His warnings and promises found in the book of Revelations still DO apply to the Church in the earth today. His promises to 'those who overcome' ARE for us - His warnings and promises to those who allow themselves to be OVERCOME are also for us today. Should you find yourself unsure of the words written here , why not be on the safe side? Why not ask God? These words are - after all - HIS WORDS - not mine!!!!!!