There's a lot going on right now, and so many people feel something's wrong but they can't put their finger on it.
Maybe you're a Christian and heard your Pastor mention spiritual warfare without details.
Maybe you don't have faith but the world around you looks & feels like evil - and you don't know where to start.
Soccer moms. Real estate attorneys. Police officers. Doctors. Politicians. Students. Pastors. Executive Protection Professionals. Parking lot attendants. Toddlers, teenagers and grandparents alike - each and every one of us, including people who haven't accepted Jesus as their savior:
We're both the pawns and the prize.
We have an enemy.
An entire group of them that the Bible calls an army.
Our enemy is like a child throwing a tantrum.
They were kicked out of heaven and their fate is sealed.
The enemy knows that before we die, we have to accept Jesus or join them in hell for eternity.
So our enemy wants to kill us off before we reach Jesus or - distract us long enough to render us harmless to their activity and impotent to their attacks.
The enemy is old, yet ageless.
The enemy makes it harder and harder to love Jesus.
The distractions are better, brighter and more enticing.
The deceptions are larger, hidden and harder to unravel.
Think you aren't affected? You are, and so is everyone around you.
Think you can ignore it? Good luck - you're just being used and don't acknowledge it.
Think you're too smart? The enemy's already convinced you he's not real, or not a threat.
Think you're strong enough to withstand it? Jesus was the only one who did, and you're not Him.
Think the church will save you? The church is trying to save itself and in all honesty has a very dark reality to deal with:
Every demonic entity running rampant in this country had to get through the church to get here.
The simple truth is that nobody is getting out alive.
The good news is that God still loves us.
The better news is that Christ gave us all authority by using His name.
The best news? Jesus already did the work. He died for our sins, conquered the grave and is coming soon.
This site was made to help you incorporate Spiritual Warfare into your life on a daily basis, and new content will be added to help all of us get up to speed and prepare for what's to come.
It's the darkest part of the night where soldiers stood on the walls of a city to ensure the safety of those asleep and sound the alarm to wake everyone up, if needed.
It's the time of night that Jesus told his Disciples to stay awake while He prayed in the garden, telling them a word translated in Greek as grégoreó: to be awake, vigilant and watchful.
Jacob wrestled with God and became Israel;
Moses parted the Red Sea;
Jesus walked on water and Peter stepped out of the boat in the sea of Galilee;
Job woke up to pray and repent for his children, which got the devil's attention;
Peter was asleep in chains when angels freed him from prison;
Jesus went to pray in the garden of Gethsemane;
Jesus was resurrected from the dead.
It's the time of night when demonic activity is at its fullest because your natural guard is down. You and your family are likely sleeping and attacks are more difficult to notice or respond to.
...and it's the time of night when we abandon comfort and corporately gather in prayer, interceding on behalf of our church, our faith, our families, our cities, our nation and the world.
It's an opportunity to serve God and others. It's a calling. It's the choice to engage in spiritual warfare on behalf of the entire Kingdom of God, to the measure that we're called.
We believe the Bible is truth, and is both the written and living word of God.
We believe we're fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God.
We believe that Jesus rising from the grave led to the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and we received His name which has all authority under heaven.
We feel led by the Spirit to stand in the gap in prayer.
And we refuse to be used as pawns, instead, choosing to see ourselves exactly as the Bible tells us - having all authority in the name of Jesus to push back every enemy attack.
We realize this life is about so much more than us...it's about us, but it's bigger than us and we have a role to play for ourselves, others and God - all for the glory of Jesus.
America was suffering from PTSD.
WWII, Korea, Vietnam...
Nobody wanted to talk about war and only obscure Pastor's and Evangelists were talking about the militant church.
The gospel message was watered down to personal salvation and raising good kids.
The church got stuck in neutral with glimpses of revival each decade, but the emphasis on cultural niceness, tolerance, free love and what feels good caused us to lose our spiritual edge and usher in a cultural condition of lethargy.
Jesus and His disciples proved that following Christ would get you hated and under certain conditions would likely lead to your premature death, but it would be more rewarding both here and in eternity.
The church couldn't even say that or risk pushing people out the door.
On one hand we understand and the church had a role to play, and we also understand that in order for The Book of Revelations to unfold, America won't be around for the party.
The post war industrial revolution of commerce and enterprise brought money. People and companies had it, the church needed it and became a business to get it.
And business was good - so long as the message didn't offend people or jeopardize their comfortable lifestyle. Then people might leave and take their money somewhere else.
The church brought people in far enough to become good member-tithers but didn't bring them any deeper and the irony is just as dark - we, the congregation loved the church for it.
Men could check the box each Sunday. the happy Wife gets to socialize, Sunday school keeps the kids busy, a little food afterwards and God goes comfortably back on the shelf until we check the box next weekend.
Well, the experiment failed. The social construct failed to equip the saints for life without the church. We exchanged Kingdom for comfort and assumed we'd always have the church around to keep the wheels on the bus.
Comfort is a slow death and the last time we checked - America wasn't in the book of Revelations...but we're more than Americans, we're Christians and this world is just a pit stop to eternity.
The Bible reminds us that each generation after Jesus is playing musical chairs - at some point, the music has to stop. One of our generations will be the last.
The big events:
1964 - Prayer is pushed out of schools. Parents said ok, we'll pray at home.
1969 - Woodstock's opening performer led over 500k people to a massive prayer that opened our Country to foreign gods...the first of its kind, which angered our jealous God.
1974 - Roe vs. Wade
1970s - Moral decay
1980s - WWII veterans left the workplace, leading to corporate raiders, S&L scandal and institutional depravity
1990s - Apathy, needless foreign wars, Presidential depravity, MTV reality TV and the Country Club Church membership thrived
2,000s - Cable news & Reality TV led to globalized Americana - everyone wanted what we had and they consumed our culture for every reason between jealousy and ridicule
2010s - Mega churches are thriving while the world is binge watching Kardashians and Netflix. The church was blindsided by what's coming and our faith quickly turned into idolatry with Trump
2020s - For the first time in human history all of our cultures are on the same Biblical page at the same time world wide: 2 Timothy. Read it and google current cultural trends in just about any country and they're all the same.
Many Christians were lulled away by comfort and convenience. The church became so popular and commonplace that it lost its reverence, and too much time in neutral helped us forget about the warnings and signs throughout the Bible.
If you're reading this, congratulations...you're getting ready for what's next. We invite you further but we ask you to pray on this - ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom, guidance and discernment because even though every Christian is called to Spiritual Warfare, many of you will have to embrace changes the church has glossed over but isn't driving at.
Thank you for reading...welcome to The Fourth Watch: our Biblical call to prayer and spiritual warfare during the darkest hours of our Christian faith. Or, the best way to live and minister on the edge of eternity...the choice is yours.