THE WHOLE ARMOR  OF GOD

Rev. Bertrand L. Comparet, A.B. , J. D.

    There is one Passage in the Scripture which is often quoted‑‑‑but seldom fully understood. It was written by the Apostle Paul, and is found in Ephesians 6:11‑18; and it says this: "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. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with TRUTH, and having on the breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS: and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of FAITH, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of SALVATION, and the sword of THE SPIRIT, which is the word of God. "

   But how many who quote it know what it really means? Even the first part of it ‑‑‑that our opposition is really sponsored and directed by superhuman for­ces ‑‑‑is no longer believed in most churches. Those who like to consider them­selves very modern and sophisticated consider all references to anything super­natural to be only primitive superstition, and they reject it as such. But we have many references to these angelic beings, both good and bad, from sources whose inspiration we cannot thus reject ‑‑‑even including our Savior Himself. Those who do scornfully reject all this are correctly described as "sophisticat­ed"‑‑‑for the dictionary defines "sophisticated" as adulterated with some in­ferior substance.

   Those who have made any really thorough study of present‑day conditions‑‑­political, economic, social, and military‑‑‑must certainly agree that all the world is in the grip of a tremendous conspiracy: for all the powers of human organization, everywhere, are twisted and perverted out of their natural purpose and function, and all are directed toward the accomplishment of one huge, sinis­ter purpose ‑‑‑the enslavement of all mankind under the most cruel and evil system ever known. To this end our schools forbid mention of the name of our God; they teach our children that patriotism is "reactionary" and evil, and that it is the highest good to destroy your own nation and put it under the limitless tyranny of the barbarian and outright savage nations, who are in the majority; even the grossest immorality is taught by some professors, as we read from time to time in our newspapers when this is exposed; and all this corruption of our children is defended as being only the rightful "academic freedom" of the profes­sors. Those who have gained control of our economic system have‑led us deeper and deeper into debt until it is now admitted that the grand total of this nat­ion's debts, both public and private are trillions of dollars. They have so involved every industry in this system of usurious debt that when we falter under the hopeless burden‑‑‑as we must‑‑‑our entire economic system will all crash into ruin at the same time‑‑­which is what they intend and desire to accomplish. Those who control our political system are taxing us into bankruptcy and using our wealth to strength­en our enemies, while at the same time they oppose and betray our only real friends in the world; and the result is what you have seen over past century, the steady advance of Christ‑hating Zionism until it now controls the majority of the thinking of the Western World, and is trying to control the rest of the world. It is quite impossible that such an extensive and perfectly‑organized world‑wide conspiracy has come about by accident or coincidence: as one of our most‑notorious politicians once said, I We planned it that way" Truly, as the Apostle Paul says, there is spiritual wickedness in high places! Therefore, to meet this, it is not sufficient that we shall oppose it with merely human re­sources: they are not sufficient to oppose a conspiracy which shows not merely human, but actually diabolic cleverness. So we are told, "Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God r, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand, nothing less will suffice. Paul here uses the simile of the Grecian armor, so well‑known in his day: "your loins girt about with truth* * * the breastplate of righteousness * * * your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace * * * the shield of faith * * * the helmet of salvation * * * and the sword of the Spirit." In the Greek armor, the girdle, or military belt, was used to brace the armor tight against the body, and to cover the space where the two parts of the breastplate joined; it was also used as a belt on which to suspend a dagger or a short sword. The breastplate con­sisted of two parts: one reaching from the neck to the navel, the other hanging from thence to the knees; the two joined, as I said, by the girdle. The lower legs and feet were protected by greaves, made of gold, silver, brass or iron. The head was protected by a helmet, made of various metals. The shield was car­ried on the left arm, and was sometimes made of thick, strong sole‑leather, or sometimes was a frame of wood covered with brass or iron. All these things were the defensive armor. Then there was the sword, an offensive weapon, He who had all these was completely armed for combat. It is a good simile: we must have defensive armor, so that we are not overcome by the forces of evil; and we must also have the sword with which to destroy our enemies. As Paul indicated, it is not enough that we have merely material armor and weapons, which will not suffice against the kind of enemies who are now attacking us: we must also have the spiritual armor and weapons, if we are to win.

   Now, let's take a look at these spiritual defenses and weapons: of what do they consist. Paul uses one word to describe each of them: but what is the complete reality of which this is only the name? Certainly no man‑made doct­rines and dogmas will suffice; so we must turn to the one source of all great truth, the Bible. And, indeed, this is where Paul begins: "having your loins girt about with truth." Pontius Pilate asked Jesus Christ "What is truth." John 18:38) Jesus Christ has said that God's word is truth (John 17:17) ‑‑­and it is the only truth that matters. But remember that God's word to us has been mostly the rules by which our personal and national lives should be govern­ed ‑‑‑to say it plainly, God's laws, His commandments. Psalm 119:142, 151 tells us, "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and N law is the truth. * * Thou art near, 0 Lord, and all thy commandments are truth. , How many of our churches today forget that "ALL Thy commandments are the truth"? They teach that the Old Testament is just the record of God's well‑meant‑failure to accomplish what He wanted to, after which He gave up and started over on some­thing within His means, in the New Testament; or some of them even apologize for the Old Testament as just a collection of the myths of a primitive people Can such churches as that ever say that they are putting on the whole armor of God? No wonder they are failures Lot us see what God has said about those who won't accept all of His word: Isaiah‑‑5:24 says, "Therefore, as the fire devoureth the stubble, and as the flame consumeth the chaff, but their root shall be as rottenness, and their blos­som shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the Law of the Lord of Hosts A and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel." Proverbs 28:9 warns us that He that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer shall be abomination." And Hosea 4:6 gives this terrible warning, "my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." Surely our forgetting of our God s laws has resulted in our forgotten children dying in the fever‑ridden swamps of the tropics and the freezing mud of Korea, in the scorpion‑infested deserts of Africa and amid the burning cities of Europe, in wars which accomp­lished only the evil purposes of that Hidden Hand which manipulates our politi­cians as its puppets, and has left half the White Christian people of the earth in slavery, as our hidden masters intended from the beginning. Only the whole armor of God is enough when we meet these enemies.

   In Ephesians 6:11-18), Paul tells us that "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. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of the faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

   Certainly, what we see about us confirms Paul's statement that all these evil conditions are not merely the result of the individual efforts of wicked men; rather, they are all parts of one gigantic, marvelously organized conspir­acy, too huge and too expertly devised to be just the product of human malice.

   Its origin and its direction are truly diabolical; and nothing short of the whole armor of God Is enough for us to withstand it. In my last broadcast, we started to analyze this passage, to see what makes up the whole armor of God.

   We saw that Paul starts first with TRUTH, and he compares this to the girdle which holds the rest of the armor together. And we saw that ALL THE COMMAND­MENTS OF GOD are the truth as Psalm 119:151 says. Therefore, we can't throw any part of it in the rubbish heap, as some churches do with the Old Testament, but must take both Old and New Testaments as one book. Jesus Christ confirms this in Matthew 5:17‑19, where He says, "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven." This is to remain true "until heaven and earth pass‑‑and you will find, in Revelation 21:1, that this, is not within this age, but not until after the end of the Millennium and the final judgment. So the girdle of truth is to know God's word, all of it.

  Next, Paul mentions "the breastplate of righteousness"‑‑‑and this we might say is to do God's truth. This is not a new idea in the Bible. Speaking of God Himself, Isaiah 59:17 says: "He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon His head. Paul carries this same simile into Ephesians, which we have quoted. But the Bible has much to say about righteous­ness, and what it will do for us. Isaiah 48:18 says, "0 that thou hadst heark­ened to My commandments Then had thy peace as a river bend, thy righteous­ness as the sea" And Isaiah 32:16‑18 fills out this picture. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field; and the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. And My people shall dwell in a peaceable habi­tation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places,

  How very different that is from the conditions we see about us today. But the reason is that we have abandoned God's truth and lost our righteousness thereby. We are not yet ready to sing the song of Isaiah 26:1‑2 ‑‑‑"We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in" And isn't this due, in a very significant part, to the fact that many churches have sounded the trumpet so uncertainly that their followers have not prepared for battle?

  Psalm I still gives the rule: "Blessed Is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the Law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff, which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.  For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish." 

   The Laws of God were not intended for the salvation of our soul in the next life, but for our guidance in this life. The dietary laws were concerned with your health here and now, not after death. The economic laws were to give us prosperity now, with money we spend here, and don't take into the grave with us. Salvation and immortality we never could have gained in any way other than by the sacrifice which Jesus Christ made for us on the cross; the Law, properly understood, does not conflict with this. But the Law, if we had been taught to obey it, would have given us a more prosperous nation, a nation enjoying good health and free from the terrible plagues of cancer and heart disease, tubercu­losis and polio, a nation so powerful that no enemy could hope to stand before us. If we had put on this breastplate, we wouldn't be in our present troubles.

  Next, Paul says that our feet should be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Not the false, Satanic hope of peace by reliance upon the pagan, Christ‑hating countries of the United Nations: peace never comes from ­the dictators of the third world they don’t even know its meaning.  Yet many of our churches today teach that our only hope of peace is in surrender to the United Nations. Have they never heard that the only Prince of Peace is Jesus Christ? God has prophesied the doom of the deceivers who say "Peace, Peace" when there is no peace. In Jeremiah 8: 10,  God says: "From the pro­phet even unto the priest, every one dealeth For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people but slightly, saying Peace, Peace', when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. I will surely consume them, saith the Lord."

    Peace can come only on God's own terms; after God's Kingdom has been est­ablished. Jesus Christ confirms this, for in Matthew 10:34, He said "Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth: I me not to send peace, but a sword." Only under the rule of God will peace ever come. The Scripture verifies this throughout the Book. In Isaiah 52:7 we read the famous words, "How beauti­ful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that pub­lisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" It is only when the Kingdom of God has become an effective reality on earth that the good tidings of peace can be pub­lished, and not otherwise. Again, in Isaiah 9:6‑7, we read: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of HIS government and peace there shall be no end, upon the Throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it and to estab­lish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." It is only of HIS government and peace that there shall be no end and the Scripture has never promised us any other peace: certainly not under that United Nations which recognizes no god but the stone idol of Zeus which stands in the lobby of its building in New York.

   So we are told to have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: that is, to be ready for our part in bringing our nation in 3oyous obed­ience to our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, from Whom alone can we ever hear the good news of peace. If we are not ready, so much the worse for us. In Mark 13:34‑37. Jesus Christ warned us, "For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye, therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh: at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly, He find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all: WATCHI" But how many are really watching and ready for His coming?

    In my last two sermons we have been studying Ephesians 6:11‑18, where Paul tells us that "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. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the prepara­tion of the gospel of peace: above all, taking the shield of the faith, where­with ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God."

We saw that we are truly fighting a superhuman conspiracy, against which we must have not only material, but also spiritual armor and weapons. We saw that the girdle of TRUTH is the entire word of God, ALL of His commandments, not just those which support some man‑made doctrine. We saw that the breastplate of Righteousness is not just to know, but to do God s truth, to obey His will. THE PRE­PARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE, as the armor of our feet, is the rejection of the false and satanic doctrine that peace can come through the United Nations. It is the knowledge that peace comes only from the one Prince of Peace, our Redeemer Jesus Christ: that only when His reign is supreme in the world will peace ever come, and we must work for that purpose.

   The next thing Paul says we need is "the shield of faith." In the original Greek from which this was translated, it says "THE faith". That is important: not just faith, not just belief in something, but THE faith. The pagans who worshipped Moloch and Baal certainly had faith, for they offered their first‑born sons as bloody sacrifices on the altar; but it was the wrong faith. But there is far too little of true faith, THE faith, in the world.    In Luke 18:8, Jesus Christ sorrowfully asks, "When the Son of man cometh, shall He find the faith on the earth?"

 What is THE FAITH? After His resurrection, Jesus Christ defined this, when   He rebuked two of His disciples for their failure to understand what had happened t­o them, "0 fools, and slow of heart to believe ALL THAT THE PROPHETS HAVE SPOKEN."  (Luke 24:25) Today, most churches believe only the gospel of per­sonal salvation, and they despise all the rest that the prophets have spoken: they do not have THE faith. Paul says that with the shield of THE faith we will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. In ancient times, fiery darts were slender hollow reeds, filled with combustible materials, which were ignited and shot from bows, for the purpose of setting fire to tents and build­ings in a besieged city.

  Lots of people believe that God exists; but comparatively few believe Him in all that He has spoken through His prophets. They are going into battle with­out a shield, and the enemy's missiles take a heavy toll. In Hebrews 11:6 we are told, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." We are told that Abraham believed God, and that his faith was counted to him for righteousness. Abraham believed God In something which, humanly speaking, appeared Impossible: THAT Is the kind of faith which is counted for right­eousness. How few of our churches today have that faith    They have read God's promises of help for us when it is needed; they have read the 91st, Psalm, "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; In Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked." But they don't believe this. They would rather support the anti-Christ State of Israel ­than on the word of God! No wonder they are so lukewarm that they have no faith for which they would be willing to die. They don't preach from the Gospel of John or the Epistles of John; they reduce their Savior to "the gentle carpenter of Nazareth" and apologize for His strong teachings; they serve on joint committees with His enemies, and eagerly raise great sums of money for those who blaspheme His name!  In short, they deny their Savior to avoid offending the Jews.

But if they will read the Bible, they will read His own reply to them for this: it is in Revelation 3:1 " know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I Would that thou were cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth." As always He is right: lukewarm "Christians in name only are not fit for this last great battle of the Great Day of God Almighty.