Why God Allows Evil -- TCLEM Newsletter

Fellow Paladins:

In light of last week’s teaching on spiritual warfare and with National Police Week/Law Enforcement Memorial Day and our national Memorial Day weekend still fresh in our minds, this week’s profession-relevant Bible study will answer the question, “Why Does God Allow Evil?” As cops, we deal with sin and evil on a daily basis during which we often find ourselves asking why a loving, just God would allow unspeakable tragedy to occur and evil to flourish. His inerrant and wholly sufficient word – the Bible -- provides THE answer…please join us tomorrow (Thursday, June 2nd) if you’re in the Denver area or, if not, I’ll post a detailed recap in next week’s newsletter (email me at fullarmor911@yahoo.com if you want to be added to the list) and here on this website.

Speaking of the recap…

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Tactical Bible Study RECAP: A Cop’s Spiritual Warfare

Our study covered the following points:

(1) Jesus serves as our ultimate example for spiritual warfare. In Matthew 4:1-11, we find out Lord doing battle with Satan using our “sword” – the word of God. We are to do likewise!

(2) In a lesson of what NOT to do, Acts 19:13-16 tells of the seven sons of Sceva who were attempting to cast out demons in Jesus’ name. Unfortunately, they did not have a life-saving/life-saving personal relationship with Christ and as such their words were empty and without any power or authority. They were not relying on Christ as their Lord and Savior and they were not employing the word of God in their spiritual warfare. As a result they not only failed to cast out the demons but also received a terrible physical beating in the process. Don’t follow this sad example!

(3) Five Keys to Success in Spiritual Warfare:
(a) Rely on God’s power, not our own.
(b) Rebuke the enemy in Jesus’ Name, not our own (and ONLY after you’ve entered into a right-relationship with Christ).
(c) Wear your spiritual armor and wield your spiritual weapons (the whole armor of God – Ephesians 6:10-18).
(d) Fight with the sword of the Spirit—the Word of God (Bible).
(e) Lastly, remember that while we wage spiritual warfare against Satan and his demons, not every sin or problem is a demon that needs to be rebuked. Rather, much of what we deal with is a direct consequence of our own bad personal choices – aka “sin” (the Christian can’t go around saying, “The devil made me do it.”).

Our own Mark Roggeman recorded a video of part of my teaching that covers some of this material – go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fxmVq6YOIE&feature=share.

Finally, Kristi Neace wrote a fine blog post on this subject that I adapted for our study – see www.kristineace.com/2011/05/the-bible-and-the-badge/ -- and Billy Graham and other notable speakers talked about this in a short video found at http://nationaldayofprayer.org/memorial-day/.

Bottom line is this: We are engaged in a full-on, end-times spiritual war between good and evil! As with our law enforcement skills, we MUST train for it. How? Being saved followed by prayer, obedience and being centered in God’s inerrant word. Let’s stay the course with same!

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NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

(1) The latest prayer requests (next post) and local meeting schedules (top left here on this website) have been posted!

(2) If you’re in the Denver area this Sunday (June 5th), stop by our booth at the 2011 Top Gun Police Motorcycle competition in Lakewood. See www.TopGunCops.com for details and please keep us in prayer as we share Christ with our colleagues. Lots of other great sponsors/exhibitors as well – hope to see you there.

(3) Our own Officer Jason Pearson is currently leading a number of other Colorado officers on a relief trip to the police departments in the South that have been hard-hit with weather issues. You can follow Operation Southern Relief on Jason’s Facebook page(s) while at the same time keeping these warriors in prayer: https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000343907695 and/or https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000138984855.

(4) Our own Inv. Elizabeth Ortiz is currently deployed to Joplin to assist with their tragic issues. Keep her in prayer as well.

(5) Finally, two Denver-area churches – Calvary South Denver and Calvary Chapel Aurora -- have begun very timely, warrior-relevant and in-depth (line-by-line, verse-by-verse) studies through the Book of Revelation and I highly encourage you to follow along wherever you are (all messages are available for download – see below). I serve under both of these fine pastors (Ed Taylor and Sam Park) and they are true servant-leaders who deliver outstanding teaching. Moreover, quite a few of our Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry/FCPO-Denver chapter officers and their spouses also attend and serve with Diana and I at the Calvary South Denver Tuesday Night Dialogue service. See www.calvaryaurora.org/multimedia/message-archives/category/revelation/
and
www.calvarycsd.org/ministries/tuesday-night-dialogue/ and click on the Download TND Messages Here button.

That’s a rap for this week. Let’s stay frosty out there while having a sense of urgency in sharing the truth of the gospel with our colleagues. As always, send me your comments, prayer requests and ideas. The battle rages on – let’s run to it (www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL7cL_p5_84)!

MC