Gideon’s Battle: Fighting while Fainting

By Stephen Benton

Key Verse: “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.  Proverbs 10:24

            As usual, we often have to define a word or two so that we do not have a misunderstanding of the subject matter.  When we speak of ‘fainting,’ a picture comes into our minds of someone passing out because of illness or trauma, or excitement.  That is not the meaning of the word as it is used in our subject in the above text.

            Actually the old and new testaments utilize 15 different words that are translated as ‘faint.’  In the verse above, the meaning is: to slacken, abate, cease.  Once the use of the term is understood, the meaning of the verse is self-explanatory.  What good is strength if it goes when it is needed the most?
            We have been looking at Gideon and his 300 man army and their conquest of the armies of the Midianites, Amalekites, and children of the east.  Let’s go back to Judges chaper eight and look at another meaning of the word faint.

            “And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them.” Vs.4

This verse gives us some insight into what we can expect while fighting the enemy.  In the course of the battle we will become faint.  The word faint as it is used here means: languid; thirsty; weary.  You can add the word hunger to the list.  That’s the condition Gideon’s army was in.  What is noteworthy is the fact that they continued their pursuit of the enemy.  That’s what God expects us to do also.  There is no room for the weekend warrior or the good-conditions fighter.  Satan is counting on you fainting because that will be his only hope of escaping from you.  Naturally, one of the ploys of the adversary is to simply wear you out!

Now, note verses five through nine:  Gideon asked for some bread from these people to feed his men.  Understand, his victory over the kings of Midian would also benefit the men of Succoth and Penuel but they said no.  That lets us know that we should not be surprised when those who are in a position to assist us in our conflict will refuse to do so.  After God gave Gideon the victory, he returned to the men of those areas and slew them.  Like I said in the bulletin, “we are taking no prisoners!”

To read more current revelations from Pastor Steve, check out his book published September of 2017 on Amazon.com

                 https://smile.amazon.com/Gods-Final-Secret-Stephen-Benton/dp/1976338476/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509271792&sr=1-1&keywords=god%27s+final+secret+by+stephen+benton

FIGHTING GOD'S BATTLES part 2; THE STEPS TO VICTORY by Pastor Stephen Benton

by  Pastor Stephen Benton - REVISED by Shelley Benton for 2018.

This morning, Lord willing, I will continue with the series on fighting God’s battles.  In the 11^th chapter of Hebrews Paul is moved upon by the Holy Ghost to write the only chapter in the bible where God takes time to eulogize some great heroes of faith.  My first pastor, Bishop C.R. Lee called t his chapter, “God’s Hall of Fame.”  It is a list of faith heroes and includes both men and women.

Last Sunday we looked at Gideon. It was noted in the message that Gideon was fearful but allowed God to use him to defeat the Midianites, Amalekites, and the children of the East.  With a God selected army of 300 men, Gideon defeated not less than 250,000 enemy troops.

The exploits of these heroes were performed “by faith.” Faith is much more than mere mental assent, it is used as a verb and hence, an action word.  True faith is always exhibited with action.

When God selected Gideons’s army, he eliminated those who were fearful and afraid.  Another passage in Deuteronomy tells us why he did that.

               “When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them; for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought  thee out of the land of Egypt.

               And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, what man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s heart faint as well as his heart.”  Deut.20:1,8.

Fearfulness and faintheartedness are contagious.  Faithlessness is another deadly, contagious disease. Now, in reality, Gideon was also afraid. The only difference between Gideon and the 22,000 who were eliminated from his army by God is that Gideon had just enough courage to do what God demanded.  After Paul mentions the names of Gideon, Barak, et.al., he writes about some of the deeds done by those individuals and inserts the following words:

               “out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” Heb 11:3-4

That scripture is what I wish to focus on in this message.  Gideon certainly qualified as a weakling or to use the term we used in the message last Sunday, he was a “fraidy-cat.” We noted in the message last Sunday that Gideon was found threshing wheat by the wine press.  There were no grapes to smash so one would not look in the area of the wine presses so they made an excellent hiding place for Gideon to process his daily bread.
(Let me insert a special note here. God promised that he would feed us and told us not to take thought for what we shall eat.  Nevertheless, that does not mean that we will always have the luxury of obtaining our bread in the open.  What I see in this scene is a situation where the basic needs of life such as eating may have to be done covertly.  It gives us a possible scenario of the hazards that may confront us when our enemy comes down and for that reason alone we are praying that God delays their arrival.)

Further evidence of Gideon’s weakness showed him carrying out God’s orders under the cover of darkness accompanied by ten men.  Additionally, he asked God for a total of three signs just to make sure that God had given him his orders and that God would keep his promise to deliver the enemy into his hands.  Finally when God told Gideon to go into the camp of the enemy, he was instructed to take his servant with him if he was afraid to go alone.  Gideon took his servant.

Now let’s recap all of his actions.  Even though this man was weak, he never reneged on acting on what God commanded. That’s all God needs is someone who is willing to go into the war and once he finds that individual He, then, will strengthen that person.
It is human nature to avoid the battle until we feel that we are fully able to give the enemy a worthy fight.  But this is spiritual warfare and the qualifying standards are different.  We enter this conflict knowing that we are most likely to be defeated on the basis of our own strength and ability but when we enter the fracas, a transformation takes place and we are metamorphosed from weak to strong during the event.
Paul lets us know that some additional steps unfold after we are made strong.  Where initially we did not even want to entertain the prospect of fighting the enemy, after we have been strengthened by God, he enables us to “wax valiant in fight.” The word waxed means to be empowered, to become (while in the process of.)  Don’t worry about your might before the conflict, God will continually empower you while you are actually fighting.  The valiancy, the process of becoming bold and fearless, will not occur until you are actually engaging the enemy.

The final phrase is that we “turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” Look at how the tide turns.  We go from being weak and afraid to a state of being strong; from mere contenders to empowered adversaries; from merely meeting the enemy to actually chasing them.

Full victory is realized when we actually have the enemy on the run and once that phase of the battle commences, we are to pursue them and unmercifully take them out.  Not only the enemy, but we must also eliminate anyone who indicates that they are not with us, even though they are not the primary enemy.  Read Judges 8:1-9 and notice how Gideon promised to return to t hose who did not give his army bread when they were faint and chasing the enemy.  Jesus told his disciples “he that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”  Mt 12:30.  We aren’t taking any prisoners.

While writing this bulletin I was reflecting on the night I first delivered the message of the rapture at the Apostolic Faith Home Assembly.  Early in the day I was full of anxiety, jitters and apprehension.  I was also fearful.  But I had been given a message from the Lord that I was instructed to deliver.  I could have cancelled out but that was not really an option.  I remembered the hostility I faced earlier that week when I went there to merely announce the subject.  But it was not until I actually stood in the pulpit that the strength came.  As the message progressed and the faces became angrier, I felt a boldness and conviction overpower me and to my surprised I was able to stand flat-footed and meet the eyes of unbelief as the battle between God’s Word and the forces of unbelief clashed. I have had many such occasions during my years of preaching and teaching God’s word.

I no longer defend the message of the rapture, I condemn those who don’t believe it.  When those faithless, scripturally bankrupt so-called believers ask what we are going to do on September 30^th 2017* if the rapture does not happen, we will respond with, “what are you going to do when it does?” I quit trying to explain to those who don’t believe it because they won’t comprehend it if I did.  We are not on the defensive.  We are an offensive force.  We don’t run or defend, we are a:  seek, chase and destroy unit!  I once thought that God gave the advance notice of the Rapture in order to increase the numbers of those who would go.  Now I understand that the advance notice gave God sufficient time and excuse to screen out those who did not really believe it.  He had to allow enough time for those who once accepted the message to make an about face and proclaim the message to be Satan’s and I, Satan’s prophet.  We cannot fight our enemy and feel sorry for them at the same time!  God grant us the stamina and fortitude to see the enemy for who they are and chase them to hell where they belong.

reprint from the Bulletin: "The Weekly Word of The House of Good News"

*revised for 2016

*NEW Revision in 2018 by Shelley Benton

     This missive was written by Pastor Stephen Benton in his weekly bulletin to his church, The House of Good News. Around 2010 0r 2011.  However, as with all of the messages written by Pastor Steve, it still speaks today because the Holy Ghost's revelations to him were alive and given by the living Jesus from Heaven.  The Lord saw fit to delay his coming once more scheduled for the Day of Atonement in 2017. As revealed to the prophet, the dead were to rise on the last day of the sacred year, ten days before that event.  The Church still would not hear and did not believe the voice of the prophet and therefore the promise was removed, just as it was from the children of Israel in the wilderness, because of their unbelief. Their "carcasses" fell before they were taken into the promised land. (Hebrews 3:17) This Laodicean Church has now had the promise of a rapture taken away from it and the Lord will come upon it as a Thief as promised in Revelation 3:3.  In case you believe this means the rapture will take it by surprise--think again!  The scriptures declare that " a thief cometh not but for to steal, kill and destroy..." John 10:10.  That doesn't sound like a promise of a rapture to me.  Because the Church has not done its first works and repented the next event on its agenda is to be "spued out of my mouth."  says the Lord in Revelation 3:16. 

The rapture will no longer happen on a known Jewish feast day, the Lord has the option now that the Church has breached its promise, to breach His. (Numbers 14:34)  God took the time to prove that the date of the rapture could be known and he told us in a book written by Stephen Benton, "1997, the Last Trump"  that the Church refused to read or believe.  He gave detailed scriptural proof of the day out of the book of Leviticus, and the Church hierarchy hardened their hearts and refused to receive it. The Holy Ghost also showed that the rapture will be a two stage event: the dead will rise first and ten days later, those who are alive and remain will be caught up to meet  him in the air. The strong delusion will be the so-called "aliens"  (actually Satan's kingdom) showing up and declaring to be our creators and then they will tell the LIE and claim that the dead that are raised were raised by them.  And many will believe them!! In Luke 21:8,  Jesus warns, " go ye not therefore after them." If you want to be caught with the Lord and escape all these things, I admonish you not to go with them.

To read more current revelations from Pastor Steve, check out his book published September of 2017 on Amazon.com

                 https://smile.amazon.com/Gods-Final-Secret-Stephen-Benton/dp/1976338476/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509271792&sr=1-1&keywords=god%27s+final+secret+by+stephen+benton

Essence of the lie. By Pastor Stephen Benton

The Essence of the Lie   by Pastor Stephen Benton with updates by Shelley Benton

Last year, September 20, marked the feast day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year's Day.  On God's calendar that day is called the Feast of Trumpets.  It is the first day of the Seventh month.  we were looking forward to the blowing of the last trump on the tenth day of the seventh month (SEPTEMBER 30, 2017, as the day that God would call his church to meet him in the air.  After that day passed, the Holy Ghost uncovered some major truths to us in God's word.

We know today, in 2018, that God delayed the blowing of the last trump to announce that 69th jubilee year, as the Holy Ghost showed us from his word, in 2 Pet. 3:9, because he is "…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." That 69th Jubile was to be announced in 1997 pointing toward the 50th year in 1998.   The Jews did not celebrate 1998 as the official jubile year, but the considered 1967 as a jubile year.  They are incorrect.  A jubile, or 50th year, is a year of return.  Check Leviticus 25 for that truth.  It is spelled out in the entire chapter. What other year would the Lord use to re-establish Israel and return his people to their land?  Knowing God's ways, the very fact that they returned, albeit in part, in that year, should designate it as a jubile year. To consult the Jews for information about a jubile year is to totally ignore what God said about Israel in the book of Hosea 1:9, "Then said God, call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God."  Or also in Ezekiel, chapters 23 and 24 God tells the story of what his plans are for Israel until he restores them after the 70th week. He compares them to two women who go whoring. We do know, however, that the feast day, the Day of Atonement, the 10th day of the 7th month on the Sabbath day, shall no longer be the day that He will appear for his Church. Now that the church has rejected the Day given by revelation to his last days' prophet to His Church, God is no longer held to the day of  his promise.  He can now do with the church as he did with the children of Israel in the wilderness.  Because they broke their covenant with Him, (to believe Moses forever) He is now free to break his promise to this church, a promise that they would not receive or believe and declared that  "no man knows the day or hour" that He will come.  That scripture was never given or applied to the rapture of the church.  As the Lord says in Habakkuk 2:3 "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry."] The appointed time that was given, has now been taken off the table.  

What is interesting is that the Church is now quoting Revelation 3:3, "...if therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee."  If Jesus is planning to "come on thee,"  that doesn't sound like someone who is coming to take them to  heaven, does it?  That means He will be coming to destroy them as if they are thieves, not Him! They are trying to enter heaven by a different way other than repenting and hearing his voice! What will the end result of that be?  Being vomited out of His mouth. 

I am continuing with the prophecy in II Thessalonians chapter 2 regarding God sending a strong delusion to those who did not receive the love of the truth.  The delusion will be sent by God but it  will cause them to believe the lie that accompanies it.  God will allow it to be perpetrated on the Church for the express purpose of damning this present Church age, an age plagued with deafness to God's word.

Last Sunday we looked at the true meaning of a liar in the scriptures.  It should be clear from that message that God's definition of a liar exceeds man's limited use of the word.  We realized that all of Satan's children are liars because their father Satan himself is a liar.  He did not abide in the truth and when he speaks he speaks nothing but lies. That statement should give you a clear idea of what this worldly system is all about.  It is a system of complex deception and lies because Satan is the god of this world. 

Additionally, we learned that anyone who denies God the Father is a liar.  Why?  Because God has provided an abundance of evidence of his eternal power and Godhead through the revelation of the creation itself. To see the intricacies and vastness of this creation and then question the existence of God automatically identifies an individual as a liar.

Naturally, anyone who denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is listed as a liar.

Now don't lose sight of the primary message which is: in the last days, prior to the Rapture, this earth will be officially introduced to another life form, commonly called aliens.  These aliens are twofold.  One, they are the offspring of demon angels.  Two, they are the demon angels themselves.  They will come to the earth with a deceptive message, a message that God has called a strong delusion and they will deceive many.

Question:  Will they deceive any of those who are in the faith?  Answer::  Most definitely.

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devil:" I Tim. 4:1

Now the fact that God himself declared that their delusion will be strong, this soon coming event has placed me at DefCon One.  That's a military term, an abbreviation for Defensive Condition.  Number one is the highest level of alertness.  War becomes absolute at level one.

Also, remember that God's word told us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together and moreso as we see the day approaching.  Those are not idle words from God.  Once he announced the day of the gathering together of the Church, he would then commence giving messages solely for the purpose of keeping his chosen from believing the delusion to come.  Those who do not heed God’s admonition will depart from the faith before the Lord comes or God’s word is not true.  To those of you who don't believe that such a thing could ever happen to you, remember that Peter told Jesus that he would never deny him.  He said those words to him after Jesus told Peter that he would. Peter was outraged and thought Jesus had given him an idle message.

I instructed you to read 1 John in order to gain an understanding of the lie that would be presented by the aliens.  Some of you remarked that you could not see anything in that book that had a connection with the aliens.  I didn't expect that you would but I wanted you to be familiar with the text just the same.  If nothing else, you should gain an appreciation for the preacher God has given you because he will reveal to me what he won't reveal to you which is why God said don't miss hearing his word.  If you think about it, none of you saw the correlation of Leviticus 25 to the Rapture until God allowed me to show it to you.  Now, let me show you what John, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, is saying. 

Note his opening words:  

"That which was from the beginning…the Word of life."

John is identifying Jesus' existence as eternal and the source of all life.  The lie to come will open by refuting that truth.

"(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.)" vs.2

There John includes a parenthetical statement for further emphasis.  Now let's note John's next parenthetical statement, again, parenthesized for emphasis:  It is found in the gospel of St. John.

"And the word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)…" 1:14

Now note the opening of St. John's gospel.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God," What is John's point?  That there is no source of Word apart from and outside of God!  God indeed is the Word and any other source of Word is a lie.

The alien message will undermine God's eternal existence, the eternal existence of Jesus his Son, and it will refute God's Word as the source of creation and life.

Understanding the magnitude of the lie to come, we can now have a deeper appreciation for God's own opening remarks to the entire bible.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Gen1:1

The emphasis should be placed on the word: God.

Now, again, there are those who think that they have no problem with that truth and that some of these current messages are irrelevant. Let me serve notice to you again that God called their message a "strong delusion."  Their message,  I can tell you that will be carefully and extensively documented and it will carry undisputable scientific evidence of its validity marking the fact that God did not create us, but they created us and placed us on this planet to work for them.  They will have the DNA evidence that they have been collecting by vaccines, immunizations and these days, voluntary contributions from those who are looking for their ancestors, and convince the church of their truth.

Now let's move ahead in I John to Chapter 2 verse 18.

"Little children, it is the last time; and as he have heard that anti-christ shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time."

Why do I preach about the anti-christ if the Church will be gone before he is revealed?  Because of the connection between the anti-christ, the demons, and the lie.  The latter two will be revealed before the Church is gone.

"Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? . He is Anti-christ, that denieth the Father and the Son.

Whosoever denieth the Son , the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledges the Son hath the Father also.

Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning…

These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you."

Now go back to Paul's in I Timothy 4:1.  the lie issued forth by the seducing spirits which shall cause some to depart from the faith, will be a lie of denial of Jesus being the Christ, and a denunciation of the Father (source of creation) and the Son (redeemer of mankind.)

The lie will actually be Truth given by God Himself, and it will fulfill the definition of a false prophet as God laid out in Deuteronomy 13:1-3 “If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,

2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;

3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

(this scripture has been virtually ignored by the Church today as it relates to false prophets.  And from my research, I have not found that it was fulfilled in either the Old or New Testaments.  It will be fulfilled in the last days when the false christs arrive as described in Luke 21 below.)

The dead will indeed, get up on the last day, which was to be the last day on the Jewish calendar of the last month of the year, Elul.  It was to be on a Wednesday, the day before the Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah; just as Jesus promised Martha in John 11: 23-26.  But rather than acknowledge the resurrection of the dead as the fulfillment of promise by the Living God, Jesus, they will claim that it was done by them and they will lead millions of Christians to their destruction as they follow these false (alien) gods.  

Luke 21:8 “And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.”
They will come at once: an invasion. Fake or real, their agenda is to destroy humankind on this planet.

(edited by Shelley Benton)

To read more current revelations from Pastor Steve, check out his book published September of 2017 on Amazon.com

                 https://smile.amazon.com/Gods-Final-Secret-Stephen-Benton/dp/1976338476/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509271792&sr=1-1&keywords=god%27s+final+secret+by+stephen+benton