The pharisees recognized the power Jesus walked in. They were suspicious of it. They figured they were clever enough to bait a lose-lose trap to trip up the Son of God.
Short answer: they were wrong.
The pharisees rocked up with a first century theological equivalent of that lose-lose question: ‘do you still beat your wife?’
The ‘safe’ answer would strike at his ministry, and have the crowds abandon any hope that he really WAS the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
On the other hand, if Jesus answers the question truthfully, that sets up a series of dominoes that begin with criminal charges and puts him at the ‘mercy’ of the same people who beheaded John the Baptist.
It was the perfect set-up. Or so they thought until Jesus judo-reversed them by the logic of their own trap.
The power Jesus walked in was a threat to the kingdom of darkness… and that same power is STILL a threat to the kingdom of darkness.
Let’s look at Jesus beating them at their own game.
Psalms of War: Prayers That Literally Kick Ass is a collection, from the book of Psalms, regarding how David rolled in prayer. I bet you haven’t heard these read, prayed, or sung in church against our formidable enemies — and therein lies the Church’s problem. We’re not using the spiritual weapons God gave us to waylay the powers of darkness. It might be time to dust them off and offer ‘em up if you’re truly concerned about the state of Christ’s Church and of our nation.
Also included in this book, Psalms of War, are reproductions of the author’s original art from his Biblical Badass Series of oil paintings.
This is a great gift for the prayer warriors. Real. Raw. Relevant.