July 10, 2020 | Page 2

2 SWORD OF THE LORD July 10, 2020 Welcome to the National Sword of the Lord Conference If you have a reservation for seating, we will look forward to seeing you here at the Sword of the Lord auditorium, 224 Bridge Avenue in Murfreesboro, July 20–23. If you are going to be watching online, we welcome you too. In either case, let me invite you to get in on every service and pray much for a mighty work to be done throughout the Conference. If there has ever been a time when America needed to wake up and give the Lord the place He deserves, it is now. With the communists, anarchists and other dissidents garnering most of the headlines, we need the kind of Christ-honoring, Holy Spirit-em - powered, Devil-chasing, sin-killing revival that puts our churches in the news. Mobs are in the streets trying to destroy our country. Our churches need to send trained soul winners into the streets to knock on doors and introduce people to the Savior. When we do our job like it should be done, love will prevail and hate will not avail. Because Christ is the Light of the World (John 8:12) and He assigned us the task of letting our lights shine (Matt. 5:16), we can push back the darkness wherever we go. At the National Sword of the Lord Conference the theme and the thrust continue unchanged and unabated year after year. We proclaim boldly the authen - ticity of Scriptures. We excitedly herald the Gospel of Christ. We declare unreservedly the principles of godliness and holiness. We cry aloud for revival in our churches. We present enthusiastically the task of soul winning. We defend the Truth and contend unapologetically for the Faith. We trumpet the truth of Christ’s second coming triumphantly. That’s a brief summary of who we are and what we are about. That is also the ministry of the Sword of the Lord and that is the National Sword of the Lord Conference. Thank you and God bless you for being a part of it with us. LOVE IS THE DIFFERENCE (Love for God, Love for Other People) In response to a lot that is going on in America, I have an answer that will bring peace to the streets again. It will seem trite to some people, but in the arena where I live and work, I have seen it work successfully again and again. With people young and old from all walks of life and from a variety of backgrounds, there is a Godgiven “secret” that pays dividends wherever and whenever it is employed. “Master, which is the great com - mandment in the law? “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. “This is the first and great com - mandment. “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”—Matt. 22:36–39. Jesus gave us this twofold plan that is an infallible way to get things going right on the street where you live. When we love the Lord, we listen to Him and take instruction. Since He is all-knowing and allwise, we can follow Him without hesitation and without fear. What He tells us, we can take seriously and put it to work in our lives. There is no need for you to go chasing other issues until you get command of the two “greatest” commandments. Love God; love people! Don’t flinch, don’t fear, put your faith in God and just do what He says. Love, Not Hate I don’t like what I’m seeing and hearing from some quarters these days. When hate is being practiced and promoted, that gets my atten - tion; but I refuse to support it. I DR. SHELTON SMITH, President, Editor MARLON SMITH, Executive Vice President BART WALKER, Treasurer JIMMY BARRETT, Customer Service Manager CONTACT US Customer Service Book sales, Subscriptions, Address changes, Gifts 800-247-9673 fax [phone] [email protected] Advertising 615-893-6700 fax [phone] [email protected] Conferences 615-893-6700 fax [phone] [email protected] Editorial 615-893-6700 fax [phone] [email protected] Correspondence to columnists should be sent in care of the Sword of the Lord, PO Box 1099, Murfreesboro, TN 37133-1099. Web Site www.swordofthelord.com (USPS 531-160) (ISSN 0039-7547) AMERICA’S FOREMOST REVIVAL PUBLICATION DR. JOHN R. RICE, Founder-Editor 1934-1980 DR. CURTIS HUTSON, President-Editor 1980-1995 SUBSCRIPTION RATES United States: one year $19.95 Canada and Foreign: $29 U.S. per year SWORD OF THE LORD (ISSN 0039-7547) (USPS 531-160) is published biweekly by the Sword of the Lord Foundation, 224 Bridge Avenue, Murfreesboro, TN 37129. Periodicals Postage Paid at Murfreesboro, TN and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Sword of the Lord PO Box 1099 Murfreesboro, TN 37133-1099 Publication Mail Agreement #41347012 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: PO Box 503 RPO West Beaver Creek Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4R6 can listen all day long to grievances and try to find solutions; but I cannot be friends with looters, arsonists and killers. Law and order is a staple of a free society. On any given day right is right and wrong is wrong. That goes for all of us with no exceptions. There is always a right way to correct wrongs; but if you try to correct wrong things in a wrong way, it complicates rather than facilitates getting the wrong made right. Love Is Bible-Mandated Christian Character “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”—Matt. 7:12. When our love of God is first and foremost, it makes our love for human beings an easier matter. You cannot impress anyone with your professed love of God if you are practicing hate toward other people. It is simple enough just to treat other people the way you want other people to treat you. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to figure this out. It is common sense that is scripturally mandated. Love Knows No Limits and No Exceptions You can rightfully hate sin; but if you are genuinely right with God, you will truly love the sinner. If I disagree with you or if I disapprove of your behavior, that doesn’t mean that I don’t love you. You and I may disagree religiously, politically or on any number of issues; but we should still have the love of God in our hearts for each other. Even when we do not know each other well, we can have a love that shows respect and acts responsibly toward each other. In a word, love doesn’t leave any - one out because he is different or because he is difficult. “So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.”—Luke 14:21. Love Listens When you are hurt, love pays attention. If you are mistreated or misrepresented, love will be there to help you. Love doesn’t pretend to be blind. Love doesn’t duck and run when there are burdens or difficulties. Love Is a Two-Way Street If you are needing help, you must be careful that you don’t get so loud, so boisterous and so overbearing that all we hear is the noise. If you expect love, you must give love. It is the two-way street that makes peace and harmony a reality. If one party (person) loves and the other party hates, the solutions to the problems are going to be hard to find. Love Finds a Way Love will work when all else fails. The great love chapter (I Cor. 13) offers a lot of insight on the properties and the priorities of love. Love will be up and running when everything else is still looking for its track shoes. What is an alive church about? What is our soul winning in the street about? What are our bus ministries about? Continued on p 3▶ COVID-19 Has Properties That Have Never Been Found in Nature Before Norwegian and British vaccine scientists have published unequivocal evidence that SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, is manmade. The authors state two conclusions: (1) the mutations that would normally be seen in the course of animal to human transmission have not occurred in SARS-CoV-2, indicating that it was fully “pre-adapted” for human infection and (2) SARS-CoV-2 has insertions in its protein sequence that have never been detected in nature and contribute to its infectivity and pathogenicity. That is, SARS-CoV-2 has a receptor binding domain specifically designed for the human angiotensin converting enzyme-2 receptor (ACE2) found in lungs, kidneys, intestines and blood vessels. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 has a furin polybasic cleavage site not found in any closely-related bat coronaviruses as well as other artificially inserted charged amino acids that enhance the virus’ ability to bind to and enter human cells by forming “salt bridges” between the virus and the cell surface.… …As the authors correctly note, the development of an effective vaccine cannot be accomplished without an objective analysis of the structure of SARS-CoV-2, its mode of action and its origin. That effort has been hampered by China’s refusal fully to disclose the information it possesses, in conjunction with a politically motivated scientific misinformation campaign by Beijing to avoid responsibility, by some Western scientists with a vested interest in the outcome and by an uninformed and servile media.… Until now, the cover-up of the true origin of the COVID-19 pandemic has been successful.… Remarkably…many appear content endorsing the naturally occurring narrative, mostly out of ignorance or an unwillingness to accept the ugly truth. That ugly truth is—China manufactured SARS-CoV-2 and, through a combination of hubris, incompetence and recklessness, unleashed it on the world. —Colonel Lawrence Sellin (Ret.), gopusa.com Lawmakers Urge Pentagon to Protect Christians in Military From “Anti- Religion Activists” Twenty members of Congress have signed onto a letter urging Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to protect Christian military service members who are under threat from a secular legal organization that’s calling on the military to punish them for sharing their Christian faith.… “We know that many in our Armed Forces are leaning on their faiths in this unprecedented hour,” the letter to Esper reads. “It is our hope that the Department of Defense and the several branches of our military will recognize the needs of our troops, follow federal law in protecting their religious liberties and ensure that the ongoing pandemic is not exploited by nefarious organizations bent on removing faith from the U.S. military.” Specifically the letter calls on Esper to protect the career of Colonel Moon H. Kim, the command chaplain of U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in South Korea. Kim faced backlash after he [recommended a Christian book to his] fellow chaplains in an email. The lawmakers are also calling for the protection of Air Force Lieutenant Colonel David McGraw, who for eight weeks led worship services from the balcony of his military housing unit in Germany. Both Kim’s and McGraw’s actions are being condemned by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an organization that represents service members as it pushes for a strict separation of church and state within the military. —Samuel Smith, christianpost.com Protester Shoots Protester A 22-year-old woman was killed early [June 1] in an apparent random shooting as she was leaving a protest in Davenport, Iowa, the Associated Press reported—and the victim’s sister recorded an angry, tear-filled video blaming protesters and saying one of them pulled the trigger. —Dave Urbanski, theblaze.com United Kingdom Sets Record for Abortions in 2019 The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children has described abortion figures for 2019, released…by the Department for Health and Social Care, as “a national tragedy.” 209,519 unborn children were aborted in England and Wales in 2019, the highest number since the Abortion Act came into force in April 1968. Antonia Tully, SPUC Director of Campaigns, said, “…This appalling figure shows us that abortion is becoming more and more normalized. Propaganda telling women that abortion is ‘simple and safe’ coupled with easier access to abortion pills is driving up abortion numbers.” —lifenews.com President Issues Executive Order to Promote Religious Freedom Worldwide President Donald Trump issued an executive order [June 5] that Continued on p 8 ▶