The Golden Armor of God
Tract #4 in the Godly Warfare series
written by Roddy Kenneth Street, Jr.
Copyright 2005 by Roddy Kenneth Street, Jr. All publication rights and mass-reproduction rights are reserved to the author, but internet users are given permission to duplicate this digital file and distribute it without alteration to friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, and acquaintances. Distribution is encouraged, and the file may even be printed out on paper for paper copies, but the text must remain unaltered and the total number of printed copies for each individual tract should not exceed 10,000 unless you have gotten permission in writing from Roddy Kenneth Street, Jr. or a surviving member of his family. You may contact Ken Street (RKSJ) by e-mail using the web-mail addresses that follow: etracts@yahoo.com, or earthtrek1@hotmail.com, or eztraveller@netscape.net. Many more free teaching tracts by Roddy Kenneth Street, Jr. will be found at the internet sites WorldwideChristianTracts.net, OnlineChristianTracts.org, and Christian-Tracts.net. This note must be retained on all duplicate copies that you may make.
The Golden Knights of God’s Kingdom are devoted servants of the Most High, and they are soldiers of faith, eternally loyal to their lord and liege. Their days are given utterly to the honor of their Lord Christ, Who is the King of Light and the Ruler of their lives. Each one of them has known much testing in his life, and each one of them has done combat with demons and devils that have sought to destroy him.
A Knight of God’s Glorious Kingdom is blessed with a Golden Armor that protects his body from harm, and he is gifted with a sharp weapon as well— the inerrant Sword of Truth.
In the prior tract, we have discussed at length the Code of Chivalry which is followed by all those who are Knights of the Golden Aura. Now we shall briefly discuss also the Golden Armor which God The Father in Heaven has manufactured for them. This is a great blessing from our liege.
We shall here become familiar, also, with the audacious words of The Prayer Of The Knights Of The Golden Aura.
THE GOLDEN ARMOR OF GOD’S KINGDOM
Everyone on Earth is assaulted by demons and devils in this world, from a time soon after birth until the final day of death. When a person accepts salvation in Jesus Christ, the attacks will decrease for a while, because the Holy Spirit is now indwelling their breast, and its influence is still so strong within that person. That human is now under grace through his acceptance of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. But all too soon, not so long after the day of salvation, the devilish attacks will be repeated. These new attacks may be even stronger, more fierce, and more repetitive than all those which came before.
This happens because Satan knows that you have switched sides, moving from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of Light. Before you were a soldier of the Darkness, but now you have become a Soldier of Light.
That makes you dangerous to Satan and his authority. Before you were a slave to sin, but now you have somehow broken free of the chains in which you were bound.
Satan is frustrated by the thought that you are no longer destined to be one of his subjects in Hell. He wants you to reject the Truth of Christ and come back to the one who is the Father of Lies. “Come on back to Papa,” says Satan. If he can’t trick you somehow into betraying your new liege and Lord, he soon decides that it’s time to pull out the big guns— to send forth his demons in an all-out assault on your temple— and he then lets you have it, with everything he’s got!
This is why our Lord Christ provides for every True Believer, for every Soldier of Light, a kind of divine armor. This armor is intended to protect the True Believer from the darts and arrows of Satan, and from the all-out assault which his devils and demons will design for your destruction. It is necessary that every believer wear the whole armor of God, not omitting any part of this divine armor. Without it, your chances of survival are really slim.
The standard-issue armor and weaponry includes these items:
1) The Helmet of Salvation in Christ. This is possibly the most crucial part of your defense. It protects your head and mind from the sword-thrusts of demons and the flaming arrows of the Evil One. You need to protect your mind by always focusing on what is good and righteous, so that you don’t leave any opening through which Satan can send in some of his smaller demons.
The helmet is specially designed to protect your eyes and your ears, which are openings to the heart and spirit. Satan frequently has his demons target these points of entry, as they are frequently found unguarded in new believers, whenever the new believer has foolishly neglected to wear his helmet.
A lot of the new believers are seen to be often walking around without their helmets, and will sometimes even mount a war-horse in this fashion. But it’s a really stupid thing to do, more so even than a kid who rides his bicycle without a safety helmet, or an adult who rides a motorcycle in a similarly unprotected fashion.
The demons laugh themselves silly when they see a human being strutting around naked this way, largely unprotected and lacking the whole armor of God.
2) The Belt of Divine Truth marks you as property of the Triune God, and it is this which helps to hold in place...
3) The Breastplate of Righteousness in Christ. The True Believer gets an armor breastplate of this sort because God has credited him with the Righteousness of Christ and has empowered him also with His own Holy Spirit.
You need to keep that Belt of Divine Truth fastened tightly around your waist, so that the Breastplate of Righteousness doesn’t start to slip out of place. Don’t ever doubt the inerrancy of the Holy Scripture. If that happens, you may be defeating the purpose of the armor, which is to protect your throat and your vital organs from demonic swordplay.
4) The Shield of Faith and Loyalty to Christ. This is a very important part of your armor, quite necessary to your survival as a Christian soldier. It can extinguish fiery arrows from the Evil One and protect you from demonic assaults. Handle it with respect, but don’t underestimate your enemy. You’d better learn how to use it.
5) The Sandals of Peace and Readiness. These make you able to move fast whenever God wants you to move fast, whether you are required to share the gospel of Christ with someone, or just required to battle a legion of demons in His Holy Name. These help you be ready to serve, ready to move fast, ready to fight well in every battle.
6) The Sword of the Word of God. You’ve heard that “the pen is mightier than the sword.” Well, the Word of God is mightier than anything else on Earth! The old heavens and the old Earth will pass away, but God’s Word will never pass away.
This is your primary weapon, used both for defense and for a victory. It is a means by which we raise the banner of our liege, and an instrument by which we are always lifting up the name of Our Lord.
Okay, that’s standard-issue stuff. What’s special about the Golden Armor that has become the common apparel/uniform for the Knights of the Golden Aura— those heroic guys who are the Glorious Knights of God’s Kingdom?
The Golden Armor of God has been forged in the Fire of Adversity. It’s a major upgrade from what you start out with as a new Christian believer. It’s a head-to-toe suit of armor that is forged for you by God Himself, that same liege who allowed you to walk inside the Fiery Furnace.
The Knights of the Golden Aura have stepped out of a Fiery Furnace of Adversity that seems as hot as Hell itself, and somehow they are still alive.
The most glorious knights of God’s Kingdom are the ones who have emerged from the Fiery Furnace with their faith unshaken, after many years of Adversity. They are still loyal to the Lord Christ, Who is King of all the wide Universe. They emerge from the fire as Knights of the Golden Aura, more loyal to their liege than ever before. These could not be made to bow down to demons, and God Above has protected them from the hellish flames.
These knights emerge from the fire with renewed faith and with the blessing of a new apparel, which is the Golden Armor of God. It’s a head-to-toe, full body armor that’s suitable for the hero that has to ride a war-horse into the hottest part of the battle.
THE PRAYER OF THE KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN AURA
Sire,
Let me serve in Your cause, O Mighty Lord, for I know that it is truly a glorious and noble cause, and I know that there will be glory for those who are brave and noble-minded!
Let me ride into battle with the rest of Your devoted army, O King of Kings, and let me be possessed of that strength and courage that I will surely need in the battles which are to come. Strength and courage are supplies which I must have in order to serve You fully, to the utmost limits of my potential.
Let me carry Your standard, Sire, and let me demonstrate my earnest dedication when the time of righteous warfare at last comes upon me. Let me swear allegiance to You and to Your wonderful cause, Sire!
And let me proclaim it to all persons in this kingdom of the Earth: Yes, it is true! Indeed, it is true; yes, I give my allegiance to the Great and Powerful God of the Universe!
Let me be able to say that I serve loyally, to the greatest extent that I am able, that I serve with enthusiasm, with great respect, and with a great reverence for the wonderful virtues of my King.
Let me labor mightily in Your behalf, my liege, and let me have success for my efforts, let me have ultimate victory, for I do battle in Your Name. Let me not be defeated or dishonored. Failure would be an unfit fate for a noble-minded soul that serves the Great God of the Universe. Your Majesty, we speak here of a soul with an aspiring heart, one that desperately needs to prosper and know success.
Let me be a pawn or a knight, Great Lord, according to Thy will, but let it be Your hand that directs my moves. Because I know that You cherish my devotion and my service, I know also that it is Your deepest wish that I should show great merit and gain a sterling reputation, as befits one of my status, one who is of noble blood.
Let me assert that nothing will be able to sever my loyalty to my liege. Though I may be brought down in this time of unending struggle, though my actions may not always be praiseworthy, I affirm that I shall never turn traitor to my lord and liege. Let me never be utterly disgraced, let me never be guilty of complete betrayal of that faith which my King has placed in me.
Soon comes the fight: The Sons of Light are about to confront the Sons of Darkness.
We are the Knights of the Golden Aura: We are the pride and the hope of the Army of the Greatest Lord.
O King of Kings, I pledge to You now my sword, my strength, my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor! Use me well, Lord! Use me to best advantage, so that I may make a valuable contribution in this glorious struggle which is before us.
Amen.
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Because he has long ago accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and as Lord of his life, the devoted soldier of God has received a great boon from the Almighty. From God The Father, Who is the Father Of Lights, he has received a very special gift... salvation in Jesus Christ, and with this comes an indwelling by the Holy Spirit of God.
As the years go by, he fights for the Kingdom of God and studies the eternal Word of God, and of course the Holy Spirit gains a stronger power over him, filling him more completely.
The Father In Heaven is vastly pleased that each new soldier in His Kingdom has recognized the Divinity of His Son, and has acknowledged the great sacrifice that was made by Jesus on that wooden cross. There Jesus suffered and was tortured for the sins of all humanity, in order that a route to Heaven might be opened up for the sinful population of this Earth.
God The Son died horribly on that wooden cross while He was in the human form of Jesus Christ, Who was willing to lay down His life for His friends... and to lay it down even for those who would declare themselves His enemies. Jesus fully followed the will of His Father, laying down His life for all of humanity.
Jesus accepted without question the will of His Father in Heaven, never once deviating from the orders and instructions that were given to Him by the Father Above.
God The Son was utterly devoted to the Perfect Will of God The Father, and while incarnated in the human body of Jesus Christ, He became the only sinless person who has ever lived on our planet. He is the only person that was ever able to complete a lifetime on Earth with complete holiness and sinlessness. This is how He came to be seen as the Spotless and Holy Lamb of God, the final sacrifice for the sins of humanity.
By His death on the cross, by His Resurrection from the grave, and by His Ascension into Heaven, He became the lifeline of humanity, the Savior of the World. Jesus became the means by which all humanity can be saved, the Holy One Who makes it possible for any human being to know an Eternal Lifetime with God and to share in His rewards at the Resurrection of the Dead.
Jesus Christ has brought Salvation to humanity, and He has ascended to Heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of His Father.
While He lived in Israel in the human form of Jesus, He fought bravely against all the devils of Hell and against those who are the enemies of His Father. He gave us the promise of ultimate victory against the forces of evil.
Jesus told his followers that after His Ascension to Heaven, His Holy Spirit would aid us and would give us powers like His own, power to combat the forces of Darkness in this world. Jesus told us that He is the Light of the World, and that His followers would be Children of Light... reflecting the Glory of God on a planet of ever-increasing Darkness.
He is the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, Who reigns forever, blessed be His Name!
And He now offers you the opportunity to become His follower, a genuine Soldier of Light. Maybe someday you might even qualify for a grand new position as a Knight of the Golden Aura, and you would then become part of that elite corps which we like to call “God’s Golden Knights.”
Don’t you think it’s time for you to stop giving aid and comfort to the enemies of God? Stop hanging around so much with guys that you know will only drag you down to Hell. Start hanging instead with those guys whom you know are brothers of our Lord!
Come away from the Dark Side... because it’s time for you to become a genuine Soldier of Christ; it’s time you became His child, one of the Children of Light... and a brother to Jesus Christ.
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God’’s Remnant is an army of loyal soldiers that survives all this supernatural warfare, and this group of humans will comprise a Special Forces team that is the apple of God's eye. These soldiers get an exalted position with God and are individually chosen by Him— they are carefully picked out of the crowd by the Righteous King Himself. These troops compose an elite corps that is destined for a special position in God’’s Developmental Program for His Universe. This is the overcoming remnant that will be victorious over our current world (which will one day be called Old Earth), and they are the ones whom God will use to re-populate the planet of His New Earth.
Father God wants YOU to join Salvation’s Army! Become one of the Best... be smart and join the winning team! It’s the only way to come out on top in the end!
The alternative is to stay on the losing side... and then you’ll end up at the bottom of a Pit of Fire, with a nasty guy named Satan and an ugly bunch of demons. Woe, woe... and whoa now! Hey, that’s a fate that shouldn’t appeal to anyone with an ounce of good sense...
Let us reiterate...
Father God wants YOU to join Salvation’s Army! Become one of the Best... be smart and join the winning team! It’s the only way to come out on top in the end!
Yeah, that’s right— we’re the World’s Finest, the Good Guys who are “the salt of the Earth.” Admittedly, we fight for truth, for what’s right, and for justice... just like those “naive” police officers that a lot of people try to avoid!
So why do we end up thinking that we’re “better” than all the rest? What makes us so special— what sets us apart from all the other evil sinners in the world?
Only the fact that we’ve accepted salvation through Christ, and have thus gotten forgiveness from our sins... and the fact that we’ve turned to Jesus Christ as a source of Light.
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You can share the Light of Jesus Christ, can reflect His Holy Light in a Cruel World, and thus become a point of illumination in the darkness of this world.
God’s Light can become a Lamp unto your feet and a Light unto your path, if you choose to accept rescue and salvation that is available in Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God Almighty.
You can even live to see the Light of God flowing through you and reaching out to other people in our world...!
It’s time your mind was illuminated by Jesus Christ, the Holy One Who is the Light of the World!
God Almighty, the Holy and Righteous Leader of the Armies of Light, is looking for a few good followers. You can share this wonderful light by placing Jesus Christ, Who in the Trinity of God created our Universe, upon a throne at the center of your heart! He deserves that position and that kind of respect. He was first God The Son, but when born in human flesh He became the only sinless and righteous person who ever lived. Yet He sacrificed Himself on a cross for your sake, taking all guilt and sins upon Himself, in order that you and I— that all people— that whoever wishes for salvation might be rescued from the due punishment of sins.
If you will do this, you will gain a new contentment and peace as you accept God's organizational plan for the Universe . . . because you'll be letting God be the Ruler of All Things in this world . . . and in your own life.
All it really takes is a simple but sincere little prayer— one that you should make up in your own words. The prayer for deliverance and for God's leadership should come from your own heart!
Some important elements that you might include are:
1) your desire to turn away from the wrongness or evil of all your past life, and your remorse over all the sins of your previous life,
2) your desire for God's forgiveness and mercy through the act of sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son (Jesus Christ),
3) your desire to know God's leadership in your life,
4) your desire to learn more of God's truth through Bible study,
5) your desire to find fellowship with genuine believers.
Jesus said of the people of God that “The kingdom of heaven is like a net that God has cast into the sea, and it gathers of every kind: When it is full, it will be pulled up on the shore, where they will sit down to sort the catch, and they will collect the good fish in baskets, but the bad things will be thrown away. This is the way it will be at the end of the world: The angels shall come forth, and they will separate the unrighteous persons from among those justified by God . . .”
Excerpt from the Book of Matthew, who was a constant
companion of Jesus and his devoted disciple [13:47-50].
Jesus spoke of the people of God as being like a seed that is growing secretly, saying, “As for the kingdom of God, it is as if a person should cast seed into the ground; and then he sleeps, and he rises up night and day to see that the seed is springing forth and always growing up, although he knows not exactly how. The Earth is bringing forth fruit from itself; first the blade, then the ears of corn, and after that the fullness of the ears of corn. And when all the fruit of the Earth has come forth, immediately God will use the sickle to reap the fields, because the harvest-time has come.”
Excerpt from the book of Mark [4:26-29].
It's also important for all of us to remember this:
1) WE SPEAK TO GOD by our prayers.
2) GOD SPEAKS TO US by the words of Holy Scripture.
So we must try to read His words and His Book just as often as we possibly can!!
God wants to bless you for all your long efforts to understand this very confusing and difficult Universe in which we live— so let Him reward your search with the grace of His forgiveness and enlightenment!
THIS GUIDE WAS WRITTEN FOR YOU BY. . .
Ken Street, a baptized follower of the Way.
[This text is an early draft for the tract, and the scripture reference notes have not yet been added.]
June 9, 2005
Williamsburg, VA