The Centurion Law Enforcement
FCPO Newsletter and Bible Study

The "thin blue line" covered by the blood of Christ.
Greetings, Fellow  Sheepdogs/Officers
& Supporters!

This week's Bible study/devotional is taken from my recent "Men of Truth" teaching on the small but prophetic and incredibly powerful book of Jude. There is also powerful application here for those of us in law enforcement as well: scroll down to " Fighting for Truth."

As a postscript to last week's Bible study, (" Spirit of the Law vs. Letter of the Law"), context is crucial. God's grace is never a license to sin (as Scripture declares again and again), nor does "grace" ever run counter to God's truth as revealed in His Word, the Bible. Accordingly, I'm adding this wholly biblical dose of Gospel champion (and a hero of mine), A.W. Tozer, to provide just this kind of context: " Because we live in a period known as the age of God's grace, it has become a popular thing to declare that the Ten  Commandments are no longer valid, no longer relevant in our society. With that context, it has become apparent that Christian churches are not paying attention to the Ten Commandments. But Dwight L Moody preached often in the commandments. John Wesley said he preached the commands of the Law to prepare the way for the gospel. R. A. Torrey told ministers if they did not preach the Law they would have no response to the preaching of the gospel. It is the Law that shows us our need for the gospel of salvation and forgiveness! It is accurate to say that our binding obligation is not to the Old Testament Law. As sincere Christians we are under Christ's higher law-that which is represented in His love and grace. But everything that is morally commanded in the Ten Commandments still comprises the moral principles that are the will of God for His people. God's basic moral will for His people has not changed!"  (A. W. Tozer sermon: "No One Changes God's Law").   AMEN!

On the local front (front being the Colorado Front Range), our next Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers (FCPO) Metro-Denver chapter meeting and Bible study (aka, "Cop Church") is set for tonight, Tuesday ( August 21st) in Highlands Ranch starting at 7 PM (1900 for us police/military folks -- LOL). Email me for the details and see additional information in the below-right section under FCPO.  This is also how you can get a FREE Centurion LE Ministry t-shirt or ball cap!  Don't forget that spouses are both welcome and encouraged to attend with their LEO as well.  We'll be in John 6 -- read ahead. As always, I'll recap the study for everyone else in the following week's newsletter. 

Miss a past edition?  I  always  re-post past editions on our website , Twitter and Facebook pages.  

Don't forget to check out the latest batch of resources, prayer requests and announcements  posted for you below!

Again, let's  "Run to the Battle" with a front sight  focus on Christ our Captain!  Stay safe on the street but radically bold in Christ!

MC 




  

SHOUT-OUT/PRAISE REPORT!

Please join me in congratulating Elkhart (IN) PD Chaplain Jim Bontrager on also being sworn in as a reserve officer with his agency (at 58, no less)!  Proud of my fellow servant-warrior who will, like me, give ALL glory to God.


PRAYER REQUESTS

(1)  Deputy Brock Brown with the Arapahoe County S.O. writes, " Please join with me in praying and believing God for a miracle. One of my friends and fellow deputies,  Peter Berg , is battling cancer. His wife gave me permission to share this. I know it'll mean a lot to them."  Yes, let's pray!

(2)  Prayers are being requested  for a NJ officer who lost his home and a police K-9 in a fire.  Lord have mercy.  Pine Beach Officer Loses Home, K-9.

(3)  This is not a law enforcement request but one that impacts every true believer.  Please pray for persecuted Christian cake maker Jack Phillips -- they are going after him again in defiance of his previous Supreme Court victory.

(4)  Please pray for those fighting the many fires here the west.  Pray also for our wounded!

(5)  Retired Detroit PD SWAT officer Emery Esse, a fellow evangelist, writes, " Please continue praying for my sister   Lorraine Faraj.  She is still in the hospital unconscious and the doctors say there is nothing more they can do for her and are moving her to a nursing home Sept. 10th. We are still praying and hoping for a miracle from our God, Lord and Savior!" Let's pray!


Have a prayer request or announcement you would like included here? Need prayer?   Email me !  I also post prayer requests on my Facebook page ("friend" me).  


UPCOMING EVENTS

(1)  Fallen Project Event!  Mission Hills Church, August 24th, 6:30 PM.  Click on Fallen for complete details. 

(2)  The Sheepdog Seminars is led by my friends Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, Officer/Minister Jimmy Meeks and fellow church safety expert Carl Chinn (among others). Outstanding, highly recommended training for every sheepdog (sworn and unsworn alike)!

(3)  Here's the 411 for the 2018 Breaching the Barricade Law Enforcement Conference and Law Enforcement Officer Appreciation Day events!  Elkart PD Officer and Chaplain Jim Bontrager will once again be hosting and I'll be leading one of the breakout sessions at the conference.  Please consider joining us in Elkhart, IN and Sturgis, MI this October 5th and 6th!  



The Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry

The Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry is a national, FCPO-affiliated, evangelical Christian outreach to our own in law enforcement. These newsletters and Bible studies are part of this effort and past editions can be found on our website and our social media  ( Facebook and Twitter ) feeds. As always, feel free to adapt these messages for your own individual or group use and please share them with others. 

The Centurion LE Ministry is lead by Police Officer and Chaplain/Evangelist Michael "MC"  Williams, a 32-year (and counting) law enforcement veteran and sought-after instructor and speaker at churches [including the well-received Centurion Church Security Seminar], retreats and both law enforcement and civilian conferences and seminars around the country. Contact MC via email for more.   

Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers
FCPO-USA exists to provide biblical support ("backup"), accountability and iron sharpens iron fellowship to Christian officers first in the U.S. and throughout the world as well. Our metro-Denver chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers -- (aka FCPO Chapter 217) -- is a Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry affiliate. We meet most 1st and 3rd Tuesday evenings starting at 7 PM in the Denver-Metro suburb of Highlands Ranch (email me for address and details) for profession-focused and life-focused  Bible study, prayer and servant-warrior/sheepdog fellowship (the iron sharpens iron kind). Spouses are both welcome and encouraged to attend with their LEO and this is how you can get a FREE Centurion t-shirt or ball cap!

Our next meeting is set for TONIGHT, Tuesday, August 21st.  JOIN US!   
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FIGHTING FOR TRUTH

Fighting (contending) for truth and against fraud is a big part of God's call to believers.


This week's Bible study is a quick overview of the small (one short chapter) but incredibly powerful Book of  Jude . Frankly, we could spend weeks on this single chapter!  But for our purposes here today, and with the the understanding that there is also powerful application for us in law enforcement, we're going to focus on Jude main point of his epistle. 

First off, who is this guy Jude?  He  identifies himself in the opening verse: the brother of James.  Both were Jesus' half-brothers (see Matthew 13:55 ). Jude and James (James 1:1) both refrained from identifying themselves as the brothers of Jesus out of humility and reverence for Christ.

The Believer's Call: Fight for the Faith 

Jude begins and ends his letter with a "call for service" to FIGHT FOR THE FAITH. Understand that God's concern for us, as revealed by Jude, is not simply to help believers (to wit, those who have been born again in Christ alone -- John 3:1-21, 14:6) feel content (joyful, safe in Christ) but to help them stay vigilant and in the battle (the spiritual kind). Having shown them the love and unsurpassed power of God (vv. 2-5) to keep them safe, Jude now shows them the danger that surrounds them. And he tells them to fight ( contend) for the faith. Look closely at verse 3 (the focal point for the entire chapter/book):  "Beloved, being very eager to write to you of our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints." In other words the assured victory of the believing church does not mean that we don't have to fight (contend) to win.

Teaching on this, noted pastor Charles Stanley said, "Just because the brilliant Commander in Chief promises victory on the beaches doesn't mean the troops can throw their weapons overboard. The promise of victory assumes valor in battle. When God promises that his church will be kept from defeat, his purpose is not that we lay down our sword and go to lunch, but that we pick up the sword of the Spirit and look confidently to God for the strength to fight and win. Wherever the promised security of God is used to justify going AWOL, we may suspect there is a traitor in the ranks."

So God's purpose for us here, as revealed by Jude, is to give His people confidence that their faith will be victorious in the end (verses 1 and 24) and then send them out to fight for it.  Here's what noted 19th century pastor Charles Spurgeon said on this: 
"The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies." 
Jude's central focus here is apostacy -- FRAUD -- within the church!  Who would have thought that people claiming to be Christians -- even so-called pastors -- would attack the very notion of truth?   But they are -- and at an alarming rate!

In November 2004, Christianity Today featured a cover article about the "emerging church" movement.  That is the popular name for an informal affiliation of so-called Christian communities worldwide who want to revamp God's church, change the way Christians interact with their culture, and remodel the way we think about truth itself.   "We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it," says Rob Bell, one of the founders of a prominent emerging church movement in Michigan (and an apostate fraudster). 

Within this movement, "truth" -- to whatever degree such a concept is even recognized in the emergent church -- is assumed to be inherently hazy, indistinct, uncertain and perhaps even ultimately unknowable. Truth has always been under attack, and this is just one more movement meant to undermine God's Word, denying its absolute authority.

Emerging church members claim to believe in the God of the Bible, yet still they say they areu comfortably uncertain about what is true. On this, noted pastor John MacArthur said, "Certain avant-garde evangelicals act as if the demise of certainty is a dramatic new intellectual development, rather than seeing it for what it actually is. Uncertainty is the new "truth." Doubt and skepticism have been canonized as a form of "humility." Right and wrong have been redefined in terms of subjective feelings and personal perspectives.  Refusing to acknowledge and defend the revealed truth of God is a particularly stubborn and pernicious kind of unbelief. Advocating ambiguity, exalting uncertainty, or otherwise deliberately clouding the truth is a sinful way of nurturing unbelief. It is unbelief cloaked in a religious disguise and seeking legitimacy as if it were merely a humbler kind of faith. But this is not faith at all."  Amen!

Every true Christian (Is that you?) should know and love the truth. The church's duty has always been to confront ("contend" against) false teaching and false teachers by clearly proclaiming the truth God has revealed in his Word. Yet in many places, the church has grown lazy, worldly, and self-satisfied. Church leaders are obsessed with style, flash and methodology, losing interest in the glory of God and becoming grossly apathetic about truth and sound doctrine.

This is by no means the first time the Truth War has intruded into the church. It has happened in every major era of church history. Battles over the truth were raging inside the Christian community even in apostolic times, when the church was just beginning. Scripture indicates that false teachers in the church immediately became a significant and widespread problem wherever the gospel went.

In fact, ever since that day in the garden when the serpent tempted Eve, he has relentlessly attacked the truth with lies, using the same strategies over and over to sow doubt and disbelief in the human mind. He questions the truth God has revealed, " Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" ( Genesis 3:1).

Many Christians today are weary of the long war over truth just as we officers are weary of the "War on Cops." They are uneasy about whether doctrinal disagreements and divisions are a blight on the spiritual unity of the church and therefore a poor testimony to the world. Questions constantly heard nowadays include, "Isn't it time to set aside our differences and just love one another?" "Rather than battling people with whom we disagree over various points of doctrine, why not stage a cordial dialogue with them and listen to their ideas?" "Can't we have a friendly conversation rather than a bitter clash?"

Scripture makes it very clear, and, in the Epistle of Jude (for example), we have an urgent mandate from God himself to do our part in the Truth War. In fact, Jude's whole point in writing was to remind believers of their duty to fight for the truth. The Holy Spirit, through the pen of Jude, is urging Christians to exercise caution, discernment, and courage, because " For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." ( Jude 4).  .

This battle for the truth is vital. Truth is the only thing that can liberate people from the bondage of sin and give them eternal life (John 8:32, 14:6). That is precisely what Paul meant when he said the gospel is the power of God unto salvation ( Romans 1:161 Corinthians 1:18). Truth (the simple truth of the  gospel, to be specific) is necessary for salvation. " For 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" (Romans 10:13-15). Scripture is clear about this: There is no hope of salvation apart from hearing and believing the truth about Christ.
That is why nothing is more destructive than false religion. False religion, in this case, straying from truth and embracing the idea that there is no real truth, is leading the church into chaos and tolerance of sin in the name of Christianity.

My heart resonates with concern for the church, love for the gospel, and a passion for the truth and the lost (the latter being compassion). I also find myself compelled, with a "Code 3" sense of urgnecy, to echo the inspired words of Jude and exhort readers who truly love Christ: you have been called to contend earnestly for the faith (Jude 3) and for the lost.

Truth is under heavy attack, and there are far too few courageous servant-warriors who are willing to fight. This fight is not merely about the thrill of defeating some foe or winning some argument, but about a genuine love for Christ, who is the living, breathing embodiment of all that we hold true and worth fighting for.

Practical Application
 
We live in a unique time in history and this little but oh-so-powerful book can help equip us for the untold challenges of living in the end times. Today's Christian "cop" (meaning EVERY believer, in this case) must be on guard for false doctrines and false, slick-tongued fraudsters which can so easily deceive us if we are not well versed in the Word and armored-up against the devil (the "Armor of God"). We need to know the Gospel and then protect and defend both it and those sheep who are so easily swayed and led astray. Authentic faith always reflects Christ-like behavior. Our life in Christ should rest on the authority of the Almighty (Father, Son and Holy Spriit) who empowers us to put faith into practice. 

Finally, we need that life-saving/life-changing personal relationship with God in Christ!  Only then will we know His voice so well that we will serve and follow no other.  Is that you?  Are you truly "born again" in Him?  If not, it is in this same spirit of contending (fighting) for the faith that I urge you to consider the following:

(1)  Do you still cling to the false hope that you can "earn" or otherwise "badge" your way into heaven and escape hell because you are a so-called "good" cop or "good" person? Take  the  Good Person Test  and see how you do.  

(2)  J esus' first recorded words in His earthly ministry were and remain, " Repent and believe in the Good News " ( Mark 1:15 ).  To repent  is a "180" -- a complete, radical change of mind and heart as it relates our sin. To believe  (pisteuo in the original Greek) as Jesus intends it here is to cry out to God for your salvation and wholeheartedly  surrender in faith to Christ  in the same way we have "faith" that our body armor will do its job against the rounds it is intended to stop, that our weapons will function properly in when facing criminals intent on destroying us, or that a jumper's parachute will open when it is supposed to (we stake our very lives on it)!  And the "Good News"? That is simply the Gospel of Christ

(3)  This same concept of " believe " (the saving kind) is further revealed in John 3:1-21  where Jesus says, "... you must be born again. " Note our Lord's emphasis on the word " must " (not "may" or "should"): this is ultimately the life-saving/life-changing  personal relationship (and NOT "religion") with Jesus Christ that I stress here every week (see What does it mean to be a born again Christian ?) through which we are in fact made "righteous" before a just and Holy God. 

(4)  Then, with this in place, open your heart to:  How can I be saved? 

(5) More?  Then check out this powerful, short video message by my friend, fellow officer and noted trainer, Travis Yates:   Cops and Salvation.

(6)  Have you said "yes" to Jesus but are wondering what to do next? Then click on,  Now what?   Understand that the "Now what?" MUST include regular "iron sharpens iron" fellowship with other believers -- including (for us cops) other mature Christians and Christian officers who can help support you, encourage you, disciple (help you grow) you in the faith while holding you lovingly accountable.  Message me for help in doing that!  

Questions?  I'm here to serve -- contact me   

Again, let's get in the fight and contend for the faith!

MC
 n* Sp