By: Gen. Jim – 3/26/26
“And the God of peace will CRUSH Satan under your feet shortly…”– Rom. 16:20, NKJV
The KJV uses the word “bruise”; The TCNT uses “crush” as does many other translations. I prefer the word CRUSH over BRUISE.
The English Dictionary:
Crush = “to press between 2 opposing forces so as to break, injure, grind, pound into small particles, to subdue or suppress by or as by force, overwhelm, severe pressure.”
Bruise = “to injure as by a blow, without breaking, cause spoilage, an injure to one’s feelings, spirit.”
The Greek:
Crush = Apothlibō (ἀποθλίβω), a strengthened form of thlibō, = “to throng (apo, intensive), is used in Luke 8:45, R.V. = “crush”; A.V. = “press”,
Bruise: Suntribō (συντρίβω) = “to break”;
Thrauō (θραύω), = “to smite, shatter, broken by calamity.”
Just what did the Apostle Paul mean by “the God of peace will CRUSH/BRUISE Satan under your feet?” What we do know is that Paul was a Christian soldier, not just a mere Church-goer! He uses words like “be watchful”, “be alert” (military terms); he uses them in both the present & eschatological sense/contexts, urging watchfulness in the light of the Lord’s return. He writes, “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us WATCH & be sober.” (be “self-controlled”). But it can also be a call to WATCHFULNESS with regard to the enemy or enemies (Satan/demons, see 1 Peter 5:8; Acts 20:29-31 speaks of “savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up speaking perverse (i.e. misleading) things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore WATCH, & remember that for 3 years I did not cease to WARN everyone night & day with tears.” This, we too have done. But despite all the WARNINGS, many were taken CAPTIVE by the enemy just the same.
Be On Your Guard
This has been the core foundation teaching of ACMTC. We have taught from the very beginning of ACMTC, “stand firm in the faith. Don’t dance with demons!” Paul writes! “For now, we live, if you stand fast (or firm) in the Lord” – 1 Thes. 3:8. Paul writes: “… so STAND FAST in the Lord, beloved,” Phil. 4:1, NKJV. He writes, “… I may hear of your affairs, that you STAND FAST in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel,” Phil. 1:27, NKJV.
Paul taught TEAMWORK; we have from the beginning done the same. Paul mentions “adversaries” in vs. 28, “be not in any way terrified by your adversaries.” He mentions “suffering” for Christ’s sake in vs. 29; “conflict” in vs. 30. He taught “Spiritual Warfare”, not “Church Welfare”. Stand FIRM or FAST, either word means stand secure. There are 2 Greek words for “firm”; (1) βέβαιος/Bebaios, which means to stand in the maintenance of the boldness of the Christian soldier’s hope (Heb. 3:6), & in 3:14 we read, “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence STEADFAST to the end.” Note the word “if”. How many have we seen do otherwise when things got rough on the flesh – run like rats off a sinking ship! Verse 6 (Heb. 3) tells us that Christ is the head of His house (Ekklesia), whose house we are if we hold FAST the confidence… FIRM to the end.” What happens if we do not hold FAST/FIRM? Well, according to the context of chapter 3, the ones who failed to “hold fast/firm” did NOT enter God’s rest (vs. 11).
Vs. 12 is telling: “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an EVIL HEART of UNBELIEF in DEPARTING from the Living God.” In short, going AWOL (Absent Without Official Leave – a military term).
Night Out With Satan
Some go AWOL for a short period of time: others go AWOL, becoming an apostate, a renegade. We’ve had some in our midst.
(2) Stereos (στερεός), solid, hard, stiff, is translated “firm” in 2 Tim. 2:19 R.V., “the firm (foundation of Gal, “A.V.” (standeth) sure”; Stereos is not part of the predicate; “solid (food) in Heb. 5:12, 14, R.V.; “steadfast” in 1 Pet. 5:9.
The Gk. word stereoō, to make strong, establish, (Acts 3:7, 16; 16:5, & stereōma, steadfastness, (Col. 2:5).
The true Spirit-filled Christian will not dance with demons! The person full of Christian love for the Lord Jesus rejoices in righteous behavior; not enjoying “dirty dancing” with demons. Such a person refuses to take delight in evil of any kind. God’s love in them absolutely rejects the pernicious forms of evil. Not so with those who have joined themselves with Satan’s troop of “dirty dancers”. They have become character assassins, full of HATE, assaulting without mercy those who are of God’s camp… with vigor & determination to SILENCE those who stand firm/faithful in the faith. Oh, we’ve got a camp full of such rabid dogs, howling, growling, barking, biting! Because they couldn’t stay true to the Lord Jesus, they have set about to demonize any & all who remain steadfast in the faith.
The rabid dogs think that if they infect us, by biting us, we’ll just die! When I grew up in Kentucky /Arkansas, we had a fear of rabid animals. There were some people who were bit and got an infectious disease that affected the nervous system. These backsliders themselves are infected with madness to destroy others! In my day, as a kid growing up in the outdoors, we were always warned to be alert/awake to the possibility of being attacked by rabid dogs (or other animals). Many dogs were shot because they had been bitten by infected animals.
In the case of demon infection, we are warned over-&-over again to be awake/alert. We do have dominion power over demons, who endeavor to destroy our peace & subvert our minds. I think the word Satan (Rom. 16:20) is a sort of collective term used, by which all opposers & adversaries are meant; & especially those false teachers, those ones who “cause divisions & offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; & avoid them,” vs. 17. We are given dominion power over both the ones inside the Church & outside the Church.
Evil Within Evil Without
We have learned to take “dominion” i.e. putting Satan /demons /evil persons under our feet (spiritually). But, I warn you, there are times when God permits the enemy to prevail over us in order to experience certain sufferings, for growth.
On Aug. 18th, 2017, while at morning communion with the whole camp in attendance, the Spirit gave a prophetic warning to us, telling us that the enemy was mounting up an offensive against us. Well, having been in war-time mode since the early 1980s, we had heard these kinds of warnings many, many times over the years. Little did we know that the State of N.M. & the Cibola Co. Sheriff’s dept. had planned a raid on us for Aug. 20th. [note: in some of the docs you’ll see footage of that RAID – PX4 Files under “for your consideration”]. God did not stop this ASSAULT. No! We were attacked on made up charges (see PX3 Files), some of us arrested. All in all, Gen. Deborah, Lt. Col. Peter, myself were jailed /imprisoned (as well as Gracious River, imprisoned also), others of our camp went to jail for a short time. No amount of dominion on our part would have prevented this. It was God’s will that we were to fellowship Christ’s suffering – He too was arrested, sentenced to DIE! So, we are blessed to have suffered this kind of “defeat” by our enemies. Now they will face God for what they did. It was their intent to totally break-up our camp, imprison Deborah for life whereby they hoped we would break up! Sorry ‘bout that! Didn’t work! You see, in that same Word given to us 2 days before the ASSAULT, the Spirit also told us that “they will not destroy you!” And, so, we are not destroyed – even though it was the State’s/county/personal enemies (ex-members) all in agreement to RID N.M./ U.S.A. of us!
We had God’s assurance of victory even though we were told that a great attack was coming. In the first raid on our camp God warned us ahead of time so we were ready for them. That “raid” failed to get any arrests.
Now, as I write these accounts, I am reminded of just how much God desires His people to remain true no matter how ugly things might get. As I write, there are more & more docs being made about us & against us. Some are soooo wrong, it makes even the demons blush! But, we are grateful that we get free publicity – more & more people are being blessed by our stand. Christianity is being made very REAL to us – not just text-book Christianity, but Aggressive Christianity in real time.