Pastor Ray Smith
Senior Pastor - First Congregational, Ashland, NE |
November 6, 2025 Somewhere in the last 1500 years, the church decided the supernatural was too taboo to talk about. We, as an institution, traded our spiritual discernment for a kind of polite silence. Yet Scripture never gives us that option. The Bible doesn’t whisper about angels, demons, or the unseen war; it declares it openly and puts it down in black and white for all to read. Paul declares, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.” Now, when the church stops talking about these things, people don’t stop wondering about them, they just stop coming to the church for answers. They’ll go to psychics, New Age teachers, or the internet rather than the church....the church who should hold all the keys to these answers. And all the while, the powers of darkness keep working; they keep turning people from their true Savior to counterfeits who can not save. If the church won’t speak of spiritual warfare, who will teach believers how to stand against it? Who will teach the world to recognize it? If the church won’t stand and name the enemy, how will we ever resist him? The church was supposed to be the safe haven for questions about the supernatural world, not the place that shames people for asking about it. We are called to enlighten people into the unknown, not pretend it isn’t there. Denying the spiritual realm doesn’t make the church seem as wise as the world....but it does make us more spiritually blind than the world. And blindness is a luxury the church cannot afford as we weave our way through the cultural waves coming against us. Now, more than ever, the church needs to be able to discern the difference between the world, the flesh, and Satan and his minions. Join us Sunday as we discuss what's been far too often overlooked in our world, spiritual evil. As we live to serve another week for our Lord and Savior; “May the God of peace soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” — Romans 16:20 ~Pastor Ray~ Servant in Christ 402-944-7121 (church office) |
PASTOR RAY SMITH
Pastor Ray began his ministry at First Congregational, Ashland, NE, February 2025