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I want to begin this morning by talking about a feud that started towards the end of the civil War in West Virginia and Kentucky. It began in January of 1865 when Harmon McCoy, who had joined the Union army, was found murdered, presumably by a group of men led by William Anderson Hatfield.

This is the beginning of decades of violence and conflict that we have fondly come to know as the Hatfield and McCoy Feud. The violence escalated years later over a sow and her pigs. The McCoys claimed that since the pig was on their property it must be their hog. The Hatfields countered the claim – because they could – and the matter was taken to court. The McCoys lost their claim in court because of the testimony of Bill Staton who was later murdered by to McCoy brothers.

The feud later intensified when Roseanna McCoy began an Affair with Johnse Hatfield. Johnse later abandoned Roseanna and married her cousin. This only stirred the fires of hatred. Two years later Ellison Hatfield was brutally murdered by three of Roseanna’s brothers who in turn were murdered as the vendetta reaches epidemic proportions. Eventually eight men were tried in West Virginia for the murders. Seven were given life sentences and the eighth was hanged in public, even though it was against the law, as a sign to the warring families to stop it. Both sides agreed to end the fighting in 1891.

Why am I telling you the story of the Hatfields and McCoys on Easter Morning? I just wanted to get you primed for battle as I describe to you am even greater conflict that has been taking place for longer than we can imagine. It is the feud between a righteous Savior and a prideful angel – between Jesus and satan.

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