Skip to main content

The Officers In The Devil’s Army

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12

  There is a war on against Christianity. Not one in the media or even from any political or national source. It is the one that has been going on from the beginning lead by the Devil.  It is a battle for the hearts and minds of every soul on this planet (2 Corinthians 10:3 -5). The devil uses any means to create doubt, cause delay and get us to ignore the truth of God word.  Let’s examine some of those he uses to do just that:

Private Interpretation
This lowly one may not seem like he couldn’t do much damage, but looks can be deceiving. When private interpretation comes into play he causes the authority of God’s Word to come into question.  What is clearly said in the text can be twisted into what I think it says.  Since there are so many private interpretations, how can really know what is being said?  So, the word of God is made null.  The devil looks to use him to muddy the water so clear command can be dismissed.

Major Division
What private interpretation starts, major division builds on.  Since Satan convinces folks that everyone can have their own personal take, the united army of the Lord begins to divide.  We began to follow men and their personal take rather than God and His Word. The chain of command is disrupted and chaos ensues.  Once the ranks are divided, it becomes much easier to conquer.  Every argument in the troops result in a new spinoff until the believers are as different from one another as they are the enemy.  Major division is the power player of Satan allowing him to make sure no one will oppose him.   

General Malaise
Private interpretation confuses, major division weakens but the one that will keep us in captivity is general malaise.  You see a divided people that can’t agree on truth will have no reason to keep fighting the fight of faith.  The energy, effort and sacrifice won’t be worth it. So little by little anything that is worthwhile slips away until we stand a conquered people. General malaise doesn’t work fast but his victory is still complete.


  The good news is the Devil and his minions can be defeated. James 4:7 tells us, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you”. If we won’t fall for the tricks of Satan and make ourselves aware of his schemes, we can make the Devil run. But only if we listen, not to ourselves, but to God can we make that happen!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I Know All Those Words, But That Sentence Makes No Sense To Me

  Let’s say you travel back in time six hundred years or so.  Luckily, you happen across a fellow that speaks English.  Upon hearing your tale, he describes you as nice, smart, and handsome.  Wouldn’t you feel good?   You shouldn’t.  As Sol Steinmetz in his book, Semantics Antics , explains; Nice originally meant someone who was foolish, ignorant, senseless, or absurd (middle English 1300). Smart for the first 300 years of its use meant causing pain, sharp, cutting, or severe, a sense that survives in the idiom "smart as a whip.” Handsome wasn’t complimentary. When coined around 1425, it just meant easily handled; it didn’t have its current positive connotation until 1590.   You might think he said you were a kind, intelligent, good looking bloke, when in reality he said you were a foolish pain easily dealt with.   Words have an annoying habit of changing meaning over time in the same language and it becomes even more compli...

Master Your Self

  In a contest for the toughest president of the United States, it would be hard to go against Theodore Roosevelt.  He was known for his “manly” pursuits hunting big game, climbing the Matterhorn, participating in boxing match while president. (These weren’t play fights, he lost the vision on one eye because of them!)  Once before he was about to give a speech an assassin shot him in the chest.  Roosevelt refused to go to a hospital and insisted on giving his speech, still wearing his blood-soaked shirt!   Teddy might have become tough but he wasn’t born that way.  He was a sickly child that suffered from severe asthma that almost proved fatal.  As was a young boy, doctors discovered that he had a weak heart, and advised him to get a desk job and not strain himself.  He was homeschooled because of his many illnesses and spent most of his time indoors.   But then as a teen his father, whom Teddy Roosevelt revered, told his son, “ ...

Until Midnight

    In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back.       I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...