Khan’s Cat & Satan Sparrows

Genghis Khan was a brilliant military leader who united the Mongol tribes and created a fearsome army with himself at its head. He ruled an empire that stretched across Asia, from the wintry woods of Ukraine to the Eastern shores of Korea. An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great and four times the size of the Roman Empire.

In 1207, his men swept across the Gobi Desert to attack China, but they were halted at the walled city of Voloha. Here the hard-riding Mongols discovered that their cavalry tactics were virtually useless in attacking a heavily fortified city. There seemed to be no way to defeat the city from the outside.

Khan offered to end the siege in exchange for an unusual tribute: one thousand cats and ten thousand sparrows. The request was unusual but rather a cheap price for security and seemingly benign, so they decided to comply.

It turned out to be a terrible choice.

Shortly after they delivered the tribute, Kahn ordered his men to tie puffs of cotton to the animals’ tails, and then set the cotton on fire. The frightened creatures fled back to their city. A thousand fires seemed to break out everywhere at the same time, and the citizens of Volohai rushed to fight them. At that moment, the Mongols attacked and Volohai fell and soon China would as well.

Satan works the same way:

He doesn’t seem to ask for much. Give him things that seem small, unimportant: Just a bit of your time, a piece of your pocketbook, a snippet of your morality. What harm could it be if we let him influence your entertainment, or convince you to make your child’s education in math and science more important than their Biblical one, or remove God from a tiny aspect of your life? Harmless gossip. Just one drink. A skipped worship service. A few meaningless sparrows. A few insignificant cats.

And here we are still putting out the fires.

so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

2^nd Corinthians 2:11

Satan can’t defeat us from the outside. However, He can burn us out from the inside. But only if we allow his influence in. The battle for our soul doesn’t occur on a desert battlefield or in a castle on a hill but in our heart and minds. Satan is constantly trying to implant the smallest of ideas he can ignite.

So be aware. Stand Firm. Don’t listen to the liar no matter how little the lies seem to be.

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