One of our countries
great founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, once said, “There never was a good
war or a bad peace.” Now, being a student and fan of history, I’ve always
liked the sayings of old Ben but, in a way, I have to disagree with him on this
one.
I’m not referring to an
earthly-type war because I believe that some of these wars are necessary,
however they can’t be thought of as being “good.” But, in the spiritual
realm, I think that there is a good war being fought. It’s one that we’re
engaged in from the age of accountability to our death.
I’m talking about God’s
war versus Satan. It’s probably more accurate to say Satan’s war
against God. Plus, it’s a war in which every Christian is a soldier in
the army of God. And the battles aren’t just once in a while, we fight
them every day because Satan attacks us daily. Which is the reason Paul
warned us and why we’re given our “armor”
(Eph. 6:10-18).
The reason I’m talking
about this spiritual war today is to make us aware of something that is
analogous to both this war and the wars of this earth. There’s just
something about our war with Satan that’s relative to all wars. Do you
have any idea what that might be?
Well, here’s what I see
in the war for men’s souls that is comparable to the wars fought for men’s
bodies. There are prisoners taken. Just as it happens in man’s
wars, in our spiritual war souls are being captured by our enemy - Satan.
Sadly, most of them remain in captivity and do not escape his prison.
And, just like regular
soldiers are warned about, and are trained to watch for, Christians are warned
about being captured. Like the passage from Paul’s letter to the
Colossians that I cited as a preamble to this lesson. Or, as he tells us
in 2Tim. 2:15-16 that we need to “study”
in order to be an “approved”
(worthy) “workman”
(soldier) of God. And to “shun”
(avoid) those things that “increase
unto more ungodliness.” (Get us captured).
Therefore it’s always
good for us to continually study and refresh our minds, or to put it in
computerese, to reboot our”software programs” and also look at some of Satan’s
methods of capture. His “wiles”
- the things that work for him and his army.
They can’t be lumped
together any better that the Apostle John categorized them in 1 John 2:16 - “...the lust of the flesh, and the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life....” These are things of the “world” and not of “the Father.” And these
are the things which Satan uses to capture our souls.
Let’s break them down
just a bit more. “Flesh”:
adultery, lasciviousness, immoral activity, etc. “Eyes”: greed,
covetousness, evil concupiscence, etc. And last, “Pride of life”:
lovers of self, heady & high-minded, puffed up with vainglory, etc.
Satan has a lot of these battlefield tools on hand and all of them have proven
to be effective in capturing men’s souls.
Now here’s somewhat of
an enigma in that it’s a difference between earthly war captives and spiritual
war captives. That difference is, they’re still living and abiding among
us. They’re still present in our lives. In some of the wars fought
on earth we see prisoners of war wearing some sort of uniform with a big “P”
emblazoned on it. Yet in our spiritual war, they look just like us.
But, there are ways of
identifying them if we take the time and the care to do so. A lot of the
time they can be spotted by their manner of speech, the things they say.
You might hear phrases like: “We only go around once in life so we have to have
all the fun we can.” Or, “I’ll obey Christ as soon as I make the money I
need in life.” Probably one of the more well-used phrases is: “I just
don’t have the time for church and Christ right now, I’ve got too much going
on.”
Also they can be spotted
by their demeanor. They may look depressed or frustrated by the affairs
of the world. They’re more concerned about material things of life than
eternal things. Their life may be more centered on earthly or temporal
things or activities than righteous or heavenly things.
In many of man’s earlier
wars the siege was one of the preferred methods of winning the war. They
simply surrounded a city and starved them out. I don’t see Satan’s
methods much different. He simply surrounds a person with all
temptations, all the time, and that person’s soul succumbs to “spiritual
malnutrition.” It will die because it has been cut off from the source of
its sustenance - God.
Here’s the point of my
thoughts today. We can know and recognize those who have been taken
captive by Satan. It is our duty and responsibility to do what we can to
bring them back. To “repatriate” them. We’re required to care for
their captive soul and to do all that we can to set them free from their
captor.
Respectfully submitted,
Ron Covey
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