Will The Real Enemy Please Stand Up? Thomas M Parsons

Index \| Maranatha Ministries \| Bookstore \| Family Place \| Stories \| Statement of Faith Will The Real Enemy Please Stand Up? By Thomas M. Parsons Excerpt from the unpublished book The Chosen Ephesians
Ephesians 6:10-12 The world of Facebook, the social networking website, has been all a twitter (no pun intended; actually I probably did intend the pun), with political debates this past week. Someone introduced a poll for voting “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” on the current United States president. Those who voted “up” had some rather passionate arguments why they voted that way. Those who voted “down” had equally passionate arguments. After casting my vote and explaining why I voted as I did, I wrote this. Politics is interesting and makes for some great debates. But the future is not in the hands of the many politicians I disagree with and it is not in the hands of the few politicians I do agree with. It is not in the hands of the Democrats, nor in the hands of the Republicans. The future, as it always has been, is in the hands of God. In our political debates, and in our conversations with others, we sometimes forget that the real enemy of our faith is not in the White House or on Capitol Hill, at least not in the way we usually present our arguments. We talk as if our elected officials have the power to make decisions that will destroy us. We talk as if our enemies are other Americans with whom we disagree. Sometimes we identify our enemies as those living in other countries, in different, even hostile cultures. They are our enemies because they want to destroy us. They fly airplanes into our buildings. They rant and rave against our way of life. We talk as if these foreign enemies have the power to make decisions that will destroy us. There is only one who has been given the power to destroy, and even he cannot destroy a believer in Jesus Christ. Paul clearly identifies our enemy and the defenses God has given us to defeat him. God has given us armor, spiritual armor, to wear as protection against the enemy. This armor covers every part of our body, except one. There is nothing to cover our backs. Perhaps that means we are not to retreat from Satan. Our struggle, Paul says, is not against flesh and blood. Men. Women. Every politician is flesh and blood. Every military leader is flesh and blood. Every foreign power that seeks to challenge our way of life is flesh and blood. The leaders of our government who overspend, who make wars, who meddle with our freedoms, who make terrible decisions, who use their power for their own purposes are all flesh and blood. The evil people who hijacked airplanes and flew them into our buildings are flesh and blood.	Enemies who are flesh and blood are already defeated. At some point they will loose their powers. Someone stronger will take their place. Eventually, they will die. The real enemy is the devil. Satan. Lucifer. No one stronger will ever take his place. He will not die, but he will be destroyed in the end. We are to wear the armor God gives us as protection against “the devil’s schemes,” or as the KJV puts it, “the wiles of the devil.” The enemy is crafty, but he is no match for our God. The enemy has many dirty tricks up his sleeve, but he is not very creative in their use. It is rather easy to see what he is up to, if we look through the eyes God has given us. The devil has helpers, of course. Paul calls them “rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world, spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” These helpers have power in this world and in the heavens. They have power on earth and in space. God has given them authority over governments, over institutions, over religions, over science, education and entertainment. They are powerful. They have authority. They are spiritual beings, not flesh and blood. We cannot fight them with bullets or fists. We cannot defeat them by being stronger than they are, for they are always stronger than we are. There is but one way to defeat them. Put on the full armor of God. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Satan’s history can be summarized in a series of words. Created. Commissioned. Proud. Cast out. Deceiving. Devouring. Tempting. Destroying. Judged. Doomed. Condemned to the lake of fire. Satan is our enemy primarily because he has chosen to be God’s enemy. He assumes the best way to get at God is to attack the people of God. He has been at this little game for centuries. He constantly used his schemes against ancient and modern Israel. He constantly seeks to entice believers in Jesus Christ to trust themselves, or their leaders, instead of Jesus. This is, perhaps, his most successful trick. But he has already been judged, pronounced guilty, and condemned to eternal destruction. He walks around this world knowing his time his short. Whatever he is going to do, he knows he has to do it now. Martin Luther wrote, “The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for, lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him.” The armor we wear all relates to the word of God. The devil deals in lies and half-truths and deception. But one word of truth from God will trip him up every time. When the real enemy stands up, it will be seen to be Satan every time.
Copyright © 2009, Thomas M. Parsons, All Rights Reserved. - 98