“Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” (Revelation 12:10-11)
No one would doubt that we live in troubled times. We are besieged on all sides by violence, anger, hatred, lies and slander to the point that our only sanctuary is our faith and the church, the Body of Christ. We may blame governments, terrorists, politicians, the media, educators or what have you, but the truth is that Satan the devil is the one behind all this turmoil.
These chaotic events we now endure are part of the ultimate battle of the ages which is, as John sees it, a spiritual one. This warfare began when the devil and his followers rebelled against God and were cast out of heaven in defeat. The final outcome as far as Almighty God is concerned is certain victory, but the war rages on today. Michael and the angels of the Lord God Almighty carry on the unseen warfare so that it does not overwhelm the people of God, but we believers are also key participants in that battle. The devil uses the media, academia, governments and terrorists to persecute God’s people in an attempt to silence us.
Satan has seduced billions to do his bidding, to carry out his agenda. His greatest weapons are quite powerful and effective: temptation, deceit and lies. Daily, Satan seduces those billions into thinking that immorality and evil thoughts, words, and lies are really good and beneficial, that sin is not really sin but good, solid, self-enhancing life style choices. These same thoughts assail believers through various means telling us what is good and bad, but have nothing to do with Christ Jesus. Therefore, we believers must be wary and alert for the devil’s deceit can lead us into sinfulness. If we ignore or reject the Word of God, we compromise with the world and fall into sin. Such sin will destroy our testimony and make us ineffective for work of the kingdom of God.
The devil then continues his attack with accusations of sin and unrighteousness in an attempt to demoralize us into self-pity. This is why we need to be in church and in the Word of God, with the people of God for there we are reminded that the sacrifice of Christ shed on the cross is our assurance of our acceptance in God’s kingdom. Christ’s work makes us right with God, not man’s.