“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). When I think about the America in which my precious little boy is growing up, I shudder. In fact, I almost get sick to my stomach. I literally fear for his spiritual safety. There is a war raging and everything godly is in its crosshairs—particularly as it relates to the family.  The Bible refers to this conflict as a struggle against all things evil. It is a war with far greater consequences than any man-fought battle. No believer is exempt from this war. We are either part of the solution or part of the problem. There is no in between. There are no sidelines. There is no break. Your options are battle stations, battle stations, battle stations or “shipwreck in regard to your faith” (1 Tim.1:18). The war is to extend God’s kingdom and destroy the kingdom of Satan and sin. But it appears the church is losing the battle, at least in America.

America is in a spiritual and moral freefall. To use aviation speak, we are in a graveyard spiral. We think we’re flying straight and level when in reality we are in a tailspin quickly approaching our demise. Just look around you. The clash between a biblical worldview and every other worldview is reaching a lethal level. A satanic anti-Christian spirit is growing increasingly hostile towards true believers. The family is under attack. There is a movement afoot to radically redefine marriage to accommodate the homosexual agenda. The thing that frightens me is the true church seems silent on this issue while the pseudo-church embraces and even promotes this lifestyle and agenda as something godly. Those who do speak up are quickly demonized as bigots, liars, and hateful fear mongers. It sort of makes one wonder how they’d label Jesus, especially since they often build a straw-man argument that He never taught on such matters. It has gotten so bad that the lines between scripture and reality have blurred to the point most so called Christians can’t or won’t even take a biblical stand on the matter. 

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). As we near the end of the age and the soon return of Christ for His Church, it is clear that Satan is ramping up his battle for the souls of unbelievers. This is especially true in the area of moral purity. No one is exempt from the battle. Satan’s number one goal is to so suppress God’s truth that wrong becomes right and right becomes wrong. This is clearly happening today. Although the evidence from conscience, creation, and God’s Word is clear, men continue to choose to resist and oppose God’s truth by holding fast to their sin. The words of Jesus ring true: “Men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). When God’s truth is rejected, the darkness of spiritual falsehood replaces it. Therefore, Paul admonishes us to fight this war, not “according to the flesh,” but with the “divinely powerful weapons of our warfare.” What are these divinely powerful weapons? It is actually a singular weapon—the “sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17). We fight the battle with truth—God’s Word. We cannot successfully oppose satanic assaults on the gospel nor can we defeat satanic falsehoods without this “divinely powerful” weapon. We are not called upon to bind Satan or demons (see Jude 9), nor are we called upon to debate truth and error, but to attack error with truth. When it comes down to it, this battle for God’s truth is really a battle for the human soul—perhaps your soul.

This is not an easy battle. Our enemy is clever, crafty, cunning, and a master deceiver. He is able to promulgate his evil schemes through his evil world system over which he rules (see Eph. 6:11). These “schemes,” according to John MacArthur are, “all-inclusive, encompassing every sin, immoral practice, false theology, false religion, and worldly enticement.” He is a master at using trickery and deception, therefore believers must respond with truth and righteousness. When we consider these “fortresses, … speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God,” we must understand this includes the most depraved abominations, including such things as extreme sexual immorality (adultery, fornications, homosexuality and the like), occultism, Satan worship, thoughts, ideas, reasonings, philosophies, and false religions. These are the “fortresses” with which men wall themselves in against God and the truth of the Gospel. Only the truth of God’s Word can destroy these fortresses! This is why we must preach Jesus! This is why we must continually proclaim the truth—unpopular truth at that—to a world that is hell-bent on suppressing the truth. One recent example of a satanic fortress “raised up against the knowledge of God” is the so called Hate Crime legislation that recently became law. Despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, the primary purpose of this legislation is to silence Christians who would dare to tell the truth about certain sins. If you don’t believe me, simply look to our neighbor to the north—Canada—where similar laws have been enacted and are being used to threaten and intimidate Christians—conservative Bible believing Christians in particular. Satan will stop at nothing to silence the truth so that darkness can prevail and souls can be enslaved and damned for all eternity. However, I will not be silenced!

Hear me and hear me well—there is a battle raging for the soul—your soul—and only the truth of God’s Word and the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ can free a soul from the grips of satanic darkness and eternal damnation. “We are taking every thought captive,” Paul says. This accentuates the total destruction of the fortresses of satanic deception and the rescuing of those enslaved to Satan. And one doesn’t have to be a Satan worshipper to be enslaved to Satan. One can be sitting in the pews of the local church and be enslaved to satanic darkness. Who is winning the battle for your soul—God or Satan? Remember, Satan doesn’t care what it takes or how long it takes. His goal is always the same—to win the battle for your soul. There is only one way to ensure victory over this enemy—faith in the crucified, risen, ascended, and soon returning King of kings and Lord of lords—the Lord Jesus Christ! It may not be easy. You may still struggle and fail at times. But the rewards of faith in the Son of God are well worth the struggle. “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, ‘God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:6-8). Believe God and you will be victorious!