In struggling against the schemes of the devil, too many have falsely identified the enemy and have inadvertently allied themselves with the forces of darkness. We cannot fight the good fight with tanks and bazookas. The weaponry we use is not carnal but “divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses” (2 Cor. 10:4). 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” (Eph. 6:12). We are fighting a spiritual battle against the schemes of the devil. It is a battle of ideas—a battle for hearts and minds.
Apart from the unseen power that is ours in Christ, we would have long ago suffered humiliating defeat at the hands of the evil one. He is the father of lies (Jn. 8:44). He blinds hearts and minds, preventing them from seeing the light of the gospel (2 Cor. 4:6). He “disguises himself as an angel of light” and his minions disguise themselves as “servants of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:14-15). Satan deceptively works to draw people away from the truth. Jesus warns of false prophets “who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Mt. 7:15). Paul warned the Ephesian elders, saying, “savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29). The Spirit predicted future apostasy, saying, “in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons…” (1 Tim. 4:1). By the time John wrote his first epistle, “many false prophets [had] gone out into the world (1 Jn. 4:1).
We cannot win this battle of the mind without faith in God and the Spirit-inspired word.
John reminds us that faith is the victory that has overcome the world (1 Jn. 5:4). We find strength in the Lord and take up “the shield of faith with which [we] are able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Eph. 6:10, 16). Confident of victory, Paul says, “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 Cor. 10:5). In this battle, silence is not golden. Testing “the spirits to see if they are from God” involves “accurately handing the word of truth” (1 Jn. 5:1; 2 Tim. 2:15). We are called to expose the unfruitful works of darkness—to drag the deceptive teachings of false teachers into the light of God’s word so that people can perceive the truth and act accordingly (Eph. 5:11-13). As His church, we must be “the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). In our battle against the unseen forces of wickedness, we have the unseen power of God working through us and in us as we confidently relying upon Him for victory.
–Glen Elliott–