Ever know a small child who was afraid of the dark? Ever been somewhere that just did not feel
right, it felt unsettling, haunting, dangerous in some way, but you could not
explain why? We sometimes forget that we
have an enemy who specializes in the tactics of terror and fear. This enemy invented both the concepts and
therefore really knows how to use them.
Our evil enemy is not of human origin, but of something beyond human,
more than human, superior to humans by design.
They sit in darkness, dwell in shadows, and are fully consumed 24x7 with
the destruction of mankind as a species.
They do not eat, sleep or rest. They have only one purpose. No this is not the plot to a new horror film,
it is the plot to an age old war we sometimes forget we are the casualties of.
Evil itself, is a menace that can and does inspire
fear. Those without a defense for it,
should rightfully be terrified of it.
Those who believe they can defeat it, are like the arrogant or ignorant
victims you so often see in horror movies that find themselves quickly
dismembered in the first few scenes. The
terrified run from evil, but seldom escape it.
And Hollywood’s portrayal of evil is that it is very hard to kill and
keep dead (witness the number of sequel movies in the horror genre). But real evil is what surrounds us in the
real world. Even the worst/best of
Hollywood imagery does not come close to measuring up to how horrible real
unseen evil truly is. And our entire
world is inundated with it.
So how do we end the terror?
Colin Powell’s doctrine applied to the unseen forces that do battle
around us. Our creator God, is the
anti-evil. Evil cannot stand in His
presence; in fact, evil is destroyed immediately in His presence. When examining the conversations between
Christ and those whom He encountered that were demon possessed during His
ministry here, a common theme emerges.
The demons always seem most interested in knowing, “are You here to
torture us before the appointed time?” The question does not imply any sort of
contest between Christ the embodiment of good, and the demons embodiment of
evil. The question admits defeat and merely
questions the timeframe for punishment.
And not one demon ever stood his ground against the Savior of all
mankind.
Just the mention of Christ’s name is enough to drive fear
into the demons of this world. Think of
it this way, imagine the worst monster or group of monsters that Hollywood
movies have given us, as the enemy, out to get you. You are standing alone in a field, and
suddenly all these monsters appear around you, surrounding you. No human engineered weapon will defeat this
group. You are doomed. You cannot escape. You are only waiting for them to decide when
to end your existence. This is the state
of those who have no defense against real evil.
However, instead, you utter a simple prayer – “Lord Jesus, save me”.
With this request, atomic bomb explosions start going off
all around you but you remain unhurt and untouched. An army of Angels of light
surround you immediately with swords of light that would rival any Jedi
lightsaber, and whose physical presence carries brightness like that of the
noon-day sun. They now fully surround
you, and every evil monster, every evil entity that was once bent on your
destruction is now consumed by the power of this light, by the magnitude of the
explosions, but mostly by the simple request for the presence of God. This is what happens in the unseen world,
when a child of God, utters a simple prayer for protection against unseen
evil. It is faultless, and happens every
time. Evil cannot stand against it, and
is immediately vanquished at the call on the name of Christ.
This is the spiritual equivalent of the Colin Powell
military doctrine. It can make a small
child fearless against the dark, or bad dreams, or an unsettling feeling. It is a flawless defense against evil that
otherwise cannot be defeated. And it is
fairly specific as to why it works. You
see only Christ came to this world and lived a perfect life. Only He defeated evil on evil’s home
turf. Only He was holy throughout, and
in defeating evil, He forever turned the balance of power to good on behalf of
man. Our hope and our rock, and our
protection then come alone from Christ.
Buddha did not do this, Mohammed did not accomplish this feat, Moses was
not perfect, nor are any of the Greek, Roman, Norse, or Hindu legends that tell
of supernatural beings. Only love beats
evil, only mercy is greater than justice, only grace is sufficient for our
need. Only Christ is the God who died to
save His creations from evil.
This same simple prayer for protection has sometimes had its
impacts against evil that can be seen, in the faces of men. When Elisha was surrounded by men sent to
arrest him, he had no human armies to defend him, no human weapons, no way of
escape. His servant looked over the
surrounding enemy troops and was very afraid.
Elisha was not. He prayed to open
the eyes of his servant, and his servant saw thousands of chariots of fire and
soldier angels from God who stood all around them up into the surrounding
mountains on all sides. This massive
unseen army merely needed a command and it would have slaughtered the
enemy. Instead Elisha merely asked the
enemy be made blind. They were
immediately. He then led them back home
to their homeland, and restored their site, leaving them unharmed. After this they chose to invade Israel no
more.
Note that Elisha being a true servant of God did not ask for
his human enemy’s destruction even though his enemy would have surely killed
him. Justice would have been to kill
them all. But mercy is greater than
justice, as faith was greater than fear.
After a small demonstration of the power and mercy of our God, the men
were returned home safely, and chose to invade Israel no more. Elisha had no fear. He knew the power of his God, and he knew
that power was founded on love.
So what happens when you pray that prayer and still lose out
to human evil? Sometimes the choices men
make are of evil design, and they carry out the most heinous crimes against
their fellow man. While God’s protection
is sure against the supernatural, it is not always certain against the evil
done at the hands of man. For a deeper
discussion of why bad things happen and why evil exists see our earlier blogs
entitled “Why Me (part 2)”. But suffice
it to say that sometimes the choices of man bring evil to our lives and God
does not always interfere with supernatural means.
Regardless, even if death comes to one praying for
protection, it is but a brief sting – as for that praying person it seems like
only a second passes by and the next thing they know, is the eternal life
promised to them by the same loving God who was with them even through the
darkest of moments. The surety of our
salvation combined with the absolute power of our God should give us what we
need to truly put an end to terror.
No more do we need to fear the unknown, or the unseen in our
lives. No more should we fear or doubt
our future. We are free to live without
fear to constrain us, as not even death is the end of our existence. Because of the gift of Christ, we are able to
walk upright in this world of evil through the valley of the shadow of death
and FEAR NO EVIL - for Thou art with me.
The presence of our God pushes all evil away from us at an instant. The simple prayer of protection strikes fear
in the very souls of demons. Nothing can
truly do us harm while we reach out for the hand of Christ. In this way, our nation, our church, our
families, and each of us could defeat terror in our lifetimes. If it begins in you, it changes the
world. It is time for the end of terror
in us …
No comments:
Post a Comment