It is April 25, 2019 and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Satan is winning battles all over America. Now this isn't to say that Satan is winning all the battles, because he isn't. And this is biblical. We are told continually that there is spiritual warfare around us. The war is won. Many have just celebrated the defeat of death and sin by Jesus. The ending is written. However, we are told that there are battles all around us, and the good guys don't always win.
For quite a while I have taken the attacks of Satan as a good thing. It shows me that I'm in the fight. I'm playing to win and he knows it. So he is ready to fight me and I will toe the line. The battles aren't always finished in a day, a week, or a year. I still fight the battle of depression, but I know the war is won. I have the choice to listen to the lies or to tell them to bugger off! (We've done too much children's literature from England lately and I enjoy the English phrases sometimes. I digress.) I know I mention it everywhere that when I read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis I was hooked. We can either be someone that the dark side wants to fight or we can be complacent. Here in the good ole US of A the few fight for the many to uphold a land of freedom. A country built on the backs of humans that were persecuted elsewhere and therefore wanted a land where people could come and leave persecution behind them. However, human nature took over and they did to the Native Americans as had been done to them. Human nature took over and brought slavery and a vicious downward spiral of ethnic segregation. But one thing held true - there needs to be religious freedom. The problem I find in many Christian homes today is that they believe the founding fathers were all wonderful Christian men. The truth of it is, they weren't. Sure, many came from Bible believing backgrounds, but this country was not founded for Christians. And now when Christians receive the slightest push back they go crying about freedom and the founding fathers. They need to go back to the Bible. Persecution means the devil is scared. However, what we as Christians feel is persecution isn't always persecution at all. If one is confused, by all means "visit" a Muslim infused country or stay in China. Bring your Bible and hold a Bible study. You'll learn persecution. (You may want to say your good byes to your loved ones as well while you're at it.) One area I have seen the uproarious cries comes from the schools. I remember growing up in schools where religions were only discussed as "this is what they are" and never hearing "this is what I believe." Why? Because the country stated a split between church and state. The blurred lines come in with the original school houses. Many were built by missionaries to educate the children. Many were taught by missionaries who were trained to share their faith. Many used the Bible as the main reading material for children. However, once schools became federal property, the church was moved out. This never bothered me. I didn't attend school to learn the 10 Commandments or how to pray. I went to school to be educated in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and a whole lot of useless crap. I learned to read the Bible and pray at home and in the church. When I moved to the south I was stunned by the inclusion of Jesus within the walls of federal buildings. It was odd, yet refreshing. The first day I met Charlie, though, I looked at things differently. We were at a teacher's luncheon and the meal was prayed over. Again, I thought, "Wow!" Then Charlie spoke of his distaste for it (We'll label this before Jesus time). He brought up the concept of separation of church and state, and I began to look around. What if there were Jewish, Muslim, or atheistic teachers in the cafeteria. My first thought was, "Good they could use some prayer!" Then I thought, "What if the prayer was Islamic? What if the thankful prayer was to Satan?" I would have walked out. It made me realize how readily acceptable it was to bring Jesus to the fight and not expect anyone else to show up. So now we are in this age of everyone accepting each other and tolerance and whatnot. And those things have been twisted and turned and shoved down the throats of those that were praying blessings in the schools. Satan is using the sinful nature of humans to divide and conquer Christians everywhere. "Love the sinner, hate the sin," was the motto I grew up learning. The thought was in the right ball field, but it was never deep enough to hold. We can love those in sin because we are in sin. We can hate the sin of others, but we better hate our own. Two decades ago, Christians were only scratching the surface of what would come in these times. And every time we have gone to a place to take it in the name of Jesus we have thought that surely the devil wouldn't come back. Now our schools face integrated bathrooms for Timmy that wants to be Tina. And Timmy can pull out his jimmy in front of Susie and innocence is lost. Now when Susie's mother comes to the school she is labeled a closed minded bigot. With everything going on it seems that Christians are finding more battles at their doorsteps. I wouldn't see this as a problem except for the fact that too many have forgotten where they had that armor of theirs. So Christians spend their time looking for the belt of truth and trying to find their shield of faith instead of stepping onto the battlefield prepared. Too many have lost their breastplate of righteousness at the local watering hole. They rifle through the lost and found and can't seem to find the one with their name scribbled on it. I keep hearing over and over - If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for everything. No, it didn't come from the Bible, but it holds true. To me, it shows me where Jesus says in Revelation 3 that it is better to be hot or cold and that the lukewarm will be spit out. Lines are blurred. They will continue to get fuzzier the more "Christians" we find without armor. Every time a Christian cannot stand for what they believe in - if they truly believe - than they give another battle to Satan. Get ready for the fight. The fight has been ready for you.
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