A Reflection on Ephesians 6:12

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

Perhaps this illustration is not helpful in some ways, but I think it still opens our eyes to the spiritual forces of evil and helps us at least imagine how they are working.

If Satan Wanted to Capture our Attention, How Would he do it?
Are you in control of your mind? Or could Satan be whispering in your ear?

By Al Menconi
November 5, 2008

If Satan called a meeting to instruct his legions of demons, it might go something like this.

In his opening address Satan would say, "We can't keep Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the Truth. We can't keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their Savior. Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.

"So let them go to their churches. Let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT we will steal their time and focus, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ."

"This is what I want you to do," says the devil, "Distract them from focusing on things above and get them to focus on life from our point of view" (Colossians 3:1+2).

"But how shall we do this?" his demons respond. "If they are Christians, why would they want to know our thoughts and ideas?"

"Don't let them know they are our thoughts. Tell them it's just entertainment. Then we can inspire others to put our words and thoughts on video and call it a TV program, or on celluloid and call it a motion picture, or on a CD and call it music, or in a little black box and call it a video game.

Most importantly, entice them to play the radio or CD whenever they drive. And convince them they need to keep their TV, DVD player, iPods, and computers going constantly. They won't realize they are missing time with their Savior."

"This will jam their minds and break their union with Christ. We have to keep their minds occupied with our thoughts so they won't have time for His."

"But I heard that Christians are strong and we have to leave if they tell us to go," counter some of his dominion. (James 4:7)

"They do have immeasurable strength, but they don't realize it. That's why we have to keep their minds occupied so they won't hear His still small voice. I don't know why He speaks in a small voice, but I don't want to take any chances. Don't leave them any time to think about Him.

And the best part is while we are occupying their minds with our "noise," we are destroying their strength. Do you remember how Nehemiah defeated us? He reminded the people that the 'joy of the Lord' was his strength and he wouldn't pay attention to our ideas. (Nehemiah 8:10) That would be disaster for us!

"So if we are going to make them weak, we have to undermine their joy. And the best way to accomplish this is to feed them our philosophies (Colossians 2:8). If we can convince Christians to entertain themselves with our values, we can control them. I know we won't get 'em back on our team, but they won't be an effective member for the other team, either."

Satans plan was quite ambitious and very effective. The demons went eagerly to accomplish their assignment. (I Timothy 4:1) It was easier than they thought possible. And it wasn't long before Christians everywhere were entertaining themselves to death - literally.