Maybe I’m just having a bad day. I watch the news and I hear things that make me angry and I want to get in someone’s face and tell them that they must be stupid and that they shouldn’t be allowed to waste perfectly good oxygen. Now don’t misunderstand, I don’t do that. But there are times when I would like to.
I saw on the news recently where a young man was arrested for praying outside of an abortion clinic. Praying. That’s all. Praying.
I heard a news report that said of all religions, Christianity is the one that is most often singled out and put in a bad light in the textbooks our children read in school. Christianity: Exaggerate the bad; hide the good. Other religions: Ignore the bad; exaggerate the good. Some people in the public school system clearly have an agenda to do whatever they can to destroy Christianity.
I talked with a friend who felt defeated because sometimes, she said, it feels like just one person can’t make a difference against the bully pulpit of the government and the liberal media. Both appear to have an anti-Christian agenda.
And those are just three examples of what makes me want to shake someone and say, “You’re destroying everything for which our founding fathers fought and died.”
But then I remember Ephesians 6:12 where Paul says, “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.”
You see our fight isn’t with those in the media or even the elected officials who do not know the Lord and are being used by Satan to fight against righteousness. They are merely victims. They are the collateral damage of the warfare that is taking place in the spiritual realm. You see, these people are lost to the darkness for two reasons: 1) Satan has recruited them using his tried and true methods–lies and deceit, and 2) Christians have failed to be sufficiently diligent in our witness to and our prayer for these people.
But there is good news. “Light shall shine out of darkness.” (2 Corinthians 4:6) And that means even if Satan continues to try to hold these lost souls (and he will), we can defeat him if we do not give up. But we need to put into practice what Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:13-18. We must put on the full armor of God. And we must be prepared to do battle. And that means we must stand firm even when we feel like we’re losing.
It won’t be easy and it won’t happen in a generation. It has taken over 200 years to lose what we’ve lost. It may take another 200 to win it back. For some the battle must continue. For others the battle must begin. But it’s a battle that must be fought. And for the sake of the generations to come, it’s a battle I pray we win.
Thom Fishow
August 29, 2010