By Timothy Johnson
Preacher’s Point
Christians struggle. We seem to struggle all the time. We wrestle with anxiety, fear, and temptation, just to name a few of our opponents in this great battle called life.
Often, Christians fall into the trap of self-centeredness and forget that their spiritual battles are far greater than what’s bothering them today.
Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
We do not have a spiritual battle with an unreasonable boss, a political candidate or party, an illness, or anything else that involves flesh and blood; our spiritual struggles are far deeper and more severe than that.
A look at history may explain.
Until Jesus Christ entered the scene, the world was dominated by pagan gods. God dealt mostly with the Hebrews; from the Old Testament, we can see that their record was not good. They would start serving Baal, along with other gods, and their relationship with the one true God was on-again, off-again.
Since Christ, as Christianity began to grow, the influence of the pagan gods started to wane. Baal, Ashtoreth, Molech, and the Roman and Greek gods, among others, mainly became things of myth and legend.
Not everyone was a Christian, and many who called themselves Christians were hypocrites. Still, you did not see altars devoted to Baal in Western civilization. Many of the temples dedicated to Greek and Roman gods lay in ruin. The mindset of Christianity dominated society. Long story short, the influence of the Holy Spirit overcame the influences of the pagan gods.
Then, the twentieth century arrived.
In the early 1900s, Christian scholars started changing the word of God, changing the wording, and omitting verses, all in the name of scholarship and better understanding. Seminary teachers began doubting the deity of Christ and other essential doctrines of Christianity. As churches began teaching a watered-down God, whose sole purpose is to tend to our needs and other doctrinal falsehoods, the Holy Spirit’s influence in the church and upon society began to diminish.
The “spiritual wickedness in high places” that Ephesians 6:12 warns us against are demons. Those “small g” gods that the Bible names are real. People worshipped and served them, which is why they are called gods, but in reality, they are the dark forces of the spirit world. Those gods are demons.
Baal’s specialty was leading people into apostasy. In other words, away from the one true God. 2 Kings 17:15-16, “And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.”
Because of the watered-down scripture and the false doctrines creeping into the church, when prayer and the Bible were removed from schools, there was little resistance. The influence of the Holy Spirit was in decline, and the influence of spiritual wickedness in high places had already grown to a level no one expected.
The next god that the Hebrews fell victim to was Ashtoreth. She was called a goddess of love, but more accurately, she was a goddess of sex. The worship of Ashtoreth consisted of orgies. Men and women, men and men, women and women, multiple people, and even animals were involved. Her temples were filled with anything goes, with anyone or anything sex.
As the demonic forces carry the church into apostasy and society to hatred toward Christianity, our nation follows other demons into sexual perversion. Less than a decade after the removal of the Bible and prayer from schools, the sexual revolution begins. In the 1960s, sex outside of marriage was considered by many as “living in sin.” How far have we gone from that view? “At the moment there seems to be a growing group of psychologists advocating that pedophilia is, or at least should be considered a sexual orientation rather than a mental disorder.” Here is the link for that quote: https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/587/is-pedophilia-a-sexual-orientation-or-a-mental-disorder
Research this. Type in: “Is pedophilia a sexual orientation” into your search engine and see what you get. If you are thinking, “We will never accept pedophilia as something that is okay.” Think back fifteen years. No one saw the argument about a man using a woman’s restroom coming. We do not fight against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in high places. Until the demons are stopped, the sin, the perversion, will only get worse.
Please understand this: when I say demons, I am not referring to a political party or candidate; I am not talking about a group of people; I am referring to demons – unseen spiritual beings that are influencing the way people think and what they believe.
In the Old Testament, they had names such as Baal, Ashtoreth, and so on.
How do we defeat an enemy we cannot see? The same way the early Christians did: live by faith, saturate ourselves in the Word of God (not a watered-down version of it), pray, and spread the gospel.
As Christians struggle with everyday life, how can God use us to fight spiritual wickedness in high places? It is imperative that we cast aside those things that so easily beset us (Hebrews 12:1).
Earlier, I mentioned anxiety, fear, and temptation.
Anxiety is cured by faith. John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”
Fear is conquered by love. 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth our fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” Instead of asking God to remove your fears, ask Him to increase your love for Him; the fears will dissipate as the love grows.
You will be tempted every day, but God will not allow you to be tempted above what you can resist. 1 Corinthians 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” When temptation comes your way, have faith in God to know that He has already determined you can say “no” to whatever it is; then act accordingly.
As Christians, we need a Christianity that is less self-centered and more Christ-centered, a Christianity that wins the spiritual battles.
Preacher Johnson is the Pastor of Countryside Baptist Church in Parke County Indiana. Website: www.preachers-point.com; Email: [email protected]; Mail: 25 W 1200 N; Kingman IN 47952. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Timothy-Preacher-Johnson-101171088326638. All Scripture KJV.
