This next group of blog posts comes from the third book in the Basic Training! series: Stage 3 Spiritual Warfare. By this time in the Pureheart process, you’ve locked down your devices, identified your triggers, you’re getting your acting out cycle under control, established accountability with your B.O.B group, and “Severed Spiritual Chains”. Because it is vital to your healing and maturity, we’ve devoted all of Stage 3 to teaching you about Spiritual Warfare. Have you ever met the devil? Demons? Do you know how to stand your ground against the cosmic forces of evil? Do you know how to fight against demons? Or how to equip yourself with the life-saving armor of God? “Stage 3: Spiritual Warfare” offers you a specific strategy for winning the invisible war that rages about you, starting with the fundamentals as laid out in this introductory chapter.

Brace yourself—it’s time for battle!

How Does Satan Neutralize Christians?

3 Primary Means: Demons, the World, Carnal Christians

As a memory aide, picture the devil’s 3-pronged pitchfork. The primary satanic means of taking out Christians is via Demons, the World System, and Carnal Christians.

Demons

Remember, the devil is only an angel. He has zero divine attributes, and since he’s not all-knowing or all-present or all-powerful like God, he must delegate his mission to his underlings. Demons are the angels who followed the devil in his rebellion against God. We know they are angels because Scripture states this explicitly: the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41).

Since demons are ruled over by Satan, they are like him in every way, but on a reduced scale. To cite just one passage: Some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons (1 Timothy 4:1, ESV). Like devil, like demon. Note how teaching implies intelligence, organization, and purpose—this is the satanic propaganda I’ve mentioned before now being shouted from the rooftops of American culture and media. The devil’s influence and control over demons is so extreme, he has taken angels—once utterly pure and innocent—and turned them into abominations that get off on burning little children to death.

You and I typically will never deal with the devil directly. He saves his limited energy for God’s generals. You should be fighting his underlings, however. Indeed, the most exhausting sport I’ve ever done (including soccer, American football, marathons, and rock climbing) was wrestling with a few of my friends on our high school wrestling team. I was amazed at how I had to strain every muscle in my body to keep my opponent from gaining control—and how quickly, despite being a soccer stud, I ran out of steam. And yet this is precisely the analogy Paul uses to describe our war with demons (Ephesians 6).

For now, if you’re sick, depressed, poor, lonely, perverted, traumatized, anxious, immature, divorced, dying (and so on), simply assume a 50% chance you are wrestling with demons. Not everything is demonic, obviously; sometimes it’s our fleshly fallen nature, and sometimes simply life circumstance. Defeating demonic attacks depends in part in you learning, like the Apostle Paul, how to discern demonic scheming from the normal garbage of living in a fallen world (2 Corinthians 2:11). Much more on this topic in later chapters!

The World

As I stated previously, unbelievers are largely under the devil’s control—he is the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Ephesians 2) and the prince of this world (John 14). Many times, a particular person and even entire nations will (either intentionally or unintentionally) further the devil’s schemes against the kingdom of God. The word world can also refer to the entire culture of godlessness. Think TV, movies, music, social media, news, the Internet, educational systems, governments, and so on.

As we know all too well, this constant barrage of 24-7 demonic propaganda chews up Christians like a chainsaw. If only I had $1,000 for every brother who started his sexual addiction with Playboy, yet this was long before the world-changing power of the Internet (to cite but one example of how the world system fulfills the devil’s will by ensnaring Christians). Likewise, governments and world religions can be openly hostile and even deadly for Christians. According to demographers David Barrett and Todd Johnson, more Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined. (Even more evidence we are moving into the Last Days!)

It’s no coincidence that we Americans invented the Internet (thank you, Al Gore). The devil may have once lived on his throne in Pergamum (Revelation 2:12-13), but I guarantee you he now resides in America. Our culture and media influence the entire world these days primarily for evil. Homosexual flags fly from our embassies in celebration of “Pride” month—is it a coincidence that those in rebellion against God are “proud” like the devil? Our porn is everywhere on the Internet. Likewise, our social media. Our music is all over the world. (Can your prototypical Rap song get any more obscene?) We are famous for our materialism and greed, while our educational systems grow ever more anti-God and anti-Christian. The Church in America dying—a study from Lifeway Research reports that in 2019, 4,500 Protestant churches closed while only approximately 3,000 were planted (primarily because of declining membership). And this was before Covid!

The devil uses the “world” system to spread his lies and power over the entire globe, even as he destroys America from within. And yet those who are born of God should overcome the world (1 John 5:4), not be seduced by it!

Carnal Christians

Carnal Christians are believers who, for one reason or another, remain captive to sin and/or demons. In other words, they’ve been devoured by the devil. Ananias and Sapphira are textbook examples; likewise some of the Christians at Corinth. These believers can intentionally or unintentionally cause great harm to the Kingdom of God. Often they are completely unaware of the fact that they are working for the devil, in part because they fail to test for demons masquerading as the Holy Spirit (1 John 4:1-3). Scripture is unclear whether false teachers (like those mentioned in 1 Timothy 4:1, who devoted themselves to demonic teaching) were truly saved or just pretending, but it’s quite clear they can cause enormous damage. After all, false teachers don’t believe they are false teachers! You’re never more deceived than when you’re ignorant of your deception…

Think of the untold numbers of churches and ministries destroyed by immature Christians. Think of the divisions, infighting, and outright warfare caused by believers working in partnership with the devil. Ever experience a church split? I’ve talked with many people hurt and betrayed by so-called Christians and unhealthy churches. And yet before we judge these believers, how many times have you and I hurt others with our addictions, immaturities, and hypocrisies?! The Catholic Church is now world-famous for its pedophile priests, while in America, Protestant leaders are notorious for their sexual shenanigans and/or outright greed. I recently read somewhere that trust in pastors in America is at an all-time low. But honestly, is anyone surprised?

The devil loves to use Christians—saved or pretend—to do his dirty work. And who is more deceived than a Pharisee, past and present?!

Your Brother in the Battle,

Timothy

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Excerpt taken from Pureheart Ministry’s Basic Training! Stage 3: Spiritual Warfare

Copyright ©2023 Timothy Davis