We’ve determined that the desire of Satan and the demonic spiritual forces is to be adored like God.  They desire honor from worshipers who are willing to sacrifice what they hold dear in order to serve them.  In the guise of false gods, they demanded that the people give up their food, their animals, their time, and even their children in order to show these spiritual forces how devoted they were to them.  And today, while we do not worship at shrines and idols in the western world, we still sacrifice our time, money, and families on the altars of happiness or achievement or comfort.  We have exchanged gilded statues for elusive emotions, but the end result is the same: our focus is not on the God who created us and loves us, but on ourselves and how we can manipulate the spiritual forces in our universe to get what we want.

This is exactly where our enemy wants us to be.  In the end, Satan doesn’t care if you specifically worship him or not… as long as you don’t worship and honor the God that he hates.  Any recognition that is not aimed at God is fine with him.  Anything that takes us away from biblical truth is considered a win in his losing game.  If he can keep us blind to the truth of who God truly is and what God truly wants – as revealed in His Word – then Satan is accomplishing his mission to prolong his judgment by blinding the lost to the only One that can save them.

In the Roman world of 2,000 years ago, the emperors would overemphasize entertainment for their subjects when times were lean.  Watching the plays, fights, and other shows at the arena or amphitheater would take the people’s minds off the fact that they didn’t have enough food at home.  The powers in charge knew that they could distract the people from what was necessary by distracting them with what was entertaining.  It’s a lesson that is repeated by the powers of our society today, and it is ultimately a strategy of the enemy.

We said previously that Satan’s mission is 2-prong:  Adoration is his ultimate mission, but Preservation is his immediate mission.  Well, the strategy he employs to achieve this preservation is also 2-prong:  1) Keep the lost lost, and 2) Keep the saved ineffective.  And it is through the manipulation of earthly powers, the distraction of entertainment, and the misdirection of religious systems that Satan keeps the lost from hearing and responding to the Gospel.

Each week, our church sets aside a time to pray for a few of our denomination’s 3,500 international missionaries.  We read some of their names and lift their needs up in prayer.  But many are represented in our information only by their initials and a vague area of the world where they serve.  This is because they are at work in countries that are hostile to the Gospel and would likely evict or imprison our missionaries if their actions were discovered.  Their ministry among those people would end. Even worse, those nationals who had come to know Christ through their efforts could be persecuted even unto death.

What’s so offensive about Christianity?  Why try to eradicate the Bible and the Gospel from entire people groups?  Jesus was a healer and teacher.  The Bible teaches Christians to obey the earthly authorities because they have been put in place by God.  Christians are to care for their neighbors and make their communities better places.  What government wouldn’t want citizens who act the way the New Testament teaches?  The sticking point between earthly government and Kingdom citizenship always comes down to allegiance.  A Christian cannot claim “Jesus Is Lord!” and “Caesar is lord” at the same time.  And it is always because of this that Christians are persecuted and the Gospel is outlawed.

The first prong of Satan’s strategy to keep the Gospel from the lost is to keep them in the dark about it.  In Ephesians 6, Paul reminds his friends that our fight is not against the people who stand against the Gospel, but the spiritual powers behind those people.  Our only weapons in this battle are the armor of our faith, the truth of God’s Word, and prayer that God will fight for us.  Aside from these tools, we are called to be courageously obedient to make sure that those who need to hear the Gospel have an opportunity to know the truth.  We are commissioned by Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit to take His saving Gospel to our neighbors and to the nations and make disciples who will take it even further.  In this war against the enemy, the Gospel is God’s counter-strategy to Satan’s strongholds. Live it, and share it!