The full armor of God.

This is the inaugural post on this blog. In a sense, it is a call to arms. In Ephesians chapter 6, the Apostle Paul warns us that "...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." (Ephesians 6:12) We are not engaged in a political battle between liberals and conservatives or between republicans and democrats. We are engaged in all out warfare against "the powers of this dark age."

Who are those powers? Are they certain men or women who hold certain political offices? Are they greedy Wall Street tycoons? Are they the strange minds resident in the entertainment capital of the world, which Michael Medved refers to as "Hollyweird?" Would that it were so. No. Our enemy is none other than Lucifer, Satan, the enemy of our souls. These others are simply his minions; the men, women, and children whom he has taken captive with his lies. Lies like: "there is no reason to refrain from indulging your sexual appetites," "you might as well take advantage of your business associates, everyone else is doing it," "there is no reason why you shouldn't have whatever you want; you deserve it."

The fact is that Satan began his nefarious meddling in human affairs very early in human history, by lying to the woman in the garden: "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" "You will not surely die." (Genesis 3:1,4) Thus began the war on our souls. Satan has been lying to us consistently ever since. He is incapable of telling the truth. When we think of "the devil," we tend to think of a little red guy with horns and a pointy tail and pitchfork. If only he were that easy to recognize! No, he is very smooth, very attractive, very persuasive. He is also a complete and total loser, because Jesus Christ has already won the victory against Satan! Satan is an eternal optimist, he has even deceived himself into believing that he can win the battle that has already been won by Christ Jesus. That doesn't make him any less dangerous. Adolph Hitler increased his murder of Jews and other political prisoners, when it became apparent that he could not prevail against the allies in World War II. In the same way, Satan wants to take as many of us as possible down with him.

The Lord has already given the enemy into our hands, but we must take up arms and follow our General into the battle to free the spiritual prisoners of war, whom Satan wants to take down. When you have done with wringing your hands and decided to stand up and be counted in the army of the Lord, you have only to "...put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." (Ephesians 6:13-18)

In future posts, I will attempt to give a cogent explanation of each piece of the armor as it has been laid out before us by the Apostle. Like any soldier, you will want to go into training and have your equipment in first class order before you encounter the enemy. My aim will be to help you with that process, but first and foremost, Christian, you must "Stand Up! Stand Up for Jesus!"