Ephesians 6:10-18
The Valley of the Shadow of Death
My soul is sad, and much dismay’d;
See, Lord, what legions of my foes,
With fierce Apollyon at their head,
My heavenly pilgrimage oppose!
See, from the ever-burning lake,
How like a smoky cloud they rise!
With horrid blasts my soul they shake,
With storms of blasphemies and lies.
Their fiery arrows reach the mark,
My throbbing heart with anguish tear;
Each lights upon a kindled spark,
And finds abundant fuel there.
I hate the thought that wrongs the Lord;
Oh! I would drive it from my breast,
With Thy own sharp two-edged sword,
Far as the east is from the west.
Come, then, and chase the cruel host,
Heal the deep wounds I have received!
Nor let the power of darkness boast,
That I am foil’d, and Thou are grieved!
My Witnesses
Ye are My Witnesses through earth’s battle field, a holy war to wage.
Think not you’ll stand the onslaught of the foe as on ye go.
No human power avails when devils clash their arms
And fiery serpents hiss their wicked lies.
‘Tis well ye are aware of Satan’s powers, but list
Into the clashing tremor of the foe I let you go.
Not for one moment must ye trust your own, nor yet bemoan
That Satan seems to triumph.
Onward press, the fight will grow no less.
Into the battle with you I will go. The foe I know.
And every conquest I have won, e’re yet it has begun.
Ye fight not toward the place of victory ground
But in Me it already can be found.
I am thy Master Captain.
Raise faith’s shield
And see the hosts of Satan vanquished yield.
Union Carbide Accident
Doubled over and choking, they staggered to hospitals by the thousands, crying for help and refuge from a colorless cloud of gas that turned Bhopal, India into a tomb on a terrible December day in 1984.
“We have been working nonstop to treat people and still they are coming,” said one volunteer who tried to help doctors and nurses cope with streams of injured at five jammed hospitals. Several thousand died in the accident at the Union Carbide plant, many never fully aware of what hit them.
Resource
- Satan is No Myth, J. O. Sanders, Moody, 1975, pp. 91ff
Equipped Christians
Christendom must have people who can beat down their adversaries and opponents and tear off the devil’s equipment and armor, that he may be brought into disgrace. But for this work, powerful warriors are needed, who are thoroughly familiar with the Scriptures and can contradict all false interpretations and take the sword from false teachers—that is, those very verses which false teachers use and turn them round upon them so that they fall back defeated.
But as not all Christians can be so capable in defending the Word and articles of their creed, they must have teachers and preachers who study the Scriptures and have daily fellowship with it, so that they can fight for all the others. Yet each Christian should be so armed that he himself is sure of his belief and of the doctrine and is so equipped with the sayings from the Word of God that he can stand up against the devil and defend himself, when men seek to lead him astray.