The Battle Scars of a Satanic Attack

Whenever I meet a new believer, I am always quick to warn him or her of the battles that lay ahead. I believe this is the right thing to do. When a believer has been misled by the promises of the modern gospel (the just-accept-Jesus-and-all-your-troubles-will-vanish) lie, the believer is ushered into a dangerous mindset that will more than likely cause a backslidden condition when Satan's minions get the crosshairs on him.

Now, I believe in the joy of the Lord, and I am all about letting new believers enjoy the new, exciting life in Christ they've discovered. It's wonderful! Awesome! And like all new believers who haven't been informed, they hope it will last forever! But one day, inevitably, trouble will come knocking at the door. The fiery darts will begin sailing. Jesus promised attacks (in this world you will have trouble) and when they happen, even the strongest, most seasoned saints hit the shelters.

I wrote this not to give instruction in time of war, but how to identify the trademarks of a languishing, besieged spirit. I will be brutally honest with this, in the hopes of giving comfort to other Soldiers of Christ and to assert that you're not alone! Finally, if you can identify with any of these traits, understand and take courage that you've been honored by being deemed worthy to suffer a Satanic attack. Suffice it to be said that the healing Balm of Gilead for these battle scars is found only in the Word of God.

[b]A Loss of Appetite for Prayer and Bible Study[/b]

This is the first area to buckle under Satan's artillery. Satan is no fool. He knows that if he can take out logistics and cut off the food and water supply, the soldier will be left powerless. Like a ruthless commander, he bombs the power plants and burns the oil refineries, trying to cut off all outside communication to God. Thus, a true Satanic attack is a siege in the most literal sense! When this happens, the soldier needs to strap on the armor and get down low; a terrible storm is brewing on the horizon.

[b]A Growing Interest in Secular Entertainment[/b]

Against your own judgment, you seem to find yourself growingly amused by worldly television shows and other forms of entertainment (which you used to hate). Your mind is so restless; it wants to do anything and everything but read the Bible and pray. Secular music, clothes, money, career and fashion statements all begin pulling at your heart. You're looking back at Egypt, and Egypt is looking so good, so relaxing, so sensual and easy to buy into. This is all meticulously contrived by the destroyer of souls. After he closes out your communications with God, he surrounds the walls of your mind and flashes his gold, wine, women and song, hoping to draw you out. Beware! Those who venture beyond God's protective walls of obedience are immediately apprehended, stripped and shackled to sin.

[b]Psychological Torments Begin[/b]

I know firsthand how lethal these blows can be. Normally, this is the breaking point. This is where the rubber-meets-the-road of the Christian walk. This is where the false converts are flushed out, and where the fence-straddlers fall off on the wrong side. Here Satan attacks the very core, the very essence of your beliefs. This is where you begin to question your relationship with God, question the inerrancy of the Bible, question your salvation, question absolute truth, question your church, your pastor, eternity, heaven and hell. Humanistic philosophies start making sense. These thoughts seem to come from the very essence of who you are, birthed in your own psyche - which is why they are so dangerously deceptive. You feel yourself sinking down into a bog of darkness and lies. While your own spirituality is being compromised, your mind begins a new and treacherous voyage of lustful desires and violent impulses. You are shocked, repulsed at what you are still capable of doing - and enjoying - even after all these years as a faithful Christian! You feel paralyzed in terms of getting the controls back. And the fact that you've stopped praying and meditating on scripture only compounds the guilt you're feeling.

[b]A Silent Witness[/b]

Mission accomplished. You no longer witness because you no longer care. Satan has achieved his goal - to take the fight out of you - and now he just continues with the shelling at a daily tempo. As long as you're not praying, as long as you're not feasting on the Word, as long as you're not sharing your faith, you are no longer a threat to hell. Understand that this sad state pretty much defines 98% of the Christian church today in North America. As far as military campaigns go, Satan has scored an immense victory. About 150,000 people fall into the jaws of hell daily while God's AWOL soldiers are cheering at the Super Bowl, watching idiot television shows and happily pursuing the American dream. And the brutal truth is that you have become another statistic. What happened? Oh, it's so depressing, so disheartening. Will God ever revive the fire you once had? He must - for if he doesn't, you know you'll never regain lost ground and die in a lukewarm condition!

There are, of course, many more scars than these. You may have many of your own unique ones. You are not alone! Though these atrocious onslaughts have weakened you, comfort is wrought by knowing the enemy is still outside the walls. And you know from experience that Divine Help will come if you hold on. In a moment - in the twinkling of an eye - when God has determined your trial has gone on enough, Jesus will step onto the battlefield with rescue and relief. Oh, watch the cowardly enemy take flight when he is confronted with Absolute Deity! Hear the sweet voice of your King call from the battlefield: "Come! Step out, my faithful one! Like faithful Joseph, you never gave in. You endured your hardships like a good soldier and your allegiance to your God stands fast! Enter now into times of refreshing!"

Thank you, brother Paul, for sharing these powerful and true words.

And thank [i]you[/i], dear sister, for your most gracious comments. Thank you also for your comments on the JS Bach poetry thread. Which reminds me, I'm taking my wife to see Handel's [i]Messiah[/i] on tuesday. She is very excited! That Hallelujah chorus is just so awesome.

Brother Paul

I thank you for posting this. I have had first hand experience with one of these attacks, I sent you a personal message about it.

Whenever I meet a new believer, I am always quick to warn him or her of the battles that lay ahead...A Loss of Appetite for Prayer and Bible Study. Satan is no fool. He knows that if he can take out logistics and cut off the food and water supply, the soldier will be left powerless.

Acts 16:14,15 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.

In these modern times, the word 'believe' doesn't mean too much anymore...in Acts, true converts attended to God's word. I am humbled by the care and action portrayed in that single word.

Also humbling was how she didn't trust her own self-evaluation regarding the state of her faith and soul before God, but instead wanted the word of God, through Paul, to judge her. In fact she insisted, perhaps actually begged Paul to come into my house and abide there.

Do we evaluate ourselves based on our own feelings, or do we plead to be searched and tested by the scriptures? Do we insist that the word of God be made welcome to come and abide in our homes?

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Thank you much PaulWest for reminding new, and older converts of these crucial things,

MC

Acts 16:14,15 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.

In these modern times, the word 'believe' doesn't mean too much anymore...in Acts, true converts attended to God's word. I am humbled by the care and action portrayed in that single word.

Also humbling was how she didn't trust her own self-evaluation regarding the state of her faith and soul before God, but instead wanted the word of God, through Paul, to judge her. In fact she insisted, perhaps actually begged Paul to come into my house and abide there.

Do we evaluate ourselves based on our own feelings, or do we plead to be searched and tested by the scriptures? Do we insist that the word of God be made welcome to come and abide in our homes?

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Thank you much PaulWest for reminding new, and older converts of these crucial things,

very encouraged by this, Mike C.

I reckon our Lord is bringing all of our attention to His Word , really "feeling" very blessed today, sigh..God is just all too loving to us, undeservedly so, thank you too Greg and Mike B. Where will we all be without His Word..

As always, brother Paul, keep ministering to us this way..praise God!

It is amazing that since I posted this "Battle Scar" message, I have been practically inundated with personal messages from different brothers and sisters. Obviously, this topic is of great concern to the body of Christ! How blessed we are to communicate and share truth. We need to talk more about war. None of us are alone in our battles, though the field is smoking with carnage and our flags of holiness are bullet-ridden and bloody.

Saints, if we live holy for Jesus, we will be persecuted - and the form of persecution isn't always in the physical. Surely, the bloodiest persecution is in the spiritual. Spirits of wickedness in high places, forces from hell waging a very real and treacherous war in your mind. Sometimes this fight can get lonely. Part of the enemy's battle plan is to convince you that this war is unique to your walk. That other stronger saints have gone on and vanquished the foe and now live in peace as the world defines peace. This is another lie, a battle tactic, psychological warfare at its finest. There is absolutely [i]no[/i] finality to this war. It just gets bloodier and bloodier, and the more you advance the bigger the guns get against you.

But the enemy's campaign is futile if we continually look to Jesus and soak ourselves in the Word of God each morning. This is where we get the firepower to beat back the horde and continue in holiness.

THanks so much Paul for reminding.
I needed to read this.
God Bless
Nell

Hi everyone.

Brother Paul, you brought this out

Obviously, this topic is of great concern to the body of Christ! How blessed we are to communicate and share truth. We need to talk more about war. None of us are alone in our battles, though the field is smoking with carnage and our flags of holiness are bullet-ridden and bloody.

I think you're right brother. I have felt the desire to talk more about our warfare also. At the same time I feel there is a potential danger in entertaining a sense of [b]curiosity[/b] when it comes to these things, which I want to avoid, you know what I mean?

It so happens that tonight I was walking down Walnut street and I encountered a man that I believed was demon possessed.

I'm pursuaded that what brother Paul said is true, the field of battle is smoking.

[b][color=000000]The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.[/color][/b]

For who is God,
save the Lord?
and who is a rock,
save our God?
God is my strength
and power:
and he maketh
my way perfect.
He maketh my feet
like hinds' feet:
and setteth me
upon my high places.
[b]He teacheth my hands to war[/b];
so that a bow of steel
is broken by mine arms.

good word. thanks paul, for always encouraging this body on s.i.

i can tell that you really have a genuine love for His people.

Have been dropping bit's and pieces of recent days and can concur wholeheartedly with all of this. Another thread speaks perhaps of the casualty aspect as much as the possibilities ... those that are not necessarily of a satanic attack

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=13582&forum=48#104546]What I saw[/url]

But perhaps this is where the mind as Paul mentioned is so great a battlefield ... Have found so much of the natural mind to have it's own great problems that it can be sometimes impossible to wrestle out where the spiritual minions are at work, is it a deriving and bringing back to mind, imagines and the sights and sounds, tastes of Egypt as was mentioned? Or the natural evil bent still resident in the old\\dead man ... Hope not to get off on all the theological underpinnings of that.

Fatigue. This is an area that I have recognized as fertile ground for attacks, times I may dose off here in the study and upon awakening... It is uncanny the audacity and force of some notion, some temptation upon opening the eye's, thoughts never even entertained, unrelated to a particular dream... By contrast do not recall many that came when the Lord was strong in Spirit...

There is a couple of verses I have been musing on due to recent failures and combined attacks, towards the just mentioned strength;

1Jo 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.

Will come back to this in a moment, the other;

Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

Strange as it may sound having read this countless times, the word "empty" came to mind as predominant, as if I never recognized it was there.

Realizing generalities are just that, general and very much opposed to all sort's of fixed Christian ideas that seem to be much more in a state of flux in reality ... Paul stated it acutely, the battle is unending and more intense, surprising as I have even found out recently... But Job was assaulted unbeknownest to himself the reasons behind it and have found that there is no rhyme or reason ... to finally get to the point here...

My wonder is in the word "Kept". Being kept by the Lord, being filled with the Holy Spirit seems to answer the result of 1 John; the [i]wicked one toucheth him not.[/i]. It is both our keeping and His keeping us, our discipline and prayer ... Brother, to insert here, your admonition about this cannot be overemphasized, to my amazement my praying did slip even while I was cognizant of it.

Between this keeping and that word 'empty' ... Would hate to read the wrong thing into all this and go beyond what the Lord was comparing it to by the concluding statement; [i]Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.[/i]

Just wondering at it all.

Have found so much of the natural mind to have it's own great problems that it can be sometimes impossible to wrestle out where the spiritual minions are at work, is it a deriving and bringing back to mind, imagines and the sights and sounds, tastes of Egypt as was mentioned? Or the natural evil bent still resident in the old\\dead man ... Hope not to get off on all the theological underpinnings of that.

Brother,

I think it is interesting to note that while our natural mind certainly has its propensity for restlessness and dwelling on vanities, there comes a time where something else takes over and alien thoughts and desires flood in so strongly that [i]it feels as though something is literally speaking them into your head.[/i] Now, this doesn't happen too often - and praise God for that - but when it does, there is no mistaking.

I remember, clearly, last year, when something like this happened one night. I couldn't get to sleep. Kept tossing and turning, tossing and turning. Suddenly (and I say "suddenly" because it literally happened in such a way), horrific thoughts beseiged my mind. I will not even attempt to allude their description here. I began to panic - so intense, so horrible, so vivid they were. I felt totally helpless, almost paralyzed, and I couldn't stop my brain. All I could think of was "[i]Sin! Sin! Sin![/i]" I cried out to God to make them stop, the images, the voice, the injections of thought. They were coming in waves, like one after another crashing against the sand on a beach.

Mike, a thing like this is what I'm referring to in this thread. An attack. They literally incapacitate you. And the worst kinds are the ones that flood in and challenge the central core of your beliefs. Those are the spookiest, because [b]what do you do?[/b] Here is something that transcends mortal temptation, in my book. It's one thing to entice a man sexually - it's another to strike directly at the heels of his faith. Where do you turn if atheistic bullets are being shot at God himself from inside your own mind? No, brother. When these flash storms begin, they go beyond mere flesh and bone. They are malicious imports, and a scholarly knowledge of Greek and Hebrew can't do anything to help you. All the sermons you've preached and read are instantly forgotten. The only thing you can do is cling on for dear life with a child-like faith in what the word says about Jesus.

See, much of what we suffer daily, I believe, is the product of our own flesh, and the inclinations of our carnal minds are able to pull us down only so deep, but let it be known that wicked sharks dwell in the waters of eternity's realm, and may at any moment, should God sanction an attack/test, invade the shallow lagoon of our temporal thoughts and initiate a bloody feeding frenzy.

[i]"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat..."[/i] (Luke 22:31)

Brother Paul

the battle is unending

How true. :-o We might imagine that only the lost aren't keeping their eyes on Jesus...but how many times after some 'victory' we will look away to our "accomplishment" and instantly find ourselves pursued again!

The human heart is ever looking for a finishline and resting place here on Earth. This is our undoing saints! This thread is showing me how important it is for each one of us to help the other remember Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary... and to not become comfortable in this place...but instead desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.

I love this mighty warcry from Spurgeon...

"For here we have no continuing city" (Heb.13:14) is a truth that we know, yet most of us try to make the earth as comfortable for ourselves as if it were to be our abiding residence. Too many believers act as if they could be the friends of the world and the friends of God at the same time. Settle the matter once for all that you are a soldier.

Did you dream that when you came to faith in Christ, the conflict would be over? Ah, it was only the beginning. Like Caesar, you crossed the Rubicon and declared war against your deadly enemy.

You drew your sword, and you did not sheath it.

Your proper note on joining the church is not one of congratulations that the victory is won, but one of preparation, for now the trumpet sounds and the fight begins.

You are a soldier at all times.

Somehow we are not spared this war yet we are also not alone in it.
Hear my voice, O God,..Preserve my life from dread of the enemy...God will shoot at them with an arrow;...

Blessings saints,

Grace be with you all!

MC

Thankyou for the post brother Paul. A few seconds before sending my last comment which took a few minutes to prepare suddenly disappeared...Had to go for a Tim Horton's donought break before again starting with a few questions and comments.
Oh the suggestions of the tempter :-o Indeed how the Word of God is so important to combat the devil as our Lord did Satan in the wilderness. David said, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." - Psalm 119:11
A quote from Jessie Penn Lewis: "There are religious demons, not holy, but nevertheless religious, and filled with a devilish form of religion which is the counterfeit of true, deep spirituality. These pseudo-religious demons very rarely attack young beginners, but they hover around persons who advance into deeper experiences, and seek every oppurtunity to fasten themselves upon the conscience or the spiritual emotions of persons of high states of grace, especially if they are of a vivid or energetic temperament. These are the demons that play havoc among many professors of holiness. One way they get hold of persons is as follows: A soul goes through a great struggle, and is wonderfully blessed. Floods of light and emotion sweep through the being. The shore lines are all cut. The soul is launched into a sea of of extravagant experience. At such a juncture these demons hover round the soul and make strange suggestions to the mind of something odd, or outlandish, or contrary to common sense or decent taste. They make these suggestions under the profession of being the Holy Ghost. They fan the emotions and produce a strange, fictitious exhilaration, which is simply their bait to get into some faculty of the soul...
(6)Some Examples of How Demons Take Hold of Apparently Spirit-filled Christians
A very holy and useful woman says that soon after receiving the baptism of the Spirit there came to her one night in the church a wild, abnormal impulse to throw the hymnbook at the preacher and run all over the church screaming and it took all her will power to keep her hand from throwing that book. But she had common sense to know that the Holy Spirit was not the author of such a suggestion. If she had yielded to that sudden feeling it would have likely given that fanatical demon admission to her emotional nature and ruined her life-work. She is a person who knows the mighty demonstrations of the Holy Spirit and understands God's sufficiently to know He is not the source of wild and indecent conduct...
Another person said he felt like rolling on the floor and groaning and pulling the chairs around, but he distinctly perceived that the impulse to do so had something wild in it and a touch of self-display contrary to the gentleness and sweetness of Jesus; and, as quick as he saw it was an attack of a false spirit, he was delivered. But another man had the same impulse, and fell down groaning and roaring, beating the floor with his hands and feet, and the demon entered into him as the angel of light and got him to think that his conduct was of the Holy Ghost; and it became a regular habit in the meetings he attended, until he would ruin every religious meeting he was in..." -
[url=http://www.acts1711.com/diagram.html]War On The Saints[/url]
Indeed brother Paul we can be seduced, trapped and deceived by Satan...but praise God for many things like His armour, His Word, and the blessed Holy Spirit that guides His children into all truth.
Any comments on the above quote by sister Jessie brother? I also believe many must understand that they're not going "nuts", but that they do have a war to fight for the sake of their own souls and the souls of others. As we walk through the valley of death, the Lord is with His children.
Very interested to see where this blessed thread could lead...to the glory of God I pray :-D

richie

So much here brothers. I pray that God will watch over us and direct us in His perfect ways and be the guardian of our souls.

Brother Paul, I remember when you had first shared about the attacks you went through after praying and seeking for God to use you and how much I recognised in them my own experiences too!

About these mental assults...

I shared before how just as you, these things began after I had set out in [b]earnest[/b] to share the Gospel in my neighborhood and elsewhere.

Before I relate some things in specific I remember how once I recieved a 'memo from hell' as Ray Comfort calls them. I was leaving the house to walk the streets and share the Gospel and a man who lived in the neighborhood, who had a particularly dark and seemingly disturbed personality, walked by, and seing the Bible in my hand began talking to me. He began to say things like 'people don't want to hear that anymore' and other such things to which I replied in faith that God's word will not return void. Some may think nothing of that, but these sorts of words can have a wholly unatural effect when they are, as I believe, energised by the demonic.

Now back to those assults of the mind. I can say that I wholly agree with you brother Paul, how there is an altogether [i]other worldy nature[/i] to these assults; they are other worldly in their force, in their nature, in the [b]pressure[/b] they exert upon the soul. It can be... heavy, intense! Once when these things were at a particular height and being pressed upon me with high intensity a dear brother came by my house completely unexpected and greatly enouraged me.

I had not been able to muster the strength to go to Church and even going, at this point, may not have helped(it would take too long to explain). But this faithfull brother, who I had much confidence in, that he was a true brother and servant of God, he came by my house, which he was not used to doing either, and as we talked he related how God had impressed upon him in prayer at the altar(he went to a different fellowship) that 'the loins of my mind were getting weak', and that he was to pray for me. Now brothers, that is probably the most spot on and accurate description of what was happeneing to me at that very hour and he had no way of knowing it!

I thank God for His providential care of me at this crucial hour!

Since moving here I think I have encountered a differnt form of assult and it seems like literally [b]wrestling[/b] aginst something in the heavenlies? I even had a dream about that very thing one night. Through all this I think I am finding that it's one thing to know about the armor and weapons we have but it's quite another thing to know how to use them, you know what I mean?

Remember what David had said when he was going out to battle Goliath, concerning Saul's armor?

[b][color=000000] And David girded his sword over his armor, and he tried in vain to go, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these; for I am not used to them." And David put them off[/color][/b](1Samuel 17:1 RSV)

A couple more things quickly...

Brother Mike, I think it is definitely posible that the things you mentioned about the other thread can be related to all of this. I pray God you will be strengthened and that all of these things God will use to continue to perfect that which concerns you and His work in you.

Would like to share part of a prayer from the 35th psalm that I had taken hold of during this time of struggle. A brother had given it to me on a plaque that he had gotten on a trip, it reads..

Plead my cause, O Lord,
with them that strive with me:
fight against them
that fight against me.
Take hold of shield and buckler,
and stand up for mine help.
Draw out also the spear,
and stop the way
against them that persecute me:
say unto my soul,
I am thy salvation.

[b]say unto my soul,

I am thy salvation.[/b]

By the way, I think it was brother Ritchie that mentioned Jessie Penn Lewis? Look at whose picture came up in the random photo when I went to log in for this post

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=346]Jessie Penn-Lewis 1[/url]

Thank you so much for sharing Brother Paul,

I'm reminded of Hebrews 12:1. Brother Tyndale instead of the word "entangles" that's used in the NIV or "so easily beset" as used in the KJV he used "hangeth on." Let us not come into agreement with these familiar spirits. The battle for our souls is very real and Satan is after our faith.

1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Brethren,

The reason, I believe, we don't hear much about these types of assaults from the pulpit is twofold:

1. Many Christians do not have the type of[i] intimacy[/i] with God that would trigger an attack of such, and:

2. When speaking of the spiritual nature of such heinous attacks, the fear of bordering on the metaphysical is always present. It's risky to speak such things from the pulpit, especially during this age of "God is love and nothing else" with the idea that he will never allow a faithful child to suffer at the hands of the enemy. Lies from the pulpit!

Well, the truth needs to be spoken in love, and not shyed away from. There is a spiritual war going on, a very real and bloody war, and most people think that it merely involves crucifying the flesh and supressing the sinful urges that were entertained before one's conversion.

I don't want to get into writing a detailed recourse on all the different tacics, for this has already been done in its exhaustive entirety, I feel, in William Gurnall's "The Christian in Complete Armour." Any saint reading this thread who doesn't already own a copy, needs to get one. This the only book, outside of scripture, I deem worthy enough to consider [i]imperative[/i] to the saint's library.

The greater the intimacy with God, the more horrific the assaults. God may give you a period of peace and tranquility to study and mediate and fellowship and preach, but seasons do change. Autumn turns to winter overnight. You look out your window one morning and see snow on the ground. Such the same, I have found, when war is issued and the advancements commence. Fighting off these advancements in the flesh is futile. If you're not already established in a solid intimacy and in good, right fellowship with God, the shellshock will utterly hammer you. I think it's very disheartening that this stuff isn't adressed from the pulpits. People are usually left in the dark, lonely and suffering, and with lots of questions during these times. They weren't prepared for surprise attacks, they weren't told what to expect. All they did was go after God with all their heart (which precludes such attacks), and suddenly they feel abandoned and staggered, writhing in mental agony as Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar gather around and say, "Just keep praying! Pray harder!"

"Well," you say, "I [i]can't[/i] pray! The heavens are like brass. I'm dying here, and you have no clue what I'm going through!"

I'd think my Army platoon leader were my enemy, if he told me to go after a certain hill of gold but not warn of the machine-gun nest at the top. Such, I feel, are pastors and evangelists that say, "Go after God! Pray and fast! All his treasures are yours!" but not warn of all the debilitating ambushes along the way. Many a warrior for Christ was been stopped in his tracks and taken down for lack of knowledge. And many have been wounded by friendly fire. This especially happpens to repentance-preaching evangelists who cross the DMZ of Christian political correctness and are promptly shot down by their own well-meaning comrades. In truth, the enemy will move through ones closest to you, the ones you confide and trust in, and will often use them to emasculate your strength through rejection and doubt.

Oh, it's a bloody, bloody battleground with carnage strewn all about. Flesh alone can't cause this; but flesh manipulated by spiritual evil can and will. Like I said, I am always apt to warn youth of these things - especially when I sense a kid with a real heart for God. I'll warn him with tears, because I know the pain of battle. But I'll also exhort him in triumph, because I know the thrill of overcoming!

As do many of you!

Brother Paul

Any quotes/advice from some of the saints now passed on that could be posted here concerning these attacks by the devil and his workers? This would be so to shed a greater light on this subject...that it would bless others that come here that may need insight and encouragement in their own battles with the enemy....also some Scripture verses, etc...

richie
PS...my copy of Gurnall's book cost around $70. Canadian...which maybe alittle too pricey for some if they go through a Christian bookstore...or, try: Sovereign Grace Publishers; PO Box 4998; Lafayette, Indiana; 47903. Here it is in a volume-series: offered as volume #2 of the 12 volume set entitled "The Fifty Greatest Christian Classics"...at the time of the last printing, $19.95 US+ tax & shipping :-)

Any quotes/advice from some of the saints now passed on that could be posted here concerning these attacks by the devil and his workers?

Here's a good one from a brother who, like the apostle Paul, was no stranger to Lucifer:

"The most trying time is the most helpful time. Most preachers say something about Daniel, and about the Hebrew children, and especially about Moses when he was in a tried corner. Beloved, if you read the Scriptures you will never find anything about the easy times. And if you are really reconstructed, it will be during a hard time. It won't be during a singing meeting, but during a time when you think all things are dried up and there is no hope for you. This is the time God when makes the man. When tried by fire, when God purges you, takes the dross away, and brings forth the pure gold. Only melted gold is minted. Only moistened clay receives the mold. Only softened wax receives the seal. And only broken, contrite hearts receive the mark as the Potter turns us on His wheel - shaped and burnt to keep the heavenly mold, the stamp of God's pure gold. We must have the stamp of our blessed Lord who was marred more than any man."

- Smith Wigglesworth

Compton:I love this mighty warcry from Spurgeon...

MC, I'm very grateful for introducing me into this great series of sermons by Spurgeon about spiritual warfare. Highly recommendation, very useful and powerful.
Here you can find them - [url=http://members.cox.net/spw1942/spiritual_warfare.html]Sermon Series by Spurgeon on Spiritual Warfare[/url]