Arise missionaries: it’s time to tell Satan who’s boss
Ashley Merck, staff writer
Picture it: the world is in distress and Lex Luthor is the man behind it all. People are feeling lost, hopeless and defeated. On the other hand, Lex Luthor is feeling powerful and invincible. Suddenly out of nowhere, Superman flies in and saves the day. He’s been fighting against evil forces all day, but that doesn’t stop him from defeating his nemesis, Lex Luthor. Everyone is relieved and grateful because Superman defeated their biggest rival.
Superman is one of the most powerful and unstoppable superheroes we see in today’s popular culture and some people even want to be like Superman. Wouldn’t it be nice to fight and conquer evil forces every day and be hailed as the hero?
For Christian missionaries, a similar situation occurs within their soul as they fight for God’s glory against the evil forces in the battle of spiritual warfare. God’s enemy, Satan, can use various forms of spiritual warfare all around the world to manipulate and deceive innocent people from knowing the truth about God’s word, but one tactic in particular that he uses is world religion. There are thousands of world religions in the world, most of which are non-Christian.
Through these different world religions, people worship various idols and make sacrifices to gods other than worshipping the only true God; this creates spiritual warfare within the soul and leaves many secular worshippers feeling hopeless. For example, Muslims believe that they have to do enough good works to earn a spot in heaven, and because of that there is no true guarantee that the Islamic worshipper will spend eternity in heaven. If a person worships anything or anyone other than Christ, he has no guarantee of getting into heaven unless he has received the free gift of salvation. Therefore, it is a missionary’s responsibility to make sure people know where their eternal destination is.
North Greenville University (NGU) sophomore, Bridget Pierce witnessed Satan’s tactic on spiritual warfare through world religion while she was on a mission trip to Turkey in the summer of 2016. Pierce worked with Islamic Muslims while she was in Turkey and she saw just how desperate these people were for the gospel.
“A military coup occurred while I was there and the locals were hopeless and feared for the future,” explained Pierce, “Islam controls the country and if it falls apart, they don’t know what will happen.” Pierce also explained that she could feel the darkness and heaviness in the community she was in and that although the people were generally happy, she knew they were spiritually dead and in need of a Savior.
NGU director of cross-cultural engagement and global leadership, Allen McWhite has been on many mission trips all around the world and has had first-hand, eyewitness experiences with how world religions play a role in spiritual warfare. He’s seen it and felt it in many cultures and religions.
For example, he experienced it in Latin American’s animistic view with its practice in witchcraft and putting their hope in a supernatural phenomena. McWhite also explained that wherever mission work is involved, it is Satan’s domain and can make one feel restrained to pray in the sanctuaries of secular religions due to the worship of idols. “Anytime we proclaim the gospel, spiritual warfare occurs,” explained McWhite, “Satan can [spiritually] blind [individuals], but only God can [restore] sight.”
When Satan is on the prowl and looking to devour people through these various world religions, how can missionaries be sure to combat against his schemes effectively?
In the New Testament, the apostle Paul writes about how to fight against evil forces in chapter six of Ephesians. Paul explains that a Christian’s battle is not against flesh and blood, but against evil forces in the heavenly realms. He also explains that Christians should put on the full armor of God in order to be prepared and equipped for these battles.
Jack Wellman, author of an article entitled, “Spiritual Attacks: Putting on the Armor of God” on www.wharchristiansneedtoknow.com explained how missionaries (as well as all believers) can effectively apply the armor of God during Satan’s spiritual attacks. While he listed all the armor and their significance, a few examples he gave were: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and the sandals of peace.
According to Wellman, the belt of truth fastens up the missionary with the only truth found in Christ and allows him not to get tripped up in worldly things.
The breastplate of righteousness comes only from a missionary’s faith in Jesus, for Christ is the only true righteous Being. With the sandals of peace, a Christian can assure his readiness and peace within his soul that only God can provide.
So what’s the good news about spiritual warfare? “Spiritual warfare is real and it’s easy to get discouraged while in the mission field,” explained Pierce, “…things never went as I expected but it was very obvious that God arranged the circumstances and situations for a purpose because gospel centered conversations happened when I least expected them…through the spiritual warfare during my mission work, God showed me that I have to be patient and learn how to pray. My only job is to be faithful to Him.”
