Spiritual Conquest

I used to wonder why in Bible times every victory over a rival kingdom ended with taking away the gods they worshipped.

Was it because they wanted to stop the vanquished nation to forget the gods they worshipped? Was it that they wanted to get the silver and gold from the idols? Was it only to make it abundantly clear that they were now the undisputed rulers in the realm?

Why is it that God demanded that all the idols Israel captured were to be destroyed? Was it that God was scared of their influence in His people’s presence?

I dare say that the capture of the gods of a competing nation was an affront to the gods themselves. The conquering nation was simply shaking its fists at the vanquished god. It was a war of the gods, with the human instruments being the ones to carry out the battle.

And that is where the God of Israel was different. He could not be carried about as the rest. His rules were so clear that it took folly and complete presumption to fit Him in that bill. No wonder the sons of Eli failed when they brought His ark to tilt the tide against the Philistines. No wonder Uzzah died for trying to prevent the cattle carrying the ark from dropping it. Even king Uzziah contracted instant leprosy for going beyond limits. Even His presence has conditions. The other gods are demonic creations of the nations that worship them thus have a similarity to the people who worship them. They are also in a way subject to their worshippers.

That explains the reason why to the other nations the capture of gods represented complete conquest. This is because even the gods could not stand in their way.

Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand? (2 Kings 18:33 – 35)

We can clearly see that the Assyrians knew and confessed that their main battles were not against people but against their gods. This was because the gods were the guardians of their people. They represented the security of the nations. The security of the nations therefore was a representation of the pride of their gods.

Ever noticed that God’s dealings with nations were many times confrontations with the nations’ gods?

For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. (Exodus 12:12)

The ten plagues were confrontations with the gods Egypt worshipped.

 We are therefore not just talking about things that are the preserve of the gods of the nations. Any god worth his salt must seek to expand his influence and that is why one clear indicator of that influence is the capture of opposing gods.

We must however distinguish between all these gods and the one true God. The creator God is not under any threat and therefore is not threatened by the presence of all these gods as He rules over all that He made, including these gods. He therefore does not panic because these gods have any influence. He is concerned because they have a sway over men that He created to be reigning over them. He feels something like we feel when we see someone worshipping a technological marvel because he doesn’t understand how it works.

The devil is supposed to be under our feet at all times. It therefore pains God when we submit to him, whichever ruse we use. Be it witchcraft or materialism. Be it Pharmacia or IT. Be it family or a job. Nothing should occupy a position above us. None of them is big enough to bow down under. Ever wondered that even archangels refused any sort of worship yet they have higher spiritual authority than Satan? Remember Jesus saying that man was the reason the Sabbath was created and not vice versa.

Only God deserves our worship. And this is where these idols come in.

The devil craves that worship. In fact that was the reason he fell.

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isaiah 14:13 - 15)

I will also mention that the same craving for worship is the reason man fell after agreeing with the devil and falling for a lust for godhood.

For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:5)

It is therefore not only the devil who craves worship. He was able to infect man with it. It is only that to man it is not as straightforward. Many times it is veiled and has many fronts. The primary one especially for this generation is independence and control. We see the same even at the tower of Babel and many other places in the Bible.

Since the devil craves what is not legitimately his, he must necessarily work very hard to even get a sniff of it. I will compare him with a thief who will slit your throat to get a few coins or notes from your pockets, destroying a priceless thing to gain a pittance. No wonder he is called a thief, killer and destroyer. He will stop at nothing to get a person to bow to him, be it intentional or not. He will even use deception to get it and no wonder he is called a liar and the father of lies.

What the devil succeeds in capturing gods of vanquished people is raising the fervor of the conquered to new heights as they will believe that it was their worship that was wanting. At the same time he does the same with the victors so that they can maintain their winning ways. You see both of them worship him but they do not know it as the devil will not let them into the secret as the knowledge of the same would eliminate the animosity which would be a liability to the destroyer.

Remember Baal and Ashtoreth worshippers in the confrontation on Mt Carmel (1 Kings 18)? Their increased fervor meant destroying their own bodies to make him ‘hear’. What they didn’t know is that there is no contest between their god and God.

One very interesting thing history teaches us is that there is really nothing new in the world. What we are seeing is actually something that was being done long ago, only that we are using other words to explain the same thing.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us. (Ecclesiastes 1: 9, 10)

Do we have the acts of those ancient conquests being repeated today?

Last century we had a great conflict between two gods. Of course they were not so open because we are ‘advanced’. We had two opposing economic systems, one openly anti God and the other cleverly camouflaged as Christian. Yet both were as demonic as can be.

Communism was atheistic and was therefore against God and all that God represented. They therefore sought to rid the nations they ruled of His worship and if possible His awareness. The result was the opposite of what the devil had planned because he probably forgot to learn from history. I suspect he did not have any other option. Persecution is the great motivator of quality Christian living. As a result of the persecution the church grew in leaps and bounds in those territories. I suspect that it was the devil himself who pulled the plug on communism as all his gains and intents were being reversed before his eyes.

But he had another system, capitalism. This was apparently ‘Christian’ and ‘espoused’ Christian values. That was the lie the devil used to promote it. Well, what communism could not do to kill the church capitalism was able to do by infiltrating the church and taking whatever position they wanted. Capitalism for those who do not know it is the worship of mammon.

Not very long ago the Lord impressed on me to research on Protestant work ethic and I was shocked that it is neither protestant nor even Christian. It is a demonic system that promotes the worship of devil through raising our craving for materialism.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union which was the lead agent of communism their god was floored. What happened is what happened in ancient times. Nations switched allegiance from one god to the other or simply from communism to capitalism.

Capitalism, being ‘friendly and accommodating’ to the church, thrived with the full support of the church. But after successful taking over key positions in the leadership of the church and ‘Christian’ nations, they started executing their agenda against the God of the Bible. They gradually started throwing out by legislation or the courts one Biblical value or the other to the extent that the church and the Bible are a short distance from being proscribed. In fact it may be more difficult to practice your faith in those citadels of capitalism than in openly antichristian nations.

Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is "finding his place in it", while really it is finding its place in him. (The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis)

The devil, being who we know he is, has no capacity to sustain. The capitalist empire is now dying, partly because it has now shed off the hypocrisy of being a Christian system. I was shocked that there are over 15 nations in the west who have legalized gay marriage, the latest probably being the USA, the leader of the capitalist west, the high priest of that demonic system. We also know that it is now legal to kill a baby who has come to full term (partial birth abortion) and many other abominations.

We also know that the devil is in the business of using and dumping and therefore has no interest at all in promoting the west. He has successfully taken them to the threshold of judgment. It is therefore a matter of time before he raises another god to take over where capitalism has left. And this before we are able to understand his workings. You see nations were defecting from one aspect of mammon worship to another thinking it was simply economics.

Very soon another power will rise. I believe the cards are already drawn. It may be China with her myriad of gods or the Muslim world with its militant antichristian agenda. It may be a resurgent Russia or even Africa. The whole idea is to confuse us to think economics instead of worship because it is in such confusion that the enemy thrives. Whoever he chooses is of no consequence provided he will provide fodder to his flame.

But I think we do not need all those high ideas to live our Christian lives. What we need is the information that will make us effective and relevant to our generation.

The devil is a master of sabotage. Since creation all he has been trying to do is sabotage God’s creation. In fact Satan’s meaning is adversary meaning that is more or less the job description he gave himself when he was thrown from heaven. He therefore works to hit at the most vulnerable position, a place where he can get the greatest impact.

One place I want us to focus on is the family and especially the marriage. He has never at any one time liked that institution because it is from it that any battle he has lost started. But it is also true that any success he has ever had was gotten there.

Adam was very clear about what God had told him. But the devil does not approach him. He simply muddies the emotions of the wife because he knew that marriage brings people together. It was a matter of time before Adam also sinned.

Abraham was clear about his call and especially the promise. It was Sarah who was infiltrated to bring a compromise to try to dilute the promise.

David knew God. Probably Merab was God’s choice for him as it was the promise he was given. But Satan intervened by bringing about some political play. As a result the wife she was given, however much he loved her, became a problem all his life.

You can see Ahab at one time almost shocking God with his repentance. It was Jezebel who was his death.

Time after time you are able to see a man with a clear vision of God being led astray by a woman that was attached to him. That is infiltration. The enemy looks for the weakest point to attack. However he does not meet you directly but uses sabotage to derail your purpose. It is similar to going behind the lines and disabling the equipment so that the opponent is unable to fight your army. And no wonder that saboteurs and traitors are so feared and hated! They tilt the battle in the enemy’s favor yet all appearances show them as friends of your cause.

The marriage institution is under threat from all fronts. Even forgetting homosexuality, whose main purpose for the devil is to bring unblinking judgment from God, there are enough attacks on the marriage institution. Why is the devil so focused on this single institution? It is the initial plank in building of any society.

And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. (Malachi 2:15)

Messing the institution therefore serves the devil well enough.

Though I may go on and on about the marriage institution, I think the message God has put in my heart is more on establishing our connection with what God intends for us to be. That is what the devil is up against and will not relent until the final battle is concluded.

I want us to look at the whole purpose of this great assault on this divine institution which is really not just against the institution. The main purpose is aborting God’s purpose for the nations. This the devil will do by making the individuals in it to lose their focus. As long as each person in the union does not know themselves well in that respect it will be impossible to accomplish what God has purposed for the union.

The man is the head in that union. By this it means he is the one in charge of the vision and direction for it. If the man lacks that vision, however well he is equipped in worldly terms, the result is chaos. He might have all the money, all the connections, all the investments. But unless he has the divine vision the result is chaos. He might appear as successful as success itself but is an absolute failure if he does not connect with what God has wired him for.

The man’s headship is primarily spiritual. His headship therefore presupposes a submission of the King of kings. Lack of that connection means that not only does he not submit to the Headship but also that he does not even understand it. That is why such a man will be completely materialistic whatever direction he takes. And that is the reason there are pastors and other ministers who equate ministry with material acquisitions. They might think they are spiritual but it is sad that they do not realize that their spirituality does not go deeper than the stomach. A man like that can never lead his wife and family in God’s direction.

But that man does not really disturb the devil as he represents abortion of God’s purpose. The reason the devil might appear to fight him is so that he is deceived into believing that he is on God’s side and not see reality as God sees it. Instead of infiltrating with the purpose of sabotage, the devil will simply hook him with a soul mate, a Jezebel of sorts who is as materialistic as he is or even more.

The man who knows who he is in God is the problem. He does not negotiate his position as he knows he is ultimately responsible for any false moves his family might take. That is the man the devil targets with all the weapons in his arsenal. That is the man he will never stop infiltrating to at least find a gap in his armour. And this is the man I am writing to. And also the woman married to this man as many times she will be the primary agent the devil will use to derail God’s purpose in the family institution due to her constitution.

Yet I am also writing to the woman who has a good connection with God that she is also feeling ostracized because what the world wants her to be is diametrically opposed to her revelation of God. Maybe the single reason she is not married is because there are no men who have the spiritual stature to lead her. Do not compromise my sister. I am convinced that God has one such man for you. But like diamond he is so rare that He must lead him to you. He might be unpolished in worldly terms but your connection with God will lead you just there. Do not compromise, I repeat. Do not fall for the reasoning of the world. If a man is not spiritual enough for you to willingly submit to his leadership he certainly is not the right man for you, however romantic he might be treating you. If his prayer life does not challenge you I doubt he is the right man. If you are the one who teaches him the Bible you can be sure you are hunting for a husband in the flesh. Let spiritual connectedness be what will lead that man to you and nothing else.

One thing the devil does is connect spiritual misfits. This is different from complementally partnerships. This is what happened to David, and Solomon, and Ahab etc. But even with a good marriage connection he does not give up as we see in Adam, and Abraham, and Jacob. He will use the constitution of the woman to place great obstacles in the way of the man.

What does the man do? Simply what Jesus advised? Look at the priorities. Look at the options. Look at the consequences. You are the one ultimately accountable.

And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. (Matthew 19:29)

Knowing the stakes will make you able to make the right choices. When you realize that except for Jezebel no woman was judged for leading a man astray you will take your spiritual responsibility more seriously.

Of course the devil will try to bring adultery on like he did to David and many other sins. All that will be to try as much as he could if not to abort the purposes at least to put a dent in them through our sin. Just keep connected to God. Listen to Him and you will never go astray.

Women have an uncanny ability to see unrealized potential. That is why you will see a man with an explosive spiritual gift being hooked to a woman who may leave her husband and have the man leave his wife so that together they can exploit the gift she sees in the man. There are enough examples around of men in ministry whose driving force is the woman and not God or the call. Man, however much God has gifted and talented you do not allow anything or anything drive that apart from God and His call on your life. It is not worth it.

(I have just scratched the surface on marriage because in my blog you will find a few more posts on the same. I have posted on women empowerment and emasculation of the boy child).