Ministering: Pastor Seyi Osanyinbi
From the prayers that Jesus taught the church to pray, we have come to realize that the kingdom of God is an invading force. God is desirous to have His kingdom come into the earth. The moment you agreed to follow Jesus, you were grafted into His army. You were saved for a particular purpose. In this series of unveiling the enemies of our warfare, we have identified the hierarchy of this demonic opposition (Ephesians 6:10). We have also considered the different levels at which Satan fights us; individually and as a family. We have also been considering his nefarious activities in the church for a couple of weeks now. And hopefully, we will be considering his activities at the national and global level. We need to know how the devil operates to enable us to fight him effectively.
2 Corinthians 11:12-15
From chapters 9-12 of this book, Paul was defending his apostolic calling. He birthed the Corinthian church but at a point, they doubted his apostleship. Paul identified that this problem surfaced because false teachers came into their midst. The church today also has this problem. We assume everyone that operates in the supernatural is from God. We must understand that there are angels of darkness disguised as angels of light in churches. People are sponsored by the devil and placed in the church and we must recognise them. The power of a false apostle/prophet is seen in their ability to stir people in the wrong direction.
Let us take a clue from the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13: 25-40). Do not be deceived to think that everyone that comes to church or preaching on television is of God. Some are from the devil and God permitted it. The kingdom takes cognizance that Satan will sponsor people to come and deceive people in the church. You must be able to discern those that are false. You must be careful whom you walk with.
Colossians 2:1-10
Something was blocking the church in Colosse from coming into an accurate understanding of what Paul was trying to communicate to them and Paul had great contention that their heart may be comforted and not agitated. He admonished them to get rooted because the storm will come. The problem was people using worldly philosophies to destabilise them from following Jesus (verse 8). Note this, Satan does not use just anybody. He just like God chooses his agents. He is particularly interested in gifted people. Therefore if you are gifted, be careful so that the devil does not transform you into his minister.
2 Corinthians 11:3
In the church in Corinth, Paul was afraid that Satan could have beguiled them with lies as he did with Eve because the gospel demands were simple. He will play against their naivety and so corrupt them from the way. Following God is simple and men should not complicate it. You are not less important because you do not have exceptional supernatural experiences. Even when you do, be sure it is God, and not Satan. Remember Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple. You must understand that you cannot come into the realm of the Spirit except God bid you come. If you try it, you are heading into occultism which is illegal entry into the realm of the spirits.
1 Thessalonians 3:1-5
Paul was bothered that lack of constant touch with the church could open the doors to Satan to attack the commitment of the church in Thessalonica. People tend to backslide when the godly influence around wanes or is removed. So he had to send Timothy to establish them and comfort them in the faith having been away for a long time. As a church, we must be vigilant that the wrong person does not become leaders. We cannot afford to be nice. The church in Thessalonica believed Paul had written them a letter but Paul told them not to be deceived (2Thessalonians 2: 1-3). He explained he had not written a letter to them and began to put things in order by explaining the real truths about the second coming of Christ to them. It is obvious, that we can not leave the church members unattended to for a long time otherwise, satan will expose them to wrong beliefs which can make them backslide. We must be vigilant. As a way of helping ourselves, we see (1 Timothy 6:3-5) as a text that gives a list of the attributes we need to look out for in recognizing a person not sent by God to build us up.
James 3:13-18
In the church, it is not uncommon to find people having differences among members. When you find strife and envy in operating among members, you must understand that they have lent themselves out to Satan just like the serpent gave itself out. When the devil puts these vices in your heart you are captured. The operation of this earthly wisdom which is an outflow of a demonic life is called wisdom that is from below. The works of the flesh are the manifestation of the wiles of the devil. If we pay deliberate attention, we will see that there are a lot of warnings against falsehood (1 John 4:1-6).
Jesus also gave warning to different churches in the book of Revelation. He warned each church specifically based on what problem was observed in her.
- The church in Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-10), they were dealing with Jews who were members of the synagogue of Satan. They opposed the believers to the extent that through them the devil shall cast some of them into prison, and have them killed just because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Like normal soldiers, Jesus admonished them not to be afraid of death but stay strong.
- The Church in Pergamos (Revelation 2:12 -14), was located in a city where Satan had his seat of government. His way of operation was to raise the city inhabitants against the church in such a way as to have one of them killed. Satan also planted influential people in the church who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. There was another problem in the same church. There were those who held on to the teachings of the Nicolaitans that Jesus hated. You may ask what teachings or doctrine was this? These people encouraged Christians to join in the idolatrous feasts of their neighbours, on the plea that to the spiritual man there can be no sin in the person’s soul except his body. Sin is indeed in the will, but it is known by its expression in acts. Sounds similar to the teaching of “once saved, forever saved”? So it is possible to have different groups confusing a church and the pastor need to be aware of what is going on in the church and what each leader is teaching.
- The church in Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-20), had the problem of accommodating a woman, who is spiritually known as Jezebel, who usurp authority (1 Timothy 2:12) and made herself a ministry gift probably using divination like most false prophets and was teaching error (that they could eat things that were sacrificed to idols) and was seducing God’s true servants to commit fornication. When you observe leadership putting away God’s directives and encouraging people to sin with the persuasion of it being okay, know that Satan is at work.
- The church in Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-19), was attacked by the spirit of worldliness and self-sufficiency. They felt no need for God since everything they needed was already theirs. This made them lukewarm without any spiritual hunger for anything God wanted to give His church. Their ministerial focus was prosperity and they had it.