Satanic Strategies and Schemes over our Cities

Last Sunday when I preached I introduced my sermon with this paragraph.

“So there was a meeting….While this meeting happened around 2,000 years ago there have been many such meetings in many cities since. I don’t know if Satan himself was there. If he wasn’t some of his top demon commanders I’m sure were present. And they had brought in all of their demon underlings to make sure all of their bases had been covered. For you see their job was to insure that the strategic city of Ephesus remained in bondage and darkness and oppression. The fallout was seen everywhere much to the delight of these evil spirits as people blindly worshipped the demon inspired false god Artemis. Sadly Artemis did not speak, hear, know or do anything and therefore was absolutely unable to act on behalf of those who worshipped it. Marriages continued to crumble as greed and covetousness and unrestrained sexual passions ruled the day. Pride that leads to destruction was rampant. Fathers pursued their careers and hobbies rather than God, their wives and their children. Government leaders governed out of their deep insecurity, pride, selfish greed and ungodly ambition – growing more entitled and foolish and reckless by the day.        The god of this world, who has a very sinister and well thought through plan to keep all cities under his thumb had another notch on his wicked belt ….or so it seemed.”

I wanted to expand what this meeting might have looked or sounded like in your/my city, but knew there was not sufficient time. I’d like to do that now. The apostle Paul said of Satan, “we are not ignorant of his schemes.” II Corinthians 2:11 Nor should we be. The following is merely an attempt to help us all be more aware of the unseen battles going on for the soul of our cities.

As they were “covering their bases”, the demon commander in control of the meeting wanted to make sure all assignments were fulfilled. He began, “Who was in charge of oppressing the leaders of the church in the city?  “I was.”  Great. How did that go?”  “Well when the Holy Spirit told them to get alone and pray, we reminded them of all their unfulfilled duties, of people they hadn’t connected with for a while, of gimmicks and programs that could replace prayer and seem strategic or cutting edge. We brought books and articles to their minds that did not stress the necessity of the Holy Spirit and His power, but elevated programs and methods. We got them to procrastinate praying with their wives and children. We caused them to worry about whether their biggest donors were being pursued enough. When they started thinking about calling prayer meetings for their leadership or congregation, we got them to think of other less prayerful activities to pursue and reminded them that prayer meetings are always poorly attended.  When their numbers and finances increased we got them to take delight in that and boast in that. When their numbers and finances decreased we got them to see that as defeat and failure, and then to soothe their discouragement with alcohol and porn and entertainment. When the pastors met together for their pastor meetings we tried to get them to talk about programs and numbers and problem people – especially more well known pastors who had fallen. Tried to keep them from confessing their own sins and being vulnerable.”  “OK. Good job.”

Who was in charge of oppressing congregations?  I was sir. Great. How did that go?  Well pretty well I think. We tried to get as many people to gossip about other church members and hold on to offenses as we could. We tried to get them to be addicted to social media, and to think they deserved regular entertainment. We tried to get them to put off prayer and Bible reading, reminding them of things they hadn’t gotten done yet, people they needed to contact, etc. We tried to get them to think they were not adequate for attending prayer meetings or that they were too busy, behind on too many things….

Who was in charge of oppressing marriages?  I was sir. And were you successful?  Well on the most part yes. We sought to get them always thinking about their careers/work, and to handle their stress by vegging on sports, entertainment, porn, etc.  Tried to distract them from praying together. Tried to get them to focus on the splinters in their spouse’s eyes and not the log in their own. Tried to get them to not have quiet times at all or at best to have rushed/going through the motions times. Tried to get them to feel shame and embarrassment about getting help  from a pastor or Christian therapist so they would put it off. Tried to get husbands to be passive and not initiate prayer and sharing times with their wives. Tried to get wives/moms to focus on their children at the exclusion of their husbands.

Who was in charge of oppressing unbelievers? That was me. OK. How did it go? Well pretty good sir. We worked hard to get them obsessed with the sins of others - especially government officials, local law enforcement, etc., so they would feel good about their commitment to "justice" and not think about their own spiritual need and trajectory. We worked hard to get them addicted with social media that spews hatred and unrighteous judgment and slander. We tried to get them to ignore their addictions to pills, porn, alcohol, etc., thinking they were normal and this is just how life is. We sought to wrack their bodies with worry, anger, anxiety, depression so they would turn more and more to substances hopefully leading to early deaths. We tried to get them to focus on "hypocrites" in the church so they would stay away from the church.

Well I could go on and on with this, but I need to get to other things. Holy Spirit, please open our eyes to the reality of the spiritual warfare all around us. Please give us the mind of Christ as we seek to be agents of revival and awakening in our cities for Your glory in Jesus’s name. Amen.