Interesting sermon yesterday on Spiritual Warfare. The pastor I have had mixed feelings about, but this one was right on target. He himself has a son with schizophrenia, so he was up-front about the difference between demon possession and mental illness - two things I think a lot of people confuse.
He also managed to avoid the trap of falling into sensationalism and graphic horror stories about demon possession - I think this is hardly helpful and much too likely to impress people with the power of demons. He emphasized that most Christian teaching should focus on Jesus - in Him we have our victory - and not on demon possession and its manifestations. We should look to the light to dispell the darkness, not study the darkness!
Having issued all these badly needed caveats, he then went on to say that Christians should be aware of the spiritual warfare going on around us, and should be clad in the whole armour of God. It never really struck me before that the armour of God has so many pieces and that we need them all: the helmet of salvation, breastplate of rightousness, shod in the gospel of peace, belted in truth and with the shield of faith to quench the fiery darts of the enemy.
Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment