The Church often forgets that Muslims are not the enemy. Satan is. Listen in to hear Dr. Jerry Rankin share from his experiences in Indonesia and his study of the Word of God.

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Jerry Rankin – Spiritual Warfare: The Battle for God’s Glory

Jerry Rankin – Spiritual Warfare and Missions: The Battle for God’s Glory Among the Nations

Check out Dr. Rankin’s website… contact Dr. Rankin to get access to his full Spiritual Warfare Teaching.

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Here starts the auto-generated transcription of Islam, Missions and Spiritual Warfare with Dr. Jerry Rankin: 

 

 

If we think about what’s happening in our country with fear of Islam, fear of Muslims, fear of a global spread of Islam, and there’s a lot of fear. Is there a spiritual warfare element to all of that? Well, I I absolutely. And this is just a subtle way that we wouldn’t readily recognize is of is of Satan, but he erodes our faith. I mean, we go into that questioning and doubting whether or not the gospel is really effective to to get through to this guy and whether or not he’ll respond.

 

And we fear that he’s going to, become angry, you know, and, we’re we’re afraid of the the reaction. Well, faith is the victory believing God when God said, I will be exalted in the earth, you know, that the power of the gospel is the power into salvation. Well, we begin to kind of question and doubt and say, well, not in this situation. Well, not against a Muslim. Okay.

 

Where is that coming from? It’s not coming the reality that God’s word has given to us. Well, once again, Muslim terrorists A terrorist. People is not irrelevant. It is a warning.

 

Welcome to the truth about Muslims podcast. The official podcast of the Swimmer Center For Muslim Studies, where we help to educate you beyond the media. Here are your hosts, Howard and Trevor. Alright. We are live, and we have, doctor Jerry Rankin in the studio today.

 

Jerry, it’s good to have you back. Thanks. Great to share with you. So, doctor Rankin has written a couple books, and the topic that we’re gonna discuss today, we’re gonna be talking about spiritual warfare. 1 of the books was spiritual warfare, battle for God’s Glory and the other one, Spiritual Warfare and Missions: The Battle for God’s Glory Among the Nations.

 

So, you know, just looking at the news this week, we see the idea of spiritual warfare. We immediately think of like the state of good and evil and we see this Jordanian pilot that was burned alive by ISIS this week and, you know, this is just a good display of how evil is constantly on the forefront of our minds because we see it happening happening in the world. Well, when you throw out the, idea of spiritual warfare, you get an immediate connotation. Well, this is just the battle between good and evil in the world today. Or you you talk about a a personal devil or or literal, you know, satanic influences.

 

You know, you immediately realize that the, atrocities and the cruelty, the oppression in the world, just the immorality, and sensuality is related to satanic influence. And, we’ll speak about those external manifestations, which are certainly valid, but we are often defeated and distracted, especially in our mission, in our Christian walk, and and in our witness because we fail to realize that we’re actually engaging in a spiritual warfare against, a very real enemy that does not want god to be made known and to be worshiped and to be glorified. Okay. But before before we get into that, Jerry, I just have a question and I I hope it’s not doesn’t come off as off putting. I I was actually saved in a in a Pentecostal revival and have kind of run the full gambit of of denominations.

 

And I was a little bit surprised, honestly, that, as a Baptist that you wrote a book on spiritual warfare. How did you, get interested in this topic and is this something that’s regularly discussed in the in the Baptist denomination? Just because my my own experience, I was kinda and I’m probably misled in that. So how did you get interested in this? Well, actually, it’s it’s not discussed very much in Baptist and other, denominations in our normal church in Christianity.

 

We we think, in fact, it’s probably sold a lot of books because people think, oh, I’m go. Here’s a prominent Baptist leader that’s gonna write him on on exorcism and, you know, casting out demons. Yeah. I would’ve bought book. Yeah.

 

And, I think Howard owns that book. And, actually, I think this is a part of of Satan’s strategy because his success demands darkness, anonymity. He works in secrecy, and, actually, exposing him and bringing his strategy and tactics to light is a big part of walking in victory and defeating his influences through temptations and self centeredness and things that defeat us in our Christian walk. So the book is actually, you know, people are gonna be disappointed. We deal with the external manifestations, which is certainly real and valid, but that’s not where the real battle is, especially in our mission task of of reaching the nations.

 

Alright. So for me, it it like, if I was, recognizing that there was spiritual warfare happening all around me, what do I what do I do with that? How do I how do I start, fighting back or or or what? What do I do? Okay, Howard.

 

You’re you’re jumping to my conclusion. You know? That’s we we need to identify and understand the reality of spiritual warfare in the first place. And, I go back to when I first became interested, begin to gain insight into this was as a new missionary, many years ago. How old were you as a new Well, I was 20 7.

 

I was a young, naive, enthusiastic missionary, confident of my call, confident of the power of the gospel, you know, to save the lost. And I thought that I would arrive on the shores of Indonesia. And never mind, it’s the largest Muslim country in the world, but that the pages of acts would unfold with multitudes being saved every day. Right. So you’re saying that we shouldn’t we shouldn’t believe that?

 

Yeah. Of course. I kinda had the same impression myself. You learn quickly. And, you you know, I was somewhat disillusioned as well as disappointed to find that even though we had open opportunities to clearly proclaim the gospel, that people were largely indifferent and sometimes antagonistic to the message.

 

And I came to understand that expecting a Muslim in Indonesia to respond to the gospel was not unlike asking a blind man to read a newspaper. Okay. Because What do you mean by that? Well, Paul said in Corinthians 4th chapter, the god of this world has blinded the unbelieving, lest they should hear and see and turn again and be saved. And it began to to make me aware, there’s another element here.

 

There’s a spiritual element. There’s an enemy that is blocking the minds and understanding of the lost so that they do not receive Christ. In fact, Paul said in his testimony to king Agrippa, when God had called him to proclaim Jesus to the gentiles, to the nations, that it was to open their eyes to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. Okay. But I think for some of our listeners, I think they would be right now in their cars or wherever they’re listening to this kind of revolting a little bit because it sounds like you’re saying that people don’t have a choice.

 

Like, for this Muslim man, he’s not going to be answering what his, what what he thinks, what his heart or his mind or as a human being thinks, but really because he’s controlled by the powers of Satan. What would you say to that? Well, I I’m going to explain that, and scripture is very articulate about warning us and alerting us against the reality of the enemy. I mean, we’re told to be on guard, to be alert, to be serious, to be sober, that we have an enemy. And, it’s not just that free choice that he doesn’t want to believe, or he can’t perceive and really understand the gospel.

 

There’s another element that’s there. And we neglect the spiritual warfare. Yeah, we’re not gonna have much success when we try to, impact the the dominions of darkness. Why is it I mean, obviously, being Westerners, but more so, are you saying that maybe that Satan has deceived us into thinking in spiritual warfare only in terms of the demonic manifestations and so that we’re ignorant to the ways in which he’s blinding people to even hearing the gospel. And so we don’t engage the enemy in prayer before we begin to preach the gospel.

 

Is that part of the strategy that you’re alluding to? Well, it it is. And in a more personal way, we’d like to just dismiss Satan’s influence and that which is blatantly evil, which a good Christian would readily resist. But we don’t recognize, well, why does he tripp us with little sins? Why are we always getting into dissension and conflict because of our self centered efforts?

 

That that’s just my human nature. We don’t recognize this is Satan’s strategy to defeat us and to deprive God of being glorified in our lives. So you’re saying that these little sins or the the disunity that happens or the backbiting that Christians oftentimes face, has an element of spiritual, attack. Yeah. Exactly.

 

But let let’s get back to the task of missions, especially in confronting the the Muslim world. And so as Paul said in Acts 26 18, we need to realize their eyes are blinded to the truth. Okay. How can their eyes be opened to recognize the truth? If they’re in darkness, how can they come to the light?

 

Well, he says they’ve got to be delivered from the power of Satan that has them in bondage, and this is in the Muslim world, but any lost world. Lost people in America and and others, cultures, to to bring them into the power of god, and especially the challenge of the, the Muslim world. You remember the parable of the sower, in the 8th chapter of Luke, especially, Jesus talks about the 4 kinds of soil as you sow the gospel. Some’s going to be fertile, and people are gonna be responsive. You’re going to find a harvest.

 

Others are going to be appear receptive, but they don’t really come to full belief. It doesn’t take root in their hearts. You know, it’s choked out. Sometimes it’s it’s a cultural and societal issues and, you know, that keep them from coming around fully. But then he talks about the hardened beaten down pathway where the seed never takes root, never gets into the soil.

 

And we could certainly describe that as the Muslim world. I think the last formidable barrier of global evangelization, a resistance to the seed. Remember, in Jesus explaining the parable, what happens to that seed? First of all, he said, the birds come and take it away. And then he says explicitly in verse 12 that the birds are the devil, That he comes and takes away the seed.

 

So we don’t often are frustrated when we have an opportunity to share the gospel, the plan of salvation, why it’s not received, why people don’t believe that Satan literally takes them away. Jesus describes Satan as a liar, as a deceiver. So we need to take seriously what he’s trying to help us to understand that there’s no truth in Satan. So if if others are deceived about the truth of Christianity, the truth of the gospel, who is it that’s deceiving them? What are the lies that they are believing?

 

Revelation speaks of of Satan as deceiving the nations. So there’s something more at work here than than just a deficient methodology and a deficient witness. But when we think about spiritual warfare, I’m I’m just being honest. I’m sure somebody might not like what I’m about to say. But I I just don’t like to talk about Satan because I don’t wanna look stupid.

 

You know what I mean? In the in the 21st century, if you come at it from this kind of dualistic worldview where there is good and there is evil and there is God and there is Satan, people are like, oh, look at this guy. That’s that’s that’s neat. He has this belief that there’s a God and a Satan. And so, although in my heart I believe these things to be true and I definitely believe in aspects of spiritual warfare, I’m almost hesitant to ever talk about them because people think you’re either incredibly and over the top focused on Satan and kind of incapable of rational thought or the other end of the spectrum whereas you act like Satan doesn’t exist at all.

 

And that’s kind of the camps that I find a lot of people in. So the show wouldn’t be possible without sponsors. And this week’s sponsors are. Zweimer Center. Zweimer Center.

 

The Zweimer Center. The Zweimer Center. Zweimer Center. And what does the Zwehmer Center do? Talks about Muslims and and tells them on the computer that we love you.

 

Very nice. The swimmer center equips the church to reach Muslims. The swimmer center has been educating people about reaching Muslims before it was cool. Well, I would I would just readily say what a subtle, clever, strategy of Satan. Right.

 

Right. No doubt. Distort your thinking, to inhibit your give you a reluctance to acknowledge it because the scripture teaches us of that reality, and we’re told to resist him, to stand firm against him. You’d think the Bible said ignore the devil and he’ll flee from you. Yeah.

 

To the contrary, you ignore him, and what the Bible teaches us rather than being alert makes us vulnerable. And, you know, it it’s kinda like, any coach will tell you, you know, on the basketball court. The best defense is a good offense. When we talk about spiritual warfare, we’re naturally inclined, okay. How can I protect myself from it?

 

How can I barricade myself? What’s the defense against Satan’s temptations and and and the work of Satan? Well, you don’t wanna get so, obsessed with Satan that you’re focused on him as if there’s a, you know, the devil made me do it, you know, and excuse all our behavior, or there’s a demon behind every bush. Like a coach will tell you, the best defense is a good offense. You can keep the other team from scoring, but if you aren’t putting points on the board, you’re not going to win.

 

So what the scripture tells us is to walk in the spirit. Put on the lord Jesus Christ. Put on the armor of god. We have an offense that will protect us and give us the victory, but you’ve gotta be aware of the battle and the reality of the enemy. But, you know, one of the key passages, and and they’re prolific passages if we just notice this.

 

In Philippians chapter 6 verse 10, we’re told to be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. Well, that’s a pretty comprehensive description of why we have evil, why we have, suffering and oppression, why we have such, immoral, behavior, in in our world. We’re to be strong in in the Lord and stand against the schemes of of Satan, understanding his nature and his tactics as as it’s described here.

 

You can’t expect me to stand firm against an unseen, devious enemy. The subtle and clever in how he is leading me into sin or just neglecting living for the Lord and serving him. But in Christ, we have the victory. And so it’s not a defense. It’s it’s taking the offensive.

 

And Christ is the one when we put on that armor of God, he gives us wisdom. He gives us discernment. He gives us boldness and courage to to proclaim the gospel. It’s like an army battalion. When are they most vulnerable to attack?

 

When they think the enemy is nowhere nearby, and they can just take a little r and r and relax. But when are they most vigilant? When they know they’re approaching them and right over the next hill, they’re going to be vigilant to repel that attack. Well, that’s the exact picture Jesus has given us. The scripture continually says, we have an enemy that is prowling about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour us.

 

His attacks are always imminent, but we don’t dwell on that. We need to realize that he’s given us the power of God’s spirit. Remember, the great commission is preceded by the words of Jesus in Matthew 2818 that all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth. I mean, there is no power that exceeds the power and authority of Jesus Christ. And based on that premise, we’re to go and make disciples of all nations.

 

That includes the peoples of the Muslim world. Well, how do we do this? Because we’re told that Jesus goes with us in all of that power and authority. So we need to have learn how to appropriate the power and the victory that we’ve given in order to engage, this warfare. You know, god is not going to entrust his power to someone who is casual about living for the Lord and trusting in Jesus Christ because the scripture tells us that faith is the victory.

 

In fact, it it’s it’s tied to to the the whole element of spiritual warfare in that armor of God in Ephesians, the 6th chapter, that we’re to take the shield of faith that quenches the fiery darts of the evil one. All of those lies and deception, we’re going to quench those. We’re gonna recognize truth and reality. We’re not going to be deceived if we have faith. So thinking in terms of the American church, thinking in terms of daily life, we we don’t we don’t live this way.

 

I don’t think most of us anyway. If we’re honest with ourselves, we don’t live as though the prince of the power of the world is is truly that the, the evil one is prowling around like a roaring lion. We we tend to live pretty comfortable, nerf lives. And so in that sense is the American church largely deceived, do you think? I think very readily so.

 

In fact, getting a little little ahead of me because I was gonna talk about some ways that that Satan does deceive us to inhibit us fulfilling the mission of God effectively. I mean, the scripture just described him as the the god of this world, you know, the principalities and powers of the air. Does Satan have anything to do with raising up godless totalitarian communist societies that close countries from a missionary witness? Well, I I think obviously so. Yeah.

 

We interpret that as political and, issues and so forth. But if he’s the god of this world and is seeking to keep God from being made known and deprived of his glory, Satan’s behind keeping countries closed. Is he behind persecuting believers in the church to try to squelch the advance of the gospel? Well, exactly. But his strategies cannot stand against the providence and power of God.

 

I mean, there’s no country where the gospel has not been proclaimed. He’s discovered that persecution is actually feeding the growth of the church. Okay. So when we’re when we’re thinking about Muslims, if we if we get rid of the idea that spiritual warfare is always about demon exorcism, and kind of the extreme ways in which we see it in Hollywood, what are some ways in which spiritual warfare is happening in everyday life as people try to witness to Muslims? Well, anything that keeps us from witnessing, I think Satan is actually behind it because he doesn’t want us to be effective witness.

 

He creates fear in our hearts. Fear doesn’t come from God. He gives us courage and boldness. He That’s a really interesting point because if we think about what’s happening in our country with fear of Islam, fear of Muslims, fear of a global spread of Islam, and there’s a lot of fear. Is there a spiritual warfare element to all of that?

 

Well, I I absolutely. And this is just a subtle way that we wouldn’t readily recognize is of is of Satan, but he erodes our faith. I mean, we go into that questioning and doubting whether or not the gospel’s really effective to get through to this guy and whether or not he’ll respond, and we fear that he’s going to, become angry, you know, and, we’re we’re afraid of the the reaction. Well, faith is the victory, believing God. When God said, I will be exalted in the earth, you know, that the power of the gospel is the power into salvation.

 

Well, we begin to kinda question and doubt and say, well, not in this situation. Well, not against a Muslim. Okay. Where is that coming from? It’s not coming from the word of God.

 

It’s not the reality that God’s word has given to us. And so he erodes our faith. He creates fear in our hearts, just a a shyness and intimidation of never even confronting them with the claims of Christ. In this show, we talk a lot about the media, and it’s really interesting. I feel like one of the tools that media uses is fear.

 

And, that I I think that just kinda totally lines up with what you’re saying how, fear erodes our faith or Satan’s purpose is to continue to erode our faith to our faith to where we’re, misguided till we don’t love Muslims, you know, like like Christ tells us to. Well, that that’s true. And, when we discuss a whole method of, of witnessing, showing the love of Christ, you know, relating to someone with respect and seeking to understand them, that opens the doors of people’s hearts. Satan doesn’t understand love. He doesn’t understand self giving, sacrifice, willingness to suffer, willingness to die.

 

He thinks he uses that to intimidate us and keep us from from being the witness that we should. Alright. This week’s sponsors. CIU. CIU.

 

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You know, I was thinking the other day actually about, Peter’s denial of Christ going to the cross. Have you ever read much and thought much about this idea when he says get behind me, Satan to Peter? What is what is really he’s saying to Peter? What is it? Is it the thought?

 

Is it the denial of what God wants to do to receive glory? How does that tie in with spiritual warfare? Well, Peter had a distorted value, just like most Christians today. You know, we pray for missionaries. What do we pray for?

 

Safety, you know, that no harm will come to them. When the very thing that would plant the gospel is shedding blood, giving one’s life a willingness to suffer, people stand amazed in in the response to people that would realize that the gospel’s not just a religion you chose to follow, but is something worth giving your life to and following, And that opens hearts to the gospel as nothing else. And that’s not our prayers because we’re like Peter. Oh, we don’t want that to happen when it’s the very thing that would bring the redemption of the world. And so where was this coming from?

 

Okay. He was being sifted by Satan, and he got his values straightened out as we see in the book of acts. Well, I’m kinda curious. We talked a little bit earlier about the the idea of Satan being the prince of the power of the air and, you know, the earth being what does that look like? Is is the earth under the power of the evil one?

 

Has God actually given this dominion to the evil one when he promises to give Jesus all of these things in the temptation? Is that something that he actually has authority to give Jesus? What are your thoughts on all of those ideas? Well, I think that does give us, the temptation of Jesus does give us some insights into that. In Luke, 4 verses 5 and 7, we read that Satan showed him all the kingdoms of the world and said, all of these have been handed over to me, and I’ll give them to whoever I will.

 

And I’ll give them to you if you’ll fall down and worship me. Well, now what intrigues me about this, of course, Jesus didn’t succumb to that temptation. I mean, he was Right. Coming to claim the kingdoms of the world for the kingdoms of God. He didn’t succumb to that.

 

But what what intrigues me is he never questioned the right of Satan to make that claim. That’s that’s exactly what I was wondering. I I thought the same thing. So why why is that? And so you you think, well, when were they handed over to him?

 

When did he get all these dominion? Well, you go back to the fall in Genesis. Who was supposed to have dominion over the earth? Man was. He created and gave into man the dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and all and, of course, in listening to the lies and deceit of Satan, they relinquished what had been given to them by God.

 

But lest we be too hazy quick to blame Adam and Eve, in our sin nature, we’ve been doing that ever since. Everyone continues to listen to his deceit, become self serving, live for themselves what they can gain rather than, you know, serving God and, you know, bringing His kingdom up on earth through doing God’s will. It seems like in churches today, we don’t really emphasize that a lot. Do you think that, if churches recognized, that, like the Ephesians 2 passage where, this world, you know, at this time belongs to Satan. Do you think that would, increase our motivation to engage in spiritual warfare?

 

Well, I don’t know about that. You know, 1st John 5 19 says, we are of God, but the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And the reality is where Christ is not known, even where he’s been proclaimed, you know, in a so called Christian nation, but where people are not following and worshiping the lord, the countries, the nations, the peoples, the cultures are the dominions of darkness and dominions of Satan. But I think Okay? There’s a big, cruel, evil world out there.

 

Yeah. Let’s just stand there. Okay. There’s a big cruel evil world out there. Right.

 

That’s interesting. Kinda hide behind our church doors and sing our songs and, you know, our fellowship rather than engaging that world. And Jesus makes an amazing statement in the 16th chapter. Matthew said that I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Gates are a defense mechanism.

 

We’re to put hell on the defensive. You know, we’re not to be Alright. That so this is really interesting. You’re it sounds like you’re basically saying that we’re the ones on the defensive, and we should be on the offensive. Think of this?

 

Are you saying think of this? Are you saying that when Christians go and they proclaim the gospel in these areas of the world, these areas of the world where Christ is not yet known and we bring the church, we plant the church, we have worship, we have the body of Christ, that that is in fact spiritual warfare. Well, it is And, yes, we need to engage the enemy. We need to engage a lost world because that’s the manifestation of the power of evil and Satan that is seeking to deprive God of his glory among the nations. But one of the reasons is we don’t understand that it’s a warfare, that there’s a battle, and we don’t understand the schemes and track tactics of our enemy, and so we’re so easily, deceived.

 

It’s so interesting. Whenever you say enemy, the just being really honest, the thing that pops into my head is Muslims, fundamental Muslims. Yeah. Or or some other world systems. Right.

 

Right. And so, of course, because of our show, but what what you’re clearly saying is that it’s not the Muslim people. It’s Satan. It’s Satan and his tactics. It’s it’s going after the things of God to take away the glory, to erode our faith, the things that you’ve been talking about.

 

Well, exactly. And and we need to to move it into a larger context of the, you know, the the kingdoms of the world. You know, if it’s a battle between Satan and God, it’s all about his kingdom, God being glorified among all peoples and all nations. The Muslims are are a part of that. And we need to understand the influence in which they’ve been ingrained into what they believe with strong conviction that it doesn’t match up with the reality of who God is and the truth of the kingdom of God, and and there are generations, literally 100 of years of indoctrination that have convinced him.

 

Jesus didn’t really die on the cross. Christians worship 3 gods, which is blasphemous. The Bible’s corrupted. All of which creates barriers. Well, who’s wanting to create a barrier from their understanding the gospel and being able to experience redemptions and come into the kingdom of God?

 

And often these are barriers are not our religious differences, but in social and cultural, ways of thinking. We can argue all day about the merits of Jesus and Mohammed, the Bible and the Quran. And one of the reasons we don’t engage this is is, again, our lack of faith to realize truth will prevail and that we’re going on mission from the perspective of a victory that has been assured. So this is one of my own kind of I think I really got this from Warren Larson, but the idea that people always want to point back to Islam is being inherently violent and Islam is, you know, going to produce violent wicked people. And kinda one of the things he used to say was Islam isn’t the problem.

 

It’s the heart of man and the evil one. He would always put the emphasis on it’s not one particular religious system that produces wickedness. It’s the heart of man and and Satan. Does that sound like a lot more of what you’re saying in the idea of spiritual warfare? Right.

 

And and whatever we say in applying this to reaching the Muslim world, we don’t need to to target them and isolate them for the same thing in an agnostic American humanist and secularist, you know, Buddhist or animist in the spirit world. They’re all very sincere in what they believe and what they practice, but they’ve been deceived, for generations in their culture and their society. And so what will deliver them from this is the truth and the power of the gospel. Alright. So I have to ask this question because a student tweeted something out of a class that I almost got in trouble for because there was no context.

 

That’s why I don’t like Twitter sometimes. There’s no context. And the the tweet was, I don’t think Islam is the most dangerous religion and the next part was Christianity is. And that’s all they put. And of course, I didn’t say that.

 

What I was saying is that even Christianity can deceive people into believing that they know God, that they know Jesus just because they’re a part of a church or they were born in a certain country and that’s deceptive and even more so than Islam because they think they’re okay. And so in Islam, there’s clearly a rejection of Christ. But in somebody that’s maybe just a nominal Christian, they’ve grown up in a Christian country, could Satan use that in deceiving them as well? Well, there’s no question about it. Okay.

 

I feel better then. There’s, you know, it comes down to is it aligned with the truth of scripture and God’s word. That reveals the truth and reality. And every reference in scripture to spiritual warfare is in the context of victory. The battle between the spirit and the flesh against worldly values, that we’re so subjected to in in our world today are just the the self centered, selfish interest and pride of the fleshly nature.

 

Materialism? Absolutely. God has given us victory over this, and every reference is how we can walk in victory and be filled with the spirit and the power of God’s word. But if Satan can erode our faith, we may be a good Christian, faithful to church every day, and believe, you know, give intellectual assent and never really appropriate what we’ve been given in Christ. So when you think in terms of victory, I love I love that term.

 

But just to be honest, in a lot of my in a lot of areas in my life, I don’t know if I feel full of faith the majority of the time. What would you say to that, for the average Christian that struggles with, you know, being full of faith, going against that fear that you talk about Satan constantly puts in front of us? What would you say to that Christian? Well, a simplistic answer would just be to quote scripture in Romans 10 where faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And the reaction I often have with students on that is, okay.

 

How much time do you spend in God’s word relative to time you spend on the Internet, watching television, and shares? A lot of TV. I’m just gonna put that out there. So Lies. Okay.

 

So which one is going to have the greater influence on your thinking and your perceptions toward life and so forth? When you feed on God’s word, that’s what’s constantly building your faith. Do you know God is going to be exalted? The gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed among all nations. There will be people from every tribe and nation and language, including Muslims, gathered around the throne of God.

 

So that’s what builds your faith comes from the word of God. Alright. So this show wouldn’t be possible without sponsors. And at this point in the show is where if you wanna partner with us, we would put your ad. So if you wanna be a part of the show, you wanna partner with us, you like what we’re doing, you wanna be on our team, what have you, bringing this show to the world, then email us and let us know.

 

I love like, whenever I hear spiritual warfare, I think about, you know, like, people using, you know, oil. Yeah. I’ve I’ve had experiences with oil. Right. And then, you know, hands on prayer and things like that, but you bring in a love for the word, as a as a as spiritual war as a as a tactic again, to to battle in spiritual warfare.

 

And I I think that’s pretty amazing. Now, I was thinking too as you were talking, could another tactic of spiritual warfare be being active in sharing our faith? Just thinking about the idea of God’s glory and and as if we’re promoting that and sharing our faith with people and whether or not we’re struggling to believe something, but just resting assure that the word does say this. I might be afraid of Muslims because of something I saw on TV, but regardless, I’m going to share my faith. And could that be a part of increasing our faith?

 

Just being in the process of it. Well, that’s a that’s a good example because Satan didn’t have to get us to adopt a sinful lifestyle or trip us up with temptation and lust all the time. There’s sins of omission as well as sins of commission. And we’ve been told by Christ to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. And when we fail to witness, we’re being disobedient.

 

Okay. Who’s causing us to be disobedient? You know, so it’s not just a sinful behavior and an immoral lifestyle, but failing to do what Christ told us. So, again, that’s the offensive. You know, it’s not a defensive way we protect ourselves and our faith and our religion against all this evil in the world and, all of the kind of beliefs that are being thrown at us, in humanism and materialism and naturalism and some other society.

 

Yeah. And and against Islam and winning the battle, you know, discussing who can cause their perception of truth to prevail in arguments against Islam is positively proclaiming the gospel. If I could just share one one story. And I learned very quickly, in working among Muslims on the mission field, just amazed. And it it really reflects in the book of Acts.

 

You know, why were they so effective? The gospel take root and spread spontaneously. All they were doing was lifting up Christ in a bold, positive witness. And that that’s just what became the model. And I continue to stand in amazement why people, Muslims, came to faith in Jesus Christ knowing they were turned out of their homes, they were ostracized from their community, Their lives were threatened.

 

They lost their job. Why would they turn away from their culture, their society, their traditional religion, and embrace this belief to become a follower in Jesus Christ. The reality is there is no explanation except the power that indwells the message of the gospel. So if we’re not proclaiming the claims of Christ boldly setting before them, not in an aggressive way of trying to proselytize, but just in a positive lifting up, proclaiming Christ, this is what I believe, it gives them pause and something to evaluate and think about and the power to draw them to Christ. Yeah.

 

I actually was, you know, just thinking even in our witness, Satan is so crafty. Right? I mean, even in our witness and our desire to be engaged in the Great Commission and preaching the gospel, He can easily turn that into pride and arrogance and absolutely turn that against the glory of God. And so we have to be on guard in the idea of him being a roaring lion is probably much more subtle than we often think. It reminds me of CS Lewis and the Screwtape Letters.

 

Doctor Anken, have you read Screwtape Letters? Oh, yes. I love that book because of the idea that he puts forth, you know, it’s kinda whether you’re overly obsessed with Satan or you don’t think he exists with at all, Satan’s fine with either of those twosix two extremes. And so that’s a lot of what we’re talking about today in screw tape letter type mentality. Right.

 

It’s it’s not about Satan. I mean, but we do need to be aware there is an enemy and not be deceived about that. And we need to be aware of what we’re taught about. I mean, I I could go through a study on the his favorite fiery darts. You know, what is so effective?

 

Unforgiveness, pride. Wow. You know, just the things that defeat us, and we’re not even aware of it. It. Yeah.

 

Give us a what’s happening. Give us a couple more of those because I don’t think we associate those with spiritual warfare. How do you mean unforgiveness and pride? Just even those 2. Well, Paul Paul explicitly says, you know, those I forgive, I forgive for your sakes lest Satan gain a foothold.

 

Wow. And in in Ephesians 4, he says, you know, let not sun go down on your wrath. Let Satan, you know, get a foothold in our lives. And so that’s that’s as explicit as it could be. And then, you know, it just goes on and on.

 

You know, their their strongholds, their pride, their their dissension and conflict among believers, all of those are just, you know, driven by our fleshly nature. Going back to Muslims, what are some practical tips, for engaging in spiritual warfare, especially in sharing our faith with Muslims? Well, I think we’ve talked about it. Yeah. You know, 1, be be strong in our faith.

 

And, you know, I I actually had to to convince myself, but but the it just really grew with a powerful conviction. As as I lived among them, as I sought to reach them, these are people whom God created and loves. That was something that’s hard I mean, that doesn’t come naturally, though. Well, it doesn’t. It doesn’t.

 

You’ve got to to make yourself believe that truth and know God created them. He loved them. Jesus died to save them, just as he died to save me. And the 4th thing is, and the power of God is sufficient to save them. Now once I started doubting and believing that, my witness was eroded.

 

But believing those four things, you would just see people. I mean, you just see people as this is an object of God’s love. This is someone that Jesus died for. God’s power is sufficient to save him. I may not see it, you know, but I had to believe that.

 

Okay. So I’ve been looking through the Bible here recently and wondering this, and you you’ve kind of tapped into it. So I have to go down this rabbit trail for a second. Bear with me. Is it possible that man being created in the image of God that when we consider world history in the constant destruction of the quote other, racism, slavery, world powers dominating other powers, a constant jockeying for position and always fearing the other.

 

Is this tied into this idea of Satan’s desire for god’s glory and destruction of other human beings who are made in god’s image? Exactly. No question about it. And, you know, we just see that as kind of a cause effect in our world order Right. And societies and the nature of man.

 

And, again, I go back to Satan doesn’t want us to recognize that he’s he’s behind it. The word devil comes from diabolin, kinda like the Spanish, diablos. Diablos. Yeah. It’s almost a transliteration, which means adversary.

 

Satan is set against God being glorified in our lives, the individual Christian walking in victory. He’s against churches being spiritually vital, impacting their community and culture. He’s against the mission of God being fulfilled and the gospel being taken to the nations. So take all the practical aspects, countries closed to the gospel, visa restrictions, missionaries being hit with illness and having to come home. Listen.

 

Anyone set on fulfilling the mission of God has a great big target on them, and Satan’s coming after them. And it’s the subtle ways. Just dissension, conflict, family structure, stressed and strained, and, you know, children getting illness, accidents, you know, taking people off the field. We don’t attribute that to the spiritual warfare, but what is it that’s deprived God from being glorified and made known among the nations? Your your view in spiritual warfare is, is pretty refreshing.

 

I think that, you know, a lot of people are afraid to become the kind of person that sees demons behind every bush. But you just say, hey. We’re in a battle. This is real. This is affecting us on the practical level and on the daily level.

 

We need to be aware of it. Right? And we need to continue to live for the glory of God, to continue to fill ourselves with faith, to to continue to to move forward with the gospel. This is yeah, I I I don’t think people see this as spiritual warfare oftentimes, and I think this is incredible that you’re you bring this to light. Well, it’s over simplistic not to, you know, explain it in more detail and from a biblical perspective.

 

But, yeah, we’re we’re to be on the offense, not on defense. The best defense is a good offense, and faith is the victory. Believe God. Believe what he said. Accept his word as reality, and engage the battle.

 

Doctor Rankin has a a few resources, of course, the 2 books that we mentioned earlier in the podcast. And then, of course, the, he has, he’s just informed us that he has a a couple seminars. Yeah. That’s the tough thing is if we try to put together a podcast on spiritual warfare in, you know, 45 minutes, it’s impossible to talk about the depths of what he studied here. And so I think we can link those things.

 

Right. We wanna point you to those things because I know that some of you guys are gonna be really interested in in hearing all this stuff. So and I know that doctor Rankin really, really wanted to share just, you know, as much as he could, but obviously on this, in this format, it’s not gonna work. But, we’ll definitely put that on our website. For everybody, this is, Trevor and Howard.

 

Thank you so much for listening. Again, iTunes reviews really, really, really help. Thank you guys for, following us for so long. It’s already been 19 weeks, I guess. Yeah.

 

And, we’re really excited about how much we’re growing and how you’re spreading. Keep those comments coming. We’ve had a lot of people, even on the mission field, which has been really cool sharing and, being, encouraging to us and what we’re doing. So, again And I’m not gonna lie that this whole conversation about spiritual warfare, and I even mentioned to doctor Rankin earlier today, I I am getting the sense that I am encountering a little bit of spiritual warfare. So pray for us.

 

Pray for us, those of you that do listen and appreciate the show. Howard and I have even had a couple conversations about, spiritual warfare here recently. So we do recognize that as as Jerry, you pointed out, being on the the the front line of trying to get people to love Muslims is engaging in enemy territory. And so do do pray for the show. Pray for the, people that participate as well.

 

Yep. Again, thank you for listening.