At this point the battle may feel like it's over, but the Enemy has one more move to attempt. It's a last ditch effort made in an attempt to turn defeat into some sort of victory. Sadly many men buy into it and are taken down. "The third level of attack the Evil One employs, after we have resisted deception and intimidation, is simply to try to get us to cut a deal. So many men have been bought off in one way or another."
Many men see the battle as over after stage two ends. The waves of heavy assault have ended, and the enemy appears to be defeated, and so they lower their guard. But though wounded, the enemy still has some fight left in him and our brothers have been taken out in the third stage of the attack.
John shares a brief account of a ministry leader who had fallen into an affair. This story is one that has effected my own life. Years ago my grandfather was pastoring a growing church. I don't know all of the details, and honestly I don't really want to, but he got involved in an affair. He and my grandmother split up, at least three of his four kids slipped away from God, and there has been issues in my family since that day.
My grandfather never planned for that to happen. I don't believe anyone starts ministry for God with the intention of ruining everything one day with something like an affair. "What man begins his journey wishing, 'I think one day, after twenty years of minstry, I'll torpedo the whole thing with an affair'?", no one. And yet it happens all the time. Why?
"He was picked off;the whole thing was plotted. In his case it was a long and subtle assignment to wear his defenses down not so much through battle as through boredom. I knew that man; he had no great cause to fight for, just the monotony of 'professional Christian ministry' that he hated but couldn't get out of because he was being so well paid for it. He was set up for a fall. Unless you are aware that that's what it is, you'll be taken out too."
As I typed that my mind thought back to the verses from 1 Peter 5 and James 4 that have been mentioned in this chapter. 1 Peter 5.8, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." Be so sober spirit, be on the alert. The devil is prowling like a lion, at this stage in the battle a wounded lion, just looking to take someone down with him. Don't turn your back, don't drop your guard, or it will be you. The battle is still going on, we are still at war. James 4.7, "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Do you realize what a bribe is, what making a deal with the Devil means? It means submitting to Satan rather than God. And we cannot resist something we are enslaved to. The fight is still going on around us, even if a majority of it has ended, there are still enemies out there looking to take out as many as they can. We continue to fight as warriors, or we become casualties of war.
"Notice this - when did King David fall? What were the circumstances of his affair with Bathsheba?... David was no longer a warrior; he sent others to do his fighting for him. Bored, sated, and fat, he strolls around on the roof of the palace looking for something to amuse him. The Evil One points out Bathsheba and the rest is history - which, as we all know, repeats itself."
David, a man after God's own heart, was taken out by the enemy. Christian leaders, men we would call Men of God, have fallen into the same trap. It isn't just with an affair. It could be dishonest business, it could be betraying others to advance yourself. It could be an compromise of morals and integrity.
This is war, that's what all men are born into, and that is why we all must be warriors who are constantly on guard, even when things appear to get easy. "We have known many who have joined the army of Christ and like being a solider for a battle or two, but have soon had enough and ended up deserting. They impulsively enlist for Christian duties... and are just as easily persuaded to lay it down."
In one of the final scenes of 300 Leonidas and his Spartans are alone, surrounded by Persians. They have held their ground and fought valiantly, and are now faced with a choice, take a bribe, or fight to the end. Xerxes messenger extends the kings offers, "Leonidas, my compliments and congratulations. You surely have turned calamity into victory. Despite your insufferable arrogance the god-king has come to admire Spartan valor and fighting skill... You will make a mighty ally. Despite your several insults, despite your horrid blasphemies the lord of hosts is prepared to forgive all and more, to reward your service. You fight for your lands. Keep them. You fight for Sparta. She will be wealthier and more powerful than ever before.
You fight for your kingship. You will be proclaimed warlord of all Greece answerable only to the one true master of the world. Leonidas, your victory will be complete if you but lay down your arms and kneel to holy Xerxes."
Leonidas is silent. He removes his helmet, drops his shield, and after brief words to the traitor Ephialtes, he drops his spear and falls to his knees. For a moment Xerxes seems to have won. But then Leonidas calls for Stelios who runs, jumps over the king and kills the messenger clearing his way. Leonidas grabs his spear as we hear "His helmet was stifling. It narrowed his vision, and he must see far. His shield was heavy. It threw him off balance and his target is far away." He throws his spear and though it does not kill Xerxes it cuts his face and he bleeds.
The Spartans were killed that day, but they were warriors to the end. I have been to Thermopylae, and on the hill where the final Spartans were killed there is a simple monument that reads in Greek, "Go tell the Spartans, passerby that here, by Spartan law, we lie." The Spartans never ran, they returned to Sparta carrying their shields, or on them. They fought to the end, and because of them victory was ultimately won.
There are casualties in every war, but may we go down fighting. You have come too far, and fought to hard, to be taken out now by a cheap shot. Don't lower your guard. Submit to God, resist the devil to the end. Fight the good fight, finish the course, and if we do give our lives in the service of our King, we will be rewarded with the crown of righteousness.
"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
To God alone be the Glory!
Strength and Honor
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