Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:21-24)
Jesus never met a demon he liked. Jesus’ first encounter with a demon was in church. We shouldn’t be surprised that demons are “at home” in religious institutions. After all, the Head Demon of Darkness, Lucifer, was once a celestial worship leader (Ezekiel 28; Isaiah 14) who would lead worship from the heavenly bodies and deliver that worship to God Almighty. But pride welled up in Lucifer’s heart and he rebelled against God and was cast to the earth. John describes the battle and subsequent results,
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”[1]
The results of this epic 4th Dimension World War I was that Satan realized that his forces were limited and finite and that his time was short. The exact number of his fallen angelic numbers and the date of his fall are still a mystery to us, but we know a plan is underway to destroy God’s work. Satan has been strategizing in how to defeat God and his church for millennia.
It would only make sense that as we draw closer to the coming of the Lord and the end of Satan’s power, that the enemy of all righteousness will intensify and even more strategically plan the destruction of God’s army, the Church. I believe Satan probably employees a “center of gravity” attack method upon the Body of Christ and its leadership. Let me explain.
My friend Major Richard Pantusa, Air Force pilot of C-130’s, has explained to me that war strategists have understood the concept of centers of gravity for almost three centuries. He writes, “Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian strategists, credited with defeating Napoleon, is widely understood as the man who created the concept. It is rather simple: the first step in war planning is to identify ‘the hub of all power and movement, on which everything depends.’ Once identified, ‘all energies are directed against it.’ Essentially, take-out the power station, and the town goes dark.”[2] Essentially take out the leadership, the power hub, and movement is handicapped.
In the past six months, in our city, three of the five largest church senior pastors have resigned from their churches (myself included), as well as the director for Youth for Christ. Might it be that there is a concerted strategy of Lucifer to take out spiritual leaders in our city? If we were to adopt the center of gravity theory of Carl von Clausewitz as a possible celestial battle plan, it makes sense that if Lucifer takes out the shepherd, the sheep will scatter.
May we be aware of Lucifer’s schemes in these latter days. Take time to pray for protection over the shepherds of the sheep, pastors of our churches, and leaders of Para church organizations. The enemy’s power is rising, but so should ours!
On the Road,
Steve
[1] The New King James Version. 1982 (Re 12:7–12). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[2] Email from Richard Pantusa, April 26, 2014
