Landmines are concealed explosive military
devices designed to passively destroy or disable enemy targets without the risk
of directly engaging a warring adversary. Injury or death results, either
from the direct blast or from lethal fragments hurled with great force from its
epicenter. During past wars, landmines were detonated by direct pressure,
i.e. the weight of the person stepping on the landmine or the vehicle driving
over it.
The latest generation of landmines is
deployed to destroy military personnel and vehicles. These weapons are
called “IEDs” or improvised explosive devices. During the USA’s most
recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, numerous allied combatants lost life or
limb as the result of these IEDs. The use of such landmines remains
controversial because they are prohibited by “The Geneva Conventions,” seven
treaties and protocols that establish standards of humanitarian treatment
during warfare [1949], and later by “The Convention on the Prohibition of the
Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines.” [1997]
It is important to know that
landmines are typically deployed by cowards who seek to destroy their
enemies safely, from a distance. It occurs to me that the chief
coward, Satan, plants SPIRITUAL LANDMINES in his desperate attempts to “kill
and destroy” the people of God. (John 10:10)
How so? The archenemy of THE CROSS OF CHRIST and all it
represents is fully aware that he could never damage or destroy Almighty
God. Recognizing this, Satan’s strategic tactics of destruction are aimed
directly at the “children of God,” whom he recognizes as “heirs of God and
joint heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17)
Satanic landmines are deployed by a
variety of agents, in a myriad of life circumstances. Hell’s IEDs include
all of the following: 1) Our perceptions of hurt and abandonment when we are on
the receiving end of unwarranted criticism; 2) The temptation to become divided
against our spiritual siblings over transient and trivial matters; 3) The human
tendency to embrace anxiety, loneliness, isolation and depression during times
of loss or grief; 4) Our habit of holding on to doubt and fear instead of
trusting in God and His unfailing Word; 5) Etcetera, etcetera and etcetera.
We are warned by the Apostle Peter to
constantly be on the lookout for these cataclysmic spiritual landmines.
“Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (I Peter 5:8)
Nevertheless, there is exciting
news! GOD has endowed and armed us with robust weapons of spiritual
warfare that will obliterate every IED deployed by our sworn enemy. (II
Corinthians 10:4) Additionally, we are privy to advance intelligence
briefings which precisely identify the location and potency of Satan’s
destructive landmines. Question: By what particular means are we provided
such life-saving information? Answer: Whenever we “pray without ceasing” –
whenever we “study to show ourselves approved unto God” – whenever we “walk in
the Spirit” – we are amenable and available for THE HOLY SPIRIT to teach and
reveal to us any potentially destructive “things to come.” (I Thessalonians
5:17 – Galatians 5:25 – II Timothy 2:15 – John 14:26-27 – John
16:13) Finally, we are secured and safeguarded by donning the “whole armor
of God,” through which no satanic weapon can penetrate or prevail. (Ephesians
6:11-18 – Isaiah 54:17)
Does this mean that spiritual
warriors are somehow exempt from being watchful during our required stint of
service in the Army of the Lord? Absolutely not! Christ
commands that we “watch and pray” to nullify the power of satanic IEDs.
(Matthew 26:41) In fact, prayerful watchfulness is the spiritual key to being
“accounted worthy to escape all things that shall soon come to pass.” (Luke
21:36) So, my spiritual siblings, stay on the lookout for landmines to save
yourself and others.
Sisters and brothers,
be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO
MEET OUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!
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