One of the interesting aspects of reading any document is the content itself. When we read, we are looking for content that impacts us, that has special meaning, and in some instances empowers us. Our goal upon reading any document is that we are better learned or just a better person after having read a document.

The Word of God is no exception. God’s Word is a powerful weapon at the human race level, at a national level, and at an individual’s level. It can actually transform the human race, a nation, and an individual. Take for instance these verses from 2 Corinthians 10:3-5:

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Everything we do is centered around our thought life. Our thought life is what we use subconsciously to develop our patterns of behavior, resulting in which actions we take. Obviously, we want to have a proper thought life so that we can take proper actions. However, the “strongholds” and “pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God” are constrained by three elements: (1) the societal beliefs of the world, (2) our own selfish desires, and (3) Satan himself.

Our societal beliefs follow the norm of human behavior. We know that we make mistakes. We know that we are imperfect. Whenever we attempt a job, there’s always the chance that it could be done better. If we were to consider for a moment that our society is made up of millions of imperfect people, it would not be an exaggeration that the collective effort of millions of people would result in an imperfect society. We do have certain laws that attempt to govern peoples’ behavior. Nevertheless, we are still an imperfect society.

Collectively we behave according to the mass effort of everyone’s behavior, but what type of norms are the masses abiding by? We know that our forefathers left England in the 16^th century to freely worship God as they saw fit. The printing press was then active and numerous copies of the Bible were available. People for the first time could read, understand, and abide by biblical principles themselves instead of being told by a preacher what to do. The Puritans who arrived here in New England left England, a government dictating religious beliefs, to find religious liberty in a new land.

However, our human nature has become self-centered, resulting in a gradual deviation from God’s Word. Earlier in this book, we acknowledged that God’s Word is without error. It is the perfect, immutable compilation of God’s words. Because of our human nature, we have drifted from what is perfect (from God) to what is imperfect (from ourselves). Worldly societal belief(s) is the first element of a “stronghold” and “pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.”

The anecdote for this is Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). A couple of observations about this. One, Jesus Christ has a different perception than what we view in this world. He existed before the world began and there is no end to His rule. He is omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing). He is not bound by money, time, or any other influences in this world. Secondly, He is all-loving. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Christ is that manifestation of God who loved us so much that He allowed Himself to be crucified for our sins so that we (who believe in Him for the forgiveness of our sins) would have eternal life. God’s viewpoint is one of love, and His power is derived from it. That is why He is the “light of the world,” and those who follow him will not walk in darkness or the “strongholds” of this world.

The second “stronghold” is our own selfish desires. Have you ever driven on a two-lane road which merged into one lane, and then wondered why some people speed in front of you so that they are ahead of you? The other day, I was in the left lane on a two-lane road stopped at a red light. After the light turned green, I gradually increased speed and realized I was a little ahead of the car on the right indicating that we would carefully merge. I then heard a loud engine. I checked my side view mirror to see if the car on the right was still merging in gracefully behind me and I noticed that a motorcycle passed in between our two cars! Sometimes we act according to our own desires. Perhaps we are trying to get ahead of someone else, but to what avail? Fortunately, we live in a world where not everyone is selfish all the time, otherwise there would be chaos! We have inherited our selfish desires (sin) from Adam and Eve (Genesis 2-3), but yet we are still responsible for our own sins. They saw that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was desirable, so they ate from it, disobeying God’s command not to. This type of behavior leads us to believe that we can put our own desires above God’s. Selfish desire is the second element of a “stronghold” and a “pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.”

The anecdote for this is a different perception about dealing with others. The apostle Paul offered these words, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4). We are not going to eradicate all of our selfish desires while we are on this earth. However, we can mitigate them to a certain extent if we are willing to look to others’ interests. Since we are involved with other people every day of our lives, it is important that we refocus our thinking to think of others first.

The third “stronghold” is Satan. Not much is said about Satan in everyday life because Satan lives and operates from the spiritual realm. But a great deal is said about him in God’s Word. Here are some occurrences:

• “Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.” (1 Chronicles 21:1)
• “So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.” (Job 2:7)
• “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The LORD said to Satan, ‘The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you? Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?’” (Zechariah 3:1-2)
• “Jesus said to him, ‘Away form me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’’” (Matthew 4:10)
• “. . . and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.” (Mark 1:13)
• “Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.” (Mark 4:15)
• “He [God] replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning form heaven.’” (Luke 10:18)
• “Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” (Luke 13:16)
• “Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.” (Luke 22:3)
• “Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?’” (Acts 5:3)
• “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (Romans 16:20)
• “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14)
• “For we wanted to come to you – certainly, I, Paul, did, again and again – but Satan blocked our way.” (1 Thessalonians 2:18)
• “The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.” (Revelation 12:9)
• “And the devil [Satan], who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)

These references show that Satan has a great deal of influence, both throughout the centuries, and still today. The point here is that he is a “stronghold” and a “pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.”

The anecdotes for dealing with Satan are: (1) serving with the commission that God has given us, (2) being obedient to God’s Word, and (3) observing God’s power in confronting Satan. Regarding the first point, we can look to the apostle Paul. Paul had a unique experience which affected the rest of his life. He was a Pharisee tasked with persecuting Christians in an attempt to eradicate the Christian faith. He was on his way to Antioch when suddenly a light brighter than the sun encompassed his entire party that was with him and they all fell to the ground. The voice claiming to be that of Jesus Christ spoke specifically to Paul, claiming that Paul was persecuting Christ Himself. Christ further spoke these words to Paul: “. . . I am sending you to them [both Jews and Gentiles] to open their eyes and turn then from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:17ff-18). God specifically commissioned Paul to spread the good news about Jesus Christ to others. Note here that Paul’s new commission replaced his old commission of persecuting Christians. One anecdote for dealing with Satan is to abide by the commission that God has given each of us. If each of us is faithful to our commission, then Satan will be repelled. If many of us corporately are faithful, then this will significantly repel Satan’s plans.

The second anecdote for dealing with Satan is being obedient to God’s Word. Satan is a powerful angel who fell from God’s grace by separating himself from God and going his own way. His lack of obedience to an all-loving God was, is, and will forever be his downfall. After Jesus’ baptism, He was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days. After this long duration, Satan came to Him and tempted Him, figuring that Jesus would be caught off guard. Satan took Him to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world. He offered these to Jesus if He would just bow down and worship him. Jesus replied, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’” (Matthew 4:10). Jesus showed Himself to be obedient to God’s Word by claiming “it is written.” Once He pointed to the Word of God, Satan relented from the temptation. The same applies for us: if we continue to abide by God’s Word then we will repel Satan.

The third anecdote for dealing with Satan is observing God’s power in confronting Satan. Some associate Satan with evil thoughts and deeds. These thoughts and deeds can occur at a personal level or a corporate level. However, a more accurate definition is that Satan is a divider. He once was an archangel (high-order angel) who broke away from God’s Kingdom. He chose to separate himself from God. In a similar fashion, he chooses to divide us between what is right and wrong. He chooses to do the same thing with nations. Even in Christianity, he chooses to separate the Christian church from God. The apostle Paul exhorted the church at Rome “to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned” (Romans 16:17). What Paul is referring to here is the subtle work of Satan even in the Christian church. Paul encouraged the church at Rome that “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (verse 20). We can do our part with the two anecdotes mentioned above, but the third anecdote belongs to God. He is more powerful than Satan. Eventually, God will throw Satan into his final destination – the lake of burning sulfur (Revelation 20:10). But in the meantime, Satan is permitted to roam the earth, causing divisions.