Satanic Strategy (1) - Reaching Out

Reaching Out
SATANIC STRATEGY (1)

Section II: A Persecutor

The evangelization of the world is a desperate struggle with the Prince of Darkness, and with everything his rage can stir up in the shape of obstacles, vexations, opposition and hatred, whether by circumstances or by the hand of men.

From the very beginning, strenuous opposition faced the progress of the gospel. The ground was stoutly contested step by step. Motives of self-interest, racial pride, political prejudice and pagan zeal influenced men in their antagonism to the truth. But behind all these we recognize the great protagonist and persecutor, Satan. Just as, on the one hand, we see all through history God crowning with success the labors of His servants, so we see the arch enemy busily at work, trying to hinder and thwart in every way their earnest efforts. It was from long and bitter experience of Satan's malice that the apostle wrote, “We are not ignorant of his devices.”

In this section of the book of Acts (1-7), we shall find the great antagonist making use of five special devices in his determined efforts to frustrate God's missionary purpose. Also, we will notice a system and order in these devices. They were practiced alternately from without and from within the church, and each one was intended to be more effective than its predecessors. At the same time, each one was over-ruled by the power and wisdom of God for the furtherance of the Gospel, so that the great persecutor fails. In this chapter, we consider the first of Satan's devices.

A Sinister Siege (Acts 4)
We may always expect work of Christians to be followed immediately by Satan's fierce opposition. The marvelous events of the day of Pentecost (with the daily conversions which followed and the further increase that ensued on the healing of the lame man) served as a direct challenge to the great persecutor. At once his zeal and enmity were aroused. Hands of violence were laid on the two apostles. They were thrown into prison, examined before the Sanhedrin, commanded to cease from preaching and threatened with severe penalties if they persisted. In this way, Satan made a strenuous effort to silence the missionaries in Jerusalem, hoping at the outset, to check the extension of the work to the regions beyond.

The planting of the gospel in other lands has frequently been met with strong opposition on the very threshold of the work. In breaking up new ground in unevangelized towns and villages, various methods of antagonism and persecution are often encountered. Some have known the shouts of opposing crowds shouting by the half hour the name of some favorite heathen deity, in order to drown the voice of the gospel preacher; or throw stones at their heads and cast dirt and dust in their faces in the hope of preventing conversions; or induce one to burn chilies (strong red peppers) close by, to choke the evangelists with fits of coughing; or to command them forcefully to leave the place under the threat of pain and penalties.

Opposition must be expected from without and from within. The same wind that can destroy also makes the kite rise and boats move. A block of granite, placed in the way for a stumbling block, may become a step upward. The string that holds the kite down also helps it go upward.

Sweet Success
Our narrative shows what to do with all such opposition. To the apostles it was a call to prayer. Neither their faith nor their courage failed. They simply asked God to deal with the situation. They based their prayer on the right motives, a good pattern for us. They asked for exactly what they most needed under the circumstance, but not for permission to cease from their great work. They prayed with the right motive, and left threatening and opposition at God’s feet.

One missionary in Africa was preaching in the street and the Africans became rude and noisy in their opposition and knocked off his hat, afterwards forcibly expelling him from their quarters. It happened that the magistrate of the district was camping in the neighborhood and heard of this ill treatment. He sent one of his servants to ask the missionary to lodge a formal complaint, that he might punish the offenders. The servant found the missionary on his knees. “Tell your master,” said the man of God, “that I have already made known my case to a higher magistrate, the God of heaven Himself.” And the prayer was not in vain, for that very day the Africans came and begged his pardon, beseeching him to come back to their street and preach.

Sword and trowel must go together, fighting evil and building up the good. But stress must be laid upon the building. All the fencing out of wild beasts and destroying of weeds in the world will not alone produce a crop.

Notice in Acts how God over-ruled the opposition. The Gospel was clearly sounded in the Sanhedrin. As prisoners, humble men like Peter and John converted sinners. “. . . the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chron. 20:15).