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Originally Posted by VirginiaHuguenot  Quote:
Originally Posted by greenbaggins Well, you will find everything you need in just one book: _The Christian in Complete Armour_, by William Gurnall. It is magnificent, exhaustive (1200 pp.), and very devotional. He does good exegesis to boot. It is an exposition of Ephesians 6, starting with verse 10, I believe. |  Available online here.
Other useful works on spiritual warfare:
Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices (available online here)
Jean Taffin, The Marks of God's Children
John Downame, The Christian Warfare
Charles Spurgeon, Spiritual Warfare in a Believer's Life
Isaac Ambrose, The Christian Warrior: Wrestling with Sin, Satan, the World, and the Flesh (available online here)
William Spurstowe, The Wiles of Satan
Daniel Dyke, Michael And The Dragon Or, Christ Tempted & Satan Foiled |
This leads me to something that has been of concern on my heart for a while. All of these amazing works Andrew listed deal with the reality of Satan as the enemy of the believer. Why does this seem to be lost on the Church today? The Puritan's believed him to be the great deceiver and arch enemy of our soul, but today it seems like everybody in the Church is scared to talk this way less they be accused of being charismatic.
I believe today in the Church many preachers downplay the role of Satan as our adversary, and we tend to make it seem as if the flesh is our only enemy. But what about the attacks of Satan's fiery darts? What about the fact that Paul was concerned that the church in Corinth would be beguiled by Satan concerning the simplicity of Christ? What about the fact that we are told to put on the whole armour of God so that we may be able to withstand this deceiver?
I'm not saying the flesh is not our enemy because I know it is. But why does the Church today not seem to recognize Satan as the great deceiver and enemy of the soul? I know he's on a "leash", and is already defeated. I know he answers to the sovereignty of God, and will one day be cast into a burning lake of fire. But as it stands I don't think there is anything that Satan desires more than to try and corrupt the minds of believers, and take every other advantage of destroying his/her body that God will let him have.
I don't believe a true born again child of God can be demon possessed, but that doesn't change the fact that Satan still tries with all his might to stop God's kingdom from advancing. What am I missing that the Puritan's seemed to understand so much more? Is there a reason why this has been lost in the Church today?