Just had a thought…if there were no more straw men in the world, what would most internet, radio, and TV ‘ministers’ talk about? The constant barrage of ‘chicken-little goes to church’ is mind numbing. Contrary to what is heard trumpeted from the various parapets atop today’s cyber-churches, the Gospel is not ‘the sky is falling, the sky is falling’ – the Gospel, the GOOD news, is that there is hope! Christ came that we might be free from sin, not cower in fear of some unrestrained boogie-man waiting just around the next corner. The enemy is indeed formidable, but far too adept at his job to chase the redeemed with a blunt instrument like a slobbering ogre. The enemy has only three things on his mind – steal, kill, and destroy – and his cunning is in the way he distracts, distresses, and eventually disconnects the people of God from their hope. The answer is far less dramatic than a Peretti novel – in fact, it’s only the enemy’s minions that do all that hollering and carrying on. Every time spiritual warfare is spoken of in the New Testament, the name of Jesus stirs irresistible fear in those who already know their true master’s name. If the enemy can get the believer away from his hope in Christ, the battle is already won. Likewise, if the believer can learn to take rest in His presence, the authority of His name, and the power of His promises, that enemy becomes nothing but an occasional reminder of a death averted. The same ‘star in the east’ that the pagan Magi responded to is the same ‘star’ that the church is entrusted with sharing today….Christ is the answer, and He is HERE! …..oh, and….the sky is NOT falling…at least not yet!