“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds” 2 Corinthians 10:4. Speak with a military officer regarding an enemy and you’ll find that they fear enemy strong holds the most because once established, they are increasingly difficult to infiltrate or demolish. Afghanistan is a perfect example of military might being put to shame by enemy strong holds. And ignoring them won’t do. They must be quickly and decidedly dealt with. Disregarding an enemy only embeds that enemy’s determination and strengthens his resolve. People have been ignoring this enemy for thousands of years now, and he is just about to unleash the full brunt of his minions of evil on an unsuspecting, foolishly ignorant, and very complacent world.

 

Increasingly, mankind is given occasion to observe, through the actions of others, the manifestation of supernatural forces. In the person who occupies the Oval Office, for example, we can see pure evil at work. And in many cases those who surround this man as his advisors are also manifestations of this same evil. God does not allow us to visually witness the behind the scenes goings on of the supernatural realm because if He did we would certainly die of fright. But He does give us eyes, ears, and brains to discern truth from lies.

 

There is one supernatural being, though, that when ignored, as is the case presently in the US of A, civilization deteriorates to a morally debased culture devoid of all semblances of godliness. There is no uncertainty of the consequences involved when nations turn against their Creator God. When a nation as affluent and blessed as America begins to allow the enemy to build strong holds, and dismisses them as nonexistent, she will experience catastrophic sequences of events almost on a daily basis as God attempts to bring the foolish back from their self-imposed stupor. This goes for any and all peoples of the earth.

 

God’s enemy is our enemy, and we as God’s children must take responsibility for allowing our enemy to erect strong holds within the boundaries of not only our lives but that of our nation also. We, the Christian citizenry of America, are not responsible for the lack of discernment of other peoples of other nations, but we are responsible for dropping our guard and allowing the enemy to build strong holds in our land. Yes, it’s true that we as believer’s in Christ are to spread the Gospel to all nations, but we aren’t responsible, by any means, for their continued rejection of the truth. And that goes for the populace of the US also. The Gospel has been spread throughout our land but is now being rejected on a massive scale.

 

Here in America Christians fight and bicker amongst themselves like children, this bickering is not of God our Savior but of the enemy (Satan). Satan has effectively built a strong hold in America which pits brother against brother. It isn’t that the Body of Christ can’t get along, but that they won’t get along. This constant bickering amongst the brethren is just one strong hold, of which there are many, held by our enemy.

 

Christians should realize that our fight is against a well entrenched enemy, but instead we, the Body of Christ, connive and plot against our own brethren. Christians are becoming more and more like Islam’s Sunnis and Shiites as we war amongst ourselves. How can a non-believer look at all this bickering without being thoroughly disgusted? When believers in Christ begin to realize that our fight is not “...against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” Ephesians 6:12, then we might start to fully realize just how deeply-rooted those enemy strong holds are.

 

Satan and his fallen hoard of minions bent on evil have been on this planet for 6,000 years give or take a day or two or a couple of years. America has been here for 234 years. The enemy is smarter, stronger, and worst of all he never stops attacking.

 

Many believers allow the enemy’s erecting of strong holds in their lives. This is something that is avoidable but is tolerated. You might ask yourself, “What enemy strong holds have I allowed in my life?” Well let’s see just how many fall into one or more of the following areas where the enemy loves to reside. Pride, lust, hate, envy, strife, despair, loss of joy, accumulation of materialism, lying, alcohol abuse, drugs, and one of the most prolific of all is pornography, and this is just to name a few. These are all strong holds which, if allowed to fester, grow into huge problems which become increasingly difficult to combat. Strong holds can become addictions and when finally realized can be next to impossible to eradicate and can lead to death. “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.” James 1:16. 

 

Strong holds erected by the enemy in a believer’s life will bring about a whole lot of unwanted circumstances. Interestingly of late I’ve receive numerous letters regarding various sins that the brethren are stuck in and which are draining them spiritually. Many profess thoughts of being not only out of fellowship with God but unsaved altogether. They can’t seem to kick the addictive sin they are involved in and thus believe they can’t possibly be saved. The enemy loves to move a believer into this camp.

 

To some of you this may seem to be just a trivial matter, perhaps just a lack of faith, but in all actuality it is tearing these individuals up inside. They profess to me their love for God, they tell me they believe He died for them on the cross, and they are sure His word is true. Yet, they find themselves fighting daily just to keep their head above water in a world where they seem to be drowning in unending distractions which have disastrous consequences. I believe programmed television is one of the main distractions available and highly accepted by believers in Christ, and yet completely promoted by Satan himself. This is a stronghold that many, certainly the majority, of Christians are addicted with.

 

Encouraging believers to hold fast to the faith and to help them cope with besetting sins has now become the main part of my response ministry. The majority of questions that I receive are from folks who find themselves dwelling in an arena that seems escape proof. Simply put, the enemy has become entrenched and he isn’t moving out anytime soon. I’m convinced that there is a huge shortage of sermons on the subject of eternal salvation these days which is in part the cause of so much negativity regarding a believer’s security in Christ. Of course a good Bible study program would be much more beneficial to believers than most Sunday sermons. 

 

As a people of the Book, the body of Christ, and a nation built on Christian principles we’ve certainly allowed the enemy a huge platform for disseminating his agenda. We are now a nation that produces and distributes the filth of pornography worldwide. Children at a very young age are now able to access this vile internet filth and their minds are being filled with images that will never be erased. This goes for the majority of television programming as well. This is a huge, ever entrapping and completely engulfing enemy strong hold. America is also the biggest supplier of legal abortions to the world. Another enormous strong hold held by the enemy.

 

We teach and encourage atheism in our public schools and then we send our graduates off to achieve excellence in higher academia where they get fully grafted into this atheistic culture. We allow the perversion of homosexuality to be condoned and those who practice such perversion to assimilate into our culture as if this lifestyle was natural.

 

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; …Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,… For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.” Romans 1:18,22,26-27. The word “meet” here means “it is necessary”. God says “it is necessary” for these men and women to pay for their offense against Him.

 

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6. Our very young are easily swayed so they are taught that this horrible evil of perverted lifestyle is fully acceptable and they are even encouraged to participate in this perversion. “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” Romans 1:32.

 

Yes, enemy strong holds are well established and flourishing in America today, and not only in America but across the entire globe. I receive letters from folks in many different nations who are currently in horrible battles with the enemy and they feel they are losing. Instead of turning away from their addictions through prayer and fasting they’ve allowed the enemy to have his way.

 

Satan affects the life of all the world’s citizenry because each human being is influenced in some adverse way by the enemy’s strong holds. Here in America these strong holds are affecting believers by the score because of their perceived attractiveness. But unlike many Americans who are defenseless against such satanic strong holds, believers have a weapon of immense portion that they are free to access at will. It is a very powerful weapon which stands ready to be deployed at a believer’s beck and call. We have God Almighty on our side. We have His word and we have been covered by the perfect shed Blood of His only begotten Son. He supplies us with the protection we need.

 

As America moves ever closer to completely rejecting God as their provider and granter of blessings, this nation becomes more vulnerable to the enemy’s entrapments. More and more as we watch our society’s failings because of the perverse nature of our surroundings we will see God’s hand of restraint being lifted. Enemy strong holds will increase as God is decreased. Like I said, most military officers schooled in warfare will tell you how difficult it is to eradicate an enemy entrenched in their own strong holds. Again Afghanistan must come to mind, but unlike the Taliban and Al-Qaeda our enemy commands many more strong holds and which are far better established. To eradicate this enemy is going to take an ultimate commander, the King of Kings, to do battle for us.

 

Only God can remove this enemy’s strong holds but He will not act without our willing participation. Folks I’ve said it before, only through God’s intervention will our country survive and only through the ardent prayers of God’s children will He act. You and I are the voices God wants to hear; His own children voicing their concerns through the only mode of communication He’ll accept.

 

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:11. As we put on our armor which God so graciously provided, our huge and protective piece of armor is prayer, fervent unfettered prayers of a righteous people called by His name.

 

It is our responsibility as believers in Christ to act and to ask God for help. If we stay silent we will reap what we’ve sown through our silence. The silence of the believers sows enemy strong holds not only in our individual lives but across our nation and around the world. The enemy is already here and entrenched and it is up to us to mount a counterattack against those “principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” Ephesians 6:12.

 

Whether it is individual believers being attacked or the Body of Christ as a whole we are all equally capable as a part of that body in being proactive participants in a battle that rages 24/7. We are not many bodies all working apart from one another but one body in Christ. We gave up our individuality when we became born again. What affects one of us affects all of us. If one of our brethren is being attacked and destroyed by the enemy, we are all being attacked and if we do nothing we will all learn a most horrible lesson.

 

But if we become involved as a body, as a force wielding the power of God against strong holds, God will command His Holy angels to fight our battle for us. The only question now is will we give God the proper motivation to unleash His Holy army on the much inferior enemy, or will we stay silent? I’m for speaking up, how about you?

 

God bless you all,

 

Ron Graham

twotug@embarqmail.com

All scripture is from the KJV and God breathed