Line Upon Line

Revelation 12:7-12 (NKJV)
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.''

A Box Office Smash!

Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, now appears destined to become one of the most successful movies ever made. Today, it stands at #46 of the top grossing movies of all time at the U.S. box office. Ticket sales could reach the $400 million mark, surpassing Spiderman, which presently holds the #5 position. (The all-time record in U.S. ticket sales is held by Titanic, with $600 million.)

Gibson's portrayal of the last hours of Jesus' life, His suffering, and His crucifixion, has become an unexpected and unprecedented cultural phenomenon. Making the movie was not easy, however. There were many unusual challenges during filming and production that caused Gibson to question whether the project would ever be completed. In an interview with Christianity Today editor, David Neff, Mr. Gibson recalled the spiritual battles he encountered while making the film.

Neff: "At the July screening and in an EWTN interview, you talked about spiritual warfare. What kinds of attacks did you experience during the filming?"

Gibson: "Well you know, there's technological nightmares that crop up, complications that block certain things. And the closer you are to a breakthrough point, the more vigorous it gets, so that you know when the opposition is at its greatest, you're close and that you have to keep pressing on. That happened a number of times, and it's happened a number of times since. Post-production has been more difficult than production. Post-production has been brutal: crashing computers, you name it, it's happened. It's kind of a mechanical weirdness. Whoa! The world goes into revolt."

Neff: "So you think there are spiritual forces resisting this project?"

Gibson: "Oh, of course. But that's the big picture, isn't it? The big realms are slugging it out. We're just the meat in the sandwich. And for some reason we're worth it. I don't know why, but we are."

The Spiritual Battle Continues

A.W. Tozer described the on-going battle between God and Satan, in an article he wrote while editor of Alliance Life magazine.

"There are two spirits in the earth, the Spirit of God and the spirit of Satan, and these are at eternal enmity. The ostensible cause of religious hatred may be almost anything; the true cause is nearly always the same: the ancient animosity which Satan, since his inglorious fall, has ever felt toward God and His kingdom. Satan is aflame with desire for unlimited dominion over the human family; and whenever that evil ambition is challenged by the Spirit of God, he invariably retaliates with savage fury.

"The world hated Jesus without a cause. In spite of their fantastic charges against Him, Christ's contemporaries found nothing in either His doctrines or His deeds to rouse in them such unreasonable anger as they constantly displayed toward Him. They hated Him, not for anything He said or did, but for what He was.

"It is possible within the provisions of redemptive grace to enter into a state of union with Christ so perfect that the world will instinctively react toward us exactly as it did toward Him in the days of His flesh.

"Satan will never cease to make war on the Man-child, and the soul in which dwells the Spirit of Christ will continue to be the target for his attacks." (from The Warfare of the Spirit: Developing Spiritual Maturity, a collection of Tozer's editorials, compiled by Harry Verploegh)

Satan has sought to discredit and destroy Jesus since the day the Christ-child was born into this world. Now, the followers of Christ are the chief objects of Satan's mad obsession. In my March 7 weblog entry, "Counter-Attack: A Response to The Passion of the Christ," I wrote:

"I've noticed a disturbing pattern of spiritual attacks on believers over the past couple of weeks. I'm convinced this is a counter-attack by Satan against God's children--a calculated response to the phenomenal success of Mel Gibson's film, The Passion of the Christ."

There has been an escalation of the spiritual battle and demonic attacks against the people of God. This is Satan's answer to the all of the talk and attention that's being given to Jesus recently (The Devil is a very jealous creature, you know). I remind you of these things, so you might remain on guard--quick to recognize and resist any attacks of the enemy.

The Next Great Awakening?

As I've observed increasing wickedness, sinfulness, and lawlessness in the world, I've thought one of two things would likely happen soon: either God would say, "Enough!", and send His Son back to the earth to shut this whole mess down--or, there would be another "Great Awakening"--a revival that would transform America and the world, and usher hundreds of thousands into the Kingdom of God. With all of the renewed interest in Jesus, which has been sparked by The Passion of the Christ, this might well be the beginning of such a revival of righteousness, and a spiritual awakening like the world has never known.

Now, that, my friend, is an exciting thought!

think on these things...

Isaiah 59:19 (NKJV)
So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun; when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.

Luke 10:18,19 (NKJV)
And He [Jesus] said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."

You can read the Mel Gibson interview with David Neff and Jane Johnson Struck here.