The Enemy

I had a dream last night - and it was intense!

I dreamed of a military camp. Now, here's where I'll have to beg pardon from all of my dear military friends and their wives - I know little about proper military terminology so you'll just have to overlook that part in my telling, please and thank you!

Now this troop was facing an unknown evil - a murderer had found its way into their midst and was killing off the men who were outside of the camp. In my dream, I had two perspectives, I was following the action of a group of soldiers who were making their way back to base camp, but also the thoughts of the killer himself - as though reading a book written from his perspective. The group of soldiers came upon a tiny encampment outside of the walls of the base camp. Every one of these camped outside the walls was dead. And the scene was meticulous and grisly (trust me, I saw it in my dream!). The most interesting thing, however, was that none of the men were in a defensive position of any kind - as though they had not expected whomever they saw to attempt to cause them any harm.

At this point, I had my first bit of narrative from the mind of the killer - "Of course they didn't expect me. I am a commanding officer! When they see me approach, there is nothing but respect and trust. No one will ever suspect me!" (insert maniacal laughter here).

The group of soldiers moves on (they don't have the privilege of hearing the voice over). As they continue along the trail, they find three more soldiers down, killed, and wrapped in some sort of cocoon (strange, I know).

Further voice over: "Those idiots, everyone of them, they suspect a cadet [I'm not sure what they're really called, I'm sorry], the lowest on the totem pole, of these atrocities. They insult my intelligence. How could they ever think such a peon could cause such destruction?"

Suddenly the soldiers see movement in the trees below - it's him! They see a man in some sort of Darth Vader ensemble (don't ask!), but rustic looking as though made from twigs and branches. They run for their lives. He gives chase. They get closer to the base camp, leaping over the barbed wire walls. The protectors of the camp witness the pursuer and aim. He is shot, only grazed, really, but tumbles to the ground as his mask falls off. As he rises and all present see his face, they laugh.

He has been right all along. There is no way anyone would suspect him of any serious crime. Everyone assumes his chasing the soldiers was merely a prank - to ease the tensions everyone is feeling about the true terror laying outside the walls. No one knows.

And then I woke up. A little scared. And then I realized what I'd just seen.

The Killer was Satan.

We, as soldiers of Christ, have safety inside the walls God has built for us - our hedge of protection. But we so like to wander outside those walls, and even set up our own little camps for awhile. And then the enemy comes.

We don't recognize him at first - he was once an angel, after all, and he is beautiful. And he knows what we want and knows just how to draw us in. We never see it coming.

And when we do realize the terror lurking outside the camp, we turn the blame on each other. Allowing bitterness and anger to build up against men, even against fellow Christians at times - suspecting they are the cause for the troubles in our lives - forgetting all along that our "enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

It's not a joke. He's not just teasing us. He's not just a big bully who wants to mess a few things up. Y'all, he wants to kill us! Nothing would make him happier than to see us dead.

And we don't think about it. Half the time we forget he's even there. But he doesn't forget about us. He's waiting for us to wander his way.

We need to be on the alert. When he plants the seeds of anger and bitterness, we need to call him on it and declare we will have none of it.

I've read the end of the story; I know who wins - and we need to call on our Protector to hedge us in.

It's not a game - we need to be ready to fight!

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12