The flanking maneuver is a time-tested technique on the battlefield. It has been successfully employed in many battles and if properly executed with ample surprise, is very effective in warfare. The surprise and deception of such a maneuver contributes immensely to its effectiveness. When an enemy is focused on an aspect of the battle, especially caught up in a head-on battlefront, he can be susceptible to defeat by surprise from unexpected directions and/or from undefended areas such as the flanks, or ends, of his columns. We can get so caught up in our abhorrence of in-your-face evil, we can get distracted from unexpected tactics, and our tendency to allow our anger to become hate is one that leaves us open to an insidious defeat if we aren’t careful.

The enemy has been around for a long, long time. He is wiser than us, but not wiser than our Master. Those who do not know or care to know the Creator, are destined to be a type of pawn of the enemy, even though they may consider themselves to be good, upright people. The enemy knows well that if people reject Jesus Christ that he already has a certain amount of control over them, it’s just a matter of how much of a toll he wants to exact on them in the meanwhile and creating situations that foment hatred in decent people is just one of the many ways he does battle. As far as Christians are concerned, one of our less defended areas may be our control, or lack thereof, of our anger.

For instance, we all see what’s going on in Gaza, and most of us rightfully are disgusted by the murder of innocent people. Now the kind of people who support the genocide going on over there are already in Satan’s firm control, so that’s a whole nuther issue, but this post addresses folks who are repulsed by it. The problem comes in for us when we allow ourselves to hate these people doing the murder who are so completely under the control of the enemy. That’s his plan – to use his servants to perform evil, but equally as important, to invoke hatred from onlookers, because even though we are totally against what they are doing, we fall into his trap by hating them for it. When that happens, he wins on both sides of the battle, he controls those who commit murder, and when otherwise good people see the gross injustice and unmerciful treatment and allow hatred into their hearts, he has them where he wants them as well. That’s why Jesus admonishes us to love our enemies, to prevent us from falling victim to Satan by allowing hatred into our hearts. This may well be one of the most difficult things to avoid, even for good people.

Satan has complete control of many very wealthy people here in our country, who in turn have gained control of the leadership through bribery and extortion with the riches Satan has entrusted to them. These “elite” servants of Satan are the same ones who own all of our media organizations. They also own Hollywood and have tremendous influence over the content of entertainment, thus are able to influence many who are unaware of the power that entertainment has over their world views. When people see filth and violence, they tend to believe that because so many people are entertained by such, it must be ok. Of course, the wealthy do not see themselves as such, but in the grand scheme, they are no more than simple pawns for Satan to use as he sees fit – and destroy when the time is right. Animosity towards them is growing steadily as more and more citizens come to realize the degree to which they are manipulated and propagandized. For now, suffice it to say, the wealthy elites mentioned here generally support the genocide of the Palestinians, so their influence over our politicians tends to make them support what’s going on as well.

These same wealthy people completely own all but a precious and exemplary few members of our government and its institutions, especially including the military. They decide who gets to run for president, and it’s well known by now that no one can become president of the United States without showing proper fealty to them. There are required demonstrations of obeisance for a presidential candidate in the US nowadays and we’ve seen them. The same fealty demonstrated through various other rituals, is to be expected from legislators and from the benches of this country as well.

It looks as though Satan’s plan is to allow some light to shine on these individuals so that everyone sees who’s behind the evil that is apace in our country and the world. A lot of this has been practiced behind the curtain up to now, but normal citizens, including Christians who let their guard down, are starting to see who’s behind the rampant evil. That in itself is a good thing, but the enemy intends to use that knowledge to our destruction by causing us to hate these people. His wealthy servants? Sure, they don’t give it any thought, but he’ll drop them like a hot potato when it suits his purpose even though they are smug for now in the deception of their master’s loyalty. A perfect example is the French revolution and what happened to the elites of that day. The revolution itself may have been successful, but the devil won out when Louis and Marie were executed, because that resulted from the hatred he fomented and the ensuing sinful violence it caused among the French peasantry.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that as Christians we have to be careful to stay above the fray and not allow ourselves to be sucked into the maelstrom of hatred and violence that is bound to happen as the servants of evil are revealed. When we do that, we unintentionally do the bidding of the evil one and allow him to win a carefully conceived battle he planned out long ago and is once again setting up right now. We can certainly – and have a Christian duty to – disapprove of the evil that is going on, but we have to do it without falling into the trap of allowing hatred into our hearts, because when that happens, he wins both ways. Even though I firmly believe that Heaven will be an expansive place, nevertheless, there won’t be any room for hatred there.

Hate the sin but love the sinner. Pray for them – all of them, the oppressed, but just as importantly, the oppressors. It’s hard to do, but we have to give it our best shot, and with Jesus’ help we can prevail.

May God’s blessings find and keep us all in these trying times.

MK