We are tempted to despair when we feel Satan attacking us and our churches, as we do these days. We wonder when he stirs up conflict among Christians why we can't all just get along. But His attacks on the church and her people are the highest compliment he can possibly pay. He wouldn't bother to attack the church if she weren't faithful to her Lord's teaching. The United States would never consider attacking, say Belize, in a war of conquest, because Belize, as nice as it is, has nothing that the United States would want to own. Satan wants to overthrow the divine truth whenever and wherever he can. The church where the truth is proclaimed he will always attack.

Two of God's junior angels were being assigned to keep watch over two churches. Their angelic supervisor took them to see where they were being assigned by God. When they came to the first church there they saw one lazy-looking devil, who was reclining on the steeple of the church. This was where one of the angels was assigned. The supervising angel led them on to the second church and when they arrived there the two junior angels were surprised to see the whole exterior of the church seething with devils all howling and hammering on the building. The junior angel assigned to this church lamented to his supervisor: "Oh, why have I been assigned this church rather than the other? This church seems to have some pretty big problems. Look at all those demons attacking it." The supervising angel smiled at him and said, "You have it all wrong. This church faithfully proclaims Christ as the only Savior from sin and is constantly preaching our Master's truth. The other church is lazy and preaches what people want to hear, rather than the Master's truth. Our enemy doesn't have much to do there. Your brother angel has his work cut out for him there."

Satan's attacks against the truth should lead us to be more bold in sharing it, confident that in the end God obtains the victory. Let us not be misled by false belief to be one of those churches where the devil doesn't have much to do. Much of our presently decayed cultural situation is due to the inability of the churches to confess the faith and defend that confession. In many places churches simply capitulated to another cultural entirely: the culture of paganism. Let us envy those whom Satan attacks because they continue to confess the divine truth and never despair when he attacks us for the same. Let us depend on the Lord who promises that the gates of hell shall never prevail against His church.