In a previous article Puritans and Demons I noted that Puritans identified many ways in which Christians are attacked by the devil. In that article I covered two examples (Devices and Remedies) from William Spurstowe. The Puritans had much more to say about Spiritual Warfare; so here’s some More Puritans and Demons.
One of the most important things they highlighted was the subtlety of the devil. Contemporary Theologian-Apologist Scott Oliphint (The Battle Belongs to the Lord) points out that, in Genesis 3, Satan didn’t come out in a “straight-forward way to destroy all that was good.” The serpent didn’t say, “Choose whom you will serve – Satan or the Lord God!” He was able to get Eve to question God’s love and motive.
Oliphint writes:
The serpent was able, in asking the question [Gen 3:1-4], to manipulate Eve’s own concerns…He was able to question God’s command to her. First came the question, then the blatant opposition. Only after getting Eve “on his wavelength,” so to speak, was he able to present to her the “other” option: “You will not surely die” (3:4). ~ page 48
My entire New Age experience was encapsulated with the question: “Did God really say?” I was the slow-boiling frog. The water was heated very gradually. By the time I got boiled…well, let’s just say that some of my thinking still shames me to this day.
In much the same way modern so-called Progressive Christianity is subject to the original satanic deception. One article on Progressive “Christianity” exposes some of the beliefs progressive Christians have arrived at, and some orthodox ones they deny. For instance, a female pastor declared:
I get divorced, like the most amicable divorce you can imagine… But I get together with my boyfriend and start having sex…it felt like an exfoliation of my whole spirit. I’m like ‘This is so good for my brain chemistry, and my body, and my heart…why in the world would the Church say ‘Don’t do this?’ Like I could tell it was what I needed, and it was so good.
It was also good from Eve’s perspective to eat the fruit of the tree contra God’s explicit instructions, until after the fact that is. The pastor’s example happens in an environment where God’s word has been subtly and systematically downgraded until professing Christians enthrone themselves as adjudicators of what’s right and wrong. Progressive Christianity is becoming progressively more rebellious.
For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them. Eph 5:5-7
Spurstowe’s Device 1 states that Satan leads men from lesser sins to greater ones. A small sin is like the priming of a post which sets it up for more colors to be painted onto it. Beeke and Jones (The Puritans on Demons) note that, “Small sins leach away our fear of God and hatred of sin.”
The Remedy: Quite simply, Spurstowe warned not to give place to the devil (Eph 4:27) to begin with. He said, “If you let the serpent’s head into your house, his whole body will follow.” Pretty graphic isn’t it? Hasn’t that happened to the progressive element above – if something feels so good it cannot be a sin?
In Device 4 Spurstowe tells us that the devil clothes evil with false appearances (Isaiah 5:20). Satan dyes sin with the colors of virtue – e.g., greed becomes frugality and lukewarmness becomes moderation. Social Justice Concerns begin to take precedence over the gospel; abortion is just health care etc, etc.
The devil paints God with his own colors. Satan represents God as envious and malicious as he is himself. He seduces people into doctrinal error through false teachers and preying on the victim’s own lusts (Gal 3:1; 2 Tim 4:1-4; 2 Peter 2:1).
The remedy is that we must love the truth of the Bible. Spurstowe wrote:
In resisting temptations, make use of Christ as a pattern… Observe the weapon Christ chose to foil him by, and to resist all the temptations of Satan with. He could as easily, by His power, have rebuked and silenced him as He did the wind and waves, but He did it by the Word.
We must not place confidence in ourselves. Beeke and Jones add:
So study the Scriptures and “get a skill in the Word” to apply it well. If the powers of Satan are as formidable as the walls of Jericho, realize that preachers [and believers] of the Holy Scriptures are God’s trumpets to cast the devil’s kingdom to the ground.
Of course we premillennialists understand that Satan’s kingdom won’t be toppled until Christ’s premillennial return. The church cannot do it. There’s also much more which could have been said. But the message should be very clear by now.
The consistent admonitions delivered by the Puritans are to never underestimate the wiles, power and seduction of the devil and his demons. Yet let’s also remember that The Battle Belongs to the Lord and we fight the devil with God’s Word, wearing The Complete Armor of God.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Eph 6:11-12
Maranatha!
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