Tearing Down Strongholds

Richard A. Webster

Description

Insights in spiritual warfare. The author shares some of the things learned, as young workers have been taking the gospel into unreached areas in Taiwan where powers of darkness have held sway for centuries. The insights gained there will inspire and instruct God’s soldiers wherever they seek to penetrate enemy strongholds.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Living
• Philosophie et théologie
• Worship
• Spiritual Warfare

Informations

• Publié par: William Carey Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 juin 1990
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781645081463
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 30 Mo

Extrait

1
DISCOVERING THE STRONGHOLDS
Forty years ago, with my wif and ten-month-old son, I
walked up the gagplank of the Marine Adr to begin te jour­
ney toward my missiona career in China. Afer only a little
more than two yeas, the Communists reached our wester prov­
ince of Szechwan, and the bulk of our ministry ground to a halt.
Nearly two years passed befre we managed to gain our exit ad
retur to the States. During tose months we were introduced to
a good deal of the unpleasat side of missionary lif. But that is a
separate story of its own. Being young and undaunted, we were
soon back on the sea waves, headed fr Taiwa, te land of fee
China. By this time, we had added two little daughters to our
family.
The goal of our missionary endeavors fom the beginning,
had been to reach Chinese students fr the Lord, especially col­
lege students. For it was during my own time as a student at the
Chistian Fellowship of the University of Califria at Berkeley,
that I had made my greatest spurt of spiritual growth, met my
wif, and received the Lord's call to work overseas. Even today,
there ae seven of my fellow classmates fom that group who still
contribute to our missionary support.
In Taiwan we fund a fw of the churches thriving, and te
students quite ripe fr gospel ministry. We began some English­
Chinese Bible classes as an attaction, and soon were of to a
good stat. After a fw years of this elementary beginning, te
Lord brought along a keen Chinese InterVarsity staff worker who
helped to develop student-led cell groups throughout the island,
and the student work took another great stride frward. Then ca­
tastrophe struck our family. My wif came down with malignant
cancer, and after a brave but prolonged battle of many monts,
5 3
PREPARING FOR BATTLE
As I was visiting with a friend who had just retured fom a
year abroad, he told me of a beautifl pictur he had seen painted
on the wall behind the pulpit in one of the churches he had at­
tended. It was te scene of Mt. Calva with its three crosses. At
te fot of the center cross lay the body of a serent with its head
crushed. My friend indicated that the congregation much a­
preciated this scene because it gave them the relaxed feeling that
Satan has been demolished and that we do not have to wory
about him aymor.
It would be nice if tis were really true. Our lives and our
world be very diferent if it were so. I myself lived most
of my Christia life subconsciously assuming it to be te. But in
recent years, as I hae become involved in some "font line" mis­
sionary wor in the villages of Taiwa, I a discovering tat te
real truth presents a far diferent picture. I a fnding that the
Evil One, the Adversa, is involved in a lot more situations tha
we tend to give him credit fr. Sometimes we hea this fct be­
littled by comments about "those who would find the devil be­
hind every bush." He may not hide in bushes, but he and his frc­
es ae certainly present ad active wherever human lif is fund.
"The whole world is under the control of the Evil One" (1 Jn.
5:19).
We ae not contending that all the blame be put on Sata,
fr sometimes it is our own sinful fesh which is our enemy. (It is
well to recognize, however, tat Satan considers our sinfl nature
to be his best ally.) What we ae seeking to do in tis chapter is
to open eyes ad prepare hearts fr the confict which is con­
tinually going on around us, ad which will increase in intensity
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