THE ENEMY BEHIND THE ENEMY

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Today is September 11.  9/11.  That date...those numbers, will never be the same again, will they?  Just mention the term 9-11 to anyone in America and their demeanor changes.  Two little numbers that changed our lives forever.  The day we realized we had an enemy.  Oh, we kind of knew it before...but it wasn't anything that caused us fear.  It was something that was a world away from us.  But, that day it became personal.  That day it became real.  That day it landed on our shore.  That day people, not in military garb, who volunteered, who trained, who were in the middle of a desert...not people who wanted to fight, but people just like you and me were brought into the fray.  Just regular Americans going about their lives, heading to work, just like they'd done the day before and would do the day after...people just like you and me were killed.  On our soil.  In our home.  And suddenly, everything changed and nothing would ever be the same again.  WE had an enemy.  Not the United States..but, you and me.  Fred and Sally and Dave and Debbie.  Me, my next-door neighbor, you.  WE had an enemy we didn't have the day before.  Everything changed.  Nothing would ever be the same.

So, who is our enemy?  Is it Al-Qaeda?  Radical Islam?  Militant Jihadists?  Who are the bad guys?  The enemy?  The Boogie-Man?  As much as we'd like to think we have a brand new enemy that had been messing with us up until September 11, but somehow declared all-out war on us that day, the reality is our enemy is the same enemy that's been around since time began.  When you start talking about Satan, the devil, etc., some people go "Yeah!", while others go "Whoa!".  Whatever you're response may be, I hope you understand that there is an enemy behind our enemy.  Whatever form they  may take...guys flying planes into buildings, child-abusers, corrupt politicians, the seductress who's out to get your husband, the list goes on and on and on...the reality is, they aren't the enemy.  We have an enemy that's bigger and badder and more cunning than all these folks, and who uses them to do his dirty work.

Ben-Laden may be dead, but our enemy is alive and well and "roaming like a lion to see who he may devour".  Don't become so consumed by the "enemy", that you fail to see the real enemy behind the enemy.  We have to remember that our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with spiritual forces.  With the same enemy that Jesus defeated.  Recognize the real enemy is the enemy behind the enemy.


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