Engaging the Enemy

Yesterday, I thought long and hard about the words to two songs written by Bill and Gloria Gaither. “Let Freedom Ring” and “It Is Finished.” Both talk of the sacrifice of Jesus and what it means for us as human beings. Now, if you’re not a Christian and don’t believe all of the stuff about the Bible, Jesus and God, you probably won’t care to read what follows because you won’t understand what I’m talking about. And even if you are a Christian or an adherent, you may not quite understand why I am so worked up right now.
A few lines of “Let Freedom Ring” go like this:

God built freedom into every fiber of creation
And He meant for us to all be free and whole
When my Lord bought freedom with the blood of His redemption
His cross stamped pardon on my very soul
Let freedom ring down through the ages from a hill called Calvary
Let freedom ring wherever hearts know pain
Let freedom echo through the lonely streets where prisons have no key
You can be free and you can sing let freedom ring

Lines from “It Is Finished” read this way:

There's a line that is drawn through the ages
On that line stands an old rugged cross
On that cross, a battle is raging
To gain a man's soul or it's loss
On one side, march the forces of evil
All the demons, all the devils of hell
On the other, the angels of glory
And they meet on Golgotha's hill

These songs, along with a host of verses out of the Bible, talk of a spiritual battle that takes place for the hearts and souls of humans. This war rages in a realm about which we know very little, but I believe is real, nevertheless. Once in a while, the battle breaks out into our three dimensional existence and we can see not only the effect, but sometimes even the agony of the war within.
Such has been the case recently with several of the girls. The evil one has chosen some of the most vulnerable people on the planet within which to wage a war that continues to torture them far beyond what they should have to bear. These girls have already suffered mightily from the effects of the evil one’s actions on others as those others abused and mistreated these girls in some way. Now this same evil one comes to the setting of a Christian children’s home to continue the war. Up until now, the girls have been fighting back virtually alone. No more.
I haven’t been this angry in years. Yesterday as I sat at the computer and listened to the Gaither Vocal Band sing “Let Freedom Ring” on the DVD and called up the lyrics to “It Is Finished”, I clenched my jaw, shed tears, and made fists. It was all I could do to keep from crying out loud and breaking something. There’s something fundamentally wrong with leaving the most vulnerable on their own to fight a certain losing battle for their own souls and for the soul of the society in which they exist.
And these girls are only a microcosm of what is “out there”. I know why the world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket. It seems that way because it is that way. But God works through me to positively affect the lives of the girls who come our way. I’m engaging the enemy. I’m making a difference. I’m fighting along with the girls and with other like-minded Christians. I’m in this together with King of Creation.
The evil one wants to fight…I’ll take him up on that…gladly. I’m not going to let these girls face him alone.