One reason governments invest the amount of money they do in stealth technology is because they know they can be that much more effective against their enemies if they can enter their space and go undetected.

The Bible is clear in its teachings that we have an ‘enemy’ ...and he is not ‘flesh and blood’, but spiritual in nature (Eph. 6:12). We are admonished to ‘give him no place’ (Eph 4:27), that we are ‘not ignorant of his devices’ (2 Cor. 2:11), and that he ‘goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour’ (1 Pet. 5:8).

Jesus informed us as to what this enemy’s motive or purpose was- to ‘steal, kill, and destroy’ (John 10:10), likening him as a ‘thief’. Jesus also admonished us to ‘watch therefore’...reminding us that if the ‘master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his ‘house’ to be broken into...”(Matt. 24:42-43).

In Matt. 12:43-45, Jesus shares what happens when an ‘unclean spirit goes out of a man’ and begins to wander through ‘dry places seeking rest, and finds none’(43). What do we learn is the thought process of this ‘spirit’ when it comes to maybe returning to the place from which it left or was evicted from? Does he not liken it to a ‘house’ (44)?

Hang with me here, because we have more ‘dots to connect’ and ‘puzzle pieces’ that are coming together to reveal a picture that you probably are not hearing much about in many churches today. And do yourself a favor if you would... lay aside (for now, or put on a mental ‘shelf’) all those well scripted ‘timelines’ we’ve been taught over the years when it comes to ‘eschatology’ and how the ‘end times’ will play out.

We are told in 1 Thess. 5:1-4 that ‘we know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night’ and that we are ‘not in darkness so this Day would overtake us as a thief’. Is it fair to day Paul is assuming ‘we’... are ‘not in darkness’...but ‘walking in the Light as He(Jesus) is in the Light’ (1 John 1:5-7; 2:6)? This was also a caution Jesus gave in John 12:35-36.

Would you please now refer to Revelation 3:1-3 and 16:15. What or how...does Jesus illustrate what His coming will be like in both those passages? Does your Bible use the term ‘thief’? And what again...does a ‘thief’ come to do according to John 10:10?

One more passage now- found in Joel 2. We read about a call to ‘blow the trumpet in Zion (type of the church) and to ‘sound the alarm in His holy mountain’...as the ‘day of the Lord is coming and is at hand’(1). The next ten verses paint out a horrifying picture of how this period of time will unfold...with approaching ‘armies’ as darkness falls and a ‘fire devours before them’. Take your time with this passage and please underline/highlight those verses that pop out to you...but especially vs. 9, where we read how these armies ‘run on the wall and climb into houses and enter windows like a....thief’.

Now let’s go back to the NT and read in Matthew’s gospel, 22:1-7. Jesus shares this parable describing what the kingdom of heaven is like, and how a king has arranged a marriage for his son. Surely, you know by now that there is a ‘church’ or ‘bride’ that Jesus the bridegroom is coming back for, yes? And how is this ‘bride’ described in Eph. 5:26-27?

An interesting thing unfolds in this parable that Jesus relays...and how when the king sends out his servants to call those who are invited...we see a rather alarming attitude manifest amongst these people. They seem indifferent, unconcerned, distracted or preoccupied with other things. We are told in vs. 3-5 they were unwilling to come, making light of this event and how they opted to ‘go their own way’.

What was the response of the king, as Jesus explains in vs. 7? You can read through vs. 14 to see how this plays out, but then go back and read those first 13 verses in Joel 2 one more time, if you would please.

We are told in Daniel 12 that when all this begins to unfold...people will be running ‘to and fro as they increase in knowledge’ (12:4)...but as Paul points out in 2 Tim. 3:5-7...they will have a ‘form of godliness....always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth’. In other words, the ‘wise will be purified and made white and refined, but the wicked will never see nor understand what is happening’ (Dan. 12:8-10). Sounds like what might be happening with those ‘wise and foolish virgins’ in Matt. 25:1-13, or maybe in the parable of the wheat and tares as told in Matt. 13:24-30,36-43.

Where am I going with all this today, you might be asking? Friends...one of the most effective ploys our ‘enemy’ has pulled on the church today...is to convince many that he really does not ‘exist’...or that we need not be concerned with him. We were not told to ‘ignore’ this enemy....but to ‘resist him’ (James 4:7). And only the ones who are ‘abiding under the shadow of the Almighty’ ...or ‘in Christ’...(or in the ‘ark’ perhaps?)...will be spared and/or protected from the harm and destruction that is not only coming...but is here already today (Rom. 1:18;Ps. 91; 1 John 2:3-6; 3:6-9; 5:18).

Just a final thought now, especially for anyone who may be reading here today and is quite skeptical as to whether forces of ‘spiritual darkness’ even truly exist in our world. Back in the time when Jesus was ministering to the multitudes, most of the people knew and openly acknowledged what their suffering was caused by...and the effect ‘unclean spirits’ or ‘demons’ exercised on them and their loved ones. Today...it’s a different story. We are more comfortable to using other ‘labels’, like ‘emotional’ or ‘mental illnesses’. People have ‘psychotic breakdowns’ and 'disorders'; or so we’ve been led to believe.

Now I don’t doubt that many people can suffer from ‘chemical imbalances' or 'genetic flaws‘. But for doubters who find it hard to reckon that ‘demon spirits’ do work among us...how do you explain the pure ‘evil’ that is prevalent today that manifest in so many forms and fashions? How do you explain the evil and wicked darkness that is present in those we label ‘’criminally insane’? What do you suppose is the root behind all the atrocities that are committed against countless multitudes of vulnerable and ‘innocent’ children and people today...around the world? What drives people in torment that they are compelled to do the most unthinkable things?

We are told this ‘enemy comes in like a flood’ (Isa. 59:19)...and how did Jesus describe the ‘climate’ that would precede His return? “as in the days of Noah’...(Matt. 24:37-39). And the ‘flood came and took them all away’...to ‘destruction’? (Luke 17:27). Are you ‘in the ark’...yet? (2 Cor. 13:5)

Still not sure about all this 'devil and demon' talk?  Final thought for today: I've just 'sown a lot of seed' from God's word into your heart.  What did Jesus say often will happen following this practice, in Luke 8:11-12?