Christians can be sure that “until the last day you live on this earth, you and I are going to be attacked by Satan,” said the founder of In Touch Ministries, during a live Sept. 7 simulcast to launch his new book, “When the Enemy Strikes.”
“The only way we are going to have victory over that is if we understand what God says about these things,” said Dr. Charles Stanley, who is also the pastor of a 15,000-member church in Atlanta.
In his new book, Stanley says the primary enemy Christians face is Satan. He says that although some people assume that their past thoughts and habits “would all go away” once they become Christian they don’t. In fact, the opposite happens, according to Stanley.
“The holier your walk, the godlier you live, the more intense it will be his attacks on you,” said the author during his book-launching event at his recently completed World Training Center in Atlanta.
Citing to Ephesians 6, Stanley said that while Christians could not “prevent Satan from sending these arrows” and attacks of temptation, they could defend themselves by knowing the strategy of Satan’s attacks.
He said Satan’s strategy consists of three things: He attacks the mind, directs the attacks toward some legitimate need Christians have but entice them to meet the need through some other method than God’s way, and attacks at a time when Christians are the weakest.
However, Satan has his limit, said Stanley. “Satan does not have the power. Satan cannot posses you. He cannot destroy you.”
But in everything, God is the one who controls the temptation’s intensity, duration, blessing which follows after a person has survived the temptation, he said.
Stanley has also embarked on a book-signing tour and was interviewed by several radio stations on the release of his new book. His broadcasts are translated in 59 other languages, reaching an estimated 3 billion people worldwide.
For more information on “When the Enemy Strikes,” visit In Touch Ministries Web site, www.intouch.org.
