I heard Pastor Sergey, who has chosen to stay on in Ukraine evangelising and praying for people, say 'There are no atheists in warzones' today. He remarked that the 9 storey building across the road from his bomb shelter had previously never been receptive to hearing what the Bible had to say but today, following the Russian invasion, people from that building are seeking him out to hear what the Bible has to say.
I met a man this week who street preaches. He goes from one part of Sydney with a little soapbox and he shouts out the message that you are going to hell if you don’t repent and turn to Jesus. He doesn’t belong to any particular church but preaches and prays for people to be saved and he sees people coming to Jesus on a very regular basis.
These 2 events may seem unrelated but it occurred to me that they are similar. One is in a warzone with the sound of bombs and artillery being heard all around him and the other has identified the warzone that we are all in. In one case the people can see the warfare, but in the other only the spiritually alert are aware.
Both warzones are equally real and dangerous. One warzone leads to the cessation of mortal existence while the other warzone heralds your entry into either eternal life with Jesus or eternal condemnation in hell. The spiritual warzone is of far more crucial importance in your life than any physical warzone will ever be.
This is how Paul described that spiritual warzone:
“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12 NLT).
Nothing can be plainer than that. We aren’t fighting flesh and blood. We aren’t fighting anything in us or even anything that we can see but we are fighting an external power in the spiritual realm, a dark and evil force that is like a lion looking for someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8). So much of the Bible is devoted to teaching us about this deceiving force that we do well to heed what the Bible says lest we fall victim to theft and destruction (John 10:10).
There may be no atheists in a warzone but I might also add that there are no atheists in the spiritual realm! “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror” (James 2:19 NLT).
Be alert and be very aware of Satan's schemes (2 Cor. 2:11) for it really is a warzone and a matter of your life and death.