"The Enemy"

Like someone said on an old Pogo Comic:

We have met the enemy and they is us!

 

Here's my opinion...no doubt it will tick someone off...

It's because we have more respect for Satan than we do God most of the time. We get REALLY ticked when someone says "Sure as hell" or "What the hell" but we don't say a word about some of the un-biblical things we do and sing in worship. We don't get mad when people worship God with the wrong kid of attitude. We don't get mad when some of our praise songs are grossly man-centered.

It has to do with focus.

 

I have often wondered the same thing - why some folks always call him the Enemy. I think we give him much more credit than he is due. People act like he is omnipresent and omniscient. I heard someone the other day stop and address Satan in the middle of their prayer to God. (something like "And Satan, we bind you, ...you have no authority in this place...") I think sometimes our minds are also part of the enemy issue.

 

Yeah, the 'binding and loosing' thing is a false teaching. It just plays right into the hands of Satan and his cohorts - what a kick they must get out of it. Not only is the believer making an idiot out of himself (to the spirit world), he is blashpheming God to boot, by claiming power and legal ground that belongs only to God.

We are not without power and authority but there is a biblical way to appropriate it, and I don't think it is taught in many places.

 

Actually, it is not giving Satan or the devil more credit than he is due. It is simply recognizing that he is our enemy. Most western/American Christians do not know that we are in war. Satan is called the accuser of the brethren. And he is. He stands against Christians and tries to trip them up any way he can. He desires to destroy the people of God , so we rightly call him the enemy (although a defeated one). Sometimes, ya'll just over analyze things to much.

 

This is just a guess, but maybe some people say The Enemy instead of Satan or the devil because they think that saying Satan might sound too dramatic or even provocative to some people. Some people are intrigued by Satan (big mistake). I'm not sure I'm saying this very well . . . sort of thinking out loud.

 

My pastor uses this term sometimes, but certainly doesn't shy from calling the enemy by name. Satan, the devil, whatever you want to call him, is certainly the enemy. But perhaps some people do not like to say his name because they are superstitious? If he hears his name, he might show up. Or maybe it is from this verse.

Mat 13:39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

 

Well, we don't know that these people never say Satan, just that they use the Enemy a lot, or that it's heard a lot in churches. I don't think it's wrong to say the Enemy, as long as one is not doing it to avoid saying Satan. I vary in my terms when I speak -- sometimes I say Satan, I rarely say the devil (because it's a generic term), and sometimes the Enemy. But I do think I say Satan the most often (this is in public talks).

It could be related to the hell issue -- now that's a topic a lot of Christians shy away from. Saying Satan brings up the idea of hell for many people (both Christian and non-Christian), and so saying the Enemy might seem less controversial. However, it does lend itself to being ambiguous to non-believers.