“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.” Ephesians 5:11-12 NKJV
Spiritual strongholds are conflicts, stances and ideas opposed to God’s intentions. The MAGA sect we see today did not come about just from the election of 2016 but it has developed from spiritual strongholds that have been developing for generations. Most Christians would agree that the Democratic Party have been the biggest promoters of darkness in the United States. Their ideologies are contrary to the will and purposes of God. Christians are being targeted. Also many of Democratic Party values are being pushed onto our children through media, education, entertainment, etc. For a long time the Republican Party was seen as the party of family values, morality and promoting the works of righteousness. Satan’s attack is to create division and to get God’s children to be divided full of strife, fear, envy and hatred.
Satan’s temptation is to cause us to have fellowship with darkness. Satan does not want his practices exposed. Paul tells us that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and strongholds. God has given us weapons that are not carnal but mighty in pulling down these strongholds. Satan does not want us to utilize these weapons but continues to build strongholds. So we can see that as wickedness increased in our nation, the temptation to join forces with others to protect our rights also increased. Satan was able to use fear to cause many to take their eyes off of God and find another means to protect their values.
As the far right political rhetoric rose up against the left, many Christians found a group that shared a common enemy. Many on the far right were able to speak freely what many Christians could not say. Political correctness silenced many people from speaking out against the immorality of this nation. So some in the church made alliances with this group despite their history of hate speech and violence. For a while this alliance was with only a small fraction of the church and had been done in darkness for generations.
Publicly, issues of abortion, the economy, family values were promoted and to the church at large. However, in the darkness more sinister ideas are being spoken. It was not just the immorality they opposed but there existed a deep hatred for certain people groups and fear that they would lose power. To appeal to the greater population they begin to talk about how jobs were being sent overseas, foreigners were taking their jobs, favoritism was given to minority groups, protests were unAmerican, etc. Suddenly people began to become the enemy and they became the target, not the policies promoting wickedness.
In politics many Christians wanted leaders who were morally upright and feared God. However, even those leaders were not able to bring about the change they wanted. These leaders appeared weak and incapable of making change. Many leaders were simply giving into the will of the people.
The church which is still mostly segregated in this country began to witness more division along racial lines and denominations. Our purposes were diverting away from the Gospel and the ways of God. There was a time when we were united in prayer but as the various political ideaologies were voiced by the nation the church also began to take sides. Prayer seemed ineffective because the liberal agenda was spreading and Christians were constantly under attack. Most in the church want to see this nation change but we do not agree on what needs to be changed and the best method to use. This is the opening that Satan uses to get us to focus on our differences and not realize the power we have against all demonic forces. We became carnally minded.
So the teachings of turning the other cheek, praying for our enemies, loving others was not working because those with opposing political views hated us and anything that had to do with God. Their agenda was quickly advancing so some decided to align with the enemies of the left, a deal was made with the children of darkness. However, these alliances were still done in darkness. Also there was still a lack of cohesiveness with this emerging group because there was no one to lead the charge. There was an agreement on the enemy but who would lead their cause and help destroy the works of their enemies? Some Christians even stated they were not looking for another Christian but someone that would fight for their rights. They said we have Jesus as our Savior but we needed a strong man to stop our enemies.
We must remember that light has no fellowship with darkness. If we want to effect change we must do it according to God’s plan. It is important that we expose darkness in all areas of politics. We should not focus on just one stronghold and ignore the others.
Reflections 