DISARMING THE ENEMY
by George Mallone

The revival known as "The Great Awakening" began in 1734 in the northeast of
the United States. It began through the preaching of Jonathan Edwards. He
studied and practiced revival in the church and was familiar with the ways
the enemy has of opposing the work of the Holy Spirit.

In one of his writings titled "The Marks That Distinguish a Work of the
Spirit of God", Edwards wrote about the strategies the enemy uses to try to
stop the advance of the Kingdom of God. He said that any revival of holiness
and spiritual power will automatically produce a wave of opposition. Edwards
listed five tactics the enemy uses to try to hinder a new move of God:

1 - Satan furiously opposes any new work of God.
2 - He causes many to be misinformed and to spread false things about the
new move.
3 - He causes many to become offended because they have not personally
experienced the renewing.
4 - He causes many to become jealous because they are not used as
instruments in the new move.
5 - He causes many to become scandalized because the revival confirms
principles that they cannot accept.

In Acts 4:1-22 we see in operation these five tactics of the enemy in the
early church. Satan tried his best to stop the fragile Christian movement
right from the begining. He instigated external persecution as well as
internal dissention and confusion in the church.

Today millions of people are coming to Christ. The world is experiencing a
great move of the Spirit of God and because of this we are seeing war in the
spirituals intensify.

The enemy would seem to be moving his forces to attack the work of God all
over the world. But if Christians were aware of, and understood these five
strategies of the enemy, we would be able to disarm those attacks when they
came.

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