When lies and false accusations fail to accomplish their ends, the devil and his allies will resort to mockery, intimidation, threats, and fear to derail us from God’s purposes.
When Nehemiah endeavored to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, he encountered every form of satanic resistance and attack. The book of the Bible named after him is one of the best study guides for identifying and countering deception.
King Artaxerxes of Persia authorized Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall. When the Jews under Nehemiah’s command made the decision to take on this prodigious task, here is the first thing Israel’s enemies said.
But when Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard of our plan, they scoffed contemptuously. “What are you doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” they asked. Nehemiah 2:19 (NLT)
This statement contains mockery combined with a false accusation. The last thing these three men wanted to see was Israel return to any sort of strength. But Nehemiah refused to be intimidated. He replied:
...“The God of heaven will help us succeed. We, his servants, will start rebuilding this wall. But you have no share, legal right, or historic claim in Jerusalem.” Nehemiah 2:20 (NLT)
Work was begun immediately resulting in tremendous progress being made.
Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, 2 saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, “What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices? Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap—and charred ones at that?” 3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, remarked, “That stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it!” Nehemiah 4:1-3 (NLT)
The purpose of mockery in demoralization. If the enemy can discourage us, we may stop ourselves, without his having to actively resist in any way. Being made fun of is a powerful weapon. We must steel ourselves against being thought of poorly by others. What others think is not our business.
Nehemiah recognized it as a formidable attack and responded appropriately.
Then I prayed, “Hear us, our God, for we are being mocked. May their scoffing fall back on their own heads, and may they themselves become captives in a foreign land! 5 Do not ignore their guilt. Do not blot out their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in front of the builders.” Nehemiah 4:4-5 (NLT)
If mockery fails to accomplish its objective, God’s enemies will escalate things.
But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious. 8 They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion. 9 But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves. Nehemiah 4:7-9 (NLT)
The threat of physical violence is designed to either harm or kill us or to incapacitate us through fear and confusion. If we have to defend ourselves, how can we get anything done? Another possible response to the threat of violence is to cease from doing what provokes the enemy’s anger. Nehemiah refused to be intimidated.
So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I stationed the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears, and bows. 14 Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!” 15 When our enemies heard that we knew of their plans and that God had frustrated them, we all returned to our work on the wall. 16 But from then on, only half my men worked while the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. The leaders stationed themselves behind the people of Judah 17 who were building the wall. The laborers carried on their work with one hand supporting their load and one hand holding a weapon. 18 All the builders had a sword belted to their side. The trumpeter stayed with me to sound the alarm. Nehemiah 4:13-18 (NLT)
When we are under satanic attack, as was Nehemiah, we must be prepared to encounter mockery, fear, and intimidation without letting those things deter us from doing God’s will.
Later Israel’s enemies lied and falsely accused the Jews of rebellion to the Persian government, but that tactic was overcome, too. In 52 days, the wall was completed, an amazing feat.
We are not trying to rebuild a physical wall. Instead, followers of Christ today are working to build and extend God’s kingdom here on earth through preaching the gospel and making disciples. Satan works overtime to keep us from obeying God in these two areas. It is my firm belief that the devil will tolerate many things that churches do, such as fellowship, pray, worship, and teach the Bible.
However, when a local assembly makes the commitment to pursue obedience to the Great Commission, it can expect to encounter strong satanic resistance.
When this happens, a decision must be made whether that church will continue on course or abandon the quest to obey God.
Applying these principles to the national political scene, the COVID-19 panic has contained every element of a satanic attack.
We were lied to regarding the mortality rate of the disease, which induced us to fear and opened us to take draconian measures that limited our freedom and greatly damaged our economy. In other words, lies and fear led us to make self-destructive decisions. People who questioned the data and conclusions were mocked and cut off from having a platform to voice their dissenting ideas, which were labeled as “harmful disinformation” by Big Tech. Government officials used threats and intimidation to keep the populace at bay. They falsely accused dissenters of needlessly killing people by minimizing the deadliness of the virus. This is the most un-American thing I have ever witnessed in my lifetime – a stripping of our rights under the pretext of increasing our safety. Now the question is whether or not the people of this nation will continue to submit to such governmental tyranny and censorship by Big Tech.
The people of our nation have an opportunity to rebuild the walls provided by our Constitution that insure personal liberty. Our forefathers were willing to take on the most powerful nation in the world to establish this nation. They did it because freedom was better than life in bondage for them. Nehemiah was willing to endure the mockery, lies, threats, and even physical attack in order to rebuild Jerusalem. Restoring Jerusalem was more valuable than his own life. But we are part of something so much bigger – the kingdom of God, which will never be destroyed. Earthly kingdoms come and go, but God’s kingdom never ends.
But let us not forget that if the United States ever “flips” into totalitarianism, the church will come under intense attack. At that point, we will be tested in our willingness to stand up to every form of satanic attack all the way to martyrdom.
What do we value enough to fight for?
