Man Your Battle Stations

MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS

Eph. 6:10-12

INTRO.- ILL.- The Army staff was planning war games but did not want to use live ammunition. Instead, they informed the men: "In place of a rifle, you go, ’bang, bang.’ In place of a knife, you go, ’stab, stab.’ In place of a hang grenade, you go, ’lob, lob.’"

The game was in progress when one of the soldiers saw one of the enemy. He went, "bang, bang," the nothing happened. He ran forward and went, "stab, stab," but nothing happened. He ran back and went, "lob, lob," but still, nothing happened.

Finally, he walked up to the enemy and said, "You are not playing fair. I went ’bang, bang,’ and ’stab, stab,’ and ’lob, lob,’ and you haven’t fallen dead yet!"

The enemy responded, "RUMBLE, RUMBLE. I’M A TANK."

Brethren, obviously, a rifle, a knife, and hand grenade are no match for a tank. And we are no match for our enemy without the Lord’s help and strength.

We know that terrorists attacked our beloved country on September 11th in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Many people are sure that the infamous Osama Bin Laden is behind it. And that may be. If so, I hope, as many people do, that he gets his “just desserts.”

There is definitely a war going on. And it’s been going on for a long time and it didn’t start on September 11th, 2001.

It’s the war of godlessness against godliness. The war of hellishness against holiness. The war of Satan against the Savior.

The apostle Paul said in Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle (or war) is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Our greatest battle in life is with the spiritual forces of evil. It is with Satan and his messengers, demons, etc. Satan is a liar and a murderer. He is the great deceiver. He is out to deceive and destroy anyone and everyone.

Where wars have killed their billions, Satan has killed his trillions! He may not have killed them physically, but he has certainly killed them spiritually. AND THAT’S THE DEATH THAT REALLY COUNTS, BECAUSE IT’S ETERNAL, EVERLASTING, FOREVER!

We need to do something about the enemy. Don’t you agree? Just as the American people agree that we must do something about Osama Bin Laden or whoever is behind the terrorism of Sept. 11th, so we need to do something about that terrorist, the devil! BUT WHAT CAN WE DO?

ILL.- The captain of United Airlines Flight 564 pressed the talk-button and spoke to the more than 200 people who had boarded his plane on Sept. 15, 2001.

Only four days after United and American Airlines craft had been commandeered and their jet fuel used as a flying bomb against innocent civilians, he felt the need to say something to the people who had dared to trust our commercial aviation system for their transport again.

According to Peter Hannaford, a public relations consultant on the plane who wrote about the event in The Washington Times, the pilot began this way: "I want to thank you brave folks for coming out today. We don’t have any new instructions from the federal government, so from now on we’re on our own."

People perked up. Newspapers were dropped into laps. Heads came up. Everyone was listening in total silence and with wholehearted attention.

He proceeded to tell his passengers what to do if anyone should stand up on this or any other aircraft they should ever be flying. "If anybody tries to take over the plane, stand up, take hold of anything you can find, and throw it at their heads," he said. "Aim for their faces, so they will have to defend themselves."

Next, he told his captive audience, throw a blanket over the heads of the person or persons threatening their plane, wrestle them to the ground, and let the plane’s pilot land and turn those culprits over to authorities.

"Remember, there will be only a few of them, and we are 200-plus strong! You can overwhelm them. We will not allow them to take over this plane

"I find it interesting that the Declaration of Independence says ‘We, the people,’ and that’s just what it is when we’re up in the air — we, the people versus would-be terrorists. ‘The people’ of this country will not be defeated by terrorism.

"I don’t think we are going to have any such problem today or tomorrow or for a while. But sometime down the road, it is going to happen again. And I want you to know what to do.

"Now, since we’re going to be a family for the next few hours, I’m going to ask you to turn to the person next to you and introduce yourself. Tell them a little about yourself, and ask them to do the same."