No Room For The Enemy

No Room For the Enemy

TCF Sermon

November 16, 2008

Play Keith Green song: “No one believes in me anymore”

lyrics:

Oh, my job keeps getting easier

As time keeps slipping away

I can imitate your brightest light

And make your night look just like day

I put some truth in every lie

To tickle itching ears

You know I’m drawing people just like flies

’Cause they like what they hear

I’m gaining power by the hour

they’re falling by the score

You know, it’s getting very simple now

’Cause no one believes in me anymore

Oh, heaven’s just a state of mind

My books read on your shelf

And have you heard that God is dead

I made that one up myself

They dabble in magic spells

They get their fortunes read

You know they heard the truth

But turned away and followed me instead

I used to have to sneak around

But now they just open their doors

You know, no ones watching for my tricks

Because no one believes in me anymore

Everyone likes a winner

With my help, you’re guaranteed to win

And hey man, you ain’t no sinner

You’ve got the truth within

And as your life slips by

You believe the lie that you did it on your own

But don’t worry

I’ll be there to help you share our dark eternal home

Oh, my job keeps getting easier

As day slips into day

The magazines, the newspapers

Print every word I say

This world is just my spinning top

It’s all like childs-play

You know, I dream that it will never stop

But I know it’s not that way

Still my work goes on and on

Always stronger than before

I’m gonna make it dark before the dawn

Since no one believes in me anymore

Well now I used to have to sneak around

But now they just open their doors

You know, no one watches for my tricks

Since no one believes in me anymore

Well I’m gaining power by the hour

They’re falling by the score

You know, it’s getting very easy now

Since no one believes in me anymore

No one believes in me anymore

No one believe in me anymore

Keith Green No One Believes In Me Anymore lyrics

We hear in the song we just listened to the idea that no one seems to believe in the devil anymore. Sung in the first person, as if the devil himself were singing it, this song illustrates one strategy of the enemy of our souls in his ongoing battle with God and with us – to get us to minimize, or even deny his existence.

We minimize his existence in some ways in popular culture by our common caricatures of the devil. He’s the two-horned red guy. He or his minions are some other figures of popular literature, or movies or television. If you doubt how our culture has minimized the devil, consider this poll from a few years ago, from that fount of sound doctrine, the Associated Press.

El Diablo has sued for a recount after he tied Rosie O’Donnell at seventh place for the worst villains of the year. In the AP/AOL poll, the Prince of Darkness also tied Oprah, Tom Cruise, George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Colin Farrell. Also, Oprah tied Jesus for biggest hero of the year.

Once you’ve finished chuckling, or shaking your head, consider this. If you were Satan, would you be elated or offended by our culture’s apparently weak understanding of the reality of evil? Have we demoted him because we don’t take him seriously, or because we sympathize with him? I think that Satan’s just fine with us not taking him seriously, and tying for 7th on a list of villains.

We minimize Satan’s existence by denying his personality. Oh, of course, we might believe in evil, but not a personification of evil like the devil. Many are happy with the idea of taking the “d” off the word devil, but once our culture begins to accept the devil as Satan, a real being, the personification of evil, we tend mostly to slip into caricature.

Unfortunately, even for some Christians, our most common conceptions of the enemy of our souls are what we get from our culture, and not what we get from scripture.

The other end of the spectrum of the enemy’s strategy is to cause us to fear him. To make us think we’re nothing but helpless victims. We’ve seen that in old movies like The Omen or Rosemary’s Baby. We see that in many newer movies, which not only make us think we’re helpless against the power of the enemy, but they lead us to believe that maybe he’s not the enemy we thought he was.

Maybe the devil’s not such a bad guy after all. There are several movies and TV shows that put forth this idea in some ways. There’s also a movie series called Hellboy, based on a comic book character, in which the demon is the good guy, fighting against the forces of evil on earth. There have already been three movies, a TV series and video games based on this character.