Adventist Dad

War in Afghanistan. Iraq War. Culture War. These are just a few of the wars that make news headlines and provoke heated discussions on the 24-hour news channels, while the war over our souls goes unnoticed. But while this war goes unnoticed by the news media, we and our children stand on the front lines. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places,” Ephesians 6:12. The stakes in this war are much greater than any other, with eternal consequences, but the methods more subtle than the guns and bombs common in human conflicts.  The cosmic conflict between Christ and Satan is a war of words, where we must discern between truths and lies.

The first battle of this war occurred somewhere in the heavens (Revelation 12:7). Humanity entered the war in the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve became Earth’s first casualties, falling prey to the serpent’s lie that God’s words don’t really matter (Genesis 3:1-6). Every subsequent battle has been fought with the same artillary: truth vs. lie.

The tactics of the enemy rely on the presentation of lies that twist the truth. But just like in mathematics, getting the solution 99% right is still wrong. Take as an example Jesus confrontation with Satan described in Matthew 4:5-7. The devil quotes Psalm 91:11-12, tempting Jesus to test God’s promise to protect Him from harm as he dares Him to dive off the pinnacle of the temple. Jesus deflects Satan’s deceptive joust with a true application of God’s Word. A 99% right is best countered with a 100% truth.

Reflecting on the cosmic war, the Apostle Paul aptly applies the sword as a metaphor for Scripture. Calling for God’s people to put on the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18, he describes as essential armament “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” (v. 17).

As dads we need to be armed to defend, or risk becoming a casualty in the battle, and taking our family with us. Over the past several months I’ve been working at memorizing various verses from the Bible. One method I’ve found helpful is sometimes referred to as the initial letter method. This approach uses the first letter of each word as a memory trigger to get the text into your memory. For example, John 3:16 (KJV) becomes “FGSLTWTHGHOBSTWBIHSNPBHEL.”

Do you have a favorite Scripture memorization method? If so, I invite you to share by posting it here as a comment.