Greg A. Stier - Battle Zone: Arming Yourself to Wage War with the Devil

2003 by
GREG STIER

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All websites and phone numbers listed herein are accurate at the time of publication but may change in the future or cease to exist. The listing of website references and resources does not imply publisher endorsement of the sites entire contents. Groups and organizations are listed for informational purposes, and listing does not imply publisher endorsement of their activities.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise marked, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

Edited by Cheryl Dunlop
Interior Design: Julia Ryan/ www.DesignByJulia.com
Cover Design: Steve Wade

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stier, Greg.
Battle zone: arming yourself to wage war with the Devil / Greg Stier,
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-8024-1793-0
1. Spiritual warfare. I. Title.
BV4509.5.S845 2003
235.4dc21

2003009486

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America

I was there. It was not a battlefield that most would expect, perhaps the most unlikely place for a war to occur, yet the most real and evident example of modern day spiritual warfare. A small library tucked inside a typical suburban school called Columbine, the high school now famous for the most terrifying school shooting in United States history. I remember it clearlybattle against innocent students, where lives were ended, our sense of security stripped away, and the lives of countless families changed forever.

As a junior in high school I entered the library that day not knowing it could be the last day of my life. When the two boys entered the room with the intent to kill using their guns and bombs, I clung to two other friends, praying, waiting to die. I will never forget when my friend told me that he would take a bullet for me. It was at that moment I vowed to serve the Lord with all my heart from then on. Up until then I wasnt living like a believer. In fact, up until that point I had tried everything to fill the void within my life. For several months I had been living a double lifeas a Christian, but also as a person still craving the world. But that day changed everything. While I hid under a table in the Columbine library, a battle was raging around me and within me, a battle to choose once and for all who I would serve. I chose Jesus.

After seven minutes of sheer horror, the two boys who stood above our table were talking about leaving to reload their guns. It was when they left that we got up to escape and surveyed the damage of the room. Smoke filled the air, glass and books were thrown all over, and bodies were strewn everywhere. I was there, a survivor of tragedy and pain. Because I was there I can share with you a lesson I learned the lesson of urgency.

We do not know what lies ahead, but we do know that God has a unique purpose for each of our lives. We also know that Satan wants to do whatever he can to distract us from Jesus. As young people, we constantly face this threat of spiritual warfare in this world. We must choose which kind of movies we will watch, the music we will listen to, and the life we will live. Satans toys and temptations have the potential to tear us away from what really matters in lifeknowing Christ and making Him known through word and action.

There is a great urgency for us as Christian teenagers to share the gospel with our lost friends and family so they too can experience the joy we have in our own lives. My prayer is that you will never have to encounter a situation like the one I did on April 20th, 1999, that forces you to choose whether or not you will surrender and follow after Christ with all your heart. I hope and pray that you choose Jesus now without something so catastrophic happening to you. May the world around you see the light within you, so they can experience victory in Jesus, who has already defeated the evil one through His blood shed for you and me. Do not let another second pass by without serving Him and sharing His message. There may not be another chance. Believe me, I know.

Crystal Woodman

Y ou are about to begin a wild and weird journey. It is a trip filled with evil creatures, angelic beings, and invisible battles that swirl around us all the time in the unseen world of the spiritual. It is a dangerous trip because it revolves around a war in the underworld for the soul of humanity.

And the craziest part of the whole thing is this: You play a big part in this battle. You are a warrior, a soldier of the light in the army of God. He wants to use you to advance His cause, His kingdom, and His Christ. So Satan, the dark lord of the underworld, is unleashing the vast forces of powerful demons under his command to stop you in your tracks. The Evil Ones goal is to keep you from living a life that counts for eternity. He wants to sidetrack you with sin, discourage you with trials, deceive you with lies, and distract you with toys, to use anything and everything at his disposal to make you an ineffective Christian witness.

Yeah, I know, I know, it sounds like Lord of the Rings stuff of legend and make-believe. But it is very real. How do I know that? Because Gods Word says its real, and God doesnt play when it comes to telling the truth.

Thats why I want to share a few principles with you before we begin this strange, wonderful, and dangerous journey into the subject of spiritual warfare.

Its probably a good time to give you a quick crash course on why you can trust the Word of God when it comes to the basics of spiritual warfare (or any truth for that matter). Why? Because we are going to be talking about some pretty incredible stuff in the pages to follow. Some of the stories Im going to share with you from Gods Word will seem like the hocus-pocus myths of make-believe. But the Bible is not make-believe. It is deadly serious. Have you ever heard the phrase Truth is stranger than fiction? That really applies here. The truth of Gods Word when it comes to spiritual warfare is much stranger than the best fiction of Lukas, Spielberg, Tolkien, or J. K. Rowling.

So here are a few reasons that you can trust Gods Word when it makes seemingly unbelievable claims.