Sadducee Skepticism

Eph. 6:12 says, "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." The problem is that we don't really believe it. We think that our struggle really is against flesh and blood, against other human sinners. We are afflicted with a disease called Sadducee Skepticism. Due to the Enlightenment, due to our revulsion of charismatic theology and preoccupations, due to the fact that we often walk by sight and not by faith, we really don't believe that evil spirits are at work in our lives in any personal way. We think of spiritual warfare out there in the world -- in the media, in Hollywood, in drug culture, in gangs, in the school system, etc. But we can't really fathom that evil spirits are at work to deceive us and tempt us to sin. We can't fathom that they are at work in our churches to steal the Word out of hearts and destroy our churches. May God deliver us from the leaven of Sadducee skepticism.