A ROARING LION By Jeannette Haley

There’s an old saying that goes like this, “When March comes in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb.” What this obviously means is, if the wind is blustery and howling with rain pounding on your house in the beginning of the month, then by the end of the month the soft breezes and sunshine will be sheepishly pleasant. The use of the word “lion” in this cultural proverb is meant to warn people that the elements could pose some threat or danger. After all, a lion isn’t your average household pussycat.

In 1 Peter 5:8, 9 we read, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” Do the words “sober” and “vigilant” cause you to pause and carefully consider that every member of the Body of Christ, not just pastors or leaders, are to take this warning seriously? Jude 1:4 is also written for every believer to be aware that there are “certain men who have crept in unawares”. These deceivers display an attitude of mockery and pride, pretending that they have “new revelations” that the church has somehow missed for the past two thousand years. These puffed-up blowhards assure their undiscerning and devoted supporters not to be concerned about that “roaring lion,” the devil, because “all he can do is roar and gum you to death because he has no teeth”.

It appears that this flippant comment concerning God’s warning has found a niche in the institutional church. After all, it’s satisfying to “itching ears,” calms the nerves and helps to put folks back to sleep when it becomes uncomfortably obvious that the devil is “roaring,” not only in the church, but in all the world as well. The problem is, it’s dangerous to ignore, doubt, consider as obsolete, irrelevant, or unimportant any portion of God’s Word. The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Peter to compare the devil to a roaring lion. Thus, it is important for us to understand a few simple facts about lions. A lion’s roar can be heard five miles away and his roar can reach 114 decibels, almost as much as a jet engine which is approximately 120 decibels. A lion’s roar is an expression of his dominance, power, strength and ownership of a territory, as well as a warning that he’s on the prowl looking for something to devour.

“Well,” someone will surely protest, “that doesn’t apply to me. I’m a Christian, and a leader at that!” Ah, really? The devil doesn’t care who you are, how old you are, how great or not-so-great you look, or what you have accomplished, or wish to accomplish. No, he doesn’t care how smart you think you are, how many degrees you have, how talented you may be or how involved you are in your church. It doesn’t matter to him one wit if you have titles, positions, wealth or popularity in your church. Again, 1 Peter 5:8 says “your adversary” is seeking “whom” he may devour. What I’m trying to point out here is that too many Christians, like the five foolish virgins who failed to have enough oil in their lamps to keep burning until the coming of the LORD, are easy prey because they simply fail to apply God’s Word to themselves, which involves being “sober” and “vigilant.” The Bible gives example after example of those who failed to heed God-given warnings because of sin, personal pride, slothfulness, half-heartedness, or just plain unbelief, and those are the ones the devil is seeking to devour. Keep in mind, these warnings and examples are for the church, not the world for the devil already is “the god of this world.” (See 2 Corinthians 4:4.)

What is the “sober” and “vigilant” believer to do when he or she discerns the devil “roaring”? Hide behind your pastor, elder, or other leader? Run home to Mommy? NO! 1 Peter 5:9 tells YOU and me to “resist [the devil] stedfast in the faith.” The word resist in the Greek is anthistemi which means “to stand against, oppose, withstand. The word stedfast in the Greek is “stereos” and it means solid, stable, strong, sure. The only way you can be established in such a way is to know God, know His Word, be empowered by the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and to stand and re-main standing on the Rock. The temptation of Jesus in the wilderness gives us valuable insight concerning the wiles of Satan and how Jesus overcame him. (Matthew 4). In every temptation the devil threw at Him, which consisted of “…all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16), Jesus resisted and overcame by quoting the Word of God. It is by the Word that we live! Jesus said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” Matthew 4:4. Paul wrote, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” Ephesians 11, 12.

How do you spiritually discern when the devil is roaring in your midst? Ask yourself what is the first thing that happens when jungle villagers hear that sound? No doubt they are hit with sudden fear because they know they are in danger. Secondly, if the chief in charge is inexperienced concerning hungry, roaming lions and can’t, or won’t, make a decision as to how to protect the people, then his indecision causes division among the people as to what actions need to be taken for protection. What follows then is mass confusion. If we take this primitive scenario and compare it to the post-modern congregations of today, we can readily see how weak leadership, (made so by faulty indoctrination in any one of the “new” paradigms in “Christian education”) has resulted in a flood of powerless churches across the land.

The truth is, natives living in lion territory know when the lion is roaring, but by comparison, the average, immature, professing Christian, unless he or she has an exceptional, seasoned, diligent, sober, vigilant, discerning, Holy Ghost-filled leader who is committed to obey the command of Jesus to make disciples, is lambchops waiting to be devoured. Never mind that your pastor laughed off Satan one Sunday and mumbled, “Satan? Oh phew! I don’t worry about him.” Who are you going to believe, the pastor you love and admire if he waves off Satan, or the Word of God?

Jesus told us, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” John 10:10. Of course, Jesus was referring to the devil and defined his ultimate goal in three simple words, “steal, kill, destroy.” There’s nothing complicated about that. There’s no need to philosophize it, psychoanalyze it, redefine it to fit our own perceptions, opinions or conclusions that are contrary to it, or write a series of theological books on these three words to try and squeeze some mystical, metaphysical, hidden meaning out of it. It is what it is. How true it is that “you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip,” and no man, devil or angel can add to, or take away from God’s Word. Remember, Jesus is the Living Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God” John 1:1, 2. (See Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; Proverbs 30:6; 30:5, 6; Revelation 22:18, 19.)

Satan hates the Word. The Word is the Christian’s two-edged sword. It is powerful enough to silence the roaring lion, swift enough to cut the serpent asunder, and sharp enough to extinguish the false light in which Satan appears in order to “deceive, if possible, the very elect”. Is it any wonder then that Satan does everything in his power to water-down the Word, blind people to the Word, throw doubt upon the Word, twist the Word, mock the Word, substitute God’s Word for vain philosophies and “science so-called”? (See 1 Timothy 6:20.)

Satan is not only a counterfeiter in spiritual matters, but he is also an evil inventor of substitutes. Some examples are as follows: Substituting fleshly entertainment and feel-good music for true worship in holiness; substituting awe and reverence for God and the Word with flippant “me, myself, and I” music instead of doctrinally sound hymns and inspired worship songs; substituting the wisdom of the Word with psychology; substituting the historical record in God’s Word with evolution; substituting solid, foundation-building Biblical exegesis with short, repetitious “sermonettes” that challenge no one to come to Christ and repent. He has successfully substituted real Bible studies from the Bible with contemporary, shallow books that are fraught with error, but they must be “okay” because they’re written by “big names,” right? Satan has systematically and subtlety substituted a “form of godliness” into the popular “Christian culture” of our time. Finally, but most importantly, as a lion looking for easy prey, Satan is especially after the children, ALL of them, around the world, whether they know God or not. In nearly every church blasphemous cartoons such as “Veggie Tales,” and other nonsense, have replaced the vitally important, essential foundation of pure teaching from the Bible. No wonder young people mock the Bible as some sort of joke.

Bottom line, are we who believe today so much better, more intelligent, and more spiritually well-equipped than the early Christians? Is it only for Timothy and their sakes that Paul wrote “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering, and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry” 2 Timothy 4:2-5?

Have you heard the lion roar? Perhaps you have or maybe not, but do not be deceived for the devil knows that his time is short. (See Revelation 12:12.) Therefore, be sober, be diligent, watch and pray for whether Satan comes as a lion to devour, or as a serpent to deceive and destroy, or as an angel of light to lead astray he is still, and will remain to be, until the visible return of the King of kings, and Lord of lords to set up His kingdom upon the earth, the “god of this world.” (See Matthew 25:31-46; Micah 4:1-4; Zechariah 14:1-21; Revelation 5:9, 10; 20:6.)

Therefore, be diligent to make sure that the only “lion” that is in your house, or in your church, is the LION OF JUDAH.