Mark Twain once said, “The news of my death has been greatly exaggerated.” It was a joke about his advancing age but it’s also sort of a deep thought. By increments is the way things often come, both good and bad. I’ve been thinking about how sin can end up actually defeating us. So often it is by increments.

It’s a sad fact that we are much more likely to be defeated by the devil when he takes the slow, methodical approach rather than some sudden shocking attack. They say, “The storm that keeps us awake is safer than the calm that puts us to sleep.”

When God was leading Gideon in preparation to battle the huge army of the Midianites, He told Gideon to take his men down to the river to drink. As Gideon watched them, God brought to his attention a tiny minority of the men who drank from the river while also being watchful of their surroundings, looking to be aware of any encroaching enemy. And God told Gideon that with that tiny band of 300 soldiers he would defeat the vast army of their enemies. And they did.

Gideon’s tiny band of 300 was seen to be watchful while the rest of the army of Israel was not. How fitting for our times. How much the forces of darkness are roaming and rampant in our lands. But so many of God’s people are indolent, somnolent and almost acquiescent as the forces of darkness claim more souls daily in our countries.

And I’m not making this up. I could cite examples in my own home town in the last month that are things that are almost like out of a sci-fi horror movie. But it seems only the tiniest handful of Christians are aware of what has transpired or are taking any action to protect their own children in my home town from the gross darkness that public institutions are now mandated to instruct them in.

It’s like what they say about the frog. I’m told that if you throw a frog in a pot of boiling water, he’ll jump out. But if instead you just slowly turn up the heat on the frog in the pot, he’ll get boiled. By increments. That’s so often how the devil and sin will defeat us: just slowly wear us down and get us accustomed to what will finally kill us in the end.

As I’ve written before, I believe we’re not called to only “believe in Jesus” but also to serve the Lord. This is clear both in the Old and New Testament. We are not just supposed to be sluggish grazing sheep of the Lord. Instead, it’s God plan and will for us to grow to be shepherds of the flock ourselves who care for the people of God and even stand up to fight in the spirit the battles of the Lord against the forces of darkness who come against His people.

Jude, the Lord’s brother, said in his short book that “we must earnestly contend for the faith.” (Jude 3) I so much pray and hope that the Spirit of God can find among the many millions of nominal Christians at least some Gideon’s band who are watching and prepared to go into spiritual battle in the real world in these times. Not politically in a worldly sense but still in devout, ardent Christian activism as the Lord leads.

Solomon said, “The prudent man foresees the evil and hides himself but the simple pass on and are punished.” (Proverbs 27:12) I like the part about “foreseeing the evil” but maybe sometimes the way to take is not to “hide yourself” but to confront and expose the evil before it takes your children and claims the land that is supposed to be our inheritance in the Lord.

But when the devil comes along as the sly, persuasive snake, talking us out of our faith, reasoning with us out of our convictions, it’s pitiful how well this seems to be working in so many places. Christians are being seen to be backed into a corner, divided, confused, surrendered and fainting in the face of the march of darkness. It’s like the article I wrote about where Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Well, there is room for encouragement. I’ve always been encouraged by some obscure verses found in Daniel 11, a chapter Jesus Himself very specifically referred to, about the last days before His return. It says there of those final times, “The people who do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many.” (Daniel 11:32 & 33)

So from those verses I’m led to believe that there will be at least a Gideon’s band in the final days who recognize the steady incremental advance of the forces of Satan in my country as well as throughout the earth. God has said in His Word that there will be some, perhaps very few, who will not bow the knee before the “strange gods” (Daniel 11:39) of our times but will hold fast to their faith and the Word of God, “in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom they shine as lights to the world, holding forth the Word of Life.” (Philippians 2:15 & 16)

Frankly, right now I’m not seeing very many like that who have that holy vision and fearless boldness. But according to God’s Word, there will be some. Please pray with me that the Lord will find those few and raise them up.