Spiritual warfare is one of the most misunderstood aspects of Christian living today. The reasons for this area many. You and I live in a culture that emphasizes spirituality from a secular worldview. In this culture truth is often relegated to how we feel. Thus everyone is spiritual or religious. This is one of the reasons New Age spirituality and Eastern Mysticism are so popular today. It’s easy to accept religion if it’s according to how we feel and not according to truth. After all no one wants to be told what to believe. No one wants to coerce anyone into believing anything. Or so our culture believes. Yet false religion always tickles men’s ears and leads them away from God. Instead, our culture preaches a watered down gospel. The truth is that the Christian life is one of war. Christianity is not your best life today, but rather is a life of peace with God and spiritual war against a real but vanquished foe in the world, the flesh, and the devil. All of this is reason to be thankful for the work of Bob Bevington with his latest book Good News About Satan A Gospel Look at Spiritual Warfare.
The book seeks to look at spiritual warfare in the first five chapters by recognizing the kingdom of darkness, their allies, weapons, limitations, and maneuvers. In chapter six, Bob considers how Jesus is victorious over Satan and His kingdom through His death, burial, and resurrection. Chapter seven teaches readers how to resist the devil. Chapter eight looks at helping the demonized, and then in chapter nine explores the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ. The book concludes with two appendixes looking at learning from Satan’s names and verses to memorize when engaging in spiritual warfare.
This book is very needed. Often times Christian books on spiritual warfare teach things that the Bible doesn’t teach. There are few books on this topic that I recommend and Bob’s is one of them. Bob’s teaching is clear, biblical, and helpful. The best Christian books are biblical, practical, and personal. This book classifies in this category which is why I highly recommend you pick it up. This book will teach you the Bible’s teaching on this topic, and how to engage in spiritual warfare to the glory of God. As I’ve mentioned the Christian life is one of war. We are both saints and sinners. Saint in our position and sinners in that we have not yet been perfected. The Christian life in other words is an already not yet. We are saved and yet our salvation has not yet been completed. The reality of our war is all around us. This is why we are to take up the armor of God as outlined in Ephesians 6. This is also why you should heed Bob’s teaching of the Word. God uses saints who love His Word and earnestly seek after His righteousness. Bob is such a saint and he faithfully exposits the text with a clear view to help and edify the saints so they may be holy, happy, and effective servants of the Risen Christ.
This excellent book will help new and seasoned Christians to grow in their understanding of God’s Word and the reality of spiritual warfare all around them. This would be an excellent book to use for Sunday school or for small groups to go through. This book could also be used by pastors in their study on spiritual warfare. Bloggers and writers could also take up this book and use the material and quote from it in their writing. I highly recommend this book and pray the Lord would use this book powerfully to awaken slumbering Christians to the truth that all around them a war wages for the salvation of the lost.
Buy the book at Amazon, or from Cruciform.
Title: Good News About Satan A Gospel Look At Spiritual Warfare
Author: Bob Bevington
Publisher: Cruciform Press (2015)
I received this book for free from Cruciform Press for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Dave Jenkins is happily married to Sarah Jenkins. He is a writer, editor, and speaker living in beautiful Southern Oregon. Dave is a lover of Christ, His people, the Church, and sound theology. He serves as the Executive Director of Servants of Grace Ministries, the Executive Editor of Theology for Life Magazine, the Host and Producer of Equipping You in Grace Podcast, and is a contributor to and producer of Contending for the Word. He is the author of The Word Explored: The Problem of Biblical Illiteracy and What To Do About It (House to House, 2021) and The Word Matters: Defending Biblical Authority Against the Spirit of the Age (G3 Press, 2022). You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, or read his newsletter. Dave loves to spend time with his wife, going to movies, eating at a nice restaurant, or going out for a round of golf with a good friend. He is also a voracious reader, in particular of Reformed theology, and the Puritans. You will often find him when he’s not busy with ministry reading a pile of the latest books from a wide variety of Christian publishers. Dave received his M.A.R. and M.Div through Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.
