Years ago, just outside Hamburg, Germany, I met my great-uncle, Hans Todt. Over tea, he hesitantly shared that he had been a German paratrooper during the war. His wife's hand rested on his shoulder as Hans raised his right hand for me to see.
"I lost this thumb parachuting into Belgium," he said.
Sensing the old warrior's openness, I was immediately curious. "Tell me more," I pleaded.
He searched for something to tell his grand-nephew, then a US Air Force officer.
"Have you seen the pictures of German troops marching through the Arc de Triomphe in Paris?"
"Sure," I said.
"We all walked through that monument six times that day."
"Six times? What?
"It was all a ruse," smiled Hans. "We marched through the Arc in one type of German uniform, standing tall and smiling for the cameras. As soon as we passed the cameras, we marched onto a base and changed into another type of German uniform. Then we marched out the back gate and through the Arc again. Six times. The very same troops!"
"Why?"
"We wanted everyone to believe we were stronger than we actually were."
I've never forgotten that line.
It's always the enemy's strategy to make us believe he is stronger than he is.
Clausewitz argued that troops who have suffered a setback or momentary loss find their imagination overpowered. They feel small, conquered. Everyone feels "the enemy is superior to us." And the enemy wants us to feel that way.
No wonder Jesus kept saying to his disciples and us: "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."
Satan loves to march in various uniforms before the eyes and cameras of the world. He likes to give us the impression that he is triumphing. In the words of my great uncle, "It's all a ruse."
Remember:
Jesus is reigning, disarming, and destroying every rule and every authority and power.
He must reign until He has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemies will be the devil, his demons, and the sin and death they have brought to the world.
Evil is already building a bunker to hide in. The bunker won't help.
VE Day [Victory in Every Place] is coming
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