Spiritual warfare is both real and perpetual.  The evil one is either waging battle to prevent unbelievers from coming to salvation and to receiving eternal life or he seeks to render believers disobedient, ineffectual, or undisciplined, thereby, failing to achieve God’s great goal for them, that is, “To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”

I can still picture Mr. Sells, our Old Testament professor at Columbia Bible College holding up one hand and shouting in his booming voice, “El Shaddai, the God Who is more than enough!”  He taught Survey of the Old Testament, and we were studying the names of God.  Despite the fact that it was a survey course, he pressed us to study the Old Testament in depth and to glean principles for everyday life, as well as to learn facts and history.  I doubt that any student who passed through that class will ever forget the name, “El Shaddai.”
The common translations of El Shaddai throughout the Old Testament are Almighty God, God Almighty, or the Almighty.  El Shaddai also carries the meaning of sufficient, hence, “The God Who is more than enough!”  If we think long enough on the subject of God’s sufficiency and the fact that He is Almighty, we can derive a limitless source of comfort, encouragement, and satisfaction.
When I first came to Christ as my personal savior, I knew an elderly 90-year old Christian woman.  Mrs. Kirkpatrick taught Bible to the women of the inner-city church where I grew up.  I remember her saying often, “Satan is mighty, but God is almighty.”  This dear lady was keenly aware of the spiritual battle being waged.  She was not ignorant or unaware of Satan’s power; however, she focused on the fact that God is more powerful and He is sufficient for any trial or battle.  We cannot afford to underestimate the power of the Christian’s archenemy.
A. W. Tozer wrote, “A right conception of God is basic, not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God current in the middle years of the twentieth century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the most high God and actually to constitute for professed believers something amounting to moral calamity.” If Tozer is right, and he was a unique, prophetic man of God, we are in serious trouble.
It is rare that spiritual battle is mentioned today.  One of the few times we hear it referred to is when there is serious illness.  Perhaps we’re too sophisticated and don’t want to draw criticism for conjuring up images of warfare.  We may prefer the respectability gained by being just plain, “normal” folks.  If this is true, then we have one fine indicator of just how mighty Satan is—mighty enough to lull us into spiritual complacency, and for some—spiritual death.
Spiritual warfare is both real and perpetual.  The evil one is either waging battle to prevent unbelievers from coming to salvation and to receiving eternal life or he seeks to render believers disobedient, ineffectual, or undisciplined, thereby, failing to achieve God’s great goal for them, that is, “To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”
It’s up to us to recognize the danger we face daily and unrelentingly.  The spiritual battle might be on an individual basis.  No matter who we are, “El Shaddai” is on our side.  However, the battle also faces us as a corporate body, especially at this time in history—when the culture around us becomes more paganistic—the evil one will seek to take advantage to discourage, and divide the children of God.  But God Almighty, our all-sufficient God, is the same and has not changed.  He is with us and for us.
Let’s focus on “El Shaddai, the God Who is more than enough,” to be our arm and strength in these days.  Let’s not forget that Satan is mighty, but our God, “El Shaddai,” is Almighty!  Let’s join those who sing the song, “El Shaddai, age to age You are the same by the power of the Name.”  Let’s praise Him forever.
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.

I sometimes wonder if such experiences didn’t play a major role in my seeking something or someone in life that accepted me warts and all, loved me, and gave purpose to my individual life.  I’m here to say I believe such experiences prodded me to find such a one, such a person.  I met that person not for the first time—as I was already acquainted with him—but when I was 19 years old and received him into my life, heart, and spirit.  That Person was Jesus Christ who became my Lord and Savior.

A question recently posted on Facebook asked if you remember your most humiliating experience as a child.  It took me by surprise how fast two experiences came to mind.  Both took place in elementary school coming at the hands of adults—a teacher and principal.  Memories came to the fore; pain was felt immediately.  Those experiences weren’t forgotten but rather had scarred me and followed me through life.  They accounted for some of my most prominent and constant insecurities.
The first took place in third grade.  Coming from a poor family situation, I did not receive allowance money as other children received.  I did not have the freedom to buy candy or gum.  One day, a student who was friendly with me offered me a stick of gum.  I took it and unwrapped, it sticking it in my mouth.  The teacher espied me chewing gum and came to me, made me stand up, she walked me to the front of the class and made me stand there for what seemed an interminable amount of time with the gum on my nose.  I was humiliated.  When the class ended, I went to the restroom to remove the gum that had hardened on my nose.
The second experience occurred in sixth grade.  We were in the auditorium. Some boys grabbed the stage velvet curtains and leaped off the stage to the floor crying out like Tarzan’s hoarse bark, flying through the air on a jungle vine.  As a tomboy, I felt I could do whatever they were capable of doing.  I grabbed the curtain, cried out like Tarzan and leaped to the floor.  The principal came and caught us.  She scolded us and went on to say to me in front of all the students, “. . . but you, a girl!  I can’t believe you did it too.”  The curtain had torn. We were all told our parents would have to pay for the repair.  I cringed that I would have to report this to my parents who struggled financially.  I went to my class, sat in the back of the room and silently cried in humiliation.  I was eleven years old
Such experiences as a child lastingly impacted that child—in fact, any child.  The first experience is recognizable today as abusive action by a teacher against a child who normally never had gum or candy at school.  To stand in front of the class with gum on one’s nose until the end of class was abusive humiliation.  I later recognized how deeply it scarred me causing almost a self-hatred and sense of rejection.
The second experience represented a childish prank of a child doing something foolish to prove herself.  The principal’s rebuke was valid, but the action of singling out one child due to her gender put her in a more vulnerable position.  Later as I stood waiting on a corner to cross the street, my brother in an upper grade came behind me and said: “I heard what you did.  Boy!  Are you ever going to get it when you get home”!  I trembled crossing the street fearing what was in store for me.  My mother scolded me and said, “Wait until your father comes home.”  I did not receive a spanking but rather a strong rebuke and “How could you do that?”  Both parents discouraged my tomboy ways, as they wanted their daughter to be all-girl. We waited with dread for how much the bill would be to repair the curtain.  When it came, my parents paid it immediately.  Since I didn’t receive an allowance, I couldn’t pay them back.
Why am I sharing this story?  It’s because children are very fragile emotionally and mentally.  Discipline can cross a line that goes beyond correction to permanently scarring them.  Back then, educators probably didn’t study child psychology.  Some children who experience abuse become abusers.  Others become dysfunctional.  All experience brokenness to some extent.  Those scars remain hidden or latent, but they do remain; and to think more than seventy years later they still cause pain reveals how powerful they are in a child’s life.
A second reason for sharing this story is a reminder to me and, I hope to others, to never forget children are fragile and vulnerable.  Discipline with love, sensitivity, and limits.  It’s not just actions that matter, but words also matter.
Lastly—but not least—remember and give thanks to God who can enable us to be healed even if scars remain and to forgive those who either abused or humiliated us at any time in life, not just as children.
I sometimes wonder if such experiences didn’t play a major role in my seeking something or someone in life that accepted me warts and all, loved me, and gave purpose to my individual life.  I’m here to say I believe such experiences prodded me to find such a one, such a person.  I met that person not for the first time—as I was already acquainted with him—but when I was 19 years old and received him into my life, heart, and spirit.  That Person was Jesus Christ who became my Lord and Savior, who brought pardon and redemption, who brought real purpose and even confidence to my life, and has steadfastly been faithful to me despite moments of unfaithfulness to Him.  I didn’t seek Him; He sought me.  As the African American Spiritual articulately reveals, “He never failed me yet.”   I am nothing more than a debtor to God’s grace through Jesus Christ.
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.

Some schools, though, are already promoting sexual or gender issues—issues that are controversial based on parental and religious beliefs. Likewise, many race-oriented issues are especially controversial. Those influenced by Critical Race Theory focus heavily on Black and White populations even though the United States may be the most racially diverse of all nations.

Around the country, parents are vocally challenging curricula related to race issues in the K-12 schools of their children and on their school boards. Not a few of these curricula contain elements taken from Critical Race Theory, which separates at least two races into two categories: “oppressed” and “oppressors.”
My local newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, ran an op-ed article, “Why St. Louis-area classrooms need more open discussions about race.” The authors are two St. Louis-based women: Sienna Ruiz, a research coordinator at the Washington University School of Medicine, and Akilah Collins-Anderson, working on her doctoral degree in public health sciences at Washington University. The article ended with this sentence: “Schools should provide critical thinking tools about race because it shapes everyone’s lives, whether parents accept it or not”—an exceptionally bold statement. The obvious question it raises is, “Are the ‘critical thinking tools’ that parents must accept unbiased and fair?”
First, it needs to be firmly stated that the public schools’ main purpose is to teach basic subjects as thoroughly as possible to prepare students for their futures. Traditionally, this has meant giving them the knowledge and skills to serve them well for either a vocation or higher education’s demands as well as to enhance citizenship.
This type of education takes time and demands sufficient priority. Students should graduate with basic English and math skills, and knowledge of science and both national and world histories. No one should need remedial reading classes in college if K-12 schools accomplish their purpose. Adding issue-centered courses should not diminish time spent on core subjects.
Some schools, though, are already promoting sexual or gender issues—issues that are controversial based on parental and religious beliefs. Likewise, many race-oriented issues are especially controversial. Those influenced by Critical Race Theory focus heavily on Black and White populations even though the United States may be the most racially diverse of all nations.
This exaggerated focus dismisses the fact that students are multi-racial, not simply Black or White. It’s like forcing one to watch black and white movies when technicolor is not only available, but it also represents the most enjoyable of movies. It’s passé and terribly narrow-minded to remain stuck on one binary issue of race when we are so beyond that issue. It’s unfair to students who are Asian, Hispanic, African, Middle Eastern, or Native American—and all the many subsets of those broad classifications.
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