Spiritual Warfare in the Church: How Deception Divides the Body of Christ

Dragons Are Real: And you are a tasty snack

We live in the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom has an enemy.

Since you are in the Kingdom, that enemy is yours too. His name is "satan" (his name does not deserve to be capitalized) and also the "great dragon."

The enemy can show itself fully in the world or stealthily come into our midst. It is usually busy doing both.

When we are united and aware, the dragon has no chance to deceive and devour us. But, we are so often caught up in doing life that we forget to put on our armor. We can even be lulled into thinking we are so safe that armor isn't needed.

Some of us are called to keep watch and warn when the dragon approaches. Men and women alike make good sentries. We call out warnings when we see the enemy and those who are equipped for battle then take their stations and fight.

However, the enemy has planted his own people among the church. Their role is to provide discontent, dissension and division. Here, the enemy's outcomes are visible but that the division is an enemy tactic is not always apparent.

Discontent in the body is visible but there is also the invisible nature of the enemy. He slithers amongst the people whispering lies, questioning the goodness of God and planting seeds of doubt into the hearts of believers.

Both the visible and invisible enemy has taken a position that divides the church. In some churches the division is quite strong and in others more subtle, but it is there.

The big lie of the enemy that creates the greatest division is that women are made by God to be inferior to men.

The church says that women are forbidden from preaching or teaching or leadership. They are to be only silent, stay firmly in the background and leave "leadership" to the men.

The lie about women is said to be God-ordained and not to be questioned. To question their interpretation is to question God. Or so they say.

What the lie effectively does is take 60% of the church and make them unable to stand and fight as the dragon munches away on the body of Christ.

Women are the majority of the church across the world. In the US, women make up about 60% of the church and in some areas of the world that number increases to 75%. So the tactic of the enemy to remove most of the body from serving and from leadership is not only effective in weakening the fight for the Kingdom and against the enemy but it is also brilliant.

Men and women debate who can do what while the enemy is then freed to move around the church and the lost world devouring whomever it can.

Women often come to see their role only as support rather than one called to be on the front lines. A very sad but telling joke is that a woman goes to the pastor to offer her teaching abilities and is told that there is only a place for her running the potluck or in the nursery.

So, is this a book about the roles of women in the church?

Not really. This is a book about Christ and His Kingdom and His call to all of us to be about His Father's business. It is a book about serving in spite of the dragon's opposition.

I think of Jael. The enemy entered her tent. She understood that it became her responsibility to do something about this enemy of God. Her gender did not keep her from action. She and her tent peg took care of the beast. She didn't shy away from the battle but did exactly as a woman of God should do.

Well the enemy is in the tent and we are told that we shouldn't do anything about it and that we should just leave such things for the men. In the meantime, we can only watch the dragon's destruction.

I think also of Deborah. God called her to leadership over all of Israel. In today's church many of the men would have turned their backs to her as they did to Anne Graham Lotz when she was asked to speak at a church event. In their legalistic, self-righteousness they would have also refused to follow Deborah whom God had called.

So, who exactly is in charge of the church?

I believe that it is the Lord Jesus Christ. He has already won the war and has called and equipped all of those who are in His name to finish the battles.

If we abdicate our calling, if we refuse to be the body of Christ together, and if we reject His sacrifice that made all one in order to maintain a hierarchy of position, power, and roles then the only one that gains ground is the dragon.

There is a dragon. It might seem that our issues are with one another but our issues are with the dragon lurking in the shadows causing the divisions.

He comes to "steal, kill and destroy." John 10:10 He "prowls around seeking whom he might devour."1 Peter 5:8 He enters into the hearts and minds of those he can. He blinds the eyes and entices us to fear the disapproval of men rather than seek the approval of the Lord.

It was different when Jesus walked the earth.

Jesus treated men and women the same. He taught them both, healed them both. He lifted women up who had been downtrodden and thought of as possessions of little value. Women loved Him for He saw them and valued them.

When His Spirit came at Pentecost He fell upon both men and women. Both prophesied. That means that they both publicly taught about God's salvation. They both spoke for God to the public, in public.

The church met in the homes of women. These women lived and died for the good news. The dragon was disarmed by Christ and the new church announced this to the world.

The threat the dragon used at that time were the Pharisees that hated Christ and the Roman culture that sought to dominate all of the known world.

As the church grew, the dragon began to institute religion. Religion is a man-made system of rules and regulations designed to contain power and exalt some overall. Here is where the dragon started to institute the removal of half of the body of Christ.

By the first century, rules were put in place to contain women, keep them confined at home and their message of freedom in Christ with them. For more in depth study on this please see my book, "The Deception of Adam" available on Amazon and other book vendors.

As the centuries passed even the Word of God was removed from the people. Power to forgive, for salvation and entry into heaven was given to priests of the organized religion. Relationship with Christ became something that was doled out to the "worthy" (those who paid).

People were kept illiterate of Christ's coming to set the captives free so that they could be imprisoned again with a new form of legalism. Even having the Bible would get you burned at the stake. The dragon loves fire.

But, here is some good news. Persecution only strengthens resolve. When Jesus said to send the Word to all of "Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth," Acts 1:8 persecution made that happen.

New believers were forced to leave their cities as persecution grew and they took the good news with them. So, indeed the witness of Christ moved throughout the world in spite of the dragon's strategy.

As persecution of women has grown, women have grown in their seeking after Christ. Rather than contain them and keep them silent, it only made their hearts want Him more. They had been removed from leadership and the work of spreading the gospel as all had been commanded by Christ but that only made them seek new ways to know Him and serve Him.

Had the dragon known killing the Messiah would make it possible that Christ would now be able to be in each person who believes (it is Christ in you, the hope of glory Colossians 1:27), Scripture tells us that he never would have crucified Him. 1 Corinthians 2:8

Had the dragon known that attempting to remove the greater half of believers from serving Christ would only make them stronger and more resolute in serving Him any way possible, I believe he would have tried a different tactic. What he meant for evil, God has meant for good.

So, what do we do now?

Escape the dragons hold on the church by leaving?

We are part of the body of Christ. A piece of the body cannot dislocate and go off on its own. Leaving the body isn't really an option.

A woman can decide to move to a different church where she is allowed to serve Christ in the ways women did in Jesus' days and the early days after. That is, of course, an option. It should not be the first one.

We are called to speak the truth in love and to bring to the attention of one sinning that there is repentance available first. This might be controversial but I believe that not allowing anyone to serve Christ is sinning. Every possibility of giving opportunity to serve should be given to all who God calls. Who are we to tell God who He can and cannot choose to serve Him?

Love is the defining law. Is it love that keeps women in the nursery and potlucks when God has obviously gifted them? But, this is not a book about roles. It is a book that says that all of us must serve the Kingdom or the dragon wins.

We must defend the church against the dragon and that is part of our duty in the body of Christ. We have to hold our ground wherever we are stationed. We stand against the lies by speaking the truth and by joining together in prayer against the dragon.

Within a particular church there will always be what is good and what it not. This side of eternity we will not find perfection. If the church we are in is open to seeking Scriptures together then it is worth staying and talking and finding where the enemy has made inroads so that we can take them out together.

If the church we are in is dead set on separating and keeping separate the body of Christ then, just like a sinner that will not change, we might need to part ways and leave them to theirs.

Only Christ can dictate to us whether we stay or go.

Our lives were bought with a price and are not our own. His will may be that we stay in a church that so far is not open to letting His daughters be a part of His Great Commission.

In that case, we have to ask ourselves what are our non-negotiables? If certain positions are kept from women is it also permissible to treat the Lord's daughters as inferior? Has the church opened the discussion to the Word to see exactly how women served the Lord in the book of Acts? No? Why not? Will you follow leaders who do not seem to follow the Spirit?

Where will we need to strengthen our walls. Boundaries are there to protect and also to restrict. There is a cost to setting boundaries and also a gain. Those don't like others having boundaries will show their contempt.

To not set boundaries though is to teach others that we are fine with being treated as "less than." We cannot change the heart of another but we can set boundaries around our own.

The Lord may ask us to go on the attack against the dragon's influence in the church. We do need to remember that our "fight" is not with those in the church but with the powers behind them.

I would never claim to say what men and women should do in the church. That is the domain of the Holy Spirit for each body of Christ. What I do say is that we should all be every bit of our calling whatever and wherever that may be. If He chose to call Deborah to lead Israel then who are we to deny a calling in our own lives.

Deception is a huge tactic of the dragon and many are deceived. If the truth does set us free indeed then bringing truth where we can, when we can, in every way that we can is how we wield weapons against the enemy.

Christ has already won the war and these smaller battles are for the hearts and minds of those He has called to be His. These are our sisters and brothers and we speak the truth in love to them.

The reward is that we return to the garden to "rule and subdue together." Our focus will not be in who can do what but change to knowledge of the tactics of the enemy that moves amongst us. When we know how he comes against us we are then empowered for his defeat. We want to root him out while doing as little further damage as possible to those affected.

We want to bring healing and restoration to the body as a whole. The dragon has done great damage to the church. The divisions that he has started are powerful and present with us.

But…

We have a great God. He can heal the wounds we have experienced and give us His overwhelming love for His people, even those who don't see our value.

You do not need to ask for permission to speak the truth in love. You already have it.

You never have to apologize for loving the Lord and His people and doing whatever He calls you to do on their behalf.

Healing the Heart Strengthens the Body of Christ

The battle for the church is not only fought in public spaces. It is also fought in the quiet places of the heart.

The enemy knows that if he can plant lies inside us, he can weaken the body of Christ without ever raising a visible fight. Division, fear, insecurity, and silence often begin as internal battles long before they show up in the church.

That is why healing and truth in the heart matter so much.

When believers begin to recognize the lies they have believed, confront the wounds that have shaped them, and reconnect deeply with God’s truth, they become stronger in the places where the enemy once had influence.

This is the heart behind The Connected Heart Project. It helps women identify the hidden beliefs, emotional wounds, and spiritual barriers that keep them from stepping fully into who God created them to be. As healing happens, clarity grows, courage rises, and women begin to walk in their calling without fear or apology.

If this message stirred something in your heart, it may be an invitation to go deeper.

Learn more about The Connected Heart Project and how it helps women experience emotional and spiritual healing so they can walk confidently in their God-given purpose.

👉 Explore the Connected Heart Project here

You can download a free copy of my ebook, The Not Yet Life and begin the journey today. This message will encourage you to trust God even in seasons where life doesn’t look the way you expected. Click here to get your free copy.