Living in Hostile Territory
BOOK REVIEW

By Stanley O. Williford
Director of Publications

  There are many Christians who don’t know whom the god of this world is.

     If asked, they would immediately say Jesus or God.

     But they would be wrong.

     The god of this world is Satan – note the little “g” in god – better known as the devil, and many New Testament scriptures make that quite clear.

     For example, second Corinthians 4:4 (NKJV) says this:

whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

In his book, Living in Hostile Territory: A Survival Guide for the Overcoming Christian, Apostle Price explains how Satan came to be the god of this world:

     “Satan came into the garden of Eden disguised as a serpent, and appealed to man’s intellect.  He came to cast doubt; that is always Satan’s ploy.  He will always try to get you to doubt God’s Word.  Satan tricked Adam and Eve into transgressing God’s law and, as a result, they [Adam and Eve] died spiritually, turning over the dominion of this world to the devil. At that point, Satan became the god of this world.”

     After Adam’s treason, God was locked out of the earth, and it took hundreds of years before He found a man who would let Him back in. That man was Abraham, and through Abraham’s line Jesus came into the world.

     Apostle Price establishes the idea that although Satan is the god of this world, he does not have authority over those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior and lord. He writes:

     “Satan has no real authority over us [Christians]; we have control over the circumstances in our lives. However, the fact [that] we are in control does not mean the devil will not shoot at us. Satan will throw anything and everything he can against us.”

     The reason many Christians are continually flattened by circumstances of life is because they don’t know the authority they have and are ignorant of God’s best for their lives, says Apostle Price. On the other hand, some Christians have deliberately not taken advantage of their rights and authority.

     He sees the Church as part of the problem historically because of what it has taught on the issue of suffering. As a result, many Christians believe they are supposed to suffer.

     “They think that through suffering, they will merit or actually earn the right to be in the Kingdom of God,” Apostle Price writes.  “This idea of suffering has proved to be one of the biggest stumbling blocks in all Christianity.”  The idea of “suffering for the Lord” is still prevalent in some Christian denominations.

     But Apostle Price reminds the reader of how and when Jesus suffered;

     “To the best of my knowledge, there is no passage in the Bible that says Jesus was sick, or afraid or did not have His needs met. Since Jesus did not suffer by accepting any of those things into His life, we do not have to accept any of those things into our lives either.”

     However, he notes: “The only thing Jesus suffered when He walked the earth was persecution. That is something we cannot escape as long as we interface with humanity.”  

     All the above and much more can be found in the first chapter, which is called Know Our Territory

     In the second chapter, entitled Do Not Draw Back, Apostle Price explains that our spirits are the only part of our threefold nature that is saved when we accept Jesus as savior and lord.  He points out, that the new birth, or being born again, did not change our souls, which includes our minds (intellects), emotions, desires and wills.  Neither did it change our physical bodies. These parts of our natures have to be worked on until we die or until “Jesus returns to the earth to set up His Kingdom.”

     There are six other powerful chapters in Living in Hostile Territory. Like a good meal, this is a book that should be consumed and thoroughly digested. 

https://store.crenshawchristiancenter.net/p-2296-living-in-hostile-territory.aspx


     
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