Perspective on the Battle

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ” Ephesians 6:12 NIV

I was at a service recently and the pastor was talking about how he was listening to a celebrity talk about and promote that we (people) are our own salvation, that the power lies within us, and believing in God isn’t the truth. His response was, “[This person] is going to hell.”
       I admit that at first I let out a laugh. I’ve never heard anyone legit say that. But then, I stopped (well, God stopped me) and listened to many people at the service laugh, applaud, and cheer. It felt so wrong.
      I couldn’t stop thinking about it-even days later. The image that kept popping into my mind was that in that moment we were celebrating Satan’s victory with him and his legion of demons.
      Our battle isn’t against people. We have to keep that in perspective. Our enemy is Satan and his army- “the spiritual forces of evil.” People are just pawns being used and deceived by Satan. 
      We shouldn’t laugh and cheer when we hear about someone going to hell. Or even when we hear that misfortune has befallen someone who isn’t on the side of God. It should break our hearts. We should pray for their redemption so that they don’t stay lost and don’t suffer hell.
      We can’t be on both sides at once. We’re either on God’s side or on Satan’s side. If we’re on God’s side then we shouldn’t be rejoicing over Satan’s victories because that’s a battle we’ve lost.