We hope you enjoy this re-post from January 24, 2015. Be blessed! The Today’s Quote From God Team

Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. – 1 Peter 5:8, Amplified Bible (AMP)

The devil will use any excuse to attack God’s children, and current events bear this out.

In January 2015, twelve people were killed in a terrorist attack at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine that has published controversial cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. The magazine is intensely secular, and it has a track record of publishing wildly offensive material targeting many faiths, including Christianity. In no way, shape, form, or fashion is Charlie Hebdo remotely connected to Christianity, yet Muslims in Nigeria are using the offenses of secular humanists in France to justify violence against the Christians who are their neighbors.

As World Watch Monitor reports regarding the weekend of January 16, 2015:

Ten people have died, and 45 churches burned down in the two days of violence, the police say. But information gathered by World Watch Monitor revealed that more than 70 churches have been destroyed, along with numerous Christian schools and organisations, including an orphanage “The Good Samaritan’’ run by the Assembly of God Church.  The 40 children of the orphanage are currently in ‘‘disarray’’ under the care of police…

Over 30 Christian homes were believed to be looted and burnt down. Those affected say the violence has left them with “only the clothes on our backs”…

The violence sent some 300 Christians (out of 700 in the city) out taking refuge in army barracks. Some of them have started to get back into their homes, local sources told World Watch Monitor…

Associating local Christians with the Charlie Hebdo publication is incorrect, but convenient. The same way a Danish cartoonist mocking of the Prophet Mohammed created opportunity for Muslims to unleash terror on Christians in Northern Nigeria in February 2006, the Charlie Hebdo saga has become an opportunity for attacking Christians in Niger – an Islam-dominated country that has been praised for its secular government and relative tolerance towards Christians despite the fact that more than 98% of the population follow Islam. Over the past few years the country has seen growing radicalisation.

The devil is like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. His methods of devastation include attacks of all kinds – mental, spiritual, and physical. Although we should always be on guard for the devil to attack us with subtlety and guile, we should never forget that he is just as prone to use force against us as he is to use temptation.

Pray for the brethren in Nigeria. Pray for the brethren around the corner, around the world, and in your own home. The devil’s attacks are coming, and only by being fortified behind a wall of prayer do we stand a chance of withstanding the onslaught.