Bible Teacher Kyle Winkler tackled spiritual battles people encountered in his recent book entitled "Shut Up, Devil," raising awareness and helping Christians to defeat the lies of the enemy.
Winkler focused his write-up on a few main topics about spiritual battles including "enemy's secret tactic and Bible-based advice for overcoming evil, his personal experience, and the pushback he sometimes gets within the church while discussing these issues."
In his recent interview on The Playing with Fire Podcast, he said "In some ways, I think the world gets it more than some people in the church... I've gotten more flak." He said some people in the church questioned him "Why are you always talking about the devil so much?"
Winkler warned Christians shouldn't "obsess about the devil" but "believers must be aware, on guard, and defend themselves, especially in light of Scripture's warnings." He cited 1 Peter 5:8 which says "Stay alert, watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around."
He said, "It's one of the great deceptions: If the enemy can convince people that he doesn't exist at all, and that is where, sadly, a lot of people in the church culture are today."
He pointed out "endless quest for positive messages" of some churches might avoid discussions about the reality of evil. "I tell people the most positive message isn't the denial of evil; it's the defeat of evil," he said. "The devil is a sneaky but defeated foe. We don't need to obsess about him but talking about him isn't [obsessing]."
Though Winkler has been a firm believer for a decade, he revealed that he battled with fear and anxieties as well during the time he was employed at a large church. "[I had] a lot of the insecurities and mind games that I battled well after I was a Christian - in some ways, more after I was a Christian than before I was a Christian," he said. "But I would take Scriptures related to things that I was facing to confront the mind games and the lies with truth."
He remembered falling for the enemy's lies in his life even after he found Jesus. These lies bombarded his mind until he learned to fight back with biblical truths that renewed him. "I was trying to work my way to achieve God's acceptance and God's love and things like that," he said. "And that was just this cycle of up and ups and downs."
In the hope to equip and help Christians defeat the enemy's lies and works and their lives, he wrote the book alongside the homonymous app which was all bible-based. "Some of what [Satan] says can be scary, but it has no merit. It can't do anything to you except maybe to convince you of lies," Winkler said. "
He noted the importance of knowing how to dismiss the lies that the enemy pushes into the minds of the people. It's the power of people saying, "No, you've been defeated in my life because of Christ. I am in Christ. So, therefore you don't have a place to talk to me," a power that comes solely from Jesus Christ.
