Caught by Chad S Sides
The whole time we were planning our youth trip to Bible camp, I heard about the talent shows that were the highlight every year. Since I have a black belt in Karate I thought it might be fun to give a demonstration, but that didn’t seem creative enough to me. I had to find a way to put a spiritual spin on it.
Some might call it coincidence, but I believe God himself provided the first step in the creative process. Another high-ranking Karate student had signed up for the same trip, and since he was also my best friend I could think of no better partner.
I wanted to use our fighting techniques to depict Spiritual Warfare partially inspired by Steve Camp’s song “Run to the Battle,” so I approached Stuart with my inspiration, and we began brainstorming. Since I was the higher ranking Martial Artist I had the honor of being the ultimately victorious Christian. I also had a talent for tumbling which meant that Stuart as Satan could literally throw me around the stage.
I would begin by fighting off minor struggles in life becoming arrogant because I could handle them on my own. Once they were defeated I would arrogantly fight Satan under my own power using traditional Martial Arts weapons to represent worldly defenses. Stuart would effortlessly beat me senseless until in a final act of desperation, I turned to Jesus. Once the power of Christ was in me I would have the power to be victorious.
It was poignant, however we wanted to make sure we had the crowd’s undivided attention before the final message so we decided to add some unrealistic but humorous techniques and any trick we thought impressive enough to make spectators’ jaws drop.
We recruited other friends to help with getting the various weapons on and off stage as well as having a few represent the minor struggles I would defeat. We practiced every day before and during camp. That was where our first real spiritual battle took place.
During one of our practices we disagreed on the way we should choreograph some of the moves. It reached argument level, and I was beginning to get nervous that the whole thing was going to fall apart right there before my eyes.
It was Stuart who recognized what was actually happening and told us to pray. We joined hands, four or five sweaty teenage boys, a few of us in traditional Martial Arts uniforms, and prayed the spirit of dissension away from us. There was an immediate and dramatic shift of mood in the room. It was as if I had at that moment opened my eyes for the first time that day. We all felt it, and from that point on we had our most productive rehearsal yet.
God used that experience to show us the true significance of what we were doing. When we stood behind the stage before the performance we knew we were about to enter a spiritual battle for real so we put on the Armor of God praying for the light of truth to shine through our efforts. If we hadn’t prepared for battle I don’t believe we would have won.
I began with a short introduction so that the crowd would know what everything that they would see represented. I closed the intro by saying we must first use the real Sword of Truth on the Devil at which point I pulled a Bible from under my belt and read passages dealing with spiritual warfare. The crowd responded with a huge cheer, the final bit of encouragement I needed to begin with confidence.
The first three quarters of the skit went tremendously well. Then, as we approached the turning point of the battle, Stuart and I engaged in one of our most humorous and most daring acts. I placed my arm around his shoulders, and he wrapped his arm around my ribs. With his other fist he began hitting me repeatedly in the stomach. Because of the leverage our combined strength gave us I was able to rise off the floor a couple of feet with each punch and fall again in slow motion. After the final punch I jumped extra hard giving Stuart the ability to act like he was throwing me to the ground like a pro wrestler using one hand and almost no effort! We had practiced numerous times giving special attention to this sequence because I had to fall just right, flat on my back, without getting hurt.
As I became airborne I knew immediately something was wrong. My body was in the wrong position, and I was not going to be able to adjust enough to land appropriately. At best I would have the wind knocked out of me, at worst I could easily break a bone. I could only pray that I could suck it up enough to continue the skit even if I had to accommodate an injury.
It wasn’t so much a matter of being embarrassed, my pride wasn’t even an issue. I was concerned about how it would look to any of the lost spectators to have Satan win even if just in a skit. They would not get the full impact of God’s message, and I would feel like I let him down.
Oh, me of little faith. God was in control. Not only did I land safely, but the landing was also impossibly soft. Even when I fell correctly in practice there was more impact than what I felt this time. I was able to continue without pause even though I was stunned at what had just happened.
I remained true to the script, but part of my prayer was real. I called upon Jesus’ name and in a flourish beat the stuffing out of Satan both on stage and in reality. The response from the crowd was as big as anyone received that night, and I knew that we had done the Lord’s work. To this day I marvel at the landing I made, convinced that angelic hands I couldn’t see caught me and gently laid me down.