Question regarding E.M. Bounds

[Tumnus]

Hello,

My wife was reading a book by E.M. Bounds called Guide to Spiritual Warfare. Toward the end of the book, in the chapter "Weapons That Work", in a subsection entitled "Satan's Army", and in the fourth paragraph, while describing Satan's army, he writes, "Against this invisible, innumerable, all-powerful, and vast array, we wrestle." My wife was curious why he would refer to Satan and his minions as "all-powerful" since this is an attribute typically reserved for God. I think it may just be in context, but thought I would see if anyone else had come across this. (I realize E.M. Bounds may not be one of the more widely read authors today.)

Thanks,
-T

 

[Islander]

I've heard of Bounds but I've never read his books. Is the book any good? I personally recommend Strategy of Satan by Warren Wiersbe.

I think it's an example of hyperbole and describing how powerful the enemy is he exaggerated. Bounds was human and all of us humans make mistakes.

 

[Tumnus]

My wife has found his writings somewhat hard to follow. I suspect the book you referenced might be better.

E.M. Bounds is frequently referenced because of his writings on prayer. He's an interesting character. He was ordained a Methodist minister, served during the Civil War as a chaplain in the Confederate army, served as a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church, wrote a lot about prayer and spiritual warfare (but never published any of it), and, after his death, his friends and family pulled together his notes into various books and published them.

I think you are right about the hyperbole. The time of his writing corresponds to that time in history when a lot of writing seemed to be influenced that way.

-T

 

[Islander]

Another good book is the Handbook on Spiritual Warfare by Ed Murphy. I'm not familiar with Murphy and I read all of Strategy of Satan where as the misnamed Handbook is an enormous book that I've read very little of but what I've read from it is good. I seriously doubt many people have read all of it though. The handbook is good in that it covers just about any issue in spiritual warfare and its easy to look up information on just the issue you want.

I still prefer Strategy of Satan though.

Yet another good book is the Battle of the Lord's by Tony Evans. It's similar to Strategy of Satan but Strategy of Satan took less time to read, was cheaper, and more importantly I got more out of it than I did from Evans book.