As C. S. Lewis said, some Christians are careless about the devil; some are too consumed with his existence. [1] So here’s a word for the preoccupied.
I just heard a fine Holy Week sermon titled “It is Finished.” One of the references to Jesus’ crucifixion was, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Col 2:15). Paul wrote this to Colossae in Asia Minor, where many lived in dread of spirit-beings.
I could not pry loose that strong verb, “disarm”, from my mind.
If I may unpack Paul’s words to the Colossians: 2000 years ago, with a terse command, Christ ordered every single spiritual being in his entire Creation, to DISARM.
And with a sound like mighty rushing waters, every evil being dropped their spirit-world equivalent of their aerial fighter, air-to-air missile, anthrax, antiaircraft gun, antiballistic missile, antitank weapon, atomic bomb, battering ram, bayonet, bazooka, Big Bertha, blowgun, blunderbuss, bomber, boomerang, bow and arrow, cannon, carbine, catapult, club, club, crossbow, dagger, dagger, dart gun, depth charge, dirty bomb, dirty bomb, flamethrower, Gatling gun, grapeshot, Greek fire, grenade, halberd, handgun, ICBM, IED (improvised explosive device), lance, Lance missile, land mine, longbow, Minuteman missile, mustard gas, naval mine, nerve gas, neutron bomb, Nike missile, Peacekeeper missile, pike, Polaris missile, Poseidon missile, quarterstaff, sabre, sling, spear, spear, Spencer carbine, stealth weapon, sword, tear gas, thermonuclear bomb, tomahawk, torpedo, trebuchet, V-2 rocket, Warthog, every one of them, 100%, fall to the ground with an ear-shattering rattle. [2]
Disarmed.
There is spiritual warfare. When the forces of evil try to frighten you, to be sure, stand firm against temptation. But when it comes to weaponry, just remember: they’ve got NOTHING. We’ve got EVERYTHING.
NOTES:
[1] “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.” Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, Preface (see http://www.preachershelp.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/lewis-screwtape-letters.pdf)
[2] Thanks to the Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/list-of-weapons-2058724
“Every last one of you: DISARM!!!” by Gary S. Shogren, PhD in New Testament Exegesis, Professor at Seminario ESEPA, San José, Costa Rica
Open Our Eyes, Lord! 
I like this interpretation a great deal, and appreciate the confident stance it offers. But how do you reconcile it with Peter’s warning that we could be devoured by Satan as a roaring lion? And how do you correlate it with the wrestling Paul expects us to do, not with flesh and blood but against principalities and powers? For example, the messenger of Satan sent to buffet Paul?
Thanks,
Doug Vardell
Hi Doug, great to hear from you!
Yes, I fully affirm the things you bring up as serious concerns. However, my point in the article was that some Christians give the Devil way too much credit: “some Christians are careless about the devil; some are too consumed with his existence.” It was to the latter group that I was writing. It would be a second post to speak to Christians who have, in effect, a secularized worldview and dismiss the devil as a fairly tale.
Blessings! Gary
It’s simple.
James 4:7 NASBS
BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE .” [7] Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.