If you have lived the Christian life for any period of time, you know that that temptation can hit us suddenly and unexpectedly. Some temptation is small, leading to sins but other temptation is powerful with the ability to tempt us into additive and destructive habits.
Erwin Lutzer wrote a book full of insight about how our enemy, Satan, can tempt us into these addictive habits and how we can further get back out. Seven Snares of the Enemy is full of truth, observation, and even tragedy. This book can help us see the snares before we fall into them, or if we have found ourselves in these snares, it can help us find our way out. Lutzer discusses the scope of the war for our hearts in the introductory remarks. The topics include the battle inside ourselves, how the battle is waged and the etiology of addiction. Our destructive sins pull us into a cycle of defeat where we feel like there is no way out.
Not only is this a battle within ourselves, but it is also a battle with God. Like a parent that has been ignored, God loves us in our sin, even our addictions, but He is still disappointed. We need to make our lives with Him as we make it right with ourselves. The section ends with some introduction about how we can win the battle for our heart and mind. The conclusion to the book covers final points to consider in waging our battle strategy. Lutzer leaves details about each sin to the dedicated chapters.
Snares
Lutzer covers Seven Snares in this book with incredible detail. His chapter detail explains the sin, how people can find themselves in it, and when they realize the problem they are in. He talks about how to get out of the snare and the approaches that we should use as believers.
The snares are Greed, Gambling, Alcoholism, Pornography, The Sexual Affair, The Search for Pleasure, and Occultism. These snares are sometimes intertwined but sometimes independent. I will let Lutzer explain each of these sins to you as you read the book.
I highly recommend this book as both a way out of your personal sin and horror and as an inoculation against falling into the sins described in this book. It is best that we keep ourselves free of them but the second best solution is to overcome them. Overcome and receive the crown of life.
