What Dog Lovers Know About God

Brandon Fulkrod is a groomer who owned a farm in Lynchburg, Virginia, called Free Reign Farm, where he took in stray animals. One recipient of his benevolence was a wild turkey by the name of Tom. Once Tom settled into his lovely new home, the only animal on the farm who had free reign was Tom. I guess you might say Tom was like Satan; he was what Jesus called “the prince of this world” (John 12:31, 14:30, and 16:11). Portly peacocks flapped frantically to perch on tree limbs when he was around, losing their magnificent feathers and dignity in the effort. The goats always kept one eye peeled for him; the sheep huddled together like emperor penguins thwarting an Arctic blast; and Brandon’s dog Charlie, a senior bulldog whose belly dragged on the ground, scooted about as if a ghost were after him every time he picked up the scent of turkey. Even the horses avoided Tom. I invite you to think about what these animals might represent.

Then came the day for Annie’s visit. Tom dwarfed her, but that did not intimidate Annie. Cockers have been bred to retrieve birds, even maiming them. They don’t seem to be daunted by the size of the bird. Annie took one look at Tom, jumped through my opened car window, must have thought she had been handed the glorious challenge of a lifetime, and chased that screaming turkey over pasture and field. Turkey feathers and dust flew everywhere. The entire farmyard was in havoc as chickens squawked, horses screamed and kicked and galloped, and the peacocks were hysterical as if some rabid predator had come for their feathers.

This went on for what seemed to be an eternity when Tom stopped running and turned on Annie. There they were, Annie chasing Tom and Tom chasing Annie, going round and round in a circle. It cracks me up to remember it, but I did not think it was funny at the time. I was terrified that the big bird was going to kill my pup. And Annie was extremely determined to sink her perfectly strong canines into Tom’s skinny and fragile neck.

When we are in battle with Satan, I think that God has a similar reaction. He must be concerned that we might get hurt, but as He was with Job, He limits what Satan can do to us. As for what we can do to Satan, God must take great delight in our giving Satan a run for his money and taking a bite out of his hide.

Because of the circular assault, I was finally able to intervene and get Annie on her leash, while Tom took off for the next county. God intervenes in our battles too. If He didn’t, Satan would kill us as soon as we are born again and still vulnerable. God tells His people “to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land that the Lord Your God is giving you” (Deuteronomy 11:31). That might be your school, your place of employment, your family, your neighborhood. “The Lord will clear away those nations before you, little by little” (Deuteronomy 7:22), we are promised, but we are promised the victory and not release from the battle of driving them out. God told Israel, “You are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you” (Deuteronomy 20:3–4).

God rescued Annie and me from Satan’s grip. But Satan is a sore loser. Once you become a Christian, Satan hates you and thrives on plotting ways to shut you up and take you out. The Bible says that he is an enemy who is “like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Do you think that God causes car wrecks? Do you think that God gives little girls cancer? Does God make employers take away or withhold jobs? Is depression from God? Is evil from God?

You might be thinking, “Well, God is not evil, and although He may not have created these evil situations, isn’t He in control? Doesn’t it amount to the same thing? The Bible does say that God gives and God takes away” (Job 1:21). My question to you is “What do you know about Satan?” Most Christians think they know a lot about God but they know next to nothing about Satan, and even less about how to fight him as an enemy.

God is good, and Satan is evil. What Satan means for evil, God turns to good (Genesis 50:20). These are the power dynamics, and they are clearly defined in the Bible. The motive and goals behind satanic attacks are described in Milton’s interpretation in Paradise Lost. Based on the account in Isaiah 14, Milton’s third book has Satan licking his wounds in Pandemonium from his failed coup in heaven to raise his own throne above God’s. He has called his “Stygian council” to devise a scheme to retaliate against God. Bëelzebub recommends that they try to drive the “puny inhabitants,” meaning Adam and Eve, out of Paradise, and if they fail at that, to “seduce” them into joining their ranks so “that their God / May prove their foe … This would surpass / Common revenge, and interrupt his joy” (3.366–371).

Thrilled with such a plan, Milton’s Satan makes his way to earth first disguised as a cormorant (4.195–96).

Do you know what a cormorant is? Except to another cormorant, it is perhaps the ugliest bird that was ever created on this earth. Its neck forms an “S” like a snake’s. It is also one of the wily of birds. It will stand in the middle of a pond, on one leg if you please, as if it were dozing, nonchalant, all the while spying, like Satan, waiting and watching for any little creature who swims nearby and is totally oblivious to any possible danger. And then, in less than a blink of an eye, the unwary Christian is sliding down his throat.

Milton’s cormorant perched atop of the tree of life and spied on Adam and Eve. You know the rest of the story.

As for my turkey story, here’s the rest of it. Later that evening Brandon called to say that he still hadn’t found the turkey. The next day, Tom finally stopped running, and Brandon collected a very reluctant bird and returned to Free Reign Farm.