The previous posts in this series:

• Satan gets a foothold when you become internally-focused
• Satan gets a foothold when you don’t guard the roads

Although the Turks took Kalliopolis in 1354, it was nearly a century before the Turks finally took Constantine. In the meantime, the Turkish Sultan forced the Byzantine emperors to swear fealty to them. The great emperor was reduced to vassalage, the Turks forced him to help in the conquest of his own lands.

The third truth I want to share is this:

Satan gets a foothold in the church when you compromise to ‘keep the peace.’

Rather than challenge the entrenched, complacent elites, the Byzantine emperors chose to placate them. And then, they attempted to placate the Sultans. Before too long, they expended so much effort keeping the peace that they ceased to have any real power.

The church needs to keep the first thing the first thing.