that brings salvation. They were words of dynamite that were both destructive and constructive in the sense that they destroyed the idols that had hold of the Thessalonians and, at the same time, turned them around to serve the living and true God (v. 9). Only omnipotence can rescue us from Satan’s stronghold. We must never imagine that we wriggled free from the devil’s grasp by our own strength or ingenuity, for he had taken us captive to do his will; rather, it was an almighty hand that wrested