Spiritual Warfare and Society

WAR!

A war has been declared. The enemy is unseen and seems to be pervasive. He hates us and everything for which we stand, and will stop at nothing to defeat us. We cannot invade any country to destroy him, and he seems able to strike at his will and cause great damage.

While this description may sound like America's "War on Terrorism", we speak of another conflict entirely, one that has lasted far longer and will continue to exist as long as the earth may last: the spiritual war between the forces of darkness and those who are in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 6:10-18). Let us spend some time considering this conflict and why we must always be on our guard.

It is important for us first to discern our enemy and where he operates, just as those do who are involved in physical war. While discerning the enemy and his location may be difficult in some cases, it is not in our struggle: our enemy is Satan, the adversary and deceiver, and his forces of darkness, and he prowls around the earth (Job 1:7, 1 Peter 5:8). Just as importantly, the Bible reveals who is not the enemy: flesh and blood do not represent the enemy, but the spiritual powers of darkness (Ephesians 6:12). We must not confuse our fellow man with he who deceives them: we must love our fellow man, but abhor the Devil and his works (Matthew 22:39, Romans 12:9).

This makes sense when we recognize that we are part of a spiritual Kingdom first (John 18:36); we cannot achieve success in the spiritual battle using physical warfare!

Paul speaks regarding our enemy in Ephesians 6:12:

For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

We see here that the conflict has two major facets: the work of evil on the earth and also in the heavens. This world suffers from "this darkness," since Satan is the ruler of this world (John 14:30, 2 Corinthians 4:4), and it would seem that many serve him. Likewise, many serve gods that are not really gods, and such evil spirits abound in Biblical literature. These represent our enemy!