What if life were more than just waking up, going to school or work, coming home, eating supper, and hitting the hay to do it all again the next day? What if life is a massive battlefield in the supernatural arena… and none of us think about it except when our pastor preaches a sermon on spiritual warfare?
Life is a supernatural arena of spiritual warfare, and the true enemy in culture and politics is Satan, not the humans who do his bidding.
The Art Of War
Sun Tzu was a brilliant Chinese general specializing in strategy and philosophy durin the Zhou Dynasty, and he wrote one of the most famous military strategy books called The Art of War. Have you ever heard the quote below?
“Know yourself and know your enemy.
You will be safe in every battle.
You may know yourself but not know the enemy.
You will then lose one battle for every one you win.
You may not know yourself or the enemy.
You will then lose every battle.”
Art of War 3:6:1-6 (Science of Strategy).
In any war (whether geographical, political, or cultural), you must know your enemy, otherwise you will win very little because you don’t understand the moves your enemy will make. You must understand how he thinks, why he does what he does, and what his main goal is. Then, you can counterattack with strategies and goals of your own.
As Sun Tzu wrote, “If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.”
Who Is the Real Enemy?
This thought bounced into my brain the other day as I was pondering the culture war we are in. It’s so easy as humans to point our fingers at political leaders, Leftists, prominent spokespeople, and organizations and say, “There’s our enemy! They are the bad ones!”
And they are. They are the enemy and the bad ones.
But we have to realize the enemy is only portrayed through them and their actions. The real enemy is Satan, and it doesn’t matter how many of his useful idiots he has on earth, there will always be more.
Paul writes, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, NKJV).
Paul is reminding us that we should look beyond the evil rulers and human forces and wage our battles against the spiritual forces of darkness that are always at work behind the scenes.
Think about it: when Hitler killed millions of Jews in concentration camps and massacres, how did he justify such unthinkable atrocities? He was controlled by the forces of darkness.
Why did Hitler target the Jews, of all people?
They are God’s chosen people, and what would Satan like more than to destroy God’s plan for the world through Israel by killing them out and making them a hated group?
Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Mao’s China, communist Cuba, and Kim Jon Ung’s North Korea are not just the awful acts of sinful rulers and people. The controlling factor is spiritual warfare, and the evil side is winning these battles (but they won’t win the war).
Read More: Rejecting Groupthink.
How Do You Fight the REAL Enemy When They Are Unseen?
The dark spiritual forces of evil are unseen most of the time, except for the manifestations of their work in evil humans.
C.S. Lewis writes,” Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible” (Mere Christianity, p. 66).
This is one way that we can view our actions and everyday lives. That smile you gave the cashier when she handed you your receipt, the wave you gave the driver of the other car, kindly loving your family… all of it makes a strategic difference.
So do the negative influences you portray. Scowling at the waiter, cutting in line at the store, shouting at your family. Bad strategy, bad moves can predetermine an entire battle’s outcome.
Discerning the Real Enemy
How do we discern the real enemy when it is so easy to set all our sites on the humans doing the evil bidding?
It’s tough. We won’t always make the distinction. And it is still so important to fight against these people who are the servants of Satan and the dark principalities. We must stand up against them, we must speak out against them, and we must shun their agenda.
We must not fear them even when they have the power to hurt us. In Matthew 10:28, Jesus says, “[…] do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him Who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (NKJV).
There is power in fear- don’t give them more than they already have. Set your hope on Jesus and His redemption and salvation.
This also gives us freedom. No more fear, no more hate. We can still love our enemies.
It’s easier said than done, I’ll give you that. When I was very young, my grandparents divorced, and I have never recovered from all the hurt and manipulation involved in that situation. It’s hard to move forward when you have been emotionally or even physically hurt in so many ways.
But as we continue to grow in Christ and be sanctified and become more like Him, we can release hatred, fear, and bitterness.
Paul writes, “Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Romans 8:30, NKJV).
Conclusion
When we are at our darkest, lowest in life, we have hope. And “hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5, NKJV).
When we see catastrophic evil manifested all around us in our culture, rulers, politics, and all over the world, we must remember that Satan will win some battles, but the war is already won by God, and we have to keep our eyes on him and our sites trained on the spiritual side of life.
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