Spiritual Warfare

A line in “Urban Ministry” by Harvie Conn and Mannie Ortiz caught my attention. It says we are not prepared to deal with spiritual warfare in the West because of our “present worldview and dysfunctional theology”. That is a challenging statement if I have ever heard one.

What is spiritual warfare? As I understand it, it is the devil fighting for the hearts and souls of people by any means at his disposal, temptation, deception, apathy. It has to do with the sin in us, our fallen condition, the sin outside us, a world governed by sin, and in the cosmic battle of Good and Evil, Angels and Demons, Satan and Michael. It assumes a layer of reality to the book of Revelations that makes some people very uncomfortable.

I do not want to argue with our lack of preparation, because I believe it. Spiritual warfare is the stuff of a Frank Peretti novel, not ‘reality’.

I think we reject it because of its militaristic language. The church has sought to become truly transformed by the power and imagery of the eternal Peace of heaven. I think that has been exploited by the devil to turn us away from believing in the possibility of a real, horrid, demonic entity that seeks our destruction.

So don’t think about ‘waging war’, think about ‘waging peace’. Think about all the things that we need to do as Christians to place a reasonable, dignified, just, loving, godly existence in this world. Every tool and strategy of Satan needs to be met with a counter tool and strategy from Jesus, carried out by Jesus through his followers-us.

Now comes the ‘means’ debate. To wage war is to engage in sinful activity. In the world of politics and world order, we use sinful means to overcome more sinful means. Is that acceptable in the realm of the cosmic? The bible uses war language, but is that allegorical to what the real ‘means’ should be? When Paul outlines the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6, is the implication that we should clink when we walk?

But we are not ready for that debate. The very question of whether or not we are at war is up for grabs. Many good and faithful Christians do not embrace this language or this idea. I do not know how we can look at the world around us with all its destructive tendencies and not see this cosmic battle for the hearts and souls of the people.

This does not mean a victory for the devil, although sowing discord is so damaging. The war goes on no matter what you call it. And God is on our side.