As Christians, we must be ready for battle at all times. Why must we be ready for battle? As Christians, aren't we supposed to be pacifistic and peaceful people? Yes and no. We are to be peaceful, loving, and kind to all; but there is a war going on that we must always be ready for. This war is not fought with weapons of mass destruction. In fact, this war is not fought with any weapon of typical war that you would read in a history book. This war is spiritual.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says, "for though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
The war that we are fighting is not flesh and blood, it is spiritual and mental. We are fighting a war, not based off of power, but off of truth. The enemy that we face is the kingdom of darkness, and their goal is to "steal, kill and destroy." (John 10:10) They comes to steal our identity in Christ, kill our hope, and destroy our faith. If they can do this, they can make us believe whatever they want. If we have no faith in God, we are willing to put our faith in anything. If we have no hope in Christ, we are willing to do anything. If we do not have our identity in Christ, we will try to find out identity in the world.
Now, many people would think of demons and angels when they hear the term "spiritual warfare," and yes that is a part of it, but not all of it. I have been actively participating in this spiritual war since I was twelve. There are demons and angels in the world; and to not believe that would to be disbelieving the Bible, because the Bible speaks this truth in volume, both in the New and Old Testament. Even Jesus cast out demons many times and gave His disciples the authority to cast out demons. This is a truth, but it is not the only part of spiritual warfare.
Spiritual warfare also has to do with false prophets, leading people astray from Christ while using His name. They will tell you things like Jesus was a man who became God or that Jesus and God are different people. I have heard everything from Jesus and Satan were brothers, to Jesus hates the homosexual community and anyone who defends them. I have heard that you get your paradise here on Earth and can live in luxury on vacation every day if you become a Christian. I have heard that the Bible is stories and the Old Testament is false; or that demons aren't real and that God could not have made all of those miracles happen.
None of those statements are true! Yes, you heard me. None of them are true! Jesus was fully God, Jesus is the word, Jesus is God; He was not some man who was picked to be God. That cannot happen, nor has it ever happened. The Bible clearly states that Jesus is, was, and always will be God. Jesus is not the brother is Satan, or else Satan would be omnipotent as well. If Satan and Jesus were brothers, that means that someone made them; and because the Bible teaches that Jesus is God and always has been God, and Satan was a creation of God, this could not be true. Jesus hating the homosexual community is one that fires me up every time. Jesus does not "hate fags." In fact, He loves ALL sinners! He loves everyone on both sides of the picket fence, regardless of what their sin is! He hates the sin, but loves the sinner. He wants to bring love and forgiveness, not hatred and rejection. He says that He is love, so Him hating any person is impossible. The paradise is not here on Earth because Jesus is not here on Earth. We have work to do! Anyone who tries to get you off of your spiritual duty is a false prophet trying to stop you from doing what you were called to do in Christ. Paradise is with Jesus, not in His creation. The Old Testament is truth because Jesus says so. He is the word. If you believe in Jesus, truly believe, then you must believe everything He says as truth; so you must believe the Old and New Testaments as truths, or else you are calling Jesus a liar; and if He is a liar then He is imperfect; and if He is imperfect, He could not cover our sins and our salvation is not true and we are all Hell bound. Finally, the spiritual life is true. Demons are real, possessions and whatnot happen; not like how they happen in the movies, but they happen. To believe that God could not create angels or move mountains and oceans is to believe that God is not omnipotent, which is blasphemy.
Yes, spiritual warfare takes place spiritually, not physically. It is not all about casting our demons. It is a truth struggle, not a power struggle. If you know the Bible to be truth and follow it instead of people, you will be safe. You will be able to cast out demons, correct false doctrines, and even heal the hearts of the broken that cannot receive Jesus because they have not been given the correct word. As spiritual warriors, it is our duty to bring the truth to all in order to bring healing, hope, and victory to all through the truth.
-D
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