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Spiritual Warfare- Part 3 of 7

by Paul George  
12/03/2008 / Bible Studies

Ephesians 6:12-17

Quotes from World English Bible unless otherwise noted

"Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world's rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having the utility belt of truth buckled around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having fitted your feet with the preparation of the Good News of peace; above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, out of the clear blue-sky Japanese aircraft descended on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, in a matter of seconds, all around Pearl Harbor, ships erupted into flames. Within those ships, men died without a moment's warning some even asleep in their bunks. The people asked, "Why did God permit this to happen. They asked the wrong question. The question should be, "Why did those who had the responsibility of protecting the nation and its people let this happen. The question should be what the motivation was and who the motivator behind this deadly attack was.

The nation watched the devastation of September 11, 2001. The people asked, "Why God permitted this to happen. They asked the wrong question. The question should be, "Why did those who have the responsibility of protecting this nation and its people let this happen." The question should be what the motivation was and who the motivator behind this deadly attack was.

Today, we are witnessing an unheard of increase in the murder of innocent men, women, children, babies, and the unborn, as well as an unheard decline in the influence of the Church upon our society. The people ask, "Why is God permitting this to happen." When we as why is God permitting this to happen we are asking the wrong question. The question we should be asking is "Why are those who have the responsibility to warn the people of coming distracters failing to warn the people. A second question we need to ask is "What the motivation is and who is the motivator behind these deadly attacks upon humanity." In the past the blame for the slaughter of millions of men, women, children, babies, the unborn, and the decline of the influence of church was laid at the doorstep of a crafty, powerful, spiritual being whom our Lord Jesus has called "the ruler of this world," the devil, Satan.

While it is true the attack upon Pearl Harbor was an attack by the Japanese. It is also true; the devastation of September 11, 2007 was the evil activity of the hijackers. It is also true the murder of billions of unborn babies are the acts of civilized, educated, men and women, however, the true source of the devastation that occurred on December 7, 1941 and September 11, 2001 was the cutting of deals with the enemy and ignoring warnings, the same is true in the Christian community. The declining influence of the Church upon society is the result of cutting deals with the enemy and ignoring warnings. However, in the God's Word we find no cutting deals with the enemy. In the Word of we learn the truth. In the Word of God we see the world as it really is. When we get down to the essentials of life and strip off all the confusing illusion, we find that life is exactly what God revealed it to be and this contradicts our opinions, speculations, and distorted views of life and the world. We may not want to hear what God has stood on the wall and warned was coming. We may think His description of the condition of the world we see and live in is too harsh, or its solution to the existing conditions impossible, however, if we reject God's solution to existing conditions in the world and the Christian community solution we only deceive ourselves. Instead of accepting God's solution to life and the conditions existing in the world, the enemy wants us to highlight the verses we like and delete the verses that expose our sins and failures. However, because God Himself inspired the human authors of the Word of God, we do not have the authority to edit or delete what is written in the Word of God.

In this world, we are continually confronted with the choice of whether to accept the fallible authority of mere human beings or the certain, unfailing, clear Word of God. As Christians, as people who bear the name of Christ, we must continually reduce every argument to this simple consideration; "Am I to accept this person's word or the Word of God? If this person's word agrees with what the Lord says, then fine, it is truth. But if this person's word does not agree with God's Word, then I must reject it, because there is no authority greater than that of God.

In Ephesians six, the Apostle Paul sets forth his viewpoint of life, especially as it relates to the Christian. According to Paul, life is struggle, life is a conflict, and life is warfare. In Paul's viewpoint, life is nothing more than a never-ending wrestling match. The apostle Paul tells us that life is a struggle, a life and-death conflict between two opposing forces. If we try to ignore the conflict, if we do not choose the right side and take up our armor and our weapons for the battle, we become casualties of the battle.

In Ephesians six, the Apostle Paul defines for us the nature of the struggle and this is a crucial point in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Paul tells us that our conflict is not against flesh and blood. The pilots of the airplanes used to bomb Pearl Harbor were flesh and blood. The pilots of the airplanes used to create the devastation of September eleven were flesh and blood. The doctors who murder the unborn are flesh and blood, yet Paul claims our struggle is not against flesh and blood. It is not a political struggle, a social struggle, an economic struggle, or even a religious theological-doctrinal struggle. It is not a struggle between human beings. The battle is not against people, but against unseen spiritual powers. In fact, according to Paul, humanity is under a vicious assault by certain principalities and powers, world rulers of darkness, wicked spirits in high places, and Christians are not the only people opposed by these forces. All humanity is the target of the enemy.

However, even though it has been revealed by God the devil has declared war on humanity, only true believers in Christ, are capable of believing and perceiving the true nature of this world-wide conflict. The world does not understand spiritual truth, so it either distorts the true nature of our battle to the point of ridiculousness or intellectually unacceptable and inadmissible to any intelligent mind. Occultism and superstition have distorted the great revelation of the presence of spiritual powers, rulers, authorities, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms and reduced them to a pantheon of comic-book goblins, witches, spooks, and ghouls. This attitude is also found in many local churches.

We have to ask ourselves, if there is no devil, then how do we explain all the evil in the world? When we look at the many attempts down through history to destroy God's chosen nation, Israel, including the Holocaust, how can we say there is no devil? How can we say that a personal, intentional force for evil is not deliberately trying to destroy God's plan for the world? In addition, when we look at the persecution of Christians and the destruction of churches around the globe, God's chosen agency for demonstrating His character and His love in a dark world, how can we say there is no devil?

Contrary to the teachings of the false teachers that have made their way into local churches, schools, colleges, and universities, the devil is real, he is active, he is working day and night, trying to subvert and undo and defeat God's plan in human history. The devil is our enemy. Behind the problems of the world, behind the evil that manifests itself in mankind, there is a hierarchy of evil spirits the devil and his angels. The world says to the Christian, "Why talk about myths from the Bible about devils and angels? You want to know what is real. Turn on your TV or radio, read what is written in your newspaper. What you hear, see, and read is relevant and meaningful, and not what is written in an ancient book."

It is time we wise up, what we see, on the TV and hear on our radio, and read in our newspaper is an illusion of reality. Real reality, the real warfare that is going on in this world, is so invisible to the people of this world that it is never talked about in the media, and it never makes the headlines yet it is these principalities and powers that motivate the events behind the headlines. The wars, the genocides, the persecutions, the famines, the hatred, the racial unrest all of these things are the outward symptoms of the spiritual cancer that is consuming this world from the inside out. That is what Paul so vividly and accurately sets before us in Ephesians six. This crippling disease has reached such a deadly, critical stage that even non-Christians, are recognizing the inadequacy of their solution to the problems in the world.

As the world's great political leaders and religious leaders grapple with the dilemma of modern life, all they can say is, "What is wrong? What is the unknown element behind this? We cannot understand or explain this. Something is missing from our understanding of human nature and human behavior. What is it?" The answer; there is no peace in the world because as it was in the days of Noah and Lot, the wickedness of man is great on the earth and every intent of the thoughts of his heart continually evil.
While modern sociology, psychology, and political science stand baffled and frustrated in the face of the world's evil and darkness, the Apostle Paul gives us the insight and illumination of God's Word: The world, he says, is in the grip of what he calls "rulers, authorities, powers." These rulers and powers of this dark world are headed by the devil, which Scripture says is a powerful, cunning, intelligent fallen angel. It is the devil and his demonic forces against whom Christians are called to wrestle daily.

Our Lord Jesus Christ told the religious and political leaders of His day they belong to their father, the devil and they carry out the desires of their father (John 8:44). In this rebuke of the religious and political leaders of His day, Jesus stripped the devil of his disguises and revealed his true character a liar and a murderer. What the devil does is related to what he is, just as what we do is related to what we are. Because he is a liar and a murderer, the devil's work is to deceive and to destroy. There you have the explanation for all the misery, hatred, murder, war, and other evils that have taken place in human history.

God has issued to each of us a bugle call to arms. It is a call to us to be men and women of God, to fight the good fight, to stand fast in the faith, to be strong in the Lord in the midst of the battle, in the midst of this dark and evil world. Those who ignore this call and the battle that rages around them are doomed to be casualties. We cannot remain neutral. We must choose sides. We must align ourselves with the forces of God, the forces of good. We must answer the bugle call, we must put on our armor and stand our ground or the battle will roll over us and the forces of evil will trample us into the dust of the battlefield.

Therefore, we must learn to recognize how the dark systems of the devil work. That is the greatest challenge any ear could ever hear. It demands more courage and sacrifice than any other cause in the history of the world. It is the most exciting call that has ever gone out to men and women anywhere. "Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power."

Retired pastor,Church of the Nazarene

Author of web site Exploring God's Word

www.thewordofgodonline.net

New American Standard Bible

King James Version

The World English Bible

Sermons and Bible studies preached and taught by author

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