This has been a very heated election season. As our nation has quietly and surreptitiously, over the past 100 years,
strayed further and further from God and the Bible-based Constitution upon which it was founded, the majority of the church has been asleep. Thus, It has provided little direction for its members, politically.
As a result, church members must live daily in a country where their children are indoctrinated daily at schools (public and private) by a culture that teaches them anti-biblical lies. Those same lies fill nearly every broadcast church members hear, and are in practically every written article they read. So, It is crucial for Christians to have a clear vision of the identity of the enemy we are fighting, in the world, every day.
Yes, as Christians we do have enemies. They are those who oppose, and who purposely and deliberately stand against, Jesus Christ and His Truth in the Bible.
These enemies are not necessarily all those with whom we disagree. We will have differences of opinion with almost everyone as to what biblical truth is, and how and when it should be implemented in society.
However, these differences do not make those dissenters our enemies. The Bible promises that as the church does its “equipping job,” with all members having the opportunity to participate, we will eventually be “united in the faith and in the full knowledge of God’s Son” (Ephesians 4:13. ISV). All our differences of opinion, which are always present, will eventually be resolved as we stay together and love one another..
But we do have enemies who hate God’s Truth and are not seeking it,. The trick is, 1.) knowing who they are, and 2.) how to combat them!
1. Who are my enemies?
I believe the Bible teaches us that we have two types of legitimate enemies. The first is our physical, human enemies, who hate Jesus and His Truth. They are not simply those who disagree with us.
The second are the “principalities and powers”—wicked, fallen angels who were defeated at the cross, along with their leader, Satan. “Having disarmed principalities and powers (by Jesus’ death and resurrection), He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).
After crucifying an innocent man in the eternal court of divine justice, Satan and his cronies became legal murderers, stripped of all power and authority they took from Adam. They are left with only lying, trickery and deceit. These they have successfully used to deceive our physical, human enemies “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
So, our enemies are two-fold—1.) our external, physical human enemies, and 2.) Satan’s internal, lying, deceiving, spiritual forces who energize them.
2. How do I combat them?
Jesus tells us how to fight our physical, human enemies in Matthew 5:44: “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”
Jesus says as we “love,” “bless,” “do good to,” and “pray for,” all those enemies who “curse,” “hate,” “spitefully use,” and “persecute” us, we are “doing battle with” and defeating them, just as He did! Jesus’ attitude at the cross demonstrated for us this attitude, the very same one WE WILL HAVE, as WE face tangible, human enemies, (maybe someday even as destructive and deadly as His): “Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’ And they divided His garments and cast lots” (Luke 23:34)!
However, our real enemies are not these who physically oppose us, with whom we see, hear, and interact, although Jesus Himself calls them “enemies.” That Great Deceiver, Satan Himself, has captured these physical enemies and is desperately using them to further his guerilla tactics to delay the church’s certain and final victory. Satan and his demonic, spiritual forces are our real enemies.
The Apostle Paul uses this distinction between our spiritual enemies and our physical ones to instruct us in how to wage war against the spiritual ones: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:11-13)..
Then (In verses 14-20), Paul explains the armor God has given us to defeat these spiritual enemies. It includes Truth (God’s Law applied with grace – John 1:17), righteousness (produced by faith alone, not obedience) , the free, unconditional, unchosen gospel of grace, and the personal experience of salvation it brings. These make up the armor to withstand our spiritual enemy’s attack,
Paul gives us “the straw that stirs the drink” in verse 16, “ABOVE ALL, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” We will eventually ALL become like little children who simply “put up their shields” in EVERY SITUATION—”Daddy’s got it!” .
Our understanding of who our enemy really is and how we fight him is crucial as we learn to be effective warriors. As Jesus said, “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). The battle is corporate, not individual, and make no mistake, the coming election is a crisis in this spiritual battle, as we attack the gates of Hell!
Our next blog posting will come out on the day before the final election day and will include a prediction. Hold on!
