Our Struggle is Not Against Flesh and Blood
In Ephesians 6:12 the Apostle Paul tells us “our struggle is not against flesh and blood…”
Can it be more clear? He is telling us that the ISIS fighters, the Russian soldiers, the Chinese Navy, the Antifa radicals, the Clansmen and White Supremacists supporters, the Marxist protestors….they are not who our struggle is with; they are not the ones we wrestle with. They are not the enemy.
They are people. People being used by our ACTUAL enemy. And who is that you may ask?
The enemy is the Powers.
“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good men do nothing.” -Edmund Burke
We’ve all heard this quote; is it true? So how do we reconcile the need for evil to be halted and goodness to prevail?Doesn’t this presume that good men must actively stop evil? How does that happen when it is men (under the influence of evil) of who carry out the actions of Evil?
Men who are deceived and lost. Men who are blind and without hope in the world? Are we not contradicting scripture when good men make their struggle against flesh and blood to deal with evil? How do we justify good men becoming evil by murdering other good men turned evil, all in the name of stopping evil? Sounds like a great big scheme of the powers to make more men live a life of anger and suffering and die in war.
Is There Another Way?
Can good men do something to halt evil that does not include using evil, namely murder and war?
Can good men target evil at its source? In the spiritual realm, the heavenlies? In the sphere of policy and law, in the form of word and letter?
Can good men in the hands of evil puppet masters cut the strings from their unseen movers and in acts of valor and selfless love laying down their lives for their enemies?
What was Jesus talking about after all? What was his view of war and dealing with evil men?
Acts 2:23 - Jesus was allowed to be killed by evil (lawless men)
“But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:35-36)
God is kind to the wicked. So we must be kind to the wicked. God is merciful (providing forgiveness of sins before we asked before we were worthy of it) so we must be merciful to our enemies. This is what makes us his sons.
“37Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:37-38)
How we treat our enemies is how we will be treated by God it seems, because God allows us the choice of choosing our terms of fairness and judgement. What we deem good for them is good for us. What we dish out we will be fed. Jesus also says
Matt26:52“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him. “For all who draw the sword will die by the sword”
If we believe the solution to evil is war - and death of the evil-influenced- Jesus assured us our end will be through war and death. Going back to Luke… if our preconceived bias doesn’t leave room for other tools for dealing with evil, then evil that shows up in our actions can’t be dealt with according to other tools.
Again is there another way? Can good men really do something to halt evil in its tracks without resorting to evil actions? It’s hard to imagine because it’s rarely if ever done.
How do nations stop nations from acting out tyranny, subjugation, oppression, genocide and every other evil done upon humanity and earth? How do good men interject Gods kingdom values and government into worlds, countries, governments and states that are hell bent in rejecting His rule and way, or at the very least, consumed by their own way of ruling their kingdom? How do Good men interject goodness into the realms of authority that lay outside their realms of influence?
We in the USA would say you join the Army, Navy, Marines, etc to make a difference in this world. You fight for freedom at home or abroad. You fight for democracy.
And that has worked, right?
When enough good men fight against the governments that do evil against their people, those governments of evil must relent and subside their evils. The evil men must make way for good men who will make changes that align with good. So, in one sense, yes. It has worked.
Consider ww2 and the role that American forces played in the war’s expedition and cessation. Because good men did something evil was halted. But consider the other wars our good men got involved in? Vietnam perhaps. Good boys wanted to be good men so they went off to fight in an evil country to stop evil. Good boys died and “evil” boys died for what? Good didn’t replace evil in the end. Evil still triumphed; not only in the final result of communism taking hold, but in the process of war, death and loss and suffering on all planes. In that sense, it did not work.
Another Way
I propose that the solution to halting evil has to exclude the means of murder and destruction. Good men must be stronger than evil men in every way, shape and form. Physically, mentally, emotionally, economically, strategically, and more importantly, spiritually, for this is where the war on evil begins! Good men must be able to submit evil men under the power of Christ, because that is where all authority can be submitted. They must be able to operate in actions of the Spirt to halt evil. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control.
How does one submit another without lethal force? Strength and skill to render the enemy powerless. Think JiuJitsu and immobilization rather elimination. How does one detain a nation of submitted soldiers? Imprisonment under the best care? Inviting them and their families into a new way of living without fear of death and retaliation? A waiting space for their whole family until their country yields and reorganizes to align with goodness? That sounds oversimplistic, and impossible.
A nation of soldiers…without soldiers to carry out their plans, a government’s one hand is tied. It can still deploy bombs and weaponry from hidden sources, it can still stop trade and close off food and water. So how do you submit the state in such a manner?
If the evil intentions of evil states are to destroy their peoples’ lives as a means of fearful subjugation, how do good people step in and liberate the oppressed from oppressor…without resorting to means of evil? How does one take out just the head of a snake in a way that doesn’t make a hydra out of it? (Its evil actions taken on an evil serpent that is its means of reproduction) it is only truly good action that crushes the snake.
Here is where we fail at the holistic view of intervention in the global political affairs of freedom fighting.
The head of the snake is always a spiritual one! As the Spirit tells us through Paul, the powers are the force behind every single government, institution and man made powers that we see. There are real forces behind rulers of this world. They have authority and rights in the cosmos given to them by God, tainted and misused in an attempt to rebel against His good will, in order to set up worship and power for themselves. These powers have dominion on the earth because humans have validated their authority in exchange for glory, wealth and some of the power.
Few humans, that have authority (given or stolen) over human realms and states, are working with these powers directly. These are the secret players no one really know about. They are the real threats. All those beneath them know less and less, and have authority spread thinner and thinner. Now we are in the conversation of conspiracy theories, so we will drop that for now, and go back to what and who matter. People.
The bottom of this hierarchy is the soldier. The one with the least knowledge, the least power, the least influence, but has the most demanded of him, his very life. The soldier is the one we see as the enemy and it couldn’t be farther from the truth. To claim we can help evil by starting at the bottom and working up is a joke. To stop evil, good men need to climb to places of authority in the material world and change things from the top down. We know this. However, the powers operate most effectively in these higher ranks of authority, where they have, oh, so many vices and temptations to ruin good men. Lust, desire, greed, comforts and pleasures on every side. Humans are just not capable of doing this kind of double agent work.
But Christ was and still is capable.
Can men and women of Christ resist this type of power of the evil one and bring down his twisted kingdom from the inside out? Is this a task we must delegate to pray and intercession alone, a spiritual offense because the flesh is weak? Is this the way we resist and fight? Is this the way we halt evil and even reverse it? Without guns and bombs and tanks? Has it ever been done this way and ever had the same effect as the WW2 American liberation campaign?
The Bible tells us that the world is heading towards only more war and more deception; that Christ will need to return again to handle evil once and for all. Do we hasten this day by laying down arms and allowing evil to consume good people or do we hasten it by filling the enemies world with holy wars in scales we’ve never seen before? Either way, our struggle is not against flesh and blood.
Christ, and only Christ can rectify and redeem the powers and the damage they’ve done. Our role as his children is to follow His example, His word, His grace, His promises. To go into the world baptizing and making disciples. Reveling against the darkness by bringing, wearing light, being light and exposing the powers for what they are. Spirits and Wind; powerful only in the mind and powerless against Christ.
Well, these are just little thoughts about it, what are your thoughts?