God's unchanging truth remains the Christian's best tool for navigating our postmodern world. All is not relative as many believe; they are clear lines between what is good and evil. Moral evil has created natural evil and the tragic consequence of choosing to do evil still comes at a personal and universal price. Satan's goal is to lead the world to call right wrong and wrong right. He wants to counterfeit and undermine what God calls sin. Sin can be minimized, rationalized, medicalized, and counterfeited. We should remember, "there is a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death (Pr. 14:12). Evil is often minimized by culture. Sins are often judged on a scale of small sins, bad sins, and the worst kind of sins. But all sins are equally damaging to a believer's life and relationship with God. The human mind is good at rationalizing evil away and confusing what God calls good and evil. Often sinful behaviors are considered justified due to past experiences, or medical conditions. I am certainly not saying that some medical conditions do not lead people to commit evil acts because they do. It is equally true that societies today have begun to use past experiences and certain medical conditions to undermine and remove the need for personal responsibility and right living.
The Christian solider is not to be fooled by the many ways good and evil are counterfeited. He or she must seek spiritual maturity and seek wisdom from God. We must become doers of the Word of God and be quick to confess their sins to God (1 Pet. 2:2; 1 Cor.3:2; 1 Pet. 3:1-3; Heb. 5:12-6:1-3; James 1:22, 3:13-18; 1 John 1:9). Like all infectious cultural movements a counterfeited view of good and evil has made its way into the church and must be expelled with the truth of God! We must preach, teach, and seek to tell the world that God cares more about our holiness than our happiness.
Satan wants believers to remain unprepared and live as if they are not in a battle. He desires to steal the believer's peace, hope and service to God. Personally learning to define spiritual warfare biblically is foundational to finding victory over the darkness we face in this world. The mature Christian should have knowledge of how to more clearly define spiritual warfare personally; knowing what spiritual warfare is and is not gives power and insights into how to fight the good fight.
One of the clearest passages in the Bible concerning Spiritual Warfare is found in Paul's writings. This text does not conclusively define spiritual warfare, yet it comes closer than any other! Ephesians 6:10-12 makes it clear Christians must fight spiritual warfare God's way. Paul wrote, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 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 darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places."
Although not easily defined, the following summary provides a glimpse of the overall biblical teaching of spiritual warfare. Both the Old and New Testaments give record of this conflict: In a general sense, spiritual warfare is best understood as a part of the biblical record of how God has acted in history to save humanity from the works of evil, sin and death. Spiritual warfare is a real spiritual conflict. It is a universal conflict between God's kingdom and the kingdom of evil. This is a fierce conflict that has dimensions which reach from eternal past to the present and into the future. It is an invisible and spiritual conflict that manifests itself in the physical world through demonic forces and sinful actions. It is the result of Satan's war against the sovereignty of God and His creation. In short, it is Satan's rebellion against God and the effects it has had on God's created order. Satan is a defeated foe, but for a time the Christian must contend with his attacks through the power and victory that has been won by Christ. Our present battles are not against the flesh, but against spiritual forces.
This knowledge prepares us for this battle. After reading this definition, try to summarize its many parts in your own words. Put it in your own words and make it easier for you to remember. The Christian must know the battle they are in and who are his, or her real enemies. The above verses also give the power source by which daily victories are found. These truths will be looked at closer in a later chapter.
