Spiritual Warefare

    I would like to bring to light a combination of the revelation that C.S. Lewis had through his book the Screwtape Letters, and Oswald Chambers’ book, Biblical Psychology. We will look at the logical supposal that C.S. Lewis makes about the way demons truly work against our minds in ways and thought patterns that are quite foreign to today's common teaching and preaching.

     So let us examine and digest the reasoning Oswald makes as to why demons and angels are the way that they are, and how they came to be; and then analyze Lewis' revelation on demons carrying out such a task that they have been given. Then we will look at scripture about how to combat these creatures and where we stand in the hierarchy with them.

     Oswald shows in Job 4:7 there are references to beings known as the sons of God. Nowhere in the Old Testament does the concept of man being "a son of God" appear. The first part of this verse shows that there was an entire universe before the earth was conceived; it fell in the first couple of verses of the Bible: "when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy."

This alludes to the fact that there was a time before time. It could be said: When all that existed was God and his first creations, the angels. The angels existed and fell even before man or earth was made a reality. Oswald in this book shows us a different kind of fallenness that the angels have than man has.

When man sinned, Eve was in ignorance and had a different kind of relationship with creation than Adam did. She was more of a caretaker and close to nature. Adam, on the other hand, was the responsible one who was not deceived. He was fully aware that God had commanded them not to eat the fruit – this is why the blame falls on Adam as a sin.

     This sin was recognized, and was not an act of rebellion. That is the difference between man and the angels. The angels choose an all-out rebellion, eternal condemnation in which they wished to overthrow God's glory and power. Being all spirit, they are eternally indignant and were of a different order than man. (This is another subject to be explored at a different time.)

     So, Satan is in total rebellion trying to bring mankind – a matter-spirit being – into the same line of rebellion as himself. Let's go to C.S. Lewis and examine a supposal on how they do so.

Because the demons’ fallenness gives them this desirous notion to take all man down with them, they use every tactic of folly to bring us down. That is not the revelation here; the revelation is the manner in which they use these tactics. Self pity, self loathing, and self deserving are some of the strongest weapons in the demonic arsenal.

     It’s the concept of how we use our time, and how we believe that the things we have are our own. Getting us to look at a person in the pew in front of us as just someone who wears goofy earrings, instead of a person who might need prayer. Or as an individual with the potential to be a powerful man or woman of God. These tactics keep us in a sense of complacency in sin, keeping us in a torrent of misery through influencing our own decisions.

     Another tactic that is prominent (even for Lewis in his day), is that demons try to keep you from realizing that they truly are that little voice in your head, and to keep reason out of your mind about certain topics. True reason leads from truth to truth about the reality that we live in, not the deformed idea that the demons are trying to get across.

In his writings, Oswald Chambers suggests that perhaps Satan even dislikes when we commit monstrous sins and fall all the way down because he knows that we will eventually seek a savior, or a redeemer. Rather Satan’s plan is to slowly, but constantly turn up the heat and boil us without our being aware. These ideas are not absolutes, but logical supposals evidenced in scripture and in our own lives. Also, as we can see in Job, the devil tries to not only corrupt our view of God, but also God's view of us, to his very face (Job 2:1-3).

Since we are beings, as it says in Psalms (8:5) and quoted in Hebrews, (2:7) that are made slightly lower than angels, because we are also made of matter and spirit, we have the tendencies of the flesh, cultured by the spirit through the medium of transformation called the soul. As we come to acknowledge our full spiritual-ness being the very "form" of Christ, then we become something that the angels cannot even understand. Oswald states that our essence and ability to become "Christ-like" is where we become something greater than the angels. Christ came down, identified with us, and released his spirit onto Christians, and His authority onto the church (John 20:21-22) and (Luke 9:1,2) giving them power to cast out all devils, cure diseases, and preach.

     You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. (2 Timothy 2:1-4).

We are human, but we don't wage war with human plans and methods. We use God's mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil's strongholds, to break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God, to conquer their rebellious ideas, and we teach them to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

      These verses are good examples of how the early church fathers saw spiritual warfare, not as something to fear and should be worried about – including spirits – but as an area Christians can work in and thrive. Christians are the only ones who can bring the peace of God with them and let it rest on places (Matthew 10:13). God's grace to us is something we can bring and represent to others. We are to fight the good fight against principalities and powers through Christ alone. He is the One we draw our strength from. Through prayer and faith we can move mountains; however when our faith is lacking, a demon will not be moved. Not all spirits just bow to our whim, let alone any. You must be clothed in the armor of God and wielding the sword of the spirit.

 "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18 KJV)

We do know though, that there will be attacks against the church as the scripture above insinuates, that through all his might Satan will come against it, but will not prevail. It is our job as Christians to be ready and able to fight against the passageway of hell. It is our job to make our stand, stay awake and sober and fight the good fight. 

     ...now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. (Romans 13:11-14 NKJV)

Knowing the Trinity

Christ Our Savior

   In order to offer others the chance at infinite bliss in the arms of a kind compassionate Lord and Savior, perhaps we should know personally who we are sending them to first. Our relationship with Christ and the entire trinity is crucial in our evangelism and discipleship. When we speak of Christ's love, it should be clear in our own lives by the way we live, speak, and act, that we KNOW our savior. If we truly know Christ, then we can honestly, and emotionally express to others what He is like. When Jesus says "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matt 11:29)We cannot learn how to truly be like someone "learn from someone" without understanding who they are, how they act, and how they believe. This makes it imperative for us to be able to genuinely understand Christ, and be filled with the overflowing abundance that he pours into us that others can't help but see his work in our lives. We can see that Christ is ever compassionate, and loving by our examination of him in the New Testament. Let us go back to the old testament and see how God has set up the entire essence of scripture leading up to the breakthrough that is the arrival of Christ. The completion of the law, the renewal of life, and because of him a redefining of death

Parallels   

 Looking at the old testament we can see the character of God, there is a verse that says that when you know the son you also know the father. Well it turns out to be just as true the other way around, there is no contradiction or friction between the father and the son's perfect character, old testament and new testament the same. Here we can see some of the comparisons easily seen in the way the father took care of His children even giving us insight as to the dominion of his son in later days.


Jehovah-Jireh

 Genesis 22:5 shows how God is Jehovah-Jireh, our provider. When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son as an offering, there was a  Christ-like obedience there by his son, but even though his son was the very best, a promise kept to Abraham, he still wasn't good enough. He was setting up how we can see the love of God providing salvation and providing a way around man having to sacrifice, God sent an angel to stop the sacrifice, and then needed to provide the sacrificial lamb. This can bring revelation in showing him as our provider. This is a shadow of Christ, giving us example of the blemishless lamb God provided because we really couldn't cut it with our best. God had to come down and die for us.

 Jehovah-Rafa

Jehovah-Rafa is the name that shows how God is our healer. "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters." (Romans 8:28-29) In the bitter sweet times of life such as in Job 2 God makes all things work toward good. We can also relate this to the coming of Christ who turns all the burdens and pains of this world into what develops perseverance, and how Christ was given the commands and fulfills them with joy obeying the father's command to heal and bring the good news to the people "Then Jesus explained: "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work." (John 4:34). 

  

Jehovah-Nisi 

     We see God as Jehovah-Nisi in Exodus 17. This is the famous battle between the Isrealites and the Amalekites, where Moses had to hold up his hand in order to win the battle between the two nations. When Moses' arms were raised the Isrealites would be winning. As long as we are holding God above all else and keep our trust in Him we will win the war. For us in the common day and age where actual battles and wars don't really seem to exist on an every day level, we can take to heart that this is relevant to the war that rages in us everyday between the flesh and the spirit. "So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:21). Christ Came into this world as our banner, regardless of what we go through and deal with and regardless of how our flesh rages against our spirit, Christ has made it to where we can only lose battles, because through him the war is already won. We can choose to raise up our banner and now have the authority to fight against the flesh in Christ our Lord.

Holy Spirit

     The Holy spirit could only come to dwell within us by Christ's sacrifice which gave atonement for man according to John 16:7.This next verse gives testament as to the entity of the spirit as not some ghost but a being just like the rest of the trinity.  "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me:" (John 15:26) The Holy spirit comes and gives us the power which we see many of the apostles and disciples around Christ use to speak in tongues, heal, and even bring people back from the dead. "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us…"(Ephesians 3:20)
We tend to forget that the spirit being the great comforter is with us at all times as Christians. He who teaches, and helps us remember all we learn in Christ (John 14:26). Oddly enough, it is that through the spirit, I believe, that we develop character we see in Christ  "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," (Galatians 5:22).We should not take any part of the trinity lightly, for it is when we accept salvation that we may be empowered and have understanding of God's things. That we may encourage those who do not have Christ helping them understand that the ultimate comforter is what waits for them on the other side of salvation. The spirit is something we should make sure we are always aware of in our own walks.

Society today

     We become so exhausted and rushed in our society today, we forget to slow down and thank the one who made us. We have been created in an image of a perfect being, not that we are made like him, but in the likeness of him. This means that we are not perfect as he is, but may strive toward that perfection. We can and are creative, have desires and are able to love. Man cannot evolve consciousness, although we do have a desire to seek something higher, man is not the ultimate authority and we tend to forget that. When we try to make God in our own likeness in our minds we forgot his true nature and authority. We can't help but to curse him when we are in trouble, and forget him in our times of plenty. He does not change, just because we change and our circumstances change does not mean that he does. Evolutionists try to explain away God with Christianity's "lack of proof" when in reality Christianity doesn't claim that we can "prove" God. However, atheists cannot prove their own THEORIES (not laws) and attempt to hold religion to the same standard, even though it does not claim it. This does not discredit creation theory, but weakens evolution's foundation. Once again though, we become so absorbed in culture and society that we tend to forgot our purpose and what brings true joy and peace. Knowing God, alone can give us such a sense of meaning. If this wasn't true, not that Christians don't sin or make mistakes, but even the people who reach near god-like positions in their own minds, such as professional athletes, artists, or politicians will not feel the hole inside their being filled with such vain pursuits. I cannot help but to think that we are eternally blessed every moment we take a breath and are allowed to exist in a universe where we can know our creator.

     Something to think about, if you ever met someone who was extremely famous, or had an untouchable amount of power would you not listen to their every word and attempt to learn all you can from them? How much greater is the one who gave knowledge and power to them.
-Be blessed.