How do we establish a balanced view of an imbalanced subject? It is the subject of spiritual warfare. I hear people often say something like this, "we need to be balanced." And while I know what they are saying, there is nothing really balanced about Christianity. It is extreme. Well, it is extreme to a culture that has drifted dangerously away from our roots found in the Words of God. I believe much of the drift has been caused by spiritual warfare. Let me explain.
Other than some sporadic visitations, over the past 100 years we have seen a departure in America from Christianity as a norm. Some have called it humanism, some have called it de-constructionism, and most now call it the rise of post-modernism.
Let me re-introduce another term. What I believe has started this drift. It is spiritual warfare. We find a great look into this term in Paul's words to the church in Corinth. It was an advanced culture heavily influenced by mystical and spiritual gods. And out of this idolatry came major spiritual warfare against the rise of Christianity's growing influence. Listen to Paul to the Corinthian people,
"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
So many Christians have become passive and fearful in the face of an American society that has become increasingly mystical. Just check out the movies and television shows with werewolves, incantations, extra-terrestrials, and live exorcisms. When a society removes the Words of God and loses the centrality of Christ at its theological core, a door is opened for all kinds of false teachings. Like the apostles (Luke 9:1-2) and also the seventy elders (Luke 10) who were told by Jesus to go out and preach and teach about the kingdom of God, we must place ourselves in that assignment to our western culture today.
However, do not forget the rest of His command to the apostles and elders that extends to us also. His words were that we are to "to heal the sick and set the captives free, and to cast out demons." If that sounds like a recent hollywood movie theme, you are not far off. The problem is that these words have been spoken to us as Christians and we must enforce the Kingdom of God with the teachings of Christ. To see our world in the condition it is in today is to see an invisible cause working behind the scene of the crime.
The next few blogs will be to give us insight into spiritual warfare and to bring some normal back to our lives so that we can influence every place we put our steps. What you will notice is that this kind of teaching is not balanced. It is actually quite radical.
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