"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NASB)
"For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against might powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."
Ephesians 6:12 (NLT)
The Reality of the War
Individually, we are fighting a battle that will always rage--a battle that is dividing our purposes and desires. You can read about that many places, and perhaps most extensively in Romans 7:14-8:14.
As the Body of Christ, we too are waging a war. While the Western Worldview has contributed many great philosophies and modes of thinking, it has built up many barriers to a thorough understanding of God's Word and the world we live in. The Western Worldview definitely emphasizes four things: 1) secularism, 2) self-reliance, 3) materialism and 4) rationalism. I will not go into all of these here, but I want to comment on the idea connected with all of those: individualism. This idea has infiltrated the Church (I use a capital "C" when referring to the Church at large). It has even caused many to think that the war discussed in Ephesians 6:12 is a personal war. While it is, we need to get beyond that!
The war is worldwide, I gurantee you. I have lately been doing research for a project looking at the Charismatic Movement, and I have found an overwhelming amount of information about the reasons it spread so quickly oversees. You see, so much of the world actively participates with the spirit world, for we know there are demons and we know they are real. Therefore, they already lived under constant oppression by these demons who they were trying to appease. Therefore, just an evangelical message of salvation by faith was not enough; people needed to see the power of God manifest to overcome the strongholds of the enemy.
My focus here is this. How do we recognize the reality of this war in the Western World? The devil has indeed created strongholds--very strong ones--in the West. I'm not talking about demon appeasement or worship (though this is strong in many sects of the New Age movement), but about other ways the devil works in our society, such as Christianity being squeezed off the margins in society, et cetera. You fill in the 'et cetera' gap; I fully trust your ideas here are likely better than mind (the four worldview bits given above, I would argue, are enemy strongholds, for example). In any case, we are fighting a war, and not just as individuals. We are fighting as a Church.
"We faithfully preach the truth. God's power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense."
2 Corinthians 6:7
We are both attacking and defending with righteousness. Remember that righteousness and justice are the foundation of God's throne (Psalm 89:14). We preach the Word, we share the Gospel, we do good works, we help the poor, et cetera, but we also must defend against the attacks of the devil, for we know his purpose is to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). But we are God's ambassador's to bring His freedom by the power of the Holy Spirit, for where the Spirit is, there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17).
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