SPIRITUAL WARFARE

     "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." 
(Ephesians 6: 12)

   We are engaged in a great war, a war that is invisible, but a war that is clearly understood by people with their faith in Christ as well as with their faith in the Bible.

    To unbelievers, however, a war such as this sounds more like a myth, a fairytale, or no more than a script for another Hollywood movie with all of the action-packed special effects that Hollywood can muster, with super-action heroes fighting villains for supremacy in the battle of the stars above the earth and in the heavens, and just in time to save the earth from utter destruction, and to be enjoyed with a soda and a box of popcorn.

    For true believers, however, we know the time on the clock.  We know the time of the beginning of this war, and we also know that the time for the final battle scene is near.

    To begin, we know this war originated in Heaven when Lucifer and his band of angels rebelled against God and God evicted them from Heaven, and they fell.

    Notice, also, that Lucifer and his band did not go to planets throughout the universe, for they knew there was no life there; instead, they fell to earth where God had created man in His own image.  Yet man, in his pride here on earth, has been busy sending satellites throughout the universe in search of life because of  his arrogant belief to prove that God does not exist. 

   For, just as Satan hates God, the devil also hates people on earth.
   Because we are created in the image of God, this only infuriates the devil more because every person born only reminds Satan of his hatred of God!
      "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.  And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?  Then Satan answered and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."  (Job 1: 6-7)  
     "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:  he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."  (Revelation 12: 9)
   To this true believers can say:  so much for myths, fairytales, and Hollywood movies!
   Therefore, for six thousand years this spiritual warfare has been on earth, but Abel, the first-born son of Adam and Eve, became Satan's first victim, to which God said unto Cain, "the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground."  (Genesis 4: 10)
   What, then, did Abel's voice say to God when he spoke from his blood in the ground?
   When people kill people, what do the voices of all killed people say to God when they speak from their blood in the ground?

  THE BATTLEGROUND OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE IS IN OUR OWN MINDS:
   Just as spiritual warfare is invisible, the words of our minds are also invisible; and we can either obey them, or we can disregard them.
   The words in Cain's mind read "kill Abel" and Cain obeyed his words and killed his brother.
   Another example of spiritual warfare is when adults read books of fantasy to children, such as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, at which time young children will believe in Santa Claus because they do not know the difference from the real and fantasy; whereas, if parents would read Bible stories to their kids, this would enable their children to come to know Christ at an early age and be saved from their sins.  Parents without Christ, however, do not know this truth because they have been spiritually blinded to the knowledge of Christ in their own minds.
   Meanwhile, spiritual warfare continues all across the earth with killings and lies and fantasies and all manner of evil that attacks the minds of people, at which time they will exercise their choice to obey the words of their minds, or disregard.  But if they do not have the knowledge of Christ in them, they will continue to pursue and do all manner of evil.
   Spiritual warfare will continue, as people continue to obey the words of their minds, until Christ returns and puts His foot down.
      "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."  (Acts 1: 11)

Until then,
     "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:  Fear God, and keep his commandments:  for this is the whole duty of man.  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."  (Ecclesiastes 12: 13-14)