“Coming to a City Near You!” - A Biblical Perspective on Doing Battle

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:12-13)

“Gender-affirming therapies” given to minors without parental consent, Critical Race Theory and other things taught in our schools, getting students to hate their nation’s Judeo-Christian founding, skyrocketing drug use, now laced with deadly fentanyl, to the increased crime rampaging across our country, I grieve to see what has come to our land, and I fear for the near future. As it states in Psalm 81:12, Acts 7:42, and Romans 1:24, 26, & 28, God has every right to “give people over” to the destruction of their preferential sin as an act of judgment upon them, but it still grieves us to see our culture choose to go that way over the “Life” that is offered!

A Biblical Anthropology should lead those who are led by God’s Word to not be shocked when “the world acts like the world”, and yet I was still astonished at the level “pure evil” would go when hearing a recent report. Yesterday I heard the testimony of a Central-American human trafficker, where he described what happens to so many children under their “watch”, and it caused me to stop everything, close my eyes, and pray. He confirmed to a reporter on Hannity that not only are the children smuggled across our Southern border into every major US city being used for profit through drugs, sex, and abuse, but he said, that in MOST cases, members of the cartel take on kids in order to sell their organs! Often, there are even organs removed along the way and replaced with drugs in that cavity…

Such evil is rightly seen as “demonic”, as was commentated on by many. Yet even that comes from a worldview that holds each life to be intrinsically valuable, meaning that we are valuable not based upon what we can contribute, but on the very nature of being created by God. We know that children are valuable, not for their organs, but because they were created in God’s own image! So while one side would posit that the compassionate thing would be to let refugees in our borders, we have to be well aware that our government is either complicit & enabling, or contributing to a dire situation.

I would welcome any and all who are willing to fight against this problem, on any front! I will submit to you again, however, that only followers of Christ have the complete picture, and the greatest insight to offer! The battle is both physical, and spiritual. Though our secular society has brought many of us to focus on the physical, I would argue that the greater battlefront is to be waged on our knees! Not in begging the enemy for mercy, but asking our gracious Heavenly Father for the same thing! Our real struggle/battle is NOT against flesh and blood, but against the “spiritual forces of evil” (Eph 6:12) that GIVE the cartels that cold, heartless love of money, power, and “prestige” over human lives!

Our Father has intervened time and time again against the schemes of man. “Don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah— how he appealed to God against Israel: "Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me"? And what was God’s answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal." So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.” (Romans 11:2-5) God continues to work in amazing ways that move us away from reliance on our own eyes & strength, to giving us a solution that only He is capable of!

I love the account in 2 Chronicles 20. The king of Judah is given a report that a vast army from Edom is coming to attack Judah. King Jehoshaphat has the right response, by proclaiming a fast for all of Judah, then sought the Lord’s answer on what he should do. His prayer highlighted a right view of God’s sovereignty over the situation: “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.” (20:6) “If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.”(20:9) “O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you." (20:12)

God provides the answer through His prophet that they will not even have to fight that battle (20:17) The king responds by faith, and sends out singers at the front of the army, praising the Lord, and the Lord basically sets up ambushes against the invading army, which ends up turning in on itself, and “helped destroy one another” (20:23) The kingdom of Judah comes upon all the dead bodies, and the result is further praise towards God, and peace on every side during the king’s lifetime. (20:30)

Do we not serve the same God, in Christ Jesus? What will it take to bring you to your knees in prayer? Will you wait for calamity to reach your front door, or will you go to Him now, even join us in regular, corporate prayer & praise? The real battle is done through prayer, allowing Him to work mightily through you. In that we both do battle against spiritual forces, and He equips us with the “armor of God” to do battle in the marketplace of ideas. The people you see and hear about are not “the enemy”, so we pray that God will do the heart-change that even the cruelest of criminals cannot withstand!