The Weapons Of Our Warfare

The Weapons of Our Warfare

2 Corinthians 10:3–6 NKJV

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

War and the threat of war is plaguing the world today. We remember that Jesus taught us that one of the signs of the end times is that there would be wars and rumors of war (Matthew 24:6). Are we approaching the end of the world, especially when one of the regions in war is in Israel? There have always been wars since the time of the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. So in a way, the wars and rumors of war is business as usual. But the increasing global aspect of war such as the two world wars and the terrible death and destruction brought by them does show to me that the end of this age is near. Nuclear weapons and the development of artificial intelligence (AI) seems to ensure that the outbreak of the next world war will be even more catastrophic. The people of the earth are shaking in fear.

We who believe in Jesus live among the nations which are going to be affected by this war. What do we do? Some believe we will be “raptured” before the outbreak of Armageddon if indeed this coming war is the one predicted in the Book of Revelation. Some put their hope in this great act of escapism. But we need to be reminded that many Christians have suffered greatly from the great wars we have already fought as well as intense periods of persecution. There is no guarantee that we will be exempted from the times of war we see around us. So, how do we fight the Christian warfare in the meantime.

There are several things we must consider. When fighting a war, it is vital to know who the enemy is. Is some enemy nation the true enemy? We have already seen numerous of one “Christian” nation going to war against another “Christian” nation. This means that Christians fighting alongside non-Christians need to kill the enemy, some of who are our “Christian” brothers. If another nation is truly the enemy, then Christians will have to do violence to other Christians. Is God pleased with this?

War seems like such insanity. We see our leaders as being totally crazy for getting us into such wars. But if one remembers that one has said that it is a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight? What seems crazy to us is profitable to these leaders who send others to fight for them. War is good for the economy, they say. But whose economy? How is the war widow profited by the war? How is the soldier who is permanently disabled profited. If one is an undertaker, war is profitable. But they would get our business anyway, sooner of later. War is good for the arms manufacturers and the bankers who finance such wars. It might also be seen as providing paychecks to those who work in arms factories. But for the vast majority of people, war is a liability. Why don’t these arms manufacturers instead make thongs which build up the infrastructure of the nation rather than making bombs which destroy infrastructure? Why can’t people be employed in factories which make things which are useful?

Are the elite of this world our enemies then? It would seem so at first glance. Much evil has been done. Conspiracies and conspiracy theories are everywhere. Some of these conspiracies are doubtless true, although I am not going to try to say which ones are or are not. Instead, I appeal to what the Bible says about the corruption of man and the universal aspect of sin. That is good enough for me. I do not need to spend all my time researching the evils and intrigues of the rich. It takes too much time away from the study of God’s Word. Let us also remind ourselves that the poor are also sinners and corrupt. The only difference is that the poor have less power and influence and corrupt less.

This brings us to who the real enemy is. The true enemy of the Christian is Satan. Satan does indeed use demons as well as human pawns to try to execute his plan which is to destroy all of creation. His purpose is demonstrated in Job 2:9 where Satan uses Job’s wife to tell Job to curse God and die. This is an incredibly foolish statement, and Job calls her out for this. We know it was Satan who thought that he could get Job to do this very thing. In a like manner, Satan would destroy us by getting us to curse God. We see Satan works on both ends. He accuses us before God. We see this in both the Book of Job as well as in the story of Balaam in the book of Numbers. Balaam was unable to curse Israel, so he told the king who had hired him that he would have to get Yahweh to curse Israel. This was done by inviting Israel to an immoral feast and to immoral acts. Satan always is happy to show our faults and infidelities before God in the hopes that God might curse us. Then he throws our sin in our face in the attempt to get us to give up on God.