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) I believe this is a Key scripture to understand.
Before you can even understand what Spiritual Warfare is, and what it is all about, I believe you need to read and understand the very First Question under the Disciple menu! This is actually a Foundational Belief of the Christian Faith!
Do you want to go now and read this, then come back? Just Click the Green “GO” button ….
I have been through several Spiritual Warfare teachings and I just didn’t find myself in agreement with all of it.
This is what most ministers believe — the above Scripture Means:
First: We don’t actually fight with People, that is what is meant by “Flesh and blood“.
And, I agree. … But …. is the Battle 100% Spiritual? Could it be 15-17% located in the mind? There is scripture that implies to support this hypothesis.
This is where, … i start to think … in a different direction.
Second: It states that — We do! Fight against “principalities” So, What is this? What is a principality? … I say a principality on the spiritual plane sets up principles and schools of thought in our plane. Well, stop and think, there exist Good Principles, Promises, and Precepts of the Almighty God. And you guessed it, in this world, there exist also Bad Principles, and instead of Promises – there exists Lies, and also Evil Precepts. I would say, this implies, an “Anti-God School-of Thought” is being established where it can simply be left to lie, steal, and destroy.
Understand, I am really not Anti-School……
Let me explain; Say a Man or Woman starts up a school, or heads up a school and is called, the School Principle. And underneath this School Principle, there may be many School teachers. … And we are fortunate, that not all Principles are bad ones, the students may say this differently Lol.. But many Principles and teachers, operate with love and are very much blessed and honored servants of God.
In Contrast: A Bad Principle starts a up, an Anti-God philosophical school of thought, there is teaching here of UnGodly Precepts, and the Principle sets up this School of thought, on this New Principality which is basically equivalent to saying “an Anti-God School of thought” these teachings can now take root and become a pervasive influence in a pre-existing culture“. And underneath this Bad Principle, guess what? there can be many false teachers teaching this principality, and they are busy indoctrinating and recruiting minds into this new “School of thought” and … wallah! Now, a New Opinion or Principality has just been formed! What is it? Simply speaking, it’s just a school of Bad thoughts and beliefs that are established to be contrary to the True identity of God. It would exists in our heads. Why do I choose to use the word opinion? Because, one of the best teachers on Spiritual Warfare used this Term Opinion. See, in auto mechanics a Pinion gear is, the small gear that moves the whole car. In ornithology, A Pinion feather is, the special feather found on each wing that is responsible for moving the entire bird in flight. And guess what, you also have a Pinion that is responsible for moving you. It is called an Opinion. Elijah, at the great Biblical Spiritual Battle that took place on top of Mt. Carmel said it like this: read for yourself (1 Kings 18:21)
So where do I think Spiritual Warfare comes into the picture? Simply, Bad principalities are at war with Good principalities. So, We actually need to come to the correct Opinion about God. Because, there exist good Principles! This would be God’s principles. And yes, some Schools teach God’s principles as fundamental teachings. Example: Synagogues were places of teaching about God. Think about this, the word “Rabbi” actually means “teacher”. And Even in God’s Kingdom, which is mentioned by Christ, the Apostles were appointed to establish and set up churches as a place of … teaching other disciples the truth of the Kingdom. Here was another normal place for Honoring God and his Principles! Now, on the World stage, Men and Women sometimes establish Humanistic, idealistic, or their own personal philosophical “Schools of Thought”. And some schools that are established this way are Good, if they keep God and the teachings of God at the very heart of the school. Others, not so much. They have differing Opinions and are driven by different principles. Guess what, this is just my Opinion. I see possibilities of this being a real battlefield up in our heads. Just consider Principles and Principalities that we do Spiritual Warfare with in this way for a moment. And ask, Is a good bit of it happening in our minds? The Battlefield of the mind, it can be corrected. Our minds can be renewed. Let’s get to work on our minds: read (Romans 12:2) and (James 1:8)
Note: This has been going on since the time of Jesus, even when Jesus himself walked the earth, others schools were popping up all the time. They would often call belief in God “Archaic”, they would elevate “worldly things” above God, they would elevate a Man/Woman above God. Today the “Post-modernist, elevate Philosophy above Theology, they reject God, create mental constructs explaining away God, they also ridicule the idea of the existence of Good vs. Evil, therefore, they see no need in any morality at all. Getting any pictures yet, of what a Bad School of thought might look like? (See what Irenaeus said about it 2000 years ago)
And these aforementioned schools, instead of giving honor and Glory to God, “the all sufficient one”. They give glory elsewhere, have a School statue, a “Nourishing Mother” or as it is called, an Alma mater. Songs and statues that direct glory and honor towards a human created statue that represents a human created institution. They have (for a reason) silly school mascots, school sports, cheer teams, and amenities for what? to become a recruitment marketing brand, to draw students. …. for recruiting minds to their own or unique “School of Thought“. Ok… Truth Fact here. I enjoyed my education very much, I respected my teachers, and I think most Education in general is extremely valuable…. for adding to ones knowledge and Life skill set. But, School by itself, does not, nor ever will replace God. School, School, School, …… Is not The “Nourishing Mother” – Alma mater you think it is …. In fact, you just may have replaced the One True God…… with another deity. Possibly, I am thinking the Roman patron goddess Minerva or maybe, she was only the statues inspiration?
But, that would just be, Silly …. creating a (personal) Patron deity? OK… Trix the rabbit ….. truth is … for kids/teens/and adults.
Now this may sound like I am being weird, picky, or extreme to those that think this is simply “all about nothing“. Except …. for this tiny bit of evidence and reasoning. First the actual evidence you can research, Approx. 115 – 130 years best estimate, after the crucification of Christ, lived an actual disciple, of the early church. There was a disciple under Jesus, named John. And just under, John “the beloved”, another man named Polycarp. History recognizes Polycarp as one of the early church fathers. And then, just under him, was another disciple called Ireneaus. Now, Ireneaus of Lyons wrote something addressing the falsehoods, that were introduced by the Greek philosophers establishing their own “Schools of thought”. With a work titled “Against Heresies”. Now, apparently this work, not only took great issue with the Greek philosophical Opinions, it also took issue with some of the Roman “just go and sin” heresies. Let’s examine dangerous Opinions, – (Secular) worldly, lustful viewpoints; and Irenaeus also battled with a Plethora of Brahmin deities that permitted worldly, lustful viewpoints , . As well as the Gnostic “saved by ones great knowledge” another dangerous Opinion, – “School of thought”. Truth Research Link (Against Heresies).
So are you asking? Whats wrong with all this? Well nothing …. if you are a Pagan Professing Polytheism. This is the main point here! In reference to the Spiritual Warfare, as being described on this page … it has a lot to do with this! Just what is your Opinion? Do you have a Monotheist Opinion? or a Polytheist Opinion? a Humanist Opinion? or a Biblical Opinion? What “School-of Thought” do you hail from? or call home? Where is your Kingdom? And the fact is this, …. when it comes to sharing His Glory with other deities/gods. Guess what! I don’t think you will find, or can find anywhere that God, the “all sufficient one!” is also the “all inclusive one!” And is sharing His Glory! That said, He will not share His Glory with fallen Angels, Stone statues, Golden chickens, … or even a Post Doctorate degreed man called a Philosopher. That means this, I am just stating, He will never share His Glory with any anything or anyone, unless He chooses to do so. So, best to eliminate wood, bronze, gold, or stone statues of any man made patron deity, man made institution, or even a man made and appointed Pharaoh.
The Point to all this?
The Point of all this. I believe that in all of us, no matter how small we think it, … a portion of Spiritual Warfare, is strongly rooted in ones own Educational past. Paul, knew that, and he warred with his own mind and encouraged us to leave this former thinking behind us. Elijah asked the people, (1 Kings 18:21) “why do you struggle with your opinions?” But for me, I am simply asking, “Who gave you these opinions?” Did your opinion about God, …come from God? —- or did your opinion about God, come from some Philosopher, or a teacher, or a contradicting School-of Thought? I believe that Irenaeus seems to make this very clear, due it is an important issue, concerning numerous up-start deceptions and falsehoods that lead the mind away from God. Also the scripture, that we began with, starts out ….. we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, …… Do you believe, that God Himself is the original giver, of the good principles we should be living by? Do you believe this? And, that He is the one that actually set up the original “School-of Thought“? Hmmm…. Read some scriptures about how God is describing Himself. He actually comments on these matters: Do your own research. Start here. By asking this question: Is there a Battle underway for our minds? Maybe this is why we need to go back to the Original “School-of-Thought“. Go back to the Ancient path, The Old Ways, and move away from the millions of other (man fabricated) “Schools-of-Thought“.
Our Warfare Action?
Our action, I believe should be this first, we need to take over, and Win the battle raging inside of our own minds. Ask yourself? Would this simple act, of Wining a mere 15-17% of our minds back, make the rest of Spiritual Warfare much easier for us to do? Would it strengthen our faith? What if a renewing of the mind, is large in what scripture is saying, that is needed … for us to do? (Romans 12:2), and to do otherwise would be to have two opinions – “that are always …in opposition”? Paul mentions this for a reason (Romans 7:14-25). Our mind must choose Gods Kingdom. As stated in 1 John and in James. (1 John 4:5-6) and also (James 1:6-8) For me, this is simply just reminding all of us that before we go into any Warfare defending family, or the Kingdom, we should believe in Kingdom! ….We should ask ourselves, “just who’s side are you on?” Asking this, concerning our own minds of course! And we should also tear down any schools that we have allowed to be constructed up stairs in our heads, that are against God, that are root causes of doubt, fear, and false identity. We need the correct thinking! And If it’s not correct …. I don’t recommend, that we attempt to go into any Spiritual Warfare at all, none of us, ……until, we first choose the right “School-of-Thought“. It might be a bad decision to go into spiritual warfare with the wrong mind frame….Jesus said to Peter, “get thee behind me Satan” But, the next verse why. Because you are not thinking correctly. Therefore, let’s together burn a few bad “Schools-of-thought” … or “Stinking Thinking”… “or burn down some Houses”, that have been constructed within our own heads. Let’s clean up, Gods very place inside of us, so He can establish His Kingdom in us!