Spiritual Warfare Sunday: Why is Spiritual Warfare Important?
Spiritual warfare is one of the most important, yet least talked about, parts of human life. Every culture, separated by time, distance, language, and background, has some understanding of the importance of knowing that spiritual enemies exist and how to combat them. The Buddhists, particularly the Tibetan Buddhists, have an entire systematized practice system for combating evil spirits, while the tribal religions of Africa and the Americas have ways in which to appease angry spirits or drive away malevolent ones. The world is filled to bursting with spiritual battles, yet we often neglect and overlook them as modern, Western , “enlightened” people of a technologically superior society.
In Christianity, I can count the number of sermons I’ve heard addressing spiritual warfare on one hand, and I won’t need to use all my fingers. In seminary, I didn’t take a single class that focused on spiritual warfare, discerning the demonic, or how to help a congregant who is oppressed. I had one class, one single day, that was all about spiritual warfare. The professor called it “Demon Day,” and he was also one of the few pastors I heard preach on the topic in church. Seven years of university-level education at a Christian school, getting me a bachelor’s and two master’s degrees in theology, and I was educated for one day in one class. What is more unfortunate, I have heard from other pastors and seminary graduates that this is not uncommon. Our pastors are woefully unprepared to handle the reality of spiritual warfare and, as a result, so are our congregations.
It surprises me to no end that this is the case. In scripture, we see that Jesus and the Apostles are 1. Proclaimers of the Kingdom. 2. Healers. 3. Exorcists. If we combine the miracles performed by Jesus and the Apostles, we see more than 20+ healing miracles, then 14 accounts of exorcisms. The third most performed miracle would be miracles involving nature, and that accounts for 7 between Jesus and the twelve combined. So, when counting the top three miracles, we see that exorcistic accounts are double the number of the third most common miracle, and almost triple the fourth most common. Exorcism, dealing with evil spirits, made up a huge part of the ministry of both Jesus and the Apostles, yet it is wildly neglected by modern Christians. I would posit that, if it was so important to Jesus and the Apostles, then it should be important for us today.
Why is spiritual warfare important? Because it is a reality in our lives. Because it was important to Jesus. Because we are at war with an enemy and, if we do not know how to fight him, we give him leverage that is better for him not to have. Jesus came as a conqueror to this world. He is reclaiming it from Satan. 2 Corinthians 4:4 calls Satan “The god of this world.” We, as Christians, are soldiers in enemy-occupied territory. The goal of our enemy is to destroy us. If we do not learn more about spiritual warfare, then we are engaging in a war unarmed and blind. That is a risk we cannot take, for either ourselves or for those we care about. By learning more about spiritual warfare, we can learn the tactics the enemy uses, how he operates, and how to remove him when he threatens the church. We are also better equipped to be soldiers of God. When we learn to discern the spirits, learn to tell the good from the bad, then we can listen to the voice of God more readily in our lives and discard the voice of the enemy who is trying to trick us and lead us away. The devil does his best to sound like God, so you must learn to discern God’s true voice from an impostor seeking our destruction.
I will end the blog post here. The goal is not to teach you all about Spiritual Warfare, at least not yet. The goal right now is just to help you recognize that it is important, it is a reality, and that we in the church are currently unprepared for the reality of the spiritual war around us.