Tuesday, December 09, 2008

The Real Enemy

Our struggle is against principalities and powers (Eph 6:12). We should be attacking them, not people. We must not demonise people. People are on our side. They are fighting against the same enemy as us, but they just do not know it. If we are attacking people, we have lost track of our enemy.
Putting a bullet into an attacking soldier does not destroy his demons. They remain free to attack me.

Our real struggle is against principalities and power. When we participate in a war, we stop fighting against the principalities and powers and start working with them, because they are the experts at killing, destroying and stealing (John 10:10).

We are called to overcome evil with good (Rom 12:24). God has promised that good will triumph in the end. We must be careful not to slip into believing that we can overcome evil with lesser evil, because lesser evil eventually corrupts the good.

2 comments:

Gene said...

Actually this is right, sort of.

When the demon possessed people are intent on your destruction and have the gun pointed at your head to pull the trigger it's a little late to start casting out that demon. Having a gun right then might be a good way to continue to fulfill your mission and purpose.

I know it's not great theology, but the first Matrix movie is a way to understand how to deal with powers and principalities who are using people to try to destroy you.

Sometimes it takes a bullet.

Ron McK said...

In real life, not the movies, there are very few situations where pulling the trigger is the only option. A whole lot of stuff has generally happened first.

There is no evidence of an anointing for killing people in the New Testament. The gift of killing people is not listed among the gifts of the Spirit. The steady nerve needed to pull the trigger at the right time is not listed in the fruit of the Spirit. I presume that pulling the trigger has to be done “in the flesh”.