The Enemy: Defeating Satan

Chapter 1: It's More than Spiritual Warfare

   Christians have been engaged in a war since the beginning of time. It is a secret war that takes place in darkness. It is a war that ravages our bodies, imprisons our soul, and kills our spirit. It is a war in which the causality count is growing. It is a war in which we are assured of victory but we are losing battles that we shouldn't lose. The goal of this book is to turn the tide of battle by taking a serious look at our enemy using the standard tools of conventional warfare.

For example, consider the on-going war on terror. A unique characteristic of this war is that the enemy is hard to identify. He hides in the shadows and doesn't wear a uniform. He counts on the element of surprise to give him an advantage. He avoids direct confrontation, preferring to blindside us when our guard is down. The nations of the world have developed various strategies for dealing these terrorists. Among those strategies is the use of intelligence – gathering information about terrorists, especially their leaders, and using that information to anticipate their actions.

As Christians we should be very familiar with the tactics of terrorists because our enemy has been conducting a terror campaign against us for centuries. Satan lives in the background, so much so that many doubt he even exists. His appearance is more like that of light than the horned beast that is the stuff of comic books and fantasy stories. His strength is that he understands our weaknesses because He shares them. His weakness is that he does not understand our strength, the ability to love. Just as the world fights terrorism, Christians need to learn how to use the intelligence we have from the Bible to fight our war.

What is different about our war is that both sides know the final outcome. That knowledge makes one side aggressive and determined while the other side is complacent and resigned. You might be surprised to know which is which.

All believers know that the enemy will be defeated. The outcome of the final battle is vividly described in the Book of Revelation (see Revelation 20:10). So, our purpose is not to win a war that has already been won. However, the certain knowledge that the enemy will be defeated has only made him more dangerous and us more complacent.

He knows he is going down and his intention is to take as many of us with him as he can. He has nothing to lose. As a result he is waging a no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoner, show-no-mercy, all-out-war. On the other hand we know the war is won so we think we are free to take it less seriously. Sun Tzu advised in the Art of War that the wise general will never go to war unless the war was already won in the minds of the opponent because overconfidence leads to crushing defeat. Resting in the absolute assurance that the war is already won could result in us losing every battle along the way to victory. We should all take Paul's warning found in 1 Corinthians 10:12 to heart, "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" If the outcome were a little less certain, perhaps more believers would be on the front lines.

So our purpose is to win every battle from now until that final battle on the plains of Armageddon. In order to accomplish this we need to be prepared and that includes knowing as much as we can about our enemy. That begins with understanding the concept of Spiritual Warfare.

There are no Boundaries

Calling the ongoing contest between man and Satan, Spiritual Warfare, in many ways minimizes the nature of the conflict. Calling it Spiritual Warfare makes it appear that all the battles occur on another plain of existence. This provides believers with the false sense that as long as they avoid the spiritual they can avoid the war. It becomes a foreign war conducted in a distant land. As a result, believers, if they choose, can avoid the battle field and just sit at home and pray, safe from any of the damage done by the ongoing warfare. Or so they think. In the end the real casualties in this war are those who believe that it is being conducted somewhere else.