LIE: Our battle is only with spiritual enemies, not human enemies, part 1

Lie: Our battle is only with spiritual enemies, not human enemies
Truth: We must enter into the battle with inseparable enemies – both spiritual and human. We cannot fight the one without the other.

He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me;
For they were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But the Lord was my support. — 2 Samuel 22:18–19

Ask any wannabe gardener what he needs to produce a crop and he’ll usually rattle off: plenty of sunshine, rain and good soil. But they’d be missing a critical necessity . . . can you guess it? Yes, protection — protection from the constant infestation of weeds, bugs, critters, fungi, toxins, and disease, both the visible and the invisible ‘enemies.’

Likewise, ask any Christian who their enemy is, and they’ll be quick to tell you: the devil and Satan. And they’d be right. But then ask them what or how the devil is doing his work and most will say something like: he tempts me to sin. Beyond that, it gets a little fuzzy. We know he’s probably up to something perverse in the world: creating mischief, unbelief, deception, addiction, false religion, etc. But how he does that we can’t really say.

So what’s missing here? It’s that many are blind to the human network of evil inspired, empowered and incarnated by the devil.

Of course we can’t know all, or even most of the ways that Satan is at work in the world, but we do need to grasp some of his ways. Remember Paul said: ‘. . . lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.’[1]

The truth is: we as Christians are in the midst of an all-out battle for our hearts and minds and bodies. The devil is intent on devouring us: ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.[2]

This cosmic war for our souls is clearly beyond us and too much for us to deal with on our own. The only way to overcome him is through faith in the living Messiah Jesus, who indeed has already vanquished him on the cross:

. . . having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. — Colossians 2:14–15

Yes, there is something for us to do: ‘whom resist steadfast in the faith . . ’[3] The question is: how do we do that? How do we resist the devil? In this article I’ll try to answer that question by breaking down the many ways the devil incarnates himself in our human enemies (lower case ‘e’) ‘to kill, steal and destroy.’[4]

Spiritual and human enemies are inseparable

We cannot make the mistake of thinking our enemies live solely to the spiritual world. The truth is, there are dark powers. Jesus called it ‘the power of darkness,’ and those who are lured into that world become instruments of spiritual forces and demons. It’s a world of evil intent, and the human beings and their systems and institutions that directly or indirectly become aligned with that world, enter into an ancient battle against God and the saints of God. It is that battle that we must consciously engage with. And if we don’t we will eventually be swallowed up.

Our spiritual and human enemies remain invisible to us for at least four reasons:

1  As long as we limit our enemy to a one-dimensional devil, his work will remain murky and unclear. And for some of us, relegating our enemies solely to the spiritual, non-physical world relieves us of the burden we otherwise would have ‘over there in the spiritual world.’ Believing that our enemies are all spiritual means we don’t have to think much about any of our enemies in this world.

2  Many if not most Christians, cannot fathom that the intent of the devil could literally become incarnated in real flesh-and-blood men and women and the systems, administrations, devices, bureaucracies, corporations, institutions, and regimes they inhabit.

3  Perhaps we cannot see who our enemies are because life is so mediated —systematized, institutionalized, and not personalized. When we think of enemies, we assume persons, not systems. But persons easily hide behind systems.

4  Enemies hide themselves. It’s in their nature to remain in the dark.

I shouldn’t have to tell you why it would be advantageous for our enemies — both spirit and human — to remain hidden, but I will: If we cannot see our enemies, we cannot fight or resist them, and therefore they can work their havoc undisturbed.

In his ancient book, The Art of War, Sun Tzu writes:

All warfare is based on deception.

Sun Tzu said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.

Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.

Now let’s define the word enemy.

enemy — someone who is hostile to, feels hatred toward, opposes the interests of or intends injury to someone else.[5]

The worst enemies incarnate evil. So a definition of evil will help fill out this concept. I’ve dealt with that concept in my article, LIE: We should not hate, and it’s worth repeating here.

What evil IS NOT:

It’s not evil when harm is caused by:

• incompetence or inexperience
• accident, error, oversight or omission
• misunderstanding, delusion, confusion or ignorance[6]
• neglect, laziness or sloppiness
• fear, anxiety or paralysis
• directionlessness, aimlessness or opportunism
• threat, coercion, duress or intimidation

I’m defining evil narrowly. To be evil takes both the desire and the intent to harm, or to withhold good. But evil is rarely pure. The fact is we all have sin, and therefore we all have some evil. In other words, for example, in our neglect, we are also aware that our neglect may, or even will, cause harm. That knowledge, whether fully conscious or not, means we carry some culpability. But only God knows how much.

So then what is evil?                                                                                                              

evil – a diabolically-inspired desire and intent to directly or indirectly see or inflict mental, physical or emotional harm (or impede the benefit thereof). This desire and intent to harm is followed by related acts or omissions.

The Pervasiveness of our Enemies

The word enemy is used throughout the Bible and occurs over 300 times. It’s a major concept in the scriptures because it’s a major reality in life. Usually the word is plural: enemies. That’s because we have, not just a few enemies; we have many enemies.

King David knew this only too well:

Lord, how they have increased who trouble me!
Many are they who rise up against me.
Many are they who say of me,
“There is no help for him in God.” Selah — Psalm 3:1–2

Keep me as the apple of Your eye;
Hide me under the shadow of Your wings,
From the wicked who oppress me,
From my deadly enemies who surround me. — Psalm 17:8–9

Consider my enemies, for they are many;
And they hate me with cruel hatred. — Psalm 25:19

Those who hate me without a cause
Are more than the hairs of my head;
They are mighty who would destroy me,
Being my enemies wrongfully;
Though I have stolen nothing,
I still must restore it. — Psalm 69:4

Our enemies are also a constant presence:

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.  — Psalm 23:5

My enemies would hound me all day,
For there are many who fight against me, O Most High. — Psalm 56:2

My enemies reproach me all day long;
Those who deride me swear an oath against me. — Psalm 102:8

You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
For they are ever with me. — Psalm 119:98

And they require vigilance and persistence to overcome. We cannot be passive toward them.

I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them;
Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed. — Psalm 18:37

Although it’s clear that we have many enemies, most, if not all of those enemies, both spirit and human, remain shrouded, hidden, and difficult to clearly identify. Evil and sin love the darkness. Jesus knew this. At his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, he clearly told ‘the multitude,’ and all those who came to arrest him: ‘. . . But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.’[7] This ‘power of darkness’ is what animated the chief priests, captains of the temple and the elders. He did not resist them, yet he spoke the truth and named their source of power (not authority).

All this murkiness makes it tempting to leave our enemies unnamed, but that’s precisely what our enemies hope for. As long as they can remain in the dark they can work their horrors undetected. But it’s a scary proposition to clearly name an enemy because then it would become a real fight. Once named, the enemy must be fought; but as long as they remain unnamed, we can delude ourselves that our problems originate from a more manageable source — bureaucratic mismanagement, incompetence, ignorance, laziness, neglect, etc.

I can hear the objections now —

‘. . . not every problem is demonic or psychopathic . . ’

‘. . . stop trying to find a demon or psycho behind every bush . . ’

‘. . . our problems are hopelessly complex; you can’t possibly untangle this . . ’

‘. . . stop blaming your problems on the devil (or psychopaths) . . .’

I admit naming and exposing real evil is not a trivial task and there are no simple answers to the question: who is my enemy? Oh, we could blithely name some of our contemporary, easy targets,

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s look deeper into how the scriptures characterize our enemies. What common traits do they share? What kinds of things do they do?

What kinds of things do enemies do?

After a study of the hundreds of scriptures that use the word ‘enemies,’ here are the four kinds of evil that repeatedly come up:

Enemies —

oppress	harass. reproach, betray, surround, hunt, persecute, afflict
speak evil of you	rage, deceive, roar, ridicule, discourage, accuse
commit violence	besiege, damage, destroy, eat your flesh
enslave	take captive, plunder, entrap, imprison, trick

Nothing too surprising there. Enemies find a virtually endless number of ways to torment us.

We can also look at the life of Jesus, who endured the last years of his life constantly facing opposition and hostility. But his life is instructive for us because he said that ‘the servant is not greater than his master.’

Listen to his words:

And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. . . . A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. — Matthew 10:22, 24–26

Jesus refused to give us false hope and never failed to faithfully warn us of the real consequences of knowing him as our Master. He told us that his disciples will take up their cross and follow him, meaning that, when we become a follower of Jesus, we choose to endure the same sufferings, including the suffering of death itself. Here are some highlights from Jesus’ life that prove he faced many hostilities throughout his life.[8]

• massacre of Herod and his flight to Egypt — 2:1–18
• temptation of Satan in the wilderness — 4:1–11
• menace of two demon-possessed men — 9:3
• false accusation of casting our demons by Beelzebub — 9:34; 12:24
• attempts to entrap him into unlawful speech — 12:10
• plots to destroy him — 12:14
• presumptuous demands for a sign — 12:38
• rejection by his own community — 13:53–58
• accusation of breaking tradition — 15:1–2
• extortion of the temple tax — 17:24–26
• confrontation and menace of the chief priests and elders — 21:23
• plots to arrest — 21:45–46
• devious tests of interpretation of the law — 22:36
• betrayal of Judas — 26:14–16
• repeated denial of Peter 26:31–35
• carelessness and neglect of disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane — 26:36–46
• intimidation and menace by a mob— 26:47–56
• arrest by chief priests and elders — 26:47–56
• abandonment of disciples — 26:56
• false testimony and accusation of blasphemy — 26:62–66
• contempt, insults, spitting, beating, ridicule of chief priests and Sanhedrin — 26:67
• plots to kill by elders and chief priests — 27:1
• interrogation by Pilate, the governor — 27:11–14
• naked scourging and mocking by Romans — 27:26–44
• crucifixion by Romans — 27:35–37

Jesus’ life is instructive for us because he said that ‘the servant is not greater than his master.’  In other words, if we are followers of Jesus, we too will have to endure the same kinds of suffering.

Our enemies INTEND to control us

What I’m calling real evil in the world — the dark world of both spiritual and human powers — is usually chalked up to some form of entropy or bureaucratic incompetence or mental illness. Admittedly it’s an involved process to prove intent for large-scale evil and suffering. Although it’s outside the scope of this article, large convincing studies that prove large-scale evil intent have been done many times from many different angles.[9] I will only deal with it using scripture, which is quite clear.[10]

Paul, in the famous passage of Ephesians chapter six, named four enemies that we must ‘wrestle.’ Ancient wrestling was an extremely intense, focused, hand-to-hand struggle. And intensity shows intent — it’s the same word form.

Here are the four entities that he names:

• archas – rulers
• exousias – authorities
• kosmokratoras tou skotous – world powers of this darkness
• pneumatica tas ponarias en tois erouranois – spiritual [forces] of evil in the heavenlies [heavenly realms]

Jesus used similar words in his warning to the disciples:

But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave — just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” — Matthew 20:25–28

Jesus states this as a fact — this is what the rulers of the world do — they exercise control over people. They claim this as their right.

Notice also Jesus describes a hierarchical structure:

The great ones (megaloi) exercise authority over >

Rulers . . . (archontes) who in turn, exercise lordship over >

the Gentiles (the people)

The word exousias — the authorities — is often used in ancient legal documents to denote the ‘claim’ or ‘right’ or ‘control’ one has over something. Contracts, wills, letters of intent all explain in fine technical detail what specifically is the precise intent and outcome. Without this logorrhea, evil could not possibly achieve much of anything. Agreement must be spelled out this way; otherwise, it cannot be achieved at all. This expresses massive mistrust between people.

So yes, our authorities intend to control us. Do not believe their high-price PR firms’ messaging campaigns that claim they only want to improve your life.

Now that we have a firmer grasp on the reality of our inseparable spiritual and human enemies and what they intend to do, we need to understand how to overcome them. For that please go to Part 2.

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[1] See 2 Corinthians 2:11

[2] See 1 Peter 5:8

[3] See 1 Peter 5:9

[4] See John 10:10

[5] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/enemy

[6] Although most theorists believe that ignorance caused from self-deception is morally culpable.

[7] See Luke 22:53                   

[8] All references are from the Gospel of Matthew.

[9] See for example, any one of James Corbett’s excellent documentaries: https://www.corbettreport.com/corbett-report-documentaries/

[10] I realize I’m painting with a broad brush here. I do realize there are good people in government and industry. But the higher up you go, the number of psychopaths and sociopaths strangely becomes more common. See for example, Andrew Lobaczewski’s amazing book, Political Ponerology, A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes.