August 30, 2004

"Know your Enemy"

St. Paul said, "Our battle is not against human forces, but against the principalities and powers, the rulers of this world of darkness, the evil spirits in regions above" (Eph 6:12).  It's important to remember that we are not battling human forces, but we also need to know that the enemy uses human beings.  Sometimes it's hard to distinguish between the two.  Sometimes it can be very difficult to distinguish the sin from the sinner, the evil one from God's creatures being used by the enemy.  So we really need to know our enemy.  One of the first things to know in any war is who your enemy is.

So what is our enemy like?  First of all, we're speaking of the fallen angels, very high-powered spiritual beings.  Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall like lightening" (Lk 10:18).  In the Book of Revelation it says that when he did fall, he took about one-third of the angels with him (Rv 12:4).  It was their free choice.  These angels were freely choosing.  It's hard for us to fathom that-why would anyone want to choose to come against God when they had that presence of God and that special place in heaven?  But Satan fell and so did a third of the other angels.

Satan is also called Lucifer, meaning "angel of light."  He is a deadly deceiver.  Jesus called him a liar (Jn 8:44).  For us who are Christians, Satan will manifest himself primarily through light-not something really evil or dark, and not something that we could see clearly and discern immediately.  It will usually be through something that looks good and pleasing.  It's like the forbidden fruit in the Garden.  Scripture says, "Eve saw it was good for food and pleasing to the eye" (Gn 3:6).  Satan will deceive us with something good, something that will look like light to us, but it will not be the true light, which is God.  Satan is real.  He is intelligent, he thinks, he speaks, and he strategizes.  He has a mind and he has a will.

St. John the Beloved, the contemplative said, "We know we belong to God, while the whole world is under the evil one" (1Jn 5:19).  St. Paul talks about Satan as being the god of the world (2Cor 4:4) and the prince of the air (Eph 2:2).  So the Apostles certainly gave credence to who Satan was and to his strength.  Satan is also an accuser.  So if you ever start getting that little voice in your head accusing you, "Oh, you're not really a good person.  Who do you think you are?" or "No one loves you" or anything that is putting you down, usually it's the accuser.  Our minds really are the battlefield.  Ephesians 6 says, "Put on the helmet of salvation" (v 17).  So put that helmet on!  We have an accuser, but we have Jesus who has defeated him.  Jesus has the victory.  We need to always remember that when we get involved in spiritual warfare.  We, too, can defeat Satan by the Blood of the Lamb.  

Satan can do miracles also.  This is why Satan's influence is so strong in some other countries-because of his miracles.  But again, a tree is known by its fruit (Mt 12:33).  When we process the fruit, we have to always see-is this leading me closer to God or is it leading me away from God?  Is it leading to my own self?  Am I more puffed up because of this?    The fruit will tell us.

Satan is limited.  He is not omnipresent like God.  God can be everywhere at the same time.  At one time, I thought that because Satan was so powerful and strong that he could be everywhere, too, but that's not true.  He isn't everywhere like God is.  He is limited. 

Excerpt from "Techniques of Spiritual Warfare," Vandalia, IL, 2002.