War

Today when I found out that U.S. women will be allowed to fight in Army combat, at first I thought about posting a link to the news article and making a big stink about it on Facebook. But then I remembered that our fallen world is just getting crazier and crazier, anyway, and that no one in their right mind would actually draft me for actual Army combat, and that I'm actually already at war, anyway -- not natural-realm U.S. Army war that people make hero movies about. Mine is the invisible spiritual-realm war that people make horror movies about. So, here's my disclaimer, reader. This blog post is rated R -- not for language but for graphic violent images that I'm going to imagine so that I can illustrate my points to you as best I can. (And I'm also going to use some real-life images.) War is graphic, violent, messy, gross, and scary just because of its very nature -- whether it's natural-visible war or supernatural-invisible war. (While I'm typing, I would like to say a genuine thank-you to readers who have actually fought in natural-realm-visible battles on my behalf. Thank you, veterans, truly, for your service and for protecting me and my right to express myself here however I like.)

"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." (This is my Jesus talking in Matthew 11:12.)

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." (This is Jesus, the Faithful and True Shepherd, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, talking about His enemy -- and my enemy -- the devil in John 10:10.)

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ..." (From what I understand, this is Paul talking about spiritual warfare in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.)

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." (Ephesians 6:10-13)

That last passage I quoted above is (from what I understand) Paul talking to Christians and showing them how to live holy lives here on earth. While we're here, we're at war with our enemy the devil. This war and its battles may not always be as obvious-looking as, for example, a psychic opening up her store for business at a shopping center in broad daylight. The devil is a thief. Thieves are stealthy. Thieves often attack -- which can involve stealing and/or killing and/or destroying -- when they're least expected, and they often seem to prefer to carry out their activities unseen and without any witnesses. They don't really like to get caught. And since part of the war involves "taking thoughts captive," that means that much of the war is fought in our minds -- for real, not imagined.

That passage above from Ephesians 6 is part of a very classic, very helpful list of spiritual-warfare weapons that's straight out of the Bible. Since we're at war, those of us who are in Christ have an entire set of mostly invisible armor available for us to fight the mostly invisible war. We've got a helmet of salvation to guard our heads, a breastplate of righteousness to protect our hearts, shoes to cover our feet so that we can carry the gospel of peace with us wherever we go, a shield of faith so we can quench the devil's fiery darts (yes, he plays dirty, and he's serious), and a sword of the Spirit (that's the word of God -- check out the following.)

"For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

This Book that I've been quoting isn't just a collection of random historical stories, even though it's got plenty of stories that actually happened. It's a weapon. It's a sword. Sometimes when you read it, it's as if something invisible just sliced through something invisible that was inside you, and then you smell the infection and the puss, and you feel the hot blood trickling invisibly over your invisible insides, and you realize that Somebody just started performing surgery on you while you're prostrated helpless and completely at His mercy on His operating table, and you hear yourself screaming, and you realize that that Somebody who's performing invisible surgery isn't using anesthesia. But I digress. My point is that the word -- the Bible -- is a sharp, powerful weapon that's very available, very handy, and very effective.

Jesus knew that. He's quite a Surgeon Himself -- the Best One, in fact -- but He didn't use His sword to operate on the devil, because the devil is already doomed beyond repair. Jesus used His sword as a weapon against the devil while He was fighting a spiritual battle. Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus was tempted in every way -- IN EVERY WAY -- that we are tempted, but He didn't sin. That means that He knows how to resist temptation, and He knows how to win. And He can teach us how to resist and win, too. Perhaps this is one reason why Romans 8:37 says that we're MORE than conquerors through Jesus. He conquered once and for all, period. So, those of us who are in Christ get to enjoy the victory that He won for us. He can lead the way, and we can follow Him.

Matthew 4:1-11 has a very classic example for us of spiritual warfare. Jesus was fasting, and from what I understand, He was by Himself in the wilderness, and He knew He was going to be tempted, and so the seriously dirty devil attacked Him. In this passage, the devil tempted Jesus three times with very specific things -- and he even used Bible verses against Jesus. But each time, Jesus used His sword, and He won. I find it particularly interesting that the devil basically tells Jesus in Matthew 4:6, "Hey, TRY TO HURT YOURSELF, and God's angels will stop you." And Jesus basically says in verse 7, "It is written that I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO TEMPT GOD into protecting Me from doing something extremely terrible to Myself." Finally in verse 10, Jesus told the devil to go away (I believe "Get behind Me" is one way of translating what He actually said). He basically submitted to God the Father and resisted the devil, and the devil fled, which is what James 4:7 says is supposed to happen.

So, that's what I basically consider to be very classic spiritual warfare: The enemy attacks with a half-truth or a lie, the lie is recognized right away while you're wearing your armor, and the fiery dart is quenched in the shield of faith that you're holding in one hand while you swish your two-edged sword and slice through the enemy's lie by quoting scripture and basically handling the weapon of truth.

However, lately I've been learning that not all spiritual-warfare battles are very classic like the ones I've previously described. Some of my battles have been pretty grungy, gory, and ugly. War can get very messy. Sometimes the enemy doesn't take the time to light a fire, ignite a dart, and aim for my shield of faith. And sometimes I don't have time to sharpen my sword while the enemy is flying at me with his slimy, sharpened fangs and aiming for my innocently vulnerable throat. And I've found more not-so-classic weapons and methods of attack in the Bible, too.

"Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine." (This is David getting ready to fight Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:40.)

"Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle..." (This is David singing in Psalm 144:1 about the God who taught him how to fight.)

"He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler." (This is talking about God -- who is the Best Protector in the universe -- in Psalm 91:4. I dig how truth is a belt in Ephesians 6 and a shield in Psalm 91.)

"For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly." (This is Psalm 84:11, and I like how it says that God IS a shield, and He's even like a flashlight that shines when it's dark.)

"After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad; and he also delivered Israel." (This is Judges 3:31, my new favorite Bible verse about a studly-sounding guy who I unfortunately have yet to meet. Hmm. Maybe in heaven... Focus, Tirzah! So, Shamgar won his battles using what was basically a cattle prod.)

"Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died." (No, this isn't from a horror-movie script; this is Judges 4:21, so this is a story that actually happened in real life.)

"So Ehud came to him (now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber). Then Ehud said, 'I have a message from God for you.' So he arose from his seat. Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. Even the hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly; and his entrails came out." (This is part of a story in Judges 3:20-22 where, from what I understand, the King of Moab was attacked and conquered while he was doing his business in the bathroom. Wow, the Bible really hits close to home. And it provides an awesome transition into my next paragraph.)

Here in the U.S., I know that I have the right to bear arms, and I'm thankful to have that right, but I hope I never have to use it. I don't own a gun, I don't know how to shoot a gun, and I actually haven't been officially trained in any form of natural-realm-visible combat. But God has given me a survival instinct that kicks in once in a while. At the beginning of this post, you see a photo of my toilet-paper holder. Perhaps it caught your eye in an artistic, satirical way, but I don't usually use my toilet-paper holder to hold clean toilet-paper rolls. I usually use it as a redneck-ingenuity garment rack, and I just dressed it up with toilet-paper rolls for the purpose of snapping this blog photo. My routine-oriented, naturally curious cat happened to magically appear for this photo opp. ("Mom, why are you using the garment rack to hold toilet paper?")

I'm a grown woman who belongs to an eternally protective God, but I live alone. Once in a while, my survival instinct will take me to places in my mind where perhaps only horror-movie scriptwriters usually go. If I hear strange voices outside or if I hear yelling in a nearby apartment or if a strange man tries to unlock my front door while I'm inside my apartment (which happened in broad daylight yesterday), I won't usually think, "Oh, no, woe is me, I'm going to die!" or "Why am I a helpless little single woman without a husband to protect her?" or "Aw, it's too bad I don't own a gun, because now I'm a goner!" Nope. I usually think something like, "Well, I think my toilet-paper holder is heavy enough to crack somebody's head open if I swing it hard enough" or "That fireplace poker could probably cause some major damage to an unwelcome visitor in case of an emergency" or "Oh, good, my nails are long and buffed enough to gouge somebody's eyes out if I ever needed to." Yes, sweet little Tirzah understands that she is worth defending herself if necessary. (Although I truly hope it would never be necessary.)

When I watch movies (not the gratuitous-violence movies but the high-fantasy movies that have choreographed sword-clanging), I don't usually see neat little classic warfare written into the scripts. I see unforeseen problems that create the need for immediate self-defense. Perhaps the movie protagonist is a brand-new soldier who's clumsy with a sword, and the sword breaks or flies out of his or her hand, and then the protagonist becomes a hero when he or she adapts to the battle and conquers his or her enemy with something besides a sword. Maybe he or she steals the enemy's sword. Or maybe he or she throws a Chinese star or breaks a glass wine bottle or uses a nail gun instead. So what if he or she is a little sloppy? The enemy loses, and the hero wins.

Perhaps this doesn't happen with everybody, but for me I can say that similar things tend to happen in my real-life unplanned unofficial spiritual-warfare battles. The enemy doesn't always attack in a nice, neat little predictable "hi, I'm the devil, and I'm here to attack you" way that will enable me to defend myself in a nice, neat little "it is written" or "thus saith the Lord" or "ooh, hold up, mr. devil so I can get my sword" way. Sometimes, I'll get ambushed, and I won't have my sword handy, or maybe it'll be too heavy for me to lift in my weakness, or maybe I'll already be exhausted from fighting all day... so a toilet-paper holder will catch the corner of my eye, and I'll grab it and swing it. Or I'll remember that I just bought a brand-new canister of air freshener, and I'll run for it and hurl it 'cause it's heavy and can cause bruises. Or I'll just talk to my Faithful and True Shepherd Jesus, who will tell me to chill and that He'll fight for me.

I think maybe Jesus fought His spiritual battles in similar ways sometimes. For example, in Matthew 16:21-23, when Jesus is talking to His disciples and telling them about what was going to happen to Him (i.e., that He was going to go through lots of pain, die, and rise from the dead on the third day), Peter I think accidentally cooperated with the devil during spiritual warfare. He took Jesus aside and rebuked Him, saying that what He just said wasn't true. (Perhaps anyone who thinks that the devil only attacks people when they're alone hasn't read this passage. The enemy can also attack through other people, even close friends and family.) Then, from what I understand, instead of gently sitting Peter down and saying, "Well, bro, it sounds like maybe you've been believing a lie; let's pray together, and I'll wait on the Lord and see what I need to bind and loose here," He busted out suddenly with "Get behind Me, Satan!" Jesus basically recognized that His battle wasn't against flesh and blood (Peter) but against principalities and powers (the same enemy that attacked Him in Matthew 4), and He came out swinging in a very no-nonsense way and basically said, "Hey, shut up!"

Sometimes when I realize that I'm in the middle of an attack, I don't have time to pray a certain prayer or even remember what I'm supposed to be doing. Sometimes when I take a thought (or a flurry of thoughts) captive, I'm not polite with an "I hereby declare that this thought is taken captive to the obedience of Christ." Sometimes, I just exasperatedly yell, "Hey, shut up!" Sometimes it's out loud, and often it's silently (but still powerfully) in my head where the battle has already been raging. Today, for example, when an innocent-bystander coworker walked toward me and politely ignored me, I heard the thought in my head, "Yeah, that's right, I'm insignificant." Was it my thought? Maybe. Was it the enemy disguising himself as my thought? Possibly. Was it a lie? Most definitely. But I didn't have time to analyze this process while I was going through it. As soon as I heard, "Yeah, that's right, I'm insignificant," I immediately thought back, "No, I'm significant to God," and the attack stopped, and what had actually been a truly crappy battle-long day stopped and became a truly pleasant, peaceful evening. Or maybe it wasn't an attack but a stronghold that took over. I'm not sure. I really just know that "No, I'm significant to God" isn't an actual Bible verse that I'm aware of, so I'm not sure if I was using my actual sword. I think I just reached for the nearby toilet-paper holder and took care of business swiftly and effectively. And I have my God who trains my toilet-paper-holder-grabbing hands to thank for that.

Spiritual warfare isn't always just being on the defense. Sometimes it's being on the offense. The Holy Spirit is kind of like a radar who can show you where the enemy is vulnerable and where/when/how you can launch with your invisible attack. It usually involves prayer. But it's extremely important to listen to Him, because He's the One with the battle plan.

I think the story in Judges about Ehud shows a nice (albeit disgusting) example of a surprise natural-realm attack to a natural enemy. "Hi, uh, I have a message from God for you. And that message is... SURPRISE! I'M LEFTHANDED, AND I'M HIDING A WEAPON ON MY RIGHT THIGH! AND NOW YOU DIE! Maniacal laughter!" Similar things can happen spiritually, kindasorta. Like if you're driving through town... do-do-do... and you happen to have praise/worship music playing on your car stereo... do-do-do... and you happen to drive by a temple where somebody else besides Jesus is worshiped... do-do-do... not to be disrespectful, but you could happen to roll down your windows while you're minding your own business driving down the street and then happen to crank up your music and WORTHY IS THE... LAMB WHO WAS SLAIN... HOLY, HOLY IS HE! Ha-yah, air-demons! Take that victory in your face! Maniacal laughter!

As another example of not-so-classic spiritual warfare, if I understood Him correctly, my Father was showing me that generational curses can die in a similar way that Sisera died in Judges 4. Jael didn't use a sword. I think she used some rather unconventional weapons: a tent peg, a hammer, and hospitality.

"Aww, poor little stronghold-wonghold. You're getting all chased up in your wittle battle."

"Whew! Woman, I'm SO glad I'm welcome in your tent."

"Yes, wittle stwonghold. Come inside and west your wittle head."

(Walks into tent.) "You and your kin have always been so good to me, woman. Your friends, on the other hand, have been trying to bind me all day. I am kinda thirsty now from all the fighting and fleeing."

"Wittle stwonghold want a wittle bit of milk?" (Wraps him tightly in a blanket.)

(Sighs.) "That's good. Just keep me safe here, woman, like you're supposed to." (Falls asleep and begins to snore.)

(Tiptoes extremely clandestinely. Is surprised at how steadily her hands reach for a hammer and tent peg. Wonders if any more strongholds are going to jump her at any time, but as she hears the iniquity sawing some serious logs into the air, and as she knows that his peripheral vision has been compromised by that soft blanket, she knows her opportunity is now. She whispers.) "See, stronghold, that milk that you're digesting... He's the word... And He's my victory... And He's made me... MORE THAN A CONQUEROR!" (No longer whispering, she nails the iniquity's head to her tent floor, and it dies immediately.) "Yeah, that's right! You ain't welcome in here no more, and you ain't gonna bother any of my kin no more, either! Maniacal laughter!"

Sisera's death in Judges 4, from what I understand, ended 20 years of oppression for Israel. This was a major victory and was cause for a major celebration. So, in Judges 5, Deborah sings a song that was written about the event. And, of course, the song had to mention Shamgar. Sigh! He used an ox goad!