Often we think we lead ordinary, simple lives that no one would care about. We go to work, come home, eat and sleep. Our faces will never be on the cover of Time Magazine and our obituary will probably be very short. Little do we know that there is actually a war going on right now for our very soul.
[featured-image single_newwindow=”false”]The Fall of the Rebel Angels – Pieter Bruegel the Elder[/featured-image]
Saint Paul puts it succinctly:
“Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground” (Ephesians 6:11-13). [Emphasis added]
Yet, why must we “put on the armor of God?” We have never declared war on anyone! Actually, we did at our Baptism. Here is what our Godparents say on our behalf:
Do you reject Satan? (I do)
And all his works? (I do)
And all his empty promises? (I do)
There you have it. Our Godparents just declared war on Satan! And he is not happy at all. The book of Revelation gives us a more detailed description:
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth. She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne. The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God, that there she might be taken care of for twelve hundred and sixty days.
Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it.
When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth, it pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where, far from the serpent, she was taken care of for a year, two years, and a half-year. The serpent, however, spewed a torrent of water out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the current. But the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed the flood that the dragon spewed out of its mouth. Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus. (Revelation 12:1-9,13-17) [Emphasis Added]
That last line is where Satan declared war on us!
We may not notice unusual things happening in our day-to-day life, but we can be sure of one thing: Satan is doing all he can to take us away from following God’s commandments and from bearing witness to Jesus Christ in the world. This is why, we must always be on guard to fight the good fight. In fact, not only does our eternal life depend upon it, but also the eternal life of our family and the fate of all of humanity.
If we don’t fight, we will lose. Just like on the battlefield. If we stand there and do nothing, the cavalry will run us over.
How do we fight back? Well, that is a topic we will explore in many more articles to come.