I recognize that my audience includes practicing Christians, skeptics and a few who are either believers of another faith tradition or who have faith in atheism. Which a nice group!

For the non-Christian, this reflection may seem fanciful or bizarre. Had it not been for some experiences growing up and into adulthood, combined with my perspective on human nature and the lengths we go to destroy all that is good, I might have just dismissed what I’m going to say out of hand. Even so, it took a leap (which I believe to be rational) to take these words of the apostle Paul to heart.

As translated in the New International Version of the Bible, in his letter to the church in Ephesus that we call the Book of Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 12:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Or, as translated into current vernacular in The Message, verses 10-12:

And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.

A few verses later, Paul tells us exactly what those “weapons” are and I can testify first hand that I have deployed them on more than a few occasions. Maybe more on that later.

So, here comes the part that can get really weird to those with modern sensibilities.

Now, most people believe in evil. Many of these people believe that evil is an intrinsic thing. It’s not just a really bad action by some really bad people. It’s a thing all of its own. Some would refer to this as a dark force … sort of like the thing we get out of the Star Wars stories. There are forces for good and evil and they both can tug on us to varying degrees.

The modern sense is that mankind has always struggled with understanding this tension and has done a good job of deifying the conflict, assigning humanlike or person like features to make it more apprehensible. That modern sense then dismisses this as mythology, not grounded in reason. Giving credence to some itinerant religious guy (Paul), who went around planting early Christian churches two millennia ago, is not in the cards. I can understand.

Well, here is what Paul is saying.

All of us live within a massive reality, a good deal of which we don’t see or understand. This supernatural reality exists in both our dimension and a dimension that we normally don’t see (while occasionally seeing) but makes our reality infinitesimally small in comparison. While this is his contention and the contention of the majority of humans today, including some very rational people, it runs contrary to contemporary cultural trends that can be classified as materialistic. What you see is what you get (or want to get!).

And, says Paul, this reality is a battlefield. I mean, really. A battlefield. We exist in a kind of cosmic war, with far reaching implications that we should not only recognize but respond to. With determination. With weapons. None of us is excused from the battlefield. All of us play a part, whether or not we realize it. This is the beginning of what he’s saying.

Which brings us to the battlefield and the players in his scenario. (An important aside, first. Everything Paul says can be traced to the teaching of Jesus. It is often said of Jesus that he was as a lamb, gentle and innocent. He is casually airbrushed to match human longings for a loving God who is forgiving of all shortfalls. However, he is also referred to as a lion, a roaring giant of a creature who has no peer and whose power in nature is overwhelming. This perspective speaks to the human longing for a God of justice. These are two sides of Jesus, which causes no lack of divisiveness in the Christian faith and no lack of interpretations of the value of Jesus’ teachings in the world at large.)

Paul recognizes that life, itself, is a battle, a constant struggle. He even admits (in the Book of Romans 7:17-20) that he does things or behaves in ways he knows are wrong and almost can’t help himself. He refers to this as sin, a predilection towards things that are not good or healthy. Paul was one heck of an introspective guy and is, no doubt, very hard on himself. (Note: Being hard on one’s self is not in current fashion as the contemporary mindset leans towards gratifying the self and the “fact” that all personally-held values are inherently equal and good.)

So, goes the thinking, we are all, by nature, engaged in this battle but (and here comes the kicker) those personal and internal battles are just the manifestation of the larger cosmic battle of which there are actually identifiable players. This is the exact opposite of the aforementioned conclusion that any cosmic significance is the manifestation of purely natural impulses. I’ve been watching this debate for a long time now.

So, let’s cut to the chase and call it as it is.

Paul is describing a scenario whereby we are getting it wrong. We think that the battle is earthly. It’s about our “flesh and blood.” No, our battle is with the dark forces that exist outside of nature and, yes, they are real, having form and substance. These dark forces intersect with us spiritually, although they can also manifest physically from time to time. This, of course, is the “enemy” the demons aligned with the Devil, the Satan, the fallen angel, Lucifer, who challenged God for primacy, was banished from the presence of God but allowed to exist for a time (one of the great conundrums that I’ve addressed before and will probably address again) and still exercises dominion over the hearts and minds of humans.

The “weapons” that the demonic use are lies of all kinds, whispered into our existence, primarily for the purpose of getting us to see that we can be our own gods, which was the point of the whole falling out of favor thing in the first place. These lies can come in many flavors. Some tell us that we are worthy of great esteem and should be venerated and even worshipped for our great accomplishments. Others tell us that we lack worth and value and should therefore be pitied. The lies tell us that, in the end, we are alone and that “self-actualization” is the fundamental quest. We are the masters of our fate and it’s a winner take all struggle. The lies promise all sorts of rewards and masks them beautifully. God binds us and the death of God frees us. Frees us from superimposed morality that suggests we all carry the seeds of evil in our hearts; instead we should realize that our desires are all good and should be nurtured and fed in the search for earthly happiness, which is our right.

My favorite depiction of this battle comes in a little book by C.S. Lewis entitled The Screwtape Letters. I have read it several times and marvel at the author’s wit and insight. It was written in England during the Second World War so, literarily, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I urge you to get a copy (libraries are good for this!).

Lewis also had this to say about the demonic realm and the chief demon:

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

So, really? Isn’t it the height of irrationality and superstition to believe in all of this? Certainly, a case can be made that this kind of thing is just human projection of the same kind of fears little children have of things that go bump in the night. Isn’t it just plain bizarre to think that there are actual creatures … possibly looking like vicious gargoyles with wings and claws, smelling of foul odors, whispering deceit into our ears, guiding us towards idolization of self over all things, leading us away from God and the life that God offers?

I find it curious that so many people believe in “good” energy that we can “send” one another or that there are guardian angels or any kind of angel for that matter (a lot of people believe that, when arriving in heaven, they will receive wings). But that “dark” energy isn’t really considered or that, missing out on heaven, we grow claws and barbed tails in the hereafter.

I have written about angels before but to make things seem more confusing and fanciful, the suggestion here is that the good angles (also referred to as the heavenly host) are in a constant battle with the bad devils or demons. If it’s true that these are actually physical creatures, it’s certainly appropriate to ask how the heck they’re doing battle? Swords and arrows? Wrestling matches? Traditional Christianity posits that the heavenly host is incredibly vast … millions and millions of them. It also posits that the chief fallen angel, the beautiful and self-absorbent God wannabe, Lucifer, took about a third of the host, agreeing to become traitors in their quest to unseat God and defeat the remaining faithful. Failing miserably, their corruption manifested physically and their beauty turned to unparalleled ugliness, whereby they live on (remember that the reason for this is a fascinating study in itself). And from that, we have the battle for the souls of all mankind, God’s greatest creation.

What a fairy tale!

Or, maybe not.

To be continued.