What Is Spiritual Warfare?

I sometimes read articles on the website, Where Peter Is. I find the contributions interesting whether I agree or not. Mike Lewis is the founding managing editor there and has much experience in writing about and working with Catholic leadership. Lewis recently wrote an article, “Deception Day” (found HERE), about the current attention of many people concerning aliens and whether they exist as real creatures from other planets or are disguised demons, evil spiritual entities. As I understand it, one of his concerns is that some Catholic exorcists have become rather famous, mostly through social media, and promote the “aliens are demons” theory. In turn, questions lead to whether we are engaged in increasing spiritual warfare at this juncture.

To be truthful, I know little about alleged alien sightings. What I anyway say about aliens relates to probabilities of the random beginning of life and evolution. Adherents of the Intelligent Design movement have pointed out some of the known or estimated physical properties of the entire universe to prove mathematically the basically impossible chance of life starting anywhere by random movements of atoms. These factors include the total number of particles in the whole universe, the age of it assuming a Big Bang beginning (billions of years), and the possible amount of atomic interactions within each second. These numbers apply over the whole universe, and to any life where building blocks of molecular complexity are similar to ours, presumably in civilizations smart enough for vast space travel. When equations are applied correctly, they show the incredible improbability that functional biological structures, like our DNA and proteins, would form by chance. (If you are interested in details, see my post, “Exponents,” HERE , or for even more details, my booklet Creation Biology HERE.) I have similar thoughts about probabilities in any parallel universes.

Many people are unaware of these physical facts. They think the chances are good for real, intelligent civilizations to exist on other planets, formed by chance as it is often presumed humans are. But for any life to have started or evolved from random movements in any part of the universe, the probabilities are infinitesimally small to the point of impossible, water present or not. In any case, the whole world or worlds are under the sovereignty of the one and only Lord.

 

Now, Catholic exorcists are involved in expelling demons from people who are possessed by them. The devil, Satan, is an angel who rebelled against God, and is the leader of demons. The Catholic Church acknowledges the need for exorcists and bishops are in charge of assigning them. They usually have special training, and work with physical and mental health professionals to determine the best approach toward the affected person, who often has debilitating symptoms. Mr. Lewis is concerned that some exorcists are more interested in having a fan base than helping individuals. Yet if people are truly worried about demonic attacks, it is not surprising they seek information from those who are supposedly in a position to know about them and what to do. (Personally, I do think that exorcists are knowledgeable but I'm not endorsing everything they say).

Jesus Christ expelled many demons from individuals in His time on Earth, and since they seemed rather prevalent then, it's not hard to imagine they are still around. Pope Francis warned to never dialogue with the devil or seek him out (article HERE). I don't want to dwell on this subject, although just in discussing it we can't avoid it totally. The Holy Father reminded us that Christ used God's word, found in the Bible, to rebuke Satan in the desert. These Scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit, one of the three Persons of God, the same Essence as that of Christ Himself. One Bible verse from the letters of the disciple Paul tells us, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, for training in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16). The Bible passes on the Lord’s truth to humans. May we immerse ourselves in this wisdom.

I've heard snippets from various sources which allude to the expulsion of demons from individuals as spiritual warfare. Though this practice holds a real need, I think it is perhaps a “branch” of spiritual warfare, something like hand-to-hand combat. 

From an Earthly, natural perspective, warfare infers fighting enemies, whether of a whole country or group such as terrorists. The conflicts might be over territory or in defense of unfair aggression. Some people do not like for Christians to use war terminology at all and want only references to peace. But there are differences between being a citizen of a physical political group and a member of Christ's spiritual Kingdom. Though each realm affects individuals, we also need to consider them separately.

 

Without doubt, for Earthly countries, peace is the best way. The current Pope, Leo XIV, is constantly reminding world leaders to dialogue and work out problems. At stake are the physical lives of their citizens and whether they can thrive.

Going from the physical to the spiritual, in Christ's Kingdom of Heaven, peace exists for believers who have died. But at some supernatural level, "good vs. bad" fluctuates, and interacts with the natural. Though Christ defeated Satan when He sacrificed Himself by living a perfect life and dying in our place on the cross, the devil is still “allowed” some power to try to influence living human beings. He wants to obtain as many souls as he can, perhaps to share his misery. 

Many persons ask why the Lord permits evil in the world. I think most Christians accept He created human beings to have free will for right and wrong. We should be sorry for bad choices and recognize that we need help to be worthy to live in God’s presence.

For the spiritual world as much as the physical, we must define what is at stake. Christians hold that humans have souls, whose everlasting happiness depends on being with the Lord in the afterlife. To obtain this bliss, we are called to have faith that Jesus Christ came from Heaven to live on Earth and redeem us from our sins. Christians need to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and help others find their way to the same. If persons die without faith in Jesus in this way, we believe he or she is doomed to eternal anguish. (As an aside, for those who never heard of Christ, it is for God to judge. Before Christ came, the Old Testament tells that the Lord required people to be just and merciful, but His followers often failed.)

There are evil ideas and notions which seemingly come from spiritual sources to humans, affecting the ultimate end of Non-Christian souls. The process is at least partly on the supernatural plane, which goes beyond full human understanding. But any forces that keep individuals from believing in Jesus Christ as their Savior, turning them away from the Truth of the Trinity, are enemies resisting God. They use lies as weapons, untruths which affect non-believers, such as doubt that Jesus Christ is the true God or whether God even exists. These are lined against the armaments of Christians who believe in the Lord. The Bible describes the armor of God, such as the shield of faith to quench the flaming arrows of the evil one, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (cf. Ephesians 6:10-17).

Once we believe in Jesus Christ as we should, we can continue to walk straighter in our faith and more successfully resist evil thoughts, which still attempt to derail us. The more we read the Bible, pray, and partake of Church benefits, the better we can do so.

Christians are involved in spiritual warfare, but we do not succeed by driving non-believers away. We win by winning persons over. War takes courage, no matter the realm, and it's reasonable to be wary. “But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one” (2 Thess. 3:3).

The Perspective of Worshiping God

There has been discussion about whether the Biblical God of Abraham is the same as the Christian God. I know many think He is the same, but I think there is some confusion and the argument depends on perspective. I would like to present my thoughts. I think what I will say is also applicable to the argument that “we all have the same God.”

First we have to keep straight whether by the term “God” we are referring to the ultimately true (Catholic) God or to the concept of God within each human.

Catholics believe the Trinitarian God is and always has been God of all. Our Catholic God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three Persons and one Essence (CCC 253). But the other perspective of “god” would be from a human person's point of view: what that person considers as his or her spiritual creator and/or controller of him/herself and surroundings and therefore worships. We know of examples of ancient Romans, Greeks or Native Americans who believed in multiple gods, some of which supposedly created then others who controlled fertility, rain, etc. Yet we Christians believe our Trinitarian God was ultimately their God because He was the one who really created and sustained their lives even though they didn’t know or worship Him as He is. We don't consider their concept of God to be correct and therefore from our perspective they worshipped false gods. Catholics believe humans are affected by fallen nature and deception is part of that. Perhaps some of these groups had inklings of the true God but others carried on with the false ones. They may have even had interactions with demons through this false worship.

Ancient Jewish people worshiped one God, and some still do, in the sense of one Person, the Father. When Moses asked His name, God answered “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14), and said this would be his name forever (and He is 3 in one forever). They believed “The Lord our God is One God” (Deuteronomy 6:4). I believe that from the current Christian perspective, the God that interacted with Abraham and Moses and the Old Testament Israelites before Christ came to Earth was the true God, our God. I believe because of the revelation of the Bible which is the inspired book of my faith and because the Father had an especially close relationship with the Israelites since Christ was born from that people. On the other hand, our true God allowed the Israelites at that time to think of Him as one Person, which was not fully complete. He acts with His own purpose and the time had not come to fully reveal Himself. In the belief of the people, He was a different God than ours, even though there were references to the Spirit and the Messiah in the Old Testament. Even though they pictured Him differently from what He really is, I don't think He would have considered them worshiping a false God since it is what He told them and probably knew they would not understand the concept of 3 in one at that time. (Their worship of idols is a different story.) Later, however, God speaks of a New Covenant with His people, which is repeated by Christ in His last supper: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you” (Luke 22:20).

I believe since Christ came, whoever hears of Him is to worship the true God as a Trinitarian God and in no other way. Though we will never understand God fully, we believe He has revealed His nature and made it plain He wants all of us to believe in Jesus Christ as a Person of the Trinitarian God, our Savior from our sins. We still suffer from the fallen nature. From the Christian perspective, to worship God as only one Person is wrong. The human who holds that belief rejects two equally important Divine Persons who have one Essence. And therefore after a human person hears about Christ, to worship the Father alone is, from the perspective of the person who is worshiping him in that way, worshiping a different God than Christians are. To Christians, Jesus Christ is a Person of God. To non-Christians, He is not God.

This is why I also say that we can’t just let it go at “we all have the same God.” Though the true God is ultimately the same, what matters to each of our souls is that we declare Who our God is.

I think battles occur in the spiritual realm and correct human belief and worship of God are very fundamental to these battles. These days, human belief seems unimportant to many people. But I hold that what ultimately matters to each human being is Who or what we believe and in turn how we worship and speak.

Discernment's Center

Why is it wrong for a Christian to claim that everyone is a child of God? After all, we believe one God (in the form of a Trinity of the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit) created the universe and ultimately all humans. What many seem to be missing is that even though we are all created in God’s image, He gives a specific path for acceptance as His children. And this power is given through faith in the Son. Jesus Christ, Who came to the world, lived a perfect life, died and rose for our sins. God wants us to recognize that we sin and that our salvation comes through Christ. And God wants us to tell this to everyone we can--not to leave others in ignorance of Him.

In the Bible, the Apostle John says we are allowed to be children of God if we believe in the Word, Jesus Christ:

But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name…(John 1:9-12 NABRE).

In my opinion, this viewpoint can be seen only one way.

There are those who think God will accept everyone. Though we might think that persons who never heard of Christ may be allowed into His kingdom, we must remember that if we have heard of Him we have to evaluate our own faith. If you believe it doesn’t matter what religion other persons are, your own faith and therefore discernment are in trouble. Those who have the opportunity to know Jesus and shrug Him off as one of many choices are worse off than those who have never heard of Him. It is God’s business to decide who comes into His kingdom; it is our job to recognize that for those who do fully know about Him, belief in Christ is the only way to heaven.

This subject relates to another: many people want to see world peace, which we think of as certainly a worthy cause. Especially for those affected by war, it may seem of primary importance. Yet some Christians hold the importance of Earthly peace so high that their worldview seems to put it even above the centrality of Christianity. Here again we have the idea put forth that all religions have the same God, all are children of God. But if you believe Christianity as the only True answer, worldly peace is secondary to evangelization. We must carry the message so all can know Christ, even if it means worldly tensions.

As a Jesuit, Pope Francis claims to seek discernment. Discernment is a method by which a person determines his or her vocation, and also a life-long quest to seek God’s will. The Jesuits are a religious order founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola. In 1522-1524 Ignatius wrote recommendations for spiritual discernment in his book, The Spiritual Exercises (some background and description at Wikipedia HERE. Through this, the members make great effort to tune themselves toward discernment of God’s will.

However, it has been shown that sometimes those who believe they are experts of God’s will have been wrong in their discernment. For example, US Jesuits who ran Georgetown University in the 1800’s owned slaves and then sold these humans to plantation owners of the deeper South in order to financially save the school (Wikipedia HERE). Though slavery was legal at the time, it should not have been considered a moral choice by the Jesuits—those who claimed to know the will of the Lord. Even though the Bible mentions slavery, St. Paul was advising those who had to endure it due to outside influences, not endorsing it as a Christian institution. And the end--a solvent school--did not justify the means. Often when we are confronted with challenges, God will come through if we go to Him and wait for Him. They did not have to own or sell slaves.

Of course, we can't read their minds. Was the president of the university alone somehow deviated from the centrality of Christ? What about others then and there?

The secular Enlightenment was to eventually effect many so-called Christians in disbelieving Christ's miracles and even His divinity, reducing Him to a sage. And Christ centered-ness is just the first step to proper efforts in discernment. Also we can have problems with pride or stubbornness which keeps us from considering other points of view.

Pope Francis seems to want Christianity both ways. He speaks of the need for only Christ for salvation, reported by Ann Schneible,  "Pope: Jesus is the only door to eternal life," Catholic News Agency, April 18, 2016. But at other times he tells everyone that we are all children of God, we all have the same God, or similar phrases (example reported by Elahe Izadi,  "Pope Francis washes the feet of Muslim migrants, says we are 'children of the same God,'" Washington Post, March 25, 2016). The pope holds world peace very highly and wants to see all people get along. But this is simply not the same as putting Christ at the center. The view that it does not matter what you believe is called “Indifferentism” and at least sometimes seems to be held by the pope as well as many other Catholics.

Why is it central to being a Christian to believe in Christ for our Salvation? God gives us free will, and all humans have fallen short of perfection except for Christ. Our own sins should bring us to humility when we recognize them. The Father is just as well as merciful and the imperfection due to sins would keep the sinner ostracized from God's presence. The Father has chosen belief in Christ to be our doorway to Him. As stated above, Christ lived a perfect life and then died for our sins. Jesus should be given the credit for that, just as we want to be credited for our own achievements. But I believe some Catholics, as other Christians, are too casual about sins, the need for Christ for one’s redemption, and about faith in Him in order to go to heaven.

I believe that in order to have right discernment, the central starting point is belief in Jesus Christ as our Savior. Then we can be guided by God to wisdom in other areas. When we really believe this, our love for others should lead us to tell them about Christ, what He did for us, and that we all need to repent and believe that He, and only He, is our Savior.

Conscience and Religion

We cannot read the minds of people of other religions. When addressing one or another, we might wonder what their consciences are telling them about their sins. This understanding that everyone sins is crucial to Christianity. Jesus Christ, Son of God, came to us to atone for our sins. He lived without sin and died in our place so we humans would be acceptable to God and therefore able to live in heaven with Him (God being in the form of Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Jesus told us that if a person believes in Him, s/he will be saved. He didn’t say it doesn’t matter what you believe.

Yet we have people around us who do not believe in any religion or believe in a different religion and seem to not be bothered by their conscience. Others believe they might have done evil but think their own religion answers to it, such as Karma in Buddhism. And there are others who do believe in Christ that don’t seem to feel urgency to spread the word about Christ.

Christians believe it is the Holy Spirit who convicts people of sin. Jesus says:

7 But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate [Holy Spirit] will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation…
(John 16:7-8 NABRE)

I think that most people have a conscience whispering somewhere in their brains. The Catholic Church respects the free conscience of persons, which can be seen here:

1782 Man has the right to act in conscience and in freedom so as personally to make moral decisions. "He must not be forced to act contrary to his conscience. Nor must he be prevented from acting according to his conscience, especially in religious matters," Catechism of the Catholic Church Part III, Sec. 1, Ch. 1, Art. 6.

I do think humans are made for the Truth, although sin and fallen nature get in the way. In this Truth is the desire to do good. Certainly when a person does wrong, a healthy conscience makes him/her uncomfortable. But what about faith? In the same Article listed above:

1787 Man is sometimes confronted by situations that make moral judgments less assured and decision difficult. But he must always seriously seek what is right and good and discern the will of God expressed in divine law.
1788 To this purpose, man strives to interpret the data of experience and the signs of the times assisted by the virtue of prudence, by the advice of competent people, and by the help of the Holy Spirit and his gifts.

(More on conscience is found in the Vatican II Declaration on Religious Freedom (Dec. 7, 1965).

As it says there we should seek the Holy Spirit and His gifts--right judgment, understanding, knowledge, courage, wisdom, reverence and awe and wonder in His presence. Even for those who are not familiar with Christianity, they can seek Him by praying that He come to them. The Holy Spirit then draws them to the true God. For them, it can be the start of an overwhelmingly lovely relationship.

Catholic Answers Forums

I have been posting on Catholic Answers Forums (CAF) a little bit and I thought I’d put some of the issues I follow there on my blog here. CAF is a Catholic chat website.

We’ve been having an interesting time talking with people from various faiths. Buddhists and Hindus among others have had input on our board. I’ve been in a discussion that’s been going on for a while that is called “3000 gods but only yours exists.” Apparently someone had an atheist friend say that to them in a sarcastic way and the person asked for ideas of what to answer back. The thread is still going after 16 pages of 15 comments each but the original poster is probably long gone by now.

One issue brought up was whether you have to be a Christian to go to heaven (at least our idea of it). This is a contentious issue even among Christians. The Vatican II document Lumen Gentium addresses this. However, this document was a source of confusion and even today we have liberals and conservatives arguing over it. It mentions Jews and Muslims as being related to the people of God. And yet it warns us that in the end:

But often men, deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the Creator. Or some there are who, living and dying in this world without God, are exposed to final despair. Wherefore to promote the glory of God and procure the salvation of all of these, and mindful of the command of the Lord, "Preach the Gospel to every creature", the Church fosters the missions with care and attention (Sec. 16).

Concerning the confusion, in 1999 Josef Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI, wrote a Declaration called Dominus Iesus. He states:

As a remedy for this relativistic mentality, which is becoming ever more common, it is necessary above all to reassert the definitive and complete character of the revelation of Jesus Christ. In fact, it must be firmly believed that, in the mystery of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6), the full revelation of divine truth is given: “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” (Mt 11:27); “No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has revealed him” (Jn 1:18); “For in Christ the whole fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form” (Col 2:9-10) (Sec. 5).

It is our obligation as Christians to proceed under the understanding that Christ is absolutely necessary for our entrance into heaven. How He will judge others of different faiths is His business. Our job is to witness to Christ in every way possible, including the effects of His presence, along with the Father and Holy Spirit, in our lives.