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Spiritual Warfare is widely misunderstood. At one extreme are those who hardly believe in the devil, while on the other are those who see a demon under every stone, or fear Satan more than God. The truth lies somewhere in the balance between both extremes.

As the core text of a religion of peace our Bible contains a surprising preponderance of marshal analogies and military examples; replete with warriors, weapons and warfare; many of its most prominent characters were skilled in the art of war. Abraham, Moses and David were generals who took many lives by the sword while, in the New Testament, one of only two people Jesus glowingly commended for their faith, was a Roman centurion. And the first Gentile convert was another centurion, Cornelius.

Saul of Tarsus, who became the Apostle Paul, was a man of seething hatred and violence who sought out, hunted down and arrested Christians, before voting for their deaths. Between them, Moses, David and Paul were murderers. And between them they wrote much of our Bible.

Clearly, while our God of love hates the violence, destruction and suffering that war wreaks upon any society, his holy righteousness demands that he robustly defend his position and his people whenever either are assailed. Rich in mercy and overflowing with loving-kindness he may be, but to pick a fight with God is utter folly.

And our Bible is replete with the language of warfare, because God has an enemy. From Genesis to Revelation is the epic account of two kingdoms at war: The Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness; the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan.

The root of all other conflict, it is more than just a war between personalities, but between principalities, powers and ideologies: Between good and evil; sin and righteousness; peace and discord; life and death. How this came about I cover more fully in 'Lucifer and the Devil' and other articles, where I explain who God's enemy, Satan was, where he came from and why he acted as he did.

Summarising, briefly:

Satan was once Lucifer, 'the Anointed Cherub of Covering' (possibly even an archangel) appointed by God to serve mankind in Eden. The Bible calls mankind God's 'heirs of salvation', with both man (ish) and woman (ishah) called Adam. Only after the Fall did the man rename his wife, Eve.

Lucifer's Hebrew name Helel Ben Shachar means 'Light-Bringer Son of the Morning'; a discontented servant who envied Adam's position and sought to usurp it.

We see this in the way that God's glorious destiny

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