Part One: For We Wrestle Not Against Flesh and Blood

PLEASE CHALLENGE MY BLOG ENTRIES WITH PRAYER & TAKE THE TIME TO STUDY, RESEARCH, AND COMPARE MY WORDS WITH THE WORD OF GOD, THE BIBLE, TO ENSURE THEY ARE IN AGREEMENT. 

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

“(10) Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. (11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (12) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."     Ephesians 6:10-12 KJV

The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:11-12 tells us to, “…stand against the wiles of the devil, [f]or we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” 

Angel Demon Fight, n.d. Medieval illuminati manuscript

Who and what exactly are these dark forces that we must stand against, and where do they come from?

Tikal Guatemala, Mayan astronaut , n.d. (antiquity)

Using my Sherlock Holms-esque power of deduction, these powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness we wrestle or fight against are not corporeal or terrestrial, but discorporate bad or evil spirits like a ghost or demon, respectively? Or they could be malevolent extraterrestrial, interdimensional, or multidimensional beings that have the ability to influence and/or possess a person?

Before I go any further, I want to steer our focus to two words, belief and faith. Much of what this blog is about requires belief, faith, or at least, intellectual curiosity. Over the centuries, questions like whether God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit exist has been asked? Is Jesus the Christ (Savior) as prophesied in the Judeo-Christian Old Testament Bible & declared in the New Testament? Or was Jesus only a prophet as it is believed in Islam? Or was Jesus The Uber Charlatan? Is there no God or god(s), and did the Big Bang Theory and Darwinian evolution process happen? Are there many gods, and many paths to salvation, eternal life, and eternal punishment? Do angels and demons exist, or are they symbolic or a metaphor to describe actions and thoughts society believe is good or evil? Is there a heaven, hell or a place called purgatory? Lastly, is there life after death, or do we stop existing and go into nothingness?

Please take note that each of the questions I posed requires some level of belief. It may be existential; “a tradition of philosophical enquiry that explores the nature of existence by emphasizing experience of the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual.”[1]Or it may require empirical evidence; information received by means of the senses, particularly by observation and documentation of patterns and behavior through experimentation.”[2] Or for others it may require scientific theory; “an explanation of an aspect of the natural world that can be repeatedly tested and verified in accordance with the scientific method, using accepted protocols of observation, measurement, and evaluation of results. Where possible, theories are tested under controlled conditions in an experiment.”[3]

Whichever of the above a person prescribe to, it is all based on the natural world.  Faith on the other hand, cannot be defined or measured by nature or science, but it does require belief.

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines belief and faith as follows –  

·        Belief /bəˈlēf/

I. noun 1. An acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists

2. something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion or conviction

3. a religious conviction

- origin Middle English: alteration of Old English gelēafa; compare with believe[4]

·        Faith /fāTH/

I. noun 1. Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.

2. strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.

3. a system of religious belief

4. a strongly held belief or theory

- origin Middle English: from Old French feid, from Latin fides.[5]

 

I do not want to get too academic comparing and analyzing these two words because I could write an entire thesis, but there is no reason for me to do that because there are a plethora of webpages and YouTube videos you can visit about the subject by academics, scholars, preachers and laypersons. AND, I just do not want to regurgitate what has already been said. What I will do is be succinct in stating my personal thoughts on what I believe the similarities and differences are, and not be concerned about where it may fit in the spectrum of others.

I take the position that belief and faith are different. Now, this is where I will get a little bit academic; consciously or unconsciously, we as human beings cognitively use semantics when speaking, writing, and interpreting words. “Semantics is the study of the relationship between words and how we draw meaning from those words,”[6] and “[s]ince meaning in language is so complex, there are actually different theories used within semantics, such as formal semantics, lexical semantics, and conceptual semantics.

·        Formal Semantics – [U]ses techniques from math, philosophy, and logic to analyze the broader relationship between language and reality, truth and possibility.

·        Lexical Semantics – [D]econstruct words and phrases within a line of text to understand the meaning in terms of context.

·        Conceptual Semantics – [D]eals with the most basic concept and form of a word before our thoughts and feelings added context to it.”[7]

With that said, way back when I was a teenager, someone once told me “Even the devil believes in God but does not have faith in Him.” This was a mind-blowing statement to my young adolescent mind when I was first told that because of all sentient beings, he is the one in all the universe to believe in God since he had once stood in His presence. But when pride entered his heart and rebelled against Him, wanting to place himself above God, his faith was lost but his belief in God cannot be denied.

How does this apply to those of us that have not ever stood in the presence of God?

Since we live in the natural world, we rely on logic, reasoning, and what our five senses can detect and perceive. Faith on the other hand, requires internal strength and conviction because it is not & is beyond logic, reasoning, and our five senses.

Now, lets return to my earlier question “Who and what exactly are these dark forces that we must stand against, and where do they come from?”

I want to share three videos from the YouTube channel Chemlin Production . The videos are from an annual hardstyle, hardcore rave/techno dance/music festival called Qlimax (2000 to present) in Europe. After watching them, I am interested in reading your comments, and ask that you return to Eschaton Transition for Part Two: For We Wrestle Not Against Flesh and Blood.

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Here is the sinner’s prayer if you are moved to give your life to Christ –

“Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name. Amen.”

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Leni D. Anderson BA ArtH., MLIS, MA in Apologetics & Cosmogony (candidate), Regent University School of Divinity. 

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[1] Wikipedia. Existentialism. June 30, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism.

[2] Ibid. Empirical evidence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empirical_evidence.

[3] Ibid. Scientific Theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory.

[4] New Oxford American Dictionary, editors Angus Stevenson, Christine A. Lindberg, 3^rd edition. (New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), Belief, eDictionary.

[5] Ibid. New Oxford American Dictionary. Faith.

[6] Your Dictionary. 2020. Examples of Semantics. Access July 1, 2020. https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-semantics.html.

[7] Your Dictionary. 2020. Examples of Semantics. https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-semantics.html.