The War

Jesus died and rose again and that ended the war. There is no more battle for sin or evil, Jesus' death has ended all that. Satan is no longer a real threat, it's been dealt with, we can just sit back let Jesus deal with everything. As long as we go to church and try to do good, we are good Christians. Is this truth? Is this the life God is asking from us? I think not.

I've heard it said that satan's best trick was to convince the world he didn't exist, that may be so, but Christians know he exists. The best trick that satan ever pulled was even more cunning that that. It was to convince God's warriors that there was nothing to fight, that he was not a threat, that it was merely people choosing evil that causes the world's heartaches. Who causes that evil though? There is a war going on, and that war is all around us and we are the one's God calls to fight, we are God's front line and He is our Commander. Don't get me wrong, we can't do anything on our power, but Christ has given us Power in His spirit, that we can use to fight, and we are called to fight:

Mark 16:17
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

2 Corinthians 10
4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

Ephesians 6
12For 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. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

"After you have done everything"... God is not saying, "hey wait around for me and i will fix everything", he is saying, "go and fight!" He is calling us to be his warriors, his right hand men, assaulting the very gates of hell. Satan doesn't want us fighting against him, so he convinces us this isn't the case, there isn't anything to fight, so we go around our lives completely unaware of the larger struggle going on.

This isn't a part time job. You don't go around casting out demons on the weekend and then worry about your regular life on the weekdays. This reminds me of a scene in 300. Leonidas has just marched off to make war on Xerxes, and the arcadians come to join up. Leonidas asks various arcadian volunteers what their profession is, one says potter, one says blacksmith, etc. Leonidas then asks what the spartans profession was, to which they replied "Hooah" which loosely translates to some form of death-bringing.

These two groups provide us with an excellent view of two types of Christians. The arcadians are people who have been led to believe there is no war, or if there is it's only minor battles here and there. They have a real life and fight on the side. The spartans however, understand that only by completely devoting themselves to readying themselves for war will they be victorious. They are warriors and have a real life on the side. This is what God calls us to be. We are warriors for His Kingdom first and foremost and this life is a trivial thing. It's an illusion. It's not real.

"The truth is you were born into bondage, into a prison you can't taste, smell or touch, a prison for your mind. and as long at the Matrix exists the human race will never be free."
~ Morpheus (The Matrix)

Another movie example, the human race is imprisoned, and most of them don't even know it. There are other humans who know the truth, the truth that their oppressors would have kept hidden from the rest of the population. This small group of humans fight to free other humans, and to fight the real evil going on. Sound familiar? As soon as neo (which is his real name, given to Him when he is freed) wakes up from being released from sin.. *cough* i mean the matrix, morpheus says to him "welcome to the real world" - welcome Neo, to what is really going on, welcome to the war.

Welcome Christian brother or sister, welcome to the real world, welcome to the war.