Have you noticed how mainstream Christianity has stepped away from any form of militancy? When is the last time you sang Onward Christian Soldiers or Fight the Good Fight With All Your Might?
Those hymns have been quietly removed from the hymnbooks by the woke editors. Maybe they are worried folks might become Christian jihadists and resort to terrorism. I doubt it. Christianity’s problem today is not too much fighting spirit, but not enough.
But at the same time–this lack of proper militancy means books and courses on Spiritual Warfare are burgeoning. The pendulum always swings back.
The fact is, the fight against evil is foundational to the faith. The Old Testament surges with military stories and images not only of the saints, but also of God himself as a great warrior. While we are no longer commanded to slay all of the Amalekites, nor, with Elijah to put all the prophets of Baal to the sword, we are called to be soldiers of Christ in the spiritual battle. Not to do so is to betray the gift of our baptism.
However, many folks are not sure what spiritual warfare actually means. What does one do? How does one engage in battle? Are we all supposed to be mini exorcists going around splashing holy water and casting out evil spirits? Probably not.
The first thing is to accept the need for battle. The next step is to understand the enemy and the territory. Then we can prepare ourselves to engage and do so intelligently and with courage and common sense.
With this in mind, the folks at a new educational and creative apostolate called Great and Main have asked me to teach a masterclass on spiritual warfare. This will be taught in four sessions online at 8pm EST on Jun 7, 9, 14 & 16.
In the first two sessions I will be digging more deeply into my book Immortal Combat to explore the root and depth and origins of evil in our hearts and in our humanity. In the second two sessions I’ll be previewing my new book Beheading Hydra – A Radical Plan for Christians in an Atheistic Age. These two sessions show how the evil has penetrated our society and offers practical steps to battle the problem.
I am really looking forward to sharing these courses and encourage you to sign up and tell others. For more information go here.
What should I do if I purchased the “Deep Dive” Spiritual Combat Course by mistake? I thought they were the same – my apologies.
send me an emaijl about the problem: dlongenecker1@gmail.com