Why
should we spend time learning about angels, demons, Satan, and the
many issues involved in the existence of evil in our world? After
all, we have come a long way since the Middle Ages. Science has given
us the knowledge that the earth is round, that the planet we live on
is not the center of the universe, of gravity, medical breakthroughs,
and psychosis. Those things that were at one time considered evidence
of the demonic are now known to be mental illness or some other
illness, right? This is the thinking of the post-modern person;
science has all the answers. Is this true? Does science provide all
the answers? Have we intellectually outgrown the belief in angels,
both good and fallen? Certainly the hardcore Atheist will say so. The
truth of the matter is, however, that science has not answered any of
the age old existential questions. Questions like: What am I? Where
do I come from? Where does anything that exists come from? Where am I
going? Does God exist? Is there life after death? What is the meaning
of life? While those given to the religion of Scientism will suggest
these questions have been answered, what had really occurred is that
this faith in science as possessing all truth is really a replacement
religion. They have traded God for a cold universe that arose by pure
chance and the soul for a nihilistic view of human life and death.
Indeed, Scientism (really a disguise of atheism) is self refuting.
The
great Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis, wrote:
"Supposing
there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In
that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It
is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or
chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives
me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how
can I trust my own thinking to be true? It's like upsetting a milk
jug and hoping that the way it splashes itself will give you a map of
London. But if I can't trust my own thinking, of course I can't trust
the arguments leading to Atheism, and therefore have no reason to be
an Atheist, or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I cannot
believe in thought: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God." 1
This
astute observation by Lewis is something we can see in operation in our
world today. The news is replete with stories demonstrating how
humanity is quite capable of being led astray by its own thinking.
This is most often the case precisely because, while we have
university courses on everything you can imagine, we have no classes
on how to think. Philosophy is offered perhaps, but is rarely a
required prerequisite for studying much of anything. In fact,
philosophy majors, unless they teach at the college level, are likely
to work the drive through at the local fast food restaurant. This is
how little emphasis we as a culture place on how to think. Of course,
this crippling of the faculty of thought plays into the hands of the
Atheistic Naturalist who uses scientific language to dupe young minds
into accepting the new religion of Scientism.
It
is against this prevailing culture of disbelief that we must bring
the torchlight of truth. And so we have our definition of spiritual
warfare, which is as follows:
Spiritual
Warfare is the act of bringing the power, perspective, and passion of
Truth and the life of the Gospel against everything that is set
against the knowledge of God. 2
1. Lewis,
C.S., The Case for Christianity, p. 32, Broadman and Holmes
Publishing, April 2000
2. Adapted from a lecture by Dr. Gerry Breshears
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