War - Part 2

Therefore, 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. Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist … Ephesians 6:13-14 (NIV)

I've heard it said, by many of my fellow believers, and if I'm honest by myself as well, that God is in charge of everything. That we must all trust that whatever happens, it's His will. That we must rest in the knowledge that we have only but to accept whatever His will is. But, is that last sentence really true? Must we only accept what His will is?

I would bring to mind all the examples in the Word of God of men and women who were placed in positions in which they were either forced to act, or they were smart enough to act based on the spiritual knowledge that they received. They didn't simply stand by and watch, waiting for God to do all the work. There was Noah, Joseph, Ruth and David just to name a few. These people did things that went against the grain of what was accepted and, in the end, were rewarded for their actions. So, you ask, what am I supposed to do?

I have no idea. I'm just going to give you some information and then it's up to you to pray and ask God for guidance.

I believe that it's important that we understand the nature of warfare if we are to have any chance of properly “armor”ing ourselves—preparing ourselves—for the battles that will come. The most basic tactic in warfare is the one of “divide and conquer”. We'll explore that concept further and how it applies today in subsequent articles.

I titled this series of articles War! because I believe that we are at war on two fronts. There's the spiritual battlefield, and the physical battlefield. Spiritual warfare is fought primarily inside the mind. I'm not a psychologist, but I am a believer and I know from experience that spiritual warfare is much easier to fight in the fellowship of other believers through prayer and supplication to our Lord Jesus Christ. Physical warfare, on the other hand, is fought within the confines of the 6 “domains of war”. They are; land, sea, air, space, cyber, and the newest domain … people. The unfortunate fact is that spiritual warfare will never be separated from physical warfare. In other words, our war is being fought on both battlefields … at the same time.

I was recently made aware of a Youtube channel, SmarterEveryDay, and one of the videos there; The future of war, and how it affects YOU (multi-domain Operations). This contains a lot of very good information on how the art of war is conducted today. Do not think for one minute that the devil isn't capable of using this to his advantage. Here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOTYgcdNrXE

For the purposes of these articles, I'm going to focus on the cyber domain, in which I'm including, but not limiting to, broadcast television, online news, and social media. I'm also going to spend a little time on the newest domain of war, people.

Most of us have at least one device that links us to the world through the internet. As with all things, this link can be good or evil depending on how the user interacts with it. If we're irresponsible, posting garbage and believing the “gossip” that's out there in such abundance, and on so many topics, that it threatens to take over our very lives if we let it … it's bad. If, however, we are wise enough to self-restrict our access to all that's available and use God's wisdom and discernment to filter through the muck, sorting out what's true … it's good. I've heard people say that “you can't trust anything you see on the internet.”

Au contraire mon ami.

In fact, much of what's out there is good. You just need to know how and where to look. For instance, I never take the word of any single source, even ones that I trust, without verifying the information independently. Typically, I will go with the consensus of at least three unrelated websites.

Let me talk for a minute about the video that I shared above. The message within it all boils down to the fact that warfare is very different today than it has ever been before. In fact, entire wars are fought without ever a shot being fired. These are the wars fought inside the minds of—you guessed it—people, the sixth domain. With the use of the internet, there are, at this moment, military personnel around the world who are manipulating words on social media and other outlets. They seek to influence people to act in a way that will change the communities where they live to the benefit of those who are manipulating them. We need look no further to find examples of people who are being used by the enemy than organizations like ANTIFA, Black Block, Black Lives Matter, Justice Democrats and others to see how they are using the internet to organize and influence in the name of “justice”. Whether you've ever heard of these outfits or not, they've been around a lot longer than you think, and they're very good at what they do.

By the way, when you add a qualifier such as social, economic, racial, or anything else to a word like justice, you turn it into something that's evil.

The aforementioned organizations pick a certain point of view, use labels like racism, patriarchy and misogyny, assigning them to their enemies whether it's deserved or not, and drive that message—whatever message that may be—into the ground wherever anyone is who is like-minded or naïve enough to listen. Then they instill within these individuals such a sense of fear, passion and urgency that they are willing to do anything, up to and including acts of violence, to “make a difference”. One of the recent catch-phrases that I've heard goes something like this:

“The world is going to end in twelve years if we don't do something drastic about climate change!”

The point that I'm making is that many people are gullible. Sorry, but there just isn't a more appropriate word for it. Most people will believe anything they hear or read if enough people are saying something … anything … that sounds like it could be true.

You may be asking yourself, “Why should I care about this. What does it have to do with me?” The answer is that, in order to fight your enemy, you must know your enemy. These are the tactics that Satan has used throughout history to destroy God in the minds of his creation. If we, Christians, don't fight against the powers of darkness … who will?

That leads me to some of the messages that we've all heard—and probably bought in to … at least for a while—that I'll expound upon in the subsequent installments of War.

Today is the day. Now is the time. The battle is on!

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)

G. J. Fortier is a member of Ironmen Ministries and First Baptist Church, Centerville, GA. Look for his novels on Amazon on Kindle and paperback. Or visit his website at www.GerardFortier.com