Feb 23, 2025
Dr. Christopher M. Brooks
Pastor to Pastors | Local Church
THE FOG OF WAR
Ephesians 6:10-18 New International Version
“There are two equal and opposite errors to which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally please by both or errors, and hail the materialist or the magician with the same delight.” - C.S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters
“The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn’t exist”
- Kaizer Soze
• Why can't I stop all these random and reckless thoughts?
• Why do I feel this low grade anxiety in my chest?
• Why is my heart always at war with destructive desires?
• Why am I prone to the very behaviors that tore family apart?
• Why is so hard to concentrate when I pray?
• Why is all the news bad, polarizing, and demonizing?
• Why is there so much injustice in the world?
• Why do I even care?
The fog of war is the uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one's own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement.
• The devil is diabolos (Greek) – slander or accuser
• The satan is hassatan (Hebrew) – accuser, howler, morning star
• The evil one
• The tempter
• The destroyer
• The deceiver
• The great dragon. Who deceives the whole world
• The ancient serpent who leads the whole world astray
Jesus also called him the prince of this world – archon - the highest ranking roman official in a city or region (John 12v31, 14v30, 16v11).
He claimed of the kingdoms of the world were his to give a way and Jesus didn’t disagree with him (Matthew 4v8-10).
He was created by God, (Ezekiel 28v15) This is key; he's not God's equal and opposite but a created being with a beginning. And an end.
His original role seems to have been the spiritual formation of human beings through testing. Think of how a teacher tests children to bring them to maturity. But (as we see in the story of Job) he began to drift from his charter and used his skill set to tempt human beings into spiritual deformation (Job 1vs6-12, 2v1-7, Matthew 4v1-11)
He sat on God's divine council, a group of hand-selected spiritual beings whose job was to collaborate with God's rule over the world (Gen 3, Isaiah 14v12-13, Ezekiel 28v12-15), But he choose to rebel against God's rule, to seize the world's throne for himself, and to enlist as many creatures as possible in his violent insurgency (Ezekiel 28v15-17, Revelation 12v1-9, 14v9-12, Luke 10v18, Isaiah 14v12-17).
For thousands of years, he held sway as the "prince of this world, "(John 14v30, 2 Corinthians 4v4, 1 John 5v19)
Jesus came "to destroy the devil's work (1 John 3v8). To"tie up strong man"(Mark 3v27) and set humanity free (John 8v32, 36)
Jesus's kingdom was, and still is, nonviolent. How-ever, Jesus likened the kingdom to a warlike assault on the "gates of hell (Matthew 16v18).”
In this ongoing war, harm - spiritual, mental, emotional, and even physical-is a very real possibility.
Our great hope is in Jesus's return to finish what he started.
MENTAL WORSHIP
1. How do you understand the concept of spiritual warfare, and what role do you think believers should play in it today?
3. What specific pieces