Carlos Luis Rosas Jr

Spiritual Warfare Carlos Luis Rosas Jr

The modern concept of demons owes many of its key features to the influence in Christian and theological doctrine, which were heavily influenced by Jewish beliefs through the Old Testament. In Christianity, a demon is not just a malicious spirit, but a spirit of hell sent to Earth by the Devil to enforce his authority or to carry out his purposes. There are various opinions and definitions for Spiritual Warfare; however, it can be summed up in the following quote: "Some speak of [Spiritual Warfare as being] the struggle between good and evil. Others talk of the battle between right and wrong, or between light and darkness. Still others refer to the conflict between the positive forces which seek to preserve life and order in the universe and the negative forces which tend to disturb and even destroy life and order, from a biblical perspective, however, this dualism is revealed to be an on-going conflict waged on two fronts: God and His angelic kingdom confront Satan and his demonic kingdom, while the children of God contend with the children of Satan." The writings of the Bible invoke images of conflict and spiritual struggle in the life of the Christian. One of the evocative images that are associated with Spiritual Warfare is found in the New Testament in the Epistle to the Ephesians. This letter is traditionally ascribed to the authorship of the Apostle Paul. In that letter, Paul gives instruction to his readers on the spiritual life in the context of conflict. He illustrates his points by apparently alluding to the armor and weapons of a Roman centurion, though it is notable that Paul's phraseology imitates Isaiah 59:17.