2 Corinthians 10:4-5  "... the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, <2> but mighty <1> through God to the pulling down of strong holds <3> ;)   [5] Casting down imaginations, <4> and every high thing <5> that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity <6> every thought to the obedience of Christ.."

<1> DUNATOS {pronounced =doo-nat-os’ }, to bear calamities and trials with fortitude and patience, explosively powerful
<2> SARKIKOS {pronounced = sar-kee-kos’ } after the flesh or body
<3> OCHUROMA {pronounced = okh-oo’-ro-mah} fortified castles, strongholds, areas of opinion, arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavors to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent
<4> LOGISMOS {pronounced = log-is-MOs’} humanistic reasoning, a judgment or decision based on logic nor apparent but not Biblical truth.
<5> HUPSOMA {pronounced = hoop’-so-mah} elevated place, structure, or thought.
<6> AICHMALOTIZO {pronounced = aheekh-mal-o-tid’-zo}, Present Active Participle, to lead away as a captive, as a hostage, to keep on captivating or leading away captive.

There is a war going on. This war is not controversial, like the Vietnam war was. It is not ongoing, like the war in the Gulf is. This war is not publicized, published, reported, or covered by NBC, CBS, ABC, or FOX. In fact, few people are aware of this war, though this war has caused and continues to cause death, destruction, and mayhem - and, unlike many more published wars, has caused more people to die and go to a place of Eternal Punishment than any other battle in human history.

This battle is the Angelic Conflict. This battle is the Spiritual Battle that goes on around us every day. This battle is:

Our text for today begins with the statement:

2 Corinthians 10:4-5  "... the weapons of our warfare are not carnal

This statement in itself implies two things: First, since we have weapons of warfare, then we are in a war. That makes sense: If I have weapons of warfare, then I must be in a battle. Second, the statement says that the weapons that we have are not carnal, that is, they are not physical, nor fleshly, nor a thing that can be held in the hand. You see, the Greek word for carnal actually means "something of the flesh, something of this world". We have a different kind of enemy. Beloved, I have met the enemy, and it isn't human. Beloved, the enemy is supra-human.

Long ago the Lord Jesus, the Creator of all things:

(John 1:3 KJV) "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."

Decided to make a series of beings. These beings are quite different from anything that we have ever come up against. Man is made of the dust of the ground - in fact, the very name ADAM means earthy, red earth. But these beings that the Lord God created were not of the ground - not fleshly creatures as we are - but they are beings composed of light. Jesus created one being to be over all of these beings of light. The one being, Lucifer, was made to be the "anointed cherub, the chief angel". The New American Standard version states:

(Ezekiel 28:14-17 NASB) ""You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. {15} "You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created, Until unrighteousness was found in you. {16} "By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. {17} "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you."

And the King James states:

(Isaiah 14:12-15 KJV) "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! {13} For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: {14} I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. {15} Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."

Though he was created perfect, Lucifer looked at God's Throne And - the very thought makes me shudder - Decided that he could take over God's position. Lucifer thought, "I will exalt myself above the stars - the angels of God. I will be like God". What a blasphemous thought, what a terrible thought. But Lucifer forgot who he was and forgot who God was. And, in forgetting, Lucifer - Satan - that old Serpent - the Dragon - was cast from Heaven to this earth, he, And a third part of the angels of heaven with him. The Bible says:

(Revelation 12:4 NASB) "And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, And threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child."

(Revelation 12:7-9 NASB) "And there was war in heaven, Michael And his angels waging war with the dragon. And the dragon And his angels waged war, {8} And they were not strong enough, And there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. {9} And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil And Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, And his angels were thrown down with him."

And so you see the great enemy of God, And the great enemy of man. Satan convinced a third of the angels in Heaven to revolt And follow him. It was Satan who slithered into the Garden And tempted man to forsake Jesus. It was Satan that brought, by temptation And enticement And promise of immediate satisfaction, mankind to the point where the Bible says:

(Genesis 6:5 NASB) "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, And that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

God saved eight souls And a large part of the animal kingdom in the Ark, but man had so fallen from God that only eight remained. These eight, Noah And his family, multiplied And the earth once more was populated with mankind. Yet even after a flood, even after the Fall in the Garden, even after years of attacks where Lucifer enticed man to fall away from God - after all this, man is yet deceived. Our enemy And those angels that followed him, these super beings, are enemies of God And, dear friends, enemies of man. They are, indeed, enemies of this Church, And of every Church that proclaims the name of Jesus. They, with Satan at their helm, entice And attack in a different kind of way ....

2 Corinthians 10:4-5  "... the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, <2> but mighty <1> through God to the pulling down of strong holds <3> ;)   [5] Casting down imaginations, <4> And every high thing <5> that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, And bringing into captivity <6> every thought to the obedience of Christ.."

Satan is our enemy. Since Satan is a different kind of thing, a different kind of being, then you can understand when the Bible says that our old enemy uses a different kind of tactic than the physical. You see, Satan's weapons always start in the mind. When he attacked man in the Garden he didn't come in swinging a stick. Instead he said to Eve:

(Genesis 3:1 KJV) "... he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"

This is the tactic that Satan always uses. He questions, And plants doubt, And tries to derail the person from the true issue at hand. He did this with Adam in the Garden. He did the same thing with Jesus, our Lord And our God, when He was in the wilderness. At the moment that Jesus ended His time of fasting And dedication, when He reached a moment when He was - in His humanity - hungry; at that point Satan crept in to tempt:

(Matthew 4:3 NASB) "And the tempter came And said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.""

Jesus Christ our Savior gave us a perfect example of proper warfare against Satan. Jesus responded to Satan:

(Matthew 4:4 NASB) "But He answered And said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'""

With each attack, Jesus responded with "It is written". Jesus responded to Satan's attack with the Word of God. I find it interesting And informative that Jesus Christ, the Creator of Heaven And earth, God with us, both fully God And fully man, used "it is written" to combat And defeat Satan in the wilderness. Beloved, this should show us that the Christian way of life And the battle that we fight is a different kind of battle - And to win this war we need to have a different kind of mind. The Bible says:

(1 Peter 5:8 KJV) "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"

The devil rarely attacks the Church And the children of God physically. He tried this tactic in the early Church. He had believers martyred for their faith, but the more Christians were tortured the tighter they held onto Christ. I will say this of our adversary, Loved Ones - he is a fast learner. He quickly discovered that martyrdom And persecution rarely worked with the believer. Instead of separating the Church, physical persecution had the effect of strengthening, building up, drawing the Body closer to itself. So our adversary, that old devil, discovered a new means of attack. Plant seeds of doubt. Encourage believers to walk away from devotion to Christ, And toss the thought processes of the world into our midst. Say to the Church, just as he said to Eve, "Has God really said that?". We as believers are called to devote ourselves to Christ. Not to just say "What Would Jesus Do?", but to put ourselves in Christ's place And say "What DID Jesus Do?".

(2 Corinthians 11:2-3 NASB) "For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. {3} But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity And purity of devotion to Christ."

Our 2 Corinthians text mentions three areas that we as believers need to be on guard against. First, we as the Church of Jesus Christ must pull down strongholds. Vincent says of strongholds:

Only here in the New Testament. From echo, to hold, so that holds is an accurate rendering. Compare keep, a dungeon. The word is not common in classical Greek, but occurs frequently in the Apocrypha. In its use here there may lie a reminiscence of the rock-forts on the coast of Paul's native Cilicia, which were pulled down by the Romans in their attacks on the Cilician pirates. Pompey inflicted a crushing defeat upon their navy off the rocky stronghold of Coracesium on the confines of Cilicia And Pisidia.

A stronghold or a fortified fort could be a mindset or a mental attitude sin that we hold more precious than the Word of God. In our day it is common to compromise that which the Bible teaches in order to maintain peace And harmony in the Church. The frequent cry of the deceived is "what does it harm? If it only effects one person, what does it matter?" But, dear friends, it does matter. Each person interacts with the next person on this planet. If we fall into Satan's trap And say, "What does it matter if someone wants to recreationally use drugs, or follow an alternate lifestyle in their own lives? What does that matter to me?" Such attitudes show how easily we can be deceived by that old devil. Those who recreationally use drugs, even alcohol, often have accidents from driving their cars while in an impaired state. Those who use drug needles contract diseases, And often sell their blood - diseased - to the healthy. Those who believe that immorality in business or in sexual activities are nobody's business have not seen the innocent children infected with AIDS, or families left pensionless or without work starving in our streets. If you have anger against your brother or sister, this is a stronghold that - because it is unresolved - can threaten even our Church community.

We must pull down the strongholds that we have allowed in our lives. We as believers are called to surrendered living in Christ. Rock by rock, stone by stone, we must - through the power of God the Holy Spirit And the living Word of God - pull down the strongholds that prevent us from being what our Savior wants us to be.

Second, we must cast down imaginations. This word, LOGISMOS, means "human reasoning, logical processes, quantification". I once had a lady come to me after a message And say, "Pastor, do you really believe that good people who are not Christians, like Muslims or Mormons or Buddhists, will not go to Heaven? I find that hard to believe. It seems like any who are good will go to Heaven." This is the mindset of the present generation, though this process of reasoning has been around from the dawn of time. Won't good people go to Heaven? Logic says yes, but God's Word says:

Romans 3:10-12 (KJV) "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: {11} There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. {12} They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

John 14:6 (KJV) "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, And the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Another man wrote me And said, "That's just what someone said Jesus said. I don't believe that He taught that He was the only Way to God". Believe this line of errant reasoning if you want, but I warn you - it smacks of the same author who said to Eve: "Has God really said that?". Eve lived to regret listening to this logician, just as did Adam And all of us. Because Adam listened to Satan instead of God - because he listened to that little voice of doubt that reasoned, "Well I know God loves me ... maybe I misunderstood Him. Go ahead, a little taste won't matter". Precious ones, a little tastes does matter. A little taste of arsenic can kill. A little taste of worldly logic or Satan's reasoning over God's Word can destroy your life: it can lead your children And your grandchildren to fall away from the Gospel, it can destroy your testimony among your friends, it can rip your marriages apart, And it can destroy the ability of this Church to fulfill the Great Commission.

Here are some things that God tells us to do, though the world may say we're illogical in doing it. The world says, "A good person will automatically go to Heaven". Jesus says:

(Matthew 5:20 KJV) "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes And Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."

The world says, "Get ahead And get rich by stomping on anybody in your way. Climb the ladder of success by walking on the backs of others. " Jesus says:

Mark 8:34-37 (KJV) "And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, And take up his cross, And follow me. {35} For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake And the gospel's, the same shall save it. {36} For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, And lose his own soul? {37} Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

The world says, "If attacked, attack back. If someone hurts you, hurt them back. Smash your enemy!" Jesus says:

(Matthew 5:39 KJV) "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."

(Matthew 5:44-48 KJV) "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, And pray for them which despitefully use you, And persecute you; {45} That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil And on the good, And sendeth rain on the just And on the unjust. {46} For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? {47} And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? {48} Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

The world says, "Do good works for the praise of men." Jesus says:

(Matthew 6:2 KJV) "Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues And in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."

(Matthew 6:16 KJV) "Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."

The world says, "As long as it hurts no one, then who cares?" Jesus says:

(Matthew 5:28 KJV) "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

Finally - do you hear this, Beloved? We must cast down these "high things", these high places that compete with our Creator. In the Old Testament Israel saw no harm in compromising with the world around them. They thought there was no harm in integrating worship of the One True God with the customs And practices of those around them. This was not true. If you compromise with the world, the religion you have after the compromise is not Christianity at all, not true worship at all. Israel compromised with Canaan, And as a result that nation fell into the practices of the Canaanites. Terrible practices that allowed child sacrifice to unknown gods. Practices that enter the Church apart from that which the Holy Scripture teaches cause disharmony And loss of power.

How, then, are we to live?

2 Corinthians 10:5  "... bringing into captivity <6> every thought to the obedience of Christ.."

How does the believer, the Christian, battle such a great enemy? We are confronted every day with thoughts, And reasonings, And justifications. That square box we have in our houses tells us that we should think a certain way, that we must think the way that the world thinks or else we are old fashioned And obsolete

Beloved, do not fall to Satan's trap. Be aware that the great conflict we are engaged in is a spiritual conflict, And that - though it often seems as if the devil is more active in the physical world, he is truly more active in the minds of man. We as individual Christians must weigh And judge everything that we say And do by the standard of God. We must do as Jesus did in the wilderness, respond to Satan's temptations And thrusts with "it is written". Every thought process, every decision, every motivation, every action must be captured And, once captured, we must say "What, dear Jesus, do you want us to do? How did you show us to live? What does your Word teach us to do?"

Beloved, as you study And submit yourself to God's Word And God's Spirit, as you surrender to your Creator, as you become the conduit through which God can work out His plan, you will feel His power And His presence grow in your life. The more of me there is, the less God can work. The Bible says:

Galatians 2:20 (KJV) "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, And gave himself for me."

And,

1 Corinthians 15:31 (KJV) "I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily."

The surrendered Christian is the Christian God can use. The surrendered life is the one that Christ can most shine through. We labor, knowing that the time is short, And that thousands perish daily by refusing to accept Christ as Savior. Beloved, labor with me. Beloved, strive with me, for the glory of God And for Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Corinthians 4:3-7 (KJV) "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: {4} In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. {5} For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; And ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. {6} For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. {7} But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, And not of us."