Spiritual Warfare as Crutch

What I’ve come to believe about the statements

“I’m being attacked by Satan” 

or 

“We’re experiencing spiritual warfare” 

is that it is those who do not make such statements who actually persevere in Christlikeness in tough situations. They are the ones who have a right perspective of “spiritual warfare,” while those most vocal about “being in a battle” can frequently be off-kilter in their attitude. 

And by that I mean this: in my years of experience with Christians, I’ve found that oftentimes, “I’m being attacked by Satan” deflects from a need to change. If Satan is involved, he is the one bogging them down, not the individual’s own never-dealt-with issues and behaviors. 

An environment of constant, everyday spiritual warfare really only catches people in victimhood. 

The “enemy” in these cases is not Satan (nor his ”tools” of other people, the culture or world); the enemy is themselves. 

The type of person or organization that self-professes to consistently be under attack by Satan, or fighting an overt spiritual battle, is often simply distracting themselves from having to cooperate or compromise. Their perceived innocence in the “battle”  puts the onus on someone or something else to come around to their way of doing or seeing things.

It’s very clever because other Christian onlookers are often reluctant to disagree with someone else’s self-proclaimed “spiritual battle.” And even if they did question it, they would merely be chalked up as just another “tool” of Satan! 

Just as cheap grace is the reliance upon forgiveness without repentance, cheap martyrdom is the reliance upon sympathetic enabling to ward off one’s realistic and sincere facing of one’s own dysfunction. 

Copyright Barb Harwood