By Aksel Smith Walking in the truth, we can fight for the truth against all its enemies. There is warfare in the spirit world. The truth always advances at the expense of darkness, wherever it goes. The battle rages wherever it seeks to press into darkness; the struggle is on the border between light and darkness. Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.” We shall shine as lights in other people’s darkness, for thereby their evil works and evil condition will be revealed. When light shines into the others’ darkness, the result is often enmity and war. We find darkness in Satan’s poison: arrogance, indulgence, and covetousness. The light in us is to shine into this folly so the soul can become conscious of it. If he acknowledges the light, he will be cleansed from the folly of darkness; if he resists the light, his folly increases, for the light can be removed only by placing a new folly between himself and this light. Warfare is necessary for every believer. It increases courage, furthers understanding, and tests the believer’s faithfulness. In times of war, spirit fights against spirit, and a man is sharpened by standing before the countenance of his friend. Prov. 27:17. War is being waged against the enemies of light. The ultimate aim of the battle is not to triumph over the other person, but the other person’s victory. The purpose of the attack is the other person’s victory. Our love for souls compels us to engage in these helpful attacks. Our weapons are not carnal but spiritual; they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. 2 Cor. 10:4-5. A soul with the knowledge of God pulls down these seemingly high thoughts that appear so impressive, like a wall that cannot be scaled in man’s own imagination. However, they are built up on Satan’s old folly and according to his methods and principles. A spark of divine wisdom is sufficient to set fire to these high thoughts that man has built up on the foundation of deception and reduce them to ashes. This is in truth what Job says: “Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes . . . .” Job 13:12. For the fire of divine truth transforms these clever designs into ashes. Someone who desires to be a true servant of the Lord must necessarily work together with Jesus Christ. He enters into the ways of the Spirit in His work with men. Just as God’s Spirit works with our spirit, so we must be fellow laborers in God’s Spirit working on other human spirits. God zealously desires the spirit He let dwell in us. Jas. 4:5. Our spirit is God’s field of labor. In co-operation with God, we also receive man’s spirit as a field of labor with the aim of the spirit’s full sanctification. Spirit affects spirit. The battle pertains to breaking down Satan’s power completely to the degree that we ourselves are aware of it and are liberated. Jesus and the apostles worked only with the spirit of man. In Luke 12:13 we find a striking picture of Jesus’ method of working. One from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus did not feel flattered by being asked to undertake such a task. He saw through the man and assumed a dismissive attitude toward him: “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” First, Jesus clarified His own position; after that He went on the attack, saying, “Take heed and beware of covetousness . . . .” Jesus did not answer people according to their words; He went right through their words and answered them according to their spirit, the source of their words. Jesus realized that the man’s words were a product of a deep-seated love of money. Therefore Jesus did not answer with similar words so as to appear to be polite, but He went right through the words and spoke to the spirit. We are to treat souls in the same way. We shall observe the spirit in man, the source of his motives, and what he intends to say with his words, and then we shall answer. Jesus answered often so strangely that one could almost think that He was replying to something else. The reason is that He answered them according to the spirit. Some Greeks wanted to see Jesus. John 12:20, ff. Philip came and mentioned it to Andrew, and Andrew and Philip came and mentioned it to Jesus; but Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. He who loves his life will lose it, but he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” This was truly a strange answer. Jesus saw the spirit of His disciples. The disciples thought that if anyone wanted to see the great Master, some of the honor would also fall on them, His disciples. Therefore Jesus speaks to them about losing their life, just as He Himself is laying His life down. He says if anyone is His servant, him His Father will honor. When the Father makes sure that the disciples will be honored, it was unnecessary to seek it from the Greeks. Jesus constantly let the light shine into the disciples’ darkness so they could cleanse out Satan’s poison—wanting to be something. Jesus always showed the working side of His life to the disciples. His life was a constant labor of educating and instructing. From this we learn that we shall also turn our working and attacking side to men, so that they can be cleansed and overcome, and we can rejoice because the others are victorious. On this point there is a constant battle against Satan’s deception in man; however not only against his deception, but also against Satan himself—the very one who is behind all folly. Jesus spoke about His sufferings; Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord, this shall not happen to You!” However, Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you have no sense for the things of God, but for the things of men.” Here Jesus went through Peter’s words and Peter’s spirit all the way back to Satan who was the source of it all. Behind Peter’s folly stood Satan as the source of this folly. This tells us that if we want to take up the battle against the powers and principalities, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places, we must first learn to take up the battle against the human spirit. But then we have to stop saying what people like to hear, that is, according to their words. However, many people are too cowardly to take up this battle. They don’t have the courage to stand before their neighbor’s face, because then their honor, reputation, well-being, and other things have to go. Those who seek their own honor are not fit for the field of battle. Therefore Jesus says over and over again that if anyone wants to follow Him, he has to deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him. For he who wants to save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for His sake will save it. Only those who do not love their lives unto death will overcome. In Judges, Chapter 7, we find those who are suited for the wars of the Lord. The children of Israel gathered around Gideon, thirty-two thousand men in all. They were God’s people who had come out of slavery in Egypt to the free land of Canaan after they had crossed the wilderness. God said that those who were fearful and afraid could return and depart from Mount Gilead. As a result, twenty-two thousand went home. Who are the ones who are afraid? Those who have something to lose: their money, their friends, their honor, their reputation, the favor of their acquaintances, their influence; all in all, everything that has not been delivered into the death of Christ. They are cowards. God cannot use them; He sends them home again. This also applies in our days. God cannot use any cowards in the battle; nevertheless, this does not hinder them from overcoming at home and using big words. For cowards are proud, and folly covers itself with many words. The ten thousand men who were left also had to be tested. Nine thousand and seven hundred men knelt down to drink. We can imagine that the sun was shining warmly by the shore where they were drinking water; it was so nice there; it was a joy to drink this wonderful water. They would have liked to stay there just as Peter did on the Mount of Transfiguration. It was good to be there. We meet these people in these days. They are the spiritually self-indulgent. They are the ones who think only of themselves and their spiritual well-being. They are those who close their eyes in a nebulous, sweet feeling of well-being, shouting “Hallelujah!” because they have it so good. These souls are devoid of sobriety; they usually revel half-way in their insensible, nebulous feeling of well-being. However, God cannot use them. They are sent home. Then we have the third group, who were those three hundred men. They are Gideon’s men. We find them lapping, putting their hands to their mouths. When they drank water they did not indulge in well-being, but rather thought about their oppressed brothers and sisters whom they had come to help. They kept an eye on the enemy. They sat with their weapons in one hand and lapped with the other. They didn’t think about themselves but about the many so that they could be saved from the enemy. Only three hundred men were left who did not seek their own from among the thirty-two thousand children of God. I wonder if the situation is different in our days? Only Gideon’s men are bearers of Christianity—they force the enemy to retreat. The others are too soft; they are not fit for the wars of the Lord. They have too much of their own to protect. Those who are fit for war have forsaken all their possessions. The one who lets go of his own life has nothing to lose in the battle. The one who possesses nothing is not afraid of a hurricane, of thieves, or of robbers. Who can rob a poor man who possesses nothing and desires nothing of this world’s riches and its glory? Besides Gideon, we find another hero in Numbers 25. The children of Israel had sinned against the Lord because the shepherds had looked after themselves. Therefore the Lord commanded that the leaders of Israel should be hanged before the Lord out in the sun. This shows us the harsh punishment that befalls bad shepherds. God exposes them together with their folly in the midst of the camp before the face of the Lord and in the sight of His children. This is a law in God’s kingdom even in these days. In verse 7 we find Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest. He rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand. He went into the tent and thrust through the man and the woman who had sinned. Notice that when leaders sin, God takes a man from among the congregation. And God said to Moses: “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’” Phinehas acted in God’s zeal, not in a carnal zeal. God’s zeal was so great that He wanted to consume all of them; but Phinehas acted in God’s zeal, so it found expression through him. He acted like an electric transformer that distributes large amounts of electricity in smaller amounts; for example, 3,000 volts in amounts of 250 volts. Phinehas went to war for his God. He went right into the tent. We must also go right into the heart’s chambers where folly dwells in order to receive light over it so it can come out. Paul exhorts us to put off the works of darkness and arm ourselves with the weapons of light. Once that has been done—and as far as we have come—we can use the weapons of light against the works of darkness, as God gives grace. Because Phinehas fought, God established a covenant of peace with him and his descendants. This is a law in God’s kingdom even in these days. By his zeal Phinehas removed uncleanness so that there was peace between God and the people. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Matt. 5:9. Those who remove uncleanness are peacemakers. They are the ones who know how to fight against Satan and his uncleanness in the midst of the church. They know that there is no peace without purity as the foundation. Therefore, when uncleanness is removed, purity will shine. Uncleanness—Satan’s folly—separates, whereas purity causes hearts to melt together. Purity creates oneness. There is peace and unity in purity. Only weapons of light can remove the unfruitful works of darkness and all impurity in the hearts, and through them, in the church. Those who use their sword—a sharp, two-edged sword, for the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword—are the peacemakers. A sharp sword proceeded from the mouth of the Prince of Peace, and in Isaiah 49:2 it is written: “And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me, and made Me a polished shaft; in His quiver He has hidden Me.” We shall also be like a sharp sword in the hand of the Lord and like a shaft in His quiver. And the shaft will never turn back unless its mission has been accomplished after He has let it fly. The sword shall never miss its mark when the Lord is with us. Ezek. 21:16. In these days it is quite common to call the large masses who sit in the assemblies peaceable. They are so nice and good, they don’t even hurt a cat! They are the very ones who make up the assemblies of the dead. They are anything but peaceable. Pull the curtain aside, and you will discover that they are apt to gossip a little bit, exaggerate a little bit, etc. They are “peaceable” as long as someone doesn’t touch their uncleanness. They would rather be left at peace the way they are; they want to have peace from the cleansing sword. This tells us that the “peaceable” masses are the ones who cause unrest. On the other hand, the person who uses the sword of the Spirit in the midst of the church is usually considered to be the one who causes unrest, for he awakens the souls and does not let them sleep further in their uncleanness. From this we learn that the ones who fight are the peaceable ones. The sword aims for peace. Peace in purity. Purity unites whereas impurity separates. We need an inner purity and an inner peace. If you seek to create peace without cleansing out the impurity, a rain shower will one day cause everything to come unglued and the rottenness will flourish just as vigorously as before. However, now many cowards say, “Yes, but we have to be careful not to offend anyone, that we are not an offense. Jesus was a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. He offended everyone by being open and truthful, so they in their rage ended up killing Him. He was the living stone of stumbling that rolled in front of their feet for them to stumble over. Folly will always stumble at the truth, but pride rages against everything that causes its downfall. We are being built up as living stones on this great stone of stumbling, rejected by men but precious before God. The greater the stone, the more people will stumble over it. The truth will always be the stone that closes the way for folly’s vain plans. But since the proud person will not acknow-ledge that he possesses a lot of folly, the truth will be extremely inconvenient for him. The Preacher speaks the truth when he says that he has seen a great evil as an error proceeding from the ruler: “Folly is set in great dignity, while the rich sit in a lowly place.” Eccl. 10:5-6. All the proud seat themselves like utter fools on folly’s stage. This is truly a great error. They don’t realize that all the high places are one great deception which will one day crumble with a tremendous noise. God has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. Luke 1:52. Therefore it is very profitable for such proud people—wherever you meet them—that their edifices are crushed on the stones of stumbling, so they can acknowledge that everything was a deception, and thus they can lay hold of that which is genuine. Blessed is he who becomes a true stone of stumbling like his Master. When you let someone stumble over the truth, it is for the purpose of making his heart ender. In such a case, if someone acts without love, he is just as much a tyrant as all the others who want to rule. The goal of love’s many ways of working is for souls to overcome and to be set free by the truth. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy, but to save souls. Luke 9:56. A man who is driven by the love of God will give his all so that the others can overcome. Peter says that those who then stumble in their unbelief have been appointed to it. 1 Pet. 2:8. For such people you become an aroma of death to death, and for the others an aroma of life to life. Both parts are pleasing to God and are part of serving Him. However, Paul asks who is sufficient for these things. The one who is sufficient for these things does not pervert God’s Word to his own advantage; he speaks the word of God in sincerity, as from God, in the sight of God in Christ. 2 Cor. 2:15-17. We see that everyone shall speak the same, sincere words before people as before God—without taking anything away, without hypocrisy, and without putting on a show. Many a man will commit sin for a piece of bread (Prov. 28:21), but even more people will commit sin for the sake of a pleasant smile. They sell the truth in order to please folly—that incessant plague of Satan. The fact is that we have a great number of self-indulgent believers who would rather sit quietly and enjoy themselves. They do not want to go out into battle but would rather sit by themselves. They seclude themselves in every way, even using the Scriptures, so that they can have peace. They say God is the One who works both to will and to do. We cannot do anything; it will only result in bondage. However, this is what is written: “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and doubting, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” Phil. 2:13-15. Therefore it is God who works in me to will and to do, and I am to do these things without murmuring. By doing this, I become His fellow worker. However, for many people it is more pleasing to live a dream-life than to enter into the naked reality as Jesus did. God seeks such souls—those who enter into the depths at the cost of their self-life—with whom He can work together, souls who are willing to lay down their life for their friends in the battle against everything that comes from Satan. God casts down everything that wants to exalt itself, and now we find this quality in the Spirit of God.

Recently, a brother wrote to me asking various things about his spiritual life. Since I believe that he is sincere and that many others are in similar circumstances, I think it would be profitable to look into the matter in more detail. He wrote1) that he had no lasting peace, and2) that at times Satan attacked him so that his mind became agitated, and he became angry. If you are in bondage to sin, you must confess it to someone in whom you have confidence. Then you must pray and take up the battle against this sin. Do not let your mind and thoughts dwell on the sin to which you have the greatest tendency. Consciously chase such thoughts away. Resist Satan, steadfast in the faith, and he will flee from you. The fact that you become angry is just pride. You think people are treading on your honor. Consider how much scorn and mockery Jesus had to bear. You don’t have any greater right to be honored than He did, do you? We have no right to become angry. A person who has lowly thoughts about himself thinks that it is only right that he is disregarded. However, a haughty person barges ahead and gets angry when something gets in his way. A man once wrote the following words of wisdom in a textbook for young people: “An angry person looks like a madman in the eyes of one who is calm.” When the lusts in our members are stirred up, our mind becomes agitated. Do not listen when Satan lectures you about your injured honor. If you want to follow the apostle who said that he was without honor, then you, too, will be without honor. God gives His honor to no man, but He honors the one who stands the test. No one who cares about his own honor to the point of getting angry stands the test. We all have sin in the flesh. Do not let it influence your mind, because we are to serve the law of God with our mind. Rom. 7:25. An ungodly person serves sin and his lusts with his mind, which is why there is no rest for the wicked. But we must consciously chase evil thoughts and carnal gain and desire far away from us. If we do this, peace will enter in as a river. Satan will no longer be able to make us angry. However, we must watch and pray, for our adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. You could put it this way: If a man becomes angry, Satan has devoured him. Therefore, be sober and vigilant. Keep your mind pure.Johan O. Smith