By: Shane James O’Neill
Do you know that on a global scale Jesus is currently waging war against sexual impurity? Or to use Biblical language, God is actively working to put His enemies under Jesus’ feet.
But let me back up.
Does Spiritual Warfare Exist?
I’ve “struggled” with sexual purity since before my body was sexually active. Yup, try and wrap your mind around that.
The idea that spiritual warfare exists doesn’t seem like a stretch. If 15 years ago a 10-year-old was able to be introduced to a visual addiction to pornography, then I can only imagine the war zone our current 10-year-olds are in.
And considering I don’t have children, I can’t imagine the warzone of parenthood … The stats are constantly telling us about the warzone of marriage.
It should be said that these are western war fronts. Slavery is minimal here, sexual exploitation definitely happens, but nothing like what we see in majority world countries.
Spiritual warfare takes on different shapes on different front lines.
What is Biblical Warfare?
The Biblical story opens with a radiant picture of what life was meant to be — humans walking upon the earth with the Creator of laughter and galaxies, humans in intimate union with each other and entrusted with the flourishing of all living creatures. However, that regal portrait quickly goes to dust. The Old Testament becomes a series of scenes about God trying to know us and rescue us as a thick veil of sin separates us from Him, us from each other, and us from creation.
In steps Jesus.
Jesus: The incarnation of true God and true Human — reflecting man to God, and God to man.
No veil.
Jesus walked with God as we were meant to, communed with human’s as one who knew the heart of man, and spoke with creation as master of it.
Jesus then took that perfect relationship and died to give it to us. The Veil was torn. The work, Finished.
Our Fight
“In subjecting everything to him (Jesus), God left nothing outside his control. But at present, we do not yet see everything placed under his authority.” Hebrews 2:8
The New Testament is full of warfare language. Yet the warfare we are called to is one of violent hope. Yes, everything is subjected to Jesus, but we don’t yet see it as such. Jesus is King, His kingdom is coming. In the meantime, the world is still black with evil, as slavery proliferates and suicide becomes more attractive than life. Yet Jesus gives us this weapon: by continuing to know Jesus as the crucified and resurrected King we are able to birth Kingdom Life into the moments, relationships, and environments of our current life.
Our life becomes a scene in His story of re-creation.
Jesus wants to use his cross and empty tomb to break apart the bondages we experience and the sin we see spreading around us and within us.
Jesus died to kill the evil we daily see and feel. He died to kill death. But what He resurrected is a new creation, a new humanity, and a true relationship with God.
That’s worth fighting for and that’s the war we are invited to join.
warfare and sexuality
Jesus calls us to bring his cross and resurrection to bear upon the front lines of Evil. Pornography destroys our imaginations, the gospel gives us the image of a naked, dead savior to redeem the images in our minds. The sexual revolution has reduced people to skin deep bags of flesh, the gospel reveals that human life is infinitely precious through the sacrifice of God’s perfect Son. Postmodernism has taken the meaning away from physical intimacy, the gospel shows us a king of glory who sacrifices His body to give immeasurable value to our bodies. The world enslaves individuals by saying the majority defines morality, the gospel gives us an emperor who became a slave, in order to make slaves into royalty. The west says parenting and marriage are optional, the gospel reveals parenting and marriage to be reflections of divine relationship.
These are the tools Jesus is using to fight the sexual impurity upon the earth.
This is War, and Jesus invites us to stand on the frontlines with Him and declare to the world that “It is Finished”.
Do you want to join this battle? Click the link below to register for our “This is War” conference!
CLICK HERE TO GET A DISCOUNT FOR PROVEN MEN’S ANNUAL “THIS IS WAR” CONFERENCE!
We can no longer settle for the mistreatment of women and the self-abuse of lustful pornography. “This is War” is here to train men in honor and integrity and signal a battle cry for men to stand for Sexual Integrity and fight against the use of Pornography.
Shane James O’Neill is the Editorial Director for ProvenMen Ministries. He is currently working on a graduate degree in apologetics at Liberty University’s Rawling School of Divinity.