Ephesians 6:12 - The REAL enemy

"Because the struggle to us is not toward blood and flesh but rather toward the rulers, toward the authorities, toward world forces of this darkness, toward the spirituals of evil in the heavenlies.’

-Paul says, suit up!  Get God’s armor on because there is a real battle, and we are in it, for real.  But no ordinary battle, this.  Our fight, our struggle is not against flesh and blood people, not really.  In fact this is such an important point.  People are not my enemy.  People are not the problem.  My spouse is not my enemy.  My child is not my enemy.  My neighbor, my boss, my employee, my teacher, my student - that other person who is out to get me or perhaps merely exhausts my patience and bugs the heck out of me - they are not the real enemy.  Flesh and blood people are not source of my struggles, they are not the ones I need to worry about.  Rather it is the unseen forces of evil which are the real antagonists.  These are the powers of darkness, an army of fallen angels led by Diabolos himself.  These are the ones who oppose the purposes and people of God, who scare and frighten and intimidate helpless sheep and hold them captive to do what Diabolos dictates (2Timothy 2.26).  Some of these sheep are actually possessed - indwelt bodily and controlled by these demons.  Many live in fear and bondage and lifelong servitude, struggling to appease these spirits.  In the ‘civilized’ west, where we’re too smart to actually believe in that kind of hocus pocus nonsense, their influence is more subtle, nudging the prevailing thoughts of culture towards godlessness, towards the emphasis on any and all aspects of creation and the creature over and above the Creator.  But there is a reason they are referred to as rulers - they exercise a degree of temporal authority and control over this earthly realm and over these ones they thus hold captive (cf Luke 4.18, Ephesians 4.8).  Which means freedom in Christ is not just a concept, it is a real thing, of eternal significance.  Jesus came to set the captives free indeed (John 8.32, 8.36)!  But these powers of darkness thus stand ever at the ready to oppose the heavenly rescue mission and all who would engage in plundering what these rulers otherwise possess.  They will do all they are permitted to do in an otherwise vain attempt to hinder the work.  These are the real enemy, and the battle must be directed against them.