The Seen and Unseen

If you were to come and visit us for a couple of weeks you would probably notice the bright colors, the crazy traffic, the street vendors, the run down buildings, and the religious symbols. You might even realize there is a dark spiritual influence, but until you have lived here it is hard to imagine how dark and oppressive it really is. We are truly invading territory held by the enemy for centuries, and he doesn’t give it up without a fight.

Spiritually this country has a foundation of human sacrifice the gods demanded. Spain brought in “christianity” and forced it upon the Aztecs. Today there are signs of both and a mixture of both. The undercurrent of these spiritual foundations on present day life should never be underestimated. It is little wonder that the missionary is often attacked and neutralized in this atmosphere. While this attack can be direct, it often comes from round after round after round of wearing a person down over a period of time.

Some forms of such an attack are blatant while others are more subtle – loneliness, strain in marriage relationships, cultural obsession with skulls and death, humiliation in learning language and culture, the dominance of Guadalupe, health concerns, family conflicts, strained team relationships, open pornography, open sensuality, conflicting expectations, fear of the police…to name a few.

For some it’s easy to dismiss this unseen spiritual reality because of sleepiness, misconceptions, or perceived excesses. But then again…let us be reminded from Ephesians 6:12 that, “…our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

So what's a body to do? Pray and keep the following things in mind: 1) the battle is real and the Enemy is a roaring lion (Eph. 6:12-17; 1 Pet 5:8) 2) strongholds are demolished through the weapons of divine power (2 Cor. 10:4) 3) through the blood of Christ we have victory over our Enemy (Rev. 12:10-11) 4) the truth of God’s Word breaks the bondage of lies, accusations, and deception (Heb 4:12; 2Cor 4:4-6) 5) prayer is a key ingredient (Eph. 6:18) 6) in this battle Christ is Supreme (Jude 9; 1 Jn 4:4) and our position in Christ gives us assurance and victory (Col. 2:9-10).