From the year I was born (1955) until the present there have been somewhere between 150-200 wars, resulting in an estimated at 50 to 70 million people killed, including both combatants and civilians. And that's just from the last 70 years. These wars and conflicts and battles and skirmishes are not only costly to the participants, but they have disproportionately affected civilians, often through famine, disease, or targeted violence (e.g., genocides). My father fought in World War II, was severely wounded twice, was on Normandy Beach on D-day, received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, and spent the rest of his life living with debilitating pain, which he assuaged with alcohol from the American Legion across town. I recall many nights as a kid when he would call me to his bedside and ask me to "karate chop" his back (lungs area) as hard as I could until his back was red and numb, so he could fall asleep. The Old Testament (dating back to the beginning of human history) is filled with conflict, wars, bloodshed, victory, defeat, and death. It's completely understandable why many people, when they begin reading the Bible and get a few chapters in will say, "Yeah, I think I'm just gonna skip to the good stuff in the New Testament." One would think that by now, 6000 or so years from the Garden of Eden, we would have learned how to get along a little better. As a father and now a Papa to 18 grandkids, I get annoyed when I see my own kids or grandkids arguing or fussing with each other. How do you think God feels when He watches us killing each other? But alas, as the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel said: "The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history." So why don't we see what we can learn from all those wars and battles in the Old Testament, and perhaps we can apply some valuable lessons to our spiritual lives? The Bible tells us "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Ephesians? ?6? ?12?) ?????? How closely related are physical battles to spiritual ones? Let's investigate, shall we? How many wars fought can be considered spiritual ones, or are fought in the name of a god or other religious icon? Would you like to guess? Are all Old Testament battles directly applicable to modern Christian life? Why not see for yourself?
