Christians often talk about spiritual warfare. But, how does spiritual warfare work? From what I understand, spirits are intangible beings. They can't be killed, hurt, maimed, etc. So, how do spirits conduct war?

There is scripture in the bible in Daniel 10 that talks about an angel who was trying to deliver a message to Daniel, but the angel was withstood for 21 days by a spirit called The Prince of Persia. He was able to finally win when Michael the archangel came to help. I guess god couldn't deliver the message personally like he did others? Anyway, how does this happen? If the angel is on the biblical god's side, how in the world could anyone or anything oppose him? Does this god just sit back and cheer his team on as they struggle, and doesn't help them? It doesn't make any sense.

Next, we hear of these spirits having weapons and armor. Where do they get these weapons and armor? Do they have an angelic blacksmithing company? Do they mine the metals needed to make these weapons and armor? How does this work?

Now, why do they have weapons and armor? Are they going to kill each other? If they can't kill each other, what are the weapons for? If they can kill each other, what does a spirit become once it dies?

And finally, there's the story of Jacob in Genesis 32 where he wrestled an angel and held his own for several hours, until the angel knocked Jacob's hip out of socket. How was a human able to hold his own with an angel? I thought we didn't wrestle with flesh and blood?

Are you making a case for Alien Jesus? Interesting questions, just reminds me of the set up for an episode of "Ancient Aliens."

Originally posted by LeftySinister
Are you making a case for Alien Jesus? Interesting questions, just reminds me of the set up for an episode of "Ancient Aliens."

No, just asking how spirits war with one another. Seems counterproductive if they can't actually kill each other.

Spiritual warfare are negative energy spirits testing your resolve to believe in God, through all kinds of trickery, and even possession.

Their ultimate goal is to lead you away from God.

At least, that's the gist of it.

And of course, if you believe in that sort of thing.

Originally posted by EvilSadamClone
Spiritual warfare are negative energy spirits testing your resolve to believe in God, through all kinds of trickery, and even possession.

Their ultimate goal is to lead you away from God.

At least, that's the gist of it.

And of course, if you believe in that sort of thing.

Did you read Daniel 10? These are spirits actually warring with one another.

I see a spirit "dying" as actually banishing it to the Void. That's what YHWH did with the rebellious Watchers. And no immortal being wants to float forever in Nothing. Hence they war to gain a foothold here. Something is always better than Nothing. Even if that Something is a shadowy Astral Realm. As for physical manifestations, like Jacob wrestling the angel, I believe spirits can manifest themselves on the physical plane in several ways. Angels, being very powerful spirits, could produce some awesome manifestations...if God allows it, of course.

Originally posted by LeftySinister
I see a spirit "dying" as actually banishing it to the Void. That's what YHWH did with the rebellious Watchers.

Same thing would happen to a good angel when it died? Can you explain how they go about "banishing" a spirit into the void...whatever that is? Then, if a good spirit and bad spirit are both banished to the void, will they war there too?

Originally posted by LeftySinister
And no immortal being wants to float forever in Nothing. Hence they war to gain a foothold here. Something is always better than Nothing. Even if that Something is a shadowy Astral Realm. As for physical manifestations, like Jacob wrestling the angel, I believe spirits can manifest themselves on the physical plane in several ways. Angels, being very powerful spirits, could produce some awesome manifestations...if God allows it, of course.

So we CAN wrestle against flesh and blood after all, when speaking of these beings?

Originally posted by Hydroman

Same thing would happen to a good angel when it died? Can you explain how they go about "banishing" a spirit into the void...whatever that is? Then, if a good spirit and bad spirit are both banished to the void, will they war there too?

The Void is a place of isolation. So to answer that question I'd say, "No. They don't battle in the Void." Banishing a spirit is an involved process. So is spiritual warfare. As for how spirits go about banishing one another, maybe you should ask one of them.

So we CAN wrestle against flesh and blood after all, when speaking of these beings?

I believe so. In very rare instances. The amount of energy it takes for a spirit to throw a book off a shelf or appear as an apparition is huge. I can only imagine how much it would take to manifest physically.

Originally posted by CaptainNemo
Simply put, most people aren't allowed to view God and live.

Lol, and why is that? God can't manifest himself in a way that won't kill people?

Originally posted by CaptainNemo
Angels are beings in Heaven. You can interact with an Angel, without even knowing it. Yeshua said, at the time of resurrection, man's body will be like the angels and that this body would have no sex. Recently I wondered if this was in opposition to the idea that Fallen angels impregnated humans. The answer I received was no. The answer is no because angels can take on a physical body

Yeah, I've got a thread on this already. They can take a physical body that just happens to be human? Can they also take on the form of a dog and mate with them and produce offspring? How do angels create dna in their testicles that is compatible with human dna to create offspring? What else can they transform into and create offspring with?

Originally posted by CaptainNemo
Burning bush? Pillar of fire? Engulfing clouds?

So he can. Why say he would kill them by showing up?

Originally posted by CaptainNemo
I could go on for a while, but the crux of these instances is who he chose to reveal himself to, righteous and 'sanctimonious' men. If you do good in your works then will see the face of the Most High.

When I was a christian, I lived with drug addicts and talked to them about Jesus. I did this for over 2 years. I never once saw the face of god.

Originally posted by CaptainNemo
God is the supreme being, the source of us and everything. As one, if he were to appear in my bedroom, I think the universe would collapse.

Why would the universe collapse? Again, can't he appear without destroying everything?

Originally posted by CaptainNemo
As an observer watching a system with the ability to be whatever, rest assured that I will elect to be the smartest species or at least the one on top of the food chain. What since would it make to appear as a rat?

Because it could make the rat species intelligent. Plus, rats multiply much faster than us. It would be much better to mate with rats. They'd be part rat, part angel, and they would be intelligent and there would be many of them!

Also, it would be like us being able to mate with the most intelligent creature on our planet besides ourselves: The dolphin. Are you attracted to dolphins? Why are angels attracted to us?

If angels can change their form, why wouldn't some change in to men, and others change in to women. Then, they'd be sexually compatible and could reproduce amongst themselves. There's no need for them to mate with us.

Others respond to this by saying that angels were trying to mess up the bloodlines of humans. I have a better way of messing up our bloodlines: Kill us all. Duh.

I'm not sure what the bible teaches, but here is what I know:

There are many different spirits with different intentions. Some of them are working to manipulate the world by putting thoughts and emotions into people's minds and feeding off of their passion for their own selfish gain, and some are trying to free people from such beings. Of course there are other types though....

The way I was taught about "spiritual warfare" almost two decades ago in a charismatic church was that there were demons in the air that could possess and oppress people.

You could come against those demons with the name of Jesus, or anoint a property with oil.

Back then it was the midst of satanic-panic, and many Christians felt constantly under attack from demonic entities. Mostly it was just a big hysteria.

For more on how we viewed spiritual warfare back then one can search Chick Publications, or any of the books by Rebecca Brown, such as Prepare For War, or He Came To Set The Captives Free.
These books were considered "spiritual warfare manuals".

Strangely spiritual warfare appealed a lot to fundamentalist Christian women, who often took fighting Satan and his demons to neurotic levels.
But perhaps it's understandable, since the Pauline Doctrine tells women to shut their traps in no uncertain terms, and it was the only way of getting attention and agency in a patriarchal cult.

It's probably still around, but in a slightly more appropriate fashion.

The idea is that you give Satan a right to send demons into your home or life by some minor transgression.
Usually it's occult stuff that they blame, but it could be a record sleeve with an occult symbol, or an Islamic carpet, or an Eastern or Catholic (God help us) statue and trinket.

Ultimately the house could never be spiritually cleansed enough, and it's really like spiritual OCD.

At the end of the day Rebecca Brown was exposed as a fraudster and hallucinating druggie.
She still as some fans however.

Somebody sucked it all out of their thumb, as usual.

Well nowadays the name of Jesus is disputed by factions of Zionist Christians.
I guess you'd have to call Him Jeshua, or for the really committed people, Jeheshua.

Nevertheless we learnt to say: "Demon, I rebuke you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!"

The demons then flee, but if you don't clean up your act they will return with seven more.
So perhaps it's better to stick with any devil you know, because that belief was a never ending source of mental terrorism, and it did break marriages apart.