Defining and Defeating the Enemy

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Ephesians 6:12

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

NKJV

In Sun Tzu’s the Art of War, Mr. Tzu says the following, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.  If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.  If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”  (1) 

Ephesians 6:12 is the identification of the enemy of Christianity, Satan and his principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.  Unfortunately, instead of visually manifesting himself, Satan manifests himself through people making it easy for us as Christians to attack these deceived individuals instead of attacking the satanic force behind their attacks.  In Matthew 16:23, Jesus properly attacked Satan and not Peter.  This does not mean however, that we as Christians need to go out onto the streets rebuking Satan around every corner but is a reminder to pray for the salvation of those deceived by Satan and prayerfully rebuke the satanic forces keeping these individuals from coming to know Christ as their Savior.  Paul then goes on in Ephesians6:13-20 to list the spiritual weapons available to us as believers, urging us to pray always, and remain watchful.

The GOP primary has devolved from a vigorous debate on issues important to voters such as the sluggish economy, dangerous open border, and the very real threat presented by radical Islamic terrorism to a vicious reality show of vicious personal attacks.  These distractive attacks have resulted in the party losing its identity as well as its focus on who the real enemy is.  As the words of Mr. Tzu remind us, failure of the GOP to know itself and its enemy will result in defeat in every election.  Let us therefore take a moment to pause from the personal attacks and rhetoric and solve this identity crisis.

The GOP is a diverse collection of conservatives, moderates and a few liberals.  This collection of diverse groups makes unification difficult and has resulted in defeat in four out of the last six Electoral College elections and five out of the last six presidential popular votes.  Only the scandals of the Clinton presidency and the unification of the nation around President Bush after 911 unified these factions of the GOP, bringing victory in the 2000 and 2004 Electoral College elections.  However, in the 2000 presidential election the GOP won the Electoral College that elects the President of the United States but failed to win the popular vote.  However, I believe unification is possible if instead of attacking each other, the remaining candidates in the GOP focus on the failures of the Obama Administration and the danger to the nation if these failed policies continue through a Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders administration. 

The enemy this election is not our fellow Republicans but the liberal and socialist policies of the Democratic Party.  As Mr. Tzu reminds us, when we enter this electoral battle with the knowledge that the GOP consists of a diverse collection of conservatives, moderates, and liberals that must unify around defeating the Democrat Party consisting of ultra-liberal socialists, unification and victory in November is possible. 

However, if the personal attacks among GOP candidates continue, I fear many will be discouraged and stay home once again.  (2)  I therefore urge my fellow Republicans and all Republican candidates to cease the destructive divisive personal attacks and unify around defeating the Democratic Party enemy whose policies are destroying the once great United States. 

Recently divisiveness in the elections in Canada resulted in an electoral defeat for conservatives.  (3)  Let us not suffer such an electoral defeat in the November 2016 election and instead achieve victory by uniting the divergent factions of the GOP around a candidate vowing to defeat the real enemy, the ultra-liberal socialist Democrat Party with its failed socialist policies. 

1. West, Allen. We Must Define the Enemy. www.usnews.com. [Online] US News, February 23, 2015. [Cited: April 3, 2016.] www.usnews.com/debate-club/is-the-president-right-to-say-violent-extremism-instead-of-islamic-extremism/we-must-define-the-enemy.

2. Griffin. What went wrong in 2012? The case of the 4 million missing voters. www.redstate.com. [Online] Red State, November 14, 2012. [Cited: July 12, 2015.] http://www.redstate.com/diary/griffinelection/2012/11/14/what-went-wrong-in-2012-the-case-of-the-4-million-missing-voters/ .

3. David Solway, Janice Fiamengo. A Lesson to Republicans in Canada's Conservative Party Defeat. www.americanthinker.com. [Online] American Thinker, February 7, 2016. [Cited: April 3, 2016.] http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/02/a_lesson_to_republicans_in_canadas_conservative_party_defeat.html.