The Enemy in the Fog

The Enemy Shrouded

One thing I am learning is that in our present days, there is a need for clarity. That may be odd considering I’m suggesting to fight an abstract Poseidon. The imagery is appropriate but must engage in concrete ways. The only problem with that is not every enemy or agent is one we can see, taste, hear or touch.

Threats loom over us. We’re beneath the shadow of trials and sufferings we don’t know how to face. It’s like we can sense there’s an enemy but the fog of war keeps him concealed at best and attacking our friends at the worst. You don’t know what to do about the something that has dug its way deep under your skin. Eventually that something rots into a festering boil and you burst at the ones you love.

Who’s hiding in the fog for you? Maybe you’ve caught glimpses of these specters: Self-pity and sulking when things don’t go our way. Angry outbursts over lack of respect. Need for approval. Fear of what others think. Can’t keep your eyes from flowing over women. Impatience at how slow others can be to catch on. Hiding from your family by working more. Never having enough. Running from responsibility. Finding fault with everything. Filling those broken longings with things that only make you feel more empty. We could go on.

Why do you think I called these specters? They are the intangible we deal with in realms we can’t see, taste, hear or touch. We sense their effects, but not them. They are like the wind.

Here’s some clarity. The world is more than mere material things. There is a very real spiritual element that we can only see the effects of. I will be confronting this issue from a Christian foundation because a) I believe it to be objectively true and b) I believe it to be the only weapon that has a chance against all that would cause us to lose our way.

Old Enemies, Old Tactics

You may be rolling your eyes at this moment, if you haven’t given up already. As a friend, I’m asking you suspend your disbelief if you have it. You’ve come with me this far to be reading this newsletter. Test what I’m saying.

There are three main enemies we must fight. Three flanks from which we are attacked. The devil and his angels, the world around us, and the curse within ourselves. These three rarely operate independently. Rather, they are three strands that form a cord not easily severed. This cord is who I’m identifying as an abstract Poseidon, yet it is Poseidon who desires to see actual boys pacified and men capsized and both pulled beneath the waves to drown.

Spiritual warfare is a very real thing. We are in grave danger to dismiss the unseen realm and fall into the trap that all of life and experience is material. That is a siren song lulling us further into the fog.

The tactics will tempt us to drift off course. No one will ever drift into their destination. We will follow a star that doesn’t lead us home, or heed a rumor that divides our ranks, or take the bait of a delicious morsel that has a hook hidden in it.

A Sword for the Sea

We are foolish if we live as if we have no enemies. To be clear, I am not speaking of any human being as our enemies nor am I prompting anyone to take up arms against said people. Still, we must take up a sword against the specters that rise up. Men, we must recognize that ultimately this war is against Christ and as all of humanity is made in his image, the war comes against us, too. Christian or not, we are in the crosshairs.

In another time and another day we can dive deeper here, but for now the sword we are to take up against the unseen realm not made of flesh nor blood is the Bible. Its truth cuts through lies and can be used offensively against all of those specters that tempt us. It is the Word of God that is a lamp to our feet and light to our path (Psalm 119:105). Or a lantern to our heading, to stick with the nautical metaphors.

This is a fight where life and death hang in the balance. Our sons, our daughters, our wives, our parents, our neighbors, our co-workers are under attack from the same entities we are. The bait may look different, but the snare is set. We must call on the Lord for our own rescue before we can begin to throw out life preservers to anyone else. We must hold up the light in our lanterns as a beacon in the fog.

Yes this is hard. Yes it will be uncomfortable. Yes people will think we’re crazy because hey, the water is pretty calm in the fog. Don’t rock the boat.

But the alternative is worse.

What can you do today? Pick up your sword. Open your Bible and read it every day. If you don’t have the desire to, pray and ask God to help give you that desire. Get the truth so deep into your bloodstream that it flows from you easy as folly comes to a fool or staggering to a drunken sailor.

If you don’t know where to start, flip to the New Testament (second half) and read the book of John. Since the last newsletter, I’ve written two threads on X to help with getting traction on prayer and Bible reading.

Talk to y’all in two weeks. I’ve got the Ghost Ship of Guilt lined up in my sight glass.

~ J.P. Simons