From Rebel to Rescue
“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” (Eph 6:12).
“He will give them death and they will love him for it.” Gladiator
I was recently turned on to the book Angels and Demons: A Catholic Introduction, by Serge-Thomas Bonino, O.P. The book was originally published in French in 2007 but only translated into English in 2016. It’s quickly become a favorite. In part, I know, this is because we in ACTS XXIX go hard after the question, “Why is everything so obviously messed up?” Seeing the answer to this crucial question is a significant part of reacquiring a biblical worldview, which, for us, is one of the three essential principles for transformation in the Church. When we see the answer to this question rightly we come to learn the biblical truth that the enemy is the enemy. The enemy is not another political party. It’s not another socio-economic class. It’s not another race. As a disciple of Jesus no human being is my enemy (though I may be the enemy of another human being). The enemy is the enemy. That is to say, the enemy is hell, the devil, and his minions. Now, that isn’t to ignore that people do wicked things - they most certainly do. I have done wicked things. And so have each of you, even if only in your thoughts, which, according to Jesus’ words in the sermon on the mount, puts us all in the same category of desperately needing redemption. Getting clear on this crucial truth is a necessary and helpful step in what’s going on right now in our country as the news leaks out that Roe v. Wade might be overturned and the question of abortion is returned to individual states to decide upon. The violent rhetoric, and much more than just rhetoric, has been chilling, to say the least. But those who either say or do what they are saying or doing are not the enemy. They are, as one writer has put it, “Rebels to win,” even as someone once won me when I was a rebel.
Back to Angels and Demons, Bonino writes, “Our world is the battlefield for an eschatological conflict between light and darkness. Every human being is situated between two force fields, two worlds: he ‘belongs’ to one or the other depending on his moral choice and his adherence to their ‘spirit.’ Neutrality is not an option: the human person is either under the protection of God, who safeguards his authentic freedom, or else under the tyrannical dominion of the devil, which is a form of slavery.” He chillingly goes on to write, “This servitude means…[he] signs on to a demolition project, the purpose of which is death: the demons kill human beings and make them kill one another” (29). How true is this?
After some chilling reminders of the spiritual battle each human person is engaged in, however, Bonino sounds a most hopeful note. The biblical “picture of the universal empire of evil would be rather overwhelming if it were not intrinsically related in the New Testament to the victory of Jesus Christ.” The New Testament, he continues, “insists so much on demonic domination only to highlight the victorious arrival of the kingdom….Our Lord Jesus himself described his mission as a Reconquista, an enterprise to wrest man from his servitude to Satan and to restore him to God” (33). Jesus is, in His own words, the one who has come to bind the strong man (the devil) so that his possessions can go free (cf. Luke 11:21-22). Freedom, after all, is what we are called to — not the freedom to do whatever we want (that’s lawlessness). Rather, we have been called to freedom from those things that enslave us so that we can be free for loving - God and our neighbor (cf. Gal 5:1).
“Our Lord Jesus himself described his mission as a Reconquista, an enterprise to wrest man from his servitude to Satan and to restore him to God”
We find Bonino’s wisdom deeply helpful in these tumultuous days God has chosen for us to live in, and in particular a helpful guide for how to act and to pray for our country in general and for those who are enslaved by the enemy and are championing the right to, well, kill. Jesus came to take back territory that was occupied by the enemy of our race. He came to proclaim liberty to captives, to open the eyes of the blind, and to set prisoners free (cf. Luke 4:18). We have each been these things: held captive, blind, and enslaved. How were we won? More than likely, we were won by a combination of people praying for us and by the compelling witness and words of another, or others, who made following Jesus attractive and reasonable.
How will we in turn win others? How will the rebels who fight for the right to kill be won? How will their eyes be opened? How will they experience the freedom only God can give? May God give us courage in these days to speak the truth and charity so as to speak it in genuine love. May He help us to remember that the enemy is the enemy. May He use us, broken, selfish and sinful as we are, to continue Jesus’ mission of reconquest, to proclaim liberty to captives, to open the eyes of the blind, and to set prisoners free.
