War

Finally finished Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass, Book 1 of his Dark Materials. I could only read it whenever I went to the loo. It wasn't an easy book for me, but I persisted to the end because the boys had already finished all 3 of his books. It wasn't easy reading because it was set in a world like ours but not exactly like it, and it had strange creatures and concepts coming from the writer's fertile imagination. It is a world where the Church is a powerful entity but God is unknown. Lyra is a 12 yr old girl who thrown into an adventure which reveals truths about her parents and propels her to search for more about her world and other worlds.

In the midst of all that, I found a nugget: Serafina Pekkala, the Queen of a clan of witches, is talking to Lee Scoresby, a freelance aviationist adventurer, someone like Han Solo of the Star Wars series ...

"Mr. Scoresby," said the witch, "I wish I could answer your question. All I can say is that all of us, humans, witches, bears, are engaged in a war already, although not all of us know it. Whether you find danger on Svalbard or whether you fly off unharmed, you are a recruit, under arms, a soldier."
"Well, that seems kinda precipitate. Seems to me a man should have a choice whether to take up arms or not."
"We have no more choice in that than in whether or not to be born."
( pg 270)

This struck me because it is true of this our world. We are in a war, whether we like it or not. Ever since the fall of man, there has been a war between good and evil, God and the Evil One, Truth and Falsehood, Light and Darkness. But unlike the Muslim or what they call the Islamist terrorist, the Bible speaks of a war and a struggle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. That is why the Apostle Paul tells us to:

"... be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.... so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." (Ephesians 6:10-18)

We are in a war; question is, whose side are we on? Will each of us be able to say, at the end of our lives, like Paul, that "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith"?