Marvel's The Punisher: And Lessons On Spiritual Warfare | Author of My Faith: Encouragement for Today's Christian Woman

Marvel’s The Punisher: And Lessons On Spiritual Warfare

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October 29, 2018
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So I just finished watching season 1 of Marvel’s The Punisher on Netflix. I know it’s not new and in fact I avoided watching it because I had already seen Marvel’s Daredevil and Frank Castle’s character made a cameo. The man scared me so that I didn’t watch The Punisher when it originally came out. I figured if a blind man was that savage when he fought, how much more brutal would Frank Castle be? An ex-Marine who still had all his 5 senses and was trained in special/covert/black ops.

Well, I was right. I had to close my eyes or turn my head at certain times. But besides that I enjoyed the content. And was pleasantly surprised when I found that it helped me better understand some basic principles I knew about spiritual warfare. In the next few blog posts I’ll share those with you.

Lesson 1: Real fights are NEVER fair

The only reason Frank survived his pursuits was because he gained the advantages that were necessary for him to do so. In this case, much of those advantages had to do with team work. If you’ve ever worked on a team, especially in an environment similar to or in support of the one Frank was in, you know that you don’t survive without team work. Why? Because each person on that type of team has some sort of specialized knowledge or capability that the entire team requires.

I’ve learned through experience that some poeple in survival mode believe that they have to eliminate a threat or enemy by any means necessary. Whether it’s physical survival or professional survival, those people will use unfair advantages to get rid of someone they deem as a threat or enemy. To do that, they often cripple a person first by isolating them and cutting off access to the resources they need to defend themselves or get a particular job done.

Take our opponent Satan and his army. One of the main strategies they use against us is isolating us and playing on negative emotions and self-talk. Just like prey animals that get separated the herd and get eaten alive by predators, we get eaten alive by evil forces who get us alone and wounded. These forces are also very legalistic. The word tells us that Satan is the accuser of the bretheren, and that he accuses us before God day and night. That implies that we have guilt we can’t absolve on our own. Which is true. But when confess that Jesus Christ is our savior and we confess and turn away from our sins, we are saved and absolved from that guilt. So many of us either don’t know that, or we do and still struggle with the guilt from our sinful nature. And so the devil and his evil forces have a field day with us and eat us alive.

It’s not fair. But real fights are never fair. They are rigged for victory by any means necessary, and the way that is achieved is to make the fight unfair by stripping you of any and everything that would make you a champion opponent. But the good news is that in our spiritual battle, God has given us everything we need to succeed: right living (the breastplate of righteousness), salvation (our helmet), an offensive weapon (the Word of God, which is the Spirit of Truth), a shield (the shield of faith), a moral compass that holds us together (the belt of truth), travelling shoes (the Gospel of peace), and your communication focus (prayer in the Spirit) – which I believe can produce valuable intel.

Don’t be discouraged the next time you see unfair punches thrown. Just hold on, don’t give in, and resolve to win.

What did you think of Marvel’s The Punisher?

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