“3 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. 2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil 3:1-11 ESV)

It is very holy to observe the Christian at work, which Christian readily goes down for the count in submission even to his or her nominal enemy’s plain aggressions or caprice. Yet this “Going down for the count”, it is Informed by a Spirit of Knowledge or of Experiential encounter with our own “down for the count” Crucified Savior. Somehow all innocence is preserved, the dialog or mantra or dance is hosted by some modicum of Holiness, Innocence, Sincerity, Gladhappy Rapport. And what we “lose” in the exchange, our Pride, our Station in Life and its Respectability, our sense of going ballistic and all-out War against said enemy… this all is never counted a loss, all things told, but has Faith in Christ’s Resurrection Spirit. We will, all things told, emerge to the hurried Embrace of the homecoming, of the Saints, of those who saw a nefarious foe Aped and Stunned, Silenced and Awestruck, because the ones whom they slandered with nothing but Hate, these went down for the count and took one for the team. 

How is this possible for an army cohort of Faith Warriors, that one should even consider conceding Anything to the foe? Only this, that we begin to see ourselves in final issue as Reigning in the land, as Rich in the land, as Kings and Queens in the land, almost. Almost, because no plot of land should be accounted as owned until the deed is in hand, and if our enemy denies these things about us… it is a slogfest. But we have the mind of Christ. We concede not a wit to their malicious or sin-laden Claims, Requests, M.O.’s. We approach always in simple Innocence, to say, Oh, were you looking for a friend, a shoulder to cry on, a mother’s lap to curl up in, a father’s embrace to return? More, we ask if our enemies were willing to go No Certainty, No Scapegoating? Eager to describe this, we are, because it is the spirit that says Christians are always ameliorating the bout with Satan, not playing “sides” or having a clear-cut Mandate or Delineation, but rather becoming like sin in all ways except for the deed itself, and therefore Embracing all mankind, humankind, in a strange embrace that still questions: am I righteous in this dealing? Am I the only Enemy, all things told, that is, my own Sin, my own nasty back and forth: new sins rearing their ugly head, new temptations but No: these we had the gusto, the gumption to shoot down because we knew Christ’s spirit of Attack was within our own spirit.

There are no clear winners in the game called Christ. There is no scapegoat or enemy so transparent as to make everything Clear, except it does become Clear when our own journal of life starts to cultivate its Mandate. Our mandate… it is a Call to go to the cross, aided and abetted by the insight our enemy’s balderdash gives as to what it’s all about. Somehow it isn’t they themselves quite whom we are fighting, but some conglomeration of spirit in the air, which spirit is despoiling and denying, giving vision over to consternation and appetite over to lusts. There is a mandate, a fighting “other” indeed, yet still it is never such “law” in itself that meets the test of time. Time is, when it is good to have an appetite, or to fight plainly against a foe.