In his wonderful book, Interview with an Exorcist, José Antonio Fortea, a Spanish exorcist and priest, wrote the following concerning the fall of Satan and the heavenly battle between the angels that occurred at the dawn of history: “How can purely spiritual beings fight among themselves? What weapons do they use? Angels are spirits, so their battles must be purely intellectual. The only weapons that they can use are intellectual arguments. The angels gave reasons to the rebels for why they should return to obedience to God. The rebel angels countered with their reasons to support their position and spread their rebellion among the faithful angels. In this epic angelic battle, some who were inclined to rebel returned to obedience, while some of the faithful angels were seduced by the evil arguments of the rebels.”
Now, stop and think about that for a moment: Angels (and therefore, fallen angels, or demons) are not physical creatures. They do not have bodies. They are entirely spiritual beings. So, because they are not tangible, they do not use earthly weapons, like guns or knives or swords, to fight their battles. Instead they use intellectual arguments to defeat enemy angels.
And demons use these arguments to defeat you and me.
The Image of the White Rider
When I was a 12-year-old boy, I used to read the Bible into the late hours of the night, and there was a description in the book of Revelation which always both confused and fascinated me. It's the image of Christ as the White Rider on a white horse in chapter 19:11, 14-15: “Then I saw the heavens opened, and there was a white horse; its rider was [called] 'Faithful and True.' He judges and wages war in righteousness…The armies of heaven followed him, mounted on white horses and wearing clean white linen. Out of his mouth came a sharp sword to strike the nations.”
What really got me every time I would read this passage is that a big sword was sticking out of Jesus's mouth. I tried picturing this to the best of my ability at that age, but not only did the imagery that I ultimately came up with look rather silly in my mind, but it just didn't make any sense. I knew there was some deeper meaning behind this illustration. But I wasn't smart enough or wise enough to figure it out.
Twenty-three years later, with Fr. Fortea's help, I finally understand.
The sword coming out of the White Rider's mouth is the Word of God. Ephesians 6:12-17 says: "Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
See, the sword is the Word of God. But it isn't an actual sword. It is an argument.
In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, St. Paul writes: “For, although we are in the flesh, we do not battle according to the flesh, for the weapons of our battle are not of flesh but are enormously powerful, capable of destroying fortresses. We destroy arguments and every pretension raising itself against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive in obedience to Christ.”
Notice that St. Paul describes spiritual warfare as a war of words! This is the key to winning the battles we fight in spiritual warfare. We must destroy the arguments of demons, who with their wicked reasoning whisper to us nothing more than seductive lies that are not founded on the Truth. They do this, like Satan did in the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve, in order to persuade us to disobey God, which leads to our sin and death and eternal ruin. And this battle, it should be noted, always takes place entirely in our minds.
How to Win Our Spiritual Battles
So how do we win an argument with a demon, who is far more intelligent than we are? The clue to this answer lies in the Gospels. At the beginning of John, the text reads: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Earlier we read how the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, what Christians would refer to as Sacred Scripture. Well, here we see that Jesus Christ is Himself the Word of God.
In other words, Christ Himself is our Eternal Argument! Out of His mouth, he dismantles and destroys the flawed arguments of the Evil One. He strikes down Satan's arguments and the wicked arguments of the world. We put on Christ like a garment, like a suit of armor that protects us from the snares of the Devil. How do we put on Christ? By living the good, Catholic life: partaking of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist as often as our station in life allows us to; praying every day; doing charitable works; almsgiving; fasting; reading sacred writings or other holy texts; studying the lives of the saints; volunteering at the local parish. The more we put on Christ, the more He defends us against the wiles of the Devil, and we keep our minds far from sin and disobedience.
It is just like King David when he battled Goliath: "...I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty." We must rely on the name of Jesus Christ, and when we do, He wins our arguments against the demonic for us.
And that's not all. Acts 2:1-4 says: “When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.”
This event, known as Pentecost, was the Holy Spirit's descent from Heaven that He might be received by all the faithful on the Earth. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to proclaim to demons and to the fallen world the Eternal Argument of Christ, which is the Truth, and which cannot be defeated by the father of lies.
Our Victory in Christ
And this is really the heart and secret to victory in spiritual warfare: a quiet dependence on the Lord, a silent humility and obedience to Him in all things, a tireless resistance against temptation and a determined avoidance of all sin, great or small. This is how we win our spiritual battles and receive the crown of glory.
As St. Peter wrote in his First Epistle, 5:8-10: "Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for [someone] to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings. The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory through Christ [Jesus] will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered a little."
And if we, as sons and daughters of the Kingdom of God, do all these things as St. Peter counsels, then God, through Sacred Scripture, guarantees us this: "Blessed is the man who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proved he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him" (James 1:12).