You have cried out for plagues, bloodshed, and destruction against those you call enemies, seeking to make them your footstool and to see their fetishes burned. But look again: the warfare to which you are called is not with flesh and blood, nor with men who oppose you in the workplace. This republic, the Church of Christ, is at war not with men but with devils and those incorporeal powers of darkness. The Captain of this host is not any mortal, but God Himself, and He does not arm His soldiers with curses and imprecations borrowed from the old shadow, but with truth, righteousness, faith, and all true love of wisdom.
You name occultists and marine spirits, and indeed there is a kingdom of darkness that seeks to devour. But hear: the Son of God came not that you might call down Egyptian plagues upon fellow creatures, but that He might preach deliverance to captives and recovery of sight to the blind. He went up on high, He led captivity captive, and He received gifts for men, even for transgressors. Will you turn the victory of the Crucified into a summons to shed blood like the five oceans? The spirit of the gospel breathes another air: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.” That is the good warfare, the noble contest. The bad warfare is to yield your members as instruments to uncleanness and iniquity, and that includes the iniquity of wrath and vengeance.
You speak of debts and stolen goods. I do not make light of your loss, but remember that the present state is contest, warfare, tribulation, straits, and the very scene of conflicts. One cannot be in combat and live luxuriously, one cannot be wrestling and feasting and demanding instant redress. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Shall we then, for the sake of money and documents, invoke destruction on souls? You have a Commander who is ever standing by, unconquerable, and He has furnished you with strong arms: the shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness, the sword of the Spirit. Take these up. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you, not by cursing those he may use as unwitting tools, but by drawing near to God with clean hands and a forgiving heart.
When you find yourself alone and assailed, do as the Spirit led our Lord: not into a wilderness of bitterness, but gather yourself with the faithful. For then the enemy is boldest when he sees a man isolated and brooding; when we are banded together in prayer and mutual love, he is not equally confident. Seek the assembly of the saints, pour out your complaint not for the ruin of others but for your own deliverance from the evil one. Trust that the Lord is the Judge, and He will repay. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. That is the better resurrection at work in you already, fixing in your soul the doctrines of immortality and sonship.
Let your prayer become this: that you may obtain the Spirit of adoption, that you may be armed not with hatred but with patience, that the enemies of your soul, pride, wrath, avarice, may be slain within you, and that the devices of the wicked one may be brought to nothing. Then, whether your outward circumstances change or not, you will stand as more than a conqueror through Him who loved you. The real spoiling of the strong man is already complete in Christ; shall we not trust Him to vindicate His own in His own time? So fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, and leave the throne of judgment to the only Lawgiver.