While there are many things Americans struggle to find common ground on, a cynical outlook of the future is not one of them. Everyone seems convinced that America is on the brink of despotism, and the rhetoric of our politicians certainly reflects that. While many are calling this election the most important one of our lives, division among Americans is only rising… and yet, simultaneously, many are desperately wishing things would go back to normal (myself included). However, as an interesting election nears and situations continue to intensify both at home and abroad, the odds of finding any level of normalcy are not high.

In the midst of all this contention, confusion, and exhaustion is near-constant messaging about who the enemy is: the Other Side. Whether that’s Donald Trump and his alt-right MAGA Nazis, or Joe Biden and his election-stealing baby-murdering elites, there’s always someone to blame, and it’s always the other guy.

The conflict of today has been painted in terms of a grand war between good and evil. While there’s some truth to that, people are far too hasty to paint their own side as “good” and the other side as “evil.” But it’s easier that way: I’m the good guy, so I don’t need to change. They’re the bad guys, so I’m justified in doing whatever it takes to destroy them. We don’t see our neighbors as people anymore, instead defining them by the campaign sign in their yard and the flag on their pole. And because of this—both the paradigm of “I’m good and you’re evil” and the dehumanization of fellow Americans—the division is growing… and it will only continue to grow.

Dehumanization is a dangerous place to be in. Why? If the end (defeating evil) justifies any means, then there’s never going to be a reason not to senselessly destroy your opponent. Why stop at censoring and canceling? Why not continue with a politicized justice system, targeted laws, 21st century witch hunts, gulags and labor camps, even death camps? If your enemies aren’t even human, you might as well.

This is, of course, not only a dangerous but deeply tragic road to go down, if only for the loss of human life it would—and will, if left unchecked—inevitably lead to. But perhaps it is all the more tragic for its uselessness. Your neighbor down the road with the different yard sign and flag is not your enemy any more than the politician with a different letter by their name is your enemy.

This is not to say there is no battle to be fought; on the contrary, there is and likely always will be. But it’s not one of flesh, bone, and blood. Not yet, anyways, and hopefully not at all.

Yes, the battle between good and evil is happening, but it’s not happening the way people are portraying it: “[w]e do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12, NKJV)”

This is an entirely different perspective from the one being pushed by the media and our politicians. Perhaps this is partially because intangible enemies don’t require the collection of as many tax dollars or donations as the ‘enemies’ of Palestine, Russia, and the opposing party do. But it is a far more accurate—and far more useful—way to perceive our battle between good and evil.

An opposing politician is defeated by votes, donations, complaining letters, mean tweets, and propaganda campaigns; the defeat of spiritual darkness—including but not limited to the constant dehumanization and division that surrounds us—demands none of these. Willing hearts, hands ready and eager to do His work, a wise and discerning mind, and the Sword of the Spirit are far more useful in this fight.

That is not to say that this war will be won by sitting at home and praying. On the contrary. This is a cross that must be carried, not just knelt at.

I wish I could give you a formula for how the war is to be won: first do this, then this, then this; if they do a, we do b, etc. But I can’t. What I can say is this: as we are ready and willing to take part in the fight, we will be led—by God, intuition, fate, or whatever you want to call it—in our efforts. People and causes will be laid in our paths; steps will be revealed, be it one at a time or a dozen at a time. The impossible becomes possible, the unknowable knowable, the forsaken redeemed.

Let’s press forward in this work, with a clear view of who the real enemy is. This is a war we’re fighting, but it’s not one of guns and blood. It’s one of good and evil, heaven and hell.