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All material on this site is copyrighted by Dr Andrew Corbett and may be freely copied for non-commercial usage provided due credit is given by citing the author and site source. Magazine editors should provide a courtesy email prior to publication of any material from these sites.
© 2004 Dr Andrew Corbett, Legana, Tasmania, Australia
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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO SPIRITUAL WARFAREAlthough modern spiritual warfare teaching is a relatively recent teaching, arising out of the comfort emphasis of the 1950s and ’60s, its roots come from the formation of the doctrines of demonology and evil in the universe. For a clearer understanding of how the modern Christian and even Jewish concepts of demons have originated, some time would need to be taken examining the doctrine’s history. Briefly, the Bible student will recognise that there was a noticeable shift in the Bible's emphasis about Satan and demons during and after the return of Judah from the Babylonian exile. Prior to this, the Bible pen-men record historical events in the light of God’s supreme sovereignty. When calamity came, it was recorded as having come from God. Yet, when Judah went into Babylonian captivity, they were for the first time exposed to the national religion of Persia, the eventual conquerors of Babylon. This religion was called Zoroastrianism, and still exists today in some parts of Iran/Iraq and Western India. Zoroaster, the founder of the religion, displayed many noble qualities, and claimed to have received revelations from God about how He was to be worshiped. Examining his revelations the student is struck with their remarkable similarity to Judaism. Even his prophetic scriptures (written around 600 BC) foretold of a Messiah that would be born of a fifteen year old virgin! But the main characteristic of Zoroastrianism was its concept of universal and eternal dualism. While predicting an eventual overthrow of the powers of evil by God, in terms that resemble the Book of Revelation, it pictured God and the Devil in cosmic conflict. Its apparent advantage at this point over Judaism, was that it had a very simple answer for the problem of evil in the world. Even the Bible word demon or devil originated from this time and from Zoroastrian language. While most scholars would correctly reject the theory that Biblical theology about evil was formed on the basis of Judah being exposed to and thus influenced by this religion, it is noteworthy to consider the following (written during or after the time of captivity): a) Daniel, for the first time in the Bible, records a cosmic struggle between the forces of God and the forces of the Devil (Dan. 10:13). b) Ezra reinterprets Jeremiah's earlier recording of David's numbering the people as being actually prompted by Satan (1 Chron. 21:1, compare 2Sam. 24:1). c) Zechariah's implying that it was Satan who corrupted the priests and consequently all Judah (Zech. 3:1). Perhaps the principle to learn here is that at the least history shows us that the Christian doctrine of evil (including Satan and demons) can be influenced, even if very subtly by strong outside influences. An examination of the rise of popular dualism in the form of many eastern religions and Hollywood movies (both horror and science-fiction) may have affected the formulation of modern demonology more than is first acknowledged. The writer could draw several examples of how worldly fads have, for a time, influenced the Church’s thinking away from pure historic Biblical thought. While the sacred Scriptures written after the exile were not the product of man’s whimsical fascination for the latest ideas, none of us are exempt from continual pressures by the world to adapt our theology.
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