SPIRITUAL WARFARE?
by Dr. Andrew Corbett
SPIRITUAL
WARFARE?
THE
NATURE OF OUR WARFARE
"For we do not wrestle
against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this present age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness
in the heavenly places." Eph. 6:12
(For an historical background to the teaching
of Spiritual Warfare, click here)
CURRENT
TEACHING EXAMINED
Most
teaching on spiritual warfare includes teaching
on spiritual weapons available to the believer.
Care must be taken not to interpret the paper
as teaching that the believer has no spiritually
offensive role to conduct. Before examining a
more Biblical approach to achieving advances
for the present kingdom of God, we will overview
a stream of teaching that prescribes dualistic
encounters.
1. USE OF
THE NAME, THE BLOOD, THE WORD:
a)
The Name-
Scriptures
such as Philippians 2:9-11 are used to support this.
Examining this passage will reveal a statement of eschatological
and theological fact, rather than a means of warfare.
Indeed, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess
at the Name of Jesus that He is LORD! Of the six times
the expression in the Name of Jesus is used in the
entire New Testament, all occurrences happen during
the narration of the Book of Acts. Of these occasions,
only once did it involve a confrontation with a demonic
spirit (Acts 16:18) and it was a direct one at that
(that is, the demonic spirit was immediately present;
demons are not omnipresent)!
All
of the other incidents related to the conduct of the
apostles- their ministry of healing and teaching. When
Paul cast the demon out of the Macedonian girl, he
exercised the Spirit's authority upon him based on
the words of Christ in Mark 16:17 (which says believers
will cast demons out in the name of Christ). Obviously
Philippi was a place familiar with demonic activity.
There could have been all sorts of spirits presiding
in that city. Yet from what we know of Paul's epistle
to them some many years later, they became one of the
more successful churches he planted. How did Paul and
the church there break the supposed local demonic strongholds?
After the incident with the slave girl and python spirit,
Paul and Silas were thrown into jail. An attack of
the enemy! What was Paul and Silas’ plan of warfare?
"But
at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and
singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were
listening to them. . ."
Acts
16:25
This was their warfare.
They worshiped God! They didn’t even look
at what the enemy was doing! What was the enemy’s
real objective in jailing Paul and Silas? I believe
the answer to this is so simple, yet the heart
of what the Bible alludes to as our warfare- that
the Devil wants our attention, but only God deserves
it!
This is why we are
not to be sidetracked off into speaking to the Devil,
demons or others evil spirits. They are merely decoys
trying to divert our attention away from Jesus. What
does the cross of Christ mean to the militant Christian?
It initially resounds of death to our old nature (Gal.
2:20; Rom. 12:1-3, two of the most powerful Scriptures
on warfare). Then it drives us with the love of Christ
to seek out the lost with the saving message of the
gospel. If the enemy can divert our eyes off the cross
so that our focus is on him (even for a moment), then
he's winning the war/battle. Whenever Paul came under
satanic/demonic attack, he always appealed immediately
to God (eg. 2 Cor. 12:8). It was later to the Philippian
church that Paul wrote about the name of Jesus. Therefore,
because of the incident with the python-spirit controlled
girl, and his epistle, I can not see that Paul was
simply ignorant of any spiritual weapons that
he had.
POINTS OF
CONSIDERATION-
*
Paul cast a demon out of a girl by using the name of
Jesus, as Christ said all believers would do, after:
(i) There was an immediate demonic manifestation. (ii)
He was moved in spirit to do so. He was motivated by
the Word and Spirit- he didn't presume what he was doing
was what God wanted him to do.
* The demon immediately
left the girl without argument or battle at the Name
of Jesus. The battle is not ours, but the Lord's (2Chron.
20:15). Can any demon defy the LORD? When God commands
a spirit to go, it’s
done. There is no yelling, fretting or fuss when
God does it and so uses His servant as His mouthpiece.
* Paul and Silas were in
enemy territory and as such were demonically attacked
by being thrown into jail. They responded by worshiping
God with singing and by praying aloud. Their appeal was
to God, not against the devil or even to the devil.
* Paul was not ignorant
of the power of the name of Jesus as is demonstrated
by his actions and epistles. No where did he use it in
a sense of speaking against territorial demonic spirits.
b)
The Blood-
"And
they overcame him (the Devil) by the blood of
the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,
and they did not love their lives to the death"
(Rev. 12:11).
How did they overcome the devil?
By (i) the blood of the Lamb and (ii) the word of
their testimony. Modern, well meaning teaching says
that we are to plead the Blood against the devil,
and share our testimony with the lost, as a two pronged
attack against the devil. The result is said to be
victory from attack.
Yet
examine the whole verse. The ones who overcame the
devil, did so by laying down their lives- firstly on
the altar of God, and secondly, into the grave. This
runs contrary to the modern idea of success defined
as freedom from pain or discomfort.
These
martyrs overcame the devil simply by keeping their
lives as a good testimony even to the point of martyrdom.
Their testimony was the proclaiming of Jesus. As one
recent translation puts it-
"And
our brothers and sisters defeated him by the blood
of the Lamb's death and by the message they preached.
They did not love their lives so much that they
were afraid of death"
New Century Version
They
didn't walk in their own righteousness, but Christ’s-
they were washed in His blood! They were in blood covenant
with God. In the religious flesh, we tend to look for
instant, easy, comfortable results. However, the greatest
Book of spiritual warfare is Revelation which defines
victory in terms other than merely temporal gains.
This Book clearly details the spiritual battles which
have/are/will take place.
Its
precise word to those involved in the frontline of
conflict on earth?- Jesus Christ is Lord! He has won
the Victor’s crown. He is interceding
constantly for His covenant Bride. How does He want
us, His Church, to help Him in His battle against the
foes of darkness? By walking in the righteousness of
Christ (being washed in His Blood) and keeping a good
testimony in a corrupt world. This is victory over
the devil- even if it means dying for it! To plead
the blood over cars, houses, possessions or cities
is to display ignorance about why the Blood of Christ
was shed. It was shed to redeem our lives. Christ died
for us, not for our cars, houses, or possessions.
c)
The Word-
Scripture
passages such as Matthew 4, where Christ and Satan
exchanged words are used to cite the legitimatizing
of quoting Scripture at the Devil. Just why Christ
chose the Scriptures He used in the first place should
be enough for us to understand that Christians have
no place speaking at or to the Devil, in the sense
of being some kind of "demi-gods". When He acknowledged
that man lives by every Word from God, He was living
that Scripture out. When He acknowledged that man must
only worship and render total obedience to God, He
was doing just that.
Firstly,
the Scripture has revealed only One Person authorised
to speak to the Devil- Yahweh (Gen. 3- the incident
in the Garden of Eden; Job 1 , 2- Satan accuses Job;
1Kings 22:19-23; Matt. 4- Christ being tempted by the
Devil). Not even angels, who presumably battle in some
form with fallen angels (although I strongly doubt
that its the type of combat we’re familiar
with, ie. not face-to-face or hand-to-hand), are
authorised to speak to demons (Jude 9; 2Pt. 2:11).
Therefore, Christ was fulfilling His divine right in
addressing Satan- in the same way that it was His Divine
right to receive worship from men. Not even Job spoke
at or to the Devil, although Satan was the cause of
his troubles.
The
Word is indeed described as a sword. In Ephesians six
it is the sword that advances the Gospel of Christ
amidst spiritual opposition. In Hebrew 4:12 it is the
sword that cuts like a surgeons knife into our inner
most motives and lays our hearts bear before God for
to Him we must explain the way we have lived (NCV).
In Isaiah 49:2, it is the sword of the anointed preaching
of the prophet as he speaks God’s Word. In
Revelation 1:16; 2:16; and 19:15, it is the words
of the glorified Christ. Nowhere is the Bible described
as a sword to be used for slaying demonic spirits
in face-to-face combat!
Paul
laments in Romans 7 that knowing the Word of God intensified
his battle (war) with his flesh. He saw the Word as
a Sword that revealed his inner corruption. Simply
quoting Scriptures at our flesh is not enough to make
our flesh obey. As powerful as the Word of God is to
change lives, we must guard against the sin of treating
it as a book of magic, filled with incantations to
drive away evil (sin), or demonic spirits. When Jesus
quoted the Word of God to the Devil, He did more
than merely quote it- He obeyed it. Many believers
who have been extremely well acquainted with the Bible
have been snared by the Devil and led into sin and
apostasy. Knowing and quoting the Scriptures is not
enough, we must obey it to gain victory. Certainly
quoting the Word has great value for the devotional
re-assurance of a believer, and this practice should
be encouraged. But we must guard against the fallacy
that quoting the words of Scripture in a magical fashion
at demonic spirits is actually what brings victory
to a believer. It is acting on the Word (James 1:22).
In this sense our real warfare is with our flesh (Rom.
7:23). Coming to this conclusion and conviction puts
us in the very uncomfortable position of now being
obliged to accept responsibility for our actions, instead
of following in the steps of our forefather Adam, who
immediately began to blame someone else for his sin,
when confronted by God.
2.
"TAKING AUTHORITY"
The
Church and individual believers have tremendous authority
over the powers of darkness and rulers of the dust
(in heavenly places). The Bible speaks of our future
state with such certainty, that it often refers to
it as already having happened. Even Christ spoke of
the authority of believers in Matthew 16:19 when He
said-
"And
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be
bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth
will be loosed in heaven."
Interesting,
the Greek reads whatever you bind on earth will have
already been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose
on earth will have already been loosed in heaven. To
claim that believers have power to bind and loose in
a way that demands that heaven must comply, is to advocate
sacerdotalism or priestly absolution. The true meaning
of the text must be seen in its context. How would
the disciples have understood Christ’s
words on binding and loosing? Their reaction is not
immediately stated, so we can not draw any immediate
indication from this observation of their application
or understanding.
The
Rabbis of the day spoke of binding and loosing in terms
of laying down rules of conduct (Halakah). As part
of the Halakah, the Shimmai told them strictly what
they couldn’t do- binding
rules of conduct, while the Hillel being more lax,
told them what they could do- loosing rules of conduct.
From this, some scholars see the passage in Acts 15:10,
where Peter said-
"Now
therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke
on the neck of the disciples which neither our
fathers nor we were able to bear?"
-as
loosing what certain Judaizers wanted to bind upon
Gentile believers. It also
makes sense in the terms of Christ telling the Rabbinical
lawyers that they had withheld the key 15 of knowledge
from people (preventing a loosing of people into
a relationship with God in the Kingdom of God), and
had actually placed hindrances in the way of those
trying to find God (by placing excessive rules of
legalistic conduct on people), thereby binding them
(Lk.11:52). This is also the case in the other reference
in Matthew where the church is to exercise Kingdom
rules of conduct in disciplining wayward members
(Mtt. 18:18). Whatever the Kingdom of God looses
or binds, by way of rules of conduct, so the church
dually enforces. Heaven is not bound by any decision
the church invents!
Another
passage used to justify taking authority over demons
by speaking the words I bind you... is Matthew 12:29.
"Or
how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder
his goods, unless he first binds the strong-man?"
Christ was talking in terms
of destroying the kingdom of Satan and everything
that went along with it. He had been accused of having
power over devils because He was actually in league
with them, the Pharisees said. But He had come to establish
His Kingdom. Ultimately His Kingdom would rule the
entire world, as the Jews were anticipating, and there
could be no place for the devil. How could He take
over the house if someone else was currently occupying
it? What was going to give Christ the right to rule?
His binding of the strong man. This was achieved at
Calvary, and will culminate by being carried out prior
to Christ's earthly rule (Rev.
20:1-3), when Satan will be bound (if one adopts
the pre-millennial view), or has already been carried
out because of Calvary (if one adopts the amillennial
view; NB- Col.2:15). Satan can not be bound by anyone
else prior to, or since, Christ’s
victory on Golgotha.
The Scriptures
do present us with the knowledge that we do have authority
to thwart the enemy from hindering the work of God-
but its the way we go about it, and the kind of results
God gives, that it views differently from recent popular
teaching. We need a fresh revelation of God’s
supremacy and covenantal protection. For example, Psalm
149 says as we worship and praise God, we bind kings
and nobles with fetters of iron. Our focus is not an against one,
but rather an unto one.
We give glory unto God and He in turn guards us as
the apple of His eye (Zeph. 2:5), hedges us about with
walls of covenantal fire (Zech. 2:8), and establishes
us in His sanctuary where no outsider may enter (Psalm
15:1, 2-5; 91:1-16).
What binds
or hinders the enemy? It’s definitely not when
the people of God in a worship service unto their God
are drawn away by speaking to demons! Rather, it’s
what naturally happens when God moves amongst His people
during worship (eg. 2 Chronicles 20).
UNDER ATTACK
What can lead to
a sense of oppression in a worship service? Can
we suggest- nervousness, lack of substantial preparation,
tiredness, all tend at times to imitate devilish
opposition? But how do we take authority over what
appears to be an oppressive spirit in a meeting
of God's people? Exercise the weapon of joy! Joy
breaks depression (Neh. 8:10). Humility breaks
the spirit of pride (James 4:6). Reconciliation
breaks bitterness and tensions (Matt. 6:14-15).
Evangelism with good works breaks hard hearts (1Pt.
2:11; 3:1). Of course the enemy will try to hinder
a service of worship, but how are we to handle
it? Let us press in to God with greater fervency!
THE ROLE OF
INTERCESSORS IN WARFARE
The primary role
of the intercessor, which the Scripture calls a
prophet, is to spend time in the presence of God
seeking the LORD to move His hand in opening the
eyes of the spiritually blind. Intercessors, or
prophets, know how to plead with God with the lost
and receive from God the appropriate answers. They
do not directly speak to, in any way, demon spirits.
Note Daniel in Dan. 10:10-13. Daniel the prophet/
intercessor took no place in speaking to demonic
spirits, although his prayers played a major role
in the heavenly warfare that took place. He made
his appeal to God alone. He refused to do business
with the devil! His case went straight to God.
The Old Testament has numerous types to prove the
point, for example- Elijah on Mount Carmel, prayed
in faith to God, despite a massive out numbering
by demon possessed prophets of Baal (1Ki. 17) He
kept his focus on God and His ability and was not
distracted by spiritual opposition. Despite even
the attributing of spiritual or ecclesiatical success
to the ministry of intercessors in spiritual warfare,
this is still no basis of divine endorsement of
such un-biblical pratices. Often times, God blesses
despite our ignorance or ill-informed practices.
The role
of the intercessor is to seek God. It is call upon
the LORD and seek His forgiveness for a people or community
in the hope that the people themselves will be moved
spiritually to seek God for forgiveness. For no intercessor
can secure another’s salvation
unless that person being prayed for seeks it for
themselves. The intercessor has a large role to play
in praying for the work of the LORD, especially for
pastors, leaders, and those involved in everyday evangelism.
The intercessor should be searching God’s Word
and praying that the Word will be lived out in the
lives of God’s people
in specific ways.
DISCERNING
OF SPIRITS
This author has been
involved in occasions where the gift of discernment
has identified mis-motivated people. Several times
I have had people manifest unusual things in my
presence. I am aware that a person surrendered
to demonic power can do super-human things. But,
I wonder how much the Biblically charismatic gift
called the discerning of spirits has to do with
so much of popular teaching on the subject. Some
have described this as the gift that enables people
to identify specific demonic spirits, name evil
spirits, or sense the type of spirits ruling a
city or territory. While God does often give words
of knowledge to His servants in their ministry
to an oppressed person (perhaps about the root
cause or reason for the oppression), it can be
distinguished from Paul’s
use of the term. It appears among the list of gifts
in the verbal category. Along side it are mentioned
prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues (1Cor.
12:10). All of these gifts are designed to edify
the local church. Discernment appears to be closely
linked with prophecy and those used to prophecy
(sometimes referred to as prophets). Discernment
means the same as judgment. Later in Corinthians
Paul says to the prophets- Let two or three prophets
speak, and let the others judge. This has everything
to do with false teaching being identified and
rejected by the established prophets of the assembly.
As false teaching became rampant in the early church,
John wrote-
"Beloved,
do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits,
whether they are of God; because many false prophets
have gone out into the world..." 1John 4:1
John goes on to say that
false teaching was directly linked to spirits who opposed
Christ. How did John say to defeat these spirits once
discernment has revealed them as false? Appeal to God!
You are of God, little children, and have overcome
them, because He who is in you is greater than he who
is in the world (1 John 4:4).
How much
longer can we try the patience of God by seeking out
demons under the guise of discerning of spirits? The
Old Testament was even clearer in its strict forbidding
of any seeking or communication with or to evil spirits-
"Give
no regard to mediums and familiar spirits do
not seek after them, to be defiled by them:I
am the LORD your God." Leviticus 19:31
Our energy
should be devoted to seeking the LORD and His presence.
There are ample Scriptures to show that God is in total
control of the heavenlies and guards His Church with
love and jealousy. We are guarantied success if
we remain in covenant relationship with Him. Even
Paul recognised that when someone walked away from
God, they were bound over to Satan (1Cor. 5:5).
The enemy
will seek to attack in the area of our imaginations
or thought life. This is the context of 2 Corinthians
10:4 where we have weapons that are mighty for the
pulling down of these strongholds by casting down every
thought that exalts itself against God. Try counting
to twenty in your mind while reading aloud a page of
your Bible! It can’t be done. Our
minds must be submitted to God exclusively. We can
be seeking out demons, and have our minds continually
renewed in God (Rom. 12:2). As we fill our minds with
God's Word it leads to greater devotion to, and appreciation
of, Jesus. Indeed, as we seek Jesus we have the victory!
Not as we chase after demonic spirits! Their objective
is to get our thoughts and eyes off Christ (Gal.3:1).
Interestingly,
no where is the Church described as an army! It is
described as a flock of sheep guarded safely within
a sheep-fold though! There's a major difference between
an army and a flock of sheep. There is no doubt that
we are in corporate spiritual conflict, but yet the
Bible describes us as a Bride that is jealously protected
by its husband-to-be. Paul describes the Christian
as wearing armour and a sword and shield, but this
to stress the urgency of our mission to reach the lost,
and the real danger that spiritual opposition poses
in trying to decoy us away from that mission. To carry
out our mission, which directly opposes principalities
and powers, we are given salvation (helmet), righteousness
(breastplate), the Word of God to direct us toward
God and protect us from foes who attack those who live
outside of it (sword), faith in God to put out the
enemy's doubts (shield), truth in action (belt), a
Gospel ready to share with the lost (shoes)17. None
of this was ever intended for use in a prayer closet
locked away doing battle with demonic foes! Note
even the context of what Paul is saying, when he says
in Ephesians 6:19-
"and
for me, that utterance may be given to me, that
I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery
of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in
chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought
to speak."
Paul was
in prison. What an attack of the enemy! Our advice
to him might be to go into our modern version of spiritual
warfare and get himself out of there. But that wasn’t
his way of looking at things. He wanted to witness
boldly to fellow prisoners, jailers, officials and
anyone else who the LORD might send his way. In Paul’s
battle with the enemy he became deeply aware that the
enemy did and could attack. But he recognised that
nothing happened outside of God’s
control. Around 50 AD when Paul wrote to the Thessalonians,
he was ministering in Corinth (Acts 18). He wanted
to go and see the Thessalonians again, but was suffering
severe persecution in Corinth. He describes this
in terms of Satan hindering him and his companions
(1Thess. 2:18) and contextually alludes to this in
the preceding verses where he said that Judaizers
had persecuted them, forbidding them to speak to
Gentiles. But Satan couldn't overcome Paul with discouragement
(Satan appears to try and magnify himself and his
efforts in the minds of any who will listen), for
when Paul was struggling, Jesus came to him and said-
"Now
the LORD spoke to Paul in the night
by a vision, ‘Do not be afraid,
but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with
you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for
I have many people in this city.’
Acts 18:9, 10
Paul
knew that the enemy could attack
the church, but he knew how to prevent
it. He did not say, as many misquote the passage,
we are not to be ignorant of the
devil's schemes (devices/plans),
rather he said we are not ignorant
of the devil's schemes. There’s
a world of difference between the
two. The context of this Second Corinthians
2:11 passage is where Paul warned
them against unforgiveness (vs. 10).
By holding a grudge and unforgiveness
toward someone, they would give the
devil an opportunity to destroy their
unity, fellowship and witness. What
was the weapon to use against this
scheme of the devil?- forgiveness
and unity.
This
article continues! Continue
with this article.
(c)
1993-2013, Andrew Corbett
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