Warfare Prayer By C. Peter Wagner (Pt. 7)

TWENTY-ONE CRUCIAL QUESTIONS CONCERNING SPIRITUAL WARFARE

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INTRODUCTION

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s you have read Warfare Prayer, you have clearly seen that the decade of the 1990s was an extraordinary period of  time in the sweep of Christian history. With the possible exceptions of the decade in which Constantine became the emperor of Rome and the decade in which Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg cathedral, it could be argued that no other decade since Jesus’ resurrection has seen

greater changes in the Church.

One of those radical changes, among many others, was the introduction of principles and techniques of strategic-level spiritual warfare into a broad segment of the Body of Christ. Before the 1990s the term strategic-level spiritual warfare had not even been coined. The same is true of cognitive terms such as spiritual mapping, identificational repentance, prophetic interces- sion, and territorial commitments—all of which are now in com- mon usage here in the 21st century.

Lausanne II in Manila

The seeds for using aggressive spiritual warfare as a com- ponent of strategies of world evangelization were planted in

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the historic Lausanne II Congress held in Manila, Philippines, in 1989. Five of the workshops in Manila, conducted by recog- nized world leaders, turned out to be on the subject of “terri- torial spirits,” a topic which most of the 4,500 invited delegates from all nations had not previously thought much about. Since I happened to lead one of those workshops, I chose to follow up on these new ideas after the congress. To be honest, I sensed during that meeting that the Lord had spoken directly to me with the assignment of taking future leadership in the field of what was to become known as strategic-level spiritual warfare.

The following year, 1990, saw the first meeting of about 25 of us who became charter members of the United States Spiri- tual Warfare Network. For three years we met privately twice a year just to hear each other and to pray for God’s guidance as to how we should inform the Body of Christ about what God had been showing us. In 1991 Luis Bush invited me to serve as the coordinator of the AD2000 United Prayer Track, and he agreed that I should bring the Spiritual Warfare Net- work (SWN) into the AD2000 Movement. The SWN decided to make public its findings on an international scale during the Gideon’s Army meeting in Seoul, South Korea, in 1993. Subsequently, it grew considerably throughout the decade. The high point was the Celebration Ephesus meeting in 1999 in which 5,000 of us from 62 nations gathered in the amphithe- ater in ancient Ephesus, Turkey, for four hours of prayer and praise to Jesus.

The Literature

During the decade, a small library of books on strategic- level spiritual warfare was published and widely distrib- uted. A sampling of some of the outstanding works includes the following:

• Taking Our Cities for God by John Dawson—the initial wake-up call for the whole Church.

• Territorial Spirits, edited by C. Peter Wagner (also pub- lished as Engaging the Enemy)—a compilation of writ- ings of several leaders who had been saying things related to territorial spirits before 1990.
• Possessing the Gates of the Enemy by Cindy Jacobs—a manual for militant intercession.
• The Jericho Hour by Dick Eastman—case studies of how strategic-level spiritual warfare has advanced the cause of evangelism.
• The House of the Lord by Francis Frangipane—how and why the whole Body of Christ should take spiritual warfare for our cities seriously.
• Commitment to Conquer by Bob Beckett—the textbook on territorial commitment and why it is effective for city transformation.
• Confronting the Powers by C. Peter Wagner—an answer to common arguments raised against strategic-level spiritual warfare.
• Healing America’s Wounds by John Dawson—the prin- cipal guide to the why and how of identificational repentance.
• God At War: The Bible and Spiritual Conflict by Gregory

A. Boyd—written by a Bethel College theologian, a scholarly textbook on spiritual warfare with a new view of how the providence of God comes into play.

• Informed Intercession by George Otis, Jr.—the most mature and thorough textbook on spiritual mapping.

As you can see, interest in spiritual warfare has been sky- rocketing. Large segments of the Church, across many denom- inational lines, now practice spiritual warfare in different ways. Growing numbers of missionaries are now realizing

that they stand to see more fruit from their labors if they pre- cede their efforts for the ground war in the visible world with an effective air war in the invisible world. Seminaries and Bible schools are adding courses on spiritual warfare to their curricula.

Underlying Issues

Still, as might be expected, not all agree with this trend. Some Church leaders question whether demonic person-

alities even exist at all. They are more comfortable with the

notion that impersonal forces emerging from human decisions and social dynamics cause the evil around all of us. Belief in demons seems to them to be a residue of medieval supersti- tion, not belonging to a realistic modern worldview.

If I am not mistaken, however, the trend today seems to be away from skepticism concerning demons. Many more pas- tors and other leaders representing various theological streams are now affirming that personal beings, called angels and demons, actually do exist in the invisible world. Yet cer- tain ones of those who do believe in demons are not con- vinced that demons have been organized into some hierarchy of darkness. For some who do agree that there may be a hier- archy of sorts out there, it still does not necessarily follow that satan has assigned principalities to attach themselves to geo- graphical territories, physical objects such as mountains or trees, or human social networks.

Even if we grant that demonic principalities might be assigned to territories, others argue that there is relatively lit- tle biblical evidence that believers have been given authority to confront them in a proactive, offensive mode. We may defend ourselves, they say, if demons choose to attack us; but we should not do battle with demonic forces which have not attached themselves to human beings. According to this

school of thought, such activity exceeds the limits of our divine authority and makes us susceptible to becoming need- less casualties of war.

Innovations Tend to Generate Heat

We should not be surprised that these underlying issues of spiritual warfare continue to be vigorously discussed in books, articles, classrooms, conferences, consultations, and pulpits. As I have said, strategic-level spiritual warfare is a fairly recent concept. It is an “innovation.” Social science has developed a theory explaining the diffusion of innovation which helps us to regard as fairly normal some of the heated reactions to spiritual warfare that we have been seeing.

When important new ideas, or innovations, are intro- duced into social networks (in this case the Body of Christ), a predictable process is set in motion. This process ordinarily produces four types of responses after the innovators them- selves introduce the new idea or product.

Those who typify the first type of reaction are known as early adopters. When the innovation first becomes known, early adopters say, “This is exactly what I have been waiting for!” It meets a need, they accept it, and they begin to tell their friends. This happened, for example, with the introduction of the horseless carriage, Sunday School, hybrid corn, Social Security, sliced bread, pantyhose, and thousands of other innovations that have now become commonplace in our daily lives.

But while the early adopters are trying to spread the word, different degrees of controversy usually erupt. People are not used to the new thing. It tends to pull them out of their comfort zones. Change becomes a threat to them. This hap- pened, for example, with the innovation of the automobile. The first ones who dared to drive a Model T Ford through the

streets of their towns often found their behavior quite unpop- ular with the majority—for a time, that is. The most intense controversy over an innovation is generated in the early adop- tion stage. This is all to the good because it encourages valu- able corrections and much fine-tuning early on in the process.

There is no set time for the duration of this early adoption stage. It will vary from innovation to innovation. But if the innovation is worthwhile, it eventually begins to appeal to the middle adopters. Here is where the most rapid growth occurs. The controversy has cooled off, glitches have been worked out, and a favorable attitude emerges.

When the growth period slows and begins to plateau, a number of late adopters may eventually accept the innova- tion. But not all will. The final group identified in the theory of diffusion of innovation is composed of so-called laggards, who, no matter what, have decided to reject the innovation. A well-known case in point are the Amish, who have no inten- tion of adopting the horseless carriage as an approved mode of transportation.

Controversy Generates Understanding

While the predictable controversy that surfaces during the process of considering an innovation can, and often does, leave behind a residue of bruised emotions and weakened relation- ships, the total outcome is, more often than not, positive.

Although some time has passed since then, I clearly recall the heated controversy that erupted among evangelicals when John Wimber and I began teaching a course entitled “Signs, Wonders, and Church Growth” at Fuller Seminary in the early 1980s. Some did not think it was appropriate to teach semi- nary students how to heal the sick and cast out demons, while others agreed with us that it was. We quickly moved from the early adoption stage to the middle adoption stage, and we

began to set seminary records for attendance in elective courses. This upset the theology faculty so much that they, for the first time in the history of the seminary, denied credit to theology students who took my course. I mention this as an example because it is now hard to believe that healing the sick could cause so much fuss. We have passed the middle adop- tion stage, and today it is rare to find those in evangelical churches who oppose overt prayers for divine healing and ministries of the miraculous.

During the process of heated controversy in the middle adoption stage, those of us who were the innovators were forced to think through our positions and the way we verbal- ized them much more rigorously than we would have if there had been no opposition. This helped us move more rapidly than otherwise into the final stage of middle adoption in which we find ourselves now.

Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare

It was 10 years after beginning the signs-and-wonders process that some of us began suggesting that strategic-level spiritual warfare might help advance the cause of world evan- gelization. Strategic-level spiritual warfare advocates aggres- sive spiritual confrontation with cosmic powers of darkness. My sense is that the Body of Christ is in the final stage of mid- dle adoption and ready to transition to late adoption. This means, among other things, that the controversy is cooling off. It has been a very productive season for the Church. As one of the innovators, I am grateful to the skeptics and cynics who forced me to reexamine my presuppositions and to refine my conclusions.

At this time there is little new to add to the decade-long dialogue. Just about all of the possible questions have been raised and answered. Most Christian leaders who have tuned in to this process have now decided whether they like the

answers or not. In this late adoption stage, few who do not like the answers and who therefore have rejected strategic- level spiritual warfare will change and jump aboard. I do not suppose that many of them will buy and read a book called Warfare Prayer.

QUESTION 1

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n the introduction to this appendix, I mentioned the forma- tion of the United States Spiritual Warfare Network (USSWN) in 1990. (Incidentally, the USSWN expanded in 1993 to become the International Spiritual Warfare Network, and in 2000 the name was changed to Strategic Prayer Network [SPN].) When we began meeting, one of the first things that we agreed upon was the need for a simple taxonomy of spir- itual warfare. As we discussed this with each other, it became evident that we were talking about spiritual warfare on three different levels, one of which was strategic-level spiritual

warfare.

Types of Spiritual Warfare

Here is the accepted terminology:

• Ground-level spiritual warfare. This is commonly known as deliverance, or casting out demons. When Jesus sent out His followers, He almost always told

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them to heal the sick and cast out demons (see Matt. 10:8; Mark 3:15; 6:7). Unfortunately, deliverance min- istry is at a relatively low level in churches in the United States these days. In contrast, churches in some other parts of the world have intense deliverance min- istries. One church in Colombia, for example, requires all new members to go on a weekend retreat where deliverance is applied to all who need it. In Nepal, many churches would testify that no less than 100 per- cent of their church membership has been delivered from demons. A number of Christian leaders are deter- mined to lift deliverance to a new level in our American churches. I recommend Doris Wagner’s How to Cast Out Demons: A Guide to the Basics as an excellent entry- level introduction to ground-level spiritual warfare.1

• Occult-level spiritual warfare. Whereas ground-level spiritual warfare deals with demons who frequently are acting on their own, occult-level spiritual warfare faces a more organized kind of demonic influence. Those called to occult-level spiritual warfare confront demonic forces at work in witchcraft, satanism, New Age, shamanism, Freemasonry, spiritism, Eastern reli- gions, voodoo, Santeria, and any number of other such manifestations of the power of the devil and his dark angels. Of all three levels of spiritual warfare, occult- level spiritual warfare may be our weakest area to date. Cindy Jacobs’s book, Deliver Us from Evil, should help redirect us.2
• Strategic-level spiritual warfare. This deals with the higher-ranking powers of darkness assigned to geo- graphical territories or to significant human social net- works. The term territorial spirits is frequently used to describe these dark angels. The 21 questions in this book are addressed to spiritual warfare on this level.

While conceptualizing these three levels of spiritual war- fare is an immense help when God calls us to focus our min- istry on one or the other, at the same time we need to realize that there are not three separate divisions in the invisible world of darkness. In other words, what happens on any one of the three levels has ripple effects on the other two. A good example of this is the record of the apostle Paul’s evangelistic ministry in Ephesus.

Spiritual Warfare in Ephesus

Actually, Paul enjoyed more evangelistic success in Eph- esus than anywhere else he went to preach the Gospel. Why? I’m sure that one of the major reasons was that in Ephesus spiritual warfare was taking place on all three levels (see Acts 19). On the ground level, demons were being cast out by using handkerchiefs which received a divine anointing simply by touching Paul’s body (see Acts 19:12). On the occult level, Ephesus happened to be the central headquarters in the Roman Empire for magic and magicians. So many magicians got saved and decided to burn their books and occult para- phernalia publicly that the items in the fire were valued at 50,000 pieces of silver (see Acts 19:19). In the research for my commentary The Book of Acts, I calculated a current equivalent of $4 million going up in flames!3

The territorial spirit assigned by satan to hold the people in Ephesus in spiritual darkness was diana of the Ephesians. Some say that she might have been the most worshiped deity in the Roman Empire at the time. Her temple has gone down in history as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. During Paul’s time there, her power was shattered to the extent that, in two years, everyone not only in the city of Ephe- sus but also in the whole province of Asia Minor had heard the Gospel (see Acts 19:10). This is notable because Paul apparently did not engage diana in any direct strategic-level spiritual confrontation (see Acts 19:37).

How, then, was the evil power of diana of the Ephesians broken?

It was caused by what I referred to earlier as the ripple effect of spiritual warfare done at any level. We know for a fact that demons were cast out and that magicians came to Christ and burned their books in Ephesus. When it comes right down to it, diana was the demonic supervisor in charge of see- ing that those very demons and magicians served the pur- poses of satan. When the Gospel began bringing Ephesian people from the power of satan to God, diana began losing the spiritual authority that she had enjoyed for hundreds of years. Ground-level spiritual warfare and occult-level spiritual war- fare had a devastating effect on the strategic level. The net result was a bountiful evangelistic harvest. “The word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed” (Acts 19:20).

Before moving on to the next question, we might note that history (not the Bible) records that the apostle John later went to live in Ephesus and that, while there, he did confront the weakened diana of the Ephesians directly. In his scholarly work, The Christianization of the Roman Empire A.D. 100-400, Yale University historian Ramsay MacMullen records that John went into diana’s temple. He writes, “In the very temple of [diana herself], [John] prayed, ‘O God…at whose name every idol takes flight and every demon and every unclean power: now let the demon that is here [in this temple] take flight at thy name.’” MacMullen goes on to say, “And while John was saying this, all of a sudden the altar of [diana] split in many pieces…and half the temple fell down.”4

This, of course, raises the question as to why John did direct strategic-level warfare in Ephesus while Paul did not. The answer to that is very simple. It had to do with God’s tim- ing. The time was right for God to direct John to do it, but it was not right for Paul. In fact, if Paul had attempted to do it

outside of God’s timing, he might well have been the one who was defeated, not diana.

Just to underscore the blessing that strategic-level spiritual warfare can bring, the city of Ephesus, beginning with John’s ministry there, became the center of all of world Christianity for the next 200 years! Ephesus is a prototype of the kind of city transformation that many of us have been praying for.

QUESTION 2

Since Scripture teaches that Jesus defeated  the principalities and powers on the  Cross (see Col. 2:14-15), is there really anything left for us to do except to claim Jesus’ victory?

This is a very important question.

At one point several of us were carrying out a strategic- level spiritual warfare initiative in a certain city when a Chris- tian leader there told us that we shouldn’t be doing it. He said that there is no question who rules the city—Jesus rules the city. He argued that Jesus had disarmed the powers of dark- ness. The satanic power over the city was defeated on the Cross. Our city may be full of problems, he said, but Jesus will ultimately be victorious.

This brother was sincerely attempting to defend a biblical nonnegotiable, namely, the fact that God is sovereign. We can agree on that. We can also agree that someday Jesus will return and establish His Kingdom here on earth and that satan

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will be cast into a lake of fire for good. But meanwhile, satan and his demonic forces should not be ignored.

Understanding God’s Sovereignty in Daily Life

We need to understand how the sovereignty of God works out in daily life. Our sovereign God has so designed His world that much of what is truly His will God nevertheless makes contingent on human attitudes, decisions, and actions. There can be exceptions, but normally God does not choose to step in and overrule human decisions, even when they are stupid. For a starter, look at Adam and Eve. God, in all His sovereignty, allowed them to make a bad decision, and not only did they pay the penalty, but the whole human race has been suffering for it ever since.

Or take Jesus’ death on the cross. The Bible is clear that Jesus shed His blood and thereby paid the penalty for all human sin. The will of our sovereign God is that none should perish (see 2 Pet. 3:9). Nevertheless, salvation is not automatic. Human decision is involved. That is why God has sent us out to share the Gospel with unbelievers and to persuade unbe- lievers to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Human inaction does not nullify Christ’s atonement, but it can end up making the atonement ineffective for certain individuals whom God loves.

Getting Back to Satan

Now back to satan. On the Cross, Jesus “disarmed princi- palities and powers” (Col. 2:15), assuring satan’s ultimate defeat. But while satan is defeated, he is not yet destroyed. Even after Jesus’ death and resurrection, Paul refers to satan as “the god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4) and “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2). John says that “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19). Both Paul and John were aware that Jesus will ultimately be the ruler of our cities. But their

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language indicates that they also knew that the degree to which the will of God is materialized in our cities and in our daily lives in this present age depends a great deal on how we human beings, through the power that God has delegated to us by His Holy Spirit, successfully confront and neutralize the prince of the power of the air.

The Bible says, “Lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Cor. 2:11). It is important to understand satan’s power and his devices. Obviously, accord- ing to this Scripture, to the degree that we decide to be passive about satan or to ignore what he is doing in our cities and else- where, he will take advantage of us. We thereby can become victims instead of victors.

Jesus gave His disciples authority to bind demonic princi- palities whom He also referred to as strong men (see Matt. 12:29). But human inaction can permit principalities to retain their human trophies and to keep whole people groups in spiritual captivity.

Taking the Initiative

Just as God gave us a digestive system, expecting that we will take the initiative to eat in order to stay alive, He has also given us weapons of strategic-level spiritual warfare, expect- ing us to use them to defeat the enemy. We can decide to dis- obey and thereby nullify the gifts that God has given us. Or we can decide to obey and glorify the sovereign God through accepting and using what He has given us.

Yes, I believe that even though Jesus secured for us the ulti- mate victory, there is still much left for us to do in His power.

QUESTION 3

Do Christians have the authority to confront higher- ranking satanic principalities just as they have authority over ordinary demons in individuals?

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this innovation.

Here is the way that Francis Frangipane puts it:

I believe the Scriptures are clear: Not only do Chris- tians have the authority to war against these powers of darkness, but we have the responsibility to as well. If we do not pray against our spiritual enemies, they will, indeed, prey upon us!1

Victors or Victims?

This brings up a point that I made in the answer to the last question. Do we want to be victors, or do we want to be victims?

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Frangipane goes beyond the issue of authority to the issue of responsibility. He says that the initiative is ours. If we use prayer—which I see as the cannon through which all other weapons of spiritual warfare must be fired—we can be vic- tors. But if we take the passive approach, we can put ourselves in a dangerous position where the devil can gain the upper hand over us. Few of us would like to be there!

Luke 10 is one of the key biblical chapters describing Jesus’ instructions to His disciples about dealing with the demonic. It tells the story of Jesus sending out 70 disciples to spread the Gospel of the Kingdom. He had previously sent out His 12 apostles, which makes this new event sound like it applies more to Christians in general than to just a leadership elite.

Unbelievable Authority

When the 70 returned, they were ecstatic. They said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name” (Luke 10:17). The thing that was unbelievable to them was the amount of authority over demons that they had been given. I find it interesting that, despite the fact that Jesus had told them specifically to heal the sick (see Luke 10:9), we read no reports of healings there (even though it is safe to assume that there must have been many of them), but only of deliverance. Spiritual warfare was uppermost in their minds at the moment.

Jesus called the 70 together for a debriefing. It would seem reasonable to expect that, if Jesus were ever to teach His disci- ples that there was a limit to the authority over demonic spir- its that He had given them, it would be now. But Luke records nothing of the kind. There were, however, two specific points that Jesus wished to make to His disciples while the memories of their ministry were still fresh.

Clear Priorities

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One of the points had to do with ministry priorities. He wanted to be sure that they kept spiritual warfare in the proper perspective. It is all too much of a temptation to become proud or arrogant or, shall we say, intoxicated with spiritual power. Jesus said, “Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). Salvation is always a higher priority than being delivered from demons. The bottom line is Heaven or hell.

From another perspective we are looking at a difference between time and eternity. Salvation is an eternal blessing. It lasts forever. Spiritual warfare is, at best, a temporal activity. It is only when spiritual warfare contributes to lost people being saved that it reaches its highest level of anointing. We should not see casting out demons or pushing back territorial spirits as ends in themselves, although many good things do inevitably happen as a result. We should see them as means toward the end of helping people become all that God intended them to be. This was what Jesus hoped the 70 would understand.

No Limits to Authority

The other point that Jesus made to the 70 dealt with spiri- tual authority. He said, “Behold, I give you the authority to tram- ple on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). The operative phrase here is “all the power of the enemy.” Satan exercises his power on the ground level, on the occult level, and on the strategic level. It does not seem as if Jesus had any intention of limiting the authority that He had delegated to His disciples to the ground level only, as the question implies.

My position is that the same authority which Jesus imparted to the 70, He desires to impart to His disciples—like

you and me—today as well. Through the name of Jesus and by virtue of the blood that He shed on the Cross, we have been authorized to confront dark angels occupying any position in the hierarchy of satan. That, however, does not imply that we should do spiritual warfare, particularly on the higher levels, apart from specific assignments from God. In every case, before moving out in warfare, we should be totally confident that we are following God’s direction and that we are synchro- nized into God’s specific timing.

QUESTION 4

Our usual concept of prayer is talking with God. How then can we say that “we pray against evil spirits” as, for example, Francis Frangipane

did in his book The House of the Lord?

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that prayer means “a devout petition to God”; or “a spiritual communion with God, as in supplication, thanksgiving, or adoration.”1 This makes it very clear that we do none of the above with evil spirits. Others do. Satanists pray to satan. Hin- dus pray to a number of gods on their god shelf. Native Amer- ican shamans pray to the “great spirit.” Christians pray only to God.

That is why Francis Frangipane was very careful with his wording when he said that we pray against evil spirits.2 It would have been a mistake if he said that we pray to evil spir- its. We do not petition demons or ask them for favors. How- ever, we do verbally confront them, and we cast them out if

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they are demons in individuals, or we push them back and neutralize their power if they are territorial spirits.

Directing Warfare Prayer to God

There are two ways that we go about this. One is directing our warfare prayer to God Himself. Jesus prayed this to the Father when He said, “I do not pray that You should take [my disciples] out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). He also instructed us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “...Deliver us from the evil one...” (Matt. 6:13). One way of understanding the apostle John’s prayer in the temple of diana of the Ephesians (see Question 1) is in the sense of a petition to God. He said, “Oh, God…let the demon that is here take flight.”

Issuing the “Prayer of Command”

The other way to pray against evil spirits is to issue a com- mand to the evil spirit under the authority of the name of Jesus. Because this involves addressing a being in the invisible world, it has been referred to from time to time as a prayer of command. This is not the way a dictionary would define prayer, so it might not be the best choice of terminology. When it is used, however, we should understand it as an attack on the demonic spirit, not as a petition.

A good biblical example of this is Paul’s ministry of deliv- erance in Philippi. While he was there, a spirit of divination, also known as python, was harassing Paul through a slave girl. He put up with it for a while so that everyone would be aware that a power encounter was soon to come; and when the timing was right, Paul addressed the spirit directly, “I com- mand you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her” (Acts 16:18). This command worked, and the spirit immediately left the girl.

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Praying Against Evil Spirits

The way I see it, verbally exercising the authority that Jesus has given us against dark angels is what loosely could be called praying against evil spirits. I believe that such commu- nication, called by whatever name, is authorized by God and that it actually gets through to spiritual beings in the invisible world. They hear it, they understand it, and they obey the command if it is done under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Having said this, I wouldn’t want to go so far as to argue strongly for the use of the word pray in this context. My friend Tom White is one who would not recommend using the word pray. He says, “We do not ‘pray’ at the devil. We resist him with the authority that comes out of the prayer closet.”3 Resist- ing the devil is also good terminology.

Getting to Know Carlos Annacondia

The Argentine revival of the 1980s and 1990s has become legendary. Of the many dedicated servants of God who led this revival, none made a greater evangelistic impact than Car- los Annacondia. His influence has not only been felt in his native land of Argentina, but also in the United States, in Japan, in Europe, and throughout Latin America. Annacondia has not been influenced by the rational Western mind-set that is behind a good many of the questions raised in this book. He is much more in touch with the realm of the supernatural than most of us in the United States tend to be. Some three million souls have been saved through his ministry so far.

I bring up Carlos Annacondia in the context of addressing evil spirits because he is uninhibited, not in “praying” to evil spirits, but in rebuking them in public and with a loud voice. In fact he has a book which carries the title of what some refer to as “Annacondia’s war cry”: Listen to Me, Satan!4 The subtitle is Exercising Authority over the Devil in Jesus’ Name. I consider it

one of the most important revival books of recent times, and I highly recommend it. But shouts of command to principali- ties, powers, and even satan himself are part and parcel of Annacondia’s evangelistic methodology.

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QUESTION 5

Isn’t there a  danger that command prayers, such   as commanding a territorial spirit to leave a city, could lead us into unauthorized areas of ministry? Shouldn’t we call upon almighty God to do this?

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When the word unauthorized is used, the implication is that it is possible for those of us who believe in and practice strategic spiritual warfare to move into areas that God has reserved for Himself. It might be like the big mistake that King Uzziah made when he burned incense in the Temple.

The only ones that God had authorized to burn incense were the priests, and Uzziah was not one of them. The king’s penalty for ministering in an unauthorized area was to suffer from leprosy for the rest of his life (see 2 Chron. 26:21). It can be a serious thing to go outside the boundaries that God has established.

“Be Quiet, and Come Out!”

Few dispute whether God has authorized His servants to command demons to leave afflicted individuals. Jesus told

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His disciples to cast out demons, using an active verb. As a role model, He gave the example of how to do this when He spoke directly to a demon and said, “Be quiet, and come out of him” (Mark 1:25). Theologian Wayne Grudem says that “the New Testament pattern seems to be that God ordinarily expects Christians themselves to speak directly to unclean spirits.”1

The question then becomes whether we are authorized by God to confront and address unclean spirits in general or just some of the unclean spirits. As we move upward in what John Dawson calls the “limited hierarchy of evil spir- its,”2 the Scriptures do not give us clear directions one way  or another. My conclusion is that we are authorized to do bat- tle against the forces of darkness on all levels, depending on the circumstances.

Meet the Strategic Prayer Network

Over the past decade or so, the Strategic Prayer Network, which I lead, has logged numerous incidents—probably well into the thousands—of intentional, planned, and well-executed strategic spiritual warfare. More often than not these prayer actions include, among many other things, what we would call command prayers directed at some of the higher-ranking territorial spirits. The participants in this ministry of prophetic intercession, particularly the leaders, are believers of experi- ence, maturity, wisdom, and discernment. They hear from God. They would know directly from Him if what they were doing fell into the category of an unauthorized initiative. They all know about Uzziah, and they are very sensitive about not making a similar mistake.

We do not exclude asking God to take action on our behalf. Sometimes God will assign us to move directly to the front lines of the spiritual battle. When He does, we do our best to identify the demonic spirits that we are dealing with,

QUESTION 5 221

and we should directly command those principalities to leave or to release their hold or to stop some ungodly activity. Often the Holy Spirit will give us detailed revelation of things we should know or of procedures we should be using.

Call on God

But at other times, we address God. We beseech almighty God to release His sovereign power. We suggest that He dis- patch warring angels to accompany us in our duties. We ask Him to reveal areas of needed repentance or to guide us into prophetic acts. We, of course, do not command God to do any- thing. He is the Master, and we are the servants. But He expects us to call upon Him for any action that He would deem appropriate for the occasion.

QUESTION 6

Jude 9 says that even Michael the archangel would not bring a reviling accusation against  satan. Isn’t this a biblical indication that we  should steer away from  strategic-level spiritual warfare?

M

that for many it becomes decisive. But the sound of this argu- ment is much more convincing than its substance. For the sake of many who might otherwise be sidetracked by Jude 9, the answer to this question will be a bit longer than most.

Let’s begin by refreshing our memory of the text itself.

Likewise also these dreamers [i.e., ungodly men (see v. 4)] defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of digni- taries. Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you” (Jude 8-9).

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There are several reasons why these verses should not be used to call strategic-level spiritual warfare into question.

What Authority Has God Given Us?

Jude’s purpose in this short letter is not to address issues of what we know today as strategic-level spiritual warfare. It is not like another sixth chapter of Ephesians. Instead, he writes in order to warn believers against some false teachers who have appeared in certain segments of the Body of Christ. These people, whom Jude refers to as “ungodly men,” have spirits of rebellion. They insist on resisting authority. They are definitely moving in areas which I spoke of in the last ques- tion as being outside of God’s authorization.

I think it is important at this point to defer to respected biblical scholarship. Wayne Grudem of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School has given careful consideration to Jude 9. He concludes:

The lesson in this verse is simply, “Don’t try to go beyond the authority God has given you!” When Jude verse 9 is viewed in this way, the only question that arises for a Christian is, “What authority has God given us over demonic forces?” And the rest of the New Testament speaks clearly to that in several places.1

Why Is It Important to Keep

the Primary Over the Secondary?

What this implies is that we must not derive significant conclusions, such as this one, from Scripture verses where a secondary point is made in order to support a primary point. This is especially so when the secondary point seems to be at odds with other Scriptures that deal with it as a primary point.

This primary point has to do with the degree of authority that God has given us over demonic forces.

Both Peter and James, for example, instruct us explicitly to resist the devil himself. Peter says, “...Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him...” (1 Pet. 5:8-9). James says, “...Resist the devil and   he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Neither Peter nor James hints that we should only ask God to resist the devil for us, but rather, that the burden for doing this rests with our per- sonal initiative.

The pattern for this was established by Jesus. Wayne Gru- dem goes on to say, “During Jesus’ earthly ministry, when He sent the 12 disciples ahead of Him to preach the kingdom of God, He gave them power over all demons” (Luke 9:1, emphasis added).2 It would not be proper to regard Jude as attempting to nullify in any way what Peter, James, and Jesus teach.

Should We Address satan?

Let’s look at Jude 9 more closely. There is nothing there about demons, whether demons assigned to individuals or demons assigned to territories. The only reference to a super- natural being is to the devil, or satan. The crux of the matter, as far as Jude 9 is concerned, is not whether we should con- front and address high-ranking principalities and powers who serve under satan, but whether we are authorized to address satan himself.

Among members of the Strategic Prayer Network there are differences of opinion as to whether we should attempt to confront and address satan himself. Some do use the name satan, but mostly in a rhetorical sense. When they say, “I come against you, satan, in the name of Jesus,” they ordinarily don’t imagine that satan himself is listening to them because satan is not omniscient and omnipresent. He is not God. Satan is a

creature, and he can only be in one place at one time. What they do intend is to speak against satan’s empire of evil. It is like a soldier on the way to the Gulf War saying “We’re com- ing to get you, Saddam!” In my answer to Question 4, I men- tioned Carlos Annacondia of Argentina and what has become known as his war cry: “Listen to me, satan!” Whether Anna- condia is using this rhetorically or literally, I am not prepared to say.

Questionable Reports?

I occasionally receive reports from those who believe that they have literally encountered satan in person. I must admit that I am a bit skeptical about these reports. Cross-examination frequently leads to the conclusion that they may have, indeed, encountered very high-ranking spirits such as beelzebub or the queen of heaven or python or wormwood, mistakenly confusing them with satan himself. I could not state categori- cally that no one has ever done battle against the devil one-on- one because I would have no way to prove it. But I will say that it would most likely be very rare. My point is that if we stretched Jude 9 to apply to us today, it could only apply to the case of addressing satan and not to strategic-level spiritual warfare in general.

What Are the Two Sides of the Cross?

Jude 9 brings up another very important consideration to keep in mind, namely the difference between the back side of the cross (the Old Testament) and this side of the cross (the New Testament). Huge changes took place when Jesus shed His blood on the cross. The world has not been the same since. One thing that happened, as I mentioned previously, is that the final doom of all principalities and powers, and satan him- self, was sealed once and for all.

Jesus made a very significant statement regarding this dif- ference in chapter 11 of the Gospel of Matthew. He first said that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven (this side of the Cross) is greater than John the Baptist who represented all those who lived on the back side of the Cross (see Matt. 11:11). Then, in the very next verse, Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matt. 11:12). I interpret this as a clear directive to aggressive spiritual warfare.

Now let’s consider Jude’s reference to “the body of Moses.” This sets Jude 9 in the context of the back side of the Cross before Jesus came and changed things so radically. In the Old Testament, believers were not given the same authority over the powers of evil that Jesus has given to us on this side of the Cross. Nowhere in the Old Testament do we find incidents of demons being cast out like we see in the ministry of Jesus and the apostles. Although we do not know that much about what has or has not been delegated by God to angels, we cannot discount the possibility that even Michael the archangel might have more authority on this side of the Cross than he had in the incident that Jude cites on the back side of the Cross.

What’s My Point?

I have taken a good bit of time to explore the ins and the outs of Jude 9. My conclusion is that the verse should not be used as if it were a blanket prohibition of strategic-level spiri- tual warfare.

QUESTION 7

In Matthew 18:15-20, binding and loosing are used in the context of exercising Church discipline. Why do you associate binding and loosing with spiritual warfare?

M

18:18).

Connecting Heaven and Earth

An important principle behind this is that there is an ongoing relationship between Heaven and earth, between the invisible world and the visible world. In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “...Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).

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As we serve God, He gives the instructions from Heaven, and we carry them out on earth. In this case, His instructions are to excommunicate a believer who refuses to repent of a sin against another person. God lets us know His will, but we are the ones expected to take the action.

Many do not see this clearly because most of our English versions give us a slightly misleading translation of the origi- nal Greek. At face value, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven” might give us the idea that we are in charge of first deciding what should be bound and then Heaven will agree with us. A much better and more literal translation of the Greek is found in the New American Standard Bible which says, “Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven” (Matt. 18:18). This makes it clear that the initiative begins in Heaven. God doesn’t do our will; we do God’s will.

This principle of binding and loosing actually first comes up in Matthew 16, two chapters before Jesus brings it up again in Matthew 18. If Matthew 18 were the only mention of it, it would be difficult to apply it to spiritual warfare. But in Matthew 16, Jesus brings it up directly in the context of spiri- tual warfare, not Church discipline. Let’s take a look.

Understanding That the Messiah Has Come

Some regard the event that took place in Matthew 16 as the most important occurrence in Jesus’ life between His bap- tism and His death and resurrection. After having His disci- ples with him for a year and a half, Jesus asks them, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (Matt. 16:13). They mention John the Baptist and Elijah and others. Then He asks them, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16:15). Peter responds for the group and says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). Christ in Greek means “Messiah” in Hebrew. This is the first time that the disciples were confident enough

QUESTION 7 231

to say in so many words that Jesus was the Messiah for whom the Jews had been waiting so long.

Jesus’ response was to say, “...I will build My church ”

(Matt. 16:18). This is the first time that Jesus mentioned the word Church. Why did He wait so long? Jesus couldn’t tell His disciples why He came until they first knew who He was. He came to build His Church.

Breaking Down the Gates of Hades

Here is where spiritual warfare enters the picture. In the same breath in which he says “I will build My church,” Jesus adds, “And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). There is no question that the gates of Hades will attempt to prevent Jesus from building His Church, but they will not succeed. If the Church is to grow, the gates of Hades need to be broken down. This indicates a confrontation with the forces of darkness, or what we call spiritual warfare.

What exactly are these keys to the Kingdom? Jesus says,

“. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and what- ever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 16:19). This is where binding and loosing are directly related to spiritual warfare.

Binding the Strong Man

The disciples had already heard Jesus use the verb to bind. A few chapters back, in Matthew 12, Jesus was talking about warfare, namely, the conflict between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of satan. He then says to His disciples, “How can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house” (Matt. 12:29).

Jesus was carefully instructing His disciples about their role in extending the Kingdom of God through invading the

kingdom of satan. Only the most naive would imagine that an aggressive assault on the kingdom of satan would be met with anything but a desperate fight. That is why satan and any of his principalities or powers attempting to stop the spread of the Gospel must be bound. By whom? By the disciples of Jesus who are carrying the Good News to the lost.

Loosing is the flip side of binding. Binding prevents the demonic forces from doing what they intend. Loosing reverses what they may have already accomplished. Jesus used both terms when He ministered to the woman who had suffered from a spirit of infirmity for 18 years: “So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath” (Luke 13:16).

Binding and loosing, therefore, are extremely important weapons which must be found in the arsenal of all those who desire to win the lost for Jesus Christ.

Journeying From Debate to Decision

This serves as a reminder of something that must be repeated frequently. Strategic-level spiritual warfare is never to be seen as an end in itself; rather, it is a means to the end of world evangelization. When we realize that the eternal des- tiny of people may turn on whether we decide to obey Jesus and engage the enemy on all levels, we begin to realize that we’d better turn from debate to decision. This is what Jesus taught His disciples, and His disciples obeyed their Master.

QUESTION 8

As He did with His disciples, Jesus commands us to cast demons out of people, but He gives no explicit command to cast demons out of cities or territories.

Therefore, shouldn’t we restrict our ministry of spiritual warfare to delivering individuals?

J

He says, “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons. ” It is interesting that, at least in

this case, when Jesus began listing signs of the Kingdom, he listed casting out demons as number one.

In fact, the very first time that Jesus sent His disciples out on their own, He “gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out” (Matt. 10:1). Who were these “unclean spirits” that Jesus mentioned? What level of spiritual warfare was He talk- ing about? Were they ground-level demons? Were they occult- level forces of darkness? Were they territorial spirits? The obvious answer to those questions is that Jesus didn’t specify.

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All of them, however, would logically be included in the gen- eral overall category of “unclean spirits.”

The Spirit Named legion

Shortly before Jesus sent out His disciples, they had been with Him when He cast the spirit named legion out of the demonized man who lived in the cemetery in the country of the Gadarenes. This story is told in Matthew 8, Mark 5, and Luke 8, and each account gives some details that we do not find in the others. The upshot of all the stories is that here we are not dealing with your average demon who may cause an individual to be in bondage to anger or lust or greed or infir- mity or whatever, but rather, with something much more ominous.

The fact that Jesus interrogated this collection of evil spir- its and found that their name was legion was the first clue that this was one of the higher-level cases. Another was their request that “he would not send them out of the country” (Mark 5:10). Here we have a clear reference to a geographical terri- tory, namely, “the country.” So while the demons were clearly inhabiting a human being, they also had some important iden- tification with a territory. Indeed, Jesus decided not to cast them out of the territory, but rather into a herd of swine.

I mention this because dealing with legion had to be fresh in the minds of the disciples when Jesus sent them out on their own with “power and authority over all demons” (Luke 9:1).

It is true that Jesus did not specify explicitly that the disci- ples were to confront spirits on the level of legion or other ter- ritorial spirits. But this should not be the basis for an argument that Jesus would have prohibited it or that strategic- level spiritual warfare is not God’s will. There are many things we do on the assurance that we are in the will of God that Jesus didn’t address at all. He never recommended speaking

QUESTION 8 235

in tongues, for example. He didn’t even command His disci- ples to plant churches. But He did tell us to take authority over evil spirits.

The Definitive Word All

Does that authority include higher-ranking spirits? I have previously referred to Luke 10:19 which, at least in my under- standing of the verse, is specific enough to answer the ques- tion. Jesus said to His disciples, “I give you authority…over all the power of the enemy....” That word all is definitive. I realize that sometimes the word all is used in Scripture in a figurative sense, but I do not think that this is one of those cases. I think that Jesus literally meant that He gives us authority over demons of every rank.

QUESTION 9

How do  you know that there is  some kind of organized hierarchy among demons? What are the different ranks in such a hierarchy?

A

not all demons are equal. There are some demons who com- mand other demons. How do we know?

The Nature of Satan

One of the ways that we arrive at the conclusion that there must be a hierarchy of demons is to consider the nature of satan. I brought this up in my answer to Question 6, but now we need to look at it in more detail. While satan is extremely powerful, as I have mentioned more than once, he neverthe- less is not God. God is the Creator, and satan is a creature. At one point in time, God created the creature we know as satan. Because satan is not God, he cannot have the attributes of God. He is not omnipotent, or all powerful. He is not omnis- cient, or all knowing. And, more to the point, he is not omnipresent, or in all places at all times.

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Because he is not God and only a creature, satan can only be in one place at one time. He may be able to get from one place to another very quickly, but still he has to leave where he is now in order to get to where he wants to be. When we think about this, it makes sense; but very often we don’t stop to think, and therefore we imagine that satan himself is all over. When we are doing spiritual warfare and we say, “I rebuke you, satan,” the chances are good that he himself does not hear us saying that. It’s not like praying “Our Father in Heaven” and knowing that God does hear us every time.

The Number of Demons

However, while satan himself might not be around us, we know for sure that there are supernatural forces of evil in our vicinity. The number of evil spirits whose activities are ulti- mately orchestrated by satan is huge. No one knows the exact number, but the Bible does give us a clue or two. Many Bible scholars believe that about a third of all the angels whom God created have fallen and are now demons (see Rev. 12:9). In Revelation 5:11 we read that the angels around the throne of the Lamb numbered 10,000 times 10,000, totaling 100 million. All of the angels might not have been there at the time, because in Revelation 9:16 we read about an angelic army of 200 million. If the 200 million represent good angels, then there would be something like 100 million dark angels.

I am not arguing for the final validity of this figure; my point is only that there are a lot of demonic spirits in and around the world. There are so many that they cannot all report to satan personally. Therefore, in order to maintain the communication system in the realm of darkness, more than likely, there is a hierarchy through which lesser demons receive their orders and file their reports to greater demons who eventually can get their message to their commander-in- chief, satan.

Archangels

QUESTION 9 239

Another related way of arriving at the conclusion that there is a hierarchy of evil is to draw on what we know about good angels. We know that some of the good angels have the position of archangel, which by definition means that they have authority over other angels, just like an archbishop has authority over other bishops. One of these archangels (see 1 Thess. 4:16) is Michael who appears in Daniel chapter 10 and again in Revelation 12 (see Dan. 10:13,21; Rev. 12:7). We read about a battle between Michael and his angels against the dragon, satan, and his angels (see Rev. 12:7). The plain way to understand this is to assume that each army was organized the way military forces are organized, namely operating with an internal hierarchy.

This is how we know that demons function in a hierarchy of darkness. In my mind it is a sound conclusion. However, when it comes to actually defining the different ranks, I don’t think that we can be so sure.

The Rankings

It would be helpful if the Bible clearly stated the rankings and the relative positions assigned to angelic beings, but other than mentioning archangels, it does not.

The closest we might come to this is Ephesians 6:12: “For we 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.” Are these titles of positions within a hierarchy of evil? Some think yes, and some think no.

Tom White Versus Walter Wink

Tom White is one who thinks yes. In one of his books, he has a section entitled “Hell’s Corporate Headquarters,” in

which he argues that a reasonable interpretation of Ephesians 6:12 is to assume a ranking of satan’s hierarchy in descending order. He sees the “principalities” (archai) as “high-level satanic princes set over nations and regions of the earth.” These would fit the definition of territorial spirits. He sees the “powers” (exousias) as cosmic beings who arbitrate human affairs. He sees the “rulers of the darkness of this age” (kosmokratoras) as “the many types of evil spirits that com- monly afflict people.”1 In other words, these would be demons that we deal with in ground-level spiritual warfare.

Walter Wink is an example of one who thinks no. He rec- ognizes that there are different kinds of dark powers, but he says, “The language of power in the New Testament is impre- cise, liquid, interchangeable, and unsystematic. An author uses the same word differently in different contexts, or several different words for the same idea.”2 He points out how key words used in the Greek New Testament for the powers, such as archon, exousia, dynamis, kyriotes, and others, are not used as consistently as we might wish. Wink’s conclusion, therefore, is that we should not try to arrange these in some hierarchical order

To be honest, I see some merit in each of the arguments I have cited. This is one of those areas where I would not want to be overly dogmatic. I suppose that I find myself leaning slightly toward Walter Wink and using a good bit of caution in attempting to name the different ranks in satan’s hierarchy. At the same time, I have no personal doubt at all that there is a satanic hierarchy out there, which we must deal with when we engage the enemy in spiritual warfare.

QUESTION 10

Is it essential to learn the names of the principalities over a city as a part

of the process of city transformation?

How can such a thing be justified?

I

are created in the image God designed them to be.

Communication Among Demons

One of the implications of this is that demons com- municate. We may not know exactly how they talk among themselves or what language they use, but in order to com- municate they need to know each other’s names. Numerous

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cases have been recorded and verified of demons speaking to humans in the human’s own vernacular. In other instances demons have spoken out loud in a language foreign to the lis- tener. Demons also respond to and obey human commands when the command is given with the authority of the name of Jesus.

A good example is Jesus speaking to the unclean spirit in the demonized Gadarene man. Using the man’s voice the demon spoke to Jesus in vernacular Aramaic: “What have I  to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You  by God that You do not torment me” (Mark 5:7). Then Jesus spoke directly to the demon: “What is your name?” (Mark 5:9). In other words, Jesus knew that demons have names. And, as we well know, this demon’s name turned out to be legion.

Old Testament and New Testament

Through many parts of the Old Testament, demons are named by name (see 2 Kings 17:29-31). The fact that these are often thought of as deities, or gods or goddesses with a small g, does not alter the fact that they are demons. They are mostly the higher-ranking demons that we deal with through strategic-level spiritual warfare as opposed to lower-ranking demons that we confront in ground-level spiritual warfare. But they all have names. Think, for example, of  baal (see     2 Kings 21:3) or ashtoreth and milcom (see 1 Kings 11:5) or many others in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, many demons other than legion are also revealed by name. We have, for example, beelzebub (see Luke 11:15) and wormwood (see Rev. 8:11) and abaddon or apollyon (see Rev. 9:11). It was very important that when Paul went to evangelize Ephesus, he knew that the name of the demon that had the city in bondage was diana (see Acts 19).

Proper Names and Functional Names

Names of demons can be either proper names, as are all of the above, or functional names. For example, when Jesus healed a crippled woman on the Sabbath, He said that satan had her bound for 18 years. Satan, of course, did not do this personally, but rather, he delegated the evil task to a subordi- nate demon, which Jesus called by a functional name, a “spirit of infirmity” (Luke 13:11). The demon no doubt had a proper name as well, but it was not necessary that Jesus know or use the proper name when the functional name would do.

When Paul went to Philippi, he encountered an extremely powerful spirit. It had located itself in a slave girl and had given her the power to tell fortunes accurately. This demon talked out loud through the girl, and it had a name. Our Eng- lish translators of the Bible decided to translate its Greek name, pneuma pythona, with a functional name, “spirit of div- ination” (Acts 16:16). However, as you can see even without knowing much Greek, a literal translation would be “python spirit.” Another way of wording this would be “a demon named python.”

As the story unfolds, the proper name becomes important because at that time python was a well-known, high-ranking spirit who guarded the oracle at Delphi. The oracle was a female priest located in the temple of apollo. This was one of the principal centers of counterfeit prophecy in the ancient world. Paul, then, wasn’t confronted by any ordinary, low- ranking spirit of divination. He was confronted instead by a principality named python. We know this because the proper name of the demon has been revealed. In this case the proper name is more useful than the functional name.

The  Advantage of  Knowing the Name

The question asks whether it is essential to know the names of the principalities over a city. No, it is not essential to

know the proper name or the functional name in every case. However, there is an advantage in knowing the name if possi- ble. It is better to know the name or names of the dominating spirits than not. Why? Let me answer by quoting from the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Keep in mind that this enormous reference work is written by straight- laced biblical scholars whose driving interest is historical and linguistic analysis, not spiritual warfare. Here is the quote: “In the faith and thought of virtually every nation the name is inextricably bound up with the person, whether of a man, a god, or a demon. Anyone who knows the name of a being can exert power over it” (emphasis added).1

I have heard some people say that we cannot depend on statements like this because they are not in the Bible. I have never been able to figure out why some have a problem with extrabiblical knowledge. Most of what we all learn from kindergarten through high school is not found in the Bible, but that material has become a very important part of our lives. Human beings, both Christian and non-Christian, who have experience dealing with supernatural, demonic powers know how important it is to know the names of the demons, and there is nothing particularly spiritual in rejecting this knowledge.

Discovery of the Names

How do we discover the names? This is a task of spiritual mapping. Sometimes the name of a spirit, such as diana of the Ephesians, is obvious. Sometimes historical research will reveal the identity of the spirits. Sometimes God will give rev- elation concerning the spirits. Then again, certain occult prac- titioners who are serving the dark side may, for one reason or another, reveal some firsthand information about their mas- ters. The Holy Spirit will provide discernment to know whether such information is valid or not.

I will not forget our pioneering effort at strategic-level spiritual warfare in Resistencia, Argentina, with Ed Silvoso in the early 1990s. Victor Lorenzo was the one assigned to do the preliminary spiritual mapping of the city. It wasn’t long before he had identified the six demonic spirits who had been keep- ing Resistencia in spiritual darkness: pombero, curupí, reina del cielo, freemasonry, witchcraft, and san la muerte. With this information, the intercessors, led by people like Cindy Jacobs, Doris Wagner, and Eduardo Lorenzo, were able to target their prayers, bind the strongmen, and open the heavens so that a significant degree of spiritual transformation could come to the city and its people.

In his book Taking Our Cities for God, John Dawson reports a successful experience with spiritual warfare in Cordoba, Argentina. After considerable struggle, a breakthrough came when the team discovered the name of the ruling principality of the city. In this case it was a functional name, “the pride of life.” Once the intercessors knew that, they could come against it by ministering in the opposite spirit—humility— and they saw measurable spiritual breakthrough in Cordoba as a result.2

QUESTION 11

The name of your book is Warfare Prayer. Since that is not a biblical term, why do you use it?

T

concordance.

Spiritual Pacifists

In the Church today there are a considerable number of spiritual pacifists who would do just about anything to avoid conflict and warfare. For example, I remember a few years back when the United Methodist Church named an official committee to revise their hymnal. On the committee were sev- eral spiritual pacifists who managed to persuade the commit- tee to remove the classic hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers” from the hymnal. However, when the word got out to the believers in the pews that this was what their hymnal commit- tee was doing, they initiated a grassroots protest which even- tually forced the committee to change its mind and leave “Onward Christian Soldiers” in the hymnal.1

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One of the reasons for this was that the Methodist believ- ers knew their Bibles. The Old Testament, for a starter, is full of physical warfare, much of which was explicitly endorsed by God Himself. The New Testament from beginning to end is a book describing how Jesus invaded the kingdom of satan with the Kingdom of God. While Jesus is known from the Old Testament as “Prince of Peace” (see Isa. 9:6), in the New Testa- ment He sees Himself more as a warrior. Jesus says, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matt. 10:34). Jesus was no pacifist. He knew that true peace will never come until the enemy—satan—is defeated. Satan’s defeat began on the cross, but it does not ter- minate until he is cast into the lake of fire in Revelation 20. Then the whole world will literally fulfill the desires of the Prince of Peace. Until then, like it or not, we are at war.

Good Soldiers Engage in Warfare

That is why Paul would write to Timothy and remind him that he was called to be a warrior. He admonishes Timothy that “according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare” (1 Tim. 1:18). He goes on to say that Timothy must endure hardship “as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” because those “engaged in warfare” must not be distracted (2 Tim. 2:3-4). Neither Paul nor Timothy was a pacifist.

In fact, when Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he saw their life for God as a life of warfare. The believers there were con- stantly battling the forces of evil under diana and other high- ranking demons. When Paul tells the Ephesians to “take up the whole armor of God” (Eph. 6:13), he is using the analogy of the Roman legions. The Roman legions were well known for their aggressive warfare designed to expand the borders of the Roman Empire. Paul was encouraging the Ephesians to follow

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their example in the spiritual realm, aggressively extending the Kingdom of God.

Since warfare clearly is not an option but rather an obliga- tion in the Bible, I chose to use the word in my term warfare prayer. I attached the word prayer to it because warfare obvi- ously requires weapons, and prayer is a major weapon of spir- itual warfare (see Eph. 6:18).

The Spiritual Cannon

The Bible says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are spiritual (see 2 Cor. 10:4). I agree with the- ologian and author Clinton Arnold, who concludes, “If Paul were to summarize the primary way of gaining access to the power of God for waging successful spiritual warfare, he would unwaveringly affirm that it is through prayer.”1 In fact—as previously mentioned—I would go so far as to say that prayer is a bit more than just another one of the weapons; it is rather the cannon through which all the other weapons of spiritual warfare must be fired. There is power in the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus, binding and loosing, praise and wor- ship, the Word of God, and other weapons of spiritual war- fare. But none of them will be everything that it is supposed to be unless it is accompanied by powerful prayer.

On the basis of these biblical concepts, I coined the phrase warfare prayer, and I used it as the title for this book. Keep in mind that warfare prayer is only one kind of prayer. There are many other kinds. For example, Richard Foster has chapters on 21 different kinds of prayer in his excellent book Prayer. Only two of his descriptions, authoritative prayer and radical prayer, would approach what I like to call warfare prayer. To quantify it, this means that a full 90 percent of the prayers that people pray are not warfare prayer. Foster’s book and this book admittedly deal with a very specialized kind of prayer.2

One more thing. While it is true that warfare prayer is not a phrase found in the Bible, such a thing should not seem strange. For example, the term Trinity is widely used, but it is not found in the Bible. When it comes right down to it, the phrase Holy Bible is not found in the Bible either. Many other examples could be given to convince us that extrabiblical terms are acceptable so long as they point to biblical truths.

QUESTION 12

Terminology is one thing, but there  does not seem to be any direct instruction in the New Testament for engaging in strategic-level spiritual warfare. Doesn’t this go beyond the

established bounds of Scripture?

T

that whatever we do, presumably in the service of God, needs to be found someplace in the Bible. Let’s think about that a bit.

Evangelical Christianity has never established as a princi- ple that we must justify everything we do by pointing to an explicit biblical endorsement. On the other hand, it has clearly established that we must never allow ourselves to teach or do anything that is contrary to Scripture.

Reasons We Worship on Sunday

Take, for example, Sunday worship. Many Christians have chosen Sunday as their weekly day for worship, even though there is no direct instruction in the New Testament

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that they should. In fact, as my Seventh-Day Adventist friends like to remind me, Jesus and the 12 apostles worshiped on Sat- urday. Those of us who worship on Sunday continue to do so because we feel that we are not doing anything contrary to Scripture by choosing Sunday.

We take many other such things for granted. Many of us celebrate Christmas and Easter, for example. We build church buildings. We conduct Sunday School programs. We ordain clergy. We hold citywide evangelistic campaigns. We oppose the institution of slavery. Look over that list, and you will realize that none of those things is explicitly suggested by Scripture.

Knowledge of God and His Kingdom

Many of us continue to do these things with a clear con- science, however, because we feel that we know enough about God and about the Kingdom of God and about biblical princi- ples of Christian behavior to conclude that God approves of them. I say “many of us” because we all need to be aware that every item on that list is or has been subject to criticism on the part of some members of the Body of Christ. They can argue that those of us who do them are disobeying God. Read their arguments, and you will see that they usually support their point of view by arguing that such behavior goes beyond the bounds of Scripture.

One of my friends who was debating the issue of strategic- level spiritual warfare with me used this argument. He said, “If Paul wanted us to do strategic-level spiritual warfare, he would have said so in one of his epistles!” He seemed sur- prised when I responded that if this were a principle, we would have to apply it not only to strategic-level spiritual warfare but to evangelism as well. He was surprised because he strongly believed in soul winning and in evangelizing his friends and neighbors. But nowhere in his epistles does Paul

QUESTION 12 253

tell his readers that they should move out and lead unbeliev- ers to Christ. When my friend realized that this was the case, he quickly reconsidered his argument against strategic-level spiritual warfare.

The Gospels and Acts

I know that this seems strange to those who are thinking about it for the first time. How do we get into this mindset? Traditional evangelicals seem to look primarily to the epistles for biblical directions for ministry. They will often interpret the Gospels through the framework that they develop from the epistles. Other believers, Anabaptists for example, tend to develop their initial framework from the Gospels and move on from there. Many Charismatics, for their part, like to start with Acts as their basis for interpretation.

Through my early ministry I functioned as a dispensa- tional, epistle-oriented evangelical. Consequently, I had blocked out much of the dynamic ministry of the Holy Spirit. I have now been trying to get away from that as much as pos- sible. Once I began taking at face value the teachings of the Gospels and Acts, I could better understand spiritual warfare.

QUESTION 13

Paul may not have stressed evangelism in his epistles, but in the Book of Acts we see him actually doing the ministry of evangelism. Why don’t we see examples

A

s a matter of fact, we do see several of those examples in the Book of Acts. Questions like this come up from time

to time because, at least previous to 1990, pastors and teachers were not doing much to instruct the Church about strategic- level spiritual warfare. Christian people in general knew very little about it. Consequently, when biblical scholars sat down to write commentaries on Acts, they were not mentally pro- grammed to recognize strategic-level spiritual warfare when they saw it. It was not taught in seminaries and Bible schools, so most pastors were also ignorant of it.

Acts of the Holy Spirit

I taught the Book of Acts for 13 years during the time when I was learning about strategic-level spiritual warfare. When it became evident that I had begun to see things in Acts that I couldn’t find in the commentaries, I decided to write a

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new commentary that would address many of the pressing questions that are now being raised throughout the Body of Christ. I spent several years on this project, and a 500-page commentary, The Book of Acts: A Commentary, is now available.1 I will give you a sample of what I found, but I highly recom- mend that you secure The Book of Acts if you are interested in understanding strategic-level spiritual warfare in greater depth.

The three most prominent examples of Paul engaging in strategic-level spiritual warfare are Acts 13 (Paul’s ministry in western Cyprus), Acts 16 (Paul’s confrontation in Philippi), and Acts 19 (Paul’s evangelization of Ephesus and the province of Asia Minor). Let’s look at them.

The Power Encounter with Elymas

Acts 13 is a notable chapter because it begins with Paul and Barnabas being sent out from Antioch to evangelize the Gentiles. I find it interesting that the first actual story that Luke tells in the Book of Acts about the incredible missionary career of the apostle Paul involves strategic-level spiritual warfare linked with evangelism. It might not be far-fetched to suppose that this could have been an intentional prophetic statement by Luke. In other words, Luke could have been set- ting forth, right from the beginning, a determinative pattern for Paul’s subsequent ministry.

The dramatic power encounter that began Paul’s evangel- istic initiative in Paphos, western Cyprus, is recorded in Acts 13:6-12. There Paul had reached the highest political official in the land, Proconsul Sergius Paulus. When Paul began to share the Gospel, he was strongly opposed by an occult practitioner, Elymas, whose assignment from the enemy was to keep Sergius Paulus and the whole region in spiritual darkness. Paul did not hesitate to confront Elymas and, through him, the spirits who were empowering him. Among other things, he sharply addressed the sorcerer as “you son of the devil” (Acts 13:10). Paul proclaimed a temporary curse of blindness on the

QUESTION 13 257

false prophet, and when the power of God came in such a vis- ible way, the proconsul was astonished. The result? Sergius Paulus was saved, and the region opened to the Gospel.

Why is this regarded as strategic-level spiritual warfare? Ordinarily a power encounter with a sorcerer or a false prophet would be seen as occult-level spiritual warfare. However, this case is different because it was directly connected with a whole region and with the political authority over the region, the pro- consul. It is safe to presume that the territorial spirit over west- ern Cyprus, although invisible, would have been personally involved in the scenario. A defeat of the chief human instru- ment of the principality, Elymas, would have been a defeat of the principality as well. Evangelism, in this case, was very much tied in with strategic-level spiritual warfare.

The Spirit Named Python in Philippi

When Paul arrived in Philippi he found himself in a simi- lar situation. This time, however, we know the name of the territorial spirit whom Paul encountered. As I have said, it is not essential to know the name of the spirit, but it helps. This incident is related in Acts 16:16-18. It involves a slave girl who was empowered by a “spirit of divination.” In Question 10 I explained how our English translators chose to use the func- tional name “a spirit of divination,” when a more literal trans- lation of the Greek would have been “a spirit named python,” the proper name. Python was as well known by the people of Philippi back then as kali is known today by the people of India. Python was associated with the temple of apollo in the nearby city of Delphi, one of the most notorious seats of satan at that time.

In the visible world, it might seem that Paul’s confrontation was with a slave girl who told fortunes. But in the invisible world it was much more than that. Through the fortune-teller, python had been fulfilling his assignment from satan to keep the whole city of Philippi in spiritual darkness. What leads us to

this conclusion? When Paul addressed the spirit directly and said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” (Acts 16:18), the impact of what had then transpired in the invisible world was not just felt by the slave girl, as it would have been if we were looking at a simple case of ground-level spiritual warfare, but by the whole territory. The issue was not just the salvation of a soul, but the transformation of a city. The political authorities were so shaken by this that they had Paul and Silas beaten and thrown into prison.

Here again, strategic-level spiritual warfare was a vital ingredient of Paul’s missionary work in Philippi. The result? Another strong church was planted.

Diana of the Ephesians

The most classical combination of ground-level, occult- level, and strategic-level spiritual warfare is seen in the evan- gelization of the city of Ephesus and the province of Asia Minor. Here the apostle John finishes what Paul began. Paul’s warfare is recorded in Acts 19:11-20, and John’s experiences are found in subsequent history (see the account in Question 1).

I explained this in some detail in Question 1, so I do not need to repeat myself here. I wanted to bring it up once again, however, because the question I am attempting to answer is based on the assumption that there is not much material on strategic-level spiritual warfare in the book of Acts, while there is a good bit of material on evangelism. My contention is that they go together. Look what happened here in Ephesus: “And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:10). Paul wouldn’t have thought of separating the two. When he wrote back to the believers in that new church in Ephesus, he said, “For we 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” (Eph. 6:12).

QUESTION 14

If we examine standard Christian  theological works written across the centuries, we do not find sections in any of  them dealing with strategic- level spiritual warfare. What do  you think of  this?

W

and when He does, the new wine should go into new wine- skins. I think that this is implied in the phrase: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches,” which appears no fewer than seven times in chapters 2 and 3 of the book of Revelation. This is present tense. God has spoken in the past, and we constantly need to remind ourselves of that. But He also continues to reveal new things to His people. The- ologians generally concern themselves with systematizing what God has said in the past.

The Lag Time  Is  10 Years

As I have mentioned from time to time, the notion of strategic-level spiritual warfare did not begin to spread

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widely through the Body of Christ until around 1990. Even in these days of the information superhighway, it normally takes at least 10 years for professional theologians to place a new action or revelation of God toward the top of their agendas. Consequently, I would expect sections on strategic-level spiri- tual warfare to begin to appear in systematic theologies any day now (some pro; some con), but I am not really surprised that it is taking this long. To refer back to the diffusion of inno- vation theory that I explained in the introduction, theologians usually begin to pick up on issues toward the end of the mid- dle adoption stage and throughout the late adoption stage.

By way of example, take the most complete and respected systematic theology to date of the Charismatic renewal move- ment, Renewal Theology by J. Rodman Williams. This was pro- duced between 1988 and 1992, a time when Christian leaders were just beginning to minister in strategic-level spiritual war- fare and few people were talking about it. The book is 1,500 pages long, and there is no reference in the index to spiritual warfare or warfare.1

The mentality that we should postpone new forms of thinking or of ministry until the professional theologians first work them through is a recipe for preserving the status quo. Most of the significant changes in the life of the Church have come through pioneers who have experimented with them in real ministry situations. I agree with Ray Anderson, a respected theologian in his own right, who says, “One funda- mental thesis will control this discussion—the thesis that min- istry precedes and produces theology, not the reverse.”2

The Ministry of All Believers

Has Been Ordained by the Holy Spirit

Let me give you an example. Just about everybody I know agrees that the ministry of the Church should be done by the believers themselves through the spiritual gifts which God

QUESTION 14 261

gives to them. The idea that only the ordained clergy should do ministry would be defended by very few, if any, these days. However, you do not find this in the standard theologies of the Church before 1970. It is not in the works of Martin Luther, John Calvin, or John Wesley. Martin Luther popularized the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, but he never under- stood the ministry of all believers: a big difference. The min- istry of all believers is one of the most significant changes in Church life in all of history, but it did not come because our professional theologians suggested it. It came because there were many ordinary Church leaders who had ears to hear what the Spirit began saying to the churches several decades ago.

Theologians Are Spiritual Lifeguards

By saying this I am not discounting the role that God has given to theologians. I am just trying to put it into perspective. Theologians are like spiritual lifeguards who can keep us from crossing lines leading to dangerous heresies. But they gener- ally work off of agendas previously created by pioneers, activists, and innovators, usually avoiding such roles for themselves. That is why many theologians are only now beginning to address issues related to strategic-level spiritual warfare.

I can recommend one newer theological work which digs deeply into the theological implications of the ministry of strategic-level spiritual warfare developed in the 1990s: God at War: The Bible and Spiritual Conflict by Gregory A. Boyd.3 My book Confronting the Powers is also quite theologi- cal,4 but I am not regarded, as is Gregory Boyd, as a profes- sional theologian.

QUESTION 15

How about history? Do we have examples in Church history where Christian leaders used strategic-level spiritual warfare as part of their evangelistic advance?

T

Gospel.

The Partial Nature of History

Before I give a few examples, let me introduce another thought. Suppose we thoroughly combed Church history and found nothing about spiritual warfare or territorial spirits?

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Even if that were the case, it would not be sufficient grounds to reject strategic-level spiritual warfare categorically. Why? First, because we cannot presume that everything that has ever happened was written down by historians, especially when the historians themselves might not have believed in strategic-level spiritual warfare.

Second, further research into historical documents could at any time turn up new material such as this. All historians agree that historical data is, by nature, partial. There is always room for new discoveries.

Third, it is incorrect to suppose that God does nothing new. God is sovereign, and He can begin this year or next year or any time in the future to do something new that He never did before. I gave an example of this in my answer to the last question in relationship to the widespread agreement that we now have on the ministry of all believers. We now live in the first generation when, as far as Church history records, the ministry of the Church is being delegated to and actually done by ordinary believers. Who cares if we can’t find it in Church history?

Origin of Christian Rome

Fortunately, in this case, we have more historical exam- ples of strategic-level spiritual warfare than we do of the min- istry of all believers. One of our chief historical sources is Professor Ramsay MacMullen, a highly respected secular his- torian. He is the Dunham professor of history and classics at Yale University. MacMullen’s specialty happens to be the his- tory of the Roman Empire. A primary challenge of any histo- rian of the Roman Empire is to attempt to explain how that empire, once having no Christians at all, within 400 years became totally Christian from the emperor on down.

Ramsay MacMullen rises to the challenge with his schol- arly book The Christianization of the Roman Empire A.D. 100-400.

MacMullen’s remarkable conclusion is that the chief factor contributing to the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire was casting out demons! The book is full of concrete his- torical examples, many of them of course, involving ground- level spiritual warfare and occult-level spiritual warfare. But examples of strategic-level spiritual warfare are also cited. He speaks, for example, of “head-on confrontation with supernat- ural beings inferior to God.”1

Going Head-on Against Demonic Principalities

MacMullen claims that we find a great deal of, to use my terminology, strategic-level spiritual warfare in history. He even gives reasons why some other historians may have refused to mention it in their books even though they knew about it. He says:

Driving all competition from the field head-on was crucial. The world, after all, held many dozens and hundreds of gods. Choice was open to everybody. It could thus be only a most exceptional force that would actually displace alternatives and compel alle- giance; it could only be the most probative demon- strations that would work. We should therefore assign as much weight to this, the chief instrument of conversion, as the best earliest reporters do (emphasis added).2

Let’s take a look at a few of the prominent figures of Christian history who have gone on record as recognizing the importance of territorial spirits and of strategic-level spiritual warfare. I’ll try to simplify things a bit and do it by century.

Second Century: Justin Martyr

In “Dialogue with Trypho,” Justin Martyr affirms that there is a principality of darkness assigned to the city of Damascus. Not only that, but Justin believed that the same territorial spirit also had power over all of Arabia. Justin says:

That expression in Isaiah, “He shall take the power of Damascus and spoils of Samaria” (Isaiah 8:4) foretold [that] the power of the evil demon that dwelt in Dam- ascus should be overcome by Christ as soon as He was born, and this is proved to have happened.3

The “power of Damascus’” was obviously one of the “prin- cipalities” and “powers” that Paul wrote about in Ephesians 6:12.

The three wise men, who came to worship the baby Jesus, came out of that part of the world. Justin Martyr has an inter- esting comment on that incident. He says:

The Magi who were held in bondage for the commis- sion of all evil deeds through the power of that demon, by coming to worship Christ, show that they have revolted from that dominion which held them captive, and this [spirit of darkness] the Scripture has showed us to reside in Damascus.4

Justin Martyr was one Church father who believed that high-ranking spirits do have territorial jurisdiction.

Third Century: Saint Gregory the Wonderworker

One of the most famous missionaries of the first centuries was Gregory, named the Wonderworker, because there were so many supernatural signs and wonders that accompanied his evangelistic efforts. His first convert, for example, was an occult practitioner who was accustomed to engaging in evil spiritual transactions with a demon who occupied a certain temple dedicated to apollo. This demon was a principality known throughout the whole area as one who had, in the past, been invited to use the temple by a pagan priest. Such an invi- tation would afford the demon a “legal” right to the place.

Gregory actually was sleeping in the temple one night when the demon attacked him. The battle was engaged,

Gregory had accumulated enough past experience in spiritual warfare to invoke the full power of God, and the demon was evicted. The demon later appeared to the pagan temple priest and told him that he had been sent out of the temple and that he could never return without Gregory’s permission. When the shaman saw the irrefutable evidence that Jesus Christ, through Gregory, had the power over that well-known territo- rial spirit, “The priest’s faith in the god was shattered. Return- ing to St. Gregory, he became a catechumen, and subsequently, by holiness of life, proved worthy to succeed [Gregory] as bishop.”5

Ramsay MacMullen tells of another of the many experi- ences of Gregory confronting territorial spirits, this one with a fascinating twist:

And the [demon] himself, being enraged by the terri- tory conquered from him by the bishop [Gregory], where once both countryside and chief city were in the grip of demons, inspires a woman to defame him. She is a prostitute, and accuses him as being one of her lovers, but he exorcises the evil spirit from her also (emphasis added).6

Were there evangelistic results of Gregory’s strategic-level spiritual warfare? He saw an abundant spiritual harvest. His- torian Kenneth Scott Latourette reports: “When [Gregory] died…it is said that in contrast with the seventeen Christians whom he found on his accession to the episcopal see, only seventeen of the populace remained pagan.”7

Fourth Century: Saint Martin of Tours

Martin of Tours, the famous pioneer missionary to France, spread the Gospel by boldly invading demonic territory, such as sacred pagan shrines, and in front of great crowds by humiliating and shattering the power of the long-entrenched principalities of darkness.

In one village, for example, Martin discovered that the ter- ritorial spirit holding the village in bondage occupied a cer- tain huge pine tree. Martin proceeded to challenge the demon by starting to chop down the pine tree. The people immedi- ately rose up against him, and they challenged Martin to a power encounter. They dared Martin to stand to the side of the tree, where it was obviously leaning and certain to fall, and allow them to chop down the tree with him under it. If Mar- tin’s God was powerful enough, He would protect the mis- sionary. Martin agreed.

The pagans, shouting and laughing, began to cut the tree down. The whole village had gathered to witness the specta- cle. The huge tree suddenly made a loud cracking noise and began to crash. Martin calmly held up his hand and rebuked the demon-infested tree in the name of Jesus Christ. Martin’s biographer, Sulpitius, reports:

Then, indeed, after the manner of a spinning top (one might have thought it driven back), [the tree] swept around to the opposite side, to such a degree that it almost crushed the rustics who had taken their places there in what was deemed a safe spot.8

And the evangelistic outcome of such warfare?

The well-known result was that on that day salvation came to that region. For there was hardly one of that immense multitude of heathens who did not express a desire for the imposition of hands, and, abandoning his impious errors, made a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus (emphasis added).9

Sixth Century: Saint Benedict of Nursia

Benedict has gone down in history as the founder of monasticism. To this day, many orders of monks follow varia- tions of his Benedictine Rule, which he wrote at his monastery on Monte Cassino in Italy.

When Benedict secured Monte Cassino, he found that it had long ago become a notorious center of witchcraft, idolatry, and pagan rites. Deities such as venus, jupiter, mithra, and apollo were regularly worshiped there. Many regarded it as a seat of satan.

Monte Cassino was a spiritual challenge for Benedict, like waving a red flag in front of a bull. His first act when he arrived was to complete a 40-day fast. Then he began to evan- gelize, and he won some of those living there to the Lord. Ready for spiritual warfare, he chose to focus on apollo, one of the highest-ranking spirits under satan. Here is how Hugh Edmund Ford describes Benedict’s battle plan: “The man of God, coming hither, beat in pieces the idol of Apollo, over- threw the altar, set fire on the woods, and in the temple of Apollo built the oratory of St. Martin. On this spot the saint built his monastery.”10

Once again the evangelistic results were incredible. Not just a few souls were saved, but a whole territory, dominated for centuries by the principalities of darkness, was set free. Saint Benedict’s biographer, Theodore Maynard, says, “Every last vestige of paganism was eradicated from the plateau that towered over the district.”11

Eighth Century: Saint Boniface Battles Thor and His Oak Tree

Boniface was an English missionary evangelizing the pagan region of Hesse in Germany. When he arrived, he found an animistic people group, which for untold genera- tions had worshiped a territorial spirit named thor. Boniface, who had already been through several episodes of spiritual warfare by then, knew that if he was going to see a significant move of God for the salvation of the Hessian people, he had to engage in strategic-level spiritual warfare and do battle with thor himself.

He discovered that the central physical power point for thor, his evil activities, and his command of other demonic forces was an ancient oak tree, around which the Hessians would habitually worship the powers of darkness. Boniface decided to take the direct approach. He issued a public head- on challenge to thor at the site of the oak tree. Boniface’s weapon of warfare was nothing but an axe, with which he commenced to chop down thor’s oak. A huge crowd had gath- ered to witness the power encounter, fully expecting the mighty power of thor to destroy the missionary.

Quite the contrary! Even before Boniface had actually cut the tree through, a huge supernatural burst of wind sent the tree crashing to the ground, breaking it into four pieces! The people immediately recognized that the hand of the true God, whom Boniface preached, had humiliated thor and broken his power over the territory. Kenneth Scott Latourette says:

The pagan bystanders, who had been cursing the dese- crator, were convinced of the power of the new faith…. [This] episode may well have proved decisive evidence in terms which the populace could understand of the superior might of the God of the Christians.12

Shortly thereafter, the Hessians experienced what mis- siologists call a people movement. They all rejected thor and instead directed their allegiance to Jesus Christ.

I must again apologize for such a long answer to the ques- tion. But I felt that it was important to revisit some of history, and in doing so, I found that there can be little doubt that God has used strategic-level spiritual warfare in conjunction with effective evangelism through the ages.

QUESTION 16

Preaching the Gospel has always been the divine method of evangelism. Only the

Gospel saves. Why should we consider adding anything like spiritual warfare to it?

T

Jesus.

As the question correctly implies, nothing can be added to this simple plan of salvation. So there must be no thought that spiritual warfare is a means of getting people saved or is in any way a substitute for preaching the Gospel.

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Identifying Obstacles to Evangelism

I think that we would agree that very few are satisfied with the current progress of evangelism in their cities and neighborhoods. In fact, it can become very frustrating to know that God loves the unbelievers around us, that He is not will- ing that any of them should perish, and that still so very few seem to receive the Gospel that we try to communicate to them. What are the obstacles?

There are undoubtedly many different obstacles. But the Bible is clear on one of them. The apostle Paul, like many of us, was frustrated that more people were not getting saved. At one point this caused him to say:

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the  image of  God, should shine on  them  (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

Who is “the god of this age”? It is satan, who has under his command an army of demons, principalities, and powers of darkness.

Engaging the Powers of Darkness

Satan is bound and determined to keep unbelievers from hearing and responding to the Gospel. And he has consider- able supernatural power to accomplish his purpose. But greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world (see        1 John 4:4). Satan’s supernatural power cannot match the power of the sovereign God. God has delegated His power for the task of evangelism to human beings like you and me who are filled and activated by the Holy Spirit. One of the ways that we use this power is to engage the powers of darkness in spiritual warfare in order to push back the veils that they have placed over the minds of unbelievers.

QUESTION 16 273

But even if we successfully tear down these satanic strongholds, our actions do not automatically save the unbe- lievers who have been blinded. They do, however, put unbe- lievers in a new place. Previously they could not even hear the Gospel, no matter how it was presented to them. Now, with these blinders removed, they can hear and consider the true Gospel of Christ. Then they must make their own personal decision as to whether or not they will put their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives. If they do, they will be saved.

We, therefore, should not think of adding spiritual war- fare to preaching the Gospel, per se. But we should definitely use spiritual warfare to the fullest extent in the process of tak- ing the Gospel to the lost.

QUESTION 17

Directing so much attention to things like spiritual mapping, identifying territorial spirits, and prophetic acts can result in giving too much credit to satan and the powers of darkness. Why should we be glorifying satan?

N

name to the whole spiritual warfare movement.

Spiritual mapping methodology generally focuses first on discovering God’s redemptive purposes for the city or other territory. Understanding what God’s intentions for the city are directs attention to the glory of God and helps us target our

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prayers more accurately. The will of God and His divine plans have the highest priority in any kind of strategic-level spiri- tual warfare. Guidelines for doing this are found in John Daw- son’s excellent book Healing America’s Wounds2 and in Alistair Petrie’s book Releasing Heaven on Earth.3

Affirming and praying toward God’s redemptive pur- poses, however, must not bypass the need, at the same time, to discover the exact nature of the obstacles to evangelization and city transformation that satan has erected. Paul says, “Lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Cor. 2:11). Think of the meaning of this by turning it around. Suppose we are ignorant of satan’s devices? What will he do? He will obviously take advantage of us. No Chris- tians that I know ever want to be in a place where they are vulnerable to the devil. One way to avoid that is to know clearly what satan’s devices are at a certain time and in a cer- tain place.

Until the methodology of spiritual mapping came along, we had few tools to discover satan’s devices. Now we know how to go about it, much to the dismay of the enemy. He desires to keep his devices secret, or occult. But he is losing that battle. The best textbook on how to uncover the devices of satan is Informed Intercession by George Otis, Jr..4 And the best operator’s manual, so to speak, showing us how to apply what we learn to warfare in our cities is Cindy Tosto’s book Taking Possession of the Land.5 We are more fortunate than past generations to have resources like these, and I believe that God is pleased when we use them to enter into the conflict with the devil. When we do, we are not glorifying satan; we are glorifying God!

QUESTION 18

I

have heard this question several times, but I have never been able to figure out exactly why some people seem to raise it. I would be equally puzzled if someone called into question whether or not we should continue doing research on the HIV virus and publicize the way it is transmitted for fear of causing more AIDS. Or why we should research the

causes of breast cancer or of Alzheimer’s disease.

The fact of the matter is that we spend enormous sums of money on medical research, not to glorify a certain disease, but to eradicate that disease. Experience has shown us that the more we know about a disease, the better we can fight it.

Exposing the “Wiles of the Devil”

In Ephesians 6:11 Paul says that it is important that we do whatever it takes to expose the “wiles of the devil.” This is a method of weakening, not empowering, the forces of darkness.

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Wiles is another word for strategies. Paul was wise enough not to be ignorant of the devil’s strategies. Unfortunately, many believers today are grossly ignorant of them and, therefore, are more vulnerable to them than need be. Does the devil often get the upper hand? When he does, it is likely because we have no idea of how he goes about attacking us, and there- fore, we are blindsided.

Defeating the Enemy

Uncovering the strategies of the devil and publicizing them enough so that the whole Body of Christ is also aware of what satan is doing is a strategic first step toward defeating the enemy. The more we know, the better, as long as we do not fall into the trap of either yielding to fear of the enemy or worshiping the enemy. He is empowered by idolatry, when people pledge allegiance to him or ask him for special favors. But he is weakened when his ways and means of deceiving people are exposed. Secret societies, for example, are organ- ized to give favor to the devil, and they cannot stand it when their secrets are made known. By the same token, broadcast- ing the results of our research into the invisible realm greatly weakens the forces of evil. It certainly does not glorify satan—just the opposite.

QUESTION 19

Could strategic-level spiritual warfare simply be a fad? Couldn’t it turn out to be like the

discredited shepherding movement, which started well but  later caused harm to  the  Body of Christ?

Y

take the necessary time to build safeguards so that a move- ment involving strategic-level spiritual warfare does not suc- cumb to the pitfalls of the past.

Let’s see what we can learn from the shepherding, or dis- cipling, movement. I was a missionary in Bolivia during its heyday, so I cannot speak firsthand about it. However, Paul Reid of Northern Ireland was a part of it, and he was among those who came out of it deeply wounded. He is also one of the few who has taken the pains to analyze his experience and record his findings in a book, A New Easter Rising.1 In the book, Reid lists the three most troublesome aspects of the move- ment, all three of which he duly repented for practicing after he withdrew.

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Self-righteousness. We believed that we were better than other churches and fellowships. Manipulation. Lives have been controlled through shepherding…. Idolatry. We have given to people the honor due to God alone.2

Self-Righteousness

Self-righteousness is definitely a temptation for those involved in strategic-level spiritual warfare, especially when it becomes clear that many conscientious believers choose not to be involved. In fact, some even choose to oppose it, and defen- siveness becomes a temptation. When we feel strongly (as I  do) that we have tuned in to something that the Spirit is say- ing to the churches today and when we come to understand that strategic-level spiritual warfare can lift the effectiveness of evangelism to a new level, we may easily become impatient toward those who do not agree. However, we must not yield to this temptation.

We may tend to forget that, in reality, only a relatively few members of the Body of Christ have actually been called and anointed to engage in frontline spiritual warfare. This calling is not rooted in some superior attainment of spirituality or some special status with the Lord. It is simply a matter of God’s choice. A sovereign God has, for reasons known to Him, chosen us for a certain important task in His Kingdom. Mean- while, He has chosen others, and not us, for many other equally important tasks. In either case, the appropriate response is obedience to the Master. But our task doesn’t make any of us better than the others.

It would be a grave error to project the elitist idea that only first-class Christians or first-class churches engage in spiritual warfare and that those who choose not to are thereby to be con- sidered second-class. This is, indeed, self-righteousness, and God does not like it because it is a form of pride. The Bible

QUESTION 19 281

says that “. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble”

(1 Pet. 5:5). Only if we remain humble will we be effective in spiritual warfare or, for that matter, in any other Christian ministry.

Manipulation

Fortunately, I have not seen this so far in the spiritual- warfare movement. That is not to say that control and manip- ulation cannot easily enter, because they can. But the Strategic Prayer Network is under the kind of apostolic leadership that refuses to allow a legal hierarchy to evolve. Spiritual covering is regarded as a necessity in the lives and ministries of prophetic intercessors, but it is not the kind of authority- submission relationship that was seen in the shepherding movement. Coordination is vital, but control is not permitted.

Idolatry

While I might not agree that this particular sin should be called idolatry, nevertheless it is an important issue that must be faced. Just about every movement that I have been involved with through the years carries this inherent tempta- tion. In the church-growth movement, certain pastors of large, growing megachurches received excessive glory. In the areas of power ministries, those who receive the most prophecies and those who see the most people slain in the Spirit are sus- ceptible to this kind of adulation. In the spiritual-warfare movement, it is all too easy to exalt unduly those who may have seen the most spiritual transformation in their cities or those who have been chosen to appear on documentary videos.

If we are willing to learn from the mistakes of other movements like the discipling, or shepherding, movement— mistakes that their top leaders now freely confess—we can thereby avoid the possibility of becoming harmful to the

Body of Christ. Our desire is to be harmful only to the king- dom of darkness.

QUESTION 20

Isn’t there risk in confronting high-ranking princi- palities as Paul and Silas did in Philippi? They ended up beaten and thrown into jail. Shouldn’t Christians just take a defensive posture and “stand,” as it says in Ephesians 6:13? Is it possible that some of us could become needless casualties of war?

N

engaging in strategic-level warfare.

Keeping Casualties to a Minimum

Some have asked how we can do spiritual warfare without any casualties. I do not know. Warfare is warfare, and all war- fare runs the risk of casualties. Having said this, I also want to affirm that those of us who are the leaders of the spiritual- warfare movement have the responsibility of keeping the

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casualties to a minimum. In all spiritual warfare we must avoid foolishness and carefully follow God-designed protocol.

For example, no one should engage in higher levels of spiritual warfare without the explicit blessing and covering of his or her immediate spiritual authority, in most cases the sen- ior pastor of his or her local church. In some cases, especially on the higher levels and in locations at a distance from the local church, intercessors are well advised to seek out and obtain the covering of a recognized apostle. Pastors and apos- tles are in the government of the Church, and it is only God’s government that can overthrow satan’s government.

Furthermore, it is inadvisable to attempt to do spiritual warfare alone. It should be done with a team so that many dif- ferent spiritual gifts can be brought to bear on the situation at hand. These two procedural safeguards in themselves will go a long way to reducing the casualties of war.

Keep in mind, as I have said in answering other questions, that God has not called all believers to risk the dangers of the higher levels of spiritual warfare like He called Paul and Silas in Philippi. Those who thoughtlessly go into battle, especially on the higher levels, without being specifically called by God to do it, run the risk of becoming needless casualties.

Remembering Gideon and His Army

Think, for example, of Gideon’s army. He began with 32,000 potential warriors to confront the powerful Midianites. By the time that God had sorted them out, 31,700 of them remained behind while only 300 were called into battle on the front lines with Gideon (see Judg. 7). It is notable that there was no recrimination on either side. The 300 did not complain that the 31,700 stayed home, nor did those who stayed behind criticize those who went. This is the way it should be in the Body of Christ today.

Personally speaking, I see myself as one whom God has called to the front lines. I do not regard this as any sort of a spiritual superiority on my part. It is simply an honest belief that God has given me an assignment and that my responsibil- ity is to obey Him. But in embracing my own calling from God, I in no way consider myself better or holier than those whom God has called to stay home. Many of those who do are faithfully warring with satan on different battlefields. Some, for example, have all they can do in trying to keep their pre- carious marriage together; some are struggling with dishonest business colleagues; some have been called to serve on an underfunded school board; some are stretching their budgets to care for elderly parents; some are working to plant this sea- son’s corn after an unusually wet spring; and on and on.

Giving priority to those kinds of challenges is biblical. God outlined His rules of warfare in some detail in Deuteron- omy 20. Among the legitimate reasons why some who would otherwise have qualified to go to the front lines should have stayed home were those I have just mentioned. If they were building a new house or if they had planted a new vineyard or if they were just getting married, they were exempt from the military draft, so to speak. This shows that attending to such things as a priority is God’s best for some, both yesterday in Old Testament times and today in our task of spreading the Gospel.

Going on the Offensive

I tend to identify with the apostle Paul as being among those who are called to go on the offensive against satan and his forces on the higher levels. Consequently, I attract others who have a similar God-imparted vision. I have given flesh to this in forming the Strategic Prayer Network in order to pro- vide the apostolic leadership that a mission like this requires. In this role I need to resist the temptation to let my zeal and

enthusiasm for the battle cause me to look askance at those who are not moving forward with me. When I come across as doing that, I need to ask forgiveness.

Caricaturing Spiritual Warfare

Some have argued that no Christian at all should move into confrontation with demonic principalities and powers. Some have reprimanded us for exceeding the limits of our spiritual authority. Some have caricatured strategic-level spir- itual warfare, referring to it as the big demon theory. Some have ridiculed “duking it out with the devil” or “railing at devils on street corners.”

This kind of language reflects, for the most part, an igno- rance of what actually occurs when spiritual warriors, such as members of the Strategic Prayer Network, actually engage the enemy. Those who use this language may not be aware of the careful preliminary research, or spiritual mapping, that nor- mally precedes such encounters. Responsible spiritual warfare is done under the spiritual covering of local pastors. It involves prolonged times of intimacy with the Father, listen- ing closely to God’s instructions. There is much praise and worship, times of profound repentance, and sincere personal and social reconciliation. God is exalted and glorified!

Some spiritual pacifists attempt to support their position by characterizing the full armor of God in Ephesians 6 as defensive equipment, arguing that only one of the many pieces is offensive, namely the Sword of the Spirit. But it is dif- ficult to imagine that this is what Paul had in mind. His anal- ogy was the well-known Roman warrior of the day. The Roman legions did not huddle in Rome waiting for the enemy to attack. They were deployed on the frontiers of the Roman Empire, constantly invading enemy territory and extending Rome’s boundaries. Their armor was designed for offense. The defensive parts were only there to protect them from the

enemy’s weapons until they could get close enough with their swords to push the enemy back. Those called to strategic-level spiritual warfare today see their assignment as similar: push- ing back the forces of darkness so that the Kingdom of God constantly advances.

Realizing the Risks Are Real

Is it risky to do this? Yes, of course. Paul says to Timothy, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3). As I have said, every war has casualties. Courage is required. Look at the apostle Paul who speaks of his own tribulations, needs, distresses, stripes, imprison- ments, and tumults (see 2 Cor. 6:4-5). But there is even more, namely, stonings, shipwrecks, perils of robbers, perils in the city, cold, nakedness, hunger and many other hardships (see 2 Cor. 11:23-27). Nowhere does Paul complain about being a “needless casualty of war.”

Many of my friends who follow the leading of God into battle have suffered very much like the apostle Paul. By and large, when this happens they “count it all joy when [they] fall into various trials” (James 1:2). They may get knocked down, but soon they are up again and in the thick of the battle. They know that spiritual warfare is won by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and by not loving their lives to the death (see Rev. 12:11). They know their calling from God, and they enjoy living in obedience to Him, risky as it might be.

QUESTION 21

How would you respond to the suggestion that those engaged in spiritual warfare tend to substitute technique and methodology for

I

f this suggestion were true, I agree that we should not be doing strategic-level spiritual warfare. Our purpose for advocating spiritual warfare is to serve God by extending His Kingdom. In all things, we seek to honor God. Methodologies and techniques are means toward an end, and we cannot allow them to become ends in themselves. If someone thinks that he or she has a formula that underlies spiritual warfare, then that individual is on the wrong track. Nothing that we do in the flesh will bear fruit. All must be carried out in the full-

ness of the Holy Spirit.

In answering previous questions, I have made it clear that strategic-level spiritual warfare is done for the express pur- pose of removing demonic obstacles to effective evangelism. Jesus’ Great Commission commands us to make disciples of all nations (see Matt. 28:19). He has told us to preach the

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Gospel to every creature on Earth (see Mark 16:15). When we do this and when lost people respond to the Gospel and become followers of Jesus Christ, God is pleased. He does not desire that one lost soul should perish, but that all should come to repentance (see 2 Pet. 3:9). If confronting the princi- palities and powers of darkness expedites evangelism in our cities and our nations and our world, let’s do it. Otherwise, it is not something that we should pursue.

Clothed in Holiness

Only foolish or inexperienced people would move into spiritual warfare without personal holiness. I remember Cindy Jacobs once saying that we can put on the armor of God, but that if we go into warfare without a pure heart under the armor, we will have holes in our armor. The fiery darts of the evil one will certainly penetrate and neutralize our efforts. I am so convinced of the need for holiness to be understood and applied in our lives that I have written a whole book on the subject, Radical Holiness for Radical Living.1 In it, I attempt to make a case for embracing the Wesleyan view of holiness, which affirms that it is, indeed, possible to live a daily life free from sin. I came to this conclusion only after beginning to move in areas of spiritual warfare and clearly seeing that opposing views of partial or incomplete holiness are no longer adequate.

Filled and Guided by the Holy Spirit

The question suggests that some overly zealous advocates of spiritual warfare might attempt to bypass the guidance of the Holy Spirit in their ministry. If this is the case, they do so at their own peril. The most experienced front-line spiritual warriors would not think of going into battle without the assurance that they are filled with the Holy Spirit. They know that the enemy is too powerful for them to move in the power

QUESTION 21 291

of the flesh. They spend long hours seeking God and listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit, depending on Him for guid- ance every step of the way. They study Scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to show them how to apply it in their ministry.

After all, Jesus made the presence and the work of the Holy Spirit central in carrying out the Great Commission. He said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Prepared to Fulfill the Great Commission

This was a good question to conclude this final section. It helped us once again to affirm that fulfilling the Great Com- mission is central to our desire to employ strategic-level spiri- tual warfare as wisely as possible. Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, and our service to Him keeps this purpose central. When we have the gifts and the fruit and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are prepared to wres- tle, not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. We have the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

My prayer is that all who read this book will be activated with this divine power that God wishes us to have. When they are, we can move out together to win multitudes of lost peo- ple to Jesus Christ, thereby spreading the wonderful message of the Kingdom of God to our communities and to our world.

NOTES

Chapter 1

• Joyce Wadler et al., “The President’s Astrologers.” People Magazine, May 1988, http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20099022,00. html (accessed May 19, 2009).
• Andrew Stuttaford “Strange Brew — Wicca industry.” National Review. FindArticles.com. 19 May, 2009. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/ mi_m1282/is_13_51/ai_55008399/.
• John Bowker. “New Age Movement.” The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 19 May 2009. http://www. encyclopedia.com.
• Peter Wagner, “The Awesome Argentine Revival,” Journal of Aggres- sive Chistianity, Issue 26, Aug.–Sept. 2003.
• “José López Rega.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online 19 May 2009. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/ topic/347907/Jose-Lopez-Rega.
• Centro de Economia Internacional, “Australia-Argentina: Con - vergences and Divergences,” http://www.cei.gov.ar/revista/06/ parte%204beng.pdf (accessed May 19, 2009).
• Stephen Strang, “Revival Surges in Argentina,” Charisma and Chris- tian Life (April 1989), 34.
• Edgardo Silvoso, “Prayer Power in Argentina,” Engaging the Enemy,

C. Peter Wagner, ed., (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1991), 110.

• Daniel E. Wray, “¡Revivé Argentina!” Eternity (July/August 1987), 22.
• Edgardo Silvoso, “Argentina: Battleground of the Spirit,” World Christian (October 1989), 16.

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• For more information on the evangelistic principles used by Sil- voso in the Plan Rosario, see C. Peter Wagner, Strategies for Church Growth (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1987), 149.

Chapter 2

• Charles Parham, Peter Wagner et. al. “How God Saved Civilization— Chapter 19: An Explosion of the Spirit, Pentecostals, Charismatics, and the Third Wave (1900-2000),” http://www.jimgarlow.com/HowGod/ HowGod.cfm?CHAPTER=19 (accessed May 19, 2009).
• Healing of the Spirit, “Setting Your Church Free,” http:// 74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:Rmsdxru0TfYJ:www.healingofthespirit.org/ pdf_files/Setting-Your-Church-Free.pdf+Assemblies+of+God.

Chapter 3

• O. Bocher, “Wilderness,” The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 3, Colin Brown, ed., (Grand Rapids, MI: Zonder- van, 1978), 1005, 1008.
• Colin Brown, That You May Believe: Miracles and Faith Then and Now

(Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1985).

• C. Peter Wagner, How to Have a Healing Ministry (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1989), 114.
• W. Gunther, “Tight,” New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1986), 650.
• Timothy M. Warner, “Deception: Satan’s Chief Tactic,” Wrestling with Dark Angels, C. Peter Wagner and F. Douglas Pennoyer, eds. (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1990), 102-103.
• Walter Wink’s influential trilogy includes Naming the Powers, Unmasking the Powers, and Engaging the Powers, all published by Fortress Press.
• Charles H. Kraft, “Encounter in Christian Witness,” Evangelical Mis- sions Quarterly (July 1991), 258-265.
• D. Mueller, “Height,” New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1986), 200.
• Susan R. Garrett, The Demise of the Devil: Magic and the Demonic in Luke’s Writings (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1989), 84.
• Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians: Power and Magic (Cambridge, Eng- land: Cambridge Univeisity Press, 1989), 14, 18.
• Ibid., 1.
• Garrett, 97.

13. Ibid., 86. 14. Ibid., 101.

15. Ibid., 108-109.

Chapter 4

• George Schwab, ed., Tribes of the Liberian Hinterland (Cambridge, MA: Report of the Peabody Museum Expedition to Liberia, 1947), 163.
• This case study is taken from a paper, “Demons and Idols,” written by Richard Collingridge while studying at Fuller Seminary in April 1986.
• Roy Rosedale, “Mobil Training Centers: Key to Growth in Thai- land,” Evangelical Missions Quarterly (October 1989), 402-409.
• Paul Eshleman, I Just Saw Jesus (San Bernardino, CA: Campus Cru- sade for Christ, 1985), 112.
• Ibid.
• This hypothesis was previously published in my chapter “Territor- ial Spirits” in Wrestling with Dark Angels, edited by C. Peter Wagner and

F. Douglas Pennoyer (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1990), 77.

• George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1974), 400-401.
• Leon Morris, The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: An Introduc- tion and Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1958), 147.
• Leland Webb, “Spiritual Warfare: Reports from the Front,” The Com- mission (February-March 1991), 30.
• David W. Shenk and Ervin R. Stutzman, Creating Communities of the Kingdom (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1988), 69.
• Michael Harper, Spiritual Warfare (London: Hodder and Stough- ton, 1970), 106.
• Dom Robert Petipierre, ed., Exorcism: The Report of a Commission Convened by the Bishop of Exeter (London: S.P.C.K., 1972), 9.

13. Ibid., 21-22.

• Vivienne Stacey, “The Practice of Exorcism and Healing,” Muslims and Christians on the EmmausRoad, J. Dudley Woodberry, ed. (Monrovia, CA: MARC, 1989), 298-300.
• James Marocco, “Territorial Spirits,” a research paper written in Fuller Theological Seminary (1988), 5.
• Don Crawford, Miracles in Indonesia (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1972), 144.
• C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: Macmillan, 1962), 3.

Chapter 5

1. Susan R. Garrett, The Demise of the Devil (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1989), 101.

2. Ibid., 40.

• F.F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1964), 33.

• Don Williams, Signs, Wonders and the Kingdom of God (Ann Arbor, MI: Vine Books, Servant Publications, 1989), 35.
• Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 1 (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1962), 376.
• C.F. Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1949), 416.
• Oscar Cullmann, “The Subjection of the Invisible Powers,” Engag- ing the Enemy, C. Peter Wagner,  ed. (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1991),      p. 195.
• Garrett, The Demise of the Devil, p. 43.
• Walter Wink, Unmasking the Powers (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1986), 88.

10. Ibid., 89.

11. Ibid., 91.

• Walter Wink, “Prayer and the Powers,” Sojourners (October 1990), 10.
• Wink, Unmasking the Powers, 88.
• Ronald J. Sider, Christ and Violence (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1979), 50.
• Leon Morris, New Testament Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Acade- mie Books, Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), 66.
• Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians: Power and Magic (Cambridge, Eng- land: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 27.

17. Ibid., 21.

18. Ibid., 27.

• Ramsay MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire, AD. 100-400

(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1984), 26.

• Arnold, 28.
• Charles H. Kraft, Christianity with Power (Ann Arbor, MI: Vine Books, Servant Publications, 1989), 27.
• Jacob Loewen, “Which God Do Missionaries Preach?” Engaging the Enemy, C. Peter Wagner, ed. (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1991), 173.

23. Ibid., 169.

• David Ian, Guns and Bain: Guerillas and Spirit Mediums in Zimbabwe

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), 34.

• Vernon J. Sterk, Territorial Spirits and Evangelization in Hostile Environments,” Engaging the Enemy, C. Peter Wagner, ed. (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1991), 149.

26. Ibid., 149-150.

27. Ibid., 155-156.

Chapter 6

• S.D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on Prayer (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1904), 120.

• John Wimber, “Prayer: Intimacy with God,” Equipping the Saints

(November-December 1987), 3.

• Larry Lea, Could You Not Tarry One Hour? (Lake Mary, FL: Creation House, 1987).
• John Bisagno, The Power of Positive Praying (Grand Rapids, MI: Zon- dervan, 1965), 71.
• Timothy K. Jones, “Hands Up in the Hoosier Dome,” Christianity Today (September 24, 1990), 23.
• Ibid.
• Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, s.v. “hagios.” http://www.antioch.sg/cgi-bin/bible/vines/greek.pl (accessed May 20, 2009).
• Francis Frangipane, The House of the Lord (Lake Mary, FL: Creation House, 1991), 147.
• Larry Lea, The Weapons of Your Warfare (Altamonte Springs, FL: Cre- ation House, 1989), 93.
• Walter Wink, Naming the Powers (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1984), 86.
• Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians: Power and Magic (Cambridge, Eng- land: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 119, 120.

Chapter 7

• Francis Frangipane, The House of the Lord (Lake Mary, FL: Creation House, 1991), 153.
• Thomas B. White, The Believer’s Guide to Spiritual Warfare (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications, 1990), 15.
• Cindy Jacobs, Possessing the Gates of the Enemy (Tarrytown, NY: Cho- sen Books, 1991), 32.
• Gwen Shaw, Redeeming the Land (Jasper, AR: EngeM Press, 1987), 81.
• George Otis, Jr., The Last of the Giants (Tarrytown, NY: Chosen Books, 1991), 93.

6. Jacobs, 235-236.

7. Charles Kraft, Christianity with Power (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Pub- lications, 1989), 129.

8. Shaw, 81-104.

9. John Dawson, Taking Our Cities for God (Lake Mary, FL: Creation House, 1989), 20.

10. Ibid., 80. 11. Ibid., 185.

• Ronald J. Ostrow, “First 9 Japanese WWII Internees Get Repara- tions,” Los Angeles Times (October 10, 1990), 1.
• “World Report,” Los Angeles Times (August 13, 1991), 1.
• Dawson, 136.

Chapter 8

• James Walsh, “Cyclone of Death,” Time (May 13, 1991), 29.
• Robert C. Linthicum, City of God; City of Satan (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1991), 64-65.
• Julia Loren, “Lea Leads Prayer Fight,” Charisma & Christian Life

(August 1989), 30.

• Kjell and Lena Sjoberg, “Newsletter,” (March 6, 1991), 3.
• Markus Barth, Ephesians (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1974), 803.
• Gustav Davidson, A Dictionary of Angels, Including the Fallen Angels

(New York: The Free Press, 1967).

• Manfred Lurker, Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, Devils and Demons

(New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987).

• Vernon J. Sterk, “Territorial Spirits and Evangelization in Hostile Environments,” Engaging the Enemy, C. Peter Wagner, ed. (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1991), 159.
• Daniel Batt, “Yiwarrapalya: Highway of Holiness,” On Being (May 1991), 9.
• John Dawson, Taking Our Cities for God (Lake Mary, FL: Creation House, 1989), 156.
• Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians: Power and Magic (Cambridge, Eng- land: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 54.
• Sterk, 159.
• H. Bietenhard, “Name,” The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1976), 648.
• Dean Sherman, Spiritual Warfare for Every Christian (Seattle, WA: Frontline Communications, 1990), 100.
• Linthicum, 75.
• Dick Bemal, Storming Hell’s Brazen Gates (San Jose, CA: Jubilee Christian Center, 1988), 57.
• Larry Lea, Could You Not Tarry One Hour? (Altamonte Springs, FL: Creation House, 1987), 93.
• George Otis, Jr., The Last of the Giants (Tarrytown, NY: Chosen Books), 98-99.

19. Ibid., 85. 20. Ibid., 85-86.

• Sherman, 93-94.
• Thomas B. White, The Believer’s Guide to Spiritual Warfare (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications, 1990), 136.
• Cindy Jacobs, Possessing the Gates of the Enemy (Tarrytown, NY: Chosen Books, 1991), 237-238.
• Dawson, 85.
• White, 137.

• Jane Rumph, We Wrestle Not Against Flesh and Blood (Privately pub- lished Argentina report, 1990), 67.

Chapter 9

• John Dawson, Taking Our Cities for God (Lake Mary, FL: Creation House, 1989), 36.
• Floyd McClung, Seeing the City with the Eyes of God (Tanytown, NY: Chosen Books, 1991), 9.
• Roger Greenway, “Book Review,” Evangelical Missions Quarterly

(October 1991), 430.

• Dawson, 36.
• John Huffman, “New Prayer Program Tested in Costa Rica,” Prayer Pacesetters Source book, David Bryant, ed. (Minneapolis, MN: Concerts of Prayer International, 1989), 252-253.

6. Ibid., 253.

• The Bemal Report (December 1989), 2.
• Francis Frangipane, The House of the Lord (Lake Mary, FL: Creation House, 1991), 146.
• Edgardo Silvoso in the brochure announcing The First Annual Har- vest Evangelism International Institute (October 10-18,1991), 2.
• Richard C. Lockwood, personal correspondence with the author, April 16, 1990.
• Kjell and Lena Sjoberg, “Newsletter” (March 6, 1991), 2-3.
• C. Peter Wagner, Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow

(Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1979), 263.

• Cindy Jacobs, Possessing the Gates of the Enemy (Tanytown, NY: Chosen Books, 1991), 56.
• Dawson, 39.

15. Ibid., 44.

• McClung, 34.
• Ibid.
• Koji Honda, “An Apology to the Peoples of Asia,” Japan Update,

Bulletin of the Japan Evangelical Association (October 1990), 8.

• “Perils of Being Born Black,” Time (December 10, 1990), 78.
• John Dawson, “Seventh Time Around,” Engaging the Enemy,

C. Peter Wagner, ed. (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1991), 137-138.

Chapter 10

• Floyd McClung, Seeing the City with the Eyes of God (Tanytown, NY: Chosen Books, 1991), 18.
• Rick Joyner, “The Spiritual Meaning of the Persian Gulf War,” The Morning Star Prophetic Bulletin, (February 15, 1991), 1.
• Johannes Facius, “Let God Be God,” Intercessors for America Newslet- ter, (March 1991), 3. This revealing and instructive story of Johannes Facius

is told in detail in his book, God Can Do It Without Me! (Chichester, En- gland, Sovereign World Books, 1990).

• Ibid.
• Ibid.
• Wesley L. Duewel, Mighty Prevailing Prayer (Grand Rapids, MI: Francis Asbury Press, 1990), 258.

7. Ibid., 260.

8. Facius, 3.

Question 1

• Doris Wagner, How to Cast Out Demons: A Guide to the Basics (Ven- tura, CA: Renew Books, 2000).
• Cindy Jacobs, Deliver Us from Evil; Protecting Your Family from the Occult (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2001).
• C. Peter Wagner, The Book of Acts: A Commentary (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2008).
• Ramsay MacMullen, The Christianization of the Roman Empire A.D. 100-400 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1984), 26.

Question 3

1. Francis Frangipane, “Our Authority in Christ,” Charisma (July 1993), 40.

Question 4

• Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Barnes and Noble Books edition, s.v. “Prayer.”
• Francis Frangipane, “Our Authority in Christ,” Charisma (July 1993), 40.
• Tom White, Breaking Strongholds (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publica- tions, 1993), 40.
• Carlos Annacondia, Listen to Me, Satan! (Lake Mary, FL: Creation House, 1998).

Question 5

• Wayne Grudem, “Miracles Today,” The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, eds. Gary Greig and Kevin Springer (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1993), 77.
• John Dawson, Taking Our Cities for God (Orlando, FL: Creation House, 1989), 137.

Question 6

• Wayne Grudem, “Miracles Today,” The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, eds. Gary Greig and Kevin Springer (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1993), 75.

2. Ibid., 75-76.

Question 9

• Tom White, The Believer’s Guide to Spiritual Warfare (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications, 1990), 34.
• Walter Wink, Naming the Powers (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984), 9-10.

Question 10

• New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, ed. Colin Brown (New York: Harper Collins, 1997).
• John Dawson, Taking Our Cities for God (Orlando, FL: Creation House, 1989), 19.

Question 11

• Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness (Downers Grove, IL: InterVar- sity Press, 1992), 158.
• Richard Foster, Prayer (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1992).

Question 13

1. C. Peter Wagner, The Book of Acts: A Commentary (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2008).

Question 14

• J. Rodman Williams, Renewal Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zonder- van Publishing House, 1996).
• Ray Anderson, introduction to Theological Foundations for Ministry

(Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979), 7.

• Gregory A. Boyd, God at War: The Bible and Spiritual Conflict (Down- ers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997).
• C. Peter Wagner, Confronting the Powers (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1997).

Question 15

1. Ramsay MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire A.D. 100-400

(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1984), 87.

2. Ibid., 27.

• Justin Martyr, “Dialogue with Trypho,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1978), 1:238.
• Ibid.
• W. Telfer, “The Latin Life of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus,” The Jour- nal of Theological Studies, 31 (1929-1930), 152-153.
• MacMullen, 60.

• Kenneth Scott Latourette, The First Five Centuries (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1970), 89.
• Sulpitius Severus, Life of St. Martin, Classics of Christian Missions, ed. Francis M. DuBose (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1979), 121-122.
• Ibid.
• Hugh Edmund Ford, “Benedict of Nursia,” The Catholic Encyclope- dia, ed. Charles G. Herbermann, et al, vol. II (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907), 471.
• Theodore Maynard, Saint Benedict and His Monks (London, Eng- land: Staples Press Limited, 1956), 37.
• Latourette, n.p.

Question 17

• “Westminster Shorter Catechism,” Question 1, Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics, http://www.reformed.org/documents/WSC

.html (accessed April 21, 2009).

• John Dawson, Healing America’s Wounds (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1994).
• Alistair Petrie, Releasing Heaven on Earth (Grand Rapids, MI: Chosen Books, 2000).
• George Otis, Jr., Informed Intercession (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1999).
• Cindy Tosto, Taking Possession of the Land (Colorado Springs, CO: Wagner Publications, 2001).

Question 19

1. Paul Reid, A New Easter Rising (Leigh Lanes, Northern Ireland: Logikos, 1993).

2. Ibid., 60.

Question 21

1. C. Peter Wagner, Radical Holiness for Radical Living (Colorado Springs, CO: Wagner Publications, 1998).

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