CORPS RESOURCES

SPIRITUAL WARFARE IN THE MISSION CONTEXTBy Rebecca Walker

THE CLASH OF TWO KINGDOMS

Stories about the battle between good and evil play a dominant role in all societies. Some cultures such as the Babylonians have believed that evil preceded good. The biblical witness stands in contrast, starting from a good God who creates a good universe. That good creation was corrupted and evil entered in. God was not content to leave His good creation to the corruption of sin and has been working to defeat evil and restore His creation. As God’s kingdom advances, it is inevitable that Christians will be involved in spiritual warfare against the kingdom of darkness. This warfare occurs in two major settings; in offence against the kingdom of darkness, and in defence against attacks from the enemy.

Genesis 3:15 marks the beginning of spiritual warfare between humanity and Satan. God prophesies that there will be conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. “That warfare will continue until the seed of the woman finally crushes the head of the serpent. In the process, the serpent will painfully bruise the heel of the seed of the woman” [1]. This is the beginning of the conflict between humanity and Satan.

THE SALVATION ARMY AUSTRALIA SOUTHE RN TE RRITORY CORPS PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT

THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS

The Satanic realm functions on multiple fronts, making war against all the systems that make up our societies; cultural, economic, political and religious. All these systems “are manifestations of what John calls ‘the world’ (kosmos: the whole world is under the control of the evil one” [2].

In Daniel 10, a being called the “prince of Persia” is credited with hindering God’s response to Daniel’s prayers. Some modern Christians interpret this as meaning that this particular spirit had jurisdiction over the geographical area of Persia [3], whereas others see this as a geo-political jurisdiction.

Daniel’s use of beasts to represent worldly empires empowered by dark spiritual forces highlights the role of the demonic in world governments and systems. Daniel’s vision sees the growth of godless power, culminating in the person of the antichrist [4].

Paul’s naming of the powers as “principalities” (archai) and “powers” (exousiai) appears to have been derived from Daniel 7, especially in the Greek versions [4]. Noll translates Dan 7:27,

And the kingdom [basileia] and the dominion [exousia] and their greatness and authority [arche] over all the kingdoms under heaven he shall give to the holy people of the Most High. They shall reign in their kingdom [basileia] forever, and all dominions [exousiai (LXX); archai (Theod.)] shall submit and obey them [4]

Daniel presents the son of man with dominion, glory and kingdom, served by all peoples, nations and languages. Whilst the spirit of empire would crush people, destroying their national identity, under the rule of the son of man, nations will not only retain their identity but receive it back redeemed and renewed” [4].

THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE CONFLICT

BETWEEN HUMANITY AND SATAN.

OFFENSIVE WARFARE

In 1 Corinthians 15:24-5, Paul depicts the dethroning of the principalities as part of the coming of the new creation. In this period between Christ’s resurrection and the general resurrection, “Christ is in the process of subjecting the principalities…The mission of the church is part of the subjection of the powers and rulers who

Corps Resources - Produced by The Salvation Army Australia Southern Territory Corps Programme Department

For more information visit http://www.salvationarmy.org.au/corpsresources or email corps.programme@aus.salvationarmy.org

are passing away (1 Cor. 2:6)” [4]. It is this expansion of the kingdom of God into enemy territory that forms the Christian mission; it is also the context for the spiritual warfare that the church is engaged in.

In Exodus 18:11 Jethro, Moses’ father in law, recognises that the Lord’s deliverance of the Israelites means that “the LORD is greater than all other gods”. Similarly, in 1 Kings 18, the story of Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal is recorded. The entire situation is set up by Elijah to prove that Yahweh is God. The prophets of Baal fail miserably and Yahweh is proven beyond doubt to be God. The entire encounter led the “people to a verdict, to a decision” [1].

Jesus taught that casting out demons was part of confronting Satan’s organised world order when he said, “If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?” (Mt 12:26). He then announced that his ministry of casting out demons indicated that the kingdom of God has come (Mt 12:28).

Jesus also authorised his disciples to perform this same ministry of exorcism. Not only the twelve apostles (Lk 9:4), but also the seventy (Lk 10:1f) were given authority to cast out demons. “Since they were disciples of Jesus but not part of the apostolic band, they can be seen as representatives of Christians in general” [1]. This indicates that in the mission context, as the gospel advances into enemy territory, one should expect to encounter a heightened need for deliverance.

DEFENSIVE WARFARE

A major battleground for the early church was heresy. The New Testament credits heresy as being the result of listening to lying spirits and doctrines of demons (1 Tim 4:1; 2 Cor 11:13-15; 1 Jn 4:1) [5] [4]. In Revelation, the churches are warned that distortions of the gospel (Rev 2:15, 20-24) are indications that the spirit of the antichrist is already at work [4]. Satan seeks to distort and turn people away from the true gospel. Maintaining the purity of the Christian witness is an important defensive aspect of spiritual warfare in all ages.

Given the constant battle that the early church was in, it is interesting that their stance was primarily defensive. Jude 8-10 rebukes its readers for ridiculing spirits. This would seem to suggest that some Christians were perhaps cursing demons much in the way of Jews of the first century [6]. Jude says that people should be prudent, as the archangel Michael did not even rebuke Satan himself but left that to the Lord [6]. Jude’s approach is to pray for the Lord to deal with demons.

In addition to this, the New Testament teaches that we are not at the mercy of the demons, as Christ has already defeated them [6]. Ephesians 1:18-21 indicates that the proof that Satan has been defeated is found in the resurrection of Jesus, our salvation, and the existence of the church as a united body of

Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 3:6-10) [6]. In this context, Paul’s instruction to the

Ephesian church for dealing with spiritual attacks is to stand firm. Four times in Ephesians 6:11-13 he exhorts them to stand: “ ‘Put on the full armour of God in order that you may be able to stand’ (6:11); ‘Take up the full armour of God, so that you many be able to withstand… and having accomplished everything, to stand’ (6:13)” [6]. Everything leading up to these verses is encouraging them to put on the armour of God so that they can stand firm (6:10-11). To stand does not mean to “stand around with our hands in our pockets”. Rather standing means to hold ground against the offensive of the enemy. “This is the appropriate stance for Christians: Christ has won the battle; we are to stand firm in the face of satanic counter-attack” [6].

THE MISSION

The bible shows that Christian mission takes place in the context of a great war between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. Spiritual warfare in a mission context involves advancing God’s kingdom by setting the captives free. It also involves standing against Satan’s kingdom, all his schemes and deeds in whatever form they take, personal or systemic. In either case, Christians can expect resistance from Satan, which in the end will be of no avail to him.

NOTES

1 Murphy E. The Handbook of Spiritual Warfare. Nashville, TN: Nelson Publishers; 1992.2 Jørgensen K. Deliver Us from Evil: An Uneasy Frontier in Christian Mission. Monrovia, CA: MARC Books; 2002. p. 213-230.3 Wagner P. Breaking Strongholds: How to Use Spiritual Mapping To Make Your Prayers More Strategic, Effective and Targeted. Venture, CA: Regal Books; 1993.4 Noll SF. Angels of Light, Powers of Darkness: Thinking Biblically about Angels, Satan and Principalities. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press; 1998.5 Unger MF. Biblical Demonology: A Study of Spiritual Forces at Work Today. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications; 1994.6 Lowe C. Territorial Spirits and World Evangelisation. Sevenoaks, Kent: OMF; 1998.

THE NEW TESTAMENT TEACHES THAT WE ARE NOT AT THE MERCY OF DEMONS, AS CHRIST HAS ALREADY DEFEATED THEM.