Vice President of International Ministries, Freedom in
Christ
Former Missions Chairman and President, Fort Wayne Bible College
Faculty member, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
When people hear that my wife and I served as missionaries in a West
African tribal society, they often say, "I suppose you saw a lot
of spiritual warfare out there." My reply is, "No, I didn't,
not because it wasn't there but because I had no mental categories that
included that as a meaningful concept."
Four years in a fine Christian college majoring in religion plus three
years in a theological seminary majoring in Bible had not prepared me
in any way for what I would meet in an African tribal village. I did not
have a functional knowledge of animism as a belief system nor did I have
a meaningful Christian response to animism. Most of the books that we
consider standard texts in missions and especially missionary anthropology
had not been written when I was in school. Teachers tend to teach subjects
for which they have adequate texts, and in the absence of such texts there
was a corresponding absence of classes in missions and spiritual warfare.
God blessed in many ways in spite of my lack of knowledge, but in looking
back on that missionary experience, I have often wished that I had known
then at least something of what I know now.
I had taught in a Bible college for two years prior to African service,
and after our term of ministry in Africa, I was asked to teach missions
in the same Bible college. In my attempt to be prepared for my classes,
I was reading as widely as I could in the missions literature of the day.
Somewhere in that process, I picked up a book by the controversial German
author, Kurt Koch. It introduced me to the realm of the occult and the
Christian response to it in some systematic way for the first time. That
led me to seek out other resources on the subject, only to discover that
they were very scarce. But as I pursued my study, I became convinced that
missionaries going into animistic societies needed to know about animism;
so I introduced a course on that subject into the curriculum. I also became
convinced that they needed to have a good Christian response to animistic
beliefs and practices, but there were no adequate texts on which to build
such a class.
I began to include some of these new ideas in other classes, however,
and word got around that I believed in the reality of spiritual warfare.
It is one thing to teach about something; it is another thing to practice
it. Our first test to practice our new beliefs came in the form of our
psychology teacher, a lady who was one of the most competent Christian
counselors I have ever worked with. She asked my wife and me if we would
meet with one of her clients who professed to be a Christian but was plagued
with compulsions which kept her from living a normal life.
To make a longer story short, in that meeting we, for the first time,
were challenged by a demon speaking through a person. While we passed
that first test, we have since learned many things that would have helped
us minister even more effectively to that young woman.
It has been a long pilgrimage, but today we would define spiritual warfare
essentially as the battle for the mind. Satan is a liar and deceiver (John
8:44; Rev. 12:9) and his deception operates in the areas of power and
truth. In a sense it is all a matter of truth, including the truth about
power, but power is such a significant element in the lives of so much
of the world's population that it deserves special attention. The primary
power issues are the creation of fear and the seeking of knowledge or
power from a supernatural source other than God. The primary truth issues
are the character of God and the nature of our relationship to Him "in
Christ."
The Christian's Stance toward Satan
For some reason most of the church seems to teach its members that, if
they are good Christians, Satan can't do anything to them. Therefore,
the best thing to do with Satan and demons is to ignore them. The only
problem is that that is not what the Bible says. There are numerous warnings
about satanic activity in the Scriptures, and all of them are addressed
to believers. Peter, for example, in 1 Peter 5:8-9a says, "Be self
-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring
lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.
. . ."
The Greek words translated "self-controlled and alert" which
Peter uses here are the same words Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 5:6 to
speak of the second coming of Christ. We are to be self-controlled and
alert in order to be ready to meet the Lord with no advanced notice whether
that be in a sudden, accidental death or in a secret rapture. Peter is
therefore telling us that we need to be ready to meet the devil at any
moment. That doesn't mean we lead a Satan-centered life, but it does mean
that we need to be constantly alert to the "fiery darts" (Eph.
6:16) which Satan sends our way.
Paul writes to the Corinthians, "I am afraid that just as Eve was
deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray
from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ" (2 Cor. 11:3). Christians
are not immune from Satan's deception, and unless they use the armor and
the weapons provided, they may become his victims. If that were not so,
Peter would have said, "Yes, you have an adversary, but don't worry
about him. He can't do anything to you. Your Father will protect you."
It is certainly true that when we do things God's way, God will be responsible
for the results, but if we do not do things God's way, we have to be responsible
for the results. Too many people want to live life their own way and then
expect God to protect them from the devices of the enemy. It just doesn't
work that way.
The Christian and Demons
To what extent can Satan/demons influence a Christian? It is clear that
believers can be tempted and that they can yield to temptation. It is
also clear that they can be deceived. The degree to which a believer believes
and lives out a lie of Satan is the degree to which Satan has control
in his/her life. Paul indicates that believers can give foothold (literally
"a place," Eph. 4:26,27) to Satan. The only place one can give
Satan a foothold is in one's own life. He already is the prince of this
world (John 12:31; 14:30) and the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Eph.
2:2); so we can't give him a "place" out there.
But can a Christian be possessed by a demon? Definitely not. We have
been bought with the price of the blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:18,19). We
belong to Christ. Some people use "possessed" to refer to any
activity of Satan in a believer. That makes this question an either-or
issue. Either you are possessed or you aren't, and if "possession"
includes influence and control, then the real issue is confused. I believe
the original language does not support the broad definition of "possess,"
and I use it only in relation to non-Christians.
Sometimes the question arises whether a Christian is really secure in
Christ if he/she can come under demonic attack. The Bible warnings concerning
demonic activity are all addressed to believers; so it is evident that
Christians can come under attack. There is also abundant evidence that
God has provided the resources for the believer to be victorious over
such attacks. But the responsibility for choosing truth, for using the
armor, for doing the resisting is clearly on the Christian. God does not
do that for us. He commands us to use the resources He has provided (John
8:31,32; Eph. 6:10-18; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8,9). This issue in this struggle
is not salvation; it is fellowship with the Father and victory in the
Christian life.
The Christian's Enemy
The Bible does not give use a nice narrative account of how Satan became
the fiend he is today. It appears that he was one of the higher ranking
angels and that he became jealous of God's glory. He then decided to try
to get some of that glory for himself by having other angels and humans
treat him like a god. He tried this with Jesus when he offered Him all
the kingdoms of the world "if You will bow down and worship me,"
that is, treat me like God (Matt. 4:9). The "man of lawlessness,"
whom I assume to be possessed by Satan, "will oppose and exalt himself
over all that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up
in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God" (2 Thess. 2:4).
When he chose to rebel against God in this way, God did not immediately
execute punishment against him. The punishment has been determined (Matt.
25:41) but has not yet been enforced. In the meantime, Satan is the "roaring
lion" Peter warns us about who is making war on the saints. While
he may find a depraved kind of glee in seeing those who are already in
his kingdom suffer, he is especially concerned about those who have forsaken
his kingdom for the kingdom of God. Believers can live to the glory of
God, and that is something he wants to prevent at all costs. It could
be argued that his primary aim for Christians is to get them to live at
a level that is less than to the glory of God. I call it the wilderness
of spiritual mediocrity.
The Attack on God and His Children
Israel was told in one of the Ten Commandments, "You shall not bear
[literal translation] the name of the Lord in vain" (Ex. 20:7). The
usual interpretation is that we should not use the name of God as an oath
or curse, and it certainly means that. I believe, however, that there
is a much deeper meaning. The Hebrew word is nasa, and it means to lift
up, to bear, or to carry. Israel was to "bear" the name of Yahweh
among all the nations of the world. They were to be called the people
of Yahweh. I believe the Lord is saying to them, "You are to be known
as the people of Yahweh. Be sure that you do not bear that name among
the nations in an empty, vain way." The New Testament version is
stated in a positive mode and is found in 1 Corinthians 10:31: "So
whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of
God."
Because the glory of God is the real issue, Satan's first attack is always
on the character of God. His primary tactic is always deception (Rev.
12:9). Jesus called him a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44), and
he begins with lies about God. This battle for the mind of man began in
the garden when he led Eve to question the trustworthiness and love of
God. He convinced her that God was not telling her the truth when He said
that they would die if they ate of the forbidden fruit. "On the contrary,"
Satan said, "you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Gen.
3:5). Eve "saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing
to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom." By implication
Satan is saying, "How can you believe that God loves you when He
won't let you have such a desirable fruit as that?" The first two
items in Eve's conclusion were true, but the third was a lie. And as soon
as Eve began to question whether God could be trusted and whether He really
loved them, the step into sin was an easy one.
If God cannot be trusted and He does not really love us, then it is no
great thing to be His child. Who needs a father like that? And this is
precisely the approach Satan has been using ever since that day in the
garden. The battle for the mind always begins with the character of God
and moves to our identity as the children of God. If those two items in
our belief system are based on Satan's deceptions, the rest of our theology
and our living will be affected adversely, and other lies will more readily
be accepted.
One area of life where Satan loves to take advantage of this lie is in
his use of fear. Fear is a great controller, and if God is not really
trustworthy and reliable, then I need to fear many things. The most frequent
command in the Bible is "fear not." It is repeated many times
because God's people have so easily fallen victim to fear when they began
to doubt the character and promises of their Father.
But Satan also takes advantage of our low view of God by suggesting that
there is a supernatural source of information and power apart from God.
This opens up the whole world of occult practices that are so common in
the world. Satan has enough power that he can deliver on some of his promises,
but he never does it for our good. He does it only as a means of gaining
control over us. He wants us to keep coming back to him for knowledge
and power.
Once we open the door to our spiritual enemy through listening to one
of his lies, he will seek to establish a stronghold in us in that particular
area. This is what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 4:26-27 when he
says we should not allow anger to go unresolved, because to do so gives
the devil a place (topos) in our lives. That does not mean we are "demon
possessed." It simply means that Satan has a "foothold"
(NIV) in our lives from which he will seek to exercise more and more control.
From there he will seek to affect other areas of our lives.
Freedom through the Truth
If spiritual warfare is a battle for the mind, and if Satan's primary
tactic is lying or deception, then the Christian answer is the truth that
comes from God. The battles we face that are in the nature of spiritual
warfare require that we ask the truth questions about what we believe
about God and about our relationship to God, and the truth about the circumstances
from our past or those we are facing in the present. As we chose to speak
the truth about everything in our lives and as we deal honestly before
God with any unresolved sin issues in our lives, we can win the battle.
The Steps to Freedom in Christ provide a tool to assist the believer to
look honestly at all of these areas of life and to find resolution to
spiritual problems and areas of bondage. The Steps are not a cure-all
for all of one's problems. The physical and psychological/emotional areas
may need the help of those professionally qualified in these areas. (See
Finding Hope Again by Anderson and Baumchen for a full discussion of a
holistic approach to healing.)
Resisting the Devil
Some assume that the Bible teaches that a Christian can never be demonized
and that it is never necessary or even proper to resist the devil directly
or verbally. Resisting is defined in terms of walking in obedience to
God and His Word, denying oneself, and resisting temptation. If that is
the only definition, why didn't James simply say, "Submit to God"?
Why did he add, "Resist the devil." Why do Paul (in Ephesians
6) and Peter (1 Peter 5:9) use the same word (anthistemi) in speaking
about our attitude and behavior in relation to this spiritual enemy? The
word literally means "stand against." The prefix 'anti' makes
it a negative word. If active resistance of Satan is not necessary, why
not simply state the positive approach?
Some argue that because there are not clear teaching passages on the
subject, we cannot find truth in a larger biblical context and by implication.
If that were true, why are there no didactic passages on the Trinity or
on personal evangelism? Why do we build a whole doctrine of the millennium
on one passage found in apocalyptic literature, a genre known for its
metaphorical nature?
While we do not build doctrine on church history, the most reliable of
the account of the early practice of the church, Apostolic Tradition,
preserved by Hippolytus of Rome, indicates that new Christians were all
taken through a kind of deliverance since they were coming out of Satan's
kingdom. (See Clinton Arnold, Three Crucial Questions about Spiritual
Warfare, Baker, 1997, chapter 2.) Many later writers speak of the ability
of Christians to cast out demons (Justin Martyr, Tatian, Tertullian, Origen),
and Clinton Arnold says, "It appears that the primary context for
the casting out of evil spirits was in the classes for new Christians"
(Arnold, Three Crucial Questions, p. 107). Justin Martyr uses his ability
to deal with demons as an argument in his argument for Christianity and
against heresy.
Both the Scriptures and the witness of church history indicate that Christians
can bring areas of bondage with them into the Christian life and that
through sin they can give Satan a "place" (foothold, NIV) in
their lives. They are therefore consistently told to resist the devil.
The evidence from the early church indicates that they saw this as an
active, verbal resistance involving the authority of the believer over
our spiritual enemy.
Conclusion
The spiritual conflict in which we are engaged is a real battle, a battle
we are involved in whether we want to be or not. Since we can live to
the glory of God, Satan has to do whatever he can to keep that from happening.
He does not come dressed in his Satan suit very often. He usually comes
with one of his many disguises so that we do not even recognize that we
are dealing with a spiritual enemy. This is the nature of deception. It
is what Paul was talking about in 2 Corinthians 11:3 when he said, "I
am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your
minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to
Christ." That battle is winnable, but it is won only when we choose
the path of truth (Psalm 119:30).
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If
you are going to work with ritual abuse survivors, you must also get educated
if you want to be effective. And you must learn to be humble. Trauma survivors
do not need to be around ignorant, modern-day Pharisees. Survivors in
pain need people who will connect with them on an emotional level, get
right down in there where they are, and listen. --Kathleen Sullivan