The false teachings on spiritual warfare

The false teachings on spiritual warfare sound so empowering. Are they biblical? You'll see in this chapter that any biblical basis they use is merely misinterpretation of scripture. The bible can be used to back up nearly anything. All that's needed is taking some scriptures out of context and one has a new teaching or doctrine.

Fellow Christians be on alert. Fellow ministers guard your calling in ensuring you're not blind on an important matter that could make you mislead many. Some new teachings using scriptures out of context can have disturbing consequences on your life and others – spiritually, socially, materially, or physically. Needless to say that there's always plenty of hope for anyone who may have been harmed by any kind of false teaching.

New Age self-empowerment teachings are all around us. Let's not entertain them when they try to infiltrate Christianity. In fact all occult teachings in both white witchcraft and black witchcraft are centered around self-empowerment. They promise people power over “the” spirits, both good and bad spirits.

Through learning some occult teachings they promise self-empowerment that enables a person to use “the” spirits in his/her personal advancement in career, marriage, material gain, and so on. The spirits are claimed to become submissive to one's requests as a person gains and applies knowledge of certain occult rituals.

For example, just look at the degrees or hierarchical levels of Freemasonry and you will see how the occult is centered on self-empowerment. Here are a few and you'll notice how self-empowering the titles are: Master Mason, Excellent Master, Secret Master, Perfect Master, Master Elect of Nine (ninth degree), Grand Master Architect, Prince of Jerusalem. These are just some of the first 16 Masonic degrees (out of 33). Can you see how they entitle a person to be a master or lord over his/her own life as he/she graduates in the Freemasonry occult disciplines?

If this sounds so unfamiliar to you please read my other book, Breaking Occult Spells: Protection from Witchcraft and Occult Influences . It has more detailed info on this topic.

The new teachings on spiritual warfare borders on making evil spirits to become submissive to one's requests. Can you see how this brings a false sense of self-empowerment – like the occult world promises? Direct confrontation on spiritual warfare is being used as a means for having power over evil spirits. It may sound innocent for any unsuspecting Christian but if you connect the dots you'll see that it has occult relations.

This is not to say fellow Christians caught up in the new teachings on spiritual warfare are in the occult. It's just to say that the new teachings have occult relations on self-empowerment, giving a person power over the spirits. In Christendom select scriptures get taken out of context and the self-empowerment doctrine gets a Christian face. Direct confrontation against Satan and his fellow demons is claimed to empower us to counter their schemes.

The main biblical basis being used for direct confrontation on spiritual warfare is that Christ gave us authority over unclean spirits (i.e. evil spirits, demons or fallen angels). This is very true. Yet it's only true to the extent that our given authority is exercised within its contextual limits that it was granted. All given authority, whether earthly or spiritual, is limited. The only being with unlimited authority is God. His kind of authority is called power because it's not granted and cannot be sanctioned by anyone. He's sovereign.

God's angels have limited authority, demons (fallen angels), including Satan, have limited authority. Who are we to think our given spiritual authority is unlimited? Exercising our given spiritual authority beyond its given limits is mere presumption and venturing into unauthorized territory. Once you enter into an unauthorized territory you're at the mercy of its residents. Satan and his fellow demons have no mercy over believers entering unauthorized spiritual zones. It'll be free lunch for them –unless God in his sovereignty stops them.

Thus our given authority over evil spirits did not mean it was a blank check to go after evil spirits wherever we wish to confront them –in people, in thin air, in geographical territories, in water, in the spirit world, or wherever. This makes understanding the boundaries of our given authority a very important matter.

This is particularly important on matters that deal with the spirit world. Otherwise we may risk going outside our boundaries and face regretful counterattacks that could have been avoided. The previous chapters (chapters 2 and 3) cover in depth on our given authority and on its limited boundaries. Please read them in case you came straight to this chapter. You'll see from God's word how he has created a God-centered approach to dealing with evil spirits.

The rest of this chapter expands on this God-centered approach by elaborating on our role as indirect warriors in God's army. In other ways, we do not fight evil spirits directly but fight them indirectly by focusing on God who has the power to directly confront them. God, through his angels has the power to directly confront evil spirits in all their set-up places: occult world, spirit world, and territories.

Thus victory comes by fulfilling our expected indirect responsibilities, and not by our direct confrontation with evil spirits. Indirect confrontation is our responsibility. Direct confrontation is God's, except where demons are to be cast out of people.

God's role = direct confrontation, verses our role = indirect confrontation

This chapter is an answer to: what is spiritual warfare according to the bible? Or what is Christian spiritual warfare?

True biblical spiritual warfare is simply indirect confrontation with Satan our principle enemy. Indirect confrontation implies that we do not fight with Satan and his evil forces by approaching them directly. We confront them by applying indirect means and ways that God has established for us. These will be covered shortly.

Applying and fulfilling our required indirect roles secures our standing before God and allows him to directly act on our behalf. Attacks from Satan against us become God's battles as we obey and fulfill the roles required of us. In this spiritual battle God's role is direct in nature as he is able to directly confront the spiritual forces unseen to our human eyes.

God himself does not necessarily fight Satan. He is too big to go out and fight a creature he himself created and allowed to exist after his rebellion. The Lord uses his angels, Satan's equals since Satan is also an angel, only a fallen one.

God through his heavenly government of angels has the power, authority and direct access to the kingdom of Satan and his fallen angels. We do not and we only deceive ourselves to assume we do. However, we have a very special role to play in setting the stage for God to send out his angels to minister (carry out) his will.

This special role comprises of fulfilling our expected part in our walk with God. The combination of our walk with God and committing life's battles into his hands constitutes our indirect role. God becomes our defender and acts on our behalf in dealing with matters confronting us and the people we commit to him.

True Christian spiritual warfare is living a life of consecration, obedience and fellowship with God in such a way that we enable God to effectively deal with the evil working against us and against other people. It is a form of abiding in Christ that overcomes Satan's legal and illegal grounds against us and others. This is seen in the outline of our spiritual armor given in Ephesians 6:11-18 (outlined below).

Biblical spiritual warfare is therefore indirect confrontation against Satan. We approach God to intervene for us against Satan on matters in our lives and the lives of others.

It's true that Satan and his demonic spirits (fallen angels) are our primary enemies we wrestle against. It's also true that God has given us certain ways in the Bible of confronting these evil beings whose full time ministry is scheming to ruin our lives. Working outside these biblical ways only increases their effect in our lives. One of these non-biblical ways is the assumption that direct confrontation against Satan is our role.

Examples of Indirect Confrontation in the Bible

a) Examples of indirect Confrontation During Jesus' Time on Earth

Nowhere in the scripture do we see Jesus or the apostles bombarding demons in thin air and calling it spiritual warfare prayers or deliverance prayers. When Satan sought to sift Peter and finish him off Jesus prayed to God. Jesus prayed that Peter's faith would not fail and when he'd turned back from the attack he'd strengthen his fellow disciples.

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers,” Luke 22:31-32.

Jesus Christ, God made flesh, prayed to God, the Father, for Peter's deliverance. His spiritual warfare prayer or deliverance prayer was addressed to God not to Satan. How much more should we follow his example of indirect confrontation.

The events that followed showed the results of Jesus' prayers of deliverance addressed to God, not Satan. Peter rose to be the foundation of the early church. His faith in his teacher and master, Jesus Christ, was preserved. God did his spiritual warfare part in fulfilling Jesus' deliverance prayer by directly confronting Satan in the spirit realm.

b) Examples of Indirect Confrontation after Jesus' Ascension and During the Early Church

Some may say direct confrontation with demonic spirits, binding and loosing them became necessary after Jesus ascended to heaven. How come the apostles did not practice it? When confronted with threats that could have closed the emerging church they turned to God.

At one point they prayed so much that, “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken,” Acts 4:31. In our time fellow believers assume earth shaking breakthroughs will come after binding and loosing demonic spirits, familiar spirits, generational spirits, Jezebel spirits, territorial spirits, spirits of division, spirits of unforgiveness, and so on. This only ends up taking us outside our biblical limits.

It also ends up summoning demons to interfere with our lives because we confront them in their spiritual territory where only God and his hosts have access to. We have direct access to God when confronted with evil. However we do not have direct access to the spirits of darkness. The previous chapter covers this in depth from God's word.

Paul, the apostle whose inspired words on spiritual warfare have confused some, never directly confronted demonic powers. He received a thorn in the flesh from Satan that brought much pain and discomfort in his life. “There was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me,” 2 Corinthians 12:7.

None of us would like to have a demonic attack that is illegally operating against us. More so for a person of his spiritual stature with one of the greatest anointing on him. He is probably the greatest spiritual warfare prayer warrior in Christian history. His spiritual warfare prayers where addressed to God. He indirectly confronted the enemy.

In dealing with the demonic thorn in the flesh Paul turned to God instead of confronting Satan and the ranks of principalities he identifies in Ephesians. He turned to God, not once but, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me,” Corinthians 12:8.

If direct confrontation was scriptural we would have seen at least one direct encounter between Paul and demonic spirits. But he kept turning to God, his only source of salvation, who had the authority to directly confront these evil beings in the spirit realm.

More Scriptural Objection for Direct Confrontation

After covering on all these major biblical cases of indirect confrontation as our avenue of spiritual warfare and deliverance some may still argue about our authority to bind and loose demonic powers. Please read Chapter 2: Our Territory and Nature of Our Spiritual Authority. It explains what binding and loosing is according to the bible.

Others may say, we have the authority to directly confront evil spirits by casting them out of people. True and this is one exceptional area that scripture allows us to directly confront evil spirits. Chapter 5: Exception for Direct Confrontation covers on this topic. A single exception on direct confrontation does not justify other practices as means of directly confronting evil spirits.

Next Part Weapons of Spiritual Warfare