There are individuals today who have the capacity to see into the spiritual realm. They typically see both angels and demons from time to time. This is called the gift of spiritual discernment or distinguishing between spirits (1 Cor. 12:10). They often have the gift of prophecy as well but not always. Many of the Old Testament prophets had the capacity to see into the spirit realm and were called seers. Elisha demonstrated that capacity when he saw chariots of fire surrounding Dothan when enemy troops had come up during the night to capture him.

What is not clear is whether seers see angels and demons as they are or as symbolic representations of what they are and are doing. God shows his people many things that are related to the spiritual realm in dreams, visions, and open visions. He may open up the spiritual realm as we dream as he did with Jacob when he saw angels ascending and descending on a ladder or a stairway to heaven (Gen.28:10-17). God also reveals things through visions that come to individuals who are awake but slip into a trance-like state where they are unaware of anything else going on around them (see Acts 10:9-16).  Open visions come to individuals who are seeing things God wants to show them while they are still quite aware of their surroundings. Elisha at Dothan might be a good example of an open vision. Cornelius would be another example. “At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius…One day about three in the afternoon, he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God who came to him…’ (Acts 10:1-3).

Jonathan Welton, in his book The School of the Seers, says the he sees angels superimposed over the natural realm. He doesn’t see them as clearly as a person in the flesh but he sees them with “spiritual eyes.” We have several individuals on our Free Indeed team at Mid-Cities that see angels and demons from time to time as we minister to people. In our setting (spiritual warfare), they are typically dressed in armor. Some are eight feet tall. Others are much taller. Some are on the floor. Others are close to the ceiling. Sometimes, as we read the Word of God, our seers will see angels kneel in reverence to the Word. On several occasions, as we have been doing deliverance with large groups of people, our seers have been aware of an angel close to the ceiling next to a whirlwind sucking up unclean spirits as they are cast out. Is that literal or is God showing them symbolically what is happening in the spirit realm? I don’t know. Our seers will also see demonic spirits on those days as smoke leaving individuals, as serpents crawling away, and so forth.

Many seers see angels in worship settings. Welton recounts one such experience. “As worship began, I saw two angels standing on the stage and they were unlike anything I had ever seen. They were about 15 feet tall and there was fire coming out of them – six feet in every direction. I was standing in the front row of the church with Randy, so I was closer to the stage than the rest of the crowd around me when the closest angel began to walk toward me. I wanted to run or get out of his way but I was unable to move. He came straight at me and reached out his hand. When he touched my chest, I collapsed to the floor on my side…The spiritual fire from his touch remained on me causing me to create my own puddle of sweat on the cement floor of the church…

Over each section (of the sanctuary) I saw another angel of fire about the size of a human man and fire only emanated out of them about six inches. As the worship intensified, I saw more of these smaller angels come down through the ceiling and join the crowd of worshippers. The worship grew so intense that at the height of worship, while the fire angels continued to join in, the crowd looked like a field of grass on fire, an extreme wild fire of worship” (Jonathan Welton, The School of the Seers, p. 29). At the end of the service, Welton asked another person, with the gift of spiritual discernment, what he had seen and he described exactly what Welton had perceived.

I was at a conference in south Texas once where an individual was taking digital photos of the dark ceiling of the sanctuary during worship when only the stage lights were on. Afterwards, he showed me the pictures and there were orbs of light all around the dark ceiling. He believed those orbs indicated the presence of angels. You will have to decide what you think.

Here is what we know. Angels were created as ministering spirits who minister not only to the Father but also to the children of the Father – that is you and I. They play a prominent role throughout scripture in the lives of God’s people and in the life of the nation of Israel (think Six Days War). Sometimes they are not seen, except by those whose spiritual eyes are activated to see into the spiritual realm. Sometimes they are seen as amazing creatures who often inspire awesome fear. They are seen in dreams, visions, and open visions. Sometimes they come to people and do not inspire fear such as when Gabriel came to Mary to tell her that she would carry the Messiah. Sometimes they appear as humans and, according to Hebrews, many of us have entertained angels unaware of who they were. They are powerful. One angel destroyed 185,000 Assyrian troops in one night. They love to worship God as we do. Sometimes they work on our behalf for protection, provision, and direction and sometimes they are fellow servants serving alongside us to accomplish God’s purposes.

Perhaps, the major takeaway from this little study on angels is that God is “sooooo for us” and has provided for us in remarkable ways. His Son died for our sins and intercedes for us now. The Holy Spirit lives within us and leads us into all truth, equips us with spiritual gifts, and provides us with divine weapons. Magnificent angels watch over us and work beside us. He hears every prayer and knows even the number of hairs on our heads. And scripture declares, “If God is for us who can be (stand) against us?” So as the angels say, “Don’t be afraid.” Live with joy. Walk with confidence. Do not fear man or Satan because you are filled and surrounded by the immeasurable power of God who cares for you. Be blessed today and keep an eye out for angels.

There are a number of liberal “biblical scholars” who do not believe in the actual existence and activity of demons. They believe that Jesus simply ministered and spoke in the context of cultural superstitions and ignorance. The “casting out” of a demon, in their view, was simply the psychosomatic response of a person who believed something had happened to deliver him or her from their suffering in the same way that a sick individual might feel better after taking a placebo medication. In the view of liberal scholars, science and learning has debunked the myths of scripture so that the idea of demonic activity is only for the superstitious and ignorant.

Others believe that although demonic activity was a reality in the days of Jesus, the cross disarmed Satan and demonic activity faded away along with miracles and the supernatural gifts of the Spirit somewhere around the end of the first century (Cessationism). The idea seems to be that God allowed the activity of demons in the days of Jesus to demonstrate his power over the enemy in the same way that God allowed healing miracles to demonstrate that Jesus was, indeed, the Son of God.

Some of these theologians might concede some possibility that demons are active in cultures where voodoo and other dark religions are practiced but they would maintain that Christians are immune to their attacks and certainly immune to any demonic spirit that would want to take up residence in a believer where the Holy Spirit dwells. Therefore, the topic as a current reality is typically ignored by most Protestant or Evangelical churches in America.

However, these same individuals would not want to deny the existence and activity of angels watching over us or working to bring about answers to our prayers. To acknowledge angels acknowledges a spiritual realm in which unseen forces exert power. Not only that, but scripture speaks of demons operating in Old Testament times hundreds of years before their “showdown with Christ” and we are warned constantly throughout the New Testament to arm ourselves against the attack of the enemy.

To discard the idea of demonic activity would nullify a great number of passages in the New Testament for any present application: the armor of God (Eph.6); divine weapons (2 Cor. 10); demonic doctrines in latter times (1Tim.4), Satan as a roaring lion (I Peter 5); Satan, still at work as the prince of the power of the air (Eph.2); and so forth. When we appeal to the cross and the defeat of Satan as the rationale for the disappearance of demons, we must remember that the letters of Paul and the other apostles who spoke about the continuing power of the enemy were written 20-30 years after the cross.

There is no doubt that Satan was defeated and judged by the cross. There is no doubt that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, that he has a name that is above every name and that he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. His defeat was the action in which his rightful authority to rule the earth was taken away. God will not take away what rightfully belongs to someone. The blood of Christ paid the ransom price for man and the resurrection demonstrated that the authority of Satan had been taken away. As a result, the church has the authority to put our foot on the neck of the enemy in every circumstance.

We are not trying to achieve the victory, rather we enforce the victory that has already been won. We are not fighting for victory; we are fighting from victory. Satan still has a measure of power but no blanket authority over men. He has only the authority now that men give him through their choices. Those who align themselves with the Lord can resist the devil and he will flee.

So then, how do individuals become susceptible to demonization? That is a better biblical term than possession. Possession is rare and does not happen to believers. Possession implies ownership and typically manifests as an individual who has lost all control of his or her life to the influence of demonic spirits.

Demonization implies oppression or affliction by a spirit or spirits but typically the individual will function normally in most areas of his or her life. Believers will work, care for their families, attend church, pray and even read their Bibles but one part of their lives will be out of control and at times will dominate them. This spiritual oppression or affliction may show up as depression, fear, addictions, anger, constant feelings of unworthiness, bitterness, etc. Each of those expressions has its origins in wounds from the past. Demonic spirits magnify the pain of those wounds and keep them from healing. These spirits may also manifest as physical or psychological illnesses. Remember the woman who was bent over for eighteen years until Jesus cast out a demon (Lk.13).

Some believe that since the Holy Spirit dwells in a believer, demons could not share that same space. But the Holy Spirit shares space with all kinds of sin in the hearts and minds of believers without departing: adultery, pornography, unforgiveness, rage, alcoholism, drug addictions, etc. We never assert that believers caught in these traps are unsaved or that the Holy Spirit has abandoned them or claim that he keeps those things out of a believer’s life because of His holiness.

In Ephesians 4, Paul warns believers not to let the sun go down on their anger or to give the devil a foothold. Unresolved anger opens the door for the enemy even in the lives of believers. In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul declares that believers need to employ divine weapons to destroy strongholds within the believer’s mind. The real battle against demonic spirits takes place in the mind where lies and temptations are launched. Strongholds suggest a continuing presence of demonic influence in the life of a believer.

It is true that we don’t see absolute examples of deliverance for believers in church services in the New Testament. However, there are numerous warnings about Satan and his schemes, the need for spiritual alertness, and the need for armor. For the most part, we don’t see examples of deliverance for New Testament Christians because the church practiced deliverance when people first came to faith. We can safely assume that many of those who found freedom from the demonic at the commands of Christ became faithful followers. The miracles performed by the apostles and other church leaders such as Philip when planting churches must have included deliverance since the pattern set by Jesus was to preach, heal, and deliver.

On the other hand, the American church, by and large, has offered no deliverance for decades so that many believers are demonized without knowing it and without help and, as a result, make little progress in their Christian life. In my next blog I will briefly talk about how believers come to be demonized and how Jesus sets captives free.

I keep running into believers who have never given much thought to the reality of demons or the spiritual realm and yet are frequently overcome with emotional pain and addictions for which they have found no lasting solutions. Their view seems to be that we only encounter the spiritual realm after we die and do to heaven. They like the notion of guardian angels but push back against the idea of demons operating in the world. When I bring up the possibility of demonic afflictions, all kinds of questions arise.

• Are demons real or just superstitious echoes from the past when we didn’t understand human psychology and physiology as we do today?
• Is the demonic real or just an emotional, hyper – spiritual response to the normal struggles of life?
• Is demonic affliction real or is it just a rationalization for bad behavior like saying, “The devil made me do it?”
• Is “demon possession,” like we see in the movies, a real thing and can it even happen to believers?
• Why would some people be oppressed by demons but not others?
• Does that stuff still happen today?

Those are questions frequently asked by those new to the arena of spiritual warfare. Serious, Bible-believing Christians are also sometimes uncertain of how far to go with a theology that embraces the activity of demons in the lives of believers. Since these seem to be “standard questions,” which I also had at one time, I think I will take a few blogs to respond to those questions and maybe a few more that come to mind as we consider these topics.

Let me just begin by saying that scripture is very clear about the reality of a spiritual realm in which angels and demons operate. It is an eternal realm that contains more power than anything we experience in the natural realm. Speaking of the spiritual realm, Paul said, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor.4:18). A realm that is eternal is a greater and more powerful reality than that which is temporary.

Paul also declared, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm” (Eph.6:11-13). Again, Paul points to a spiritual realm where the real battles take place, where Satan (and those that serve him) scheme against us, where we need to put on spiritual armor, and where we will have to take a stand on days when the enemy launches attacks against us. Some people think that the cross took all power away from the enemy but Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is written decades after the cross.

Scripture isn’t clear about the origin of demons, but is very clear about the reality and activity of demons. Some commentators believe that they are the fallen angels cast down from heaven when they joined Satan in the rebellion. Others say that demons are the spirits of wicked men looking for a body to inhabit so that they can express their wickedness once more. Others say they are something else.

The most common belief seems to be that demons are the fallen angels cast out of heaven with Satan.       “Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth” (Rev.12:3-4).   Many commentators believe that “a third of the stars” refers to a third of the angels and that those angels joined Satan in his rebellion and were cast down to the earth with him. “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Rev. 12:7-9). Those who hold this view believe that these angels still serve Satan by tempting, oppressing, and afflicting the human race. They will even make some humans a habitation in which they take up residence and constantly afflict those individuals – even through generational lines.

The problem with this view is suggested by the apostle Peter. “…God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment” (2 Pet.2:4). Jude also says, “And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day” (Jude 6). If these angels are bound in chains and gloomy dungeons until judgment, then they cannot be wandering around afflicting people. It is possible that chains and dungeons are metaphorical but these verses seem to be fairly straightforward.

The theory that demons are the spirits of wicked men comes from the idea that departed spirits would be uncomfortable without bodies so they seek to enter bodies so that they can satisfy their wickedness once again. Of course, this view must also maintain that spirits wander the earth after death. Word studies in Greek find that the word “daemon” (demon) in Greek culture originally meant the spirits of the dead (righteous or unrighteous) and later took on the meaning of the departed spirits of wicked men.

However, scripture suggests that the dead go to holding or waiting places until Judgment Day – the righteous rest in Paradise, the wicked wait in torment. That view is reflected in Luke 16 in the story of the rich man and Lazarus where Lazarus is in a place of comfort while the rich man is in a place of torment wishing that someone could go back to the earth and warn his brothers about judgment. There are also passages that speak of Jesus preaching to spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago and of, apparently, visiting those “holding places” and moving the righteous souls from a place akin to Hades to Paradise as they await the judgment (See 1 Peter 3:18-20; Eph.4:8-10). These verses suggest that all spirits go to an intermediate waiting place as they wait for judgment rather than wandering the earth.

I find no theory about the origin of demons to be totally satisfactory. I asked a former satanic priest what he thought about it and he was confident that demons come into existence from the creative force and influence of the wicked thoughts and actions of men. I don’t know but scripture is clear that they exist and have a profound impact on people – even those in a covenant relationship with God. I also know that scripture clearly commands believers to stay away from things that open the door to demonic spirits in our lives: sorcery, mediums, psychics, fortunetellers, séances, and so forth. The demonic realm, like the angelic, is very real and is presented as an ever-present reality in scripture.

More about the demonic in my next blog.

If you have embraced spiritual warfare then one of your favorite verses has to be, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (Ja. 4:7). Sometimes, it really helps to break down verses that are very familiar to us and re-examine them in some depth. So…lets do that with this particular verse.

The Greek word anthisteme is translated resist. It really is a stronger word than that. It means to be hostile toward something or someone, to withstand, and to set yourself against. Resist implies pushing back but this word is more of a mindset of determined hostility that we are to maintain against the enemy. John’s phrase that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil has that flavor. We are to be just as determined.

Too many believers have a casual or compromising attitude toward Satan and toward sin. Too many try to live with one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world. But as soldiers of Christ, compromise with the enemy is unacceptable. James might read, “Maintain a hostile attitude toward Satan and constantly set yourself against him and he will flee.

Satan is not so much a proper noun as a description. The word translated as Satan is diabalos and literally means slanderer, accuser, or the one who opposes you. One way we resist the devil is to reject his slander and accusations that he brings against us and against others. That happens first in our own minds when he brings accusation and condemnation to our minds in an attempt to create insecurity in our relationship with the Father. He accuses us of being such miserable individuals that even God can’t love us and constantly works to draw us back under the enslaving idea that we must always earn God’s love and favor rather than joyfully living by grace. We also set ourselves against the slanderer when we refuse to be his instruments of accusation and slander against others. Gossip is a serious sin in scripture because it makes us one of Satan’s great tools to spread his slander, accusation, and condemnation against others. Rarely are we more aligned with Satan than when we gossip.

The Greek word pheugo is the word translated as flee. It means to run away, disappear quickly, vanish, or avoid. I like the idea that when I fully understand that Satan is my enemy, maintain a hostile attitude toward him, and when I refuse to place the accusation game then he or his representatives will quickly disappear. In fact, after a while they will avoid you because you torment them instead of them tormenting you.

I need to add that in the context of James 4, a very important phrase precedes this directive to resist the devil. James says first, “Submit yourselves, then, to God” (Ja.4:7). Submit (hypotasso) carries the meaning of willing subjection and submission. It means to submit control, yield to the authority of another, to stand in the ranks, or to be aligned with someone or something. It is the same concept as “taking every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).

In both the Old and New Testament, a consistent theme is found that declares that God raises up those who humble themselves before him and opposes those who are proud. Submitting ourselves to God is humbling ourselves before him. God promotes those who are humble before him because the humble will use the gifts, power and authority he gives them as he directs rather than for their own purposes. Satan flees from those who have authority in the Kingdom and the humble are given authority. Being humble is not being timid or weak. It is simply being submitted to the Lordship of Jesus.   The more submitted we are in every part of our lives, the more standing we have in the kingdom and the more authority we are granted in the spiritual realm. Then when we maintain a hostile attitude toward the enemy and stand against him he will certainly flee and will often avoid us altogether.

James bookends his statement about resisting Satan with the phrase, “Come near to God and he will come near to you” (Ja.4:8). The progression, then, is to submit to God, resist the devil, and draw near. When we are doing God’s work, which is destroying the works of the devil just as Jesus did, then God will certainly draw near. When God draws near, Satan disappears. The more time we spend in the presence of God, the less often the enemy will come around. No demon wants to be in the presence of the Most High and Holy God.

Today…remember that the devil is not your friend. He is a sworn enemy of God bent on destroying God’s children. Maintain a hostile mindset toward this enemy and everything he represents. Do nothing that brings you into agreement with him. Submit every part of your day to Jesus and every part of who you are. Draw near to God throughout your day and then watch the devil run. Be blessed.

All of us who minister deliverance or healing or who share the gospel or counsel believers have experienced the frustration of doing our best and then seeing nothing change. Sometimes self-doubt creeps in as if we failed in the moment and at other times we simply wonder what went wrong. I was browsing through an old book on my shelf written by a man named Don Basham entitled, Deliver Us From Evil. If you think healing and deliverance has just begun to be practiced in the church, many were doing these things in the 60’s and 70’s.   Don’s book was first published in 1972. He and a few others like Derek Prince were leading lights in renewing this ministry to the contemporary church.

Don’s book is basic and simple. I like that. The other reason I like it is because it reminds me that, as Solomon said, there is nothing new under the sun. Our current experiences mirror his and his thoughts and experiences confirm that we are still on the right path. I think I’ll share some of his wisdom with you in my next few blogs.

In his book, Basham states, But knowing that Satan and his demons are defeated is one thing: appropriating the benefits of that belief is another. The more I was thrown into this strange ministry, the more complex it seemed to become. Why, for example, should deliverance achieve such spectacular results in one tormented person and fail miserably with another. Gradually, I began to see that there were certain contributing factors, certain requirements or conditions for deliverance. To a large degree, success was determined by whether or not the one seeking help was willing to meet the conditions (p. 147). Basham then goes on to list six of those conditions. Our experience at Mid-Cities confirms his list so I will share it with you and as I do I will make some of my own comments related to his.

1. The person must desire deliverance. I agree. We must recognize that many people only “sort of” want deliverance or want deliverance from one thing but not another (like a sinful relationship). That mindset continues to give the enemy a legal right to continue to harass that individual. Deliverance is most effective when the individual is done with sin and Satan and hates what both have done in his or her life. Everything in the person’s life must be placed under the Lordship of Jesus…not just some things.

2. The person must be willing to admit that he has a demon. Basham’s point here is that, in many cases, the individual must acknowledge that his condition is not just physiological or genetic but that there is a sin component that may have demonic origins. With the sin component comes personal responsibility to repent and renounce that behavior as sin. I’m not sure that the individual must be convinced that he has a demon but he should be open to the possibility. He or she could read my book or any number of books on the topic to understand the reality and possibility of demons if that is an issue.

3. Those ministering deliverance must take authority in the name of Jesus. If we ever believe the deliverance depends on us, our ability, our holiness, or our methodology we will fail. Demons have no regard for us but on for the one whom we represent. We act in the authority and power of Jesus. We must always remember that and make sure that the demons know whom we serve.

4.  It helps to get the demon to name itself. I agree with Don’s statement in principle. If you get the demon’s name it typically comes out easier. It reminds me of kids playing in the yard. When the mother yells, “You kids get in the house,” the kids will usually drift in over the next few minutes as if “you kids” may not have included each one of them. However, when momma says, “Billy Ray, you get in here this minute!” more and quicker action follows. You may know the demon’s name by his fruits – anger, rage, lust, fear, rejection, etc. or the Holy Spirit may reveal the name to you. At times you can command a spirit to reveal his name but he may resist and he may lie. Getting the name is helpful but not necessary.

5. The afflicted person must renounce the demon. Basham makes a good point when he says that repentance of the sin is necessary but renouncing the sin and the demon carries more weight. Repentance says I don’t want to do this anymore. Renouncement says I hate this and want nothing to do with it ever again. I have seen demons persist in the face of anointed and experienced members of a deliveranceteam until the afflicted person gets angry at the demon and commands it to leave with absolute conviction. Half-heartedness on the part of the afflicted still gives the enemy a place.

6. The person must forgive. Unforgiveness is an open door for the enemy. Jesus told us in several places that if we don’t forgive others, the father won’t forgive us. Unforgiven sin gives the enemy legal access to us. Typically, we need to explain biblical forgiveness to people as a decision rather than a feeling and that forgiving a hurtful person doesn’t necessarily mean giving them access to us again. It is simply a decision to no longer require payment for the wrongs done and to release all judgment to God. But it is absolutely necessary for deliverance to be successful.

7. A person must repent of any persistent sin. This was not in Basham’s list, perhaps because it is so obvious, but it needs to be stated. A person must repent of his or her sins because unrepented sin gives the enemy a legal right to harass. We are in agreement with the devil in that slice of our lives if we do not repent and renounce the sin…and any sins of the Fathers that we are aware of. Sometimes people rationalize a particular sin as being “a little sin” or they hold onto a sin that gratifies them or makes them feel powerful or significant. You must explore those possibilities and move them to a sincere acknowledgment and repentance of sin in their lives. Secret sin continues to give the devil a foothold.

If those conditions are not met, you may not accomplish much or anything in your attempts to minister deliverance. Sometimes, individual’s want to start commanding right away without discovering where the enemy has gained entrance and whether or not the person’s heart is aligned with the Jesus. That is like a doctor jumping into surgery without an MRI, a CT scan, or a thorough diagnosis. Not a good idea. If the person’s heart is not right, you may gain some temporary deliverance but more than likely that spirit will return and sometimes bring others with him. Take your time with the diagnosis. It will save you time with the treatment.

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Cor.2:14

This blog is essentially dedicated to expressions of power in the life of the church and the preaching of the gospel. When we think of “power evangelism” we think of men and women coming to Christ after a dramatic healing, prophetic word, or deliverance. Those are certainly legitimate expressions of power and usually accompanied the preaching of the gospel throughout the New Testament. But there is also another kind of power that needs to be displayed in the day to day grind of bringing someone we know and love to the cross when he or she seems to be almost inoculated against belief.

In Paul’s statement above, he clearly states that a man without the Spirit cannot understand the things that come from the Spirit. He doesn’t say that the man without the Spirit is stubborn or chooses not to understand; he says that man cannot understand. In his second letter to the church at Corinth, Paul adds to that thought. “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor.4:3-4). So Paul tells us that without the operation of the Spirit a man cannot even understand spiritual things because the devil has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe.

Before a man or woman can truly come to the Lord, he or she must experience a paradigm shift in their view of the world, of themselves, or of God. That shift in thinking is called repentance. Dutch Sheets makes an interesting observation about this shift in a person’s worldview. “The perspective of unbelievers is distorted. People run from the pursuit of a God who is desiring to save them from destruction. Those of us who know him realize we love God because he first loved us. When sinners, however, hear of a loving God who wants only their best and died to provide it, they often see instead only the promise of loss and a lack of fulfillment” (Intercessory Prayer, p.171).

For some, the shift in perspective about God comes through a dramatic moment of healing, near death experiences, or some other encounter with Jesus that, like Saul on the way to Damascus,   jars the individual into a different view of Jesus. But what about all the rest? Two things need to happen. First of all, the veil or their distorted view of God needs to be removed and a revelation of Jesus needs to penetrate the heart of the unbeliever. When we talk people into a salvation prayer there is often no revelation and, therefore, no real change of mind – no genuine repentance – so their walk with the Lord is short-lived.

Power evangelism needs to be exercised in many cases through powerful prayers specifically targeting the strongholds (false beliefs and distorted views including pride, self-sufficiency, fear, distrust, unworthiness, etc.) of those we are trying to reach. Arguments, pressure, guilt, fear, and even logical presentations of the gospel will rarely bring about a lifting of the veil and the revelation needed for true repentance. The answer is found in God’s divine weapons spoken of in 2 Corinthians 10. These weapons have divine power to bring down strongholds, silence the enemy, and direct the power of the Spirit to release revelation and faith.

There are times when our prayers need to look like spiritual warfare in which we command and bind the enemy in a person’s life, call on angels to keep the enemy at bay, declare God’s word over that person, ask the Spirit to hover over that individual to release revelation and birth faith, and ask Jesus to orchestrate encounters that will bring about a change of mind and heart. That is where the work and the wrestling need to be done rather than in the natural realm where we tend to use pressure and persuasion. There is tremendous power in prayer and battles for souls are fought and won in that realm because our struggle is not against flesh and blood. That kind of prayer is also power evangelism.

Before sharing our faith, we usually need to till the soil of a person’s heart so that the word might take root. That tilling will be done through powerful and persistent prayers that bring the resources of heaven to bear on that person and his or her heart. Often we have prayed for God to save someone but have not truly entered into the battle ourselves with our persistent and specific prayers. Remember, God will do more things with us than for us. Join in and see what God does for those you are trying to reach.

A “worldview” is a set of assumptions we hold about the world and how it operates. Everyone has a worldview and these assumptions or core beliefs about reality work as filters that give meaning to our experiences. Most of us, whether we want to admit it or not, discard or reinterpret facts that don’t seem to line up with our presuppositions about life. As an old Paul Simon song says, “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.”

For instance, if we believe that no one can be trusted, then no matter how trustworthy a person has been, we simply assume that his or her trustworthiness is only a ruse to set us up for some future betrayal. We will simply deny the reality of their trustworthiness even though he or she has never shown us any other quality. On the romantic side of life, if we believe that there is only one “right” person for us in all the world, we will probably have such anxiety about missing that “made-in-heaven soul mate” that we will over analyze every relationship we encounter and look for irrefutable proof or signs from heaven so long that the relationship withers and dies. Then we console ourselves by believing that if the relationship died, he or she wasn’t that one and only match made in heaven after all.

Sometimes our worldview affects insignificant matters but sometimes it has eternal consequences. It helps to understand the source of some of the perspectives that make up our worldview so that we might evaluate them to see if they are legitimate or imbalanced. The church should stop from time to time to examine her own assumptions to also see if those assumptions are still aligned with God’s truth.

For instance, do we maintain a biblical view of the spiritual realm? A church’s view of that has wide implications. Believe it or not, not all mainline churches believe in the activity of angels or demons or in the gospel accounts of Jesus and his followers casting out those demons or healing the sick. These churches ascribe the gospel accounts to symbolic, figurative language rather than descriptions of literal events. Why would they not believe?

Francis MacNutt gives a succinct explanation when he writes. “The reason is the acceptance of the Western world, beginning with the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, of a rationalistic, scientific view of the world that assumed there is no reality beyond the natural, material universe. If something cannot be measured and observed in a laboratory, it does not exist. This materialistic worldview has so affected Western Christianity that we automatically regard the work of the supernatural with skepticism and rule out the world of angels and demons with no further need of discussion” (Francis MacNutt, Deliverance From Evil Spirits, p.42-43). In the same book, MacNutt quotes Charles Kraft, a professor at Fuller Theological University who adds, “…even though we are Christians, our basic assumptions are usually more like those of the non-Christian westerners around us than we would like to admit…we often find ourselves more Western than scriptural…God and the Church were dethroned and the human mind came to be seen as Savior.”

Unfortunately a western, rationalistic, materialistic worldview has invaded the church as well as our culture. The church whose leaders have been trained in western universities, for the most part, have been trained with a non-supernatural worldview that makes them shy away from or even deny spiritual realities beyond the forgiveness of sin. Some will acknowledge that those realities (demons, angels, miracles, etc.) occurred in “Bible times” but don’t think they occur today.

That kind of worldview allows the devil to run free and pose as all kinds of things that we ineffectively try to attack with worldly wisdom and worldly weapons. When national leaders do not see a spiritual reality behind ISIS and terrorism they seek a political solution that is doomed to fail. When doctors do not recognize that a spiritual dimension to sickness may exist, things that need to be cast out are simply medicated. Even those of us who believe in the spiritual realm often run to every solution the world (natural realm) offers before we finally start seeking spiritual solutions. That impulse betrays a view that the world offers better and more powerful solutions than God since we only go to God when “the best solutions” have failed us. I admit, at times I default to that same setting. I’m not saying that everything is demonic or that we should jettison science and medicine. We are body, soul, and spirit and are affected by issues in both realms but the bible suggests that the spiritual realm is always where the most significant battles are fought.

Spiritual warfare requires a biblical worldview in order to triumph. Spiritual authority and power must be directed against real demonic spirits and schemes. Anything short of that attacks the symptoms and not the cause. That means the problem will only resurface later like cancer recurring after a brief remission.

Because worldview matters, it’s good to check our own worldview from time to time to see if we are lining up with biblical truth. It is easy to be coopted slowly and gently by the world and find ourselves out of alignment with God’s truth. Remember Jesus said that truth sets us free. Being fully  aligned with the Father in our worldview as well as our in our hearts is an essential key to winning the fight.

Yesterday, I was listening to an interview that Rick Joyner gave recently. He spoke about an encounter with God, a revelation of heaven, and a sobering prophetic dream about America. It was about a 45-minute interview so he said much more than I can report or even recall here but a few things stuck in my aging brain that I think are worth commenting on.

First of all, he had an encounter with God in which God told Joyner that he wanted Joyner to be his friend. He said He was in search of friends. Rick said that he was caught off-guard by the Lord’s statement to him because he thought that God either had no need of friends or that he had a multitude of them. The Lord simply told him that friends are hard to come by. Joyner confessed that he had served God all these years with the intention of being a faithful servant or a good soldier who was always ready to obey the Lord but he had not thought about being the Father’s friend.

He realized, however, that we might serve God faithfully without knowing him personally in the same way that we can serve the CEO of a large company faithfully without really knowing him personally – even though we may know much about him and may have even attended events at his house. But God was looking for more than that. He wanted a man who would be his friend like Abraham was his friend. Joyner explained what that friendship looks like. Friendship with God is simply an ongoing awareness of his presence and an ongoing dialogue with him about what is on our hearts as well as his. Of course, it still involves faithful service but at a different level.  Some employees can become close friends with their employers while others simply remain employees. The friend never forgets who the boss is but, as friendship develops, his service comes from a heart of love and loyalty rather that from the need of a paycheck or the fear of being fired.

One interesting thing he mentioned was that while God wants us to be his friends, we need to be faithful servants first. That was certainly the pattern Jesus established with his disciples. He said, “         I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (Jn.15:15). Notice that his followers were servants first. If I have not learned to be a servant first, I will probably take advantage of the friendship and treat it like an entitlement rather than a privilege. But proof of the friendship is when God begins to share with us the things not generally known to all believers. When we become friends with Jesus, he will show us things that go beyond the written revelation that is open to everyone. He will begin to share his heart, prophetic words, words of knowledge, and so forth. The greater the friendship, the greater this personal revelation will be. Think about becoming a friend as well as a servant. Spend time with him, worship him, share your heart with him, and listen to his voice. Ask him to teach you how to be his friend.

Secondly, he had a revelation of heaven – beautiful beyond description. However, he said God gave him a taste of heaven without the presence of God or the family of God. Joyner said that experiencing heaven alone is not heaven. The presence of God and those he loves make it heaven. The two great commandments – love God and love others – confirms that notion. If we want a little heaven on earth it will be found not in beautiful surroundings and mansions but in developing those relationships.

Finally, he spoke of a troubling revelation of countless terrorists coming over our southern border who will make ISIS look like Sunday school boys in comparison to their violence, hatred, and the torture that they will extend to Christians – as if hell itself had opened up in the United States. The interviewer asked if that could be stopped. Joyner said that it could surely be stopped if America would turn back to God and if the church would lead in that turn around not only by preaching the gospel and speaking up for righteousness without compromise, but also by demonstrating the gospel with power.

The future of America is not in the hands of our president but in the hands of God’s people who must begin to walk in the spirit of a warrior who prays for people with passion, who confronts the enemy with the word of God, deliverance, healing, and love and who will stand in faith in the day of battle – still loving our enemies while lifting up the name of Jesus. I would say that we need to get busy learning how to pray effectively and learning how to push back the borders of darkness with God’s divine weapons.   I would also say that the great majority of believers in our nation have no clue about how to do either. Please pray for the Lord to teach his church and to do so quickly.

Three thoughts from Rick Joyner that I thought were worth considering. Be blessed.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Eph.6:13-18)

Having made his case for the believer’s daily battle against spiritual forces of evil, Paul goes on to enumerate elements of our faith that constitute God’s armor. Remember the word armor in the Greek is panoplia and includes both armor and weapons. The idea that our armor is the “armor of God” implies that our armor and weapons originate with God. They come to us from God’s armory, are designed by God, and empowered by God. They cannot be shaped or empowered by man. They must be divine weapons not weapons of the world (2 Cor. 10:4).

Paul begins with a call to stand firm in the face of the enemy – to give no ground and to refuse to let the devil push us around. I remember Graham Cooke commenting on the propensity of most believers to simply give in at Satan’s first volley rather than turning the tables and coming at him with all we’ve got. James tells us to resist the devil and he will flee from us. Jesus himself declared that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church – and we are his church. The people of God should not fear Satan. Satan should fear the people of God. We have armor. We have weapons. We have Jesus who has all authority in heaven and on earth. We have the host – the armies – of heaven to back us up.

Paul, then, tells us to stand immoveable on the day(s) Satan comes against us. We should keep in mind that Satan rarely comes against us with a frontal assault. His first choice is always to draw us out of God’s will in some area of our life so that the natural and spiritual consequences of sin roll over us like a rockslide. If he can seduce us in one area that we begin to withhold from God for a season without repentance, he will gain a foothold in that area which soon becomes a stronghold. The armor of God keeps us aligned with the Father so that no door is left open for the enemy to enter.

He begins with truth. He may be instructing us to always be truth tellers but I believe his emphasis here is in knowing and standing on the truth of Jesus Christ, the Word of God. Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (Jn.8:32). “Truth” in this context means a reality that stands firm – an unchanging reality. Jesus came to blow away the smoke and mirrors of Satan’s lies and to enlighten our own darkened understanding so that we might know what reality truly us. God told Adam and Eve the truth – you eat, you die. Satan clouded that reality when he declared that they would not die – at least not in the physical sense, at least not right away. Adam and Eve believed the lie and here we are.

God’s truth is a window into eternal realities and absolute right and wrong. Satan’s first line of attack is always to woo us away from that truth just as he did in the Garden. In a sense, everything else hangs on knowing and believing what is true – what is real. When we know God’s truth and stand on it, Satan has no point of entry. When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, he stood on the truth revealed in God’s word and Satan soon gave up the game and left. One of the church’s great challenges today is that by and large, believers no longer know much of the truth. Real Bible study has given way to devotional books and light reading. Those things are not wrong but should not replace serious study and time in the Word.

Most believers today have no chance of defending their faith based on the Word of God. Many believers have attached themselves to favorite preachers and teachers who present one slice of the biblical pie over and over but don’t present the whole counsel of God. As a result, a believer may be well versed in grace but not holiness, self-esteem but not self-sacrifice, or in end-times theology without knowing the teachings of Jesus on faith and character. When we are familiar with only one facet of God’s will it is easy for Satan to lie to us about other parts of his will.

God’s truth is a foundational weapon of spiritual warfare and is essential in these last days. Paul warns us when he says, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1Tim.4:1-2). Everything hangs on God’s truth. He expects us to know the truth ourselves not just to depend on others to know if for us. Our first line of defense is knowing the eternal realities that God’s Spirit has revealed to us. Study to know.

More about God’s armor in my next blog.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. (Eph.6:10-13)

There is an armor that has its origins with God. Paul instructs each of us to put on that armor – literally to dress ourselves. There is an intentionality in that directive. Each believer must initiate the process and, in order to be fully ready for the battle, must put on the whole “panoplia” which includes not only armor but weapons as well. Paul is clear that without the armor and weapons that God supplies we cannot stand against the assaults of the enemy. Paul’s statements here echo his directives regarding divine weapons in 2 Corinthians 10. We cannot stand against the enemy in our own strength or defeat him in our own wisdom. We must receive and wield what God provides.

Paul continues to emphasize the necessity of standing in God’s strength and putting on God’s armor because our real struggle is not against human adversaries but against those that exist in the spiritual realm. Paul uses the word “wrestle” to describe the struggle. It is a Greek word that specifically describes wrestling in the Greek game, the Olympics. When you think of Olympic wrestling, it is not guys in striped tights flying off the top ropes and whacking each other with folding chairs. Rather, it is a sport involving strategy (schemes), strength, and endurance. One interesting rule dictates action on the mat. Wrestlers are expected to force the action, and they receive passivity warnings from the referee if they don’t. A wrestler deemed passive is then at the mercy of his more active adversary, who is given the option of putting his opponent in the par terre (on the mat) position, which generally makes it easier to score points. Passivity on our part, in the realm of spiritual warfare, also gives the enemy a great advantage.

Paul goes on to speak about rulers, authorities and cosmic powers in this spiritual realm we war against. He is speaking about ranks of demons and their roles. Several translations use the word principalities instead of rulers. In the book of Daniel, the prophet prays for an interpretation of a dream God has given him. After twenty-one days of praying and fasting, an angel appears and tells him, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia” (Dan.10:12-13).

The first angel is one of the hosts of heaven (a member of the armies of heaven – See Rev.19:14)). As he attempted to fulfill his mission, he was opposed by a demonic spirit referred to as the Prince of Persia. This high-ranking demonic spirit ruled a spiritual principality over the nation of Persia. We can assume that his mission was to promote Satan’s agenda in that nation and to command lesser demons under his authority. He was powerful enough that he withstood the angel that had been sent by the Lord for twenty-one days. Only when Michael, one of the chief princes (an archangel), was sent to aid him and take up the battle was the first angel able to fulfill his mission.

This section of scripture reveals that both angels and demons have specific territories and people to whom they are assigned. In the book of Revelation, it also appears that angels are assigned to churches (see chapters 2-3). If angels are assigned to churches it is not a stretch to believe that demons have also been assigned. If we have guardian angels then it is also a small stretch to believe that we may also have demonic spirits assigned to harass us and oppress us, at least from time to time. In the spiritual realm there are armies with different ranks of commanders who receive orders from the top. Jesus is the commander of the armies of heaven (Rev. 19) and Satan commands those in the dominion of darkness. There are strategies, campaigns, wars, etc. that take place in the invisible realm and we, as believers, play a significant role in those wars. More about our part in the next blog.