Monday, 20 January 2014

spiritual warfare on both the individual level and the collective level


Introduction

                There are many similarities between war and sport. Both requires participants to discipline themselves, endure the hardships, and overcome inner struggles and so on in order to achieve the goals. However, the most distinguishing character in war is war is a matter of life and death. There is no prize for second place in war since second place means death. Unlike sports that award the participants that are ranked in second and third place in the competition.  

Regardless of our intention when experiencing Jesus’ salvation, we as Christians, are called unto the spiritual battlefield, not called to participate in a friendly spiritual sports competition. Satan starts recognizing us through the unilateral view as enemies once we become born-again Christians. Unfortunately, this perspective on spiritual warfare has been accepted as either a controversial issue or it is ignored by those that believe that the Christian faith is only about a relationship in which we develop the bond with God and glorify God. They believe that the closer we get with God will result in automatically driving away of Satan. For example, Thomas B. White said in his book that “The Christian’s life is to be characterized by the praise of God’s goodness and glory, not by pessimistic paranoia”[1] However, it is evident in the bible that the spiritual warfare is a crucial component of the Christian faith.

                Christians should grow in their faith despite all the works Satan does. In my estimation, Satan has two representative weapons named deception and hideout. Ironically, our faith is supposed to grow in fighting against Satan’s attacks that originates from the strongholds that he establishes in our hearts and the realms between us and God. As Boyd states, “The mystery of evil is located not in the heart of God but in the heart of humanity and in the hidden world between humans and God.”[2] In this paper, these two places where spiritual warfare is advancing will be examined carefully and the ultimate goal of spiritual warfare will be revealed.

                 

Warfare on the individual level

Satan is very smart. He is even smarter than the way most Christians think He would be. One of the most effective strategies is to establish the foothold right inside of hearts and minds of Christians. Once it is built up, it become easier to strengthen the territory from Satan’s perspective. Likewise, it is inferred metaphorically that unless the waste removed, flies and rats are supposed to be attracted by the presence of waste. And they will add more filthy materials into the waste.

Thus it can be thought that it is possible that both the stronghold made legitimately by demons and Holy Spirit cohabit within the heart. Although inhabitation of demons and presence of Holy Spirit should not coexist in hearts of those who confess their sin and Jesus Christ as personal saviors, it seems that demons can secretly establish their strongholds to somewhat degree where many Christians are afflicted and influenced. Even for those who are considered as very spiritual and holy, it is very likely that demon has its strongholds established to a lesser degree than the average Christians.

Honestly, it is evident all the Christians must wage the spiritual warfare from their own heart and reveal all kinds of strongholds Satan have launched in a sly way. But, it seems that many Christians have the proclivity to interpret only those who are demon-possessed through spiritual warfare perspective.

Although it is said that “Healing and exorcisms played such a central role in Jesus’ ministry”[3], there must be more numbers of people who have inhabitation of demons at unnoticeable level than those who are demon-possessed. Neil T. Anderson says “Most young Christians under spiritual attack lead fairly normal lives while experiencing serious inner problems for which no cause or solution has been found”. [4]

Usually, it is prevalently accepted that dramatic changes occur within people when they participate in an evangelization event or retreat. In addition, people believe that some miraculous intervention of God heal many problems of Christian in life. This way of thinking can be similar to how audiences are greatly interested in counter punches n boxing or fully consumed in main melody theme of symphony music. However, both the determinable blows and melodies of main theme takes up only seconds out of the whole events which need either one and half hours or around two hours. If there were not hundred numbers of jabs in the face of boxer, the couple of heavy blows are useless. Furthermore, if one was to skip over musical support for melodies which are the parts that are thought to be boring, the melody would not be as alluring. Likewise, Jesus’ divine intervention or His miraculous event obviously causes Christians to dispel demons temporarily and destroy the footholds. But, fighting against behavioral patterns established habitually through the strongholds and living out the words on a daily basis should accompany the momentary event in which many Christians often acquire the victory from conflicts against Satan. Satan usually allows us to become winners of many battles, but losers of war eventually.

In this context, it seems that the acquisition of holiness, disciplined through daily basis of life, is the most effective weapon rather than experiencing something supernatural or unexplainable. Thomas says “A clear conscience is a key to victory in warfare.”[5] So, it is necessary for our hearts, which are occupied by territories established in schemes of demons, should be cleansed by demolishing their strategic points and around the Holy of Holies, the construction of protective wall should be achieved by abandoning, severing and disciplining behavioral patterns as if Nehemiah rebuilt the wall in Jerusalem. This is the process which many Christians take too lightly than we should and for which have to pay a dearly price.

It is real irony that we, as spiritual warriors, need to become spiritual saints first in order to achieve real victories in spiritual battles. Clinton says “First and foremost, God has called his people to integrity, purity, and holiness”[6] However, many Christians fail due to the fact that many Christians engage themselves into the spiritual warfare without establishing invincible roots in depth of holiness since they consider themselves to have certain amount of growth in faith.

When demons and their turfs in our hearts are bombarded in divine power of God, demons hide themselves somewhere inside our hearts and their strongholds still exist there even if they are damaged. Although the determinable factor, which leads to either demon-possession or incurable illness, is defeated, molding the internal environment into the way Jesus wants it to be is our responsibility. When internal realm is newly fabricated into the originally intended completion, demons abandon their inhabitation, for the nature of place does not match with the nature of Satan environmentally and ultimately. Even though we, as Christians, are destined to fight against Satan and sin to the point of bleeding, some sorts of demons systemically cannot inhabit inside of our heart.

Usually, all these processes are achieved progressively and individually through the whole life, not instantly and corporately. Satan’s attack is fiercely concentrated in certain places where our privacy is perfectly guaranteed. This is where spiritual warfare is primarily waged and Christians should come out with fruits of repentance. However, it seems that many churches do not equip Christians to become spiritual warriors. In other words, “Many churches have become strong on evangelism and seeker-orientation, but weak on follow-up and rooting these precious new believers in the faith.”[7]

In essence, it is only when one eventually achieves certain holiness through consistent struggles that the individual will become qualified to engage in a fight against territorial spirits. Thus, if they obtain certain success in transforming their inner world, even if they are not able to fully change the external world which is influenced by the territorial spirits and Satanic powers, they will be able to influence some changes. However, when Christians fail to change their inner world, they will fail to affect the external world, even to a lesser degree.

Since “the devil gives up no one under his power without a fight,”[8]  it will be a great struggle to grow to the point which the inner level is changed. However, by the time one Christian become a qualified spiritual warrior, this soldier is called to fight against territorial spirits. Thus the spiritual warfare transitions from the personal level into the corporate level.

 

Warfare on the corporate level

                When it comes to spiritual warfare on the corporate level, the sphere of spiritual warfare expands “from the daily events of our personal lives to the complex workings of huge governments and organization”.[9] At this stage, our adversaries become territorial spirits rather than personal demons, which hold people in custody in certain geographical area, social systems, culture or any kind of human-based intellectual products. In other words, our adversary becomes things that encourage people to indulge in their greed which allows demons to establish their strongholds inside hearts.

                It seems that when someone becomes a Christian, Satan tries to snatch the assurance of faith by using demons and their strongholds. However, if this Christian becomes the obtainer of personal salvation who demolishes many demonic footholds, Satan’s next strategy is to restrain the person from becoming engaged with saving mission of God by aggressively fighting against the principalities. In other words, it becomes Satan’s mission to make Christians into nominal warriors who are satisfied only with their own salvation.

                This is due to the fact that “If the devil has no legal basis on which to accuse and afflict us, he resorts to methods of buffeting us by external harassment”.[10] When external forces and powers try to attack mature Christians, the two important elements that the spiritual warriors must have in their possession are the spirit of unity and powerful prayer. These are two essential components since Satan’s efforts of infringing on our psychological realm will become more creative than ever. Thus it is important not to underestimate Satan’s capabilities even if we think that we technically have no legal basis on which demons do their works.  It is important to fight spiritual battles with this understanding in order to be not caught off-guard and entrapped.

                First and foremost, in order for the kingdom of God to be launched on a great scale, the unity among all the spiritual warriors should be the cherished and valued. It is important to be unified in our differences and to use them to our strengths. For example, even if all Christians are destined to participate in spiritual warfare, not everyone will be comfortable in the front lines since “not everyone likes the idea of warfare.”[11] In addition, some people like Peter strongly believe that “Not everyone is called to the front lines of spiritual warfare.”[12] Therefore, it can be thought that there two types of warriors; there are those in the frontlines and those in the rear. Perspectives from those who are engaged with fight on the front line differentiate from the way those who do God’s work on the rear line.

Since the perspectives of those in the back and those in the rear may differ at times, being intentional about unity is necessary in many real situations. Creating dissent among mature Christians is one of the main hindrances or weapons that Satan uses in order to stop the expansion of Kingdom of God. Furthermore, selfish-ambition and apathy on lost souls are considered as powerful obstacles to barricade Christians from achieving the unity. Peter Wagner says “Unity is critical as we seek to take the promised lands of our cities”[13]

 In my estimation, Christians whose faith was grown through struggles can do God’s work. But, if the growth is not accompanied by maturity which is a result of persistent laying down of self-ambition, apathy, dissent and greed, it is not possible to see children of God work together in unity. Thomas says “Where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice”.[14]  This is not to say that successful conversion of many nonbelievers is a bad thing. However, this process must be done with holiness in mind since it is very possible that many Christians might end up being in flesh although they started from the Holy Spirit.  Making it important for people fighting at the corporate level of spiritual warfare is to be putting more value on something invisible and maintenance of their holiness rather than external expansion of God’s kingdom and something visible. This seems to be life challenge since one needs to guard their hearts against ambition, apathy, or greed in order to God’s work and not lose their own salvation.

Clinton says “We need to focus less on territorial spirits and more on the task of being ambassadors. We are representatives of the king sent out to do kingdom business”.[15] Consequently, the acquisition of holiness and its maintenance are the imperative instrument for the spiritual warfare individually and collectively. But, at the corporate level, prayer is another one of the essential elements that should be added as the effective instrument.

It is said that “prayer is the heart and essence of spiritual warfare”.[16] And it is highly regarded that prayer is the power source which can activate God’s supernatural power against territorial spirits. However, it seems that Satan has been, to considerable degree, successful in shaping biblical scholars and pastors into approaching biblical issues of supernatural and spiritual warfare by using intellectual methods of human beings.

From my personal observation, it is rarely seen that Christians agree with the importance of prayer when equipped with only biblical knowledge without the assistance of Holy Spirit. Even if they say that they agree with the importance, it is easily seen that they show the hostility against fervent prayer and prayer of tongue with a nice manner.

Honestly, something supernatural, something mysterious and something invisible in biblical scripture are beyond our intellectual realm. Although the intellectual approaches are essentially required for the depth of faith, ultimate acknowledgement of biblical themes such as heaven and hell, resurrection, and spirits requires Christians to acquire tacit awareness spiritually, not depth of knowledge intellectually.

Therefore, in this context, the prayer is the key which opens the gate for something supernatural. Based on the story of the book of Acts, the prayers of the 120 people at the Pentecost had them radically transformed into new creations. When they were spiritually endowed through the prayer, the apostles experienced being internally filled with audacity and performed externally miraculous works. When prayer is ignored, something divine no longer appears both internally in hearts of Christians and externally from them. Accordingly, all the academic efforts and intellectual approaches dominate biblical issues in vain.

For those who have experienced struggles spiritually in other ethnic territories such as the African continent, it is evident that prayer is the most powerful weapon in destroying territorial strongholds on a large scale. Peter says “Those African church leaders would be surprised to hear that some in Western world think the existence of territorial spirits is a subject for debate”.[17]

Furthermore, there is a need for Christians to move somewhat radically and aggressively in order to be a qualified applicant for spiritual warfare on the corporate level. “If we live our lives today as active and aggressive Christians, we will find ourselves in constant warfare”.[18] Especially, in countries such as United States, Canada, South Korea and many European countries, many developed cultures deprive Christians of the desperate need for God.

We, as Christians are by-products of our cultures since we are well domesticated by the torrent of materialism, post-modernism and all kinds of teachings. Even, all these cultures seem to have overwhelmed environments of churches. Clinton says “Too many of the Christians were chasing the idol of wealth, some were showing favoritism to the wealthy in public gatherings, some were taking advantage of day laborers, and others were incredibly sharp-tongued and were inflicting wounds on their brothers and sisters”.[19] In churches, it is encouraged that Christians intentionally try to engage themselves with activities to help others rather than participate in these types of activities since the “Ways to demolish this stronghold are through giving to the poor, sheltering the homeless, reconciling the races and clothing those in need”[20]

Ironically, all these activities could be the remedies which protect Christians from becoming greedy, self-ambitious, apathetic and dissent Christians who are incapable and nominal. When shielding our hearts from being occupied by these kinds of emotions with proactive activity engagement of ourselves, many Children of God can expand the kingdom of God through the unified prayer.

 

Conclusion: Warfare on both individual level and collective level; what is it for?

                Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he commissioned his disciples to spread Gospel into all over the world. His disciples proclaimed the Word of God passionately and aggressively in order to expand the kingdom of God against the fierce resistance of Satan. Gary says “We must realize that the Great Commission is directly related to spiritual warfare”.[21]

                For the time being since the ascension of Jesus, it seems that Satan had been dumbfounded with behaviors of apostles and early church Christians, for they were audacious and aggressive in proclaiming the kingdom of God. For them, persecution and sufferings of early church Christians can be interpreted, in other way, as deadly blow directly to the kingdom of Satan.

                Boyd says “These authors never pondered “why bad things happen to good people.” for they lived with a warfare worldview that expected bad things to happen to good people.”[22] Satan, who had been dealt with the blows, changed the strategy by causing the Roman emperor to proclaim Christianity as national religion. It seems that from this moment, Satan wisely started using the secularization to destroy Christians with the persecution.

                Especially, it is very likely that those who believe in Jesus on the civilized soil are inherently secularized to somewhat degree. Under this atmosphere, it is really challenging for an individual Christians to encompass from the perception of Jesus as the personal savior into the commander of war. Interestingly, Satan does its best to sever the connection from the warfare of personal level to the warfare of corporate level. However, if a Christian is just satisfied with his own personal salvation and try not to move on to the next step, it seems highly possible that he will be overwhelmed by the secularization, which successfully penetrated into many of churches in many areas of globe.

                It is evident Satan gained lots of successes in diverting many Christians from accepting the right interpretation of biblical scriptures. In particular, the nature of work for the kingdom of God had not been changed historically. Peter says “If anyone thinks the task of world evangelization today is different from the days of Jesus and the apostles, I suggest that position be reconsidered”.[23]

                On a macro scale, Satan’s two representative weapons are persecution and secularization. In many countries where the affluence of every material is easily seen, hearts of many Christians have been conquered by the secularized standard although they confess that they are children of God. On the other hand, in many countries where the expectation of basic human right is even luxurious element, the persecution tries to occupy hearts of Christians with the extreme fear. Peter says “Many comfortable Christians are unaware that martyrdom is happening in the world today. As I mentioned previously, David Barrett’s estimate for the 1990’s is somewhere around 155,000 martyrs for Christ each year”. [24]

                When the amount numbers of Christians are killed due to their faith, it is easily shown that many Christians in developed countries express their concern, their mercy and compassionate heart. However, from a perspective of the entry for eternal life, Christians who are living as the followers of Jesus in the civilized countries have the harder obstacles than those who believe Jesus under the extreme persecution. In some ways, Christians living in developed countries need to receive more mercy than those whose the persecution is main part of their daily lives.

                It seems to me that persecution transforms Christians to become the owner of childlike faith in Christ, which is acceptable as the key condition of entry into heaven. To the contrary, the secularization causes Christians to experience the double standard which can effectively blur the purity of faith. In particular, although it is known intellectually among Christians that being persecuted for the name of Lord is the most amazing blessing, the affluence of wealth and well-being have long been interpreted as God’s blessing, which most Christians are hoping to receive at the back of the mind. That is to say, the acquisition of purity in faith and divine discernment is required of Christians living in the well-being countries.

Thomas says “Discernment involves more than just recognizing the activity of the enemy. It also means understanding the many forms of suffering and affliction which can beset human beings”.[25] Personally, many years of frustration and suffering taught me how deeply I was polluted with the prosperity Gospel, the positive thinking and many plausible teachings, overlapping the untainted biblical message which leads people astray into an unexpected destination of eternity. Thus the crucible of suffering and series of failures for worldly success is the instrument that is used to strip civilized Christians of the secularized standard which have long been embedded in them subliminally. Afterward, they become pure and discernible. Interestingly, it is the Christians that are embedded in the secularized criterion that show skepticism in missions for unreached areas which is something that is rarely seen in Christians that are highly active in their respective churches.

The crucible of, pain, struggle and undeterminable hardships are what shapes the individual Christian into the qualified warrior, who can execute the spiritual warfare on collective level. Thus also making it the instrument used to connect the spiritual warfare on individual level and spiritual warfare on collective level.

                And when every qualified warrior gathers together for the spiritual war against territorial spirits over unreached areas where Gospel message has not been heard of, substantial amounts of conversion on a grander scale will become reality. But, we, as Christians, need to remember that the most fierce spiritual warfare always happen right inside of our heart rather than in places like the Middle east, India or North Korea.

 

Epilogue

                Demons never easily give up their territory. In everywhere from Synoptic Gospels, Satan did his best to resist when being replaced by Kingdom of God. Thus the behavioral pattern of Satan is demonstrated in a same way in both the individual level and the territorial bondage of evil. Usually, the conversion of huge numbers of people on a mega scale is preceded by the destruction of territorial spirits, economic collapse or disastrous incidents.

Clinton says “There are also sociological factors that make people ripe for the gospel. Prior to the explosive growth of the church in Argentina, for example, the country had faced a series of major catastrophes, including losing the Falklands War, oppressive military rule, economic stagnation, and runaway inflation”.[26] The issue I would like to talk is that Satan’s resistance moves from the territorial scale to the global scale.

From my subjective perspective, there seems to be four major incidents since the start of new millennium. These are: the 9/11 disaster in 2003, economic chaos in 2007, series of democratic rally in Middle East countries in 2010, and the tsunami of Japan in 2011. Different from many other global events, these four incidents have influenced the whole globe radically and are still transforming the globe into being ready for the evangelism on a huge scale, which has never been observed historically.

Beside all these events, it seems that God has prepared the underground churches in North Korea, despite all the persecutions, to penetrate the strong wall of Islam for deliverance of Gospel. In my case, due to the personal involvement with one specific mission organization named the Cornerstone, I have heard many shocking stories regarding underground churches in North Korea and have heard so far the real stories from many defectors living in Toronto.

Most of them say that the destiny of North Korea is numbered. And once North Korea is spiritually overwhelmed in Holy Spirit, the world mission is supposed to be accelerated.  Geographically speaking, the entry into China through the ground transportation becomes possible only through North Korea. Interestingly, China is surrounded by all the deserts, high mountainous areas and swamps except North Korea. This is why Satan tenaciously has tried to keep its stronghold almost over for 70 years, which is not seen in any other countries.

In addition to this, obviously, it seems that global economy is becoming worse than ever since the sub-prime mortgage disaster although mass-media keep on saying plausible promising news. By His time, this financial factor will make so many people ripe for the gospel.  Furthermore, the tsunami in Japan caused the exodus of Japan to happen. The increase of Japanese people is seen in countries such as Canada and USA. In my cases, I heard Japanese was being spoken in the biggest Korean supermarket in North York one year after the tsunami catastrophe in Japan. And I, the frequent user of North York library, have seen the rapid increase of Japanese books on second floor. This kind of actual evidence shows the exodus of Japanese people, which is not televised officially now. However, despite the danger of nuclear toxic, some of Christians went to Japan to evangelize and it is amazingly working on the hearts of people now. The catastrophe made the people humble and mad their stubborn hearts ripe for the acceptance of the Gospel. Even though Japan was considered as one of the hardest places to evangelise, it is evident that the rate of evangelism is skyrocketing now.

Collecting all pieces of puzzles, the kingdom of God is radically advancing on a globe scale. This means all the destruction of secular systems, powers, principles and everything from Satan. Although I do not agree with all the conspiracy theories that have arisen since the 9/11, it is possible that it was an event that created the party to be used as the Devil’s advocates to play roles necessary to fulfill all the apocalyptic scriptures written in the Revelation.

It is strongly believed that the closer the time of Jesus’ second coming draws near, the more chaotic and not positive news we will hear. And it seems that kingdom of Satan is being replaced by kingdom of God on a globe scale. That is to say, children of God will confront with all the attacks and resistance from Satan on a global scale, not a local or territorial scale. It looks like that we, as Christians, are standing right in front of threshold of gate for the spiritual warfare on a globe scale.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

Anderson, Neil T, and Park. The bondage breaker youth edition. Eugene, Or.: Harvest House, 2001.

Arnold, Clinton E. 3 crucial questions about spiritual warfare. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1997.

Boyd, Gregory A. God at war: the Bible & spiritual conflict. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1997.

Kinnaman, Gary. How to overcome the darkness: personal strategies for spiritual warfare. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Chosen Books, 1999.

Scanlan, Michael, and Randall J Cirner. Deliverance from evil spirits: a weapon for spiritual warfare. Ann Arbor (Mich.): Servant Books, 1980.

Wagner, C. Peter. Breaking strongholds in your city: how to use spiritual mapping to make your prayers more strategic, effective, and targeted. Ventura, Calif., U.S.A.: Regal Books, 1993.

———. Confronting the powers: how the new testament church experienced the power of strategic-level spiritual warfare. Ventura, Calif., U.S.A.: Regal Books, 1996.

White, Thomas B. The believer’s guide to spiritual warfare. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Vine Books, 1990.

 

 



[1] Thomas B White, The believer’s guide to spiritual warfare (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Vine Books, 1990), 41.
[2] Gregory A Boyd, God at war: the Bible & spiritual conflict (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1997), 149.
[3] Ibid., 185.
[4] Neil T Anderson and Park, The bondage breaker youth edition (Eugene, Or.: Harvest House, 2001), 22.
[5] White, The believer’s guide to spiritual warfare, 59.
[6] Clinton E Arnold, 3 crucial questions about spiritual warfare (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1997), 186.
[7] Ibid., 197.
[8] C. Peter Wagner, Confronting the powers: how the new testament church experienced the power of strategic-level spiritual warfare (Ventura, Calif., U.S.A.: Regal Books, 1996), 128.
[9] Michael Scanlan and Randall J Cirner, Deliverance from evil spirits: a weapon for spiritual warfare (Ann Arbor (Mich.): Servant Books, 1980), 14.
[10] White, The believer’s guide to spiritual warfare, 69.
[11] Wagner, Confronting the powers, 194.
[12] Ibid., 195.
[13] C. Peter Wagner, Breaking strongholds in your city: how to use spiritual mapping to make your prayers more strategic, effective, and targeted (Ventura, Calif., U.S.A.: Regal Books, 1993), 91.
[14] White, The believer’s guide to spiritual warfare, 53.
[15] Arnold, 3 crucial questions about spiritual warfare, 188.
[16] Ibid., 129.
[17] Wagner, Confronting the powers, 172.
[18] Ibid., 145.
[19] Arnold, 3 crucial questions about spiritual warfare, 183.
[20] Wagner, Confronting the powers, 88.
[21] Gary Kinnaman, How to overcome the darkness: personal strategies for spiritual warfare (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Chosen Books, 1999), 51.
[22] Boyd, God at war, 283.
[23] Wagner, Confronting the powers, 128.
[24] Ibid., 181.
[25] White, The believer’s guide to spiritual warfare, 82.
[26] Arnold, 3 crucial questions about spiritual warfare, 174.

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