the handbook for spiritual warfare

281 Pages·2008·1.6 MB·English

18 Articles for Demons & Deliverance: The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare by Dr. Ed Murphy
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THE HANDBOOK FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE

DR. ED MURPHY

Contents
Dedication
Preface to the Revised Edition
Preface
Introduction
PART ONE: WORLD VIEWS
1.
World View Clash
2.
The Spiritual Warfare Dimension of a Biblical World
View
PART TWO: THEOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
SECTION I: THE ORIGIN AND SCOPE OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE
3.
Cosmic Rebellion: The Problem of Evil
4.
Rebellion in the Heavenlies and on Earth
5.
The Source of All Rebellion
6.
Cosmic-Earthly Warfare Begins: Genesis 3
7.
Warfare in the Garden
8.
The Potential Demonization of the Unredeemed
SECTION II: THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE
9.
Abundant and Conquering: John 10, Romans 6–7
10. Its Ecstasy: Romans 8
11. Its Agony: Romans 8
12. The Reality of Below Normal Performance
13. What Is Happening to Me? A Multidimensional Sin War
SECTION III: THE BELIEVER’S WARFARE WITH THE FLESH
14. The Flesh, the Believer, and the Demonic
15. Walking in the Spirit: Galatians 5
16. Moral Sins: Galatians 5
17. The Age of Eros
18. Homosexuality in Biblical Perspective
19. Homosexuality and Contemporary Ministry
20. Autosexuality
21. Indecency
22. Religious Sins
23. Social Sins
24. Bitterness and Intemperance
SECTION IV: THE BELIEVER’S WARFARE WITH THE WORLD
25. The Gospel and Culture
26. The World’s Power, Its Character, Our Victory
PART THREE: A SURVEY OF BIBLICAL TEACHING (OLD
TESTAMENT)
27. Warfare in Paradise
28. Enmity Between the Seeds: Genesis 3:15
29. The Messianic Promise: Genesis 3:15
30. The Beginning of Warfare Between the Two Seeds:
Genesis 4:1–8
31. The ``Watchers’’ of Genesis 6 and the Call of Noah
32. Spiritual Warfare From the Flood to the Call of Abraham
33. Warfare With the Gods

34. The Low Point in Spiritual Warfare: Human Sacrifice
35. Of Kings and Prophets
PART FOUR: A SURVEY OF BIBLICAL TEACHING (NEW
TESTAMENT)
SECTION I: JESUS ENCOUNTERS THE DEVIL AND DEMONS
36. The Temptation
37. In the Synagogue: Mark 1
38. Among the Tombs: Mark 5
SECTION II: THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH ENCOUNTERS DEMONS
39. Foundations and Lessons From a Failure: Mark 9
40. The Success of the Seventy: Luke 10
41. Beginnings in Acts: Acts 2, 4
42. Ananias and Sapphira: Acts 5
43. Philip’s Ministry at Samaria and Peter’s Encounter With
Simon Magus: Acts 8
44. Paul’s Encounter With Elymas and the Spirit Medium of
Philippi: Acts 13, 16
45. Idolatry at Athens and Corinth: Acts 17, 1 Corinthians 8–10
46. The Nature of Power Encounters
47. Power Encounters at Ephesus: Acts 19
SECTION III: SPIRITUAL WARFARE IN THE EPISTLES AND
REVELATION
48. Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians
49. 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans, and the Pastoral Epistles
50. Colossians and Ephesians
51. Ephesians 6
52. Hebrews, the Catholic Epistles, the Johannine Writings
PART FIVE: PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS
SECTION I: ON THE DEMONIZATION OF CHRISTIANS
53. The Reality, the Cause, the Cure
54. Six Sin Areas and the Possible Demonization of Christians
SECTION II: DEMONIZATION AND CHILD ABUSE
55. Child Abuse
56. Christians Demonized Through Child Abuse
57. A National Crisis of Denial
58. Creative Abuse--A Calculated Evil
SECTION III: DEMONIZATION AND MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES
59. Multiple Personality Disorders and Demonization
60. The Non-Demonic Reality of Mental Illnesses
61. Counseling With Wisdom
SECTION IV
62. The New Age Movement
63. The Road to Personal Victory in Spiritual Warfare: James
4:1–8
64. Dangers and Pitfalls of Spiritual Warfare
Appendices & Select Bibliography

Dedication
To some of those who have most influenced my life towards living “as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:3):
Warner Hutchinson, who guided me, a religious teenager, into the assurance of my sonship with the Father through personal faith
in the Son of His love; Dr. N. Paul V. Gupta of India, now with the Lord, who discipled me, taught me to pray, inspired me to give my
life that religious people, along with the irreligious, might learn to love the Lord Jesus, the only way to the Father;
Dr. Dick Hillis, one of God’s great missionaries of this century, founder of O.C. International (formerly Overseas Crusades), my
mentor, the example for my life, a godly man, humble, gentle, but so firm in leading his missionaries to equip the saints for the work
of the ministry worldwide; Dr. Donald McGavran, now with the Lord, my second mentor and example for my life, who always
reminded us, his students, that “all Christian work has only one measurable goal, the discipling of panta ta ethne (all the peoples)”;

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Rev. Ernest Rockstad, now with the Lord, who taught me and so many of us traditional Protestants the realities of spiritual
warfare and how to set the captives free (he literally burned out his life to heal the demonically afflicated); Carolyn, Ed., Jr., Barbara,
and Paul, my four children, now all married, who accepted, with some difficulty, my absences from home as necessary for a soldier of
Christ, who have forgiven me for not being there when they needed me; and Loretta, who became my bride when we were but young
people, who has lived with me and warred with me against evil since 1950: my wife, my beloved, my companion, my fellow-
missionary warrior and intercessor, the greatest treasure God has given to me after Himself.
To all of these (in memory of some) I dedicate this book.
Preface to the Revised Edition

The widespread acceptance of The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare has been very gratifying to me as its author. While dozens of
other books on spiritual warfare have been written since its appearance in 1992, the book still stands as the only beginning definitive
study on this complex and all-inclusive area of human reality. Since The Handbook is comprehensive, touching on so many areas of
the believer’s multi-dimensional sin war, many of the new books have focused on one or two dimensions of our warfare lifestyle and
given those areas greater detail than I can do in a book of the magnitude of The Handbook. This is what I hoped would occur as
expressed in the first preface. I would encourage the reader to read that preface in its entirety.
I will again boldly state my world view position in reference to spiritual warfare: It represents the context in which all of life is
lived. Everything from Genesis 3 to Revelation 20 that has occurred, is occurring, and will yet occur, occurs in the context of warfare
between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of evil supernaturalism. Therefore, to be ignorant of the very context in which all
human experience occurs is a travesty, to say the least. Further research and continued personal experience as a soldier of Jesus Christ
called by God “to fight the good fight” (1 Tim. 1:18; 2 Tim. 2:1–9) has only served to strengthen the convictions I expressed in the
original edition of The Handbook. I have not changed my view on any major point. This includes the controversial issue of the extent
to which demonic powers can partially control an area or areas of the life of genuine believers in Christ. I continue to minister to
demonized Christians (see the Introduction, ix–xv and the Index under Demonization, page 614). My experience and that of my many
colleagues involved in deliverance ministry has only confirmed my view that an astonishingly high percentage of Christians, both
leaders and laypersons, are damaged by demons in areas of life and ministry.
My continued experience and research has expanded my knowledge of the role of the flesh and the world in spiritual warfare.
Also, my growing understanding of the true and the false in the areas of repressed memories is reflected in revisions to my chapters on
child abuse. The other major change in this revision of The Handbook is the inclusion of the new closing chapter, called “Dangers and
Pitfalls of Spiritual Warfare.” To revise The Handbook further is not only unnecessary, but also impractical, since it would expand the
length of the book, making necessary a second volume. I trust that the revisions incorporated into this edition will make The
Handbook even more helpful to those seeking a greater understanding of the spiritual warfare dimensions of a biblical world view.
Ed Murphy, 1996
Preface
As you read Carolyn’s story in the Introduction, you will recognize that I, like most involved in direct spiritual warfare ministry,
did not choose this dimension of kingdom activity. It was chosen for us by Another, whose servants we are. As you continue to read,
you will discover how the post-Enlightenment Western world view has filtered out much that the Bible reveals about the evil spirit
world from our understanding. The church is revealed in Scripture not only as the people of God and the body of Christ, but also as a
part of God’s warrior kingdom in ongoing conflict with internal evil (the flesh), social evil (the world), and supernatural evil (the spirit
world). I call this a multidimensional sin war.
Today God seems to be awakening His church anew to the vivid reality that we are at war: we are at war with evil; that evil is
personal, not impersonal; it is supernatural evil, the kingdom of Satan. Jesus, the Lamb (the gentle, sacrificial Savior) and the Lion
(the mighty warrior) calls us out of our complacency to be soldiers of the cross. Girded with the full armor of God, we are to
overcome the Evil One, to challenge the principalities and powers who hold individuals and peoples in bondage with the authority we
have in Christ through declaration and intercession (see Acts 26:18).
This book has arisen
• out of pain: my own encounters with personal evil and labors to help set the captives free.
• out of confusion: Why are the church’s leaders so reluctant to lead God’s people to engage the powers? Why haven’t they
grasped the dominant place spiritual warfare has in God’s biblical revelation?
• out of conviction: The entire biblical revelation of God’s redemptive activity (salvation history) is set in the context of warfare
between the two kingdoms.
• out of concern that we recover the biblical, radical warrior lifestyle that won cities and communities for Christ in the early
centuries; that God revive His worldly church; that we not compromise with evil nor live for ourselves but for God, for the lost,
and for the healing of the bruised among us; that our teaching and practice of spiritual warfare be rooted in reverent reflection
upon Scripture, church history, and valid experience—not in dogmatic theology, on one hand, or in sensationalism, on the
other.
• out of appreciation for the faithful spiritual warriors in all nations who engage the enemy in the authority that is ours in Christ
and through intercession (often called “warfare praying”).
• out of prayer that our reigning Lord, to whom all the principalities and powers are in subjection, will again, through His church,
preach the gospel to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, set free those who are downtrodden,
proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18 NASB)

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As a missionary I have been involved in encounter with the powers for years, since 1958. Unfortunately, most of those years I
was untrained as a spiritual warrior. As a missiologist, my graduate studies all focused on how to take panta ta ethne (all the peoples)
from Satan to God, and in practice I have experienced both success and failure. As a pastor-counselor, I have ministered to hundreds
of demonically afflicted people both one-on-one and in groups. Some of their stories are in this book. As a teacher, I want to share
what I have learned from God, from my colleagues who minister continually to the bruised among us, and from the suffering people
who have ministered to me even as I have ministered to them.
This is a work in progress. It is a beginning attempt to go deeper into the warfare dimension of the Christian life, and to some
degree, into evangelism. The main focus is pastoral, with a secondary focus evangelistic. I have tried to both broaden and deepen the
studies already done in this arena of warfare, especially with the spirit world, to produce a comprehensive work on the subject. Since
spiritual warfare touches every dimension of human life, I have been forced to move into areas of study and experiences outside my
areas of expertise, and I ask my readers who are specialists in these areas to keep this in mind as they discover any shortcomings in
this work. I write this preface after finishing the book. I am comfortable with most of what I have written, yet uncomfortable with
some of what I have written. I only wish time had permitted a rewrite of some of the exegetical sections with more input from biblical
scholars, but deadlines made this impossible. So I release the book, hoping it will open the flood gates, inspiring others more
knowledgeable and gifted than I to write and help God’s army fight the good fight in these closing years of this century, and, if the
Lord tarries His coming, in the opening years of the twenty-first century.
By its very nature, this is a controversial book. Some dimensions of spiritual warfare are controversial both theologically and in
practice. My mission organization, O.C. International (formerly Overseas Crusades), is committed to power encounter as a valid
dimension of evangelism and Christian living and spiritual warfare as the context of the church’s life and mission. Yet the views
expressed in this book are my own. They do not necessarily represent the views of O.C., its leadership, and its missionaries. I am
grateful to O.C. for allowing me time to do this writing.
I am grateful to the dozens of publishers, writers, and people who have allowed me to quote their material. Because of the
comprehensive nature of this book, I have felt it right and necessary to quote many of the experts and not to rely upon my own limited
knowledge and experience. I am grateful also to my former administrative assistant, Mrs. Betty Sparks, who typed the first draft of
this book, which was three times the size of what you see here. Her beloved husband, Charles, was diagnosed with incurable cancer
about the time we began the work. Betty hung in there with me until the emotional and physical strain was no longer bearable. Charles
went to be with the Lord before the book was completed. Betty’s daughter, Mrs. Melissa Parle, stepped into the gap along with one of
O.C.’s faithful staff workers, Mrs. Lois Vogen, who with others, finished the manuscript. I could not have done this work without
Betty, Charles, Melissa, Lois, and Loretta, my faithful wife, who again put up with months of my absence until the work was
complete. Thank you in Jesus’ dear name.
Deep heartfelt thanks go to Mrs. Dolly McElhaney and my editor, Mr. Mark E. Roberts, for condensing the volume of material I
first submitted to the present, more manageable size. I had enough for three volumes. I owe them an immeasurable debt for their
gracious labors and critical help. I also thank them in Jesus’ dear name.
Introduction
CAROLYN’S STORY

“Ed, you must come home right away.” My wife’s voice trembled across the long distance line. “Carolyn has been acting
strangely since you’ve been away. As I dealt with her last night, I saw a demon glaring at me through her eyes.” “A demon!” I
exclaimed. “That’s impossible. Carolyn is a Christian. Christians can’t have demons.” “I know she is a Christian,” Loretta replied. “I
also know Christians aren’t supposed to have demons. But it was a demon that stared at me through her eyes. That was not Carolyn.”
I was shocked, incredulous, angry, and confused. How could demons abide in the same body with the Holy Spirit? As the oldest
of our four children, Carolyn had always assumed leadership for the other three, being an example to them of stability, discipline, and
strong commitment to Christ. True, we had been having our first behavioral problems with her on this missionary furlough from
Colombia, South America. I was not overly concerned, however. Any fourteen-year-old girl dropped suddenly into the turbulent
environment of the 1960s in the United States would experience readjustment difficulties. Besides, Loretta and I were so busy in
ministry that I felt Carolyn was reacting to our neglect of her.
Demons were the furthest thing from my mind. I knew nothing about them except that, according to Scripture, they existed, were
especially active in Bible times, and in modern times were to be found “on the mission field.” To my knowledge, however, I had never
met one during my then ten years as a missionary. “Loretta,” I declared, “you must be mistaken. Carolyn can’t have demons. Besides,
I can’t come home yet. The conference won’t be over for several days.” “You have to come home,” she insisted. “I can’t handle this
by myself. Ask Dick Hillis for permission to come home today. “Last night I went into Carolyn’s room to talk with her. I found her
lying on the floor with her feet up on the bed listening to some weird music. When I called to her she did not answer. She was in a
trance.
“As I spoke to her about her recent rebelliousness towards us and the Lord, she suddenly changed before my eyes. She became
hostile and began yelling at me to get away and leave her alone. I noticed a mysterious ‘darkness’ in her eyes. It was not Carolyn who
glared at me through those eyes but another personality, an evil personality, totally unlike the Carolyn we know and love. I am sure it
was a demon. “The words that came out of her mouth were not Carolyn’s. They were evil, cynical, haughty, and God-defying. I spoke
to the evil thing and commanded it in the name of the Lord Jesus to release Carolyn so I could speak directly to her alone. Suddenly
her eyes changed and Carolyn was back in control of herself.”
Deeply disturbed by the conversation with my wife, I told Dick Hillis what Loretta had said. To my amazement, he affirmed that
under certain circumstances Christians can be partially controlled by demons. I had never heard of such a thing before. In all my years
of theological and missionary training, no one had ever taught me that true Christians could experience demonic bondage. “If Loretta

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says Carolyn has demons, you had better get home and help her,” Dick said. “Someone else can cover your responsibilities here in the
conference.” On the journey home to Los Angeles from San Jose, California, I was both angry and fearful: angry over the possibility
that evil spirits could disturb the life of my lovely daughter and fearful that, if true, I wouldn’t know how to free her from their
influence. What do I do? I thought. Where do I begin?
I arrived late and Carolyn was already in bed. Awakening her, I told her what Loretta had said about her rebellious attitude and
the demons glaring through her eyes. Within moments her usually sweet personality changed into something evil. With a strange glare
in her eyes she screamed at me. “Leave me alone!” she yelled. I forbade the demons to speak directly through Carolyn. When she
calmed down, I spoke to her very quietly about her walk with the Lord. Suddenly she became her usual sweet, responsive, and
obedient self. “Dad,” she said, “I don’t know what’s the matter with me. There seems to be something inside of me that takes over and
I do weird things. Dad, help me. I’m scared. I love Jesus and I want to do what is right. What’s wrong with me?” Carolyn and I got
down on our knees in prayer. She confessed her rebellion and disobedience, crying to the Lord to break the power of evil oppressing
her life. She was having unusual difficulty in praying, however, especially in declaring the lordship of Christ over her life.
In the past I had noticed she had a small object hanging on a chain around her neck, but hadn’t thought anything of it. As I was
praying with her, trying to resist the Devil on her behalf, my attention was drawn to that object. It looked like a Star of David. “Where
did you get that star?” I asked. She told me the name of the boy who had given it to her. I knew him. He was a professing Christian but
definitely not a committed believer. “What is it supposed to symbolize?” I inquired. “I don’t know what it symbolizes,” she replied.
“It’s just a kind of good-luck charm. It’s found on the dust covers of some musical albums. All the kids wear them.”
The “star” turned out to be a pentagram, a symbol of the occult world. At that time I was almost totally ignorant of occultism, its
symbols and practices. Yet somehow I knew that thing was an evil symbol. Its presence on her body served as an amulet, drawing evil
spirits to her life. “Carolyn, you will not find full freedom from the demon spirits afflicting you until you remove that object and
renounce the spirit forces associated with it,” I told her. She took it off her neck and threw it on the floor. She confessed and
renounced her occult involvement, her recent interest in heavy metal rock music, and her rebellious attitude and selfishness. Soon we
were in a face-to-face confrontation with evil spirits. “Dad, they’re after me. I’m afraid,” she cried. “They have a hold on my life. I
want them to go. Dad, please help me get rid of them.”
“Get away from my daughter’s life,” I commanded. “She has broken all allegiance with you. Get out! Leave her alone! In the
name and authority of my Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, who defeated your master on the Cross, I command you to go away from
Carolyn and do not return. Get out of her life! Let her alone. Carolyn does not belong to you. She has given her life to the Lord Jesus
Christ.” Within a few minutes the struggle ceased. Carolyn became calm. She joyfully began praising the Lord for setting her free.
The evil spirits had left. We both cried and rejoiced before the Lord for His grace in releasing her from the demonic spirits. We went
to bed happily thinking that the battle was over. About two A.M., however, Carolyn banged on our bedroom door.
“Dad, the demons are back,” she cried. “Help me! They seem to be coming at me from under my bed. They want to get back
inside of me.” I went to her room with her. “What do you have under your bed?” I asked. “I have a small box filled with more of those
stars and other paraphernalia. I forgot about them when we were praying last night. Dad, please get them out from under my bed.”
“No, Carolyn,” I replied. “I won’t do it for you. You have to do it yourself. By your choice you got involved with them and by your
choice you’ll get rid of them.” “I’m afraid,” she said, “but I’ll do it if you will help me.” She reached under the bed, pulled out the
little box, and handed it to me. “Dad, will you destroy them for me? I don’t want anything further to do with them.”
“No,” I replied. “You must destroy them. This will declare to the spirit world that you are making a complete break with them. I’ll
walk out in the back yard with you, but you must do it yourself.” She did. We returned to her room for another talk and time of prayer.
It was then that I began to discover the extent of the demonic evil influence that had come against her life through her involvement in
demonic rock music and through the influence of her boyfriend. Carolyn had never been fond of extreme rock music. She liked some
of the more mild, almost folk, rock groups but showed no interest in heavy rock groups with their grotesque dress, vulgar gestures, and
immoral, rebellious, often occultic lyrics. We had never allowed them in our home.
While on furlough things were different, however. Both Loretta and I were continually involved in ministry and were neglecting
our children. Most of the time I was away from home on mission business or in missionary conferences. Loretta had her own
missionary meetings to attend, plus heavy correspondence and personal contact with our supporters. Unknown to us, Carolyn’s friend
had introduced her to the fringes of the hippie-occult protest movement of the sixties. He had also exposed her to heavier rock music
and transcendental meditation. She found that she could go into a trance while listening to the music of certain rock groups. Carolyn
confessed her sins to the Lord, renouncing transcendental meditation and all evil music. She destroyed her offensive rock music and
everything in her possession which she knew dishonored the Lord. This was the beginning of what later became the most important
world view shift in my Christian life. Little did I know that over a period of several years I would not only come to understand that
true believers, under unusual circumstances of sin, can come under direct partial demonic control, but I would also find myself
involved in a ministry of helping to rid believers of these evil personalities.
We are all aware that Satan and his demons are our enemies. We know that they war against true believers, churches, and other
Christian institutions. Most of us can quote verbatim parts of Ephesians 6:10–20, James 4:7–8, 1 Peter 5:8–11, and other spiritual
warfare passages. The question is, do we really comprehend the power hurled against us by Satan and his demons? Do we really know
what Satan can do in the lives of believers who violate God’s Word, even through ignorance?
THE REALITY OF DEMONIZATION: RELATING SCRIPTURE AND EXPERIENCE

Perhaps the most controversial question to be raised is, “Can a true believer be demonized?” Note that I am speaking not of
demon possession, but of demonization. Possession implies ownership and total control. Christians, even disobedient ones, belong to
God, not to Satan. Thus, Satan cannot control them totally. Demonization is a different matter, however. By demonization I mean that
Satan, through his demons, exercises direct, partial control over an area or areas of the life of a Christian or non-Christian. Can that

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really happen to Christians? According to Scripture and Christian experience it can. Scriptures warn believers not to “fall into the
same condemnation as the devil” or “fall into reproach and the snare of the devil” (1 Tim. 3:6–7). They also tell us of believers who
have “turned aside after Satan” (1 Tim. 5:15). The apostle Peter wrote to warn believers of the terrible danger they faced as a result of
Satan’s attacks. He said that if they did not learn how to “resist him firm in [their] faith,” they could be “devoured by the devil” (1 Pet.
5:8–9). Those are strong words. No wonder the apostle Paul writes about the danger of believers being ignorant of Satan’s schemes (2
Cor. 2:11).
Much is being written about demons today, also. We are witnessing what one scholar called “a demonic deluge.” Some of it is
excellent; some of it is very bad. Studies on Satan lean toward sensationalism on one hand and rigid dogmatism on the other. The very
act of studying demons causes one to focus so intently on them that extreme views often result, understandably but unfortunately. For
many, any theology of demons they have is built primarily on subjective experience. They uncritically believe what demons tell them
and write books accordingly. This, combined with their emotional subjectivism and their tendency to see all evil, and all personal, and
all social malfunctions as primarily and directly demonic (they are always indirectly demonic), further divides the church on this
crucial area of reality and turns the unbelieving critic away from Christ and the Bible. On the other hand, there are others whose
theology of demons is built on their own limited interpretations of Scripture with little or no experience in direct, on-going
confrontation with evil spirits. Declaring what demons can and cannot do, they produce their books from this monocultural, dogmatic
perspective.
The result is the church divided again. Just as tragic, millions of terribly hurt people, believers as well as unbelievers, go without
help or go to counselors who may be atheists or Christians inexperienced in the demonic realm. The Scripture-versus-experience issue
is unfortunate, unbiblical, and illogical. Never in Scripture are the two held to be mutually exclusive. They are always seen to be two
sides of the same coin. God’s written revelation is the Bible. That written revelation is not given in an abstract theological form,
however. It is given in historical form as God makes Himself known to His people and to the world in the context of human
experience. A knowledge of God divorced from the experience of God led to the Crusades, the Inquisition, and other chapters in the
colonization of the heathen world by organized Christianity too shameful for words. We all recognize this in our evangelism. We
commonly say we want to help people find Christ as “their personal Savior.” We know informing them about God and Jesus is not
enough—they must experience Him personally. God must first be experienced before He is understood.
We all recognize this to some degree in our development of theology. We realize that God’s truth is not discovered primarily by
the human brain but by the human heart as revealed by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:10). Thus if we had to make the choice of being
taught about God by a brilliant, highly trained, but “unsaved” theologian, or a semi-literate but Spirit-filled believer, we would
probably choose the believer. While he may not be able to define God theologically, he can lead us to God experientially. Why do we
evangelicals so distrust experience with the spirit world? Why do we develop theologies about this dimension of reality about which
we are personally ignorant except through biblical exegesis? Can a theology of Satan and demons that is both true and useful for
ministry really be developed by theologians studying their Hebrew and Greek Bibles while sitting in their air-conditioned offices apart
from at least some personal experience? If the theologians in question did not bring limiting preconceptions about what demons can
and cannot do to their study, they could possibly, exclusively through the Scriptures, develop guidelines to practical demonology that
could then be tested by experience. Based on the results of that experience, they would then need to readjust their demonology to fit
the contemporary assault of evil supernaturalism the church is facing today.
This is exactly what has happened to me and many other theology professors, Bible teachers, counselors, missionaries, and
pastors in the past few years. We were all taught theology in college and seminary. We accepted what we were taught because we
trusted our teachers. As we read Scriptures through their eyes, we found what they told us we would find. Occasionally we found
things they told us we would not find, but, with a few exceptions, we remained quiet. Then we were launched into ministry and our
theology put to the test of experience. The basic tenets of our historic Christian theology probably did not change. In fact, they only
became firmer. What did happen, however, is that we were forced to return to Scripture for help, again and again. We began to
examine anew certain dimensions of our unreflective theology when it did not prove congruent with our own valid experience with
God, with people, and, in many cases, with Satan and demons. Therefore, correct biblical interpretation is that interpretation which is
most consistent with experience. Theology which is contradicted by experience, or at the least brought into question, is theology that
needs to be reexamined. To declare that theology must be maintained even if it is challenged by on-going experience is legalism,
pharisaism, dogmatism, and evidence of subtle arrogance. To continue with theology that hurts already hurting people is sin. We
cannot sacrifice people on the altar of theological presuppositions.
In the wake of the eighteenth-century rise of rationalism known as the Enlightenment, Western theology lost an intuitive, historic
understanding of the spirit world. As in all other areas where the church has ignored or resisted dimensions of biblical reality, the
process of rediscovery usually comes through experience. This experience calls theology into question at that point. The theological
status quo will always resist the reformers, however. The status-quo theologians and Bible teachers, if they hold a high view of
Scripture, will go back to Scripture, not to openly challenge their own presuppositions in light of the experience of their brethren, but
to defend their presuppositions against their misguided brothers. The reformers, if they also hold to a high view of Scripture, will also
return to Scripture. If they are honest, they will return not to prove themselves right and their status-quo brethren wrong, but to better
understand what their experience is telling them. When they do, they will either call into question their experience, their understanding
of Scripture, or both. Usually the latter will occur. If their experiences are valid they will find that they are supported by Scripture
much more than they had first imagined. They will also find that Scripture will cause them to restate their experience and not go to
extremes. They will recognize that they too, as all men, are susceptible to both deception and error. The result should be a newly
formulated theology more consistent with both Scripture and experience. This is what is occurring today with the church’s “new”
experience with demons. The demons have always been with us. But, as conservative evangelical theologians and Bible teachers have

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been telling us for years, as we see the day of the final conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of evil approaching, an
outpouring of demonic evil such as the church and the world has not known since the early centuries of the Christian era will occur.
If we are entering that period, and most biblical scholars suspect we are, then we should expect Satan to come into the open and
through lying, deceitful spirits assault mankind in general and the church in particular. Is that what we are witnessing today? Only
time will tell. One thing is absolutely certain, however: Our theology of the spirit world must fit the reality of contemporary human
anguish. Particularly for us in the West, where materialism is the religion of many, and where occultism, Satanism, and the New Age
movement flourish, a status-quo practical demonology will not do. With sexual abuse and even Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) of
children no longer a secret, but almost a national epidemic, status-quo counseling will do no longer.
Demons flow where abuse flows. Demons flow where Satanism, Satanic occult practices, and the New Age movement flourish.
Demons enter the bodies and lives of abused children, especially those who have experienced SRA, and of practicing New Agers. The
church in the West will find it difficult to bring salvation and healing to the survivors of such evil if it maintains its present status-quo,
unworkable theology of experiential demonology. This is true for both salvation and sanctification. Worldwide, evil supernaturalism
manifests itself in two major religions. Hinduism is shedding its traditional pacifism and becoming militant and missionary. Elements
of it thrive in the West in the form of the New Age movement. Islam too is on the rise, militant and missionary, increasingly intolerant
of other religions, especially Christianity. It is still the most powerful religious competitor of Christianity. Demonic activity is rampant
in both Hinduism and Islam. While much is being written in our day about spiritual warfare, the church is still basically ignorant of the
spirit world. That ignorance is most pronounced in the Western world, but it exists in the non-Western world also.
Africans, Asians, Latin Americans, and the inhabitants of Oceania know intuitively the reality of the spirit world. They know
invisible spiritual beings both good and evil continually interact with human beings. They strive to maintain the right balance of
relationships with the spirits to avoid harm by evil spirits and to gain help from the good spirits. What happens to their world view
when they become Christians? It becomes confused. That confusion has at least a dual source: First, Western missionaries, though
looked upon as experts about things spiritual, are primarily ignorant of the activity of the spirits. Second, their national church leaders
were trained in their ministry by missionaries ignorant of the spirit world. I was one such missionary.
The unfortunate result worldwide is that, in general, our churches are filled with believers who are hurting through the activity of
evil spirits. Many are Spirit-filled believers by anyone’s definition of that term. Yet a war rages inside of them and around them. Often
areas of their lives are in bondage to feelings, thoughts, and practices not compatible with their Christian faith. They know something
is wrong, but few suspect the possibility of a direct demonic dimension to their problem. That was true with my daughter, Carolyn.
But it was also true of me, her father. She was not the only victim of spiritual warfare in our family. I was, also, because I was
ignorant of the operations of the evil spirit world. Beyond our churches, effective worldwide evangelism is impeded by our having
missed the biblical teaching regarding territorial spirits. These high-level principalities and powers hold whole people groups in their
grip. How is their power broken (2 Cor. 4:3–4) so that people become free to choose for or against Christ?
Without doubt, Carolyn’s story and my comments have raised many questions in the minds of my readers. While the Bible
contains a vast amount of material about Satan, his evil angels, demons, and evil spirits, we will often be left still questioning because
of what the Scriptures do not reveal. For example, the Scriptures do not directly explain the origin of Satan and his demons. They do
not explain the relationship between malfunctions natural to human personality and personality malfunctions caused supernaturally.
We are left mostly on our own in these and many other areas. The Bible does not develop a doctrine of satanology or demonology as
clear and complete as other teachings such as hamartology and soteriology.
I am not interested in simplistic answers to profound questions. Probably the reader shares my attitude at this point. I want to
know all God wants me to know within the natural limitations we possess as earthly human beings (1 Cor. 13:9–13). I only wish He
wanted us to know more. I will attempt to explore the spirit world from four perspectives in this book. In Part One we will see how
our world view—understanding of the ultimate nature of reality—affects our view of spiritual warfare. Part Two looks at spiritual
warfare from a theological perspective by examining the progressive development of the spiritual warfare motif in both Old and New
Testaments. Parts Three and Four approach the subject from an exegetical perspective, studying key passages of Scripture. While the
Scriptures leave us without all the information we often feel we need, they say more about spiritual warfare than most of us realize.
Finally, Part Five examines spiritual warfare from a practical perspective, seeking to discover the implications of our study for human
life in general and the Christian life in particular. This section will perhaps be the most important of the book, but it should not be
examined without studying the scriptural foundation that supports it.
PART ONE: World Views
1 World View Clash
The World Vision organization planned to dig a well for a needy African village called Walamo. They were warned not to go to the
village because the most powerful marabout, or witch doctor, of the region had cursed it. They were told something bad would happen
to them or their machinery if they tried to dig a well in the village under so strong a curse that people from other villages would not go
there. The team went anyway. In time they dug a well which filled with sweet, pure water. The people of Walamo were ecstatic.
Nearby villages heard of it and, convinced the curse had been broken, resumed trade with Walamo. When asked why nothing evil
befell the workers or their equipment, they responded, “Francois’s god is more powerful than the marabout’s god.”
Francois, who led the drilling crew, was tempted to dismiss their views as pure superstition. The well had come in by
understanding and working with the relevant scientific laws. The people, however, saw it as evidence of the superior power of
Francois’s god. Two world views had clashed. I am a missionary. A missionary leaves behind his own familiar culture and seeks to
contextualize himself within a foreign culture. He does this for the sake of the gospel and out of love for God and for the people to
whom he is sent. As fully as possible, he seeks to understand their world view. He faces a serious problem, however: He carries with
him his own world view. James W. Sire in The Universe Next Door defines world view as “a set of presuppositions (or assumptions)

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which we hold (consciously or unconsciously) about the basic make up of our world.” The working definition of world view I will use
is even more basic: World view refers to “one’s basic assumptions about reality.”
Everyone holds world view assumptions whether or not they are reflective persons. All persons believe their own assumptions
about reality are the correct ones, or at least the best ones, for the present. All persons’ beliefs and behavior, in that order, are based
upon their world view, whether or not they are conscious of that fact. While world view is closely related to religion, the two are not
identical. Paul Hiebert affirms that “a world view provides people with their basic assumptions about reality. Religion provides them
with the specific content of this reality.” If one holds to an atheistic world view, atheism functions as a religion.
Aside from the agnostic position, only two conceivable world views exist. The spiritualistic world view affirms that ultimate
reality is spiritual: immaterial, not physical or material. According to this view, whether ultimate reality is looked upon as personal or
impersonal, it is spiritual. The vast majority of the world’s more than five billion inhabitants hold to some form of a spiritualistic
world view. Intellectually convinced atheists are very rare even in Western and in Marxist societies. Ours is not a world of
philosophical materialists, but of convinced spiritualists. This common spiritualistic world view gives the church a beginning point
with most of humanity. Even the present occult explosion within the Western world is advantageous at this point. We can say to the
occultist, “You are basically correct in your view of reality at one major point. Humans exist as spiritual beings, and not merely as
material ones.”
Second, the materialistic or naturalistic world view affirms that ultimate reality is material or physical, not spiritual. This view
assumes that all life generated spontaneously from non-life and that by this process primitive single-celled life forms evolved over
vast periods of time into the vast range of life as we know it today.
Five important conclusions result from this view of reality:
1.
The universe is a cosmic accident that has no ultimate purpose.
2.
Human life is a biological accident that has no ultimate significance.
3.
Life ends forever at death for each individual life form.
4.
Mind has no separate existence or survival apart from brain.
5.
Humanity’s intuitive, historic belief in an ultimate mind, spirit, or God behind, within, and outside of the physical universe is
a form of self-deception. Thus, humanity’s corresponding belief in human uniqueness, dignity, purpose, and survival beyond
death is a non-real view of reality.
No wonder life is so empty to intellectually convinced but honest atheists. The word honest is important because most atheists do
not want to honestly face the nihilistic implications of their world view. When they do, death would be better than life because it leads
to eternal non-existence. Western theology has been influenced by the Western world view more than most of us are aware of. By
Western theology I mean the broad, generally accepted interpretations of Scripture embodied in mainstream works of systematic
theology, covering the broad range of theological viewpoints and ecclesiastical groupings one finds among all believers who hold to a
high view of Scripture and propagate a common historic Christian faith.
By Western world view I mean the view of reality that arose out of the historical movement of the eighteenth century called the
Enlightenment. It is often summed up in one word, naturalism. Sire traces the historical swing from theism to naturalism, and by way
of deism, to nihilism. One scholar defines methodological naturalism as “the name for that characteristic of scientific method which
constructs its pattern of thought on the basis of natural causation as distinguished from a supernatural or occult explanation.”
This Western world view arches over almost all of the many diverse world view variations within the Western world, and is
closely allied to the scientific method. Such a method, when adopted as one’s model for reality, views the universe as a uniform
system based strictly on the cause-and-effect relationships between its constituent parts, each in a determinate relationship one to the
other, utterly closed to any dimensions of reality that transcend the natural. Sire observes that history thus becomes a “linear system of
events linked by cause and effect but without an overarching purpose.” Thus, naturalism explains everything on the basis of
impersonal natural and therefore predictable causes that account for all of reality.
How does all of this affect our study of spiritual warfare? Although we Christians have rightly rejected naturalism as an
acceptable view of ultimate reality and hold faithfully to historic theism, naturalism nonetheless deeply influences our view of the
daily events of our lives. This influence helps shape our view of the world of spirit beings, both benevolent and evil. Anthropologist
Paul G. Hiebert of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School writes of his own struggles in this area as a missionary to India in an article
entitled “The Flaw of the Excluded Middle.” John’s disciples asked, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” (Luke
7:20). Jesus answered not with logical proofs, but by a demonstration of power in the curing of the sick and casting out of evil spirits.
So much is clear. Yet when I read the passage as a missionary in India, and sought to apply it to missions in our day, I had a sense of
uneasiness. As a Westerner, I was used to presenting Christ on a basis of rational arguments, not by evidences of His power in the
lives of people who were sick, possessed and destitute. In particular, the confrontation with spirits that appeared so natural a part of
Christ’s ministry belonged in my mind to a separate world of the miraculous—far from ordinary everyday experience.
Hiebert then presents the following diagram which reflects the Western Christian view of reality, a by-product of our Western
theology: Figure 1.1
A Western Two-tiered View of Reality
Religion
faith
miracles
other-worldly problems
sacred
(Excluded Middle)

Science
sight and experience
natural order
this-worldly problems
secular

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He comments: The reasons for my uneasiness with the biblical and Indian world views should now be clear. I had excluded the
middle level of supernatural but this-worldly beings and forces from my own world view. As a scientist I had been trained to deal with
the empirical world in naturalistic terms. As a theologian, I was taught to answer ultimate questions in theistic terms. For me the
middle zone did not really exist. Unlike Indian villagers, I had given little thought to spirits of this world, to local ancestors and
ghosts, or to the souls of animals. For me these belonged to the realm of fairies, trolls and other mythical beings. Consequently, I had
no answers to the questions they raised.
In “The Excluded Middle,” an article published in the MARC Newsletter, Bryant Myers expands Hiebert’s concept of a two-tiered
world. He points out that “the most important feature of this Enlightenment world view is that the spiritual and real worlds do not
touch. . . . This is the major difference when we compare the western world view to how traditional folk understand their world.”
Myers further explains that most traditional religions
believe the world is a continuum between those elements of the world which are mostly spiritual in nature and those which are
mostly material. . . . There is no gap between the two worlds. The spiritual and physical co-exist together, inseparable parts of
each other.
According to Myers, there is a “middle part” of the traditional word view, a level of reality comprising witch doctors, shamans,
curses, idols, household gods, and the evil eye. This spiritual part of reality operates in the mate...