SPIRITUAL WARFARE - The bible way !
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Let me know what you think and how accurate it is.
Merry CHRISTmas mate.
Thanks for the calls and your advice in 2008.
Love and respect
J
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I'm reading this right now and enjoying it. Learning a lot. It sounds "spot on"!
Although in truth, He did on one occasion make a journey entirely in order to set a demon-possessed man free, that being the man called "Legion" in Mark 5. No other reason is given for this journey and He leaves immediately afterwards.
the article said:
Although in truth, He did on one occasion make a journey entirely in order to set a demon-possessed man free, that being the man called "Legion" in Mark 5. No other reason is given for this journey and He leaves immediately afterwards.
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I'm reading this right now and enjoying it. Learning a lot. It sounds "spot on"!
Although in truth, He did on one occasion make a journey entirely in order to set a demon-possessed man free, that being the man called "Legion" in Mark 5. No other reason is given for this journey and He leaves immediately afterwards.
Great I hope others comment too.
I'm sure Larry Lea and others would disagree.
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Elijah2
No weapons formed against me will prosper.
In “Spiritual Warfare”, I believe that we need to understand we are not fighting against “flesh and blood”, but “against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual hosts”!
His Word is silent on much, and much of our understanding of the “earthly and heavenly things” of the natural and supernatural realms have come through His disciples’srevelations and personal experiences of those things of the powers of darkness.
Yes, there are many things that Christians practice, and teach today that are NOT reflected in His Word.
Those who don’t accept the advice given question those who give it continually, and the challengers require proof of their advice by specific Scriptures, which is no more than a form of legalism and spiritual blindness, because those things that were done in the 1st Century are totally different to the 21st Century, 1900 years later.
When the Scribes and Pharisees confronted our Lord Jesus Christ with some questions. Our Lord Jesus Christ answered their questions and rebuked them for being hypocrites. Afterwards, when His disciples asked him about the exchange, HE answered and said: “Every plant, which My Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch (Matt. 15:12-14).
There are many things that “have been planted” over the past 1900 years in the ministries of many of His disciples, down to today.
Our Lord Jesus Christ didn’t say: “Now listen. The reason the Pharisees and Scribes rejected me is because they are blinded by the Devil. I want you to pray and intercede against the spiritual principalities and powers over that city. I want you to take the spiritual authority I have given you and pull down those strongholds. I am assigning you the task of breaking the Devil’s power over Gennesaret. When you have prevailed in prayer, we will return and preach there, and revival will break out.”
No, our Lord Jesus Christ said nothing like that. In addition, as far as we know, he never returned there either. He simply said, “Let them alone.” How do we square our Lord Jesus Christ’s words and reaction to current day spiritual warfare teaching? We can’t, because His Word is silent on those things of the 21st Century.
Are we mistaken in our assumptions concerning spiritual warfare, are we clearly misunderstanding something somewhere?
Seeing that our Lord Jesus Christ didn’t focus on Satan in prayer, or did HE give us instructions to focus on him either. In the Lord’s Prayer we are shown how to pray and Satan is not even mentioned by name (see Matt. 6:9-13). Nothing is “bound” or “loosed” and they only time Satan and his forces are mentioned is when we are told to pray to our Heavenly Father that HE would, “deliver us from evil” or “the evil one”, whichever way we wish to look at it, “evil” is Satan’s power through his forces.
When we are delivered from evil, we are set free from any form of “demonisation”, as in the case of the number of times that HE “cast out evil spirits”! Our Lord Jesus Christ went forth in ministry, obeying His Father, blessing and healing people. When demon possessed people showed up in HIS meetings or got in HIS path, he cast the demons out, which is no different to ministry today.
HE did not chase or track down demon-possessed people and cast out the offending spirits. Our Lord Jesus Christ was not focused on attacking Satan. He was focused on obeying His Father completely, knowing that his obedience to His Father would ultimately defeat Satan. And His disciples of today, know that also.
Far too many challengers believe that ministry teams in the healing and deliverance ministry are all set in binding Satan, which isn’t so, it’s a lie. Healing ministry through Spiritual Warfare is all about setting the captives free from their strongholds. This belief of binding Satan is rediculous, and those who practices such are only a few, and isn’t a common teaching and practice.
The loose belief about “binding” and “loosing” is also a misinformed belief of those who are anti-such belief, because 90% of ministry teams DON’T think like that. The Amplified Version that reads: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.” This translation paints a better picture than what some teach.
When we bind and declare those things to be improper and unlawful on the earth will also be bound in Heaven.
Now, the accusations that an entire “Spiritual Warfare” practice is built upon those words of Scriptures are over-exagerrated and ill founded. I have never come across ministries and conferences devoted entirely to teaching believers how to “bind” the Devil and how to “loose” the blessings of God. You cast out the “devil”, because the “devil” is “spirits”, not Satan!
The real Spiritual Warfare movement teaches that disobedience is what causes a believer to fall. We know that our Lord Jesus Christ triumphed over all by “obedience unto death, even the death of the cross,” (Phil 2:9). We all know that the Holy Spirit led our Lord Jesus Christ into the wilderness, and not to attack Satan, but to withstand the temptations or attacks that came from Satan, which is the same for believers today.
Our Lord Jesus Christ waged a defensive battle, not an offensive one. Wielding the “Sword of the Spirit”, which is part of our “Armour of God”, by quoting Scriptures and obeying them will defeat Satan and his forces.
When we wrestle “against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual hosts ” we use our “Armour of God” as our defensive armor to resist those powers of darkness, as they try to pull us into disobedience and sin, as we: “Put on the full armor of God so that we can take our stand against the devil's schemes”.
James said: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7), which means not to give place to the enemy, the roaring lion who roams around seeking to devour all believers. When we “Resist and stand it indicates that we are defending, and we are not going on the offensive as the assumption of this article.
Paul’s own experience with persecution and Satanic opposition was his “thorn”, as Paul went forward and preached the Gospel, persecution and difficulties arose against him, and it all became a “thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan”. I believe that the “thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan” was an evil spirit. I believe Paul perceived that an evil spirit was causing these difficulties. As far as we can tell, Paul took no direct action against the evil spirit. Instead, he sought the Lord about the matter. The Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Paul gloried in his infirmities as many of His disciples do today. Although the persecution and affliction never totally ceased against Paul, evidently it decreased greatly as he submitted to our Lord Jesus Christ, as we do the same.
There are many things taught, but at the same time there are many things wrongly taught that because it doesn’t appear in Scriptures that it’s wrong. After all, many great men and women of God are open to the Holy Spirit the same as Paul and any other God-anointed men and women after him, and they have had the same revelations and words of wisdom as he did.
We trust our Lord Jesus Christ to be an enemy to our enemies: “When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Prov. 16:7).
Disobedience is very costly. It opens every door to the Enemy to our “house”, and that is why the “roaring lione is roaming to seek whom he can devour”. This has nothing to do with “binding and loosing”.
We just keep fighting a good fight of faith, we keep our “house” filled and cleansed, walking in obedience and discipline. In doing so, then the enemy will flee. This action is a form of “Spiritual Warfare”, nothing more and nothing less. To keep our house filled and cleansed we need to hear His Word and be a doer of His Word. And by submitting to our Lord Jesus Christ then the enemy will flee, those “spiritis will be cast out”, end of story!
His Word is silent on much, and much of our understanding of the “earthly and heavenly things” of the natural and supernatural realms have come through His disciples’srevelations and personal experiences of those things of the powers of darkness.
Yes, there are many things that Christians practice, and teach today that are NOT reflected in His Word.
Those who don’t accept the advice given question those who give it continually, and the challengers require proof of their advice by specific Scriptures, which is no more than a form of legalism and spiritual blindness, because those things that were done in the 1st Century are totally different to the 21st Century, 1900 years later.
When the Scribes and Pharisees confronted our Lord Jesus Christ with some questions. Our Lord Jesus Christ answered their questions and rebuked them for being hypocrites. Afterwards, when His disciples asked him about the exchange, HE answered and said: “Every plant, which My Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch (Matt. 15:12-14).
There are many things that “have been planted” over the past 1900 years in the ministries of many of His disciples, down to today.
Our Lord Jesus Christ didn’t say: “Now listen. The reason the Pharisees and Scribes rejected me is because they are blinded by the Devil. I want you to pray and intercede against the spiritual principalities and powers over that city. I want you to take the spiritual authority I have given you and pull down those strongholds. I am assigning you the task of breaking the Devil’s power over Gennesaret. When you have prevailed in prayer, we will return and preach there, and revival will break out.”
No, our Lord Jesus Christ said nothing like that. In addition, as far as we know, he never returned there either. He simply said, “Let them alone.” How do we square our Lord Jesus Christ’s words and reaction to current day spiritual warfare teaching? We can’t, because His Word is silent on those things of the 21st Century.
Are we mistaken in our assumptions concerning spiritual warfare, are we clearly misunderstanding something somewhere?
Seeing that our Lord Jesus Christ didn’t focus on Satan in prayer, or did HE give us instructions to focus on him either. In the Lord’s Prayer we are shown how to pray and Satan is not even mentioned by name (see Matt. 6:9-13). Nothing is “bound” or “loosed” and they only time Satan and his forces are mentioned is when we are told to pray to our Heavenly Father that HE would, “deliver us from evil” or “the evil one”, whichever way we wish to look at it, “evil” is Satan’s power through his forces.
When we are delivered from evil, we are set free from any form of “demonisation”, as in the case of the number of times that HE “cast out evil spirits”! Our Lord Jesus Christ went forth in ministry, obeying His Father, blessing and healing people. When demon possessed people showed up in HIS meetings or got in HIS path, he cast the demons out, which is no different to ministry today.
HE did not chase or track down demon-possessed people and cast out the offending spirits. Our Lord Jesus Christ was not focused on attacking Satan. He was focused on obeying His Father completely, knowing that his obedience to His Father would ultimately defeat Satan. And His disciples of today, know that also.
Far too many challengers believe that ministry teams in the healing and deliverance ministry are all set in binding Satan, which isn’t so, it’s a lie. Healing ministry through Spiritual Warfare is all about setting the captives free from their strongholds. This belief of binding Satan is rediculous, and those who practices such are only a few, and isn’t a common teaching and practice.
The loose belief about “binding” and “loosing” is also a misinformed belief of those who are anti-such belief, because 90% of ministry teams DON’T think like that. The Amplified Version that reads: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.” This translation paints a better picture than what some teach.
When we bind and declare those things to be improper and unlawful on the earth will also be bound in Heaven.
Now, the accusations that an entire “Spiritual Warfare” practice is built upon those words of Scriptures are over-exagerrated and ill founded. I have never come across ministries and conferences devoted entirely to teaching believers how to “bind” the Devil and how to “loose” the blessings of God. You cast out the “devil”, because the “devil” is “spirits”, not Satan!
The real Spiritual Warfare movement teaches that disobedience is what causes a believer to fall. We know that our Lord Jesus Christ triumphed over all by “obedience unto death, even the death of the cross,” (Phil 2:9). We all know that the Holy Spirit led our Lord Jesus Christ into the wilderness, and not to attack Satan, but to withstand the temptations or attacks that came from Satan, which is the same for believers today.
Our Lord Jesus Christ waged a defensive battle, not an offensive one. Wielding the “Sword of the Spirit”, which is part of our “Armour of God”, by quoting Scriptures and obeying them will defeat Satan and his forces.
When we wrestle “against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual hosts ” we use our “Armour of God” as our defensive armor to resist those powers of darkness, as they try to pull us into disobedience and sin, as we: “Put on the full armor of God so that we can take our stand against the devil's schemes”.
James said: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7), which means not to give place to the enemy, the roaring lion who roams around seeking to devour all believers. When we “Resist and stand it indicates that we are defending, and we are not going on the offensive as the assumption of this article.
Paul’s own experience with persecution and Satanic opposition was his “thorn”, as Paul went forward and preached the Gospel, persecution and difficulties arose against him, and it all became a “thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan”. I believe that the “thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan” was an evil spirit. I believe Paul perceived that an evil spirit was causing these difficulties. As far as we can tell, Paul took no direct action against the evil spirit. Instead, he sought the Lord about the matter. The Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Paul gloried in his infirmities as many of His disciples do today. Although the persecution and affliction never totally ceased against Paul, evidently it decreased greatly as he submitted to our Lord Jesus Christ, as we do the same.
There are many things taught, but at the same time there are many things wrongly taught that because it doesn’t appear in Scriptures that it’s wrong. After all, many great men and women of God are open to the Holy Spirit the same as Paul and any other God-anointed men and women after him, and they have had the same revelations and words of wisdom as he did.
We trust our Lord Jesus Christ to be an enemy to our enemies: “When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Prov. 16:7).
Disobedience is very costly. It opens every door to the Enemy to our “house”, and that is why the “roaring lione is roaming to seek whom he can devour”. This has nothing to do with “binding and loosing”.
We just keep fighting a good fight of faith, we keep our “house” filled and cleansed, walking in obedience and discipline. In doing so, then the enemy will flee. This action is a form of “Spiritual Warfare”, nothing more and nothing less. To keep our house filled and cleansed we need to hear His Word and be a doer of His Word. And by submitting to our Lord Jesus Christ then the enemy will flee, those “spiritis will be cast out”, end of story!
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Great I hope others comment too.
I'm sure Larry Lea and others would disagree.
Disagree with what? Point of fact: it happened, it's in the scriptures. Nothing to really disagree with. I don't think it means He chased down the demonized, cornered them and forced deliverance on them though. We notice in that same story that when He arrived on the shores there, it was the demoniac who ran toward Him, not the other way around.
Interesting to note also the disciples fled in fear. They probably saw the demoniac as attacking them, since he ran at them crying out things that might have sounded hostile to untrained ears. Can't help but wonder how many other situations get misread in our everyday lives because we only listen to the surface and not the substance.
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