Special Book Offer!

I’ve written six Invisible War novels that trace the conflict between God and Satan, angels and demons, from creation through history’s end.

I wrote these novels first of all because there is so much misunderstanding of the spirit world in our culture. Christians as well as non-Christians share many views that are totally unscriptural. Given the fascination with angels, demons, and the occult in our culture, I felt that novels would be the best way to introduce a more biblical understanding.

As I wrote the novels, I found that this approach also allows for the telling of fascinating stories, rich in all the elements that make novels fun to read.

One of these novels, The Blind Prophet, has been published already, and is available from Tate Publishing and Christian bookstores. Many registered users have it already. The $17 perfect bound novel is also available from Amazon.com for $13.25, and judging from the reviews, folks have found the story of Zaki the blind prophet as fascinating as I’d hoped.

The Blind Prophet is actually the 3rd book in the series. Books 1 and 2, Earthbound, and The Day of the Others, have a publication date of September 1st. But I’ve got a very special offer for readers of Demondope.

Special offer

You can order Earthbound and The Day of the Others from me TODAY! for just $20, and shipping is FREE.

If you haven’t read The Blind Prophet, just add 5$, and for $25 I’ll send you all three Invisible War Novels.

What’s In the novels?

Earthbound explores the origin of the dark angels we know as demons in Satan’s rebellion. For an extended age demons are confined to as tiny planet in one of the hundred million galaxies of our universe. There they toy with living creatures, genetically engineering them to feel the demons’ dark passions. Finally the Creator intervenes, obliterating life on the planet and hurling it out of its orbit into interstellar darkness. Despite this seemingly decisive blow the war pitting good vs evil has just begun.

The Creator returns the planet to its orbit, refurbishes it with living creatures, and fashions his secret weapon . . . human beings. When the Prince of Darkness succeeds in severing the bond that links humans with the Creator, it appears that evil has triumphed. But the Evil One fails to win the first pair’s allegiance to his cause. With relationships between humans, demons, angels, and the Creator tangled by the existence of a myriad of conflicting wills, the outcome of the Invisible War seems in doubt. And when the children of the first pair fall into traps set by demons, evil appears certain to win.

Don’t miss this first of the Invisible War novels, which explains the origin of the cosmic struggle which rages to this day . . . a war in which each of us is at risk.

The Day of the Others

Generations have passed since the first pair were tricked into abandoning the Creator by Satan. The human race has spread across the planet’s single massive continent, and is settled in villages. Each village has its own deity, a demon who masquerades as a god and feeds on the suffering of the people it rules. But in one village a youth called Tubal Cain discovers the secret of smelting copper. The introduction of metal technology stimulates the development of a city-based civilization that radically changes human experience. But the changes also create opportunities for the ranks of demons who pose as humankind’s gods to prey on humanity’s growing depravity.

The fascinating characters in The Day of The Others reveal the “advances” that lead to the development of a unique civilization, marked by material progress and spiritual decline. But
when demons mate with human women to produce giants known as Nephilim, angels intervene, and the whole world rushes toward a cataclysmic judgement that will change the face of the planet.

By the way, I’ve developed discussion guides for each of the first three books which you can find on the blog at www.invisiblewarnovels.com. I’m planning to lead a Sunday School class in our church giving about 4 sessions to each novel. I think the books raise issues that are ideal discussion starters for a class or small group. So my “special price” offer of $10 a book with free shipping is extended to class groups as well as individuals.

So, if you want to take advantage of this offer, just send a check to Larry Richards, PO Box
98263. Raleigh, NC, 27624-8263.

Defeating Dark Angels

If I could only have one book on the subject of deliverance, it would be Defeating Dark Angels: breaking demonic oppression in the Believer’s Life, by Charles H. Kraft. There are other excellent books on the subject, notably Fred C. Dickason’s Demon Possession and the Christian. But if forced to choose just one, Kraft would win this one hands down.

I ought to note that Kraft’s book isn’t a replacement for the two books on Dissociative Identity Disorder, one by Tom Hawkins and the other by his wife Diane. Although Kraft mentions the problem of what was until recently called Multiple Personalities, it’s increasingly clear that anyone in any kind of deliverance or healing ministry simply must study what the Hawkins’ say. But with this disclaimer, I’m convinced that Defeating Dark Angels is THE classic in the field of dealing with demons.

Kraft’s background

As I noted in my review of another of his books, Charles H. Kraft was nurtured in an conservative evangelical setting where the possibility that demons might be attached to believers was totally discounted. For decades of his ministry as a missionary and as a professor at Fuller Theological seminary, Kraft suppressed questions about this aspect of the supernatural. Yet through a class taught by John Wimber and his own growing involvement in deliverance ministries, both his view and his experience changed. When he wrote Defeating Dark Angels Kraft had confronted and cast many hundreds of demons from believers. And his insight into many passages of Scripture that he’d passed over was transformed.

I have to note here that my own background is much like Kraft’s. I was trained at Dallas Theological Seminary and provided an outstanding education. Yet the blinders that were on Kraft’s eyes concerning Satanic activity today were also on mine, until I began to write my Invisible War novels, a series of six novels that traces the struggle between angels and demons from Creation to history’s end.

But, back to Kraft. His Defeating Dark Angels seems to present the most balanced and Scriptural view of deliverance ministry I’ve come across. Here are some of the emphases that make this book the standard in the field.

Kraft’s Thesis

For Kraft, exorcism and what is sometimes called “inner healing,” “the healing of memories,” or “prayer counseling” are tightly linked. His thesis is that emotional damage provides demons with both an entry point, and a “stronghold,” or place to stand.

For example, suppose a child is sexually abused by a relative. The experience causes a flood of emotions, and in their grip the child may respond in a variety of ways. There may be anger, deep hurt, fear, feelings of guilt, etc. The emotions and the way the child deals with them provides both an entry point for demons, and a stronghold for the demon’s continued presence in the child’s life. The dominant emotions, whether rage or fear or self-loathing, are amplified by demons in an attempt to ruin the individual’s life and maintain influence over him or her.

Kraft is convinced that getting rid the demons is only one aspect of deliverance ministry. He makes a strong case that since the goal is the total healing of the individual, one must deal with what he calls “the garbage” left over from the early experience. Thus his approach is usually to begin with an attempt to heal the memory, dealing first with the emotions and the reactions they generated. This process, Kraft believes, not only helps us get to the root of the persons problems, but also the process of dealing with the damaged emotions,the sins they’ve generated and the distorted views of reality they have shaped, weakens the demons and makes them easier to cast out.

 What is especially valuable is the way that Kraft models the entire process, sharing examples from his own experience and providing clear, simple guidelines for the reader to follow. Kraft states his purpose in writing the book near its end, on page 240.

“I have sought to present both spiritual insights and practical tips that will enable you to obey our Lord by doing what he did. I have aimed to decrease ignorance and fear about the ministry of deliverance and to “demystify” the whole subject of demonization. I pray that this book has provided you with enough issues and advice on how to deal with them so that you can begin to minister yourself.”

Kraft has certainly achieved his goal of demystifying. And he has provided outstanding advice. Most importantly, perhaps, he’s demonstrated that a deliverance ministry doesn’t depend on possession a particular spiritual gift, or an advanced degree.

Kraft’s conviction is that Jesus has given his followers–today, as well as in the first century–”authority over evil spirits” (Mark 6:12) and “to overcome all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). You or I might not be called to a deliverance ministry like that of Kraft and others. But its important to understand the authority we have. And to be ready to respond should God call us.

Pagan Pride Days

As the wheel of the year rolls on, we’re coming to some of the most significant days marked on the Wiccan and neopagan calendar. There’s Mabon on September 21, the fall equinox, that’s viewed as sort of a pagan Thanksgiving, and there’s Samhain on October 31, rooted in an ancient Gaelic festival for the dead. It’s in the fall that throughout the United States many get together and sponsor Pagan Pride days.

Here in central North Carolina this year’s Pagan Pride Days will be celebrated at the State Fair Grounds in Raleigh on September 19th and 20th . There’ll be vendors, entertainment, costume contests, workshops and rituals.

It was different some years ago when Dan Nelson and some friends decided to be a Christian presence at the one day Pagan Pride celebration also held here in Raleigh.
Dan approached the event with prayer and some trepidation. But when the time came the little group of Christians trooped to the grounds and set up their own booth.

Dan is a local artist of some fame and tremendous talent. His booth featured a large umbrella under which Dan stood with an easel creating what 8×10 pictures he called “prophetic paintings.” It was a dark day, and the organizers had failed to provide electricity for music. But Dan had a generator, and he’d brought his own sound system and a number of CD’s of Irish and Celtic Christian music. He knew that the pagan community was deeply into its Celtic roots  . . . and the folks at the festival had no idea the music he played was Christian.

By the time the day ended Dan felt both relief and disappointment. There’d been no dark or demonic manifestations. [After all, Dan and his friends had prayed hard.] The people who attended seemed ordinary, like normal folks who lived just down the block. You might not know them well, but you’d say “hello” and might even stop to chat sometimes. No one seemed upset as Dan chatted about his beliefs. After all, the pagan community prides itself on its belief that there are many “paths” a person might follow, and a person’s path might well be right for him as your path was right for you. And so the day was spent, as Dan says, just “loving and blessing” these folk who dodn’t yet know Christ, and trusting that the things Dan and his friends said might prepare them to respond to the Gospel one day.

There was one thing that Dan remembers clearly. Before the grounds were opened to the general public, one of the organizers urged the vendors, “Now, don’t treat the people who come here like the Christians treat us.”  How tragic, Dan thought, that the image of Christians these folk had was one of hostility and hate. 

There are Pagan Pride Days being held all over our nation this fall. Probably not as well organized as here in North Carolina, where by the middle of July all the vendor spaces have been spoken for, and the workshops organized. But perhaps wherever Pagan Pride Days are held there’ll be an opportunity for some of us to demonstrate a little Christian love. I don’t mean that we should invade the celebration carrying signs and passing out tracts. I suspect that Dan’s way is more effective in the end.

We may lack artists to do “prophetic paintings” in a vendor’s booth. We probably won’t be able fill the grounds with Celtic Christian music. And it’s possible that demons will be nearby. But demons are no match for Christ, and a little “love and blessing” go a long way when we show we care for neopagans as persons. And a willingness to listen respectfully can earn us the right to speak as well.

Is there a Pagan Pride Day planned for your area?  You may be able to find out by Googling “Pagan Pride Days.” If you do feel led to explore ways to use these days as an opportunity for some gentle evangelism, I suggest you check out earlier posts on demondope that explore neopagan beliefs. And that you not only bathe the effort in payer, but also cloak yourself in Jesus’ love for the lost.

Spiritual Warfare #13: Armor of God

Ephesians is a book that teaches believers how to “stand our ground” against the devil and his schemes. Paul sums up his teaching using the analogy of the Roman legionaries panoply, his “full armor.” Each piece of armor reprises a theme Paul has developed in his letter to the Ephesians. As I’ve noted in earlier “armor of God” posts, Paul lists the piece of equipment in the order in which they were put on, but in reverse order of the treatment given the teaching in the body of the book. Thus the theme of righteousness which is represented by the “breastpiece” is treated late in the book, in 4:17-5:7.

There’s one more thing that’s important to recognize. This and the other pieces of armor are defensive in character. Only the sword, which Paul identifies as the Word of God and actually does not discuss in Ephesians, is offensive. Thus each theme in Ephesians is teaching us how to defend ourselves against Satanic attacks while we attack the devil and his followers with the living Word of God. This is clearly the case with the breastpiece, made of molded metal and strapped on over the the chest to protect the vital organs from the enemy’s more deadly thrusts.

Righteousness

Paul is saying that “righteousness” is invaluable defending ourselves from the enemy’s more deadly thrusts. This of course raises a question. What does he mean by “righteousness”? The problem is that “righteousness” is a complex term. I sum up the different ways this term is used in Scripture in my Richards Complete Bible Dictionary (World Bible Publishers, p. 865).

OT. (1) An absolute quality of God, who always acts in harmony with his moral nature. God’s character is the standard by which righteousness is measure. (2) Conformity to the moral and ethical norms revealed in God’s Law. In the OT righteousness is not an abstract quality or sinlessness but rather acting in line with one’s obligation to God and to other persons. In this limited sense, individuals in the OT are called ‘righteous.’ This sense of righteous is sometimes found in the Gospels. NT (3) Imputed righteousness: the declaration by God that a person is righteous in God’s sight, not by virtue of that person’s acts but in virtue of his faith in Jesus.(4)Actual righteousness: inner moral conformity of one’s character to the character of God, and the acts that flow from a righteous moral character.

To determine what aspect of righteousness serves us as a breastpiece and guards us against the more deadly thrusts of the enemy, we need to take a look at what Paul is saying in Ephesians 4:17-5:7.

Paul begins by characterizing the lifestyle of those who are separated from the life of God, ignorant of his character and standards, and have “given themselves over the sensuality so as to indulge in ever kink of impurity” (4:17-19). In contrast, those of us who have been “made new” are to put on a new self, which has been “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (4:20-24). Paul then goes on to describe the way of life which is appropriate for those who have been created to be like God. There must be a rejection of sin, lest, Paul says, we give the devil a foothold (4:27), Paul continues his ‘before and after’ theme writing, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (4:31,32). And the theme continues into chapter 5. We are to be imitators of God as his “dearly loved children” and are to “live a life of love,” totally refusing to be involved in such things as “sexual immorality or any other kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people” (5:1-7).

It is clear from scanning these verses in Ephesians that Paul is not talking about imputed righteousness. It’s also clear that he is not talking about an abstract quality or sinlessness. He is focusing on maintaining a righteous lifestyle; of doing what is in harmony with God’s own character and decisively rejecting behaviors that conflict with godliness.

It is also clear that Paul does not expect a righteous way of life to be rooted in any human effort to change. Instead he argues that, just as God’s actions flow from and express his character, so the Christians way of life is to flow from and express the fact that we have experienced a spiritual rebirth: in Christ we have been created anew, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Implications of the exhortation

Paul bases his argument in this section on the fact that believers are “dearly loved children.” As children of God, participants in the restore image of God, we are to live out who we truly are. At the same time Paul reminds us that adopting a godly lifestyle isn’t automatic. It involves choice. So he challenges us, “put off your old self.” “Put on the new self.” In a series of exhortations Paul makes it clear that we do have a choice, and he urges us to make the right choice. Constructions such as “Do not let . . .” and “get rid of” are indelible markers of the fact that we are responsible to choose the life we live, and that opportunities to choose arise again and again every day.

We can choose to live the new life God has given us in Christ.
We can choose to live the old life from which we’ve been redeemed.
And we do choose. Daily. Hourly. Minute by minute.

Back to the breastpiece

Looking back into Ephesians its clear what Paul is saying when he tells us to put on the breastpiece of righteousness. He’s not talking about imputed righteousness. He’s talking about living righteously. He’s talking about the choices we make, the way we opt to live our lives. And Paul is warning us. If we’re to stand against the devil and thwart his schemes to make us ineffective in this war that’s going on between God and Satan, we must choose to live godly lives. When we chose wrong over right, evil over good, the selfish over the selfless, we become vulnerable to Satan’s more deadly thrusts.

I don’t believe that Paul is speaking here about the ways any of us may stumble at times. He’s not asking us to focus on that time we got angry three weeks ago, but rather on a temper that erupts again and again at work or at home. He’s not asks us to focus on the random thought that may flash through our heads when we see a person in a seductive pose, but on the perverse fascination with pornography that drives us to Internet again and again. He’s not asking us to focus on the little “white” lie that slips out spontaneously, but on the pattern of deceit that leads us to hide our flaws from our spouse or closest Christian friends. What Paul is talking about are the patterns of behavior that reflect God’s character, or that reflect the character of fallen human beings and the deceiver himself. AQnd Paul is warning us that repeated evil provides an entry point for demons who would spoil our lives and render us ineffective for God’s purposes.

What Paul is saying is that we are to choose those ways of life that are godly, and reject those that are stained by sin. For to survive this spiritual warfare in which we are engaged–whether we’re aware of it or not–we must chose to live righteous lives.

We must live in accord with who we truly are.

Wiccan Holy-Days

Neopagan faiths at root are nature religions. Recurring events, such as the summer and winter solstices and the Spring and Fall Equinox are important markers of nature’s recurring patterns. Like the old pagan faiths, these markers along with four others are celebrated as holidays [holy days] by Wiccans and other neopagan “paths.”

Together the eight holidays celebrated by neopagans make up the “wheel of the year,” a wheel that seems to roll on forever, endlessly repeating the annual cycle, providing stability and security to the individual. Unlike Christians, who view history as moving on a course initiated by God in Creation and moving toward a culmination at history’s end, to neopagans the universe seems to be without beginning and without end.

The wheel of the neopagan year begins in the late fall. Following is a list of the holidays, with their dates.
 Samhain   Oct 31                              Rooted in a Gaelic festival for the dead   
 Yule      Dec 21   [winter solstice]     Originally a Germanic winter festival
 Imbolc    Feb 2                                 A Gaelic festival at the first signs of spring
 Ostara    Mar 21  [spring Equinox]    Named for the Germanic goddess of new life, Eostre           Beltain   May 1                                  From a Gaelic fertility festival.
 Letha     Jun 21   [summer solstice]  The supernatural and natural world are closest.     
 Lughnasadh Jul 31                            Day honoring the god Lugh for the harvest.
 Mabon     Sep 21   [Fall Equinox]      The pagan Thanksgiving after the second harvest.

The origin of the neopagan holy days in old paganism is clear in both the names and the significance of each holiday. Each of these days has its rituals and ceremonies in Wicca and neopaganism,many of which involve worship of the deity whose name is reflected in the name of the holiday or in its origin.

A closer look at Ostara

If we take a closer look at just one of these wiccan sabats, we realize that neopagan “paths” are not a closer orientation to nature, but are in fact religions.

One website discussing Ostare confuses this reality when the writer comments, “Many modern Wiccans and neopagans celebrate Ostara as a time of renewal and rebirth. Take some time to celebrate the new life that surrounds you in nature–walk in park, lay in the grass, hike through a forest. As you do so, observe all the new things beginning around you–plants, flowers, insects, birds. Meditate upon the ever-moving wheel of the year, and celebrate the change of seasons.”

Ostara is also celebrated by gathering to worship the goddess Eostar. For instance, another website suggests celebrating the Ostara sabbat with a “short devotional” honoring the beginnings of spring. One of these designed for the instruction of children, goes:

  Welcome, welcome, warm fresh earth!
  Today we celebrate rebirth!
  Blowing wind, rising sun,
  Bringing the spring to everyone!
  Rabbits hopping, chicks in the nest,
  Spring is the season we love the best!
  Celebrate the green of the earth with me,
  Happy Ostara, and blessed be!

Yet another website gives directions for holding a “rebirthing ritual” for Ostara, which includes setting up an Ostara altar, and includes ritual words for the person acting as high priest as well as the other participants to recite. The following ritual includes the use of candles, sprinkled water, and wrapping participants in a black sheet from which they emerge {reborn. This is followed up with a healing ritual that involves the use of magick. The website suggests that the ritual may be performed “skyclad” [nude] if the participants are comfortable with this. 
 
In 1998 a religious service honoring the goddess Eostar was performed at the Unitarian/Universalist Church of Fort Lauderdale, FL. on March 15, and that ritual is also available on the Web. We shouldn’t be surprised to learn that Folk Rock music for Ostara can be downloaded from MySpace Music.

How should we respond?

Today in the United States many are taking neopagan paths. I’ve noted before that there are some 150 different “paths” that can be identified as neopagan, with Wicca probably the best known. At least three factors contribute to the growth of these religions.

   1. The assumption by many that there is truth, but not absolute truth. What truth there is is both subjective and personal. Anyone’s experience is thus valid, and what is true for another person may but need not be true for me. It follows that I can only discover “my” truth by experimenting . . . so it’s all right for me to experiment with the views promoted in neo-pagan faiths.

   2. Tolerance is the ultimate value. Tolerance is so important a value that I must be willing to give up my right to make distinctions in favor of acceptance of another person’s actions and beliefs. It would be intolerant of me to suggest, must less strongly assert, that those involved in neopagan faiths are in danger of trafficking with demons, or that belief in the gods and goddesses of the neopagans guarantees eternal damnation.

   3. Ignorance is the third factor that contributes to the growth of neopagan religions. Unfortunately, very little is being done to counter the ignorance Wicca and neopaganism which characterize many who identify themselves as Christians, to say nothing of members of the other faith tribes that Barna identified in his The Seven Faith Tribes.

   It would be helpful if pastors and others would speak out on the issues of absolute truth and the limitations on tolerance. It would be very helpful if we could have some bold teaching on angels and demons, and the spiritual warfare that is taking place around us.

   But even if Christian leaders continue to ignore these issues, there’s no reason that we as individuals should. We can examine our own commitment to God’s truth, and reject the timidity that an insistence on tolerance as the expense of truth produces. And we can make sure that we learn all we can about the neopagan beliefs that are infesting our society and share what we learn with others. And be prepared for spiritual warfare.

July News

In Britain, the Home Office has allowed police officers who practice witchcraft to set up a Pagan Police Association. They will also be allowed to take the day off on the eight pagan religious holidays below.

In another part of the empire the New Zealand Herald reports that police raided a meeting of Freemasons and arrested fourteen Lodge members in Lautoka who were accused of practicing sorcery. Among the paraphernalia seized were wands, compasses and a skull.

Back in the states, the Los Vegas Pagan Pride is planning a July 25th 50’s Sock Hop to celebrate National Pagan Pride day. A DJ will play songs from the 50’s and ice cream will be sold at the Unitarian Universalist Church on E. Lake Mead Blvd. One goal of the celebration is to inform the community that “we have the same values as the other major religions as far as family, honesty, work, etc. goes. Our morals are somewhat different.”

And pity poor Tim Miejan, who bought the New Age magazine The Edge this February. Under his editorship the magazine.which had been eclectic, focuses on such things as stress reduction and spiritual quests. While a recent feature article plead for stopping construction of wind turbines because they harm the “life-force energy flows’ [praba], he’s down on channelers and believes pagans should have a niche of their own. The new editorial policy has upset many in his Minneapolis/St Paul market. As one subscriber said, “New Age is an umbrella encompassing anything on a spiritual path–Bigfoot, Jesus, Buddha. Even worshipping a frog is sort of OK.”

America’s own Hogwarts continues to grow. The online Witchschool, with campuses now in Rosevale Illinois, Chicago, and Salem, now has 210,836 registered students. This puts the Witch School well ahead of Magick School, that has 65,758 registered students.

The Seven Faith Tribes

George Barna’s latest research-based book is The Seven Faith Tribes, profiling the religious groups that make up the U.S. population. Barna’s book is a response to what he sees as the dangerous drift of our society away from the core beliefs and principles on which America its was founded and which made it great. Barna’s goal is to discern core values shared by all of the seven faith groups; values which he believes political and other leaders can speak to to re-unify a nation which seems to be breaking apart into increasingly hostile and uncivil groups, in the process tearing down the nation itself.

The seven faith groups that Barna distinguishes are:

   Casual Christians (66%)   People identify themselves as ‘Christian’
                             without a real understanding of or commitment
                             to biblical Christianity.
   Captive Christians (16%)  “Born agains” who are committed to a
                             Christian worldview and actively practice
                             biblical Christianity.
   Jews (2%)                 Ethnically and culturally Jewish although
                             typically not religiously Jewish.
   Mormons (1.5%)       A cohesive religious group that identifies

                                itself a ‘Christian” sans key Christian doctrines.
   Pantheists (1.5%) ?       A category that includes eastern and New
                             age religions.
   Muslims (1%>)             Worshippers of Allah whose practices are
                             derived from the Koran.
   Spiritual Skeptics         Atheists and agnostics, who tend to discount
                             and ignore religious beliefs and practices.

In analyzing these faith “tribes,” Barna looks at their beliefs, practices, and attitudes along a number of spectrums. For example, most groups accept the idea that there is such a thing as “truth,” but most groups view truth as personal, situational, and relative. Most groups are focused on life in this world, and place high value on comfort, good health, material possessions and family. Even when members of most group claim traditional “family values,” members tend to behave the same way as the rest of the population when it comes to cohabiting, using pornography, or adultery.

Having worked his way through descriptions of the seven faith tribes, Barna then identifies 20 shared values, which he offers to political and other leaders as handles which might be used to get America to “pull together” again despite those developed trends in our society which are pulling us apart. On his list are such things as: represent the truth well, seek peace with others, respect life, be a good citizen, etc.

Personally, I find his conclusions naive and far from compelling. His analysis of the faith tribes has pointed up how divergent actual behavior is from professed beliefs and values. The “shared values” Barna identifies might produce united lip service, but hardly are a basis for the recovery of a deteriorating society. Especially when it’s easy to agree on the shared values in abstract, but far more difficult when attempting to apply them to specific cases.

For instance, one of the shared values is “respect life.” To some this means stop abortions. To others stop executing murderers. To some it means “save the snail darter,” while to others it means “preserve the life of the terminally ill by extreme means.”

Or take the shared value, “be mutually respectful of human rights.” To some this is a clear call to grant citizenship to illegal aliens, to others its all about acknowledging the validity of gay marriage.

Even accepting the validity of Barna’s summation of values that Americans share across the faith-tribe spectrum, and Barna is admittedly the premier interpreter of data gathered by carefully designed research, those values hardly constitute a solid foundation on which to deal with the problems which have surfaced in 21st century America.

However, I personally didn’t purchase this book to either endorse or to critique Barna’s conclusions. I was interested in what his research might tell us about what I’ve begun to call the Occult Invasion of our culture. My question was, and is, what vulnerabilities might Barna’s research into the faith tribes reveal?

Several things seem to me to stand out (aside from my belief that his research under-represents the “pantheist” category in which neopagan groups such as Wicca also fall.
Let me summarise…

  (1) The largest faith-tribe, the “casual Christians,” have no theological anchor, but rather hold a host of fuzzy semi-Christian beliefs. They do not believe in absolute truths, place such a high value on tolerance that they abandon the responsibility to discern and to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad. As occult concepts of “spirituality” infiltrate our culture through the media and other sources, the “casual Christian” has no mental or emotional defense. The fact that casual Christians are as likely to visit a psychic as the rest of the population is suggestive; while the supernatural world is slightly scary to them, they have no deep seated distrust of the occult that would cause them to turn off any of the many occult-based TV programs currently available. Nor would they necessarily reject the invitation of a friend to join in an occult experience.

  (2) While Barna credits the “captive Christian” with both commitment to Christ and a good foundation of biblical/theological knowledge, the fact is that very few members of this faith-tribe have any knowledge of the conflict taking place in the spiritual universe. Many members of this group believe in angels and demons, but know next to nothing about either. The notion that demons are active in our world; that they can and do influence and impact believer’s lives, is something which few have ever considered. And most churches with which members of this tribe associate themselves with provide no teaching in the area of spiritual warfare.

  (3) Perhaps surprisingly, the tribe of “spiritual skeptics” is also vulnerable to occult spirituality. This is because few of those who describe themselves as “atheist” or as “agnostic” are intentionally so. That is, few do not believe because they have studied the issue and come to a reasoned conclusion. While this group has nearly doubled in size in the past 25 years, representing some 25,000,000 adults, most skeptics have simply drifted into the tribe through simple disinterest in religion. While skeptics do not believe in God, 25% call themselves “deeply spiritual.” And skeptics, as “average Americans,” are, according to Barna, as likely as any other American to visit a psychic.

   What Barna’s research seems to indicate is that over 3/4 of our population is potentially vulnerable to the neopagan ideas and an occult spirituality which provide entire to demonic forces. Whatever the dubious political and national value of understanding the seven faith tribes, the value of Barna’s study in highlighting the vulnerability of our nation to demonic infestation seems to me to be greater.

Spiritual Warfare #12: The shield of faith

We’re looking in this series on spiritual warfare against the devil at the armor the Apostle Paul says God has provided to enable us to “take our stand” against Satan. This “full armor” or panoply is the equipment provided to the Roman legionnaire, a member of the military machine that in Paul’s time dominates the known world. In this post we’re looking a the shield, which Paul defines as “the shield of faith” which equips us to deal with the ‘fiery darts” of the enemy.

The “darts”
One of the Roman legionnaires most important pieces of armor was his shield. As the legions approached an enemy would hurl plumbata, lead weighted “darts” or “javelins.”  In some cases these darts would be tipped with poison, earning the description “fiery.” While the darts of the enemy might not kill outright, they could and did incapacitate those they struck.

Roman soldiers carried five of these plumbata fastened to the inner curve of their shields. The Roman darts were more effective, as for much of the period of the Republic the legions confronted unarmored tribesmen. But Paul ignores the offensive use of darts, limiting his description of offensive equipment to “the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph 8:17). As noted in an earlier post in this series, the sword was used in close combat, where the legions had their greatest advantage. A solid wall of shields protected the Roman lines as they pressed, side by side, against the enemy, their swords making deadly thrusts from behind the barrier. No ancient army could stand against them, as Satan himself cannot stand against the living Word of God.

But back to Paul’s analogy. The first century reader familiar with the Roman legions would recognize the enemies’ darts as long-distance weapons. As fiery darts they are designed to incapacitate us; to take us out of the battle, and render us unable to join our companions in the fierce hand-to-hand struggle where the outcome of the battle is ultimately determined. But the impact of the darts on the battle could be neutralized. Maintaining their tight formation, the Roman troops would raise their shields, forming a impenetrable ‘roof” over their heads.

What are the enemy’s “fiery darts”?

Commentators have made various suggestions as to what these fiery darts are. Some have identified them as lies and accusations. Others have identified them as doubts and fears, still others as trials and troubles that distract us from our commitment to God’s priorities and his will.

It seems to me that rather than trying to define the darts themselves we  should focus on their function. Military darts were designed to incapacitate enemy soldiers. To keep them from taking an effective role in the struggle. Satan may use a variety of strategies to accomplish this purpose in our lives. But whatever strategy he adopts with an individual, thee “long distance” weapons of our enemy, his fiery darts, can be extinguished by “faith.”

Faith

It’s here that understanding Paul’s use of the armor analogy as a summary of what he has been teaching in the letter to the Ephesians is so important. Too often commentators range through all of Scripture picking and choosing various aspects of “faith” to glean Paul’s meaning. If we see the armor analogy as a literary devise Paul uses to sum up what he has been teaching in Ephesians, then we’ll seek to understand the “shield of faith” by what he has written earlier in this book.

And Paul does discuss “faith” in Ephesians 2:1-10. It is to this passage that we need to look to define that aspect of faith which Paul says is to be our shield against the attempts of the enemy to incapacitate us for spiritual battles.

Ephesians 2:1-10 is one of the most theologically significant passages in the New Testament. It portrays human beings as so totally lost and separated from God that we can only be described as “dead,” without any capacity to respond to or to please God. In fact we are by nature followers of “the ruler of the kingdom of the air,” a phrase that designates Satan and his realm, and we live as citizens of the dark kingdom, “gratifying the cravings of our sinful natures and following its desires and thoughts.” In this state we are “by nature objects of wrath.”

But God loved us in spite of ourselves. He acted to “make us alive in Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.” In Christ we’ve been lifted out of the kingdom of Satan, raised up and seated with Christ “in the heavenly realms.”

Paul emphasizes the fact that this transfer from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light is an expression of pure grace. It has nothing to do with us or with anything that we do or fail to do. And the transmutation from death to life is effected by faith.

Here Paul is careful to make sure we do not mistake faith as a work. He says, “it is by grace that you have been saved through faith–and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God–not of works, so that no one can boast.”

Notice the careful limitations Paul places on our understanding of “faith.” Faith is not something that is “of yourselves.” It’s a gift, not “of works.” Too often we treat faith as a work, supposing that it is up to us to have “more faith” or “greater faith.” As if we could turn up the volume of faith as one turns up the volume on a radio or TV. Faith as nothing to do with quantity or quality. Faith has to do with it’s object. The person who has received the gift of faith understands that God’s promises in Christ are worthy of trust, and simply rests in those promises.

Resting in God’s promises to us in Christ has transforming, resurrection power. It raises the dead to life, frees us from the kingdom of Satan and makes us citizens of the kingdom of the Son God loves. Resting in God’s promises of commitment to us is a far more accurate picture of faith as Paul depicts it in Ephesians than is depicting faith as our “commitment to Jesus” or “asking Jesus to be our savior.” The Gospel is the proclamation that God has acted to save us, and all we can do is to rest in the Gospel’s promise. To depict faith as “committing ourselves” or “asking” is to distort it as though “faith” had an element of work.

Applying this kind of faith

What Paul is telling us in Ephesians is that Satan will cast many fiery darts at us as we live our lives in this world. And all of them, whatever their nature, will be designed to incapacitate us and make us unfit for the spiritual battles that God intends us to wage. But every one of those fiery darts can be extinguished by faith.

Not by faith as something we “have,” or as something we “exercise.” But faith as simply resting in the promises God gives us in Christ; promises to be with us always, to love us always, and whatever happens to turn every threat into a triumph of his grace.

The nature of “authority”

The other day I gave an initial review of Charles H. Kraft’s book, I Give You Authority. The basis for the book is found in Jesus’ statement, “All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me (Matthew 28:18) and on verses such as Luke 19:18 where Jesus says to 72 representatives he sends out to preach and teach, “I have given you authority…to overcome all the power of the enemy.”

Contemporary and ancient teaching on healing and exorcism depend significantly on such statements by Jesus about delegated authority. While some argue that these passages do not apply today, its important to ask just what “authority” means and/or implies. To answer that question, I turn to my NIV International Encyclopedia of Bible Words (Zondervan) Because of the length of the article there, I can only quote part of the article.

  “With few exceptions, the word “authority” in the NIV and NASB is a translation of the Greek word exousia. Unlike the OT terms with their wide range of meaning, this Greek word conveys a basic concept that has important connotations for the understanding of the nature of authority.
  “The basic idea in the word exousia is freedom of action. The greater the exousia, the greater the possibility of unrestricted freedom of action. A person without exousia has little freedom of action, for others maintain a right to control him and determine what he does. A person with maximum exousia will have total freedom of action and thus the right to control the actions of others. It is easy to see why, when used of secular authorities, this word commonly means “the power to give orders” (Matt. 8:9; Lk 7:8; 19:17;20:20; Acts 9:11;26:10,12; 1 Pe 2:13).
  ” When used of God’s overarching authority, exousia makes no claims about his inherent strength or nature as God. But it does claim for God ultimate freedom of action that cannot be frustrated by any natural or personal power in the universe.” (p.92)

In some English versions the Greek word for power, dunamis, is also translated “authority.” It’s important however not to confuse the underlying concepts. Dunamis emphasizes the inherent strength or power, the might of an individual or God. While a human’s freedom of action might be based on his strength or power or might, the emphasis of dunamis is distinct from that of exousia.

When Jesus speaks of his follower’s being given authority over demons, he is saying that believers are free to limit the freedom demons have to operate in other’s lives. This does not mean that humans are more powerful than angels or demons. It does mean that in certain areas Christians have been granted by Jesus the authority to limit what demons can do.

In future posts we’ll examine this issue more thoroughly, and try to identify what demons can do to harm humans, and where believers have been given authority …freedom of action…to limit demonic activities.

Our Authority

It’s not easy to find trustworthy authors in the area of spiritual warfare, especially as it relates to dealing with the Devil and his demons. One of the authors I respect and can count on is Charles H. Kraft.

Kraft as a missionary in Nigeria was asked by the locals for help in dealing with demons. As a conservative, non-charismatic evangelical he was trained in the Scriptures and was fully committed to Jesus. But he’d never had a course in demonology, and the basic attitude of his brand of Christianity toward those who tended toward the charismatic was one of mild contempt. Later, after he’d been teaching missions at Fuller Theological Seminary for a decade, he was exposed to a class by John Wimber on physical healing. And he remembered the question his African brethren had asked years before; a question for which he’d had no answer. Kraft relates,

“I soon discovered that God has gifted me in dealing with the deeper emotional spiritual areas that often underlie physical problems. For twelve years I have been involved in what I call deep-level or inner healing. This ministry frequently brings me face to face with demons. Probably at least half of the thousand or more ministry sessions I have led have involved demons.”

Wimber’s class drove Kraft back to the scriptures, and he began to take seriously teachings of Jesus and the New Testament epistles that he had previously ignored. And he began to share truths that he not only found in the Bible but truths that reshaped his experience with the Lord.

Charles H. Kraft has written a number of books. But the one that I would recommend most highly is “I Give You Authority,” published in 1997 by Chosen Books. It’s available on Amazon.com as well as in the “spiritual warfare” section of many Christian bookstores.

What is “authority”

The simplest definition of authority as used in Kraft’s context is “delegated divine power.” Kraft argues that after his resurrection Jesus delegated power to his followers. In the book Kraft explores the nature of our authority, how and when it is to be exercised, its use and misuse. The approach is valuable for it helps us put the limited powers of Satan and his demons in perspective. While we are not to underestimate Satan’s powers, neither are we to overestimate them or fear them. In fact, as Kraft demonstrates, with the authority delegated to us by Jesus we are well able to confront and defeat the devil and his demons.

You won’t want to accept all of Kraft’s views uncritically, however. His view of hierarchy in human relationships harkens back to the “Great Chain of Being” that characterized medieval and early modern societies. But the value of this book is to be found in its exposition of the believer’s authority relationships with spirit beings, and especially with evil spirits. In this area Kraft has made an important contribution.