Spiritual warfare. November conference

Transcription

1 Spiritual warfare. November conference I have visited most parts of the world, and everywhere, people speak about spiritual warfare. There are various opinions:- *Some believe there s no such thing as spiritual warfare so they don t want to discuss it at all. *Others, convinced of its reality, are obsessed with its apparent power over every aspect of our lives. *The predominant view in our modern, western world naturalistic, rationalistic, scientific dismisses the concepts of spiritual warfare, Satan, demons, evil spirits, and the like. Surprisingly, that viewpoint is shared by some Christians as well. *There are those Christians who believe demons may have been active during Biblical times, but they re no longer active in the modern world. *Others say what was called demonic activity back then was really what we know now as mental illness. *Some who actually allow for demonic activity insist it s only involved in extreme cases: excessive violence and brutality or major sin. Some parts of the world are much more spiritually aware than others, and it is in these regions - the developing world, Asia, that there is a good understanding of the spiritual world, the forces which oppose Christianity, and an awareness that they seem to be manipulated by forces opposed to God. As we start out, I came across the following statement, which can act as a guide, as we look at this issue:- If we believe in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, then we must believe in the Bible. If we believe in the Bible, then we must believe in angels. And if we believe in angels, then we must believe in fallen angels Satan and others. They are mentioned in the Bible as real, not metaphors. There can be no middle ground on this: it s either all true or it s not. We either have God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, angels, and demons or we have none of it. 1

2 If there is a satanic opposition, then let s see what the Bible teaches about it:- Satan s origin Let s look at 5 passages:- Genesis 3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'? The woman said to the serpent, We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die. You will not surely die, the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. The enemy here is called serpent. We have to look to the next two passages to get a better idea: Job 1:6-12; One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, Where have you come from? Satan answered the Lord, From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it. Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. Does Job fear God for nothing? Satan replied. Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face. The Lord said to Satan, Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger. Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. Now Satan is named, shown to be an accuser, and presumably one of the angels that approached the Lord. 2

3 Isa.14:12-16; How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, Isaiah 14:12-16 in its context refers to the King of Babylon, the 'Lucifer' of the KJV being more accurately translated 'Morning Star' as in the NIV. The passage is often said to have a double meaning, referring to both the King of Babylon and to Satan, who stands as the real power behind the throne Ezek.28:11-19; The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, 3

4 sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendour. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.' 4

5 This passage has been traditionally assumed to refer to Satan before his fall, and his rebellion and arrogance. Zech.3:1-2. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?. * Luke 10:18 Jesus replied, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. The NT, as mentioned briefly above, expands on the theme of Satan and gives us some new information about his origin. *The theme of the Serpent (Gen.3) is returned to by Paul (2 Cor.11:3; cf. 1 Tim.2:14), but it is not until Rev. 12:9 (cf. 20:2) that the Serpent is identified with Satan. Indeed it is from Rev.12 that much of the teaching about Satan from the NT is based. * Satan s fall. While it is commonly thought that a third of the angels fell with him and became demons ('a third of the stars' - 12:4), all that John might have intended to indicate was that it was a great number. ( His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. ) What then can we say with the support of Biblical evidence about the origin of Satan and demons? From Job 1:6 we know that Satan was an angel, and was therefore created by God (Gen.1:1; Col.1:16) sometime in the Creation week (Job 38:7). The NT hints very strongly that Satan's fall was through pride (I Tim.3:6) and Jesus stated that he was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). Of all the theories of demons discussed above the one that fits the small amount of data available best is that they are angels who followed Satan in a rebellion against God. Passages such as Matt.25:41 'The Devil and his angels' (cf. Rev.12:9) and Mark 3:20-30 prove beyond reasonable doubt that 'the Devil's angels' = 'demons'. The only alternative would be a dualism of God and Satan, which is not theologiocal. 5

6 The aims of Satan These are clear in Revelation 13. I have put the key aims in bold type. If we consider these bold type items, we can see clearly that Satan wants his position back - in fact worse than that, he wants to be God. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him? The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. He who has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killedwith the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints. Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the 6

7 first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honour of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666. The lamps and spiritual warfare in Europe This is the enemy we are facing in Europe. He shows himself in a number of ways:- 1. See the material What is loose in Europe? Legion: The stronghold of evil Nebuchadnezzar: The statue; false religion Goliath : Power King of Moab: Occult The biblical answer must be: The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.( 2 Cor 10:4) 2. Violent past. We are well aware of the violent and bloody past of Europe. This raises the issue of innocent blood, (See Material on the power of the blood), and of the release of violence, which generates hatred which is passed from generation to generation. The best example must be the Caucasus, where tit for tat killings are still flowing from the violence of the past. (See Gateways material), which passes down the ages, generating more violence. 7

8 The biblical answer here must be:- Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; (Eph 6:18) Here we have the two Greek words proseuche and deesis. We must pray, (proseuche) but we must also intercede with urgency. (deesis). We must also note the word Watching (agrypneō) which means 1) to be sleepless, keep awake, watch 2) to be circumspect, attentive, ready The point of prayer is for maintaining alertness. Prayer causes alertness, and alertness stimulates prayer. So when the enemy attacks we don t just grab the armour - we pray. The essence of the spiritual battle is prayer. It is unceasing prayer. This prayer is directed to God in the Spirit. Nuclear wars cannot be won with rifles, and satanic wars cannot be won with human energy. We must be alert, armed and ready. God gives the armour. Through the spirit we must fight. 3. The weapons * Prayer. * Ephesians 6 * The blood. 8