The New Spiritual Warfare Strategies Part I (CHARISMATIC)
T.A. McMahon :
http://www.thebereancall.org/Newsletter/html/1997/may97.php
Worldwide revival is no longer just a hope churning within the hearts of
some Christians. An ever increasing multitude are fervently declaring,
"It's
here now, and the Holy Spirit is doing a new work to guarantee it!"
Influential leaders throughout Christendom are pointing to what they
perceive to be firstfruits of the Holy Spirit in preparation for a great
outpouring. The laughing phenomenon of the "Toronto Blessing" and the
ministry of Rodney Howard Browne, some contend, began the process by
restoring joy in the hearts of God's faithful servants. Hundreds of
thousands of pilgrims and tens of thousands of pastors received the
"imparting of the Spirit" at the Toronto Airport Vineyard and carried it
across oceans and continents as well as across numerous denominational
lines. Thousands of churches in England were influenced by the movement.
Leaders of the Brownsville Assembly of God tell us that it was from an
Anglican church on that distant shore that the "imparting" returned to
this
country and ignited their "Pensacola revival." With the Assemblies of God
hierarchy giving enthusiastic approval, Pensacola's "anointing" has spread
to a great many of the denomination's churches throughout North America.
During 1995 and 1996 many students on Christian college and seminary
campuses took part in what they believed to be "a genuine revival."
Christian media, both charismatic and noncharismatic, have fostered the
belief that revival is dawning. Recent book titles such as The Coming
Revival, Revival Signs: Joining the New Spiritual Awakening, The Hope at
Hand, and The Coming World Revival not only testify that this eagerly
awaited event is at our door, but point to that which practically
guarantees
it: prayer.
David Bryant, chairman of the National Prayer Committee and a leader in
the
Forum for National Revival, writes,
God is stirring up his people to pray specifically, increasingly, and
persistently for world revival....He will not let us pray in vain. He has
promised to hear and answer us fully. We can prepare for the answers with
confidence.1
Prayer for revival, you can be sure, has been the earnest endeavor of
Christians of every generation since the apostolic era. But this
generation
has taken it to another level. In fact, the leaders in this worldwide
prayer
effort call it a "strategic" level for doing spiritual warfare.
C. Peter Wagner, professor of missions and church growth at Fuller
Theological Seminary's School of World Mission, is a central figure in the
promotion of this surprisingly vast and aggressive prayer-focused
movement.
Characterized by Wagner as "radical concepts and practices" and termed
"strategic-level spiritual warfare," the approach includes some familiar
prayer activities with new labels, along with some unfamiliar applications
and some brand-new tasks. The terms "strategic-level intercession,"
"territorial spirits," "spiritual mapping," "tearing down strongholds,"
"identificational repentance," and "prayerwalking, prayer journeys, and
prayer expeditions" proclaim the militancy of this endeavor. International
prayer warriors are taking the fight to the strongholds of Satan. Power
encounters with demons are the rule, not the exception, in this spiritual
battle for global revival and world evangelization.
If all of these new ideas are, to use Wagner's words, "some of the
important
things the Spirit is saying to the churches these days," we should indeed
take heed and submit to the Holy Spirit's leading. On the other hand, what
if most of these new activities are the product of misguided zeal on the
part of the movement's leaders and participants?
In this two-part series we will examine the writings and teachings of
those
who have laid the foundation for the new spiritual warfare. In particular
we
will focus on C. Peter Wagner's book, Confronting the Powers, which
appears
to be the most comprehensive defense of this movement which has impacted a
wide spectrum of professing Christianity. The book's list of supportive
evangelical organizations and individuals is impressive, and includes Bill
and Vonette Bright, Campus Crusade, World Prayer Assembly; Ralph Winter,
U.S. Center for World Mission; Thomas Wang, Luis Bush, a.d. 2000, Lausanne
II; Jack Hayford, Richard Foster and many others.
Be assured that we have just as great a desire as anyone to encourage
prayer
in the lives of believers and to see those efforts result in genuine
revival
and the salvation of lost souls. At the same time, we believe it would be
a
spiritual tragedy of immense proportions if the already hundreds of
thousands of sincere Christians now spending valuable time, energy and
resources in this new spiritual preoccupation ended up being, at best,
unproductive or, at worst, unwitting pawns of the adversary.
Our basic premise in evaluating the strategic-level spiritual warfare
(SLSW)
movement is to appeal to the Scriptures. Isaiah's admonition still stands:
"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this
word,
it is because there is no light in them" (8:20). God's inerrant,
authoritative and sufficient Word is the only objective basis a believer
has
for discerning truth in spiritual matters.
In establishing a beachhead for the spiritual warfare movement, Dr. Wagner
would not fully agree with the above premise. While he maintains his
belief
in biblical inerrancy and the absolute authority of the Scriptures, he
reasons that there are many extrabiblical resources for spiritual
discernment, not the least of which is personally hearing from God.
Wagner's
entrée into the development of SLSW had such a beginning: "While in
Manila,
the Lord spoke to me in a voice that, although not audible, was almost as
clear as if it had been: 'I want you to take leadership in the area of
territorial spirits.'"2 Few believers would deny that God can and does on
occasion personally speak to the hearts of His own. While that experience
is
sup-ported by Scripture, many would argue from the Scriptures that it is
the
exception rather than the rule in God's everyday guidance of believers.
Certainly no doc-trine can be established on the basis of one's personal,
subjective word from the Lord. Thus, what is of concern is not that Wagner
heard from God, but what he heard. Is the doctrine of territorial spirits
(to be addressed in Part II) confirmed by God?
Extrabiblical revelation is the cornerstone for the development of most of
the doctrines of the new spiritual warfare. Though considered spurious not
too long ago by the majority of evangelicals, extrabiblical revelation is
now regarded by a growing number of leaders as necessary to fulfill God's
mandate to the church today. They profess to find support for their belief
in the doctrine of rhema. In brief, there are two Greek words in the New
Testament which refer to the Word of God: logos and rhema. Although Peter
Wagner acknowledges that the two words are used interchangeably,
nevertheless he and others promote a distinction foundational to their
doctrine: logos designates the written Word of God, while rhema indicates
the spoken word of God. Regarding spiritual warfare, rhema, in contrast to
logos, means receiving valid knowledge about the invisible world "from
hearing the voice of God, as He communicates His thoughts directly to us
as
individuals." Wagner states that "Both forms of the word of God...are
valid
sources of know-ledge, and both should be used, as God directs, to
confront
the enemy in spiritual warfare."3 Underscoring the fact that the rhema
doctrine is becoming a prominent evangelical teaching, he wrote that he is
....[one] among rapidly increasing numbers of others who believe that a
valid
source of divine knowledge comes through what some would call
"extrabiblical
revelation." I daresay that the standard-brand evangelical doctrine of
"logos only" that we were taught might now find a place on an "endangered
doctrines" list, about to become extinct.4
Dr. Wagner qualifies the above by adding that any such knowledge which
contradicts Scripture must be rejected by faithful Christians. While that
may shore up the confidence of some, his extrabiblical revelation has many
other problems, as we shall see; and the decisive fact remains that it has
completely denied the sufficiency of the Bible (2 Tm 3:16-17; Jn 8:31-32;
2
Pt 1:3).
John Wimber, to whom Wagner refers as his mentor in the realm of signs and
wonders, is presented as an example of one way in which extrabiblical
revelation is authenticated; i.e., by the credibility of those who observe
or experience them.5 Dr. Wagner tells of continuous years of suffering
from
headaches for which no painkiller could bring relief:
Then in 1983, John Wimber received a rhema word from God that the root
cause
of my headaches had been a demon and that I was to drive it out myself
rather than ask someone else to do it for me. I obeyed. I cast out the
demon
in the name of Jesus, and I have not suffered any such headaches since
that
day.6
While we do empathize with C. Peter Wagner in regard to his suffering, his
example raises many questions of concern. Dr. Wagner-a Christian-had a
demon? The demon had a specialty? Wagner drove it out himself? God told
John
Wimber to tell his friend these things? With no biblical support, that's a
great deal to swallow as being from God himself. Moreover, why would
Wimber's credibility be put forth as validating the authenticity of this
rhema word-from-God testimony? His track record of prophecies is far less
than trustworthy. In the early '80s Wimber also had a rhema word from God
that He would heal well-known Anglican vicar David Watson, suffering from
terminal cancer. Some months after Wimber's announcement, Watson succumbed
to the disease.
Wagner's example in support of validating extrabiblical revelation
reflects
some of the teachings basic to the SLSW movement. Since demons are the
focus
of most of those developing spiritual-warfare strategy, they offer a great
deal of information gained from extrabiblical sources. C. Peter Wagner
believed he had a demon because John Wimber, Neil Anderson, Fred Dickason,
Charles Kraft, Mark Bubeck and nearly all those promoting strategic-level
spiritual warfare believe Christians can be demonized. Those advancing
this
doctrine admit that the Bible has neither teaching nor example of
Christians
having demon spirits. Dr. Wagner nevertheless offers extrabiblical
evidence
such as "personal ministry experience," "a consensus...from others who
have
ministered in the area of deliverance," having "seen many positive, even
dramatic, results in the lives of those Christians who have been delivered
from demons," and that "none of [these reasons] contradicts any explicit
biblical teaching"7 (Emphasis in the original)
Although Wagner gives no details in his book regarding his
self-deliverance,
the strategy common to spiritual warfare circles is to ascertain the
demon's
name for better control purposes and then cast it out. A survey of the
most
popular SLSW literature reveals that in nearly every case each demon has a
name which is indicative of its duty (e.g., Lust, Anger, Rebellion,
Deception, Pornography, etc.). So the key, say those experienced in this,
is
to spiritually discern the name of the demon in order to facilitate a
successful deliverance. While Wagner and others admit that methods based
upon such spiritual information (often from the demons themselves) should
be
viewed with suspicion, that hasn't appeared to have slowed down the SLSW
proponents. Why? Because they are getting results! On the other hand, as
any
student of military strategy will tell you, results aren't always what
they
appear to be.
One of the underlying suppositions of the strategic-level spiritual
warfare
movement is spiritual pragmatism; i.e., if something seems to produce good
results, it must be of God. Trial and error accompanies such thinking.
Wagner indicates that experimentation is used by SLSW people as their mode
of developing "some of the more radical forms of praying...."8 Is this how
we are to grow spiritually? Search as you may, you won't find this
approach
in God's Word. Deuteronomy 13 tells us that just because something works,
that doesn't indicate it's good. A false prophet getting a true result may
simply be the bait to lead a person astray. Subversive ministers of
righteousness can be some of Satan's finest (2Cor 11:14).
Sadly, many who are a part of the spiritual warfare movement will see our
concerns as ignorance based on the presumption that we have not "been
there,
done that." The more charitable participants in SLSW perceive us as either
"just not called to the spiritual front lines" or "pitifully blind to the
dynamic things the Holy Spirit is doing in our day." On the contrary,
rather
than quenching or grieving the Holy Spirit, we are simply trying to point
to
that which the Spirit of Truth has already made clear in the Scriptures
for
truly effective spiritual warfare. In Part II we will address more details
of this growing spiritual army and its various methods of attempting to
win
its battle with Satan. TBC
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