by Vern S. Poythress
[Published in Urban Mission 13/2 (Dec., 1995) 37-49. Used with permission.]
What are we to think about territorial spirits?
The Argentinian pastor Omar Cabrera, after selecting a potential site for a new church, checks into a hotal and secludes
himself alone in a room in prayer and fasting. It
usually takes the first two or three days to allow the Holy Spirit to
cleanse him, to help him disassociate himself, and to identify with
Jesus. He feels he “leaves the world” and is in another realm where the
spiritual warfare takes place. The attacks of the enemy at times
become fierce. He has even seen some spirits in physical form. His
objective is to learn their names and break their power over the city.
It usually takes five to eight days, but sometimes more. Once he spent
45 days in conflict. But when he finishes, people in his meetings
frequently are saved and healed even before he preaches or prays for
them.1
Peter Wagner’s books contain any number of other examples of dealing with “territorial spirits.”
2
In one instance a missionary saw a dramatic contrast between two sides
of the same street, one side in Brazil and the other side in Uruguay.
The people standing on the Brazilian side were much more open and
responsive to the gospel, apparently because the power of Uruguayan
territorial spirits ended dramatically at the Uruguayan border.
3
How are we to evaluate these accounts and the strategic advice that
accompanies them? What does the Bible have to say about the idea of
“territorial spirits”?
Biblical teaching on spirits
The Bible has quite a bit to say about demons and about spiritual
warfare. We see conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of
darkness when Jesus and his disciples cast out demons in the Gospels and
the Book of Acts. We see general statements about spiritual warfare in
Eph 6:10-20,
Rom 13:11-14, Revelation, and in scattered passages throughout the New Testament (e.g.,
Rom 16:19-20;
1 Pet 5:8-9;
1 Tim 1:20;
2 Tim 2:22-26). Yet the dominant focus is on knowing God, not on knowing “Satan’s so-called deep secrets” (
Rev 2:24;
Rom 16:19-20;
Phil 4:8-9). John Dawson, a prominent worker dealing with territorial spirits, expresses this truth well:
Let me add a strong warning [to my discussion of evil
spirits]. The Bible is a carefully edited book that reflects the
priorities of God for the believer and shows us the nature and character
of Father God as revealed in Jesus. Although there are many Scripture
passages that teach us about the devil and his devices, they are few in
number compared with the space given to God’s own character and ways.
Even good angels are peripheral to the mature believer who is
preoccupied with the majesty of the living God and Jesus, His Son.
Morbid fascination is a carnal appetite that can drive us to search out the hidden knowledge of the evil realm.4
We cannot at this point rehearse the totality of biblical teaching on
evil spirits and spiritual warfare. It suffices to say that the
warfare depicted in
Eph 6:10-20
and Revelation is real and crucial as an aspect of Christian
discipleship. Biblical instruction concerning the spirit world needs to
be an integral part of our thinking and praying. Paul Hiebert
complained years ago that the dominant
mechanistic/scientistic/technological world view of the modern West
influenced too many Western missionaries.
5 By effectively
excluding the activity of both angels and demons, the modern Western
world view made missionaries unprepared for the activity of evil spirits
that they encountered in pagan countries.
Moreover, we must understand that the Book of Revelation is relevant to our own time and not
exclusively to
a final crisis or period of great tribulation immediately preceding the
Second Coming. In my view, Revelation does indeed concern itself with a
time of final crisis leading up to the Second Coming. But the features
of spiritual warfare that belong
intensively to the final
crisis also characterize in a less intensive manner the entire course of
our warfare. Paul indicates as much in 2 Thessalonians 2, where he
speaks not only of a final antichrist figure, the man of lawlessness,
but also of “the secret power of lawlessness … already at work” (
2 Thess 2:7). Similarly,
1 John 2:18
says that “many antichrists have come.” When we apply this insight to
Revelation, we conclude that Revelation reveals general principles of
spiritual warfare, in addition to having some focus on the conflict in
the Roman Empire in the first century and the final conflict leading to
the Second Coming.
6
Daniel 10
Now what does the Bible have to say specifically about
territorial spirits,
that is, the association or confinement of evil spirits or angelic
spirits to certain spatial locations or territories? The Bible contains
very little explicit teaching that would satisfy our curiosity or
morbid fascination. But there are some scattered indications of various
kinds. Some texts directly or indirectly indicate that we can expect,
at least in many cases, that demons have a particular spatially limited
“habitat.”
The most direct testimony comes from a passing mention in
Daniel 10:13 and
10:20-11:1.
The sequence of events begins with Daniel mourning for three weeks
(10:2). At the end of the three weeks, a glorious angelic being appears
to Daniel in 10:5-6. He tells Daniel that his prayer was heard from
the first (10:12). But the angelic being was hindered from coming to
Daniel:
But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me
twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help
me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. (Dan 10:13)
The resistance lasted twenty-one days, corresponding exactly to the
three weeks of Daniel’s mourning. The angelic being was opposed by “the
prince of the Persian kingdom.” From the symmetry of the situation, we
conclude that the opponent, like the one who spoke to Daniel, is a
being of the spirit world; that is, the “prince” of
Dan 10:13 is an evil leader in the spiritual realm. This evil leader was “prince
of the Persian kingdom,” a particular geographical and political area.
Daniel 10:20-11:1 confirms these inferences. The angelic being gives a further account of a struggle in angelic warfare:
So he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? Soon I
will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the
prince of Greece will come; but first I will tell you what is written in
the Book of Truth. (No one supports me against them except Michael,
your prince. And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I took my stand
to support and protect him.) (Dan 10:20-11:1)
Here we find mention of “the prince of Persia,” “the prince of
Greece,” and “Michael, your prince.” Michael is clearly identified in
Rev 12:7 as a leader of an angelic host: “Michael and his angels.”
Rev 12:7
must be understood as alluding to the Michael in Daniel. So we know
that in Revelation 12 and Daniel 10 we are dealing with similar rather
than unrelated phenomena. Michael, then, is not only an angelic being,
but a leader over a sizable group of angels. He is an archangel, as
Jude 9 denominates him.
In
Dan 10:21
Michael is also called “your prince.” Because of the parallelism with
“prince of Persia” and “prince of Greece,” we naturally conclude that
Michael is prince not merely with respect to Daniel as an individual,
but with respect to an entire people–and the people in question is
surely the people of Israel. Michael, then, has some special function
to discharge in caring for and defending the people of Israel. By
symmetry, the two other “princes,” of Persia and Greece, have charge of
Persia and Greece, and are somehow involved in their political
affairs–earlier the one prince is denominated “prince of the Persian
kingdom”
(10:13). Michael is a good spirit, an unfallen angel, an archangel.
The prince of Persia who resisted him must thus be an evil spirit, a
fallen angel, an archdemon. In Daniel Persia and Greece are both viewed
in terms of their idolatrous character and their threat to persecute
the saints (
Dan 7:2-6;
8:20-21).
Hence it is probable that the prince of Greece is also an archdemon
rather than an archangel. This inference is confirmed by 10:21, where
Michael “supports me against
them,”
them apparently referring to the prince of Persia and the prince of Greece.
7
Other passages on spatial localization of demons
To this account in Daniel we may add many piecemeal observations gathered from other parts of the Bible.
First, from systematic theology we observe that God
alone is the omnipotent Creator (
Rev 4:11). There is only one God. All other spirit beings are creatures (
Col 1:16). Only God is omnipotent (
Rev 20:10). It is natural to infer that only God is omnipresent (
Jer 23:24).
Hence angels and demons alike operate in some spatially limited way.
The language in Daniel associating particular spirits with Persia,
Greece, and Israel seems to confirm this inference.
Second, the Bible uses language of movement and spatial location in
connection with spirits. Such language implies that spirits are
spatially localized. The language occurs not only in
Dan 10:11,
12,
20, but elsewhere, as in
Job 1:6-7,
12;
2:1-2,
7;
Rev 12:7-13;
20:1-3,
10. When Jesus confronts evil spirits, they “come out” of the demonized people. Jesus describes their movement pointedly in
Luke 11:24-26:
When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, “I will return to the house I left.” When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there.
One must allow, of course, that in
Luke 11:24-26
the fully developed picture of a person leaving a house and then
returning has metaphorical dimensions. Likewise the visions in the Book
of Revelation are not wholly literal representations of demonic and
angelic action. These passages provide metaphorical pictures for
spiritual realities that we cannot fully understand. But we must still
take seriously the language of spatial location and motion. It does not
seem merely to provide color, but suggests that a literal element of
spatial location attaches to spirits. The involvement of space becomes
still clearer in the case of the Gadarene demoniacs (
Matt 8:28-34;
Mark 5:1-17;
Luke 8:26-37). The demons need some new
location to which to go. They do not want to go to the Abyss (
Luke 8:31).
Jesus then permits them to go into the pigs. The response of the pigs
makes the location of the demons physically evident to all. In sum, the
demons are at first spatially located in the man; subsequently they are
spatially located in the pigs. At all times they are attached to a
specific spatial location.
Idols
We must also take into account biblical teaching about the connection
between demons and idolatry. The Bible has a complex, nuanced view of
idols. On the one hand, idols are less than nothing (
Isa 41:24-29).
In contrast to the true God, they are utterly worthless and powerless
to bring about predictions. On the other hand, those who worship idols
give themselves over to the power of demons and demonic deceit. Paul
sums up the situation in a single passage:
Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is
anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans
are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be
participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the
cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and
the table of demons. (1 Cor 10:19-21)
Paul asserts that there is only one God and one Lord (
1 Cor 8:4-6). “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (
1 Cor 10:26;
Ps 24:1).
But within the sphere of God’s comprehensive rule, God gives idolaters
over to the deceits, torments, and confusions of demons, as a judgment
on their unbelief.
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with
the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs
and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are
perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be
saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they
will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not
believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. (2 Thess 2:10-12)
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers,
so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God. (2 Cor 4:4).
Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. (1 Tim 1:20)
Those who oppose him he [the man of God] must gently
instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them
to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and
escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his
will. (2 Tim 2:25-26)
They [the supernatural locusts from the Abyss] were told
not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those
people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were
not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months.
And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion
when it strikes a man. (Rev 9:4-6)
Thus demons operate in conjunction with idols and idolatry. The
association between idols and demons reinforces our expectation that at
least in many cases demons may operate within a spatially restricted
area. Any physical idol resides at a restricted location. The
worshipers of the idol have a connection with that location. Because of
their idolatry, the worshipers come under the power of demons. The
power of the demons thus also attaches loosely to the spatial area near
the idol.
But in this kind of situation, idolatry rather than spatial location
is the more fundamental factor. Idolatry organizes itself to some
extent along spatial lines, because idolatry does not operate
individualistically. God ordains that human beings exist in corporate
groupings, not merely as isolated individuals (
Acts 17:26). The corporate existence of human beings gives them power to cooperate either in good or in evil (
Gen 11:1-9;
14:1-24).
Idolatries typically spread and hold sway along the lines of social
groupings. Hence, we infer, the demons associated with particular
idolatries also hold sway along the lines of social groupings. Since
these groupings often have geographical boundaries, the demonic sway
will also have geographical boundaries.
The Bible contains various examples of idolatry with geographical
boundaries. Particular peoples and territories often have “patron”
gods. The Moabites devote themselves to the worship of Chemosh (
1 Kings 11:7). The Ammonites worship Molech and Chemosh (
1 Kings 11:7;
Judges 11:24). The Philistines of Ashdod worship Dagon (
1 Sam 5:2-7). The Sidonians worship Baal (
1 Kings 16:31).
A plurality of Baal gods seem to be associated with distinct sites:
“Each locality had its own Baal or divine lord who frequently took his
name from the city or place to which he belonged. Hence there were
Baal-meon (`Baal of Meon,’
Nu. 32:38), Baal-hermon (`Baal of Hermon,’ Jgs. 3:3), Baal-hazor (`Baal of Hazor,’
2 S. 13:23), Baal-peor (`Baal of Peor,’
Nu. 25:3).”
8
One may find many other extrabiblical examples of localized gods from
the nations around Israel. People commonly thought that gods attached
themselves to particular regions. For example, the Arameans reasoned
that Yahweh was “a god of the hills.” The Israelites could be defeated
by doing battle in the plains (
1 Kings 20:23-25).
The immigrants brought into Palestine after the exile of the northern
kingdom made inquiry about the gods attached to their new land (
2 Kings 17:26-28).
But the people also continued to devote themselves to the gods of their
own social group: “each national group made its own gods in the several
towns where they settled …” (
2 Kings 17:29).
We thus see an combination of geographical and cultural factors. The
people reckon geographically with “the god of the land” (verse 27) and
culturally with the god of the cultural group, “each national group,”
גּוֹי גּוֹי (Hebrew,
goy goy).
The redemptive-historical transition through Christ
But some people might question whether we can apply this biblical
material directly to our present situation. A large amount of the
biblical material comes from the Old Testament and the Gospels. But our
situation has fundamentally changed, with the crucifixion, resurrection
and ascension of Christ. In these events Christ decisively triumphed
and defeated the whole realm of demonic spirits.
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Col 2:15)
He [God the Father] raised him [Christ] from the dead and
seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule
and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given,
not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed
all things under his feet … (Eph 1:20-22)
Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. (John 12:31)
Should we believe on the basis on these passages that demons have utterly disappeared? No. Passages like
Eph 6:10-20 and
1 Pet 5:8-9, as well as exorcisms and demonic activity in the Book of Acts, indicate the contrary.
Revelation 5:6-10
indicates that Christ has triumphed decisively. At the same time,
demonic deceit and oppression take place through Satan, the beast, the
false prophet, the prostitute, and their agents (16:13-14). The beast
of 13:1-10 is a composite of the four beasts of Daniel 7. The demonic
depredations of the beast thus parallel the idolatrous and persecuting
character of the Babylonian, Persian, and Grecian kingdoms, behind which
stand evil spirits like the “prince of Persia” and “prince of Greece” (
Dan 10:20).
The picture of demons in the New Testament harmonizes with the
overall character of New Testament teaching about “inaugurated
eschatology,” as described by Geerhardus Vos, Herman Ridderbos, George
E. Ladd, and many other New Testament scholars.
9 The new
age, the eschatological realization, has dawned; it is inaugurated. Yet
the consummation is still to come. Christ has won the decisive
victory; but the full fruits of that victory are yet to come in the
consummation. In the meantime, we live in the overlap of the old age of
this world and the new age of Christ’s resurrection.
We conclude, then,
both that Christ has decisively triumphed over, curtailed, and inhibited demonic activity,
and that,
under the heels of this triumph, we can nevertheless expect to see
demonic activity analogous to what we find in Daniel and the Gospels.
Idolatry in the Book of Revelation
The more specific pictures in the Book of Revelation confirm these
general conclusions. In Revelation Satan, the beast, the false prophet,
and the prostitute war against God and his people. All these evil
characters in Revelation show evidence of demonic energy. Satan, of
course, is the prince of demons. Satan energizes the beast as his
image, a kind of counterfeit of the incarnation (13:1-4). In 13:11-18
the false prophet or beast from the earth works miraculous signs (verse
13) and demonic deceit (verse 14) in close association with the beast.
The prostitute sits on the beast, indicating that she is supported by
his power (17:3, 7-8). In preparation for the final battle demonic
spirits issue from the mouth of the dragon, the beast, and the false
prophet (16:13-14), indirectly confirming that the dragon, the beast,
and the false prophet are themselves demonic in character. They are in
fact superdemonic characters from which other evil spirits can issue.
A careful study of imagery in the Book of Revelation also shows that
the beast, the false prophet, and the prostitute have institutional and
therefore also localized spatial manifestations. Within the context of
the Roman Empire and the seven churches of Asia to whom God addresses
Revelation, the beast stands for the Roman Empire, its idolatrous
claims, and its persecuting threats. The false prophet most probably
stands for the imperial cult and its priests and supporters. The
prostitute stands for the city of Rome and the temptations of its
economic power.
10
As we noted earlier, Revelation also invites application to later
times. We find certain features of the beast in modern totalitarian
governments and smothering maternal socialist bureaucracies. The false
prophet appears as propaganda to support the political and social status
quo. The prostitute appears in the amoral pleasures offered by the
modern city and the din of advertising enticing us to a life of hedonism
and sexual abandon.
In fact, even within the Book of Revelation itself there are definite
hints that the beast, the false prophet, and the prostitute may appear
in a variety of subtler forms as well as in blatant forms. Jezebel in
Rev 2:20-22
is the primary starting point on which the later imagery of the
prostitute in Rev 17-18 builds. But the complacency with riches in
Laodicea (3:17) also echoes the false riches of the prostitute in 17:4
and 18:11-20. In Thyatira Jezebel tempts the people of God to eat idol
food and practice sexual immorality. In Laodicea temptation takes the
form of self-satisfaction with external, illusory riches.
Or look at echoes of the beast in Revelation 2-3. In
Rev 2:10
Satan threatens to put Christians in prison and kill them. Since the
power of emprisonment and death belong to the state, this threat arises
in close association with demonized state power, that is, the beast.
Rev 3:8
speaks of having little strength, yet not denying the name of Christ.
The possibility of denying the name of Christ again hints at a threat of
persecution, and so brings us into the sphere of action of the beast.
Christ promises to keep them from the hour of trial, which in principle
encompasses trials from both the beast and the prostitute.
Rev 2:26-27
hints of temptation to feel weak and hopeless, which seems to be the
under side of the worldly response to the terrible power of the beast.
The temptations may have various complexions in different churches
and in different cities of the Asia. To some extent the prostitute
embodies herself not only in Rome but in each of the seven cities of
Asia. But in each city the temptations to pleasure and worldliness may
take different form. Likewise the beast embodies himself not only in
the Roman Emperor but in the political and social power structures of
each of the seven cities.
The imagery in Revelation for the beast, the false prophet, and the
prostitute speaks concretely to the churches in Asia. But it expresses
also more general principles, and thus is flexible enough to find
multiple applications. In fact, the imagery teaches among other things
that Satan is a counterfeiter. Satan, the beast, and the false prophet
counterfeit the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, respectively.
11
The prostitute counterfeits the bride of 19:7-9. As a counterfeiter,
Satan has fundamentally no other alternative than to imitate the true.
Thus his actions and the actions of his demons always and inevitably
take the form that we find depicted in Revelation.
We conclude, then, that in every city and every social group there
will be forms of idolatry. These forms of idolatry will always
correspond to and embody principles operative in the imagery of
Revelation. In idolatry we have a manifestation of Satan, of the beast,
of the false prophet, of the prostitute. Idolatry and the demonic are
always in one respect fundamentally the same. They counterfeit the
truth, power, and beauty of God and his kingdom. At the same time, they
take variant forms in every city and every social group. Since demons
are behind idols, the variant forms of idolatry manifest variations in
demonic activity.
It should also be noted that demonic activity does not follow
exclusively geographical
lines, but institutional and social lines as well. The demonized
activity of the beast runs in coherent form throughout the Roman Empire
in the form of idolized imperial power. The demonized activity of the
prostitute runs in coherent form through the pagan world in the form of
prostitution that is socially accepted, and in the form of economic
prosperity enjoyed through participation in city life, at the heart of
which is pagan, idolatrous culture.
In the religious climate of the Roman Empire, people inevitably
encountered a plurality of options and directions for idolatry. For
example, some Jews attacked Christian faith and moved into an
antichristian Judaism. Revelation describes “those who say they are
Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan” (2:9; 3:9). The label
“synagogue of Satan” shows that despite the claim to be worshiping the
true God, the members of this “synagogue” were at root idolaters. A
very different form of idolatry occurs in the teaching of Balaam and
Jezebel, who endorsed eating food sacrificed to idols (2:14, 20). Still
a third form occurs in worshiping the emperor (13:1-8). We can expect
to find at least these three kinds of idolatry here and there throughout
the Roman Empire. If we add in our extrabiblical knowledge of mystery
religions, Hellenistic philosophies, and various local deities, we get
quite a collection of types of idolatry. None of these monopolized the
allegiance of the cities of Asia.
Hence, in the Roman Empire, the specific character of idolatry
depends less on geographical location than on people’s attachment to one
or another religious group devoted to a particular idol or religious
cause. People’s social and religious solidarity with a particular
community of worshipers counts for much more than one’s geographical
location. The same is surely true to an even greater degree in the
pluralistic societies of the modern West. Peculiarly modern idolatries
do not attach to locations so much as to particular ideological
commitments. Recognizing this truth, analysts like Jacques Ellul and
Herbert Schlossberg make good steps in discerning idolatries in the form
of worship of sexual pleasure, revolution, technique, history,
humanity, mammon, nature, and power.
12 Such analyses apply
to the modern scene the themes of idolatry and demonization in
Revelation. In following idolatry along the lines of ideology and
socialization rather than strictly geographical lines, they are much
closer to a biblically-grounded approach than is speculation about which
demons might be assigned to a particular spatial location.
Theistic focus
The ultimate foundation for this world and its history lies not in
the works of evil but the works of God. God is the king (4:3-11). He
does not cease to reign with all control and effectiveness simply
because men or angels rebel. Revelation celebrates the wonder and glory
of God, not the horror of Satan. We likewise should learn to focus on
God and his ways, not lusting after knowing “Satan’s so-called deep
secrets” (2:24).
13
In fact, God-centered worship, service, and spiritual warfare
provides the only proper framework for dealing with evil spirits.
Within this framework, as provided by Revelation, we have access to God
on his throne and join in praise with the throngs of heaven (Rev 4-5).
We celebrate the inviolable victory of Christ and the sureness of his
coming. We thereby gain confidence and faith to pray for the overthrow
of evil opposition (8:3-5; 15:2-4).
Within this context Revelation does call us to recognize how subtle
as well as how fearsome and wide-spread is demonic activity. We
recognize also that such activity takes specific territorial form,
following the lines of social, urban, and geographically specific
idolatries. Revelation encourages us to pray against the works of evil
in whatever specific forms we find them. Especially the messages to the
seven churches in Rev 2-3 encourage us to recognize the specific
temptations, dangers, oppressions, idolatries, and underlying demonic
forces that confront us in any one specific locale. But in doing so, we
must often acknowledge the way in which modern Western demonization
follows ideological and not strictly geographical lines. We need
insight from God, insight from the One like a son of man, with eyes like
blazing fire (1:13-14). But even that insight focuses first on the
throne of God and thereby sees the futility, the worthlessness, and the
utter defeat of the works of Satan.
The way, then, to confront the territorial spirits of this world is
not the way of esoteric knowledge, but the way of the cross, of knowing
God in Christ.
Modern experiences with territorial spirits
In these days anecdotal accounts and advice come to us from many
sources on the topic of territorial spirits. It is difficult to
evaluate anecdotes if only because they raise so many questions and our
knowledge is so partial. I have chosen in this article to look to
Scripture rather than the anecdotes. We must nevertheless apply
Scripture to the immense variety of situations that we confront, using
all the variety of gifts that the Spirit gives to the body of Christ.
If nothing else, the anecdotes challenge us to engage in this process of
application for ourselves.
For the sake of application, then, we need to wrestle with what the
anecdotes report. I am not equipped to do this well. I venture only a
first tentative impression. In the anecdotes we see people confronting
the same realities of which the Book of Revelation speaks. But the
people in the anecdotes seldom use the Book of Revelation explicitly.
Dispensationalism has sometimes had the effect of pushing the Book of
Revelation so
exclusively into the future that people no longer
see how it empowers understanding and acting in the present. Whether
for this reason or other reasons, the Book of Revelation has not played
nearly as strong a role as it could in the church’s present-day
spiritual warfare. By using the Book, we might bring to the struggle
the biblical solidity needed to stabilize and strengthen spiritual
warfare, thus counterbalancing the exuberantly experimental character of
the experiences, and guarding against dangers seen and unseen.
1 C. Peter Wagner, “Territorial Spirits,” in C. Peter Wagner, ed.,
Engaging the Enemy: How to Fight and Defeat Territorial Spirits (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1991) 45.
2 See ibid. and Peter Wagner, ed.,
Breaking Strongholds in Your City (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1993).
3 Timothy Warner, “Dealing with Territorial Demons,” in Wagner, ed.,
Engaging the Enemy 53.
4 John Dawson, “Forward,” in Wagner,
Engaging the Enemy xii-xiii.
5 Paul G. Hiebert, “The Flaw of the Excluded Middle,”
Missiology 10 (Jan., 1982) 35-47.
6 For exposition of similar views on the Book of Revelation, see Leon Morris,
Revelation (London: Tyndale, 1969) 15-22; Richard Bauckham,
The Theology of the Book of Revelation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
7 Calvin and some other commentaries interpret the language of “princes” to refer to earthly kings (John Calvin,
Commentaries on the Book of the Prophet Daniel [reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, n.d.] 2:252). But supernatural powers stand behind the earthly authorities, as hinted in
Isa 24:21
and openly indicated in Revelation. Thus many other commentators
understand “prince” as a reference to angels and demons. See Edward J.
Young,
The Prophecy of Daniel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1949) 226-27; C. F. Keil,
Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, n.d.) 416-18; Joyce G. Baldwin,
Daniel (n.p.: InterVarsity, 1978) 181; John E. Goldingay,
Daniel (Dallas: Word Books, 1989) 291-92; Louis F. Hartman and Alexander A. Di Lella,
The Book of Daniel (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978) 283-84.
8 K. G. Jung, “Baal,” in
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, rev. ed., ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979) 1:377.
9 Geerhardus Vos,
The Pauline Eschatology (reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961); Herman Ridderbos,
The Coming of the Kingdom (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1969); Ridderbos,
Paul: An Outline of His Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975); George E. Ladd,
A Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974).
10 See, e.g., G. R. Beasley-Murray,
The Book of Revelation (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1974).
11 See, e.g., Beasley-Murray,
Revelation 207.
12 Jacques Ellul,
The New Demons (New York: Seabury, 1975); Herbert Schlossberg,
Idols for Destruction: Christian Faith and its Confrontation with American Society (Nashville: Nelson, 1983).
13 So likewise Dawson, “Forward” xii-xiii.
