In a recent phone call with team members on the Pahari Project in India, the issue of spiritual warfare came to the forefront. Our team members there live in a community infested with occultic activity, a center for demon possession. As a result of that conversation, and knowing the reality of this struggle for many of our front-line colleagues, here are some thoughts on the topic of spiritual warfare and deliverance ministry.
Since I started writing this material, I have had a constant stream of “strange” events happening in my home and with my laptop. These events I would classify simply as demonic harassment simply to discourage and tire me out. I won’t go into the details, but the events have been real and very trying on my patience and physical energy levels.
Please pray over this material, and remember the teachings of Jesus on what we are to pray each day in the Lord’s Prayer.
What exactly did Jesus command?
The work of pastoral ministry in the early 21st Century in the Adventist Church in the West seems to have been reduced primarily to preaching, administrative and teaching responsibilities. Some pastors do lead other disciples in other meaningful ministries, e.g. community services or various types of counseling. However, the concept of delivering the prey of Satan by the power of the Living God seems to a large extent to be a neglected aspect of pastoral ministry in the West.
Yet, as we look at the Scriptures, we find a clear pattern emerging. Read the following passages:
Mark 16:15-20
Matt. 10:1
Luke 9:1-2
Mark 3:14-15
Luke 10:1, 17-19
Based on these, the Gospel Commission to the 12 and to the 70 included three basic functions: to preach the Good News; to heal the sick; and to cast out demons. This was precisely what those sent by Jesus subsequently did (Mark 3:14-15, Luke 10:17-19), both before His death and ascension and also in the Acts of the Apostles.
In the Old Testament, we find the prophet Daniel engaged in spiritual warfare in exactly the manner commanded by Jesus. In Daniel 10, Daniel records that he had been on a partial fast for 21 days, when at the end of the three weeks he received a vision in which Jesus Christ personally appeared to him. During the vision, it was revealed to Daniel that for the 21 days of his fast there had been intense spiritual warfare beyond the realm of human perception, with the territorial demon of Persia resisting the angelic interventions of God until Michael (Jesus Christ) personally intervened to gain the victory.
In this story, we find that Daniel’s prayer and fasting for 21 days mirrored an intense supernatural conflict between fallen and un-fallen beings, which was only brought to a conclusion by the personal intervention of Jesus Christ.
It is profoundly encouraging to realize that Jesus Christ has never lost in any conflict with Satan. Since the showdown in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11), He has the right and authority to deliver any captive of Satan (Mark 3:27) either directly or through the ministry of His servants.
Revelation 16:13-14 indicates that the final attacks on God’s people and attempts to incite the world’s population into overt rebellion against God will occur under the inspiration of three demonic spirits. The visible means may differ—through obvious occult activities such as magic, mediums, astrology, tarot cards, Ouija boards etc., or through seemingly more innocent media such as Hollywood movies, popular television shows or popular music. The means of attack will differ from individual to individual and from body of disciples to body of disciples, but the underlying inspiration will remain of demonic origin and the purpose will be to inspire hatred for God Himself.
Turning to the Lord’s prayer, we find it is rendered thus in the KJV:
“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen” (Matt. 6:9-13, KJV).
The NIV provides a more accurate translation of the second phrase of verse 13: “…but deliver us from the evil one,” a translation that is also included in the NRSV and NAB.
The NIV, NRSV and NAB translations are to be preferred, because Jesus literally commands His disciples to pray each day for deliverance “from the evil one.”
We are not to pray for daily deliverance from evil as an abstract concept, but for daily deliverance from a personal, malevolent evil being. We cannot withstand this being in our own strength, so we must turn to God each day for protection from daily attacks.
Within this context, is it realistic to expect that the commands of Jesus Christ to those whom He sent out as His representatives (to preach the Good News, to heal the sick and to deliver the victims of demonic oppression) would not apply down through history to the final conflict between good and evil? The commands of Jesus to heal the sick, deliver Satan’s prey and preach the Good News were never time-limited, so we must conclude that in today’s ministry, there must be space for and recognition of the absolute need of deliverance ministry.
Let us never cease to pray for one another!
