Neil T. Anderson - The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Warfare

The Beginners Guide to Spiritual Warfare

NEIL T. ANDERSON

TIMOTHY M. WARNER

Contents

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Selected Readings on Spiritual Warfare

We are seeing the greatest spiritual harvest this world has ever seen. Not since Pentecost have we seen such phenomenal growth of the Church worldwide. Africa was less than 5 percent Christian at the beginning of the twentieth century. At the end of the second millennium, it was nearly 50 percent Christian. There were only about 5 million believers in China when the Communist regime took over. Now the estimates vary from 100 to as high as 150 million believers, and missiologists estimate that between 25,000 and 35,000 people are coming to Christ daily in China. Indonesia is the world's most populated Muslim nation, but the percentage of Christians there has been increasing so rapidly that the government won't release accurate figures.

Meanwhile, more than 2,500 Christian radio and television stations broadcast the gospel daily to an audience of 4.6 billion. I had the privilege of speaking to the staff of HCJB in Quito, Ecuador, at their annual meeting. I was impressed with their commitment and their technological expertise. The same holds for TransWorld Radio and Far Eastern Broadcasting, who are working together with HCJB to blanket this planet with the good news. They can now package a radio station in a suitcase and broadcast the gospel anywhere in the world. We are the first generation that can say without reservation, "We have the technology to actually fulfill the Great Commission in our generation."

Cooperation in ministry is another significant sign that we are in for a great harvest. We may be driving different cars, but we are all driving them in the same kingdom and getting our gas from the same station. There is a growing majority in the Body of Christ who are sick and tired of Christians competing with or defeating one another. It is beyond the time for the church to personally appropriate the truth of Ephesians 4:1-6:

God is preparing His people and pulling His church together for the final harvest. In the high priestly prayer, Jesus is praying that we will all be one just as He and the Father are one (see John 17:2 1). He is not praying for the old ecumenism that was diluted by liberalism. He is praying that the true born-again, Bible-believing community known as the Body of Christ will work together to stem the tide of liberalism and immorality, the rising threat of the New Age, and the secular movement of universalism.

Caution must be taken not to water down the movement. Unity in the Spirit is not universalism. Paul says, "Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?" (2 Cor. 6:14-15 NASB). We must maintain an unshakeable commitment to the authority of Scripture, and never compromise our character in order to produce results.

Mission America has the goal of praying for and sharing Christ with every person in our nation. That will be impossible unless the Holy Spirit draws the church together as partners in ministry. More than 80 denominations and 200 parachurch ministries are cooperating to accomplish this task. This united effort to reach our nation for Christ is being called "Celebrate Jesus." We don't have to throw away our denominational distinctives or doctrinal beliefs to preserve the unity of the Spirit. But we do have to believe in "a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3:11, NASB).

The only legitimate basis for unity within the Body of Christ is the realization that every born-again Christian is a child of God. Cooperation will require forgiveness and reconciliation. It will necessitate toleration of other people's perspectives without compromising personal convictions. We must respect the denominational distinctives of others and relate with integrity in all matters.

Recently, I was conducting a conference for 1,500 pastors and missionaries in Bacalod, Philippines. A group of Filipino teenagers committed themselves to praying around the clock for the duration of the conference. They were on their knees pleading that their leaders upstairs would repent and agree to work together. I was never so humbled in my life! This should be the prayer of Christian leaders. Legitimate Christian leaders should desire unity in the Body of Christ, which is the prayer of our Lord. Could it be that our Christian leadership may be the major stumbling block to world revival? Can the church rise above its leaders?

If you were the enemy, how would you work to defeat the church in its efforts to reach this world for Christ? Since the Bible teaches that a house divided against itself cannot stand (see Mark 3:25), the enemy will certainly work to divide us. First, he will work on our minds, since a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways (see Jas. 1:8). Paul writes, "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons" (1 Tim. 4:1). Then the enemy will seek to divide our marriages and our ministries. Is that happening?

Another sign of a great awakening is the growing awareness that "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12 NASB). We may disagree about how to engage the enemy, but at least we are starting to agree that we all have one. Without this realization we are like blindfolded warriors striking out at each other and ourselves. We must never let the devil set the agenda, but we dare not underestimate his influence or allow the attitude, "the devil made me do it." We are responsible for our own attitudes and actions. Satan is a defeated foe, but he is also the god of this world, and "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one" (1 John 5:19 NASB). How are we going to reach this world for Christ if Satan has blinded the minds of the unbelieving (see 2 Cor. 4:4)?

With all the moral corruption in the world, it is tempting to ask, "Why doesn't the Lord just come back and end all this?" I heard a retired African-American pastor give the correct answer to this question as he addressed a group of inner-city pastors after the Los Angeles riots that were prompted by the verdict of the Rodney King trial. As my memory serves me, he said, "Fifty years ago the Lord looked into the kingdom of darkness and He saw me. Had He come at that time, I would have been locked out of the kingdom of God for all eternity. The Lord is not slow about His promises. For Him one day is as a thousand years. He is waiting for the gospel to go out to the ends of the earth, and then the end will come." We longingly look for the Lord's return, but how many of us still have a family member, a friend, a neighbor, or a coworker who doesn't know the Lord? How selfish it is for us to pray for His return before doing what we can in this life to see that all may hear the good news.