Mark Hitchcock - 101 Answers to Questions About Satan, Demons, and Spiritual Warfare

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

All italicized emphasis in Scripture quotations is added by the author.

Cover by Left Coast Design, Portland, Oregon

Cover photo Dorottya Mathe / Shutterstock

101 ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT SATAN, DEMONS, AND SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Copyright 2014 by Mark Hitchcock

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hitchcock, Mark, 1959-

101 answers to questions about satan, demons, and spiritual warfare / Mark Hitchcock.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-7369-4517-2 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-4518-9 (eBook)

1. DevilMiscellanea. 2. DemonologyMiscellanea. 3. Spiritual warfareMiscellanea.

I. Title. II. Title: One hundred and one answers to questions about satan, demons, and spiritual warfare. III. Title: One hundred one answers to questions about satan, demons, and spiritual warfare.

BT982.H58 2014

235'.4dc23

2013024776

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To Philip De Courcy,

whose infectious passion for Christ and compelling preaching of Gods Word has forged a bond of friendship between us that has blessed my life and ministry immeasurably

Contents

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

As a chess master walked through an art gallery in Europe, he came across a painting that fascinated him. In it, a young man was playing a game of chess with the devil. There was a look of glee on the face of the enemy and of panic on the face of the young man. The name of the painting was Checkmate .

As the chess master observed the painting, he felt uncomfortablesomething about the painting just wasnt right. He called for the curator of the gallery and asked him to take the painting down. When that didnt work, he requested to meet the artist. The artist agreed to meet him at the gallery.

The chess master arrived at the meeting with a chessboard and the chess pieces. He set up the board exactly as the artist had arranged it in the painting and said, Something is wrong with your painting. When the artist inquired as to what that might be, the master stated, You titled the painting Checkmate , but that implies that the young man has no more moves to make. The champion reached over to the board and moved the young mans king one space and said, The devil is now checkmated. He then looked at the young man in the painting and said, Young man, your enemy made a fatal miscalculation. You dont have to lose. You win!

Maybe you feel like the man in the painting sometimes. Maybe right now. Perhaps you picked up this book because youre in the struggle right now and are searching for answers. Fear and anxiety are stalking you night and day as you imagine the devil making the final move in your life. You feel as if youre about to be checkmated by struggles in your marriage, finances, career, health, or any of a myriad of other problems.

Ive got great news. If you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you win! Your Champion has defeated the enemy. The King made His final move and announced checkmate through His resurrection from the dead. The war has already been won. All you and I have to do is play out the rest of the game under His guiding hand and claim our victory in Him. In the battle against our enemy, Gods people fight from victory, not for victory. Contrary to what many people might think, spiritual warfare is not scary or frightening. Understanding it brings us hope, encouragement, and reassurance that victory is ours through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Another reason why we should learn about spiritual warfare and the unseen world around us is simply that God has chosen to reveal it to us. This alone justifies our interest in the topic and the time we spend studying it. If God in His Word has defined, described, and delineated the spirit world behind the veil of the seen, it is incumbent on us to take this revelation seriously.

The study of systematic theology includes separate categories for the study of Satan and the study of demons. The study of Satan is called Satanology, and the study of demons is called demonology. These two areas are often combined. But the fact that entire areas of theology are devoted to these subjects should pique our interest.

As we will see in this book, the Bible includes a great deal about Satan, demons, and the unseen global conspiracy raging around us. Satan is mentioned for the first time in Genesis 3 and makes his inglorious exit in Revelation 20. It is not an overstatement to say that one cannot really understand the Bible from beginning to end without some knowledge of Satan and his evil minions. God has chosen to reveal truth to us about the unseen world from Genesis to Revelation, so it must be important for us to know about it.

A third reason to spend time thinking about spiritual warfare is that many different views of this topic exist. Champions of the modern-day spiritual warfare movement advocate cosmic-level spiritual warfare, spiritual mapping, and identifying and confronting territorial spirits. Many others promote deliverance ministry, including rebuking and binding Satan and demonic spirits. Are these practices biblical? Should believers participate in these activities? What does Scripture say? With the emergence of divergent views and practices, followers of Christ today need to understand what Scripture says about spiritual warfare in order to avoid being sidetracked by unbiblical practices and ending up on the casualty list. Spiritual warfare is not a game. Successful warfare against the enemy must be waged according to Gods power and Gods principles.

A fourth motivation for studying Satan, demons, and spiritual warfare is that according to Scripture, demonic activity and spiritual warfare will increase dramatically in frequency and intensity during the end times (see Revelation 9). We arent in the end times yet, but we can expect demonic activity to ramp up as the end times draw near, and it appears thats just whats happening. With demonic activity increasing in intensity, we dont want our understanding and awareness of the unseen war to be on the decrease. Thats a dangerous combination. Our study of spiritual warfare must match its surge in our world today. We cannot afford to be disarmed.

A fifth motivation for us to understand the unseen world around us is that it helps us make sense out of what we can see. According to the Bible, an invisible world war is raging all around us. Understanding this war gives us a unique perspective that those without this knowledge do not possess. Ray Stedman gives powerful insight into why we need to understand the spiritual war that surrounds us. Read this quote carefully.