Spiritual warfare
Spiritual warfare is the Christian concept of fighting against the work of preternatural evil forces. It is based on the belief in evil spirits, or demons, that are said to intervene in human affairs in various ways. Although spiritual warfare is a prominent feature of neo-charismatic churches, various other Christian denominations and groups have also adopted practices rooted in the concepts of spiritual warfare, with Christian demonology often playing a key role in these practices and beliefs, or had older traditions of such a concept unrelated to the neo-charismatic movement, such as the exorcistic prayers of the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox churches, and the Oriental Orthodox churches. The term spiritual warfare is used broadly by different Christian movements and in different contexts: "by charismatics, evangelicals, and Calvinists, and applied to missiology, counseling, and women."
Prayer is one common form of spiritual warfare practiced amongst these Christians. Other practices may include exorcism, the laying on of hands, fasting with prayer, praise and worship, and anointing with oil.
Doctrines of spiritual warfare and exorcism
Mainstream Christian demonology
typically acknowledges a belief in the existence of demons, fallen angels, the Devil and Satan. In Christian evangelism, doctrines of demonology are influenced by interpretations of the New Testament, namely interpretations of the Gospels, in that dealing with spirits became a customary activity of Jesus' ministry. Mark the Evangelist states that "he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons".Spiritual warfare in the Apostle Paul
The Apostle Paul has traditionally been attributed as the writer of the Book of Ephesians, the tenth book of the New Testament, although it is more likely the work of one of his disciples. Within 6:10–12 of Ephesians, Paul addresses spiritual warfare and how to combat spiritual attacks; "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." The majority of modern spiritual warfare theology is based on this chapter of Ephesians.Evangelical Christian demonology
Many Evangelical Christian denominations believe that Satan and his agents exert significant influence over the world and its power structures. They believe that a conflict exists involving territorial spirits or other hostile spiritual forces, based on passages such as and, and, where Jesus refers to Satan as "the prince of this world". Other verses cited include the apostle Paul's elaboration on a hierarchy of "rulers", in, taken to be "demonic" in interpretation. They also believe that Paul's epistles focus on Jesus' victory over these powers. To this end, evangelical interpretations divide history into two eras: the "present evil age", and the "age to come", in reference to the Second Coming of Jesus.Evangelical imagery of spiritual warfare is derived from various parts of the Bible, particularly the Book of Revelation wherein the 'beasts' and 'kings of the earth' wage war against God's people after the War in Heaven, sparking a final battle with Satan and earthly nations against God.
Evangelical Christians base the practice of exorcism on their understanding of Jesus' statement "If I drive out demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is upon you" at,.
Practices in Christianity
Catholic practices
The most notable of spiritual warfare prayers in the Catholic tradition is known as the Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel.Pope John Paul II stated that "'Spiritual combat'... is a secret and interior art, an invisible struggle in which monks engage every day against the temptations".
In modern times, the views of individual Roman Catholics of spiritual warfare have tended to divide into traditional and more modern understandings of the subject. An example of a more modern view of the demonic is found in the work of the Dominican scholar Richard Woods' The Devil.
The traditional outlook is represented by Father Gabriele Amorth, who has written three books on his personal experiences as an exorcist for the Vatican: An Exorcist Tells His Story, and An Exorcist: More Stories, and An Exorcist Explains the Demonic: The Antics of Satan and His Army of Fallen Angels. Francis MacNutt, who was a priest within the Roman Catholic Charismatic movement, has also addressed the subject of the demonic in his writings about healing.
Lutheranism, Anglicanism and Reformed Christianity
The practice of exorcism was also known among the first generation of teachers and pastors in the Lutheran Reformation. Johannes Bugenhagen was the pastor of the Wittenberg town church and officiated at Martin Luther's wedding. In a letter addressed to Luther and Melanchthon dated November 1530, Pomeranus recounted his experience of dealing with a young girl who showed signs of demon possession. Pomeranus' method involved counseling the girl concerning her previous baptismal vows, he invoked the name of Christ and prayed with her..The Anglican-Puritan writer William Gurnall wrote a lengthy three-volume work, The Christian in Complete Armour, published between 1662 and 1665. In this work Gurnall stressed the place of reading Scripture, prayer and the name of Christ.
Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy
Evangelicalism, Pentecostalism, and the Charismatic movement
In the American revival tradition among evangelicals, prominent 19th- and 20th-century preachers such as D. L. Moody, Billy Sunday, R. A. Torrey and Billy Graham have all affirmed their belief in the existence of the demonic and had occasions to recount some of their own spiritual warfare encounters. In the 19th century, one of the major evangelical authorities on demon possession was the missionary to China, John Livingstone Nevius.Spiritual warfare has become a prominent feature in Pentecostal traditions and the concept is well embedded in Pentecostal history. Expositors of spiritual warfare include Jessie Penn-Lewis, who published the Pentecostal 1903 book War on the Saints, arising from the Welsh Revival in the early twentieth century. Starting in the 1950s with the charismatic Latter Rain movement, demonology began to grow in importance. British charismatic Michael Harper popularised the term spiritual warfare in his 1970 book of the same name. In 1976, prolific author Pastor Win Worley began the publication of his Hosts of Hell series, containing elements of the concept of spiritual warfare, if not explicitly using the expression. The third-wave charismatic movement of today—notably C. Peter Wagner and Cindy Jacobs – have been at the forefront of newer conceptions of spiritual warfare. Wagner's third-wave, which advocates for a militarized style of spiritual warfare to be enacted by "anointed prayer warriors," has given rise to spiritual warfare boot camps in which recruits are trained as soldiers to do battle against demonic influence.
Since the 1980s, the concept has spread from the charismatic world to broader evangelicalism; traditional boundaries between the two on the issue have eroded. This form of spiritual warfare has become especially popular among American evangelicals. American studies scholar S. Jonathon O'Donnell defines spiritual warfare: "A key idea in spiritual warfare is that demons don’t only attack people, as in depictions of demonic possession, but also take control of places and institutions, such as journalism, academia, and both municipal and federal bureaucracies. By doing so, demons are framed as advancing social projects that spiritual warriors see as opposing God’s plans." In 1991, Wagner published Confronting the Powers: How the New Testament Church Experienced the Power of Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare and edited Territorial Spirits. In 1992, Dr. Ed Murphy wrote a modern 600-page book on the subject, The Handbook of Spiritual Warfare, from the point of view of deliverance ministry. Laws of Deliverance, From Proverbs, written by Marilyn A. Ellsworth, is another important work of authority, as is her book ICBM Spiritual Warfare, God's Unbeatable Plan. Other Pentecostal and charismatic pastors include Don Basham, Derek Prince, Bishop Larry Gaiters, Reverend Miguel Bustillos, Dr. Marcus Haggard, and missionary Norman Parish, who have emphasized using the power of the blood of Christ in the deliverance ministry.
Sean McCloud comments, "In addition to shared supernatural themes, Third Wave spiritual warfare manuals resemble—and even cite—the occult grimoires they attack as demonic".
During the late 20th century, Evangelical writers such as Mark Bubeck and Merrill Unger presented their theological and pastoral response to demonic phenomena. The problem of demon possession and spiritual warfare became the subject of a Christian Medical Association symposium that was held in 1975. This symposium brought together a range of evangelical scholars in biblical studies, theology, psychology, anthropology, and missiology.
One of the most significant German writers is the Lutheran Kurt E. Koch whose work, including the 1973 book Occult ABC, has influenced much of both evangelical and charismatic thought in the late twentieth century. The impact of his ideas has been recently examined by the folklore specialist Bill Ellis.
The development of specific spiritual warfare techniques has also generated many discussions in the Christian missions community. Critical exchanges of views may be found in periodicals such as the Evangelical Missions Quarterly and in conferences sponsored by the Evangelical Missions Society. In 2000, an international collaborative attempt was made by evangelicals and charismatics in the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization to reach some common agreement about spiritual warfare. The conference gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, and yielded a consultation document as well as many technical papers published as the book Deliver Us from Evil.