Concerning Spiritual Warfare

I recently read a book by John Paul Jackson entitled, Needless Casualties of War. The main premise of the book is that we have not been given authority in the second heaven. It was therefore his contention that we should not be rebuking, binding, loosing, or otherwise wasting our breath attacking the spiritual powers there. To validate his position, he cited a dream he believed the Lord had given him and several examples of anecdotal evidence. In his dream he had seen people attacking the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms to no affect whatsoever. He then saw the spiritual forces counterattack and wreak all manner of havoc on the people who had attempted to attack them. Mr. Jackson said the presumptuous attacks by the saints had opened the door for the counterattacks. His contention is that when we operate outside our God-given authority, we are presumptuous and are sinning. Any sin gives our enemy the right to attack us.

Perhaps I am writing this post more to myself than to anyone else. As one who, at one time, had a problem with presumption, I have no desire to return there. That's a good way to have your head handed to you. If you are not familiar with the term, to presume means to "venture without authority or permission." (The Free Online Dictionary)

The idea of attacking the powers of darkness in the heavenly realms is scriptural (Ephesians 6:12) isn't it? That is what I had always been taught. As with so very many things, it now appears this is simply another place we, The Church, have had things wrong for as long as we have been teaching it. Try and lay aside your prejudice and let me make my point. This blog accepts all comments so you can have your say after you have read this.

Jesus is our example of how to live life on the earth. We never see him attacking any spiritual authorities in the heavenly realms. As God, he certainly had the authority to do so, but as man, if he did, he never used that power. Logically, had that power been available to him, he would have used it. The answer to why he did not use it actually lies in two different areas. First, his authority was confined to earth when he was confined to flesh and blood. It was only after the resurrection that he said, "...All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth." (Matthew 28:18) Secondly, he did not need to attack heavenly powers to accomplish his work on the earth. He knew why he was here (Luke 4:18-19) and he was about the work his Father had given him to do, always assured that his Father in Heaven was backing up his activities on earth. Now put on your spiritual ears and hear this: He has authority in heaven and will see to it that our earthly battle will also be secured in heaven. This is what he meant when he told the disciples, "...whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:19) Without going into a detailed teaching on this verse, we need to know that the binding and loosing in heaven precedes the same actions on earth. Jesus binds and looses in heaven. We bind and loose on earth.

Jerry Savelle has been teaching for years about the hand of the Lord. I have been blessed to have been given a copy of a CD containing this teaching. I have a habit of leaving a disk in the CD player of my car and letting it run over and over until I feel I have chewed all the nutrients out of it. I would hesitate to tell you how many times I have listened to this particular CD. It is certainly well into the double digits. When I first listened to it, my understanding was that he was simply talking about how to secure the blessings God wants us to have. About the time I started writing this blog, I realized the reason it is still playing whenever I drive is that God had more for me from it.

The hand of the Lord is a phrase in the Bible that always portends blessing and judgement. As Jerry says, "When the hand of the Lord is in motion, somebody is going to get judged and somebody is going to get blessed." It is the hand of the Lord in the heavens that releases judgement on the spirits we are battling on earth. When the spirits in the heavens are judged, they are neutralized and are unable to interfere with our warfare on earth. The result is an open channel for God's blessings to come to us and the removal of spiritual deception wherever it may be found. I want to shout about that. Does anyone want to join me? HALLELUJAH!

The spiritual battle for the Santa Maria valley is going to be won by the hand of the Lord coming upon the spiritual powers in the heavenly realms and neutralizing them so they can not stand against The Church on offense. I am sure most of you have noticed God is not big on formulas. He would rather script our individual lives as we go. I sometimes find scripts helpful in limited situations. I recommend we follow this script in beginning our spiritual warfare over the Santa Maria valley. 1. Confess any known sin and repent. 2. Ask the Lord to stretch forth his hand to bind the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. 3. Tell as many people as you know about the current battle and enlist them. The more of us there are the shorter the road to victory. If you are reading this from anywhere outside the Santa Maria valley, we humbly thank you and ask if you would join us in number 1 and number 2 above. Thank you for doing whatever the Lord directs you to do.