War Awakening
Since the horrific attacks on Sept. 11, all of us Americans have passed through the stages of shock, grief, and anger. We have watched our nation battle fear, show compassion, exemplify courage, and have seen our government's resolve to prevent its recurrence and to execute justice. The evil mastermind of the plot has spoken out, encouraging more fanatical assaults against America. Our president ordered a military response, seeking to prevent further attacks. Overnight in America, we were transformed from a people at peace to a people at war.
The reality is that the world was already at war. But most of us had been ignorant of it or naive about it. We now know that this plot was hatched years ago. It took hundreds of people and perhaps half a million dollars. The war didn't start on September eleventh, it just broke out into the open on that date. The invisible war suddenly became very visible. America had a wake up call. But more than that, the church's long childhood has ended.
Since the 9-11 event, I have been asking the Lord to show me how to pray. What weapons of warfare can we bring against our enemy? I am talking about spiritual weapons, the arsenal which Christians are authorized to employ against Satan and his works. We need to know how to pray, because the real war is fought for the souls of men and women, not with bullets on a battlefield.
We have entered a new season and we need to discern the times. Our prophetic intelligence apparatus has to be fine-tuned. This current attack and America's response offers clues to a dramatic spiritual shift. What has been going on in the spiritual world? What has changed?
First, understand the present season. All over the world, millions of Christians have been praying for the 10-40 window, the area of the globe which is least evangelized. This area also happens to be the stronghold of the Muslim religion. Inside these Islamic nations (with few exceptions) there is no freedom of religion. In these countries, it is a crime to preach the Bible or to attempt to convert people to faith in Jesus. What were we praying for? We were praying for the salvation of millions in the grip of deception. Why were we praying? Because God loves lost people! Unless Muslims are saved, they will die without forgiveness of sins or the gift of eternal life which Christ purchased by His death on the cross. God wants Muslims to be saved.
In the light of this global concert of prayer for our oppressed neighbors, the true nature of the battle has been exposed. God has taken the wraps off the real spirit lurking behind the tyranny of Islam. We can now see the evil power which has hijacked much of the Muslim religion. The evil force which is behind Islam has showed its ugly head. And it is a murderous, frightening spirit.
We see the nature of this spiritual entity in the fruit of its dominion. Islamic radicals, once they take over a nation, use the power of the state as an agent of sorcery to control peoples' thinking. They use intimidation, manipulation, and domination to keep people from hearing the gospel and making their own choices about God. The Taliban oppress women, brainwash children, bring an end to freedom of speech and freedom of worship, and prevent the free exchange of ideas.
Let me summarize briefly the major differences between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We need to understand how these religions differ. They are similar in that all three are monotheistic, they believe in one God, not many gods like Hinduism. Muhammad originally referred to Christians as "people of the Book." All three religions honor Abraham. Jews trace their ancestry to Isaac while Muslims trace theirs to Ishmael. The three big differences are: How do you deal with sin? What is the written Word of God? Who was Jesus?
Jews and Muslims have a method of salvation that depends on keeping the law or doing good works. Muslims have five pillars of faith which they must do. The first is to recite the creed, "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger." Christianity offers salvation by faith based on the finished atonement of Jesus on the cross. Christianity believes the whole Bible. Judaism believes only the Old Testament, plus they add the Talmud, the commentaries on the Law. Islam's holy book is the Koran, supposedly dictated to Muhammad by an angel. The Koran is considered their perfect and ultimate word. The Jews do not believe Jesus was the Messiah, just a teacher. They rejected Him when He said "My kingdom is not of this world." Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet. Christians believe Jesus was the Son of God, the Word made flesh, our Lord and Savior who died for the sins of the world. Muhammad died in A.D. 632 and was buried. Islam's teaching says Muhammad supercedes all other prophets, including Jesus. But Muhammad is dead and still in the grave while Jesus was raised up and now lives forever!
Muslim clerics often declare jihad or "holy war." Let me talk for a moment about the nature of religious violence. From lessons of history we know that fanaticism can infect any religious system. Religion can become a breeding ground for demons and war. Not long ago a Japanese cult following a self-appointed guru released deadly sarin nerve gas on a subway. At one time, ancient Indians in Central America offered human sacrifices to their sun god, cutting out peoples' still-beating hearts. In the dark ages, European kings sent Christians on militant crusades against both Jews and Arabs. Protestant and Catholic Christians have bombed and killed one another for centuries in northern Ireland. Over the centuries, Muslim crusaders have killed huge numbers of civilians who resisted their forced conversion to Islam. And modern Jews have committed atrocities against their Palestinian neighbors. None of us have clean hands. How can this happen in the name of religion? Isn't religion supposed to be about goodness and kindness?
The Bible says, "If anyone hates his brother, how can the love of God dwell in him?" Hatred perverts religion. If we nurse our grudges long enough, if we fail to forgive those who hurt us, if we harbor anger persistently, then the spirit of murder can get into our heart. Jesus told some angry Jews, "You are of your father the devil because you seek to kill me." (John 8:37-44) When we harbor hatred, we switch allegiance from God to Satan, no matter what creed we declare.
Any time we want to kill someone because of religious intolerance, we have left the kingdom of light and become agents of the kingdom of darkness. Satan is a murderer. Satan entered into the heart of one of Jesus' followers, Judas Iscariot. The doorway for the devil to enter Judas was jealousy regarding the money (he was the team treasurer) and political extremism regarding his hated for the Romans. Nationalism corrupted his heart so that he betrayed the Son of God.
The devil can hijack any religion when hatred is preached or practiced. In fact, unclean spirits, operating in a religious setting, can energize misguided zealots with an unholy anointing to hate even more. The devil gladly empowered Adolf Hitler with a diabolical wisdom to try to exterminate the Jews. The devil filled Saddam Hussein's heart with lust for power so that he has murdered Kurds and slaughtered thousands of his own people. It is blasphemy to credit a holy God with this kind of evil venom. The origin of hatred and murder is not God but Satan, using sinful people. When people entertain sin, Satan has the right to enter their hearts. Only Jesus can free people from bondage to sin and Satan. Either we surrender to Jesus or we serve Satan. When we repent of our sin and put our faith in Christ, His blood can set us free! Jesus sets people free from hatred and fear and then as we follow Him, He fills our hearts with love and faith.
For me personally, the timing of the attacks on the World Trade Center occurred when I had been searching the Scriptures and inquiring of the Lord concerning apostolic ministries. I know that the church is just beginning to understand the apostolic task in our day. But I have discovered this fact: In the Bible, the appearance of genuine apostles and the outbreak of spiritual warfare was a synonymous event. There is no reason to believe their restoration today will be any different. Indeed, apostles are built for war.
Why should war be unfamiliar to us? Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, not coexist with them (1 Jn. 3:8). We live amidst kingdoms in conflict. Jesus taught that the expulsion of evil spirits signaled that the kingdom of heaven was at hand (Mt. 12:29). Before anything can be expelled, it must first be exposed. God is now exposing wickedness. All of our hearts are being exposed-- Christians, Jews, and Muslims. God's judgment on the works of Satan is near. God's advancing kingdom upsets Satan's realm. He reacts, knowing his time is short.
The apostle Paul was no stranger to spiritual warfare. He said that our fight to undo Satan's oppression was not a battle against flesh and blood, but one using spiritual weapons. This is written in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. He described our fight as "warfare." The Greek word he used, strateia, is defined by Strong's Dictionary as "the apostolic career, as one of hardship or danger." The root of the word indicates a military campaign. So the process of performing the apostolic ministry includes warfare.
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:3-5 NIV)
Apostolic warfare uses mighty weapons (such as prophetic prayer, proclaiming God's Word, or prophesying God's will) to pull down fortresses or strongholds. Strongholds are fortified lies (erroneous beliefs) deeply entrenched in peoples' minds. Ignorance, violence, and oppression are characteristics of evil strongholds. I submit to you that the barbaric oppression of women under the Islamic system exemplifies how desperately these precious people need liberation from bondage.
All of Satan's lies (demonic conceits such as the spirit of rejection or shame) are usually guarded by strong emotions and prejudices. These ideas come from two sources: the devil, or deceived people. It matters who you listen to!
The text of this Bible verse uses two phrases which are variously translated high things (NIV- "arguments") and imaginations. (NIV- "pretensions"). It is helpful to consider these two aspects of the devil's propaganda. These are the major ways Satan controls peoples' thinking to keep them from the knowledge of Christ. One is religious, the other is secular.
High things refers to spiritual barriers to the truth of God which alone leads to repentance and faith. These barriers are ideas which substitute for Biblical salvation by regeneration. They offer religion without inner transformation. These ideas originate from high ranking lying spirits called principalities and are mediated through false prophets and occult writings. These deceits may begin with an "angel of light" appearing to a gullible liberator, someone eager for influence but not knowledgeable of the Bible. Examples are cults or sects, usually religious in nature, which incorporate extra-biblical revelation in addition to or as a substitute for the Bible (such as the Book of Mormon). They also offer salvation by works instead of by grace, follow egoistic cult-like leaders who don't want their authority questioned, and promote idolatry in some form. Thier fruit reveals their root.
Imaginations refers to secular philosophies that cloud peoples' minds, thus obscuring the truth of God. These are lies that affect cultural values. Modern examples are: totalitarianism, such as "The state owns everyone and everything" (atheistic communism); evolution as a religion, such as "Creation did not have a Creator" (scientific rationalism that excludes First Causes); religious pluralism, such as "All roads lead to God" (tolerance that denies any one way is right or better); or secular humanism, such as "What I do with my sexuality doesn't matter" (deification of self). Usually we are unaware that we have these paradigms. But we all have them to some degree, at least until our minds are renewed by the Spirit of Truth and by knowing the Word of God.
So the warfare is ideological and it is also spiritual. We need to understand the real nature of war or else we will become casualties. War is also a time of unique opportunities. There are battlefield promotions. War is a time when new leadership emerges and weak leadership falls. God's war against Satan results in carefully crafted apostolic generals being prepared, raised up, recognized, and released. There is also such a thing in God as wartime prosperity. The Lord spoke to me once using the delightful image of Daddy Warbucks in the musical Little Orphan Annie. I saw that when God's leaders will go to war to liberate the oppressed, the Lord will provide the resources for their effort. "No soldier goes to war at his own expense." Maybe we are lean in our provisions because we have never left the camp!
War is more than a fight between individuals. It is more than a police action. War is when one government launches an attack against another government. War seeks to either liberate or dominate a people, therefore it wants to replace their seat of power. War is about power. War is often fought to gain control of strategic resources. War is fought to obtain oil, land, or other wealth. Thankfully, America has never gone to war to dominate, only to liberate.
Let's shift the discussion away from civil governments and think for a moment from a Biblical world-view, from a kingdom mentality. We need to ask ourselves, Does God have a government? How is it led? Who are its leaders? The obvious next question is: Does Satan have a government? Can his evil empire have human personifications and commanders? Sometimes the invisible war which begins in a spiritual realm can break out into a material and human realm. Frank Peretti's classic novel, "This Present Darkness," is an illustration of this reality.
If war is a clash of governments, then it involves a campaign which lasts over time and affects many people. War is about resolve, the exercise of resolute will power. The will to win is a prerequisite to victory. Winston Churchill was an example of a man who understood the nature of evil and its impact upon nations. He had the will to stand against it. While others wrung their hands and practiced appeasement, Mr. Churchill took an unwavering stand against Hitler. War requires single-minded focus. Disunity makes any kingdom collapse. The power of agreement, offered freely by followers and by an administration's staff members, is what gives a leader the ability to lead into battle and win.
Biblically speaking, agreement with God is positive, while a conspiracy is negative. A conspiracy occurs when people agree together to stand against legitimate authority or government. Jesus said, "If you're not with Me, you're against Me." The church must make a decision: Are we in agreement with our Head, the Lord Jesus, or in a conspiracy against Him and His end-time purpose? Jesus is a Liberator. He wants every believer to help deliver the oppressed. His kingdom is the place where He works out His will against His enemies. We are in active service with the "Lord of hosts," the Lord of armies. Therefore to be passive or to practice appeasement during war is actually to conspire against our Lord.
I have been fascinated, I think by the Holy Spirit's illumination, with the apostle Paul's campaign through various cities in the Book of Acts (For more on this topic, see my teaching outline on our website entitled "How Apostles Affect Cities").
Paul used military strategies as he grew in his understanding of how to liberate cities by the gospel from Satan's power. His life's work culminated in the liberation of Ephesus from Diana worship. It was a successful campaign that took years to accomplish and affected other cities in the region as well. It involved preaching the gospel of the kingdom, training new leaders, ministering the baptism in the Holy Spirit, developing neighborhood prayer-cell groups, practicing spiritual warfare against sorcery, and an apostolic team acting in concert over time.
Paul was a radical. He was a bull in a china shop. He was an unlikely recruit for the church. Yet Jesus personally appeared to him and saved him. Why did Jesus save this man who so busily tormented true believers? And it happened by direct divine intervention! I imagine the church was praying fervently for relief from this persecutor and murder. But Paul was not converted by a preacher. Paul, still Saul of Tarsus, was evangelized by Jesus Himself. Jesus revealed Himself to Saul on the road to Damascus. This account was recorded in Acts 9. Paul referenced it again in Acts 22 and in Acts 26. It was the turning point of his life. Because of this encounter, the church's arch-terrorist became a powerful messenger of Jesus and the gospel. I believe concerted prayer by the persecuted church driven underground by fear led directly to the conversion of Paul. Satan lost his best agent and the kingdom of God gained its best proponent.
God used a terrorist to awaken the church. The result was a new cycle of powerful apostolic ministry that reached the ends of the earth. Could history be repeating itself?
Before Paul was converted, he was a religious terrorist (see Galatians 1:14, Acts 7:58-60, 9:1). Paul was like an Osama Bin Laden. He was breathing out threats and murder. He stood by as a witness of young Stephen's stoning. He plotted how to imprison Christians. He eagerly assented to their torture and killing. He knew he was right and they were wrong. He believed God was pleased as he happily killed these saints. There was not an ounce of sympathy in Saul toward the followers of Jesus. In his mind, he was defending the Jewish religion against heresy. He believed the institution of the divine Law including all of its traditions governing Jewish society had to be preserved even if he had to go to war to make it happen. He was orthodox and they were infidels. He felt justified in killing them. He had the official approval of his religious leaders to carry out his personal jihad. He was admired and applauded by those who felt intimidated by this new "Jesus movement." Paul was destined for political and religious greatness in his relentless campaign of terror against the young church.
It was at the peak of his animosity that he was interrupted on the trail of terror by a personal encounter with the Risen Lord, the One he denied and hated. In this experience, Paul was changed from a hater of Jesus and of the church into a lover of Jesus and of the Body of Christ. He was recruited for God's army, called to be an apostle, given instructions for what he should do next, and led by the hand, blind and humble, into the city. Can this still happen today?
I have often wondered why the Lord, after telling Paul what his assignment would be, also said, "I will show him how much he will suffer for Me." (Acts 9:16) Here is both God's wisdom and impartial justice. Paul was a terrorist who had meted out suffering and death to innocent saints. In his calling to the ministry, the Lord would allow a divine payback, causing him to taste some of what he had given to others. "What you sow, you reap." "Those who live by the sword, die by the sword." He would be driven to discover God's grace in the midst of his personal tribulations.
Besides this, God's general needed to have the stalwart resolve that would carry him through tough times. His character had to be forged in the fire of adversity. No sissies allowed! Later, Paul would write about his teammates and the battle-hardened companions who traveled with him. He called these men (and one-third of his team were women) "true yoke-fellows," "fellow-solders," and "fellow-workers" in the gospel. They endured hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. And like real soldiers, many lost their lives in the battle. They were heroes of the faith.
Now let's move on to a key component, Paul's secret of successfully waging spiritual warfare. This has applications today in the spiritual conflict splitting the world into factions.
We know from Paul's epistle to the Ephesians that he considered the highest and most effective activity which any Christians could engage in was to wrestle and struggle against invisible evil forces. We know this because he culminated his letter with instructions for how to fight and how to stand (Eph. 6). Paul's letters typically moved from doctrinal foundations to practical applications. In Ephesians, he discussed the blood of Jesus, redemption by faith, the riches of grace, the unity of the Body of Christ, Ascension ministry offices, personal holiness, and then moved on to practical things such as marriage, parenting, employee relations, and finally, spiritual warfare. Notice, winning the war through prayer was the epitome, the peak of practical concerns. Everything else laid the foundation and was preliminary for successful spiritual warfare by the saints.
That is the point to which we have arrived today. The curtain is being drawn on the stage of planet earth. The real actors are now being shown. We are in a new age of war. It is an apostolic age in which God will conclude human history with the crowning of Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This age both demands and produces generals, specially commissioned "sent ones," ambassadors of the King who carry the Lord's highest authority to liberate and to govern. They are sent to people groups, to nations and territories, and to spheres of authority given them by the Holy Spirit. Their credentials include God's anointing to deliver the oppressed, divine wisdom to build, and unrelenting perseverance in the work. They are not afraid to die for their cause. They are spiritual fathers who raise sons in the faith. They act like Jesus. They are worthy of our prayers and our partnership and our support. Indeed the battle lines are drawn.
There are two major keys to waging war against the principality of evil which has enslaved over a billion souls through Islam. The first is this: love your enemy. The second is this: Use the prayer of agreement, two or three standing together in the name of Jesus, against dark powers.
No one can intercede for another without deciding to love them. We love people who are made in the image of God and for whom Christ died. We hate Satan and the works he perpetrates to enslave humanity. As Christians, our battle is not with flesh and blood. Civil government "bears not the sword in vain" and has authority to use force to keep the peace and to punish evil doers. But Jesus told Christians "turn the other cheek." How radical this idea is in the light of vendettas that have gone on for generations!
Love people but hate the devil's work that hurts people. Love those who are ensnared by evil power and pray for them. What does it mean to love people? A vital aspect of real love is forgiveness. You cannot love someone whom you refuse to forgive. You cannot love and have prejudice. You cannot love and harbor grudges. You cannot love and hate at the same time. Satan would delight in so offending Christians that we can no longer forgive. When Jesus hung on the cross, He interceded for His tormentors. He asked for forgiveness for those crucifying Him. He released overwhelming grace by forgiving. When Stephen was being stoned to death, he prayed for those who were killing him. He saw the glory of God and found grace to forgive his enemies. I am certain this action affected Saul of Tarsus, who was a witness of this murder.
Forgiveness is the standard of God's love. Hatred cannot be defeated by more hatred. It can only be defused and defeated by forgiveness and love.
God is a just God. He listens to the cry of the oppressed. When someone is offended and hurt, they have legal standing before God's Court, the seat of all authority, the Throne of the universe. The injured party has a right to appeal to the God of justice based on God's will and God's Word. Will they appeal for revenge, or for mercy? They can bind murder or loose grace. Satan accuses us before the Throne of God. He wants our sins to mount up into a vicious cycle of retribution and more violence. But Jesus intercedes for us continually!
As Americans, we are injured. Now what will we do? I can come before God as an offended American, demanding my rights, demanding justice, wanting revenge. But is that the way of Christ? What is God's higher purpose right now? Should I accuse or intercede? I believe a higher purpose can be served if I come to God as an agent of Christ's kingdom. By God's grace, I can decide to represent the interests of Christ in my prayers, not just American interests.
We want the rampage of hate and murder by evil doers to be stopped by force if necessary. There is a time for war. But I believe the best revenge (if you can call it that) is for millions of Muslims to be saved and converted to faith in Christ Jesus. Radicals have cursed at us, but we turn and implore God for mercy and the blessing of salvation to be poured out on them.
We need to take the battle to the enemy in united prayer and in proclamation of the truth. First, pray for our President and his cabinet. There was intense spiritual war over his election, but by the prayers of the saints, the right man for the hour was put in office. Anytime God wants to dismantle the devil's works, He begins by forming a team committed to that task. The Bush administration is such a team, prepared for this day of conflict. God has fashioned a weapon in this adminstration. The Lord says, "Terror assaults have not come from Me, but if they attack you, they will fall because of you." (paraphrase, Isaiah 54:14-16).
Proclamation is also a weapon. We use the words of our mouth to inject into the atrmosphere the truth of God based on the Holy Bible, the truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, risen from the dead, the King of glory, our Savior. While Muslims chant their call to prayer five times a day, Christians must unashamedly declare their confession: "Jesus Christ is Lord!" Words spoken in faith empower spiritual beings to act, whether evil spirits or holy angels.
We declare Jesus Christ is Lord, not Muhammad. We declare Jesus purchased humanity by His blood and He alone has the right to rule the nations. We prophesy that the kingdom of God will fill the earth and the glory of Christ will be seen in the nations. We proclaim that there is no name higher than Jesus our Lord. Our words become a sword used by the Spirit of God.
May the death of thousands result in the salvation of millions. May God hear the travailing cry of His wounded people. May heaven hear and take action. May the flow of oil money be diverted away from mosques and terrorists and toward good people who promote the gospel. May the stronghold of Islamic dominion be broken off the billion people in the 10-40 window. May confusion, division, and conflict come into the enemy's camp. May the prophets come forth out of the deserts, may the apostles stand up and enter the cities, and may the powers of heaven be shaken by the eternal gospel of Jesus and His unshakeable kingdom.
My constant petition is, "For the 5,000 killed by terrorists in America on September 11, I ask the Lord to raise up 5,000 apostles like Paul from within the Muslim nation who will not fear death but preach the resurrected Christ to their own people."
The fact is, prayer-cells out-number terrorist cells. There are millions of house churches, home prayer meetings and Bible studies, and neighborhood prayer watches already in existence around the world. Let all true believers who love our Lord Jesus now unite in concerted prayer for the salvation of our world, for evil to be uncovered and judged, for Christ to rule in the midst of His enemies. In this prayer campaign, we will not relent, we will not falter, and we will not fail.
The cross of cross requires it.
Ron Wood
Johannesburg, South Africa
