gKingdoms

against the devil himself and thedemonic hosts he employs to har-rass the people of God. The otheris the struggle against our "enemywithin"-the "old man" (Romans6:6) or "carnal nature" (Romans7: 14ff) which Paul describes as the"enemy of God" (Romans 8:7).

For reasons which are notalways clear, it seems more respect-able (and therefore easier) to talkabout the struggle against the oldman or carnal nature, than it isto confront the devil or demonicspirits. The argument is often ad-vanced that we "shouldn't glorifythe devil" by talking about nastythings like Satan and demons-a..perha ps- if-we- ignore- h im- he 'll-go-away" kind of wishful thinking.

Apparently Jesus did not sharethat point of view. The very firstthing that happened to Him afterHe was baptized in water and inthe Holy Spirit (the double ex-perience which marked the begin-ning of His public ministry) wasthat He "was led by the Spirit intothe wilderness to be tempted of thedevil" (Matt. 4:1). The temptationin the wilderness was a very pri-vate and physically isolated experi-ence, with no one present except

more determined we are to serveGod, the more determined will bethe efforts of Satan to discourageand defeat us.

But whether the attacks againstus take the form of demonic har-rassment or the attempts of thecarnal nature to reassert itself, weshould not fear or lose heart. Eventhough we may temporarily fail ormay even lose a particular battle,God is neither shocked nor sur-prised. Nor does our failure alterfor an instant the constancy of Hislove. In addition, we can' rejoicethat the final outcome is never indoubt, for Satan's defeat is alreadyassured. \Vhat we are unable t~accomplish in our own strength,God has already done in the re-demption won for us on the cross.Therefore, God constantly reas-sures us, as He did Paul: "My graceis sufficient for thee" (2 Cor. 12:9).

Still, every fresh insight we canglean on how to wage a successfulwar is that much extra help. vVetrust this issue of New \Ville willprovide such help for many of you.

klA/~~Don Basham

Editor

Any Christian who makes adiligent effort to live .his life to theglory of God soon discovers thepainful truth that there is anadversary, an enemy the Biblerefers to as Satan, who is out tothwart those diligent efforts.Simply stated, the Christian lifecontains frequent periods of spir-itual conflict. One mark of thestressful times we live in is thefrequency and intensity of thosespiritual battles.

There are two major aspects ofthat warfare. One is our struggle

2

Jesus and Satan, yet Matthew andLuke both give lengthy, detailedaccounts of the episode. How didthey come bv such detailed infor-mation? Ob{,iously, the Lord toldthem. He wanted both them andus wise in the ways of warfareand familiar with 'the reality ofpersonal evil.

Neither was it coincidence thatJesus' experience of being filledwith the Holy Spirit was immedi-ately followed by forty davs oftemptation by the en~my.' Thetruth is, the better equipped and

\Ve apologize to PastoralRenewal for not acknowledgingthat Bob Mumford's article in ourMarch issue originally appeared inthe January 1980 issue of PastoralRenewal. Here is the informationwhich we inadvertently deleted:@ Pastoral Renewal 1980, P.O.Box 8617, Ann Arbor, Michigan48107. Reprinted by permission.This monthly publication is avail-able free of charge on request.

APRIL 1981

April 1981

This MonthVol. 13, No.4

other featuresEditorial 2The Lighter Side 12The Word 27Update 28Dear New Wine 35

4. Basics for PersonalVictoryby Don BashamCommonly askedquestions about spiritualwarfare.

8. The Enemy Withinby Dan WolfeSelf-love: one of the mostpowerful foes we have toface.

16. Standing Against theEnemyby Derek PrinceEquipping ourselves forthe inevitable battles wemust fight.

22. Binding the StrongManan interview withMahesh ChavdaConfronting and conquer-ing the powers ofdarkness

30. Assaulting the Gatesof Hellby Erik KruegerTaking the initiativeagainst the forces ofSatan.

....,Cover Photography by EwingGalloway, New York, N.Y.

magazine staffBOARD OF DIRECTORS

Charles Simpson. Chairman; Don Basham. Presi-dent and Editor; Derek PMnce. Vice President;Bob Mumford. Secretary; Ern Baxter. John Duke

Joseph Garllngton. Terry ParkerADMINISTRATOR

George P. Gundlach

MANAGING EDITORDick Leggatt

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTSBob Robinson. Nlta Steffanlc. Lisa O'Neal.

Cathy Girod. Curtis Forman

PRODUCTIONMark Pie'. Art Director;

Vada Craig. Production AssistantDATA AND MAIL PROCESSING

John B~er. ~e~NataJie Vaughan. Dot Bouldry. Selena Evans.

Kathy Coolbaugh. Jennifer BeebeeADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES

B11ITurk. Manager; Laura Basham. Joy Murray.Elsie Sparks

NEW WINE TAPE OF THE MONTHBrenda Ayres. Coordinator; Toni CurMe

SHIPPING AND RECEIVINGTim Leblanc. Manager

@ 1981 by Christian Growth M1nlstMes. AllMghta reserved. Nell' Wine [ISSN 0194-438Xj[USPS 382-520] Is publlshed monthly. except forcombined July/August Issue. by Christian GrowthM1nlstMes. P.O. Box Z. Mobile. Alabama 36616.Second-class postage paid at Mobile. AL and addi-tional mailing offices.

Whv did God create the devil?The Scriptures clearly indicate that God did not

create the devil. He created three archangels:Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer who, with all theirvarious ranks and suborders of heavenly beings,ruled the heavens. All these God created throughJesus Christ.

He [Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, thefirst-born of all creation; for in him all things werecreated. in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.whether thrones or dominions or principalities or author-ities-all things were created through him and for him(Co!. 1:15 RSY).

But the perfection of that initial divine order ofcreation was not destined to last. At some pointbefore man inhabited the earth, Lucifer (Light-bearer) rebelled against God, thus becoming Satan(Adversary). The brief, clear account of his rebellionand fall is recorded in the book of Isaiah.

"How you are fallen from heaven, 0 Day Star[Lucifer], son of Dawn! How you are cut down to theground, you who laid the nations low! You said in yourheart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God 1will set my throne on high; 1 will sit on the mount ofassembly in the far north; 1will ascend above the heightsof the clouds, 1 will make myself like the Most High.' Butyou are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of thePit. .. " (Isa. 14: 12-15 RSY).

The reason for Lucifer's rebellion and subsequentdownfall is clearly revealed as pride, for five times inthat brief passage, he exalts himself and his willagainst God and God's will, saying, "I will ...I will ......

Although neither' the Scriptures nor biblicalscholars seem to pinpoint the time of the rebellion,(some say before man was created, others say after-ward) Jesus Christ, who was with the Father in thebeginning (John 1:2) witnessed the fall. He remindsHis disciples of this when they return from a mis-

Don Basham holds B.A. andB.D. degrees from PhillipsUniversity and its graduateseminary in Enid, Oklahoma,and is an ordained minister ofthe Christian Church (Disci-ples of Christ). He is the Edi-tor of New Wine Magazineand an elder of Gulf CoastCovenant Church in Mobile,Alabama, where he and hiswife, Alice, reside.

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sion, jubilant over their success in casting outdemons in His name. "I saw Satan fall like lightningfrom heaven," Jesus said (Lu. 10:18 RSV).

Because of their rebellion, Satan and his angelswere cast out of heaven and consigned, not to hell.but to the earth and the atmosphere or "mid-heaven" surrounding it. From this vantage pointSatan rules his angels and demons, directing them intheir nefarious activities.

When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden ofEden, Satan was on hand, in the form of a serpent,to carryon his destructive work. The "serpent" isonly one of many names given him in the Bible. InRevelation 12:9 he is referred to as the dragon, theserpent, Satan and the devil.

Jesus preached, healed the sick,and cast out demons. He also com-missioned His disciples to carryonthese same ministries.

The Scriptures also tell us his ultimate fate:destruction.

And the devil ... was cast into the lake of fire andbrimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, andshall be tormented day and night for ever and ever (Rev.20: 10).

What is the deliverance ministry?Some healing evangelists use the term "deliver-

ance" to describe the total aspect of their work.Hence, their meetings may be advertised as "Deliv-erance Campaigns." Such a broad definition coversevangelism, healing the sick, and ministering thebaptism in the Holy Spirit, with only a minor em-phasis (if any) on actually casting out demons or evilspirits.

But the Scriptures make a much clearer distinc-tion in the ministries of Jesus. He preached, Hehealed the sick, and He cast out evil spirits. Healso commissioned His disciples to carryon thesesame ministries. He told them, "Go preach thegospel (the ministry of salvation), heal the sick (theministry of healing), and cast out demons (theministry of deliverance)."

We are using the term "deliverance," then, tospecify particularly the ministry of casting outdemons.

It is important to recognize, however, that thedeliverance ministry is a specialized one. It is ap-plicable only in those situations where the person'sparticular difficulty is caused by the activity of anevil spirit actually dwelling within his personality.Thus the deliverance ministry is to be used in addi-

5

tioll to. not ill place oj prayer for healing. crucifixionof the old nature. baptism in the Holy Spirit and allthe provisions available to the Christian in the nameof Jesus.

How can a Christian have a demon?This is one of the most frequently-\'oiced objec-

tions to the restoration of the deliverance ministry. Afull discussion of this question is contained in my bookentitled Call A Christiall Have A Dellloll? In addi-tion to the material found in that book let us add thisbrief discussion.

Often it is asked. "Where do the Scriptures say aChristian can have a demon?'" \Ve could as reason-ably ask the opposite question, "Where do they say aChristian cannot have a demon?'" There is no precisebiblical answer to either question. But the Scripturesdo make it clear the Christian is a prime target forsatanic attack and that our difficulties, whetherdemons. physical illness. or temptation to sin. arerooted in Satan's efforts to destroy us. This iswhy Paul reminds us we "wrestle not against fleshand blood" and why we are instructed to resist Satanand to cast out de'mons. Experience pro\'es Chris-tians can and do ha\'e demons just as they can ha\'eproblems with the carnal nature and with physicalillness.

One major objection to Christians havingdemons is based on the King James translation of theBible which describes persons tormented by evilspirits as "demon-possessed," a very unfortunaterendering of certain verses which is as emotionallyupsetting as it is inaccurate, In the manuscripts fromwhich our New Testament is translated there is aCreek verb which means "to be demoned" or"demonized," Unfortunately, the King James \'er-sion translates that word as "demon-possessed," Amuch more accurate rendering would be "afflicted"or "tormented."

A Christian can be "afflicted" without being"possessed." By the literal definition of the term"possessed," demon-possession is not possible for aChristian. Possession denotes ownership and e\'eryChristian is "owned" by Jesus Christ. Therefore, hecall1lot be owned by the de\'il or by a demon.

You're not really casting out demons-you'retrying to cast out the carnal nature.

In my book Deliver Us From Evil, I tell about Dr.Thompson (fictitious name), a prominent ministerwho raised the same objection. Like many others,Dr. Thompson had for years held an inadequateconcept of the extent of man's struggle against evil.With little or no understanding of the reality ofSatan and evil spirits he came to the conclusion thata Christian's inner struggles can stem ollly from hisrebellious carnal nature. As he said to me, "I ha\'e

6

counseled with thousands of people and not one ofthem. I can assure you. has been troubled by an evilspirit ,"

But many of us have learned that man's struggleagainst e\'il includes more than wrestling withthe old nature. It also includes wrestling against"persons without bodies, , ,against huge numbers ofwicked spirits in the spirit world" (Eph. 6: 12, LivingNew Testament). Therefore, in his earnest desire tolive a victorious Christian life, a person may befaced with a dual difficulty. Those problems origi-nating in his carnal nature or "old man" may beO\'ercome by prayer and self-discipline. The Biblerefers to this as "crucifixion."

We kno\\' that our old self was crucified with him(Jesus] so that the sinful body might be destroyed. and \\'emight no longer be enslaved to sin, , , , So you also mustconsider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in ChristJeSIlS, Let lIot sill therefore reigll ill yo II r mortalhodies, , ,(Horn, 6:6,11-12 HSV).

But what about those besetting sins-those com-pulsive appetites which stubbornly refuse to yield tocrucifixion-which resist prayer and all other spiri-tual disciplines? If we hold the simplistic theologywhich claims that such problems are merely furtherextensions of the struggle against the flesh, then allwe can advise is, "Try harder!"

Yet the same Paul who taught the necessity ofcrucifying the flesh also engaged in the ministry ofcasting out demons (see Acts 16:16-19) and warnedChristians against attack in the form of e\'il spirits(see Eph. 6: 11-12 and 1 Tim. 4: 1).

APRIL 1981

As I point out in my book, Call A Christiall HaveA DCIIIOIl:

Both the old self and evil spirits then, derive their lifeand inspiration from Satan. But since one is an actualpart of us and the other is something which has taken upits d\\'elling within us, it can be understood how themethod of dealing with the two sources of evil must beseparate and distinct. That evil which is a part of us, Le ..thc carnal nature, must-by prayer and disciplinc-bcput to death or crucificd, as Paul said, while that cvilwhich is not an intrinsic part of us, and which has simplytaken up rcsidence somewhere within us, must be cvictedor driven out: thus the need for the deliverance ministry.The remedy for OIle problem is /lot the remedy for theother, a/ld proper diag/losis ml/st precede proper treat-me/lt. A single diagnosis-that all our problems stemfrom the struggle against the carnal nature-is inadequateand in some cases leads to wrong treatment. You can'tcrucify or put to death a demon; you can only cast it out.

Many years ago while I was pastoring a church inWashington D.C. I became ill with what I thought was asevere cold. Listless, heavy in the chest, and aching in thejoints I stayed home and spent several hours a day in bed,taking aspirin and drinking fruit juice. But after mopingaround for several days I still was no better. Valiantlydeciding to ignore my symptoms, I went back to work.

By noon the first day out I was so weak I could scarce-ly make it back to the parsonage. I knew it was time tosee a doctor. Following his examination he said, "Nowonder you're dragging your feet all over your parish:you've got pneumonia," He gave me some liberal doses ofan antibiotic especially effective against the disease andin three days I was practically back to normal.

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I had diagnosed my symptoms as a cold and treatedmyself accordingly, But a cure was not effected until acorrect diagnosis was made and the correct remedy ap-plied. The same thing is true in our struggle againstSatan. Problems which ha\'e defied solution for manyyears may have been mistakenly diagnosed and improp-erly treated. If the problem is the carnal nature, itwill yield to prayer. but if it is caused by a demon,deliverance is required (p. 40-41).

How can a person tell if he needs deliverance?~Iost of our problems are Ilot demonic, but rather

weaknesses in our carnal nature which the Biblerefers to as "the flesh." Therefore, it is the betterpart of wisdom to assume, illitially, that any givenproblem we wrestle with is in the flesh and is not ademon. Such an approach is one safeguard againstbecoming preoccupied with the subject of demons.

Many people are burdened with problems be-cause they are undisciplined and immature andthose very qualities tend to make them seek quickand simple solutions to all their problems. For exam-ple, I have counseled many young couples who werehaving difficulties in their marriage and who feltthat either one or both of them needed deliverance.But the real problem was that neither one of themwas ready to face up to the responsibilities ofmarriage.

Dcliverance is no substitute for self-discipline.One of the frustrations attending this ministry is thatit can bring such dramatic and pronounced improve-ment when it is properly applied that there is a con-tinual tendency on the part of some Christians toseize it as the answer to everything.

But assuming there may be a need for deliverance,how can a person tell if that's really his problem?Two basic criteria suggest themselves: (1) Conditionswhich compel, shame, defile or torment a personusually prove to be demonic and, (2) conditionswhich consistently defy other spiritual disci-plines, such as prayer and fasting also indicate demontorment.

If you have opportunity to sit under the ministryof someone known to be competent in this field, thenas a kind of "spiritual check-up" you may want tosubmit to the ministry and see what happens.

Since I frequently teach on this subject, many peo-ple come with long lists of symptoms which makethem suspect they need deliverance, only to ex-perience nothing at all in the service. Others sittingnearby may receive dramatic help, while in spite ofall their symptoms, nothing happens to them.

Remember: Friday, April 3, is a na-tional day of prayer and fasting.

7

"What went wrong?'" they may ask. "I thought Ineeded deliyerancel" Perhaps they had not fulfilledthe conditions for receiYing it, and the demons,knowing their hold was secure, did not manifest theirpresence. But more often it means that those symp-toms were merelv evidences of weaknesses in the car-nal nature which must be dealt with by various otherspiritual disciplines.

Yet in all fairness I must add this: an equalnumber of fine Christians come to me saying, ''I'mnot aware of any demonic problem in my life, but Iwant nothing hindering me in my walk with Jesus'"

Then to their surprise and mine, when the deliver-ance ministry begins they may practically explode ontheir chairs, or fall to the floor in a convulsion or ex-perience some other equally dramatic reaction as thesovereign power of the Holy Spirit begins His work ofsetting them free.

Repeated examples of this kind, plus my own de-liverance from a number of evil spirits, leave me withthe impression that while most problems (includingmost of mine) are not demonic, most people (in-cluding me) may benefit from the deliverance mini-stry whether they are currently aware of it or not.

I've been delivered, my wife has been delivered,my five children have been delivered, and theirfamilies have been delivered. All of us, prior todeliverance, were living reasonably competent Chris-tian lives. But all of us are better off than we werebecause of God's additional grace extended in ourbehalf through this remarkable ministry.

If we leave Satan alone won't he leave us alone?This question stems from an unhealthy fear of

Satan and evil spirits. But pretending spiritual war-fare isn't real won't remove us from the battlefield.\Varfare is seldom pleasant, and, from Scripture aswell as from experience, we know casting out demonsis not a "polite" ministry. Abbreviated as they are,the scriptural stories of deliverance clearly reveal theugly and raucous nature of demons.

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And in the synagogue there was a man, which had aspirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loudvoice ... And lchen the devil had thrown him in the midst.he came out of him, and hurt him not (Lu. 4:33-35).

The de\.il is crafty. He will go to great lengths tokeep us from discovering the authority we have overhim in the name of Jesus. Yet his tactics are easily laidbare. First, he encourages disbelief in his existence.As long as we doubt Satan's reality he is free to carryout his evil seductions with little opposition. So tacticnumber one is, keep people in ignorance.

But once Christians accept his existence, Satan im-mediately launches a campaign of fear. He intimi-dates by manifesting himself in such ugly ways thatpeople often feel powerless against him. His tacticsare those of a bully who thunders, "Give in to me orI'll beat you up!" Therefore, we must remember wehave the power and protection of Jesus Christ. Jesussaid:

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents andscorpions, and over a1l the power of the enemy: andnothing sha1l by any means hurt you (Lu. 10: 19).

The Scripture also warns:

Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the devil,as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he maydevour: lchom resi~t stedfast in the faith ... (I Pet. 5:8-9).

But notice, it doesn't say Satan is a roaring lion,only that he makes a noise like one! And if we resisthim he has no legitimate hold over us.

If we leave Satan alone will he leave us alone?Hardly! The very nature of Satan drives him to stealand destroy, to dominate and control. At first glance,ignoring him may seem wise, but actually it's childishto believe the way out of difficulty is by pretending itdoesn't exist. Trouble doesn't go away by being ig-nored. History reveals that nations ignoring a dictatorwith ambitions usually end up under his dominion.

Besides, to ignore the treacherous works of Satanand evil spirits is to forget one of the ministries Jesuscommissioned us to perform: that of casting outdemons. In addition Jesus said, "I will build mychurch; and the gates of hell shall not prevail againstit" (Matt. 16:18). Notice, the Church is to storm thevery gates of hell! This clearly implies a militant at-tack against the forces of Satan. We are not to ignorethe enemy; we are to oppose him ....

For further help and information concerning the aspectof spiritual warfare discussed in this article, two otherbooks, Deliver Us from Evil and Can a Christian Have aDemon by Don Basham, are available. See the orderform on page 34.

APRIL 1981

When anyone starts to love self first, at thatpoint he is in rebellion against God.

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Dan Wolfe received his B.A. degree from Hunting-ton College. He furthered his studies at AsburyTheological Seminary where he was awarded theBachelor of Divinity degree. He has served as apastor in Harrison, Michigan and as a Bible teacherin West Africa at Sierra Leone Bible College. Hepresently serves as the presiding elder of AgapeChristian Fellowship in Kalamazoo, Michigan,where he and his wife, Janice, along with their threechildren, make their home.

the utmost heights of the sacredmountain.

I will ascend above the tops of theclouds; I will make myself like theMost High" (vss. 12-14).

How many times did Lucifer say,"I will"? Five times. Here we seethat the essence of sin, when it wasfirst revealed in the universe, wasself-love, manifested in the form ofrebellion against God. Man wasmade to love God, but instead hebegan to love self. When anyonestarts to love self first, at that pointhe is in rebellion against God.

A second passage of scripture inthe Old Testament, Genesis 11, isthe first example in the Bible of acorporate manifestation of self-love in the world.

Now the whole world had one lan-guage and a common speech. As menmoved eastward, they found a plainin Shinar and settled there.

They said to each other, "Come,let's make bricks and bake themthoroughly," They used brick insteadof stone, and tar instead of mortar.Then they said, "Come, let us buildourselves a city, with a tower thatreach~s to the heavens, so that wemay make a /lame for ourselves andnot be scattered over the face of thewhole earth (vss. 1-4, NIV).

What was their motivation? Tomake a name for themselves. TheLord's reaction to the men at Babelis an indication of how He feelsabout man's efforts to promotehimself through the power of self-love: "Come, let us go down andconfuse their language so they will

not understand each other" (vs. 7).He resisted and confounded the out-growth of their selfish motivation.

When I talk about self-love, Iam not talking about the properview a person has of himself as aman or a woman. 'Ve do need ahealth v view of our own individualworth'in God's sight. Rather thanwarning against that proper at-titude, I am warning against an in-ordinate love of self, for that self,apart from God, has nothing goodin it.

In 2 Timothy 3: 1-2, the ApostlePaul gives us a very sobering word

about unhealthy self-love.

But mark this: There will be ter-rible times in the last days. People willbe lovers of themselves ....

Paul, by the Holy Spirit, goes on tosay that the fulness of wickednesswill be manifested in people wholove themselves because their moti-vation is the same one Satan has:he loves himself. We see evidenceof Satan's nature in the rebellionthat hit the United States in the1960's, when Satan attempted tocapture an entire generation forhimself. Through self-love, he in-cited our youth to a super rebel-lion against the establishment andagainst the family. What hap-pened to them is an example of

how Satan tries to get controlover anvone and everyone.That gen~ration started out 'seem-ingly with noble intentions ofstraightening out our nation, butthen they began to do their ownthing. Before they knew it, Satanturned them inward to focus onthemselves, and they began to doanything and everything they hada mind to do. They went intodrugs; they went into sex, in-cluding perverted sex; they wentinto music that had a negativeinfluence upon their lives. Theytotally enveloped themselves in a

life-style that epitomized self-love.Beginning with what they feltwere good intentions, they quicklybecame bound up by the devilbecause of self-love.

The Fifth Column InsideThe self is like a "fifth column"

inside each of us, rising up todefeat us from within, even whenoutwardly we have good inten-tions. The excuse that "the devilmade me do it" is not always true.Actually, the devil allies himselfwith that fifth column in each ofus, and plays upon the self-lovethat he knows everybody haswithin.

The self talks to us all thetime-often in very subtle ways.For instance, it will say, "Thereason you are so successful is thatyou are a shrewd and clever per-son. You're a real great guy." Aswe are growing up, it says to us,"You're a good-looking guy," or"You're a beautiful girl, and youhave a nice personality, too," or"You've got brains-you've got itmade." Self starts to talk to us inall these ways. The problem isthat after a while, we start tobelieve what we hear. As we begin

APRIL 1981

to take hold of those thoughts, theself rises up within us to dictatewhat we should be doing.

Self-love also manifests itself inpeople in another way. When peo-ple say, ''I'm just a crummy per-son. I'm a total failure. Everythingthat I touch turns sour. I can't doanything right," that is self-love,too. What that person is really say-ing is, "I wish someone wouldcome over here, pat me on theback and tell me that really I'm notcrummy and not a failure and thatI'm not so bad." In both of thesemanifestations, self is after thekind of illegal recognition whichsays, "You are worth something."

Self-love makes us react irra-tionally and defensively, because itis so self-centered. It wants to beworshipped, not corrected. Itwants to be big and great, and ifanybody touches it, it cries out,"Why are you hurting me?"

Sometimes when, as a pastor, Ihave given correction to someone,this is the way the conversation hasgone:

"Oh, you think I am all bad.""No, I don't think you are all

bad. I just feel this is an area inyour life that God wants to change

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and adjust.""Oh, you think I can't do it.""No, I believe you can do it,

and I think God will help you.""Well, I guess I'm not worth

anything. ""You are worth something. It

is just that God wants to changeyou,"

''I'll guess I'll leave the church.""You don't have to leave. All

you need to do is see this area inyour life as something that Godwants to change."

When a person becomes totallylocked into self-love, he cannottake any correction without feelingabsolutely destroyed because self-love cries out when it is touched.

The Delusion Self-Love BringsSelf-love distorts our perception

of reality, convincing us thateveryone else is wrong. Often it soconfuses people that they cannotsee clearly what is taking place intheir own lives even to the extentthat they begin to believe that thevoice of self is really the voice ofGod speaking to them.

Some people become so de-luded by self-love that they evencontemplate taking their own

lives. Suicide, in fact, is theultimate extreme-the "nth"degree-of self-love. It is actuallythe end result of being totallylocked into self-love. When a per-son contemplates suicide, he is say-ing to the world, "See what youhave done? You are really going tobe sorry because I am going to takemy life."

This tendency toward suicideindicates to us that if a personsimply cannot shake himself freefrom the rule of self-love and dealwith it, it will destroy him in theend.

We see from this that self-loveis not a simple or light topic. It is avery serious matter. Jesus warnsthat self-love will destroy people inthe end. It will destroy their rela-tionships and it will destroy the lifeand vitality of the Church. We inthe Church and the Kingdom ofGod must realize that if self-love isnot dealt with, the Church has nofoundation to build on. Certainlyit cannot build on self. There is noway for the Body of Christ to cometogether or be what God wants itto be until self-love is reallyconquered.

Ten Signs of Self-LoveThere are ten signs of self-love

that I want to list and explain, sothat we will be able to readilyrecognize them. This list is farfrom being exhaustive, but theseare ten signs that I have noticedfrom my own experience that in-dicate the presence of self-love andthe need to submit ourselves toGod for help in this area.

1. Feeling unappreciated.Thoughts like, "No one likes me,""Nothing is working out right,""People don't appreciate what Iam doing for them," are all veryclear signs of self-love. If you everstart to talk like that or if you everhear others talking like that,recognize that it is the unhealthyinfluence of self-love.

2. Feeling misunderstood. Haveyou heard people constantly say-ing, "Nobody understands me."

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They didn't tell me about this kind of thing in war college.

That is not true. Most of the timethey are understood, and oftenthat is the whole problem. Somewives have said to me, "My hus-band just doesn't understand me,but I know that you will." Most ofthe time after hearing their situa-tion, I have replied, "Your hus-band understands you perfectly,and I see just what he sees. Goback and talk it over with him."

"No one understands it the wayI see it" is actually a statement ofself-love. The truth is that God hasarranged for people to understandus verv clearlv most of the time-wejust feel misunderstood becausethey don't agree with us.

It's true that there are manythings that we don't understand.But God has structured the familyand the Church to give us peoplewho can see us clearly and give usa word about ourselves when weneed it. Most of the time a hus-band can understand pretty clearlywhat is taking place in his wifebecause God has given him the

ability and the responsibility as herhead to do that. I know a numberof women whose husbands are un-believers, vet their husbands knowexactly h~w to understand andhelp them.

By the same token, God enablespastors to understand another per-son's situation and help him to seehimself verv clearlv. God has wavsto bring u~ to un"derstanding. Sowe need to avoid getting into a "noone understands me" syndrome.

3. Taking ourselves too seriously.Being touchy is one of the primeindications a person is taking him-self too seriously. I once said,"Good morning" to a parishoner inmy church, and he got mad at meand shouted back, "What's thematter with you?" (I guess it wasthe way that I said it.)

Self-love will often cause peo-ple to take themselves too seriouslyand be very touchy. If you saysomething about someone else'sdress, your wife may say, "'<\Thydon't you say something about my

1i nt~r~ide

by Mark Pie

dress?" Some of the men in our fel-lowship are not used to dressingup, because many of them cameout of the street culture. Once,when we had special guests com-ing, I asked them to dress up a bit,and I knew I had touched the self-love in them when I saw theirreactions: "Nobody is going to tellme what to wear and what not towear." It is amazing how touchythe self can be.

Some people take themselves soseriously that they can never enjoya joke on themselves or laugh atthemselves if something goeswrong. Other people take them-selves too seriously when they aregiven a promotion or a new re-sponsibility and they become ex-tremely officious and touchy.When people take themselves tooseriously, self-love pours out allover the place.

4. Being too introspective. SomeChristians, when faced with dif-ficulties, turn inward more thanthey turn to God. But God doesnot' want us to turn inward andbecome overly introspective: "Iwonder about myself. I wonder if Iam too much this way or that way.Should I trv to be different? Iwonder what the boss meant whenhe came by and made that remarkto me? What is he up to?"

Anyone who lives in that kindof introspection is in for trouble. Ifwe repeatedly turn inward insteadof turning in faith toward God, orif we spend all our time trying tofigure our lives out, we will con-sistently come up with the wronganswers; the self will see to that.We are not going to hear God. Butif we resist introversion and seekGod, His words will strengthen us,and in every case, they will be theopposite of self-love. God's wordwill never allow us to stay in self-love, and we must resist going in-ward into the murky, black waters

.of our self.5. Having difficulty in forgiving

and apologizing. This is anothervery obvious sign of self-love. Wecan be so focused on our own hurt

APRIL 1981

that we can't see that another canbe hurt as well. A person who iscentered on self-love will alwayswant people to say, ''I'm sorry" tohim, but will almost never say,''I'm sorry" to others. If a personhas a rough time saying, ''I'msorry," he is probably being in-fluenced by self-love.

Everyone needs to say that heis sorry sometime. All of us aregoing to make mistakes for whichwe will have to apologize. But theperson who is into self-love is onlyaware of the faults of other people.

compliments."I took a cake over to my neigh-

bor today," The person to whomyou tell this then feels obligated tosay, "Gee, that was really thought-ful of you. You are such a nice per-son." Basically, self-love compelsus to make others realize the goodthings we are doing because theself wants to be loved and wor-shipped. \Ve want everyone to tellus how wonderful we are. Now,God knows we need to be lovedand we need to hear compliments.But the way to get them is to serve

ty. If your nose is long, it is long. Ifyou have freckles, say, "God gaveme freckles." If one eye is blue andone eye is brown, accept it andthank God that He thought somuch of you as to give you varietyin your eyes. We must accept our-selves the way God made us andnot let self-love cause us to fan-tasize. Otherwise, we will befrustrated and unhappy and con-stantly put ourselves down becausewe don't look like someone elseor have his talents or hold hisposition .

13

9. Stinginess. Money is a prob-lem for people controlled by self-love. God wants all of us to be verygenerous. Proverbs 11: 25 says," ... he who waters [is generous]will himself be watered [receivegenerosity]." But the person who isin the grip of self-love will bestingy and tight with money.

I once went out to lunch with afriend and he paid for the lunch.When we started to leave, I said,"Do you want to leave the tip drshall I?"

He said, "No, I never leave atip; they are getting paid to serve."

I said, "Yes, they are gettingpaid to serve, but I'll tell you some-thing: God sees the attitude inyour heart." I decided right thenthat I needed to speak to theChurch about this matter. It is a

God, because approval comeswhen we serve God in the rightspirit. He always makes sure ofthat. But manipulation out ofself-love is an illegal way to getattention and approval.

8. Prideful fantasies. Another'sign of self-love is fantasizingabout ourselves. When things arenot as we would like them to be,we escape reality by having beau-tiful dreams about ourselves. Inour fantasies we see ourselvesdressed elegantly, or laying handson the sick so that they are instant-ly healed, or occupying some im-portant position with people hov-ering around us telling us howmuch they admire us.

Fantasy is an expression of self-love by which we deny reality, andthe antidote to it is to accept rea/i-

He never sees when he has steppedon another's toes, and even if hedoes, he will refuse to admit he hasdone anything wrong.

6. Fear. Another sign of self-loveis being fearful. When a person hasan inordinate love for his life orsomething in it, he is going to livelife as a very scared person. Fearcomes upon us when we think thatsome part of us is being takenaway. When your pastor advises,"God wants this completely out ofyour life," self-love will make yousay, "But then I will not be me. Iwill not be myself. It will destroypart of me," What we don't realizeis that God wants to give Himselfto us in place of what He is takingaway. What Jesus was saying was,"If you lose your life, I will giveyou My life in place of it. If you getrid of that self-love, I will give Mylove to fill the void."

7. Manipulation. Becomingmanipulative is another sign ofself-love. Persons caught in self-love become manipulators oftenwithout even realizing it. Becausethe self in us wants to be wor-shipped and loved, we manipulatereSponses from people. There arethousands of ways this takes place,but one of the main ways is by lit-tle hints and tidbits of informationthat we drop in order t<;>fish for

NEW WINE

. . . the person who is caught in the grip of self-lovewill be stingy and tight with money.

April Tape of the MonthFeatures Practical

Suggestions for Identifyingand Dealing with Self-love

Due to space limitations, we were unable to give the full benefitof Dan Wolfe's five hour seminar on self-love in a single article.

Because of this, we are making the final hour of Dan Wolfe'spresentation, "God's Way Out," available to our Tape of theMonth members as their April tape.

If you are not a Tape of the Month member and would like acopy of this helpful message, check the "special" Tape of theMonth box on the order form (page 34J enclosing $3.50 to coverthe cost of this special tape. This will automatically qualify you toreceive Tape of the Month each and every month. You will be billedat the time you receive each subsequent tape thereafter.

privilege to bless other people andwe should not be sparing when wegive to them. If we can be gener-ous with our money and bless theBody of Christ it will strike a realblow against self-love. When peo-ple are so an.xious about moneyand tight-fisted with it, they arebeing dominated by self-love.

10. Insisting on "my rights."Another sign of self-love is continu-ally saying, "I have my rights!"Many of us may not necessarily sayit, but we are living it. Our livessay, "I have my rights!"

This is a very delicate area. Insome situations, it is proper tostand up and say, "Hey, this is notright. Something is wrong." Butproblems can start when our rightsbecome a personal thing with usand we start to say, "Why didn't Iget that? Why didn't that turnout well for me?" It becomes aproblem when the self becomesdominant and causes us to demandcertain personal rights.

The End Result of Self-LoveTo conclude this discussion of

self-love, I want to refer to John13, which describes the end resultof self-love. Generally I havefound that unchecked self-loveeventually leads to a person beingcaught in a demonic grip. That ishow serious a problem s~lf-Iove is.In the end it locks in so tightly on aperson that he can hardly functionproperly and is unable to changewhat needs to be changed in hislife.

We see this in the story of Judasin John 13. After walking withJesus for three years, Judas finallycame to the point where he be-trayed Jesus. One great problem inhis life that caused him to fallaway was that he loved money. Askeeper of the money for Jesus' dis-ciples, it is likely that once in awhile, as Judas walked along, hewould quietly slip his hand intothe group's money bag he carriedand transfer some from their bagto his own bag. He loved money.

But what did Judas really love?

He actually loved himself, and itshowed up in his love for money.When the opportunity to betrayJesus came, he said, "I will doit for thirty pieces of silver," Canyou imagine that? After being withthe Lord for three years, he chosethirty pieces of silver over Jesus.

Scripture gives us insight intowhat took place in Judas to finallybring him to betray Jesus:

"I tell you the truth, one of you isgoing to betray me."

. . . Leaning back against Jesus, he[John] asked him, "Lord, who is it?"

Jesus answered, "I t is the one towhom I will give this piece of breadwhen I have dipped it in the dish,"Then dipping the piece of bread, hegave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon.As soon as Judas took the bread, Satanentered into him (John 13:21, 25-27).

Because self-love grippedJudas, the devil had a much easierjob in bringing him to betray Jesus.In the same light, if we allow self-love to become dominant in us,

Satan will oppress us and grip usand convince us that we are goingto have to go his way. The last daysof Judas' life are a bitter testimonyto the end result of self-love.

This last illustration is a chillingindication of the danger of self-love and where it is liable to endup. I realize that in dealing withthe topic of self-love in this articlethat our emphasis has been pri-marily diagnostic and negative,and I know the problem I havedescribed may sound to some like abottomless pit with no way out .But we need to realize that recog-nizing self-love in ourselves is thebeginning of the solution to it andhopefully this article has openedour eyes to areas where we aredominated by its influence. In theend, though, we must realize thatGod has provided us with the wayout through our faith in JesusChrist, and if we devote ourselvesto Him and call upon Him forhelp, He will enable us to conquerself-love and live victoriously forHim ....

14 APRIL 1981

In an age of imitations, duplications, andcounterfeits, it's nice to know that the ""calthing" is still available.

Timely, never before ,'eleased mC$Sagesat iJreasonable price. (Still only $3.50,)

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NtwWIne,Tape of the~()Ath

Standing Agthe

Enemyby Derek Prince

•

SOME YEARS AGO, a Cath-olic priest gave me a copy of theofficial Roman Catholic rite ofexorcism. The moment I began torea~ it, I realized that it hadbeen written by people who hadmuch more than mere theological

16

opinions-they had experience. Inthe introduction to that officialdocument, there was a statementthat was very significant, yet verysimple. "Evil is not so.mething, itis someone." If we ~grasp that

fact, we have made a real step ofprogress in our understanding ofspiritual warfare.

The Scriptures warn that everyChristian will be involved in adirect perso~al conflict with the

APRIL 1981

Derek Prince was educated as a scholar oj Greek andLatin in Great Britain at Eton College and at KingsCollege, Cambridge. His radio program "Todaywith Derek Prince" is aired across the U.S. ontwenty-eight radio stations. Derek and his wije,Ruth, spend a large portion oj the year living andministering in Israel.

devil. It will not be somethingabstract, or psychological, butrather a person to person confron-tation. We are going to meet thedevil in conflict. Paul warns ofone particular aspect of Satan'scharacter-he is wily and cun-ning. In light of that warning,Paul exhorts us to prepare andequip ourselves for that inevitableconfrontation.

I would like to paraphrase verse12 of Ephesians 6 in the followingway:

For our wrestling match is notwith persons with bodies, but againstrulership and the realms of theirauthority, against the world domina-tors of the present darkness, againstspiritual forces of wickedness in theheavenlies.

We are in conflict with a veryorganized, centrally governed, in-visible spiritual kingdom; the king-dom of Satan. Contrary to manypeople's opinion, Satan is not con-fined in hell or Hades nor does hereside on the surface of the earth.His place of residence or head-quarters is the heavenlies. Therehe rules over a band of rebelliousangels who assume the role of prin-cipalities to influence the earth forevil. In the lower echelon of hiskingdom on earth, Satan controlscountless mvriads of demons orevil spirits. Under Satan there arealso sub-rulers with delegatedareas of authority on earth overempires, kingdoms, states, com-munities and cities, to promotebreakdowns in the order of thehuman race.

In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 we readthat God has given us weapons

that are appropriate for warfare.They are not carnal, but spiritual,"mighty through God for pullingdown strongholds." Verse five ofthat chapter reveals that the bat-tlefield is the human mind. Thekey words in that verse are "im-aginations, reasoning, specula-tions, thought and knowledge," allof which deal with the realm of themind.

In other words, we are involvedin a tremendous battle against un-seen forces which are seeking todominate the human race. Our re-sponsibility as God's people is toliberate the minds of men fromSatan's dominion and bring theminto captivity to the obedience ofChrist. I believe Christians are themost significant people in the earthbecause we alone have the weap-ons needed to do the job. That factmakes us more significant and in-fluential than political rulers,military commanders, scientists orother such people who may be veryeffective in their particular realmbut they do not have the spiritualtools or equipment to do the job.We alone are equipped.

Our Protective ArmorIn this article we are going to

examine the protective armor ofthe Christian, and then go on todiscuss our weapons of aggression.I have seen by experience how veryright Paul was in warning us firstto protect ourselves, because toooften people committed them-selves to some serious prayer on-slaught against Satan, and becamemental, spiritual or physical casu-alties because they did not first puton protective armor. Before webecome involved in some far-

reaching spiritual conflict or ambi-tious program to storm the citadelsof hell, we must be very sure thatwe have our armor on.

To explain our protective ar-mor, Paul uses the picture of thestandard equipment of the Romanlegionnaire of his day. Verses 13through 17 of Ephesians 6 mentionsix pieces of equipment, and wewill examine the particular natureand function of each piece.

Wherefore take unto you thewhole armor of God that you may beable to withstand in the evil day, andhaving done all, to stand. Standtherefore, having your loins girt aboutwith truth, and having on the breast-plate of righteousness; And your feetshod with the preparation of the gos-pel of peace; Above all, taking theshield of faith, wherewith ye shall beable to quench all the fiery darts ofthe wicked. And take the helmet ofsalvation. and the sword of the Spirit.which is the word of God.

The Girdle. Verse 14 gives usthe first piece of equipment: thegirdle oj truth. In Paul's day mendid not wear trousers, but ratherclothing that was loose and oftenquite long. If a man was going todo anything that demanded free,active movement, he first had toget his long, loose clothing out ofhis way. He did this by what theBible calls "girding up his loins,"lifting his clothing and fastening itaround his loins with a girdle sothat his legs from the knees down-ward were free to move. So logi-cally, his first step was to put onthe girdle.

The girdle in its spiritual appli-cation is truth. Certainly, thisrefers to the truth of God's word,but I think it has a more basic ap-plication. Truth means being hon-est and real, putting away all thefancy professions and insinceritieswith which most religious peopleare cluttered, and I use the cate-gory of "religious people" deliber-ately. Jesus often warned of theleaven of the Pharisees which is

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hypocrisy. The word hypocrite hasa very specific meaning. Basically,it is the Greek word for actor. Inancient Greece, when the actorappeared on the stage, he wore astylized mask which indicatedw'hat kind of person he was sup-posed to be. The actor never ap-peared as his real self, but alwayswith a mask, speaking lines whichfit the character he was playing.To me, this is exactly like the relig-ious world. In that world, a personchooses his mask which basicallydetermines how he is going to act.When we put our mask on, we areno longer ourselves. Instead, weact the way our mask dictates. Fre-quently there is little of the realperson there at all.

Have you noticed how somepeople use a special tone of voicewhen they pray or speak about theLord? Or how most people changetheir demeanor when they walkinside a church? They put on themask and wear it faithfully untilthey step outside of the churchagain. Very rarely are religiouspeople their real selves. What Paulmeans by "the girdle of truth" is,"Be real. Tell it like it is. Call aspade a spade and not an agricul-tural implement. Call a lie, a lie.Call lust, lust and hatred, hatred."Unless we gird ourselves with thetruth, every time we try to moveahead, we will trip over our gar-ment. So the first piece of protec-tive armor is the girdle of truth. Bereal.

The Breastplate. The secondpiece of equipment, also in verse14, is the breastplate of righteous-ness. What particular organ of thebody does the breast contain? Theheart. So the breastplate dealswith the protection of the heart.Above everything, we need to pro-tect the heart. In Proverbs 4:23,we read: "Keep thy heart with alldiligence; for out of it are the issuesof life."

When I was a missionary teach-ing in Kenya, East Africa, I hap-pened to see that verse hanging onthe wall of a student's dormitory.

18

It was in an African dialect andjust seeing it in another languagearrested my attention. In literalEnglish, the translation of theverse in that dialect was: "Guardyour heart with all your strength,for all the things there are in lifecome out of it." So vivid was thattranslation that I have neverforgotten it. What we have in ourhearts will determine the course ofour lives. If our hearts are filledwith bitterness, unbelief and fear,we will go in the wrong direction.But if our hearts are filled withfaith, peace and love, our lives willtake the right course. \Ve mustguard our hearts with all ourstrength. That's why Paul urgesus to put on the breastplate ofrigh teousness.

Bear in mind that righteousnessis a condition of the heart, not of

the head. A parallel passage, 1Thessalonians 5:8, says this:

But let us, who are of the day, besober, putting on the breastplate offaith and love ....

In Ephesians 6 the breastplate isrighteousness, but in this verse it isfaith and love. That is not an in-consistency in Scripture, butrather an explanation of what NewTestament righteousness is: it isfaith which works by love. Thebasic righteousness of the New

Testament is faith working by loveand it is a condition of the heart.

One other scripture, Romans10: 10, gives us further insight:"Forwith the heart man believeth untorighteousness." There is a dif-ference between believing with thehead and believing with the heart.Believing only with the head usu-ally leaves a person unchanged intheir behavior. But when webelieve with the heart it changesthe way we live. The breastplate ofrighteousness, then, is faith in theheart working by love.

I am trying more and more tomake sure that what I am doing Iam doing in love. Otherwise, it iswrong. ""hen we react to peopleby getting upset and angry, even ifwe are right, it is not going to pro-duce the right results. We need toguard our hearts to make sure that

our basic motive is always faithworking by love.

The Shoes. The third item ofspiritual equipment is identifiedin verse 15: "Your feet shod withthe preparation of the gospel ofpeace," and it is shoes or boots.The Roman legionnaires had bootswhich were bound around the calfwith leather thongs and they werefamous for the long distances theycould march wearing these boots.

This is vivid to me because Iserved in World War II as a soldierwith the British in the North Afri-

APRIL 1981

... the Christian life is a hard hat area. Ourminds need to be continually protected by thehelmet of hope.

can campaign for about two years.\Vhen we were near the enemy atnight, we were ordered to sleepwith our boots on, because if therewere an alarm in the middle of thenight and we had to feel aroundfor our boots to put them on, valu-able time would be lost. I recallthat regulation every time I thinkabout this passage. To be mobileand ready, you have to be sure thatyour feet are protected. In his ad-monition to have " ... your feetshod with the preparation of thegospel of peace," Paul is sayingthat this has to be done in advance.What exactly does he mean bythat? I believe it means two things.First of all, to communicate thegospel requires advance prepara-tion. We must be acquainted withthe basic facts of the gospel inScripture. Many people who are"born again" members of churchesare totally incapable of communi-cating the gospel of salvation toanother person, even though it isnot very difficult. Preparationmeans that Christians should beequipped' beforehand to presenttheir faith to others and to explainthe basic truths of. the gospel.

Another requirement indicatedby the phrase "the gospel of peace"

is that if we are going to talk abouthaving peace with God, we musthave peace ourselves. In otherwords, we can be peace-transmit-ters. I believe that even though theunconverted may not understandour theology, they can understandour spirit when we speak to them.I am learning more and more thatwe impart what we are ratherthan what we say. It would beconvenient if we could say it andnot have to live it, but that doesn'twork. The "shoes of the prepara-tion of the gospel of peace" entails

NEW WINE

intellectual preparation to explainwhat the gospel means and spiri-tual preparation to be at peace inourselves.

The Shield. Verse 16 givesus the fourth piece of protectivearmor-the shield.

Above all, taking the shield of faith,wherewith ye shall be able to quenchall the fiery darts of the wicked.

In the Roman legions, there weretwo kinds of shields: a small roundshield and a long oval shield. Theone referred to here is the long ovalshield, which was designed to pro-tect every part of you from arrowsand other missiles. Thus, the kindof faith Paul talks about here pro-tects us totally. When we begin totake the offensive in challengingSatan, he is going to fight back,not only on a personal level, butalso against our home, our family,our business and many other areasof our lives. Therefore, we need ashield of faith large enough tocover ourselves, our family, ourbusiness and everything else thatneeds to be covered. Since faithcomes by hearing and hearingfrom the word of God, to appro-priate God's shield of total protec-

tion, we must spend time in God'sWord.

Almost every minister wouldtestify to the fact that the more heis used by God, the more Satansteps up pressure on his family,and many a minister has been dis-qualified from the ministry by thepressures that Satan has broughtagainst his home. That is why Paulurges us to take up the shield offaith, the overall protection thatGod makes available through Hisword that will protect every areaof our lives. But as Paul empha-

sizes, we have to take up thatshield-it doesn't drop into ourhands. We have to lay hold uponour faith, grasp it firmly and holdit securely.

The Helmet. The next item ofequipment is the helmet of salva-tion. What part of the body doesthe helmet protect? The head. Andwhat does the head represent? Themind or the thought life. God hasprovided specific protection forour minds and our thought life. Inmy many years of ministry, I haveseen a great number of dedicatedservants of the Lord incapacitatedbecause they were wounded in thehead. They did not know how toprotect their minds. Satan willbesiege our minds with such thingsas mistrust, which is one of hismost common weapons. \Ve beginto mistrust our wife, husband,fellow Christians or our minister.

Other weapons Satan uses onour minds are suspicion, fear,doubt and depression. I would es-timate that one out of five Chris-tian workers have a problem withdepression. I speak out of ex-perience in this area because afterI had been saved, baptized in theSpirit and called into the ministryas a full-time pastor, I had a persis-tent problem with depression. Inspite of the many successful resultsI saw in my pastoral work, I bat-tled a tremendous personal pres-sure of depression. I would feel itcoming over me like a grey cloud,enveloping me and seemingly shut-ting me off from my family andothers. I tried every scripturalrecommendation I knew to dealwith depression, reckoning "theold man" dead until there was justno more reckoning left.

Then one day as I read Isaiah61 :3, I noticed this phrase: "thegarment of praise for the spiritof heaviness." When I read thephrase, "the spirit of heaviness," itwas as if the Holy Spirit were say-ing to me, "That's your problem!It is not you or your mind-it is aspirit that is after you, and he hasbeen after you since your

19

childhood." When I saw the realidentity of my enemy and realizedthat the evil was not something,but some'one, I was eighty percenton the way to victory. To completethe picture, I only needed Joel2:32: "It shall come to pass thatwhosoever shall call upon thename of the Lord shall bedelivered." I very simply, almostnaively, claimed those two scrip-

1 Thessalonians 5:8, "Let us whoare of the day be sober, puttingon ... for a helmet the hope of sal-vation." When I read that the hel-met was hope it went rightthrough me, and God showed methat I needed to cultivatehope-that confident expectationof that which is good. The protec-tion for the mind is hope.

Someone has said that every

sword of the Spirit, which is theword of God." This piece of equip-ment is the first one which takes usout of the purely defensive realminto an aggressive or offensiveposture. A sword can be used ag-gressively against our enemy, mov-ing us beyond the defensive to theaggressive. This passage tells usthat the sword of the Spirit is theword of God. In Greek, there are

two words for "word," One islogos, which means counsel,reason, or assess the truth. Theother is rhema, which Paul useshere, which specifically means aword that is spoken. So the swordof the Spirit is the word when youspeak it, and if you don't speak it,then you don't have a sword. Aperfect example of this truth iswhat Jesus did when He was con-fronted by the devil in the wilder-ness. He met each of the devil'stemptations by saying, "It is writ-ten." We must do the same. Wemust know the Word of God, rath-er than simply leaving His Wordresting on the bedside table atnight. I[ we speak the 'Nord like asharp two-edged sword then wewill be able to keep the devil offour toes.

In conclusion, let us just quick-ly enumerate the six items ofequipment: the girdle of truth, thebreastplate of righteousness, theshoes of the preparation of thegospel, the shield of faith, thehelmet of hope, and the sword,which is the'spoken word of God.I[ we arm ourselves with this totalarsenal of spiritual equipment andweaponry, we will be able to suc-cessfully stand against the cunningassaults of the devil, and emergevictorious in the spiritual conflictto which each of us as a child ofGod is called ....

e used aggressively againstmy, moving us beyond theefensive to the aggressive.

person is born either a pessimist oran optimist. I know that not onlywas I born a pessimist, but I wascarefully trained to be pessimisticby my family. I deeply love andrespect my parents, but they be-lieved that if you were not worry-ing, you ought to be worryingabout why you were not worrying.So I realized that I had to re-educate my mind, because to be apessimist was a denial of my faith,for Scripture promised me that if Iloved God and walked in His call-ing and purpose, everything thatwould happen to me would worktogether for my good, leaving nological room for pessimism. I suc-ceeded in re-educating myself-Iput on the helmet of hope. All of usare familiar with the warning onconstruction sites that certain areasare "hard hat areas." Well, theChristian life is a hard hat area.Our minds need to be continuallyprotected by the helmet of hope.

The Sword. The last piece ofspiritual equipment is " ... the

tures and said, "Lord, You haveshown me that I have a spirit ofheaviness and I claim Your prom-ise now that whosoever shall callupon the name of the Lord shall bedelivered. In the name of the LordJesus Christ, I am asking You todeliver me from this spirit ofheaviness." And I was delivered.

But after I was delivered, Godshowed me that while He haddone the delivering, it was my re-sponsibility to re-educate mymind. Before I had been deliveredI wasn't able to do it, but after Iwas set free from depression Icould do it and I realized that Godwould not do it for me. Re-educa-ting my own mind and cultivatingthought patterns was a matter ofpersonal discipline, and the pro-cess did not take place instantly.But while I was struggling withthis problem, realizing that mymain weakness was in my mind, Iread Ephesians 6:17: "And takethe helmet of salvation .... " MyBible had a cross reference in it to

20 APRIL 1981

oo-c~ve;riSthe cunning devic6!sSGItelnus-esto bombard Qur mi~with accusations againsto1:drselve'S;other Christians, an€!even GAGa.

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The first section of THEUNSEENWAR outlines a battleplan for taking the ofIensivethrough prayer, moving us from adefensive to an offensive posturein confrontations with Satan andhis co-workers.

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. Then, exposing the mostsubtle of Satan's plots, the finalsection of THE UNSEENWAR

an interoiew uithMahesh Chavda

NW: .'fallesll. tv/wt Icas your first introduction to.'ipiritllalllxlrfare?Me: For many people, that term "spiritual warfarc"seems pretty nebulous, with little or no practical ap-plication. But from God's point of view, it is thor-oughly practical: if you arc going to takc a territory,you must confront and conquer thc othcr forccs oc-cupying that territory.

Some years ago, before I was baptized in thc Ho-ly Spirit, I was attending graduate school and work-ing part time as night manager of a restaurant inLubbock, Texas. I hircd a young man, the son of therestaurant's cook, because the whole family "'as infinancial trouble and I wanted to help them. Fromhis first day on the job, I noticed that this young manwas acting strangely. Often, during his work as a busboy, he would suddenly stop what he was doingand go into a trance that would last for several

22

moments. The tranccs cventuallv became so severethat he would collapse completely. Onc day I sawthat unmistakable glazed look come into his eyeswhile he was holding a large tray of glasses, so I tookthe tray from him and led him into a storage roomwhcre his trance wouldn't cause a disturbance.

I had left him momentarily to care for some othermattcrs when suddenly I heard a scream from one ofthe waitresses. As I turned around I saw huge flamescoming from the storage room. I ran over there to

BindingtheStrongMan

find that the young man had lit an entire box ofmatches. trying to make a big bonfire in the closet.He was still in a trance and was repeating. "1 mustmake a sacrifice: I must make a sacrifice to Satan." Icalled one of the other cooks. a \'ery large man. tocome put the fire out and help me restrain thisyoung man. But both of us trying together could notcontrol him. It was as if he had the strength of thir-teen men. \Ve asked two other people who were hisfriends to help hold him down. but even with theirhelp we could not budge him. He kept calling uponSatan. and when another voice spoke from his lips.cackling and saying. "Did you think you could resistSatan?" the people helping me fled in fear.

I thought. "\VeiL since he is calling upon hislord. I will call upon my Lord." I knew nothingabout spiritual warfare at that time, but I put myhand on that young man's head and said quietly,"Jesus, bless him." I had hardly spoken the wordswhen that young man screamed out loud saying,"Take the cross from my hair! Ifs burning me!" Idid not have a cross, of course, but had simply laidmy hand upon him. Slowly he descended into a chairas if all the unnatural strength in him melted away.I, too, felt totally drained of all energy as the youngman's father and some friends led the boy to a carand started home with him. I learncd latcr that onthe way home he again had gone bcrscrk. and his fa-ther had driven him to the police station for help incontrolling him. It took eight strong, Texas police-men and three other men to calm him down and puthim into a cell. We found out later that the youngman was part of a group involved in Satan-worship.

This was my first encounter with somcone undersatanic influence, and it taught me how very realspiritual warfare is. That experience was a dcmon-stration of Pau!"s words in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4,"For though we walk in flesh. we do not war ac-cording to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfareare not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for thedestruction of fortresses."

N\"': Do YOIl thiuk the ,"piritlwl Icarfare Ice are eu-cOlluteriug is iu direct proportiou to God~" iucreasedacti,.;ty iu the earth? lu other Iconk is the .""per-uatllral progress iu the realm of the Iloly Spirit lJeiugoppo."ed lJy sllperuatllral pOlcers iu the satauic realm?

Mahesh Chavda was bom of Hindu parents inKenya, Africa. He came to the United States and at-tended Wayland Baptist College in 1968, afterwhich he furthered his studies at Texas Tech Univer-sity. He has ministered across the United States andin France, England and Ireland. Mahesh, his wife,Bonnie, and their son Ben live in Ft. Lauderdale,Florida where he serves as an elder at Good NewsFellowship.

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MC: Definitely. When ~Ioses went to deliver theword of the Lord to Pharaoh concerning the chil-dren of IsraeL there were magicians in the court.J annes and Jambres, who had supernatural powers.And when ~Ioses threw his rod down and it turnedinto a snake. those men did the same. The onh' dif-ference was that ~Ioses' snake ate up their s~akesand ~Ioses went home with a fatter rod. The magi-cians. who were under satanic influence. were ableto match the miracles that ~Ioses performed up to apoint. But when Moses turned the dust into lice. themagicians turned to Pharaoh and said, "\Ve cannot

We can be confident that God willconfirm the word He has given us toproclaim to the nations.do this: this is the work of coel."

Likewise. today as we bring the word of the Lordto the nations, we will be confronted by 20th cen-tury Jannes and Jambres. But we can withstandthem with the power of Cod if we will persevere.\Ve do not need to be afraid of them, or uncertain ofcod's supernatural power working in us. \Ve can beconfident that Cod will confirm the word He hasgiven us to proclaim to the nations.

As the Holy Spirit is being poured out in the lastdays. the enemy will pour out his demonic powers inthe fullest possible measure because he knows histime is about up. The Scriptures say that when theenemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lordlifts lip the banner. We will find that enemy forceswill always be where the work of the Lord is, and inthe last days they are going to be present in greatmeasure.

NW: Wheu some Christiaus read Ie/wt the Bible say ...alJollt pO/ca ...ami priucipalities. they fiud it hard toapply iu reali."tic term .... 'fhey thiuk of the heaeelllyrealm a havillg uo iujlueuce ou the earth. Could YOIldi."cu." ome examples of those pO/cer...aud priucipal-ities taugibly ,cielcliug power a/l(l iujllleuce iu ollrsociety?MC: Satan is a great strategist when it comes tospiritual warfare. In fact. the Church has often beenfighting him at a great disadvantage. First. bccauseit doesn't know how to use the weapons Cod hasprovided, and secondly, because it doesn't knowhow Satan works.

Satan has placed certain delegated angels overcertain geographical areas and over certain kinds ofactivities such as pornography. abortion, and nu-merous other areas. New 'Vine once referred to a \'i-sion in which a certain area of Nevada was seen tobe under a spirit of divorce, and in New Orleans a

23

spirit of witchcraft hung oyer the city. There aredelegated rulers over certain areas who exercise aninfluence which is yery noticeable.

Fortunately, God has given the Church the au-thority to fight against these powers. I believe thattoday God is revealing just how dependent we areon one another, and that only as Christians becomeunited will we be able to confront and defeat thesepowers. Even the devil knows that a kingdom di-vided against itself will fall, but it has taken theChurch centuries to realize this truth. The moreelders and pastors in cities and states can gettogether to intercede, pray and take authority overSatan's efforts, the more we will see these darkpowers yield and withdraw from their appointedareas.

I believe in this decade we are to proclaim thegospel to all nations, bringing the Kingdom to everyterritorv of the world. But we won't take those ter-ritories' without first battling and conquering theprincipalities and powers of darkness that currentlyrule those areas- "binding the strong man" as it saysin Scripture. To accomplish that, men of God inevery nation, state and city need to unite in prayerand intercession against these powers. There is valuein individual intercession, but in these last days theHoly Spirit is urgently requiring us to be united inour intercession. Men of God who are under properauthority, when united in prayer with other elders,have a much greater chance of success in pullingdown Satan's strongholds.

NW: So you would say that the reason why there seemto be blockades to an increa~e of the go.~pel in certainareas is because Christians have not come together andprayed in unity, binding the principalities over thatarea?MC: That's right. In the ministry God has given me,I have had the opportunity to travel across the coun-try and speak with the elders of various cities, andthe main word that God has given me to minister tothem is, "Become one in Christ. Face the reality ofyour dependence on one another, and with the restof the Body." It is very important that every Chris-tian realize the urgency of the hour and the need toconfront the enemy as a united people, instead of ex-pending our energy bickering and fighting with eachother. Unfortunately, instead of uniting against theadversary, our tendency has been to turn on oneanother. This only furthers the enemy's purpose.

NW: You mentioned cities over which there arespecific, satanic principalities that are diametricallyopposed to the purposes of God. We know that the.~evary for each setting. but are there some generalenemies that you feel face the people of God a~ awhole?

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MC: In the '80s I believe there will be several majorenemies that we will be confronting. One, whichNew \Vine has already written about, is the powerof humanism. This includes communism, which ishumanism taken to an extreme. Another power isthe power of witchcraft, or of Jezebel, and I will dis-cuss this in further detail later . A third power is thepower of anti-christ, one expression of which is thereligion of Islam. The entire Middle East area hasbeen under the powerful influence of Islam for cen-turies, an influence Christians have not recognizedas the supernatural power it is. Of course, when Italk about the power of Islam, I am not talkingabout people or races, but about the spiritual forcethat exists in the heavenlies and that manifests itselfin the form of the Islamic religion.

Just one example of the tremendous evil potentialof this power is that once a year, every Moslem ob-serves the fast of Ramadan. From sun-up to sun-down for an entire month they will not eat any-thing, and the extremely devout Moslems will noteven drink water. In fact, some of the religiousleaders will not even swallow their saliva during thefast. Imagine what entire nations, such as Iran,Libya and Iraq, can accomplish by fasting for an en-tire month as a nation. Fasting is a universal spiri-

tual principal; it will release a tremendous amountof power, whether it be from God or from Satan.

This is the powerful force that has been opposingChristianity over the centuries. The number of con-versions to Christianitv in Moslem countries hasnever been more than ~ handful, and I believe thereason is because the spiritual force of Islam has notbeen confronted in the right way.

APRIL 1981

A fourth power that I believe we are confrontingis one which is gaining strength and momentum-thepower or principality that causes people to considerdeath as a solution to social problems. This includesabortion and euthanasia. I believe that the power ofhumanism and the power of witchcraft, or of Jeze-bel, both strengthen this other power, especially inthe case of abortion. Like the idol Molech, to whominfants were sacrificed bv the Canaanites, the morethis spiritual power is fed, the more power it has toconfuse and pervert ethics and promote its poisonousideals in a nation.

N\V: Could you git-e a brief comparison of the Icor-ship of Molech to the practice of abortion?MC: In the history of Israel, when the Israelites re-belled and turned to idolatry, we read that therewas a great increase in infant sacrifices to the godMolech and others (see Lev. 18:21). And what isabortion but the sacrifice of innocent unbornchildren?

NW: Could you explain more about the cmmectionyou mentioned between abortion and the ,..pirit ofJe;:,ebel?MC: Yes. Another power which was present inBiblical times, and which I believe strongly pro-motes the power of abortion, is the spirit of Jezebel.The major way this power operates is by confusingthe proper roles of men and women. This spirit wasat work wav back in the Garden of Eden whenAdam abdic~ted his role as the head, and Eve madethe decision about the fruit instead of Adam.

Basically, the power of witchcraft or Jezebel oc-curs when the male abdicates authority and thefemale usurps it. This does not necessarily mean thespirit of Jezebel emanates from women only. Inreality, it represents the abuse of authority byanyone, or any manipulation or domination or anyattempt to take authority by illegal means or tofunction in a realm of authority that God did notdelegate.

God knew that in standing againstthe power of Jezebel, Elijah neededto be supported by other men of God.

The greatest danger about this power is how itaffects men of God, as illustrated by the story of Eli-jah and Jezebel. Elijah boldly confronted 450 hostileprophets of Baal, laughed in their faces, humiliatedthem in their failure to convince their god to burntheir sacrifice, and then had them all killed. Butwhen he heard that one woman, Jezebel, was out tokill him, Elijah, the mighty man of God, was ter-

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, .. and in conclusion, church, I believe that we need tomodify our stand on spiritual warfare to one less literal.

rified and fled for his life. He ran into the desert,where he finally collapsed under a juniper tree andbegged God to let him die. I have ministered to menof God who have encountered the spirit of Jezebeland what they have gone through is often just likewhat Elijah experienced. They run; they contem-plate suicide; they believe their lives are worthless toGod and the rest of the Church.

Another aspect is the loneliness and isolation aman of God feels when the power of witch raft at-tacks him, as illustrated by Elijah's lament to God in1 Kings 19: 10: "I alone am left, , , , " Although it wasa lie from the devil, even that mighty prophet ofGod felt totally alone.

But God told Elijah he wasn't alone and thatthere were 7000 in Israel who had not bowed theirknee to Baal. God then instructed the prophet toanoint Hazael king over Aram; Jehu king over Israel;and Elisha as prophet in his place. "And the onewho escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put todeath, and the one who escapes from the sword ofJehu, Elisha shall put to death" (19:17). God knewthat in standing against the power of Jezebel, Elijahneeded to be supported by other men of God, andthat this was no time to go it alone.

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A final insight into the power of the spirit ofJezebel is found in 1 Kings chapter 21, when KingAhab, Jezebel's husband, was thwarted in his at-tempt to obtain the vineyard of Naboth that hecoveted. The Bible tells us that Ahab came home toJezebel acting like a little boy, throwing himself onhis bed, turning his face to the wall and refusing toeat. When Jezebel asked her pouting husband whyhe was so sullen, Ahab told her that Naboth hadrefused to sell his vineyard to him. To that Jezebelreplied, "Don't worry, I will get the vineyard ofNaboth for you:' And by cunning and deceit, Jeze-bel arranged to have Naboth killed by writing theelders of Naboth's city, and instructing them toframe Naboth and stone him for a crime he didn'tcommit. Thus even the elders gave into the power ofJezebel, and an innocent man died as a result. Ibelieve many innocent men have died, both physi-cally and spiritually, because the elders of theirchurch or city did not discern and bind the spirit ofJezebel, but were rather caught up in it and used byit.

The spirit of Jezebel is very real, and men of Godcannot take it lightly. If they think they can humorit or ignore it, they are in for quite a shock. It willviolently oppose and attempt to destroy true men ofGod who are functioning as they should.

NW: So the power of Je::;e/)el.or witchcraft. is unlikeother principalities in that it aim ..,at men of God ratherthan just at the gelleral Jlublic?MC: That's right. I would say that it is one of themajor weapons that Satan is using to attack men ofGod today. But it can be defeated if confronted pro-

26

perly. The story of Jezebel's demise gives us some in-sight on this. After Ahab had been killed and Elijahhad been caught up into heaven, Jehu, whom Elijahhad anointed, rode into Jezebel's court where she satsurrounded by her eunuchs, men \vho were impo-tent. (It is interesting to note that under the in-fluence of Jezebel, even godly men lose theirmasculinity.) They may have been masculine at onetime, but Jezebel could not be around rugged, virilemen, so she surrounded herself with eunuchs. Buteven they sensed the anointing of God on Jehu as hecame riding into the courtyard. The presence of Godin this man revealed Jezebel's true evil nature tothem, and they threw Jezebel down from her toweron Jehu's command and she was destroyed. Whengodly masculine men confront this power. it can bereckoned with.

N\V: What are some practical. effective tcays throughIt~hich Christians can stand against this major enemyand the other.'i that we are facillg?MC: First of all, we should learn from the ex-perience of Elijah and work toward unity. In thishour, as a man of God, I would not want to befound alone. One of my concerns is that men ofGod, as elders and shepherds in different parts of thenations, be sensitive to the spirit of Jezebel, that theykeep their guard up against this power of witchcraftand be willing to help fellow Christians who are be-ing dominated or persecuted by the power of Jeze-bel.

If we are united, we have a better chance of de-feating this power. If we are to effectively do thework of the Lord, we must be united with otherChristians who have the same vision and who cansupport us in times of spiritual warfare. If we arefound alone, then the powers that confront us willpick us off like flies. So one of the most effectiveways that I know of to come against these powers isto unite with others in the Body of Christ.

Secondly, we should never forget the weapons ofwarfare that God has already given us: prayer,fasting, the authority of the name of the Lord Jesus,and the power available through the blood of theLamb. We can be confident of the authority thatGod has given us through the complete work of Jesuson the cross, through His blood being shed atCalvarv.

It i~ vital that we enter this era of increasedspiritual warfare with all seriousness, for the forceswe have discussed should not be treated lightly.Most of all, it is vital that we enter this era as aunified Body, for only when we are united in pur-pose will we defeat the powers and principalities ofthe kingdom of darkness in every region of the earth,and establish the eternal Kingdom of God in itsstead .....

APRIL 1981

Gllr IIpdate Jeatllre reglilarly carries news ojrecent events in the lives and ministries oj the men011 New \Vine's Editorial Board. This month is a1lIIpdate 011 Charles Simpson.

NW: What are some of the current emphases ill thelocal church fellowship alld your rel'iponsibilities inthat ('(/padty?CS: As the senior pastor of Gulf Coast CovenantChurch, my primary duties include presiding overthe executive committee and the elders as the\' fulfilltheir various responsibilities. I also serve a; chair-man of the board for New Wine and teach at themonthly church meeting. I've been greatly encour-aged because God is giving us a good firm founda-tion for a multiple outreach which extends throughNew Wine Magazine, a number of missionaries andchurches throughout the United States. So we havebeen privileged to have a very diversified ministry.

Our church was started about seven years agousing what is called the "cell group" concept. Local-ly, we now have about thirty-five small churches orcell groups throughout the area, each headed by anelder. Once a month all 35 groups come together forone large meeting. Though we started off relativelysmall, the church has grown to around 1000 people.

As a body of people we try to represent a Chris-tian culture in the midst of our community, pro-viding activities and outreaches as a body of people.We have, for instance, a softball league, concerts, mu-sic programs, an arts and crafts show and an annualevening of entertainment. All of these activities pro-vide a window through which other people can view

NW: Could you bring us up to date on your family?CS: All of my family, my wife, Carolyn, and ourthree children, are in good health and are beingblessed by the Lord. Our oldest, Steve, is a senior inhigh school and is the editor of his school paper.Charlyn is 12, and she is developing her talents onthe piano. Jonathan, who is 8, is working hard inschool and playing soccer. Both Carolyn's and myparents are living here in Mobile, and my father andI work together on Fathergram, which is a ministryto fathers. Dad also serves as an elder in our localchurch. He served as a pastor in his own church formany years, and for us to share in these ministriestogether, as well as our father-son relationship, is aspecial blessing. I feel that our whole family is

especially blessed to haveboth my mother and fa-ther living close by, aswell as my wife's parents,Update:

Charles Simpson

28 APRIL 1981

our church community and see the kind of people weare and the kind of acth'ities that we are involved in,

N\V: What ecents have taken place recently in yourOlvn ministry?CS: Well, this past year I have had a full and busyvear. I have ministered in South Africa, and at theCatholic Charismatic Conference in Notre Dame,Indiana. I have spoken to groups in Michigan, Cali-fornia, Florida, Mississippi and New York. I alsorecently attended the Presidential Prayer Breakfastin Washington, D.C. I am grateful for the variety ofministry I experience. I believe it is important tokeep in touch with the various segments of the Bodyof Christ, in spite of the fact that our responsibilitiesdo not always overlap.

I have just recently returned from Costa Ricawhere there are a number of churches pastored byHugo Zelaya. Hugo is also the editor of Vino Nuevo,the Spanish counterpart to New Wine Magazine.Vino Nuevo goes to about 10,000 families eachmonth in Central America, South America, Spainand other countries where there are Spanish-speak-ing readers. We believe that God is giving Hugo avery solid and significant work in Central Americain the midst of the political foment going on there atthis time. Hugo has gained the confidence of theLatin people, being Latin himself and we feel veryfortunate to have a man of his caliber down there.

NW: How did your relationship with Hugo develop?CS: I've known Hugo for many years. I have beenhis pastor since 1963 and helped train him in theministry. For the past ten years he has been in Cen-tral America, and in one sense we speak of him as amissionary. But actuallv, that is not accuratebecause h'e is a native of Central America and is notthought of by his people, nor does he think ofhimself, as a missionary. The churches he pastors donot think of themselves as a mission group but ratheran extension of God's people.

The American mentality tends to be that there isa Kingdom of God in the United States and thenthere are missionaries who go to inferior groups inother parts of the world which are not capable ofrunning their own affairs-a type of colonial men-tality which has filtered into the Church. However,we do not believe that there is a North Americankingdom and a South American kingdom. There isjust one Kingdom-the Kingdom of God. I see Hugoas an equal in the Lord and I have tremendousrespect for him, which is shared by his people. As aresult of his efforts over the past ten years, his workhas grown to approximately 800 to 1000 people inCosta Rica, in addition to the outreach of VinoNuevo which reaches nearly 10,000 families.

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N\V: In the c-ariety of places where you Jwceministered, Jwce you sensed a common theme thatGod is empha~;:;ing across the Body of Christ?CS: Well, it's difficult to say because people are indifferent places spiritually and they face differentkinds of issues and concerns. However, I would saythat the overriding factor I see confronting th~Church is what I would call "realitv versusrhetoric." No matter what denomination 'or groupyou talk about, the Church is caught in a realitygap, having advertised its claims far beyond itsperformance.

\Ve are being confronted with "isms" likecommunism, socialism and humanism, which havea measure of credibility in their performance.vVhether you agree with those "isms" or not, theyare getting their job done while the Church con-tinues to move haltingly along. God is taking ourwords, our theologies and our creeds and playingthem back to us saying, "Is this really what youare?" As a result, the Church is confronted withsome embarrassing realities and the longer it pro-crastinates, defends itself, compares itself withothers and justifies itself, the longer it will take forthe Church to obtain any meaningful reality and.success.

N\V: What response do you feel God is looking forfrom us?CS: I would say honesty. I believe God is calling forthe Church to stop justifying itself and admit that ithas fallen short. I believe the Church will have toacknowledge that fact before the blessing of Godwill be fully experienced. But as long as it is contentto live in unreality, justifying itself, accommodatingthe world, its situation will continue to deteriorate.When I have seen people facing reality and confess-ing their faults to God and one another, seeking toreally deal with the issues instead of coveringthem over with religious terminology, the power ofGod becomes evident and will become increasinglyevident.

NW: What is the most encouraging thing that youhave noticed a~ you hace trapelled ancI ministered invarious places?CS: I would say concern. I have seen evangelicals,charismatics, Pentecostals and Catholics working to-gether because they shared a common concern. Thefact that they are willing to get together with somedegree of commitment to grapple with issues, anddo something about them, is the healthiest thingthat I have seen. I think that God is going to bothmake and allow things to happen which will con-front the Church so that it will get up and stand onits feet as a viable force in the world.

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... when Jesus talks about building His Church,He says, "the gates of hell shall not prevailagainst it."

Erik Krueger: While a psychology instructor atMichigan State University, Erik Krueger was con-verted to Christ and thrust into a ministry whicheventually became Shiloh Fellowship, a Christiancommunity in East Lansing, Michigan. Erik nowtravels extensively, working with several Christiancommunities in the Body of Christ at large. Erik andhis wife, Mary, and their two daughters reside inEast Lansing.

see even more who and what weare wrestling against.

Hopefully, one of the importantthings that we are learning is thatwe are not wrestling with people,but the satanic forces that mav beinfluencing them. As Scripturesays, our wrestling match is "notagainst flesh and blood, but againstpowers and principalities." Theidea of powers and principalities isa hard concept to visualize, and itis difficult to see precisely howSatan has organized his kingdom.But in Matthew 16, when Jesustalks about building His Church,He says, "the gates of hell shall notprevail against it" (vs. 18). Thathas always been a very encouragingscripture to me and I'm sure tomany Christians as well. Butbecause of the terminology, thatverse always left me with a mentalpicture of two fortresses buckingup against one another. That men-tal image didn't help me to trulyunderstand what Jesus was actuallysaying.

But as I began to study the Bi-ble, I began to better understandwhat Jesus meant. Since Jesus wasa Jew, we need to interpret theword "gates" in the Judaic sense tounderstand what He meant. Tothe Jews, the gate was the placewhere their leaders gatheredtogether for counsel. The gaterepresented the place of govern-ment from which governmentalauthority was exercised over thepeople. It was at the gates that themen in leadership would maketheir councils of war. Thereforethe gates represented leadershipand government.

As I pondered this, I realized

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that Satan has a place, a gate,where he counsels together withhis forces and exercises authoritvout of that council. To effectivelycounteract those satanic forc~then, the Church needs its leader-ship, under the head of JesusChrist, to gather together in unityand harmony in a sense of govern-ment. When this happens the gatesof hell will be no match for theChurch.

Unfortunately, some Christiansare not even aware of who or whatthe Church is. My understandingof the Greek term which gives usthe word "church," is that it issimilar to the governmental housesin the United States which used tobe called "assemblies." It is mencoming together in right order, ex-

ercising a certain amount of ruleand authority. This type of orderand unity represents a tremendousthreat to Satan, because his basicstrategy towards the Church hasalways been to divide and con-quer. As Jesus said, "Any kingdomdivided against itself would be nomatch for its opposition." For thisreason it is necessary for theleadership of the Church to assem-ble together, counsel together andexercise the corporate authorityneeded to defeat the governmentof Satan.

Adam failed in his delegatedresponsibility to rule the earth for

the Lord, and that enabled Satan'srulership to be established. ButJesus won the right of rulershipback, and as we come together andalign ourselves with Jesus, onceagain exercising the authority anddominion that Adam forfeited,there is a clash of governments-aconflict between the governmentof Satan and the government ofGod.

Satan, through trying to in-fluence governments in the world,is trying to take dominion over theearth or at least regain his formerdominion. We as God's peopleneed to be united, especially on aleadership level, so that we can ex-ercise the authority to totallydisplace Satan.

A scripture which has meant a

lot to me over the last ten years isfrom Revelations 12: 11. It says,"They overcame him by the Bloodof the Lamb, and by the word oftheir testimony; and they loved nottheir lives even unto the death."

This verse is a picture of Satanbeing displaced in the heavenliesas God's people jointly exerciseauthority through intercession andtestimony. The authority that isours through the blood of Jesus em-powers us to pull down Satan'sstrongholds and thus release thenations of this earth to thedominion and reign of Christ.

The Corporate ChurchCorporately, the primary em-

phasis among Christians has tradi-tionally been on individuals. Butthe scripture that we referred toearlier regarding the gates bringsout the necessity for corporateorganization in the Kingdom ofGod. So the first order of businessthen, in terms of spiritual warfare,is for corporate structure, authori-

31

... in our fellowship ... we first emphasize the needfor each person to have a strong, vital relationshipwith Jesus Christ.

ty and order to come to the Body ofChrist.

In the book of Ephesians thereare seven different pictures ofwhat the Church should ultimatelybe. All seven pictures are corporaterather than individual pictures,and they all represent what weshould really be as a result of Jesus'

death, burial, resurrection andLordship. One of those pictures isthat we are the army of God. Inthat respect, we have tended to in-terpret the Ephesians 6 passage onour warfare as being concernedwith individual soldiers. But ac-tually, in the original Greek, allthe statements in that passage areplural exhortations. They speak toan entire army, not just onesoldier.

Our fight is a corporate one,not an individual one, and wemust develop a corporate mentali-ty rather than an individual men-tality. When a person enlists in thearmy, one of the first things thathappens is that individual identitygives place to a more corporatesense of identity. Often that strip-ping process in boot camp is so pain-ful it makes men feel that they willnot be left with any personal iden-tity at all. But it is done to build intothem a sense of corporiety.

In a sense, we are going throughGod's "boot camp," being strippedof our overly individualistic men-tality so that we can function as anorganized, unified group. Up untilnow, I don't believe we have reallyentered into the war. Perhaps wecould say that we have been in-volved in some minor skirmishes,but we are still being trained forthe ultimate war.

As a result of God's people inour nation coming together forprayer, intercession and with-

32

standing the forces of the enemy,the Church has won valuable timeto complete its training. The nextdecade in the Church and the na-tions may well prove decisive. Ourdestiny may well hinge on theChurch being able to come togeth-er and to stand together in unity inthis war.

Another corporate picture, inaddition to the one of our being thearmy of God, is a picture that weare still trying to come to gripswith in many ways, that of beingGod's governmellt all earth. Tosuccessfully attack the strongholdsof the nations, "binding the strongman" and "plundering his home"and thus ultimately fulfill theGreat Commission to disciple notonly individuals but nations, is go-ing to take the authority of Christinvested in His people as a cor-porate Body under the governmentof God. Against this type ofChurch assembly the gates of hellare no match.

Disunity and disorganizationwithin the Church are the primaryobstacles to the victory for whichwe are destined. As long as Satancan keep us divided, he has the ad-vantage. Our worst enemy rightnow is that we allow Satan to stirup controversy and fighting amongthe family of God. Instead offighting among ourselves, we needto find our proper place withinthe family and government of Godand be built together into all thatGod wants us to be. Then we canbe properly trained as an army andeffectively battle against our trueenemy.

\Ve need to bear in mind,though, that a corporate mentalitydoes not relieve us of our individ-ual responsibility to prepare our-selves. I don't believe a person can

function corporately if he is notdoing his job individually. InEphesians 4: 16 it speaks of everymember contributing to the Bodyso that it can grow into maturity.If everyone isn't contributing, itinjures the entire Body. 1 Corin-thians 12:26 says that if "one mem-ber suffers all suffer." To be victor-ious is going to take every persondoing their job regardless of howtrivial it may seem. Some may bein supplies while others do battleon the front lines. But regardless ofthe duty, they are all important towinning the war. The key is beingproperly related to the comman-der, which is Jesus Christ. It is onlythrough His wisdom, His insight,and His power that the army ofGod will successfully wage waragainst the Kingdom of Satan.

Practical Steps for EffectivenessTo help people in our fellow-

ships in Michigan to be as effectiveas possible where God has placedthem, we first emphasize the needfor each person to have a strong,vital relationship with Jesus Christin which they have learned what itmeans to personally hear Hisvoice. Pastorally, we try to helpeach individual by making our-selves available to them andencouraging them in theirrelationship with the Lord JesusChrist, fulfilling a confirming roleto what God may be saying tothem.

Secondly, we have seen theneed to learn how to function m9reas an army in a united, corporateway. God has been urging us inour local fellowship to live in sucha way that we are responsible toone another, and one way we arelearning to do this is by function-ing corporately for the purposes ofprayer. On various matters thatface us as a body, we systematical-ly take them to the Lord throughintercession. What we have man-aged to do is to organize a system-atic prayer chain in which individ-uals in our fellowship are respon-sible for one specific hour of prayer

APRIL 1981

33

Howto be real and still be a Christian.

Just Around the Corner

Facing Reality

the legal inheritance of thechildren of Israel. Although theland had been given to him, hewasn't presumptuous in his ap-proach when it actually came timeto take the land. When the captainof the Lord of Hosts (very prob-ablv an Old Testament revelationof jesus Christ) confronted him, heasked, "Are vou for us or are yOUfor our ene~ies?" The captai~ ofthe Lord's hosts replied, in essence,"Neither. I am for the plan of theLord." Joshua's response was thatof a man with a hearing heart. Heprostrated himself on the ground,making his posture one of humili-ty, not of presumption, and he was"all ears" to what the Lord had tosay. As a result, God gave Joshua aplan that was not in his repertoire,and victory was assured for thechildren of Israel.

In the same way, we need topresent ourselves individually toGod, placing ourselves on the altarwith fasting and prayer. Just asJoshua, when confronted by thecaptain of the armies became allears to God's counsel, so we toomust not be presumptuous aboutwhat He mayor may not do, onlyattentive. We must present our-selves afresh as living sacrifices.

As Romans 12:1,2 attests, if wepresent ourselves afresh, God willrenew us in the spirit of our mindsso that we might know what God'swill is. As a result of knowingGod's will, we will find our placein the Body of Christ, functioningeffectively in that position as an in-tegral part of the army of God as itsuccessfully wages war against thekingdom of Satan ....

God's army until we have soughtunity, not only with Christians inour own vicinity, but withmembers of the Bodv of Christ as awhole. \Vhen that' happens, wecan be truly effective in the battleagainst Satan's kingdom.

Initially we need to be estab-lished and built together, culti-vating a meaningful relationshipwith God and His people throughthe Lord Jesus Christ. These rela-tionships build reality into ourlives and I believe that is just whatGod is trying to bring us in-to-reality. A saintly friend ofmine used to say, "A genius is aman who knows his own limita-tions." In other words, Goddoesn't expect us to be everythingto everybody. But we do need tocome to a greater mutual apprecia-tion and trust for the members ofChrist's Body. I know many timeswhen we get hurt or offended byothers, we console ourselves bythinking that all we need is Jesus.Although that truth is valid inmany ways, we not only need toembrace the Head, which is first,but we also need to embrace andappreciate the members of HisBody without viewing one anotheras a threat.

A fourth practical way webecome more effective in spiritualwarfare is by a proper understand-ing of the history of God's dealingwith His people as revealed in the~Tord of God. There is much to belearned from the Bible of how Goddealt with His people. One parti-cular man in Scripture from whomwe can learn much is Joshua, whowas to take the land of Canaan,

per week. That way prayer is go-ing on for those matters of specificconcerns to us 24 hours a day,seven days a week.

Thro~lgh our prayer chain weare trying to corporately stand inthe gap for the concerns facing notonly our fellowship, but the Bodyas a whole. There are times whenwe get together as a group to prayand fast about particular areas ofconcern and it is amazing howmuch God has honored these timesof corporate intercession. WhileI'm sure other groups are alsopraying effectively as well, wehave nonetheless experienced somevery dramatic intervention as aresult of our specific prayer.

I believe we must individuallyand corporately fulfill our respon-sibility to pray and intercede if weare going to effectively overcomethe enemy. We are living in a timewhere we must "overcome or beovercome ...

A third practical area is trueappreciation for others. In Revela-tions 12: 11 we saw that the peopleof God overcame bv the blood ofthe Lamb, by the 'word of theirtestimony. But the last ingre-dient-by not loving their liveseven to the death-is crucial to oureffectiveness. In His dealings withus about being properly builttogether with Him and with Hispeople, God is urging us to elim-inate that part of our lives whichwould fight for self-preservation,self-centeredness, and personalambition. A prerequisite for an in-tercessory life is a willingness tosacrifice personal ambition.

No individual by himself, espe-cially in this day and age, is amatch for Satan's kingdom. Manytimes Satan's plan is to try andisolate us as individuals and evenas individual groups to the placewhere we are not able to standagainst his kingdom. I'm not say-ing he can take our salvation, buthe can render us ineffective andunable to reach our full potentialin God. We will not be able toreach our potential strength as

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P.o. Box Z, Mobile, AL 36616

DearNewWine,

Good news messageUpon receiving the February

issue and reading the first letter tothe editor I truly felt led to write.

The message I truly feel somehave missed from Bro. Charles' ar-ticle "Perspective for a Decade:Obedience to God's Word" [Feb.'81] is that for those who aresingle, our family is those whomGod has clearly defined as over-seers and direct relationships thatonly He can ordain. I by nomeans felt deprived or ashamed ofbeing single after reading CharlesSimpson's article, but felt wholeand excited over the new truth onfamily concepts. The message wasa true revelation and joy to readnot only for those in "complete"familv units but also for thosespeci~l ones set aside for His ownSelf.

Patricia BarberColumbus, GA

Overseas blessingI would like to take this oppor-

tunity to thank you for the blessing

that is available to me throughNew Wine. It really brings mesomething fresh and helps me tounderstand what kind of life Godwants me to live .

I don't agree with all you'resaying, but that's just a little partof what I read in New \Vine.

Thank vou for vour ministrv....Philippe Gogden

Lille. France

Meaty teachingFirst, let me thank the editorial

staff and all those involved in theproduction for such a fine Chris-tian magazine. I have just assumedan assistant pastorate and am inneed of the meaty teaching thatthe magazine provides.

Pastor Neil AplinHampshire, United Kingdom

Pulling togetherI was deeply moved bv ,'our

December article of "FacingCalamity as a Family." This arti-cle shows how the complete familyof God pulled together in a crisis tosupport a member of the Body inneed.

This showed me that I mustcontinually trust in God, and lookfor ways to help others in theBody.

John HitchcockFort Wayne, IN

The truth of the matterI didn't know how I really felt

about abortion until I read yourarticle years ago on how it was

done. [Nov. '78] That did it. Ino longer wonder how I feel-I'magainst it for any reason. I'vewished so manv times thev would. .print that description and detailsin the newspaper. I just wonder ifpeople would really be for abor-tion if they could read your article.

I also like the articles on politi-cal and news-worthy subjects suchas what is going on in Washington,D.C., etc.

Ralph SmithHillsboro, OR

Taking aimI am currently half way

through the February '81 issue,"Perspective for a Decade: aHigher Vision" and the Lord hasalready begun to "readjust mysights" from a sense of anticipationto a new sense of responsibility.This issue is certainl" a confirma-tion for myself and I am grateful toGod the Father that this magazineshares a vision for God's people asa united body.

Brian ReillvNashua, NH

Retired but inspiredI am looking forward to receiv-

ing your magazine New \Vine. Myneighbor let me read a copy and Iwould like to be placed on yourmailing list.

I am a "retired" Baptistminister. Please find enclosed a lit-tle to help in getting the truth out.

Pastor Joe WilkinsonPasco, \VA

The editorial policy and purpose of X(,ll" \\'i/l(, is: (I) to proclaim thegospel of the Kingdom of God to all nations. (2) to work with all Christianministries for the maturity and unity of lIis Church. (3) thus making ready apeople prepared for the corning of the Lord. \\'e re<."gnize that. accordingto the Scriptures. God uses men given as ministril'S to huild lIis Chllreh inthe earth. Howe\'er. the hasis of our relationship is not primarily commit-ment to human personalitil'S. hut to Jl'SUSChrist as lIead. to thc Iloly Scrip-tures as the ultimate standard hy which all re\'e1ation and practice is to hejudged and 10 God's purpose for lIis p<'~lple in the earth at this time. as inter-preted by the 1I0ly Spirit. X(,ll" \\'i/l(' is a non-suhscription magazine sup-ported by the Hlluntary l~lI1trihutions of those who helie\l' in its mission, All

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