At the end of the day he gave handouts with pages of written prayers that people were supposed to use when they were involved in spiritual warfare. Now there was nothing scripturally wrong with what was written in these prayers, but I am absolutely convinced that for most people they would be totally ineffective for spiritual warfare.

I also understand that for many, they would have been exactly what they wanted - a “how-to” manual, cut-and-dried, just add your voice and no thought required. I understand that, because it’s what so many people ask for - “spiritual warfare prayers” that they can simply repeat and have the problem go away. What they want, basically, is a verbal “magic wand” … and that is precisely one of the reasons why it won’t work!

God does not work through “magic wands”. Ritual and legalism serve only to keep us distant from His power, not to release that power through us.

Our victory in spiritual warfare is based on three things: firstly, the finished work of Christ at Calvary, by which He once and for ever defeated satan; secondly, our personal relationship with Him and the authority He has given us; and thirdly, our understanding of those truths. Without those three things, we are at the mercy of the devil. It doesn’t matter how much Scripture we quote, or how many cookie-cutter prayers we read, if we don’t have that personal relationship and are not absolutely sure of Christ’s victory and our authority in Him, then we will be no better off than the sons of Sceva who tried to cast out demons “in the Name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches.”

Now just in case someone thinks I’m saying that we shouldn’t pray as part of spiritual warfare, let me clarify that I am talking here about set prayers that someone else has written and we just parrot off. True prayer - prayer in which we actually express our heart and connect with God - is very much part of spiritual warfare. However, we also need to understand that, as well as prayer, we need proclamation - directly addressing the forces that come against us and declaring Christ’s victory and God’s will in the situation.

“Spiritual warfare prayers” might serve a purpose in giving you some understanding of how to pray, but they will never replace the expression of your own heart and mind.

Called to Battle Spiritual Warfare Seminar
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com

Free e-course: Put on the Armor of God
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com/armorofgod

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

Like so much New Age stuff, alternative medicine is very much a mixed bag. Some alternative therapies are totally legitimate, whilst others are demonically backed. So how do you tell the difference? Things like the use of herbs and plants for healing are fine - God placed those things in the world for our benefit - but what about things like aromatherapy, reiki and hypnosis. How can we know what is safe and what is not?

My personal practice is to start by asking the simple question, Is there any kind of scientific backing for this? Some therapies, even though not generally accepted by traditional medicine, do have a scientific basis. One that springs to mind is aromatherapy. Studies have shown that aromas do certainly influence the mental/emotional wellbeing of patients, and may also influence their physical wellbeing.

Others have absolutely no scientific backing at all, but rely on drawing on some unseen power. In Reiki, for instance, the practitioner supposedly “heals” by channeling his/her inner healing power to the patient. The reality, however, is that human beings do not have any innate healing ability, and the power these people are channeling is actually demonic. In fact, it is exactly the same thing as I used to do before I was saved when, as a spiritualist, I operated as a healing medium. Unfortunately, the results are also the same - the patient may get “healed”, but he/she also gets a bunch of demons.

If any therapy does not have some scientific basis, avoid it. Maybe in time it will be proven to be scientific, but it is far better to risk missing out than to take a chance on it being ok only to learn too late that it is demonic.

Just to make life more complicated, some therapies do have an apparently scientific basis, but are still spiritually dangerous. I am thinking particularly of hypnosis. Certainly, hypnosis works, and there are studies which show how and why it works. Hypnotists also argue that nobody will do under hypnosis anything that they would normally consider morally wrong. However, that is very easy to work around. If a woman under hypnosis can be made to believe that the onion she is biting into is a sweet, juicy apple, they why could she not be made to believe that the man kissing her is her husband? She might have moral standards that would never allow her to kiss a man who was not her husband, but if she believes he is, then those standards are over-ridden. Even worse, hypnosis places people in a spiritually vulnerable position where they can be attacked by demons without even recognizing that an attack is taking place. Don’t ever fall into the trap of thinking, “Because it works it must be ok.”

Some Christians say we should not worry about such things. They quote the Scripture that “greater is He who is in us than he that is in the world” and insist that we are safe to do anything because of the power of God. However, God never promises to protect us from willful stupidity. If you step off the top of a building, God is not going to send an angel to hold you up; and if you deliberately get involved in things that are demonic in their origin, He is not going to shelter you from the consequences. He gave us intelligence and will, and He means us to use them.

Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater - some alternative therapies are ok, and very helpful. Pray and ask the Lord to give you wisdom, consider whether a particular therapy has any real scientific basis, and also consider what the results could be. If there is any doubt, it is far better to err on the side of caution.

Called to Battle Spiritual Warfare Seminar

Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com

Free e-course: Put on the Armor of God

Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com/armorofgod

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

Firstly we need to understand what symbols are. Symbols are not just pictures: they say something. After all, the letters which make up our alphabet and from there our words, sentences and stories, are just symbols. When we see the letter “G”, we know that it stands for a certain sound. When we see the letter “O” we know it stands for a different sound. When we put them together, we know that they stand for a word that tells us to move ourselves from where we are to somewhere else.

This is even more true in pictographic languages like Chinese, where each “letter” represents not a sound but a picture of something. Or consider the many symbols we see in our everyday lives. We do not need to be told what a raised hand sign means, for example – we know that it “says” stop, even though we don’t see any words. In a sense we can think of symbols as words or sentences written in a different language.

The most powerful occultic symbol is the pentagram, the five-pointed star. This is normally drawn upside down, so that it has two points at the top and one each at the sides and bottom. It is a stylized picture of a face with two horns and a pointed beard, and is a symbol of satan. It says that the thing to which it is attached belongs to the devil.

Closely related to the pentagram is the “horned hand” in which the index and small fingers are extended, while the other two fingers are held down in front by the thumb. Again, it is a stylized devil’s head, and it is a declaration that satan is lord – not exactly something that any Christian would want to do.

Next is the hexagram, the six-sided star, normally drawn inside a circle. It says that the thing to which it is attached is cursed (hence the word hex, meaning a curse.) If you wear that symbol, you are declaring yourself to be cursed.

Another is the Ankh, which looks like a cross but has a loop at the top instead of the top part of the main beam. Many Christians wear this, thinking that it is just another type of cross, but in fact it is the Egyptian symbol of death.

The peace symbol is another that many use innocently, not understanding its origins. This is a circle with a vertical bar, and downward sloping bar going from the center bar to the circumference on each side. The story is that the Roman emperor Nero, who despised Christians, took a cross and broke its arms downward, saying that Christ was worthless. No Christian would want to wear a t-shirt emblazoned with the words, “Christ is worthless”, yet many unwittingly wear peace symbols that say exactly that, just in a different language.

Then there’s the yin/yang symbol – a circle with a squiggly line through the middle, half dark and half white. It is the symbol of dualism, the philosophy that says there are two equal but opposite forces in the universe. Ultimately, it is saying that satan is equal to God (but opposite.) Again, that’s not a message that most Christians would really want to wear on a t-shirt, but by wearing a yin/yang symbol, that is what they are declaring.

These are symbols that were specifically designed for occultic use. There are many others, but that is enough to give you the idea. Two very good reasons for avoiding these symbols: firstly, they make statements in another language that you would never want to make in your native tongue. Secondly, because they are linked to the occult, they can actually be an invitation to demonic forces to attack your life.

What about other symbols? Some people have attached occultic meaning to all manner of things, such as butterflies, frogs, elephants and rainbows. Should we avoid using these things, too? My response to that is a very definite “NO!” Such things are not intrinsically occultic. For the most part they are beautiful creations of God, which occultists have “stolen” and adapted to their own purposes. We should refuse to give up such things: the devil does not have a right to them.

This is an illustration I often use: suppose you had a block of land with a caravan on it. Someone comes along and takes up residence in the caravan. You have every right to kick that squatter out and reclaim the caravan for your own use. However, suppose the squatter did not take up residence in your caravan, but brought his own caravan with him and parked it on your block of land. Now, you would have every right to remove both the van and the squatter; but you would not have the right to kick the squatter out of the van and keep the van for yourself.

In the same way, some symbols “belong” to the devil. They were made for him, and he has a right to them. You need to remove both them and him from your life. Other symbols do not belong to the devil, and never have. He has merely taken them over. You have every right to kick him out and keep the symbols for your own use.

Called to Battle Spiritual Warfare Seminar
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com

Free e-course: Put on the Armor of God
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com/armorofgod

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)