Spiritual Warfare: A Sacramental Charismatic Approach

Jesus was exorcist par excellence and regularly engaged in what many describe as a "clash of kingdoms." So what about demonic oppression and deliverance ministry? Let's talk about it...

I have had a few experiences in my life that I can only describe as encountering the demonic. Several were in the privacy of my own home with phenomena that, while somewhat unexplainable, fit into the category of “spiritual attacks” and several with people who “manifested” demonic oppression. I’ll share a story about this below.

Historically, conservative evangelicals have generally held the perspective that Christians cannot be possessed by a demon and many Charismatic / Pentecostal Christians believe that many Christians have been delivered from demons, based on their experience with “delivery ministry.” So which one is it? And might there be a way to “thread the needle” between these two perspectives? In what follows, I’d like to make a case for what I’m describing as a “sacramental charismatic” approach to spiritual warfare,” or at least some suggestions toward taking spiritual warfare seriously and knowing how to push back against the kingdom of darkness.

This isn’t an exhaustive post on spiritual warfare and deliverance ministry. But I do want to share some thoughts to get a conversation started…

Clash of Kingdoms Worldview

One would be hard pressed to reject the notion that the Bible presents a “clash of kingdoms” worldview. Gregory Boyd describes this as a “warfare worldview” and lays out a strong case for it in his fantastic book God at War: The Bible & Spiritual Conflict. Boyd writes:

“if you disbelieve in the reality of good and evil spirit agents, you fundamentally change the narrative of Scripture. The motif of spiritual warfare is a through-line of both the Old and New Testaments (NT). And in the NT, the meaning of what Jesus was doing in his life, ministry, death and resurrection is fundamentally tied up with the belief in spiritual warfare. Take away Satan, and you take away one of the most fundamental reasons Jesus came to earth!”

John Wimber famously wrote of this very thing in the classic Power Evangelism. Noting that there’s a remarkable difference between the worldviews in existence between those in the east and westerners, Wimber wrote:

“Non-Western worldviews make room for all kinds of supernatural intervention in everyday life, so the idea that a Christian God can heal is easy for them to accept. But we Western Christians, by excluding this middle zone, usually make little or no room for what in Scripture is considered normal: the regular activity of both God and Satan in human life.”

This makes sense of what we read in the New Testament. 1 John 3:8 states that “the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil” and Jesus reminded us that “the thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). The acknowledgement of this “clash of kingdoms” is an outworking of the New Testament’s teaching that the Kingdom of God is both “now and not yet,” which scholars refer to as Inaugurated Eschatology (cf. George Ladd’s The Presence of the Future). While Jesus was victorious on the Cross, that victory will not be fully realized until the consummation at the end of the age. Until that time, we live in a clash between two kingdoms, the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness.

Demon Possessed or Oppressed.

When one thinks of “demonic possession,” it’s hard not to think about horror movies like The Exorcist where people are entirely and completely possessed and controlled by the devil or demons. Naturally, the question that some people ask is, “Can a Christian have a demon?” It’s a fair question and the answer depends largely on what one means by “have.”

With that being said, I think it’s entirely possible for followers of Jesus to be under spiritual attack and demonic oppression. While followers of Jesus can’t be controlled or forced by demons to act a certain way, they can be influenced by demonic forces. This, in my understanding, is the best way to interpret the Greek word daimonizomai, which Bill Mounce helpfully explains in his wildly popular Mounce’s Complete Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words:

“Daimonizomai refers to the action of demon possession or demon oppression. This word can refer to demon possession in and of itself (Mt 8:16; Mk 1:32), or to a demon-induced illness and disability (Mt 9:32; 12:22; 15:22), or to demon-controlled actions (Mk 5:16, 18; Lk 8:36), which can evoke destructive behavior (Mt 8:28). Since it seems difficult at times to posit degrees of demon possession, it is best to understand daimonizomai as sometimes meaning the action of demon oppression. This is particularly true for when physical conditions or illnesses are related to demons. Regardless of the nuances of possession (internal) versus oppression (external), the focus of Scripture is clearly on the ability of Jesus to triumph over demons in all their manifestations.”

Are some people possessed by demons? Yes. Are some people oppressed by demons? Yes. How do we know which is which? That’s the challenge!

“Is this Spiritual Warfare?”

Nearly fifteen years ago I found myself at a prayer meeting that included a number of people from my church community and several visitors and friends of friends. As we spent the night singing together, we transitioned into a time of prayer, which the church tradition I’m from refers to as “ministry time” (see Rick Evans’ Ministry Time).

As we prayed, one young woman asked for everyone to pray for her because she was struggling through some things. Our small group gathered around her and, after asking her if we could lay hands on her and pray, proceeded to do so with her agreement. As we prayed, the lighting in the room we were in became much darker, to the point where I assumed we had some sort of electrical issue going on. Yet we kept on praying and after a few moments, I asked her what she would specifically like prayer for.

All of a sudden this woman began to struggle to communicate and was unable to put words together in coherent sentences. Having been around people going through a stroke, and while I’m not a medical doctor, her communication appeared to not be the result of a medical issue but some sort of mental and emotional confusion. Plus… as I noted, the room had become much dimmer and a heaviness was discerned by everyone praying.

What was this? What should we do? How are we to approach situations like this? Was this a medical issue? Was she having some sort of emotional break down? Had the electrical wiring had an unknown issue? These are the types of questions that regularly come up when we are engaged in what many describe as “power encounters.”

As our group stood around her, listening to her put words together to explain what she wanted prayer for, we heard her describe how she just felt very confused and that her mind wasn’t able to focus and how she felt very distracted in life. As she was speaking, one of the ladies in our prayer circle, a woman named Jane, sensed the Holy Spirit leading for this young woman to “call upon the name of the Lord,” in reference to Romans 10:13. I wasn’t sure whether this woman had made a profession of faith in Jesus and, quite frankly, it didn’t really matter to me whether or not she was a Christian or not. Calling upon the name of the Lord should be the standard posture that Jesus’ followers take!

After Jane shared what she was sensing, we encouraged this young woman to call upon Jesus as we prayed. As we stood in that dark room, she started to try and say the name “Jesus” but the words would not come out! It was as if she had marble sin her mouth or her voice was locked. She kept trying and trying, but the name of our Lord would not come out! We continued to pray and pray and pray and finally, after much prayer, the woman finally stuttered the name “JESUS!” out of her mouth and instantly the lights in the room returned and she began crying!

Freedom!

The young lady then shared about the spiritual battle she had been in and apparently every time she entered into any sort of Christian practice, whether it was prayer or reading Scripture, her mind would become jumbled and her prayers and praise would be locked up. One of the people in our prayer circle asked, “Do you think this is spiritual warfare?” That was a great question.

What does this experience sound like? To me, it sounds just like spiritual warfare and one would be hard pressed to describe her experience as anything but demonic oppression.

Toward Discerning Deliverance Ministry.

So what questions should we be asking when we’re discerning whether or not there’s a need for deliverance? How do we know what to do in relation to people’s experience with God’s empowering presence?

For me, I think there are a number of questions and issues that we need to think about:

First, the gospel message is the most important aspect of kingdom warfare, for it is the very means by which we are released from the grasp of the enemy and “transferred into the kingdom of the Son” (Col. 1:13). As John Wimber stated, “any kind of evangelism is power evangelism.” In other words, when the message of Jesus’ death, burial, and Resurrection are proclaimed, spiritual warfare is taking place.

Moreover, James makes a powerful statement regarding how to deal with spiritual attacks when he writes:

“So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” (James 4:7-8)

Second, some people who exhibit sicknesses and mental illnesses suffer from demonic oppression. Now to be clear, not all who suffer from sickness, physical ailments, or mental illness as a result of demonic oppression… though some do. And I think it’s likely that many do. This issue of mental illness and spiritual warfare deserves it’s own article (I’ll address it at some point sooner than later). We need to be careful in how we carry out deliverance ministry (aka, we need a helpful, safe, and humanizing process of discernment). With that caveat aside, it’s hard not to notice that Jesus demonstrated this reality throughout his life and ministry. For example, Jesus delivered a man who was “possessed by a demon” who was homeless and naked (Mark 5:1-20, Matthew 8:28-34, & Luke 8:26-39). When Jesus delivered the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter, the girl was found “lying quietly on her bed, and the demon was gone” (Mark 7:24-30 & Matthew 15:21-28). Additionally, Jesus healed a demon possessed boy who was unable to speak and manifested epileptic seizures, foaming at the mouth and whose body would become rigid (Mark 9;14-29, Matthew 17:14-20, & Luke 9:37-43). Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus consistently deliver people from demonic activity (cf. Graham H. Twelftree’s Jesus the Exorcist, In the Name of Jesus: Exorcism among Early Christians, and Jesus the Miracle Worker).

Again, please realize that the way in which we move forward with dealing with people suffering from these issues can either serve them or harm them… and it’s unfortunate that many people suffering from mental illness or disabilities has been targeted by Charismatics and harmed by their methodology.

Third, the fruit that’s being exhibited in one’s life can often give us tell-tale signs of what’s going on. In the story I shared earlier, the young woman experienced confusion, chaos and an inability to participate in spiritual formative worship practices. In my mind, that indicates that the enemy was at work, for, simply put, “God is not a God of disorder but of peace”(1 Cor. 14:33). Moreover, I have found filtering what I see, hear, and sense through the following passages of Scripture:

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8)

“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (Galatians 5:19-23)

Is what we are sensing true, honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable? Is the end result love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Or is the consequence leading to the negative results Paul lists in Gal. 5:19-23? These Scriptures aren’t the only texts we should run things through, but they are certainly a good starting point.

A Sacramental Charismatic Approach to Spiritual Warfare.

As a “sacramental charismatic,” I’m inclined to remind you that spiritual warfare is very real and people suffer under demonic oppression. The message of the gospel of the Kingdom is the primary mechanism that brings freedom in people’s lives. We also need to realize that spiritual practices such as water baptism and celebrating the Eucharist place us in a space where the Spirit works powerfully to reorient our lives around King Jesus.

Additionally, not everything is the result of a demon. Let me say that again for the neo-Pentecostals in the back:

• Not👏🏼

• Everything👏🏼

• Is👏🏼

• A👏🏼

• Demon👏🏼

Sometimes people are just dumb. Or situations are the result of foolishness (see Proverbs for a good reminder of this). Sometimes there are biological reasons that cause people to exhibit certain bodily or mental issues. We can hurt people if we don’t acknowledge this reality.

That being said, it’s highly possible that much that we dismiss by natural means is, in fact, an example of spiritual warfare and the people we are engaging are under demonic attack or oppression.

The “sacramental charismatic” will be the one who says, in every situation, “Come Holy Spirit” and then diligently does their best to listen to what the Holy Spirit reveals while listening to the needs of the person we are ministering to. That, my friends, is the kingdom way. It’s developed with a genuine goal to discern both God’s work alongside the needs of people.

Can non-Christians be demon possessed? Yes, I think so… though the word “possessed” is still quite unhelpful. Can Christians be demon possessed? I am inclined to say “no.” Yet I’m convinced that Christians can be demon oppressed and I’m convinced that we should spend more time doing our best to push back the powers of darkness and see people delivered and set free! After all, the line between being “possessed” and “severely oppressed” seems difficult to distinguish. All I know is that Jesus came to set people free.

What do you think?

About the Author

Luke Geraty is a pastor-theologian in northern California. With a few theology degrees and nearly twenty-eight years of church leadership experience, Luke loves the Bible, theology, fly fishing, coffee, and books. All opinions are his own and not the views of any other organizations he’s affiliated with. You can follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe to his YouTube.