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by Max Aplin

 

Back in the late 1980s, when I was first a Christian, I used to suffer from worries of various kinds that were particularly intense at times. On a number occasions I mentioned this to older Christians and I was given advice which helped a little but did not really seem to go very far towards solving the problem.

Over time, what I came to realize was that those worries were due in very large part to the direct attacks of evil spirits against me. Once I became aware of this, I found that I was much more able to deal with similar situations that arose.

Looking back, I can see that in Scotland at that time there was a very serious lack of ability among God's people as regards spiritual warfare in general. The whole subject was rarely mentioned, and few Christians seemed to have any experience of it. Today, I think things are slightly better, but this is still an area of great weakness in the church here. There are many devout born-again Christians in this part of the world who have no real awareness of how to engage in hand-to-hand combat with demonic powers. My impression of other countries is that in some places there is more of an understanding of these things, but I am sure that in many areas of the world the church has not even grasped the basics.

In this article I want to say a little about basic spiritual warfare, giving some of my own experiences, in the hope of helping others enter into this combat. 

As a starting point in discussing this issue we need to recognize that it is not possible to accept the authority of Scripture and yet deny the existence of evil spirits. The Bible is absolutely clear that Satan, also known as the devil, exists and that he is an intelligent being intent on opposing the work of God in the world (Matt 4:1-9Luke 10:18Rom 16:20Heb 2:141 John 3:8Rev 12:9etc.). It is equally clear that subordinate to Satan are less powerful beings that are described as demons or evil spirits (Matt 8:28-33Mark 1:21-27Luke 8:211:14-26Acts 16:16-1819:12-16 etc.), these terms being interchangeable. There are also passages of Scripture, such as Dan 10:13 and Eph 6:12, which suggest that there are different types of these creatures. Those Christians who are experienced in deliverance ministry will testify to a variety of evil spirits on Satan's side, some being much more powerful than others.

In this article I will not try to defend the belief that evil spirits exist. I am writing for those who are already persuaded that they do. However, I would like to make just one very brief comment on this point, which is that although the existence of evil spirits is mysterious, it makes sense for the creation of an infinite God to contain elements that we finite humans find mysterious. I would submit that those in the modern West who scorn belief in such beings almost always have a worldview that is far too simplistic, and that the universe is far bigger and more multi-faceted than they begin to imagine.

Anyway, because this article is not aimed at trying to defend the belief that evil spirits exist, I will say no more on that topic. I will assume in what follows that they are real and that their characteristics are as described in the Bible.

The whole subject of spiritual warfare is a huge one, and there are numerous aspects to it. For example, many people suffer from especially significant demonic problems, and there are Christian ministries aimed at helping them. There are also types of spiritual warfare that do not have to do with individual people at all, but involve, for example, ridding a geographical area of a certain demonic presence. None of these specialist areas is my concern in this article. I am interested here only in the absolute basics, the typical attacks of evil spirits that will come upon every Christian without exception, the A B Cs of spiritual warfare.

The Bible teaches us clearly that evil spirits attack Christians. Eph 6:10-201 Thess 3:5Jas 4:7and 1 Pet 5:8-9 leave us in no doubt about this. It is true that the latter three passages (and Eph 6:11) actually refer to 'the devil' as the one who plots against or attacks believers, rather than evil spirits. Nevertheless, it is not difficult to see a figure of speech here, in which the leader is mentioned in place of the spirits who actually do the attacking, much in the same way that a certain king in the Old Testament might be said to wage a war, when what is meant is that those under his authority actually conducted the warfare in line with his instructions. In any case, Eph 6:12 mentions evil spirits other than the devil as those against whom Christians struggle. Furthermore, it makes sense to believe that as a finite being Satan can only be in one place at one time, and so would therefore be unable to attack more than a tiny proportion of Christians himself. We should have no hesitation, then, in saying that according to Scripture Christians will be the objects of attacks by intelligent, rational creatures known as evil spirits or demons. 

The Bible reveals that the ways in which evil spirits attack Christians are various, and the experience of believers confirms this. Because in this article we are concentrating on the absolute basics of spiritual warfare, however, we will stick to thinking about what are, in my view, the two main - overlapping - ways in which demons attack Christians, namely by lying and by tempting. 

That the attacks of evil spirits involve lies is implied in Eph 6:14, which talks about truth as one defensive weapon against them. Furthermore, Rev 12:9 describes Satan as the one 'who deceives the whole world', which surely implies that his subordinates act likewise. See too Rev 20:810

As far as tempting is concerned, 1 Thess 3:5 refers to Satan as 'the tempter', and expresses concern that the Thessalonians might have given in to temptation. This verse should surely lead us to infer that one way in which evil spirits attack is by tempting. The accounts of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness in Matt 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13 also fit well with the view that evil spirits are able to tempt Christians, as does the account of the fall of humans in Gen 3.

It is important to note that Eph 6:10-20Jas 4:7 and 1 Pet 5:8-9 clearly envisage believers resisting the attacks of evil spirits against them. Importantly, fighting back is only possible if we recognize that we are being attacked. These passages must be strongly implying, therefore, that Christians should, at least usually, be able to recognize the attacks of evil spirits against them. We can sum things up so far, then, by stating that if someone is a Christian, they will be attacked with lies and temptations by evil spirits, and the ability to recognize such attacks and defeat them should be a fundamental part of the normal Christian life.

In the first years after I became a Christian I was given no teaching on this subject by my church leaders, and I paid a high price as a consequence. Since then, through much trial and error I have slowly grown in my ability to recognize when an evil spirit is attacking me. I will mention two ways in which I can now usually discern the attack of a demon against me.

Firstly, there is an experience that I often have, in which a thought suddenly impresses itself on my mind in a specific and difficult-to-describe way, accompanied by a specific type of mild anxiety. I have learned that when I have this particular sensation, it is always the attack of an evil spirit. 

The thought that presses on my mind always involves something that is untrue. Either the thing that is the focus of the thought is untrue in itself, or it is true in itself but the imagined consequences of it are untrue. 

For example, there have been numerous times when a spirit has lied to me by telling me that someone is hostile to me, when that has been completely untrue. Someone might not have been in touch when I was expecting them to contact me, and I have become convinced that that person is very upset with me. Then I have found out that it was all untrue and there was a perfectly good reason why they did not get in touch, and they are not hostile at all. 

Or on other occasions I have believed demonic lies telling me that certain bad situations are hopeless. The situation was indeed bad in some way, but this time the lie consisted of saying that the consequences of the problem would be dire, when in actual fact God provided a solution quickly and easily.

Please note that I am not simplistically saying that because I believed something negative that turned out to be untrue I must have been attacked by an evil spirit. Sometimes I get things wrong in this way without a spirit being involved. What I am saying is that I have learned by much trial and error that when I have a very precise feeling that involves a kind of pressing on my mind that something negative is a reality, accompanied by a very specific form of mild anxiety, it is in fact an evil spirit attacking me with a lie then and there.

As well as combating demonic lies, I am learning to recognize demonic temptations. Again, there is a very specific and difficult-to-describe sensation that I occasionally experience that involves a kind of relaxed feeling, along with an indifference to whether things are right or wrong, and I am learning that when I feel like that, it is a demonic temptation. My ability to recognize this demonic avenue of attack is not as practised as my ability to recognize the lies that I have just mentioned, but I am slowly getting better at it. 

Becoming aware of some of the attacks of evil spirits against me has enabled me to fight back. Years ago when I was attacked without recognizing it, I would pray but usually found that that by itself did not solve the problem. Now when I recognize an attack I pray (Eph 6:18-19) and also engage in direct warfare, using the authority of Jesus Christ given to me (Luke 10:19). To combat a lie I say things like: 'I expose your lie, you spirit, and I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to leave me now', or 'Depart from me now, you spirit. I have delegated authority from Jesus Christ and I use it to order you to withdraw from me right now.' Or, if I am being tempted, I can say something like: 'Leave me, you servant of Satan, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. I recognize that you are tempting me and I command you to cease.' Or 'The blood of Jesus is my victory and your defeat, you demon. Withdraw from me in Jesus' name.' Speaking out loud is preferable if circumstances allow it but is not essential. 

I will usually have to repeat commands of this kind several times, but the demonic sensations will most often rapidly dissipate. At other times it is much more of a battle until I can gain victory. 

In my experience, there are no days when I am not aware at some point of an attack by a demon against me in one way or another. In fact, I think it would be very rare for there to be a 24 hour period in which any born-again Christian is not directly attacked by an evil spirit in some way. It is true that Eph 6:13 speaks about 'the evil day', which might seem to suggest that on most days no attacks are made. However, in biblical language the word 'day' is often not used literally, and even if it is literal in this verse, 'the evil day' could just be a day on which attack is more intense than it is on most days.

If Christians are attacked by evil spirits every day, or at least very often, why is it, then, that so few seem to be aware of the attacks against them? I am sure that the main reason is what I experienced in the early years of my Christian walk, namely, that attacks are not recognized as such. They are believed to be something that is purely psychological, when in fact they are primarily demonic. I am sure that there are millions of Christians worldwide who are assaulted by evil spirits with lies and temptations, who would be able to fight back effectively if they just realized what was going on.

The attacks of evil spirits will be especially frequent when we are engaged in activities that are the most threat to Satan and his work. For example, if I go to a prayer meeting I will almost certainly experience some opposition. And I know I'm not the only one. On many occasions I have gone to prayer meetings and just as the meeting is about to start I have looked around at the people there, and some who were very cheerful and light-hearted a short time before have become silent and worried looking. I am sure that much of this is due to demonic attacks that are not understood as such.

In saying that things like prayer meetings often increase the demonic attack against Christians, I hope no one reading this is thinking that it would be better not to go to prayer meetings etc. That would be foolishness of a very high order. The safest place for a believer to be is always as close as possible to God, losing their life for Jesus' sake (Luke 9:24). Besides, demons can only attack us in ways that God permits (Job 1-2), and cannot inflict any real harm if we are in God's will (Luke 10:19). Going to a prayer meeting and being attacked by a demon as a result is a thousand times safer than disobeying God by not going to it! 

It is true that there are dangers involved in some types of spiritual warfare if the Christian is not prepared for the relevant type of combat. There was one occasion as a young Christian when this lesson was driven home to me very forcefully. I and one brother and one sister decided on the spur of the moment one evening that we would go to a place that was well known for witchcraft so that we could declare the authority of Christ to the evil spirits there. Soon after we arrived, the girl in our group began to experience terrifying manifestations of evil, and we realized that we had made a big mistake. We then had to try to beat back this onslaught of the enemy as best we could. What we had done was a bit like diving into a swimming pool without having a clue how to swim. Our experience reminds me of the seven sons of Sceva in Acts 19:13-17, who tried to engage in spiritual warfare that they were not equipped for.

In giving this anecdote of my experience, I don't want to put Christians off from 'pursuing a career' in specialist spiritual warfare. There is a desperate need for more believers who know how to operate in this area, and it is not dangerous if you know what you are doing. If there is a team of Christians who are prepared and include some seasoned warriors as leaders, they will be completely protected as Jesus promises in Luke 10:19. For someone who knows how to swim, diving into a swimming pool is a very safe thing to do.

We could sum up with two principles. First, if you are inexperienced in spiritual warfare, only go on the attack against evil spirits if you are under the wing of those with the necessary expertise. Second, if you are defending against the attacks of spirits who come to you, you will be completely safe, regardless of how long you have been a Christian or how experienced you are in spiritual warfare. 

I mentioned above that I have learned that very specific feelings and sensations that I experience are caused by the attacks of evil spirits. I think probably every Christian will be unique in this respect to some degree, that each person might feel something a little different from others, or at least most others, when they are attacked by demons. 

Nevertheless, I am sure that there are similarities too. I know from speaking to others, for example, that they experience demonic lies in a way similar to me. I think in spiritual warfare the main way in which we must learn is from our own experiences. Given that evil spirits attack us with lies and temptations, we can watch out for the times when we find we have been tempted or when we have believed something that is untrue to see if any pattern of feelings or experiences emerges. This is exactly the way in which I am learning to recognize demonic attacks.

If you are a born-again Christian, you have been and will be targeted by evil spirits. They will have held meetings at which you have been discussed, and your weaknesses will be well known to them. I am fairly sure too that individual spirits will have been assigned to you personally to attack you in various ways. 

Scripture is clear that the normal Christian life involves recognizing the attacks of these creatures and defeating them. Every time a spirit does something to us without our being aware, it is always at an advantage over us. Once we recognize what is going on, the tables are turned. We are then in a position, with delegated authority from Jesus Christ, to have the upper hand.

I have been a Christian for over 25 years. I have a Ph.D. in New Testament Language, Literature and Theology from the University of Edinburgh. I am a UK national and I currently live in the south of Scotland. 
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