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Calgary, Alta.
Spiritual warfare study conference


Do Mennonite Brethren have a common understanding of spiritual warfare? Could the Mennonite Brethren Church put together a statement on this controversial topic which would give helpful guidance to local churches and individuals?

To find answers to these questions, the Canadian MB Conference Board of Faith and Life convened a study conference at Dalhousie Community Church in Calgary, Alta. October 25–27. This issue was a leftover agenda item when the General (North American) MB Conference Board of Faith and Life was disbanded a year-and-a-half ago, and the Canadian Board of Faith and Life invited the US MB Conference Board of Faith and Life and representatives from US MB churches to participate as well. A good crowd of 155 people representing a cross-section of Mennonite Brethren responded to the invitation.

Discussion around the tables

It works

The first session on Thursday evening, and every other session throughout the Conference, began with worship singing led by Gerald Mann of the host church.

The battleground of conversion

John Neufeld, assistant senior pastor at Willingdon Church in Burnaby, B.C., then preached a sermon designed to set the direction for the discussions that would follow. He began with the story of “Karen”,

John Neufeld (Thursday night sermon)

a student at Columbia Bible College who refused to listen to Christian teaching and heard voices telling her to kill Neufeld. Later, in his office, she quietly gave her life to Jesus and was delivered from evil spirits. Neufeld noted that such deliverances have always been part of Christian ministry.

However, he also pointed out a number of new issues that are causing debate within the church: 1. What is the meaning of the New Testament term “demonized” – does it mean that there is a demon inside the person controlling that person’s will, or can it refer to varying degrees of demonic influence? 2. What are the connections between psychology, medicine and spirituality? 3. Is the suggestion true that every Christian is “demonized” in some way? 4. Is Neil Anderson correct that there is a vast satanic conspiracy operating in various levels of government? 5. Is Neil Anderson correct that after conversion Christians no longer have a sin nature and that if they still struggle with issues such as lust after that, it must be because they are being influenced by demons? 6. If the current psychological understanding that traumatic events cause multiple personality disorder (MPD) is correct, then why is there virtually no evidence of MPD among the survivors of the Nazi and Cambodian holocausts (the victims’ problem being not that they can’t remember but that they can’t forget)? 7. Is the notion true that if there has been satanic involvement in the past, it will invariably resurface in the next generation? Neufeld referred to a letter in Christianity Today which suggested that some of the focus on deliverance ministries is simply an attempt to be absolved of responsibility for our own sin.

The solution, Neufeld suggested, is balance, and the proper balance between skepticism (not believing in the existence of evil spirits) and gullibility (seeing evil spirits everywhere) is biblicism. He then traced the concept of “the heavenly realms” through Ephesians (Ephesians 1:3,19-21; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12), noting that this is a battleground between good and evil but that it is also the place where Christ rules in power and where He has given Christians authority and “every blessing”. Moving on to Ephesians 2, he stressed that before coming to Christ we are all “dead in sin” – we are bound by the world (the culture around us that encourages us to sin), the flesh (our own sinful natures) and the devil. Conversion, therefore, is not simply a matter of us choosing Christ but of God intervening to raise us from the dead and transfer us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Conversion is thus a prime battleground for spiritual warfare. Neufeld illustrated this point with the example of “Sally”, a woman who struggled with many sins and issues and who was not delivered because, she had never really committed her life to Jesus. Neufeld noted that we have too superficial an understanding of conversion, assuming that some people are Christians who suffer from post-conversion demonization when the reality is that the prime battle has not yet been won and they are not Christians in the first place.

The evening concluded with those present breaking into groups of two or three and praying prayers of confession. This session was led by Richard Martens, secretary of the Canadian Conference BFL.

A piece of wood is a piece of wood

The program for Friday featured the presentation of four papers. There was a short time in which participants could ask each presenter questions for clarification. The paper was then discussed in groups around tables, and the groups’ observations and conclusions were passed to a findings committee: Lynn Jost (chair of the US Conference BFL), Marvin Hein (executive secretary of the North American MB Conference), Gay Lynn Voth (instructor at Columbia Bible College), Ross Penner (pastor, Hepburn, Sask. MB church) and Richard Martens (secretary of the Canadian Conference BFL).

The most debated of the papers was presented by Pierre Gilbert, a Canadian Mennonite University and MB Biblical Seminary professor from Winnipeg. Gilbert began with the story of a man who had an occult image on the side of his barn and who subsequently died; did he die because of a demonic curse or simply because he became sick? Gilbert then asked how we come to conclusions about such questions.

Speaker Pierre Gilbert

Do we rely on Scripture, on experience or on the revelations of modern-day prophets? Gilbert’s response was to rely on Scripture alone.

Gilbert then described the world view of the “third wave” charismatic movement, which is basically the “magical” world view that human beings keep returning to throughout history. In this view, a cosmic conflict between good and evil has existed from before creation; humans are a warrior race and can only find their destiny through conflict. The world is “mythologized”, populated by millions of evil spirits. Because of this, objects and places can have special powers, serving as channels for demonic oppression; the spoken word (such as a curse) has direct power; and traumatic events in their lives or their ancestors’ lives can make people particularly vulnerable to demonic influence. There is a hierarchy of evil spirits, with Satan at the top, followed by “territorial spirits” who dominate neighbourhoods, cities and countries, “middle-level spirits” and “ground-level spirits”; the higher the rank, the more powerful the spirit. The Christian is always at war, always in danger of demonic attack, and Christian leaders are especially targeted by the enemy (which explains the fall of televangelists). The Christian experience is therefore marked by fear, any negative emotion can be evidence of demonization, and people can be demonized/possessed by evil spirits even without their consent. In such a situation, Christians must rely on a new priesthood of “spiritual warfare specialists” who have special powers to discern and combat evil spirits. This view, Gilbert suggested is based on experience and on the unique revelations of the spiritual warfare specialists.

In contrast, Gilbert presented the biblical world view, particularly from Genesis 1-3. Genesis, he stated, was given by God to a people who held the “magical” world view in order to free them from their oppressive fear of evil spirits. In this biblical world view, the world is created good, it is a friendly place, and objects do not transmit evil power. Thus, the world is “demythologized”, emptied of its gods, and people do not have to live in fear because “a piece of wood is just a piece of wood”. Human beings were created for a peaceful existence, they were not created to be slaves but rather to be free beings working in partnership with God.

In clarification, Gilbert said that demons do exist but can be cast out by Christians in the authority of Christ. Most evil is due to human sin rather than evil spirits. Spiritual warfare is only one metaphor for the Christian life and is usually connected in Scripture to ethical questions, not attacks by demons. For instance, the apostle Paul cautions against eating meat sacrificed to idols, not because the meat will be a channel for evil spirits, but in order not to confuse less mature Christians.

Focus on discipleship

In the second paper, Randy Friesen, executive director of Youth Mission International, affirmed the reality of spiritual warfare. He gave the example of “Bob the witch”, encountered when a YMI team was participating in a prayer march in Congo.

Speaker Randy Friesen

The local Mennonite Brethren pastor invited Bob to come to the church, where Bob said that he killed people by “astral projection” (sending his spirit to kill the person while his body remained at rest in another location). Bob also confessed that he had tried to kill the MB pastor in this way, but found he could not harm the pastor, who was surrounded by light. Bob became a Christian and is now an MB church member.

Friesen then referred to the story of Christ sending out His disciples in Luke 10. The “wolves” (10:3) are real, the disciples have authority over evil powers (10:19), but the focus should remain on Christian discipleship (10:20). In spiritual warfare, knowledge is key. The most important thing is to know God. Second, Christians need to know their identity and authority in Christ, since 90% of spiritual warfare is coming under Christ and His authority – Christians are not given power to combat evil spirits but must place themselves under the authority of Christ, who has the power. Third, Christians need to know their own hearts, to recognize their own sin, repent, resist the evil one and allow their minds to be renewed. Fourth, Christians need knowledge of the enemy such as the understanding that unconfessed sin can give the enemy a foothold in our lives and institutions.

Spiritual warfare then needs to be carried on in four spheres: the personal (daily surrender to Christ), the family, the church and the community/nation. Friesen finished with a warning that Christians should not move out beyond their level of obedience and submission or deliberately involve themselves in a conflict they know nothing about. He cited an example of a pastor who insisted on going to Nepal to pray against territorial spirits in a country he had not been called to; he is no longer in ministry. He cited another example of a group of immature Christians who decided to establish a spiritual warfare prayer group. One now suffers from paranoid delusions, another is in an institution for the criminally insane, and another suffers from depression and delusions of seeing demons everywhere.

Power encounters

The third paper was presented by Nzash Lumeya, now a professor at MB Biblical Seminary in Fresno, Calif. He discussed spiritual warfare in terms of “power encounters” in three areas.

First, Christ on the cross overcame the power of the devil, overcame death and rescued those who were spiritually dead (Hebrews 2:14-16). Yet, when Lumeya returned from study in France to pastor in his native Congo,

Speaker Nzash Lumeya

he was puzzled by people asking for freedom from demonic oppression because his training had told him that such problems were not real.

Second, Christ’s victory over evil powers must be applied in confrontations with evil today. Lumeya gave three examples. Gidilu was a young man who would fall to the ground, shake violently, foam at the mouth and eventually lose consciousness. Doctors could not help, and the community said he was being attacked by spiritual powers, ancestors and witch doctors. Pastor Tata Mushima came, read Scripture, praised God, prayed and exorcised the evil spirit. Gidilu is now well and a church member. The second example involves the 7000 Beka (pygmy) Christians in Central African Republic. The Beka live in fear of evil powers in the forest. Therefore, missionaries must approach this land as enemy territory, not neutral ground, and evangelism among them must stress the power of Christ to protect them from the evil powers. The third example was a sexually immoral young woman who spends her days in bars and her evenings at funerals. Ten years of parental advice, exorcism, fasting and prayer by others have not yet freed her from her destructive lifestyle or led her to completely surrender her life to Christ.

Third, Lumeya talked of applying Christ’s victory in obeying the Great Commission. For instance, 20 Congolese are now going out as missionaries, not afraid of “crossing boundaries into another demon’s territory”. The primary power encounter, Lumeya affirmed, takes place at conversion, when people must accept Christ as both Lord and Saviour.

Balance and partnership

The fourth paper, “Spiritual Warfare from the Perspective of Mental Health”, was presented by John Allan Toews, professor of psychiatry at the University of Calgary. He began with two stories. One was of the brutal torture of a young girl by Nazi soldiers.

Speaker John Allan Toews

The other concerned a woman who was a patient of Toews. Her anger constantly alienated those around her. Rather than work on the problem through extensive counselling, the woman went to a “Christian healer” who cast out a “spirit of anger”. The woman continues to alienate others with her anger. The first story, Toews said, illustrates that evil is very real and should never be trivialized. The second illustrates the dangerous tendency in the spiritual warfare movement to place the blame on outside forces, thus encouraging people to refuse to take responsibility for the evil in their own hearts.

Toews then presented a model for understanding human beings. Medical theory says that human beings and their problems all have physical, psychological and social aspects. Toews added that there is also a spiritual dimension, which is not so much a fourth aspect as an underlying reality that includes the other three aspects. Toews said that a person’s problem may be fixed by a spiritual warfare technique, but that sometimes the same result can be achieved by psychological counselling. He noted that his own struggles with depression had at various times been helped by medication, counselling and healing prayer. More commonly, problems are complex (the problem has physical, psychological, social and spiritual aspects) and can best be resolved by a combination of approaches. His ideal way to work, for instance, is to offer psychological counselling in conjunction with a pastor who will offer prayer for deliverance. Moreover, Toews asserted, many problems require long-term solutions; a solution cannot be found in a one-time exorcism but in a process that will also include preparation and extensive follow-up. Toews also made a distinction between cure (brought about by an external intervention) and healing (a gradual inner transformation). He said that sometimes people experience a cure but not healing, and sometimes healing but not a cure. For instance, the depressed people he works with sometimes have gained a very deep understanding of God and themselves even though they continue to struggle with depression.

Saturday morning panel discussion

Corporate deliverance

Saturday morning featured a second testimony of spiritual warfare, this time not of personal deliverance but of corporate deliverance. Brad Julihn said that he had encountered a few cases of demonic influence when he served for three years as associate pastor of Dalhousie Community Church,

Brad Julihn (testimony)

but saw little evidence of evil powers for the next 10 years as he served as senior pastor of Richmond Bethel Church in Richmond, B.C. During this time, he had led that church to “stagnancy”. Then, three years ago, a young woman came for prayer for healing of pain. When the church leaders anointed and prayed for her, she began growling, but later experienced a reduction of pain and increased clarity in her thinking about spiritual issues. Further prayer three months later resulted in more manifestations of evil forces and a further measure of healing. However, after she shared her experiences in a church service, “all hell broke loose”. She began struggling with extreme depression and insomnia. Julihn contacted a man with experience in spiritual warfare. During the second meeting with him, he asked the evil spirits to reveal their assignments, and some mentioned people and events in the church that had nothing to do with the young woman and which she knew nothing about. The result of this was that there was a spiritual breakthrough in the church. Other people came for counselling; demons were rebuked; people found new freedom; long-term transformation and increased holiness of life became evident; there was an increased passion for prayer and corporate repentance for sin; an intercessory prayer team was created; ministries that had struggled to get started now flourished; and new people began coming to Christ. Julihn concluded that just because the demonic is not evident, that does not mean that it is not there; sometimes Satan camouflages his work, but when he is confronted, he shifts to intimidation.

Putting it together

The findings committee then convened a panel of the presenters to try to sort out areas of agreement and clarify the areas of disagreement. Of particular note was a discussion between Pierre Gilbert and Randy Friesen about the powers of evil beings. Gilbert argued that demons exist and can affect people but their power is primarily one of deception. For instance, Bob the witch did not really have the power to kill people, but rather people would become sick and die because they were convinced he had that power. The only real supernatural power in the world is God’s, and the powers of evil are illusions, deceptions. Friesen tended to think that demons do have real power to change things. On the issue of Satan, Gilbert said Scripture reveals the existence of Satan but gives very little information about him or where he came from. Friesen noted that Satan was cast out of heaven (Revelation 12). He added that in Daniel 10 (the only biblical reference to “territorial spirits”), humans are told of spiritual warfare in heaven places, but these spirits are opposed by good angels; humans are never told to directly engage in battle against such evil powers.

To what extent do we agree?

The findings committee then presented a draft document summarizing issues on which those present seemed to agree and issues on which further clarity is needed. This document was then discussed again around the tables, and further feedback was given to the findings committee. The findings committee has since produced a revised document (see sidebar), which will be further processed by the Canadian and US Boards of Faith and Life and then presented to the Canadian and US MB Conference conventions next summer.

Two participants were asked to summarize their understanding of the issues. Ike Bergen, B.C. MB Conference minister, listed several areas in which agreement was clear: God is sovereign; Jesus is Lord; in Christ, Christians are free and have authority over evil powers; spiritual warfare is real; Christians have been sent to proclaim deliverance. James Pankratz, academic dean at MB Biblical Seminary, called for discernment and a variety of approaches, observing, “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” He said that what had happened at the conference was very important – wrestling with theology and trying to see the world through the eyes of God. He added that prayer is not a weapon we wield but a giving up of power, not a technology of control but a surrender to God which releases God’s power.

Observations

By the end of the discussion, it was clear that a number of disagreements remained. Chief among these was what the biblical world view really is: Is the world really a friendly place in which a piece of wood is just a piece of wood, or is the world populated by millions of powerful and dangerous evil spirits? Granted that the world was created good, to what extent has evil infiltrated because of the fall? In the terms John Neufeld proposed, is the battle against evil primarily a battle against the devil or the flesh, evil spirits or our own sinfulness?

This conference was modelled on the conference which helped hammer out the new MB Confession of Faith. (That conference was held in the same church October 29–31, 1998.) However, while this conference like the previous one was a very good experience for those who participated, it did not seem to achieve the same level of consensus. This is partly because the Confession of Faith conference started with a draft confession to discuss and there was no starting document this time (the presenters’ papers were not sent out ahead of time). Second, while the Confession of Faith discussion attracted pastors and theologians, this conference attracted a greater cross-section of MB membership, including a considerable number of lay people with a deep interest in spiritual warfare. Third, in spite of John Neufeld’s call for biblicism and balance, there was far less detailed study of Scripture this time – possibly because in this area Mennonite Brethren apparently tend to rely more on experience and less on Scripture to shape their understanding. Finally, in a conference which stressed the importance of prayer, there were no extended sessions of prayer, other than the first evening. This conference felt more like a first step toward clarifying these issues than it did an occasion to finalize a definitive statement.

 – jc

After the conference on Saturday afternoon, participants had an opportunity to put into practice what they had been learning. About 20 people gathered in downtown Calgary for a two-hour prayer walk to support three specific ministries: the Canadian MB Conference National Youth Convention (scheduled for downtown Calgary in early January), Mission Calgary (the ongoing church planting venture sponsored by the Canadian and Alberta MB Conferences) and the work of a Youth Mission International team which will come to Calgary in February. After a time of worship singing and joint prayer, the group broke into pairs to walk throughout the area and pray.

 
 
For further reading

“Confronting Evil”, a series of articles in the Fall 2000 issue of Direction magazine. (Direction is a journal published by Mennonite Brethren post-secondary educational institutions.) “What kind of war are we fighting?”, a series of articles in the March 2001 issue of The Christian Leader. (The Christian Leader is the periodical of the US MB Conference.)

What we agree on

Draft report of the findings committee God is sovereign, Jesus is Lord. Accepting biblical authority shapes our understanding of world view, culture and experience, which in turns shapes our interpretation of the biblical text. God created the heavens and the earth, and they were very good. The Fall has corrupted the created order. Humans have the capacity to choose between good and evil and must take responsibility for their sinfulness. The world, the flesh, and the devil describe the spiritual reality of our human propensity to sin. Evil exists in the heavenly realms, in human hearts and in institutional structures. “Sin opens individuals and groups to the bondage of demonic principalities and powers. These powers also work through political, economic, social and even religious systems to turn people away from holiness, justice and righteousness” (a quote from Article 4 of the Mennonite Brethren Confession of Faith). By salvation God places us in Christ to be a community of love. God has seated us in the heavenly realms, and freed us from the powers of the evil one. God is Saviour and Healer. In the context of Spiritual Warfare, it is important to remember that prayer releases God’s power as we relinquish our own. Knowledge of God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit needs to be our priority, rather than a focus on the demonic realm. Discipleship involves ongoing personal repentance and renewal. Those who engage in ministry to those afflicted by evil spirits need to be accountable to the church and denominational community. Whenever possible, a team/interdisciplinary approach is preferable. Healing is a holistic restoration. Healing is a process that includes personal history, preparation and follow-up. Healing involves spiritual, physical, psychological and social dimensions. Healing does not necessarily mean cure (fixed), and cure does not necessarily mean healing. This ministry is not about techniques but about care for those made in the image of God who are designed to live for His glory.

 

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Last modified October 13, 2006.

© 2006 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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