📖 Continuing the Journey of Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare

Welcome back as we continue our discussion on strategic level spiritual warfare! 🌟
Here’s a reminder of our progress:

  • We’ve talked about the personal level of battling demons,

  • Moved to the individual level, and

  • Now we’re addressing higher levels, including princes and leaders (and even confronting Satan himself). 💥
    In the last session, I shared church history stories of spiritual warfare. Now, let’s turn to modern stories.

🌍 Moving from Primitive to Modern Contexts

We’ve all heard missionary stories from the mission field—like the one about the missionary surrounded by 26 apparent men who protected him from attack. These stories abound in the primitive world. 🌿
But today, let’s focus on modern-day strategic warfare.

🌆 Introducing Tony Evans and Urban Spiritual Warfare

👤 Tony Evans is a pastor at a church in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas.
🏙️ He leads a ministry focused on finding better ways to minister in urban settings—specifically cities marked by decay and oppression.
Why the focus on cities? Because the enemy—the one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy—is especially active in urban centers. 🏚️💔

📜 Tony Evans Reflects on Colossians

As Tony Evans begins his book on Spiritual Warfare, he reflects on and explains this passage from Colossians:

"For in Him (that is in Christ), all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him."
🔍 Tony points out that a throne represents a chair of authority. For example, when King Charles III was anointed in England after Queen Elizabeth II’s passing, he sat on a historic throne, symbolizing his authority.

🏰 Understanding Thrones, Dominions, Rulers, and Authorities

  • Throne: A seat of authority, signifying the right to rule. 👑

  • Dominion: The territory ruled by the person on the throne. 🌍

  • Rulers: Specific people occupying positions of authority. 🧑‍⚖️

  • Authorities: The laws, traditions, and rules legitimizing the throne and its dominion (e.g., a constitution). 📜

In Colossians, Paul describes a realm ruled by evil forces with thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities.

🌄 Evans Connects to Exodus: A Cry for Deliverance

📖 Tony Evans draws a parallel to Exodus:
The Israelites were enslaved in Egypt for nearly 400 years. Here’s how it’s described:

"During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them."

🙏 Deliverance begins with a cry to God.
Moses, raised in Pharaoh’s household, understood Egypt’s thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities. At the time, while the Israelites were crying out, Moses was being prepared in Midian. 🏞️

🏃 Moses’ Journey and God’s Call

You remember the story of Moses becoming aware that he was indeed a Hebrew. One day he came across an Egyptian abusing one of the Hebrew slaves.
⚔️ Moses fought and killed the Egyptian, then buried him in the sand.
📢 When word got out, Moses fled Egypt, knowing the rulers would come after him.
🐑 In Midian, he shepherded for 40 years.
🔥 God called him from the burning bush, and though Moses protested with excuses—claiming poor speech and asking God to send someone else—God insisted: “You are the one, but Aaron can go with you.”
📜 Moses’ deliverance mission began with the people crying out to God, moving from a personal cry to a strategic level of thrones, dominions, authorities, and powers.

✊ Martin Luther King and Strategic Warfare

Tony Evans draws a parallel with Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader of the 1960s.
📣 People cried out to God against injustice and discrimination.
🕊️ Martin Luther King championed non-violence and prayer, rather than the weapons of the world like assassination or bombings.
📜 This broke the spiritual stronghold over political and social systems, resulting in changes to laws and opportunities for African Americans.
❗ However, the struggle isn’t over. Many challenges persist, especially for African American youth today, but spiritual warfare led to openings and progress.

🗺️ Mapping for Strategic Spiritual Warfare

If you’re going to engage in strategic level spiritual warfare in your community:
1️⃣ Spiritual Mapping:

  • Pray and ask God to reveal what’s wrong in your community. 🙏

  • Talk to community members to identify negative sources of power and strongholds. 💬

  • Look for barriers to peace, joy, love, and the advance of the gospel. 🕊️

🌆 A Modern Example: Hemet, California

📍 When I pastored in California (1983–2006), I was near Hemet, but unaware of what was happening there.
🕵️ A new pastor observed:

  • A nasty spiritual atmosphere 😔

  • Churches were stagnant or in decline, with pastors competing and merely going through motions ⛪

  • Cult activity was widespread; remains of animal sacrifices were found 🕯️

  • Citizens reported dozens of ritual fires during Halloween 🔥

  • Active cults included Moonies, Mormons, Church of Scientology, Transcendental Meditation (led by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi) 🌒

  • Known as the methamphetamine manufacturing capital, with at least nine production centers 🚨

  • Spiritual mapping revealed police involvement in corruption 🕶️

🙏 Gordon Houston: A Pastor’s Calling

In 1984, Pastor Gordon Houston, of San Jacinto Assembly of God, drove through Hemet and saw its condition. He initially wanted nothing to do with it.
But in 1986, God spoke to him: “I have a plan, and I’ll share it with you if you make a commitment to this place.”
Gordon and his family moved to Hemet.
For generations, a notorious gang called “First Street” controlled the area. Grandchildren of its founders now ran it.
The area was so dangerous that police refused to enter without backup.
Outside his church, Gordon was confronted by seven gang members demanding to know why he was there.

🕊️ Bob Beckwith: Prayer and Spiritual Mapping

Pastor Bob Beckwith moved into the area, founding The Dwelling Place Church.
He noticed certain areas of the city had heightened spiritual activity and crime, often linked to cult and witchcraft practices.
Spiritual mapping revealed a ruling spirit named Takis, identified by native people and discerned through revelation of the Holy Spirit.
🙏 Together, believers began to pray over the area, confronting spiritual strongholds.

🙏 The Power of Prayer and Strategic Mapping

The believers mapped out locations on a map, marked them, and set prayer targets and timelines.
After they prayed for the removal of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) Center, a bushfire started in the foothills and burned the TM center down—while leaving surrounding buildings untouched.
A former drug manufacturer converted to Christ reported:

  • The illegal drug business took a 75% hit 💥

  • Police (previously corrupt and complicit) did a 180° turn, with many turning to Christ 🚓✝️
    ⛪ Church attendance rose 14%, doubling the rate from 10 years prior.
    📈 In just 18 months, San Jacinto Assembly of God saw 600+ people give their lives to Christ. Another church grew 300% in one year!

🕊️ A Miraculous Conversion

🚗 During a church service at San Jacinto Assembly of God, a gang member interrupted Pastor Gordon Houston’s sermon.
😱 He revealed: While driving to commit a murder, he passed by the Dwelling Place Church, and the Holy Spirit took control of his car.
💭 He thought, “Oh my God, what am I doing?” Covered his silenced pistol with a blanket, walked into a men’s prayer meeting, and said, “That was the beginning of my journey home.”

🏙️ Hemet’s Transformation 🌟

Mid-1980s: Massive spiritual warfare reshaped the community.
By the late 1990s: Hemet had a professing mayor, police chief, fire chief, and city manager.
30% of law enforcement and many teachers, coaches, and principals were now believers.
The school system transformed from a laughingstock to one of the highest academic ratings in California. Dropout rate plunged from 4.7% to 0.07%.
🤝 Churches worked together, swapping pulpits, praying together, and reaching out in unity.

🌍 Another Example: Cali, Colombia 🇨🇴

Known as the center of the Cali Cartel, responsible for exporting 70–1000 tons of cocaine a year to the U.S. and Europe.
The cartel was the richest, largest, most well-organized criminal organization in history, using a combination of bribery and threats to corrupt institutions.
Randy and Marcy McMillan, co-pastors of Comunidád Cristiana de Fe (Community of Christians of Faith), labored in Cali for 20+ years, ten of them under the shadow of the cartel’s influence.
Marcy inherited a home there, which led them to move into the heart of the spiritual battlefield.

🏠 Marcy McMillan’s New Home

Marcy’s house was in one of the nicer areas of Cali, but over time, the drug lords occupied the area.
By the early 1990s, Cali became one of the most thoroughly corrupt cities globally.
The Cali Cartel controlled banks, businesses, politicians, and law enforcement.
The church in Cali was in disarray—evangelicals were feuding and disconnected.

💔 A Divided Church in Cali

The pastors' association was an “old box of files” no one wanted.
“Every pastor was working on his own,” recalled Roosevelt Muriel.
No one wanted to join together.

🙏 The Arrival of Julio and Ruth Ruibaugh

In 1978, Julio and Ruth Ruibaugh came to Cali, dismayed by the darkness.
During fasting and prayer, God told Julio: “You don’t have the right to be offended by these pastors; you need to forgive them.”
Julio reconciled with the pastors one by one, and they began praying together.

🔥 Renewing Spiritual Hunger in Cali

Their focus was on prayer, unity, and holiness—the things that attract God’s presence.
They petitioned God to create a renewed spiritual hunger in Cali’s ministers and churches.

🎤 The 1995 Prayer Gathering

In May 1995, they planned a prayer meeting hoping for a few thousand attendees.
They hired a huge event center but only roped off a small section, expecting just 1,000 people.
To everyone’s shock, 25,000+ people filled the Civic Auditorium!
The mayor mounted the platform and proclaimed, “Cali belongs to Jesus Christ!”
Energized, the crowd prayed through the night until about six in the morning.

🌙 Night Prayer Vigils Begin

And they began—that is, a practice—praying through the night in the month of June.
The sense of anticipation was heightened that had grown from that first meeting.

🌟 Prophetic Dreams

Several intercessors reported on dreams in which angelic forces apprehended leaders of the drug cartel.
Many interpreted this as a prophetic sign.

🚨 Government Crackdown

Shortly thereafter, within six weeks of the vision, McMillan recalls, the Colombian government declared all-out war against the drug lords.
They began to be arrested one by one by one.

🗺️ Mapping the Community

Now, how do you do this?
Well, we talked about mapping—what’s wrong in the community, what’s keeping people from faith.

🔮 Spiritual Discernment Example

There are other stories I could tell, like about a neighborhood where a pastor identified a fortune teller living there.
He began gathering people to pray because he believed this person was inviting into that community the presence of the enemy.
Within a short time, she moved away.

⚔️ Spiritual Warfare Weapons

Strategic warfare: weapons of prayer, weapons of fasting, weapons of the armor of God.
⚠️ A really strict warning—don’t do this alone.

💥 Casualties in Spiritual Warfare

Will there be casualties? That’s a question of Peter Wagner.
He was asked, and he said, “Well, Paul and Silas in Philippi received a beating. There were warfares in Cali—one of the prominent pastors there was assassinated. Will there be warfare? There are casualties in war.”
But we’re servants of God. We’ve given our lives to Him, and we want to see the Kingdom move forward.

👋 See You Next Time

We’ll see you next time as we change the focus a little bit.
But as you think of your community and communities around you, this is maybe a place for you to consider strategic-level spiritual warfare.
We’ll see you next time.


最后修改: 2025年05月29日 星期四 13:32