Spiritual Warfare Exposed: The Counterfeit Battles that Threaten Real Victory!

In 1982, a great outpouring of the Spirit came to San Jose, California.

Many thousands were impacted in a meeting that was originally scheduled for four nights but exploded into 22 weeks.

There were nights of such glory that man’s program was unceremoniously dumped by a tidal wave of God’s love flooding hungry souls.

Key truths surfaced in that visitation. One was that the passivity of the church must be cured. Militancy born of the Spirit was a clear feature of these Christians in the Silicon Valley. Spiritual warfare, a long-neglected area, was being restored to a huge number of God’s people.

Simultaneous with the days of power in San Jose, other sections of America were being visited in both spiritual life and the renewed sense of warfare.

During the revival, one night I stood to preach at Calvary Community Church when the Spirit warned me of a coming counterfeit to true spiritual warfare.

I solemnly warned the people that spiritual warfare could become a fad. I had no idea how much worse the abuses would be than what I had described.

The most disturbing aspect of this spiritual warfare fad is a trivial view of Satan. We dare not view him as a cartoon character who will flee because of some nifty phrase we shout.

Exotic procedures and extra-scriptural tactics are spouted effortlessly. Take, for example, the theory (which is not to be found in Scripture) that after you discover the name of the regional demon that controls your area, you must then go to where the evil spirit revealed his stronghold and yell at him. Others began telling churches that they needed to receive their “warfare tongue.”

Still others leased a jet to circle over Southern California to break the “power of the air.” They called it “clearing the air.”

A book by a California pastor claimed that this warfare-type prayer had “cleared the skies” over Dallas. Tragically, by the end of that same year Dallas had more policemen shot and killed than any city in America.

This sad illustration is only one disturbing example of a seriously mistaken view of real victory over Satan.

If our view of the world is from the ease and insulation of the sanctuary, we can be totally blind and bereft of true authority, true spiritual strategies and impact.

Chuck Girard, Dottie McGuire, and Reba Rambo have written true battle hymns for the church; but too many Charismatic centers now feast on a series of “Devil, you’re a punk and we’re going to get you” choruses, and actually make this their total worship.

Some can get so hyped up about the devil that when a pure worship chorus (one that exalts the Lord and doesn’t mention Satan) is sung, they actually feel let down.

Yet this is not a new phenomenon. Even Pentecostal reformer Martin Luther was caught up in exalting the devil. In the well-known hymn A Mighty Fortress is Our God, he wrote: “For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal”—implying that Jesus is not on earth?

The true spiritual giants of history revealed their mettle by being the blazing conscience of a community. They pressed the battle where it really mattered, and abolished the works of darkness that cleaned up cities. To them we would look like silly children with Styrofoam swords.

Where is the proof of all this alleged damage we’ve supposedly done to Satan? How dare we pass off arrogant posturing and “war games” as true spiritual authority!

There is no mystery to why personal holiness is not a priority to these weekend warriors. They have bought into the lie that authority is confessed based on our justification in Christ, when in fact, authority over Satan is imparted to the vessel who has proven character.

Real Victory from Real Authority

While we recognize one war in the spiritual world, the Bible speaks of three: (1) our flesh; (2) the world; and (3) satanic power. We must obtain victory on all three fronts, not just one. To lose in one area is to lose in every area.

Certain purveyors of spiritual warfare can totally neglect their souls because they don’t recognize the war between self and Christ. You can’t win against Satan until you win against the un-Christlike attitudes that freely infect us.

Self is a forgotten foe in Charisma. While we scream about nebulous attacks on the works of darkness, that villainous spy works unhindered. While some boast of great victories, the fact of their actual defeat is evident daily in coarse joking, sporadic hard drinking, lifestyle addiction, divorce, and selfish ambition disguised as vision.

If we have not won in the arena of self and have not conquered the encroachments of the world, we dare not mess with Satan.

If Satan wanted to, he could effortlessly penetrate the Reynolds Wrap armor and Mattel toy weapons that so many are relying on. In a real satanic assault, they would be sent running for their lives like the sons of Sceva, who thought exorcism was a game.

The fact that Satan hasn’t openly attacked has to do with a deeper evil! While he might relish exposing the fantasy might of these believers, he gains more by letting thousands stomp, kick, scream, and carry on, harmlessly distracted from the real work of God.

In Acts 8, Philip the evangelist settled the question of how to win a city once and for all.

The “New Age” village he entered boasted a great sorcerer who had amazed from the least to the greatest. Philip didn’t search for the ruling demon’s name; he proclaimed the name that is above all names—Jesus!

Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city (see Acts 8:5-8).

Proclaiming Christ broke demonic power. The weapon of choice, was, is, and always will be the gospel thrust forth by a vessel fully armed, who has victory on all three fronts. Like David, they killed the lion of their flesh and the bear of the world before they ventured out to face Goliath, the giant.

To get Charisma from the playground to the battleground will not be an easy task. But the fantasy is wearing thin and many believers are asking disturbing questions about the “spiritual pep rallies” they have attended.

The shouts of superiority over the devil have not translated into real victory in daily life. Moreover, they, unlike some “state-of-the-art” preachers, live in a real world where violence is increasing, abortion abounds, and immorality is overwhelming.

It is time to discard the hollow boast of “Honey, I shrunk the devil,” and ask God to restore us to the path of real victory, real authority. We can’t say, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal” if they are!

We can’t say, “They are mighty to the tearing down of strongholds” if the weapons we use can’t tear down strongholds.

And we dare not then ask for the weapons of God. The first target for those weapons will be the strongholds of self, which they will home in on and blow down, long before any thought is given to “territorial spirits” in your city.

Even Jesus took care to cover this first, saying that Satan is coming, but “he has nothing in Me” (John 14:30 NKJV).

Just as in every previous kind of extreme in the Charismatic Movement, this one will also have its victims. People’s faith will be shipwrecked by this naïve approach to a very real war.

The Bible Foretold This Abuse

The Bible warns of this arrogance in Jude. First, it foretells the blustery boasts of misguided preachers:

For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 4 NKJV).

Then he exposes their carnal agendas, referring to their derisive language toward Satan:

Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (Jude 8-9 NKJV)

An entire generation cursed those leaders during the war in Vietnam who had underestimated the enemy and needlessly sent many thousands of our young men to early graves.

How will we look back on the frivolous teachers of this moment who claimed to arm people, only to find that Satan will ask, “Jesus I know; Paul I know, but who are you?” (See Acts 19:15.)

As Arthur Mathews said, “For every provocation against God’s cause, there is a provision for victory.”

There remains for us then, a victory in the real war, and God longs to reveal it. We can be “known in hell.” But it comes through authentic prayer from a heart broken to stop evil, a heart that seeks fresh fire.