Breaking Principalities and Territorial Spirits Off Your Town

I met Cynthia Dunbar several years ago, through a mutual friend, as the Republican National Committeewoman for Virginia.

She is also a lawyer and educational advocate, as well as a Spirit-filled believer and intercessor. We instantly connected and started sharing our common concerns about the government and how we were praying concerning national issues. With her involvement in politics, including a run for a seat in Virginia’s Congress, her inside perspective was very revealing. In an interview with Intercessors for America, she described the reality of the spiritual warfare taking place in the governmental realm and the seduction of power that immediately faces anyone who enters politics:

“There’s such a desire for power, that even well-intentioned, good people become so consumed for power and name-recognition that they become Machiavellian [deceitful, unscrupulous], and the end justifies the means. I’ve seen it take even good men and good women…it’s kind of like the Lord of the Rings, once you put that ring of power on, it does something to you. The only way you can be immune to it is if you are truly being motivated by pursuing God, because God is the Highest Authority.”

—Cynthia Dunbar

Another trusted high-level intercessory prayer leader, who has been stationed in Washington, DC for more than twenty-five years, made a similar comment. I asked her what piece of advice she would give to the many intercessors who come to DC to pray on-site. She said it’s very easy to get caught up in the atmosphere that is charged with immense power. If intercessors don’t guard their hearts through humility, the ruling principalities of power and greed begin to influence the way they pray in their attitudes and posture.

These testimonies describe the seduction of supernatural powers at work when we are unaware of their presence and activity. The ruling principalities and territorial spirits that hover over a city or region can influence everyone, Christians included. Corporate strongholds on the land open spiritual gateways for the enemy to come in and rule. Depending on what people in that city are collectively reaching for, preoccupied with, and pursuing, either heaven’s hosts will be drawn in or the hordes of darkness will come.

The rise of the occult in the entertainment industry and in community halls is now frighteningly real. Witchcraft is no longer simply a nemesis in children’s fairy tales or some backroom fetish for a few. Witches and warlocks now openly ply their trade on city streets and over social media. Worse yet, some are even claiming to be Christians and benefiting from the white magic the craft claims. Casting spells are now available online and the popularity of Harry Potter has made the study of witchcraft seem innocent and childlike. We are being fooled and fueled by a dark force whose only desire is to steal, kill, and destroy this next generation before ever tasting of the authentic realities of heaven’s supernatural Kingdom.

The spirit of rebellion in the land has opened a wide door for witchcraft to enter. “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry…” (1 Samuel 15:23 NKJV). This hasn’t just come from nonbelievers. Even the Church has played into the enemy’s hands. Because of our struggle to embrace and submit to spiritual authority, we have allowed rebellion in our ranks, opening a door to counterfeit authority and demonic deception.

Our lack of corporate agreement and unwillingness to commit to one another in a covenant community also benefits the enemy’s playbook. Where witches join covens in order to form their circles of power, believers avoid belonging to any church for fear of being controlled. As a result, we are left without protection, void of unity, and open prey for the dark side. If only believers understood the power of covenant as much as witches do.

If we are to effectively confront and deal with these dark alliances crashing in on us, we must update our information and upgrade our tools. The weapons of our warfare are bordering on being carnal if we keep doing things the same way without seeing any lasting change. We need to revisit some terminology and understanding of what “spiritual warfare” truly is—and isn’t.

Principalities and Territorial Spirits

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the dark- ness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand (Ephesians 6:12-13 NKJV).

The list of spiritual forces seems to indicate a progression—a ranking of sorts. Just as there is an army of heavenly hosts with ranks and assignments, so is there a demonic force of legions. They are organized and given assignments over people, cities, regions, and nations (see Daniel 10:13). They only have power when we give it to them. It is through our agreement with their purpose—knowingly or unknowingly—that gives them a legal right to operate in our spheres of influence.

Personally, I’ve been set free from demonic oppression several times in my life and have ministered in deliverance through the years to many leaders. In each case, the pattern is the same. There is an ungodly belief that gets formed in the mind and, left unchecked, it forms a strong- hold. If that stronghold is acted on repeatedly, it creates legal ground for demonic intrusion. Until that ungodly belief is discovered and converted to a godly belief, freedom cannot come and will not last.

If you understand the principles of personal deliverance, the same principles apply to corporate deliverance. This is helpful when discerning and dealing with principalities and territorial spirits. When enough people in a geographic area think on, create, or agree with an ungodly belief system of any kind—addiction, pornography, trafficking, rebellion, greed, etc.—it will become a corporate mindset and stronghold. The collective ungodly belief opens a door to the enemy, and territorial spirits now have legal access over that area. Whereas an individual can be demonically oppressed and harassed because of a personal ungodly belief, so can an entire group of people come under a corporate stronghold because of their collective ungodly beliefs. This is a critical component in understanding what must happen to be free of them!

“Principalities” are ruling spirits (arche), meaning first, because they are the “principal” spirits operating somewhere. In the angel Gabriel’s exchange with Daniel, he said that the “Prince of the kingdom of Persia” resisted him, implying it was a spiritual principality over Persia. “Territorial spirits” are not specifically mentioned in Scriptures, but there are some references that allude to the type of spirits they are and how they function, as in Daniel.

In Mark 5:9, Jesus addressed a man demonized by a spirit called “Legion.” This demonic spirit begged Jesus to not send him “out of the country,” implying it would lose its authority if it left the geographic area. A territorial spirit simply refers to this kind of demonic spirit that is influencing a specific territory because of a corporate stronghold in place. It has gained authority in that territory. As we will see later in this chapter, the only way to properly deal with corporate strongholds is through corporate deliverance and a changing of those ungodly beliefs collectively. Even so, we as individual believers are greatly affected by these corporate ruling spirits.

The previously stated Scripture from Ephesians on spiritual warfare is often misunderstood. Rather than saying that we are the ones to take on these dark forces, it simply states that our battles are a result of their activity. The challenges, struggles, and seeming attacks we experience are often but a reflection of a bigger battle taking place in the heavenly realms. We are wrestling with them indirectly because of their influence in the spirit realm. “Therefore,” we are to wear our protective armor of the Lord and stand. Not engage with the dark forces, but stand. Later in Ephesians 6:17, the sword is mentioned as a weapon in prayer; declaring God’s will over our lives in order to stay standing.

There’s more than I can talk about with principalities and territorial spirits in this blogpost. If you’d like to read more, check out my book, Moving From Sword to Scepter.