Part 1

Reblogged from Between Two Worlds

Several years ago I read David Powlison’s book, Power Encounters: Reclaiming Spiritual Warfare. (Sadly, no longer in print—though I believe a second edition may be forthcoming.) I found it extremely helpful and persuasive. I took notes, and thought it might be worth posting them here.

Reclaiming: Spiritual Warfare

“A great deal of fiction, superstition, fantasy, nonsense, nuttiness, and downright heresy flourishes in the church under the guise of ‘spiritual warfare’ in our time…. But the warfare we need to wage engages and implicates our humanity, rather than bypassing it for a superspiritual, demonic realm.”

Reasons for the Urgency

1. We live in a society where the modern agenda has largely failed.
2. We live in a society that has become increasingly pagan.
3. Missions, anthropology, and modern communications make us aware of the practices and beliefs of animistic cultures.
4. We live in a society of high-profile bondage to “addictions.”
5. Bizarre or troubled behavior, often related to experiences of extreme abuse, seems to be appearing more frequently.
6. Many people have sometimes experienced an uncanny, heightened sense of the presence of evil.
7. A growing number of Christians teach and practice “deliverance” ministry in the quest to cast out inhabiting demons.