There are many passages in the New Testament about spiritual warfare — external hassles, harassment, or unusual problems of life [according to the Bible] brought to believers by demons to oppose God [ultimately]. If we know what demons are doing to believers [and it may not be what we think], then we will understand the New Testament passages to know how the demons are deactivated and what God is accomplishing.

We are going to look quite a bit at Paul's life in this study, because understanding the battles that he underwent will give us application.

Paul tells us which demons are against believers, as follows:

When Paul wrote this epistle (recorded instruction) to the Ephesians, maybe in the year 62 A.D., it was common knowledge in that culture what a Ruler was, what a Power was, and what a Force was, so it made sense to the Ephesians. So the instruction will make sense to us, let us apply what we have learned about these spirit beings.

1. Forces = the main (worst) enemy: The demonic Forces know believers better than anybody [other than God]. Why? Because they were in charge of these individuals before they were redeemed, so demonic Forces certainly know how to hassle them now. Though demons cannot read a believer's mind or cast thoughts into his mind, they do know for which weakness the believer is likely to fall. So a demonic Force will find the right human host (an unbeliever, pagan) to be indwelt and the best demonic Spirit to mesh with that human host to externally attack and hassle a specific believer.
2. Demons CANNOT indwell (possess) believers, read their minds, cast thoughts into their minds, or touch them mentally or spiritually. What can they do to a believer now that they have been redeemed? Nothing internally; however, since they know a believer so well [because they used to be inside of him], who else would be better at engineering circumstances to divert a believer's flesh in the wrong direction?

Paul's authority was challenged in Corinth; in fact, some Corinthians were saying that Paul was not even an Apostle; that his writings did not mean anything; that he was a no-body. One of the reasons they were saying that was because Paul would write those hot letters to the Corinthians, but when he appeared somewhere, he would act very meek and mild. Some Corinthians had not seen Paul, while others had seen him.

Did you ever see the movie made for television, Peter and Paul, several years ago? The movie presented a strapping lumberjack who was dark, tan, and had great hair — a George Hamilton look alike — playing the role of Peter.

Then Paul appeared in the movie. He was bug-eyed, knock-kneed, baldheaded, and he had a really ugly face and a very mild, unassuming personality. The response of the crowds to Paul was realistic to the Corinthians This guy is NO Apostle!

As shown in this passage, Paul was certainly involved in spiritual warfare.

1 Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ — I am who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent!

Paul is explaining that he is not being two-faced; he had a perfectly good reason for being mild in person and hot in his letters.

2 I ask that when I am present I may not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh.

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,

Paul would show up at the synagogue and his enemies were there in the building. He was just very low-keyed, and I am sure that even his supporters were asking Why do you not attack them, nail them? Paul is saying:

That is a choice that Paul made. [We will see more about, because it has great application for us].

4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,

Paul is saying I am not going to come there and scream and yell at those people, because they are not the enemy. I am aiming a lot higher — I am aiming at the enemy.

But divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

Paul was fighting and destroying Fortresses. What are Fortresses? They are spirit beings (here, demons) who are over people groups (Asians, Hispanics, Caucasians, Scandinavians, and Africans). [See The Hierarchy Of Angels: Distinguishing The Higher Ranked study.]

The demonic Fortresses do not have the direct impact in our day that they did for Paul. In that era there would have been a demonic Fortress over Jews and a demonic Fortress over Greeks, which is exactly the battleground where Paul was, because Paul was Jewish by ethnicity and Greek by culture. The Jews were his enemies, because the demonic Fortress over the Jews wanted the religion of Judaism maintained. Also, the Greeks were against him, because the demonic Fortress over the Greeks wanted to encourage unredeemed people [like most of the people of Athens] to become philosophers, and they did not want any part of the Good News of Messiah Jesus.

5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God,

Paul was saying I am destroying speculations and every lofty thing (the {Powers Vertical} side). I am attacking the demons on both sides [of the hierarchy of angels].

Look how high Paul is fighting; he is not just fighting demonic Forces; he is fighting demonic Fortresses, Rulers, and Authorities — on a very high level.

Note: God created the angels in a hierarchy with different groups of angels. When Lucifer fell, he persuaded a cross section of all of the different ranks of angels to defect with him. There is still the same hierarchy for both the godly angels and these fallen angels (demons), because the fallen angels did not lose their different ranks, their different powers, and their different authorities with which they were originally created. However, there is a difference in the numbers of spirit beings in each of their ranks; the majority of the godly angels are lower ranked and the majority of the fallen angels are higher ranked.

And we are taking every thought captive to Christ.

Paul is saying I am not laying back and taking it, but I am ignoring the people and I am fighting these challenges; I am going for the source.

Application: This brings up a mistake that the [universal] church and individual believers frequently make today.

THE [UNIVERSAL] CHURCH – It seems to me that today the church is trying to find on a social and political level rather than doing what Paul did. The church is almost fighting human beings to change political philosophy and documents instead of aiming higher and attacking the source (the enemy) of those political battles.

Frequently in the USA, the church holds demonstrations to fight on a social and political level. I am NOT saying that it is wrong to hold demonstrations, but it seems to me, that for the church, this is the preferred method of coming against social issues — at the political and human level — instead of aiming a lot higher at the source. For example, demonstrations against abortion (induced termination of a pregnancy so the baby is not capable of surviving) is the main way used by the church to fight abortion instead of, like Paul, attacking the real enemy.

Who is the enemy of abortions in the USA? I guarantee you, a demonic Ruler formulated the political philosophy and a demonic Authority produced the 1973 Roe verses Wade legal brief, ultimately supporting a woman's right to kill her baby. At least one of the Supreme Court justices [who had to be an unbeliever] was indwelt with a demonic Spirit who was assigned by a demonic Force, and the justice was just used to lead the satanic thought process. The Supreme Court had only two dissenting votes (7-2), and the ruling was made that a woman's right to abortion fell within some obscure and unheard of right to personal dignity and autonomy, which is, supposedly, presented in the Constitution. This twisted thinking only highlights the demonic influence.

Remember: The demonic Rulers and Authorities work very closely with the demonic Powers who are on a very, very high level in the hierarchy — where the real battle is.

INDIVIDUAL BELIEVERS – I think believers are missing out on an individual level too. It is not unusual for many believers to see Satan where he is not, and to not see Satan where he is.

One extreme is to see Satan (his army) behind every problem, behind every obstacle, and even behind every illness. I tire of hearing believers constantly saying Well, Satan put this in my life… No, that is NOT Satan; that is your FLESH!

For example: I have heard preachers say While I was waiting at a red light, there was a woman sitting in the car next to mine, and I thought a though that could not have been mine. [Oh yes, "right"… -sic!] Then they proclaim If you do not accept the thought, then it was not sin. [Again, "right"… -sic!] Obviously, they are excusing themselves instead of admitting that was their own flesh, seeing Satan where he is not and, because of their religious position, ultimately, they are encouraging others to do the same.

What should a believer do? Do not deny when you sin; instead say That was a sin, and it is covered [by the blood of Messiah Jesus, which was shed at Calvary], and then move on.

Remember: ALL human flesh is evil — human flesh will always choose destructive behavior and darkness. For any of us, if our mind is set on the flesh [and not on God's Holy Spirit], then the core of the flesh will manifest characteristics, including the following — see 2 Timothy 3:2-5:

That is a pretty dark picture of the human flesh!

The opposite extreme is for believers to be oblivious to satanic warfare. When there are problems or difficulties, they do not even thinking that maybe Satan (his army) is the source. The New Testament is clear that Satan is attacking believers through other people and circumstances. Though Satan cannot directly control circumstances [only GOD can], Satan can indwell and control unbelieving people (pagans). Then, to a degree, he can control circumstances, because circumstances are the things other people do to us.

Note: When I say Satan I include his whole army, because generally, believers do not encounter Satan himself or even demons higher ranked than a Force. Having said that [and I hate to have to say it], I probably get attacked by higher ranking demons than Forces because I am involved in ministry to internationals — a situation in which demonic Dominions and Fortresses are automatically stirred up for harassing believers.

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We express our deepest appreciation to Mitchell and Dawn Kolodin for their excellent work in transcribing and editing this Creation study.

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