Spiritual Warfare & Worldview
When seeking to understand the meaning of something, describe its function, or trace its origin, there is an unavoidable filter known as “worldview” through which all see and thus determine the answer to these matters. This filter, however, is unique to every person, their experiences, and their cultural surroundings. It includes the “basic assumptions, values, and allegiances of a group of people,” as Marguerite G. Kraft defines.[1]So when seeking to understand the meaning of a thing, there will always be diverse answers if the people offering answers are themselves diverse.
This presents a challenge to any endeavor of propagating absolute truths of any kind because the recipients of that presentation have a worldview that is relative to them and their cultural construct. No one is able to evade looking at the world through this tailored filter; it is seared in the minds and hearts of all and reinforced by those with similar experiences subscribing to an equivalent ideology.
One cannot ignore that different people of different cultures will always understand any pursuit of presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ differently. This requires a serious consideration not only of the message of the herald, but also the worldview of the hearer. Many people function from a tribal level of understanding regarding their experiences and thus ascribe causes and effects to a reality beyond what is material. Kraft states that, “Much of the world experiences supernaturalism as the center and integrating force of life.”[2]This being so, the message of Jesus Christ must answer the real questions of people’s condition and struggle.
There has been too much focus on seeking to prove and defend the historical Jesus that the church has failed to present the“here and now” Jesus who has come to save, heal, and deliver all who believe.
Most hearers will not care about the veracity of an apologetic argument. Many will be like Jungleman the Yanomamö shaman who only converted when the Great Spirit proved his truth with action and saved him from the lethal attack of Jungleman’s spirits who formally dwelled in the Shabanoof his chest.[3]If we simply come to a needy people with a compelling intellectual defense of belief in Jesus Christ, it will have little effect. The real question is, “Can he heal my daughter? Can he prevent catastrophe? Can he provide for a need like the other spirits have?”
Some of these cultures that are less polluted by the secularizing force of western Christianity have actually experienced the raw power of false gods and demonic spirits. Therefore, heralds of the message of Christ must acknowledge that people obtain spiritual power that is not of Christ in ways that are simply astounding to the western mind. This requires every messenger of the Gospel of the kingdom to encounter and communicate not just an intellectually and culturally acceptable religious postulate, but also the raw power of God to overcome all enemies of heaven.
If we cannot believe in a God who indeed wills to intervene and do much more than shamans, diviners, witch doctors, and Navajo singers, then we have no business and no authority to present rightly the truth that overcomes all powers and dominions. The people who long to encounter the true God but instead are being offered a powerless God say, “There is no power in Christianity –we need power to survive in this world.”[4]This statement was made because messengers of the gospel failed to understand the need, experience, and thus worldview of these Navajo people.
The good news is that Christ is not only powerful, but he is all-powerful and reaches to humanity with that unmitigated power through his disciples. The bad news is that many Christians are stuck in a compartmentalized western worldview that robs them and the world of that which Christ has given and made provision for.
Key Elements of a Biblical Worldview
So what does the Bible say about spiritual realities? Are we relegated simply to the material world dealing with only sociological entities as Walter Wink argues? He says, “The Satan of the Bible is more akin to an archetypal reality, a visionary or imaginal presence or event experienced within.”[5]The evidence found in looking at other cultures exposes that this is simply not plausible, no matter how brilliant and articulate our western minds have deduced spiritual realities to be. Somehow it appears that Satan and his forces are content with the way the West preserves their anonymity in their activity and personality.
Granted, this position does not ignore the experiential dynamic in the west, but fails to see the experience of what is inarguably pronounced everywhere else in the world including scripture:
“…we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling (Acts 16:16).
The Bible has much to say about interacting with preternatural entities to the point that its language seems to assume a general consensus of the obvious existence and familiarity with these things. The question was not if personal supranatural power exists, but rather how, in which form, and by what name it presents itself.
The narrative of scripture initiates its story by establishing Creator as the almighty and incontestable Lordof the universe. Almost immediately, the opposing force of evil is also introduced as a personal evil who seeks to derail the plan of this Almighty Ruler to create a people after his image for his pleasure and glory (Gen 3-4).This primordial serpent was not an amoral, inquisitive creature, but rather:
“that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.” (Rev 12:9)
There is no question that the biblical narrative presents, affirms, and warns against the devil, his demons, and the powers and principalities through which they function.
However, this is not a conflict that terrorizes as if the battle can be lost; Christ has already become the eternal victor against all powers! The key element to a biblical worldview on spiritual power ascribes all authority to God and the victory of Christ in regaining what humanity relinquished. Kraft outlines these key biblical elements fittingly:
God and other spiritual powers, both good and evil, exist.
God is in ultimate control and the victory is his.
Satan and the evil powers are active in this world—he is the ruler of this world.
Spiritual powers interact with and influence human beings, even shaping institutions.
Human beings respond to spiritual powers sometimes consciously and at other times unconsciously.
God in his omniscience uses his power to make himself known to human beings, to show his love and concern for their needs, to demand a hearing, to punish and correct, and to give guidance.
Christ in his death and resurrection defeated Satan, making it possible for Christians to be free from the evil one.
God intends for his followers to be obedient to him and be an extension of his presence and power on earth.
God has made available to his followers his power and authority in order that they might draw others to him and free people from the evil one.[6]
This summary as presented by Kraft is extracted from viewing the biblical narrative as a whole. The Old Testament shows that YHWH is in control of all powers; meaning that there is no power that functions which has not been allowed by the Almighty who alone is the source of any and all power.
This is not a discussion on whether God wills bad things; this contention never ceases to take center stage as if finite mortals could peg the transcendent God in a certain category. This is simply to state that the biblical worldview does not present a battle of archenemies as seen in comic books; this is a story of a victorious king who seeks to mature a people to function in the realized authority and power by applying the victory that was inaugurated at the cross. The New Testament narrative is a story of God’s people applying the work and victory of Christ and ruling from heavenly places:
“Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt 18:18).
The plan of God to have a people who take dominion over the earth has once again been restored, and the New Testament makes that very clear.
The New Testament writers sought to offer the insight of salvation, as the Hebrew people would understand it: that it is not just a personal experience of forgiveness that the Messiah has come to actualize in the proverbial heart. Salvation as the Jews understood it was bigger than freedom from shame and guilt, but a demonstration of the rule of YHWH on earth through the promised Messiah. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews clarified the role of the application of the spiritual power of God as Twelftree presents, “From Hebrews we learn that miracles, likely including exorcism, were understood to be part of the message of salvation.”[7]Without this, salvation is not complete.
My Own Worldview
Being a bi-cultural individual, I have a keen understanding into the conflict of differing worldview. I remember being 17 and constantly struggling with contradicting values. I used to think that I was just an indecisive or vacillating individual, but after a few years discovered that I simply had twice the critical thinking and sifting to do on each and every decision. Integrating into a different worldview is nearly impossible; most of my bicultural friends would either remain loyal to the culture of origin or abandon their heritage and become fully integrated. I somehow could do neither and consequently faced the difficult lifestyle of balancing varying filters through which to view the world.
When it comes to spiritual power, it is no question that the western worldview is plagued with secularism that seeks to explain as much as possible through what we call “science.” The worldview from my Mexican heritage finds its origin in a rural agrarian community where there are no paved roads, hospitals, or police force and a lot of weird paranormal stuff. Therefore, spiritual power was the only answer when any need was in view; “science” was simply inaccessible, reducing it to being worthless.
Thus, in synthesizing these views I find that scripture allows for the pursuit of both without eliminating the other. Clearly there are spiritual forces at work that are personal and real; in my experience I have seen the devil and his demons with my natural eyes. However, there are scientific methods and intellectual reasoning that helps aid us in the process of dealing with the challenges of varying degrees of evil.
In my worldview, spiritual realities must always be the first consideration because their activity and influence is very real—though not the only contributing factor. As Kraft states, “The radical evil we see in society around us is the result of human beings’ sinful nature, their refusal to choose to follow God’s way, and the activity of Satan and his followers tempting and at times effectively controlling human beings.”[8]Once these things are dealt with on the spiritual level, we must then proceed with keen minds, act reasonably, and take dominion as sons and daughters of God.
Works Cited:
[1]Marguerite G. Kraft, Understanding Spiritual Power. A Forgotten Dimension of Cross-Cultural Mission and Ministry, (Grand Rapids, MI: Orbis Books, 1995), 21.
[2]Ibid., 5.
[3]Mark A. Ritchie, Spirit of the Rainforest: a Yanomamo Shaman’s story, (Island Lake, IL: Island Lake Press, 2000), 228.
[4]Marguerite G. Kraft, Understanding Spiritual Power, 12.
[5]James Beilby and Paul Eddy, eds., Understanding Spiritual Warfare: Four Views(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012), 58.
[6]Marguerite G. Kraft, Understanding Spiritual Power, 63.
[7]Graham H. Twelftree, In the Name of Jesus - Exorcism among Early Christians. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 182.
[8]Marguerite G. Kraft, Understanding Spiritual Power, 49.
