Gaining Perspective on Territorial Spirits

In North American Christian circles, the novels of Frank Peretti did not so much chart a new direction in thinking as they described the path many were already walking. Over the past several years as I have spoken to various groups on spiritual warfare, I have taken informal polls. In every group I have polled, at least one-half of the people have read one or more of Frank Peretti’s novels This Present Darkness, Piercing the Darkness, The Prophet, The Oath and The Visitation.(1) His works vividly portray angels and demons in fierce battles over schools, towns, and whole territories. His best-selling depictions captured the imaginations of many, selling well in both Christian and secular markets.
This follows the North America trend of growing cultural fascination with spirit beings, including angels. Attraction to the demonic among our youth was popularized with the rise of the dungeons and dragons type of fantasy games, now in computer game format, as well as in movies which ranged from comedy (Ghost Busters) to horror (The Haunting). The fascination has not been limited to the demonic; angels (and the afterlife) have also been the subject of movies, television specials and regular network series. Whole sections of secular bookstores have been given over to new titles related to the spirit realm. Web pages advertise psychic angel contacting services (an interesting combination of technology and spiritism which echos the rise of materialistic magic portrayed by C. S. Lewis in 1961(2)) and angel paraphernalia is being widely sold as good luck charms and protective icons.
Parallel to this development in our culture is the development in Christian and especially mission circles of a fascination with territorial spirits. C. Peter Wagner even goes so far as to say that in engaging territorial spirits as part of our ministry of setting people free to respond to the gospel we have introduced a “spiritual technology” which will bring the greatest power boost in the mission of the church since William Carey’s started the Protestant missions movement at the end of the 18th century.(3) Wagner is not alone in advocating strategic level spiritual warfare prayer against territorial spirits as the single most important strategy we can utilize in reaching the unreached,(4) though he is the most commonly cited authority on the topic.

• Theological Orientation
  In a nutshell, what Wagner and others are calling “strategic-level spiritual warfare” is praying against these territorial spirits, seeking to “map” their strategies over given locations by discerning their names and what they use to keep people in bondage and then to bind them in turn so that evangelism may go unhindered. The idea of “spiritual mapping” is one in which people research an area and try to identify the spirit(s) who are in charge over it so that “smart-bomb” praying may loosen the hold of territorial spirits over the people in a territory who may then come to Christ more freely.
• The Core Ideas and Strategies
  A whole new vocabulary has been coined to distinguish strategies, characters, practices, and issues related to territorial spirits. Before evaluating such practices associated with territorial spirits, we need to explain them. Wherever possible in the discussion below, we use definitions given by those advocating SLSW and engaging territorial spirits.
• Approaches to Confronting Territorial Spirits
  For those who assert that the concept of territorial spirits is biblical, and that we have a responsibility to work against their efforts, a spectrum of prayer approaches may be described.
• Response: Points of Appreciation
  Several points of appreciation for those who advocate SLSW are worthy of note.(29) First, SLSW and the emphasis on territorial spirits take Satan and the powers more seriously than traditional Western approaches.(30) If nothing else, they focus on the power of prayer rather than planning and strategy, and the strategic focuses are not built on finding new ways to generate decisions but on dealing with the demonic. This is a healthy corrective for Western missiology which tends to be too managerial in its orientation.
• Response: Points of Disagreement
  First, whatever our conclusion as to whether or not spirits are assigned territories, perhaps the biggest obstacle to SLSW is that the fundamental strategy is not found biblically or in church history, at least not without some serious stretching of the accounts....
• Response: Some Suggestions for Refinement
• The first suggestion for refinement in this area is that we must be more cautious in the use of exaggerated claims and anecdotes as the means by which SLSW is established. We must be careful in analyzing the success stories given in the literature not to confuse coincidence with causation....
• A Starting Point for Ongoing Discussion
  I close with an excellent eight-point summary given by Clinton Arnold which I would consider an appropriate starting point for a Lausanne statement on engaging territorial spirits in spiritual warfare:...

For more information go to Gaining Perspective on Territorial Spirits on the Lausanne Movement website.
The above link opens in a new tab.