Spiritual Warfare

In this modern world were everything has become distance and impersonal, even warfare is effected. Long gone are the days of hand to hand combat, and looking the enemy in the eyes. These days, battles seem to be fought by pushing a button, dropping a bomb, and at the most personally pulling a trigger. These forms of sterile combat seem to distance the warrior from the reality and brutality of war. And so seems the case of the average Christian experience.

In Christian experience today the battle is seldom face to face. No longer does the average missionary stand toe to toe with a witch doctor and the powers of hell. He does not seem to see the physical manifestations of the warfare. For this reason to some, out of sight is out of mind! Since they do not see it, they refuse to see that there really is a war going on. But as any soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan knows, just becomes a person cannot see the snipers bullets does not mean that they can not kill them.

These last two weeks have been a good reminder of this conflict. I have been reading a book written by a former China Inland Mission missionary, which talks about the spiritual warfare that a Christian must fight. Then as if on queue the bullets began to fly.

I have learned a few things about warfare in the last few years. It seems as if Satan likes the path of least resistance. By this I mean, he loves to work with the less direct forms of conflict first, and does not move to more obvious forms of attack unless necessary.

The best way to describe what I am talking about would be tell some stories that my pastor told me while I was growing up. My pastor served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War. This is what he told me. He said that the Vietcong preferred to stay hidden. They knew that they could not match the US forces in direct combat, so they used other means. Many times they loved to use the environment. Vietnam is mostly covered with rain forest, small villages, and rice paddies. This helped the Vietcong greatly. They would use the surrounds to aid their fight. At times they would lay bubby traps in trails, rice paddies, or in the jungle, hoping that the enemy soldier would die in these traps, before they would even have to face them.

The Vietcong also would use the local population. Pastor told me of the times when they would enter the villages. The children would run to meet them. Most of the G.I.s would give out candy from their k-rations. But, after a while this became a problem. Sometimes the Vietcong would give the young children grenades so that when they would come up to the soldier they would explode and kill everyone. He put it this way, “The problem was a person never knew if the mama san that smiled at them in the day, was the one shooting an AK-47 at them at night!”

This is how the devil likes to work, subtle things, little distractions that hinder the work, or stop the advance. This last two weeks have shown us a lot of these environmental attacks.

Rainy season has started here. Well, at least in season, if not in reality. We understand that the rains are a blessing and necessary. But they also bring a hardship. Most of the people that attend our services have to walk long distances. For this reason it is very hard to attend while it is raining. The rain here is not like the light droplets of America, when it rains here it is like a hurricane. For a better description click here. I have come to learn that rain and low attendance are just a part of life. But the last three weeks have been difficult. The rains have not been coming on most days. During these weeks it has not rained at other times of the week. It will only rain about 45 minutes before service time. Most times it will rain until 10 minutes after starting time. This rain affectively stopped most if not all people from attending services. These circumstances have taught us to pray more specifically.

Music is also another weapon used very greatly here. The average American church has a great opportunity to change the environment that it is placed in. In most places in Michigan where I come from, a bar cannot be built within a quarter mile of a church building. In America sound ordinances and community laws keep the outside distractions to a minimum. But this is not the case here.

Many Sunday are a fight in regard to noise. Smaller churches in Ghana use school building. In the classroom block that our Bible Studies are located in, there is another ‘church’. Also down the hill another ‘church’ has a large building. Like most churches in Ghana, these groups have one goal: noise. Many classrooms on Sunday will have about ten to twenty people inside, but outside near the entrances will be speakers. These are connected to the microphones, drums, keyboards. These speakers tend to be quite large, able to service an entire baseball stadium. Much of the noise begins once the majority of the people arrive and this continues until the services are concluded. Our group has learned to pray that the people in these groups either arrive early or late. So that the noise will begin and end before or after our Study has been held.

This Sunday, I was quite please that the school campus was very quite. Then just as the service was started … it began. I have learned to handle the rhythmic sounds of the tongue speaking, and the off key noises of the chants, but this was different. It was a heavy, thumping, driving beat! It was so loud that it seemed to fill everything. It was followed by lusty Twi music. This had a much more powerful spirit! (We found out later that a few houses down a family was going to have a wedding and the sound guys had come early and where testing the systems). I do not know if the reader has ever been to a rock concert, but it is quiet difficult to have church and a rock concert at the same time. All we could do was pray. The rain the night before had slowed the arrive
al of the most people. So we had a few minutes to pray. Thankfully by the time that the first ten people arrived the volume had reduced and our singing was able to help. Finally by preaching time all the battle seemed over and the teaching time went well.

Children, believe it our night can also be a weapon. In all our Bible studies we encourage children to come. Most of our Bible Studies my wife holds a separate service for the kids. But there are times, when they are not welcome.

Back in college, I came on a trip to Ghana. The pastor that our group was helping lived near a shrine and a local fetish priestess. The priestess had a rather large number of children. During our two weeks there, our group was able to meet them. Many of them where quiet nice and we all hoped to bring them to services and help them to become believers in Christ. But, then the first Thursday night came. The priestess was not happy about our work in the village, and was very angry that some people had converted.

That night our group was holding services near the pastor’s house, and as the services began, the children from the shrine came in. At first all was well, but then the fighting began. As the people began to sing, the children started to cause problems. One or two began to run around the tent. A few later on began to scream and wail. During the preaching one boy began to make growling noises that were quit beastly.

After the services many of the people were afraid. They knew that the spirits had entered the children. The pastor told us that many times the priestess would asks the spirit to possess the children, and then send them to the services to disrupt. It was a very powerful lesson!

Though I have never had anyone tell me that a fetish person is sending children in our studies, at times a person wonders. This Sunday, it happened as in times past. The services and preaching will be going on well, when the children will come. Not the normal group that attend, but children that we have not seen before. They will stand at the windows and laugh, open and close the shutters. So times they will run through the back of the school room shouting. They will throw things in windows. At times people will be sent to chase the bad ones away, but each time they return after a few minutes. The only thing that seems to work is patience and prayer.

These distractions seem to be the most used weapons in Satan’s arsenal. Our services have been visited by drunks, rabid dogs, crazy people, people filming a movie, and even angry watchmen with machetes. But over all the answer to them has been patience and prayer.

Reading this book it has been a good reminder. Though as of yet, we have not faced any direct fights with the agents of evil, we have faced battles with circumstance and troubles. Through each sickness, problem, and hardship that is not from God, we have learned that prayer is key.

What missionaries need today are support groups. Groups that support through effective, specific, Spirit led pray. Though many missionaries do not face the brutalities of hand to hand combat, they are still at war. They still need prayers.