“In the very beginning God created the universe and populated it with spirits (or angels) who lived in perfect obedience to Him. However, a third of these angels, led by Lucifer, rebelled against God’s authority; becoming the demons…The angelic rebellion occurred in a “gap” between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. The result was that the earth, which was the “capital city” or headquarters of the demonic Evil Empire, was brought into chaos and made formless and void (Gen. 1:2). In order to win back unchallenged dominion over the universe, God introduced into the earth, Man, a race of creatures which God intended to become a resistance movement that would conquer the Devil’s home planet and thus lead the way in taking back dominion over the entire universe. Man was to be a race of “little gods,” exercising divine sovereignty … thus overwhelming the devil’s forces. Unfortunately, the father of this race was tricked by the devil into forfeiting Man’s place in this plan and actually brought God’s first plan to naught. God was then forced to come up with a “Plan B” to take dominion over the earth. His solution: to introduce into this fallen race a man in whom the divine nature dwelled fully, who would become the prototype of a new race of human beings in which the original godhood of Adam was restored. This divine Man was Jesus Christ, a perfect manifestation of God, the Father, and the “first fruit” of the “incarnation of God.” This race of “little gods” who are spiritually united with Christ as members of His “body” is the church, constituting collectively with Him the complete incarnation, a corporate manifestation of God in the flesh, which together will overcome the devil and restore God’s dominion unchallenged on the earth. Ultimate victory over the devil, then, depends finally upon the church accepting the calling to be little gods. It further depends on the church’s submitting to the fivefold ministry through whom God is seeking to mobilize the church into a unified army prepared to take dominion back from the devil.” [1]As stated above, Adam was tricked out of his real identity. Kenneth Copeland states, “After Adam had given it away, God didn’t have any more authority here.” [2] Ed Silvoso echoes: “Because Adam, God’s deputy on earth, transferred his legal dominion to Satan, God became obligated to recognize Satan’s legal standing.” [3] According to Copeland, Paulk and Silvoso, God’s authority was terminated on planet earth and he was now on the outside looking in. Jesus’ death and resurrection were an attempt to regain from Satan what Adam had transferred to him. It was an attempt to reclaim legal authority over the earth, authority which Adam had forfeited. In what is called “identification teaching” some spiritual warfare enthusiasts teach that after Jesus’ death He descended into hell, was attacked by Satan, and became a sinner. But God raised him from the dead and Jesus was “born again.” He became the first born-again man and the prototype or “pattern son” for all born-again believers. Believers are meant to partake of the same power and authority as Jesus and, with this endowment, reclaim the earth and the heavenlies through spiritual warfare. But the Church, like Adam, botched the plan because of its unbelief and ignorance. Finally, now at the end of the age, in the time of the Latter Rain (since the 1950’s), the Church has been given new prophets and apostles to lead the church to establish God’s lost rule in the earth. Using Spiritual Warfare techniques and tactics, the Church will take whole cities and nations for God and will at long last take control of the heavenlies, having cast Satan down. Ed Silvoso writes: “The Church now has been placed potentially in the control of the heavenly places once ruled by the prince of the power of the air. But this reconstituted church must engage and defeat the enemy and retake the heavenlies in the name of her Lord, so that the eyes of those still being held captive by Satan will be opened.” [4] This is the Kingdom/Dominion plan-of-the-ages. It is the master plan out of which flows the sundry variety of techniques, tactics, and rationale found in the SW movement. Leaders, who espouse SW theology and push it, operate knowing the whole of the plan, but often it seems like the movement is marketed like a jigsaw puzzle without the cover picture. Saying this another way, many followers just “belly-up” to the SW smorgasbord and choose those selections that most appeal to them with the hope that these choices will help their plans of evangelism–they are dangerously unaware of the larger and distorted context of the Spiritual Warfare movement. This Spiritual Warfare scheme and its pattern of “biblical” history is radically different and diametrically at odds with many points of the Biblical model of salvation history:
1. The SW paradigm paints a false view of Adam and the Fall that is taught neither in Genesis nor in the rest of Scripture. It pictures Adam as a god who lost his godhood when Satan tricked him. The Bible says that Adam, the first man, fell into sin through moral rebellion and this resulted in God’s judgment of death on him and his posterity. (Romans 5:12ff) *
2. SW claims that because of Adam’s failure, God lost His jurisdiction and legal authority over the earth to Satan. The Bible does not picture God as losing His legal authority over His creation. Multiple texts show the Lord’s original and ongoing control over all aspects of His creation. For example: God controls natural forces (Job 37.-15), the fall of sparrows (Matt. 10:29), and the rise and fall of nations (Dam 4:17). Not only that, Satan had to ask the Lord’s permission to afflict Job (1:6-12) and to sift Peter’s faith (Luke 22:31). God did not lose his authority over the earth to Satan at Eden. Far from it! Jesus Christ has all authority in earth and heaven (Matt. 28:18).
3. Copeland says: “God’s reason for creating Adam was a desire to reproduce Himself.” [5] Copeland and others appear to teach that the Church is as much God-in-the-flesh as Jesus was, that the Church is an extension of the Incarnation. The only occurrence in Jesus is that he was a “first fruit.” Scripture never suggests that the church is an extension of the incarnation. Jesus in no way was a “Pattern Son” with many other incarnations in Christians. The orthodox teaching is that Christ indwells His church through the Holy Spirit This SW teaching diminishes the unique divinity of Christ and the uniqueness of His incarnation (1) Jesus is God’s “only begotten” Son ¬-John 1:14. (2). Jesus is entitled to equal honor with the Father — John 5:23. (3) Jesus is the Creator of all things — John 1:3. (4) Jesus is worthy of worship — Rev. 5:12.
4. The SW “mythology,” which fuels many of the SW themes and practices throughout evangelicalism, teaches that the Church was given the commission to invade the heavenlies, defeat the principalities and powers there, and occupy and rule the earth from the heavenlies. Scripture never teaches this. Instead the Church is to preach the Gospel and make disciples. (Matt.28:19-20).
Listen to Bill Randles’ pithy analysis to the whole SW ideology:“Today’s spiritual warfare is all about man, not God. It is man’s attempt to elevate himself to the ‘God-level’ and to intervene in the plans of history… And as for Satan; he is mocking all these human attempts to ‘pull down strongholds.’ He knows full well that his finest hour is yet to come; that he and his cohorts will not be cast down until the appointed time… Satan waves his red rag, and – obediently – the Christian Church charges! By all modem standards, Paul failed at spiritual warfare. He never researched the territorial spirits; he didn’t rebuke the strongholds of pagan religion; he didn’t see whole cities come to the Lord. Yet, in truth Paul didn’t fail at spiritual warfare, he won… This [anointed Gospel preaching] was Paul’s commission, and it is ours. We are called to preach the gospel of grace and forgiveness, turning men from the darkness of this world’s vain philosophies to the light of truth… We wage war against Satan most effectively when we allow God’s anointed Word to go forth to touch unbelievers’ hearts and souls, convicting them, converting them, and opening them up to God.” [6]Bob DeWaay pointedly challenges SW teaching with its alien view of salvation history and its God-dishonoring theology:
“The story of God, man and eternity is not about a cosmic footrace with an uncertain ending. God’s eternal purposes are not tenuous, compromised, and about to be thwarted by man or devil. God will accomplish all of His purposes for His church, Israel, and the human race, these false teachings notwithstanding. He will do so through the simple message of the gospel. “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” (I Cor. 1:21) [7]Bruce Ware clearly summarizes the biblical Gospel this way:
“God, in eternity past, foresaw the future sin and the consequent just damnation (apart from his grace) of the human race that he would create, and he planned then and there to save the lost, helpless, and hopeless sinners. Though all deserved his eternal condemnation, he graciously chose people who would comprise a great host–it would include, in the end, men and women from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation! –and he set out, in love, to save them from their sin. To accomplish their salvation, he chose his very own Son to enter human existence as the incarnate God-man, to live a perfect life, and to offer himself as a sinless sacrifice for the sins of others, paying the penalties that each of them owed as their sin was imputed to him in his death on the cross. By his resurrection from the dead, God vindicated his Son as the victor over sin and death. And, through repentance of their sin and faith alone in this conquering Savior, all who so savingly believe may be justified before their righteous God, be assured of God’s presence with them through all of life now, and in the end receive eternal life through his name.” [8]