Spiritual warfare is the Christian concept of fighting:
against the work of preternatural evil forces. It is based on the biblical belief in evil spirits, or demons, that are said to intervene in human affairs in various ways. Various Christian groups have adopted practices to repel such forces, as based on their doctrine of Christian demonology. Prayer is a common form of spiritual warfare among Christians. Other practices may include exorcism, the laying on of hands, fasting, and anointing with oil. Jewish demonology escalated with the rise of Jewish pseudepigraphic writings of the 1st Century BCE, in particular with Enoch apocrypha. Jewish apocrypha initially influenced post-New Testament writings of the early fathers, which further defined Christian demonology.[citation needed] Thus followed literary works such as The Did ache, The Shepherd of Herm’s, Ignatius's epistle to the Ephesians, and Origen's Contra Cesium.
Mainstream Christianity typically acknowledges a belief in the reality (or ontological existence) of demons, fallen angels, the Devil in Christianity and Satan. In Christian evangelism, doctrines of demonology are influenced by interpretations of the New Testament, namely with the Gospels, in that dealing with spirits became a customary activity of Jesus' ministry. Mark states that "he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons" (Mark 1:39).
Exorcisms may be promoted by evangelists referring to Jesus comment, "If I drive out demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is upon you"
Evangelical Christian traditions believe that Satan and his minions exercise significant influence over this world and its power structures. A hostile realm in conflict with the kingdom of God is recorded in the Bible by the Apostle John, "the whole world is under the control of the evil one" (1 John 5:19) and by Jesus who referred to Satan as "the prince of this world" which may point to the concept of Territorial Spirits.
Paul elaborates on demonic hierarchy in Ephesians 6 where he also mentions, by way of metaphor, those qualities needed for defense against them. Two of those articles, the helmet of Salvation and the breastplate of Righteousness, are also mentioned in the book of Isaiah.
It is also believed that Satan occupies a temporal existence when the Apostle Paul refers to him as "the god of this age". Further, Paul's epistles focus on the Victory of Christ over principalities and powers. Evangelical interpretation has history divided into two eras: the present evil age and the age to come which supports the concept of the Second coming of Christ.
Imagery of spiritual warfare is displayed in the Book of Revelation when after the War in Heaven , the beasts and kings of the earth wage war against God's people, and a final battle ensues with Satan and the nations of the earth against God himself.
Christian practices of spiritual warfare vary throughout Christianity. The development of specific spiritual warfare techniques has also generated many discussions in the Christian mission’s community. Critical exchanges of views may be found in periodicals like the Evangelical Missions Quarterly (such as in volume 31, number 2 published in 1995), and in conferences sponsored by the Evangelical Missions Society. In 2000, an international collaborative attempt was made by evangelicals and charismatics in the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization to reach some common agreement about spiritual warfare. The conference gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, and yielded a consultation document as well as many technical papers published as the book Deliver Us from Evil. Spiritual warfare has also been practiced by non-Christians and in non-Christian countries. According to the Christian Broadcasting Network commentator Carl Moeller, spiritual warfare is practiced even in North Korea, a country that has been described as the most dangerous place on earth to be Christian. Non-Christian media reported on the African spiritual warrior Pastor Thomas Muthee visit to America who prayed over a 2008 presidential candidate. The Nigerian Tribune, the oldest surviving private newspaper in Nigeria, has published articles calling for the need for spiritual warfare. In the case of Haiti, American televangelist Pat Robertson and others blamed the earthquake of 2010 on demons, and called for Christians to increase spiritual warfare prayer.
Pope John Paul II stated, “‘Spiritual combat’… is a secret and interior art, an invisible struggle in which monks engage every day against the temptations”.
In modern times the views of individual Roman Catholics have tended to divide into traditional and more modern understandings of the subject. An example of a more modern view of the demonic is found in the work of the Dominican scholar Richard Woods' The Devil.
The traditional outlook is represented by Father Gabriele Abort who has written three books on his personal experiences as an exorcist for the Vatican: An Exorcist Tells His Story, and An Exorcist: More Stories, and An Exorcist Explains the Demonic: The Antics of Satan and His Army of Fallen Angels. Francis MacNutt, who was a priest within the Roman Catholic Charismatic Movement, has also addressed the subject of the demonic in his writings about healing.
The practice of exorcism was also known among the first generation of teachers and pastors in the Lutheran Reformation. Johannes Bugenhagen was the pastor of the Wittenberg town church and officiated at Martin Luther's wedding. In a letter addressed to Luther and Melanchthon dated November 1530, Pomerania recounted his experience of dealing with a young girl who showed signs of demon possession. Pomerania' method involved counseling the girl concerning her previous baptismal vows, he invoked the name of Christ and prayed with her. (Letter reproduced in Montgomery, Principalities and Powers).
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