Book Reviews -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Emmaus Journal
Volume: EMJ 07:2 (Winter 1998)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous


Book Reviews

Editor
Kenneth Alan Daughters

Territorial Spirits and World Evangelisation? by Chuck Lowe, Sevenoaks, Kent: Mentor/OMF, 1998. 192 pages. $15.99.

Chuck Lowe has received degrees from Oral Roberts University (B.A.), Westminster Theological Seminary (M.A.R.), and the Australian College of Theology (Th.D. under Leon Morris). He is a member of OMF International (“Overseas Missionary Fellowship,” formerly-”China Inland Mission”) and has served on the faculty of Singapore Bible College since 1984. He teaches New Testament, theology, and preaching, and, since 1995, he has been a theological researcher for OMF. His research interests include Chinese folk religion and sociology of religion. His educational background, research interests, and teaching post have uniquely equipped him to produce the most incisive analysis to date of “Strategic-level spiritual warfare.”

Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare: Definitions

“Strategic-level spiritual warfare” (SLSW) is a new approach to spiritual warfare which seeks to remedy the casual, take-it-for-granted approach characteristic of traditional evangelicalism. Proponents (most notably, Peter Wagner)1 of this new approach have published numerous books and papers and have held hundreds of training sessions to set forth their new strategy. This strategy is built on two major components: a theory of “strategic-level spirits” (or “territorial spirits”) and the practice of “warfare prayer.”

According to Peter Wagner, demons fall into three basic categories: ground-level (i.e., the sort that possess people), occult-level (i.e., the kind that empower magicians, witches, and shamans), and strategic-level (those who rule over specific domains and prevent the people who reside there from coming to faith). Christians are confidently told that strategic-level spirits of various ranks rule over geographical regions of corresponding size, including towns, cities, and nations. Not only are demons assigned to geographical regions, but also to social, cultural, ethnic, and other networks of humans. They are assigned to geopolitical institutions such as nations and states; to topographical features such as valleys, mountains, and rivers; to ecological features, such as trees, streams, and rocks; and to physical objects, such as houses, temples, or idols (pp. 10-23).

Advocates of SLSW encourage Christians to declare war on the evil spirits through “warfare prayer.” Warfare prayer has two steps: (1) seek the name of the ruling spirit, and (2) identify its territory. Warfare prayer calls for the “spiritual mapping,” i.e., the cataloguing of spiri...

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