On last week’s Battle Lines broadcast (2/7/09), we addressed the issue of spiritual warfare. Christians are involved in a very real struggle: a struggle against Satan, the world, and our own human sinfulness. We contrasted two models of spiritual warfare: the deliverance model and the discipleship model. We believe, according to the discipleship model, that this spiritual war is God’s war and that our role in the battle is simply to submit ourselves to God through obedience to the Scriptures. The key to success in spiritual warfare, therefore, is the ingestation and application of the Scriptures. The deliverance model of spiritual warfare, on the other hand, became popular through the writings of authors like Neil Anderson. According to Anderson, a believer's correct understanding of his identity in Christ is the critical issue in spiritual warfare. Anderson believes that Christians no longer have a sin nature but they continue to sin for perceptual reasons – they sin because they believe they are still sinners. We believe, however, that Christians continue to sin because they still possess and struggle against a sinful nature. Anderson is right to emphasize the danger of believing lies, but believing lies is not the root reason we sin; we sin because we still have a sin nature. We are in the process of transformation. Anderson also believes that Christians can be demon possessed. But according to I Corinthians 6:19, “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God.” We believe that it is impossible for Christians to be demon-possessed because they are already possessed and indwelt by God through the Spirit. Further, Anderson asserts that in order for believers to have victory over the devil they must learn to address him directly and vocally. However, we are never instructed in the Bible to address directly or interact in any way with the devil. James 4:7 commands us to “resist the devil” by submitting ourselves to God. To submit to God in obedience is to resist Satan and his rebellion. Satan is not omnipresent; he can’t be everywhere, literally being resisted or rebuked by every believer. Anderson further believes that every time a believer sins Satan gains entrance into his life resulting in a satanic stronghold. These strongholds must be vocally renounced. But the theology of “strongholds” is built on a misinterpretation of 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, in which a “stronghold” is an erroneous way of thinking, a rebellion against Christ. Anderson also believes that evil spirits attach themselves to furniture, that he himself has been literally bitten on the hand by Satan, and that there is power in Satanic curses which must be canceled through formulaic prayer. We believe, however, that spiritual warfare is not some kind of mystical experience, but that it is a struggle to submit ourselves in obedience to the Scriptures.