I clearly understand that the article that you are about to read will be very controversial in nature. I prayed, agonized, and mulled over this topic before I decided to write about it. I clearly understand that there will be some who will write and thank me for this article. At the same time, there will be some who will send me e-mail telling me that I am wrong and that I am on the primrose pathway to Hell. I definately felt led to write this article because of two factors. The first factor is that the spirit of intercession and warfare is now on the upswing. There is an increased activity of intercession and warfare in these last days. The second factor concerns the mistakes that were made in the past that are currently being repeated (and in some cases, more extreme) in the church today. We have trivialized Satan to the point that Satan will automatically flee when we say "the magic words". Before I approach this topic, I need to lay down some fundamental truths:

• (1):Demons are real. Demons can possess someone.
  
• (2):Jesus casted demons out of people. You, as a blood-bought Christian have the authority to cast out demons when necessary.
  
• (3):True, Godly spiritual warfare sometimes has to be performed by us.
  

It becomes a modern day tragedy when people approach the house of God dressed up in military fatigues, combat boots, and dog-tags saying that they are going to fight the Devil and march in formation showing their discipline. Some go to a further extreme by going to surplus stores and buying old ribbons and medals as their "award" showing the number of demons one has so-called cast out of people. Spiritual warfare has been treated like playing the old board game "RISK". We "plot strageties" to defeat the enemy. We decide what spirit rules over a particular area of the world and map out territories. We have people today who claim to be called by God to move to a particular area only to cast out a territorial spirit only to pack up their bags and leave when their "work" is done. We spend tons of money on seminars that seem more like Christianized charismatic high school "pep rallies" where we learn the latest "shouts", "warfare tongues", "buzz words", and "formulas" on how to perform spiritual warfare. There is even a toy called "the weapons of our warfare' where plastic armor can be purchased for our children in the name of teaching warfare. We teach such untruths such as:

• (1):The louder we shout, the more militaristic, the more and harder "stomping" we do, and the more tongues we speak along with the speed of speaking the tongues, the more power and authority we have. This is commonly called "shout it out" and "blasting".
  
• (2):Demons are under every bed, sitting on every rock, and behind every tree. Everthing that does not have the word "God" on it is of the devil. You are gifted with a "demon detector" that sounds an alarm when one shows up on the spiritual radar screen. This is know as "Demon Detection Theology"
  
• (3):The only true sign of deliverance and of the demon leaving a person is when the possessed one regurgitates in a bucket during the warfare activity. This is known as "Throw-up Theology".
  
• (4):When you discover the name of a demon stronghold that rules over a city, then one must go back to the exact same spot where that "revelation" was revealed and yell at him.
  
• (5):One can lease an airplane to circle around your territory while the occupants inside the airplane break the "power of the air" by performing spiritual warfare. This is known as "clearing the air".
  
• (6):If you do not agree with what the warfare teacher says, you are in rebellion, and therefore in witchcraft (interpretation of 1 Samuel 15:23). In fact, many of these warfare teachers claim to be the experts on rebellion while rebelling from God themselves. If you further question and further disagree to the point of dispute and argument, then the warfare teacher tries to reverse the debate to win the argument by saying something similar to "see the spirit of rebellion manifesting in the one that disagrees?" Then the act of warfare and the rest of the hoopla associated with it begins for the "deliverance" and exorcism of the demons inside of the one who disagrees with the warfare teacher.
  
• (7):Sometimes, the use of tying ropes to keep a possessed person from screaming, fleeing, and kicking others must be used.
  
• (8):We must "map" our city to plot the demons. Sixth Street has the demon of drugs. First Street has the demon of prostitution. etc.
• There are many more scenerios that could be explained here.
  

Why is there a increased fascination with spiritual warfare. Very simple! There is an increased fascination with the paranormal and the supernatural. Look at the popularity of the TV show The X-Files. We are fascinated by what we cannot physically see in the natural. The TV show, The X-Files, exposes a world of paranormal activity, supernatural fascinations, and conspiracy theories every week to millions of viewers. In a world where the paranormal, supernatural, and conspiracy theories exist, it becomes easier and easier to unjustly blame the paranormal, supernatural, and conspiracies for some of our everyday problems. There are some problems that are due to generational curses, demonic oppression, etc that has to be dealt spiritually and not physically. Another example of conspiracy theory thinking manifests in the radio talk show host Art Bell. Here, everything is seen as a conspiracy of the Government to completely take over us and brainwash us into clones. Therefore, the call to action is implemented as the Government hides everything from us to suppress us. We love this thinking because it fuels our belief that we are victims instead of conquerors.

The majority of our everyday problems are attributed to the poor choices that we choose to make. I once dated a girl who broke her fingernail by accidently slamming a car door on her hand. Instead of treating the incident as an accident, she had to cast out the "demon of car doors" that caused her to accidently shut the car door on her hand. We have turned Godly spiritual warfare into a Christianized form of the X-Files by trying to enact an investigative, judgemental, and exposition personality similar to the characters of Agents Mulder and Scully. There exists an escapist mentality of finding someone else to blame for the problems in our lives that have gotten out of control. Denial has set in and is instilled into the hearts of some of these spiritual warriors. Mountains and obstacles have been renamed molehills when Jesus said to speak to the mountains and say "Mountain be moved" per Matthew 21:18-22.

I know that you are probably thinking "If Satan was so powerful, why wouldn't he just usher forth a pure Satanic attack to the point of making these people flee like the seven sons of Sceva did in Acts 19:11-20? You remember, they tried to use the authority of Jesus that they did not possess and Satan forced these sons to flee?" Very simple, even though he could surely scatter these people who have no idea on how to do warfare, he gains more by letting then shout, stomp, scream, etc. By letting the Christians do the previous things mentioned, the true focus becomes altered to where wrong moves seem right. Christians love hype. Hype sells. Hype brings in more numbers and therefore, more money. In fact we will "create a sin" or make something mild and innocent into a "sin" just to start a so-called repentance and begin our warfare exercises.

The church void of true leaders has now manifested with self-promoted leaders who call themselves annointed instead of God saying they are annointed. Why do we not challenge these people who are self-promoted leaders? Because the self-promoted leaders have convinced everyone that they are the leaders of today and threaten those who do challenge them with curses on their families and future generations, the phraze "touch not my annointed", cancer, gloom and doom prophecies, and other forms of Charismatic witchcraft. Therefore, declaring war on the enemy whether the so-called enemy is Christian, non-christian, or demonic. Do we really need a "Global Warfare Center" in Colorado to tell us this stuff when the Bible clearly tells us what is really going on? While these people continue to play war games, map their cities, while we "blow on people", while we shoot "finger made pistols", and while we "throw our sportcoats" on people, our cities continue to rot and decay. Gang warfare is on the rise. Drug addiction and alcoholism is increasing, teenage pregnacies and abortion are on the increase. etc.

Click here for part two of Warfare Gone Wacko.