This edition of AFA at Home focuses on spiritual warfare

Walker Wildmon: Welcome to AFA at Home. I'm your host, Walker Wildmon. This edition of AFA at Home, we're going to talk about spiritual warfare. and here in this first segment, we're going to talk about the theological aspect of spiritual warfare and really what the Bible says about spiritual warfare. And in the second segment, we're going to talk about the more practical side of spiritual warfare. Introducing our panel here we have Ed Vitagliano and executive vice president of American Family Association. Bert Harper is host of Exploring the Word on American Family Radio. And then lastly, Tony Perkins is president of the Family Research Council and host of, Washington Watch, also heard on American Family Radio. Ed, jumping right into the theological aspect of spiritual warfare. what is spiritual warfare?

Ed Vitagliano: Well, it is a biblical way, of looking at the world that understands, that a lot of the things that happen in, our natural lives actually have a spiritual component to it. But, more than just a spiritual component, there's spiritual conflict with spiritual entities. So by spiritual component, what I mean is if I'm a young man and I'm having a hard time paying my rent, that creates a spiritual crisis, of faith. There's worry, there's anxiety. So I engage that by, may reading my Bible and praying and counseling with my pastor. How do I get through this? How does my faith grow? but a spiritual conflict means that there are spiritual entities that enter into that spiritual side of my life and actually exacerbate the struggle. So there are spiritual attacks. So even though I am praying and reading the Word, the Bible talks about putting on the full armor of God and resisting those attacks. So, a lot of what happens in the Christian's life, but, also in everyone's life, whether they know it or not, there is a spiritual conflict that rages around them, and that impacts our natural life. It impacts our marriages, our families, our churches, our communities, and our nation.

Walker Wildmon: Bert, I think you would have to completely not read scripture to, to say that spiritual warfare is not in the Bible.

Bert Harper: I believe it with all my heart. Matter of fact, I did want to read this one. I think this does set the stage for it. It's in Second Corinthians, 10, verses three through five. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. You Just see those warfare words. War, warfare. pulling down strongholds, casting down, finally, captivity. we're either going to be taken captive or we'll take our thoughts captive. That is the warfare. It really is a, raging war in our minds. As a man thinketh in his heart. Now, when you hear those words thinketh or, thinks in his heart, I go back to the King James sometimes, guys, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. So the battle is for that thought process of what you're doing. And that's the warfare. And it's not just satanic, it's our own selves. I have to war against Bert Harper, the flesh. yeah, it's called the flesh in the Bible. And the other one is this world system. This system, God set it up correctly, but it was warped because of sin. And so we have to fight against Satan, self and society. We got some pretty big opponents.

Walker Wildmon: Yeah, Tony, you spend a lot of time in our nation's capital, and spiritual warfare obviously exists throughout the world ever since the fall of man. but when we see just American culture, American government, politics, you can't help but believe and know that there are spiritual forces behind even many of the darkest policies and positions that, we see in American society.

Tony Perkins: Yeah, we do. Walker. No question about it. What's happened, though, is that the church has been led to believe what the world is telling us, that we're not in this battle because we're not in a battle, because that's politically incorrect to use those kind of terms. But Paul constantly writes about warfare. You know, Ephesians 6, he talks about those different levels, the principalities, the powers of darkness, the rulers of this age. there's different levels of those battles that the spiritual battles that we're fighting. But if we don't think we're in a battle, I mean, we're going to get our clock clean, because we're just. We're oblivious to the fact that we're in a spiritual warfare. I'll tell you, from the age of six, I grew up in a church. Probably I was in an unchurched home, but my family came to Christ. Never really heard a whole lot about spiritual warfare. the first real exposure, I read a book by Frank Peretti, this Present Darkness, and I was like, wow. At the time, I was a police officer. And I'll never forget the occasion where I got a call. a guy was in the middle of the street beating his head on his own car. So you could tell something wasn't right. We get there. It took about five of us to get this guy cuffed and what we would call cuffed and stuffed. And they chose him to put him in my car. Well, so he was in the back of my car. I had a partner, and I just think this was not right. Something was not right about this. And so I remember just driving, and I whispered under my breath, you couldn't hear me. I just said, jesus. And all of a sudden, the guy just erupts in the backseat, starts cursing Jesus. And I said, whoa. So I poked my partner and said, watch this. And I did it again. And the guy erupts. My partner got all nervous. This is past the statute of limitations, so I can feel the story. But it really brought home the spiritual battle that we're in. And subsequently, we had to take the guy to the hospital. And I spent the evening with him because they're very slow in those hospitals. And I was able to pray with him, share the gospel with him and talk with him. But that is the spiritual battle that's taking place. Satan does not want people to come to the freedom of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to give us life more abundantly. And so the battle that we're engaged in, as you were talking about, not only taking our own thoughts captive so that we're free to then engage in the bigger battle to set others free by taking forth the truth. And if the church doesn't understand that we're in the spiritual battle, then the enemy has full and free reign. And that's what we see happening, I believe, predominately, in our culture today.

Ed Vitagliano: and oftentimes what will happen is Christians will be intimidated into silence and inactivity, passivity, because they're not looking for that counterattack. I always say, in light of an old film, the empire always strikes back. The enemy does not want people free. And so Christians who will kind of dip their toe into that cultural war and get the blowback, then they're not expecting it because they're not trained for spiritual warfare. And then they back off completely.

Bert Harper: You, know, I had a doctor friend who said, it's amazing what people come to me to get relief. They want to take a pill, they want to have an adjustment. They want to. And he said, I am convinced over 50% that come to me are in an issue of a battle spiritually in their mind. Said if they could get their mind straight biblically, then a lot of those things that they're complaining about would not be real. And so what happens the spiritual? You know, the Bible says we're fearfully and wonderfully made. So what a man thinks it affects his whole body. And so just as Tony was talking about that man, how he would erupt into anger, you know, at the name of Jesus, that just demonstrates it does damage to the body when that happens, the stress and strain. So the spiritual warfare is spiritual, but it comes in to being demonstrated through the physical.

Walker Wildmon: Yeah, Bert, I was going to ask about leading into what you're talking about or following up on it. There are many things that happen in our lives.

Tony Perkins: Ah.

Walker Wildmon: And in history where you can't explain it in human terms. but if the believer only focuses on the physical and the here and now and what we can see, you're going to miss so much. and also you're not going to have as many victories because ultimately God is who redeems people and changes their heart through the Holy Spirit. so we have to have, the Holy Spirit and rely on his work to change hearts. Because if we just look at it from a physical perspective or what I can do to change the current situation that I'm in or someone else is in, we're going to lose half of our battles.

Bert Harper: You remind me of some scripture over in the Old Testament with Elisha, when they were dothan. Now, it wasn't Alabama, by the way. Guys, this is a country over there. And the enemy was surrounded. They could see the enemy. The enemy wants to fear, put fear in you. That's one of his greatest tactics, is fear. And his servant was saying, we're outnumbered. And Elisha prayed, said, open his eyes that he might could see all the army of the Lord. It's called, the Host. The Host. And he opened his eyes and he saw all those angels that were surrounded the camp. I don't think that people are opening their eyes as believers to see all that God has for them. Yes, the Holy Spirit inside of us, but also the angelic powers. And you know, Tony is talking about Frank Peretti and this present darkness. that's the whole idea. I remember in that book it said the angels wanted to act, but they didn't have prayer cover. They did not have prayer cover. So the issue of prayer really comes in to the spiritual warfare. these are weapons that we have. And so God wants us to do that because it's going to affect us in every way, just like you said.

Walker Wildmon: Yeah, Tony the believer. In order to be ready for spiritual warfare and to be ultimately victorious, we have to prepare we can't sit around and just wait for the next battle and expect to then be ready for it.

Tony Perkins: Yeah, here's how I approach this. Number one is when we run into this, run into difficulty, and, you know, sometimes you find this opposition. First thing we need to do is sometimes maybe it's not the spiritual warfare on the external, maybe it's the internal, Maybe it's the human nature. We need to go to God and say, lord, what is this? Is this something that you need to change in me that I need to do? Is this something I've done? And so I think we can't be looking at as the pigs in the parlor, a demon behind every bush. we need to be mindful that we are spiritual beings. We're in a world in which there is spiritual warfare going on, but it's both internal and external. It's bringing the old man, the human man, the human nature, into subjection to God. It's the sanctification process. But then we need to be in the word of God so that we know how to respond to those external forces. And Ephesians 6 is a great chapter. in fact, it's a great book. It's basically life by God's design. Paul goes through all of these things. Relationships in the church, relationships in the home, relationships in the community, in the workplace. And then at the very end, he says, now finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. The only way to live the Christian life successfully is. Is in the might of God. And then he unpacks the spiritual armor that we're to be putting on the belt of truth. We need to be in the word of God. We need to have the breastplate of righteousness. Our hearts are guarded against the attacks of the enemy. We've got to have the helmet of salvation, obviously, but the spirit or the shield of, faith, so we can quench those darts, the fiery darts of the evil one, and then obviously the sword, the word of God. We need to know it, we need to be in it. And that's the only way we can wage battle. And of course, he goes on to say, with all prayer and supplication for all the saints, and we need to be praying.

Bert Harper: M. You know, when I hear that, you can't help but think about when Jesus started. After his baptism, he was driven into the wilderness. And there's when Satan came to him. When after the 40 days of fasting, Satan does not read our minds. I can tell in the Bible. I haven't found he can place things into our minds by showing us things, telling us things. Jesus said every time he combated him, it was with the word of God from the book of Deuteronomy. And over in John First John, he was writing, he said he gave us three areas of concern. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And if you look at what Jesus was tempted with, all three of those were in there. The stone was the lust of the eyes. He could see the stones and then jumping from the pinnacle. And everybody will follow you. That's the pride of life. And if you'll bow down, he showed him all the kingdoms of the world. And he said, if you'll bow down and worship me, I'll give you these. So he was attacked at the very beginning of the ministry. And what Satan was trying to do is get Jesus off track of his purpose for coming and the way he was going to do it. I find that Satan is very good at observing and attacking us at a point of weakness. After 40 days of fasting, that's when he came.

Walker Wildmon: Yeah.

Bert Harper: And so we need. The church was talking about, they need to be mindful of that in your weakness. But Paul said, in my weakness, I'm made strong. Why? Because he submitted that to the Lord and as weaknesses. And if you work on it and hide the word of God in your heart, guess what? That weakness is not as quite as wide open to Satan as it was if you had not put God's word in your heart.

Ed Vitagliano: Well, and that's why, going back to what Tony said as well, with the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul talks first about sitting, being seated. In other words, our lives are rooted in what Christ has done for us. Then he starts talking about walking. So in light of all that Christ has done for us, we walk in a manner worthy of the gospel and worthy of the kingdom. Then he talks about standing. And it's difficult to stand if you're not thinking about what Jesus has done for us. And if you're also not being careful to try to walk in the spirit and walk in obedience, and then you are able to stand. And what Tony said is, we are standing and working and resisting the attacks of the enemy and his schemes in the power of God's might. So none of it is really focused on our own strength and our own power. And, then it's kind of bookended with prayer because everything. It's one thing for a Christian to feel the responsibility for a father, a husband. I now have grandchildren. But that burden of having a wife to lead in terms of, spiritual things, and kids train up with my wife in the fear and admonition of the Lord, that burden becomes unbearable if you're not doing it in the power of his might. So all the things we're talking about are founded in the work of Christ, and yet there is a responsibility for the Christian to take heed to the things that God has, called us to do.

Walker Wildmon: Tony, the. Sometimes it's, I think our flesh wants to look at. And when we, especially if we're not focusing on Scripture, we want to look at spiritual warfare as this, always defensive, always, fighting off the attacks. But in reality, if we really focus in on what God says and His Word, and we rely on the Holy Spirit, we can actually use spiritual warfare to our advantage, to the advantage of the believer.

Tony Perkins: Really good point. I'm going to go back to the book of Ephesians. It has all the answers to life, but it talks about in chapter four, that we're to speak the truth in love. And as we're engaged in a spiritual battle, and it is a spiritual battle we're living in today, what we have to guard against, we have to guard our hearts against having this edge in which there's this anger and this bitterness. Because we don't engage in spiritual battle, you know, to win a debate or to prevail over our fellow human beings. We do it out of a redemptive heart to see them set free from the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we should be, you know, happy warriors. We were created for this. It wasn't like this is just something that happens to fall upon us at this moment. We were created to be warriors for Christ, especially as men. We're to lead our families as warriors. Now, that terminology has been, maligned by the culture that we're these, Christian warriors from a standpoint of we're trying to take over the world. Yeah, we are the kingdom.

Walker Wildmon: Yeah. From a structure, the kingdom of God.

Tony Perkins: We want to see everyone come to the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and experience the abundant life. And that means we're going to have to wage warfare. We're going to have to. And it's not physical warfare. It's not the weapons of our warfare. As Bert said, they're not carnal, but they're spiritual for the tearing down of strongholds. So we shouldn't make any apologies about that. In fact, we should embrace it that God has entrusted us with this generation to be courageous for him in taking truth and light into dark places where deception reigns so that men, women and children can know him and experience not only eternal life, but the fullness of life right here and now.

Bert Harper: You know, when you talk about the armor of God, the breastplate of righteousness covered the front and the back. That was interesting, you know, because a lot of times what happens is friendly fire comes upon us. And we've been talking about those that don't think we should be offensive on the offense. They think we should just take it. But friendly fire is tough sometimes, and that's spiritual warfare. So he took care of not only the front, but the back. And then the offensive weapon is the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. And people say, well, they don't believe it's the Bible. They don't believe it's the word of God. It is whether they believe it or not. That's the whole idea. The Bible is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. And even dividing asunder and what it divides is something that we can hardly see. Spirit and soul. Now that's hard to divide because only as far as I can see in the scripture. The only difference you see in the spirit and soul of an individual is by the word of God as it separates it. But the word of God is that offensive weapon. That's why the preaching of the gospel, of the whole counsel of God is so important. From the pulpits, from the Sunday school lectern, or the chair of the small group, the word of God is powerful and we don't need to pull back, regardless of where we are in society. Don't be afraid. You don't necessarily have to tell them it's the word of God. I found this out. You know, when preaching we'll say, well, in the book of Ephesians, in the book of Galatians, well, listen, the word of God is the word of God, whether you tell them where it's coming from or not. So in some of the difficulties of trying to present truth, you present the word of God without them even knowing it's the Bible and it still does its work. That is spiritual warfare. I don't know if you call that undercover warfare or not, Tony, but it is the word of God.

Tony Perkins: That's, ninja warfare.

Walker Wildmon: That's what it is, Ed, Is, spiritual warfare for all believers or is it just left to the pastors, Sunday school teachers and the deacons?

Ed Vitagliano: Well, you've got three pastors here. We all know the answer. The fact of the matter is Christians are in spiritual warfare whether they like it or not. So to, me, the only question is, are you going to fight back? Are you going to learn about that realm? There are a lot of Christians who don't understand the internal warfare that's going on in terms of flesh versus spirit. So every Christian is. Since every Christian, I believe the Bible teaches is to be involved in ministry, every Christian is involved in spiritual warfare. You know, Tony talked about it kind of the outset that, you know, two Timothy, two, 26, says that, the devil has held people captive to do his will. And anytime Christians are going to try to bring people out of that captivity, the devil's not going to like it. There'll be resistance to that. And Colossians, 113 talks about us. When we are saved, we are transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of, of his beloved son, the kingdom of light. the devil hates that. One of my favorite passages in the NewSong Testament is in Acts 19, where the church in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul being, the preacher, so to speak, but the gospel is being preached. People are getting saved, people are getting healed, people are being delivered from demonic possession. So there's all this spiritual warfare going on because people are coming out of darkness. And then what happens is that, these people are leaving the worship of this false goddess, Artemis or Diana, and there is, blowback. There is what looks like on the outward side, there is persecution, but this is demonically orchestrated because you asked the question about is it offensive spiritual warfare, or do we just take it? When you're setting people free, that disrupts the kingdom of darkness and the enemy doesn't like it. And if you don't want spiritual warfare in your life, then you're going to have to stop preaching the gospel and you're going to have to stop ministering. You're going to have to stop praying. And we know that is not an accurate description of the Christian life.

Walker Wildmon: No, Tony, you know, as you were once a police officer, you were probably taught to be on guard, to be aware of your surroundings. what do you say to believers as far as being on the lookout? Be aware that evil forces are looking, to attack believers, and the Holy Spirit.

I believe the church today is missing an understanding of the Word of God

Tony Perkins: I was actually thinking when Bert was talking about using the sword, the word of God, I was thinking back as a Marine, the amount of time we spent with our weapons, back then we had the M. M16s. And I can still to this day, that's almost 40 years later, I can Take one apart and put it back together almost blindfolded because I did it so much. And what is missing, I believe in the church today is an understanding of the Word of God. We need to be biblically centered in everything we do in the church. I believe we could be prevailing in the spiritual battle that is raging in our culture today if the church spent more time in the Word of God. And it begins in the home. It begins with fathers beginning to lead their families simply reading the Word of God. several years ago, I was looking for a devotional book and I looked all over to find one that met kind of the age range of all five of my children. I couldn't find anyone. So I finally said, well, maybe I should use the Bible, you know. And so we started this, two year journey through the Bible, which we're now doing at FRC with our supporters, doing with my staff. It is revolutionary just to read the Bible. In fact, if you ever go back, One of my first commentaries I got as a youth was Haley's Hand Bible Handbook. And I think it's on page 184, 183. He says if every pastor in America would simply have his church read through the Bible and he would preach on the passages that they read, we would change the country. And that's the power of the Word of God. And that is our weaponry, the Word of God.

The vast majority of our conversation is centered toward believers, people already in Christ

Walker Wildmon: Bert, we've been talking. the vast majority of our conversation is centered toward believers, people who are already in Christ, how to be prepared and how to fight spiritual warfare, with eternity in mind. But just give our audience a brief rundown of just the simplicity of the gospel and what it means to become a believer and live in obedience to Christ.

Bert Harper: What God wants to do in every human being's life is come into relationship with him that is personal and real. And that relationship comes through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came. He lived that perfect life. That blows me away, you know. And, without sin, he goes to the cross. And there, the Bible says he gave his life as a ransom or the sacrifice that was needed. And he was taken from the cross, put into that tomb. And then Sunday morning, he arose. Everybody went there. He had told them he was going to do it, but they didn't believe him, I guess. And they, they, he arose. And then later on it says he ascended to the Father M. And there, where he is, is making intercession for us. Now, why did he do it? He did it because he loves each and every one of us. Over in Second Peter, Chapter three, it was ending and Paul was talking about that he's not wanting any of us to go away without him. He wants everybody to come into that relationship through repentance. The only time Peter used repentance in his two letters, that they'd come. So if a person would come to the place in their life where they would say, lord, I am a sinner, I'm lost, there's no help in my life that I can produce. I surrender my life to you. I, turn away from my sin. I, turn to you completely, asking you to be Lord and Savior of my life now and forever. When that happens, well, it changes everything for me. It happened when I was 12 years old. I hadn't got over it yet. He is still that personal and that real.

Walker Wildmon: Yeah. Amen. You've been watching a Spiritual Warfare edition of AFA at Home. Thank you for tuning in. Next segment, we're m going to talk with Miki Addison, E.W. jackson and Jeff Schrieve about the practical aspects of spiritual warfare. We'll see you in a few minutes. Welcome back to AFA At Home. I'm your host, Walker Wildmon. Don't forget to check out our website, afa.net, the website of the American Family Association. the first segment, or the first, segment we talked about the theological aspect of spiritual warfare. And this segment we're going to talk about the practical aspect of spiritual warfare and how the believer, is to really go, into battle when it comes to spiritual warfare. On the panel we have Jeff Schrieve, pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. We also have Mickey Addison, host of Airing the Addisons on American Family radio. And lastly, E.W. jackson, host, of the Awakening on American Family Radio. Pastor Jeff, just give our viewers a brief synopsis of what spiritual warfare is.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, I think spiritual warfare is the attack that the enemy of our souls, the devil and his demonic horde bring against the people of God. So first Peter 5:8 says, Be on the alert. Be of sober spirit. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, but resist him firm in your faith. And I think a lot of Christians don't understand that there is a battle going on and we are part of the battle because, as Paul told Timothy, suffer, hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. I preached a sermon series a few years ago. I call it We Are Soldiers. Bishop, you would appreciate that we are Soldiers because many Christians don't realize that, that, hey, you're In a battle, and you have somebody that wants to steal, kill, and destroy. I said, he's like the original Terminator. He doesn't ever stop. He doesn't take a vacation. He doesn't go on break. He's just coming at us. And so we have to put on the full armor of God every day, walk in the light with Jesus, and be sensitive to the fact that the enemy is coming and he's looking for a chink in the armor. He's looking for, you know, open part of the. Of the wall, so to speak, and to come in and wreak havoc in our lives.

Walker Wildmon: Miki. oftentimes with just the darkness that seems to, surround us in our culture, oftentimes, I'll even admit, I think about putting my head in the sand. And we know that's not the right thing to do. but our fleshly side just wants to take a little escape from reality. but when we're talking about something as important as spiritual warfare, does the believer need to put their head on the sand?

Meeke Addison: No, we can't. Because, as Pastor Jeff just alluded to, we're in a battle whether we fight or not. Like, and I think that that is the temptation of most believers to just sort of want to focus on what we see, but what we don't see is as real as what we see. And so the battle that we often speak of, we think that it's, too mystical to deal with. But the Bible deals with this. And I think that every Christian, every parent, as a mom of six kids, I want my kids to understand that there is a realm that we do not see, but that the Lord has told us by his word exists. And there is a battle going on constantly, and you are in the crosshairs. So we can't ignore this battle, because we'll be casualties of it. So the question is, are we going to fight according to how Scripture teaches us to fight, or will we be overtaken?

Walker Wildmon: Ew. The spiritual warfare, when you. When you. Or at least when I think about it, I think of it as a defensive thing. It's something where I'm kind of always on retreat, always defending myself against spiritual warfare. but really, when you look at scripture, believers can take offense when it comes to spiritual warfare to protect not only themselves, spiritually, physically, but also their family, as Mickey said, and their loved ones and others.

Walker says spiritual warfare should be primarily offensive, not defensive

so talk a little bit about taking an offensive position when it comes to spiritual warfare.

Bishop EW Jackson: Well, frankly, Walker, I think spiritual warfare for the Christian really should be primarily offensive, not defensive. Because remember, the greatest weapon, Jesus said, the greatest weapon that the enemy has is deception, lies. Jesus said he's a liar and he's the father of lies. He said the truth is not in him. And the devil is always trying to deceive Christians. And one of the big lies he wants us to buy into is we can't win. I can't overcome this. I can't deal with this. I can't. Depression, despair, discouragement, frustration, putting your head in the sand. I'm done. and so the offensive part of that, it seems to me, is, according to 2nd Corinthians 10:4, casting down imaginations, those logismos, those arguments, those things that convince us, oh, man, Lord, what am I? I can't deal with this. So that we give in. That's who the devil's looking for. If he can get you to just, okay, there's just nothing we can do. then you're really at his mercy. So the offensive part of that, it seems to me, is I've got to always look at things through the lens of the word of God, because then I see the devil in his proper perspective, then I see life in his proper perspective. If I start looking through my own fleshly eyes at what's around me now, I become vulnerable, because now I'm not looking at the armor of God that I'm supposed to be putting on, or I'm not looking at the power that I have through faith and the grace of God in my life. I'm looking now at the circumstances and how overwhelming they are. So being on the offense, I think is critical.

Jeff: I think recognizing spiritual warfare helps relieve the believer from stress

Walker Wildmon: Jeff. I know in my life, when I recognize the Holy Spirit's presence and its role in my life, I think that is part of recognizing spiritual warfare. as EW said, recognizing that there is the unseen that we can't physically see with our own eyes. talk a little bit about the role of the Holy Spirit in recognizing spiritual warfare and really calling on God's angels, for protection and for victory.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Ultimately, well, I mean, the Christian life is to be led not in the flesh, but in the spirit. So probably one of the most broken commandments in the Bible is Ephesians 5, 18, be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit. And when you're filled with the spirit, he's in control. And so that you're led by the spirit, you're not carrying out the desires of the flesh. And when you're led by the spirit, you're sensitive to what's going on around you. You're sensitive to circumstances, and you're sensitive to how the devil might be working in those circumstances. I think, too, a lot of times, just like with Job, he. He didn't recognize what was going on in the heavenlies. He just knew his life was falling apart and he didn't know why. you know, God didn't give him the information that, hey, this is a. There's something going on between me and the devil here. And you're kind of in the middle. Ah, you're going to be exhibit A for the guy that continues to trust me. Job didn't know any of that stuff. He just knew, though he slayed me. Yet will I trust in him? I think we, as NewSong Testament believers, we can be a lot more in tune with, okay, the enemy is coming. And he, ew. As you said, I mean, he's a deceiver and he's slick, and so he comes in. In ways that you didn't think he would come. the disciples were shocked when Jesus said, one of you is going to betray me. And they didn't know it was Judas. Nobody said, well, I bet it's Judas. That guy's a scumbag. Nobody knew that. They were shocked. And even when Jesus said, what you do do quickly, they still didn't figure it out. They said, well, maybe he's getting something for, you know, our needs or something like that. And so, I've had the devil come at me as a pastor in different ways. And I remember saying, just recently, saying, I never saw this coming. And a friend of mine said, well, that's the devil. That's the way he works in a way that you don't think it's coming. Boom, it comes.

Walker Wildmon: Yeah, Mickey. I think. I think 1. I think recognizing the existence of spiritual warfare and that it's a reality helps relieve the believer from. You know, Scripture talks about loving thy neighbor and even loving your enemies. but from a fleshly standpoint, you think, well, that's just not possible. How do I love my enemies? People who want to harm me, I love them. But when you recognize that there's a spiritual realm, where things, are not all fleshly, it's not all people. There's more spiritual aspects, to our struggles and our trials and our temptations. talk a little bit about that and how we really, if we recognize that there's a larger scheme at play here, then we can really actually love our enemies.

Walker: Jesus commands us to love our neighbors and to tell the truth

Meeke Addison: Yeah, you know, I think, Walker, when you Think about, like, the seed of our emotions, our heart, right? And, this command to love our neighbors and, even to do those things for those who want to harm us that they would never see coming. This is real. But I think of. Think of the armor. So we're constantly referring to this armor that we put on. And the breastplate of righteousness is what covers the heart, right? So I think in our culture, we have a lot of what could be called polluted compassion, where we want to love people. Excuse me, but we don't want to tell them the truth, right? And so what is the guard against that? What is the. Excuse me, the protection. What is the guard against that? The guard is righteousness. So I can love my neighbor and still tell my neighbor the truth, because that is righteous. So this breastplate of righteousness protects the seat of my emotions so that I don't just, like, say, love is believing a lie or love is affirming a lie. Love allows me to tell the truth, to stand for righteousness, because that is my guard. It's almost sort of like the rails from my heart, right? So you can love people who are not like you. You can love people who say vile things against you, because the protection for your heart is righteousness. Doing those things that the Lord expects and even commands us to do should guide our engagement, I would say.

Walker Wildmon: Aw.

Bishop EW Jackson: Well, you know, it's interesting when you raise that issue of, dealing with people, I immediately think of the fact that our culture is rife with racial division. And there are people who are trying to get everyone focused on the flesh, focused on the color of a person's skin, focused on their background. And we know here, again, this is another deception of Satan. Because if Satan can convince people, oh, my, they're my problem, then even Christians don't realize, no, they're not your problem. The devil is your problem. and you're fighting them rather than fighting the real enemy, who they may be victimized by as well. And I've often said America's never had a racial problem. America's had a sin problem. Sin is really the issue, people dividing against one another, when in fact, what we ought to be doing, particularly as the body of Christ, rather than, you know, fighting over our doctrinal differences, this sort of thing. we ought to be banding together and saying, we're going to stop the devil from destroying our country, destroying our families. and when we do that, of course, Jesus said, a house divided against itself cannot stand, but if you come together, you can bind the strong man and plunder his goods.

Bert Harper: So.

Bishop EW Jackson: So, yeah, we got to stay focused on what the real enemy is and love people, because God loves them. He's that person, like you said, trying to harm me. But I have to remember God loves that person and wants the very best for that person. So I shouldn't get hung up on what they're doing so much as I get hung up on what the devil is trying to do with them and through them.

Walker Wildmon: Yeah, Jeff.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, I think that's a great point. I think, too. I remember, something Charles Stanley said when he was going through all his trouble with, them trying to get rid of him back in the day at First Baptist Atlanta. And even to the point where a deacon at a service punched him in the mouth. that's. You got some church problems there. But he said in a sermon, he said, God spoke to my heart and said, charles, everything that comes your way, you just know that it's coming from me. It is filtered through my fingers of love. And, then he was able to see it from a different perspective, because I think Bishop exactly was. If we're not careful, we can start focusing on. People are the enemy. People are not the enemy. People are the mission field. They're being, manipulated by the enemy, by the prince of the power of the air. But they're not the enemy, and we are called to love them and to share the truth with them. Mickey, as you were sharing. You know, love doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness. It rejoices with the truth. So this idea that, you know, if you don't accept my homosexuality, you don't love me. Well, I can't, because I do love you. And love doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness. It rejoices with the truth. So I think it's very important for us to keep grounded in the word, to know. Okay, Lord, I am here. My main job. I'm a citizen of heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven. Philippians 3. And my main job is to be your witness. That's what you've called me to do and to shine. We use two words in our church. Shine and share. Shine for Christ. Let your so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven and then share what great things the Lord has done. as the Gadarene demoniac, he went out everywhere telling everybody what Jesus had done for him. And everybody marveled. If we'll do those two things, God will use us in great ways. And we'll experience great victories over the enemy.

Walker: Christians need spiritual protection more than physical protection

Walker Wildmon: Mickey, talk a little bit about, sharpening our sword, being ready for battle. what are some practical things that believers can do? just to be ready. Because it's one thing to recognize it, to know spiritual warfare exists, but to be ready for it and ready for victory.

Meeke Addison: Yeah. Ephesians 6 teaches us that our sword is the word of God. So believers need to be reading the Word of God, number one. Yeah. Right. That's number one. We need to be reading the Word of God. We need to be steeped in truth so that when we are, wielding that sword, that we are also doing that as a workman that does not need to be ashamed. Right. so that we know what the truth is, and we are speaking that, daily in our culture. I will also say this, you know, when we look at, so Our son is 11, and when he was 8, we got him this book. He read this book, the Children's Armor of God. Right. And, just packed with principles. But one of the things that I think we often overlook when we think about this physical armor, this picture that Paul paints, to the Ephesians, one of the things that we stop short of when we look at the armor is that Paul continues, and it's almost as if the armor is to be draped with prayer, because as he goes through, like, all of these pieces of the armor, then he says, always in all things praying. It's almost like you put on all of these things, and then the final thing that you put on is prayer. Like that a part of this protection. And, we don't want to acknowledge that because it doesn't feel like doing.

Walker Wildmon: Yeah.

Meeke Addison: Right. So I think the believer needs to be steeped in the Word of God, and the believer needs to be praying without ceasing, praying in the Holy Spirit, like, understanding that the days are evil, knowing what these particular pieces of the armor are and what they represent for us. But then also, you know, and I think this way, because I am a mom and this is. I am actively training our kids to engage this culture. We need to be training one another, equipping and challenging one another to engage this culture.

Walker Wildmon: Yeah. Ew. At nighttime, most of us do this. Hopefully. we lock our doors, cut our lights off, do things to protect our family. make sure the fire sensors got batteries in it, Turn the alarm system on.

Bishop EW Jackson: Exactly.

Walker Wildmon: You do all these things. most of our life is built around personal protection. physical, that is. But, you know, it's easy if we don't recognize this. It's easy to completely abandon or forget the spiritual protection that I would argue is equally or more important than physical protection, the spiritual protection of our children, of our spouses, of our family. because if we let Satan in, if we let dark spiritual forces in to the household, he can easily overtake.

Bishop EW Jackson: Well, that is a powerful point, Walker, because the fact of the matter is, the scripture teaches us Satan is a defeated foe. I mean, Jesus has already won the battle against him, but if you let him, he'll defeat you. So even though he's already a defeated foe, he doesn't know that and doesn't care. he will, through the demonic forces at his disposal, hurt any Christian who will not put on the whole armor of God, who will not stay in prayer, who will not stay focused on the Word. and so you're right. We need to have. It seems to me the balance is we need to have confidence that all of those things that we do work, if we do them right. But then we ought not ever be complacent and assume, oh, I'm fine, I'm great, no problem. You know, the devil can't touch me. But Jesus said, resist the devil and he'll flee. He didn't say, kick back and he'll look at you and, you know, maybe move on to somebody else. So we've got to do both. We need to have that absolute confidence that God's already defeated him. If I stand in prayer, if I stand on the Word, he can't destroy me. But on the other hand, if I become complacent, goes about like a roaring lion, as you said when we started out, seeking whom he may devour. I just don't want to ever put myself in a position where I'm one of the people he looks at and says, yeah, he's ripe for the picking. so you're right. We've got to do all those things that we do in the physical, kind of in the spiritual, continue to do those things, put on the whole armor of God, and never be. I get up some mornings and realize, you know, we didn't turn the alarm on last night, you know, Well, I opened myself up. that made me a little bit vulnerable. I don't want to do that. So applying that spiritually, we just want to make sure that we're doing the things God tells us to do to be ready for Him.

Walker Wildmon: Yeah. Jeff. It seems when we recognize the role of the Holy Spirit, recognize, that there are good spiritual forces that God has released, we can then be more effective, honestly, because we're using all of the weapons, as Mickey said, to our advantage, to the advantage of the kingdom.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, I think that's exactly right. I think also, as the bishop was talking, the ones that the devil goes after are the ones that are making a difference for the kingdom. If you're on the spiritual fence, you got one foot in the world and one foot in the church, and you're just lukewarm. He doesn't need to do anything with you. He's not going to waste his energy on you because you're not making a difference anyway. It's the people that really want to walk with God. And for God to use them to shine and share, he's going to come after them to try and cripple them. And so I think that's important to know. It's encouragement to our hearts when we know, hey, when I walk with God. He never said that was going to be easy. You know, those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, you're going to suffer persecution and you're going to suffer opposition because the devil is going to come at you. But greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. So we can have confidence. I've told our church the thing that God. The prayer God longs to answer and loves to answer is the prayer of the disciples when they say, God, give your servants to boldness to speak. And we need people. I appreciate you two so much every day on the radio, boldness to speak on issues that people don't want to talk about, people are afraid to talk about. And you stand up and say, you know, this is the way it is. And, we need more and more of that in these last days where Christians will stand up and be counted. And if you get the cancel culture after you, then you just trust the Lord that he's going to take care of you. But we can't retreat. We have to be bold and speak the truth.

Walker Wildmon: In love, Mickey.

We should be more fearful of the spiritual realm

it's easy to fear the physical more than the spiritual. M. especially if you're not focused on the right things. M. But in reality, we should be more fearful of the spiritual realm, of Satan, not fearful of Satan in the sense that we have a defeatist attitude, but we need to be real realistic about his power, about the darkness and the dark powers that Satan is in control of. so that we, know we need to be ready, because, if we don't recognize, the damage that Satan can do if he gets a foothold, if he gets a stronghold, then I'm afraid we won't take spiritual warfare seriously.

Meeke Addison: Yeah. you know, Satan is serious about protecting his kingdom, and we don't often think in these terms. the Apostle Paul, in writing to the Colossians, he tells us that we have been brought from the domain of darkness. Well, like, I mean, what is that? Right? Like, I mean, what. What is. What does that mean? That means that before coming to Christ, we existed in this realm, in this domain that is lorded over by Satan. And Christ in himself, he purchased us to bring us into his kingdom. So it is a war of kingdoms, and it is very serious. Right. Like, it's not something that. Again, and we keep alluding to this, and I think because of at the moment, Christians don't believe that it's real, but there are real dark forces that in Jesus Christ, and this is what we have to acknowledge in Jesus Christ, we have been rescued from that domain.

I think unity and agreement in prayer and in spiritual warfare is absolutely critical

Now, having said that, I want to comment on something else that I think you kind of alluded to being careful, that we are not unwittingly allowing the enemy access to us when we have been rescued from this domain. Right. So what do I mean by that? Well, I mean, the things that I set before my eyes, I am not going to open doors to the enemy once I'm rescued from his domain to sort of like, you know, be able to come back in again. So the things that my kids are watching, the things that we are reading, what we're talking about, what we agree with, what we disagree with, we always want to be on the side of Scripture, all of these things. It's just like Bishop said earlier. You know, you talk about, setting the alarm to your house. Well, okay, say you set the alarm, but you leave the door unlocked. You'll just be alerted that someone has come in. You know what I mean? And so what we should be doing as Christians is doing all of the things that the Lord has given us, to be protected and fortified as his followers. And so that includes donning the armor. But it also includes those practical things like being careful about what we watch, being careful about what our kids are watching. What are we reading, what are we enjoying? What are the things that we are laughing at that we are finding comfort and entertainment in. Are these the kinds of things that make us, sort of open us to this domain that we have been rescued from?

Walker Wildmon: That's good.

Tony Perkins: Great point.

Walker Wildmon: ew. Are we supposed to engage in Spiritual warfare alone. What's the role of other believers in our lives?

Bishop EW Jackson: Well, look, Jesus made clear that he put a premium on our coming together. Where two or three are gathered together, my name there I will be in the midst. Where two of you agree as touching anything, I will do it. Hebrews 10:25. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner of some, all the more as you see the day approaching. So, because, and I think the body of Christ sometimes forgets this, God wants us to be a family, his family, and he wants us to love one another and work together. That means we fight together, too. and the Bible says one can put a thousand to flight, two can put 10,000 to flight. So we are supposed to come together and stand together and frankly, walk. I think that's one of the reasons why our country is in such trouble now, because you've got so many Christians who seem willing to depart from the word of God in agreement with what should be the basis of our unity in the body of Christ, which is God's word. Well, no, no. but, but I'm going to do this over here. I'm going to vote for that person over there. I'm going to support this over here because I think it's good for me, I think it's good for this particular group. and when we do that, we weaken the power of the body of Christ because we're no longer united, we're no longer fighting together. We're no longer praying in agreement. So I think unity and agreement in prayer and in spiritual warfare is absolutely critical. But of course, it gives me hope, because if even a remnant is standing together, I really believe that we're more than the power of the devil. and so, yeah, we don't want to ever deemphasize the importance of unity and standing together in warfare.

Walker Wildmon: Yeah, that's good. Pastor Jeff, as we wrap up here, if we've got the audience, we've had their attention for nearly an hour now, and there are many people watching that are going, okay, I didn't take spiritual warfare seriously before this, but I sure do take it serious now. Where, in Scripture would you say is the most helpful? initially? The whole counsel of God is, of course, very useful. but where would you send people who are saying, okay, I take it serious, but I want to know more. I want to read more about God's word when it comes to spiritual warfare.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, I think Ephesians 6 is really critical. I think 2 Corinthians 10, where it talked about, tearing down strongholds. You know, the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We're destroying speculations and every lofty thing that sets itself against the knowledge of God. And we're taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. What Mickey said is so true. If you set the alarm, but you leave the door open. And many of us, I mean, we're human, so we struggle and we have temptations. if you give in to those temptations, it's like a welcome mat for the devil, one of the big ones. Bishop, you were kind of alluding to this. If we get bitter at one another, don't let the sun go down in your anger, the Bible says. And don't give the devil a place. You give him an opportunity to just wreak havoc in your life and in your family. If you allow bitterness to get in there, if you allow the sin of racism to get into your heart. and with all that's being talked about with racism, I think it creates racism, you know, because that's all we ever talk about, so much in our culture. It's just like, why can't people just be people? Why can't we just love people? Because they're people. so I think that's an important, passage. also I think one of the ones that I go to a lot. First John, chapter one. If we say God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with God and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, God's son, cleanses us from all sin. I think that is a great starting point for any Christian to say, I need to live my life in the light, knowing that God will forgive me when I bring my sins to the light and confess them and live that way. I can't live a duplicitous life and expect to have victory over the enemy, because he knows and he sees and he will defeat us every time. So that is a key passage, I think, for every believer to say, hey, I'm done with the darkness. God doesn't live in the darkness. The devil does. I'm going to walk in the light with him.

Meeke Addison: Amen.

Walker Wildmon: Well, it's been good to be with you, Jeff, Mickey, and Ew. this has been an edition of, AFA at home. We've been discussing spiritual warfare. Thank you for tuning in, and we'll see you next time.

The Bible teaches that Christians will face many tribulations in life, often described as spiritual warfare. In this second episode of afa@HOME, panelists examine what spiritual warfare really means and discuss both the theological foundations and practical ways Christians can prepare for and engage in it.