Spiritual warfare

Spiritual warfare is a Christian belief of fighting against bad supernatural forces (demons). The existence of bad spirits which can affect humans is the main idea for this belief system. Many Christian groups have used ideas of this movement to hold back these bad forces. These ideas mainly come from Christian demonology. A way to fight these forces is by using prayer. Exorcisms (removing demons), laying-on of hands, fasting, or anointing with oil are also used.

Famous believers in spiritual warfare

• Billy Graham
• Pope John Paul II
• Gabriele Amorth
• D. L. Moody
• Billy Sunday
• John Livingstone Nevius
• Don Basham
• Derek Prince
• C. Peter Wagner
• Merrill Unger

Criticism

Some well known people, such as Bill Ellis, Elliot Miller (Christian Research Institute), and Gretchen Passantino have claimed that ideas in spiritual warfare are based on Christian stories that are not from the Bible. These stories are not considered true by Christians who believe that only the Bible is fact.

More reading

• James K. Beilby and Paul Rhodes Eddy, eds., Understanding Spiritual Warfare: Four Views (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012).