An Apologia on Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare

By Dale M. Sides

Philippians 1:17 records that the Apostle Paul was set for a defense, or an apologia, of the gospel, and I am too—specifically concerning the subject of spiritual warfare. My desire was already aflame, but a recent discovery from an apocryphal source has motivated me into action. It seems that the ink is not yet dry on articles concerning this rediscovered truth from the Word of God, and already critics, working as unsuspecting agents of the enemy, are lambasting it. Of course, we should not be surprised, since this is nothing more than a counterattack and a predictable ploy of the enemy, wanting to take away our newly recovered weapons.

In all warfare, opposing factions try to control the opponent's weaponry; a disarmed country is a weak (and usually defeated) nation. This is true in spiritual warfare and in the spiritual kingdom of God too. In this sense, Satan is the initiator and prime mover behind this objective of "gun control." He wants to disarm the Church because the Church is finally attacking him and assaulting the gates of hell. We should believe in gun control too, but our definition should be to control the direction of the muzzle and hit what we are aiming at, instead of turning our munitions over to our enemy.

The reason Satan is attacking the subject of spiritual warfare is because Christians are hitting him and hurting him. We need to stay on the offense concerning our assault on principalities and powers and not be swayed by lies that are coming forth, even if they are coming from within our own troops. We hear such preposterous statements as, "No geographic place has been changed by doing warfare prayers," or "Dealing with principalities and powers is not the Church's responsibility," or "The Church does not have authority in the heavenlies." We must at least give the devil credit for one thing—he is the consummate liar.

This counterattack has infuriated me—obviously at the devil, but also at the Church for being so wimpy and allowing herself to be tossed to and fro by the deception. As great as my zeal has been and my desire to write an apologia for strategic level spiritual warfare, this new discovery has added fuel to my fire. While reading ancient records recovered out of the Vatican Library at Rome, I found a reference documenting spiritual warfare like nothing I had ever seen or heard. It is recorded in a book entitled The Acts of Pilate¹ in a chapter reporting Herod Antipater's (the governor that condemned Jesus to death) defense to the Roman authorities for his actions against John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. This reference is an amazingly clear documentation of strategic level spiritual warfare in the early Church, and what makes it even more damning to the devil is that it was made by one of his own children and henchmen of the "faith." God preserved it and has revealed it now to equip His end-time army and shut the mouths of the critics.  Hallelujah!

Disclosing the statement made by Herod Antipater in The Acts of Pilate is a major emphasis of this article, and I will do so in a more detailed degree; but I would never dare declare a secular source before laying a Biblical foundation. So, first let's revisit biblical documentation of the operation of spiritual warfare.

Basic Tenets of Spiritual Warfare

The militaristic terms "spiritual warfare" and "strategic level spiritual warfare" relate to the Church waging warfare to gain a tactical advantage in the heavenly conflict, either by proactive measures or reconnaissance, over principalities and powers. Opposition to this concept is comparable to those who discounted the advantage that airplanes would be to foot soldiers before ever seeing one fly. Strategic level spiritual warfare does not negate the necessity of, or reduce the importance of, ground forces in the army of the Lord. The Church has always needed, and still needs, the faithful, advancing, foot soldiers in the army. There could never be a replacement for the courageous missionaries and evangelists that venture into the spiritual arena to witness to those who have never heard the gospel. Strategic level spiritual warfare is the operation that prepares for their successful deployment by weakening the strongholds of the enemy.

Spiritual warfare represents to the Church what the air force does to the military preparedness of any nation. This is "Basic Weaponry 101." Before launching a ground assault, archers of old would shoot their flaming arrows, or catapults would unleash boiling pitch or oil, upon enemy emplacements. King David, as the little ruddy youth, taught Goliath this lesson with a flying rock between the eyes before he faced him hand-to-hand and chopped off his ugly head. Presently, the same strategy is used in physical warfare with aerial ordinance deployed before the release of ground forces.

I think about the Desert Storm campaign when the Allied Forces attacked Iraq because they had invaded Kuwait. The campaign was, at best, marginally successful by driving back the invaders with the use of bombs and aerial assaults, but because no foot soldiers ventured into "harm's way," the regime remained intact. Aerial assaults only weaken defenses so ground forces can enter and occupy a region. In short, air force and ground forces hold the same relationship as strategic level spiritual warfare does to missionaries and evangelists. It is not a matter of either/or; it is both/and.

So, when accusations are made against strategic level spiritual warfare, we can use the same logic. The problem is that the critics of our spiritual air force are shooting "friendly fire" at our own forces with anti-aircraft weapons from the enemy's arsenal. Even if they do not make direct hits on our intercessors and "prayer force," they still demoralize the cause by spreading dissension and confusion. Regardless, the battle continues, and we must still fly our missions whether we are recognized or accepted or appreciated.

The Keys of the Kingdom

Strategic level spiritual warfare is basically the Church directing angels into battle against principalities and powers. Jesus gave this power, authority, commission and command to the Church when He gave us the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:19). Once a basic understanding of this warfare is gained, we will begin to see many Scriptures that document the authenticity of this practice. Anytime the Church is seen in conflict with principalities and powers, this practice is inferred and/or implied. A prime example of this scriptural documentation is Ephesians 3:10.

To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. Ephesians 3:10 NKJ

Notice that "by the Church" is how principalities and powers learn of God's manifold wisdom. The Church is commissioned by Almighty God to teach the disobedient fallen angels their lessons. Also notice that verse 11 states that this is the eternal purpose of Christ Jesus. God wants them taught a lesson!

According to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 3:11 NKJ

This warfare is waged utilizing legitimate keys of the kingdom; the Church on earth releases, or looses, the might of God's army (the angels) into the heavenly battlefield. We see an amazing truth about the keys of the kingdom when we look at Matthew 16:18 and 19 together. These keys either lock or unlock the gates of hell.

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:18–19

The battle on the earth is determined by whoever dominates on earth—heaven or hell. And who determines that? It is mankind that has the keys of the kingdom. If the gates of hell are prevailing, it is because the Church has not used the keys to loose angels into battle and, therefore, has not bound the powers of hell. We see evidence of this strategy when Jesus, immediately upon His return to earth, looses an angel to bind Satan for a thousand years (Revelation 20:1–3).

Matthew 16:17 gives more detail on how strategic level spiritual warfare should be waged. It tells us that the keys of the kingdom are revelation decrees—truths revealed not by flesh and blood, but by the Holy Spirit. Accordingly, missionaries and evangelists should be making their moves by revelation as well. Do critics rebuke them for charging headlong into a death-dealing situation without the cover of the air (prayer) force? No. They are counted as brave, fearless warriors—but so was Custer! The salient point is not just possessing the courage for battle, but the accompanying wisdom as well.

As the Church, we must learn to direct spiritual warfare by revelation. Coordination between the air force and foot soldiers is an absolute must to minimize casualties and maximize results. When fleshly prayers are offered in the name of spiritual warfare, it induces judgment from the critics. Let's stop the criticism and start the coordination.

Angels move when sons and daughters of God issue revelation decrees given by the Holy Spirit. Angels do not move against the Satanic kingdom just because someone shakes his fist at the devil and yells from the top of a building or a mountain. The standard of spiritual warfare is revelation from the Holy Spirit, not anger or fleshly desire for retribution.

Battling Principalities and Powers

Principalities and powers are the fallen angels cast out of heaven when Lucifer deceived them into following him (Revelation 12:3,4,7). War is still going on between them and the true angels of the Lord. The Church's place in this battle is to steward the keys of the kingdom. We bind principalities and powers by loosing angels into battle against them.

Jesus called principalities and powers serpents and scorpions.²

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Luke 10:19

Notice that Jesus did not say to be afraid of them, but that "nothing shall by any means hurt you." As I have traveled across the United States and overseas, I continually have people, who were once engaged in the battle against the unseen hosts of Satan, come to me with a long face and a defeated look saying, "I heard that I do not have authority against principalities and powers, and I read in a book that if I get involved in this then I will get hurt." My response to them is this, "The person who wrote that in a book will have to give an account to God for it. It sounds very, very spiritual, but unfortunately, it is not scriptural."

Jesus said, "They shall take up serpents . . ." (Mark 16:18a). This is not talking about handling snakes. It is a reference to the celestial representation of Ophiuchus.3 He is the celestial king that is wrestling a serpent and stomping a (the) scorpion. Taking up serpents is the command of Jesus to battle principalities. Unfortunately, the writer of propaganda saying not to get involved in strategic level spiritual warfare (causing fear to spread through the army of the Lord) heard a couple of horror stories. He is doing the same damage to the Church as the ten spies did in Joshua's time, when they caused the children of Israel to be afraid.

And they [the ten spies] gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. Numbers 13:32–14:1 NKJ

However, we are not only told to battle against the spiritual forces of darkness, but also that they were already defeated at Calvary.

And having spoiled [disarmed] principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it [the cross]. Colossians 2:15

Calvary paid the price for the defeat of the fallen angels. We overcome Satan and his kingdom by the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and by not loving our lives unto the death (Revelation 12:11)—not by hiding under a rock and being afraid. We are in a battle that absolutely shall be won. As the old saying goes, "Yes, we are in a fight, but the fight is fixed." It was fixed at Calvary.

Other references about principalities and powers clearly show that this is war between angels and fallen angels. The following one in Psalms shows our responsibility in this battle.

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings [principalities] with chains, and their nobles [powers] with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD. Psalm 149:6–9

The two-edged sword has a blessing edge and a cursing edge. We praise God and call angels with one edge; with the other one, we curse the devil and execute judgment on principalities and powers. Notice that we are supposed to bind kings (principalities) and nobles (powers) with our words. This honor have all his saints.

Documentation from The Acts of Pilate

With the many books that have been written on the subject of spiritual warfare and this short synopsis, let's move on to the newly found documentation of this practice from The Acts of Pilate. Yet, before covering this, I must add a few points of explanation.

From time to time, I have been criticized for reading and teaching from apocryphal books. If you would bear with me in my folly, I would like to briefly mention my position on this. In no way, do I equate apocryphal books with the Bible. My beliefs are unquestionably based upon the accepted canon of the Scriptures. However, there is a solid knowledge pool from which we can draw if we can discover the beliefs of individuals that lived in antiquity. This is especially true of the Jews who lived at the time of Christ and the Christians who lived in the first century.

When the Roman Legion under the direction of General Titus burned Jerusalem in 70 A.D., much of the related literature of the people of that era was lost too. Perhaps the richest literary find since the recovery of the lost Temple scrolls by Ezra was the exhuming of the Dead Sea Scrolls from the caves in Qumran. Detailed knowledge of Jewish and early Christian society was basically nonexistent until their discovery. From these scrolls, we can reconstruct their practices and even their beliefs.

One of the main aspects of their society that I have been able to derive from the Dead Sea Scrolls was the practice of strategic level spiritual warfare. I have thoroughly documented this in my book Angels in the Army (the promised sequel to God Damn Satan),⁴ which gives a detailed report of the War Rules (the nineteen rules of engaging the enemy that were employed by Israel dating back to the time of Moses). These nineteen rules are loaded with insight into strategic level spiritual warfare. They were not Coptic or Gnostic practices, but fundamentally Jewish and early Christian.

In The Acts of Pilate, we find another gold mine of historical background. These works, however, do not come out of the Dead Sea Scrolls or from a Jewish source, but out of the Roman archives. The background of these documents, and how they were found, is quite interesting. Although it does not directly relate to spiritual warfare, this explanation will add to the credibility of the source that I am about to quote.

In 1856, a German researcher named H.C. Whydaman reported to Reverend W.D. Mahan of De Witt, Missouri, that he had spent over five years in studies at the library of the Vatican. There he had found over 560,000 volumes of writings, many of which were the history of the Christian Church. Rev. Mahan was so impressed with the report and the existence of actual testimonies of people who had witnessed the life and ministry of Jesus that he began a quest to diligently study these and find the records himself.

Twenty-seven years later, in 1883 (after the Civil War in America), Rev. Mahan embarked on a journey to discover the manuscripts. With the assistance of two men, Drs. McIntosh and Twyman, who were learned in the necessary languages, they visited and conducted extensive research at the Vatican Library in Rome and in the Jewish Talmud in Constantinople. The Acts of Pilate is a compilation of the records they found. They had been archived and stored for almost 2,000 years! The records are absolutely fascinating. They even contain reports of the shepherds who saw Jesus' birth, an interview with Mary and Joseph when Jesus was twenty-seven years old, and, of course, the report of Pilate as he gave testimony of his dealings with Jesus of Nazareth.

(Incidentally, I have read from other sources that Jesus appeared to Pilate after the crucifixion and resurrection, witnessed to him and forgave him. The records from this book also verify that Pilate and his wife became confirmed believers in Jesus, and were finally martyred in Rome for their beliefs.)⁵

Now, back to the issue of the documentation of strategic level spiritual warfare from The Acts of Pilate. Chapter IX, "Herod Antipater's Defence Before the Roman Senate in Regard to His Conduct in Bethlehem," contains a record of Herod trying to justify his persecution and slaying of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. He was obviously trying to expose certain beliefs of the Jews and rationalize his ill treatment of them. The following is a quote from Herod Antipater recorded on page 127 in The Acts of Pilate. In this quote, he gives a brief but vivid description of the Jewish Christians of his day:

Miracles are as common as poor physicians. The Essenes6 are noted for both. They prophesy, work miracles, see visions, and have dreams, and stand in poor reputation as quack doctors. They pretend to know all about angels, ghosts, and spirits; they profess the art of managing ethereal citizens in transatmospheric regions.

The ending portion of this quote is the most comprehensive statement about strategic level spiritual warfare that I have ever uncovered from ancient manuscripts. A closer look shows exactly what Herod Antipater said about the Jews and Christians who lived in this era. It indicates a clear belief in strategic level spiritual warfare.

The bracketed insertions are my additions according to word usage and context:

They [the Jews and Christians] profess [say this about themselves] the [practiced] art of managing [not just knowing or talking to, but marshalling them through direction and command] ethereal [celestial or heavenly] citizens [angels] in transatmospheric [across the atmospheric] regions [territories].

Even though a notorious unbeliever and persecutor of the Christian faith made this statement and it was intended as a criticism of their beliefs and practices, it still bears proof that this is what the Jews and Christians believed and practiced. What Herod said about the believers of his era is an exact description of believers who are operating in strategic level spiritual warfare even now.

In my own words, Herod said:

These people do miracles; they prophesy, they do works of power, they see visions and have dreams. They say that they know about angels, ghosts and spirits and even profess to command angels in territorial regions.

This sounds like people I teach and train in spiritual warfare. They are spirit-filled and do all sorts of miracles. They see into the spirit realm and discern angels and principalities and powers. They command the angels into battle using the keys of the kingdom, and therefore marshal the battle between territorial spirits. They bind and loose; they shut the gates of hell and help the Church to prevail.

The power and volume of Herod's testimony needs to be heralded from the rooftops. This is even better than any contemporary assessment, because it comes from a proverbial child of the devil who lived during the time of this practice. He was not lying about what he said. He was trying to belittle them for their beliefs. What a discovery! What a revelation! What a delicate, preserved gem of truth, protected by the hand of God.

Conclusion

The basis of An Apologia on Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare is the text of the Bible, not an apocryphal book. However, the testimonies of the practice of early Christians and Jews living during the time of Jesus and the early apostles verify the operation of strategic level spiritual warfare in the early Church.

Perhaps even this will not stop the mouths of the critics. The true intent of this article is not to stop the mouths of the critics, but to undergird the practice of the true heroes who venture into the spirit realm and engage the enemy. For those who will not be convinced, let the Word of God as quoted by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:38 be my closing statement to you, "If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant."

For those of you who would not be ignorant, give little regard to the critics. If critics had deterred Jesus, He would still be working in the carpenter's shop in Nazareth, and we would still be in our sins.

God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love as you command the warring angels into battle through revelation, thereby helping His saints and future believers. Take up serpents. Demonstrate the manifold wisdom of God to the principalities and powers. Overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb, the word of your testimony, and love not your lives to the death.

Be vocal in your operation of this God-given command. Be not ashamed of the testimony of His gospel. Prepare the way for the foot soldiers, and stay the course. Be not weary in well doing. In due season, you will reap if you faint not.

Notes

1. The Acts of Pilate, ed. Rev. W.D. Mahan, trans. Drs. McIntosh and Twyman. Kirkwood, MO: Impact Christian Books, 1997.

2. Dale M. Sides, "Principalities, Powers and Demons," Episkopos, (October 1999).

3. E.W. Bullinger, The Witness of the Stars, (1893; reprint Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publication, 1972), 56–58.

4. Dale M. Sides has authored two books on spiritual warfare, God Damn Satan—Subduing the Evil Kingdom Through the Power of Biblical Cursing (available through the LMCI website, www.LMCI.org.), and Angels in the Army—Commanding the Heavenly Host into Battle (forthcoming).

5. [Pilate?], "Letters of Herod and Pilate," in The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden (Iowa Falls, IA: World Publishing, 1974), 269–281.

6. The Essenes are the same group of individuals who are attributed with believing the prophecy of Jesus that the city of Jerusalem would be destroyed and therefore were the ones that preserved and hid the scrolls in the caves in Qumran—the Dead Sea Scrolls.

©2003 Liberating Ministries for Christ International, Inc.