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7 Basic Lessons on Spiritual Things

Because so many new people have begun reading these blogs in recent months, I think it would be helpful to give a few thoughts on spiritual warfare and spiritual things in general.

I was first thrust into spiritual warfare in late 1981. I had been raised in the Church, gone to Bible College, and had studied the Scriptures diligently for years, but no one had prepared me for spiritual warfare. I had seen demonic possession operating in individuals and had seen effective deliverance ministry, but I knew very little about spiritual warfare in the heavens.

Then in 1981, I found myself caught up in a spiritual battle without any consent on my part--at least not in my brain. Others had issued the "call to arms," but I had not heard of it. Nonetheless, my spirit was caught into warfare, and my life on earth changed dramatically as a result. A year later, I heard about the warfare and pieced the events together.

You have a physical brain, a natural (soulish) mind, and a spiritual mind. If the Holy Spirit indwells you, it is one with your (human) spirit. Your spiritual mind is plugged into all knowledge as needed, and therefore it knows all things, even though your natural mind is only aware of what you feed it through the learning process.

Lesson #1: You may be part of a prayer campaign without realizing it.
Lesson #2: Your spirit is involved in a war that started in the beginning.
Lesson #3: Your place and calling in that war will largely determine the type of life you live and your experiences here on earth.

That is why it is really helpful to understand the connection between the spiritual (heavenly) and the earthly. You have two minds, two seats of consciousness, each functioning in different worlds (dimensions). The more you see the relationship and interaction between the two, the better you will be able to function in your calling and understand what is happening to you here on earth.

This long-term warfare started with the introduction of sin into the universe. It is not often directly referenced in Scripture, but we do see a prime example of it in Daniel 10. The prophet fasted and prayed for 21 days before receiving an answer from an unnamed angel, who told him that he had been resisted for 21 days by "the prince of the kingdom of Persia."

How could a king of Persia resist an angel in bringing a word to Daniel? Here we see how angels function through men, because they are "ministering spirits sent forth to minister THROUGH [Greek:dia] them who shall be heirs of salvation" (Heb. 1:14). In other words, angels minister on earth THROUGH US. It works the same on the dark side, where evil spiritual "princes" (or principalities) minister through their earthly forces as well.

We have just come through a significant prayer campaign from July 15-22, where we fought against the Dalai Lama over America. Mr. Lama was directing the forces on one side, and the Holy Spirit was leading us to direct the opposing forces. Our angels fought their angels, almost like a proxy war in the heavens.

In Daniel's day, the unnamed angel received help from Michael, who was Daniel's "prince" (vs. 21). In other words, Michael was "ministering" through Daniel in this warfare. On the opposing side was the king of Persia, whose "prince" was "the prince of the kingdom of Persia." This took 21 days to overcome, allowing the angel to deliver the revelation to Daniel.

After the message was delivered, the angel told him in verse 20, "I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come."

This suggests that Daniel had already been part of a battle against the prince of Babylon, resulting in its fall. The current battle was against the prince of Persia, because this time of prayer and fasting took place in the third year of Cyrus, the Persian (vs. 1). Once the battle was won over Persia, then the next would be against Greece, because it was the Grecian empire that was to overthrow Persia two centuries later. This, in turn, implies a continuing war against Rome, Papal Rome (the "little horn" extension), followed by war against the two beasts of Revelation 13--one from the sea, and the other from the earth.

This brings us to our own time, for we are now nearing the end of the long battle against these two beasts--and in particular, the beast from the earth, which is the economic banking beast.

One must also understand that the heavens, where these battles take place, is not bound by either time or space (distance). That is why we can fight in the same battle that Daniel fought. Yet our assignment is primarily to overcome the enemy manifesting in our own time frame--namely, the beast from the earth, which has usurped authority over God's creation. God did indeed give this beast authority, even as He gave Babylon--and all of the beast nations--authority to rule the earth for a season. When their time is completed, God raises up spiritual warriors to overcome them in the heavens, which produces results in the earth.

Lesson #4: You have at least one angel assigned to minister to you, and he is directed by your spirit.
Lesson #5: All things happen in the heavens before they happen in the earth.
Lesson #6: The warfare and other events that take place in the second heaven change its spiritual landscape, and these conditions are then reflected in the conditions in the earth.

There are at least three heavens (2 Cor. 12:2). In my view, the first heaven is our three-dimensional universe, including the sky and stars in outer space. The third heaven is the throne of God. The second heaven is where spiritual warfare takes place.

Moses' tabernacle was a revelation of the state of God's Kingdom in the landscape of the second heaven. By the end of David's reign, this had progressed to the point where Solomon's Temple now was an accurate reflection of the spiritual Kingdom of God. Then, when corruption set in, God used Nebuchadnezzar to tear it down, because the temple no longer reflected the conditions of the second heaven accurately.

This temple is being rebuilt today under a New Covenant. Thus, with the first coming of Christ, the Tabernacle of David was restored (Acts 15:16), but He was also building a new Temple (Eph. 2:20-22). We are living in the time of the Temple, associated with the second work of Christ in our day.

To the extent that we understand spiritual things and the divine plan, that is the extent to which we can participate and interact with heavenly things on a conscious level. This is part of our spiritual training and spiritual growth. It is unfortunate that Christians are largely untrained in these things, because many other religions make such training a top priority.

When other religions train their priests and monks to engage in spiritual warfare, their purpose is to establish a kingdom that is different from the biblical Kingdom of God. Their head is not Jesus Christ, but a usurper, an anti-Christ, a false king-priest. Their adherents are willing to die for their leader, but our Leader was willing to die for us. This is the true love of God that gives Jesus the character needed to rule the earth (Rom. 5:8).

Lesson #7: When men use spiritual things to promote or establish carnal things, they are automatically on the wrong side of the spiritual warfare.

Most of time, these battles are fought against unbelievers, but unfortunately, we have found Christian ministers opposing us as well. Hence, it is not enough to pray. James 4:3 warns us against praying with wrong motives.