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April 01, 1986 by Ralph D. Winter
Spiritual Warfare
One of the men here at the Center recently told me he felt sorry
for me when it first came. "Youdidn't have any idea of the
significance of the spiritual warfare going on around here," he
said.He may have been right! My perspective on the world around me
has changed. I'm not quite so"scientific" anymore. I am more
willing to look at events in the physical realm as being the
resultof spiritual conflict in the heavenlies. Perhaps there is
something more than mere coincidence orsimple providence (with no
reference to Satanic influence) in the fact that in the last
threemonths here at the Center three babies have been lost due to
miscarriage; three babies were
born, all by C-section, all after exceptionally difficult
pregnancies and/or labors; two men whohave been banding cancer on
and off for five years or more have both entered ethical periods
inwhich doctors hold out little hope for long term survival; a boy
of 10 was killed when he fell fromthe rafters in our
auditorium.When Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the
Ammean army in 2 Kings 6. The servantsaid, "Oh, my lord, what shall
we do?" And Elisha said, "Don't be afraid. Those who are with usare
more than those who are with them," Elisha prayed to the Lord, and
God opened theservant's eyes so that he could see the hills "full
of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha"(2 Kg. 6:17).For
Westerners, the physical realm is far too often all we ever see.
More likely than not, if wehad been standing with Elisha and his
servant that day, we would have had a hard timebelieving the
servant's change of heart was due to anything more than some
hallucination. Wewould have looked for a physical, scientifically
verifiable explanation for what occurred.When we hear of tribal
peoples or others who are concerned with the spiritual realm, we
tend todiscount their interpretation of the facts. When they say a
man or woman has died because ofan attack by an evil spirit, we
think to ourselves, "What's the matter with these people? Can'tthey
see? He didn't die of some curse put upon him by a witch doctor! He
died of perfectlyunderstandable natural causes. He obviously had
parasites."To Satan, the father of lies, it is of li ttle
consequence whether he comes in the guise of humanterrorists,
microscopic parasites, hurricanes, mud slides, heart attacks, or
angelic beings, Hedoesn't care what he looks like as long as he can
accomplish his work of lying, killing anddestroying. Whatever toot
will work to his advantage, he's wilting to use it.When there is a
war on, we send soldiers out to the battlefields. Though we grieve
when theyare killed, we expect that some soldiers will die. Some
will never return.Yet when it comes to spir itual soldiers prayer
warriors, "senders," foot soldiers, spies,etc.many of us are
surprised when death comes or sickness strikes.Greg Livingstone,
director of Frontiers, a mission to Muslims, says, "I think it's
about time werecognized that missions is a dangerous business. It
has to be. We can't go only where wethink we will be safe. We have
to go where there is danger."In the March 12, 1986 issue of The
Alliance Witness, official magazine of the Christian andMissionary
Alliance Church, an article written by Alice Gibbons, C&MA
missionary to Irian Jayabegins, "Recent events indicate that Satan
is waging an alt out attack against the Church ofJesus Christ in
him Jaya.
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Our missionary force is being rapidly depleted by serious
illness and death."Among other events, the article describes the
death of one missionary wife"apparently from anembolism." Then the
author recounts a series of events one night that ended in the
death of awatchdog, a stab wound in the stomach of a watchman, stab
wounds in the arm and leg of amissionary, and the death of a thief
She describes a situation in which a missionary received agunshot
wound in the arm; and the necessity of corrective open heart
surgery for the 14 month
old daughter of a missionary couple. These events. she said,
have all occurred within the lastfew months.ln the last three and a
half years: a missionary suffered a stroke and heart attack and had
toreturn home; three missionaries were forted to take emergency
furloughs one will not be able toreturn; two families were on
furlough and planning to return when the husband in one
wasdiscovered to have a brain tumor, the wife in the other was
diagnosed as having Hodgkin'sdisease.Two women presently on the
field are weak but still carry on.' wrote Mm Gibbons."Mrs. Ardyce
WorsIey, with back injuries suffered in a plane crash and a
recurring parasiteinfection, and Mrs. Betty Wilson, recovering from
a bout of infectious hepatitis."Is Mrs. Gibbons's interpretation
correct? Is Satan "waging an all out attack on the Church ofJesus
Christ in Irian Jays"?Barbara Brown, an Africa Inland Mission (AIM)
missionary working with the Institute of Tribal
Studies at the U.S. Center for World Mission recently brought to
our attention what she alsotermed "attacks of Satan" upon those who
have pioneered work among tjnreached Peoples.She began her story
with a prayer sheet sent out by the U.S. Center for World Mission
back in1981.Prior to the advent of the Global Prayer Digest, the
Center sent out weekly "prayer for theHidden People" sheets. During
the week of October 410, 1981. prayer warriors wereencouraged to
pray for the Degodia Muslims living in Kenya, East Africa, At that
time it wasreported, "The nearest missionaries are hundreds of
miles away, and they are few in number.Tape recorded Christian
messages have won believers among the Degodia,(but) ,.,a missionary
reports, ,,There are no workers to work with those who have said
openly,"We wish to become Christians."' An even greater tragedy is
that this potential harvest hasbeen known to the Christian
community for at lug two years, and still no worker is
ministering
there."Things turned around. Earl and Esther Anderson. semi
retired AIM missionaries, opened workamong the Degodia and three
other Somali Muslim groups in Northern Kenya. They werebeginning to
see significant fruit from their labors, when, on September 30 last
year, their carwas hit by a truck Mrs. Anderson was killed
instantly. On October 27th, Mr. Anderson died fromcomplications
associated with his injuries.Mrs. Brown described the experiences
of Frank and Karen Low, New Tribes Mission O{TM)missionaries in
Papua New Guinea.NTM has been pursuing a "new" chronological
approach to the preaching of the Gospel.Instead of beginning with
the story of Christ, they begin at creation and work through the
OldTestament. By the time Jesus appears in the narrative, the
people are waiting with batedbreath; they can hardly wait for the
climax they bow is coming.
The Lows wrote in February that, despite the fact they are still
in the midst of the Old Testamentnarrative, "the old men have been
confessing their sins, and we're seeing a growing convictionin
many. Tultul (one of the older tribesmen) was yelling, 'What
happens if I die before we get tothe end of this teaching?"While
reporting this good news, the Lows pleaded for prayer support. "It
will probably be fourmonths before we are ready to present the
gospel in this chronological teaching program.Please uphold our
family for health and strength.
