A QUICK REFERENCE "CRIB SHEET" FOR ANGELIC CONFLICT CRISES

Crib sheet with audio session 3

I. Introduction

A. Many Christians are unaware of the dynamics of the spiritual conflict they face, so they can suffer spiritual defeat, for the whole world system is under Satan's control, cf. 1 John 5:19b NIV.

B. Since angelic conflicts often arise rapidly and are designed of Satan to catch the believer off his guard, this study is designed to help believers as a QUICK Biblical "crib sheet" reference for discerning and responding to angelic conflict crises. We are indebted to Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost's book, Your Adversary The Devil for much of our content, although we have independently organized this material and added more of our own.

II. Understanding Our Adversary The Devil

A. God created Satan as the most gifted, powerful angel in existence, Ez. 28:12-15; Isaiah 14:12a.

B. However, sin was found in him (Ez. 28:15c), and Satan led a rebellion of one-third of heaven's angels only to be cast out of their authority positions in heaven, Rev. 12:4a. These fallen angels are demons, and they are organized under Satan to carry out his will, Eph. 6:10-12; 2 Cor. 4:3-4.

C. Satan's sin was a fivefold effort to usurp and replace God's role, Isa. 14:12-15:

1. Satan tried to usurp God's heavenly throne, Isa. 14:13a.

2. He tried to usurp God's rule over the other angels, the figurative "stars" of God, Isa. 14:13b.

3. He tried to administrate God's universe, Isa. 14:13c.

4. He tried to make God's glory his own glory, Isa. 14:14a.

5. He tried to imitate God in every way, Isa. 14:14b.

D. Satan's purpose for man is to oppose God's plan that man rule the earth as God's deputy, Gen. 1:28-30. Since man sinned, Satan has tried to block God's plan to work to save man from sin. Satan tries to destroy man physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, destroying even the institutions into which man is placed for his good (marriage, family, government, church, etc.). Satan tries to gain God's judgment on man by getting him to sin, John 8:44; Gen. 3:1-6; Isa. 14:12-15; Matt. 13:24-30, 37-43; Mk. 5:1-7; Job. 1:12-19; 1 Cor. 7:5.

III. God's Spiritual Positional Provision For Man's Victory Over Satan, Colossians 2:11-17

A. The believer's position in Christ gives him the basis for practical victory over Satan, Col. 2:9-10.

B. The believer's position in Christ applied to the angelic conflict is explained as follows:

1. Satan accuses fallen man of sin so that God must punish him, culminating in man's being destroyed by God's punishment. This effort counters God's plan to bless man, Gen. 1:27-30; Zech. 3:1-2; Rev. 12:10.

2. God nailed the list of accusations against man for his sins to the cross of Christ, Colossians 2:14.

3. When man receives Christ as personal Savior from sin by faith in Him, man is forgiven all sins and positionally installed with the glorified Christ because of the atonement of the cross, Col. 2:11-13.

4. Thus positionally glorified in Christ, the believer enjoys positional victory over Satan:

a. Christ positionally spoiled Satan's powers over man at the cross, Colossians 2:15.

b. In the process, these spoils were turned over to the Church in the form of spiritual gifts so the believer could have experiential spiritual victory in serving God, Eph. 4:8-11.

c. These spiritual gifts are closely associated with the indwelling Holy Spirit Who is greater than Satan and Who equips the believer for spiritual conflict victory in life and service for God, 1 John 4:4; Eph. 6:10.

C. Conclusion: When one believes in Christ as Savior from sin by faith in Him, based on Christ's atonement, he is spiritually positioned so he can enjoy experiential victory over Satan through faith, James 4:7b.

IV. The Believer's Experiential Victory Over Satan In The Angelic Conflict Detailed

A. Understanding Various Activities Of Satan And His Organization Of Demons

1. General Obvious Satanic Activity

a. Witch - one who foretells future events with a degree of but still imperfect accuracy, cf. Deut. 18:21-22.

b. Voo-doo worker - one who can deliver a damaging spell on another, Numbers 22:1-24:25.

c. Miracle worker - Exodus 8:6-7, 18.

d. Satanic Miraculous Signs - wonders, visions, lights, out-of-body/"life-after-life" experiences that present anti-Biblical ideas, 2 Cor. 11:14-15 with Rev. 1:18; Deut. 13:1-4; Acts 16:16 and 2 Thess. 2:9-10a.

e. Necromancy - dependency on demons who know deceased people in order to manipulate living associates of the dead to sin, 1 Sam. 28:8-11; Deut. 18:10-12; Lev. 20:6.

f. Open witchcraft - Satanist services, sacrifices using animal or human parties, despicable mutilation of cadavers, etc., Mk. 5:4c; Acts 19:13-16, 18-19.

g. Demon possession - (sometimes) schizophrenic (multiple personalities) behavior with excessive (2) coughing, vocal and personality changes, uncontrollable weeping, social alienation or miraculous signs and powers, Mark 5:1-7; Acts 16:16.

h. (sometimes) Physical illnesses or ailments, Matt. 9:32-33.

i. (sometimes) Psychotic mental disturbances, Matt. 17:15-18.

j. (sometimes) Emotional disturbances, Mark 9:17-18.

k. Political influences that harm, 1 Kings 22:20-23.

l. Religious influences that harm, Deut. 32:17; Lev. 17:7.

m. Negative pressures on believers like human emotional or physical weaknesses, insults, shortage hardships, persecutions and difficulties, 2 Cor. 12:7-10.

n. Forced delays in repeat efforts to minister for God, 1 Thess. 2:18.

2. General Secret Satanic Activity

a. False Prophets And False Teachers

i. They all fail to assert as their confession of faith the incarnation of Jesus Christ, 1 John 4:1-3.

ii. Some of them reject Christ's atonement for sin, 2 Peter 2:1.

iii. Some of them resist the Gospel of justification by faith alone in Christ alone, Eph. 2:8-10; Gal. 1:8-9 with John 8:44 (eternal murder).

iv. These may appear as angels of light and/or as righteous ministers, 2 Corinthians 11:14-15.

b. Carnal Believers Influenced By Satanic Pressure

i. NOTE: Believers cannot be indwelt by demons, 1 John 5:18c. However, they may be influenced by them when believers are tempted by lusts while they are controlled by their own sinful natures, Matt. 16:15-18 with 16:21-23.

ii. Descriptions Of Carnal Believers Influenced To Do Satan's Will:

1) Verbal defamation of others, James 3:9, 15c ESV.

2) Envy and selfish ambition that yield disorder and evils, James 3:14, 15 ESV.

3) Lying in reference to ministry motives, efforts, Acts 5:1-3.

4) The presence of sensuality in their value system, James 3:15b,c.

5) Ministry efforts produce sin and restlessness in others, James 3:15-16 ESV.

6) A delight in lusts and pride of man and not God's will, Mark 8:31-33.

7) Specifics of Behavior Patterns:

a) Carnal male behaviors of those influenced by Satan:

1. Dictatorial leadership, not by gentle example; the tendency to "fleece" the congregation versus working with a servant's heart; feeling forced to assume oversight versus willingly overseeing others; manipulating subordinates at their expense, 1 Pet. 5:1-4 with 1 Pet. 5:8; Rev. 3:14-22.

2. Opposition to godly church leaders, 2 Tim. 2:24-26.

3. Insubordination to church leaders, 1 Peter 5:5-8.

4. Showing pride upon getting into leadership, 1 Tim. 3:6.

5. Having a bad reputation destroy confidence in God's grace to help him currently in leadership, 1 Tim. 3:7.

6. Selfishness in marriage where the wife reacts by withholding nuptial intimacy, tempting a man into adultery, Eph. 5:22-23 with 6:12-13; 1 Cor. 7:5.

7. Inconsistency and insensitivity in dealing with one's children that tends to produce frustration in them followed by a rebellion to parental authority, Eph. 6:4 with 6:12-13.

8. Persistent sin and especially lovelessness toward other believers, 1 John 3:10.

b) Carnal female behaviors of those influenced by Satan:

1. Tendency to depart from homemaking as a priority to become preoccupied with house-to-house gossip and trouble-making, 1 Timothy 5:11-15 with Titus 2:3-5.

2. Insubordination to male church leadership either in an administrative or a teaching capacity, 1 Tim. 2:9-15 with Gen. 3:1-6.

3. Insubordination to husband and a lack of emotional responsiveness to him, Eph. 5:22-33 with 6:12-13. This can produce a withholding of nuptial intimacy with resulting temptations for adultery to meet one's sexual drive needs, 1 Cor. 7:5.

c. Removal of Scripture from the mind of those with hearts spiritually insensitive to Scripture, Mark 4:15.

3. Note: There can be a combination of overt and covert activities as well as either one type or another at (3) any given moment of time.

B. Specific Satanic Attacks

1. Areas of Satanic Attack, 1 John 2:16; Genesis 3:6.

a. The Lust of the Flesh (gratifying body drives in violation of God's will)

b. The Lust of the Eyes (gratifying aesthetic drives of the mind unbiblically)

c. The Pride of This Earthly (bios) Life (sinfully gratifying the ego)

2. Methods of Specific Satanic Attack

a. Use of an impressive messenger or vehicle of communication, Genesis 3:1, 6.

b. Removal of godly inhibitions against sinning by attacking God's character and/or His Word:

i. Misuse of Scripture's context, Matt. 4:5-7 as Satan's misquote of Psalm 91:11-12 where Satan omitted the words, "to keep thee in all they ways," the ways ordained by the Father for Messiah!

ii. Attack on one's trust of Scripture revelation or faith in the character of God:

1) Attack on one's faith in how Scripture is transmitted from others to him, Gen. 2:16-17 with 3:1.

2) Attack on one's faith that he himself can understand the Bible's right interpretation, Gen. 3:1b.

3) Attack on one's faith in God's credibility or the authority of His Scripture message, Gen. 3:2-4.

c. Luring the believer to rely on a false experience or even a lying miraculous sign or experience versus Scripture to define reality, Deut. 13:1-4; Isa. 8:19-20; 2 Thess. 2:9-10.

d. Use of worldly lusts to entice one to sin after a removal of godly inhibitions, Gen. 3:6; 1 John 2:15-16.

e. Use of another sinful believer to influence one to sin, Gen. 3:6d.

i. Worldly lust appeal by another, Gen. 3:6d; Gen. 25:29-34.

ii. Negative pressure by persecution to spur one to take revenge, 2 Tim. 2:24-26; James 4:14-15 ESV:

1) Slander from another to motivate one to take revenge, 2 Tim.2:24-26; James 3:14-15 ESV.

2) Competition by a carnal believer to influence another to compete in the flesh due to pride or "flee" God's assignment, 2 Tim. 1:7 with 2:24-26; 2 Cor. 10:1-14; James 3:14-15 ESV.

3) Criticism of the human frailty (incl. culture) of the godly to foster carnal defensiveness of that weakness and not trust God's spiritual gifting for service, 2 Cor. 10:1-14; James 3:14-15 ESV.

4) Acts so evil the godly are tempted toward hatred and sinful reactions to the evil, Eph. 4:25-27.

5) Constant accusations of sin against the believer before God's throne to gain divine judgment and withdrawal of blessing toward the believer, Zechariah 3:1; Rev. 12:10.

f. Hidden pressures on the emotions, mind and spirit to make a believer intimidated, withdrawn, etc. and have a nervous breakdown or commit suicide, etc., so that he abandons God's will, Mark 5:1-7. These can come in the form of unedifying recollections, doubts, etc.; Eph. 6:16b with Psa. 7:1-11 (Massoretic text)

3. The Prevalence of Satanic Attacks

a. Satan flees if the believer trusts God's Word re: his attacks, Jas. 4:7b with 1 Pet. 5:8-9; Eph. 6:12-13, 16.

b. Where a lack of faith in Scripture's truth exists, Satan has free reign to do his work and his efforts are more visible so that there exist areas in the world where Satanic activity is quite pronounced due to an inverse degree of people trusting Scripture or Scripture's God. One can expect there to exist varying degrees of the visibility of such Satanic activity in varying locations, Isaiah 8:19-9:2 with Mark 1:21-34.

C. Discerning and Overcoming Personal and/or Specific Satanic Attacks

1. Personal Adjustment to God

a. To overcome demonic possession, one must believe the Gospel of Christ, John 3:1-16; Eph. 2:1-9. Salvation leads to the sealing of the Holy Spirit that prohibits any future demon possession, 1 John 5:18.

b. Once saved, and one then sees that he has become carnal, he must confess this carnality as sin to be restored to experiential fellowship with God, 1 John 1:9; Galatians 5:16-23. Dependence on the Holy Spirit then keeps him in proper fellowship with God, Gal. 5:16. He is enabled to have continued victory by understanding and applying Scripture in his life, 1 John 2:14b.

2. Personal Adjustment to Others

a. Identify the Satanic pressure coming in as to source (whether the party is unsaved or saved) from the information provided so far in this lesson. Always check Scripture to make authoritative diagnoses.

b. Respond to Satanic attacks as follows:

i. Responding to demon possession as follows:

1) Warning: Do not use human methods or means to seek to control such parties as this can be lethal, cf. Jude 9; Acts 19:14-16. Rather, rely on God's spiritual resources in Christ alone.

2) However, if the demon-possessed party obstructs God's will for your life and/or service, you (4) have God's authority to practice exorcism, Acts 16:16-18 with 13:1-3.

3) Practice exorcism by commanding the demon(s) in Christ's name to come out of the afflicted party, and stay in an attitude of prayer as you do, Eph. 6:11-18; Acts 16:16-18.

4) Upon exorcising the demon, present the Gospel to the afflicted so he can be saved and escape future demonic possession, Matt. 12:43-45 versus 1 John 5:18b.

ii. Responding to carnal people (unsaved or saved as either can be) influenced by Satan to oppose us:

1) Do not argue if confronted or use human-power defenses, but give gentle, Bible instruction so that God can handle our opponent and Satan's schemes in using him, 2 Tim. 2:24-26; 3:16-17.

2) Do not defend or use your human abilities, powers or equipping (such as some cultural or ethnic background), especially if these entities are critiqued or make you feel inadequate in some way, but hide in the armor of God: this involves depending solely on Christ's atonement, cleansing and spiritual gifting for life and service, Eph. 6:11-18 in light of Isa. 59:16-21; 1 Tim. 4:12-16 with Eph. 4:7-13 on gifts of service; 1 Cor. 12:4-7, 11 for ministry appointments.

3) If your qualifications or efforts for Christian service are opposed, rest in God's appointment for your service by credible local church leaders, and rest in God's spiritual gifting on the direction, means and methods of your efforts and functions, 2 Tim. 1:6-7; Acts 13:1-3 with Acts 9:10-18 (leaders); Heb. 13:7, 17; 1 Peter 4:10-11. This way you resist either errantly defending yourself or fleeing in futile human power from your ministry assignment, Eph. 6:13; John 10:1-14.

4) If the attack is against your interpretation of Scripture, its use, etc., heed 2 Tim. 3:13-4:2:

a) Stay with the view you learned in God's permissive will before the attack, 2 Tim. 3:14a.

b) Stay with the view God let you become convinced was true before the attack, 2 Tim. 3:14b.

c) Stay with the view you heard from credible teachers before the attack, 2 Tim. 3:14c, 10-12.

d) Stay with your view that harmonizes with these guidelines (namely, that you learned and were convinced was true prior to the attack), 2 Tim. 3:15-17.

5) If you trust God and do not defensively react to the critic in human effort or flee, the critic's evil in time will manifest itself to others, 1 Tim. 2:24-3:9. So, do not flee or attack, Ephesians 6:13.

6) Avoid carnal people who always exhibit the behavior described in 2 Tim. 3:1-8 who are influenced by Satan according to 2 Tim. 2:24-26. These behaviors include: love of self, love of money, arrogance, pride, injurious speech, disobedience to parents, unthankfulness, being profane, lacking love for relatives, irreconcilability, blasphemy, lack of self-control, untamedness, despising good people, being a traitor, recklessness, conceit, loving pleasure above loving God and having a hypocritical form of spirituality but denying its spiritual power.

7) However, if the carnal one repents, quickly encourage him in God's forgiveness as Satan can tempt him to suicidal tendencies with extreme guilt, 2 Cor. 2:6-11; Mark 5:1-4, 5.

iii. Responding to covert, unedifying thought under Satan's pressure, apply the information given above as listed under "Responding to carnal people influenced by Satan to oppose us."

iv. Responding to overt pressures, oppositions, rely on Christ's power for victory, 2 Cor. 12:7-10.

c. View all attacks from carnal people or via unedifying thoughts under Satanic pressure as being under God's permissive plan to use them to mature us, Rom. 8:28-30; Phil. 1:27-30; Matt. 5:10-12 and 2 Cor. 12:7-10. Even facing martyrdom should evoke joy in the Lord, Acts 5:40-42; Heb. 12:2-4.

D. Preventative Measures to Prepare for Satanic Attacks

1. Remind yourself to depend on God's power and your position in Christ, and to depend upon the authority of God's written Word, Eph. 6:11-12, 17.

2. Pray for sustenance as a way of life, Eph. 6:18-20.

a. Pray for all believers, Eph. 6:18d.

b. Pray for leaders of God's people who are bright targets for Satanic attack, Eph. 6:19a.

c. Pray for protection in the discipling process, Eph. 6:10-12 with 6:19b-20.

3. Watch for Satanic moves to anticipate trouble before the trouble fully erupts, Eph. 6:18b,c:

a. Watch with perseverance, not with complacency, Eph. 6:18b.

b. Watch prayerfully, not with complacency, Eph. 6:18c.

4. Remain joyfully confident that God will not let any future satanic attack occur that you cannot handle, but with it supply a path of escape that you might be able to bear it without sinning, 1 Corinthians 10:13.