What Spiritual Warfare Has in Common with New Ageism

What Spiritual Warfare Has in Common with New Ageism January 17, 2017

An evangelical group has plans to carry out a prayer walk in D.C. this week:

Teams of intercessors will be prayer walking (marching) around the U.S. Capitol and the White House complex, declaring the coming presence of our Lord and destruction of the walls of protection around those [who] oppose Him. … As President Trump finishes his oath of office, at the moment of the power transition, all intercessors are instructed to shout to the Lord with faith and expectation that the spiritual walls will be destroyed at that moment.

I grew up in an evangelical household. I have been on prayer walks. Growing up, I was taught that the world around us is full of angels and demons locked in conflict, a conflict we (usually) cannot see. The prayers of believers have the power to banish demons. When we would go on a prayer walk around a neighborhood, that is what we would do—pray away the evil forces and pray down God’s protection. Similarly, you might pray a “hedge of protection” around your own house.

I am suddenly struck by how much spiritual warfare has in common with “New Age” ideas about energy flows or feng shui. I mean, check out this from an article titled Eight Steps to Bring Positive Energy into Your Home:

Step One:  Become aware of the words you speak in your home. Your home is your temple and should be treated with love and respect. The temple of your home protects your family from the elements, provides comfort and shelter and brings the family together to share in many activities.  Consciously cleansing the home will clear the air and using your words with conscious thought will have a positive impact on the entire family.

Step Two:  Speak loving words of encouragement, love, kindness and compassion. When engaged in an argument, catch yourself. Count to ten and ask, what are you about to release energetically into your home and towards the people you love?  Remain aware that what is created daily in the sacred temple of your home, nurtures you and your family day and night.

Look at this image, from an article on “energy healing”:

As someone raised in an evangelical community that believed in spiritual warfare and the healing power of intercessory prayer, this concept feels very familiar. There is a similar focus on a battle between bad forces and good forces—a battle you can participate in with your words. Some evangelicals also use objects, such as holy water or healing oils (though this is typically a more Catholic practice).

Part of me wonders whether the evangelicals I grew up amongst were so quick to say negative things about “New Age” teachings in part because they came so close, while still missing the underlying point (from the evangelical perspective). For evangelicals, talk about bad energy and good energy obfuscates the very real and pressing battle between very real angels and very real demons, spiritual forces at war with each other in the physical space around us.

Here’s an excerpt from an article on the Campus Crusade for Christ website:

Another doctrinal tool that has proved of great benefit to me and to many others is the “Warfare Prayer” composed by Dr. Matthews. … I would urge anyone facing obvious spiritual warfare to use this prayer daily. It is good to read it aloud as a prayer unto the Lord. Eventually one will be able to incorporate the doctrinal truths expressed into his own prayer life without reading it.

The devil hates this prayer. Usually before working with anyone who has deep demonic affliction, I will request that we read this prayer in unison. Many times the oppressed one can read only with great difficulty. Sometimes sight problems, voice problems, or mind confusion become so intense that the afflicted person can continue only with great effort.

It is the truth of God that Satan cannot resist, and he vigorously fights it being applied against him. Those serious about warfare should daily use a prayer of this type along with other prayer examples shared in this book.

The similarity to the New Age use of things like crystals or positive words is striking. There is a similar belief in invisible forces (whether angels and demons or energy flows) and a similar belief that we can affect this nonphysical realm with our words and actions. And that, at core, is what this group intends to do in D.C. this week—to influence the nonphysical realm with their words (prayer) and their actions (walking in circles). They hope, with words and actions, to influence and participate in a cosmic battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil.

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