SW Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare (SLSW)

If you accept that there are spiritual forces that can oppose God, and are thwarting your ability to promote God's purposes, it is natural to want to be able to defeat them. Rebecca Greenwood presents a view titled "Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare" in which Christians are able to triumph over opposing spiritual forces. Defining spiritual warfare as "an invisible battle in the spiritual realm involving a power confrontation between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness" (p. 178), she believes that Christians can be equipped to directly engage the kingdom of darkness and prevail. She rejects the view that the invisible battle of Ephesians 6 is beyond our ability to perceive or understand, and therefore not our direct fight. She quotes Gary Kinnaman, “Orthodoxy is necessary, but it is not enough. If it is true that our battle is not against flesh and blood, then we need spiritual insight and power of our own to make a fight of it” (p. 182). And for Greenwood, making a fight of it is not about persevering efforts when it feels like we are losing. It is about operating with spiritual insight and power to decisively defeat the enemy.

Greewood introduces herself as a "prophetic warfare intercessor" who has been learning about weapons of spiritual warfare that enable her and others to over power opposing spiritual forces for more effective ministry. She elaborates on various weapons which mainly consist of being given insight into important supernatural dynamics to be prayed through. Correctly addressing the key supernatural dynamics, mainly through prayer and prophecy, is the key to effectiveness.

The major appeal of this view is the idea that we can overcome the opposing powers that prevent us from being more effective in all aspects of ministry. Wink's view emphasizes that ineffectiveness in prayer to God, or work for God, is due to the opposition of evil powers. Greenwood believes that we can be given the power to defeat those evil powers. It is the promise of effectiveness that drives interest in this perspective. She explains that it is "having the necessary facts and revelations as the groundwork of our prayers—that seems to empower us for the most effective regional and societal transformations" (p. 182).

Greenwood concludes her chapter with, "Strategic-level spiritual warfare holds great potential for defeating the powers of darkness and seeing people freed and society transformed toward the model of God’s Kingdom" (p. 198). That is certainly a goal that anyone who is pursuing faith and work integration would applaud and embrace. Earlier she writes, "power encounters with territorial spirits can often result in awesome, supernatural, radical breakthroughs" (p. 190). So, should we be learning about these weapons of warfare and becoming more proficient in practicing them? After all, don't we all want awesome, supernatural, radical breakthroughs? Is this the answer to frustrating outcomes when we try to seek the Kingdom of God in our work? Is orthodoxy missing these key weapons that would enable us to achieve more consistent outcomes that reflect the Kingdom of God?

It may or may not surprise you that the other authors in the book were mostly critical in their response to Greenwood. Why have they rejected, rather than embraced, something which "holds great potential for defeating the powers of darkness and seeing people freed and society transformed toward the model of God's Kingdom"? I will look at some of their criticisms in the next post.