Evangelism and Spiritual Warfare, Mentor's Guide, MG08

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E V A N G E L I S M A N D S P I R I T U A L W A R F A R E

Where’s the Beef?

After studying the entire biblical idea of salvation as deliverance, one of the students in class raises an important question. “What kind of victory can we promise to people who have been living their lives for decades doing all kinds of illegal and immoral things? I have worked for years in a substance abuse program where we have shared the Lord with the participants, and many people have indicated that they have believed in Christ. Still, even after they make the profession, they continue to shoot drugs, gamble, engage in all kinds of things that I know don’t please the Lord. How can we say that salvation is deliverance when so many people who claim to be saved aren’t living lives full of liberation and freedom?” How would you explain these facts? Although God created the universe good and free, it fell into darkness and chaos as a result of the disobedience of the devil and the first human pair, Adam and Eve. As a result of this Fall, demonic powers were unleashed into the universe, all of creation was placed under a Curse and made subject to bondage and corruption, and humankind was made subject to selfishness, suffering, and death. Now through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s deliverance has come to us over the devil and the effects of sin. In Jesus we have been delivered from the penalty of sin, are being delivered from the person (i.e., the devil) and the power of sin by the Holy Spirit, and soon will be delivered from the presence of sin at Jesus’ Second Coming. Evangelism is declaring this deliverance through the good news of the Gospel of Christ.

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Restatement of the Lesson’s Thesis

If you are interested in pursuing some of the ideas of Spiritual Warfare: Binding of the Strong Man , you might want to give these books a try:

Resources and Bibliographies

Billheimer, Paul. Destined for the Throne . Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1975.

Epp, Theodore H. The Believer’s Spiritual Warfare . Lincoln: Back to the Bible, 1973. Hayford, Jack W. (Executive Editor). Answering the Call to Evangelism ( Spirit Filled Life Kingdom Dynamics Study Guides ). Nashville: Thomson Nelson Publishers, 1995.