Lately the news has mentioned a fringe Christian group that seems to have much more sway than ever. A group calling itself New Apostolic Reformation has the awful distinction of one of its members shooting and killing Minnesota Rep. Hortman, his wife and also wounding the Hoffmans. Although disinformation has claimed that shooter Vance Boelter was a leftist, his You Tube sermons and affiliations say he was a hard-right leaning nutjob.
He had steeped himself in spiritual warfare ideas.
You may not know this, but I once was active in some pretty fringy spiritual stuff too. OK, don’t judge but I met my dear Marine in a cult in San Diego. The group met in a Quonset hut. But those folks were tame compared to what I got tangled up with next.
In need of a job and not quite certified in California, I ended up getting saved (hallelujah) and then hired as a teacher in a Pentecostal private school. I started reading books with a certain spiritual theology. You guessed it—Spiritual Warfare.
Some old guy named Smith Wigglesworth was big on healing and that led me to Spurgeon and others who were sure that real-life demonic forces were trying to take over the world. It was my job to become a prayer warrior so that God could take a day off from fighting against evil.
Spiritual warfare can be a slippery slope to just plain warfare.
I certainly didn’t want demons to get a foothold in me or anyone I knew. But as I tried mightily to be a good prayer warrior, I kept arriving back at the same place: fear. When you’re sure that a monster is hiding under your bed, you don’t dare relax and go to sleep.
Or stop praying those demons into eternity.
The hard part of becoming a warrior for God is that pretty soon everybody you meet starts looking like a demon. Any person who isn’t like you is suspect. Those who have opposing views are guilty. Even those on the fence can be labeled backsliders or at least insufficiently on fire for God.
I don’t know exactly what motivated this guy to go through with killing these folks. I guess he had a longer list that he planned to execute. But I remember years ago sitting in a meeting of evangelicals, saying I was a Democrat. The woman behind me remarked that I couldn’t be a real Christian if I voted the wrong way.
That’s why fear is so great at dividing, creating suspicion and generating fear. Too many have bought into the lie that blue voters are “demoncrats.” I’m not making this up. When spiritual warfare becomes hate for anyone you deem unworthy, fear has done its job.
Yet “Fear not” appears in the Bible around eleventy-seven times. God seems to have a knack for drilling certain concepts into his followers. Fear not and love seem to be the main reasons God speaks to us at all.
When you subtract fear from your life, suddenly the demons look like Pinkie and the Brain cartoon figures. If you’re constantly growing your love for God and people that aren’t you, it’s harder to think everyone is out to get you. When you reach out a hand instead of a fist (or a gun), community and the feeling that we’re all in this together can blossom.
I’m sure there’s a place in faith for spiritual warfare—Amazon lists dozens of current books on the subject. I pray for peace, love and compassion to overcome whatever evil lurks out there in the ether. But taken to extremes, spiritual warfare simply pits us against them.
Because fear does that. Gets you looking over your shoulder, gets you wondering if God really does want you to go out there and slay some real-life demons. People who sincerely believe they’re fighting Satan ending up killing off love.
What should spiritual warfare look like? In my very little opinion, it should look like folks handing out necessities to undeserving least of these. Spiritual warfare needs to challenge injustice so that we all walk humbly with our God. Warfare that casts out fear always looks exactly like perfect love.
Jesus never minced words about how we are to live. He hammered home this love idea over and over, just like his dad. Sure, Jesus mentioned demons occasionally—but we don’t know whether they were literal or not. Besides, the demons Jesus cast out were tormenters, mean summabiches whose goal was to rile up fear. He never banished the good demons, if there are any. Nope. With the Son of God, it was love all the way.
I’m sad that those innocent Minnesotans were murdered and wounded by such an extremist. I pray for the ones who survived. Heck, I’m praying for the shooter, who could probably use a spiritual awakening.
But for those who see demonic forces everywhere they look, maybe it’s time to look for the helpers as Fred Rogers said. Concentrate on that Fear not and love stuff God must get tired of repeating. Dwell on and inwardly digest Jesus’ mandate to love God and neighbor, to serve the least of these. Spiritual warfare can be a slippery slope to just plain warfare.
At least that fringy San Diego cult’s motto was “Love is the only power.” And my love affair with the Marine I met there lasted nearly forty-seven years.
So glad you met that Marine Linda.
So glad you found your way out of the spiritual warrior way of life!!! Hannah