Three Fallacies Of Third Wave Spiritual Warfare Teachings
by Sandy Simpson, 10/19/05


A recent Third Wave newsletter illustrates the ridiculous and erroneous nature of New Apostolic "spiritual warfare" teachings.  The October 17, 2005 issue of The Elijah List had the headline:

"HOW to CLEANSE YOUR HOUSE and the LAND IT SITS ON"
(October 17, 2005 issue of The Elijah List)

The newsletter was basically an ad for a book called Portals To Cleansing - Taking Back Your Land From The Hands Of The Enemy by Dr. Henry Malone.  Along with the book a Portals to Cleansing - Property Dedication Kit was also being sold.  Here are the pictures included.

A unique kit with instructions, scriptures, oil and stakes to dedicate your property to the Lord.
(October 17, 2005 issue of The Elijah List)

This kit makes an EXCELLENT companion resource to the Awesome Book "Portals To Cleansing"
by Dr. Henry Malone.  Book and Property Dedication Kit are sold separately.
(October 17, 2005 issue of The Elijah List)

The pictures are apparently meant to demonstrate the use of the cleansing "kit" by driving stakes with Bible inscriptions around your property and then anointing your property line and/or stakes with some kind of holy anointing "oil".  We have heard of this being done in many places.  Ted Haggard, an "apostolic pastor" of the New Apostolic Reformation, and his church members apparently did something quite similar with oil in Colorado Springs, CO.

Renee Rodriguez spent a number of years in Haggard's New Life church and describes one of the ways the New Lifers have implemented the Apostolic vision.  She describes how they filled 5-gallon spray cans with anointing oil and attempted to spray the whole city. (Speaking of Transformation "Apostle" Ted Haggard elected new NAE President by Orrel Steincamp, http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/haggardelected.html)
They then claimed that they had made it "hard for people to go to hell" in Colorado Springs.
In Ted Haggard’s book, "Primary Purpose", published in 1995, it is said that the spiritual climate in your city can be changed to such an extent that it will be "hard for people to go to hell from your city ... It happened in Colorado Springs, and it can happen in your city too. (Ted Haggard, Primary Purpose, Charisma Book Warehouse, http://cbw.strang.com/c.cgi?ProdID=3810&Source=INTNET)
There are a number of problems anyone with a clear, non-Third Wave, unbrainwashed brain will quickly ascertain from the above.

(1) The only way to rid any area of demons is for people in that area to be saved and therefore have a relationship to Jesus.  There are no methods or devices that can substitute for that relationship, nor are any required by biblical definition.

(2) What are these "portals" they are talking about?  Where can they be found in the Bible?  The answer is nowhere.  But the idea of portals to heaven is very much a New Age concept.  The concepts of "portals" is to be found in the heretical Pseudopygrapha book called the Book of Enoch, which is obviously not the original writings of Enoch.  The Catholics believe that Mary, whom they call the "Immaculate Virgin Mary", "Queen Of Heaven" and "Mother Of God", is endowed with the keys to "open to us the portals of heaven" (http://santuariodivinoamore.it/g/prayers/o_bella.htm). On a New Age site a deluded New Ager claims that "I have ascended through the Portals of Heaven where I established my rebirth in the earth itself, and now have taken my rightful place in the Kingdom of Heaven." (http://www.meta-religion.com/Psychiatry/Religious_problems/mystical_experience.htm)  Even John Paul Jackson, a false prophet from the Kansas City Prophets who we will mention later, has admitted that the New Age teaches about "portals".

Sadly, while many in the New Age movement recognize the existence of portals, the portals they recognize are those of the second Heaven. Many erroneously think they are hearing from God when actually they are being deceived by the counterfeit. (Heavenly Portals by John Paul Jackson, http://www.streamsministries.com/PI-HeavenlyPortals.html)
Read the above article to see that it is John Paul Jackson who is more deceived than New Agers!  The Bible says nothing about portals to heaven.  The only portal to heaven for human beings is through the blood of Jesus Christ, not some New Age technique like driving stakes in the ground that have had oil spilled on them.

(3) Driving stakes in the ground is also a New Age/Occult practice.  Witchcraft adherents claim to be able to kill "vampires" by driving stakes, not only through their hearts, but driving stakes into the graves of suspects. Driving stakes was also an Indian practice in worship of demons.

Cabrillo relates that while on his voyage in 1542 he saw the Indians of the Pacific coast come in their bands around a small enclosure. The enclosure was made by driving stakes in the ground, a partition was made in the center, and on this partition was a sort of shelf where feathers of sacred birds were deposited. The Indians came leaping around this enclosure in a sort of ceremonial order. Finally, one of them, the priest or medicine man, left their ranks and went within the enclosure and adjusted the sacred feathers and placed more there, at the same time going through certain ceremonial acts. This represented the primitive meeting place of the spirits that the Indians came to worship. The ceremony over, they all went away to other pursuits. (Development Of Religion, http://www.oldandsold.com/articles33n/sociology-16.shtml)
It is noteworthy to note that neither the prophets, apostles nor Jesus Christ taught or demonstrated this "driving stakes" methodology, yet it is very evident in the occult.

Steve Shultz, the editor of The Elijah List, gives a glowing endorsement of this "kit".  He states:

"On at least 3 or four occasions, I've had my house and the land it sits on cleansed in the last six years." (Steve Shultz, October 17, 2005 issue of The Elijah List)
Now, one has to wonder why Steve had to "cleanse" his property three to four times.  Does this kit actually work, or are they implying you will have to buy it more than once?  If it doesn't work the first time, why would it work on a second, third or fourth application?  Could it be that it DOESN'T WORK AT ALL?  In my estimation, this money making scheme is just as bad as the holy anointing oil to anoint your wallet for more cash from W.V. Grant, holy handkerchiefs from Marilyn Hickey, or any other ridiculous gimmick the Third Wave has produced to fleece people of their dough.  Check out this article for more background on this stuff.  Schulz goes on to say:
If you don't believe those curses have power, you'd be hard pressed to explain certain sicknesses and disease and even death that comes upon very anointed and pure-hearted people you know ... (Steve Shultz, October 17, 2005 issue of The Elijah List)
This is the old "either blame the devil or blame God" for every sickness routine.  Why do we have to "explain certain sicknesses and disease" anyway?  Why not just trust God while going through it?  How many "pure-hearted" people do you know?  The Bible is clear that no man's heart is pure, only by the substitutional sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for our justification does God see us through Christ.  But we are still here dealing with the old man, and that old man is still sinful.  Do we now also have a class structure in Christianity where some are simply "anointed" and others are "very anointed"?  I don't see this in the Bible.  The problem is not with God, it is with the false Word-Faith theology of these heretics.  They continue to come up with methodologies to try to gain what is a free gift from God, which is protection from the evil one and salvation, when one believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.  They want to do a work, when simple trust in God is all that is needed.  That is why this stuff is rank heresy.

John Paul Jackson also gives his endorsement to the book:

These biblical insights could save your health, family, marriage and finances as well as many other things too numerous to mention. My suggestion? Digest it and read it again and again!"  (John Paul Jackson, October 17, 2005 issue of The Elijah List)
So this book is now going to save your family?  I thought salvation was the province of God alone through Jesus Christ?  How can driving oily stakes in the ground around your property "save your health, family, marriage and finances"?  If this kind of methodology is what the book teaches, which it obviously does, what do we need the Bible or the Holy Spirit for?  Why not just do some mumbo-jumbo over some salad oil, paint it on some sticks, and drive those into the ground every time we have a problem in life?  What good is driving stakes in the ground with Bible verses if the Bible verses are not hidden in your heart (Ps. 119:11)?  Demons already know the Scriptures (James 2:19).  What they tremble at is not stakes in the ground but at the application of the Word through the Holy Spirit in a person's life (James 2:18-20).

John Loren Sanford adds his endorsement:

Our homes, churches and other buildings are meant to be places of rest and security for us. 'Portals to Cleansing' makes us aware when they are not, and how to cleanse and redeem them. (John Loren Sanford, October 17, 2005 issue of The Elijah List)
Is God in the business of redeeming church buildings or individuals?  There is no mention of God redeeming church buildings in the Bible, but there is plenty about how He is willing to redeem people.

An outline of the book proclaims:

Taking Back Your Land from the Hands of the Enemy ... Are specific geographical areas portals of spiritual power? ... What can be done to cleanse land, possessions and animals of spiritual darkness? (October 17, 2005 issue of The Elijah List)
Where is this in the Bible?  Are there then portals to heaven but also portals of demonic power?  How would anyone know where these are?  Did anyone in the Bible refer to portals of demonic or heavenly power, and if so did they tell us how to access them or close them off?  Does the Bible teach us to cleanse land, possessions and animals of spiritual darkness?  Do we have any examples in the Bible of demons being cast out of these things (with the exception of demons being cast into a herd of pigs by Jesus Christ as a judgment on those who were raising them)? The answer to all of these questions is that the Bible is silent on these issues for a reason.  We are not to be doing these things.  The ad continues:
You'll experience the peace that comes from the cleansing of all you possess. And you'll walk into a portal of God's presence that will take you deeper into the realm of the Spirit and change your life forever. (October 17, 2005 issue of The Elijah List)
I thought we gained the "peace that passes understanding" when we were not anxious about anything but trust in the Lord, bringing him our thanksgiving and requests (Phil. 4:6-7)?  But these people are claiming we need to do these spiritual warfare techniques to get peace.  Who do you believe?  The Bible or Malone?  How can a person go deeper into "the realm of the Spirit" unless they become mature in Christ?  That would mean they would be gaining discernment, which would mean that they would never buy a book or kit like Malone is selling!  Reading a book (other than the Bible) will not make you "walk into a portal", bring you closer to "God's presence" or "deeper into the realm of the Spirit" and it certainly will not "change your life forever."  I have been blessed by many books, but there is only one Book that can change lives forever, and that is the Book with the message of the Gospel and the Words of the Word, Jesus Christ.

Three Fallacies Of These Teachings

I want to quickly point out the deadly error that these kinds of spiritual warfare techniques have introduced into "Christendom".

(1)  The methodologies taught have no Biblical support.

The current false spiritual warfare movement's promoters and leadership includes people like John Dawson, C. Peter Wagner, Cindy Jacobs, Ed Silvoso, Dutch Sheets and organizations like YWAM, IHOP, the International Coalition of Apostles and thousands of other Third Wave adherents and organizations.  For a list of those who teach this stuff, get our DVD series on the New Apostolic Reformation here.  Prayerwalking, spiritual mapping, binding territorial demons, using methods like driving stakes, spraying oil, drawing crosses, going up on mountains and blowing shofars and hundreds of other methods are not to be found in Scripture.  But they are found liberally in the New Age, occult and shamanism from which they were culled.  If there were a pragmatic solution to demonic problems, other than casting demons out of individuals in the name of Jesus Christ based on a Sonship relationship to Him, then Christ and the Apostles would have taught it and done it.  But they did not.  Can you imagine Paul asking pagan priest the names of local demons then doing a prayerwalk around the temple of Diana?  Why do that when you can actually witness to people, telling them they are sinners in need of a Savior?  What protects people against demons?  Is it stakes with Bible verses or a personal relationship to Jesus Christ?

Acts 19:13-16  Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
Driving stake and spreading oil around your property does not scare demons away.  There is only one thing in this universe more powerful than demons and the devil.  It is God, and anyone who has a true relationship with Him "in" Christ.  There is no other protection, and no shamanistic method can take the place of a true relationship with Christ.  The fact that these people apparently have to repeat the procedure ought to tell you that they do not have a true relationship to the only One who can protect them.  And if you want your family to be protected, then make sure they are saved.  Lot did not witness to his family and lost his wife and sons-in-law.  Only those who are in Christ are protected from demonism.  Those who employ these methods are actually allowing the enemy a foothold.

(2)  The methodologies used are not only ineffective, but dangerous.

When so-called Christians employ unbiblical pagan methods to rid themselves of demons, they end up giving the enemy an opportunity to deceive them and a foothold in their lives.  When Israel disobeyed the Lord's command to come down to Jerusalem and worship Him in the temple under the Law, and instead chose to set up altars in the high places, the result was that they ended up worshipping demons.  They thought they were worshipping God, but ended up worshipping Baal and Ashtoreth.  You cannot live a life glorifying to the Lord unless you obey Him.

John 14:15  "If you love me, you will obey what I command.
John 14:23  Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
All these unbiblical occultic methods are simply making the problem of demonism worse.  In Honolulu the Transformations people walked through the streets of Chinatown with a black cross and black casket, declaring the demons begone into the air.  This was not only a bad witness for the Christian community, I believe it is giving the demons a foothold to further deceive.  Did they think they were burying the demons in the casket?  The enemy was laughing at them that day, and true believers need to stay far away from this kind of "transformation".  They rant and rave against principalities when the Bible clearly states:
Jude 8-10  In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals— these are the very things that destroy them.
Those who follow the false teachings of Third Wave heretics and false prophets are fooling around with the "very things that destroy them."

(3)  The results expected reveal a Pelegian heretical worldview.

The expected result of all this "Transformation" and spiritual warfare is that people will then be free of demonic influence and will find themselves free to come to the Lord.  This is a Pelegian fallacy.  This is at the heart of the spiritual warfare heresy.  It is an assumption that some kind of latent "good" in man will cause Him to seek the Lord if he is free from demonic oppression.  But the Bible teaches no man seeks the Lord:

Romans 3:11  there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
Jeremiah 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Even if men are freed from all demonic influence, which is impossible in this world, they will still be driven by their sin nature.
James 1:13-16  When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.
Romans 7:11  For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
The Bible is clear that we deceive ourselves.  That is because, though the devil can tempt, we are the ones who have free will and can choose to accept or reject temptations.  If people could be freed from demonic influence by these methods, which they cannot, they would still have the problem of their sin nature.

This is why the MOST important thing is to preach the true Gospel to people.  This includes the facts that they are born into sin and have chosen sin, that they are judged and on their way to hell, and that the only solution to that problem is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, accept His free gift of forgiveness and salvation, and then live in Him by taking up our cross daily and following Him.  That means we continue to understand we have an old man living inside us that we need to put off and put on the new man each day (Eph. 4:22-24).  None of the pragmatic solutions these false teachers offer afford any release from demons or sin.  Yet it is typical that, after these people and organizations "rid" their areas of demons, the Gospel is never really preached.  Why?  Because there is a Pelegian belief system behind all this.  There is this mistaken belief that man has enough good in him to chose God without understanding the problem of sin and the need for a Savior.  False teachers like Francis Frangipane and Rick Joyner have talked and wrwitten about man eating from the tree of good and evil, therefore man has the knowledge of both (There were two trees in the garden, Rick Joyner).  The thing they do not realize is that man had the knowledge of good already when he willfully and sinfully chose to gain the knowledge of evil.  From that point on it is the knowledge of evil that drives us, not the knowledge of good.

Genesis 2:17  but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
Man did die that day ... he died to his relationship with God and his knowledge of only good when he accepted the evil.  There is only one way, therefore, for a man to be saved.  It is for him to hear the Gospel of salvation, be convicted of his sins by the Holy Spirit, and repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:13  And you also were included in Christwhen you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
John 16:8  When he (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
Acts 3:19  Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
Acts 16:31  They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved— you and your household."
Want your household to be protected?  They must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved!