Satan
Love Conquers All
Category: General
Tags: Conflict, Judgment, Kingdom Living, Love, Satan
Paul prayed in this way for the church at Ephesus: I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, [God] may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through…
Put on the Armor of God
Category: General
Tags: Faith, Kingdom Living, Prayer, Satan, Warfare Worldview
The whole of the Christian life is an act of war against the enemy as we follow Jesus in storming the gates of hell (See post.) No passage better illustrates this than Paul’s metaphor of…
Storming the Gates of Hell
Category: General
Tags: Christian Living, Church, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, Warfare Worldview
Jesus said: “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” (Mt 16:18) To understand Jesus’ teaching here, there are a few things you should know. First, “Hades” was…
Podcast: Defending the Manifesto (7 of 10)
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Atonement, Christus Victor, Crucifixion, Penal Substitution View of Atonement, Satan
Greg responds to challenges by William Lane Craig from Craig’s podcast “Reasonable Faith.“ Greg discusses atonement and the shortcomings of penal substitution theology. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0062.mp3
The Cosmic Scope of Spiritual Warfare
Category: General
Tags: Angels, Demons, Evil, Kingdom Living, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
Yesterday’s post briefly introduced the reality that we live in the midst of spiritual warfare. This is the reality of being a part of creation where Satan prowls like a roaring lion (1 Pet 5:8-9)….
Vacationing in a War Zone
Category: General
Tags: Kingdom Living, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
Suppose a family decided to go on vacation to a nice cabin on a beautiful shore in a distant country. This vacationing family naturally wanted to tune out the problems of the world, indulge themselves,…
How the Cross Erases Your Sin
Category: General
Tags: Jesus, Redemption, Satan, Sin
In Colossians 2:14, we read how God canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness which stood against us and condemned us. That word “canceled,” means to wipe out, to erase, or to abolish. By means…
Resisting Evil
Category: General
Tags: God's Character, God's Will, Open Theism, Satan, Warfare Worldview
The New Testament refers to Satan as the “god of this age” and the “ruler of the power of the air” (2 Cor 4:4; Eph.2:2). In the first century Jewish worldview, “air” referred to the…
Jesus and the Reality of Spiritual Warfare
Category: General
Tags: Demons, Jesus, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
In yesterday’s post, we discussed how challenging it can be to believe in the reality of a spiritual realm in the modern world. Today, let’s look at how Jesus’ ministry relates to this spiritual reality….
Warfare Worldview: A Basic Definition
Category: General
Tags: Blueprint Worldview, Evil, Open Theism, Satan, Theodicy, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
The warfare worldview is based on the conviction that our world is engaged in a cosmic war between a myriad of agents, both human and angelic, that have aligned themselves with either God or Satan….
Thankful that God Outsmarted Satan
Category: General
Tags: Salvation, Satan, Thanksgiving, Warfare Worldview
Concerning the cross, Paul wrote that God’s intent was “that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places…
Theology That Accounts for Terrorism
Category: General
Tags: Augustine, Evil, Satan, War, Warfare Worldview
The general assumption of both the Old and the New Testaments is that the earth is virtually engulfed by cosmic forces of destruction, and that evil and suffering are ultimately due to this diabolical siege….
The Earth is a Spiritual Battlefield
Category: General
Tags: Church Fathers, Evil, Free Will, Satan, Spiritual Warfare
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
The early Church Fathers uniformly believed that angels, like humans, were created free and given a sphere of influence and responsibility over creation. As with humans, angels could use this influence for good, as God…
The Politics of Demonization
Category: General
Tags: Hatred, Jonathan Martin, Politics, Satan
Jonathan Martin posted a blog this week that we wanted to share called the politics of demonization (demonic talk on immigration, & other things). Have you noticed the hateful ways that we characterize the “other” in public discourse? Jonathan…
What Are the “Keys to the Kingdom”?
Category: General
Tags: Church, Jesus, Satan, Spiritual Warfare
Verse: Matthew 16
And I tell you that you are Peter [petros = rock], and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys…
Why Did Jesus Curse the Fig Tree?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Gospels, Jesus, Miracles, Satan
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
One of the strangest episodes recorded in the Gospels is Jesus cursing a fig tree because he was hungry and it didn’t have any figs (Mk 11:12-14; Mt 21:18-19). It’s the only destructive miracle found…
What Does it Mean to be “Saved”?
Category: General
Tags: Forgiveness, Salvation, Satan, Sin
Topics: Christus Victor view of Atonement
The common legal-framework view of salvation encourages people to understand it as mere acquittal, but there is much more to it than that. First let’s consider what God saved us FROM. It’s certainly true that…
God is Like a Trojan Horse
Category: General
Tags: Atonement, Christus Victor, Jesus, Satan
Topics: Christus Victor view of Atonement
Yesterday, I introduced a basic understanding of the Christus Victor view of Christ’s work on the cross. [Click here to read it.] Today, I want to expand on this briefly. Because God is a God…
The Demonic Affects Us All!
Category: General
Tags: Christian, Satan, Spiritual Warfare
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
Many contemporary Western Christians think we only engage in spiritual warfare when we encounter somebody who is exhibiting bizarre, demonically-inspired behavior, such as the demonized people Jesus confronted in the Gospels. Since most Western Christians…
4 Reasons to Wake Up to the Warfare Worldview
Category: General
Tags: Culture, Demons, Evil, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, Warfare Worldview, Western Assumptions
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
Image by postbear via Flickr A view of the world that grounds the problem of evil in spiritual warfare is not one that many modern people find easy to accept. To many contemporaries, the notion is…