How to Wage Spiritual Warfare

Book excerpt: HOW TO WAGE SPIRITUAL WARFARE by J.M. Longstaff What part should we, as Christians, play in the constant Conflict, which is raging between the angels of God and the demons, or fallen angels, directed by Satan? What are the symptoms of demonic oppression? What are the symptoms of demon-possession? How can a man or a woman render himself, or herself, vulnerable to demonic invasion? How can we distinguish between demon-possession and mental illness? The author answers these questions in this book. He examines the occult, the cost of occult involvement, and the dangers of spiritism and mediumship. He emphasizes the victory which the Lord Jesus Christ, our Head, has won, by His blood, over the powers of darkness, and he explains how we, the members of His body on earth, should appropriate the victory in the ministry of deliverance. He concludes by citing examples from his own experience. After a distinguished military career on three continents, including six years of war, the author heeded the Lord's clear call to the ministry. He transferred to the Reserve and entered Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, to study theology. He passed the General Ordination Examination and obtained a diploma in Counselling. He was ordained as an Anglican Minister in 1958, but later transferred to the Baptist Ministry. He soon found that the main talents, which the Lord had given him, were for counselling and the ministry to the sick. He gained the knowledge, which he imparts in this book. through careful observation, the counselling of the nervously ill, the mentally ill, the demonically oppressed and the demon-possessed, and by diligent study and research.