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Spiritual Warfare and Animism

Spiritual Warfare and Animism. REAP Training Dr. David Sills dsills@sbts.edu www.davidsills.org. Do missionaries encounter more spiritual warfare?. Paul B. Long, The Man in the Leather Hat Hex death, Baltimore City Hospital. Animism. A belief system.

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Spiritual Warfare and Animism

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  1. Spiritual Warfare and Animism REAP Training Dr. David Sills dsills@sbts.edu www.davidsills.org

  2. Do missionaries encounter more spiritual warfare? • Paul B. Long, The Man in the Leather Hat • Hex death, Baltimore City Hospital

  3. Animism • A belief system. • A belief in beings and forces = anima. • Power to control human affairs. • Discovering what beings and forces are influencing life. • Determining future action and manipulating power.

  4. Understanding Animism • “Over 40% of world’s population is animistic.” Bishop Stephen Neill • Animism = the belief that personal spiritual beings and impersonal spiritual forces have power over human affairs and, consequently, that human beings must discover what beings and forces are influencing them in order to determine future action and, frequently, to manipulate their power. Gailyn Van Rheenen

  5. Animism • A belief that natural objects are animated by spirits.  This belief takes many forms.  Things in nature have within them different spirits--each rock, tree, and cloud may have its own spirit.  Spirits are thought of as having identifiable personalities and gender.  A belief in a powerful, protective "mother nature" for example.  The spirits may be benevolent, malevolent, or neutral. 

  6. “The Flaw of the Excluded Middle”Paul G. Hiebert • The Seen-Unseen Dimension • The Organic-Mechanical Continuum • Organic analogy-sees things as living beings in relationship to each other • Mechanical analogy-sees things as inanimate objects that act upon one another like a machine • The Excluded Middle • Western Two-Tiered View of Reality • Implications for Missions

  7. Paul G. Hiebert

  8. Western Two-Tiered Cosmology FaithMiraclesOther-Worldly ProblemsSacred Religion Excluded Middle Sight and ExperienceNatural OrderThis-Worldly ProblemsSecular Science

  9. General Animistic Cosmology Remote High God Living Dead Spirits (Personalized Dead) (Impersonalized Dead) Created Spirits The spirit world’s powers intervene in humanity’s normal experiences. People must appease these forces to sustain life. Intermediaries Realm of humanity and things Keith Eitel, Missiology

  10. Tonga World-View Exalted Living Dead: Famous, well-known leaders Forgotten Dead: No one remembers their names Illness or killing spirits Created Spirits Leza: God Possessing or medium spirits Living Dead: Existence after burial Living Living: Existence prior to burial Unborn Living: Existence prior to birth

  11. Impersonal Forces Used for Both Good and Evil • Mana – “a supernatural force which operates behind all human activity in the world.” Codrington • Witchcraft – internal, psychic act (conscious or not), malicious intent, inherited, superhuman. • Sorcery – external, conscious, malicious intent, learned, magical. • Magic – manipulative for power, specific goals of individuals, impersonal, for good and evil. • Religion – supplicative, personal relationships, worship of personal beings, benevolent • Popular Religiosity – Animism>RCC>Pentecostalism

  12. Magic • Imitative – the desired end is acted out. • Contagious – procedures imposed upon a part of a person to affect them. • How does this work? • Coincidence/chance • Psychological/self-fulfilling, a.k.a somatic compliance • Demonological • Sorcery – magic used for antisocial or aggressive purposes to harm another. • Curses, Oaths, Mantras • Amulets, Charms, Fetishes • Evil eye

  13. Biblical Perspectives on Spiritual Warfare Implications • There is a spiritual battle for the hearts and souls of humans • Satan has no power over God’s people other than what God permits him for the testing of their faith • Satan and his hosts can and do demonize people, but those with a demonic presence are to be pitied more than feared • Our focus as Christians should be on love, reconciliation, peace, and justice • The supreme event in spiritual warfare is the cross • We must avoid two extremes: a denial of the reality of Satan and the spiritual battle within and around us in which we are engaged and an undue fascination with, and fear of, Satan and his hosts Paul G. Hiebert

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