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We are in a spiritual war. The war has technically already been won; but as with any war, we still need to battle insurgents who refuse to bow to the victorious King. Two of these insurgents have gained significant influence; and we, the Church, are being called to rise up in response. These two spirits have capitalized on two favorite vices of the world-culture. Specifically: abortion and gluttony. I believe the Lord has revealed how we are to respond, but first we need to be clear about the enemy we’re facing.

The Apostle Paul wrote that the enemies we struggle against are purely spiritual. He also specified that the spiritual beings within the opposing army have varying levels of influence and authority.

Ephesians 6:12—For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (NIV)

Since the war was already won by Christ, these demons have no real authority—only what we grant them. For example, I could be the chief of police in a city; but if I’m buying from the local drug-lords to feed my own addictions, then I’m not able to effectively exercise my authority over them. Instead, I have given them free-reign in my city regardless of the actual legality. In the same way, evil spirits do not have legal authority in this world. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Nevertheless, we can easily grant false authority to evil spirits by willfully bowing to their schemes. The more people who bow to the influence of a particular spirit, the more apparent authority it has. When a large population knowingly or unknowingly bows to such a demon, we have what many Christian teachers have called a “territorial spirit.”

The Lord revealed to me two significant territorial spirits who have gained influence over a huge portion of the World population—especially where I live, in the United States. Second Corinthians 2:11 says that we are not ignorant of the devil’s schemes, but I have noticed that this often requires that someone sound the alarm. In an effort to call the Church to action, I want to expose these two spirits for what they truly are and suggest some practical steps toward victory.

THE SPIRIT OF ABORTION

First is the Spirit of Abortion. When the Lord showed me this demon, He said, “My children have rightly taken notice of this spirit’s assault on the unborn; but the enemy has used the gross evil of infant-abortion to blind the Church’s eyes to the more subtle ways this demon works. Tell My people what you see.”

He then went on to show me the strongholds of abortion that fill our nation. All kinds of Americans—regardless of demographic—are aborting their dreams; aborting their commitments; aborting their marriages; aborting their jobs. Even many Christians are affected: aborting accountability; aborting churches; aborting ministry; aborting visions the Lord has given them; and worst of all, aborting faith. We see this spirit’s influence even in many of our young people: aborting their families; aborting morals; aborting society; and aborting their schools. And people of all ages are aborting their own lives through suicide, euthanasia, drug abuse, and reckless living.

We justify all this by pointing out how the “abortion” makes us happy and comfortable. We’re faced with a difficult situation, and instead of dealing with it, we just abort. This same principle is seen in a woman’s so-called “right to choose” whether or not her baby is an inconvenience who should be murdered. The spirit of abortion has infested the United States and many other nations, prompting people to abort good, God-given things for the sake of our perceived convenience and false comfort.

The spirit of abortion is attacking more than just the unborn. I believe this spirit is ultimately behind the culture and mindset of denominationalism (not denominations themselves, but rather the underlying principle), which states that you and I cannot have unity unless we agree about everything. As soon as a disagreement makes us uncomfortable, we abort fellowship and go start a new church.

This same mindset causes us to shop for churches with a consumer mindset—settling in an organization where we find ourselves most comfortable—rather than going where the Holy Spirit leads us. It works great—that is, until a disagreement at the new church makes us uncomfortable. Thus we bounce from one feeble “commitment” to the next, starting over in every place and never really settling into a family where spiritual momentum can be built.

The influence of this spirit is ultimately behind the divorce rate and broken families, high unemployment levels, a faltering stock market, and more. We, the Church, rightly desire to bring an end to these things in the name of Jesus, but I sense the Lord saying that too many of us have bowed to this spirit in other ways: aborting all manner of “difficult” responsibilities and blessings. In a dark twist of irony, our lack of overall success has even prompted many of us to abort the battle itself—allowing the Spirit of Abortion to carry on unchecked.

This mindset in our world-culture has granted authority to the Spirit of Abortion to spread its evil seed throughout the land. As the church rightly focuses on the tragedy of abortion (regarding the unborn), we have largely missed the greater influence of this spirit. Like the police chief who bows to the drug-lords, we cannot take authority over a spirit while simultaneously bowing to it. Christians will never succeed in changing national laws regarding the unborn until we can start living in victory over other forms of abortion in our own personal lives. We must stop aborting dreams, aborting churches, aborting fellowship, aborting persistent prayer, aborting evangelism, and so forth. We must instead press in for breakthrough in our own lives and refuse to bow to the Spirit of Abortion.

Personal transformation precedes regional transformation. We must seek the Lord in repentance and allow Him to root out every stronghold.

THE SPIRIT OF GLUTTONY

The Spirit of Abortion is only one part of the equation. This spirit works in conjunction with another that the Lord has revealed: the Spirit of Gluttony. This second spirit doesn’t have as much to do with food as you might think. Rather, the Spirit of Gluttony has more to do with the indulgence of self.

This spirit has germinated a culture of self-centeredness in our nation and throughout many parts of the world. We see it in our pursuit of wealth and prosperity at the expense of other nations who are struggling to make ends meet. While much of the world lives on less than two dollars a day, we go about our lives paying more than that for our morning coffee—thinking nothing of the hungry family on the other side of the world who could live for a week on the money we just spent on luxury. Never mind our thirty-dollar trips to the movies and forty-dollar cable TV bills.

These things aren’t wrong in themselves—for one thing, we have a higher cost of living in the westernized world. The evil is found in the mindset behind why we do the things we do. Rather than loving others, we often love ourselves. Rather than seeking the betterment of others, we tend to do what we can to make ourselves comfortable.

This relates to the Spirit of Abortion in a huge way. When we’re uncomfortable in a situation—be it a job, a marriage, a church, or anything else—we do one of two things: Either we strive to perform in such a way as to fix it ourselves, or we run away from it. Either way, we’re not living according to the relational principles of faith, hope, and love.

This culture of “self”—fueled by the spirits of Abortion and Gluttony—has infiltrated many of our churches with ill-focused prosperity teaching and what I would call ungodly magic: “If you do this, God will do that.” All the while our focus is on “what we do” and “what we get” rather than on knowing God and participating with Him in loving and transforming the world. Any teaching that focuses on “do this and receive that” is focused on law rather than grace—unless the “do this” statement is simply to “have a relationship with the Lord.” Grace allows us to be blessed as sons regardless of our obedience, whereas law makes us slaves to performance. Gluttony loves to receive but hates to sacrifice for others; in this way, it is utterly divorced from faith, hope, love, and ultimately grace.

Thus many of us go about our lives living in slavery to an inner drive to perform. We focus on the principle of law, which states that “everything that happens and everything God does is somehow connected to my own actions.” We rob Him of His joyful sovereignty and loving nature. We reduce everything to a spiritual law of cause and effect: we’re sick because we disobeyed; we’re healed because we did the right thing; we’re in poverty because we didn’t tithe; we’re wealthy because we did. Before we know it, everything becomes a matter of “sowing and reaping” until all we have is faith in karma rather than in Jesus Christ. Jesus died so that we would no longer reap what we have sown. Instead, we reap from what He has sown. We must learn to truly know Him. The law is a cheap imitation. We serve a loving God who transcends what we deserve—whether good or bad. He doesn’t bless us because we deserve it; He blesses us because He simply wants to.