I Give You Authority is an
exposition of spiritual warfare seen in terms of authority.
According to Kraft's theology, Man was made second in command in
the universe, ahead of the angels (Ps 8:5). He speculates that
Satan rebelled against God because he was to be subject to this new
being, Man. Regardless, Adam submitted to Satan's authority after
the fall, resulting in Satan having authority over Man once again (Luke
4:6, Heb 2:7-9, 1 John 5:19). Jesus came with the authority of
God, although he did not use that authority except under God's
direction. He gave his authority to his followers while he was on
earth (Luke 9:1, John 14:12). The Great Commission, in fact, was
given through Jesus authority (Matt 28:18). It is through Jesus'
death that Man is restored as second under God (1 Cor 15:45-47).
The result of this is that Christians have authority over angels,
including demons, because Jesus gave us that authority. He
delegated his authority to us to use according to his will on earth.
We are, in fact, God's sons and daughters. So we exercise
spiritual authority in God's name, and demons must obey us, just as
they did Jesus. However, although the authority has been given to
us, the power comes from God. If we misuse our authority, God
will may not exercise his power. Thus it is important for us to
spend time to with God, just as Jesus did, in order to figure out what
His will is. It is only by knowing God's will that we can
confidently exercise our authority.
It is also important to recognize some limits to our authority.
We are to only use it in love, as a servant, to help others.
It is not to be used for building our power or reputation.
We need to be humble, because the Almighty God is trusting us
with His authority. We need to examine whether our exercise of
authority results in godly fruit. We must use our authority in
obedience--we cannot command God, just name-it-and-claim-it, or expect
God to bless the plans we made without asking Him. We should also
recognize that even though we have God's authority, and we may His
overall will, this particular time might not be when He wants to
accomplish His will. And we need to remember that it is not our
power that is doing this, nor are we indispensible to God.
Kraft contends that God has ordained an authority structure which the
spirit world must obey. One main rule appears to be that the
spirit world must obey the authority structure set in place in the
human world. Naturally, we have authority over ourselves.
So if we give ourselves to Satan, we have given him authority.
If we give ourselves to God, then He has authority to work.
In fact, since we are initially Satan's, God cannot work in us
until we give Him that authority. Another authority structure is
the husband-wife-children hierarchy that God instituted. Thus the
husband has spiritual authority over the family, and can command demons
residing in his wife or children. (Likewise, he could invite
demons if he is not a Christian.) This authority is tempered by 1
Cor 7:14, which gives the believing wife some authority of her own over
herself and her children. Finally, the structure of authority
that we have created for ourselves must be obeyed: leaders have
authority over their followers, whether that be the pastor of the
church or the ruler of a nation. Kraft quotes Peter Wagner
describing ministry to a tribal group spanning two countries. On
one side they were resistant to the Gospel, but on the other side
received it gratefully. In fact, the same person would have
differing reactions depending on the side of the border he was on.
The implication of this spiritual authority structure is that those
in spiritual authority should be diligent in exercising it. Kraft
suggests that husbands tell the spirit world that if they want to
attack his family, they must go through him first, and that, in Jesus', name
he forbids them to do that. He also suggests that pastors do something
similar through their authority over their churches.
Some things will give demons the authority to reside in people or
places. (Kraft does not suggest that this is "demon possession,"
meaning the person has no will, but "demonization," meaning that they
reside in the person and harass or tempt them more than they would be
able to do otherwise.) One of the main ones is sin. Sin in
our lives gives demons rights to attack us. Likewise, sin in a
location gives demons the authority to inhabit those locations.
He cites the example of a church where adultery had occurred
regularly in the church building (unknown to the pastor), or a church
built on or near an Indian burial ground (where people had been
dedicated to evil spirits). In both cases commanding the demons
to leave resulted in the strange and spiritually hindering things
ceasing. Likewise, Kraft suggests it is important to cleanse a
new house and grounds of demons, in case the previous owner had sinned
and allowed demons to inhabit the property. He also reports that
several teachers who regularly cleansed their classrooms found that
their students' formerly disruptive behavior noticeably changed.
Somewhat similar is the discussion of curses. We can curse
ourselves, sexual organs being a common target, which can even cause
disease in the cursed parts. Since we have authority over
ourselves, we can cancel these curses simply by stating so.
Similarly, vows that we have made ("I will not let myself be hurt
like that again", etc.) can allow demons to gain a foothold and should
be canceled. Curses can also be directed at someone else, but
there must be a place for the curse to land (Prov 26:2).
Particularly insidious is that curses may not say "I curse..."
but simply express dislike or disgust for someone. Likewise, we
can bless others in Jesus name. Blessings and curses are owned by
the blessor or cursor and can be retracted by them (Luke 9:4-5, 10:5-6).
Kraft also suggests that spiritual authority can be extended to
inanimate objects. Objects, land, and buildings can be dedicated to
either God or Satan's benefit. He suggests that objects dedicated to
demons allow demons to reside in those objects and harass the house in
which they are located. Likewise, objects (such as letters) that are
blessed carry God's power.
Authority for demonic activity remains until it is canceled. Thus
an ancestor who invited a demon into the family permits each successive
generation to be affected by the demon unless one of the descendants
specifically cancels it's authority. Kraft sees this as particularly
important for adopted children, as they may have been cursed by the
birth mother ("I wish I didn't have this child") or even dedicated to
Satan.
Once we discover a demon inhabiting a person or place the process for
casting them out is to first remove any right of authority. If it
is sin, that must be repented of, although for the case of sin by
previous generations and owners of buildings, Kraft seems to think that
the Christian's authority covers that and does not always recommend
repentance. Then it is wise to ask the demon if he recognizes
Jesus' authority (this is also helpful for the client), and finally
command him (and any demons under his authority) to leave. If the
demon refuses to leave, then there must be some authority remaining
that needs to be dealt with. If there are multiple issues, each
with their own demon, he suggests putting the demons in a spiritual box
as they are dealt with, and then casting them all out at once.
For long distance work he suggests commanding no communication
between the spirit world and the demons of that person.
I am at a bit of a loss at how to regard this book. Although
initially skeptical when my friend suggested it, the prominent
endorsement by J.I. Packer on the cover overruled my vague concerns.
The first three chapters of the book (our authority as
Christians) seem scripturally grounded, as Kraft presents many
supporting verses. After that the references become suddenly
spartan. Most of the book is spent describing the authority rules
the God allegedly set up in the spirit realm and the specific
authorities we have, and there is very little scripture mentioned here.
Instead, Kraft suggests that the Bible is like a rope that ties a
horse to stake in the grass. The horse may freely graze anywhere
within the circle, but the rope limits the horse to that circle.
Since the Bible does not state these rules, Kraft determines them
experimentally, trying them to see whether they work. He also has
discovered some by asking demons. He summarizes his view with "If
there is some regularity in the interactions between the spirit and
human worlds that there is in the physical world (and I believe there
is), we can speak of developing a science of the spirit realm by means
of the same process described above. (Kraft, 309)" My gut
reaction is that any thought of a "science of the spirit realm" is
being rather presumptuous.
Some of the ideas he presents seem to me to be closer to an Animistic
world view than a Biblical one. He states that "The power of
God through blessing apparently extends even to influencing people who
use objects that have been blessed. (Kraft, 60)" and also "The
dedication of objects to spirit beings enables spiritual power to flow
through those objects. (Kraft, 143)" He cites the use of
clothing touched by Paul to heal (Acts 19:12) as a scriptural example,
and says "People have told me things changed when they blessed letters
and sent them to people. (Kraft, 61)" I do not think this
is scriptural. Jesus almost always said "your faith has made you
well" when he healed people. In fact, he told the woman who was
cured of internal bleeding when she touched Jesus' clothes the same
thing (Luke 8:47-48). It seems more reasonable that people were
cured by objects Paul touched because they believed in the power of
the God that Paul served, rather than an inherent power in the things
themselves.
I should note that Kraft explicitly rejects an Animistic view: "Lest
we take a magical attitude toward such items, though, we must recognize
that the power is not contained in the object itself, as animism would contend. Rather the power comes from God and is merely conveyed
through the blessed item. (Kraft, 143)" However, he says a
little earlier "Substances like anointing oil, water, salt and food,
when dedicated to God, convey God's blessing to the user. (Kraft,
143)" I see little difference between the object magically
containing and it magically conveying blessing. My understanding is
that Animism says that the object itself has importance
in exerting the effect.
Blessing the oil in order to bless the person seems to me to be
Animistic. The Christian approach would be to bless the
person and use the anointing oil to remind the person of the blessing.
Some of Kraft's ideas seem to spiritualize causes that can be otherwise
explained. He seems to base his view of cursing oneself based on
the results that when people renounce those curses they are able to
make emotional progress in their lives: "I have seen dramatic
changes in people who have asserted their authority to renounce curses
they put on themselves or parts of themselves. (Kraft, 61)"
I suspect this is related to vows. If a sexually abused
person curses their ability to enjoy sex (or vows not to enjoy sex)
there is nothing spiritual about changes as a result of them renouncing
it. The curse/vow is the sign of a formation of a value system
("I won't get hurt again if I don't enjoy sex"); the renunciation
is the recognition that this value system is incorrect. The
change is not because of some curse that is lifted but from the fruits
of a healthy value system.
Kraft's view of authority seems to require continuous maintenance to
remain demon-free. A cleansed classroom will be re-infected by
the sin that the children bring in them. Churches will be
re-infected by the people that come in the doors every Sunday. I
see several problems with this. First, nowhere in the Bible does
it suggest that we need to be constantly casting out demons. When
Jesus and the apostles cast out demons, there is no suggestion that they
returned. Second, the effect of this view of authority is to
create a sense of fear (at least, that's the effect it had on me).
Am I being tempted because there are demons that have authority
because of sin? Does the pastor need to anoint every chair each
week before the service or risk crippling the church's effectiveness?
The Christian's life is consistently described with the word "freedom";
this view seems to tie a Christian's effectiveness to their diligence
in casting out demons.
The Bible does not seem to take this approach to demons at all.
Jesus did cast out a fair number of demons, but it was always in the
context of healing people. In fact, Matt 8:16 very strongly
associates the two. Jesus never talked about casting demons out of
places or inanimate objects. Paul also cast out several demons in
Acts, but none of his letters mention casting out demons, or even
commanding them in authority. He does, however, repeatedly exhort
the believers to have actions that are consistent with faith.
Likewise, Jesus stresses obedience in no uncertain terms.
Jesus' view seems to be that the problem is with our hearts.
If our hearts have God's character, we will produce fruits of
obedience. If not, we will produce fruit more like the Pharisees'.
Furthermore, the views that demons have authority to reside in
inanimate objects and places, or in people due to sin, seem to be
simply unbiblical. Regarding sin, the Bible clearly says that God
views us as sinless through Jesus' death (Rom 8:1-2, Heb 9:14, Heb
10:14-18). If God views us as sinless it does not seem reasonable
that our sin would give demons any authority. Paul does suggest
that unresolved anger gives the devil a foothold (Eph 4:27) but it
seems more likely that this refers to his ability to use our anger to
tempt us to more sin, rather than authority to reside in us.
Regarding inanimate objects, Paul explicitly says that it is
acceptable for Christians to eat meat sacrificed to idols (1 Cor
10:25). According to Kraft's world view, demons would have the
right to reside in the meat (and presumably in us once we ate it) since
it was dedicated to demons. Paul, in contrast, suggests that we
can eat any meat in thanks to God (1 Cor 10:26-30).
While J.I. Packer's endorsement is hopeful, Kraft's other associations
appear to point the other way. John Wimber also endorsed the book
(although it is rather less prominently placed). Wimber was the
founder of the Anaheim Vineyard, a charismatic church that initially
had rather questionable practices. Kraft also cites C. Peter
Wagner's books frequently. Wagner seems to have questionable
spiritual views (see http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/wagnerquotes.html and http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/vine/vineyard.htm).
He is also associated with "rhema" and a search for "peter wagner
rhema" reveals numerous accusations of misapplication of Scripture.
The fact that Kraft is a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary is disturbing, since the seminary disputes the inerrancy of the Bible.
There seems to be a collection of charismatic leaders that claim to
have prophetic words from the Lord. These appear to be the
leaders of a revival of the Latter Rain
movement, criticized as heretical by the Assemblies of God
churches in 1948. Some names in this circle are C. Peter Wagner,
Dutch Sheets, Rick Joyner, and Bob Jones (unrelated to the university
by the same name). Bob Jones, in particular seems to have some
rather questionable statements, including that prophets need not have
100% accuracy (see http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/kcp.html). However, a look at the prophecies of any of the men in the Latter Rain movement reveals questionable prophecies.
I strongly recommend avoiding this book. Kraft seems to be
endorsing Animism with his view of blessing and curses, as well as the
idea the demons can inhabit places and objects. He places an
emphasis on demons that is not found in Scripture--Jesus places the
emphasis on our heart and our obedience. His views on demons
having authority to reside in people, places, and things as a result of
sin or dedication to Satan are contradicted by Scripture.
Finally, the fact that Kraft is associated with men of the Latter
Rain movement who are roundly condemned as false prophets makes me even
more nervous. Your time is better spent reading books that adhere
to scripture and whose authors do not associate with questionable
prophets.
Review: 2
The book is fairly well written.
Although there is a bit of repetition, it is well organized,
readable, and well-argued, with lots of stories that pique the
interest. However, I write "well-argued" with regards to the
logical argument. Unfortunately, logical arguments that have no
Biblical basis, particularly if they are contradicted by the Bible, are
not helpful in the spiritual realm. Furthermore, the stories are
uniformly vague. They pique the interest, but offer no
substantiable details. The content is of such questionable
quality, yet masquerading as truth, that I feel that this book should
be avoided.
Copyright © 2007 by Geoffrey Prewett