Charles Kraft has taught at Fuller Seminary and has served as a missionary in Nigeria. In addition to these ministries he has also written a number of books including: Christianity With Power: Your Worldview and Your Experience of the Supernatural, The Evangelical’s Guide To Spiritual Warfare: Scriptural Insights and Practical Instruction On Facing the Enemy, Defeating Dark Angels: Breaking Demonic Oppression in the Believer’s Life, and I Give You Authority: Practicing the Authority Jesus Gave Us. This brief sampling of titles indicates that the topics of spiritual power and spiritual conflict are subjects of great interest to him; he has written about them a number of times. This, his newest book, also deals with the subject of spiritual conflict or spiritual warfare, specifically the power encounter.

The author says that the term “Power Encounter” came from the late Alan Trippett who was a missiologist at Fuller Seminary (page 1). Kraft describes a power encounter as “an encounter or confrontation between false gods and the true God” (page 3). Trippett reported that this type of encounter brought large numbers of people to Christ in the South Pacific when they saw that the Christian God was superior to their ancestral gods (page 1). Conversions took place when a priest or chief challenged the ancestral gods and broke their allegiances to them and the ancestral gods could not respond (page 2). Kraft points out that power encounters are now widely accepted by missiologists as valuable in the work of evangelism (page 2). Also in chapter one, he draws from a couple of Trippett’s reports about power encounters in the South Pacific in order to illustrate what they are. Kraft says that some power encounters are unsought but others, such as those in the Bible between Moses and Pharaoh, and Elijah and the prophets of Baal and those in the South Pacific, were sought in that they were open challenges (page 10). The author does not point out the events from Scripture and the South Pacific for merely historical purposes. He believes that the church today, like Jesus and the early church, ought to exhibit spiritual power such as we see in the Bible which includes healings and deliverances (page 15).

Read articles by Charles Kraft at PneumaReview.com

In chapter 2, Kraft surveys a number of power encounters in Scripture, drawing examples from both the Old and New Testaments. These are clearly conflicts between good and evil, some of the ones he mentions include: Moses and Pharaoh, Elijah and the prophets of Baal, Jesus and Satan in the wilderness, and Paul and the demon-possessed girl in Acts 16. In chapters 3, 4, and 5, Kraft sets forth principles related to spiritual warfare. One very important point he makes in chapter 3 is that many in the West tend to view most spiritual beings and spiritual power as the things that fairy tales are made of (page 32). This can be true with reference to both the supernatural power of God and of the enemy (pages 32-33). This is what is sometimes called the anti-supernatural Western mindset. At least in part, this book seeks to serve as a corrective to that error. In chapter 5, Kraft is clear that though there is a kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God, the rulers of these kingdoms are not equal; God is much more powerful than Satan (page 48).

The Centre for Pentecostal Theology (CPT) Press is initiating an ongoing series of “short introductions”. To date they include the present volume by Onyinah under review and Lee Roy Martin, Fasting: A Centre for Pentecostal Theology Short Introduction (2014). Several others are expected to follow in due time. The Centre for Pentecostal Theology is a residential library dedicated to facilitating the conception, birth, and maturation of constructive Pentecostal Theology across the theological disciplines. Obviously, CPT Press is the publishing arm of that same endeavor. (In the interest of full disclosure, I have previously published with CPT but not in the series under discussion.) The Series Preface explains that these short introductions “offer a distinctively Pentecostal perspective on various topics that are of relevance to the movement.” Further, they “are designed to introduce the reader to the topic at hand while not overwhelming him or her with all the secondary literature.” To be clear, “The goal is a straightforward introduction with helpful assessments by leading scholars in the tradition.” We may approach Onyinah’s Spiritual Warfare from this declared context. However, a reading of Onyinah indicates he has his own contextual concerns as well, which nevertheless appear complementary with those of CPT without necessarily completely contained therein.

Professor Opoku Onyinah is an Apostle of the Church of Pentecost (COP). He holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Theology from the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom). Currently, he is the Chairman of The Church of Pentecost. The Church of Pentecost originated in Ghana but now claims 20,000 congregations worldwide with more than three million members. Given Onyinah’s diverse background, it will not be too surprising to discern in Spiritual Warfare administrative and pastoral concerns articulated alongside biblical and theological scholarship. Indeed the Introduction affirms an intention to address laity, clergy, and academia.

Spiritual Warfare is organized in four sections: Part One: The Nature of Spiritual Warfare, contains three chapters surveying the history of demonology in Pentecostalism; Part Two: Redefining Spiritual Warfare, contains two chapters articulating the importance of the life and victory of Jesus Christ for demonology; Part Three: The Devil’s Scheme: Strongholds, has eight chapters identifying specific areas of demonic activity; and, Part Four: The Weapons of our Warfare, has thirteen chapters (including the Conclusion) which lift up resources available to believers in resisting and overcoming demonic powers.

As implied earlier, Onyinah’s Spiritual Warfare is very contextual. It draws heavily on the experiences of COP believers and churches in Ghana and similar locales. Since African Christianity, and especially African Pentecostal Christianity, has a distinctive appreciation and emphasis for the reality of the demonic, this contextualization is a decided strength of the work. Global Christianity can learn much here that can be of benefit for many other contexts. However, it is also the case, as it perhaps always is, that one context does not necessarily transfer to another in a straight line, so to speak. Readers from international contexts will likely wish to appropriate particular themes in a somewhat selective manner.

Spiritual Warfare has administrative insight, pastoral concerns, and academic depth. Often these are intertwined together on the same page or even the same paragraph. I found it interesting that Onyinah brings these diverse agendas together in ways that are often mutually enriching and challenging simultaneously. I imagine that pastors and laypeople will be stretched by the academic theological considerations. I also imagine that academicians will be stretched by the pastoral applications. And I am sure both will be enriched. Generally, it works well.

Spiritual Warfare indulges in some sweeping generalizations. For example, it castigates postmodernism without bothering to understand it or engage it. Accordingly, it misses sometimes. It also makes assumptions about praise and worship that fit more with populism than Biblicism. And it is quite selective in its list of categories of demonic activity, focusing on individual fetishes and mostly ignoring social atrocities. Admittedly, these features may be—to an extent, at least—elements of the contextualization mentioned earlier. Or they may simply be due to the creative attempt to accomplish so much on several different levels. However, the work would be stronger with more care in such conversations.

Perhaps the greatest value in this volume is that it addresses the topic of spiritual warfare at all. Or at least that it takes the topic seriously. Many modern theologians avoid the topic (even Pentecostals) or approach it only in abstract form (Tillich) or primarily as institutional expressions (Wink). Onyinah takes the topic seriously and addresses it with theological credibility from a historic Pentecostal perspective. To an extent, this text may help to authenticate and legitimate Pentecostal theological discussion of demonology. Overall, I would certainly recommend Spiritual Warfare to readers—as Onyinah intends—from the Church and the Academy. Furthermore, if Spiritual Warfare by Opoku Onyinah (and Fasting by Lee Roy Martin) is a representative foretaste of CPT’s Short Introduction Series, one can only hope and pray that further volumes will be forthcoming soon and frequently.

Reviewed by Tony Richie

Spiritual warfare is a topic that has attracted a good deal of attention in recent years; this is perhaps especially true within the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. Whole books have been written on this subject. “Paul and Spiritual Warfare” is a chapter that New Testament scholar, Dr. Craig Keener, contributed to the book Paul’s Missionary Methods: In His Time and Ours. This book was published one hundred years after Roland Allen’s classic missions book Missionary Methods: Saint Paul’s or Ours? Keener points out that Allen “… recognized the essential role of God’s divine intervention in the advance of the gospel” (pg. 107). The subject of spiritual warfare is included in the newer volume because “Many have linked spiritual warfare with missions” (page 107). One can certainly understand this connection because salvation involves bringing a person out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s Son (Col. 1:13). This transfer from darkness to light is not one that the powers of darkness will stand idly by and watch.

In this chapter, Keener focuses on spiritual warfare by looking at Paul’s images for it in his letters: Romans, 2 Corinthians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy. However, he focuses primarily on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. The author also examines the apostle’s “power encounters” with the spiritual forces of darkness in the book of Acts. These encounters are his interactions with Elymas, the sorcerer, in Acts 13, the demonized slave girl in Acts 16, and the people of Ephesus in Acts 19. Keener thus employs both Paul’s teaching in his letters and the narrative, experiential history of Paul’s ministry preserved for us in the book of Acts as he deals with this subject. When writing about the “armor of God” in Ephesians 6 the author calls the reader’s attention to background information regarding the city of Ephesus and the larger context of the book of Ephesians.

Keener offers some very helpful insights in this chapter. I will mention four of them here. First, spiritual warfare includes, but is not restricted to, our conflict with evil spirits; it also involves battles with our own sinful nature (page 108). Second, spiritual warfare is more practical than we might think, Keener writes, “we are protected by our right relationship with God and one another” (page 110). Third, and this is very important, there is a corporate aspect to spiritual warfare. Keener says “. . . we dare not break ranks. We must march together protecting one another”(page 112). Fourth, that the practice of directly addressing Satan and casting down heavenly spiritual powers/princes lacks biblical support (page 117).