In April (2024), I had the privilege of preaching on spiritual warfare at Rose Church in Portland. The sermon can be found here. My text for the weekend was Mark 5.1-20, and we navigated some of the critical ways Mark opted to discuss the ‘impure spirits’ that were a part of the geography of Jesus’ earthly ministry. For context’s sake, it should be known that we prayed for no less than 200 people to be freed from the spiritual powers they felt inhibited their lives. It was powerful—and not a little chaotic. Jesus was undeniably present.
Any conversation about the spiritual realm and spiritual beings will undoubtedly provoke many questions. I promised the congregation—and anyone else interested—a short list of resources to explore how one might wrap their heads around the theological terrain and the core biblical texts. The following is a brief, condensed list of the resources that one would be wise to engage in, which have proven to be very helpful to me. They are in no order of importance. But they do represent what the first go-to’s would be if I were to recommend them:
Heiser, Michael. Demons, giants, and other gods in the Bible (podcast)—Before his untimely death in 2023, Dr. Heiser quickly became a go-to scholar to understand how the biblical text narrates a world dense with spiritual beings. I commend everything he wrote to you.
Dawn, Marva. Powers, Weakness, and the Tabernacling of God [book]—Dr. Dawn did her doctoral dissertation on Paul’s theology of the ‘principalities and powers.’ This book has nourished my imagination for decades. It is a must-read.
Mackie, Tim. Kinds of spiritual beings (video)—In this video, Tim Mackie (Bible Project) outlines the basic concept of the reality of the plurality of spiritual beings in the biblical text.
Cabal, Theodore. Did God create evil? (video)—This short five-minute video is a helpful conversation starter about the nature of evil. If God created all things, then does that mean that God created evil?
Keller, Tim. Spiritual warfare [podcast]—This is an older resource, but it’s Tim Keller! Preached in 2012 on Ephesians 6.10-13, this is a beautiful reflection on how the Christ-follower stands to the powers of evil.
Allender Center. Spiritual warfare [podcast]—Over the years, the Allender Center in Seattle has often fed me. This four-part series is one of the more helpful resources they have made available, with exciting connections to psychology and mental health.
Breshears, Gerry. Breaking soul ties [video]—This is one of the oldest videos of the famed Dr. Gerry Breshears at Western Seminary. While it may be dated, the concept of ‘soul ties’ still has traction in much of the theological conversation around spiritual warfare. Listen to the whole thing. This isn’t the highest quality video—but it’s an incredible teaching.
Young, Adam. Soul ties [podcast]—As a therapist, Adam Young is the first to know the power of the spiritual realm in family systems. A fascinating listen from a trained Christian therapist.
Warren, E. Janet. Cleansing the Cosmos: A Biblical Model for Conceptualizing and Counteracting Evil (book)—I did my Ph.D. With Dr. Warren. As a physician, she writes a fascinating overview of evil from a distinctively charismatic perspective.
Thompson, Jon. Deliverance (book)—Just buy it. Nothing else to say. Also, you can hear Jon talk about the concepts in his interviews here and here.
I do hope that this is helpful! And, again, drop me a note either via social media or email if you would like to recommend more. While this does represent about 1/10th of the resources I’ve collected, I’m always into more as they are available.
Dr. A.J.
You can always find me on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you found this content helpful to your journey, yay! As a reminder, my most recent work The Gift of Thorns: Jesus, the Flesh, and the War for our Wants was released with Zondervan in February of 2024. Within, I explore what the topic of human desire from the perspective of Scripture, theology, and experience—with particular interest to how we can be formed into the image of Christ through our desires. In short, it’s about why our cultural mandate to “you do you” is so profoundly unhelpful to the follower of Jesus. You can support my work by reading it! And sharing with me about your experience. Click on the image below to help out.
Dr. Swoboda - I'm 'low level' yet 'high level' engaged with all you write - Thank you, Dr. A.J. When the world was more colonial, I know that when Christians in NA would read theology, we would always see ourselves as the hero - We are the character found in Jesus, we are the Israelites - yet being more post-colonial (I hope eek) is it bad hermeneutics for us to see ourselves as - 'Egypt' (we are at times) and in this case the conflicted demoniac? The pain we sense is exactly that - because Jesus is in our presence - to make us whole. Thanks, Dr. S. Doug Frederick. Vancouver, BC. Canada Loves ya!
Did God Create Evil was the best one.